#I’m going crazy you people are not real I refuse to believe that I live in the same world as you people

[daminini]

white people are so fucking soft it’s insane

#ppl are dying and here i are talking about how its bad to guilt trip people YOU SHOULD FEEL GUILTY #YOU SHOULDNT HAVE TO BE SHIELDED FROM THE FAVT THAT YOU LIVE IN A COUNTRY THAT USES YOUR TAX DOLLARS TO PAY FOR GENOCIDE #what if i told you that if you feel so emotionally disturbed by witnessing all of this u can just. turn off your phone. #like you GET to walk away from it. that is YOUR PRIVILEGE #I’m going crazy you people are not real I refuse to believe that I live in the same world as you people

[lovingdabeessss]

Mini ramble cause I’m tired I’ll expand later probably

Blake and Weiss have trouble with their emotions because of their different kinds of abuse they’ve experienced but they still clearly have them, you know? They talk about them and they talk about it a lot their was a whole arc that was just them talking about their emotions very loudly at each other so having the emotions or expressing it doesn’t really bother them that much

or at least not in every environment, Yang and Ruby are the safest space they got they’ll fight each other to the death around them if they’d let them if you want to have unsavory emotions and unsavory words they’re the two people they’re both comfortable doing it around

It seems like they’re biggest issue with having negative emotions is how other people perceive them and how others react and putting up a front around others unless really comfortable

(What an incredible life changing experience it must’ve been to have that kinda safe space with people who care about you for no reason other then because they do and not for any ulterior motive after so long of not feeling like that to love someone so much you could safely hate them and they’d still ask you include you in ever conversation, it’s like that one measurement of love and comfort where if your kid complains and whines about things you make them do to you then they love you and think your safe to be around and if they’re silent and obedient and distant they think your not)

However with Yang and Ruby it’s not a front they’re not pretending to not feel the emotions they’re actually just not feeling them

They’re refusing to outright

Ruby doesn’t vent till she’s in a universe where GRIM DONT EXIST and then the emotions overwhelm her so much she DIES

Yang does let herself have negative emotions but ONLY anger which is controlled and specifically when she can take that kinda heat she expresses anger not only with the acknowledgment of the risk to herself but also often when other people are also already upset

Yangs semblance is clearly designed to make it easier for her to take hits for others this expression of anger goes along with the fact that it lights her on fire and makes her big and bright she’s making herself a bigger target

Cough cough not subtle metaphor cough cough YOU KNOW LIKE WHAT YOU DO AGAINST BEARS?!?! GOLDILOCKS!?!?!? Cough cough not subtle metaphor cough cough

(And Yang and Ruby will sometimes have breakdowns because of this where everything totally boils over and they have no way of dealing with it and they end up sobbing but even then they usually manage to do it in a closed off room)

Their lives have been centered completely around becoming huntresses and surviving through and killing grim it’s been their whole lives if the grim are attracted to negative emotions it doesn’t matter if you don’t show it on your face it’s GETTING you

To be a hunter you have to choose either:

1- go fucking crazy (all of the teachers at beacon for whatever reason)

2- be good enough at your job to be mentally ill (qrow)

3- DIE

So they just couldn’t feel shit cause they didn’t hav the skill level as children to allow that and survive

And obviously they do feel these things but it’s SOO repressed (Ruby I believe less so but it’s still beneath the surface so she’s good)

Blake and Weiss had a ton of shit to worry about but Blake was always more focused on other people as enemies and only had to personally worry about that after she joined the white fang and learned how to fight and I GENUINELY believe that the forest with Ruby was the first time Weiss’s isolated SKY CITY looking ass ever saw a real grim in person and not her sisters fake ones

And I think this is just really interesting because of how long it might’ve taken Yang and Ruby to realize the difference between their partners and them and why I think it might’ve led to interesting interactions but they’d probably never outright talk about it with them because it might lead to emotions

#rwby #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #bumbleby #rwby bumbleby #ruby rose #weiss schnee #strq kids #strq sisters #strq family #huntsman culture deep dive here I come

[decanthrope]

I present an AU

In a world where there is no Boy Who Lived, Harry goes into property development and eventually finds his way into home renovations and flipping. He doesn’t tend to go for your ordinary fixer uppers but instead cursed houses. Because they’ve got charm (okay, maybe it extends a little more than just a charm). Because, to be unflinchingly honest, normal houses are boring.

So Harry likes the houses that have dark pasts, that other renovators and real estate agents have trouble getting off the market. He likes them even when they call him crazy and laugh that he’ll never be able to resell.

I love the idea of Harry buying this fancy estate, maybe something like Grimmauld Place, but it hates him and flights back every time he tries to do any kind of work on it.

I’m talking cupboards refusing go open when he tries to replace hinges only to smack open just as he’s about to give up and giving him a bloody nose. The door refusing to cooperate when he arrives every day, not unlocking and not opening when he finally brute forces the lock open.

I love the idea of him threatening the house, arguing, bargaining, bribing, and begging in turns while neighbours and passers by (muggle and wizard alike) goggle at him and thinking he’s insane. I love the idea od Harry having to smile, make awkward small talk and try to make people believe he’s normal despite months of this behaviour.

I love the idea of Draco, maybe a neighbour, maybe working nearby, watching all of this and slowly (and reluctantly) starting to have feelings about someone who’s absolutely insane. (And maybe sitting on his feelings because he knows Harry’s time is limited, and when he’s done working on the house, he’ll move on to the next one and leave Draco behind, and all he’ll have is memories that might actually be a weird fever dream.)

I love the idea (so much) of the house doing its damnedest to sabotage every effort Harry makes to flirt with Draco and trying so hard to play it off as being “sooo normal, it’s fine, we get along great! Honestly, it’s just being playful we have a great relationship. I love when the house keeps almost dismembering me! What? No, the fact that I nearly had 17 meltdowns when I did the double glazing and am now scared to go near windows probably for the rest of my life isn’t a trauma response!”

I especially love the idea of, despite Draco’s issues, them getting together like a 90s romance flick:

When the project is in its final stages of wrapping up and Harry has (despite the odds and the house’s best efforts to thwart him) fixed it up, Draco—stressed and emotionally overwhelmed by the thought of never seeing Harry again and missing out on the chance of happiness—runs after him and makes his great big confession. And then Harry goes, ��not saying no, but, uh, I’m going to be around for the next six weeks at least to do staging and see if we can’t break some of the curses that would probably have any new owners dead in the first couple days. I was planning on asking you out before I left. Christ, Malfoy, I just closed on a property down the road, I’m not moving to a remote tropical island.”

#drarry #just thoughts #au #Harry potter #i’m back for my yearly out of the blue plot bunny post #I don’t know how to use tumblr anymore #somebody please write this #i will pay you in obnoxious comments

[ghostking4m]

TORNADO WARNINGS

Joe Burrow x male reader

Summary: Y/n reflects on his relationship with Joe in therapy. What his therapist doesn’t know won’t kill him.

——————————————————————————

“So tell me your favorite memory with Joe.”

Y/n didn’t know why he was wasting his time in therapy if he’s just going to be asked questions like this. It’s like he was being asked what his favorite childhood vacation destination was and it makes him feel like a little boy being mentally evaluated.

“I don’t know. I mean- there was this one time when I went to his game against the Kansas City Chiefs and we got this tornado warning. We were just sitting on the swings at this park and it was already cold and windy. The alarm started going off and the look on his face was like he was a character straight out of a horror movie.” Y/n said with a tiny smile and turned to his right to look out the window. “Neither of us had ever seen a real tornado, maybe in the Wizard of Oz, but never in person. Sure, we were both scared, but seeing his eyes wide with pure fear and his knuckles white as snow when he was gripping the chain on the swing was the most hilarious thing I had ever seen. He tried to convince me that we need to go and seek shelter, but I just sat there in the swing laughing. Eventually he sat down in the swings with me and just laughed with me. We even saw the tornado in the distance, but we didn’t move a muscle and we were luckily still safe. Well, no, that was kind of a lie. We did move, but it was only so we could play on the seesaw, then we just laid in the bark together. His arms were wrapped around my waist and I felt so safe. We were so close, not only in proximity, but also on an emotional level. We had feelings for each other, but we both refused to admit it. We were like teenagers playing 7 minutes in heaven, in the sense that we were like kids teetering with our feelings in the dark, both too afraid to make a move.”

Y/n felt a twinge of sadness deep in his heart when he thought of the memories. Remembering what it was like to face danger in the face with Joe hurt him a little more than he would like to admit.

“From what i’m understanding, the two of you stayed at the park in the middle of a tornado and risked facing the tornadoes wrath, just because you thought it was funny?” Y/n therapist asked him. It’s like he couldn’t believe that two people could be so in love that they just wanted to stay there and live in the moment, even if it meant being in the wake of a natural disaster.

“Well, when you put it like that, yeah, I guess we do sound a bit crazy.” Y/n chuckled in response.

“Like, don’t get me wrong, it was totally crazy to just sit there when we saw the tornado destroying everything in its path, but somehow it all felt like everything would be okay.”

“Why?” Dr. Wallard questioned Y/n.

“Because I was with him. I knew we would be okay as long as we were together.”

————————————————————————

“CINCINNATI, YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN SO AMAZING TONIGHT!”

Y/n felt a jolt of electricity while he was onstage. Performing in Paycor stadium was something different for him to get used to, but he felt so comfortable in Paycor, considering how many games he had been here to watch, despite being a California native.

“So, you guys know I’ve been doing this thing at the end of every show where I play a surprise song. We have 1 song left, so what do you guys think the song is going to be?”

Y/n didn’t want the night to end, so he was more than happy to keep the crowd engaged. He heard people yelling all around him in the stadium. He heard Vicious, Sue Me, Because I Liked A Boy, Decode, but he had something else in mind.

“Jokes on all of you, because i’m doing a song that no one has ever heard, not even my team. I just finished the final master last night and I’m so excited for you guys to hear this song. Only three people in the world will know what this song is about, myself, the person I wrote it about, and my therapist.” Y/n joked as he was introducing the song. The entire stadium howled with laughter and cheers after he said that.

“This song is called Tornado Warnings”

————————————————————————

“You always blow me away with your performances.”

Y/n knew that voice in the dark, if he were blind, even if he had his ears covered. Just the sound made his heart pick up to an inhuman speed.

“You just want to see me on my knees in front of you, Burrow” Y/n made a teasing joke in response.

“Well, I would never turn that down, but I mean it, you’ve always been such a captivating and talented performer. It was fun to come to your show today.” Joe pleaded. Y/n turned around and his breath dropped the second he saw those eyes, cool as ice. It never ceased to amaze him how much of an effect Joe’s eyes had on him.

“Thank you. That means a lot. Did you have a favorite song or part of the show?” Y/n asked him, trying to be as casual as he could.

“There was one song I heard tonight that I couldn’t get out of my head. It was something along the lines of you lying to your therapist. That seems like it’s the opposite of helpful, don’t you think?” Joe spoke, poking fun at Y/n.

“Yeah, but it was only ever for the lyrics. It fit the melody and theme of the song. I’ve been entering more of my popstar era than my songwriter era and now i’m just singing what fits the melody than making sure my lyrics are true to me.” Y/n said sarcastically. Joe could always see right through him.

“Right, because you’re a popstar, not a singer-songwriter who the internet claims is the son of Taylor Swift.” Joe said laughing. “Anyway, I really liked that song. I really liked being called a son of a bitch.”

Y/n laughed and it felt so natural to be with Joe like this. Oh god, Dr. Wallard would be so disappointed in Y/n right now if he knew about this.

“No, that one was actually just a line that worked for the melody. I don’t think you’re a son of a bitch. Your mom is an angel.” Y/n said with a smile on his face. He slow started inching his way towards Joe and wrapped his arms around his waist, looking up at him.

“I’ll tell her you said that” Joe chuckled back. He wrapped his arms around Y/n and leaned down to kiss him. No matter what happened, no matter how hard either of them tried, they just couldn’t stay aware from each other. There was something magnetic, something out of this world about their relationship. Joe didn’t want to be with anyone else, even if they were officially in a relationship. “You know, sometimes I can’t tell if we’re in a relationship, just hookup up, friends with benefits, or if you just like kissing me.”

“Oh please! Don’t flatter yourself, Burrow. You look like the green giant from that vegetable company.” Y/n retorted. “If anything, YOU just like kissing me.”

“Cant argue with you there.”

————————————————————————

Y/n thought about Joe all the freaking time. In the shower, driving to the grocery store, on stage performing, but his thoughts about Joe just hit a little differently when he was in his therapy sessions.

“If Joe were to tell you, right now, that he wants to get back together with you, would you do it? Would you reignite that spark that started your relationship in the first place?” Dr. Wallard asked Y/n.

“Oh fuck that! No. Absolutely not. I’m over that son of a bitch. I’m at a point in my life where I almost want to put all of that behind me and pretend like it never existed. I’m just gonna start telling everyone that we never dated, we never saw each other in the first place, we never kissed.” Y/n lied with no hesitation and absolutely no conviction.

Maybe some part of him thought that if he could convince Dr. Wallard that if he couldn’t see the lie that it doesn’t exist. Deep down, he knew that he wasn’t as mysterious as he thought and he’s not as good of a liar as he thinks he is. Dr. Wallard has GOT to be catching on as much as Y/n denies anything ever happened with Joe.

“You wouldn’t go back to the person that you described as the most epic love of your life? You’ve once told me that you think he’s the only person you could ever be with. You had plans or dreams to marry him. Do you still get those dreams sometimes?” Dr. Wallard investigated further.

“No. No. No. In fact, I actually met someone else. There’s a man i’ve been seeing who looks like Joe in a way, maybe it’s the eyes, but character wise, he’s nothing like Joe. He’s so much better than Joe. He’s like he was a predestined thought in Santa’s mind before he was even born and has been on the nice list from birth. He’s the upgraded version of Joe.”

“Does this man have a name?”

“I’d rather not say that right now. I don’t want to jinx anything, you know?”

“Ok. That’s a valid argument. Does this man have any green flags that Joe didn’t?”

“This man is nothing but green flags. Joe was like a walking red flag, or like a walking, talking, breathing natural disaster warning.” Y/n argued.

Y/b had to think a little more about his next response. He thought of Joe and his sweet kisses.

“Joe was a walking tornado warning.”

#x male reader #mine #joe burrow x male reader #joe burrow headcanon #joe burrow x reader #joe burrow imagine #joe burrow #joe burrow male reader #joe burrow x singer reader #joe burrow fluff #joe burrow imagines #joe burrow fic #joe burrow fics #joe burrow fanfic #nfl fic #nfl imagines #nfl x male reader #nfl x reader #nfl imagine #nfl fan fic #nfl fics

[sparkypantaloons]

Call Waiting

That was the affect he had. Superman. He made you think that everything would be fine. Right up until the moment he was gone.

Jason struggles with expectation and reality; what Superman had been for Dick, what he could have been for Jason, and the nothing that he ultimately was.

~~

Jason had seen him once, flying over Gotham. The red cape and boots and a suit bluer than sky; the golden skin and broad shoulders, smile warmer than any sun.

Jason had been seven, chin jutting forward and jaw set. Small hands clenched in angry fists. He was arguing with the old Park Row chemist, Mr. Bevan, who dealt in out-of-date meds for those who couldn’t afford the real thing. The old man had promised Jason 100 grams of lofexidine; had delivered less than fifty but still taken the full payment. Refused Jason’s every plea and curse and cry of unfairness.

All Jason had wanted was to get his mom off of the oxy; to get her all the way through the withdrawal this time and get her better. Get her back; to who she had been… Hunger clawed at his insides, he hadn’t eaten a proper meal in weeks, had saved up every penny he could find to try and help her and—

Superman had appeared in the sky. Impossibly huge and brilliantly bright, warmth radiating off him. He landed not two feet from where Jason was stood.

For one wild moment Jason felt like he’d won the lottery. Superman was here, Superman was here and surely it was for Jason. That’s what he did, wasn’t it? He saved people, people who really needed it. Surely he must have heard, surely he would have known; how desperate Jason and his mom were. How badly they needed help, needed the money and the medicine and somewhere warm and safe and—

The Kryptonian didn’t even see him. Didn’t just look over Jason’s head, but beyond it. Searching the layers of existence for whatever it was he saw in the walls, the very cells of Gotham’s crumbling Park Row district.

“Excuse me.” He’d said politely to old man Bevan, his voice warm with Metropolis sunshine. He’d dipped his head, as though doffing a hat, and then smashed right through the wall of the east end’s Gotham Bank and down into the old vaults.

It took Jason a moment to remember to breathe. He’d seen plenty of crazy things living on Gotham’s poverty line, but he’d never seen a man walk through a wall like it was rain. Superman appeared moments later, with Dick Grayson - that billionaire’s kid - clinging onto his shoulders, and distantly Jason had remembered something about the twelve year old having been kidnapped.

Dick’s arms were wrapped around Superman’s neck, fingers linking under the alien’s chin. There was a grin on his face a mile wide.

“Let’s get you somewhere safe.” Superman had said, rising into the sky as he spoke.

Jason watched them go, the world around him growing cooler by the moment, now that Superman wasn’t there to shine on them. It wasn’t until he got back to the apartment, dank and crumbling, that he realised the cold feeling in his gut wasn’t hunger, but devastation.

~~

Robin met him in the Cave first. He was just as big as Jason remembered, just as overwhelming; his cape a deep, rich red.

“And as for you, Jason—” Superman’s hand had found Jason’s head, had ruffled his hair; his voice warm and booming. “Congratulations on getting that costume, I hear you’re wearing the suit well.”

Jason had only grinned, dizzy with wonder in Superman’s presence. At hearing his name come from the man himself.

“Wow—” He’d breathed, watching the Kryptonian fly from the Cave. Adrenaline had flooded his veins as the red cape slipped out of sight, “I can’t believe that was Superman!” He’d spun round to face Bruce, hopping from foot to foot with excitement. “He spoke to me! Double wow!”

Bruce had pulled down his cowl by now, slung an arm around Jason’s shoulders. “I’m wounded, Robin.” He feigned hurt, held a hand to his heart. “Batman speaks to you everyday.”

Jason had rolled his eyes, dug a playful elbow into Bruce’s ribs. “Batman can’t even fly, B. Come back to me when you’re faster than a speeding bullet.” Then he’d slipped from under Bruce’s arm, sprinting to the showers with a laugh as Bruce gave chase.

Jason had heard stories about Dick’s time with the world’s finest. The adventures the three of them had been on, how close Dick and Clark had become. Hell, Dick had even named himself after a Kryptonian legend, had been given Big Blue’s blessing to do so.

For the first time in Jason’s short life, things were going right. So for the first time he dared to imagine, to think that maybe that would be him too. He’d finally have the big family he always dreamed of, a dad and a brother and Superman. Who knows, maybe he’d even grow up and be Flamebird with Dick.

That was the affect he had. Superman. He made you think that everything would be fine. Right up until the moment he was gone.

He’d been polite, obviously, kind… but ultimately disinterested. There were no adventures together, no team, no family… And when Jason had called for him, cried his name under the relentless swing of metal against bone, it was a burning cold that filled his heart. Sorrowful and dark.

~~

“I called for you, you know.” Red Hood stands above him. It’s hard to tell the cape from the blood now, where it lies in the snow. “When I was fifteen, and the Joker was— I called. I called right up until he cracked through my skull and I suddenly couldn’t remember how to speak anymore.”

Superman lifts his head weakly, eyes drifting from the shard of kryptonite lodged in his gut to where Jason is stood, the eponymous hood under his arm. “Jason— please…” The words tumble from of his mouth, limp and cold.

“Yeah, it was along those lines.” Jason says, dispassionately, breath rising in front of him. “I called for you before that too. When I was a kid and my mom was sick and…” He trails off. “You never came.”

Blood is pooling in Superman’s mouth now. It dribbles down his cheek, onto the dirt floor. Clark’s eyes roll in his head. “Was— off— world—” He chokes the words out. Blood flecks his skin, silver instead of gold now, as the life seeps out of him.

“Bruce said.” Jason replies, “Not when Joker needed saving though.” He adds. A pause. “Saving.” There’s no malice in it, he’s just stating facts.

“m’sorry.” Clark mumbles. His lips are turning blue now, beneath the blood.

Jason shrugs. “Is what it is.”

“Help me. Please.” Superman’s words slur together. “Hav’a, hav’a— son.”

Jason scowls at that, a jolt of hot rage in his cold bones. He had been someone’s son once, twice. It hadn’t made a difference then. Why should it now?

“J’son, hel—”

“You’ve never helped me.” Jason replies, he’s feeling petulant now. About all he can feel in these temperatures.

“S’rry.” Superman grimaces again. “Would h’ve. Would’ve come. If y’ called.”

In the distance a green glow is growing larger on the horizon. Lanterns, Jason expects. He puts his helmet back on, stares down at Superman, expressionless.

“I did,” he says. “Once.”

#batfam #jason todd #spbfic #batfam fic #batfic #batfamily #red hood #superman #clark kent

[modelbus]

Tommyinnit x masc nb reader where they don't try to hide their relationship from the internet, but at the same time refuse to confirm nor deny it.

Like...they have pictures online of them on dates, wearing each others clothes, in each other's background during stream, etc, etc. The evidence is right there??? But they don't confirm it. Matter of fact, they don't even "know who that ugly mug in the picture is".

Wilbur is the first one to leak their relationship tho, woops.

”whoops” killed me. Also, look at my funny little guy in the photo! It felt fitting.

Pairing: CC!Tommyinnit x Nb!Reader (romantic)

Evading Evidence

Tommy’s streaming when you get tired of scrolling through Twitter. Normally you’re able to sit on his bed, just out of sight of his camera, and catch up on all the drama. It’s been a quiet few days though, so you’re already bored.

“I’m going to run to the store real quick.” You say, getting up.

Tommy turns, neither of you acknowledging the stream. Chat’s going crazy about the fact you were there the entire thirty minutes Tommy’s been live for, and possibly longer.

Despite the fact you and Tommy were dating, neither of you had let the internet know yet. Sure, there were pictures and Tweets and remarks basically confirming it, but both of you were careful never to say it outright. At this point it was almost a game.

“Oh, can you get me twin gummy snakes?” Tommy asks, practically begging you with his eyes.

“Why would I do that?”

“Because I need fuel and you love me?”

You consider it for a second before giving in. “Fine. I’ll be back in, like, ten minutes.”

“Thanks! Don’t get run over!”

“Why would I- never mind.”

Tommy doesn’t turn back towards the stream until after he hears you leave, shutting the door behind you. It’s only then that he takes notice of the chat freaking out over his words.

“Chat, what the fuck are you talking about? They don’t love me. Actually, I don’t have a clue who the fuck that was!” He exclaims. “Back to Minecraft.”

-

“Hey, is this okay to post?” Jack Manifold asks, practically shoving his phone into your face.

You take it, examining the Twitter draft. It’s a selfie he took before the filming of the latest Tom Simons vlog. Behind him you can barely see you and Tommy curled up on the couch together, looking at something. The photo is captioned “Tom Simons vlog done.”

“Sure. Tommy?” You ask, handing the phone over to him.

He barely takes a look at it. “Yeah.”

“Thanks!” Jack says cheerfully, immediately posting.

“Time to fight the stans like our lives depend on it.” You joke, already opening Twitter and navigating to Jack’s profile.

“It’s fucking funny.” Tommy laughs.

“Gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss. What’re you tweeting?”

“I’ll reply to yours.” He leans over to watch you type out your reply, reading it aloud. “'Not Jack photoshopping the background'.”

“Are you two ever going to tell the internet?” Jack asks, laughing a little.

“Oh, the internet definitely knows. They just chose to believe us when we lie to their faces.” You answer.

“I’m replying ‘incredibly disrespectful.’” Tommy announces. You get the notification of his reply right after he says it.

“Don’t get me canceled.” Jack sighs.

“No promises.”

-

"Why are you talking about Tommy so much?" A donation asks.

You were doing a just chatting stream, spilling some fun stories. A few of them had been dates with Tommy, but you didn't call them dates. Chat still had their suspicions though.

"Because I hate him." You deadpan, staring into your camera. "Worst person ever, kill all Tommyinnits."

It barely takes a second for the chat to react to your words, thousands of people calling you a liar. As your eyes flick through messages, one catches your eye.

"Why are you wearing his hoodie then, hm?" Gets read aloud. "Well, you see, it simply isn't his. This very clearly branded Tommyinnit hoodie? Mine."

It's merch of his that hadn't shipped yet, his name displayed across your chest. The only possible way for you to have some would be him giving you some or you stealing his. One guess as to what you did.

Yeah, you took his.

"I have the fastest shipping in the world guys, you have to believe me."

Nobody believes you. It's not even the first time you've worn his clothes, just the first you've worn them on stream. Maybe you should've been a little more careful, but oh well. Who really cares anyways? The game was fun, but not too serious.

"Besides, as if I'd ever wear something Tom fucking Simons tainted with his gremlin hands." It's a fun little jab, one you know he'll hear about later. Probably from Twitter.

"Hey!" Tommy yells from somewhere in the flat.

Or maybe he'll hear about it right that second. He must be watching your stream, making you smile.

"Sorry." You say it in a way that clearly shows you don't mean the apology, laughing to yourself a little. After running a hand through your hair, you speak again. "Did I tell you guys about how I almost killed a person by riding a bike the other day?"

-

Of course, all jokes eventually end. This one just happens to meet its death in Wilbur's hands, live on stream.

“We’re out, we’ll see you tomorrow for the vlog.” Tommy says, pulling you to your feet.

It’s been over an hour of being on Wilbur’s stream, stuck in his little cramped office. One person was fine, two could fit, but three was just too much. Besides, you knew Tommy’s limit was an hour.

“Have a good stream!” You tell Wilbur cheerfully, shutting the door before he gets the chance to say goodbye. To make up for it, he waves.

“And there go the lovers.” Wilbur jokes to his stream, putting himself back into the middle of the frame now you and Tommy are gone. “Off to do whatever they do.”

It barely takes a minute for chat to explode, making Wilbur realize exactly what he just did. His face drains of color as he sits up.

“Shit- fuck. It was a joke, guys. A joke.”

Like a dog with a bone, chat’s already taken his words and ran with them. Wilbur’s fuck up is beyond repair. Instead of digging himself a deeper grave, he just messages you and Tommy.

You’re both back in his office in a matter of seconds, having sprinted back down the corridor. It wasn’t that you were upset, more just panicked. This definitely wasn’t how you meant to confirm it.

“Well… shit.” Tommy finally speaks, just off camera. “You’ve leaked it Wil.”

“I didn’t fucking mean to!”

“We should leak something about you in return.” You joke.

“Hey, I didn’t mean to!” Wilbur quickly defends himself.

Tommy pokes his head into the camera frame to address chat, grinning to show he isn’t pissed at Wilbur at all. You laugh, waiting to see what he’ll say.

“Oi, chat, you’re all fucking dumb. Took you lot long enough.”

Wilbur sags with visible relief, glad neither of you are going to kill him for his slip-up. Now that it’s established he didn’t ruin everything, it’s a lot funnier.

“We’re going to miss the movie showing.” You announce, checking your phone for the time.

“Fuck. Bye again.” Tommy laughs as you drag him out the door.

When the door shuts, Wilbur laughs and shakes his head. “Whoops?”

#tommyinnit mcyt #tommyinnit x you #tommyinnit x reader #tommyinnit #mcyt #dsmp #tommyinit dsmp #tommyinnit imagine #mcyt imagine

[dreadark]

compilation of some comments in official RI medical records

That's a sure sign of a diva who hasn't seen much of the real world, if you ask me. She needs a lesson in the grim reality of war and just how hard the Infected have it. Skyfire should be given more hands-on combat missions to knock some sense into her. —Medic Operator Gavial A reminder, Gavial, that all physical examinations are public record. —Dr. Kal'tsit

Well, look what we have here! Your body's pretty well built! —Gavial, admiring Eunectes

The physical exam went smoothly, but her heartbeat was abnormally fast and that confounded the data. —Gavial, clueless about Tomimi

That gal wakes up before daylight and starts training every day without exception... How can she not be in good shape? Argh, I wanna arm wrestle with her... If I get to fight her, that's even better! —Gavial, appreciating Akafuyu

If Weedy can still get infected despite all these protective measures, then life on Terra can no longer persist. —Gavial

Having that said, what are we even doing for her? Is she going to live here? Are you crazy? —Gavial, opposed to Leizi

Minor infection, nothing to be concerned about! I know my own body the best, of course. Rhodes Island's course of treatment has been effective in controlling and stabilizing the disease. However, physical performance has been affected considerably, down peak levels. Guess it's time to do some rehab... —Gavial, definitely not downplaying her own condition

Even among Vouivre, this girl has one of the most incredible bodies I've ever seen. I'm somewhat curious to see if she even can contract Oripathy at all, if her body can just tough it out... But whatever, that's probably not happening. Test it out? No, that's not an option. —Warfarin, about Bagpipe

We finally got one! An infected Vouivre! —Warfarin, about Toddifons

I was wondering what's the big deal when they told me Lungmen confiscated Ch'en's physical report. Turns out it was no big deal at all. Lame. —Warfarin, finding out Ch’en is infected

Everyday contact with Infected won't lead to Oripathy transmission, that's common sense; a majority of people don't believe this, which is also common sense. —Warfarin, in Honeyberry’s profile

What do I say? She doesn't really hide it, and she went so far beforehand as to tell me that her body probably isn't like the layman's, so I'm not overly surprised by this? Although if I could just have a little discussion with her, get her to undergo regular inspections in my office, let me draw a little blood, that's all. It wouldn't impact her in any real way. —Warfarin, wanting to experiment on Kjera Ask her yourself. —Kal'tsit

Nian insisted on entering Rhodes Island as a visitor and refused to undergo medical tests. After a series of gambling bets, dice-rolling, wrestling, and other competitions, the gathering of physiological data was finally put on indefinite hiatus. 'It's a darn shame that Gavial lost the last rock-climbing competition! We were so close to forcing her to get a medical examination. I never expected that Gavial would contribute to the medical department in such an important manner. Do your best, Gavial! There's always next year!' —Hibiscus, Medic Operator

What? She actually took a physical? Wow, she's so easy? I figured anyone Nian would haul in would be pretty much like her. Guess we're not gonna need Gavial's help this time, let her gear up for round two with Nian. Nian's idea for how to run the tests at the normal operator level had the examiner thinking of calling for a medic to shut the whole thing down. And Nian sure looked pleased with herself. She knew exactly how that would go down. But Dusk is really out of shape. Whatever, she's not taking a salary, so it's none of my business... Oh, the results match everything in the files we got. She has 'no connection' to Originium whatsoever. Not allocating any additional funds. If you're already struggling, you could always consider NOT starting a research project on some weirdo shut-in? —Closure

Miss Ling agreed to be medically tested, which we didn't anticipate. We thought she'd dodge us as hard as Nian did. She did show a sort of... laissez-faire attitude during the tests, though, so the results were all over the map. Not rigorous at all... but Miss Closure says not to mind it, so we suppose we won't. 'It's probably all the wine she drank,' was her explanation. —Medic Operator Hibiscus

Saria was my coworker at Rhine Lab. She is authoritative in the field of medical treatment, but did not become a Medic Operator. My guess is this is due to her lack of bedside manner. Just kidding. —Medic Operator Ptilopsis

Blaze, the next time you don't bring protective gear on the mission, I will have Dr. Kal'tsit forbid you from consuming alcoholic beverages. —Y.P., Medic Operator

Grani is in such good shape, even if infection was chasing her, it wouldn't be able to catch up... —A Medic Operator

Don't worry, Ms. Swire, Rhodes Island's hospital fees are quite reasonable. You only have to pay... —S.S.E., Medic Operator Any unfair charges to patients will have appropriate consequences. —Dr. Kal'tsit

Hey, this young lady can jump between buildings and punch through a wall with her bare fists. Makes sense she's in good shape, eh? —Aak, about Waai Fu

How great it is to be young. —Unnamed senior physician, envying Sideroca

Abdominal area feels pretty good on palpation. —Medic's addendum, after feeling up Ayerscarpe

Can she really do field work dressed like that? —Medical Department anonymous remark, judging Iris

In every way a person can be, he is very unsafe. —Sussurro, remarking on Tequila

That scent, it's so good... So refreshing... Ah, ah... Achoo! —A medic operator with a pollen allergy encountering Podenco

I hope we don't get too many more difficult patients like her... —A comment on Bubble’s profile

Shut-ins are bound to have a decent health advantage. —Tuye, relating to Indigo

Not good enough. I can still do better. —Folinic, about her own Oripathy

What? This is impossibly low! It would be impossible to have that little exposure to Originium! I cannot permit her to ever leave the medical department. Even if she wants to go fight, I insist she stays back! She is a special case! Anyone who loves medical science would want to see her! We must give her more exams and do a clinical analysis! Also... Come on, Dr. Kal'tsit, just this once, please! —J.A., Medic Operator, bewildered by Skadi Request denied. —Dr. Kal'tsit

Bonus:

Ahem. Everyone here? It's clear why the medical staff has assembled for this closed-door meeting... Yes, of course. You're all interested in Skadi, aren't you? Whether you are interested in her endocrine system, her skeletal system, her muscles, her nerves, or the fact that her Blood Originium-Crystal Density is almost zero... What kind of environment could foster that? What race is she? Her movement and physical functions are currently beyond our understanding, so how do they work? Right, right... Skadi has been kept a secret for too long! On behalf of Rhodes Island, all Infected people, and on behalf of science itself, we need to find answers! My plan is to put sedatives in her food... We'll work out the specific dosage, but enough for two hundred people should do, right? Then, when Skadi gets woozy, she will be taken to the nearest infirmary... And we've got her! Dissecting her would be a bit too much, but we only need a little more information to add to what Dr. Kal'tsit already has... That's it! Even if it's just a blood sample! A little bit of blood is no problem... Maybe a pinch of muscle tissue too? I think that won't be an issue, either! Everyone, don't you think...

Oh.

Dr. Kal'tsit? How long have you been here...?

—Dr. Kal'tsit discovered Warfarin's plan during her secret meeting, and fined her one month's salary.

#arknights #obviously way long for twitter but huh this account exists #still cut a few out for length tho #also some of the attributions are my own #since it isn't totally obvious who it's about #shoutout to gavial and warfarin for contributing half of these #the funniest one to me tho is warfarin reacting to toddi #like you prob shouldn't sound so excited finding out someone has a terminal illness... #post

[shepherds-of-haven]

Hi Lena! I hope your week has been pleasant thus far!

I’m not sure if this question has already been asked yet, but what kind of characters would the ROs be in a horror movie? Like, who’s the cynical character that doesn’t believe the monster is real, the cocky guy who is all like “yeah I can beat this idiot no problem”, the “survivor” character that shows up later in the movie to help the main cast, etc.

Sorry if this question doesn’t really make any sense, feel free to ignore this is you want! 😅

Hi there, I sort of answered this question in various different ways--I'd recommend checking out the Halloween horror masterpost, which has a few different horror AUs!--but I didn't really specify what "tropes" the characters might fall into, so here goes!

Blade: I'd think he's the leader character who tries to give everyone the best chances of survival by directing them to defend themselves and makes you feel safe with his presence (you know, like the older brother who was in the military or the super strong athlete boyfriend or the hyper-competent neighbor with a mysterious set of skills or what have you), but then he has to leave the group because he stands the best chance of getting help (thus removing the comfort of his presence and rocketing up the anxiety of the film); he probably gets "killed" by the killer in a jumpscare and is knocked out and left for dead for most of the movie, then shows up all bloodied to stab the killer in the back at the last minute when the audience thought he was dead! So he survives, but he's pretty heavily injured and the rest of the group has to help him make it out

Trouble: he's full of confident bravado, like "you know what? *grabs kitchen knife* fuck this guy, I can take him! he can't get all of us!!" *immediately gets killed* or *power goes out* *in an effort to reassure the group* "don't worry guys, I'll go out there by myself to check the circuit box, nothing could go wrong!" Or he's the guy who "sacrifices" himself so the rest of the group can get away, potentially with the surprise ending of coming back with the police to arrest the killer and finding him alive after all! So he has a very low chance of survival, but he might live depending on how things shake out!

Tallys: she has final girl energy for sure, she's the one hearing Trouble offering to go outside in the storm alone and is savvy enough to be like "mm-mm. nope. we're not doing that. not today!" She's the one who doesn't seem like she's doing much throughout the movie as all the people are getting picked off, but then you see her doing really clever things like rigging booby traps or hiding under a bed so she can stab the killer in a foot or something crazy like that. Her self-preservation instincts and cunning definitely means she's going to make it through to the end: whether she's the lone survivor or if her skills guided the group to safety after Blade and Trouble got taken out just depends on what type of movie we're watching, lol!

Shery: sadly, she has helpless victim energy where she's so terrified and unskilled that someone (like Trouble) might first die defending her, making the audience frustrated, and then she might end up dying as well! Or she might end up just hiding away somewhere, not able to contribute but not dying, either! ...But yeah, she has sweet, innocent, sacrificial lamb energy, so she might die just to show the audience how wicked the villain truly is 😭

Riel: he's the skeptic of the group, he's the one who refuses to believe that anything supernatural is going on, he's the logician who flatly says, "this can't be happening. there has to be some other explanation." I feel like those types of people generally die in horror movies, so he's probably dead, but if we're not going by horror movie rules, he's probably smart enough to outwit the killer/supernatural threat if he can break through his own disbelief and actually start scheming against it! If it's like a monster or something like that, he stands a good chance, but if it's a demon or a ghost, he's probably dead 😵

Chase: he's the comic relief, he's the one keeping the morale group high, he's the clown who seems largely unfazed by what's happening but is skilled and capable enough to help defend the group. I feel like those types stand a solid 50/50 chance in most horror movies, where if they're minor characters, they'll definitely die, but if they're major members of the cast, they end up being one of the heroes of the story because the audience is fond of and rooting for them. Given Chase's uncanny ability to survive most things life throws at him, however improbable, I think he's one of the last ones standing, kind of like in Cabin in the Woods!

Red: he's the source of information, the smart one who's providing everyone with the backstory/information/mythology of the killer/threat. The guy who's been researching local anthropology in the area and just happens to have extensive knowledge of "that one serial killer in the 80s who [insert backstory] here." He might lack the common sense or hard survival instincts of a Tallys or a Blade, but he stands a good chance of surviving so long as no one sends him off by himself! If he's caught out alone, he's 100% a goner 😔

Ayla: she has like "batshit final girl" energy, the member of the group who seems sullen and withdrawn at a party and strangers are like, "what's her deal?" and there's some backstory or implied allusion to her dark past where she survived being kidnapped by Jigsaw or her parents were killed by a serial killer or something like that, and you think it's all speculation until someone starts killing people off and she's already in the corner sticking nails in a bat or busting out the chainsaw saying grimly, "Not like this. Not again." She stands a very good chance of survival so long as her trauma doesn't make her act reckless and the killer doesn't outsmart her by digging a booby trap or something!

Briony: I feel like she either has badass final girl energy or the energy of someone who vastly underestimates her opponent, like I could see her taking charge after some of the others get taken out and is like, "Don't worry guys, I've taken tae kwon do for ten years!" and she just is like not really processing the level of depravity that is going on and just gets annihilated, or she's the one keeping the group together and like plows the killer down with a car in the chaos or something like that. If Shery causes anyone to die to protect her, though, it's definitely going to be her BFF Briony 😭

Lavinet: this is not who Lavinet is in real life, but in a horror movie AU I could definitely see her being cast as the pretty, popular, spoiled rich girl who gets gruesomely murdered first lol... realistically in her "real life" persona I definitely think she'd be a final girl, almost to the point of prioritizing her own survival over someone else's, but in horror movie trope standards I think she'd be the one making out with some random jock in the car outside before the killer pops up in the backseat and then you cut to the characters walking outside and finding the car on, idling, with the windows covered in blood 😭

Halek: he is absent/sleeps through the majority of the spooky stuff (or, like, he's the guy you see at the beginning of the movie who can't go on the trip to the haunted cabin because he has to work or some bullshit and you sort of forget he's a part of the cast but then he shows up to save the day at the end because he felt like something was off when no one was answering his text messages)! He's sort of baffled when everyone piles into his car screaming bloody murder and can't relate to their ✨ trauma ✨ but at least he saved them!

#Shepherds of Haven #horror #horror movie AU #AU #all characters #Caine is someone's little brother and should be kept far away from these events unless it's a paranormal thing #and he's the one who keeps talking to his “imaginary friend” lol #but those kids pretty much always live so he's okay!

[stormblessed95]

When will this fanservice narrative ever EVER gonna die down? Seriously, people. It’s 2023. We need to evolve as a fandom, come on.

As someone who came from outside of kpop into this gigantic and at times spectacular mess of a fandom, the fs mentality is something that really took me time to understand. Because I used to be a fan of rock and emo bands (wow, that was a while ago) in which members would kiss, lick each other’s faces and roll on the floor together in a bundle of instruments and mic cords at concerts (and well, sometimes in behind the scenes footage and in interviews) and we KNEW they were ramping it up a bit for us, but no one for a second thought that meant their feelings for each other and their intimacy wasn’t genuine.

Also, I can’t even fathom how exhausting would it be for someone to spend every single moment of their lives pretending to be close, super friendly and intimate with a coworker they’re not even that crazy about. I like most of my coworkers but spending 8h with them in a office is more than enough. Certainly wouldn’t feel like licking their ears because my boss is telling me to. 😂

And what kills me is that it only happens with our maknae line, doesn’t it? Yoongi and Joon being soft for each other and showering each other with compliments in Suchwita was fs? How about when Yoon joined Taeyang in praising Jimin’s performance in Vibe? When Hobi comments in every post of the boys, is he doing fs? Tae saying he misses Jin’s comments in his live was fs too?

I’m sure there are groups out there in which some members secretly hate each other and they have to play it cool in front of cameras, it happens, it’s life, you don’t love everyone you work with. But we have witnessed the boys time and time again saying how much they love other, how they get along well, how they’re one big family, how they admire each other and, more than that, how much they value authenticity and being real. They are 7 people that are not afraid to be dorky and to look stupid, that make each other break out laughing easily, that are not afraid to speak their minds, that can be sassy and sarcastic when they want to, that have gone and still go against the rules and what is expected of them and that have reached a level of fame, recognition and professional and personal maturity that allows them to simply refuse to do something that goes against what they believe (JK’s answer to the “did you get scolded?” question in his last live was pretty much that lol “I got to a point in which I do what I want” 🤣).

The fanservice narrative in this fandom is awful and toxic not only because it disrespects their relationships, but because it completely disregards their liberty, their dignity and their voice and belittles them as rational grown up individuals, reducing them as simple spineless toys that let their company dictate what they do, even if it supposedly hurt themselves, the fans or other people they care about, and if you think that, are you really a fan of these people? Is this really how you want to view your idols?

Sorry for using your tumblr to rant, Storm, but the fs narrative really irks me and it NEEDS. TO. GO.

Nothing to add.

#jikook #kookmin #jikook antis

[lucyandthepen]

a lesson on style - v . [ ljn | njm ]

pt. i, pt. ii, pt. iii, pt. iv.,  pt. v, pt. vi

you’ve always been content with being associated with one word and one word only: average. average in looks, academics and social skills, you’re just looking to graduate high school without causing disasters you’ll have to live with until you kick the bucket. when you’re paired with school king lee jeno for the semester-long physics thesis, you can’t help but think the entire situation has pretty much set itself up for failure. that is, until you strike a deal with your partner. alternatively: an au tale involving lessons in popularity, eleven consecutive B­ minuses, a secretly sensitive, chess­-loving jock, and an amateur sex tape.

pairing: jeno x fem!reader, jaemin x fem!reader    verse: high school au { jocks!nomin ft. a super cute whiny ap physics genius renjun }  rating: M for sexual themes ( there are allusions to sex but no explicit smut! ) chapter warnings: none!  word count: 10.9k

author’s note: is this twice as long as any other chapter? yes. do i believe it might be twice as devastating? also yes. side note, i sincerely hate proofreading and the thing i hate the most is trying to figure out where i applied italics and stuff because it doesn’t transfer over from google docs to this gosh darn tumblr text editor and i refuse to use the weird beta one so if anyone has any ideas on how to retain it please lmk :^(

tagging: @justalildumpling, @spiderrenjunfics

It’s a yes or no question, you tell yourself. It’s literally one answer, one word — yes or no. And you don’t even have to second-guess it, because you know the truth, and it’s not a complicated one. It shouldn’t be that difficult to answer.  With Jeno looking at you, though, you feel a little off-kilter, as per usual. Still, even with his gaze on you, you think that your response should be as normal, calm, and truthful as possible.

What comes out of you is a derisive laugh that clearly shocks the both of you.

“Wh — dating you — I wouldn’t — that’s preposterous,” you splutter out, gripping your laptop so tightly that you actually hear the bottom of I make a soft sound as the metal tightens. You’ve never used the word preposterous in any real life conversation, and it’s clear Jeno hasn’t heard it in a similar context either because he looks at you weird.  

“I mean, I’m not saying I’m mad about it,” he goes on. “I’m just wondering why he’d say that, unless you said something.”

“He — I — he — he’s crazy. All smart people are loopy,” you laugh again, and it sounds even grosser this time, with your voice going up really high and breathy like you’re being strangled to death. Which, come to think of it, you’re pretty much doing to yourself, figuratively. “That had no basis whatsoever. I would — I would never. Ever.”

“Never… date me?” His eyebrows shoot up so high they almost touch his hairline.

“Yes! I mean — no, no! I mean, I would definitely not say that we were dating when we’re obviously—” you laugh derisively again, which just causes Jeno to look even more confused. “We are clearly, obviously, clearly not. Not dating.”

“Obviously,” he repeats simply.

“Yes. That’s… I mean, obviously, I would date you, like in the hypothetical way, because… I mean, why not? but we — you know. We’re not. Dating. Definitely not.” Your heart rate, thankfully, is starting to decline from the thousand beats per second it had been going in; Jeno’s eyebrows are also calming down. “Right?”

“Right,” he confirms slowly.

“Right. So. I didn’t say we were to him. Or anyone. Nothing.”

“Oh, okay,” he finally says after a moment of silence. “That was just… plain out of the blue, then.”

“Totally,” you agree wholeheartedly. “So, so weird.”  

“Okay,” he shifts his position now, turning more deliberately towards you; you instinctively grip your laptop tighter, pressing it harder against your stomach. The bottom corners dig in, and in your peripheral vision, you can see that you’ve been pressing the A key down for so long that you have an AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA in your chat box with Renjun and he’s typed out a very concerned and confused WHAT IS TAKING YOU SO LONG TO TYPE. You move your thumb away from the keypad. “Sorry for the sudden question. I just wanted to clarify because, you know, I don’t want anyone else to think we are yet, or anything. And I definitely don’t want Huang Renjun attacking me for the wrong things, considering his track record.”

Your heart suddenly skids to a stop at the yet. He’d said it so offhandedly you were sure he wasn’t giving it much thought, but to you, this kind of felt like one of those weird, fever-induced dreams you had, except it seemed to be going fairly well as long as you didn’t factor in just how much you’d blubbered just now.  

“Um. Right,” is all you can say.

“That being said,” he jams his hat back onto his head, which is ludicrous considering he’s inside, but it just makes him look cuter, and you’ve never minded that. “Thanks for saying you’d date me. Hypothetically.”

“Oh — that. Right. You’re welcome,” you reply, and you desperately want to ask if he’d also hypothetically date you, but you sort of also don’t really want to know the answer. In the moment that it takes for you to tell your brain to quiet down, he claps his hands, startling you a little.

“All right. So. Project. Proposal. Graduating.” He points to your laptop, and you nod vehemently, shifting it against your stomach a little to make sure he doesn’t see the chat box with Renjun. “Let’s get to it, then.”

You hurriedly exit your internet browser and open a blank Word document. It kicks off slowly, with you taking a good fifteen minutes to format the title page because you’re not sure which citation style to use and also because you can’t stop thinking about the previous conversation, which causes you to misspell both your names wrongly. Luckily, Jeno doesn’t say anything, even though he clearly sees your blunders; the fact that he is clearly attempting to be interested (or pretending really well to be) in getting things done allows you to pick up a slightly more comfortable pace of discussion later on. He even agrees to do a lot of the supposed heavy lifting in the experimentation phase, which involves playing musical instruments, and you volunteer to do the mathematical work, which is the only thing you think you’ll be able to do in that part of the experiment anyway.  

Everyone in your house is up at this time, so it gets increasingly louder as the hours move on. There’s some kind of intermittent yelling coming from your brothers’ room that could either be Jiho gaming or Jiho getting strangled, but no one seems too alarmed apart from Jeno, who learns to let it go once you tell him that your other brother is in there with him and is probably the one strangling him, if the latter scenario is true. Either way, your dad comes out, banging on their room door to keep it down, which adds to more of the noise pollution.

Sooyeon also makes it down later than everyone else, dressed but still clearly out of sorts, stopping mid-yawn when she sees you and Jeno sitting together as you’re trying to drag out an explanation of what the significance of the study is.

“Oh. Good morning,” she sidles over to you, sitting on the arm of the couch next to you to peek over your shoulder at your laptop; you know she’s not really interested in your work, but her inherent nosiness makes her acting so natural. “What are you guys working on?”

“Physics term project.”

“Oh, right. You mentioned you guys were partners. How’s it going?”

“It’s going… well. Fine.” You bend your laptop’s monitor down halfway so she stops looking.

“Oh, I know you,” Jeno suddenly snaps his fingers, pointing his finger at her. Your sister looks up, beaming. “You’re on the cheerleading team. I’ve been trying to figure out who you look like since last year,” he turns to you, amused. “Can’t believe it took me this long. Small world. Hey, how come you’re not on the cheerleading team?”

“Because she wouldn’t give up Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo for late-night cheer practice,” your sister reasons out for you before you can find a cooler (and less honest) excuse. “Hey, dad’s taking me to the mall. Do you need anything? We’re also picking up lunch, so Jeno oppa, if you’re staying for lunch, the cuisine choice is all yours.”

“Raincheck,” you deflate at Jeno’s response. “I’m supposed to be having lunch with my sister. Thanks for the offer, though.”

“Can you get me a new USB drive?” You weigh in. “And not the crappy Daiso kind.”

“Okay. Text me so I don’t forget. Not now,” Sooyeon pushes down your hand before you can pick up your phone. “Wait ten minutes, then text me. Hey, dad, can we get tangsuyuk today?”

Your dad is by the door, two brothers in tow, having probably convinced them to leave the house as well, and Sooyeon joins them, pushing them all out hurriedly. You don’t miss the fact that she winks at you just before closing the door, and you resist waving her away.

“You… have a really big family.” Jeno finally speaks up again once you’re alone.

“Yeah. Sorry. It would have been worse if my mom were here. She might have tried to adopt you.”

“Jaemin’s mom technically has first dibs,” he lifts a hand to his face, rubbing his eyes a little aggressively. “Do you think we can call time of death on this for today? My eyes are falling out of my skull.”

“Sure; I can finish up the conclusion anyway. It’s just… repeating everything we said, but really fast. I’ll just e-mail you a copy for safety.” You save the document as he nods, working your trackpad so you can open your NAVER mail account and attach the file. Your fingers hover over the keyboard, suddenly feeling like an idiot. “Uh… sorry, but I just realized I don’t have your e-mail address.”

“Oh. Yeah,” he reaches out, and you retract your hands quickly, planting them firmly onto your lap. He starts typing away, pressing send and turning the laptop back to you with a satisfied groan. “Cool. So — serious question. Why aren’t you on the cheerleading team if your sister is?”

“Well, I was going to come up with a great excuse, but since I got ratted out — I don’t really like staying in school late. Plus, they practice on rainy days, which is not my thing.”

“I mean, we do too on the football team, and it’s usually fine. It’s weird; do you not dance? Or… I don’t know, cheer, or whatever?”

“I mean, I don’t fail PE, or anything. I just… never had the interest.” You admit, shutting down your laptop.

“I could talk to Jimin — you know, the captain? We’re pretty close.” He pauses, then adds an afterthought. “She’s dating one of the other guys on my team.”

“Who?”

“I’ve told you about Jisung, right? That enormous tree of a guy with the small face?”

“Kind of weird for a guy as tall as you to call a similarly tall guy a tree…” you trail off, and he laughs — laughs! Score for your unintended humor. “But yeah, I’ve seen him around.”

“Yeah, so they’re a thing. Anyway, what was I sayi — oh, yeah. If you want me to talk to her, give you a shot at it, I think she’d be open to it. You don’t have to be a gymnast or anything, I’m pretty sure.”

“That’s a really nice gesture, but I’ll pass.”

Jeno sighs, leaning back onto the couch and lifting one of his legs to cross it casually over his knee. He looks at you disapprovingly, which is a little terrifying until you realize he’s feigning it because his lips are curling up a little. So cute. “Come on, _______________. Okay — lesson number one.”

“What?” You’re at a loss, and you don’t bother hiding it this time. “Lesson?”

“I told you I’d help you get more popular, right?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t think we were having lectures and quizzes.”

“No quizzes,” he corrects you. “Lectures, very brief. Five minutes tops. I have no time to grade anything.”

“Well let me just—” you grab your phone, trying to navigate to the voice memos app, but he takes it from you and plants it back onto the table. You note how his fingers brush yours briefly, leaving you frozen, your hand still shaped around a phone that isn’t in your grasp anymore.

“No need to record anything. Note taking is for nerds. Just listen to me. Be in the moment. Absorb it,” he instructs. “First lesson in being popular: don’t turn down things that will make you more popular.”

“Okay, that one was fairly obv — what are you doing?”  

“I’m texting,” he really is, unlocking his phone and scrolling through his contacts before he starts tapping away on his phone screen. “I told you; I’m sure Jimin will be more than happy to —“

“Wait — okay, stop, stop,” it’s your turn to seize his phone from him, but you don’t do so very smoothly, and it ends up falling midway from him to you, wedging itself into a crack in your couch cushions. Jeno doesn’t really seem like he minds in particular, but he does offhandedly reprimand you for it.

“You’re being a horrible student.”

“I’m not — look, no, thank you for… you know, going the extra mile to ask for me,” you fish his phone out of the couch, making sure to exit the messaging app. “But I can’t join the cheerleading team.”

“Why not? It’ll make you infinitely cooler. Is it because your sister’s on it? Because we can get her kicked out if you really want —“

“Wh— no, I don’t want my sister kicked out!” You raise your voice in tandem with your palm, and he desists, a little surprised at how loud you’ve gotten. “I’m just saying that it’s the last semester of high school. There’s no point in me joining. I won’t even last a full year on that team.”

Jeno falls silent, suddenly struck by the logic in your words. “Huh. I guess you’re right. I didn’t think about that.”

Now that you feel like it’s kind of safe, you perch his phone back onto his thigh, and he takes it, slipping it between his legs without a second thought. You try hard not to think about how his phone may have brushed against his… never mind.

“So I… you know, I appreciate what you wanted to do for me. Really; it was… extremely cool of you,” you say with utmost sincerity. “But as a plan, I feel like… there might be better ones.”

“That’s true,” he agrees. “But the lesson still stands. The things I recommend that you do, I really feel like you should do them.”

“I promise this’ll be the last time I reject your suggestions.”

“Cool. Well — we just have to think about what else we could do to help you get up that ladder.” He looks up at your ceiling, a little wistful, and you feel so useless that you just busy yourself with shutting your laptop down. This sudden silence drags on until he snaps your fingers and you start, turning your attention back to him. “Oh, I know. You can come to this party I’m throwing next week.”

“You’re throwing a party?”

“Yeah. I just thought about doing it. Like, right now.”

This time, you don’t even have to try to push away the idea that he’d just thought to throw a party for you; a surge of unpleasant memories arises to do the job. The last party you’d been to was back in middle school, and it had ended with you skidding across the floor because someone had puked on it. You were only lucky that the extremely furious parents who actually owned the house and didn’t know that there would be a party in their living room had caught you before you’d broken something of theirs.

You remember Jeno had been there. He was in a different section at that time, and you’d never spoken with him; in fact, you’re fairly certain you hadn’t known his name back then. But even so, he was still the coolest kid in attendance. Everyone liked that kid that was extremely tall and good-looking and also knew how to play the electric piano.

“That’s… cool.” You inhale a little reluctantly, and Jeno cottons on, looking at you warily. “It’s just… you know. Parties. They get messy. People get drunk. Puke. Make out.”

“Yeah. That’s what they’re for.”

“Not really my scene. Especially the puking part.”

“Oh god, I remember I was at this party once in middle school. Some kid had puked in the middle of the living room and some other poor chick had slipped on it. Hilarious.”

“Ha,” you feign laughter, and it sounds disgustingly dry. “Hilarious, yeah. Can’t remember that happening, but I’m sure that was super funny.”

“Come on. It’ll be fine. Besides, you said you wouldn’t reject any of the other stuff I recommended.” He tilts his head like he’s asking, but his face is pretty resolute. You wring your hands together, and he notices. “If I promise to make a no-puke rule, will you go?”

You know he’s doing this because he’s fulfilling a part of the bargain; it’s really more of an obligation to him than anything else, and that much is clear. Still, the way he talks, the way that he presses the subject makes it really easy to trick yourself into thinking he actually, really, really wants you there, which creates this huge, almost terrifying and overwhelming wave of elation that muddles you into agreement.

“Okay. I’ll go.” He smiles at your response, and the feeling in your chest just swells to a new height; it’s almost like he’s happy you’re going, or you can at least delude yourself into thinking that much.

“Awesome. I’ll let you know about the details, although it’ll probably be at Jaemin’s.”

You point to the opposite side of your house, in the general direction of your neighbor’s lot. “That Jaemin?”

“The one and only.”

“I guess it’s cool if I don’t have to look for a ride.”

“You can still hop into my car. Make a grand entrance. People will love that.”

“That’s okay,” you laugh again, but this time, it sounds genuine, to your relief. “But is Jaemin going to be okay with it? His parents?”

“Yeah, it’ll be fine. They all love me,” he chuckles. “Jaemin won’t say no, anyway. It’s not like we can have it at my place.”

“Why… not?” You suddenly get flashbacks of Jaemin calling you nosy, but you shake him and his loud laugh off once Jeno starts talking.

“Too small. Not good for entertaining. You guys would probably have to eat dinner in my bedroom.” He says lightly, jamming his cap back onto his head just as his phone starts ringing, a light blinking from in between his thighs. He looks down at his phone briefly before turning his attention back to his cap, making sure his bangs aren’t flattened by the rim. “That’s my sister. I’m supposed to pick her up from work. I have to get going, but hey — I’ll see you next week?”

“Yeah, definitely,” you stand with him, and he grabs his backpack before patting his pockets to make sure if he has everything valuable to him. You walk him to the door, opening it for him, and he steps out into your driveway, walking towards his car. You stand by the doorway, hugging your laptop. The assumption is that he’s just going to drive off, but he turns around as he opens the driver’s side door, pointing a finger at you like he’s just remembered something. You freeze in place, once again squishing your laptop close to you so hard that it makes a noise.

“You should probably text your sister about that USB drive, by the way.” he reminds you with a small smile before folding his enormous body and climbing into the car.

You don’t even have the opportunity to say anything because he’s shut the door behind him. Through the tinted glass, you see one pale palm move; it takes you a second to realize he’s waving at you. Your hand instantly shoots up, waving back at him as he pulls out of the driveway and back into the road.  

You wait for his car to zoom out of sight before you close the door, red in the face and ready to explode with joy.

Lee Donghyuck gives you back your proposals with a smile on his face near the end of the next physics class. Technically, he smiles like that all the time because he’s required to, but his grin looks a lot more genuine as he approaches you with your proposal, which Jeno takes from him.

“Cool topic,” he even comments, pointing a finger to the huge B-minus on top of the paper that’s circled in red ink. “You guys need to work a little on the content development, though, but it’s just the proposal. If you guys work even harder on other requirements, you’ll ace it.”

You seriously don’t think he expects you to actually ace anything, but you appreciate the quick pep talk, especially since Jeno actually looks impressed.

“I would have never thought I would have gotten a B-minus in anything for this class,” he whistles under his breath. You smile at him, not bothering to add the fact that B-minus isn’t as breathtaking of an achievement. Still, you think that if you can push each other — and also maybe Renjun into helping you out here and there — you might at least secure him a slot into the graduating class.  

You’ve gotten used to parting ways with everyone else in the class to have lunch together with Renjun, and even on days when Physics classes fall before lunch, you only linger a minute longer than usual to accord Jeno the traditional gaze of longing that he doesn’t notice before dashing off. This time, though, as you’re gathering your books and making to leave, Jeno stands up with you, slinging his bag over his shoulder.  

And there they are — the words you’ve always wanted to hear from him. Well, some of them.

“Want to walk to the cafeteria together?”

You look around to make sure he’s not calling out to anyone else, which becomes clear once you realize the only other person who’s left behind is Lee Donghyuck, and he doesn’t even turn at the sound of Jeno’s voice.

“Really?” You can’t even mask the elation in your voice, which just spikes when you see the corners of Jeno’s lips turn up slightly in amusement. “Yeah — yeah, okay.”

No one actually looks at you while you walk next to him in the cafeteria; the probability is that his height eclipses yours so much that you don’t even look that noticeable, and neither of you is causing a scene, which is always a great bonus. You have to take two steps for every one of his, but you also notice that he’s taking a much slower pace than usual, which can only mean that he’s making sure you can keep up.

You spot Renjun at your usual table, reading Lee Ho Cheol’s Panmunjeom anthology, which he’d posted about on his Facebook status over the weekend. The feeling of being able to like his statuses again was fairly nice, and you’d given it the little heart reaction. On instinct, your feet carry you towards him until you feel a warm hand wrap around your forearm. It covers more than half of that part of your arm, so it can’t be anyone’s but Jeno’s, and you look up in total shock as he stares down at you with equally strong confusion.

“Where are you going?” He asks, genuinely perplexed.

“What… are you doing…” you breathe out, feeling a little faint. He doesn’t notice that you look like you’re close to drooling on him since he’s starting to steer you away from Renjun. “What…”

“Table’s this way,” he says plainly, like this should be obvious to you. You can see that he’s headed towards where he normally sits, which is already filled with people, laughing loudly and talking over one another. You jerk your head back to Renjun, who has noticed you now and is watching you with an unreadable expression over the top of his book, half of his face hidden.

“Um — yeah, but I just thought —“

“Okay, so second lesson — don’t write this down,” he stops you from reaching into your pocket to bring out a pen. “If you want to be popular, you need to make sure you surround yourself with equally popular people.”

“Are these rules stuff you just sort of make up on the go, or…?”

He gives you an amused and patronizing look. “Obviously.”

“Okay — okay, but can’t Renjun sit with us?”

“He can if he’s not just going to ignore everyone by reading his book. Or if he’s not going to make any mean comments about anyone.”

You open your mouth, ready to promise he’s not going to, but you’re struck by the realization that he might just sit there and finish Panmunjeom without even saying hello. Even if he didn’t, you can’t guarantee that Renjun will be pleasant around everyone being noisy all at once about things he doesn’t really care about. Being pleasant around one person — Jeno — is already kind of a herculean task for him.  

“Yeah, okay, fine. But can’t I at least tell him I’m sitting here?”

Jeno slowly releases your hand, nodding. You try not to make it too obvious that you’re disappointed at how quickly that moment of contact had come and gone. “Yeah, okay. I’ll get my food and save you a seat, then.”

You wait for him to walk towards the cafeteria line, noticing that a couple of freshmen give way so he can go first; you can tell he smiles at them because they giggle as he walks by and grabs a tray. Making a beeline for Renjun, you also see that he suddenly lifts his book higher to cover his face, probably to hide the fact that he hasn’t flipped a page since.

“Hey,” you say, and he puts the book down, looking disgustingly innocent in his fake surprise.

“Hey. When did you get here?”

“Just now,” you slip into the chair across from him. “What’s for lunch?”

“Something they say is bulgogi but might be yesterday’s fake steaks cut into really thin pieces.”

“Okay, cool,” you don’t even look at the bowl when he tilts it your way so you can see. “Anyway, um, I really hope you don’t mind, but Jeno asked me to sit with him today for lunch.”

“Oh.” Renjun takes a bit of bulgogi on his fork, examining it with feigned interest before popping it into his mouth, chewing slowly. “I see.”

“It’s just for today. I promise. Are you — is that okay?”

He studies your expectant face, thumb brushing over the spine of his book. Your fingers are knotted on the table like you’re praying.

“Yeah, it’s okay,” he finally concedes. “I said I’d support you… so… this is me. Supporting. You. The both of you. If that’s already a thing.”

“It’s not, but you’re the best,” you reach out, giving his hand a squeeze. He mutters something that sounds like I know, taking his hand back and using it to shut his book.  

“But we’re still going to see Love and Thunder  this Saturday, right?” He confirms.  

“Ye— oh, wait,” his expression darkens considerably when you backtrack, looking a little sheepish. “I think I might have something to do over the weekend, so I can’t really make any promises right now.”

“Dude, seriously? It’s the movie of the year. What could be more important than three hours of Marvel hero ass-kicking?”

“Well, it’s just,” you drum your fingers against the table, trying to think of a less direct way to phrase such a basic statement. You come up with nothing, so you just come clean. “There’s a party…”

“You hate parties,” Renjun replies immediately. “You’ve haven’t been to one since middle school.”

“I know that, but —“

“Do you? Does it make sense that you know that you hate parties but are thinking of going to one anyway?”

“Well — you know. Jeno invited me.”

Renjun makes a slightly sour face, but it isn’t directed at you; he’s looking at Jeno, probably, seated a little way away. You turn to look apologetically at him, but you notice that he’s already looking your way, his eyes narrowed in effort like he’s trying to read your lips from this distance but can’t.

“What if something bad happens? Parties aren’t exactly the safest, cleanest, least traumatic events in the world,” Renjun points out. “You could turn someone’s house into a puke slip ’n slide again.”

“Or,” you raise a finger. “Is this the party I could go to so that I can forget about that event that happened ages ago and, thus, free myself from that trauma?”

“Thus? What is happening to you?” He shakes his head, fingers coming up to knead at his brow. “But — so no Love and Thunder?”  

“We can go the day after.”

“You’re not going to be too hungover?”

“No, of course not. Besides, it’s going to be at Jaemin’s house. If it gets too much, I can just walk home.” You can see he’s softening at the mention of it being in a nearby location and not in like, some abandoned warehouse. “Plus, you can come. You know, we can have fun together. Just… eat, dance a little, mingle. It’ll be fine.”

“Am I allowed to come?”

“Of course,” you don’t know if there’s a guest list, or anything, but Renjun seems to get along with most people in your level as long as their names don’t start with a J and end with a eno. “Please? We can even walk there together.”

“It’s like twenty steps from your house, so it’s really not the appealing case you think you’re making.” He sighs. “Fine, fine. I’ll go. And we can watch Love and Thunder the next day. But I’m holding you to that.”  

“Awesome,” your heart feels infinitely lighter, and Renjun even gives you a half-hearted grin. “Great — so, I’ll just — you know —“ you point towards Jeno’s table; Renjun nods slowly, picking up his book again.

“Yes, yes. Go on,” he shoos you away, once again pretending to grow immersed in his book, even though you know he’s snorting to himself when you give him an excited thumbs up before leaving the table.

You even feel like there’s a small skip to your step when you walk to the line, and the grin never leaves your lips as you get your tray and pile what really does look like fake bulgogi on your plate; the cafeteria lady is surprised by your expression, considering you’re surrounded by generally somber ones, and she mistakes your smile as you being excited to eat the food and tells you to take more. Somehow, you’re in such a good mood that you do, which earns some alarmed stares from the people behind you.

The conversation is in full swing when you approach Jeno’s table, and your heart jumps a little when you’ve noticed that he’s kept his word and saved a seat for you — right beside him, no less. His food is half-finished, and he’s talking to Park Jisung about what sounds like some massive multiplayer online shooting game, but he stops when you sit down.

“You guys don’t know _______________, right?” He addresses the whole table; a whole set of eyes lands on you suddenly as his voice rings louder than everyone else’s. “She’s my physics project partner.”

“Of course we know her,” the girl to Jisung’s right, Jimin, pipes up. “We don’t live under a rock, and we’re almost all in the same year, dumbass.”

“I was just announcing it for Jisung’s and Minjeong’s sakes,” Jeno fires back easily. “Who, by the way, aren’t in the same year level.”

“Well, address them specifically next time,” she laughs. “Hey, _____________.”

“Hello,” despite your excitement, your voice comes out way smaller than normal, and it even cracks, which causes you to clear your throat, a feat that mysteriously causes most people to laugh.  

“I know Jimin noona is dazzling to everyone,” Jisung says. “But just for the record, she’s taken. By me. Obviously.”

You stare at him, a little dumbfounded, as Jeno tosses a wilted leaf of lettuce at his face. It doesn’t even make it to the halfway point of the gap the table makes between them. Jisung sticks out his tongue childishly.

“Anyways, I told you guys earlier that we were having a party, this weekend, right?” He points at Jaemin, who, until now, has been quietly wrapping his bulgogi into his lettuce and stuffing them whole into his mouth. “Your house, dude.”

Jaemin rolls his eyes good-naturedly, still in the middle of chewing his food, but he takes one big gulp to respond. “Did you even ask me?”

“Does he ever?” Jisung contributes, amused. “Jeno hyung, why can’t we ever have parties at your place? Jaemin hyung’s house has like ten million pictures of his family that we might break.”  

“Okay, fine; my house. You guys better pull food weight this time, though,” Jaemin agrees suddenly, like he hadn’t been indignant a moment ago. Jeno looks satisfied with this response, not bothering to answer Jisung’s question, which is a little weird; you’d assumed that everyone he was close to also knew of the reason why he never held any events at his house considering the answer he’d given you when you’d asked the same thing had been so simplistic. You don’t take the time to dwell on this, however, since Jeno speaks up.

“I’ll bring the drinks,” he volunteers before adding, “Ice included, Jisung.” The latter makes a face at him, and everyone laughs again, and you presume it’s some inside joke. You smile for a second before you realize it probably seems disingenuous.

It’s weird, you think, that they’re so comfortable around each other, even with their seemingly different personalities. It had always just been you and Renjun, which suited you just fine, but it’s also robbed you of the opportunity to figure out how to interact in a much larger, more outgoing crowd, which is a missed opportunity you’re feeling the effects of now. People start piping up about what they’re going to bring, with Jisung getting a small smack upside the head from Jimin after he volunteers (again, apparently) to bring utensils and “himself, which is gift enough.”

“What should I bring?” You whisper to Jeno.

“Nothing,” he sounds surprisingly sincere and reassuring, not to mention he matches the volume of your voice somehow, making it seem like you’re having your own private conversation. “Just come and have fun.”

“Okay,” you half-wheeze, and he smiles down at you before rejoining the conversation, responding immediately when Jaemin speaks up.

“This time, you guys seriously need to stay away from my bedroom. And my brother’s. And my parents’. Actually, what I’m really saying is that you people need to unlearn how to use stairs.”

“You’re really going to deny your room any action?” Jeno fires back easily.

“I don’t want to go to sleep on a bed someone else made out on,” Jaemin sighs, in a heavy way that somehow causes you to think he’s probably been through it more than once before.

“No one just makes out on a bed.”

“We’re in school, Jeno. You know what I mean.”

“We’ve made out on a bed,” Jisung wiggles a finger between himself and Jimin, who tells him to shut up, something he does almost immediately, even if he and Jeno exchange a high five that creates a sound so loud you’re surprised there’s no physical aftershock.

“________________, Minjeong and I were going to go to the mall on Saturday morning,” Jimin calls your attention underneath Jeno and Jisung’s long arms. “Want to come with? We can have lunch together, too.”

“Oh — yeah, sure,” you agree, and she smiles so brightly and sweetly at you that you blush. Jisung was right about the dazzling thing, then.

“Cool. Text me your address and we can come pick you up.”

You spend the rest of your lunch mostly listening and learning about these people, and you’re somewhat thankful they don’t put you in the hot seat and just interrogate you about yourself. You find out that Minjeong’s trying to get her driver’s license soon, and Jisung had actually been interested in joining an entertainment company as an idol trainee before he’d found out that they confiscate your phone for years, something that ended up being a dealbreaker for him. You learn that Jimin is applying for a English Comparative Literature undergraduate degree in Seoul National University, which Jisung says is inexplicably both “the hottest and the most boring thing about her.”  

The weirdest thing you learn about this band of friends comes up when Jaemin suddenly stands, saying goodbye to everyone hurriedly before rushing off with his plate. No one finds this weird except you, so you bring it up.

“Oh, Jaemin hyung is on the chess team. He has practice during lunch once a week,” Jisung informs you when you ask.

“He’s on the what?” You glance at Jaemin, who’s walking out of the cafeteria at a brisk pace.

“The chess team,” he repeats without any further explanation. You look at Jeno, who shrugs at you.

“Yeah, he likes that stuff. Everyone in our year is a big nerd.”

“Except you and me,” you add, and his lips turn up again, seemingly pleased with your statement. There it is again — your heart flipping over and screaming wildly.  

“Exactly. Except you and me.”

You don’t actually expect Jimin to follow through with her shopping invite, but she actually ends up texting you on Saturday morning instead of the other way around, asking for your address again after saying that she’d gotten your number from Jeno. You’re so out of sorts when they arrive not ten minutes later that you actually have to double back for your wallet and your phone.  

Jimin has almost always been in a separate section from you in school, while Minjeong is a whole year below you, and they’re also extremely close, so you’d never really gotten the chance to know them, and your expectation is that this excursion is going to be an awkward and pitiful event. They end up being really nice, though, and Minjeong even asks you about your physics project with a tone of genuine interest, commenting about how Jeno is exceptionally good at playing the guitar. You also naturally assume that they’re going to just mill around the boutique area for clothes, but Jimin actually drags you around to some electronics shops to look for a gaming headset for Jisung, and Minjeong goes to three different pet stores to look for the right dog food.  

“You should have tried out for the cheerleading team,” Jimin says when the three of you have settled down at the food court with bowls of bibimbap. Minjeong wordlessly picks out the carrots from her bowl and dumps them in Jimin’s, who doesn’t even bat an eyelash. “We’re a little under the member quota right now. No one likes risking their lives on human pyramids anymore.”

“I can’t imagine why,” you say, and Jimin laughs.

“Seriously. It wouldn’t hurt for you to try. Besides, even if it’s the last semester, we could really use some extra members. Right, Minjeong?”  

Minjeong looks up at you, her egg dangling between her chopsticks.

“Do you want my egg, _____________?”

“Sure,” you reply, amused. She quickly lays the egg on top of your own, even going so far as to arrange them neatly so that their yolks are aligned. “Are you allergic to something?”

“She’s a picky eater.” Jimin explains, using her spoon to squash her egg’s yolk.

“I have a refined palate,” Minjeong corrects her, fishing out a stray piece of carrot and placing it in Jimin’s bowl.

“You eat like a baby.”

“Baby food is pretty good.” Minjeong admits. “The banana-flavored ones are nice.”  

“Gross,” Jimin laughs. “This is exactly why you and Jaemin broke up.”

“You and Jaemin dated?” You raise your eyebrows. Minjeong nods, mixing her rice methodically with her spoon. “What happened?”  

“He got tired of ordering banana-flavored baby food for her,” Jimin quips.

“Will you shut up? Anyway — yeah, we dated last year, really briefly. We just didn’t work out. I did some work for my dad over the weekends back then, so we just never got the chance to go on actual dates. We said we were going to take a break or something, revisit the dating thing when we were less busy, but we just kind of left it in the past, and we started seeing other people.”

“You started seeing other people, you mean,” Jimin corrects her. Minjeong nods, thoughtfully mixing her rice before taking a slow bite.  

“Yeah. Besides, it just sort of felt like a relationship of convenience. Like, we were both there, we were both single, so we tried it. It was okay while it lasted. We’re still friends.”

“But I’ve already heard about Minjeong’s boring love life six hundred times,” Jimin points her spoon at you, a grain of rice flying at high speed in your direction. “Oops, sorry. So what’s going on with you and Jeno?”  

“Oh,” you have to swallow your own spoonful of bibimbap hard because your throat has suddenly constricted. “Nothing’s going on with us. We’re just partners. And… friends?”  

“You’re not dating?”

“Not in the slightest.” Your mind flips back to when Jeno had said he didn’t want people getting the wrong idea about the both of you. Yet. Whatever that meant. “No way.”  

“Oh,” Jimin looks weirdly disappointed. “I thought you were, since he suddenly started asking about who you were seeing. We thought it was a trick question, like we were supposed to answer ‘him.’”  

“But you like him,” Minjeong says it like it’s not a question but a factual statement, which it is, but you still take a while to respond, feeling put on the spot suddenly.  

“I mean… he’s nice.”  

“And cute,” Jimin adds.  

“And cute,” you agree. She smiles triumphantly, as if this is some kind of game she’s winning. “But… nothing’s going on.”  

“Well, Jeno doesn’t date often. I mean, he goes out with girls. But I don’t think he’s been in a relationship for a while,” Minjeong adds thoughtfully. “Maybe he’s starting to think about getting serious with someone?”

“I don’t know.” You like the idea of it, but realistically speaking, it’s not like you two were that close. Then again, you also weren’t sure about how close any two people should be to start thinking about dating each other. It’s not like there’s some kind of rule book. “Maybe. Maybe not.”

“Coy answer,” Jimin sounds approving. “Definitely a sign that something’s going on.”

“Wh— no, I mean, I’m not sure about… you know, we don’t really talk—“

“You don’t really have to,” Jimin winks, and the seaweed pieces in your bibimbap suddenly get very interesting, even though you know the two of them are exchanging looks.  

They drop you back home after lunch, waving goodbye (with Jimin screaming out a see you later!) as they drive off, and you’re so exhausted from the walking and the fact that you’d had to carry Minjeong’s bags of premium dog food back to her car that you fall asleep the moment your body hits your bed. You wake up with a considerable amount of drool on your pillow and three missed calls from Renjun.  

“Not that it’s a big deal,” Renjun says when you call him back. “But I don’t know what to wear to parties.”

“I don’t think it’s a black tie event,” you rub the sleep out of your eyes. “Just wear something casual? Cool? I don’t know either. Also, when did you suddenly start caring about how you looked at parties?”  

“You make it sound like I’ve never tried beforehand.”

“Your signature style is graphic tee and jeans, so…” There’s a loud noise on his end of the call and you hear him mumble a swear word. “What happened?”  

“The closet rod fell,” he whines. “Also, graphic tee and jeans are Jeno’s signature style too. He even had ripped jeans, which make him look more homeless than I do.”  

“Jeno’s jeans are artistically ripped,” you correct him. “Yours are ripped because your dog tries to eat them when they’re hanging out to dry.”

“And you don’t know if Jeno’s own dog has ripped his jeans artistically,” you can hear him struggling with the metal rod, and his voice becomes more and more muffled as you assume that his phone is sinking deeper into his neck as he holds it between his shoulder and ear. “I’ll call you back. Or — you know what, I’ll just be there in fifteen minutes.”

“Make it twenty, I’m still half-asleep.” You hang up and press your face into your pillow, falling back asleep until Renjun arrives within the promised twenty minute time span, chastising you for your lack of punctuality the entire time you sluggishly change your clothes. The only helpful thing he does is call your sister in to help you fix your hair, which she does enthusiastically as you yawn at your reflection and Renjun criticizes your poor scheduling even further while he plays online minesweeper on your laptop.  

“So we only stay for an hour, hour and a half max, right?” He confirms as you walk towards Jaemin’s house. The door is open, and there are people outside, already deep in conversation.  

“Right,” you agree. You don’t hold the fact that Renjun wants to leave quickly against him; for some reason, being around this many people is making you a little queasy, and you don’t know what people do in parties apart from truth or dare. Unfortunately, no one seems to be sitting in a circle around a spinning bottle when you enter; instead, all the furniture has been cleared out for a table that has food piled onto it, and the coffee table is stacked high with paper cups and drinks. Mark Lee and Jaemin are by the ice bucket, and the latter notices you first, waving at you.  

“Hey, ______________, Renjun. You guys made it,” Jaemin pushes a cup of what looks like Hwanta at you, taking Mark’s cup of soda as well and handing it to Renjun. “No traffic, I hope?”  

“Just the same old pile-up. It takes really long to get here, you know,” you smile, and he laughs easily.  

“So your parents are okay listening to trashy music from upstairs?” Renjun asks, looking around for any sign of parents.  

“No, they’re out for dinner with friends, and my brother stays in a dorm in college, so they’re not affected that much.” Jaemin looks like he’s about to say something else, but something beyond the two of you catches his eye and he mumbles an I’ll be right back before speeding off, disappearing into the crowd. Mark is pouring himself a new cup of soda, throwing Renjun a wounded look when he isn’t looking. You decide to strike up a conversation instead of watching him wait for Renjun to apologize for the technically stolen drink.  

“So has this been going on for a while, or…?”  

“No, it’s been maybe half an hour, or something. Oh, I think Jimin was looking for you. She’s somewhere—” He points around the room, clearly unsure. “Somewhere around here. I’m sure you’ll bump into her later. She and Jisung are probably groping each other in the garden or something.”  

“Since when did Yoo Jimin start dating Park Jisung?”  

“Since they sat next to each other on the KTX to Daegu over the break. You should ask Jisung about the make-out session that steamed up economy car A. He says seats 13 A and B still smell like her perfume and his cologne mixed together.”  

“Ew,” Renjun comments, and Mark makes a noise of agreement.  

You’re only half-paying attention to their disgust about Jisung and Jimin’s history of desecrating public spaces since you’ve spotted Jeno, who’s watching a group of juniors play what you assume is beer pong. You keep thinking about going over to him and saying hi, but you can’t seem to figure out when the right time is. Also, your nerves get the best of you, so you just stand beside Renjun as he starts a weird bonding experience with Mark Lee.  

Luckily, you don’t have to do anything at the end of the day; Jeno suddenly notices you, pushing himself off the window he’s been leaning against and walking over. You grab Renjun’s arm by instinct, and he lets out a sharp ow as you squeeze him. He manages to shake you off just before Jeno stops in front of you.

“_______________,” he looks pleased. “You made it. And… you brought Renjun with you.”

“Hey,” Renjun says flatly, handing his half-drunk cup of soda back to Mark, who takes it with a dumbfounded look on his face. “I think I see Donghyuck, so I’m gonna go say hi.”

He slips away before you can say anything, but Jeno doesn’t even look perturbed; he glances at Mark, who meets his eye then suddenly turns to walk off, and you hear him asking someone where the trash bag is.  

“So, are you enjoying?”  

“I just got here, but it seems great,” you try to sound enthusiastic even if you’re shouting a little over the new song that’s started playing. “Music’s a bit loud though.”  

“Makes awkward pauses less awkward,” he says sagely, and you can’t help but think there’s some logical inconsistency in that, but you just shrug it off, nodding up at him. “Did you get to try the pizza?”

“Not yet; why, did you make it with your own two hands, or something?”

“No,” he shrugs, grinning. “But I ordered it with my own voice.”  

You laugh as he does, but the sounds get drowned out by EXID’s Up and Down playing at full blast. He makes a motion, but you don’t catch on, so he just takes your wrist and leads you through a throng of people back to the beer pong game. Upon closer inspection, you see that the liquid inside is a lot darker than you expected.  

“It’s just cola,” Jeno explains. “We were thinking of buying beer, but most people here can’t drink anyway, so it would have been a waste of money.”  

“Smart,” you comment sincerely, watching the two guys on the opposite ends of the table consistently miss their targets. “So you just have to get the ball in the cups? And then what?”  

“The other person drinks. Hey, Jaehyun,” he calls out to one of the guys playing, who looks up and consequently gets hit in the cheek by a flying ping pong all. “Show _____________ how to play.”  

“She can just take Taeyong’s place; he sucks anyway.” This comment elicits a rude gesture from the other boy, and you notice they’re both wearing similar jackets with a logo you can’t really place but looks suspiciously official.  

“You both suck. Let her take a turn; I’m gonna go ask Jaemin if he has more ice or if we need to make a run.”  

Jeno places his hand on your back, leading you forward; the guy named Taeyong reluctantly steps aside as Jeno walks away, greeting some guy that looks familiar but who you also can’t place in your memory as he passes by.  

As it turns out, you’re not half-bad at beer pong; you manage to get Jaehyun to drink four cups of cola, which has him burping all over the place and begging for a break for his stomach. The party is in full swing now, but this is the part that starts to feel uncomfortable, and you excuse yourself from the game with the promise that you’ll play with the two of them again once you’re all of legal drinking age.  

The garden is no better when you exit; there are people in groups that you know you won’t be able to squeeze yourself into. You do actually see Jimin after a moment of scoping, but her limbs are intertwined with Jisung’s in the mini gazebo, and you don’t really want to interrupt, so you just head back inside.

The music is extremely grating now, and you’ve eaten two slices of pizza and downed at least three glasses of different kinds of soda, so you also feel a little bloated and sleepy. Jeno hasn’t resurfaced either over the last hour or so, and you think it’s high time Renjun must be antsy to get home. The problem is that you can’t find him in the living room or the kitchen; you actually knock on the bathroom after gathering up some courage, but the female voice that answers that it’s occupied makes all that effort go down the drain.  

You trust Renjun wouldn’t leave without telling you, but you’re also not sure why he would be missing for this much time. The fact that you’re just standing by the food table while people pass by, say non-committal hellos, and leave with pizza slices in hand makes it even more uncomfortable. In the end, you decide to text Renjun to meet you back at your house and weave through the crowd to get to the door.  

There are still people outside, and while some are leaving, others are also talking or flirting, and you notice that these are more people that seem familiar but unfamiliar all at once. They all look a little older, too; a couple of guys are all wearing sweaters with the same obnoxiously large logo you’d seen on Taeyong and Jaehyun’s jackets, and it dawns on you that these people must be from the university level, hanging at a party away from younger kids. You scan the grass for Renjun, but you don’t see him anywhere either.  

What you do see is Jeno standing extremely close to a girl who’s wearing a similar university sweater. He has one hand around a cup, but his other hand is sandwiched between the girl’s palms. You can’t really discern his expression, but his brows look knitted, and his mouth, while open, doesn’t seem to be moving.  

You feel like you’ve seen this scene before, back at the dance where you had snapped upon seeing Lee Gyuwon and Jeno together, leaving poor Chenle behind. You’d only recently learned to laugh about that situation, so this one comes as both a painful reminder and an unfortunate addition of scenarios that made you extremely uncomfortable. You have to placate yourself with the reminder they just seem to be talking, even if they are standing really close to each other; nothing is actually happening, save for the fact that you can sometimes see Jeno’s hand gripping the cup in his hand a little tighter now and again.  

All of this just goes out the door when the girl leans in, pressing a hand to his chest, and kisses him.  

A voice inside your head tells you it’s frankly masochistic to keep staring at two people kissing when you like one of them, but you just stand there, rooted to the spot, watching the girl wrap an arm around Jeno’s neck. He pulls away after a while, and his mouth starts moving really quickly. His eyes dart around, like he’s watching for something, until they land on you, and his lips stop mid-speech. The scene gets blurrier, and you think you’re going to pass out for a second until you realize you’re just crying a little.  

Soft fingers wrap around your forearm, pulling you away gently. You think it might be Renjun, who’s finally found you after all that hullabaloo, but when you regain some sense, your attention focuses on Jaemin, who’s leading you back to your house. He’s doing so wordlessly, without even looking at you, and the noise of the party fades into an easily ignorable buzz once you reach your driveway. He stops you right at your front door, pausing a little before facing you with a small smile.  

The part of you that hates yourself the most tempts you to look back, to see if you can still glimpse Jeno from this far away; your head actually starts to turn, but Jaemin reacts quicker, trapping your face between his palms and keeping your head steadily towards him. His smile grows a little, but it doesn’t reach his eyes, and his teeth don’t show like they usually do.  

“Hey. Just look at me first, okay?”  

“Um,” is the only thing you can say considering you’re not sure if he’s doing this randomly or for some unknown reason.  

“Your hair’s kind of a mess, you know that? Did you get in a fight, or something?”  

“No, I was just… you know, there were a lot of people, so I probably bumped into a few of them,” your voice sounds distant, but you’re glad to hear that it still works and that you can form something of a coherent sentence. Jaemin laughs softly.  

“Yeah, it did get kind of crowded back there.” He starts to gently put strands of hair back into place, but it’s clear he has no clue what he’s doing because he sighs and drops his hands to your shoulders after a minute. “Anyway, you seemed a little out of it, so I thought you might want to go home for a quick break. If you want to go back, though, we can.”  

“No,” you say quickly. “I was… actually just looking for Renjun. So we could leave quietly.”  

“Well, usually, if you’re leaving a party, you’re supposed to tell the host,” he chuckles softly. “But since I dragged you here, I guess it doesn’t apply.”  

You want to laugh, but all your body seems to want to do is produce tears; you can’t even understand why you want to cry, considering you and Jeno aren’t dating, and he’d made that extremely clear. You suppose that it had just seemed like all the events were leading up to you getting together, although you may have just been reading between the lines when you weren’t supposed to thanks to your endless bounty of personal delusion.  

Either way, you didn’t want to cry about it — especially not in front of his best friend, who probably thinks it’s pathetic enough that you’re hopelessly deluded. You inhale in an attempt to calm yourself down, but all it does it signal your body into letting out a soft sob. Jaemin doesn’t move, and his expression hardly changes, save for the fact that the smile is back to its unnaturally small state. He actually looks like he’s… sad? That doesn’t seem right, though; maybe it’s really more like he pities you, which you can’t even blame him for.  

Still, he gently raises his right hand again; this time, instead of attempting to fix your hair, he gently places his palm against your head. Then lifts it. Then places it back down again. Soon, you’re standing in your driveway, crying silently while the guy from next door is awkwardly patting your hair like you’re a wounded puppy. It doesn’t last more than five minutes, but it’s still a fairly embarrassing period of time, and you wipe at your eyes aggressively while he retracts his hand.  

“Kind of stupid, huh?” Your voice is thick and ugly. “Crying after a party.”  

“Crying after a party, yeah. Crying after seeing someone you like kiss someone else? Not stupid at all.”  

“So I didn’t hallucinate?” You sigh, hiccuping yourself into a slightly calmer state.

“No, unfortunately. I mean, Jeno is — anyway, it’s not really any of my business, I guess. Do you want me to look for Renjun back at my house, or something?”  

“No, it’s fine. I texted him that I was going home anyway, so he can just come find me when he sees it, I guess.” You feel like your voice is childishly sullen, and Jaemin must think so too, because his smile grows again, like he wants to laugh. “But… thanks for walking me home.”

“I almost dragged you home.”

“But I used my two feet,” you crack a smile, wiping away a stray tear that’s just fallen from your eyelashes. “So I still technically walked.”

“Can’t argue with that logic,” he agrees.

You both stand in front of your door, not moving; you’re not making eye contact either, but it doesn’t feel too uncomfortable. There are a ton of things you want to ask him, but all of your questions seem either too upsetting or too invasive, so you just stay quiet until Jaemin looks up again, focusing on something past your head.  

You turn to find Jeno approaching, and his eyes are flickering between you and Jaemin. His hands ball into fists for a second, like he’s steeling himself.  

Jaemin’s voice seems different when he talks again, and he’s not looking at you when he speaks. “I should get back home. See you, _______________.”

He brushes past Jeno, not looking back as he returns to the party. Jeno watches him go, making sure Jaemin’s past your property line before turning back to you.  

“You left so quickly,” is how he opens the conversation.  

“Oh. Yeah, it just got crowded. I lost Renjun, and I couldn’t eat anything more,” you explain lamely. “Sorry. I guess I should have told you.”  

“No, it’s — that’s totally fine. I just… I guess you really didn’t have a good time.”  

“I did; no, I totally did.” Up until a few minutes ago, you want to add, but there’s no way you would. Jeno nods, not really looking like he’s fairly interested in how much you enjoyed the party. “I found out I’m… pretty good beer pong, so that probably bumped my cool points, right?”  

“She’s my ex-girlfriend,” he suddenly blurts out, skewing the conversation’s falsely casual atmosphere drastically towards a topic you were desperate to avoid. You stand in silence, fairly stunned, and Jeno looks like he’s about to burst completely, his words coming out a little too fast because he wants to say so much. “She used to go to our school. A year older. We broke up during her last year; she said she didn’t want anyone from her past tying her down in college. I mean — we — she — we were over. It was fine. But she showed up tonight, I guess since she heard from Jaemin’s brother that there was a party… I didn’t know. She never told me. We just — I guess she thought we could get back together, so we talked, and she kissed me. But we’re not. Back together, that is.”  

“Uh,” you say, once again at a loss for words. “Okay.”  

“It didn’t mean anything,” he starts to slow down, looking a little relieved that he’s gotten the crux of the story off his chest. “She was a little drunk before she got here. It was just a spur of the moment — no, sorry. It was just a mistake. That’s it.”  

“It’s… I mean, it’s… it’s fine?” It’s not, you know, but you don’t know what else to say considering it’s supposed to be fine to you. “She’s your ex-girlfriend. You’re bound to still have feelings for each other. Also—”

“We don’t,” he interrupts you. “We don’t have feelings for each other. I mean, I don’t. For her.”

“Okay, but I also don’t know why you’re telling me all of this.”  

“Because. Because I know you saw us outside.”  

“I did,” you admit, still feeling the uncomfortable pang of distress at recalling the sight. It seems to be triggering your fight or flight instinct because you’re taking slow steps back, but Jeno is just moving forward with you too. Even when you run out of space to step, he’s still advancing, eyes focused on you, like he’s watching for your expression. “And it’s your right to make out with your ex-girlfriend. It doesn’t have anything to do with me.”  

“Doesn’t it?”  

“Does it?” You’re thoroughly confused now, and it looks like Jeno is too. “We’re just friends, aren’t we? We’re not really even that. My opinion on your relationships doesn’t really… matter.”  

“It does though. It does to me.”  

You fall silent, dumbfounded; your mind can’t decide on which feeling to focus on first, so you just stand there looking stupid. Jeno is standing really close to you now, and you can actually smell the fabric conditioner on his hoodie and the cologne that’s fading off from his skin. When he speaks again, his voice is barely above a whisper.

“You like me.”  

It’s not asked like a question, but he pauses like he’s waiting for you to respond. You’re too close to him to feel comfortable enough to lie and deny, plus the situation seems so intense that the thought of doing something wrong doesn’t even cross your mind. You nod, and he doesn’t even look the least bit surprised.

“I’m telling you all of this because I know you like me. Because I don’t want you to misunderstand something like that.”  

“It doesn’t matter, though,” your voice is also soft, less because you’re trying to be quiet and more because if you speak up, you’re afraid you might start crying again. “You don’t have to explain something like that to someone who likes you just because they like you. It shouldn’t be a concern.”  

“But I want to,” he says firmly. “I want to make sure you know — I’m really not with that girl. What happened back there — it didn’t mean anything.”  

“But why?”  

He reaches out, and the action feels eerily similar to Jaemin’s; his fingers idly toy with loose strands of hair, but it doesn’t feel laden with the motive of comforting. Instead, his hand skims down the side of your face gently, stopping just below your jaw. You wonder if he’s noticed you’ve stopped breathing, but if he has, he doesn’t make it obvious. His thumb extends away from his hand, lightly tracing the height of your cheekbone.  

“Because I don’t want something like this to push you away from me,” he murmurs. “Because I want you to like me. Just me.”  

#jeno x you #jaemin x you #jeno x reader #jaemin x reader #ficscafe #nct x you #nct x reader #jeno drabbles #jeno imagines #jeno scenarios #jaemin drabbles #jaemin imagines #jaemin scenarios #nct drabbles #nct scenarios #nct imagines #nct dream x you #nct dream x reader #nct dream scenarios #nct dream imagines #nct dream drabbles

[dyns33]

Flufftober 17 - Oberyn

Oberyn Martell x Reader 

it sucks. Next ! 

Some might have considered it as a gift from the gods, others as a curse.

Oberyn Martell had not yet chosen. But most of the time, he believed that being immortal was giving him a lot of advantages.

He had never known how or why he had come back to life after his fight against The Mountain. What he had known though was that he couldn't get his past life back. Around him, the world had changed. The war had passed by, the game had changed the rules. His brother was dead. His dear Ellaria and several of his daughters too.

After mourning and discreetly avenging his loved ones, Oberyn set sail. He had many adventures, met many people, but nothing was more important to him than Y/N.

Before he died, he had only felt this with his paramour, and yet they had never been exclusive. Now he wanted Y/N for himself alone. They lived together for several years, before illness suddenly took her.

It was a real shock for him, who refused to think about the day when he would lose her. Because he didn't grow old, he couldn't die, while all the others were just passing away. He wanted Y/N to stay with him forever. But he had no idea if it was possible, and how to make her immortal like him.

Not dying was not his curse. It was the others dying that was a problem.

When Oberyn met a young girl who looked just like her a few years later, he thought he was going crazy. Then he thought it was just a coincidence. He was still curious and he talked with her. Even if she didn't know him, she told him that her name was Y/N, and in addition to being the double of his lost love, she behaved exactly like her.

So he thought it was fate. He had just met her reincarnation, getting a second chance to be with her, to do the right thing. While spending as much time as possible with Y/N, Oberyn searched all books, legends, rumours, for a way to give him the same gift he had received.

Unfortunately, fate was cruel, giving and taking. Before he found anything, Y/N died in an accident.

For long months, he was inconsolable, thinking he had lost her forever.

Until a new Y/N crosses his path again.

           "... I get it, I'm dead, and it's a punishment for all my bad deeds."

           "Sorry ?" The new Y/N asked him, looking at him with confusion and fear. "Are you alright ?"

           "Yes. No. I'm sorry, dear heart, it's not your fault. Seeing you is as much torture as it is enchantment. As beautiful as the first day."

           "We know each other ?"

           "You don't know me, but I know you. Don't be afraid, I'll leave you alone. I'm just upset to find you, I didn't expect it."

           "Wait ! I… I don't understand everything you're telling me, but please stay. I feel… I want to get to know you."

He knew it wasn't a good idea, he knew how things were going to end, but Oberyn couldn't deny that sweet face anything. They fell in love, they stayed together for several years, and one day, while she was walking in a park, a man killed her.

This new violent death should not have been a surprise for Oberyn, who was now used to losing those who were dear to him, and even more his tender Y/N, but of course he cried.

The same mistakes were repeated for many more centuries. Without him looking for her, Oberyn found the reincarnation of Y/N, he couldn't stay away from her, and she died again and again, earlier and earlier, more and more brutally.

Until the day he was strong enough to keep his distance. Because even if he had trouble living without her, he no longer wanted to lose her, he hadn't found a way to make her immortal, and he therefore preferred to observe her from afar, to have the pleasure to see her happy, aging and enjoying life.

Despite this, fate seemed to be relentless. Several times, the new Y/N laid eyes on him, lingering too long for it to mean nothing and sometimes even following him through the streets as he ran away from her.

Oberyn didn't understand why. She couldn't remember. She never remembered, remaining the same but rediscovering him each time.

And since she remained the same, clever, agile and having him at her mercy, she managed to corner him on a bench one day, when he had simply come to observe the horizon, on the other side of the sea, where his homeland was an eternity ago.

           "You're following me." she accused him without malice as she sat down next to him. "I've seen you many times."

           "Hello to you too, pretty apparition. It seems to me that you are mistaken, since it is you who have just joined me here, and it is also you who have chased after me several times, forcing me to hide to avoid you."

           "So you don't deny it, it's you that I've already seen several times !"

           "Mere coincidences. But I never followed you. I was lucky enough to see you from afar and I always stayed away."

           "I caught you staring at me."

           "Is it a crime ? Who could blame me for wanting to observe such beauty ?"

           "You... Are you Death ?"

This question surprised him. He who was trying to find the situation amusing immediately regained his seriousness, turning to her with a serious look.

Y/N bit her lip, but didn't flinch.

           "I often dream of you. It's strange, because I always die at the end, but I'm not afraid. I'm even very happy. You are always terribly nice, and increasingly sad. Will I die soon ?"

           "... No. I hope not. Maybe if you stay away from me."

           "I don't understand."

           "Neither do I." he confessed in a whisper. "I haven't understood anything for a very long time. I only know that I loved you. That I love you. And that I will probably love you forever. I also know that I lose you every time, and that I can no longer bear it. I beg you, forget me. Go away. Live. For me."

He almost took her hand, before pulling himself together. It was not a good idea to touch her. It might already be too late.

Oberyn wanted to leave but Y/N got up to follow him, eyes full of despair.

           "But... If I live, and die, and... don't find you again... You will be left alone."

           "Don't think about that, little sun."

           "I don't want to leave you. I want to be with you. I'm not happy without you."

He could have gotten angry, telling her that she was being cruel, selfish, asking him to relive the hell of her death for the hundredth time, but at the same time, Oberyn could not deny that they had always been very happy together.

Even though it hurt him, he was still waiting for the moment when the new Y/N would come into his life, and she never smiled as much as when he held her hand or caressed her cheek.

Slowly he touched her face.

           "I don't want to lose you." he sighed.

           "Even if I leave again... I will come back. And you will find me."

Gift of the gods or curse, Oberyn swore to her that they would be together until the end of time.

#game of thrones #oberyn martell #oberyn martell x reader #oberyn martell fanfiction #oberyn martell imagine #flufftober 2022

[worldformula]

Omg whats this situation Saito manipulated that makes ryuki think he saved him these posts are driving me crazy

AITSF / AINI SPOILERS. and another long one because how do I even begin to explain

To be honest, we haven’t really ironed this part out because it’s an elaborate play and I personally don’t have the brain cells to put the details together yet. Which is necessary because at some point Ryuki does question everything about the incident and that’s when it all falls apart. But very roughly speaking, the order of events is as follows:

Uru approaches Saito about ruining/killing Jin Furue, who he thinks is Tokiko’s lover (he doesn’t know he’s her son, which is … awkward). He goes to Saito about it because Saito is their dad’s mouthpiece to the yakuza and figures he can help him with this sabotage.

Saito first finds it impressively ballsy that Uru would ask for something like that but tells him he can’t, since using their Kumakura connections in a way that would escalate the scale of the crimes they commit with them could get their father into devastating trouble. Also he just doesn’t find Uru’s petty jealousy to be worth it.

Uru is intent on this though and blackmails him by bringing up Ryuki’s twin (Yukuto)’s murder six years ago (blah blah, you owe me because I covered for you then, blah blah). They get in a nasty fight about how dare he do this, Uru is a coward for hiding behind Saito and the yakuza instead of doing it himself, it is very weird how down bad he is for Tokiko, etc etc. Saito is furious but for now, he has to follow through. He will get Uru for this down the line.

This is where the details get fuzzy — Saito somehow freaks Jin out to a point of paranoia, wherein Jin believes people are coming to get him for whatever reason. Whatever it is, Jin can’t go to the police about it, nor can his parents help him.

Ryuki goes to meet Jin at his house with Saito, with the intention of questioning him about Music Foods’ association with Bats490. He brings Saito along because Jin refused to meet with him at first and Saito says he’s vaguely familiar with Jin, as they’ve met at a party, so he’s hoping Saito’s presence will draw Jin out. 

Jin, throughly spooked and convinced that the mob has come for him, attempts to shoot them as they break in out of concern, given that Jin is not answering but they know full well that he’s in. Ryuki reacts accordingly thanks to Tama but Jin stuns him, taking him down and knocking out Tama, and holds Saito at gunpoint. Ryuki manages to recover in time to shoot Jin and kill him before Saito gets shot.

A couple of things: 

Ryuki is not sorry about killing Jin because Jin was going to kill Saito, so it was justified in his mind. But it does unnerve him greatly to have taken a life. Saito comforts him and validates the act because it “saved” him. Meeting with him and getting this validated makes him feel better, but it’s not good for him.

Ryuki has no idea why Jin reacted the way he did, and the fact that Jin was also illegally armed further makes Jin look like he was super guilty of something related to the case, derailing the investigation slightly.

A lot of things could have gone terribly wrong in the confrontation itself. But I’m gonna be real, I don’t think Saito is all that concerned about dying so much as he’s afraid of living with the consequences of what he does so the danger of it isn’t that big of a deal to him. Worst case scenario, he was going to just kill them both and then frame it as a whole thing where they killed each other.

It does suck for him to not be able to get directly involved in the murder act, sure, but going about it this way means that Saito is not even a suspect in Jin’s murder and he gets the fun benefit of watching Ryuki struggle. Very cool!

#anonymous #ask #aitsf au #aini spoilers #aitsf spoilers #And then ryuki was like can I go home now and saito was like no in fact we’re going to frame you for murder #and you’re going to go to JAIL for FIFTY YEARS

[died-but-not-dead-propaganda]

Goro Akechi Propaganda

He’s Not Very Happy About It

He dies in the bowels of ship that is the manifestation of his fathers distorted mind, killed by his father’s representation of himself, sacrificing himself for the protags right after boss battling them. And then he comes back to life in third semester when a perfect reality starts because as eventually revealed his being alive and being free is the One True Wish for a perfect reality by the protagonist.  And then he dies again because he doesn’t want to be a puppet under control of this false reality. And then he comes back to life again implied at the very end through the power of loving really hard

Imagine coming back for ur living bf in a perfect reality u dont want id go crazy. And the true end implies he comes back AGAIN

MASSIVE spoilers: He was revealed to be a serial killer with no friends and got so attached to the main character he sacrificed himself to save him. In the remastered version, Persona 5 Royal, he comes back a little while later. However, that’s because the party was locked in an alternate universe in which everyone’s deepest desires comes true, and the main character’s wish was to see Akechi again. Once they fix the timeline he dies again (maybe…?)

Ok so technically you gotta squint to say he came back in the real world, but a version of him came back and even after that, the devs say it’s up to interpretation if he came back or not, so I’m interpreting he did come back from the dead

Disclaimer out of the way, my god I love this fucked up little guy. Has an absolute sad life where his mom dies and he’s forced to become an assassin for his dad who doesn’t even know it’s him, and does so with the single minded goal of revenge. He has a tragic “totally platonic” (read “homosexual”) relationship with a guy in similar circumstances, but got to make the best of it instead of losing himself to revenge. In his final moments, he realizes that he had made friends who would’ve been there for him, and both he and the protag wish things could’ve been different. He dies leaving an unfulfilled promise with his rival, and a massive “what if?” had the two been able to have a relationship outside of all the bullshit life had thrown at both of them.

AND THEN

An egomaniac gains reality altering powers and tries to convince the good guys that he should be allowed to reshape the world by granting all of their deepest wishes. And Akechi is just sorta there. He doesn’t remember how he survived or how he got there, but he reconnects with his rival and the two immediately start working on fighting the egomaniac. It’s not clear what wish the egomaniac had granted the two of them, and it remains this mystery. The two continue to have a complicated relationship, but it’s revealed: Akechi was brought back by the egomaniac as his rivals greatest wish. He wanted Akechi back more than anything else in the world. And if they defeat the egomaniac, Akechi will leave as well, he’ll go back to being dead. But the two believe too strongly in free will and oppose the egomaniac anyways. There’s a heartbreaking scene where Akechi convinces the protag to let him die again, because he refuses to have his life controlled by people he hates any longer. And so, the egomaniac is defeated, and Akechi disappears. Leaving our protag to mourn and constantly wonder what if. And in the final cutscene of the game, we see a flash of akechis outfit in the reflection of a window. Was it a hallucination? Us Akechi truly back? It’s unclear, but the the protag has a lot of feelings about it anyways.

For the tragedy of both his death and his revival, Akechi truly deserves the win here. His life was a sad one, leading to a tragically preventable death that fits into the themes of cruel adults exploiting children and of free Will being above all. And his revival is more of the same, just under the guise of magnanimity. I love this character with all my heart, and both his two deaths and ambiguous revivals pull at my heartstrings constantly

#goro akechi #persona 5 goro #persona 5

[aqueeracademic]

morse being queer (and other commentary) pt 12:

season 3, episode 4, “Coda”:

- opening with a funeral

- how very camp

- morse taking his lil test 🥰

- morse is such a know it all im obsessed with him

- “only in oxford”

- last time i checked there’s porn everywhere babe

- thursday insinuating they’re gay just to piss them off is so….

- i guess we can’t all be perfect

- also strange is so casually badass i’m fully obsessed with him

- the coughing thing is so embarrassing 😐

- debryn thinking morse is talking about nature studies when he says “stag films”

- he’s so 🥺🥺

- debryn always gives morse a well needed reality check and i respect him sm for it

- i, too, would stare at morse for an entire concert if the opportunity presented itself

- “come and see me”

- morse’s face immediately looks panicked and blushy he’s so embarrassing 🙄

- sam leaving 😭😭😭🔫🔫🔫

- morse is always so flabbergasted by how thursday does business

- “i was frightened for the most part.” “of what?” “of being found out. being found wanting.”

- that’s gay! in case you were confused. it’s gay

- this professor is so weird 😐

- i don’t like him at all! and i don’t like that hes using morse’s previous trauma to guilt him into investigating his wife

- thursday getting suspended for police brutality is… not something i can be all that upset about

- like sucks but 🤷‍♀️

- that’s how it goes

- he needs to rest his cough anyway tbh

- trewlove is SO CUTE I AM OBSESSED

- morse awkwardly whipping out the word bird to really trick the bingo guy into talking to him is so funny to me

- he’s like “the uh… 🤢 b-bird.”

- take a BREATH morse

- i refuse to believe that “spotted dick” is a real thing in the UK

- y’all gotta know how that sounds

- morse is so terrible with women i hate him 😀

- “a fellow must have the latest this or that to impress the ladies” and morse being like 😬

- it’s so gay

- joan being like “you’re right, it’s not your place to say.” and then morse being like 😮 is real!

- “let it go, for your own good.” “that’s rich, coming from you.”

- i HATE THIS DAMN PROFESSOR

- people don’t ever let morse just suffer in peace

- i just spilled water all over myself and missed his entire conversation w that other professor but i’m not gonna rewind we r just gonna live w it

- strange is… getting gradually less cool the longer the show goes on

- like i need him to calm down.

- i know he’s above morse now but he is so like… determined to be perceived as above him it’s uncomfortable

- and beating someone up RIGHT AFTER thursday gets suspended???? let’s get it together

- thursday is incapable of taking critique from morse and i don’t understand why

- he’s RIGHT and you should listen to him

- “morse? people will say we’re in love.”

- that professor is so fucking funny

- also clocked morse as a lil 💅 right away

- bank robbery is so crazy

- not all the main characters being directly affected!!

- bright moves SO DAMN QUICK when strange comes in i love him

- HOLY SHIT

- trewlove’s partner getting shot is so crazy to me she cannot catch a break

- morse is a lot braver than people give him credit for

- he straight up called an ARMED ROBBER stupid without hesitation

- i love him

- morse casually solving an entirely separate case during the robbery is wild

- trewlove 🥺🥺🥺

- winnie 🥺🥺🥺

- bright keeping that gun is something that can be so personal

- this guy is a FUCKING snitch

- a snitch.

- and i can’t stand him!

- debryn pulling up fully prepared to tend to bodies is so sick.

- joan is a RIDE OR DIE TYPE BITCH

- ok he didn’t deserve to die just for snitching but like…. the line “i don’t like liars but i hate a grass” is SO ICONIC

- joan’s reaction to the leader telling his little crony to put morse down is wild

- the way she closes her eyes 🫤🫤🫤

- final straw!

- lowkey thursdays voice….

- just kidding!

- no i’m not.

- coughing up a bullet?

- thursday is the coldest man alive.

- the way my MOM JUST SAID “yeah, you wanna be a hero by selling somebody else out. asshole. he’s a coward.”

- she gets it!

- strange is a ride or die ass bitch and i respect that even if i don’t like him rn

- morse holding joan when the guy blows the lock off 🫤🫤🫤

- i love them

- i don’t ship it!

- but i love them

- “the chambers empty! and he’s too stupid to count to six!”

- morse is so………..

- thursday needs to get his act together 😐

- like u fr gonna murder someone in front of ur daughter??

- THERE WAS A BULLET LEFT??????

- i hate morse

- hes so self sacrificing

- no way he j goes back to his job after all that

- he’s so filled with fear all the time i just need him to breathe

- “love, morse. imagine that.”

- he’s so disrespectful i hate him

- oh my god morse is so fine

- he has NO BUSINESS sitting in that chair like that

- morse realizing he loves her is something that makes me so violent

- i hate him

- i mean i have never related to a fictional character more in my life

- but i hate him

- this MAROON PULL OVER

- he knows he looks good

- “just give it a chance” = “just give me a chance”

- “you mean the world to them. you mean the world…”

- and then being UNABLE TO SAY IT??????????? i’m so fucking sick

- her reaching up to hold his face and him feeling a little hopeful only for it to be her checking his wound

- listen:

- i talk all day about morse being queer and how much he likes men and how he should end up with a man but like

- joan is the second person this SEASON to leave him

- the second person he loves who leaves him in the span of a few months

- he lost jakes in the spring and joan in the fall and he’s all alone for winter 🫤

- so whatever i think about his sexuality isn’t important because either way he KEEPS getting left alone by people he loves and, not only is it important to his character, it fucking HURTS

- and i love him.

#endeavour #endeavour itv #endeavour morse #morse #itv endeavour

[nerdyenby]

Blue time :D I’m watching Shelby

I love Shelby’s outfit so much, I definitely wanna get that sweater when it comes out

I’m absolutely loving this story time (Shelby wound up picking up a bunch of stuff people (Scott, Ran, Aimsey, Guqqie, Michela, and Jack) left behind after a dinner and couldn’t find who a jacket belonged to, meanwhile Jack asked literally everyone else in the group if they saw a jacket)

Also what a group, them <3

Shelby crushing parkour!!

The gang!!! Team time :))

Skipping tgttos or skybattle is so based, Scott is such a real one

Rocket Spleef

This team is so chill, I love them

Rip, friendly fire

WALLI 😭😭😭

“Im gonna be banned for team griefing” “That would be a first” […] “Hey, I do like to be top of my class” Walli my beloved

“Some would say psychological warfare is worse than physical” 😂

I keep forgetting Red is there, he’s so quiet 😭

Grid Runners

Scott absolutely dragging Walli through the mud is everything I never knew I needed

Best game time :))

They crushed it!!!

Yeah that was so tough for so many people

Battle Box

Watching people be good at bb is never not a great time

“Two more boxes to battle real quick” “Whose boxes are we battling?” I love this so much actually

“Since when are we a battle box team?!??” Since your team was announced and I predicted y’all winning :))

People are cowards, so true Shelby <333

Sands of Time

Imma need Red to be so very vocal this game, I feel like I’ve heard him speak maybe three times this event

Yeah that red path was rough

Solid run, nothing too crazy but they got a safe score

Scott listing Jojo, Aimsey, and H as the ideal sot senseis is so based

NOOOOOO RED 😭😭😭

Everyone making jokes about Shelby’s spilled coke being of the non-cola variety

“Hydrophobic: the only good kind of phobic” I love Shelby so much

Ace Race

“We like to break the mold, y’know, team killing…” “You better not find a way in this game to do that” “Shelby, I like to make the impossible possible” “If you do that, I can’t be anything but impressed about it” Walli’s so fun, I haven’t seen his content but he’s such a hoot in mcc

Shelby calling herself a sheep 😭😭😭

*falls into the void once* “Every choice I’ve ever made was a bad one”

Parkour Warrior

Have I mentioned that I love Shelby

She’s popping off!!!

Ah the hubris

Yeah this event is crazy close

Hole in the Wall

Walli thinking the letters were random 😭

Sky Battle

“It’s just battle box but with everybody together all at once” so true!!

Rip

Walli popping off!!!

Shelby looking both ways before crossing the bridge is inarguably correct but it’s so reminiscent of pedestrian safety I’m cackling

Scott immediately rooting for red :))

Dodgebolt

“I LOVE AIMSEY” so true Shelby!!!!

“Hotguy’s got one” “??” She doesn’t know 😂

“Should I try to reverse psychology the universe?” go for it, Scott, if anyone can it’s him

The absolute comedic timing of Aimsey’s quick shot is everything

It’s Aimsey’s world, we’re just living in it

Walli’s going on Shelby’s dni, real and true /s

I love post-MCC calls with my entire soul

Every social media is just making the best possible changes rn mhm /s

Sincerest apologies to aqua, I’m a loser <333

Also red but they know, I’m always rooting for ran, aimsey, and scar but I on principle refuse to believe in Ranboo actually winning anything /aff

#mcc 32 #mc championship #shubble #scott smajor #wallibear #redvelvetcake #nerdy’s mcc reactions

[ur-local-demon1]

My thoughts on the Owl House finale

So you guys got the silent treatment from me for a while, sorry about that lol. I’m finally back (sorta) to briefly talk about the Owl House Finale, and I might dive deeper into analyses and shit as a future video on my YouTube channel. I’ll talk both about what I didn’t like, and what I did like in that order so we can end this post on a good note. Here we go!

If you click keep reading, you’re okay with seeing spoilers for watching and dreaming.

I didn’t like:

Not getting to know more about the whole Caleb - Belos - Evelyn - Hunter situation. Hunter still doesn’t know that Flapjack used to be Caleb’s/Evelyn’s palisman, that he is technically related to the Clawthornes, or that Caleb stopped being a witch hunter since he legit dated one. I would have given an organ to live in a universe where in the five seasons this show deserved, there would have been an episode where idk, Hunter would have communed with the dead and got moral support from great great great great great [...] Grandpa Caleb and Grandma Evelyn. 

The close to no explanation as to why the Titan was trapped in that in-between space, why was Luz here and not actually dead, and why couldn’t he use the last of his magic to go back himself. We don’t know a lot about papa titan and it’s sad because I really like him. The past of the boiling isles as a whole is still a very abstract concept, even the characters don’t know a lot about it, or the truth anyway. 

Willow’s body in the time skip. Now I believe this is the point where people are rolling their eyes at me, but that’s okay I stand by what I’m about to say. If you write in representation in any piece of media you are creating, you can’t just write it out afterwards. Allow me, a mid-sized girl with a body shape similar to pre-time skip Willow, to deconstruct the arguments used against the people who spoke out about it. “Isn’t losing weight a good thing?” --> It depends on why someone lost weight, but in Willow’s case, no since she isn’t a real person. She’s fat rep. She was written to be fat to represent fat people, especially potential fat kids who watch the owl house and want to see people like them on screen. “She works out everyday, and she’s a flyer derby player, of course she lost weight” Skinny ≠ healthy + Fat ≠ unhealthy. You can be fat and an amazing athlete. Wrestlers are often fat and it gives them an advantage. You can be fat and also have visible muscles in other parts of your body like your legs or arms. If she was a real person, that wouldn’t be a problem obviously, but she’s not. The only reason she is fat is for us to have representation and see ourselves on screen. We would have went crazy if a tv show announced that the main character is a lesbian, only that in the final season she starts dating a man because she found out she was just confused or some shit. That’s basically what happened with Willow. Anyway, much love to the animators who tried to fix the damage and draw her with an accurate body type in some scenes here and there of the time skip.

What I did like: 

Belos’ death. A pathetic death for a pathetic man. The panic settling in him as he slowly realises that there is no way out for him, the last futile attempt at fooling someone in hopes of getting his power back, the growing frustration the more he understands he has truly lost all control over everything, even his own body, while still refusing to admit he inflicted this fate upon himself for absolutely no logical reason. He isn’t given a death where he breaks down and sees the error of his ways with terror as the end closes in on him, no. He is crushed, much like his dreams of being the brave martyr witch hunter general who saved humanity through any way possible. 

Luz’s death. A slow, quiet, painful yet still beautiful moment that she somehow accepted. Much like Luz, no one knew what to say, and the small moment where we didn’t know what would happen to her were genuine torture. I’m a sucker for MC’s who die but not really (Hi Anne, Adora, Magnus, Hazel and now Luz.)

Papa Titan. Follow up, Papa titan being genderqueer/nonbinary idk, a Quing. 

The fact that there is a way for Luz to go back to the boiling isles and the human realm. Really happy they didn’t pull a second amphibia parallel lol. 

LILIT’S HARPY LOOK AAAAAAH-

Alador x Darius, I see you (Darius’ blush, him shaking Alador like a ragdoll). I have a thing for ships that barely get talked about in canon and are about old gays.

WAFFLES ToT

Amity’s new hair. Some of my friends don’t like it but oh well. The little Grom Queen crown crystals fit her. 

THE COUPLES EXCHANGING JEWELRY

The ending scene. We got to see Luz’s quince (kinda, I still would have loved a full episode but oh well). The fourth wall break where everyone says bye to the collector but also to us, seeing all the characters we’ve loved for years grouped together to celebrate this. It’s bittersweet, mostly sweet.

#the owl house #watching and dreaming #toh #toh spoilers #watching and dreaming spoilers