Apr 24, 2025
seen from China
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from Russia
seen from Nepal
seen from Brazil
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Argentina
seen from United States
seen from Netherlands
seen from China
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Singapore
seen from Russia
seen from United Kingdom
seen from United States
VV in 2007 (my fav era) 🖤
daddy? sorry.
What listening to HIM feels like:
It'll Be Just a Minute
Ville Valo x Reader AU
The snow had started giving up sometime during the afternoon, leaving Helsinki covered in that ugly half-melted gray slush that soaked through shoes within minutes. By evening the sidewalks looked damp and filthy beneath the streetlights, cigarette butts trapped inside piles of collapsing snow near the curbs. Ville walked with his coat hanging open despite the cold, hands shoved into his pockets while you complained beside him about the weather, about your wet boots, about the fact he’d refused to take the tram because apparently walking “built character,” which he’d said in the driest voice imaginable before lighting another cigarette.
“You’re going to die of pneumonia before twenty-five,” you muttered, grabbing his sleeve when he drifted too close to the road.
Ville glanced down at your hand without slowing. “That would save me from hearing this conversation again next winter.”
“You say that every winter.”
“Because you say the same things every winter.”
You huffed at him, shoulders tightening beneath your coat, though he could already tell you weren’t genuinely annoyed. You always got louder when you were comfortable. He’d figured that out months ago. Strangers received politeness. Friends got teasing. Ville got the full endless stream of complaints, opinions, unnecessary observations, and questions you absolutely already knew the answer to. Somehow he’d become the person you narrated your entire life to.
It should have driven him insane by now.
Instead he found himself glancing at you every couple minutes whenever you weren’t looking, checking whether you’d slipped on the ice, whether you looked cold, whether you’d wandered too close to the street while talking with your hands again.
He noticed you falling behind before you even complained about it, slowing automatically until you caught up beside him. You noticed too, though thankfully you didn’t point it out. If you had, he would’ve denied it on instinct.
Both of you passed glowing storefronts fogged from indoor heat, cafés crowded with people escaping the cold, bars leaking music through cracked doors. You had been talking about needing new bras for nearly a week because apparently every single one you owned was either trying to suffocate you or falling apart in some dramatic fashion he’d stopped fully listening to halfway through. Ville had mostly contributed by saying he supported the destruction of all bras universally. You’d called him unhelpful.
Then you stopped walking so abruptly he nearly walked past you.
“Oh my God.”
Ville turned his head slowly, already suspicious.
You stood staring through the window of a lingerie store glowing bright gold against the wet street. Mannequins posed under warm lighting wearing lace and satin that looked absurdly expensive.
Before he could react, you grabbed his sleeve.
“I need to go in.”
Ville looked at the window display, then at you, one eyebrow lifting. “You’re bringing me into a bra store voluntarily?”
“I need opinions.”
“Are you trying to seduce me?”
“I don’t know. Do you want me to seduce you?”
A grin started pulling at his mouth before he could stop it. “I don’t know. I feel objectified already.”
You rolled your eyes and dragged him inside before he could continue.
The heat hit immediately; the store smelled faintly like perfume and clean laundry. Soft music played overhead. Mirrors covered nearly every wall. Somewhere near the register, an employee greeted politely, though her eyes lingered on Ville for an extra second, the way people always did.
He ignored it automatically.
You headed straight toward the practical section with the determination of somebody entering battle. Beige bras. White cotton underwear. The most painfully sensible options imaginable.
Ville stared at the racks in visible disappointment.
“You dragged me in here for this?” he asked. “These look medically prescribed.”
“They’re comfortable.”
“They look like something invented by the government.”
You snorted despite yourself, flipping through hangers while he wandered off beside another rack. He could already feel boredom setting in. He wanted a cigarette badly enough his fingers kept twitching toward his pockets out of habit.
Then he spotted leopard print.
A slow grin spread across his face.
“Oh, absolutely not,” you said immediately without even turning around.
“You haven’t seen it yet.”
“I can hear it in your voice.”
Ville pulled a tiny leopard print bra from the rack and held it up against your chest with complete seriousness. “This one’s horrifying. You should buy it immediately.”
You shoved his arm away, laughing. “Put that back.”
“No.”
“It looks like a mobster’s girlfriend would wear that.”
“Exactly. You’d terrify people.”
He kept going after that purely because your reactions amused him. Tiny satin things. Black lace bodysuits missing suspicious amounts of fabric. A fluffy fur-trimmed red thing that looked like it belonged in a cheap music video.
You kept swatting at him while trying not to laugh too hard.
“Ville, stop.”
“Look at this one,” he said, holding up another lace disaster. “This seems emotionally unhealthy.”
“You are emotionally unhealthy.”
“That’s why I recognize quality.”
A woman passing nearby gave the two of you an entertained look while you buried your face in your hands for a second.
“You’re impossible.”
Ville looked entirely pleased with himself.
Then he found another leopard print outfit.
It was genuinely hideous. Tiny little shorts, fake fur trimming the neckline, cheap satin that probably shed glitter into the atmosphere permanently.
He held it up thoughtfully against you.
“This one,” he said calmly. “You’d look psychologically damaging in this.”
You stared at him for a second before laughing so suddenly you nearly folded in half.
“Oh my God, shut up.”
“No, listen to me. Men would crash vehicles.”
“You’re so embarrassing.”
“You brought me here. This is your fault.”
You still took the outfit from him eventually, muttering something under your breath about trying it on purely to prove how ugly it was.
That alone made the trip worthwhile.
A while later you disappeared behind the fitting room curtain carrying a mixture of practical bras and several things you’d originally refused until Ville kept insisting you at least try them for entertainment purposes.
Once you vanished, the store immediately became boring again.
Ville wandered aimlessly between racks for a few minutes, already restless. He picked up random things absentmindedly, glanced toward the fitting rooms, checked his watch. He wanted nicotine badly enough that he finally pulled a cigarette from his pocket before remembering where he was.
“Sorry,” one of the employees called with a smile before he could light it. “No smoking inside.”
Ville looked up.
She was pretty in the polished sort of way. Hair perfectly blown out, makeup untouched despite the heat inside the store, shirt cut low enough to make the push-up bra underneath feel less accidental than strategic.
He slid the cigarette behind his ear instead.
“Cruel policy,” he said.
She laughed immediately.
The conversation stayed harmless after that because from Ville’s perspective there barely was a conversation. She flirted openly enough that it became mildly funny. He answered in the same dry tone he used with nearly everybody, leaning against the counter while she talked about something he wasn’t fully listening to.
Then he noticed movement near the fitting rooms.
You peeked through the curtain opening.
Their eyes met for maybe half a second before you disappeared again.
At first he didn’t think anything of it.
Then you came back out ten minutes later carrying an entirely different pile.
Ville looked down automatically.
Beige.
White.
Plain cotton.
Every interesting thing had disappeared.
His forehead creased before he could stop himself. “You’re seriously getting the grandma underwear now?”
You shrugged too quickly. “They’re comfortable.”
Something about your tone immediately irritated him. Not because you sounded angry. Because you sounded fake-casual. He knew that voice already. It usually meant you were upset and pretending you weren’t.
Ville glanced toward the employee still standing nearby.
Then back toward you.
Oh.
For some reason the realization annoyed him instantly.
Mostly because it felt ridiculous. He’d spent the last hour following you around a lingerie store acting like an idiot because he liked seeing you laugh. He’d barely looked at anything else in the building.
Meanwhile you’d apparently decided he was moments away from abandoning society for a woman with shiny hair and a push-up bra.
You started walking toward the register without looking at him properly.
Ville followed, irritation settling beneath his ribs.
“You hated those fifteen minutes ago.”
“They’re fine.”
“You called one of them depressing.”
“Well maybe I like depressing.”
“That’s definitely your worst quality.”
You shot him a look. “You don’t have to pretend you care what underwear I buy.”
There it was.
Ville stopped walking.
You took another few steps before realizing he wasn’t beside you anymore. When you turned around, he looked genuinely annoyed for the first time all evening, curls falling into his eyes, cigarette still tucked behind his ear.
“I spent an hour picking out catastrophic lingerie for you,” he said. “Obviously I care.”
The employee glanced over awkwardly before pretending not to listen.
You crossed your arms tighter. “You seemed distracted.”
“By what?”
“The cashier practically sitting in your lap.”
Ville blinked once.
Then he laughed.
Not cruelly. More out of disbelief.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”
Your expression hardened immediately. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Act like I’m insane.”
“I’m acting like you’re being annoying.”
“You were flirting with her.”
“She was flirting with me.”
“That’s literally the same thing.”
“It really isn’t.”
You grabbed one of the beige bras from the pile like you suddenly wanted to strangle him with it. “You looked very entertained.”
Ville stared at you for a long second, jaw shifting slightly while he tried deciding whether he found this irritating or stupidly endearing.
Unfortunately it was both.
“Yeah,” he said finally. “Because I thought it was funny.”
“What’s funny about it?”
“You glaring at me from behind a curtain like a tiny angry ghost, for one thing.”
You looked horrified. “You saw that?”
“Obviously.”
Your face flushed immediately and you looked away, which should not have made him feel as smug as it did.
Ville stepped closer, lowering his voice automatically. “I was standing in a lingerie store holding a cigarette I couldn’t smoke while my girlfriend tried on leopard print against her will. That girl could’ve been naked on the counter and I still would’ve been thinking about you.”
Your eyes flicked back toward him so quickly it almost made him smile.
Unfortunately for you, he noticed that too.
“You’re impossible,” you muttered.
“And you’re jealous over a cashier who talked to me for maybe forty seconds.”
“She was pushing up against you.”
Ville looked exhausted suddenly. “It’s a lingerie store. That’s sort of the atmosphere.”
You tried not to smile and failed a little around the edges.
He could practically feel the tension leaving your body in real time.
Ville sighed through his nose, reaching over to pull the beige bra from your arms before replacing it with the black and pink lace one you’d actually liked earlier.
“This one.”
“It might not fit right.”
“You stared at yourself in that fitting room for twenty minutes. You obviously liked it.”
“There was weird poking near the side.”
“Then get a bigger size.”
You looked at him suspiciously. “Why do you sound like you know bra science?”
“I’ve absorbed information against my will.”
You laughed under your breath finally, shoulders relaxing again.
Ville felt his own irritation fading with it, though he still shook his head a little while leading you back toward the prettier section.
“You really thought I wanted the cashier.”
“You looked happy talking to her.”
“I look happy talking to bartenders too. Doesn’t mean I’m in love with them.”
“You flirt with bartenders constantly.”
“I flirt with everybody.”
“That’s not helping your case.”
Ville glanced sideways at you, mouth twitching.
“Yeah,” he said. “But you’re the one I follow into bra stores in weather that feels personally insulting.”
That finally earned the real smile he’d been trying to get back for the past ten minutes, and because he was weak in ways he’d never willingly admit aloud, he immediately felt better too.
You stood there another few seconds pretending to inspect the bra in your hands while Ville watched you with growing suspicion, already recognizing the expression spreading across your face. The corners of your mouth kept twitching upward no matter how hard you tried flattening them back down.
“There it is,” he said quietly.
You narrowed your eyes. “What?”
“That stupid little smile you get before you make bad decisions.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Liar.”
You tried holding the serious expression another moment before finally breaking into laughter, shoulders folding inward while Ville looked unbearably smug about being right.
“Oh my God, fine,” you said, grabbing the leopard print disaster from the rack beside him. “I’ll try the ugly stripper outfit.”
Ville looked genuinely delighted. “Excellent. Society wins.”
“And this one too,” you muttered, snatching the ridiculous fur-trimmed satin thing from his hands before you could rethink it.
He blinked once in surprise before grinning so hard his eyes crinkled slightly at the corners.
“You’re being manipulated,” you informed him while walking back toward the fitting rooms.
“I know,” Ville said easily. “It’s beautiful.”
The curtain snapped shut behind you before he could continue annoying you.
Inside the fitting room, the overhead lighting remained deeply offensive, though somehow the entire situation had become funny again instead of humiliating. The leopard print set looked even worse on your body than it had on the hanger. Tiny little shorts digging into your hips, fur scratching faintly against your chest. You stared at yourself in the mirror for three solid seconds before dissolving into helpless giggling.
Outside, Ville heard it immediately.
A grin spread across his face before he could stop it.
“You laughing in there?” he called.
“No.”
“You sound unstable.”
“You picked these!”
“Yeah, and apparently I’m a genius.”
You could practically hear the smile in his voice. It made your stomach feel warm in that irritating way he somehow managed constantly without even trying.
Eventually you changed back into your normal clothes, still smiling to yourself while folding the ugly outfits over your arm. The prettier black bra came with you too despite your earlier crisis over sizing. You grabbed a slightly bigger version before leaving the fitting room, mostly because Ville had looked annoyingly confident about being right.
When you stepped back out, Ville glanced down at the pile in your arms and immediately looked victorious.
“Oh, this is huge for me.”
“Don’t start.”
“You mocked my artistic vision.”
“You don’t have artistic vision. You have psychological problems.”
“Same thing.”
You giggled under your breath while walking toward the register beside him, the earlier tension mostly dissolved into embarrassment on your end and quiet satisfaction on his. Ville reached the counter first, already pulling his wallet from his coat pocket before you could object.
“No,” you said immediately. “I’m paying for my own bras.”
“You’re not paying for the emotionally damaging leopard outfit.”
“You literally forced me into it.”
“Exactly. That makes me financially responsible.”
The employee from earlier smiled when the two of you approached again, though this time her attention shifted uncertainly between you both. Up close, embarrassment settled heavier in your chest than jealousy had earlier. She probably thought you were insane.
Which, honestly, fair enough.
Ville kept sliding items onto the counter while you stood beside him fiddling with the sleeve of your coat.
“This one’s his fault,” you muttered finally, holding up the leopard print set toward the cashier with an apologetic smile. “I’m aware it’s horrible.”
The girl laughed softly. “Honestly? I’ve seen worse.”
“That’s upsetting information.”
Ville looked deeply pleased with himself the entire time the items were scanned.
When the cashier handed over the bag, you hesitated for a second before glancing toward her properly.
“Sorry,” you said suddenly, awkward enough that Ville turned his head toward you in surprise. “For glaring at you earlier.”
The girl blinked once before smiling in immediate understanding.
“Oh,” she said. “Don’t worry about it.”
Beside you, Ville actually looked offended.
“You were glaring at her?”
You elbowed him lightly in the ribs before he could continue.
The cold hit again the second you stepped outside, damp air wrapping around both of you while the door shut behind your backs. Ville immediately reached for the cigarette behind his ear like he’d been waiting all night.
“You apologized to the woman who tried stealing my attention in a lingerie store,” he said while lighting the cigarette.
“She wasn’t trying to steal you.”
“Thank you. Finally some sanity.”
“She was definitely flirting though.”
Ville exhaled smoke into the freezing air, mouth twitching upward. “Yeah,” he admitted. “Probably.”
You gave him a look.
He laughed softly before nudging your shoulder with his own, steering you away from the storefront and back toward the wet glowing streets of Helsinki.
“But she still didn’t get to see you in leopard print,” he said. “So really, I won.”
— taglist @citylights05 @lanadelgayasf
HUGE HUGE HUGE NOTE : if you’ve read any of my fics you’d notice that my first language is NOT English, I swear I’m not a weirdo with a AI tab open but my entire writings are based on dumbass structures that I’ve been studying for the past 12 years (I’m trying to change old fics so bear with me)
i love this album. Im gen drooling, i love how all of the members sing together at some points, its ascending worthy.
Venus Doom limited edition box set, HIM, 2007