The mate of the Luna, the one true moon princess, is the Alpha and everyone knows it will be Kim Namjoon... Except it isn’t. When the ritual is complete, the moon princess kneels before Park Jimin and upends her pack’s predictable hierarchy.
MINORS DO NOT INTERACT. MINORS PROHIBITED. I DO NOT CONSENT TO ANY INTERACTIONS WITH PERSONS UNDER THE AGE OF 18. NO EXCEPTIONS.
series ◐ masterlist
PART I: The Alpha
PART ll: The Challenge
PART lll: The Terms
Part lV: The Secret
Part V: The Champion
Part VI: The Praetor
Part VII: The Luna
Part VIII: The Kiss
Part IX: The King
Part X: The Revelations
Part XI: The Claiming
Part XII: The Legend
◐ notes ◐
These are little “notes” about the characters and the universe. Includes things like “ask my muse/ask my characters” and other interesting tidbits and perspectives on the world of The Alpha.
The Throne
How Wolves Age
About the Change
Clans in The Alpha
Shifting Mechanics
Bangtan Formation
About Lunas (Part 2)
The World of The Alpha
Kim Seokjin: Male Omega
Jimin’s “Prior Experience”
Namjoon and Yunli (Part 2)
Yoonji and Taehyung (Part 2)
How the Alpha Command Works
The Role of Omegas in Wolf Society
Titles and Roles in The Alpha (Part 2)
On Betas + Jimin/Joon Family History
Wanna Know Why Jimin is The Alpha?
How Jimin and the Luna Smell to Each Other
Why Did the Pack Underestimate a Silver Wolf?
Pack Social Structure and the Alpha Command
Mates, Customs, and Wolf Relationships (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6)
How Jin’s Male Omega Pheromones Work (and Why TaeYoonKook Were Unaffected in That Scene)
What the Members Look Like (Human Form) in the Alpha Universe
Wolf Forms of Jimin and the Luna Wolf Forms of All Characters
Beautiful Drawing of the Characters in their Wolf Forms by Little Hummingbird Luna and Silver
Fabulous Alpha Inspired Nail Art by Bells
Gorgeous Moodboard by mikrokosm
Gorgeous Moodboard by eugeneflakey
Gorgeous Moodboards by claude-y
2nd Gorgeous Moodboard by mikrokosm
3rd Gorgeous Moodboard by mikrokosm based on Chapter VII: The Luna
Gorgeous Yunli and Namjoon Moodboard by thislilbabyisafreak
Read Chapter One here, Chapter Two here, Chapter Three here.
A/N: Hello again! This is just a short epilogue to give this story a nice happy little ending. Obvious canon divergence, but if there are some logical inconsistencies about the house arrest deals that were offered during Captain America: Civil War, I apologize it has been literal years since I’ve seen it. Enjoy!
Feel free to send me some requests! As always, thanks for reading and please like and/or rebog!
Pairing: Steve x Reader
Tags: angst, slight fluff
Word Count: 894
The leaves fell gently outside and you groaned at the thought of having to rake the yard again. One of the upsides to marrying a super soldier was that you almost never had to do yard work. But it had been months since you’d last seen Steve and you knew the yard was just one more thing you’d have to clean up by yourself.
“All right, c’mon.” You stepped out of the car and turned to help James and Sarah out of their seats. After you set her down on the driveway, Sarah ran excitedly up to the door, giggling along the way. James ran after, shushing her as he caught up to her. You furrowed your brow at them as you closed the car doors. The past few months had been difficult for them without their father, but they had recently stopped asking where he was and when he would come home. You assumed that they had finally understood that you didn’t hold those answers, but something about their behavior struck you as strange.
You shook the feeling aside as you opened the door to the familiar house. You had decided against moving, despite your previous claims to do so. Moving on seemed so much easier before you actually had to do it. You convinced yourself that is was a logical decision, since it wouldn’t make much of a difference: Steve’s absence would be just as painful here as it would in another house. But deep down, you knew that you could never bring yourself to move on from Steve; the ring that was back on your finger was proof of that. Your attention was drawn away to Sarah, who was now running around the house, peeking into every room. Before you could question her, James ran after her whispering her name harshly. You walked into the room after them.
“What is going on here?!” You asked, incredulously. Sarah looked at you excitedly, still smiling, but James looked down guiltily as if caught. “Well?” You asked when neither responded.
“I’m looking for Daddy!” Sarah explained.
“No, honey,” you sighed, crouching to her level. “Daddy’s not here.”
“No, but he’s coming!” She insisted. Before you could break her heart again by explaining he wouldn’t be coming home any time soon, Sarah continued. “He said so!” You stilled and your expression hardened.
“What?”
“Sarah, shush!” James whispered. You turned to look at him.
“What’s going on? Did you speak to your father?” You asked.
“Yeah! We saw him after school!” After Sarah explained, you sighed in frustration, looking down. You had been ten minutes late to pick up and had never taken Steve off of the school’s pick up list.
“Well, what did he say exactly?” You asked James.
“Just that he was coming home soon,” he mumbled, looking down at his shoes. “And that he missed us.”
You swallowed thickly before rising to your feet before speaking. “Okay, go wash up and I’ll get you both a snack.” As soon as they were out of the room, you pulled your phone out to dial a number you’d called in months. After a few rings, he picked up, but you spoke before he could even say hello.
“You can’t just show up out of nowhere after all this time and speak to the kids without me,” you say. You intended to sound firm, but the thought of him on the line unsettled your voice and softened it in a way that you hated. When he breathed out your name, you screwed your eyes shut, willing yourself to be firm. “You can’t tell them you’re coming home. If you tell me that, I know that it’s just a platitude; a nice thing to say to shut up. But the kids are different. They actually believe you!” Angry tears pricked at your eyes, threatening to spill.
“I meant it when I said it to you and when I said it to the kids: I’m coming home.” His voice was soft but sure. If you didn’t know better, you would have sworn he meant it. You sighed, recalling all the times those exact words had been empty promises.
“I’ve taken the house arrest deal,” he explained. Your heart skipped at thought: if it were true, you could finally be a family again. “I just can’t go without you and the kids anymore.” His words struck deep and for a moment you let yourself believe it. But you steeled yourself again, thinking about all the times you had begged him to take such a deal, just for him to explain that he needed to follow his cause.
“Ha,” you scoffed. “I’ll believe it when I see it. And until then, I’ve got two kids who are still hanging onto empty promises from their father that I now have to deal with. I mean, what am I supposed to tell Sarah when she asks when you’re actually coming home?” You asked, frustrated. At that moment, you heard a knock at your door that echoed over your phone. You swallowed, trying to keep your hopes down, but you couldn’t help the skip in your step and the hopeful smile that spread across your face as you went to answer the door. Then you heard his voice over the phone echo and from outside the door.
“You can tell her right now.”
~~
Forever Tag List: @dewy-biitch
Only Heart Tag List: @pixiehex1985 @lilulo-12 @blue1928
Seeing Red: Chapter Four [Bob Reynolds x Enhanced!reader (F) ]
Summary: A spontaneous moment of breaking and entering at the newly-inhabited Watchtower leads to a chance encounter between yourself and a mysterious man named Bob. One touch and he knows your darkest secret, but instead of turning you in, Bob claims you're "one of us". Can the uncontrollable power within you help you find where you truly belong, and along the way, perhaps lead you to the love of your life?
Characters: Bob Reynolds, Female reader (nickname Ember), John Walker, Bucky Barnes, Yelena Belova, Ava Starr, Alexei Shostako, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (mentioned)
Warnings: child abuse, SA (vague mention), mention of self harm and food insecurity. Drug use. Mental illness. Homelessness. Eventual smut.
Word Count: 5.4k
Song Inspiration: The Red by Chevelle
A/N: I'm excited, y'all. The progression of the story just makes me so happy and I'm stoked for you to see these two learn and grow together!! The domesticity is just off the charts. I'm beyond excited that Avengers Tower fits are BACK BABY!!! Thank you to every singe person who has read and commented and shared this story. I adore you. More soon!! And maybe chapters more often??? We shall see. 👀
Chapter Four | Chapter Five>>>Coming Soon!
Seeing Red Masterlist | Full Masterlist
________________________________________________
Previously:
“Hey, Bob,” you said softly and his gaze flickered to you. “All that talk about burgers has me craving one…”
He grinned at the thought, the joyful light returning to his eyes just as you’d hoped. “We could order delivery. There’s a place with really good burgers and milkshakes, too.”
“Sounds like a plan,” you smiled back, bending down to get your bag and slinging it over your shoulder.
You still held Bob’s hand in yours, pulling him in the direction of the stairs that led to what was quickly becoming your shared safe space. And no matter what happened next, for now you’d hold on to that.
___________________________
“This show is so strange,” you declared before glancing over at Bob. “But I like it.”
Bob grinned over at you. “I’m glad.”
After your intense afternoon chat along with officially meeting all the New Avengers, you were in desperate need of some quiet time. Once you’d arrived back at Bob’s living quarters, as promised, he pulled up an app on his phone and showed you all the options to choose from that could be delivered to the Tower. Bob was also curious about any allergies or preferences you had, making sure to get you exactly what you wanted.
When the app alerted that the food had been dropped off downstairs, you followed Bob to the elevator and rode it down to the ground floor where a man in a security uniform handed off your food. The security guard quickly retreated with a weird look in his eye, almost like he was afraid of Bob. The concept of fearing the Bob who stood before you still seemed ludicrous, but it was true that you hadn’t seen every side of him in the short time you’d known him. Even Bob sharing what had occurred six months ago still sounded hard to imagine.
Riding back up to the seventeenth floor, you and Bob settled on the couch with your food and while he had given you countless other options of shows to watch, you wanted to stay on theme and see what this Bob’s Burgers show was all about.
Hours later, you had been sprawled on the couch with Bob, enjoying the strange show that even got more than few laughs out of both of you. It was a nice break from reality. You had yawned a few times and when Bob caught you again, he sat up and searched the nest of blankets for his phone to check the time.
“Man, it’s already 11 o’clock. You must be tired,” he said, reaching for the remote. “You should go to bed.”
You groaned, burrowing your neck into your sweater. “It seems crazy to be tired again after waking up so late.”
Bob shrugged. “It’s okay. Your body still needs sleep. Go ahead.”
Still, you resisted. It had been such a nice evening.
“We can watch more tomorrow,” Bob assured you as a means of encouragement.
“Okay.”
You carefully extracted yourself from your blanket cocoon and stood to stretch.
“You’re not tired yet?” you asked, picking up the wrappers from dinner and a few snacks you’d eaten later on.
He lifted a shoulder, “Not really. But I’ll turn in soon enough.”
“Okay. See you in the morning,” you said through yet another yawn as you walked past him.
Bob chuckled lightly. “Sleep tight, Ember.”
Depositing the trash in the kitchen garbage, you offered a wave and headed to the bedroom.
_____________________
Another strange dream lingered as you tried to extract yourself from the tendrils of sleep. This one contained dancing hamburgers and fries doing the limbo. What the fuck. Opening your eyes, it was less jarring this time to see the clean, spartan bedroom that you were temporarily inhabiting. Memories of the night before rose to the surface, a smile stretching across your face at your time spent with Bob. It still baffled you that he actually wanted you around and how he had stood up for you, even against his friends. You didn’t want to cause any issues amongst the newly assembled Avengers, but it felt nice for someone to have your back.
Slipping out of bed, you left the bedroom and peeked around for the man in question. Not spotting him, you tip-toed to the second bedroom where he must have been sleeping. The clock on the microwave showed that it was just after 8 o’clock in the morning so you hoped it wasn’t too early for you to be up and about. Maybe Bob wasn’t an early bird. Still, your curiosity got the better of you. You knocked lightly, not wanting to wake him. However, the door had been ajar already and your knocking opened it further.
“Bob?” you called out, still hearing no response.
The thought occurred to you that he had left his quarters and your stomach clenched at the idea of being left alone, unable to leave. You then heard a soft snort and the rustle of clothing further in, so you dared to enter the room. Bob was fast asleep in a recliner chair with a video game controller resting on his lap. The TV he faced glowed dimly with a rotating screensaver. There was a window with the curtains drawn in this room so you could see clearly the state of where Bob was staying and your eyes grew wide.
“Bob, what the fuck!” you shouted before you could stop yourself.
He jolted awake with a start, sending the controller flying and nearly toppling the recliner with him in it.
“What? What’s wrong?” he replied, sleepy and confused as he scrambled to his feet.
“Bob.”
He rubbed his eyes and then spotted you standing before him. “Ember, hi. What’s happening? What’s wrong?” he asked again, trying to straighten his twisted and rumpled clothes.
Hands on your hips, you took another look around the room and he followed your gaze. “There’s no bed in here, Bob. You said I was staying in the second bedroom. You gave me your room?”
“Oh,” he replied, his cheeks dusted pink. “Um…I don’t remember calling it a bedroom, just that I was staying in the other room, so…”
You quirked an eyebrow skeptically in response.
Bob just shrugged. “Really, it’s fine. I usually sleep here in the recliner or sometimes on the couch. Even in the common room or the theater room, it varies. I don’t really sleep well so I just take what I can get,” he confessed. “I spend most of my time in here, though. Keeps me occupied.”
Now looking around more closely, you understood what he meant. “Can I snoop?” you asked directly, waving a hand at the many items you were curious about.
He huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, go ahead.”
The recliner and TV were in the right corner nearest the door and the entire left wall had built-in shelves mostly filled with books but other items were mixed in, too. Straight ahead on a chest of drawers was a large wire cage with a bed of sawdust shavings and a plastic igloo.
“Is there something in there?” you inquired, pointing at the cage.
“Hm? Oh, no, not right now,” he informed you. “I watch Yelena’s guinea pig when she goes on missions, but she’s back now, so…it’s empty.”
You nodded slowly, your eyes wandering. The far right wall had a long countertop built in with a desk chair pushed in. On its surface was an amalgamation of what looked like different projects in process. A leather craft making kit, drawing pencils and a few sketchbooks, beads of different colors and letters including some already made or nearly completed bracelets. What last caught your eye was a basket of yarn. Picking up the needles with a tangle of yarn connecting them, you turned to Bob with a smile.
“You knit?”
He shrugged, bashful. “I tried. I’m not very good at it. I’m not really good at any of it, but my therapist recommended I try new things and Yelena wanted me to have something to fill my time when they’re away, so…”
You nodded, lifting the wound ball of yarn and a sudden flood of a memory hit you.
“At, um…one of the places I stayed at for a few months as a kid…the mom liked to knit. She didn’t like me very much, though,” you smiled wryly. “She made me hold her ball of yarn and she got angry if I held it too tightly or too loosely or if I fidgeted too much. So, I got really good at sitting perfectly still. I only singed the yarn one time on accident, though,” you said as a joke but looking up at Bob, his brows were drawn in concern.
Reaching out, you placed a hand on his arm and smiled.
“Bob, it’s fine. I got over it, I swear.”
He gripped your hand tightly, inhaling sharply and then letting it go. “I wish you didn’t have to.”
Threading his fingers with yours, you drew him closer. “I know. But we can’t change our pasts, can we?”
Bob shook his head. “I can get rid of it, though,” he offered, reaching for the yarn, but you held it out of reach.
“Actually…all that time watching her made me curious, so when she was gone, sometimes I would knit a few rows and I got pretty decent at it. Of course, I had to unravel it before she noticed, but still. It’s been a while, but I’d like to see if I remember how. Maybe you could join me,” you said, trying to entice him with the ball of yarn held before him.
Bob let out a sad smile. “You don’t have to teach me. I don’t want to keep something around that makes you sad or force you to help me.”
“You didn’t, I’m offering,” you assured him, taking a step forward. “Besides, isn’t it better to make good memories and replace associations rather than avoid them forever? Will I never wear a knitted item of clothing ever again?” you asked dramatically, lifting the the ball of yarn to rest the back of your hand on your forehead, leaning back like a damsel in distress. “Only you can save me from the lingering memory of singed yarn stench.”
He burst out a laugh at that, taking the ball yarn from you. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Maybe I could give it another go.”
“Good!” you called out, dropping his hand to grab the basket’s handle. “But first, breakfast.”
“Amen to that,” he agreed, patting a hand to his flat stomach. “I’m starving.”
“Pancakes?”
“Waffles?” he counter offered.
“Both!” you declared with a air-pump of your fist, leading the way to the kitchen.
____________________________
Bob’s small kitchenette was lacking the ingredients for either pancakes or waffles, so the pair of you trekked down to the larger shared kitchen along with the basket of knitting supplies. You dropped the basket on one of the chairs and stepped up into the cavernous pantry for the items you needed. Bob watched in awe as you deposited the ingredients on the counter and searched for a frying pan and a mixing bowl.
“You can cook?” he asked with a smile.
You shrugged, “I can cook a few select things really well, the rest I can muddle my way through with a recipe or figure it out somehow. I was a fry cook at a small diner out west for a few months. Well, I actually started out washing dishes and bussing tables, but I worked my way up.”
“Wow. Was that the kind of job you were going to look for here in the city? The cooking, I mean?” Bob inquired, settling on a barstool across the island from you so he could watch.
“I thought about it,” you confessed. “But in the past I’ve also been a superstore door greeter, worked on a farm mucking out horse stalls and harvesting vegetables to sell. I tried working retail for one day. Absolutely never again. Most jobs teach you a little something, though. I even worked as a rodeo clown for one season. I’m not eager to repeat that one.”
Bob laughed at your job list. “Yeah, I know what you mean. When I was pretty deep in my addiction I somehow got a summer job as a sign twirler dressed like a chicken outside a bail bonds place. Not my finest moment.”
“Oh god,” you said with a laugh. “That would be quite the sight, I’m sure. But we’ve both survived somehow, huh?”
He nodded slowly, eyeing you in what looked like admiration. “Yeah. Somehow.”
You found a bowl and whisk along with a waffle iron and an electric griddle, which was better than just a frying pan. Setting it all on the counter, you reached a hand out to Bob.
“Can I borrow your phone for a minute?”
“Yeah, sure.” Bob handed over the phone after unlocking it for you.
“Thanks. I just need to glance at a recipe. I can’t remember the exact amounts…”
Finding what you were looking for, you searched the drawers for measuring cups and spoons and started combining the dry ingredients. Bob watched you intently, brow furrowed as the batter came together with adding wet ingredients to the dry.
“Do you want to know the secret to perfect pancakes?” you asked conspiratorially with a smile.
Bob nodded, shifted closer in his seat.
“You mix the batter until there are still a few streaks of flour. Don’t over mix it cause as you portion out the pancakes, you’re still mixing with the ladle as you go. Also, make sure your pan or griddle is hot enough, but not too hot. I like to flick a few drops of water on it to make sure. The droplets should dance on the hot skillet. Wanna try?”
He looked hesitant, but Bob nodded and slipped out of his seat to join you in the kitchen.
Bob cupped his hand under the running faucet and then quickly tossed the water on the warming skillet. He jumped back a bit when the droplet danced and steam began to rise. You laughed in surprise as well, setting a hand on his arm.
“That’s perfect. I think it’s ready. Do you want to make the first pancake?” you offered, gesturing to the batter.
He considered a moment and then shook his head. “I want to watch you do it first.”
“Okay,” you shrugged, giving his arm a squeeze before letting go.
Using a fork, you speared a pat of butter and ran it across the surface of the skillet until a sheen of grease covered it. Grabbing the ladle, you scooped some batter and poured it onto the hot surface into a perfect circle, then repeating the process three more times before pausing. Bob was watching you intently.
“Another tip for pancakes? Don’t touch them or try to flip until the bubbles pop and the holes stay open.”
Bob’s eyes widened, clearly a little confused.
You laughed at his expression. “Don’t worry, I’ll show you. Will you keep an eye on them while I start the waffle batter?” you asked, handing Bob the spatula and he looked at it like the utensil might bite. “It’ll be fine, I promise, Bob.”
He held your gaze a second, but finally he accepted the spatula, keeping his eye on the pancakes from that point on.
With another bowl, you peeked at a recipe and made a similar batter to the pancakes, but for waffles it was a little thicker. With the waffle iron heating, you kept an eye on Bob with a smile.
“H—hey! I think it’s doing it…” Bob got your attention after a few minutes.
Glancing over, you noticed that Bob was right. The bubbles had risen to the surface and popped, leaving small holes on the batter.
“Nice eye. They look perfect. Go ahead and flip,” you told him with an encouraging nod.
Taking a deep breath and with concentration, Bob slid the spatula under the first pancake and then tipped it back on the skillet onto the uncooked side.
“Awesome! Keep going,” you told him with a smile. “I’m gonna start on waffles. I think we’ll have plenty leftover, but they’ll heat up well later.”
Bob offered a sweet smile and turned back to his task of flipping the pancakes and then pouring more batter. Once the first batch was done, you showed Bob how to use the spatula to peek underneath until the first batch of pancakes were nice and brown. You handed him a plate and he stacked them neatly before going back to flip the second batch.
You focused on the waffles and soon you had a stack of your own. Searching the fridge, you found some bacon and preheated the oven to cook it evenly that way. In between pouring waffle batter, you also washed some berries and put them in a bowl along with some syrup to heat up for later.
Lost in your tasks, you briefly glanced over and caught Bob watching you. “What?”
He just grinned. “I don’t know how you’re doing all these things at the same time. I haven’t moved in the past half hour except to flip.”
With a laugh, you shrugged. “I don’t know. It takes some practice I guess.”
Before your words even landed, a voice rang out from the hallway, startling you both.
“Who’s cooking and are you sharing?” Yelena said as she rounded the corner, wearing lounge pants and a hoodie.
Bob looked to you before answering and you shrugged. “Yeah, there’s plenty. Enough for everyone, if they want,” you replied.
Yelena tilted her head in surprise, smiling at Bob with the spatula in hand. “Smells really good. Thank you. I’ll let the others know,” she said, pulling out her phone.
You were just pulling the bacon out and turning off the oven when you heard other voices approaching.
“Bob is cooking? When the hell did that happen?” said Walker loudly.
“He has some help,” you replied, peeking around Bob so the super soldier could see you.
“Oh. Makes sense,” he muttered, turning back to his phone.
“No, I—I’m just flipping, she made the—“ Bob tried to give you credit, but you placed a hand on his arm and shook your head.
“It’s okay. No need. It’s a team effort,” you smiled.
Bob placed his hand on yours a moment before a loud, male, Russian voice filled the cavernous space.
“Ah, finally a proper breakfast! A feast of warriors. Well done, Bob,” Alexei spread his arms wide, his tattered robe not quite covering the white tank and boxers he wore underneath.
“Dad, could you please get dressed before coming out? I told you so many times…”
Yelena covered her hand in embarrassment.
“That robe looks old enough to be from the former Soviet Union and it also needs to be disposed of like a bad regime,” piped in Ava, stepping up to the island wearing a simplified version of her super suit. From what you gathered, she needed a suit to keep her body stable.
As Bob flipped the last pancake, you pulled the sheet pan of waffles and pancakes that you had put in the oven to keep warm. Setting everything on the island, you pulled out plates and silverware and turned off the appliances.
“Everyone dig in,” you spoke up and the Avengers swarmed with declarations of thanks. “There’s coffee and orange juice, too.”
Bob, you noticed, took a step back and started filling the dirty bowls in the sink with hot water and soap.
Stepping up to his side, you stopped his movements with your hand on his. “That can wait. Come have breakfast with me. We’ve earned it.”
He caught your eye lift a corner of his mouth. “Okay.”
You tugged him by the hand toward the already formed assembly line. Grabbing a plate, you added two pancakes and a waffle to it and handed it to Bob. You did the same for yourself and added your toppings along with filling a glass of orange juice. He followed you towards a couch and you sat together, placing your plates on the coffee table.
The team ate heartily, muttering how good everything tasted between mouthfuls. It felt nice to give back to people who you still had a hard time believe would help a stranger like you. Bob was enjoying the fruits of his labors as well, which made you smile the most.
With full bellies, you sat back a moment and Bob slumped next to you, turning his head. “That was fun. And delicious. Thank you for teaching me,” he said at a whisper.
“Any time. And you’re welcome,” you assured him.
You reached for your dishes to stand and clear them, but Bob objected until Yelena spoke up over you both.
“Ah ah ah! You cook, we clean. You two sit down,” the blonde former assassin demanded, stacking your plates with hers and forcing Alexei to do the same and follow her.
Bob fidgeted with his sleeves and you were no less relaxed, feeling uneasy when there was work to be done and others were still busy. Reaching for the basket, you pulled out a ball of yarn and a pair of knitting needles. Looking at the tangled lump connecting the needles, you turned to Bob.
“Would you be heartbroken if we unraveled this current project and started a new one?”
He huffed out a laugh, startling Walker who stood nearby. “No, that’s fine. I’m sure it’s just a knot at this point.”
“Hmm. We’ll see…” you said, pulling the needles free and attempting to untangle his project. “Pull out your phone, we can look at video tutorials. Also, I may vaguely remember the look of certain stitches, but I have no idea what they are called,” you confessed.
A few YouTube videos later, you now recalled the terms of “cast on” and “pearl stitch” along with a few others. Having watched and then demonstrated a few times, you handed the needles to Bob. He attempted to copy your movements while also muttering the stitching rhyme you’d heard in one of the videos.
“Go through the front door and round the back…peek through the window…and off jumps jack!” Bob repeated, focusing on the tips of his needles and then squinting in confusion. “Wait…I think I missed a step.”
Bursting out a laugh, you leaned closer to see where he had gone wrong and tried to correct it.
“Too bad we only have one pair of needles. It’d be nice to have metal ones, cause I’d hate to ruin your wooden needles on accident. Maybe we could ge—“
“Here,” Ava said, standing startlingly close to you and in her hand were a pair of metal knitting needles. You hadn’t even noticed her enter the room and considering the indiscernible expression on her face, part of you thought this might be a threat. Those metal needles looked a little sharp.
“Oh…thank you. Are you sure you don’t—“
“Nah, I’m good,” she spoke up as you tried to resist. “I prefer crocheting, anyway.”
Once you accepted the needles, the British brunette took a seat on the chair nearby and pulled her current project out a tote bag. She straightened out her skein of yarn, grabbed her hook, and before long, her hands were in motion with considerable speed.
You and Bob watched her for a moment, then turning back to your own project.
“How....how is that different than what I’m doing?” Bob asked Ava, his voice just loud enough for her to hear.
“Knitting versus crocheting? That’s a good question…” Ava leaned forward with yarn in hand.
With surprising patience, she explained the different tools between the two and how crocheting resulted in a tighter weave. Some yarns were better for one than the other and she mentioned how Bob’s tension might be a little too loose. After a lot of starts and stops over the course of a few hours, you and Bob both had a few inches of knitted yarn.
“Hey, look! We’re doing it!” you proudly exclaimed, holding up your knitted project and then pointing out Bob’s progress.
He beamed at your praise, a grin stretching across his handsome face.
“Let’s keep going a while longer and then maybe later we can start on a new color and try a different stitch,” you proposed.
Bob’s eyes widened at the thought of complicating the project when he’d only just caught on to the current stitch.
“It’ll be fine, trust me,” you teased, bumping your shoulder to his with both pairs of hands occupied with needles.
He nudged you back. “Okay.”
When lunchtime rolled around, no one was particularly hungry yet, but Yelena had prepped some sandwich fixings and laid out some veggies and hummus for people to snack on.
“Wow, that almost looks like you’re making something,” Walker’s voice rang out as he entered the room wearing gym clothes. “What are you guys making anyway?”
Bob had paused in his knitting, blinking over to you. “Uh…scarves?” you answered and he shrugged in agreement.
“Yeah. Scarves.”
“Huh,” Walker said in reply, reaching into the fridge for a water. “So, Ember…you seem like a good cook from this morning’s spread. I’m making dinner tonight. What are your thoughts on garlic bread?”
Startled a moment, you set down your knitting and then let out a wide grin in response. “I am so glad you asked, Walker. Because I happened to have some very strong opinions when it comes to garlic bread. Are you prepared to hear them?” you narrowed your eyes in challenge.
The super soldier sat on the opposite couch and lifted a hand with a beckoning gesture. “Hit me with it.”
Strangely enough, one of your specialties happened to be garlic bread, so once prompted, you let out your entire tirade about the proper preparation and ingredients for the Italian side dish, in your opinion. A loaf of French bread was your preferred choice (ironic, considering it was an Italian dish but you stood firm on your choice of bread) and rather than splitting it in half lengthwise, you chose to make individual inch-wide slices. You liked to mix softened butter (not melted) with fresh garlic as well as garlic salt and a hint of parsley. There was no such thing as too much garlic. Each slice got a smear of the garlic butter and then the loaf was wrapped in aluminum foil and baked for ten to fifteen minutes until the butter melted.
Walker sat back, a little stunned for a moment before he replied. “Huh. Yeah, okay. I’ll try it your way,” he said with a shrug, then getting to his feet and heading toward the elevator and, you assumed, the gym.
Ava kept her eyes on her crocheting project but you spotted a smirk on her lips. Yelena had been working on a mission report on a tablet, but paused to witness your garlic bread tirade and she now met your gaze.
“I think you may have won him over,” she said with a cheeky smile.
You shrugged. “I guess we’ll find out.”
Bob held his pile of yarn in his lap and sat back, looking your way. You caught him staring and he held your gaze for once, unashamed.
“What?”
“How did you come up with that?” he asked, cocking his head to the side. “What makes you so sure it’s the best?”
You grinned at his quiet challenge and you returned to your knitting before answering.
“I worked at this hole-in-the-wall Italian place in the midwest for a few months. They had their way of making garlic bread, but one day I decided to experiment a little. I thought they might fire me for it, but instead they tried it. You know what the chef said?”
Bob shook his head, his full focus still on you.
“He said ‘whoever it is that you marry will be a very lucky man’,” you quoted with a grin. “Because of that garlic bread.”
Attempting to hide a blush, Bob ducked his head as if continuing his knitting was the most important task.
“Well, now I’m all the more curious,” Ava piped in, eyebrows raised in your direction.
Shrugging, you set your knitting aside and raised your arms up to stretch. “I think I need a break. Maybe move around a little?”
Having recovered, Bob turned to meet your eye. “Yeah. Me, too. I think I’m getting a blister…”
Bob held out the wounded digit as evidence and you gently ran a finger over the raised skin on his left hand. “Ouch. Yeah. Time for a break. Maybe we could walk around a bit? I haven’t seen the whole tower…” you suggested, putting away the yarn and securing both of your ongoing projects.
“Sure. Let’s go.”
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Having already seen the ground and second floors during your theft escapade, Bob started on the third floor with your tour. There was a gym on that floor along with storage for the team’s suits and laundry facilities. Most of the fourth floor was Walker’s quarters and the fifth was currently unoccupied. Floor six housed a large theater room.
“I forgot that you mentioned the theater. It must have comfy chairs for you to fall asleep in them on occasion,” you said with a jab of your elbow.
Bob grinned. “Yeah. They recline and there’s always a pile of blankets somewhere in case one of us gets cold. Yelena has been bugging Valentina about putting in a popcorn machine.”
You laughed. “Looking forward to it. I have no doubt in her skills of persuasion.”
“Wise,” he replied. “So, the seventh floor is Ava and eight is under construction. I’m not sure what the plan is there. Alexei has nine and Bucky stays on the tenth floor, when he’s here. Um…”
Bob had noticed that you had stopped walking by then and he turned back in confusion.
“What’s wrong?”
“Does she ever come around? Valentina, I mean?” you asked.
“I don’t know,” he confessed with a shrug. “I mean, I assume she’s in the building at times cause she owns it, but Yelena and Bucky have made it really clear that she’s not allowed to have any contact with me. You know….after what happened. I don’t know why she would want to, considering, but none of the team trust her or want any contact beyond necessity, so…”
You slowly stepped closer, choosing your words carefully. “Will I ever meet Valentina?”
Bob’s entire demeanor changed at the idea, straightening his spine and clenching his jaw. “No. She doesn’t get to meet you.”
“Why’s that?” you asked, slipping your hand in Bob’s and feeling the tension radiating off him.
He shook his head, looking down at your joined hands. “She, uh…I just know, she would see your potential and somehow exploit it for her own personal use. It’s what she does.”
Tilting your face until you caught his eye, you could see the anger he still held after what she had done to him.
“Okay,” you agreed, giving his hand a squeeze. “I trust you.”
Bob pulled back slightly, searching your face for any hint of a lie. “Really? Do you?”
You quickly nodded. “Yeah. I think when someone grows up the way that we both have, we get pretty good at assessing risks and reading other people’s intentions. I knew pretty quickly that you were one of the good ones, Bob.”
Bob frowned a moment, staring into space while deep in thought. “Yeah…but what does it say about me that I thought I could trust Valentina initially? Or how I could get caught up in her feeding my ego to turn me into…that other guy?”
You considered that a moment. “I think it shows that after everything you’ve been through, still, you want to believe the best in people. That’s not a bad thing. Some will definitely take advantage of it. That doesn’t mean they get to take away your kind heart.”
He ducked his head, hiding a smile. “I hope you’re right. And I knew the same thing about you when we met. That you were a good person in a…not-so-good situation.”
You beamed at him, tugging his hand as you headed toward the elevator.
“So, uh…let’s see, where did I leave off? Bucky. So, the eleventh floor—“
“Actually, I think I’d rather see the rest of the tower another time. How about we go back and watch more Bob’s Burgers? I have to know what happens now that the kids are stuck at the mortuary.”
Bob laughed at that. “That’s a good one. Okay.”
Hitting the button to recall the elevator, you were silent a moment.
“It’s too bad, though,” you spoke up and he looked at you, curious. “I’d love to offer Valentina a nice, extra warm, lengthy handshake for her…generosity,” you said menacingly.
Bob caught the threatening gleam in your eye. “She’d certainly deserve it.”
You both smiled at the thought as the elevator rose to the seventeenth floor.
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Chapter Four>>> Coming soon!
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Yeah, I'd give Val an extra-spicy handshake, too, if I could. 😤 So?? How sweet is Bob for giving up his bedroom? I kinda love that she calls him out on it. haha. I confess, I am no expert on knitting or crochet so don't yell at me. :) However, I do take my garlic bread seriously, and I will not hear a word against it. Also, yes, I did indeed have a chef/boss tell me that in real life. 🤪 Slightly inappropriate but I took it as a compliment. 😂 I'd love to hear your thoughts!! I adore you all. THere's a lot more story coming and I can't wait to share it with you!! I'm toying with the idea of more than one chapter a week, if I can swing it. 👀 Let me know if you're up for that! ❤️
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If you'd like to keep up on this story, you can follow me on AO3 or Wattpad under the same username. Also, you can follow my reblog only sideblog where you can turn on notifications for @aoyhfic-reblogs. I will only reblog each new chapter once.
Seeing Red: Chapter Two [Bob Reynolds x Enhanced!Reader (F)]
Summary: A spontaneous moment of breaking and entering at the newly-inhabited Watchtower leads to a chance encounter between yourself and a mysterious man named Bob. One touch and he knows your darkest secret, but instead of turning you in, Bob claims you’re “one of us”. Can the uncontrollable power within you help you find where you truly belong, and along the way, perhaps lead you to the love of your life?
Characters: Bob Reynolds, Female reader (nickname Ember), John Walker, Bucky Barnes, Yelena Belova, Ava Starr, Alexei Shostakov, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (mentioned)
Content Warnings: child abuse, SA (vague mention), mention of self harm and food insecurity. Drug use. Mental illness. Homelessness. Eventual smut.
Word Count: 3.3k
Song Inspiration: The Red by Chevelle
A/N: I'm so excited to share more of this story! This chapter does get a bit heavier, with the reader's backstory. Please heed the warnings and take care of yourself. I appreciate you all reading, commenting, leaving kudos on AO3, all of it. This story and these characters have my heart. Bob Reynolds deserves the world. 🥺
<<<Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three>>>Coming soon!
Seeing Red Masterlist | Full Masterlist
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Previously:
You heard a male scoff. “Wait a minute, I don’t think—“
“Walker, leave it. He’ll be fine,” Yelena cut him off, handing him the medical tape to help her. “We’ll see you in a while.”
Bob nodded to her, keeping his eye on Walker and putting himself between you and the other man until you turned the corner.
__________________
Once the elevator doors closed, Bob reached for the buttons for each floor but you held out a hand to stop him.
“Wait!” And he obeyed, looking quizzical. “You don’t have to do this. Help me, I mean. I appreciate you not turning me in, but I’m not looking for handouts. I can take care of myself,” you assured him, rolling your shoulders back in a show of confidence.
Bob nodded, pursing his lips before speaking. “I don’t doubt it. And I won’t keep you here if you don’t want to stay. I’d like you to, though,” he said softly again, his gaze downward as if perhaps to hide a blush. “And anyway, you should at least take some snacks to go. We have enough to feed a whole army and it’s on Valentina’s dime, so…”
You squinted in thought a moment. “You make a compelling point. And I’m never one to turn down free food,” you confessed. That got the slightest smile out of Bob, warming some hollow spot inside you.
“Smart move,” he said, reaching out and illuminating the number sixteen before the elevator began to rise.
Bob stepped back to lean against the wall and you did the same, your hip resting on the perpendicular wall.
“So…” you spoke first, alight with curiosity now that you weren’t in trouble. Maybe. “Indestructible, huh? Doesn’t that make you a superhero or whatever? Why weren’t you off with the Avengers before?”
He huffed out a wry laugh, shaking his head. “Um…that’s just a guess. The indestructible part, but past evidence shows it might be true. Not sure how far they’d let me push that…But I’m no hero. It’s all kinda complicated, but the short answer is it wouldn’t be safe with me out there.”
Your brow furrowed, now with even more questions. “It wouldn’t be safe for…others?”
Bob nodded. “Yeah. Maybe. It’s too risky right now until we know more. The doctors are hoping to figure it out, anyway.”
Oh, god.
“Like…they’re experimenting on you?” you replied, your chest tight.
“Oh, no! Not like that,” Bob raised a calming hand, picking up on your concern. “Not the medical doctors. I meant like the shrinks and therapists. My issues are more…mental. Although one of them did draw my blood one time, so…” he trailed off, gazing upward in thought.
“Oh.”
When you didn’t question him further, Bob picked up the conversation. “You don’t like doctors?”
Shaking your head, you picked at the skin near your thumbnail. It was a habit you were trying to break but the scabs were evident of your lack of progress.
“Yeah. Me, too. In fact, I don’t even like walking past the labs, but the exposure is good, I guess. It was a rare chance that I saw you at all. Lucky you,” he said, lifting a corner of his mouth.
“Yup. I get all the luck,” you muttered sarcastically.
Reaching the sixteenth floor, the elevator doors slid open and you followed Bob down a hallway that opened up to a large space filled with couches, a large oval coffee table, and floor to ceiling windows beyond showing the lights of the city at night. It was an incredible view and you were awestruck, stepping forward for a better look. You could see the tiny yellow taxis still driving around in the wee hours of the morning in the city that never sleeps. Nearby was the Chrysler Building with a few windows illuminated even at this hour.
“Not bad, huh?” Bob said quietly, stepping to your side.
“Not bad at all,” you echoed, taking in his profile and relaxed stance. With hands in his pockets and slightly slouching, it seemed like he was trying to hide in plain sight. Not wanting to draw attention, but now, with the city forgotten, you couldn’t stop staring at this unassuming man. Your savior who claimed to be no hero.
“So what sounds good?” he asked, turning away and climbing a few steps up toward a sizable kitchen that you hadn’t even noticed yet.
There was a marble-topped island with a built-in sink and barstools on the nearer side facing the kitchen. All the appliances looked to be state-of-the-art with plenty of cupboards for dishes and mugs. Bob walked to the far left of the cupboards to an unassuming door but once he opened it, beyond were multiple shelves packed full of every kind of snacks and shelf-stable foods you could imagine. It looked like a corner convenience store in there.
Bob looked your way and saw the almost panic in your eyes. “Crazy, right? Kinda overwhelming,” he admitted.
Your stomach grumbled then, heat rising in your cheeks. So embarrassing.
His brows furrowed in concern. “How long has it been?”
Mouth gaping open in surprise, he sounded like he knew. Bob knew what true hunger felt like. “A while,” you admitted.
He nodded. “Um…I can make some suggestions, pick out some of my favorites?”
“Sure,” you said with a small smile, relieved.
Bob grabbed a nearby box of granola bars with only a couple rattling inside and started adding in a few of other items he liked, narrating as he went.
“These little cheese and cracker packs are really good and if you like spicy, these wasabi pretzels are awesome. Some packs of trail mix with the M&Ms….oh, and some pop tarts, of course. Strawberry or cherry? I’ll add a few of each. With the frosting, naturally, cause the others taste like cardboard. What else…” he trailed off, still searching the shelves.
You laughed, which brought his gaze to you. “I think that’s plenty for me to choose from. Thank you for the suggestions.”
Bob smiled sheepishly, walking through the doorway and closing it behind him. Placing the stuffed box on the counter, he turned to the fridge and opened it to a display of different bottled drinks and other snack foods along with a vegetable drawer of colorful freshness. Bob picked out a few apples and grabbed a handful of bottled waters as well to set next to the box. Still in motion, he pulled off two bananas from a bunch on the counter and added them to the stash.
“God, this is like a week’s worth of food,” you joked, picking through the box to choose a few items.
“That’s the idea,” he replied, not a hint of humor in his voice and when you finally looked his way, his expression was serious. Intense.
Then it hit you. “No…” you shake your head. “I can’t take all of this! I thought you were just giving me some options, and thank you for that, but no, it’s too much. I just stole from them! I…I can’t—“
“Yes, you can.” Again, he was dead serious, staring you down.
You hesitated, feeling the prick of tears threatening behind your eyes and you blinked repeatedly to keep them at bay. You swallowed through the thickness in your throat, trying to form a response when you were saved by voices coming from the elevator again.
Yelena rounded the corner, now wearing a tank top with her superhero suit pulled down to her waist and a bandage on her forearm. She was joined by a different woman with dark hair and also wearing a black suit but an armored sort with charcoal plates on top, lights around her wrists and neck, and some sort of leather skirt. Her British accent caught your ear and she sounded confused.
“… just found her stealing and said what, exactly? ‘Help me?’” the brunette exclaimed, then spotting you and Bob across the room.
Yelena raised a hand to her, “I don’t know the full story yet, but we’ll talk about it, okay? Walker says he wants to wash the blood out of his precious beard so he’ll be a few more minutes. And Alexei already passed out cold, I think, so we’ll fill him in later.”
“Bucky?” Bob asked, nervousness returning to his posture.
The blonde shook her head. “He left directly from the mission to D.C. for whatever congress shit he still has to do. I’ll loop him in. But first, I need to eat or this chat is not happening.”
As the two women entered the far end of the kitchen, Bob tilted his head toward the seating area and tried to shove the box of food your way. You shook your head in defiance and he squinted, smiling at the silent competition between you. He raised two fingers and then pointed to the couches. Letting out a sigh, you gathered his meaning and picked out two items—a bag of wasabi pretzels and an apple—also accepting the bottle of water he gave you. A tight-lipped smile lit up his handsome face and he took one of the bananas for himself before leading you toward a place to sit.
You chose a comfy chair near the windows with a full view of the room and Bob sat on the end of a couch nearest you. He pretended to focus on peeling his banana, but his eyes flitted to you every few seconds until you finally took a giant bite of apple and chewed it loudly with your mouth open. Bob smiled in satisfaction and broke off a piece of banana to pop into his mouth. You shook your head in disbelief, although you couldn’t help but return the smile.
Yelena plunked down her cereal bowl and peanut butter toast on the coffee table along with a mug of coffee, collapsing on the far couch. The mystery woman soon joined with her coffee and breakfast, eyeing you carefully as she took a seat.
Everyone ate silently for a few minutes, the only sounds being sips and chewing. Then came the noticeably loud crinkle of the wasabi pretzels bag you opened. Popping a few in your mouth, you chewed while considering the unique flavor. Bob raised his eyebrows, as if to ask your opinion. You frowned with an impressed nod and he smiled. You offered him the bag and he took a couple.
Yelena had watched your exchange with curiosity and now no longer ravenous, she opened the dialogue.
“Introductions first, I suppose. Maybe you know who we are already, but I won’t presume. My name is Yelena and this is Ava,” she said, indicating to the brunette woman who nodded. “Walker was the man who was bleeding from the head. And you’ve met Bob, obviously. What’s your name?”
“Ember,” you replied, giving the same nickname you shared with Bob. Best to keep it simple. Wiping the wasabi dust from your fingers on your pants, you reached for your water.
“Ember. Alright. Are you from the city?” Yelena asked, taking a sip of her coffee.
You shook your head. “No. I’m not really from anywhere. I moved around a lot growing up and I’ve been traveling the past few years. Just got here a few weeks ago.”
She tilted her head then. “I see. So you weren’t here when…” she trailed off, meeting Bob’s eye.
Bob shook his head quickly.
“Huh. Alright. You address that later, then,” Yelena said, still speaking to Bob and he nodded.
You were confused, but she moved on to another subject.
“May I see the pills you’ve stolen?”
Heat flaring in your cheeks, you pulled the bottle from your bag and tossed it towards the former assassin, which she swiftly caught. Opening the bottle, she poured out the pills onto the glass coffee table and your stomach flipped at the idea of being without them again. Bob leaned forward and took stock of the medications. Yelena looked his way and he nodded.
“I asked her what she took and it looks accurate. All sedatives. Only a few of each. Not worth a whole lot,” Bob answered. “Unless you need them,” he added, leaning back in his seat and meeting your eye.
Yelena scooped them back into the bottle and set it down. “So, why did you take them? Is it connected to what Bob mentioned?”
You hesitated, staring at the half empty bag of pretzels before setting it down.
“Listen,” she spoke, more gently this time. “We’ve all been there. The memories of the worst thing you’ve ever done or seen or experienced. It’s not Bob’s fault and it sucks, but we’re all working through it. All of us have done some really terrible things. We won’t be shocked or judge you. But if we’re going to avoid turning you over to the authorities or decide whatever happens next, we have to know why you stole and why you might be dangerous. For everyone’s safety.”
Glancing Bob’s way, you shrugged and he nodded. You gathered the stretched out shirtsleeves of your hoodie in your hands and took a deep breath.
“I don’t remember much before the age of seven. Except pain. And heat, I remember that. I was in a group home. I don’t know how I got there or what happened to my parents or if I have siblings. They wouldn’t tell me. They claim I was surrendered and no one was coming for me. Maybe that’s why they chose me. Or us. They said it was vaccines and medicine they injected us with but who knows. After, they would watch us to see what would happen,” you spoke evenly, keeping your gaze on the floor except the occasional glance at Bob. He had his jaw clenched and his hands were in fists, clearly upset by your admission.
You swallowed and spoke on.
“One night I had a nightmare and woke up screaming with my bed on fire. Except I was sitting in a circle of the sheets that hadn’t burned. They threw water on me and put out the fire, checking me for burns. I was fine. They put me in a special room alone and waited for it to happen again. It didn’t after a few weeks and I guess they got bored of me. It was a fluke, maybe. Unexplainable. They figured I got into matches and made up the nightmare. They gave up on me and put me in the foster system. A few small things happened during that time. An older kid tried to hold me down and his hands got third degree burns. A foster parent somewhere else locked me out one night and I got scared and melted the garbage can I was hiding behind. None of it was easily explained, but it also didn’t point directly to me. Until I was eleven.”
Your hands trembling, you reached for the bottle of water and took a drink, now realizing it was warm. Warmer than room temperature. Taking in a shuttering breath, you tried to calm yourself. One last piece of the puzzle.
“I was in one home for a few weeks and things were okay. The wife thought I had a fever and that I was sickly or something so she kept me home from school a lot. That was fine, cause being alone was better most of the time. One afternoon I was there alone and the husband came home from work early. I was doing homework at the kitchen table when he came in. He sat down and I got up to leave and he …touched…he tried—“
You swallowed repeatedly, trying to get enough control to finish it. To say the words. But you had to just move on.
“The memory Bob saw was the home that I had burned down in one blast. I didn’t mean to, but…he died. The wife came home and found me standing in an untouched circle of linoleum and called me a demon. She tried to get me arrested but there wasn’t any evidence of arson, not that the police could understand, anyway. They put me in a different home and then another. I bounced around a few more times, but by the time I was fifteen, I was done. I’ve been on my own since then, getting by. I self-medicated a lot, but I also had a lot of bad results. You never really know what you’re getting with pills on the street. Sedatives dull my reactions just enough, so I’d steal a doctor’s prescription pad or get an appointment with the right words to say so they’d prescribe some. I wasn’t seeking pain pills so most wouldn’t suspect. When I was really desperate I broke into a few pharmacies. Got caught one time and went to jail for a few months. And here I am,” you threw your hands up in a shrug, relieved.
The room was silent and when you braved a glance, you saw Ava staring into the depths of her coffee mug, but not drinking. Yelena was leaning back against the couch, her gaze on the ceiling, hugging her middle. You were shocked to spot the bearded man, Walker, seated on a barstool at the island with his head in his hands. It seemed that he’d caught enough of your story to have a similar reaction.
And then Bob. He was bent over with his head on his knees, hands clasped at the back of his neck. Your heart ached at the sight. He was clearly in distress just hearing your story and something told you that Bob was a sensitive soul. Tentatively you put your hand on his shoulder lightly. He unfolded then, tear-filled eyes meeting yours.
“I’m okay,” you mouthed, trying to lighten the mood with ridiculous jazz hands. It almost worked, a choke-sob escaping his lips.
Bob dried his face with his sleeves, turning away from the other women. Yelena exhaled loudly and finally sat up to face you.
“Yup. She’s one of us, alright,” she confirmed, meeting your gaze. “I’m so sorry that happened to you. And I’m sorry to bring it all up again. We can talk about next steps, but I will have to talk to the others before making any decisions. Where are you staying right now?”
You shifted in your seat. “Um…with a few other people in a condemned building on 39th. Just until I find some work,” you spoke, your voice wavering.
Yelena nodded. “Are they any of your things there you’d like to have brought here? We have plenty of room but I’m not sure any other floors are ready for—“
“Whoa, wait a minute,” you interjected. “What? You’re inviting me to stay here? Why?”
“She can stay with me,” Bob spoke up, “at least for now. If she wants. I have a spare room.”
Bob turned to you, awaiting an answer, but you were still wondering why any of this was happening.
Yelena stood and walked over to occupy the chair next to you, scooting it closer. “Look…you don’t know any of us. Not really. We can have a big trauma dump sharing session later, if you want, when they all get here so you’ll see how truly fucked up we all are. I don’t think it will take long for you to see…you’ll quickly understand how much you’ll fit in here. That is if you want to stay. We’re offering a place for you here because we can. Like Bob said, you’re one of us. Besides, Valentina can afford it. She has no say in who we invite. We help who we want to help. So, it’s up to you.”
She held out the bottle of pills to you and slowly you reached out to take them.
You held Yelena’s gaze a moment, then Ava’s and she smiled a tad. Even finally catching Walker’s eye was met with a nod. Bob’s expression was one of hope. You wanted that hope. Maybe it could be contagious. It was crazy. These heroes offering to take you in, a complete stranger. Even a possible danger to them. And yet…
“Okay. I’ll stay for a bit,” you conceded with a nod.
Bob’s sweet face stretched into a full-on, wide, toothy smile and god, if that wasn’t the most beautiful sight. And maybe one that you could get used to, given the chance. Only time will tell.
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Chapter Three>>>Coming soon!
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Woof. That was a lot, right? Kinda dark. How sweet is protective Bob, though??? 🥹 My heart!! I'm a slut for "forced" proximity so yeah she conveniently needed to stay with him. We'll see what happens. 👀 I'm excited to see their relationship evolve! I hope you are, too. Thank you to those who have taken the time to comment, reply, leave kudos, etc. I really appreciate you. ❤️
If you'd like to keep up with this story, follow my reblog-only account @aoyhfic-reblogs and turn on notifications. You can also follow me on AO3 or Wattpad, if you'd prefer. Any feedback is appreciated.
Tag list is closed. If you'd like to be removed, please let me know.
Summary: A spontaneous moment of breaking and entering at the newly-inhabited Watchtower leads to a chance encounter between yourself and a mysterious man named Bob. One touch and he knows your darkest secret, but instead of turning you in, Bob claims you're "one of us". Can the uncontrollable power within you help you find where you truly belong, and along the way, perhaps lead you to the love of your life?
Warnings: child abuse, SA (vague mention), mention of self harm and food insecurity. Drug use. Mental illness. Homelessness. Eventual smut.
Song Inspiration: The Red by Chevelle
Author’s note: Holy shit, I’m just as surprised as anyone that the inspiration came and I grabbed hold of it with enough motivation to write it. 😅 I’m so stoked about this series. Thunderbolts has fueled my previously dormant Marvel love exponentially. And my newly discovered love for a character named Bob. I hope you’ll love him in this story like I do.
How to be notified of new chapters:
-- Follow me on AO3 and bookmark if you like what you read
-- Follow me on Wattpad or bookmark I guess? I forget. 😅
-- Follow my reblog only account here on Tumblr @aoyhfic-reblogs and turn on notifications (I will only reblog new chapters there once)
I'll be posting here on Tumblr first, since I can schedule those beforehand. Posting to AO3 and Wattpad usually happens same day but later on.
I do have an ancient Marvel tag list that I might add on here just so my peeps know I'm not dead. 🤪 And surprise! I'm writing again. I will not be adding to that tag list, however, Only those listed above are ways of notification.
I'm super excited about this story and I'm nervous/excited about posting fan fiction again cause it's been a whiiiiiile and I feel like things have shifted in a lot of ways. I dunno.
Please let me know if this character and/or this story piques your interest and once I start posting it, comments and feedback are very much appreciated. 😅 Also I have a Lewis Pullman-centric sideblog cause I'm OBSESSED so if you wanna freak out with me gimme a follow at @lewis-bob-rhett 🤓
To my OG Marvel friends, if you've stuck it out with me, thank you. I adore you. If I've tagged you and you do not wish to continue to be tagged, please let me know. Also let me know if your username has changed.
The mate of the Luna, the one true moon princess, is the Alpha and everyone knows it will be Kim Namjoon... Except it isn’t. When the ritual is complete, the moon princess kneels before Park Jimin and upends her pack’s predictable hierarchy.
MINORS DO NOT INTERACT. MINORS PROHIBITED. I DO NOT CONSENT TO ANY INTERACTIONS WITH PERSONS UNDER THE AGE OF 18. NO EXCEPTIONS.
series ◐ masterlist
PART I: The Alpha
PART ll: The Challenge
PART lll: The Terms
Part lV: The Secret
Part V: The Champion
Part VI: The Praetor
Part VII: The Luna
Part VIII: The Kiss
Part IX: The King
Part X: The Revelations
Part XI: The Claiming
Part XII: The Legend
◐ notes ◐
These are little “notes” about the characters and the universe. Includes things like “ask my muse/ask my characters” and other interesting tidbits and perspectives on the world of The Alpha.
The Throne
How Wolves Age
About the Change
Clans in The Alpha
Shifting Mechanics
Bangtan Formation
About Lunas (Part 2)
The World of The Alpha
Kim Seokjin: Male Omega
Jimin’s “Prior Experience”
Namjoon and Yunli (Part 2)
Yoonji and Taehyung (Part 2)
How the Alpha Command Works
The Role of Omegas in Wolf Society
Titles and Roles in The Alpha (Part 2)
On Betas + Jimin/Joon Family History
Wanna Know Why Jimin is The Alpha?
How Jimin and the Luna Smell to Each Other
Why Did the Pack Underestimate a Silver Wolf?
Pack Social Structure and the Alpha Command
Mates, Customs, and Wolf Relationships (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6)
How Jin’s Male Omega Pheromones Work (and Why TaeYoonKook Were Unaffected in That Scene)
What the Members Look Like (Human Form) in the Alpha Universe
Wolf Forms of Jimin and the Luna Wolf Forms of All Characters
Beautiful Drawing of the Characters in their Wolf Forms by Little Hummingbird Luna and Silver
Fabulous Alpha Inspired Nail Art by Bells
Gorgeous Moodboard by mikrokosm
Gorgeous Moodboard by eugeneflakey
Gorgeous Moodboards by claude-y
2nd Gorgeous Moodboard by mikrokosm
3rd Gorgeous Moodboard by mikrokosm based on Chapter VII: The Luna
Gorgeous Yunli and Namjoon Moodboard by thislilbabyisafreak
SEBASTIAN STAN as JAMES "BUCKY" BARNES (and his killing close-ups)
THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER (2021), dir. KARI SKOGLAND
1x04 "The Whole World is Watching"
can’t stop thinking about husband!yoongi who also happens to be a ceo, the very reason why he has the ability to spoil you rotten whenever he wants to.
“yoongi, come on!” you call out to your husband, seeing him still sitting on a chair while you’ve been here in the pool for a considerably long time now, expecting that he was going to join you shortly after like he said earlier.
however, it’s been roughly ten minutes now and he’s stuck there on his patio chair, scrolling through his phone and enjoying the bottle of wine he opened before you dipped yourself in the water.
“i change my mind,” he says, a bit sheepish. “the water looks cold, babe. i don’t think i want to.”
you roll your eyes, swimming closer to him. “then why did you even book us a suite with a private pool?”
“because i know you’d love it.” he smiles. “and also because i was expecting we’d swim in the daytime.”
“what’s the fun in that?”
“uh, perhaps, feeling fresh and cool and—”
“babe,” you cut him off, leaning now on the edge of the pool, “just join me.”
“yes, ma’am.”
you laugh as you see him hesitantly standing up and taking his shirt off, soon going to the steps of the pool where it leads him deeper and where you’re already waiting for him as well.
yoongi childishly holds out his hand to you, which you take with a laugh, helping him to fully sink himself in the water.
“fuck, it’s cold,” he says with a grimace and a shiver, something that makes you grin, immediately putting your arms on his neck and wrapping your legs around his waist once he goes closer.
“you’re so dramatic.”
“it is, though. look, i have goosebumps.” he raises his arm and you glance at it, snorting.
“okay, point proven, big baby.”
yoongi looks at you and breaks off into a big smile, chuckling and encircling his arms on your waist, giving your lips a quick kiss.
“enjoying this trip so far?”
“yup.” you nod.
“good.”
the both of you kiss again, this time much longer now, with yoongi angling his face to the side so he can do it better, one hand resting on your cheek, his thumb lightly rubbing against it.
you can feel your heartbeat escalating at just the feel of him this near, your skin touching and bringing a little warmth in the cold water. it makes yoongi think that he should have just done this much earlier rather than prolonging it from happening because of his laziness at the thought of taking a shower after this.
“thanks for bringing me here,” you murmur against his mouth, your own curving up in a smile. “i never thought we’d actually go overseas for our anniversary.”
“it’s not like we haven’t done it before.” his hold on you tightens as you place little kisses on his jaw down to his neck, eventually settling on leaning your head on his shoulder. “besides, i think i need to make up for the fact i forgot last year’s anniversary.”
you laugh at the memory. “it’s okay. you already told me that you forgot it because our wedding date and the day we started dating confused you. plus, you took me to that restaurant i love.”
“still though… the first year is supposed to be memorable.”
“no, it isn’t. the first year’s supposed to be the hardest.” you pull back to smile at him. “so, you get a pass.”
“thank god,” he jokes and chuckles, you doing the same.
“but seriously, yoon,” you play with the hair on the back of his head, gazing at his eyes, “thank you. you always go ahead of yourself just to do things for me—to make me happy, you know?”
“why are you thanking me? it’s what i’m supposed to do.”
“no. you could have been a shitty boyfriend, and then a shitty husband but... you’re just the best. you’ve given me everything i could possibly want and been the man i needed. i’m so lucky to have you.”
yoongi gazes at you in absolute awe, that amazing feeling again spreading in his chest and making him feel all giddy and happy.
he wasn’t lying when he said that thanking him wasn’t needed, but the acknowledgement and the appreciation you’re showing surely makes him pleased, heart getting bigger because of it.
“you’re drunk, aren’t you?” he nevertheless asks though, teasing and taking the opportunity of you being lovey-dovey, that you hit his bare chest without hesitation.
“i’m serious,” you whine.
“i know, baby, which makes me glad. but it’s only what you deserve, okay? the reason why i’m doing this, i mean. you’ve been there for me too—when i was in the worst place, when the company almost went bankrupt… you were the one who picked me up to my feet, loved me unconditionally. so… let’s be real. i’m the real lucky one here.”
you smirk, fondly staring at every feature he has on his face, smiling wide. “are we just going to start saying our vows again?”
he snorts. “says the woman who started being sappy.”
“do you want me to apologize for letting my husband know i love him?”
“no,” he shakes his head, not helping himself as he leans closer to you so that he can place his lips over yours again, “i love it when you say that you love me.”
“and i really do, you know. i’ll never get tired saying how much i love you so much,” you agree almost immediately, melting into the kiss again.
he hums contently, caressing your sides. “i love you too, baby. you’re the reason why i thank the heavens for being alive every single day.”
under the stars and the moon that night, until the moment the two of you decide to take that intimate moment right there inside, it feels like a second honeymoon with yoongi.
you know he’s a busy man, a workaholic—and yet the fact that he can spare this much time for you to make you feel loved on the very same day you got married, makes you think all over again how fortunate you are to be with someone like him who works hard for you both but never forgets to cherish you.
➬ Summary | You have no idea how you ended up here. It all started with an innocent date, which escalates into something more. Something that is not quite so innocent. But he gladly follows your lead, always ready to give you everything that he could offer, knowing that—deep down—this is exactly what you wanted all along.
➬ Title | What You Wanted
➬ Pairing | Kim Hanbin (B.I.) x reader
➬ Genre | Smut, PWP(?), Virgin!reader, Boyfriend!Hanbin, First Time
➬ Word count | 10,060 words
➬ Ratings & Warning | 18+/Mature; a bit of a plot if you squint, explicit sexual scenes, including: soft dom Hanbin, shy reader, dirty talk, swearing, stripping, kissing (lots of them) and making out, dry humping, groping, grinding, manhandling (kind of lol), finger sucking, fingering (female recipient)/finger fucking, hand job, long foreplay, breast play, nipple play, biting, pinching, first time sex, praise/praise kink, protected sex, minor aftercare, post-coital cuddling
PSA: @maddiekookmin on Wattpad has stolen one of my fics, Make an Offer specifically, and uploaded it to their Jimin series, pretending that it’s theirs!
They shamelessly copied everything word for word, even my author’s note at the beginning. There’s also other fics listed in this ‘series’ that I suspect to be stolen as well (at least one has been confirmed by a mutual).
Please look through this list and see if anything is familiar to you and inform the original writers so we can get this sorted out.
I’ve left a comment on their page calling them out for the theft, now we have to wait and see if they’ll do the right thing or if I’ll have to take matters into my own hands.
Here’s the link for their series, do NOT harass them, just simply point out that this is not their original fic.
you’ve co-hosted a podcast with namjoon for three years; have known him even longer. the two of you have always been the picture of platonic, but that hasn’t stopped the internet from doing what the internet does. the shipping? a little weird at first, but you can understand it: two attractive twenty-somethings always in close proximity to one another, obvious (platonic!) chemistry—people have created ships for less. the fanfiction, though? also pretty funny… until you can’t stop thinking about it. 🎙️
pairing: namjoon x f. reader
genre: podcast, friends to lovers au; crack, smut, fluff
rating: explicit. minors do not interact.
warnings: parasocial relationships galore, a m*n with a p*dcast, author abuses italics, swearing, alcohol, reader uses a pseudonym/nickname (piper) because writing the meta fanfiction scene would've been too weird without one and i refuse to use y/n, dialogue-heavy but it is a fic about a podcast, everyone is down horrendous, mentions of social media & fake r*ddit posts, ex-boyfriend yoongi but in a good, healthy way. let me know if i missed anything but mostly this is just two goofballs not realizing they're in love with one another.
smut warnings: kissing, oral sex (f. receiving), fingering, unprotected vaginal sex (fiction), protected vaginal sex (nonfiction), a lil squirting, mild degradation, mentions of a p*ss kink but there is no actual pee i promise (...lest?), i didn't intend to write size kink but it's namjoon so it just showed up anyway, slight dom!joon, everyone orgasms.
wordcount: 17.5k
credits: this was entirely inspired by that one episode of the basement yard where frankie reads the smut fic of him and joe, so credits to both that author and that podcast. spotify, for their podcast name generator. astro-seek for helping me drag namjoon astrologically. an extra special, gigantic thanks to @effortandmore for writing the meta fanfic (3k of it, no less!) and not batting an eye when i said it could have pee in it as a joke. this is as much yours as it is mine. finally, @hot-soop and @the-boy-meets-evil for reading this over for me and telling me i'm funny.
author's note: happy birthday, indigo! here i am to validate every fear you've ever had that the people you write porn about may one day read it. live and on air. :)
You’ve co-hosted a podcast with Namjoon for three years.
You can learn a lot about a guy in that amount of time.
None of it is especially salacious. You know all about his family and his dog and the brand of recycled paper towels he insists on buying in bulk. You know what he’d written his grad school thesis on and what he’d looked like in the thick of it, when he was staving off his fifth mental break of the week. You know how fidgety he gets when it’s closing in on Friday night and he’s got a date—how much he stresses over which restaurant to pick, which cologne, which expensive cashmere sweater to wear.
You also know what the internet thinks about him. Intimately.
Kim Namjoon, according to the internet, is peak husband material. He has cheeks ripe for pinching and thighs small countries would go to war to defend. He has a lap that doubles as a seat and dimples people want to get baptized in. He has Instagram selfies with hundreds of thousands of likes and comment sections full of intelligible keysmashes, especially the ones he posts from the gym.
Kim Namjoon, according to the internet, is a man written by a woman.
Looking at him now, you aren’t sure that’s true, you think people just need to raise their standards. Namjoon is just… Namjoon. He’s intelligent and kind and up to date on modern feminist theory, is all. And, sure, maybe in the current political landscape that puts him far above the rest of men, but the way the internet has latched onto him is a little concerning.
“There’s another post about whether or not we’re dating,” you say, pushing your glasses up the bridge of your nose.
sooo let’s be real here, we ALL think they’re dating, right??
Posted by u/pod-shipper 2 hours ago
Just like he always does, Namjoon huffs out a soft laugh, makes his way around to your side of the table. Puts his large hands on your shoulders as he leans in close to read from your screen, snorting every time he reads a sentence he finds particularly amusing. Whichever cologne he’d chosen this morning is, admittedly, very nice.
It’s sooo obvious, especially in the episodes they film and post on YouTube. The way they look at each other?? I don’t even look at my HUSBAND like that! (+1264)
↳ omg ur sooooo right! i could MAYBE buy that they aren’t full on dating, but they’ve def at least slept together. Namjoon is so 🔥🔥🔥 (+791)
↳ um how can namjoon be dating her when he’s already married to me 😌💅 (+3)
↳ For the millionth time, can we not speculate on their personal lives? This is weird and reinforces really harmful ideas that men and women can’t just be friends. (-51)
“How come they never talk about how hot you are?”
You can tell by the look on Namjoon’s face that he hadn’t meant to say that—or, if he did, he didn’t mean to say it like that, with an entire pout, eyebrows raised nearly to his hairline. “Cursed to be ugly and dumb,” you joke to ease the sudden tension, reading the comment that simply says you’d have to be the dumbest person alive to not sleep with Namjoon.
He scrunches his nose at that. Returns to his side of the table. “Yeah, I don’t think so, lots of people haven’t slept with me.” Starts to unpack all the gear from his bag before he says, “Hey, all that stuff—does it bother you?”
“What do you mean?” you answer, the corner of a protein bar stuck in your mouth. Namjoon always insists on recording at the most inconvenient times.
“People thinking we’re together,” he clarifies.
You shrug. “I dunno. Not really. Comes with the territory, I think, not to mention how much you love to overshare—”
“Hello?”
“I’m just saying,” you retort, hands raised in self-defense. “There really was no need for you to mention you blew your grad school stipend on a porn scam.” Namjoon looks affronted, like he can’t believe you’d stoop so low as to bring that up. “Or that you lost your virginity at fifteen.”
“We have a relationship podcast,” he states simply. “That’s kind of what we do, right? Talk about relationships? And the spectrum of human sexuality is part of that.”
You slump back in your chair as you quirk an eyebrow. “No one said it wasn’t, I just said you overshare. Which you do.”
“And that’s why there’s a dozen Reddit posts a week discussing whether or not we’re dating? Because I overshare?”
“Yeah, exactly. That’s the kind of behavior that leads to parasocial relationships. People latch onto that shit. Makes them think they’re your friend.” He glares. “Don’t give me that look, you know I’m right. It’s bad enough you’ve word-vomited all this highly personal information about yourself, but to not even do it under a pseudonym? It’s like you’re begging for trouble.”
Another comment he doesn’t even realize he’s making: “I don’t beg. For anything.”
To this day, you’re not sure why Namjoon asked you to co-host a podcast with him.
His reasoning had been simple: “You’re my best friend and we don’t agree on anything.” Hard to argue with that. Namjoon has seemingly endless patience, even in the face of things he shouldn’t entertain, and you… do not, to put it simply.
You’re not a cold person. Your fuse isn’t short. You’re just a little jaded, is all. Have far less propensity for bullshit than Namjoon does, so the two of you play well off each other. You end a sentence with a well-punctuated full stop and Namjoon’s right behind you to sigh and say maybe you shouldn’t be so hasty, not everything in the world can be so black or white.
Except some things are. Somewhere along the way, the podcast—which Namjoon had affectionately named Place Him Gently in the Garbage, even though some people should be shoved in there with force—had picked up a following. A big one. And now, every week, you’re inundated with emails ranging in severity. Sometimes people just want to vent after their tenth bad date in a row or share funny stories, and Namjoon lets you take the lead on those, but sometimes it’s a little more serious. That’s where Namjoon shines, all that endless patience, and people love him for it.
“What’s on the agenda today?” he asks, accepting a thick stack of papers from Jungkook.
Ah, Jungkook.
You aren’t sure what he actually does. Some kind of social media manager, which is obvious from the wildly out-of-context clips he posts of you to TikTok, and it’s his responsibility to go through the thousands of emails you get from listeners, but aside from that all you’ve got are your suspicions that he just sticks around to swindle Namjoon out of more and more money.
“I’m in a silly goofy mood,” comes Jungkook’s reply, and you let out a witch cackle as Namjoon winces. Nothing good ever comes of Jungkook being in a silly goofy mood, and that’s quite alright by you.
Fifteen minutes later finds you with a camera in your face that you greet with an unamused, flat stare. Jungkook is used to it by now. Just films for a few seconds before turning his attention to an unaware Namjoon. Head down, pen and highlighter going a mile a minute as he pores over the stack of papers with all the doggedness and eagle-eyed stare of a literature professor.
That’s the thing about Namjoon—he takes this really seriously. So do you, but not in the ways Namjoon does. He’s all skill and determination and you’re color commentary. It works. It clearly works, so you aren’t too bent out of shape about it, but sometimes you worry. Namjoon takes this really seriously and sometimes you worry that he takes it too seriously, that he carries the burdens and worries of all these strangers, that he’s trying to solve and fix things that aren’t his responsibility to solve and fix.
So he takes it really seriously and you don’t take it as seriously as you maybe should, and everything is by design. Balanced.
Twenty minutes later finds you staring across the table at Namjoon, who asks, “Are you ready?” and does one last equipment check before he launches into, “Welcome back to another episode of Place Him Gently in the Garbage with Namjoon and Piper. What’s new with you, Pipe? Any fun news?”
Pipe. It drives you nuts. Feels like nails on a chalkboard. “I see you almost every single day,” you respond dryly. “But for the sake of entertainment, I’m thinking about getting a cat.”
“A cat?” Namjoon parrots, and his eyebrows disappear beneath his fringe because he knows what that means.
You’ve co-hosted a podcast with Namjoon for three years, but you’ve known him even longer.
Since your first year of college, which is also when you met Yoongi. Yoongi, your ex. Yoongi, the person you’d been with for six years and had planned a life around. Yoongi, now one of your closest friends, because the two of you still love one another but no longer in that way, which is fine. But also—Yoongi, allergic to cats.
So, yeah. Namjoon knows what that means, and he has the good sense not to mention it. Unlike him, you’re intensely private and keep your cards close to your chest. Your listeners don’t even know your real name, let alone that you’d gone through a breakup a year ago.
“What kind of cat?” he continues, like his entire world hasn’t just been turned upside-down.
You shrug. “Eh, I don’t know. Probably one that’s been in the shelter a long time, I guess. I’m not too fussy, you know?”
“Right, a cat is a cat,” Namjoon says, thinking he’s done something. You and Jungkook gasp at the same time. “What? Why are you giving me that look?”
“Because that’s a fucked up thing to say! A cat is not just a cat. They have little personalities, just like people. You’ve got—”
“But you just said you’re not fussy,” he interjects. “And I know they have personalities and that you have to find one that suits your lifestyle! Like, you can’t have one of those really cool cats that likes to go kayaking and shit, it’d never work—”
“What does that mean? Why couldn’t I have a cool cat?”
“Hey, all you cool cats and kittens,” Namjoon mocks, and you can tell he thinks he’s done something again, but his impression falls flatter than flat. An awkward silence fills the studio. He coughs. “Anyway. Do you have pictures?”
“Yeah. I also have a list of candidates ranked by how cool their names are. Number five, Casserole.”
“That’s cute.”
“Mhm,” you agree, “but Casserole is a kitten, and I’m not sure I’m ready for that kind of responsibility.”
“They do say you should adopt kittens in pairs.”
“And that’s how they get you. You want one kitten and they talk you into two, and before you know it you’ve got, like, twelve cats. Number four, Party Girl.”
“Sick name.”
“Number three, Toddler.”
“Toddler?”
“Number two, Flat.”
“Just Flat? Understandable.”
“And, finally, number one: Human Torch.”
“Yoooo.” Namjoon laughs. “You have to adopt Human Torch. Let me see.” You pull up a picture on your phone and hand it over. “Okay, for our listeners—Human Torch is a young, male Domestic Short Hair. He has stripes. I don’t know what that’s called.”
“Tabby,” Jungkook chimes in.
“Jungkook says he’s a tabby. He’s cute. Adopt him.”
You return your phone to your pocket. “Maybe. I still think I want an older cat, but I’ll consider it. What about you, though? Any new dating horror stories to share?”
Ah, the dating horror stories. Your most dedicated shippers are convinced they’re fake, that Namjoon just makes them up on the spot to keep them off your trail. If only. Not in the if only they were fake and Namjoon and I were actually dating kind of way, but the holy shit one of my closest friends is a fucking disaster and it’s a little embarrassing kind of way.
“Not really,” he answers. “I’ve got a date this Friday, though. Trying to decide if dinner and a movie is too boring.”
“It’s a classic for a reason. What are you gonna see, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3?”
“Three?” Namjoon emphasizes, truly sounding scandalized. “Since when are there three? I haven’t even seen one or two.”
“Okay, first of all, the original is a classic and it’s a crime you haven’t seen it.”
“And second of all?”
“There is no second of all. Repeat point one.”
He snorts. “I’m not gonna see that, anyway. Maybe the re-release of Howl’s Moving Castle.”
“Subbed or dubbed, though?”
“Are you trying to get me canceled?”
“Absolutely.”
“I like both,” he chickens out. “Now, let’s stop wasting time and get to the point of the show.”
“Talking about cats is a waste of time?”
“I—no, we’ve just got a lot on the agenda today.”
“Like what?”
“Well, there’s lots to talk about on the celebrity front—”
Namjoon loves this part. As esteemed and educated as he is, not even he is immune to good old celebrity gossip. (Inside him there are two wolves.) Lives for it. Texts you about it at all hours of the night. Sends you links to Reddit threads with hundreds of comments. Has more opinions on Celebrity Big Brother than he does on Ludwig Wittgenstein, sometimes, and when that’s the case you know you’re in for a long evening. You’ve never even seen an episode of Celebrity Big Brother.
But Namjoon loves it, so you’ve become fond of it by association. Reminds you a bit of Yoongi and his love for sports and sports anime.
“—one should we start with?”
“Whatever you want,” you answer, because you haven’t been paying a lick of attention and you aren’t sure it matters anyway. Namjoon can talk to a wall on a good day, but he’s an entirely different beast once mundane, innocuous celeb gossip gets involved.
And even though you hadn’t been paying attention, it seems like this was the right thing to say, because Namjoon smiles so wide his dimples crater his face. “Cool. Let’s start with Taryn Manning. Did you see that bizarre—”
“Who?”
“What?”
“Who is Taryn Manning?”
Namjoon looks a little dumbstruck. Even Jungkook’s arching an eyebrow at you. “Are you serious? She was in Orange is the New Black and Crossroads.”
“The Britney Spears movie?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh. Weird, okay. Continue.”
Your co-host shoots you a very pointed look. “I will, thanks. Anyway, she posted a video on social media talking about this affair she had with a married man. Like, she pulled over on the side of the road to record this. Said she can’t stand the man’s wife because she called her a quote-unquote lunatic.”
“I—huh, thought we weren’t supposed to say that anymore. Alright.”
“But wait, it gets even more bizarre. Listen to this quote—and this is direct. This is a direct quote from the video, I can’t stop thinking about it: ‘Don’t you ever threaten me when your husband came to me to get his butthole licked.’ Can you—”
“What? Namjoon, what in the fuck—”
“It’s crazy, right? She was gonna buy this guy a boat.”
“Namjoon, this is a family show, you can’t just talk about ass-eating unprompted.”
“No it’s not.”
“Well, you still shouldn’t talk about ass-eating unprompted. It’s unbecoming.”
“You’re unbecoming,” Namjoon fires back, because he can’t help it. The words are out of his mouth before he can think. “Sorry, that was out of line.”
You sigh. Know whatever look Jungkook is catching on his camera right now is exasperated and pointed, the corners of your mouth probably tugged up just a hint. “Unbecoming, like I said.” Namjoon scoffs. “Anyway, so this actress was gonna buy this married guy a boat and was eating his ass?”
“Yeah. Apparently it was her friend’s husband? They all went to a Taylor Swift concert together.”
“Jesus, this keeps getting worse. Big year for Hollywood cheaters.”
“It is, right? Cheaters and divorces. Something in the water, I guess.”
“I saw the astrology girlies saying a bunch of planets are in retrograde, so—”
“Can you explain that to me? Like, what does it mean for a planet to be in retrograde? Why is it causing divorces?”
“I don’t know, I’m not an astrology girlie. That’s why I said the astrology girlies. What are your big three, though?”
“What’s that?”
“Your sun, moon, and rising signs.”
“How do I find that out?”
“Ugh,” you intone, “don’t worry about it, I’ll do it myself. What time were you born?”
Namjoon rattles off a time.
You grab your laptop. Pull up the page, type in Namjoon’s date of birth and birthplace, and wait. Then you’re staring at a circle with a bunch of lines in it that also don’t make a lick of sense to you. You roll your lips to keep from laughing and school your voice into something deadly serious. “Bad news: it says you’re a virgin.”
“Virgo,” Namjoon corrects, not taking the bait. “I already knew that.”
You scroll a little further down the page. “Your moon is in Sagittarius. Oh god, listen to this, they’ve got you pegged: ‘The greatest need is to always search for something. In order to feel safe you need a philosophy or belief’—”
“Haaa, that’s not—”
“—’You need to have a goal or mission that gives your life meaning. Your faith must be voluntary and it is a paradox that fighting against dogmas may lead you to other dogmas.’ Yeah, that’s you.”
“That could apply to anyone,” he argues. “There are seven-billion people on this planet; I’d imagine a sizable amount of them would say that also describes them.”
“Hm, sounds like your faith in astrology is not yet voluntary. Did you know you’re a Scorpio rising?”
“No. I’m sure you’re gonna tell me all about it, though.”
You smile. “Correct. ‘People with Scorpio on the Ascendant need to fight against dark and destructive power in their life.’ Is that true?”
“Yeah, you’re the dark and destructive power. You keep sidetracking me and we need to get to the point of the podcast.” He grabs the stack of papers Jungkook had given him. Looks more highlighter than paper, if you’re being honest. “I guess Jungkook thought we needed a lighthearted kind of day.”
“That was nice of him, considering what he gave us last week. I guess we’re allowed to have faith in humanity today.”
To your left, Jungkook scoffs.
“Alright,” Namjoon starts, putting on his Very Serious Podcast Guy voice, “first up we’ve got a question from one of our listeners in Canada. It says, ‘Hi, Piper and Namjoon. I recently agreed to go on a blind date with a friend of a friend. She said he was a bit old-fashioned but really talked him up so I thought I was in good hands—and then he showed up to get me in a ‘67 GTO and exclusively referred to me as doll. He didn’t use my name once. I’m torn, because he was really nice and I had a good time otherwise, but this is weird, right? Should I see him agai—’”
“No,” you interject.
“Can I finish?”
“You don’t have to. This guy sounds greasy.”
Namjoon pinches the bridge of his nose. “And why is that?”
“Ignoring the fact that this guy has arguably one of the lamest classic cars around, he didn’t use their name once? Not once, in all the time they spent together? That’s really disrespectful.”
“Some people are just pet name people,” Namjoon argues.
“With absolute strangers, though? It’s really giving the impression that he didn’t even know it, not to mention some people are uncomfortable with pet names. The whole shtick is super lame.”
“I agree it sounds a bit misguided, but—”
Ignoring Namjoon, you say, “Sorry you had to go on a date with the ghost of less-cool James Dean. Into the garbage he goes.”
And, just like he’s done a million times before, Namjoon rolls his eyes and says, “If you really like this guy and want to see him again, a bit of communication will go a long way. Tell him the pet name made you uncomfortable—if it did—and offer to pick him up for the next date. I don’t think he’s completely destined for the garbage, yet.”
“You’re just saying that because you don’t have a license. You probably think a 1967 Pontiac GTO is the pinnacle of romance. That’s probably like picking someone up on a Specialized Aethos to you, eh?”
“That’s a fifteen-thousand dollar bike, I’ll have you know.”
You groan. “Oh my god.”
Ep: #183 - Namjoon is a Virgin
I think Namjoon had the right idea on this one. Sure, the car can be considered lame, but I think a lot of men are deeply insecure and therefore overcompensate when it comes to dating. Women are hard to impress when they have unlimited options. You have to stand out, so I’m glad he advocated for him. Piper can come off like such a misandrist sometimes. (-649)
↳ just shut up bro namjoon would fuckin hate u (+204)
↳ Imagine caring about something like this when they’re getting a cat together 🙄 (+19)
You think about the cat thing for nearly a week.
Adopting a cat is certainly not the worst idea you’ve ever had, and truth be told it’s been a little lonely, living by yourself. No more Yoongi in your space; no more Holly. So, having a new little friend around might do you some good.
It’s just—
It’s a big commitment, and there’s also the dog sitting-shaped elephant in the room. Ending things on good terms means you’re still Yoongi’s second-choice sitter whenever he has to go out of town, and while you love Holly dearly (the two of you had adopted him together, after all), he’s a lot like his father in a lot of ways.
Should I get a cat, you type out, and it’s only been in Yoongi’s inbox a few seconds before the most unflattering picture you’ve ever taken of him is flashing across your screen.
“Are you dying?” you ask, because Yoongi doesn’t call you for much else.
And you already know what his response is going to be. “We’re all dying.”
“Lighten up, Yoongi. One might say being so existentially nihilistic before noon causes wrinkles.”
There’s a split-second pause. “It’s nine p.m.”
“Sure, but it’s before tomorrow’s noon, so it still counts.”
“Whatever. Listen, before you adopt that cat, I need a favor.”
“You going out of town again?”
“Yeah. Shouldn’t be long, though. A week at the most, five days if I’m lucky.”
“That’s fine, bring him over whenever. Yijeong’s busy?”
This pause is far, far longer. “No,” comes Yoongi’s eventual response, but it’s slow. Unsure. A two-letter word has never taken so long to say in the history of ever. “He’s, uh. Coming with me?”
Oh, you think. This is where your ex awkwardly and hesitantly breaks the news of his new relationship. You’ve known this day was coming, and this is what you get for staying friends with him. “This is a fanfiction plot,” you accuse. “Hot, mysterious man moves into a gaudy apartment complex after ending a long-term relationship and meets his equally-hot and mysterious neighbor and they fall in love.”
“I—that’s not—my apartment is not gaudy.”
“Yes it is. There’s a giant gold bust of a weird bird in the lobby.”
“Weird bird?” he parrots. “It’s a swan.”
“I see you’re not denying the in-love-with-your-neighbor accusations.”
“Am I on trial?” Yoongi retorts, and it’s such a Yoongi thing to say when what he means is, is this okay? He means, are we able to talk about this without it being weird? He means, I won’t ever say as much out loud, but your acceptance means a lot to me, and I’d like for you to give me this.
So you lower your voice and soften the edges because it’s not really something to joke about, and you say, “No, of course you’re not on trial,” and Yoongi knows what you mean. “And if you were, you'd get locked up for fifty years. You can’t lie for shit.”
There’s a beat of silence before he clears his throat, mutters a thanks that is so quiet you almost don’t catch it. “Send me pictures of the cats.”
Later on, once you’re freshly-showered and tucked into bed with a candle and a book (Eloge de l’amour by Alain Badiou at Namjoon’s insistence and request), your phone buzzes with a text from Yoongi—
Yoongi: toddler is a fucking hilarious name for a cat but so is flat
Yoongi: it’s a tie for me
You: Okay well pick one 🙄
Yoongi: yijeong says get both
You: Both???? Is he paying my vet bills?
Yoongi: kinda out of line to proposition him for money. flat is also good with dogs, js
You: If he’s now being raised by you two, my perfect, well-behaved son is probably long gone. Does he even count as a dog anymore?
Yoongi: me and yijeong both say fuck off
Yoongi: holly too. he says he doesn’t miss you anymore and he’s not coming over now
Yoongi has added Yijeong to the group
Yoongi has changed the group name to #ThirdWheelChat
Yijeong: Please don’t drag me into this. Also I did not say “fuck off”
You have changed the group name to People Who Have Seen Yoongi Naked
Yoongi: fuck you
You should’ve known something was going on with Jungkook, because it’d started like this:
(When you and Namjoon started the podcast three years ago, it was in the living room of his apartment.
Surrounded by books and plants. He loved to record in the afternoons back then—Namjoon loved to say it was because of his grad school schedule, but you’ve always suspected he just wanted to preen in the golden hour light, much like he’s doing now.
“Is this really necessary?” Jungkook whines from his spot on the couch. He’s already swindled Namjoon out of two bags of microwavable popcorn and three cans of sparkling water. “It’s a Saturday afternoon; I could be doing something so much more fun than this.”
Namjoon scoffs. “Are you saying this isn’t fun?”
“Yeah. It sucks, actually. This could’ve been an email.”
And because Namjoon is accomplished, mature, and absolutely incapable of not taking Jungkook’s bait, the space between his brows creases as he sends a murderous glare Jungkook’s way. “Stop eating my food, then. And drinking my drinks. And lounging on my couch like that—”
“I’m not lounging,” Jungkook argues.
“You’re manspreading all over the leather!”
“This is how I sit!”
“Well, knock it off! My couch is only for fun and people who think I’m fun!”
Jungkook rolls his eyes. “So you fuck on it?”
“What?”
“What other fun things could you possibly do on a couch?”
Namjoon blinks. “Watch… watch a movie?”
Jungkook groans, throws himself backwards against the pillows as if he’s suffering a Victorian ailment. “Jesus. No wonder you can’t score a second date.”
“Okay, that was a little uncalled for. There are a ton of reasons a person might not want a second date, and no one is obligated to go out with me—”
“Uh-huh. Anyway—”
You clear your throat. Try to hide your own can of seltzer you’d taken from Namjoon’s fridge in the midst of his and Jungkook’s bickering. “Not trying to be rude, but I have an appointment at the shelter at three. If, y’know. You wouldn’t mind speeding this up a little.”
“Oh! Yeah, of course—”
“Oh, so you’ll speed this up for her but not—”
Namjoon pinches the bridge of his nose. “She,” he begins, jerking his thumb in your direction, “isn’t needlessly complaining and actually has someplace to be.”)
It was just a quick little rendezvous in Namjoon’s living room to come up with a rough draft for the following month’s episodes. He couldn’t do it over text because he’d fallen down the steps at his office and landed on his ass on the corner of a step and his phone had been in his back pocket. Cracked clean in half. And he couldn’t do it over email because he—rightfully—knew Jungkook would ignore them because he has his inbox set up to send all of Namjoon’s personal emails to the trash.
But Jungkook holds onto things like that. Grudges. Loves to let Namjoon think bygones are bygones and pop up a few days later with some evil scheme. Hence:
“What is this?”
Jungkook smirks. Rocks back on his heels. “It’s fanfiction.”
“I can see that, but… why?”
This is where Jungkook shines: the ominous, cheshire cat grin; the aw, shucks demeanor that gaslights Namjoon into thinking Jungkook couldn’t possibly be fucking with him. “Well, you were having trouble coming up with ideas for episodes, and there’s an email in there from someone whose partner reads really expli—”
“Jungkook, this is fanfiction about me.”
You can’t help the laugh that escapes you. Of all the weird shit you’ve seen on the internet (and there’s been a lot), fanfiction of people you know—your friends—was something you’d managed to escape. Probably by virtue of not knowing anyone famous enough to warrant fanfiction being written about them.
But you should’ve known. You really, really should’ve known.
“Oh my god?”
You’re not sure who says it. Could be you or Namjoon, but the sentiment is the same. He mouths a what the fuck at you that’s met with a shrug. You’re in uncharted territory now, too. “Where did you even find this?” you ask, taking the stack of papers from Namjoon. “And why did you print it out?”
“Because I’m going to track down whoever wrote it and get them to autograph it. Then I’m going to buy a nice frame and hang it on the wall behind him, so we never forget this historical moment in Place Him Gently in the Garbage lore.”
“It’s a podcast,” Namjoon deadpans, “how can it have lore? And how much lore can there possibly be?”
“It’s the internet,” you concede. “The lore possibilities are endless. Don’t tempt them.”
Jungkook nods sagely, well-versed in the degeneracy of the internet. “Yeah, that’s how you end up with shit like 4chan.”
“4chan? There’s Space Jam porn on there.”
As the youngest, all Jungkook can do is roll his eyes. “Sometimes explaining this shit to you feels like trying to teach old people how to rotate PDFs—”
Namjoon scoffs. “I’m not that bad. I know how to rotate a PDF.”
Wow, Jungkook mouths. “Anyway, back to the fanfiction—”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Namjoon interjects. He looks at you. “It’s weird, right? Like, it’s weird that people have written this about us?”
About us.
Your scope of the world narrows to the size of a pinhead. It’d just been about Namjoon before. This is fanfiction about me, he’d said, and you hadn’t been included in that. Now it’s written about us and you’re included.
“I—what?”
“It’s about us,” Namjoon repeats.
Jungkook rolls his lips. “It’s about the two of you fucking, to be specific.”
“Can you not—”
“Fucking a lot,” Jungkook continues. “So much fucking.”
Namjoon looks at you, and it’s all you can do to keep from laughing. The look on his face is pure bewilderment, both that Jungkook has cooked up this idea and is hell-bent on executing it and that he remains employed. And maybe it’s a little bit of nerves, too, because neither of you are ignorant of the risks. Reading fanfiction about yourselves—about the two of you as a couple, specifically, or at least two people who have sex—is weird. Not something you can unread.
And maybe it’s because you’re so determined to not make it weird that you send Namjoon a cheeky, exaggerated wink, shrug your shoulders, and say, “I’ll need a couple drinks, but I’m down.”
Jungkook throws his head back and cackles wildly, and that look of bewilderment on Namjoon’s face morphs into something else. Trepidation, maybe; definitely disbelief, because sometimes he lets himself get swept away in Jungkook’s schemes, but it’s rare that you follow suit.
As Jungkook continues to laugh, you wonder if you should’ve said no.
Namjoon has two stipulations: the two of you have to film the episode completely alone, and he, too, needs to be a little drunk.
The latter? Piece of cake, considering Namjoon has become some sort of whiskey aficionado in recent years. His drinking is streamlined and to the point—he knows exactly how much and what to drink to get him where he wants to be. You can’t say he isn’t efficient.
The former, though? Borderline impossible. From the second Namjoon states his terms, Jungkook is having none of it. Argues that he’s the one who found the story and the one who cleared it with the author, so he deserves to witness the fruits of his labor.
“No,” Namjoon repeats for the nth time, “no way. I’ll barely be able to do this with just her, let alone both of you.”
And that—that doesn’t bother you, right? You force a laugh, because why would it bother you?
There are few secrets between you and Namjoon, except your respective sex lives have been staunchly off-limits. Namjoon could be a virgin for all you know, and as you study him—the way he keeps bobbing his leg, the slight shake in his hands—you wonder if that’s the reason he’s being so weird about this.
It’s just a story.
Fiction.
Most people don’t have to worry about someone writing stories about them fucking their friends. If they do, you reckon even less actually read them. So, sure, it’s a little strange, but people from all over the world send in stranger stuff all the time, don’t they? It’s literally the reason you’re in this predicament.
Eventually Jungkook agrees. His whining has gotten him nowhere, so he just throws up his hands. Posts a cryptic little “u guys won’t believe what the next patreon ep is lmao” that sends the internet into a frenzy. Doubles your Patreon numbers almost immediately, and both you and Namjoon do a good job of pretending the pressure isn’t overwhelming.
Jesus. You have to read explicit fanfiction about yourselves. On camera.
Namjoon gets caught up with work and isn’t available until the weekend, so you’re forced to sit with the nerves for a few days. Not too bad at first, but you’re nearly coming out of your skin by Thursday with the need to know. You’re well-versed in the world of fanfiction, but this is fanfiction about you: your name, your likeness, maybe even your personality.
What will they know of Namjoon, though?
Will they get it right, the way he looks with his jaw clenched? How impossibly deep his voice can go, both when it’s raspy with sleep and when he’s fully at ease? Will the Namjoon in the story be closer to the Namjoon you know, or the version of himself he presents to the public?
And you’ve known him a long time—long enough that there are few secrets between you, but you don’t know the most intimate parts. All the parts the internet loves to speculate on. All the little gaps that, apparently, need to be filled in by fanfiction.
Will they know what Namjoon looks like when he gets off?
No, you scold yourself, jerking awkwardly like you’ve been burned, and neither will you.
Because you are not going to think about this. Your thoughts are not going to go there. Namjoon is your friend, and you’ve listened to him scold an endless amount of men on the podcast for exactly this behavior. Sexualizing their friends. You’re not going to do it, too.
Maybe that’s why you’re kind of seeing double when it comes time to record. Namjoon needed an extra shot and offered you one as well. You’d necked it without a second thought and now you’re here, trying to ignore the slight tilt of the room as Namjoon adjusts the camera.
“How’s the shot look?” he asks, gesturing vaguely behind him at his laptop screen because Jungkook had refused to lend you his fancy cameras if he wasn’t allowed to be involved.
It’s a completely normal question.
It’s a question you’ve asked and answered a million times.
Except—there’s something horribly distracting about Namjoon in this moment. The outline of his back muscles through the thin fabric of his t-shirt. The way the sleeves are tight around his biceps. He’s always been a gym rat, always carries around a protein shake that smells and looks completely foul, but you can’t remember it ever being this obvious.
And you take too long to answer, because Namjoon straightens up just enough to send you a concerned look. Which does not help. You are not imagining what else might cause his brows to pinch like that, what might have his lips parting, have sweat dotting his hairline.
You swallow. Hard.
“Looks fine,” you manage to say. He’s still staring. Are you on fire? You feel like you’re on fire, which would make sense. Would explain Namjoon’s sweating and concerned stare and the fact that he cannot stop staring at you. “Maybe a tiny bit to the right if we’re being picky,” you tack on, hoping it’ll break whatever spell the two of you are ensnared in.
It works. “To the—the right, yeah, makes sense,” he rambles.
He moves it an inch to the left.
—
Things are tense, to say the least.
Recording hasn’t been this awkward since your first episode, or maybe ever. You’re sat across from one another like you always are, and usually Namjoon would be making quip after quip by now, talking endlessly until Jungkook shushed him long enough to get the intro filmed. Now, there’s just silence.
“Should we…?” Namjoon startles. Bangs his knee on the underside of the table and drops a string of curses. “Sorry, are you—”
“I’m fine,” he says, cutting you off. He gestures vaguely toward the camera. “I’ll just… yeah.”
Showtime.
You wipe your hands on your jeans, unsure of when they got so damp. Unsure of when you’d grown so nervous, too, because you’d been fine an hour ago. Had strolled in with two cups of tea and a little too much confidence, giddy at what you were about to do.
Maybe the nerves had shown up alongside the alcohol. This sounds reasonable, and you do not, under any circumstance or for any reason, think about Namjoon’s back. Or his biceps.
Namjoon makes it through the intro, dimples deep and wide as he smiles, and you also don’t think about the way his voice cracks and gets a little breathy when he introduces you. It’s only because he’d been drinking, and the flush on his cheeks attests to that. The same flush that creeps down his neck, still a little sweaty; disappears beneath the hemline of his shirt.
“—Jungkook had. Right, Piper?”
Now it’s your turn to startle, and there’s not much you can do to hide the obvious except ask Namjoon to redo the shot. Because it’s bad enough the internet already overanalyzes every move you make, every word choice, every instance you’ve stared at Namjoon a second longer than they thought you would—this is a blatant display of… affectedness.
“Sorry,” you say, “I wasn't paying attention. Can we redo it?”
You’re expecting a playful scolding. A ha ha, get it together, because that’s what you usually get. But there’s nothing aside from Namjoon studying you and nodding. Asking if you’re okay. Saying, “Is this—this is weird, right? Is it too weird? Maybe we shouldn’t—”
An out. Namjoon is giving you an out, and you should take it, you know you should take it, so there’s absolutely no reason at all you shake your head and say, “No, no, it’s fine! I think I’m just a little, uh. Drunk?”
“Are you sure? We can—”
“It’s fine, Joon,” you insist. “Besides, it’ll be good content, right?”
“Good content,” he parrots. “Yeah, for sure.” He fidgets in his seat, runs his hands down the span of his thighs. Very, very thick thighs. “I’ll grab us some water.”
You faceplant onto the table as soon as he’s out of the room. When did his thighs get so thick?
But the water helps. Cures whatever strange, insatiable thirst has come over you, because you feel much more human after a few glasses. Less drunk, too, which makes sense. Yoongi could barely escape your drunken, horny wrath when the two of you were together, so you chalk it up to a Pavlovian response.
Namjoon does the intro again. Introduces you strong and steady, not a hint of nerves, and explains, with a fresh blush taking over his upper body, what the episode’s going to be about. “Someone wrote fanfiction about us,” he says, scratching at the back of his neck. “It’s, uh, pretty explicit. Jungkook thought it’d be funny if we read it.”
You snort. “He might get fired, depending on how this goes.”
“He should get fired regardless,” Namjoon deadpans. “Anyway, we have permission from the author to read this so don’t come after us, and, as always, we’ll put all the credits in the video description.”
“Special shoutout to Jungkook, though, who was not allowed to be here with us for this momentous occasion.”
Namjoon laughs. “I’m sure he’s having plenty of fun at home.” You both pause. “That’s not—I’m not implying anything with that! I just meant—you know, like. He’s hanging out and enjoying his day off.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Moving on. I have two copies of this. Do you want your own?”
You grin, wicked and wide. “Nah, just read it to me.”
“Making me do all the work,” he huffs. “Typical.”
“There’s a stack of papers in front of you that might say otherwise.”
It’s clear you catch him off-guard. He cocks an eyebrow, opens and shuts his mouth a few times like a goldfish. An obvious question sits on the tip of his tongue: You think you’d be in charge? Instead he coughs, jerks his head to the side, and says, “I guess we’ll see.”
It sounds like a challenge.
Thirty seconds is all you get before Namjoon’s shuffling his stack of papers and clearing his throat. Asking if you’re ready and jumping right into it once you say you are. Reads the first few lines like they’re some old lecture notes, and they’re conservative and safe-for-work enough that you start to relax.
And then Namjoon reads, “A louder one wonders if Namjoon is a pet name person—if he’d call her ‘honey,’ or ‘gummy bear,’ ‘babe,’ or ‘baby,’” and you choke.
“Gummy bear?”
Namjoon laughs along with you—the weird one that almost sounds like a dog panting. “You want me to call you gummy bear?”
“I want you to call me a Lyft,” you snark. “I’m leaving.”
He continues:
And that’s how it starts, wandering thoughts, wandering fingers—the first time Piper comes to the thought of Namjoon calling her baby, pushing inside her, showing her that he definitely doesn’t beg, but she does… Well, she’s a little ashamed. She’s apparently got a reputation to maintain, anyway, not to mention a friendship.
His eyes leave the paper and lock onto you. “Or maybe you’d prefer baby?”
“Fuck off.”
Weeks after that first time, it’s become a habit, thinking about Namjoon as something more than a friend. It’s confusing and a little mortifying and it’s starting to affect her in ways she hadn’t expected. When they record, she feels fidgety—she’s jumpy when he gets close, has all the stupid obvious tells of an unwanted crush: her breath hitches when he whispers (why the fuck is he whispering in her ear, anyway? Doesn’t he know what that does to a person?) inside jokes to her so Jungkook can’t hear, her heart rate spikes when their fingers accidentally brush, she feels itchy and hot and a little embarrassed whenever he holds eye contact with her. It’s terrible, and it’s only made worse by the way he’s doing all of those things more than usual.
Or, at least she thinks he is, thinks she’s not imagining the way his eyes linger on her more than she can remember happening before or the way she’s caught him staring at her lips when she chews on the end of her pencil mindlessly.
You’ve completely forgotten how to breathe.
Namjoon’s staring again. You need to salvage this. He’s only on paragraph three and you’re already squirming in your chair and imagining things that are not appropriate. So you roll your lips, return his teasing. “Well? Do you stare at my lips?”
It works. “No,” he scowls.
“You sure?” you joke, morphing your face into something half-pout, half-duck face.
“We’re never gonna finish this if you keep making comments.”
“You started it,” you point out. “Go on, then.”
There’s some dialogue. Some prose that hits way too close to home, has you wondering who on earth wrote this and how they plucked every single thought from deep within your psyche. A pang of fear that maybe you haven’t been as subtle as you’d thought all these years. A moment to confirm to yourself that, no, you haven’t been harboring a secret, deeply-buried crush on Namjoon.
Then he reads—
And then he kisses her. It’s greedy and hot, his lips like a branding iron. She moans a little against her better judgment when he licks at the seam of her mouth, and in return, she can feel Namjoon’s lips curve into a smile against her own.
It’s better than she’d been imagining it, really. He’s a good kisser—firm at the right times, soft when she needs it, careful but not cautious. He holds her jaw with one hand and keeps her right where he wants her beneath him (as if she’d want to move, anyway).
When their lips finally part, he rests his forehead on hers. It’s intimate in a way she hadn’t expected, and he looks at her as if she’s the answer to every question. Finally, he whispers, “What’re we doing, Piper?” His lips are still wet and pink and a little swollen from kissing, and she barely hears the question—she’s too busy thinking about kissing him again, about pulling his plump bottom lip between her teeth, teasing and…
“Kissing,” she says finally.
“What do you want?” he asks, sinking to his knees in front of her. And if that alone isn’t an answer to his question…
“Whatever you’re willing to give,” she replies. It feels like she’s wanted this forever, this and so much more. Once she got the idea in her head, it’s hard to know if she ever felt differently, ever truly thought they could just be friends. Or, if in the back of her mind, in the dark corners that she never lets see daylight, she always knew she wanted Namjoon. Always knew she loved him.
—and everything goes right out the fucking window.
Namjoon sits with those words for a moment. Scans the paper in his hands and frowns a little when he confirms what you already know. “The rest is, uh. Porn.”
“That is why we’re here.”
“Last chance to back out.”
“I’m not scared,” you lie. “Are you? You’re the one who keeps stalling.”
He huffs. “You’re a pain in my ass,” he retorts, and then nothing is all that funny anymore.
Because Namjoon was right: the rest is straight-up porn. He’s barely able to read the part where he goes down on you with a straight face, turning a deep shade of crimson. Stutters through the part where you pull his hair, and that is not something you needed to know about your friend. You think he loses his grasp of language entirely when he reads, “When he slides a long finger into her and brushes past her most sensitive spot, she arches into him and lets his name fall from her lips in a soft cry. Piper, notorious skeptic, is a babbling, trembling mess as she gets closer to her orgasm,” because all the words are garbled together, producing nothing but gibberish. You think he’s ready to keel over and die when he reads, “Namjoon pulls away briefly, lips slick with her juices, and licks over his top one, pausing to tell her how good she tastes before he dives back in.”
“That was nice of them to include. I appreciate their attention to detail in regards to my personal hygiene.”
“This is so embarrassing,” he whines.
You roll your eyes good-naturedly. “Gimme. I’ll finish it.” He hands over the papers immediately.
Except you regret it immediately. The words you’re staring at are not words you ever thought you’d read or recite in your entire life. Not even for a million dollars. “Oh,” you say instead.
“See? Not as easy as it looks.”
“This is really embarrassing,” you confirm. “I might need another shot.”
“Y-yeah. Alcohol sounds good.”
Namjoon staggers forward obligingly, looks completely fucked out and pliant, willing to do whatever she asks. She remembers the sounds he made when she pulled his hair, wonders if he likes being bossed around, if he wants her to tell him what to do, to be a little mean to him. Maybe it’s different from her dreams, maybe he will beg her. She wants him so badly, she’d do anything for him. So, she pulls his briefs down to expose his absurdly large member, already mostly hard, and slaps it. Gently at first to see how he’ll react, and when he shudders and jerks his hips, she does it again, a little harder.
“Look at you,” she whispers, “such a needy boy.”
He whimpers at that, eyes pleading. “Please, Piper…” he whines.
“Please what?”
“Please let me fuck you,” he begs.
She wants to, wants him so much, wants to feel him stretch her open, and from the looks of his cock, thick and long and drooling with precum, he could.
“Should I?” she asks. She musters all her confidence to keep the condescending tone up. It feels wrong given how desperate she is to get him inside her, but it also seems to be getting him worked up and equally as desperate. “Do you even know what to do with that big, stupid cock?”
Namjoon’s cock twitches, and he begs, “I—I’ll fuck you so good, Piper…. I know how, I promise. Just… please?”
“Oh my god,” the two of you say in unison.
You so badly want to ask if this is biographical. How Namjoon feels about a little degradation; what he’d do if someone actually called his cock stupid. Ifsomeone has called his cock stupid. You dare a glance at him and conclude that someone’s had to. Namjoon just has that kind of energy.
But you can’t ask because it’d be weird, so you keep reading.
“How do you want me?” she asks softly when their lips part. There’s a wild look in his eyes, like he’s processing all the possible options out of everything he’s considered. And then it occurs to her. “Have you imagined this before? Thought about how you’d fuck me?” she teases him as she stands, stepping into him. Piper pushes one hand through his hair, brushing it back off of his forehead and wraps her other around his dick, squeezing a little for emphasis on her words.
“Yes,” he groans as she strokes him, thumbing at the head of his cock.
“Tell me what you want, then. Want me on all fours for you? Want me to show you how it’s done, to let you lay back and ride you so you don’t have to put in any work?”
Namjoon’s breathing is getting heavy, pupils blown wider with each suggestion.
“I told you!” you shriek, laughing in between the words. “I told you I’d…” And then your gloating tapers off, because what happens next has your brain malfunctioning.
“All of that,” he whines as she lets go of his hair and brings her hand down to run a fingertip over his perineum. “Want all of that. Want to bend you over the table and fuck you right here. Hear your sounds in the microphone.”
Even in her dirtiest thoughts about him, she hadn’t considered the microphone, hadn’t considered recording it. When she thinks about it though, it makes sense. Namjoon is exactly the kind of person that would get off to someone’s voice.
So, she does. She makes a show of turning around and slowly bending over the table, sliding her upper body across it carefully until she can reach her microphone and turn it on. When she says into it, “What’re you waiting for?” she sees over her shoulder the way that Namjoon shivers.
This is… not good. You’re never going to be able to look at a microphone the same way, which is extremely not good for a person who supplements their income with a very popular podcast that requires them to speak into a microphone for extended periods of time.
This is very, very bad.
Namjoon must be thinking the same, because he lets out a strangled a-haaa that’s less of a laugh and more a plea to God, the gods, the entire gamut of higher powers that might be able to save him. No one’s going to, you think, staring down at the paper again. This godless piece of fanfiction will be preserved on the internet forever, will be seared into your mind forever, and no amount of praying is going to erase it.
“I should, uh. Just read the rest, yeah? Get it over with?”
“Mhm. Yep. Yes, please.”
Don’t say please, you almost say. You can’t take it; not after what you’ve just read.
So you put on a show. Steel your expression and your nerves and take it seriously. Use voices and sound effects and desperately try to stave off the awkwardness you know is inevitable because a smut fic is probably only going to end one way, and that’s with you acting out Namjoon having an orgasm.
Maybe you’ll have another one, too, if the author is nice.
It’s sweet, she thinks, the way he’s easy for her, takes his time with her. Strokes his fingertips along her sides and kisses the back of her neck reverently. As much as she loves it, part of her hopes he’s not always like this—hopes he’ll give as good as he takes, hopes he’ll put her in her place. She can feel his cock hard against the cleft of her ass, not even inside her yet, and still, she thinks about next time and the time after that.
“Still okay?” He breathes into her ear as his tip rubs against her cunt.
“Yeah—want you, Joon.”
“Never thought I’d hear you say those words.”
“I never thought you’d record them,” she teases, eyes glancing up to the flashing light showing the mic picking up all of this as he starts his slow slide into her.
Piper falls even further forward when he bottoms out, letting her forehead rest on the table. He’s whispering filth in her ear, about how he has something to prove, how she’ll never want anyone after this, how no one can fuck her the way he does.
She hates that he’s right.
Each stroke brings a new sensation: sparklers, butterflies, nerve endings on fire as he fucks into her and licks and sucks at her neck, her shoulders, her ear. Piper can’t even think, and this is what people mean when they talk about being fucked stupid, she decides.
It’s perfect.
Every time she thinks she’s getting close again, he changes something: fucks her a little shallower, moves his hips just a little, slows down, speeds up… It’s driving her crazy.
“Come on,” she whines. “I’m so close…”
At least she can tell he is, too. No longer able to sustain the dirty talk, he’s breathing heavily, letting out broken moans and sighs of her name. He’s moving rhythmically now, thrusts consistently faster.
“Oh, fuck, Piper,” he groans, “Gonna cum.”
One of his hands finds her clit and he rubs careful circles over her, bringing her to her peak along with him, no more teasing.
When she comes, it’s with a loud moan into the studio mic, and that seems to be what tips Namjoon over the edge, too. His hips stutter into hers as he comes, her cunt clenching around him for what feels like forever.
You deserve an award, you think. An Oscar. You didn’t even groan when you had to read the word “cunt,” and that’s a feat in and of itself.
“Is it over?” Namjoon asks, words muffled by the hands covering his face.
“Not quite,” you answer. “There’s some aftercare, and at the end you ask if I’ll piss on you.”
Namjoon gags. “I asked you what—”
“Today’s episode has been brought to you by Stamps-dot-com—”
HOLY SHIT THE NEW PATREON EPISODE????????
Posted by u/pod-shipper 4 minutes ago
NO WAY. NOOOOOOO FUCKING WAY DUDE THERE’S NO FUCKING WAY THEY DID THIS AS AN ACTUAL EPISODE WHAT THE FUCK WHAT HTE FUCK WHAT EHTU FKF DFGLKDG;L (+705)
I wasn’t sure if they were messing around before, and I was quite critical of the “shippers,” but now I’m pretty convinced. (+423)
↳ we’ve been telling y’all for YEARS 😤 (+197)
↳ Glad you’ve seen the light, u/RandomAcorn2058! (+5)
↳ ugh. they weren’t messing around before and they aren’t messing around now. do you guys not listen to what they say? namjoon’s been dating, and piper got out of a six-year relationship just over a year ago. if they’ve had something going on for “years” that means they’re both cheaters, and that’s a really shitty thing to assume about them. not to mention it makes the entire point of the podcast moot. (-63)
Why do you guys think Jungkook “wasn’t allowed” to be there? (+314)
↳ So they could fuck lmao it’s so obvious (+329)
↳ because it’s awkward af? would you wanna read porn about yourself w all your coworkers in the room? (+2)
↳ the “it’s awkward” excuse is sooooo lame he’s the one who found it and is the one who edited the episode, he’s gonna see it regardless. (+15)
↳ Tbh I’m more curious about how he even found it to begin with? Do they have a throuple thing going on? Like, why was he looking for smut fic about his bosses? (+38)
You do not get through recording unscathed.
You are very scathed. Perhaps the most scathed a person has ever been.
Jungkook texts the group chat sporadically throughout the week, cracking jokes and making memes at your and Namjoon’s expense which is par for the course and shouldn’t have you off-kilter, but something inside you feels deeply wrong. Feels like someone’s given you devastating news; feels like it used to back in uni when you knew you’d failed an exam and were just waiting to see how badly.
It both helps and doesn’t that the internet is so invested. All the clips Jungkook keeps posting have re-doubled your Patreon numbers, and jumping up a tax bracket never hurt anyone, you included. But all of those jokes and memes largely went unanswered by both you and Namjoon, still too close to the incident to find the humor in it from the other side.
The two of you had sex.
Not literally, of course, but you figure you might as well have with the way you’re feeling. The way you’re avoiding one another. Someone wrote a story about the two of you having sex and you both read it and something about that, days later, feels really fucking unsettling.
In a bad way? You aren’t sure. It’s not like you’re mad or upset or any other synonym. You just feel… off. Itchy from the inside out, and that’s far from the norm in your and Namjoon’s friendship. In all the years you’ve known one another, you’ve never once avoided each other, including the time you’d set him up with a close friend and he showed up 45 minutes late to their date and ghosted after.
(Unsurprisingly, that friendship had not lasted.)
Maybe it’s because Yoongi had always been there as a buffer. You aren’t of the belief that men and women cannot be platonic friends, but being in a years-long committed relationship nixed a lot of awkward interactions and assumptions off the bat. Even Namjoon had known Yoongi first. Had introduced himself to you in your shared 100-level psych course with a, “Hey, you’re Min Yoongi’s girlfriend, right?” because they ran in the same underground circles and Namjoon had idolized him from afar for years.
Pretty fucked up, then, that Yoongi’s off in Los Angeles with his hot new boyfriend and you’re on your couch, Holly at your feet, pointedly ignoring your texts.
“I’m gonna get a cat,” you say to the dog, trying to redirect his attention when he starts chewing on your sock again. Holly doesn’t offer any input, of course, and he’s a lot like his father in that way. “I can’t believe you have a stepfather. You’re a proper child of divorce now, Min Holly.”
There are a pile of unread texts you continue to ignore in lieu of showing Holly pictures of adoptable cats. A few more memes from Jungkook, one from Namjoon’s new phone asking to move the recording date a few days because “something came up at work,” one from the food delivery service you admittedly use too much offering 10% off your next order, and two from Yoongi. This reminded me of you, the first one says beneath a picture of an ice cream cone on the ground, and another one of him holding a water gun that says send me a picture of my son or else.
You eventually reply back with a picture of your middle finger, Holly nothing but a blurred brown blob in the corner of the frame.
That’s how it goes for the better part of a week. Namjoon’s work issue lasts four days. He doesn’t offer an explanation and you don’t ask for one, you just wait for the all-clear text and try to quiet the nerves once you get it.
You’ve never been nervous to see Namjoon before.
The more popular the podcast became, the more money rolled in. The more money that rolled in, the more you could afford nicer things. That meant going from recording in Namjoon’s living room to a bona fide office space. Third floor, an expanse of windows and natural light, thirty-five minute commute by train.
Today, it feels more like thirty-five seconds.
You can hear Jungkook’s witch cackle from the stairwell, and your mind fills in the blanks of Namjoon’s exasperated sigh. It helps, your brain reminding you that you know these people. You know this is Jungkook’s late gym day, so he’ll be in a pair of sweats and a hoodie that drowns his frame. You know that when Namjoon has work issues and feels like an inconvenience, he always shows up with two boxes of baked goods from the bakery near his place, and you know both of them will save the best donut for you.
So you walk in and Jungkook’s in a hoodie and sweats just like you expect him to be, and there are two boxes of baked goods next to the coffee machine. Both of them say hello and wave and, for all intents and purposes, everything is normal.
Except it isn’t.
Because Namjoon looks… different.
Not in a bad way. Not in a bad way. He almost always dresses nicely, always looks polished and put-together, usually because he’s either going to or coming from campus—fitted shirts, either of the tee or dress variety, and earth-toned cardigans; tailored trousers that are sometimes corduroy; polished loafers. Sometimes, if he’s feeling extra casual, a stark white pair of tennis shoes.
Today, he wears none of those things.
No, today torture comes in the form of form-fitting jeans and a t-shirt a little oversized so he can roll the sleeves. His hair is brushed back off his face instead of parted down the middle. He’s wearing gold jewelry that glints in the sun. A pair of off-white Converse high-tops. And, much to your horror, he’s also wearing his glasses.
According to the internet, Kim Namjoon is peak husband material, which you can usually ignore, but not when he’s wearing glasses.
You avert your gaze, convinced you’ll burst into flames if you stare too long, not to mention Jungkook will notice and that’s a ribbing you’d rather die than take. So you avert your gaze and pointedly ignore Namjoon, who’s talking about his work crisis to no one in particular. Something about a co-worker going on an unexpectedly early paternity leave, and Namjoon being asked to cover some of his courses until they could find a more permanent fix.
Jungkook asks a question you don’t catch. Because paternity leave means his co-worker and his partner had a baby, presumably via old-fashioned methods, and it’s not a direct mention of sex but it’s close enough to send you into a coughing fit you have to blame on your donut. Neither of them buy it, but Namjoon is a good enough person to look genuinely concerned. Reaches out, probably to slap your back, but the thought of him touching you is just… too much.
So he barely gets out an, “Are you o—” before you choke down whatever’s left in your mouth and cut him off with a, “Yep, all good!” before you’re scurrying off to the opposite side of the room like a little rat.
It doesn’t get any better.
Both of you are so stilted and awkward during recording that Jungkook has to be the voice of reason and call it, suggest trying again tomorrow. Luckily he has enough b-side stuff he can release if need be, Namjoon’s work emergency providing a decent cover, and he sends the two of you home for the afternoon with all the exasperation and incredulity of a disappointed parent.
Thirty-five minutes back home.
Thirty-five minutes to sit in the embarrassment of not being able to do your job. Thirty-five minutes to catastrophize and wonder what you’re going to do if you can’t get it together. Namjoon will keep the podcast, of course; you’ll be replaced with someone else. Maybe someone less cynical, maybe someone more, but undoubtedly a man. After this mess, you can’t imagine Namjoon would want another female co-host.
But as embarrassed as you are, your traitorous brain keeps thinking about Namjoon.
Thirty-five minutes to think about his glasses and his rolled-up sleeves and the way the denim of his jeans contoured perfectly to his thighs. Thirty-five minutes to think about, “Please let me fuck you,” he begs. Thirty-five minutes to squeeze your thighs together and overanalyze the way he stumbled over his words today; how he could barely make eye contact. Thirty-five minutes to draft a dozen resignation texts and delete them all.
You groan, head thunking against the train window. You’ll take a cold shower as soon as you get home.
That’ll cure you.
You get home and walk Holly so long he gives up halfway through and you have to carry him back to your apartment. You take a cold shower and actually find it pleasant once the initial shock wears off, so it doesn’t work to keep all your rogue Namjoon thoughts at bay. You make a simple dinner and don’t think about Namjoon sitting you on the counter and having his way with you. You tuck yourself into bed far too early and consider going back to therapy, because clearly something very, very bad has happened to your psyche.
Needless to say, nothing cures you.
But it’s a new day, and you’re determined to get your shit together. Yesterday was a fluke, because you’re so normal and so capable of being in the same room as Kim Namjoon.
Except—you’re not.
Jungkook’s there when you arrive, mindlessly scrolling through his phone. Barely looks up at you to say hello, and barely returns it when you do. You double-check the time, because you can count on two fingers the amount of times you’ve shown up and Namjoon wasn’t already there, jotting down extensively-detailed notes, circling and highlighting and chasing down Jungkook to ask questions.
“Where’s Namjoon?”
Jungkook shrugs. “Dunno. Not here.”
You roll your eyes. “Super helpful, thanks.”
Jungkook rolls his eyes right back. “You don’t pay me enough to also be his handler.”
You bite your tongue. Arguing with Jungkook means you’ve already lost the war. Not worth it. But it still eases your worries a bit that he doesn’t know any more than you do. That Namjoon hadn’t only texted him to say why he was running late because he didn’t want to—or couldn’t—talk to you.
So you wait. And you wait and you wait and you wait. Jungkook lets you talk to people on his dating apps and tells you about his new gym routine until your eyes are glazing over. Orders food delivery for the two of you because he gets hungry after an hour and had already eaten what was left of the snacks before you arrived. Cracks a joke that isn’t really a joke about calling the police, because Namjoon still hasn’t shown up and he hasn’t said anything and none of your texts are showing as delivered.
You’re halfway to hour two when the office door bursts open and Namjoon stumbles through, soaked with sweat and stammering over apologies.
“I am so sor—I broke my phone again so my alarm never went off and then I missed my bus? And apparently they’re not running the regular bus schedule today so the next one was a half-hour wait, but then I…”
You don’t catch the rest, because Namjoon is covered in sweat and breathing heavily and a week ago you could’ve survived this. A week ago you would’ve cracked a joke and handed him a towel and told him to get to work. A week ago you would not have been paralyzed in your seat, transfixed on the sweat rolling down the side of his neck.
You are fucked beyond belief.
Jungkook elbows you in the ribs, bringing you back to reality. “...even paying attention?” You startle, face warming in embarrassment. Namjoon still isn’t looking at you. “This is so sad to watch,” Jungkook mumbles, and thankfully it’s only loud enough for you to hear. “Like some stupid shit you only see in nature documentaries.”
Well, you can’t really argue with that, now can you?
But you’re a professional above all, so you hum an acknowledgment and take your regular seat. Pointedly ignore Jungkook. Wait for Namjoon to assume his position as well, and you’re surprised to see the space in front of him empty. No notes. No script. There’s just… nothing.
“Are you okay?” you ask, gesturing to the space in front of him when he seems confused. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you without a stack of notes in front of you.”
“I forgot them.”
“Don’t think I’ve ever seen you do that, either.”
Your tone is light and airy, not at all accusing or confrontational, but Namjoon’s jaw clenches nonetheless. He scoffs, fires a shitty little, “Were you not paying attention when I was talking about what a horrible fucking morning I’ve had?” at you that makes even Jungkook flinch. A few moments of stunned silence, and then, “Oh fuck, I’m so sorry, that was rude—”
“Yeah, it was,” you agree, and all of a sudden you feel too big for your body. Feel like there are ants beneath your skin, feel like everything is wrong, and you don’t want to be here anymore. “It’s fine. Let’s just—”
Namjoon looks like he wants to argue, but he just sighs and says, “I—yeah, okay.”
This is where Namjoon would usually launch into the intro, a dimpled smile already plastered on his face that’d drop as he discussed another failed first date with that brand of self-deprecation that makes him so endearing. This is where he’d say what have you been up to, Pipe, and you’d try not to groan because how hard could it possibly be to add one more letter, another syllable, but Namjoon seems incapable of it. This is the part that, for three years, has been seamless and easy and instinctual, just two friends having a conversation.
There’s a red light on your microphones that indicates you’re recording. It’s on and it mocks you, because Namjoon is not doing the intro or telling you about a failed date. He doesn’t use that cringey nickname. He doesn’t say anything at all. His mouth opens and shuts and no words come out. What’s worse is that you know exactly why he can’t speak, because you’re thinking about it, too.
“So, uh,” you begin, and Jungkook makes a gagging sound from behind you. “Come here often?”
Namjoon ignores you. “Right, right, the intro…” He sucks in a breath. “Welcome back to another episode of Put Him in the Trash, I’m—”
“Joon—”
“Namjoon, and my co-host here is—”
“Joon, that’s not—”
“Piper. Wait, why are you looking at me like that?”
“That’s not the name of our podcast.”
“Huh?”
“You said Put Him in the Trash.” Namjoon just blinks. “It’s Place Him Gently in the Garbage.”
“Is it? Since when?”
“Since forever?”
He looks at Jungkook, who is hiding behind his hands. “Is she right?”
A beat of silence. “I can’t do this,” he half-shouts, half-whines. “Are you two going to be like this forever? Because if you are, I’m quitting. I’m so serious. I’m gonna quit. I can’t take it anymore. The two of you are insufferable.” Another beat of silence, before Jungkook stands at full height and lords over you and Namjoon. “Forget today. Just go home and try again on Monday. This is so—I’m seriously gonna quit.”
Yoongi comes on Saturday afternoon to pick up Holly.
Yijeong isn’t with him, which is almost disappointing. Now that he’s dating again, you were looking forward to seeing just how awkward it could get with the three of you in the same room, but he looks good. Refreshed. The trip clearly did a world of good for him, and you can’t even bring yourself to crack a joke at his expense.
He, however, has no such hang-ups. “You look like shit.”
“Weird way to say thank you.” You click your tongue and look down at Holly. “Do you see how your father treats me? You should bite him.”
“My son would never. But also, thank you.” He flops onto the sofa. “You do look like shit, though. You wanna talk about it?”
“Not with you, preferably.”
“Oh, gross, is it a dating thing, then?”
“I—no.” You pause. It’s not a dating thing, but you still feel like you’ve got motion sickness whenever you think about it. How would you even begin to explain this to Yoongi, anyway? Someone wrote a porn fic about me and Namjoon. You remember Namjoon, right? Namjoon, that I’ve known and have been friends with since college. Yeah, that Namjoon. Anyway, someone wrote fanfiction about us having sex, and it fucked me up so bad I can no longer be in the same room as him.
No fucking way.
“You look like you’re holding in a fart.”
“You know, I’m getting really sick of you. Did you just come here to insult me?”
He snorts, but his smirk dissipates a few seconds later, a familiar seriousness filling the void. “We’re okay, right? Was the Yijeong thing too soon?”
“No,” you answer immediately, leaning over to flick him on the forehead. “We’re fine, and if you’re happy, then I’m happy for you.” He still looks doubtful. “You want me to start singing ‘I Will Always Love You’ or something? It’s just… weird work stuff.”
“Depends. Are you singing the Dolly Parton or Whitney version? And real work or podcast work?”
“Podcast work, and obviously the Whitney version.”
Yoongi seems surprised by this, eyebrows disappearing beneath his fringe. “Like, the podcast with Namjoon?” He presses his tongue into the fat of his cheek when you nod your head. “Not gonna lie, I didn’t think that was possible.”
“Like I said, it’s weird. It wasn’t, like, an argument or anything.”
“How weird?”
“You’re so fake, Min Yoongi. You act like you’re so distinguished and above drama, but really you’re just as hungry for gossip as the rest of us.”
He shrugs. “I’m not denying it.”
God help you, you’re going to rip off the band-aid. “Someone… Jesus, this is so embarrassing. Someone… wrote? Fanfiction? About us.”
“About you and Namjoon?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh my god—”
“About us… uh. Having sex? Specifically.”
“Oh my god—”
“Jungkook found it and thought it’d be funny if we read it for an episode.”
“Oh my god?”
“So we did? And it was really weird, which I expected, because I’ve known Namjoon for a long time, and I never, ever thought about having sex with him because we were together and me and Namjoon are friends, so yeah, it was fucking weird. But now… I don’t know. I can’t stop thinking about it? And now we can’t even be in the same room as one another.” Yoongi is a concerning shade of red. “So our show is gonna get canceled, because we can only release b-side stuff for so long until people realize something’s up, and it was Namjoon’s podcast to begin with so obviously I’ll get fired—”
“Oh my god, you want to fuck Namjoon.”
Yoongi sounds like a strangled cat when he says this, which does not help the way you feel like you’ve been hit square in the face with a frying pan. “No,” you argue, though it sounds more like a question. You do not want to fuck Namjoon. “No, no. No. It’s just because it was weird.”
“Did you forget I dated you for six years? I know what you look like when you want to fuck someone.”
“You’re telling me you wouldn’t be weird if someone wrote fanfiction about you fucking your friend?”
“Not if I didn’t actually want to fuck them, no.”
“You’re a liar. Get your dog and get out of my apartment.”
Yoongi laughs as he stands. Pats you on the back in the most condescending way you’ve ever had someone pat you on the back. “Let me know how it goes. No need to give me credit for your moment of horny clarity.”
Min Yoongi is a bastard.
Unfortunately, as you come to find out, he’s also a correct bastard.
You want to fuck Namjoon.
Which is… not great, you have to admit, considering he can barely stand to be around you, so you take another cold shower and decide you’re going to take this to your grave. You’re going to spend the rest of the weekend getting your shit together, and you’re going to show up on Monday and be a consummate professional. You’re going to look at Namjoon and say, ha ha, isn’t it so funny someone thought we would have sex? I don’t think about it at all because I am so cool and normal about it.
You’ve got it all planned out. You’re going to show up fifteen minutes early with your own box of pastries. You’re going to look nice, if not a little pretentious—maybe a nice sweater. You’re going to be prepared with notes of your own. You might even be nice to the villain of the week so Namjoon doesn’t have to pinch the bridge of his nose and sigh at you.
And then someone knocks on your door.
You find Namjoon on the other side, and all your plans immediately go to shit.
Has he always been this tall? You can’t remember. You can’t remember a lot of things, including how to speak, because Yoongi had launched you into a crisis of epic proportions and now here’s the source of it, standing right in front of you. With all of his… height. And thighs. And that heady, musky cologne he always wears, that you can still smell now even though there’s an unfortunate amount of distance between you.
“Uh, hi.”
You blink. “Hi,” you parrot, and it’s a little insulting how one single word seems to have sucked up all of your brainpower. “Namjoon,” you tack on, not awkward at all.
“Sorry to just show up,” he says, scratching at the back of his neck. Very bad idea; makes his biceps bulge. You barely swallow your whimper. “It’s just—my phone’s still broken, and it felt bad leaving things how we did? So I was hoping we could talk.”
Talk. Namjoon wants to talk to you. Normally: not a problem. Currently: big problem. You manage a nod, open the door wider to let him in, and you don’t think about how jarring it is to have Namjoon in your space. You don’t think about how your legs feel like jelly all of a sudden, or what it’d be like if Namjoon bent you over the couch, or the kitchen counter, or the—
You cough. “Do you want anything to drink?”
“Oh, sure. Maybe just some water if you have it.”
If you have it. What kind of person doesn’t have water? But you tell him to make himself comfortable and get him some anyway, and you mull too long over the size of the glass. Ultimately decide on a smaller one, because if things get unbearably awkward you can excuse yourself to the kitchen to get more.
“I haven’t been here in a while,” Namjoon says from the living room, and when you look up he’s sorting through a stack of books near the window. Some he’d lent you months ago, notes jotted in the corners, sticky notes in the shape of sea animals on important pages. “You ever wind up reading this?”
The Idiot. Namjoon had raved about it when he was in the midst of his 19th century Russian phase, right after he’d read a bunch of Tolstoy and Pushkin. You shake your head—though, judging from the title, you wonder if someone hadn’t written your biography.
“It’s good. If you have the time, you should definitely give it a shot.”
“Yeah, of course,” you say, handing over his water. You take a seat in an armchair, pull your knees to your chest. Namjoon’s still looking through your books, isn’t looking at you, so it feels safe to say, “You wanted to talk?”
“Yeah.” He moves to sit on the floor, massive thighs spreading until he’s comfortable. Thank god he can’t see the look on your face. “I just wanted to make sure we’re alright. Things have felt pretty weird since we filmed the, uh.” He coughs. “Thing.”
“Right, yeah.” You realize he’s waiting for an answer, and you offer up a very rushed, “We’re fine, Joon.”
“Are you sure?”
Yeah, you’re sure: sure you absolutely cannot be having this conversation in the safety and sanctity of your own home. It’s tainted now, contaminated by all your uncontrolled horny thoughts about the man in front of you. You’ll have to fumigate. Might have to pick up and move, actually, or call an exorcist.
“I’m sure,” you assure him. “The… thing… was weird, but it’s fine. Temporary.”
“Do you think we shouldn’t have done it?”
That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it? Because, in isolation, reading a porn fic about yourselves wasn’t a big deal. No one got hurt. Everyone who needed to be consulted was consulted. The episode made the two of you a lot of money, and Jungkook even promised to send some of it to the author, so your bases are beyond covered.
So, should you have done it? There wasn’t a good enough reason not to, because the story itself was never the problem.
The problem is staring you right in the face. It’s sitting on your floor, a book cracked in half at the spine and forgotten in his lap. The problem is looking at you like you hold all the answers to the universe’s secrets, and it’s no small thing to be looked at like that. The problem is that Namjoon is looking at you like that from across the room but you’re wondering what it’d look like from on top of you.
The problem is that you’ve co-hosted a podcast with Namjoon for three years, have known him even longer, and you’ve just realized today that you want to have sex with him.
And you can’t say that, can you, because Namjoon came here to fix things which really does not lend itself to a hookup. Namjoon cares about your friendship and your working relationship so much he came here to try and salvage it, so you’re going to keep your mouth shut. You’re going to say, “I think it’s okay that we did,” and leave it at that. Because it is okay.
Because you’re the problem.
It feels like a small victory when Namjoon sags in relief. When he exhales and says, “Okay, good, because I think so, too.”
“It made us a lot of money,” you tack on.
Namjoon’s eyes widen as he laughs. “Right? Like, that was almost too much money. Just to watch us read porn?”
“About ourselves. I think that was the selling point.”
He stands. You do, too. “Never thought I’d be doing that,” he says, returning the book to where it belongs. “Definitely the most embarrassing thing I’ve done for money.”
“Being a man with a podcast wasn’t embarrassing enough?”
He snorts. Gets closer to the door. “Hey now.” You’re going to survive this. “Thanks for entertaining me, by the way. For a second there I was really worried we’d fucked it all up.”
Just the ending. Just one more thing to say and you’ll be done with this, and then you can take your third cold shower in recent memory and triple text Yoongi with a full-fledged mental breakdown. Maybe he’ll bring Holly back and you can register him as your emotional support animal.
And Namjoon must sense the awkwardness that’s crept back in, because he tries to cover it with a joke. Says, “Haaa, like you’d actually piss on me, right?”
Except it sounds like he’s got a mouth full of marbles.
It’s no wonder you mishear him.
Because he says like you’d actually piss on me but you hear like you’d actually kiss me, and there isn’t a universe that exists in which the following makes sense: you, stunned into silence in the doorframe, Namjoon saying his goodbyes, you thinking fuck it, last chance and saying, “Yeah, I’d kiss you.”
Namjoon stops dead in his tracks. “What?”
Your entire body is on fire. “Is, uh. Is that not what you said?”
“I don’t think it matters anymore what I said.”
“I’d argue that it does, for the sake of my digni—”
“You’d kiss me?” Namjoon… doesn’t look put off of the idea, which is surely a point in your favor. Interesting to note that his diction is crystal clear, now. Bastard. “You’d kiss me right now?”
There’s also no explanation for the way you say: “It’s only been an option for ten seconds and you’re already begging for it?”
You’d say there’s no explanation for the way Namjoon’s jaw clenches, the way he repeats I don’t beg for anything, but maybe the simple fact is: the two of you want to fuck each other. And, judging from the way Namjoon crowds your space, keeps dropping his gaze to your mouth, it seems very likely to happen.
All that fixating you’d done on Namjoon’s thighs was wasted, you think, as you take in the shape of his mouth. His lips. The way his tongue darts out to run along the bottom at the last second before he reaches out, tilts your head up, and finally presses his mouth to yours.
And you’ve got to laugh, because no piece of written fiction could ever accurately portray what it feels like. How soft his lips are. The way he touches you—gentle, but still dominant enough to have you moving the way he wants, have you backing up into your apartment so he can smile against your mouth as he closes the door behind him.
No piece of fiction would get it right, the way you’re unsteady on your feet, breathless at the way Namjoon’s kissing you. How he only breaks apart long enough to ask where do you want me in that throaty, deep voice of his. How you’re so overwhelmed you can’t decide: unsure if you want to waste the time it’d take to get to your bedroom, but if it’s only going to happen once, wanting to make it count.
So you decide to risk it. Plant your hands in the middle of his exceptionally broad chest and push him in the direction of the hallway, and if the two of you can’t wait, can’t control yourselves, well.
But the story had gotten one thing right: Namjoon does kiss like a branding iron, hot and greedy. Namjoon kisses you like there’s nothing else he wants to do in this lifetime, and it makes you dizzy. Has you off-kilter, stumbling into the wall as you try to remember where the fuck your bedroom is and why it’s so far. Just like the fictional version of you, you also moan when he licks into your mouth.
“Should I do it the way we did in the fic?” Namjoon asks as the two of you cross the threshold into your bedroom, a cheeky grin on his face. “Do it like this?” he questions, pushing you gently until you’re on the back in the middle of your bed, chest heaving as you lift your head to look at him.
Namjoon is so, so big from where you lay, just hovering at the foot of your bed. Cheeks ruddy, bulge prominent. “What’d you say you wanted?”
Takes a second to remember how to breathe, let alone what you’d read. What do you want, Namjoon had asked, right before he’d sank to his knees in front of you. “Whatever you’re willing to give,” you answer.
Namjoon smiles. Puts one knee on the bed, and the way it dips beneath his weight is unsettling. Why does he have to be so fucking large. “That’s right, baby.” Christ, you think, because there’s another thing that fic had gotten right. No one on earth would be immune to Namjoon calling them baby in that tone of voice.
The riposte biting at the back of your teeth gets swallowed whole as Namjoon grabs your ankles and drags you to the edge of the bed. “May I?” he asks, hands poised above the waistline of your leggings. You nod, and Namjoon drags down your underwear with them. “Fuck, look at you,” he groans, awe creeping into the edge of his words.
“You want me to do it the same way? Hm? You’re being awfully quiet; thought you were giving me shit about being the one in charge,” he chides.
Because you’re short-circuiting. Namjoon’s on his knees, just like you’d envisioned, and his mouth is dangerously close to your cunt. How can you be expected to think and speak under these conditions? But if Namjoon can find the brainpower to be a bastard, so can you, because what you’d read and the way he’d reacted can both never be forgotten. So you thread your hands into his hair and pull. The resulting moan is enough to sustain you for years.
“Are you gonna keep running your mouth, or are you gonna make me come on it?”
He blinks. “Jesus Christ.”
There’s precedent. Fictional Namjoon ate you out like a man starved, like he couldn’t get enough. Had fictional you writhing and insatiable, so it’s a lot to live up to, but it doesn’t deter him in the slightest. He hesitates for only a second, giving you one last chance to back out before the two of you set every last boundary on fire, and then he’s settling between your thighs and making you see stars.
Now you know what it’s like. Now you don’t have to rely on fiction, and it doesn’t matter because it’d never compare to the way Namjoon feels as he works to bring you to your ruin. The way he flattens his tongue to lick long, thick stripes; the way his lips suction around your clit. The way it feels when he groans against your core. The way he says, “Fuck, you do taste good,” like that’s a completely normal thing to say. Like he doesn’t know exactly what he’s doing to you.
But you need more and Namjoon knows it. His mouth doesn’t leave your cunt for a second, but his fingers find your mouth, so you put on a show. Wrap your lips around them, suck on them the way he’s doing to you, make sure they’re slick. Namjoon groans again, doubles his efforts. Slides one thick finger inside of you and barely lets you adjust before he’s adding a second.
In an embarrassingly short amount of time, Namjoon has you unraveling. Presses incessantly on a spot that has your vision whiting out. Has you trembling, a little panicked as you say, “Joon, fuck—Namjoon, wait—” as it builds and builds and builds.
You might black out for a second, because you come to and Namjoon looks… stunned. He looks like he can’t believe any of what just happened, and you blink a few times, try to come back into your body, and when you regain enough consciousness, you’re extremely aware of the large wet patch beneath you.
“Um—”
“Holy shit.”
“Namjoon, that’s not—that’s embarrassing—can you grab a—”
He shuts you up with a kiss. Presses the taste of you into your skin, and all those silly protests die in your throat, because if Namjoon was needy before, he’s desperate now. Covers your body with his own, hips dipping down low enough to press his erection into the juncture of your thigh, and the weight of him is delicious. Has you fisting the fabric of his t-shirt to pull him closer, has you pulling it over his head, his pants following. Has your hands skimming down every thick part of his body until you reach his cock, hard and aching and slick with pre-cum.
“I need to suck you off later,” you say, done with overthinking. Time to just be honest, and Kim Namjoon has a dick you need to feel down your throat. “Remind me.”
He whines, thrusts into your hand a little harder. “How could I forget that?”
“Don’t know. Didn’t know if this would be the only time,” you answer. “Did you bring a condom?” Namjoon nods, fetches one from his wallet and rolls it on.
He hovers above you again. Looks nervous, all of a sudden, like he can’t tell his lefts from his rights. All out of sorts. You’re about to tell him it’s fine, you don’t have to do anything he doesn’t want to, don’t have to do anything at all, when he says, “It doesn’t have to be.” You just stare. “The only time.”
There’s a conversation to be had. You know that. Both of you clearly have feelings you need to talk about and sort out, but you reckon they can wait. They’ll still be there in the afterglow, in the morning. So you nod, say okay, Joon, and kiss away the insecurities that still linger.
You think about the fic. Think maybe Namjoon would appreciate it if you cracked a stupid joke, just like he’d tried to do earlier. “Has anyone ever called your cock stupid?”
He laughs, breath fanning against your skin. “No. Wanna try it and see what happens?”
Might as well. You try to remember the exaggerated tone of voice you’d used. Repeat the line—“Do you even know what to do with that big, stupid cock?”—and wait.
There’s a beat of silence, and then—
Namjoon swallows thickly. “I, um. Unfortunately, I think that really works for me.” You laugh. Pull him closer. Wrap your legs around his waist as he starts to move against you. Has jokes of his own. “Please. Please let me fuck you.”
You roll your eyes, laugh tapering into a giggle. “Do you know how?” Namjoon nods, looking all too much like a puppy eager to please its owner. “Do you promise?” He nods again. “Okay. Okay, come here.”
You expect him to move fast; expect the first time to be frenzied and a little awkward. It isn’t. Namjoon lines himself up and pushes the smallest bit inside, and then he’s leaning down to kiss you. Threads your fingers together, squeezes your hand. Pushes further inside and mumbles praise just beneath your ear.
It’s dizzying, the amount of care Namjoon handles you with. How soft he is. Does nothing to ease the discomfort of the stretch, the overwhelming fullness, but he talks you through it. Tells you how good you feel, how beautiful you look. Spills a lot of words you’d probably be embarrassed to hear and he’d be embarrassed to say if this was any other time, but in the heat of the moment it all just works to unravel you faster.
He bottoms out. “Okay?” he asks, and you’re rewarded with a dimpled smile when you say you are. Namjoon is a devastating kind of beautiful.
But, as he gives you time to adjust and you give him the all-clear, he also fucks like a demon. What once was hand-holding is now your wrists pinned to the bed, your body caged beneath him as he rolls his hips at a pace that has your eyes rolling back into your head. You’ve been deceived. Lured into a false sense of security.
It’s almost a shame this isn’t being recorded, because you want to memorize all the sounds Namjoon’s making. Want to hear them for the rest of your life. Don’t want anyone else to be the reason he sounds like this, and as he ups his pace and presses his lips to your neck, you don’t want to sound like this because of anyone else, either.
Maybe one of those times in the future, you can talk him into it.
Namjoon reaches down, rubs circles into your clit. Every time you think you might be close, he pulls his hand away, smiles like the devil. You let him have his fun for a while, let him think you’re keen to lie back and take it, and then you tighten your legs around his waist and flip him onto his back.
He doesn’t think it’s very funny. Looks up at you all bewildered. “What’re you—”
“You were taking too long,” you snark. “Figured I’d take matters into my own hands.”
“Yeah? Shit,” he says as you begin to move. “Fuck, baby, like that. Ride me just like that.”
You do. Don’t change a thing, because Namjoon’s cock is long and thick enough to hit exactly where you need it to. You can feel yourself clenching, feel yourself getting wetter, and the sight of Namjoon beneath you does nothing to stave off the inevitable. He looks even better than you’d imagined: skin flushed, eyes squeezed shut, head thrown back, sweat-slick. You want to make him cry. Want to give him the entire world. You will.
Namjoon thrusts at the same time you roll your hips, and that’s what does it. Has you crying out, has stars flashing behind your eyelids. Has you saying fuck, fuck, fuck as he drives you over the edge for the second time. Has you on the brink of oversensitive as he thrusts a few more times to chase his own end, almost delirious at the way Namjoon moans as he spills into the condom.
Has you swooning, just a bit, at the dopey way Namjoon smiles at you, eyes half-lidded and crinkled at the corners.
“Was that okay?”
You snort. “Yeah, I’d say it was decent.”
“Maybe next time you could pee on me,” he jokes.
You whack him on the chest. “Sure. Or we could record it.”
Has you a little shocked at the way his cock twitches inside of you at the mention of it.
On Monday, you don’t wear a pretentious sweater.
When you stroll in, Jungkook’s already got the best donut shoved halfway into his mouth because he’s a shithead. He eyes you warily, probably hoping with all his hope that you spent the weekend finding God and getting your shit together.
And then he realizes you’ve got on Namjoon’s hoodie and he nearly chokes to death.
“What the fuck are you wearing—”
Namjoon appears at that very moment, and it’s so hard not to take credit for the way he’s glowing, the dazed smile on his face. But Jungkook notices, because Jungkook notices everything, and his gaze darts between the two of you: your hoodie, Namjoon’s face, your face. He opens his mouth, something inappropriate bound to spill out, but Namjoon beats him to the punch. “Ready?” he asks you, and you nod.
It’s seamless.
No hiccups, no awkward stuttering. Namjoon gets through the intro without a hitch, and it feels exactly like it used to. Just two friends having a conversation. It’s obvious Jungkook still wants to say something, but after suffering through last week, he stays quiet lest he makes it worse and sends the two of you back to the bad place.
“How was your weekend, Pipe? Do anything fun?” Namjoon rolls his lips, tries not to laugh.
So you play along. “No, not really, just some dog sitting. How about you?”
“Oh, you know me. Had another first date on Saturday.”
“Did you? How’d it go?”
“Perfect.”
It’s a blessing Jungkook isn’t filming this, because your eyebrows raise so far they nearly disappear from your face altogether. There isn’t even a hint of hesitation in Namjoon’s voice, and although you would’ve described it the same way, hearing him say it with such conviction has you a little stunned. “Wow. You gonna see her again?”
“Yeah,” Namjoon says, sharing a private smile with you. “I think I am.”
who the FUCK is namjoon dating
Posted by u/pod-shipper 7 minutes ago
This has honestly ruined my entire day. I thought all the stories he told about dating were a bit… Like, what kind of guy has a podcast about relationships but can’t seem to be in one? But you could just HEAR it in his voice how much he likes this woman he went on a date with over the weekend and I’m sick to my stomach. (+2195)
↳ bro you and me both 😭 i genuinely thought him and piper had something going on fr (+1302)
↳ Seriously might stop listening because of this! Any woman with self-respect would never let their partner host a podcast with someone they’re obviously in love with. If he gets serious with this woman, Piper will be gone within 6 months, mark my words. (+927)
↳ I wouldn’t worry about it too much! My cousin works at a really nice restaurant in the same city Namjoon lives in, and she said she saw this “date” on Saturday and that it wasn’t anything serious. (+788)
↳ Piper got a cat and Namjoon finally got a second date. Face it, it’s over. (+325)
↳ cannot believe him and piper aren’t dating.. do you think i should delete all my tiktok edits? (+4)
↳ this is unhinged lmfao i thought y’all hated piper? you’re in here bitching abt her being a “misandrist” every week and now ur gonna stop listening bc namjoon isn’t dating her? pick a lane and stay in it (-64)
Thank you so much for reading! I'd love to hear your thoughts, and reblogs/shares are always welcome! I appreciate you very much~ ♡
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11
Go ahead and watch my heart burn
With the fire that you started in me
But I'll never let you back to put it out
Johnny Storm needed to grow up, according to his sisterand brother-in-law. Johnny Storm was an alpha who used omegas, who cycled through them like they were flavours of the week and Sue was tired of it. In order to keep track of him and maybe get him to settle down, Sue pulls a few strings and has a new omega hired as his personal assistant, one who holds little regard for Johnny.
He sees the omega as a challenge; she sees him as a child she needs to babysit.