#Which honestly would have turned 12 year old me off a lot because like it's not fun being an atheist when almost everyone's a dick about it

[averbaldumpingground]

Life almost disappears, those summer afternoons spent reading in the park, your head half-leaning on his shoulder. Those mornings in the spring, a little late for work.

It didn't matter then, the way he took two sugars in his coffee. The way you let your hair grow out too long.

But these, the memories we keep, crammed in a shoebox full of polaroids, saved somewhere on a half-forgotten hard drive, they're what remains behind. They're what your sister finds, the weekend that she helps you pack your life.

And then it's sitting on the couch, your kitchen stuff already wrapped in paper. It's styrofoam containers, soda cans. It's wine that she's already drinking from the bottle.

And you can't figure out whose silhouette that was, who showed up to your party with a boa. And she is pretty sure her ex has kids.

But maybe that's why you and I keep postcards. Somebody's bow tie, paperclips, that bit of string.

They don't remind us of some other time, exactly. They're pieces of the people that we were, they're feelings that we'd wanted to hold on to.

#June 12 2023 #I've had 'Spin' by Lifehouse stuck in my head all day. #Is it about some girl? Is it about god? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Who the heck even knows. #I mean that's like a very large percentage of Lifehouse's musical output. #Well this one could also be about parenthood I guess. #And I'm pretty sure 'You and Me' is definitely about Jason Wade's wife and 'Hanging by a Moment' is about god per comments he's made. #But it's a fun party game isn't it? #Speaking of 'Hanging by a Moment'. Even though it came out when I was like 12 and I hadn't yet realized the whole religious thing. #I associate it most with the summer I was 25 and living with my parents for the summer for a grad school internship. #I remember driving my mom's car to work after dropping her off along the way and cranking up the radio. #Unfortunately my options were limited to the pop station (too many commercials) or the Spanish station (I don't speak Spanish) #or the Christian rock station (the one I usually listened to despite my uncomfortable relationship with religion especially at the time). #And the first time I heard them play Lifehouse I was like wtf? Why is the Christian rock station playing something I actually like? #And then I really listened to the words of 'Hanging by a Moment' and I was 'Oooooh.' #And that was how it took me like 13 years to realize a band I liked and owned cds of may or may not have written a bunch of songs about god #Which honestly would have turned 12 year old me off a lot because like it's not fun being an atheist when almost everyone's a dick about it #And I'm not sure it was the healthiest coping mechanism for the whole having my heart shattered by a religious dude when I was 25... #Actually that's not true. That year I mostly played the fuck out of Emmylou Harris's and Bob Dylan's most depressing hits. ('Gold' anyone?) #Followed by Royal Wood's divorce album when that came out. #But blasting the Christian rock station in the car? Definitely kind of intentionally masochistic. But also I really hate radio commercials. #I did listen to a lot of Lifehouse that summer. #So regardless of what the songs are actually about they all remind me of the highway and my mom's old car and carpooling to work. #Except 'Blind'. 'Blind' still makes me cry. #That was a really pointless aside because I don't feel like writing or going to sleep and will probably stay up listening to Lifehouse now. #I guess the moral of that story if it needs to have a moral is: #If you're a godless heathen and someone makes you feel like shit because they act like there's something wrong with you for it #you're much better off not wasting your time trying to understand why they think like that and living your best heathen life instead. #Or something like that. Idk.

[spinjitsuburst]

ramble about ur favs i wanna hear abt ur thoughts -zaptrap

HAN’S INFODUMPING ABOUT JAY... START!!!!

so like sgdkdhdkdhd I say Jay and Lloyd are my “favorites” but honestly it’s so hard to pick favorites out of this skittles squad like I love EVERY character for a variety of different reasons. I was going to also infodump about Lloyd but then I started talking about Prime Empire and then this post got. Long. So. it's just Jay I may infodump about Lloyd another day especially since I'm very Conduit Brained Rn but yea yea!

this is long so i'm putting most of it under the cut so y'all don't kill me for making a huge long post

I considered putting Zane and Sora on here as well since I’d also consider them my “favs” but like this is already gonna be. A lot of. Infodumping (also i typed THIS part before I even started and decided not to yell about Lloyd because this already got long enough). Maybe I’ll make a separate post for those two hmm hmm much to consider but for now MY (technically) FAVORITE NINJAGO CHARACTER: JAY WALKER

THE SPARKPLUG WHO INVADED MY BRAIN LIKE A PARASITE

so hey his name is a pun this makes me laugh ridiculously hard every time I remember he is named. After a misdemeanor HSKSHDKFH

Jay is such an interesting case of a character for me because I started out the show not liking him. Which is. Stares at my entire account I think my feelings have changed somewhat

Jay starts out as an asshole I don’t think anyone can disagree with me there (although honestly they’re all assholes in early ninjago they bullied a ten year old and left him dangling several feet off the ground) but over the course of the show you can see him start developing into a much more interesting character. He goes from being so insecure he's faking everything about himself to someone who knows who he is and is so genuine about it

now yea we could argue about whether his character was too uwu-ified post-season 10 but this is the FUN HAN POST SO WE'RE NOT GONNA TALK ABOUT THAT the point is you can SEE the growth that Jay has gone through and I am going to show you that growth through what I call

✨ The Skybound to Prime Empire Effect ✨

I AM SO PASSIONATE ABOUT THE IDEA THAT PRIME EMPIRE WAS WRITTEN TO BE A DIRECT PARALLEL OF SKYBOUND AND WAS CENTERED ON SHOWING HOW THE NINJA ESPECIALLY JAY HAVE GROWN THROUGHOUT THE SEASON

when season 12 rolls around we are at the point in Jay's development where he is CONFIDENT in who he is. He's a fun-loving jokester with the power of lightning and the drive to help people whenever he can. He uses jokes and humor to help alleviate tension and get people through whatever's happening. And when on his own what does he do?

BECOME AN ENTERTAINER BABEY

i like to think jay's club in prime empire was a safe haven for anyone stuck in the game who figured out hey. we Can't Leave and felt freaked about it. Also Jay would generally try and spread the word that hey something ISN'T RIGHT HERE which would lead people to want to stay with him

(totally plugging my friend's fic but this kind of thing is explored in would you like to enter prime empire by @finn-m-corvex y'all should check it out cool cool)

also the prime empire shorts which i watched all of in the midst of typing this video cuz i love them go watch them please please please jay was publically fighting the red visors which I imagine may have raised some red flags for some players

THIS SOMEHOW TURNED INTO PRIME EMPIRE INFODUMPING LMAO ANYWAYS Jay's confident! He becomes an entertainer because it's who he knows he is! And it's something that will get people hyped and having fun, which is very in-character for Jay to do! He uses those kinds of things to mask the Bad Things going on and get people remembering what's good

I've talked about this sort of thing before but that's Jay's whole philosophy as early as season 9! Which is a DIRECT contrast to how he views it in season 6, as Nadakhan puts it scarily accurately

"You make jokes to mask the fact that you're afraid"

(i was gonna grab a screenshot for that like i did with the hunted scene but netflix has bloCKED THE ABILITY TO TAKE SCREENSHOTS THE WAY I USED TO and i don't have them already and i'm too lazy to grab them from elsewhere so alas trust me he says it)

making jokes to hide your fear and using humor to remind yourself of what's good and coping with the bad are two VERY different outlooks on it

so I think this outlook is what drives him to make this glamrock persona in the first place - this is a bad situation, one he's in with other civilians, and what better way to keep him and themself safe until the others get there than throwing a big performance at a safe place!

also it's just so gender okay I want to look like Superstar Rockin' Jay so badly

it's also interesting to see his outlook on his parents change over time! In season six he finds out Ed and Edna aren't his birth parents and feels upset about it, not understanding why his birth parents would've abandoned him. In season twelve, that outlook changing is EXACTLY why Jay's able to get through to Unagami

"I was abandoned by my parents, too!... I never understood why, and I never had the chance to even ask. But I always hoped there was a good reason. What if there's a reason?"

(again curse you netflix i wanted SCREENSHOTS whatever whatever)

It's this scene that gets Unagami to calm down long enough for Milton Dyer to get there, and presumably is what stops him from just. Flattening him and Jay like a pancake.

to piggyback off of this i absolutely adore how Unagami and Jay consider each other adopted brothers in that one book I still haven't read and I hope he's in Dragons Rising at some point Unagami is my favorite "villain" (no longer a villain) in the whole show he deserves more screentime

like this is where i found out about this and it's plagued my mind ever since. i need to read. this book just for them

SO YEA OKAY Prime Empire is "Who is Jay as a Person Post-Skybound" to me also it opens up so many fascinating things about Jay. I rest my case

so backpedaling a little bit. JAY CARES SO MUCH ABOUT HIS PARENTS GUYS IT'S SO SOFT AND I'M sobs

like yea the first episode with Ed and Edna in it has Jay avoiding them like the plague but this gets explained very easily when you remember he was bullied for his home life before he became a ninja. It makes a lot more sense why he wouldn't want them around his new friends, assuming they'd react the same way. Also how was he supposed to know literally all the rest of the groups parents were either dead, presumed dead, or had a toxic relationship with their kid lmao

(Cole calling his mom kills me. Cole's mom is dead. I know they probably just didn't think that far ahead when writing the dialogue but it's so funny mans pretended to call his dead mom to get on Jay for not appreciating his parents iconic behavior)

anyways literally every episode Ed and Edna are central to (except like the one in skybound) Jay stops at nothing to protect his parents and it means the absolute world to me he's so much like them!! They raised an inventive little nerd and he will stop at nothing to make sure they're safe and it's. It's SO IMPORTANT TO ME OKAY

ALSO this is an excuse to clip my favorite piece of dialogue possibly in the entire show. Except Netflix won't let me now. So you just get the text dialogue

Jay's just fallen from the sky with a messed up eye and is incredibly distraught that all his friends are captured. And his dad just. The woRLD IS FALLING APART AND HE'S EATIN' SOUP-

Ed i love you

anyways

anways anyways this just turned into me rambling about prime empire and then Ed and Edna and a lot of disjointed other stuff but thank you for this opportunity i was going to also ramble about lloyd but i put this post in a word count and

yea i think that's enough for a tumblr post anyways! If anyone wants any like. More logically thought out and direct thoughts about characters feel free to send me asks this was fun thank u @zaptrap for this opportunity to scream about jay

#help this was. my brain is so not intact today so if this makes absolutely 0 sense i understand #i did end up watching some prime empire stuff during my ramblings and guys. the ending of that season still makes me cry #this is fully prime empire propaganda btw i need to like. talk about the season more because despite what my skybound posting would lead #y'all to believe THIS IS THE ACTUAL SEASON THAT LIVES IN MY HEAD AT ALL TIMES MOST OF MY MUTUALS ARE JUST MORE SKYBOUND BRAINED #AND IT RUBS OFF ON ME EASILY #but no prime empire is the fucking best #if i talk about jay long enough it WILL just turn into prime empire #also after I wrapped up this post i continued thinking more jay thoughts but this post is already long enough #like how jay is actually SO incredibly self-sacrificing and how he cares so much about helping people #also wow i didn't even mention his powers in that whole ramble. rare for me. #one day i wanna do!! a powers masterpost. like how i view all the ninja's elemental powers #but thats another day's project i am. So Eepy #anyways hope y'all appreciated this #also thank u serp for sending this ask which allowed me to Scream into the Void about jay walker #category 11 han moment fr #ninjago #lego ninjago #jay #jay walker #unagami #edna #ed #i have no idea if ANY of this is coherent btw #prime empire #skybound #hunted #quest for the lost powers #ask #spinjitsu screams

[fairytale-poll]

SEMI-FINALS! MATCH 1 OUT OF 2

Propaganda Under the Cut:

Red Hood:

she’s red riding hood but CYBERPUNK. and she’s part of the REBELLION. she’s can hack MILITARY tech in a matter of moments. she uses her WOLF VIRUS to hack into CROWN VEHICLES and RIDE THEM INTO BATTLE. she REPURPOSED a GOVERNMENT VIRUS into a weapon to HURT THEM. her GRANDMOTHER was killed by the corrupt government virus that she has since TAMED and uses it AGAINST them. her fiction (this is canon!): https://themechanisms.com/fiction/what-big-eyes/

mechs fans need a win methinks. my mutual told me to go submit red but i also have very strong opinions on her because this entire album makes me insane. red started as a young 12 year old hacker who eventually put her skills to the test when a government-made computer virus (called the wolf virus) went rogue and unplugged her grandmother from life support. (the wolf virus was initially intended to figure out what wasn’t necessary for the war and divert power to weapons instead. it went rogue and started going after people who would never be able to help the war [ie disabled and elderly]). so red FOUGHT IT OFF ON HER OWN and TAMED IT. so then she essentially had a weapon designed to take down crown weapons and vehicles. so she joined the war effort and fought for brutal 30 years. it’s unclear whether she survived the final battle, but i think she deserves to take the win. also. she’s in space. she’s cyberpunk. she’s part of a retold fairytale cast BUT IN A COSMIC WAR. it’s like if star wars was actually good.

Cerise Hood:

She’s the child of the red riding hood and the big bad wolf. Don’t question it to okay. Also she was the first character I thought of when I saw this!

She’s the daughter of red riding hood and the big bad wolf! She’s a werewolf!

Love her design very much. She gets a lot of great outfits. Also, another version of Red Riding Hood that incorporates both the girl and the wolf together.

1: ever after high was iconic and amazing and so well written and i'm really bitter that it was cancelled so i think cerise deserves this win (i do too) 2: her design is really good. like no one else could EVER if you ask me 3: wolf girl. do i NEED to say more. ...honestly, my brain cannot bring out any more words so fingers crossed someone else submits her and she gets some ACTUAL GOOD propaganda (sorry cerise forgive me)

She’s a badass red riding hood with a secret (her dad is the big bad wolf)

She's the daughter of Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, so she has wolf ears and is really strong. She's supposed to be the next Red Riding Hood so she should count.

She's the daughter of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf making her a daughter of forbidden love and thus a double representation of Little Red Riding Hood's age-old story of maturity and adolescence.

She's really cool! She was born from a forbidden romance between the wolf (don't worry he turns into a human lmao) and Little Red Riding Hood and has to hide her heritage from other people which I think is really interesting. Also her hood is really pretty.

She's the daughter of red riding hood and is meant to take over that role when it's her time

she slays so hard!! while technically shes not THE little red riding hood, she is her daughter and the FUTURE little red riding hood. shes also half wolf, which is really cool!! and yea. she slays.

idk she’s just cool & definitely gay

She’s meant to be the next Red Riding Hood but her whole bit is that not only is her mom Red Riding Hood, her father is the Big Bad Wolf and she needs to keep it a secret. The best of both worlds. The tween girls went crazy for the wolf thing. Had a pretty doll and cool outfits. Has an older sister who’s meant to be the next Big Bad Wolf (Ramona Badwolf) who she comes into conflict with. Identity crisis! She was everything to eleven year old me

She’s half wolf, she has cool white streaks in her hair, she’s a jock with super speed and I like her a lot.

she turned me lesbian.

Fan favourite, my first lesbian crush on a character

She is a daughter of previous Little Red Riding Hood and Big Bad Wolf, how cool is that

She’s a furry yeuwu

she’s the daughter of red riding hood and the big bad wolf. she’s a wolf girl. i love her

#red riding poll #semi-finals #poll tournament #poll bracket #character polls #polls #red riding hood #little red riding hood #red hood #once upon a time in space #once upon a time (in space) #the mechanisms #cerise hood #ever after high

[littlelegoman]

LMK NINJAGO CROSS OVER, BUT IT'S JUST LLOYD AND MK SWITCHING PLACES FOR A WEEK

Tang (possibly Pigsy, too): Wow, that sounds like a lot to go through as a child. And you bodily became 18 when you were 12? I'm so sorry, they shouldn't have done that to you..

Lloyd: Well-- it was to save the city--

Tang: What did that city ever do for you? I mean, your whole life is just one tragedy after another; your mother abandons you, your father is locked away, you get sent to a boarding school to make you evil and you still get bullied there. You're manipulated multiple times by adults, and sure, you tried to do that once to them, but you were a child. They were adults. That's not fair.

Lloyd: It was destiny, I had to because of the prophesy...

Tang: No, you had a choice. You didn't have to do all that, and even if you wanted to, you could've waited till you were mature enough to understand the severity of it. Your uncle trains you-- actually, he forcibly takes you, which legally would happen anyways as your only relative, but the law was never involved, not to mention you were under the impression you'd be hurt.

Tang: It's not your fault either. You were coerced into it. The prophesy never said when you had to defeat your father, right?

Lloyd: Well, I don't entirely remember....

Tang: You needed an adult who wasn't going to use you, and you never got that. You never got a childhood, and that's terrible. I'm so upset that this happened to you because no kid deserves this. I'm not completely okay with MK being the Monkie Kid; I mean, look at all the danger it's put him through - but at least he was an adult, old enough to make his own conscious choice.

Lloyd: I...

Lloyd: Thanks, mom.

Tang: It's no pro-- wait what?

MK: And you have elemental powers?! Oh, that's so cool! I don't have any of those, really. I mean, I can do a lot of things that the Monkey King can do, but I don't think controlling elements was one of them.

Zane: It is awesome, of course, but we have years of years of unpacked trauma.

MK: Same!! :D

Red Son: Your father... was okay with you becoming a hero?

Lloyd: He wasn't the best, but it's not completely his fault. The whole venom and oni thing really messed him up. He knew what he was, and he... deep down, he wanted a safe world for me, and fhst meant a world without him.

Red Son:.... I see.

Lloyd: So, uh, you want to be like your father?

Red Son: Well, of course I do! I'm not some a simple-minded peasant like Noodle Boy or Dragon Girl! My father's legacy is one to behold with pride.

Lloyd:... but?

Red Son, sighing: but my father barely recognizes my greatness; and Noodle Boy and his peasant friends do....

MK: Why is... why.. (MK, trying to talk about Garmadon)

Wu: Ah... My brother and I share Oni and Dragon blood... when he was bitten by The Great Devourer, it caused his blood to turn cold.

MK: Does that mean you can become evil too?

Wu, caught off guard: Oh. I..

Wu, sighing: Yes. That is a possibility. I trained my students the best way I knew how... I.. admit I wasn't the best

MK, smiling brightly: HAHA, yeah, you weren't!

Wu, offended:

MK: Wait-- you ABANDONED your son to an evil school?!

Misako: I-- I did.

MK: Why not send him to a normal school?! Or with Mister Wu?! If you knew he was gonna beat up his dad, wouldn't it have helped if he grew up with morals???

Lloyd: I mean no offense, Sun Wukong, but I don't know why MK still likes you.

Wukong: Honestly, I don't either

#ninjago #lego ninjago #ninjago lloyd #lego monkie kid #lmk tang #lmk mk #lmk qi xiaotian #ninjago kai #ninjago cole #ninjago jay #ninjago zane #ninjago nya #lmk red son #lmk mei #ninjago wu #ninjago garmadon #lmk wukong #lmk sun wukong #lmk monkey king #lmk crossover #ninjago crossover #lmk ninjago crossover

[pandenewie]

Prom King

SYNOPSIS:

Y/n and their best friend Intak made a bucket list to make their final year of high school absolutely perfect. Although Y/n’s list of to-dos is now complete, Intak has just one more thing to tick off - win prom king. All is well, until they hear a certain Kim Sunoo is also running.

PAIRING: sunoo x gn!reader

GENRE: nonidol!au, highschool!au, enemies to lovers, slowburn (they hate each other for most of it) fluff, crack, ft P1harmony Intak, Itzy Yuna, Le Sserafim Kazuha, Ateez Seonghwa, Stray Kids Minho, TXT Beomgyu, Enhypen Jay

WORD COUNT: 18.2k

FRIDAY - 21 DAYS TILL PROM:

“Bestie!”

Part of Y/n regrets teaching Intak internet slang. The amount of “slays” and “side eyes” heard each day would draw any sane person to their limit. But they suppose the goofy smile on his face makes up for the near insanity. Just.

Y/n and Intak have been friends since middle school after he accidentally made them cry because their team lost dodgeball. One apology and a shared popsicle later, they were inseparable. Now, all these years have passed and he’s still the same 12 year old boy from back then, stealing their pens and waking up early just to carpool to school (he claims Y/n’s car’s a.c is better, but really he just wants to spend time with them.)

“You literally saw me an hour ago.” Intak can’t help but roll his eyes at his friend’s words, pulling Y/n into a side hug nonetheless. “That’s like… a whole 60 minutes.” He groans, causing Y/n to sigh. “Oh no! Poor little Intak… how are you gonna survive when we go to university? Or even worse, when we have actual jobs?” Intak lets out a laugh, attempting to brush his hair out of his face. “Bold of you to assume I’m not attached to your hip for life.”

Intak has always been clingy - or better yet, loyal. Once he opens himself up to someone, he attaches himself wholeheartedly to that person. It’s one of his many dog-like qualities that make him so easy to be around - so easy to adore. Stressing over homework? Intak will lend his mostly wrong answers. Crying over an ex? Intak’s over within minutes with movies and ice cream. Y/n feels very lucky to have someone like him in their life.

A lot of people at their school assume that the two are dating, which is honestly laughable to them. Obviously to an outsider, this sort of affection may seem a little odd but with Y/n and Intak it’s just natural. Their relationship is anything but romantic. Besides, Intak is just so… Intak.

“You know, I feel bad for your future wife.” Y/n sighs as they walk with Intak to their next class. The boy turns around to look at them confused, Y/n mentally cursing at his long legs as they struggle to keep up with his speed. “Why? She’ll love you too. We can be a cute little trio!” Intak gushes. “And be a third wheel for the rest of my life? No thank you.”

The rest of the day speeds by quickly and before they know it, the final bell rings, dismissing the students for the day. Students rush to get out of their seats but are immediately stopped by their teacher, Mr Lee.

“Before you run off, don’t forget you have your final presentations due next week. Try to meet up with your buddy over the weekend if you can.” A class of groans erupts at the teacher’s words - bar Intak and Y/n, who look at each other with a smirk. Pros of being partnered with your best friend.

“Oh, and the list of contenders for prom king and queen is up by the gym. Voting starts next week and remember you can only vote once so… yada yada no one’s listening. You’re dismissed.”

Before Y/n can even finish packing up their books, Intak grabs their hand and pulls them out of the classroom. “What the hell Intak? My car is that way!” Y/n groans as he pulls them through the halls, not so gracefully bumping into a few people along the way.

As they eventually come to a stop, Y/n realises that he has taken them to the gym. “Look, there’s my name!” Intak gushes, pointing at the bold Hwang Intak that’s written on the paper. Y/n smiles lovingly at their friends happiness but can’t help the gentle roll of the eyes that follows. “Did you just take me here to brag about running for prom king?” “No, I’m here to check out the competition.”

At the beginning of the year, Intak and Y/n each wrote a “bucket list” containing the things they wanted to achieve in their final year of high school. It was full of simple things, like having perfect yearbook photos, joining certain clubs, etc. Y/n ticked off their final one just last week, after they had finally gotten an A on Mr Park's “unbeatable assignment” they’d heard upperclassmen complaining about for years. Intak however, has just one more thing on his list. Win prom king.

Intak’s eyes vigorously scan over the list before his shoulders seem to deflate. “What’s wrong?” Y/n asks, immediately squeezing in next to him in order to see the list as well. Their eyes quickly scan the names before landing on the one right at the bottom… Kim Sunoo. “Well… there goes my bucket list.” Intak laughs, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. 

Sunoo has always been Intak’s rival of sorts. It all started years ago, when the two took the same dance class. Intak and Sunoo were each other’s biggest competition. When it came down to Sunoo’s fluid and flexible dance style versus Intak’s bold and precise one - Sunoo almost always came out on top. Intak was good, sure. But Sunoo had a natural charm to him that Intak just couldn’t compete with. The same thing happened throughout school, when they both decided to join the drama club. Intak once again, was in second place - constantly losing roles and opportunities to Sunoo. 

Finally, high school came around and Intak managed to find something he really shined in, which was soccer. Not only did he really enjoy it, but there was also no Sunoo around to steal his spotlight. That was until Sunoo joined the cheerleading team and once again, the spotlight became shared.

“Come on, I’ve got practice but I can walk you to your car.” Intak attempts to pull Y/n away from the list but they stay put - anger practically dripping from their body. “That selfish asshole.” Y/n scoffs, aggressively poking his name, as if proving a point. God, even his handwriting is annoying. “He’s already the captain of the cheer team, the lead in the school play, has nearly perfect grades and is on the student council. He just needs to have this too? Can’t stand someone else having the spotlight for one fucking night?”

Y/n is fuming. It’s no secret that they aren’t the most fond of Sunoo, especially due to what he put Intak through over the years. This is just the icing on top of the “reasons to hate Kim Sunoo” cake.

“Hey, it’s alright. I don’t care that much anyway.” Intak attempts to calm his friend, finally managing to pull them back the direction they came. “You wouldn’t have put it on your list if you didn’t care, Intak.” Y/n sighs. “Well yeah but I’m up against Sunoo! I’m not gonna win so there’s no point in making a big deal of it.” Intak mumbles. Y/n can tell that he’s disappointed. For whatever reason, winning prom king is really important to Intak. So in that moment, they mentally promise to do whatever it takes to make it happen.

MONDAY - 18 DAYS TILL PROM:

Intak doesn’t hate people. No matter what they do or say to him, he just can’t bring himself to do it. Y/n however, isn’t anywhere as nice as Intak. So they hate people for him. This is evident on their face as they make their way towards Sunoo’s desk as soon as class is over.

“We need to talk.”

Sunoo looks up from his book at the sudden presence, and his eyes light up with mischief as they lock with Y/n’s.

“Y/n! To what do I owe this pleasure?” His voice drips with sarcasm as he lays his chin in his palm, looking up at Y/n with a smirk. Violence is never the answer but god, does Y/n want to punch him right now. “Oh cut the crap Sunoo.”

Sunoo knows all about Y/n’s hate for him. And although he swears he’s done nothing to deserve it, he certainly isn’t opposed to biting back. What’s the harm in dishing out the same treatment? Besides, Y/n looks extremely cute when they’re mad.

“You know, you look so pretty when you smile, Y/n. It’s a shame I only see you when you’re scowling.” Sunoo teases, bringing his finger up to gently poke at the furrow between Y/n’s brows - causing them to push it away almost immediately. “Stop being such an ass and I’d have something to smile about.”

Sunoo can’t help but laugh at Y/n’s meaningless jab, only making them even angrier. “Why the hell did you sign up for prom king?” They spit, almost as if the words were venomous. Sunoo can’t help the confused expression that makes its way across his face. They’re upset over that?

“I don’t know, Yuna signed me up without telling me.” Sunoo shrugs nonchalantly. This answer only adds fuel to the fire that is Y/n’s anger. “Oh you’ve got to be kidding me. Do you even care about being prom king?” They scoff, causing Sunoo to shrug once more. “I think the whole thing is stupid to be honest.” He says. “Great! Drop out.” And with that, Y/n swiftly turns on their heel and walks out of the classroom.

The silence however is short-lived as Sunoo jogs up behind them. “Why the hell would I drop out?” He asks, causing Y/n to roll their eyes. “You said it yourself, you don’t care about it. And yet you running for prom king directly stops other people from having a chance.” Y/n states. Now it’s Sunoo’s turn to roll his eyes. “You’re acting like it’s a scholarship or something. It’s just a dumb plastic crown-” “-WOULD IT KILL YOU TO THINK ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE FOR ONCE?” Y/n yells, cutting off his sentence.

“Kim Sunoo! Y/N L/N! Why aren’t you two in class?” Mr Lee pokes his head out from his classroom, looking at the two with a scowl on his face. “And what is so important that you need to yell in the halls?” He continues. Y/n looks at the ground sheepishly, mumbling an apology. “I want to see the both of you in my classroom at the end of the day, now get to class.” Mr Lee scolds.

Sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with Kim Sunoo across from a visibly frustrated Mr Lee is not exactly how Y/n saw their afternoon going. Intak waits nervously outside the classroom, pressing his ear against the door in hopes to hear what his best friend is in trouble for now.

“It’s not just today’s stunt that I’m upset with. You two have a knack for… disturbing the peace whenever you’re together. And honestly, it’s doing my head in.” Mr Lee sighs. “Now we obviously don’t expect all of our students to get along perfectly, you’re human beings after all. But is it too much to ask for you both to be civil about it? Or at least wait to scream at each other after school hours?” He continues. “No offence sir, but I would rather jump in front of a moving bus than see Sunoo after school hours.” Y/n says, causing Sunoo to scoff. “It’s after school right now, dummy.” Sunoo rolls his eyes. Mr Lee sighs once again, sensing that an argument is about to start.

“This is what I mean. When I don’t get along with someone, I go out of my way not to see them. It seems you two go out of your way to fight.” Y/n and Sunoo both mumble out apologies. 

“I’ve been talking to some of your other teachers and we all agree that something should be done about this. So, we’ve decided to sign you up with the community centre down the street. They needed new volunteers and it’s the perfect opportunity for you two to put this weird feud to rest and make some real change. And, it’ll look good when applying for college, which is a nice bonus.”

Y/n and Sunoo look at Mr Lee as if he’s just told them the worst news imaginable. In some way, he has. “Look Mr Lee, I’m all for helping the community and all but can’t Intak and I do it?” Y/n asks, causing Sunoo to roll his eyes. “That defeats the whole purpose if you do it with him.” He scowls. “I don’t want to hear any fuss about this. It’ll be two days a week, after school Thursdays and Sundays. And if I hear that either of you are acting up I’ll have no choice but to strip away your senior benefits - which means no senior trip and no prom.”

If Y/n hated Mr Lee a minute ago, those words that just came out of his mouth made them love him again. Poor guy doesn’t know that he’s just given Y/n a great idea… Sunoo can’t run for prom king if he’s been kicked out of the whole event. All Y/n needs to do is find a way to get Sunoo in trouble at this community centre without getting themself involved.

THURSDAY - 15 DAYS TILL PROM:

Waiting outside the community centre in the scorching heat is not how Y/n planned to spend their afternoon. And with no sign of Sunoo, their anger starts to boil up - much like the temperature outside.

Just as they’re about to give up and tell Mr Lee that Sunoo was a no-show, a familiar car pulls up in the carpark and none other than Kim Sunoo steps out.

“You have some nerve. I’ve been waiting for like 10 minutes!” Y/n scowls, causing Sunoo to furrow his brows. “What time were we supposed to get here?” He asks. This only frustrates Y/n more. He doesn’t even respect them enough to value their time?

“God, you really are selfish. The email said 3:30.” Y/n pulls out their phone to back up their point with the email, only for their face to fall. “3:45 babe.” Sunoo smirks, watching as Y/n’s face heats up in embarrassment. They were sure it said 3:30. “Were you just so excited to see me that you came early?” He asks, making Y/n scoff - avoiding eye contact. “You wish! I was just… showing my dedication to… y’know, serving the community and… stuff.”

For the first time in what seems like forever, Y/n feels small under Sunoo’s gaze. They are so used to butting heads, always having a snarky remark or point to make. It seems that this interaction has somehow managed to knock Y/n off their pedestal - at least a little.

“I’m sure you standing out here has done so much for the community. Now, I don’t know about you but I’m gonna go inside.” Sunoo says, playfully ruffling Y/n’s hair before entering the building. Y/n scoffs out a few insults before fixing their hair and following suit.

Inside the building is a lot cooler than outside, the cold air conditioning a stark contrast to the outdoor heat. The two stand awkwardly in the front reception, watching as the person behind the desk talks on the phone.

“Wait, I’ve got people. Go complain to someone else.” The person says before abruptly hanging up, his irritated expression flipping to an almost scary smile. “Hi! How can I help you?” He asks. Sunoo nudges Y/n, who rolls their eyes before speaking up. “We’re here for the volunteer thing.” Y/n says, glancing down at the name tag that reads Minho - with a small cat face drawn next to it.

“Cool, what department?” He asks, typing something on his computer. “Uh… what?” Y/n asks, causing Minho to let out an exaggerated groan, spinning in his chair for added effect. “What department are you in? It’ll be on the sign up email.” He clarifies. Sunoo scrambles to check the email from Mr Lee, not seeing anything about a department. He shows Minho the email, causing his eyes to light up. “Oh! You’re the trouble kids?” He asks, turning his attention back to the computer momentarily. “I wouldn’t say that…” Y/n mumbles, causing Minho to laugh slightly. “It’s not a dig at character, trust me. Nothing wrong with a little rule breaking.” He winks. “Don’t tell your teachers I told you that.” He adds before standing.

“Looks like you’ll be doing a little bit of everything. I’ll throw you in with Seonghwa at first, that way you can come to me when you actually know what you’re doing.” Minho says, unlocking a backdoor before gesturing for the two to follow.

Minho leads them down a nicely lit hallway, pointing out different rooms and doors as they go. “Since we mainly do goods distribution here, we’re split into department’s so it’s easier to manage. You’ve got Seonghwa for kids - so that’s everything from toys, baby products, anything else children need. Then Beomgyu is in grocery. That’s just your basic food items. And then finally I’m on clothes and pet stuff.”

After his little introduction, he stops at a door before loudly knocking, causing Sunoo and Y/n to jump slightly. The door quickly opens and the head of a man who looks around Minho’s age pokes out. “Fresh meat.” Minho jokes, gesturing to the two students. “I told you to stop calling them that! And you wonder why people say you’re scary.” Seonghwa sighs, opening the door fully. “I’ll take it from here. You can go back to your phone call.” He continues.

Minho bids his goodbyes before walking back off down the hall. “Don’t let him scare you. He’s secretly a big softie.” Seonghwa says. “Anyway, I’m Seonghwa. I run the kids department here. I’m guessing you’re Y/n and Sunoo?” He asks, causing the two to nod silently.

Seonghwa looks at the two suspiciously. “Are you sure the school sent the right kids? Your teacher said you’re at each other’s throats 24/7.” He asks. “I’m sure Y/n will start something soon.” Sunoo mumbles, causing Y/n’s eye to twitch. They bite their tongue however, if they want this plan of getting Sunoo in trouble to work then they’ll have to make sure they’re on Seonghwa’s good side. “I’m sure we can put our differences aside for this. Especially since it’s helping the community.” Y/n says, causing Sunoo to roll his eyes at their words. “I hope so. It’s amazing what can happen to a bond when you do something like this. You should’ve seen Minho and Beomgyu when they first started.” Seonghwa says. “Right, I guess I’ll give you a tour of the department.” He continues before walking them down the hall to the storage room.

FRIDAY - 14 DAYS TILL PROM:

“And we barely even argued! Which is weird.” Y/n exclaims, after reciting their experience at the community centre. Intak hums, shoving some of his lunch in his mouth. “Maybe you two are finally getting along.” He says nonchalantly. “Oh please, I’ll never get along with someone like him.” Y/n scoffs, causing Intak to roll his eyes. 

“I still don’t get why you hate him so much. You guys are more similar than you think.” He points out, causing Y/n to gasp. “First of all, never say that to me again. And second of all, he made your childhood miserable! Of course I’d hate him.” Y/n states matter-of-factly. “I wouldn’t say he made it miserable. I’m already insufferable as it is, imagine how big my ego would be if I never lost anything! Plus, it’s not like he beat me on purpose. That’s just how stuff goes sometimes…” Intak rambles. The two lock eyes for a moment and for a second Intak thinks his little speech got through to Y/n. “I’m still gonna hate him.” Y/n shrugs, causing Intak to sigh.

SUNDAY - 12 DAYS TILL PROM:

By the time Sunday rolls around, the fact that Y/n will have to spend all day with Sunoo finally settles in. Sure, they’ll have loads of stuff to do to hopefully keep them busy, but that won’t change the fact that he’s there. His presence alone is enough to frustrate Y/n.

“Sunday’s are pretty busy since it’s the one of days we hand everything out. So we have both delivery trucks picking stuff up and individual people. I’ll probably keep you two on sorting for now, just so I don’t overwhelm you too much.” Seonghwa says, making Sunoo and Y/n nod. “We do grocery on a separate day from clothes, kids and pets because of the amount of stock. So Beomgyu will be wandering around if you need any help and can’t find me. He’s only a few years older than you guys so I think you will get along well. You can always ask other volunteers too if you’re stuck.” With that, Seonghwa dismisses the two.

“Why the hell would you do it that way?”

“Babe, Seonghwa literally said there’s more than one way to do it.”

“Stop calling me babe! And if he saw what you were doing, he’d change his mind.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

The sound of Y/n and Sunoo’s argument fills the sorting room. It all started with Sunoo deciding he was going to stack the lego boxes upright rather than laying them flat. His thinking being that it takes up less room and leaves space for other things. Y/n however, insists that laying them flat leaves plenty of room for things to go on top - as well as making the container easier to close. Both are technically correct, but that’s not an acceptable answer to them.

As the two continue to argue, Sunoo yanks the box of lego out of Y/n’s hands - causing it to fall, splitting open and scattering lego pieces all over the floor. “Oh you’re so fucked.” Y/n laughs, causing Sunoo to complain about how they started the argument.

“Who the hell is screaming in here?” A voice asks. The two turn around to see Beomgyu standing in the doorway, his eyes lighting up as he sees them. “Oh hey trouble. I should’ve guessed it was you two.” He says, his gaze then falls to the lego all over the floor. “Oh shit.”

Sunoo and Y/n quickly try to pass the blame onto each other, causing Beomgyu to wave them off. “No offence, but I don’t give a shit who started it. Let’s just pick it all up before someone stands on it. Stepping on lego might as well be a torture method.” He says, crouching down to grab the broken box.

He notices the quiet atmosphere in the room and awkwardly laughs. “Don’t get scared now, this kinda stuff happens sometimes. If it makes you feel any better, Seonghwa takes home the faulty ones to add to his collection.” He says. The thought of Seonghwa at home surrounded by lego sets makes Y/n and Sunoo laugh slightly.

“Just… try not to do this sort of stuff when you’re in my department, okay? Spilled lego is a lot easier to handle than food.” The two nod as Beomgyu places the box on the counter. “Well, I’ll leave you two to it, then. Maybe try to be a little… quieter with the next argument.” He winks before leaving the room.

MONDAY - 11 DAYS TILL PROM:

“So… how was Sunday?” Yuna teases, causing Sunoo to look at her with an unimpressed expression. “Oh shut up.” He mumbles, causing her to stifle a laugh.

“I just feel bad for Y/n.” Kazuha says. “Being forced to spend time with Sunoo would be hell for anyone, but especially them.” Sunoo rolls his eyes at his friend, flipping her off before turning his attention back to his food. “Zuha’s right, you’re gonna drive them insane.” Yuna says. “Hey! They do the same to me!” Sunoo complains, causing Yuna to roll her eyes. “Well yeah, but they do it because they actually don’t like you. You do it because you’re trying to live out some weird enemies to lovers fanfic trope.” She points out. “True, not sure why you thought that would work.” Kazuha jumps in. “We get it, I’m a dumb guy who doesn’t know how to communicate my feelings. You’ve said this all before.” Sunoo dismisses.

“Just saying… maybe if you, I don’t know… spoke to them like normal people do to their crush.” Yuna shrugs. “Cause that works out so great for you two.” Sunoo deadpans. “You’re bitter because you know we’re right.” Kazuha teases, causing Sunoo to roll his eyes again.

TUESDAY - 10 DAYS TILL PROM:

Speak to them like a normal person. The thought has been running through Sunoo’s mind ever since lunch yesterday. Given the nature of his and Y/n’s relationship (if you could even call it that), he never even considered talking to them normally to be an option. But as he spots them walking down the hallway as school comes to an end, he figures what better time to start than now?

“Y/n!” Sunoo calls out, jogging through the halls to catch up to them. “Go away.” Y/n replies. “Oh come on babe, would it kill you to give me two seconds of your attention?” Sunoo asks, grabbing Y/n’s wrist. “Let go of me.” Y/n snarls, despite making no effort to pull away. Sunoo chooses to ignore their request, opting to teasingly pull them closer. “I wanna show you something.” He smirks, causing Y/n to roll their eyes. They quickly pull their arm out of his grip, folding their arms securely across their chest. “Well make it quick, I’m going to watch Intak’s practice.” Y/n mumbles.

Sunoo rolls his eyes at the mention of Intak but chooses not to comment. “One of my neighbours was talking to my mum about a care package she got. Apparently she’s signed up with the community centre. My mum sent me a photo.” Sunoo says, grabbing his phone and showing the picture to Y/n.

On his phone, is a picture of one of the boxes they packed on Sunday. This one is one of Y/n’s (you can tell from the way the lego box is placed). Y/n’s eyes light up at the photo, which doesn’t go unnoticed by Sunoo. “She said her sons were super excited when it arrived. They made the lego set together almost immediately.” He says, swiping to show a photo of the completed lego set.

“Oh my god! That’s so cool!” Y/n exclaims, leaning closer to get a better view of the photo. Sunoo attempts to ignore the way his heart skips at the gentle pressure of Y/n’s shoulder brushing against his. “I know right? Obviously it’s nice to make a difference but… actually seeing it is just… it’s awesome.” Sunoo says, causing Y/n to nod enthusiastically.

It goes silent for a second as Y/n suddenly notices how far they were leaning into him, immediately stepping back. Sunoo can almost see the invisible wall being built between them as Y/n puts their guard back up - the sight causing Sunoo to frown slightly. “I uh… thanks for showing me that. I’ll see you on Thursday.” Y/n mumbles awkwardly before walking off down the hall.

THURSDAY - 8 DAYS TILL PROM:

With prom just over a week away, Y/n can feel their plans of getting Sunoo kicked out slowly start to slip through their fingers. Turns out, trying to get Sunoo in trouble whilst staying out of trouble themself is a difficult task. It’s not like they can just start an argument like usual, and Sunoo’s unfortunately not the type of person to easily fall for sabotage.

“Hey trouble!” Minho exclaims as the two walk into the community centre. “Are you ever gonna stop calling us that?” Sunoo asks, causing Minho to laugh at the slight pout on his lips. “Stop breaking Lego sets and maybe I will.” He teases. The two teens visibly tense at his words, causing Minho to only laugh harder. “I’m just messing with you, shit happens. But do that in my department and neither of you will reach adulthood.”

He’s joking. It’s a joke. But the downright evil smirk on his lips almost makes it seem like it’s not…

“Anyway, this week is your last week in the kid’s section so try to make the most of it. We’ll rotate you every two weeks so you get used to all of the departments, then you can pick which one to volunteer in for the rest of the program.” Minho explains. “Oh! And before I forget!” He adds, aggressively wheeling his chair towards a cabinet - pulling something out of one of the drawers before wheeling back to the two.

“Your very own name badges! I didn’t draw anything on them since we don’t know what departments you’ll be in but we can always add to them later.” Minho says, handing a name badge to each of the students. “The drawing is for the different departments? I just thought you really liked cats.” Sunoo shrugged. “While that’s also true, they have a professional meaning too. Cat because I run the pet department.” Minho states. “But don’t you also run the clothes department?” Y/n asks, causing Minho to sigh. “That’s just temporary. Used to be run by this dude called Jay but he… took an early flight. If you get what I mean.”

“He means an actual flight.” A voice interrupts the conversation. The three turn around to see Seonghwa standing in the doorway. “Jay went back to America to be with his family. You really need to stop telling people he died, dude.” Seonghwa clarifies, earning an eye roll from Minho. “He’s dead to me.” Minho mumbles, causing Seonghwa to scoff. “Anyway, I’ll get these two out of your hair. That lady from Goodwill is supposed to be dropping stuff off in an hour so try not to ignore her when she gets here.” Seonghwa says. Minho waves him off nonchalantly before going back to whatever it is he does on his computer.

As the three walk back towards the storage area, Sunoo takes note of the little drawing of a lego block on Seonghwa’s name tag. He nudges Y/n gently - subtly pointing it out to them, earning a gentle smile and quiet giggle in return.

“Since you’ve already mastered packing boxes, I figure I’d let you unload and organize today. All these boxes came from a delivery truck yesterday. You’ve just got to unpack them and put them on the right shelves. Easy?” Seonghwa asks, earning affirmed nods from the two. “Great, if the three of us work hard it should only take us an hour or two. Then we can go over some stock checks and maybe do some more packing if there’s time.”

There's not a lot to argue about when you're busy working. Especially when the two are working with Seonghwa - someone they absolutely don't want to annoy. But it's a weird feeling for Y/n, practically spending hours on end with Sunoo yet not even muttering an insult.

“Okay, that’s us.” Seonghwa announces suddenly, causing the two students to look up at him confused. “But we still have a few orders to pack?” Y/n questions, causing Seonghwa to wave them off. “I’ll finish these later - we get in trouble for keeping you after hours.”

The two collect their things and go to leave but get stopped by Minho and Beomgyu, who are chatting about something in the reception area. “Woah woah, where are you two running off to?” Minho asks. “Uh… home?” Y/n asks, causing Minho to narrow his eyes at them. “You got a ride?” He asks accusingly. “I drove.” Sunoo nods, before the attention shifts to Y/n. “Oh, uh I caught the bus.” Y/n admits. Minho sighs at their words, rummaging through one of his desk draws before pulling out a set of keys.

“Beomgyu will drop you off.” He says, placing the keys in Beomgyu’s hands. “Have you seen the state my department is in? I don’t have time to play uber driver.” Beomgyu argues. “So you’d prefer our little Y/n here to catch the bus at this time of night?” Minho argues. “Why don’t you drop them off?” Beomgyu asks, placing the keys back in Minho’s hand. “I’ve got a very important business call and Seonghwa will kick my ass if I miss it.” Minho shrugs.

“Well, I’m sure Sunoo can drop them off.” Beomgyu suggests, turning his attention back to Sunoo. “Uh… I guess I could-” “-Really, it’s fine. It’s only like a 10 minute bus ride.” Y/n clarifies,  earning a death glare from both Minho and Beomgyu. 

“Y/n, if you get on that bus and get kidnapped and murdered, I will personally study witchcraft and bring you back to life just to kill you again myself.” Y/n’s eyes widen at Minho’s words, causing Beomgyu to awkwardly chuckle. “What he means is, we don’t feel comfortable with you taking the bus alone and strongly advise you to get a ride with Sunoo.” Beomgyu reasons.

The thought of spending any amount of time alone with Sunoo makes Y/n want to pull the hair out of their scalp. But they suppose it is better than potentially getting kidnapped. And Minho and Beomgyu don’t seem like the type of people to budge on this sort of thing. So Y/n reluctantly agrees, and Minho makes sure to walk the two to the carpark and personally watch them drive away - for extra precautions.

The car ride is silent and awkward. Despite the lack of arguing that has been going on between the two, it is blatantly obvious that there is still a massive wall placed between them.

Sunoo doesn’t know what to do to break the tension. Does he just let the two sit in silence? Does he try to talk about his day? Does he turn the radio on? Deciding a conversation is probably the best way to go, he lets out a shaky breath before mumbling:

“So, how are you liking the community centre?”

With the silence that follows his words, he almost thinks that Y/n didn’t hear him. Either that, or they hate him so much that they’d rather ignore him than have one conversation. Considering it’s dead silent, the latter unfortunately seems like the more likely option. Sunoo’s thoughts however, are cut short when Y/n replies:

“It’s more fun than I thought it would be… and the guys are really nice.” Sunoo nods at their words, letting out a small hum of agreement. “I was a little scared of Minho at first.” He admits, his attempt at potentially lightening the mood successfully landing, as Y/n lets out a small, breathy laugh.

"Yeah… I don't think I've heard someone affectionately threaten murder so much before." Y/n jokes. They're still turned away from Sunoo, opting to stare out the window in order to avoid looking at him. But at least they're joking now. It's progress.

"What happened to your car, by the way?" Sunoo asks curiously. Y/n sends him a confused look, causing him to elaborate. "I mean… don't you usually drive Intak to school everyday? Why didn't you drive here?"

Y/n let's out a scoff, looking back out the window. "The idiot tried to cook a pizza on the dashboard. Some bullshit about it being the hottest day of the year. He saw it on tiktok." Sunoo's face scrunches up, mumbling a small ew. "Apparently it'll take a while to clean, too. I think melted cheese got into the radio or something." Y/n shrugs.

"Does that mean you'll need a ride on Sunday too?" Sunoo asks without thinking. He internally face-palms as Y/n visibly tenses up at his words. God, why does he have to be so stupid?

"Uh… Intak should be free on Sunday…" Y/n mumbles. Sunoo has to stop himself from rolling his eyes. A habit, he likes to claim - opting to ignore the tiny amount of jealousy boiling in the pit of his stomach at the mention of the other man's name. Of course Intak would be the one to take them. The two are practically joined at the hip.

The car is silent for the rest of the drive, with the two only mumbling short goodbyes as Sunoo pulls up to Y/n's house. He chooses to stay, watching as they walk up the driveway and into the building. Y/n doesn't look back.

SUNDAY - 5 DAYS TILL PROM:

“Oh, how's the plan going?” Intak asks suddenly, as he pulls into the community centre parking lot. "Huh?" Y/n asks confused - causing Intak to deadpan at them. "Your whole thing of getting Sunoo to drop out of being prom king. It's on Friday." He clarifies.

Oh right. That plan. Y/n honestly forgot all about it, especially after the awkward interaction they had in Sunoo's car on Thursday.

"I haven't made much progress." Y/n sighs. "Because you're making progress in other areas?" Intak asks, a small smirk spreading across his face. "Don't think I haven't noticed the tension at school, and different from the old tension." He adds, earning an eye roll from Y/n. "I think you need to get your eyes checked." Y/n retorts, ruffling Intak's hair before grabbing their stuff and getting out of the car.

"You're picking me up tonight, right?" Y/n asks. "No, I'm gonna abandon you." Intak deadpans. Y/n gives him an annoyed look, making him laugh. "I'll text you when I get here." He says, causing Y/n to wave him off. "No need, I can spot your shitty car from a mile away." Intak goes to reply but Y/n shuts the car door- making sure to slam it for added effect.

As Intak goes to drive off, he winds down his window. "Have a fun day at work my Pookie Pie!! I love you." He calls, blowing a dramatic kiss to add some flare. Y/n rolls their eyes, flipping him off before entering the building.

Sunoo is already there, signing in at the front desk with Minho and Seonghwa. "I didn't know you had a boyfriend, Y/n." Seonghwa says, earning a scoff from Sunoo. "Yeah, a shitty one. Where was he the other night?" Minho grumbles. "He was busy with soccer practice. And uh… he's not my boyfriend." Y/n says, awkwardly scratching the back of their neck. "Might as well be." Sunoo mumbles bitterly, his comment not going unnoticed by Minho and Seonghwa, who both mumble short apologies for the mistake.

The two share a knowing look before Seonghwa claps his hands, gaining the attention of the two teens. "Right, since today is your last day in my department we'll just focus on practising what you already know. And later on, Beomgyu will give you a tour of his department so you can get straight into things next week."

Minho watches as Seonghwa gets the two to work, immediately going to find Beomgyu and explain to him what the heck just happened.

There is something wrong with Sunoo - that much is clear. He and Y/n aren’t friends of course, but there hasn’t been this much tension between the two since they started volunteering. Y/n doesn’t understand what went wrong?

As Sunoo ignores their question for the umpteenth time, Y/n finally feels themself snap. They grab the box of toys out of his hand, shoving it back on the shelf before crossing their arms across their chest - effectively cornering him in the storage room.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Y/n whisper-yells, not wanting to gain the attention of Seonghwa. “What’s wrong with me? You just ripped a box out of my hands?” Sunoo rolls his eyes. “Because you’re ignoring me!”

It’s stupid, Y/n knows. They’ve spent their entire high school career wishing for the day that Sunoo would start ignoring them. But now that it’s here, they hate it.

“And why do you care? We aren’t friends, Y/n. Even if I try to talk to you, you just go right back to running off with Intak every chance you get.”

And then it clicks. Everything always goes back to Intak.

“Oh my god, Sunoo. This is all about Intak? He’s my best friend, dumbass. And your stupid grudge with him doesn’t change that.” Y/n is fuming, and their volume is no longer at the front of their mind. Sunoo scoffs, pushing past Y/n and picking up the box once again. “I think you’re the dumbass, Y/n. Because everyone but you can tell that you and Intak are not best friends.”

Before he can get back to work however, Y/n catches up and shoves his shoulder - causing the box of toys to fall to the floor. “You’re a fucking hypocrite, you know that?” Y/n scowls, earning another eye roll from Sunoo. “I’m not the one in love with my best friend.” “People can be just friends, Sunoo! You of all people should know that!”

Y/n knows they are yelling, but they don't really care. In fact, they hope that the entire building can hear every word they’re saying; maybe then Sunoo will understand how ridiculous he is being. Even if they were in love with Intak, which is so far from the truth, what the hell does it matter to Kim Sunoo?

“No one says shit about you and Kazuha. Or you and Yuna. How is this any different? Do you get like this when they talk to other people, or am I just special?”

Of course you’re special Sunoo wants to scream. But he holds back - knowing better than to dump all his emotions onto Y/n. Especially now that they’re this worked up.

“Are you two finished?” A calm voice breaks through the tension, and both teens snap their heads to look at the figure. Seonghwa stands leaning against the doorway, his face expressionless as he looks at the two.

It’s as if they’d seen a ghost, and Seonghwa has to hold back his laugh at this. Remembering that he is, in fact the grown up in this situation - he takes a deep breath before ushering towards his office. “Come on, let’s all have a little chat, shall we?”

Seonghwa is scary when he’s mad. Minho and Beomgyu would be too, if they weren’t spending their time trying to hold back their giggles. They can’t help it though - not with Y/n and Sunoo sitting there like two children being scolded by their parents.

“I have tried my best to not… interfere with the relationship between you two. Simply because it is none of my business. But when you are in our building, you must obey our standards, and whatever that was back there is certainly not the type of behaviour we like to see.” Seonghwa states, his voice clear and stern. “Isn’t that right, guys?” He adds, turning to the other two adults in the room - who clearly were not paying attention.

“Uh… yeah.” Beomgyu replies, his voice cracking slightly. This finally sets Minho off, his fit of laughter soon turning into a safety hazard as he begins to choke on his own saliva. Seonghwa can’t help the sigh that escapes his lips, watching in mild disappointment as Beomgyu pats Minho’s back in an attempt to help clear his throat.

“Anyway, we think it will be best to separate the two of you for a little bit, until the hostility goes down. Sunoo, you’ll spend the rest of the day with Minho and Y/n, you’re with Beomgyu. I’ll continue where you left off in kids.” Seonghwa says.

“Wait, so you can’t deal with them so you just pass them onto us?” Beomgyu asks, offended. “Be grateful you’re not getting both of them.” Minho rolls his eyes, letting out a yelp as Beomgyu pinches his side.

It’s weird to see them talk so openly about the two, as if they aren’t sitting in the very same room. Y/n can’t bring themself to look away from Seonghwa, a strong sense of guilt building up in the pit of their stomach. He looks stressed, and Y/n can’t shake the feeling that they’re a major factor.

“Well… is there anything you two would like to say before I send you off?” Seonghwa asks, the attention in the room turning back towards the two teens. Y/n gulps under the gaze, glancing at Sunoo from the corner of their eye - who is avoiding eye contact all together. The two mumble quiet apologies, which almost go unnoticed by the others. Seonghwa sighs once more, gesturing for everyone to leave his office.

MONDAY - 4 DAYS TILL PROM:

“You look like someone died.” Kazuha states, dropping her food tray on the table and effectively snapping Sunoo out of his thoughts. “His relationship with Y/n did.” Yuna snickers, letting out a shriek as Sunoo’s empty milk carton flies towards her head. “Resorting to violence, now? No wonder Y/n doesn’t like you.” Yuna teases, throwing the milk carton back towards him.

“Wait, what happened with Y/n?” Kazuha asks. Sunoo sighs in response, picking at his food. “Nothing, I just fucked everything up… like always.” The response earns some eye rolls from the girls. “Stop acting like a pick me and explain what happened. Or I’ll go ask Y/n myself.” Kazuha threatens, although her words are all bluff.

Sunoo lets out another sigh, deciding there’s no use trying to argue with his friends. “I got jealous of Intak and said some… things. Y/n got mad, for obvious reasons and now we’re not talking.” He doesn’t even need to look up at his friends to tell that they are rolling their eyes at him.

“You are one of the dumbest people alive.” Yuna scoffs. “I know.” Sunoo whines, resting his head in his hands. “What did you actually say to Y/n?” Kazuha sighs, mentally putting on her couples counsellor hat. Sunoo hesitates, knowing he’s about to get ripped into by the girls. “I said that there’s no point in us being friends if they’re just going to run off with Intak every chance they get… and that it’s obvious their relationship is more than that.”

The table is silent for a few moments as Sunoo’s words set in. “You are the reason I hate men.” Yuna groans. “No literally, do you realise how hypocritical that is?” Kazuha asks. “Obviously but I was angry and just said whatever came to mind.” Sunoo frowns.

The girls give each other a look before turning back to Sunoo, who continues to wallow in his self-pity. Sighing, Kazuha moves to sit next to him, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Maybe it’s time to be honest and tell Y/n how you really feel about them.” She says, causing Sunoo’s head to shoot up from it’s position on the table. “Be honest?” He asks with wide eyes. “Yes, Sunoo. If you tell Y/n that you said that because you were jealous and you like them then maybe they’ll actually give you a shot. It’s a much better plan than whatever the hell you’ve been doing this entire time.” Yuna points out. “And if they reject you, at least you tried.” Kazuha attempts to reassure, only to be met with glares from her two friends. “Way to boost my confidence.” Sunoo mumbles, picking up a spoonful of his lunch.

THURSDAY - 1 DAY TILL PROM:

“So… I heard you’ve got prom tomorrow?” Beomgyu asks, trying to break the ice. He hasn’t been alone with Y/n before so he’s not entirely sure what to say. Judging by Y/n’s groan at his words - he definitely said the wrong thing.

“Not looking forward to it?” He adds. “Since Sunoo will be there, no, I’m not.” Y/n mumbles, trying to turn their attention to the box of cans they are currently unpacking. They have nothing against Beomgyu, he’s sweet and all but god, does he not know how to take a hint. 

“What happened between you two, by the way? I know you never got along but something must’ve happened to cause such a fight.” Beomgyu pries. “I really don’t want to talk about this right now.” Y/n sighs. Being met with silence, they think that Beomgyu has finally given up. Until he speaks again:

“You know, I heard that hating someone uses almost as much passion as loving them.”

This causes Y/n to choke on the air in their lungs, looking at Beomgyu with wide eyes. “I’m not lying! Hate sex is apparently really good… not that I would know, of course.” Y/n chooses not to pry at Beomgyu’s blatant confession and instead raises an eyebrow at him. “Are you really recommending hate sex to a highschooler?” They ask, causing Beomgyu to wave them off nonchalantly. “It’s an example, Y/nnie. I’m just saying that hate can be a confusing emotion. Sometimes you think you hate someone, when really you like them and just don’t know how to express it.” “That sounds pretty toxic.” Beomgyu waves them off again. “Just trust me. I know a lot about this stuff.”

“So… how are things going with Y/n?” Minho asks, his sudden words causing Sunoo to look at him with wide eyes. “I… huh?” Sunoo asks, confused. Minho rolls his eyes at this. “I’m not an idiot, I see the way you look at them. And judging by the way they treat you, they do not feel the same. So what’s the plan?”

Sunoo is overwhelmed by the sudden topic. “Uh… give up and go home?” He mumbles. This was not the answer that Minho wanted, judging by the look on his face. “I would slap you right now if Seonghwa wouldn’t fire me for it.” Minho threatens. “Listen, as someone who is basically an expert at this whole hate to love thing - I’m going to give you some advice.” He continues, placing a hand on Sunoo’s shoulder. 

“You need to be obvious enough with the flirting that they can pick up on it but subtle enough that they think you’re just trying to annoy them. Then, when the tension gets high enough, you go full on flirt-mode. Catch them by surprise and reveal your feelings while their guard is down. And if you’re too scared to talk, just kiss them. Works like a charm.”

Sunoo looks at him skeptically, causing Minho to roll his eyes. “You think I’m joking? Beomgyu would tell you the same thing.” His words are very clearly alluding to something but Sunoo chooses to ignore them. “What if they just end up hating me even more?” He asks - his words causing Minho to let out an annoyed groan. “Then you suck it up and move on. If you open up about your feelings and they don’t accept it, then they’re not the right person for you. Was I this clueless when I was a teenager?” Noticing Sunoo’s hesitation, Minho continues. “Look, you’re a nice guy and you seem to really care about Y/n. I’m sure they only hate you because of some petty bullshit and not because you’re a terrible person. Have confidence in yourself!”

Sunoo nods affirmingly at Minho’s words. Have confidence in yourself.

FRIDAY - PROM NIGHT:

“Can I look yet?”

“No.”

“How about now?”

“Still no.”

“...”

“Intak, I swear to god, if you open your damn eyes…”

“I won’t!”

Y/n rolls their eyes at their best friend, looking themself over once more in the mirror. Once they’re happy with the completed outfit, they turn towards Intak - who’s stood in the middle of their bedroom with his hands covering his eyes.

“Okay… you can look now.”

As soon as the words leave Y/n’s lips, Intak’s hands are flying away from his face. His eyes fall on Y/n’s outfit as they stand awkwardly in front of him. “Woah… is it wrong for me to say you look hot?” Intak laughs, letting out a scream when Y/n hits his shoulder. “Hey! Don’t crinkle the suit!” He whines, earning an eye roll from Y/n. “Then don’t say cringy shit.”

“I’m serious though, you look great. Everyone’s gonna go crazy when they see you.” Intak compliments, causing Y/n to scoff. “Yeah, right. If I look so good, why am I taking you as my date?” Intak frowns at this. “You’re the one who turned down my idea of you and Sunoo going together.” He points out. “Yeah, cause that would literally be considered a form of torture.” Now it’s Intak’s turn to roll his eyes at Y/n’s exaggeration. “You’re just pissed that you guys fought. It would’ve been a great way to make up, you know?”

“Can we not talk about Sunoo right now?” Y/n asks, almost desperately. Intak narrows his eyes for a moment before sighing. “Fine. But as soon as this thing is over, you’re explaining what the hell happened with you two.”

Prom - the supposed “best night” of a high schooler’s life. The glitz and the glam. Food, drinks, music. It’s everything a teenager could wish for.

As Y/n and Intak walk into the school gym, they look around in awe at the decor. “You know, this turned out a lot better than I expected.” Y/n comments, causing Intak to nod in agreement. “I know, right? It barely smells like feet in here.” He jokes, letting out a pained noise when Y/n jabs him in the side. “So… are we going to the dancefloor first or the snack table?” Intak asks, causing Y/n to look at him with a blank expression. “Snack table it is.” He adds, laughing as Y/n aggressively pulls him towards the assortment of foods.

“I’m just gonna head to the bathroom!” Y/n mumbles, their voice slightly muffled due to the music. Intak sends them a thumbs up, letting them know he got the message. After a few moments, Intak feels a sudden presence behind him and turns around to see Sunoo standing there.

“Looking for Y/n?” He asks, causing Sunoo’s eyes to widen slightly. “Uh… yeah. I thought they’d be with you.” He mumbles. “Bathroom.” Intak shrugs, earning a slight nod from Sunoo. Intak gestures for him to take a seat and Sunoo hesitates for a moment before sitting down.

“How did you know I was looking for Y/n?” Sunoo asks, causing Intak to shrug. “Well, you weren’t coming to hang out with me.” He jokes, earning an awkward laugh from Sunoo. “Are you still upset about… you know?” Sunoo asks. “Oh, god no. I got over that like, freshman year.” Intak says, waving him off. “Oh. Okay, well… I feel like I should apologise anyway. I wasn’t like… trying to compete with you or anything.” Sunoo says, causing Intak to laugh. “It’s all good, like I said, I forgave you ages ago. Y/n on the other hand…” Intak trails off, causing Sunoo’s eyes to widen.

Everything finally seems to fall into place. Y/n hates Sunoo because of what happened with him and Intak? He supposes it does make sense; they are best friends after all. But if Intak is over it, then why isn’t Y/n?

“Can I be honest about something?” Sunoo asks, causing Intak to look at him confused. “As long as you don’t confess your undying love for me. You’re cute but not really my type.” He jokes, making Sunoo laugh so hard he almost falls out of his chair. “Trust me, you’re not my type either.” He responds, causing Intak to scoff in feigned offence. “You know what? Maybe I do still hate you.” Intak pouts. He keeps the act up for a few moments before returning back to his smiley self, gesturing for Sunoo to go on.

“This is gonna sound really weird but… whenever I see you and Y/n, I can’t help but feel jealous. Like, you guys are so in tune with each other and… you’re close with them in a way that I can only dream of. I don’t know… guess it made me unknowingly hate you which probably added to why Y/n hates me.” Sunoo rants. Intak’s face doesn’t give much away, as he stares forward with furrowed brows. For a moment, Sunoo thinks he’s said something wrong.

“Y/n’s a complicated person. They like it when people are open and honest, but hate being open and honest themself. They’re also super stubborn… you probably already know that. They hate admitting when they’re wrong but really admire it when others do.” Intak says. Sunoo looks at him confused, not entirely sure what he’s trying to say. 

“Y/n’s basically a hypocrite, who looks for people that do and say the things they refuse to. That’s why we’re so close, we balance each other out. You, however, are more like Y/n, which is why I think you guys butt heads. You both want to be more open but your stubbornness gets in the way and you argue. I think that’s the difference between me with Y/n and you with Y/n.” Intak points out.

Sunoo’s face screws up at Intak’s words as he lets out a dry laugh. “Doesn’t sound like me and Y/n are a good match, then.” He mumbles. “I think you can understand Y/n a lot better than I do. Sometimes they do things and I just don’t get why. But if you and Y/n are going to be friends… or more, one of you will have to adjust a little. And judging by this conversation we’re having, it looks like you’re trying to.” Intak says, a genuine smile on his lips.

Sunoo is in awe. He’s never felt so called out yet reassured at the same time. “Where the hell did you learn to give advice like that?” He asks, shocked. Intak laughs slightly, scratching the back of his neck. “I watch a lot of couples therapy programs. It’s a guilty pleasure.” He mumbles. Just as Sunoo is about to ask what shows, the two are interrupted by Intak’s phone going off. He looks at the screen to see Y/n calling, immediately answering and putting them on speaker.

“Intak! You have to come outside and see this dog. It’s wearing a little bow tie!” Y/n exclaims, happily. “Outside? I thought you were in the bathroom?” Intak asks. “I move quickly. Now hurry up!” Y/n ushers, continuing to rave on about the dog as Intak waves goodbye to Sunoo.

“Ladies and gentlemen, if we could have you all to the dance floor to announce this year’s Prom King and Queen.”

Y/n is probably feeling more nervous than Intak - judging by the way they’re squeezing his hand. “I think you’re gonna break my knuckles.” Intak leans down to whisper, causing Y/n to roll their eyes. “Shut up.” They whisper back.

Has the principal's intro speech always been this long? No one asked about how proud you are of all the contestants, they just want to hear who won. After what feels like literal hours of talking, the drumroll begins to play throughout the gym.

“And the winner of Be Lift High’s Prom King is…”

.

.

.

.

.

“Hwang Intak!”

Y/n is probably more excited than Intak, too - judging by the way they practically scream in his ear. Intak grins widely as Y/n shakes him back and forth, receiving a few pats on the back and whoops from the crowd around them. Snapping out of his shock, Intak gently pulls away from Y/n’s grip and walks up to the stage to be crowned.

Despite Intak walking away, Y/n immediately feels another presence beside them. They turn to see Sunoo standing there, watching fondly as Intak accepts the crown. Y/n attempts to ignore him, turning their attention back to Intak. Despite this, Sunoo had already felt Y/n’s eyes on him and gently nudges their side to get their attention.

“He looks really happy.” Sunoo points out. His statement earns an eye roll from Y/n, who immediately turns to him with a smirk. “Jealous you didn’t win?” They asks snarkily, causing Sunoo to laugh slightly. It’s not the sarcastic laugh he usually does around Y/n. It’s a small, genuine laugh. “No, he deserves it.” Sunoo smiles before turning his attention back to the stage, where Intak is about to start his acceptance speech.

The smirk on Yn’s face immediately drops as they take in Sunoo’s words. Sure, he doesn’t have to be jealous… but Y/n at least expected a snarky comeback. Why is he smiling like he and Intak are friends?

“You look really good by the way.” Sunoo says, not taking his eyes off the stage. Y/n immediately scans his face for any signs of sarcasm or teasing. None. Awkwardly coughing, Y/n turns away from Sunoo and back towards the stage. They mumble a quiet shut up but the subtle blush that spreads across their cheeks shows they didn’t hate the compliment.

“And we’ll now announce Be Lift High’s Prom Queen…. Nakamura Kazuha!”

“Fuck yeah!” Yuna screams, immediately covering her mouth when she realised the rest of the crowd hadn’t started yet. She mumbles a few apologies before pushing Kazuha towards the stage.

With Kazuha now joining Intak on the stage, Yuna squeezes herself between Sunoo and Y/n - slinging her arms around both of their shoulders. “Do you think anyone heard me swear?” She jokes, causing Sunoo and Y/n to laugh. “Judging by the way Mr Kim is currently glaring into our souls, I’d say yeah.” Sunoo says.

The trio watch in amusement as Intak shuffles aside for Kazuha to give her speech, her sending him an awkward yet genuine smile. “They’re kinda cute, don’t you think?” Yuna asks, causing Y/n to scoff. “Oh please, she’s way too good for him.” They laugh. “I don’t know, Zuha’s taste in guys is…” Sunoo trails off. “Questionable.” Yuna finishes for him. Y/n shoots the two a confused look but chooses not to ask further questions.

“So, what were you and Sunoo talking about when I was on stage?” Intak asks as he and Y/n slow dance together. “Oh god, don’t remind me. Weirdest conversation we’ve ever had.” Y/n rolls their eyes, causing Intak’s to lighten up with interest. “Come on, spill the tea.” He says, laughing as Y/n physically cringes at his choice of words.

“I don’t know, it was just weird. Like, he was saying how you deserved to win and when I tried to tease him about it, he just didn’t react. And then he said I looked good… without being sarcastic!” Y/n rants, earning an eye roll from Intak. “You call that a weird conversation?” He asks. “Well yeah, it is for people who hate each other.” Y/n huffs.

“Y/n… you don’t seriously think Sunoo hates you, do you?” Intak’s question causes Y/n to look up at him, a confused expression painted across their face. “Uh… have you seen the way he acts around me? We’re like… constantly at each other’s throats.” Y/n points out. “Yeah, and who starts almost all of those arguments?” Intak asks.

Y/n falls silent for a moment as they think back to all their arguments with Sunoo. Sure… they’re often the one that takes it from teasing to yelling but… that doesn’t make Sunoo completely innocent.

“I think you should apologise to him.” Y/n’s eyes practically fall out of their skull as the words slip past Intak’s lips. “I think that’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever said.” Intak raises a brow at Y/n, almost in a challenging way. “Y/n… you know how much I love you but as your best friend, it’s my job to tell you when you’re being stupid… and this whole beef you’ve got with Sunoo is stupid… maybe if you start seeing him as a person rather than as some annoyance in your life, you’ll start to recognise that.” Intak says, finally, before dropping the topic.

Y/n pouts slightly as they mull over Intak’s words over and over again… he’s right. Y/n hates it when he’s right.

THURSDAY - 6 DAYS AFTER PROM:

I think you should apologise to him.

Those words have been repeating in Y/n’s brain all week. It’s very rare for a piece of Intak’s advice to stick with them for this long - usually he just says a few quotes he stole from Twitter and hopes it does the trick. It doesn’t. 

Walking into the community centre, Y/n is surprised to see an unknown man sitting behind the desk instead of the usual Minho. As soon as he hears the door open, the man looks up and sends a small smile to Y/n.

“Uh… hi?” Y/n asks, walking up to the desk, puzzled. “Hey. You’re one of the volunteers, right? Y/n?” The man asks, causing Y/n to nod quietly. Their eyes quickly flicker down to his nametag - reading the name Jay along with a small drawing of some shoes. Jay? As in, the guy who used to work here?

“I thought you were in America?” Y/n asks, causing Jay’s eyes to widen slightly. “Oh… I was, yeah. But now I’m back.” He shrugs, passing Y/n the name tag box. Their eyebrows furrow slightly when they see that both Minho and Beomgyu’s name tags are still there. Just as they’re about to ask, they get interrupted by the door opening.

“Sorry I’m late, the coach tried to have an extra cheer practice.” Sunoo says as he walks into the building. He stops in his tracks when he spots Jay behind the desk. “Who are you?” He asks, bluntly. “Jay, and you must be Sunoo.” Jay says. Sunoo glances at Y/n, as if to ask what is happening. Y/n just offers a confused shrug back.

“Okay, as you can probably tell, I’m not Minho. Something happened and he had to take the day off which means, obviously, Beomgyu had too as well.” Jay says. Y/n and Sunoo aren’t sure why that’s obvious but they choose not to question it. “Because we’re down two people, things are going to look a bit different today. We can’t have you both in departments by yourself because, no offence but you’re not fully trusted to be left alone yet. Seonghwa’s still in kids, but he’ll also be checking on you two in grocery. I’ll take care of clothes and pets myself.” Jay says, earning affirmative nods from Sunoo and Y/n. “Cool, Beomgyu should’ve left you a note of what he wants done today but if you need any help, just ask me or Seonghwa.”

Beomgyu’s “note” turned out to be the computer password so they could access todays food pack orders along with the words “fuck things up and I’ll kill you” scribbled at the bottom. Not extremely helpful but Y/n expected nothing less.

“So we just… put the stuff on the list in a box?” Sunoo asks, making Y/n realise that he hasn’t actually worked in grocery yet. “Oh… yeah. We print off the order ticket, grab everything that's on it and put them in a box, stick the ticket on the top and then tick the packed button on the computer… it’s pretty simple once you get the hang of it, and everything’s labelled so you shouldn’t have any trouble.” Y/n rambles, quickly demonstrating how things work.

The two quickly get to work, in complete silence. It’s a little awkward. This is the first time Y/n has actually seen Sunoo since prom, other than quickly passing each other in the halls, and the first time that they’ve worked with him in the community centre since their fight.

I think you should apologise to him.

Groaning slightly, Y/n turns their attention back to the order they’re currently working on. The last thing they need right now is Intak’s stupid face in their brain, trying to convince them to apologise.

“Hey, Y/n? Can you come check this for me?” Sunoo suddenly calls, snapping Y/n out of their thoughts. “Uh... yeah, one sec.” Y/n replies, putting the finishing touches on their order before walking over to where Sunoo is working.

They find him in the produce section, looking puzzled. “Everything okay?” Y/n asks, causing Sunoo to jump slightly at their sudden presence. “Oranges and mandarins are the same thing, right?” Sunoo asks, causing Y/n to giggle slightly. “Um… no. Mandarins are little and come in pieces that you peel off, oranges are big and you need to cut them.” Y/n says, causing Sunoo to nod. “We only have oranges, then,” He says, turning to look at Y/n. “And I need mandarins.”

Sighing, Y/n does a quick scan around the produce section. There are in fact, no mandarins. “We’ll have to check the back storage.” Y/n says, walking towards the door to find Seonghwa. “You coming? I can’t carry a bulk box of fruit by myself.” Y/n says, causing Sunoo to immediately follow them.

Once the two grab the key from Seonghwa, they make their way to the back storage room, where all the unneeded products are kept. It’s weird being in here again. Last time the two were in this room, they were screaming at each other. Walking past the kids and pet sections, they finally find themselves in the grocery area.

“Over there.” Y/n points in the direction of the fruits, going to walk towards them. They realise that Sunoo is oddly quiet and turn around to look at him. “Are you okay?” Y/n asks. It’s silent for a few more moments before Sunoo blurts out two words Y/n never thought they’d hear him say.

“I’m sorry.”

Y/n doesn’t know how to respond. It seems that even Sunoo is a little taken aback by his words, judging by his wide-eyed expression. “Um… what?” Y/n laughs awkwardly. Where was this coming from?

“I’m sorry for… everything, really. I’ve been giving you hell for years for basically nothing. I was just jealous of you and Intak and I took it out on you when I should’ve just-” “-Are you kidding me?” Y/n asks suddenly, interrupting Sunoo’s words. “I’ve been thinking about apologising to you all week and you beat me to it?” They continue, causing Sunoo to look at them confused. “It’s not a competition…” Sunoo laughs awkwardly. “But I’ve hated you for years because of something you did unknowingly as a kid… and you didn’t even do it to me! Why the hell are you the one apologising?” Y/n asks, a small pout to their lips. Sunoo can’t help but look at them endearingly… are they really upset that he apologised before they could?

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Y/n asks, causing Sunoo to laugh slightly. “Sorry, you’re just really cute.” He says, causing their eyes to widen. A pink blush immediately spreads across their cheeks, earning a slight smirk from Sunoo. “Shut up.” Y/n mumbles, avoiding eye contact. 

“Would you feel better if I took my apology back?” Sunoo asks, half jokingly. Y/n pauses to think for a moment before silently nodding, causing Sunoo to break out into a toothy grin. “Okay, then… I'll take it back.” He says, his words causing Y/n to look up at him again. They bite their lip nervously as he quietly waits for them to speak.

“Okay so like… I’m sorry for being a bitch and hating you for something you didn’t do. It was really childish of me and I hope that we can be friends… maybe.” Y/n rambles, their eyes nervously flickering from Sunoo’s to various parts of the room. Sunoo smiles at their nervousness, his heart swelling slightly at their words. “It’s okay… when I found out you didn’t like me I started purposefully annoying you. If you can’t tell, I think you’re cute when you’re mad.” Sunoo says, the pink blush on Y/n’s cheeks turning darker with each compliment. “Stop calling me that…” Y/n mumbles.

“You don’t like when I call you cute?”

“Hate it.”

“Your blush says otherwise, babe.”

“Shut up!”

“So… are you just gonna ignore the fact that I said I was jealous of you and Intak?” Sunoo asks, causing Y/n to look at him confused. “Why?” Y/n asks. “Because I like you and I hated that he was close with you in ways I couldn’t be… thought he had a better chance with you than I did.” Sunoo mumbles, causing Y/n to scoff slightly. “Oh please, Intak wouldn’t have a chance with me if he was the last man on earth.” Y/n says, choosing to ignore the part where Sunoo said he likes them.

“What about me?” Sunoo asks, stepping forward slightly to minimise the gap between them. “Uh… what about you?” Y/n asks, attempting to step back but getting stopped by the shelf behind them. “Would I have a chance?” Sunoo asks, continuing his steps until he is directly in front of Y/n, their back pressed up against the shelves. “Um… if you were the last man on earth, you mean? I guess, I don’t know. I don’t even think I’d survive long enough for us to be the last people on earth. Especially if it was like a zombie apocalypse or something, I’d probably die super… early.” Y/n rambles, the last words trailing off as Sunoo gently grips their chin, lifting it slightly so they’re making direct eye contact.

“I mean now, Y/n. Would I have a chance with you now?” Sunoo asks, his grip on Y/n’s chin stopping them from looking away. Y/n’s breath seems to get caught in their throat as they see Sunoo’s eyes flicker down to their lips. “I don’t know…” Y/n breathes out.

Their mind feels fuzzy. Up until about a week ago, they don’t think they’d ever had a positive thought about Sunoo. And now here they are, trapped between his body and a shelf, as he confesses that he likes them? Y/n has no idea how to process this new information.

“Are you guys okay in here?” A sudden voice calls out, causing Y/n to immediately push Sunoo away from them. They shut down the part of their brain that immediately misses his touch and peek behind the shelf to see Jay looking around the room for them. “We’re fine! Just took a while finding what we needed.” Sunoo calls out, going to grab one side of the mandarin crate. Taking note of Y/n’s slightly dazed expression, Sunoo can’t help but laugh slightly. “Actually, do you mind helping us carry this? Y/n’s a bit out of it.” Sunoo calls out again, sending a teasing wink to Y/n who immediately scowls at him. Guess that his feelings for them won’t change the constant teasing.

“I saw you drove today, your car’s fixed?” Sunoo asks as the two walk out of the community centre. “Yeah, it is. Which reminds me that I need to get Intak to pay me back.” Y/n says, taking a mental note. “Well, if you ever need a ride again, just know my passenger seat is always free for you.” Sunoo says, his words causing Y/n to blush slightly. They mumble a small thanks, causing Sunoo to smile endearingly. “Well, I’ve got to go. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Sunoo says, causing Y/n’s eyebrows to furrow. “School, babe.” Sunoo clarifies, making Y/n’s mouth fall into a small “oh”. Sunoo shakes his head with a gentle smile, ruffling Y/n’s hair affectionately. “Have a good night, Y/n.” He says before going to get into his car, waiting until Y/n has gotten in theirs and drives off before he leaves as well.

FRIDAY - 7 DAYS AFTER PROM:

“I told you so!”

Y/n reaches over to cover Intak’s mouth with their hand, shushing him as they look around the classroom. Thankfully, everyone else is busy with their own conversations to be listening in on theirs. Intak licks their hand, causing them to immediately pull away with a disgusted look. “You’re so gross.” Y/n mumbles, wiping their hand on Inak’s shirt sleeve. “I don’t care, you and Sunoo are getting together, I was finally right about something.” Intak teases, earning an eye roll from Y/n. “We’re not getting together, he likes me. There’s a difference.” “But you like him too!” Intak urges. “And how the hell do you know that?” Y/n asks, defensively. “Because we’re besties! I can basically read your mind at this point.” Y/n looks at him with a blank expression, clearly not believing his reasoning. “Plus you’re blushing, which is kind of a dead give away.”

Y/n throws their pen at Intak, who only pokes out his tongue in retaliation. He is right - they both know it. Which is what makes the whole situation more frustrating. Being confronted with the fact that you might like someone when you’ve spent years thinking you hate them is not a fun feeling. Y/n can’t help but think back to the conversation they had with Beomgyu last week. Sometimes you think you hate someone, when really you like them and just don’t know how to express it. God… did everyone see it but Y/n?

Obviously, they always knew that Sunoo was attractive (although they’d never admit it). And yeah, maybe a small part of them did secretly enjoy having Sunoo’s attention - good or bad. But does that really mean that they like him? Like, want to go on dates and hold hands and kiss and post cute couple pictures with cheesy captions to annoy their friends kind of like? Surely not…

…

Okay, maybe.

But liking Kim Sunoo and wanting to date Kim Sunoo are two completely different things. You can like someone and leave it at that - a hypothetical crush with no real drive to transition into an actual relationship. Just someone to watch from afar and dream about until you either get over them or fall for someone else. That is exactly what Y/n plans to do with this whole crush thing. Sunoo, unfortunately, is not making this easy.

“Y/n!”

The sudden call of their name causes Y/n to jump slightly. That doesn’t sound like Intak. And Y/n doesn’t speak to any other men at school because, why would they? Which means it has to be…

“Do you know how long I’ve been looking for you?” Sunoo asks once he’s finally caught up to Y/n. They look like a deer caught in headlights, looking directly into the eyes of the one person they’ve spent all day avoiding.

Y/n is almost too distracted by the situation to process the words coming out of Sunoo’s mouth. He’s been looking for them? That should not make their heart flutter the way that it does.

“Where have you been?” Sunoo asks, his follow-up question finally breaking through the thoughts that are overflowing Y/n’s brain. “Oh, you know… around.” Y/n attempts to play it off, aimlessly waving their hand to appear as nonchalant as possible. Sunoo doesn’t buy it for a second, looking at Y/n with raised eyebrows. “Okay… well, I was wondering if you were busy this afternoon?” Sunoo asks. “This afternoon? There’s a game on.” Y/n says, causing Sunoo to chuckle slightly. “I know. I’m a cheerleader, remember? I was meaning before the game.”

They always get paninis with Intak before his games - something he claims gives him good luck. Despite this, Y/n can practically hear Intak screaming at them to say no, they’re not busy, and they’d love to spend the afternoon with Sunoo. But some part of them is holding back, scared of getting too close to Sunoo.

Sunoo notices Y/n’s hesitation and his face falls slightly, though he immediately covers it with an understanding smile. “Intak?” He asks, already knowing the answer. Y/n nods slowly, an overwhelming feeling of guilt washing over them. Why did feelings have to be so confusing?

Sunoo goes to walk away but Y/n suddenly calls out, their voice leaving their body before they even have time to comprehend the words. “You can come,” Sunoo stops in his tracks, turning around to look at Y/n once more. “If you want.” They add.

It’s silent for a moment before Sunoo smiles - not the sad one from before, a genuine smile. “Sure… how about I bring Yuna and Kazhua, too?” He asks. Sunoo’s not an idiot, he can tell how uncomfortable Y/n is in his presence. If he wants things to work out with them, he needs to give them time to get comfortable. If that means bringing their entire friend group on what he wanted to be a date, then so be it.

“I’d like that.” Y/n smiles.

“So uh… where are we going?” Yuna asks, curiously. Her grip tightens on Kazuha’s arm as the trio walk down the street. “That cheap Italian place down by the library.” Sunoo says, his words immediately causing Kazuha’s face to screw up. “Who gets Itallian before a game? Isn’t that more of a post-game meal?” She asks. Sunoo shrugs. “Apparently Intak needs his good-luck panini before every game and I’m not really in the mood to argue with our star player.”

“He plays like that because of a panini?” Kazuha asks, shocked. “It’s not the panini, idiot. It’s the fact that it’s his lucky food… think of it like manifesting.” Yuna explains. “But with paninis.”

Thankfully, the restaurant isn’t too far away from the school. It’s likely why Y/n and Intak started going. As soon as the group walks up to the little building, squished between the public library and a laundromat, Sunoo realises that it’s not as bad as he thought. Freshly painted with what looks to be a handmade sign hung carefully above the door and intricately decorated on the interior.

Stepping inside, the group’s eyes immediately land on Y/n and Intak. They’re the only customers in the restaurant, so it’s impossible to miss Intak’s wide smile and over-exaggerated wave.

“Wait, this place is so cute!” Kazuha exclaims, immediately going to sit down with Y/n and Intak. “How long have you two been gatekeeping this?” She continues, pointing her finger accusingly between Y/n and Intak. Y/n immediately raises their hands in surrender. “Ask Intak, he’s the one who didn’t want anyone stealing his luck.”

Intak’s eyes widen at Y/n’s statement. “Hey! Don’t turn this on me!” He exclaims, his face heating up slightly as the group laughs. “It’s okay, the golden boy just didn’t want anyone stealing his precious spot. No biggie.” Yuna teases, patting Intak’s shoulder with feigned sympathy as she moves to sit down as well - pushing Sunoo to sit in the spot next to Y/n before sliding in after him.

Sunoo attempts to keep some distance between himself and Y/n so as to not make them uncomfortable. Yuna doesn’t seem to get the message though, sliding into the booth and pressing Sunoo right into Y/n’s personal bubble. They don’t seem to mind though - judging by the subtle blush creeping up their neck and gentle smile on their lips.

“Is now a bad time to say that I’ve never had a panini before?” Yuna asks. ‘Oh god, don’t make him start.” Y/n mumbles. Their words fall on deaf ears, as Intak begins to ramble about paninis and all the amazing combinations you can have. Y/n zones out of the conversation, aimlessly flicking through the menu instead. 

“What do you recommend?” Sunoo asks, quietly. Y/n looks up at him with a raised brow. “Don’t trust Intak’s recommendations?” Y/n asks, jokingly. Their words cause Sunoo to chuckle quietly. “More like, I want to have your favourite.” Sunoo mumbles, playfully winking when Y/n’s face flushes.

This is going to be a long night.

“Oh, shit. What time do we have to be there tonight?” Yuna asks, pulling out her phone to check the time. “Practice starts at 5, game at 6. I’ve only told you, like, 4 times today.” Sunoo says, a not-so-subtle roll of his eyes earning him a slap on the arm. “Thanks, Kim Sunoo. Where would I be without you?” Yuna replies snarkily. “Not the game, that’s for sure.”

“Are you coming early too, Y/n?” Kazuha asks, finishing off the last bite of her panini. “I always do. Intak forces me to watch him practice.” Y/n says. “It’s not forcing! You can say no…” Intak pouts. “If I say no you get like this, which is not as cute as you think it is.” Y/n laughs, causing Intak’s mouth to drop in offence. “I am so cute! You’re just blind, clearly.”

“Maybe this time you can watch our cheer practice, instead.” Yuna suggests, “I know a certain someone would love that.” She continues, a little quieter so only Y/n and Sunoo can hear her. Y/n’s face heats up at the implication behind Yuna’s words as Sunoo nudges her in the side, his face telling her to knock it off.

“Or just watch boring Intak, whatever you want.” She finishes with a shug. “Since when was it International Bully Intak Day?” Intak asks, sulkily taking a bite of his (third) panini.

Intak gets pouty when Y/n doesn’t pay attention during his practice and games. Y/n has made that mistake far too many times, and now makes sure to keep their eyes on the field at all times. Why is tonight so much more difficult? Kim Sunoo… that’s why…

Y/n never really watched the cheerleaders before. Like they said, Intak got pouty. But tonight, their gaze can’t help but slowly drift to where Sunoo stands. They jump slightly as Sunoo tosses one of the smaller girls in the air, lifting her up like she’s nothing and catching her with equal ease.

He must be pretty strong.

Y/n immediately shakes the thought out of their head, looking back at the field. The game has long started since now, the bleachers filling up with loud, enthusiastic supporters all there to watch their team win. Intak’s on fire, as usual. The crowd roars with every point he scores, expecting nothing less from their school’s star player.

As Y/n fixates their full attention onto their best friend, they hardly notice Sunoo walking over to where they’re sat. Sunoo smiles down at Y/n, finding their concentration cute before playfully ruffling their hair.

“So, we’re pretending you weren’t literally staring me down a minute ago?” He asks, his words and action causing Y/n’s attention to immediately flicker to him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Y/n mumbles, swatting his hand away before fixing their now ruined hair. “Course you don’t, babe.” Sunoo replies, messing up Y/n’s hair once more before taking a seat next to them.

“Aren’t you supposed to be on the field… you know… cheering?” Y/n asks, trying to make it seem like they’re annoyed by his presence. Y/n’s never been an actor though and Sunoo can read right through them. “You expect me to cheer for the whole game? That’s so tiring.” Sunoo frowns. “I should get to have a good time, too.” He adds, sending a playful smile to Y/n.

That’s how Y/n and Sunoo ended up watching the game together. With every scored point, everyone around them got more enthusiastic - their excited movements pushing Y/n and Sunoo closer together. Neither of them minded, though.

Sunoo suddenly lets out a groan when he spots Yuna calling him back onto the field. “I have to go back.” He mumbles, looking at Y/n apologetically. “It’s okay… go do your thing.” Y/n smiles. Sunoo can’t help the way his smile mimics Y/n’s, even the tiniest bit of their happiness is contagious to him. God… they’re so pretty. Before he can even realise what he’s doing, Sunoo leans in to press a quick kiss against Y/n’s cheek, ruffling their hair once more as he stands before running back to the field, yelling about how he’ll “be back.”

Y/n sits there, stunned, for a moment. Did that really just happen? Did Sunoo just kiss them? They bring a hand up to gently press against the spot where Sunoo’s lips just were. The skin burns slightly at the touch, likely from the ever growing blush that seems to be constant whenever Sunoo’s around. It takes Y/n a handful of seconds to snap out of the fluttery trance Sunoo’s kiss put them in - and he didn’t even kiss them on the lips! This crush really is going to be the end of Y/n…

“WE WON!”

Intak’s yell could probably be heard from the other side of town. But Y/n doesn’t care, as they run happily into his open embrace. Every win for Intak is like the first; it’s only fair that Y/n matches his enthusiasm.

“You did so good, Takie.” Y/n says, giving Intak a loving squeeze before pulling away. Kazuha is next, running to give Intak a hug - much to the surprise of the rest of the group. “Guess we’re all hugging Intak.” Yuna shrugs, running up to him as well - making sure to grab Y/n on the way and pull them into the, now group hug.

Sunoo watches the group with an amused smile on his face. “Bring it in, bro.” Intak winks, making Sunoo laugh slightly. “Okay, bro.” Sunoo says teasingly, before joining the hug as well - making sure to take a position next to Y/n.

“Why are we hugging?” Y/n asks. “Because I did so amazingly that you guys just wanted to show how much you love me?” Intak asks, hopefully. “Whatever you say, buddy.” Yuna laughs.

Pulling away from the impromptu group hug, Y/n can’t help the way their eyes naturally drift to Sunoo, who was already looking at them. The rest of the group immediately notice their two friends, Yuna giving Kazuha a knowing nudge.

“Hey, Intak. Didn’t you need to show me and Yuna that… thing?” Kazuha asks, suspiciously. Intak’s face lights up at this. He loves this game. “Oh, that’s right! I almost forgot. I’ll go show you now. Just you, me and Yuna.” Intak says. Sunoo has to stop himself from physically face palming at the performance. “I think they get the hint.” Yuna laughs, grabbing the two by the arm and pulling them away from Y/n and Sunoo.

“Well that wasn’t suspicious at all.” Sunoo jokes. “What would he even have in his car to show them?” Y/n laughs, looking back in the direction the three went, only to spot them not-so-subtly crouched behind the bleachers. “They’re watching us.” Y/n mumbles. “Of course they are.”

Silence falls between the two as Sunoo appears to have a sudden wave of nerves wash over him. Y/n looks up at him with slight concern - Sunoo doesn’t normally get nervous. “Look… I just wanted to say that I had a really good time with you today… it’s nice to just hang out without working… or yelling at each other.” Sunoo starts, causing Y/n to laugh slightly. “We do yell at each other quite a bit.” They agree. “That’s not stopping, by the way. If you do dumb shit I will call you out on it.” Y/n playfully warns, causing Sunoo to laugh. “Oh, 100%. Just like how I’m going to keep purposefully getting on your nerves.” Sunoo teases.

Due to the conversation taking a playful turn, Sunoo’s nerves start to subside. “Look, I know this is all very sudden for you so I don’t expect an answer straight away but, I was wondering if you wanted to-” 

“-yes.”

Sunoo’s eye brows furrow slightly at Y/n cutting him off. “Would you let me say it?” He asks, teasingly, causing Y/n to laugh. “Sorry, I got excited… keep going.” Y/n urges him to continue, looking at him with a playful smile. “I was wondering if you wanted to go on a date… with me… and not our friends, this time.” Sunoo asks, smiling gently.

Y/n can’t stop the giddy feeling that’s building up in their stomach. It’s almost like they want to start jumping around, they’re so restless. Never in their entire life would they have thought that they would have these feelings about Kim Sunoo… guess the heart works in mysterious ways.

Y/n nods enthusiastically, jumping to pull Sunoo into a tight hug. “This is new.” Sunoo comments, hugging back nonetheless. “Sorry, I’m just weirdly excited and I didn’t know how to say it in words.” Y/n mumbles against Sunoo’s shoulder. “Don’t apologise… I could definitely get used to this.” Sunoo says, tightening his grip around Y/n’s waist.

The two stand there for a few seconds, trapped in their own little bubble. Their precious moment is soon interrupted by the hushed whispers of their friends, who still haven’t left their hiding spot. Sunoo pulls away with a groan, shooting a fake glare towards the others. “Okay… let’s go get those idiots.” He says, wrapping an arm around Y/n’s shoulder to pull them in the direction of the rest of the group.

“So, just so we’re being clear… our next date is gonna be with our friends, too?”

“Without, Y/n. Without.”

“Sorry without… Yuna and Kazuha, but Intak is coming.”

“Bring Intak and you’re not getting a second date.”

“I’m just teasing. Besides, I doubt you can stay away from me after this.”

“You know what? I’m starting to regret confessing to you.”

As the two playfully bicker back and forth, Yuna, Kazuha and Intak notice them coming over and decide to leave their hiding spot. “So the lovebirds finally got together, huh?” Yuna asks, earning eyerolls from Y/n and Sunoo. “Nothing’s official yet so don’t jinx it.” Sunoo warns, causing Yuna to look at him with a teasing smile. “So I shouldn’t talk about how you’re madly in love with Y/n and it’s taken you literally years to-” Yuna’s ramble gets cut off by Sunoo charging at her, causing her to end her sentence early with a loud squeal.

“Zuha, help!” Yuna exclaims as she attempts to run away from Sunoo. As the three friends laugh and chase each other around the now empty field, Y/n feels the sudden presence of Intak resting his chin on the top of their head.

“You look really happy.” He comments, the simple words causing Y/n’s smile to spread even further across their face. “I am.” They reply. “Sunoo’s cool… he’ll treat you well.” Intak mumbles, yawning slightly due to it getting later. Y/n snorts slightly at his words, playfully elbowing him in the stomach. “Why are you acting like my dad?” They ask, earning a shrug from their best friend. “I’m just happy that you’re happy.”

SUNDAY - 9 DAYS AFTER PROM:

Walking into the community centre feels a lot different on this particular day compared to all the previous times. Perhaps it’s due to the fluttery feeling in Y/n’s chest at the thought of seeing Sunoo again. They haven’t seen him since Friday night, where they agreed to go on a date. They did, however, text throughout most of yesterday.

Minho is back in his position at the front desk, with Jay, Beomgyu and Seonghwa in various other parts of the reception area. Sunoo also stands in the reception area, signing in for the day.

“Y/n, come and clear this up for me.” Minho says as soon as Y/n makes their way through the sliding glass doors. Their eyebrows furrow slightly but oblige nonetheless, not wanting to piss of Minho this early in the day.

“This kid says that you and Sunoo didn’t argue at all last week.” Minho scoffs, pointing accusingly at Jay, who holds his hands up in defence. “I honestly didn’t even know they were the problem kids until like, 2 hours into the shift.” Jay argues. “We didn’t argue.” Y/n shrugs, causing all the adults to look at them in shock. Sunoo tries to hold back his smile as he finishes signing in, unfortunately not going unnoticed by Beomgyu.

“Did something happen between you two?” Beomgyu asks with a smirk on his face, throwing his arm over Sunoo’s shoulder and shaking him a few times. “Beomgyu, that’s none of our business.” Seonghwa attempts to scold. “I see blushing.” Minho teases, pointing at Y/n’s face. “Let’s just get to work, are we going back to the old schedule?” Y/n asks, turning their attention fully to Seonghwa. He almost looks startled by Y/n’s question. “Can I trust you two to work together properly?” He asks, looking at both Y/n and Sunoo suspiciously. The teens quickly nod. “Okay… we’ll go back to the old schedule. You two will be in with Beomgyu today and then you’ll start fresh with Jay in clothes next week.”

“Okay but like… you guys are dating now, right?” Beomgyu asks as he walks into the food storage room, a large box of bread in his hand. Y/n and Sunoo look at each other, both questioning his words. That’s not even something they’re sure of. They agreed to go on a date… does that mean they are dating?

Beomgyu notices the confusion and chuckles slightly. “We’re not labelling it, huh? I remember those days.” He smiles, placing the box on the table. “Just try not to let it get in the way of your work… no matter how hard that might be.” Beomgyu says, almost as if he’s speaking from personal experience.

WEDNESDAY - 12 DAYS AFTER PROM:

Going on a date with Sunoo is exciting and terrifying at the same time. Everything is changing… they went from spending all of their time with Intak, to suddenly being in a friend group with Intak, Sunoo, Yuna and Kazuha. What if this thing with Sunoo doesn’t actually work out? Their friend groups have already basically intertwined and Intak seems to really enjoy having the others around. The last thing Y/n wants is to ruin it for him. They really like Sunoo, too. This needs to work out.

“Stop worrying about shit that isn't going to happen." Intak playfully scolds, softly hitting Y/n over the head with his book. The act immediately snaps Y/n out of their thoughts, making them look up at Intak with a small pout. "You didn't have to hit me." They mumble. "Yes, I did. You've been like this all day. Your date tonight's gonna go fine. I don't get why you're so worried." Intak says. "I'm just scared that I'll mess everything up." Y/n frowns, shaking their head in their hands in an attempt to silence their negative thoughts.

"You didn't mess it up when you literally hated him… how could you mess it up now that you like him?" Y/n struggles to argue with Intak's logic. They know that their insecurities are irrational and yet there's still this tiny part of their brain, shouting about how terribly this is all going to go.

"Well, no time to be insecure, here he comes." Intak says, gesturing over Y/n's shoulder before walking off.

The sudden presence of an arm around their shoulder causes y/n's entire body to relax. They know it's Sunoo; it always is.

"Where's he going?" Sunoo asks. "You scared him off." Y/n jokes back, causing Sunoo to laugh slightly. "Hey! I'm not even remotely threatening, thank you." He argues, pinching Y/n's shoulder. Strange how as soon as Y/n is in the presence of Sunoo, all their negative thoughts from before seem to mysteriously vanish.

"Are you all good with going right now? Or did you want to head home first?" Sunoo asks. "Well I didn't bring my car today and my ride just abandoned me so, I guess now works." Y/n shrugs.

Dinner and a movie - the most timeless first date. There's enough time at dinner to talk and get to know each other whilst also being able to just ignore each other during the movie if the dinner part doesn't go to plan. Y/n and Sunoo don't exactly have to get to know each other, though. It's more just getting to know this new side of each other.

So far on the date, Y/n has learnt that Sunoo is quite the gentleman. They're not sure if he's just pulling out all the stops because they're on a date or if he usually treats his partners like this but the chivalry is spot on. Letting y/n choose the restaurant, holding open the door, pulling out their chair, the works.

"You know," Sunoo starts, pointing a fry in Y/n's direction. "You never actually told me that you like me." Y/n rolls their eyes at his statement. "Yes Sunoo, I agreed to go on a date with you because I don't like you." They reply sarcastically. Sunoo holds his hands up in defence. "Is it wrong for me to want to know how my date feels about me?" Sunoo asks teasingly. Y/n's heart flutters at the word date but they try to ignore it. "When you're only asking because you want to hear me say it, yes."

Sunoo looks at Y/n expectantly, making them sigh. "Fine… I really like you, Sunoo." Y/n says, the genuine tone in their voice makes Sunoo smile brightly. "I really like you, too." He replies. Y/n grumbles something about him being stupid, which makes Sunoo laugh before turning back to his food.

"Okay, they didn't have any mint chocolate left which is… honestly criminal, but they had your favourite so I just got two of them." Sunoo says, happily handing Y/n an ice cream cone. "How did you know cookie dough is my favourite?" Y/n asks suspiciously. They have had many conversations with Sunoo, none of which involved anything they liked.

"You always bring those little cookie snack bars to the community centre… so I just took a guess." He shrugs. Y/n's eyes narrow at Sunoo. "What else do you know about me?" They ask, making him laugh slightly. "I'm very observant, so, a lot. You'll find out eventually." Sunoo winks, causing Y/n’s eyebrows to furrow.

Once the two find their seats, Sunoo pulls out the rest of the snacks that he had snuck into the theatre (why would he buy a bag of lollies for $6 when he could get the same ones at the grocery store for $2.50?) Y/n’s eyes widen as Sunoo lays out the snacks he had brought, each one being one of Y/n’s favourites.

“Okay, you’re messing with me now. You asked Intak for help, didn’t you?” Y/n asks, skeptically. “I swear, I didn’t.” Sunoo says, only confusing Y/n further. “Then how did you know to get me all of this? Y/n asks, their eyes shining in awe as they look at Sunoo. “Y/n… I’ve liked you for… almost 2 years now? It’d be weirder if I didn’t know about these kinds of things.” Y/n’s eyes widen at Sunoo’s words. It’s as if all the air has been knocked out of their lungs. “You’ve liked me for two years?” Y/n asks, almost in disbelief. “Why didn’t you say anything?” They ask, going to hit Sunoo’s shoulder but Sunoo catches their hand instead, holding it gently in his. “Be honest, Y/n. Would you have liked me back 2 years ago?” He asks. Y/n falls silent. They both know the answer to that. “I don’t know what to say.” Y/n mumbles. Sunoo smiles, reaching over with his other hand to ruffle their hair. “You don’t have to say anything.”

Their hands stay intertwined throughout the entire movie. It just feels right, the coolness of his skin contrasting against Y/n’s warmth. The way they each tighten their grip whenever a particularly tense scene plays or how Sunoo’s thumb gently grazes over Y/n’s knuckles when a sad one does. Neither wants to let go. Even when the movie comes to an end, the lights in the theatre turn on and everyone starts getting out of their seats, their hands stay intertwined.

“Okay, turn right at the next street.”

“No, the one after that.”

“There’s like this big tree, remember? That’s the one.”

“You missed the turn off.”

“Has anyone ever told you, you’re really bad at giving directions?” Sunoo laughs, as he does yet another u-turn. “Why do you think I’m usually the one driving? I don’t give directions, I take them.” Y/n grumbles. “We’re going to your house, Y/n. Surely, you know how to get there.” Sunoo laughs. “I’ve never been this way so I don’t know the names of anything.” Y/n argues. “Babe… use google maps.”

With an exaggerated sigh, Y/n finally pulls out their phone and types their address into google maps. “There, since I’m clearly no help.” Y/n pouts, shoving their phone on the dashboard. Sunoo can’t help but smile affectionately as he watches Y/n sulk. He reaches over to playfully pull at their cheek, causing them to swat his hand away. “You’re so cute.” Sunoo coos, laughing at the way Y/n’s face immediately turns a dark shade of pink. They mumble a quiet shut up reaching forward to link their hands with one of his, once again.

By the time Sunoo pulls up outside of Y/n’s house, they’re no longer sulking. Sunoo puts the car in park, taking off his seatbelt before turning to Y/n with a smile. “I had a really nice time tonight.” He says, reaching forward to take hold of Y/n’s hands. “Me too.” Y/n smiles. “And I’d like to do this more… a lot more.” Sunoo says. “Me too.” Y/n laughs, feeling overwhelmed with the amount of affection they feel towards the boy in front of them.

“Can I be your boyfriend, Y/n?”

Time in the car seems to stop just as those words left Sunoo’s lips. Kim Sunoo… as Y/n’s boyfriend? Months ago, Y/n would’ve thought that to be one of the worst things to happen to them. A form of torture… they’d probably say. But now… as they sit in Sunoo’s car, their hands intertwined with his, after one of the best first dates they’ve ever been on… they can think of nothing they want more.

Well… maybe they can think of one thing they want more. As their eyes flicker down to Sunoo’s lips, Y/n can’t help the overwhelming thoughts of how they would feel pressed against their own. Sunoo seems to notice, with the way the corners of his mouth turn up into a slight smirk. Is he licking his lips subconsciously? Or is he trying to drive Y/n even crazier than they already feel?

Y/n realises they haven’t answered Sunoo’s question. With their mind racing a mile a minute, they don’t even know what to say. Y/n’s brain flashes back to what Sunoo said earlier in the night… You don’t have to say anything.

Y/n decides to communicate their thoughts through their actions, not trusting their brain or voice to formulate a better response. With a simple nod of the head, Y/n slowly leans in, their eyes fluttering closed as they finally feel Sunoo’s plush lips against their own.

Y/n hasn’t kissed enough people to know what makes the perfect kiss but they reckon this one comes pretty close. They were never one for cliches, but the sparks, the butterflies, everything’s there. Everything’s right.

Maybe Intak was right (this seems to be a pattern recently.) As their lips dance together, Y/n can’t help but think that nothing with Sunoo could go wrong. They know it’s unrealistic, that all good relationships run into problems along the way, but that’s for future Y/n and future Sunoo to worry about. Right now, they can just relax in their ignorant bliss.

THE END

#enhypen #enhypen fanfic #enhypen fanfiction #enhypen fluff #enhypen sunoo #sunoo fanfic #sunoo fanfiction #sunoo fluff #enhypen heeseung #enhypen jay #enhypen jake #enhypen sunghoon #enhypen jungwon #enhypen niki #kpop #kpop fanfic #kpop fanfiction #kpop fluff #fanfic #fanfiction #fluff

[sirfrogsworth]

do you like going on hikes?

Honestly, no.

Even if it wouldn't cause post-exertional malaise, I am just not an outdoor person.

I never have been.

I love walking somewhere if I can get a cool photograph from it. But hiking just to hike has never really interested me. And while I think nature is beautiful and I love taking pictures of it, I very much dislike being in nature. No temperature control, bugs, predators, etc.

But mostly it is incompatible with my CFS, so it isn't really an option anyway.

My dislike of being in nature goes back a long way. In high school I signed up for a weekend Civil War reenactment to get extra credit in my history class. It was basically camping disguised as historical LARPing.

They tried to make it as authentic as possible. All of the food and cooking was period-accurate. Meaning we got mushy beans for dinner and mushy eggs for breakfast. We had to sleep in period-accurate tents with no sleeping bags. So that was cold and uncomfortable. And they didn't really plan a lot of activities, so there was a lot of downtime where 15-year-olds tried to relate to men in their 50s mostly trying to escape their families for a weekend. Some surprising and awkward oversharing ensued.

When we arrived they immediately made us change into ill-fitting, itchy uniforms including period-accurate shoes we had to borrow from the dudes running it all.

The thing is, I have always had big boy feet. Even at 15 years old I was wearing a size 12 wide. They didn't have any shoes wide enough to fit me, yet they insisted I not wear my tennis shoes.

"Ulysses S. Grant didn't have Reeboks, boy!"

So I squeezed my feet into a pair of non-wide 11s and walked around in them all weekend.

That was a mistake.

The big finale of the event was a simulated battle—which I was originally very much looking forward to. It was the entire reason I signed up. We would get to play with muskets and fire blanks at middle-aged Confederate cosplayers.

I mean, who doesn't love shooting fake racists with imaginary bullets?

But by the time of the battle my feet were on fire with pain.

I could barely stand.

Reenactments typically work on the honor system. If you see someone shoot in your general direction, you are supposed to pretend to get shot and fall to the ground. These guys took that rule very seriously. We even had to practice dying the day before during our musket training.

So we all lined up on either side of a giant field surrounded by the forest. We were instructed to prepare our weapons. Our commander shouted orders for us to get in formation. One of them even had a horse and a proper calvary sword. A trumpet sounded. Suddenly this glorified camping trip turned into something legit. Everything had been so halfassed up until this point and I wasn't expecting a scene with the production value of Glory to materialize.

Things got very silent and all you could hear were leaves rustling nearby. I'm pretty sure they were building suspense to impress all of us youngins.

And with an enthusiastic shout, our pretend commanders initiated the battle.

I heard the very first gunshot.

I grabbed my chest.

I dramatically screamed out in pain.

I fell to the ground.

I died.

All in all, I was a Union soldier for roughly 8 seconds.

Technically... I did not see anyone shoot me. I violated the most sacred reenactor code. But I think the honor system was more concerned with people pretending they *didn't* get shot, so I figured it would be okay.

So I just lied in a cold damp field, slipped off my shoes, and let out a huge sigh of relief as my feet expanded back to their normal size. All while a mixture of high school students and unhappily married 50-year-old men pretended to kill each other around me.

(Artist's rendering of me playing dead)

When I finally got home my feet were covered in giant blisters. My mom had to cut my socks off because it was too painful otherwise. I had to stay home from school for two days because I couldn't fit my feet in my shoes without screaming. Eventually those suckers all popped and that was very gross but also immensely satisfying.

And I happily avoided nature ever since.

[the-meat-machine]

The homestuck age poll rb is crazy because Im pretty sure i got into homestuck sometime in 2015 when i was 12, waaaaaaay too young to be reading it. I think the comic was definitely aimed at young adults for the obvious reasons of the amount of cursing and sexual humor. Homestuck always reminded me of sitting at a school lunch table, a bunch of not so supervised kids hanging out doing whatever. But I think homestuck is written more as a reminisce of childhood rather than living through it of you catch my drift. I think thats why it was such a massive appeal to different age groups, older and younger audiences find it relatable and entertaining. But then again i remember picking up a physical copy of the book and it apparently said it was rated +16, like ok if you say so

Yeah, I agree that it's written more from a perspective of nostalgia for childhood than as something kids are necessarily meant to read. Which amusingly results in a comic whose main characters are "too young" to read it if you go by the rating, haha.

And honestly, I think that 16+ sounds like about the right rating for it. Like, I'm not gonna say kids SHOULDN'T be reading Homestuck, because I definitely read some pretty "adult" books at that age.* But I think it's more appropriate for older teens than for, well, 12-year-olds.

Really, I'm pretty sure the original intended audience -- or at least expected audience -- were people who were in their 20s when Homestuck first started in 2009. Probably people who grew up playing text-based and point-and-click adventure games. People who had lots of nostalgia for 80s movies. People with online friends that they communicated with over AOL Instant Messenger, which Pesterchum is an obvious pastiche of.

Because, really, a lot of the references characters make throughout the comic are to media from Hussie's childhood, rather than media that someone who was 13 in 2009 would have been likely to care about. The entire conceit of MSPA in general, where the audience (and later some imagined reader/player) is giving "commands" to the characters, is based off of old school adventure games. And especially in early Homestuck, Hussie made no real effort to make the comic accessible to people who aren't at least passingly familiar with most of that stuff I mentioned.

So I think it says a lot about Homestuck's strengths that it evolved to appeal to all sorts of people outside of that original demographic! That even if a lot of the references go over your head, there's still so much to like about the characters and the plot and the world that it doesn't even matter. That's really cool, I think.

* Based on the title, the Schrödinger's Cat trilogy sounded right up 12-year-old-me's alley. How was I supposed to know how obscenely raunchy it was? Turned out it was bad enough that I quickly decided I wasn't old enough for it and came back to it a couple years later (which was arguably still too young for a book where a major subplot revolves around a character's severed penis)

#meatmeta

[dailyoyo]

Non Exhaustive list of claims me and pseud havemade about yoyo. do we even believe all of these things in our headcanons? Good quaestion

yoyo once ran a "cringe art" blog very briefly but all he put on it was his own childhood art, without specifying it was his?

yoyo has a bucket list which includes things like "convince a straight person they're actually closeted gay" and "commit perjury"

yoyo likes to follow tutorials its enriching for him

yoyo has his own pirate radio station that roboy helps him run under the moniker of "Undergraduate C". he plays nothing but meme shit and stuff that is straight up unlistenable

yoyo thinks he is a hollow shell of a person with masks upon masks where an identity should be

yoyo, if asked if he thinks people can be born evil, will answer "lol yeah, because i was!" it's hard to say if he's being ironic or not

yoyo would die if he went to the house on ash tree lane because he would do goofy tricks in the hallway and grind down the spiral staircase only to fall off and careen into the abyss

paradox!yoyo is shorter than yoyo's official canon height because it's disturbing for yoyo to only be an inch smaller than me

yoyo just gets real scared when he smokes weed. but this doesnt stop him?

yoyo is a prolific trollfic author with unreadable writings under dozens of pseudonyms for dozens of fandoms

yoyo had a brief stint as a member of poison jam under a different name and identity but he got booted out for consistently ruining movie night with his intentionally frustrating mockbuster choices

yoyo has attempted to join every single gang in tokyo-to and the ggs were his last pick

yoyo eventually picks up it/its pronouns in a mental illness kind of way

yoyo is worse at video games than pots is

yoyo would be really good at among us except everyone just automatically votes him imposter by default so he cant even play properly

yoyo regrets nothing

paradox!yoyo, if confronted with an alternate universe version of himself, would immediately tell them to kill themself

yoyo would honestly probably be a lot less fucked in the head once he's PAST THE DIRE AGE OF SIXTEEN YEARS OLD

yoyo has like one of those bootleg-ass 52-in-one fake game consoles. bastion of his childhood

yoyo often gets mistaken for being younger than he is and this is something he actively weaponizes

yoyo makes up a new backstory every time you ask where he's from

yoyo accepted at the tender age of 12 that he does not have a future and so he should just fuck around as much as possible since hes like doomed anyway

yoyo's hoodie is actually embroidered, which he did himself by hand

yoyo has a lot of really strong feelings about art in all its myriad of forms but good luck getting him to talk about it genuinely instead of saying some dumb bullshit

yoyo made a lot of jokes about himself being super suspicious and Totally Not A Rival Gang Spy Who's Gonna Betray The GGs when he joined because he thought it was funny. the only reason he was allowed to be in the gang at all despite this is because he made such a poor showing trying to prove himself to corn gum and roboy that they were internally like "if we turn him away i think he's going to straight up die out there."

#mod noname #long post #Fuck it i don't care im maintagging thsi. who give a shit #jet set radio #we've said so many fucking things about this character. and maybe some of them are even true #honestly actually a LOT of these are true or at least are Strongly Plausible But We Didn't Decide For Sure in our hcs #i should probably put this in the vreepypasta tag for some of these #vreepypasta #suicide bait ment #i want so badly to convey to you people what happens in my head when i look at this character. whadda hell #noname's paradox-posting

[vampirenaomi]

Fic author interview! Tagged by @lynne-monstr

Tagging @pengychan @geminiartemis @dandunn @bookshop-cryptid @flo-nelja and honestly whoever sees this and wants to do it. I just tagged the first few people who came to mind when I tried to remember who writes fic.

1 How many works do you have on AO3?

96, but there's a lot on Fanfiction.Net that I haven't double posted, so the number could be a lot bigger.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

1,513,727, which is honestly more than I expected.

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The Universal Measure (Lupin polygang)

Fates Entwined (Lupin/Zenigata)

Adjusting Our Course (Lupin/Zenigata)

Nobody Fulfils a Fantasy Like Prussia (Prussia/Romano)

Mortal Sin (Prussia/Romano)

Here you can see the power of writing popular ships because while Lupin fandom is so much smaller than Hetalia, Prussia/Romano was always kind of a niche ship. I think Adjusting Our Course probably got a boost from being a Yuletide exchange fic. I was going to say I'm glad Mortal Sin made it since it's one of my favourites, but it turns out I got it mixed with another porn comedy about this ship. I wrote too many of those, I guess.

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try, even if I don't always have more to say than thanks. But sometimes I forget and then feel awkward replying months later.

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I almost never write stories where there's an unexpected angsty ending. If the ending is angsty, the whole story is. So maybe I Count the Hours Without You in which Prussia jerks off while thinking about Romano, who's dead.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

There are a lot of happy endings in my stories because my favourite kind of fic is one where there's lots of angst and suffering first, and then a happy ending. I don't know if I can pick one that somehow stands out.

7. Do you write crossovers?

Not usually, but there's Hsi Wu Visits the Land of the Dead, which is a Jackie Chan Adventures/Grim Fandango crossover written because I was madly in love with both canons back then. This is over 20 years old (holy shit...) so I honestly don't remember what even happens in it. Reading it would be like reading a stranger's fic.

I'm not much of a crossover fan, but if I had to write one today, it'd be with Jackie Chan Adventures and Kim Possible because I'd love to explore the idea of Jackie and Monkey Fist knowing each other as archeological colleagues.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I don't think so.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Sometimes, but it's not really something I set out to do. I like using smut as a plot device, like having sex as a way for the characters to express what is going on with them. But I also like funny sex where lots of things go wrong and the characters talk shit to each other the whole way through.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yeah, a few have been translated. One of my longest friendships actually started when @geminiartemis wanted to translate a long fic of mine into Portuguese.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, @geminiartemis and I wrote some fics together here and I also wrote a fic with Snakelady Frohike1 here. I don't normally like to write with other people because I'm too much of a control freak, but these stories were mostly just fooling around with friends.

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

It keeps changing. I can really, truly love only a few things at a time and when I move on, my feelings about previous ships fade, though never fully disappear. But I think nothing has inspired me as much as Prumano did.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

The Right Turn of the Road which is a massive Kaiketsu Zorro AU. I got 2/3 of it done, but then I got into Hetalia and it consumed my fannish life for years.

15. What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm pretty good at dialogue and banter. Also set-up. The start is usually the best part in anything I write, especially multi-chapter fics.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

I overwrite, especially when it comes to characters' feelings. My editing process is usually deleting multiple paragraphs where I say the same thing over and over, and my fics still feel a little bloated sometimes. Also endings because I can rarely wrap up all the loose ends.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

A few phrases here and there, sure, but if it gets to a point where I have to open a translator in another tab to understand what's going on in the story, I'm out. Uncharitable, perhaps, but I usually end up feeling like the author wants to show off that they know the language.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Pokémon. This was before we had good Internet at home, so I wrote stories for myself and saved them on floppy disks.

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

I have an outline for a Pycal/Kyosuke Mamo fic that I think would be really cool, funny, and emotional, but who knows if I ever get it off the ground.

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I've been at this for so long that you can't make me choose.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Crown Jewel

We're skipping the discourse around this one. Ginny is Bonney's mother, Kuma's her daddy, and there's the potential of a half-Tenryubito bloodline which would explain a fair amount of leeway we've seen. Bonney is also only 12 years old. Love how it all fits well with her intro, do hate how grim Ginny's story ended up. But she kept that spark until the end, like the wrinkle of not wanting to be seen and trying to hide the pain. Out of respect for that we're not dwelling on the horrific circumstances of Bonney's conception.

I gotta say though, I was already wondering before that if film buff Oda wasn't striking again because Kuma's story of a humble guy weaving around big events was reminding me big time of Forrest Gump. If Wano was the Kabuki revue you'd pick and choose parts you care about...is Egghead a night at the movies? Sci-fi B movie vibes obviously. Then maybe these segments away are almost like, say going to the bathroom and catching a snippet of another. Hence missing parts of it. I'm rambling...

Absolutely adore the origin of the "jewelry" part of Jewelry Bonney. Both this cute scene and how the Sapphire Scale disease hearkens back to Thriller Bark. The core stakes of losing your shadow. Same with the origin of "If you could travel, where would you go?" In hindsight...I bet Perona reminded him of Bonney. It's also pertinent to point out they were at Sabaody around the same time. There's a lot to say about her after this chapter, starting with...

Bonney, welcome to the top tier of the blorbo rankings. How can I hate a chapter that gives me a feisty five-year-old flagrantly flipping the forbidden finger? Young Bonney you are so precious. Er...younger Bonney. So we don't just have the Sapphire Scales connection either. This chapter hits that running Egghead theme of callbacks so hard. I love this bit about calling her a vampire and brandishing a cross, especially with her flatly pointing out she lives in a church, but a lot of things honestly. Talking about wanting to see a Sky Island was nice.

We're gonna peel this one off for tomorrow, but there is one thing I do wanna note. Actually being 12 with a fruit like that is a different angle, but it has that fundamental thematic harmony with a quartermaster. Just like an elegant but lowkey scary big sister with an actress vibe, a bossy little sister with the infinite possibility of distorted futures suits bringing order and wearing many hats. Kiku's deal was being shown as legitimately good but not great at others'skills. The ultimate redundancy. Bonney is the blank slate. Strap in friendos, I have a lot to say on the matter over the next few days.

This is what I was thinking last week, the part that really gets there. The ability to just pop up at island after island is hellacious for a Revolutionary. Makes it easy to pull something like Sabo's simultaneous uprisings which is smart. Paralyzes a World Government that can step in it prioritizing the wrong ones. But yeah, Kuma goes on a tear after Ginny is taken. We get a great run of back-and-forth shots though between the hero and the doting father. Love that. He goes into a pit of despair, but the last remnant of Ginny becomes a reason to live again.

My guess is ultimately we'll see something like he agreed to the cyborg program at least partially because he could take on Bonney's disease himself. That would make sense for something. Kinda dig the theory Im suffers from Sapphire Scale. I know they said Bonney had a limited time but that may be because she'd already started to turn. Im if anyone has the resources to ensure you'd never encounter natural light and it'd be incredibly thematic. I will also laugh my ass off if we end up making the World Government functionally run by the Sohma Family from Fruits Basket. Sickly lil shut-in who was handed control for stupid reasons.

Hearken well, dear reader and don't look away. For what comes next is the tragedy of Sorbet. From priest to tyrant, from man to machine. A tragic tale who's end has already been seen.

Talk about callbacks, yeah this familiar nightmare reminds me a lot of Drum and Dressrosa. It is cool how Wano fits into that, a more benign version of reinstalling the ancient dynasty. This here is the perfect setting to shift us into the parts we already know a bit about. It'll be interesting to see what happens. Somewhere this kind pastor and loving father became known as a tyrant and he was referred to as King of Sorbet. We've only got a short window to cram in a lot of big things for Kuma. That said, could see us out of this by or in 1100. So a break and a big one-two punch?

#one piece #chapter 1098 #post-wano musings #jewelry mutha fuckin bonney #who will hence be known as jewelry heckin bonney #you know to be more PG

[bratshaws]

goodness gracious 74. brb x oc

a/n: * breakdances* hell yeah my guys, hell yeah

check out the fic's playlist made by the sweet @wiipes !!

pairing: plus size!oc x rooster

warnings: FLUFF GOD IM SO ASKKAJSNKAJWDN i love them

chapters:

1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13/14/15/16/17/18/19/20/21/22/23/24/25/26/27/28/29/30/31/32/33/34/35/36/37/38/39/40/41/42/43/44

45/46/47/48/49/50/51/52/53/54/55/56/57/58/59/60/61/62/63/64

65/66/67/68/69/70/71/72/73

(pls let me know if you want to be added to the taglist!!)

taglist: @mirandastuckinthe80s @roosterschanelslut @wiipes @lcahwriter @shrimping-for-all @gretagerwigsmuse @frenchtoastix

@lizzie-rdj @fanboyluvr @atarmychick007 @comebacktoearthpls

@peachiicherries @mak-32 @lizziespidiepridie @roosterswifey @ollyoxenfrees @piceous21 @sqrlgrl22 @hofficoffi @lexhalstead3 @lorilane33 @legendarydreamersharkparty @luckyladycreator2 @emilybradshaw @j-6o @louisahale @leobabbyyy @kulicny @winter-run @ktjmac @graciereads

-

Beatrice’s smile never faltered when he took them to the movies, specifically the cinema where they watched Alien the first time together. They haven’t been there since their first date almost seven months ago – seven months. They really have been together for seven months!!

She was a bit surprised to see the movies that night were the Lord of the Rings trilogy and while the movies weren't as old as the usual selection she was more than happy to see it there.

As was Bradley, who once he found out they’d be screening it that night he wasted no time in bringing Beatrice. Just the way her eyes shone brightly seeing the posters on the walls was enough for him. Plus, he’s been so busy lately they haven’t been having a lot of time to go out on date nights as often - it bothered him even if Beatrice said she didn’t mind.

Beatrice looked at the three posters next to each other while Rooster got them snacks for the night, stepping closer to her smiling form, ‘You know,I was eight years old when the first movie came out.” she murmured, “Leo and Mikey went to watch it and I remember being so upset I couldn’t go and even more seeing how excited they were when they came back…I actually never saw any of the movies in a movie theater. I was under thirteen.”

“Well, you can now.” he saw her smile widen and the way she bounced a bit on the balls of her feet with excitement, turning to look over the top of her head to the rooms where the first movie would be screened, “Come on.” he offers her his hand, the other holding all the snacks he got - yes he did get a some chocolate, he’s a grown man who has absolute control of his sweet tooth - as they make their way inside.

This time there were more people than in the Alien movies, which wasn’t surprising considering how popular LOTR still is. Some were dressed like characters, he saw at least five Gandalfs and three Frodos from where he was. Beatrice was still smiling, holding his hand tightly until they found their seats. They sat down and Rooster immediately placed the popcorn between them, alongside the snacks that were way cheaper than an actual cinema. He already liked that.

While they waited, Rooster’s hand met hers across the seat, rubbing her knuckles soothingly then bringing it up to his lips to kiss the back, smiling at her. Beatrice smiles back, squeezing his hand as they waited for the movie to begin, his girlfriend’s leg bouncing anxiously, waiting for the screen to turn on almost as if she was ready to run to the projector area and turn it on. 

The second the lights turned off, one by one, the cheers that erupted from the crowd almost deafened them, but Beatrice didn’t care. She shook his hand excitedly, “It’s happening!” she squealed in a quiet voice, “I’m going to watch LOTR in a movie theater!!!” Honestly, just seeing her happy like that was more than he could ever ask for. His enamored eyes only left her smiling face when the first scene finally rolled in. He honestly was so used to reading the books - which he still hasn’t finished, not because he didn’t want to but because he knew if he started nothing else would be able to snap him out of the iron focus - that rewatching the movie after so long was interesting.

Unlike Beatrice, who was too young to watch it, he was fifteen when the first movie was available, he ended up going with some of his school friends there but he could remember only a few scenes - very vaguely too. But he had a feeling he’d be reminded of quotes and moments just because of Beatrice.

He sneaked another look her way, seeing her lips move alongside Gandalf’s monologue in his very first appearance. Her face lights up like the fireworks in the Shire, her legs still moving excitedly while she is still seated, it was like watching a young Beatrice finally be able to live her dream of watching her favorite movies the way she always wanted to. He knew the movies were long and if she wanted they could watch all of them since they got there around afternoon.

His day at work was stressful but he didn’t want to tell her about it, especially not when she looked so happy. It was just another day where something went awry and his temper flared a bit, but it was quickly resolved. Right now he could relax and forget whatever bad it was that happened, choosing to keep his eyes and senses on Bea and her thrilled energy. 

Every time a certain scene would come up, Beatrice would either mouth her lips along or she’d lean closer to him to say how it compared to the book. Beatrice’s pure giddiness over watching one of her favorite movies was so…lovely to see. He knew that the first time they came here, their very first date seemed longer than seven months ago. He never told her but he was a bit nervous, which rarely happens when it comes to going out with someone, he really just wanted to show her he genuinely liked her and wanted to be with her.

-

Rooster entered the flower shop with his hands sweating, he still had a few minutes before he showed up at Beatrice’s house to pick her up. He had never been this nervous, maybe when he was younger, but never as an adult. He scratched the side of his neck, looking around the different floral arrangements hoping to find one that really called Beatrice’s name.

He dug his hands in his pockets, looking back at the woman on the cash register who was busy helping other customers to pay attention to him. Should he even get something already made? Something in him said to find flowers that reminded him of Beatrice and ask the lady to prepare him a bouquet. He wandered around the aisles, the smell of different flowers hitting his nose at every step, still trying to find something that could represent Bea the best.

He wracked his mind trying to think: she was really sweet, every time her cheeks turned red his heart did backflips, she was beautiful yet extremely bashful about it. She was great at volleyball and she smelled like lavender. He blinks when the word appears in his mind. Lavender! That’s a great option! It reminded him of her…but he needed something else, something more. He looked around for a few more seconds, then his eyes stopped on a tiny bucket filled with fresh daisies and he smiles.

There it was. It was perfect!

It wouldn’t be a big one and he hoped she wouldn’t mind, which he had a feeling she wouldn’t, not really. He waits until the customers from before leave, then approaches the lady on the front explaining to her what he wanted. The lady, who looked to be around her early 60’s, gave him a knowing smile but nodded, telling him to wait at the counter as she gathered the flowers.

Bradley’s stomach was flipping back and forth, somersaulting almost with nerves and excitement. How long had he tried to talk to her? A long time, and she always ran away from him, he never gave up because he really, really liked her. It wasn’t the normal kind of infatuation you’d get– well, it was a crush, he was crushing hard on her for these past months so…to him, what was about to happen tonight was very special. 

He hasn’t had a crush in ages and now at the ripe age of thirty six, here he was. He looked down at his watch just to check, easing out a breath when noticing he still had quite a bit of time before going there. Bradley smiles politely back at the lady when she returns, the bouquet being done quickly before his eyes and she asks him if it was for someone special, “Yeah,” he answers, watching her quickly wrap all those flowers inside the paper, “It’s going to be our first date and I want to make a good impression.”

“Well,I think you’ll do fine. Lavenders represent devotion and calmness, while daisies represent new beginnings.” she tilts her head up when she finishes both her sentence and the bouquet, “So I have a feeling you’ll do just fine.” He laughed softly, dropping his head sheepishly, thanking her once he grabbed the flowers and paid her. He looked down at the small floral arrangement, it really looked so much smaller in his hand, being careful to not crush the stems or crinkle the paper too much.

He sets it down on the passenger seat, almost as if the bouquet is a passenger itself, making sure it wouldn’t be squashed on the drive over to Bea’s. He sucked in a breath, easing some of his nerves and trying to focus on the road instead of how much he wanted to give her a good time tonight.

The scene yesterday broke his heart. genuinely, he’d never want to see her crying like that again and he was shocked she thought he was asking her out on a date because he was feeling bad for her. He knew she had self esteem issues even from the way she acted around him and the others, but him especially, but he didn’t think it’d be…so bad. If she asked that it meant that…it happened before and God that thought was just going to make him angry.

No, they were going to have a nice night, they were going to have fun and she’s going to enjoy herself. He parks the Bronco in front of her house, looking at the lights on the second floor where her loft was, “Okay.” he rolls his neck and shoulders, grabbing the flowers and stepping out. 

He hides his arm behind his back, wondering how he could wait for her. Standing by the door was fine, but what if he leaned over? Yeah. Yeah that was a lot better. He smiled hearing her voice froming from inside after she heard him by the door, keeping himself together when the doorknob turned and she appeared in front of him.

-

Seven whole months. 

He was extremely thankful of how their relationship developed over the time they were together, especially when it came to Beatrice being comfortable around him and comfortable around her own body. It was amazing to see the growth in both of them really, both of them were more open with their thoughts and words, they talked like any healthy couple should do and they figured things out.

God he wanted to marry her.

It took him some thinking, but he was decisive about it now. Especially after talking to Mav. Their leases would turn by the end of the month, so they should try and look for places now so they could move out. Not to mention the surprise birthday party he,Evelyn and Shells were working on.

Surprisingly how the blonde didn’t open her mouth to excitedly tell others - aka Bob - about it. So far everything was going well, so all he had to do was wait for the right time. His eyes turned to her ring finger, the same one wrapped around his hand alongside its siblings, trying to check what size she would be.

She rarely used rings besides the one in her thumb, so he wondered if she had any jewelry in her place he could take a look. He didn’t want to snoop, but he also didn’t want to tell her about it yet. He just looked at her by the corner of his eye, smiling down at her elated face and then leaning back on his seat completely, deciding that he should watch the movie now.

-

“Did I tell you what my future nephew or niece will be named?.'' They left the movie theater a few minutes before midnight - absolutely starving because popcorn does not fill anyone’s stomachs like that -, had a late dinner by the same taco truck they went before and now were walking around to help with digestion. 

Rooster smiles down at her, hugging her to his side to press a kiss to the top of her head, “No, tell me.”

“Eowyn if it’s a girl or Aragorn if it’s a boy.” she says, making Bradley chuff out a soft laugh and pull his head back from her own, “I’m serious! I mean,I don’t hate it but, imagine the things this child will go through in the future!” Beatrice sighs, “At least Bibi is okay with it now, she’s even excited to be an older sister.”

“I thought she might.” Rooster adds, “It’s just something for her to get used to you know?” Beatrice agrees with a nod, holding his hand with their fingers interlaced, “When is it going to be born?”

“According to Cyn, around October.” she says,”It’s going to be so cute. I’m kinda excited to be an aunt again.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah! I like kids and I like my nephews and nieces.” he knew that he could see the way she was around them, especially Bianca. “It’s…really fun.” he noticed how her voice faltered just a bit at the end of her sentence, but she kept on smiling.

Beatrice held the words ‘but it’s weird being the only one without a child besides Michael’, she never told Brad but her mother has been…very specific ever since Leo announced the second baby. The last time she visited by herself her mother offered her tea, she was very vocal about how she should take all of it before she left. 

It took one sniff to figure out what it actually was: red clover tea, a herb that’s known to help with fertility and pregnancies. She knew that because her nonna used to have some in her garden and would always prepare some tea for her siblings and months later they’d find out they were to have kids.

While she…appreciated the thought, she wished her mother wasn’t so insistent about it. Yes, she had Bradley now but she couldn’t just…do it…without talking to him. A lot was going to happen before that, a whole lot so she gently cut her mother off and tossed the tea down the drain when her mother got busy enough.

“Michael doesn’t have kids does he?” Rooster asks when they pause their walking to watch the sea in the distance, the waves larger and louder because of the full moon, “I always saw him alone.”

“Oh, no, Michael is the ‘cool bachelor uncle’.” she air quotes with a shake of her head, “He just…well…he’s never had an actual long relationship. He also likes the single life a lot more. He prefers it, really. He’s always the one that helps the kids with stuff like…first dates, first…I don’t know, first time drinking, first time driving. He likes to be part of that.”

Michael was always the wildest of them all, thinking of him settling down…with anyone was a bit hard to imagine. Not because he couldn’t be loving, but because she didn’t think whoever his partner was would be able to handle her older brother’s caffeine induced personality most of the time. They always joked that Michael was Mambo Number 5 if the song was a person.

Which does make sense in a way.

“I think a girl tried telling him he was the father of her kid.” Beatrice explains, “I don’t know,I was really young when it happened and, you know, he was going to step up to it and be a dad but then eventually it was found out that he wasn’t the father and he got…really upset. I think he just gave up after that.”

“Honestly from what I’ve seen of Michael he doesn’t seem too bummed about it.”

Beatrice smiles softly, crossing her arms below her bust with her eyes still on the waves, “Oh he’s not, I think he’s gotten used to it now. He even told my parents to not expect grandchildren from him.” she laughs gently, but her cheeks redden at what the words suddenly implicated and hoped that Rooster wouldn’t get it.

But he just takes in the information in silence, if he noticed something within it he doesn’t say it, instead he looks down at her with a smile, “At least they have everyone else instead huh?” he says and Beatrice nods, facing the ocean alongside him. Beatrice then sighs, tucking strands of her behind her ears as she feels the wind pick up around them.

He took that as his cue for them to go back to the car before it got worse, placing his hand on the small of her back and shielding her from the harsher gusts of wind until they got back inside the Bronco.

-

Rooster spent the night over, since he didn’t think it’d be wise for him to just go all the way back to his apartment just to sleep when he could enjoy the lovely company of no one other but his girlfriend. Plus some of his things were already there, so why not? He did wake up very early, earlier than he normally did whenever he spent time there and his body was a bit confused by what was happening.

Beatrice however surprised him, because she was up before he was, sitting on the kitchen chair with Jolene lying by her feet, waiting for the coffee maker to be done. He runs his hand over his face so he’d wake up, leaning against the doorframe to watch Beatrice since she hadn’t noticed him yet, her own eyes blinking hard to keep herself awake. He smirks, pushing himself from the door to step into the kitchen, the sound of his footsteps finally making the brunette snap her eyes in his direction, “Oh, hey.”

‘Hey,” he grins, leaning down to kiss her temple, “What are you doing up? You know I have to wake up really early during the week.” she hums, leaning into his kiss with the same sleepy look on her face, watching him open the cabinets to grab their mugs from inside.

“Just wanted to be here with you.” she says quietly, almost slurred, leaning on her hand to support her head up, thanking him when he places the Ponyo mug in front of her, “Thought…” she yawns mid-sentence” Thought I better get used to it.”

Because they were going to move in really soon, god she was so sweet, “Baby, you don’t have to. I know how much your sleep means to you and you need your rest.” but he did appreciate her being with him, he really did. “Do you want me to make you breakfast then? I can whip something really quick.”

“No, no it’s fine.” she inhales, rubbing her face with both hands, tapping her cheeks to wake up fully, then blinking her eyes open, “I can do something, what do you usually take before going to work?”

Bradley thinks about it, following her hips’ sway as she walks to the fridge, tilting his head to the side to have a better look of her behind, “Honestly, considering the time now…I’d probably have scrambled eggs and coffee.”

“No bacon?” she questions, already grabbing a few eggs with her body leaning back from the fridge “Okay,I can do that.” 

“You don’t have to, baby.”

“It’s okay!” she tells him, gently placing the eggs inside a blue porcelain bowl, “I don’t mind it, really.”

“Okay…only if you promise to go back to sleep after I leave.”

“Oh, I don’t even have to promise that.”

Both of them laugh at the joke, with Rooster leaning on his hand now, watching Beatrice prepare him scrambled eggs with a smile on her face. This would be routine for them, she was right, and he too had to get used to it, ‘So,” he begins, “Maybe this week we can look at some places.” she keeps on moving the fork rapidly inside the bowl to mix the eggs, but looks over her shoulder to where he was seated, “You know? And get some things  settled.”

Beatrice smiles, pouring the eggs inside the heated pan, “I’d like that…considering the time we’d have to do it too.” she was very excited, she couldn’t believe it, her stomach was flipping with happy nerves and the pure joy of living together with Rooster. With the man she loved! It’d be a completely new experience for both, but since they already talked about the basics - finances and whatnot - this would be really fun.

She places the scrambled eggs on a plate, sliding it over to Rooster and kissing his temple, “I’m going to get your coffee.” she whispers on his hair, kissing his forehead and then stepping back to fill his mug. Bradley could only smile with his heart filled with so much love for this woman he didn’t know what else to do, besides,well, anxiously waiting for the moving day to come.

He’d have to tell Mav, he figured that keeping that secret from him wouldn’t be wise especially considering they’d need help moving everything to the new place, and his godfather would never forgive him if he found that out by anyone that wasn’t him. So, that was going to be the plan for that day, talk to Mav about the move in with Bea and hopefully Pete wouldn’t cry when he finds out about it.

Beatrice joins him for the rest of breakfast, choosing to not eat anything yet since she felt she’d just fall asleep soon after she was done, she just sat with him and they chatted about everything they should do until the fateful day…and Beatrice casually said something about celebrating her birthday, loving if they could do to the karaoke bar she and the girls went when he was deployed last time.

He was mentally cheering that she said that, because it was one of the options he thought about and now he could talk to Evelyn and they could organize this easily without hiccups. He noticed that over time Beatrice’s words slowly got quieter and quieter, with her eyes fighting to keep awake and her hand turning more into a pillow and something to support her head up.

He finishes his breakfast in silence, seeing that Beatrice was now fully asleep while on the kitchen table and smiles to himself, gently placing the plate in the sink so it wouldn’t make any noise and then picking a snoozing Beatrice out of the chair in bridal style, tsking twice so Jolene would follow him.

Rooster carefully places Beatrice back on the bed, tucking her with the bed sheets and leaning down to kiss her cheek, “Sleep well gorgeous.” he whispers, “I’ll see you later.” he looks back down at Jolene who was now seated by the end of the bed, “Keep and eye on her, Jojo.” he playfully pets the pitbull’s head, before disappearing into the bathroom to change and get ready for work.

#bradley rooster bradshaw #rooster bradshaw #bradley bradshaw x oc #top gun maverick #bradley bradshaw x reader

[eldritchsurveys]

1161.

Number of Movies/Documentaries I Watched in 2023: 226 Genre I Watched the Most in 2023: I... don't know. horror, probably. Mike showed me what I was doin wrong with using Lboxd so when I take this for 2024 I should hopefully have stuff like genre stats

1. Best Movies I Watched In 2023? >> from each month, one new-to-me favourite and one old favourite that I rewatched: 1. Hagazussa / Velvet Goldmine 2. Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul. / Twelve Monkeys 3. Nanny / The Fly 4. Sugar & Spice / Dead Ringers 5. Rigor Mortis / Birds of Prey 6. Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse / Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story 7. You Won't Be Alone / Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey 8. Swiss Army Man / His House 9. In the Earth / The Woman 10. Perfect Blue / Silence 11. Akira / The House That Jack Built 12. Angel Heart (didn't rewatch a fave in December)

2. Movie I Was Excited About & Thought I Was Going To Love More But Didn’t? >> I wasn't exactly excited about Beau is Afraid but I definitely thought I would enjoy it more than I did. the first 20-30 minutes or so were pretty fun and weird but then it just... *longsuffering sigh* I had also hoped The Blackening would be a bit funnier than it turned out to be. still watchable and I'd still like more Black horror-comedies, but I definitely wanted more guffaws out of it. I'm not even gonna bother talkin about Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania... (at least Kang was good) OH! Renfield! THAT'S the one I was excited for and heavily disappointed by. I knew there was one (also, Last Voyage of the Demeter. not at all my favourite year for Dracula movies, that's for sure)

3. Most Surprising (in a good way) Movie I Watched in 2023? >> I was surprised by both Akira and Perfect Blue because I just assumed they would be a bit inscrutable to me (when a lot of "buffs" speak highly about a work I assume it's some shit I won't understand), but they really drew me in. also surprised by Host (2020) which I'd assumed would be watchable but not really anything to write home about considering the gimmick. but they pulled that one off pretty well!

4. Movie I “Pushed” The Most People To Watch (And They Did) In 2023? .

5. Best Sequel of 2023? Best Ending of a Movie I Watched in 2023? >> Across the Spider-Verse and as for ending I'm just gonna agree with prev "can't beat a dancing naked man" (Saltburn) because that was pretty good

6. Most Action Packed/Thrilling Movies of the Year? >> the John Wick quadrilogy

7. Movie I Watched in 2023 That I Am Most Likely To Re-Watch in 2024? >> In the Earth, The Lodge, maybe Noroi? I might rewatch I Saw the Devil because for some reason I forgot a lot of that one despite enjoying it

8. Favorite Poster for a Movie I Watched in 2023? .

9. Most Memorable Characters/Talent of 2023? >> oof... can I just say Ben Wheatley (director) for talent because he really sucker-punched me with the two movies of his that I watched this year

10. Standout Writing / Directing of a Movie I Watched in 2023? >> obviously that goes to whoever wrote Call Girl Of Cthulhu

11. Most Thought-Provoking/Impactful Movies I Watched in 2023? >> The Vast of Night, Silence, Titane, Perfect Blue, Akira, Aniara. also 2001: A Space Odyssey except the thought it provoked was "why am I still fucking watching this" and the impact it had was "I'm annoyed to the point of anger and I have a splitting headache"

12. Movie I Can’t Believe I Waited Until 2023 To Finally Watch? >> Die Hard lmao. it was way more entertaining than I expected. also how did I go my whole life without ever learning that Alan Rickman was the bad guy in that also Battle Royale and ofc Akira

13. Favorite Scene From a Movie I Watched in 2023? >> oh man this is impossible, give me a break

14. Movie That Shocked Me The Most? (Because of a plot twist, character death, etc.) >> I didn't expect Swiss Army Man to be quite what it was (this is not a complaint, I loved it, but the whole farting business definitely threw me for a loop lol) honestly my bar for shock is seeing Oldboy for the first time last year having never had it spoiled for me and losing my whole ass MIND at the plot twist. nothing has come close to that since

15. OTP (One True Pairing) – You will go down with this ship? >> those two girls from Do Revenge

16. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship? >> the vampire family in Near Dark

17. Best Movie I Watched In 2023 That I Watched Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody? >> Noroi: The Curse but also The Adjustment Bureau was an incredibly solid and cute flick (both Sparrow's recs)

18. Most Exciting Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting? >> ooo let's see... well, I did rewatch The Neverending Story this year :p Rigor Mortis had a really memorable setting for me but I wouldn't call it exciting OR vivid. like, it was just an apartment building lol. it was just... I don't know. I can't explain it. it sticks in ya El Hoyo (The Platform), maybe? definitely an intriguing setup and setting there. A Field in England was literally just a goddamn field in England but man.... I also like the new worldbuilding ideas Hellraiser (2022) brings to the table.

19. Movies That Put A Smile On My Face/Were The Most Fun To Watch? >> Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, The Ref, Cocaine Bear, Sugar & Spice, Airheads, Polite Society, Totally Killer, Do Revenge, D&D: Honor Among Thieves, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, Earth Girls are Easy, both Sister Acts, Call Girl of Cthulhu, Idle Hands, Van Helsing, and Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. yeah there were a lot of these this year

20. Movie/Documentary That Made Me Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2023? >> Swiss Army Man and Akira, but also Velvet Goldmine, Do the Right Thing, Crooklyn, and Sister Act 2.

21. Hidden Gem Of The Year? >> not sure how to determine this

22. Movie That Crushed My Soul? >> [insert another snarky comment about 2001]

23. Most Unique Movie I Watched In 2023? >> so many of the movies I've seen this year were incredibly unique to me! let me see if I can find one I haven't already mentioned... ah yes, of course. how could I forget Mad God 💀

24. Movie That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)? >> I will refrain from mentioning That Movie again (although that is the true answer lol) and instead I'll go with... Lake Mungo bc I thought that was gonna be way more interesting than it was just based upon the fact that the tumblr girlies used to be all over that shit back in the day

25. Notable Mentions of the Year? >> some more movies I really liked that didn't get a chance to get mentioned yet: The Banshees of Inisherin, Baskın, On the Count of Three, Hell House LLC, Ringu, and Mad Max 2.

Bonus: Favorite Movie Moment?

Bonus: Five Movies I Am Anticipating in 2024? >> Furiosa, the Joker sequel, apparently there's a new Alien flick coming out? Dune Part 1 was Fine, I guess, so I might as well see Part 2 🤷🏿‍♂️ meh

#survey #surveys #end of year survey #movie survey

[mcgnussen]

some points from the ‘beyond the grid’ podcast episode with jan magnussen:

who is jan magnussen?

jan is a three-time karting world champion, british formula 3 champion, formula ford festival winner, four-time le mans winner, 24 hours of daytona winner and former f1 driver for mclaren and stewart. as of 2017, he was the most winning racing driver in europe (mai note: this might not be the case anymore, but it’s still pretty damn cool he could ever boast about that.)  

he is currently 49 years old, father of three children, including kevin magnussen. he had kevin when he was only 19 years old. his other son, luca, has begun to show some promise in karting and recently won fourth place in the danish championship and is reported only getting better and better. considering luca is only around 13 years old, this is pretty promising if he should wish to be a racing driver like his dad and big brother.  

martin whitmarsh believes jan was the greatest raw racing talent since ayrton senna. 

his road to formula 1 and his f1 career

his racing career really took off when he finally got some funding and was able to join the stewart team in the british formula 3. he did a few races for them in 1993, getting a podium, but then raced the entire 1994 season where jan absolutely dominated, winning 14 out of 18 races, beating senna’s record of 12 races won in a season.   

fun fact: jan has raced against christian horner, toto wolff and zak brown throughout his career.   

jan obviously has a lot of respect for ron dennis, but also kind of thinks he is a piece of shit (mai note: okay, maybe that’s me paraphrasing a bit, but honestly not very much...) and he faced a lot of pressure from ron during his brief time at mclaren.    

he believes that his incredibly successful season in f3 actually went against him. that car fit him so well and everything came so naturally to him, so he did not really learn anything from it. jan believes you learn more when you have to fight for it or when you fail.    

jan got into f1 as a reserve driver for mclaren but was later offered a 4-year deal with stewart in formula 1 and broke his contract with mclaren as he did not see ron dennis replacing either coulthard or häkkinen with him in the foreseeable future. at stewart, he was teammates with rubens barrichello and they were good friends, but jan admitted to underestimating rubens on track, which he says that he has learned from.    

stewart kept saying to jan they had a plan for him, the first two years of the plan was just about jan learning the ropes and beginning to score points. jan relied way too much on this plan, he was pretty naive during his f1 career and did not really understand the politics at the time. it was only afterwards he realised what had happened.  

slowly, his relationship with jackie stewart began to break down. and ironically, when he finally turned a point and got his first f1 points (despite it being within timeframe of the plan), he was sacked from the team just after.

after f1 

after he had been sacked, he wanted nothing to do with f1 and all the politics of the f1 world. even if he had been offered to drive for another f1 team, jan believes he would have said no. he even considered quitting racing altogether because he was just so broken down from the way he had been treated.  

he went to america because his manager told him to to get out of bed and get going again, he immediately loved it as he was welcomed with open arms and the car was fun to drive. and then he moved to america within the week. and we all know he went on to have a great career with many wins.  

jan says the formula 1 cars were the best cars he has driven, but he also really liked the cars in nascar. he compared nascar to a three-hour long barfight with furniture being thrown ― and he loved it! but of course, he also love sportscars. 

the magnussen family

jan has advised kevin but has mostly left him alone to carve out his own path in f1, only telling kevin what he did himself that didn’t work and so on, he has mostly been there just to support k-mag.   

he was worried about kevin joining mclaren under the leadership of ron dennis, but was impressed by how well k-mag dealt with him. as jan said “the f1 world is not a nice one, you will go places, but it’s not nice” and it’s clear ron dennis was one of the worst people in f1 at the time (mai note: if not of all time).   

jan has seen a change in kevin this season, he believes it’s because he has reconnected with being a racing driver last year, and not just a formula 1 driver, and found out that life is also good outside f1.  

when m*zepin got fired, jan asked kevin about returning to f1 if he got the chance and he said that kev immediately laughed as he said “hell no”, kevin was done with that chapter of his life. but then a week later, he calls jan and says “you’re not gonna believe this...” and they had a long conversation about the offer from haas. kevin was thinking things through, wondering about his family with all the travelling and his contracts with other teams, and jan told him he was proud of kev for thinking of all these things, but that he also knew kevin was going to do it anyway to which k-mag responded “yeah, i’m gonna do it” 😂  

jan talks about how le mans with kevin was one of the best moments of his life despite all the problems they faced with the car during it, he said that it was the first time that he held nothing back and was 100% honest with his teammate. they had a lot of fun comparing data and they could see that they were very alike in their driving style. despite being a bit unhappy about it, he admitted that kevin was faster than him. but he talked about how he learned a lot from kevin and that they work very differently because they have had very different racing educations ― and that kevin’s education from f1 is the better education.     

jan’s dad also did a bit of amateur racing, jan is professional racing driver, so is kevin and his young son, luca, is climbing the ranks in karting. despite never pushing kevin into racing, jan said that kev was pretty hard on him and told him not to push luca, being very protective of his little brother. so they just had fun with it, but luca has seemed to really stepped it up this year. jan said that he will let luca call the shots, but he will be there every step of the way, and he will even sell the house again to fund him if that is what it takes. as jan says “i have had a great life in this racing world, if luca can have a great life as well then i’ll support that.”

#jan magnussen #kevin magnussen #luca magnussen #themagnussencorner #long post

[shaampoo]

AAAAAAAAAAA OC OC OC OC OC CRAZY SCIENTIST OC

HRGRHRGHRGHRG *goes absolutely feral over OC's* *cries over art being bleh*

Name: Ezra Wilde (its DR. Ezra Wilde to you)

Hes a crazy scientist working for the villains, he used to work for the heroes, but they didn't let him go apeshit with his experiments (he REALLY wanted to create chaos and bombs and other experiments)

No, that isnt blood on his coat, that's a jelly stain, he always washes off blood.

Theres so much to say, but so little can be put into words. COMMENCE THE RAMBLING.

pretty much Dr. Wilde is just batshit insane, he loves his experiments, which have almost destroyed cities if not for the heroes (i have a lot of OC's), he also loves bombs, like fire and explosions are pretty to him.

There are some villains who are uneasy (if not scared) of Dr. Wilde because of how unhinged he is

I think i want to make Dr. Wilde's powers be like breaking the fourth wall cause of course the crazy character can do that,

Hes like, about 24 years old, since getting a science PHD takes like 6-12 years, so i decided to go the 6 year route.

He has a rat named Tar, why he has a pet rat you may ask? Well the rat survived a fuck ton of Dr. Wilde's experiments and Dr. Wilde's pretty sure that at that point he accidentally turned the rat immortal

The weapon he uses is a laser gun and bombs (because of course bombs)

Confession: I really dont know what his pronouns are, i mean like, He/Him is his default but if you were to ask me what his preferred pronouns are i would answer that i don't know, cause He/Him is just not Dr.Wilde?? I think he honestly wouldnt mind you using any pronoun on him (he finds She/Her cool). (why am i saying i think?? This is my oc lol) why am i rambling about this?? like He/Him and She/Her are the pronouns he uses, though, mostly He/Him

Dr. Wilde isnt really intrested in dating, or any of that romantic stuff, like he's never had a crush, nor did he date

Why is he insane? he was just born that way, the fourth wall breaking drove him mad since he always knows when hes being watched, and hes learned to just embrace it, talking to the audience, etc.

Hes not the paranoid crazy type, or the evil crazy type, he's more like the Manic Crazy type, where he's just excited about everything and has no self preservation whatsoever.

might have some more stuff on this guy but this is him so far

Oh! and the Blonde person watching Dr. Wilde is Lumi (or Sunny Knight as their civilian name), they're a villain (that the villains keep thinking is a hero in disguise ready to betray them) and they're siblings with Eclipse (or Darian Knight) whos a hero, but since Eclipse dresses up in dark clothing, has dark powers (shadow manipulation) and is cold towards people, the heroes think he's a villain in disguise

#my ocs #Dr. Ezra Wilde (OC) #OC art #OC #Shae's OC

[sydtaxerror]

Holoctober Day 8 - Haunted

The advent girls get roped into a ghost-hunting adventure with Shiori. Mayhem ensues. Another short comedic piece, doing a lot less gore than I expected this year. Buckling down for multiple stories today. Determined to catch back up!

“Thanks for coming with me on my ghost hunting stream guys!” All of advent was driving down the road in a large van full of ghost hunting tech. “Wait, is that what this is?” Nerissa sounded disappointed. “You told me this was a sleepover!”

Fuwawa popped her head over the backseat, “yobai!?”

Mococo appeared beside her “No Fuwawa, no yobai!”

Bijou added “Stop trying to Jaslight us Fuwawa. The Adventrix told us what that word means.” 

Shiori chuckled, “Since your family guards the gates to hell, does that mean you Gaslight, Gatekeep and-”

“Don’t try to distract us from the fact you lied about a sleepover Shiori.” Nerissa interrupted.

“I didn’t lie to anyone. Fuwamoco know exactly where we’re going. Bibou was already passed out here cause she was sleep-deprived after a 12 hour stream and thought it was her bedroom, and I told you it's a sleepover because it is! We’re staying overnight. It's the best kind of sleepover even. The kind that's at a Murder House!” They pulled into the driveway of a decrepit looking old house with a sign in front that designated it simply as “The Murder House.”

“Its called that because of all the people who keep getting murdered here.” Shiori explained as they parked.

Nerissa rolled her eyes. “I never would have guessed. Fuwamoco you knew about this? I thought you hated scary things?” Fuwawa and Mococo’s expressions grew serious. Fuwawa declared, “Its training! We’re gonna show these ghosts how rough and tough demon guard dogs can be!” 

“And if we spend 40 hours total in haunted locations we get our Specter Stopper certification from Cerberus school,” Mococo added. 

They spent a few hours setting up equipment and trying to get a response out of the ghosts. Other than a few temperature dips and one moment where Fuwamoco were taking turns asking questions to a spirit box and Nerissa snuck up on them and whispered “behind you,” which had them huddling in the nearest closet for twenty minutes, almost nothing happened. They gathered in the living room, precisely at midnight. It looked like something out of the 1890s with fragile old rocking chairs and dusty beige carpets bearing archaic patterns. After a fruitless Ouija board session where Nerissa nudged the planchette towards the lewdest answers her rather vivid imagination could think of, Shiori huffed in frustration. “Where are they? They’re being so dull! Since when are murder ghosts shy?” 

“Good instincts honestly, we are three demons, a rock with emotion lasers and a freaky, unhinged goth with unspecified magic powers.” Nerissa chimed.“

Shiori rolled her eyes. “Nerissa, I’m not going to degrade you in public just because you say something nice about me. I’m not your prom date.” 

Nerissa shivered in place. “Tasukaru.”

“Bibou…do you think you could give them a little burst of anger, stir things up?” Shiori askled.

“Okay!”

“Wait, Bibou!” Fuwamoco and Nerissa screamed together, but it was too late, her gems glowed a bright red and the whole house took on that hue. After a few minutes her gems turned back and the room returned to its normal hue. “Huh, guess that was a dud. Let me hit em again.” Before she could, they all felt a dark presence enter the room, and dozens of knives floated in from the kitchen.

“Why do they have so many knives? Isn’t this place like a tourist trap now?” The knives oriented towards them slowly before launching with incredible speed. Fuwamoco leapt in front of Shior and Nerissa, batting away knives with their claws. “Protect!” 

Bijou was off to the side, several knives flanked around and charged her, but they impacted on her skin with a slight “ting” sound and bounced off, some shattering. She giggled, “stop, that tickles!”

Eventually the onslaught stopped, the ammunition depleted. Fuwamoco turned to the rest of the girls. “We did it! We’re saved!” Mococo cheered. “We did such a good job didn’t we Shiori?” Fuwawa added, and both demon guard dogs angled their heads for headpats, not noticing in the candlelight that Shiori’s eyes had turned to darkest obsidian. She opened her mouth and glowing green ectoplasm sprayed out, drenching the dog-girls. “Shiori’s not here right now!” A voice much deeper than Shiori’s declared. On seeing the state of Fuwamoco Nerissa fell to her knees, crying out “Noooo! That should have been me!”  The twins screamed and ran around in circles looking for something to hide under, but eventually froze, they looked to each other in silent agreement and stalked towards Shiori with grim determination. 

Mococo grabbed Shiori’s collar, lifting her into the air, and started slapping her. “You have to fight it Shiori, don’t let the murder ghost win!” 

Nerissa said, “nooo, that should also be me!” 

Fuwawa grabbed Shiori from Mococo “Moco-chan, can’t you see shes already dead!” She stabbed Shiori with her demon claws, continuously repeating the action. “The ghost is trying to devour her soul! We have to stop him!”

Mococo tackled her to the ground. “Are you crazy. That's our friend!” Fuwawa tried to fight free, “Our friend is dead Moco-chan! Shes never coming back!”

“Actually I’m already back.” Shiori stood back up, dusting herself off.

“Oh.” Fuwawa said. Mococo gave her an I told you so look, and Fuwawa bowed her head towards Shiori. “I’m sorry Shiori, I guess that was a pretty big misunderstanding.”

“Aw, its ok, you were just trying to help.” Shiori patted Fuwawa’s head placatingly. “Besides you kind of did, it could have taken me hours to kick out that hitchhiker but he definitely wasn’t emotionally prepared to be stabbed that many times. Amateur.” 

Nerissa looked at Shiori’s now significantly more porous torso. “Um, Shiorin, is that gonna be ok? You’re human aren’t you?”

Shiori looked down too. “I’m only human-adjacent, but yeah…it could be an issue if I don’t take care of it. Guess the sleepover’s canceled.” They started to walk back to the van. “Maybe the real yobai was the friends we made along the way” Shiori said.

“No!” chorused most of the girls.

“Yobai!” Cheered Fuwawa, tail wagging rapidly.

#holoadvent #shiorinstories #holoctober #hololive #holoen

[whorrorgrl]

What I Watched in July

What didn't I watch this month?

I was going to do my usual thing of just listing off every, single movie I watched within the month. They're usually short of ten, which is good since I'm only able to upload ten pictures at a time on here. But I had a very, very long leave. 31 days exactly. I was bored out of my mind, broke so there's not much I can do, and a natural homebody anyway. I watched a total of 20 movies, and that's only counting new ones. I watched all eleven seasons of Modern Family and then circled back halfway. I watched The Bear, which was pretty good! I'm a sucker for corny sitcoms so I polished off American Housewife. Rewatched some episodes of iZombie. Rewatched a few comfort movies, and decided to go down the horrors of the 80's.

I had a rule and that rule was to watch as many new movies as I could. I'm so prone to sticking to my comfort zones in many sectors of my life. It's why I'm a home-body, it's why I have three good friends, and it's also why hitting failure in the gym's a challenge - my 10-12 reps of moderate weights that only begin to challenge me on the last three is enough.

Anyway!

My favorite era of horror is the 2000's for two good reasons. It gave us gems like Wrong Turn, Texas Chainsaw (2006), Triangle, The Ring, Shutter, Dead Silence, etc. There's a style in storylines, tropes, camera angles, and just general ambiance that bookmarks it as the 2000's. Final girls running through the woods in a classic white tank and blue daisy shorts; A roofless Jeep barreling down a detoured road with teenagers/YA; an entity terrifying a protagonist and the library scene of them researching connections to their harrowing situations. The second reason is, of course, nostalgia. Kind of hard to beat. I grew up on these movies. They're so comforting. I've managed to stick to mostly 2000's and 2010's movies, but I know there are gems I'm missing out on. Few I'm already acquainted with are Misery, Death Becomes Her, The Craft, the Scream franchise, the Sixth Sense, etc. However, these movies are only a few years to a decade shy of the 2000's, which obviously took its influence from its predecessors. But two generations away? The 80's seemed far fetched. I convinced myself that I wouldn't like it or maybe I was too used to other horrors to find the syrupy, gooey looking blood and corny jumpscares scary enough, much less enjoyable. Granted, I did watch Nightmare on Elm Street, Child's Play, and Halloween, but I was only afraid of Child's Play because I watched it as a literal child. Nightmare and Halloween I'd watched a lot older and I don't like them at all. They're actually overrated to me.

So that was the goal this month. Watch some old shit. And that I did.

1. Shrooms (2007, Paddy Breathnach)

A group of American teenagers head to Ireland to get high in the woods. With the help of a local tour guide, the group sets up camp for a trip of a lifetime. However, things take a turn when a deadly mushroom gives Tara the ability to see which of her friends will be killed off, as a mysterious murderer lurks close by.

I had to start with a new 2000's just to grease my way in.

This movie is not one to take seriously. It's a horror movie involving shrooms where there's a scene of a talking cow, so calm the think pieces on this one. It gives you a decent storyline and there are psychological aspects as one would guess, but nothing much different from any other YA slasher. It honestly requires nostalgia for me to love above a normal degree. Since I don't have that, it's a nice one and done watch. For some reason, though, I still bought the DVD. Maybe I'll watch it on my own trip.

One surprise is the hillbillies the teens run into that remind me of Tucker and Dale. They have absolutely nothing to do with the mess going on outside but are the easier targets to blame. Random, but it's so funny seeing hill billies outside of America. Growing up in another country where you watch all these American movies, you get these stereotypes in your head of what it all is. School lockers, Disney World, and Hillbillies in some state like West Virginia or Kentucky. Seeing an Aussie in the sticks is so funny to me.

The movie encompasses all that I like: dumb teens being killed off but in another country. Indigenous (2014), Hostel (2005), The Green Inferno (2013), As Above So Below (2014), and Turistas (2006) aren't shaking in their boots though. I for some reason don't want to talk about the ending. It's good. I just feel like this review is getting too long for how I really feel about this movie. A decent 5/10

2. Frankenhooker (1990, Frank Henenlotter)

After a horrific accident butchers his wife Elizabeth, a pseudo-scientist Jeffrey gauges up a plan to rebuild his wife and bring her back to life piece by piece.

I found this one on Amazon Prime....which I thought I unsubscribed from. Not that this connects, but they are currently being sued for a few class action lawsuits, one being making it difficult to unsubscribe from their membership. But anyway, I had Prime. While simultaneously going through my bank statements, I was checking out their horror options. The ones that were free were obscure. Frankenhooker was among them.

The accident that murdered his wife Elizabeth was a lawnmower that Jeffrey himself created. It ran her over and tore her to bits. Aside from her head, a hand, and some miscellaneous limbs, he didn't get much from his dearly departed before her other parts were cleaned up. He concocts a plan to revive her with the upcoming lightning storm that should help reanimate her back into one piece. Only, he needs parts. So he shops for hookers downtown.

I outright laughed with this movie because it's so ridiculous. The scene of the hookers blowing up was so campy. When you can see the split second they replaced the actress with a dummy, oh my god. So goofy, but I actually respected. When you can see the amount of time that went into something so silly, it's actually fun. Practical effects show effort. I was imagining them making head molds out of the actresses and spending hours getting them right just to blow them up. Or painting those limbs; a dislocated foot, an arm, an entire thigh. It was all so much. The burbling purple liquid...so odd.

I would watch this one drunk with a group of friends. It's just camp, that's all I can say. That scene of the reanimated left over body parts? The ending?! The ridiculousness of it all. 9/10. I don't care. I just skimmed the director's other works and I'm adding them all to my lift if they're even close to Frankenhooker. A fun watch.

3. Christine (1983, dir. John Carpenter)

17-year old, Arnie, buys and restores a rusty 1958 Nlumouyh Fury automobile. Unbeknownst to him, the car is possessed by a murderous entity.

I ain't even gon' hold you. I thought this movie would be stupid. In my head, it's only so thin the line can be to tread with a villain like this. A car....

But!

I was wrong. I am completely surprised by this and I understand why it is a classic. I even bought the DVD. We're officially in 80's territory, bordering on the 70's so the characters and their mannerisms were very uncanny valley for me but not too bad. This is my second John Carpenter movie alongside Halloween (1978). I've only watched The Fog (2005), but I've added 1980's to my list. I actually tried to start it but fell asleep and gave up. Not sure why, but anything other than Freaky Friday that has Jamie Lee Curtis as the final girl makes me sleepy.

I liked how there's no backstory as to why there's an entity in this car. From the day it was made, my girl Christine was killing. Didn't crawl out of hell and run into a conveyer belt, no Charles Lee Ray business; just made bad. She's regenerative, vengeful, and even jealous when Arnie, her new owner, gets a girlfriend. Arnie isn't the most popular guy in school and is constantly bullied, even with the help of his friend. Christine makes it her mission to rid Arnie of those who harm him. Later, she'll rid him of those who try to get between them. It was just such a good plot that was executed perfectly. I thought this was going to be some mess, but 10/10

4. Psycho II (1983, dir. Richard Franklin)

After the murders in his hotel, Norman Bates is back in town on a clean slate. He goes back to Bates Motel where mother awaits.

In Scream 4, Kirby Reed made a comment about Psycho II being underrated. It stuck in my head for a while until I finally decided to watch it. I can 100% agree. Listen I'll find any reason to hate on Alfred Hitchcock like I would any abusive, misogynistic director in Hollywood, but Psycho II is better than its predecessor. Anthony Perkins reprises his role two decades later as the movie follows the same time frame. Norman has been hospitalized, diagnosed with BPD, and is released 20 years later following the incidents. Not all are on board, especially a persistent Lila Crane, but Emma Spool vouches for him so that he can get a job at a diner. He meets Mary Loomis (with apparent relations to Billy Loomis) and a new set of killing starts.

Before I even start, there are two Tillys? I was casually stalking the actors and realized that the actress for Mary is Jennifer Tilly's sister, Meg Tilly. I couldn't believe how small a'world we live in. Now I have to watch Body Snatchers (1993) and anything else Meg is in.

I loved the plot twist of this movie and how it all ended. Norman is really an unwell character so you find yourself sympathizing with the man. He's awful, but you watch as this man fails to discern reality from his own madness and how mother is incorporated into it. She is a mysterious woman. We don't see much of her, sort of like The Woman in Black. She is this big entity in the movie even though you know she isn't real. This movie is the peak of mommy issues. The ending where a real, flesh and blood option is open to Norman to have a mother but he's only interested in the twisted, evil version that haunts his head is fantastic. 10/10

5. Psycho III (1986)

Bates Motel is still in business, and Norman is still free. He's fallen in love once more, this time to a fallen nun. But will his past be behind him, or will it all unravel in this third addition to the world of Norman Bates.

It only made sense to watch the third installment. You see more of the look of the 80's that it's so known for, especially slashers. This is where the infamous scene from Scream (1996) comes in when Billy Loomis says, "We all go a little mad sometimes."

The parts I liked were of course mother. She continues to be this looming, bigger than life figure tormenting those around Norman. I liked the slasher-like scene of the young partygoers dying at the hands of "mother." Maureen replaces Mary as a potential love interest as Norman provides her shelter in his motel. They fall in love, despite her knowing his past. The ice machine scene, the bathroom scene, even the showdown in room 12. Again, you really begin to feel sorry for Norman and the cards he was dealt. Not that a serial killing, mentally unwell white man needs it, but mother is really a prison of his own making. The scene of the cop sucking on that bloody ice cube turned by stomach more than my laxative pills ever could. 8/10

6. Psycho IV (1990)

Released again, Norman Bates calls in on a radio show to retell his life as a young boy. Much to everyone's horror, when the show ends he has one last murder to commit to end it all.

I'm conflicted with this movie.

It's not bad...but 90% unnecessary. Aside from the ending where he finally burns down the house where it all started, I kind of didn't like that we got to meet mother. I've watched and loved Bates Motel (2013), so I'm aware that Norman and Norma always have incest - more so on Norman's part than Norma. In Bates Motel, Norma was creeped out but ignored it or tried to gently transition from Norman's weird attachment. In Psych IV, Norma punishes him harshly. She's severely abusive, negligent, and just awful. She blames Norman for everything, including his existence.

While it's interesting to watch his origin story and how he came to be, I kind of liked not really meeting Norma. I liked her being a decayed, fried out corpse in a chair. I liked meeting her only through Norman's unreliable retelling and untreated borderline personality. She was an entity..smoke and mirrors. Now that I've met her...I wanna kiss her.

She's hot.

Why would they make her hot? Plus she was a hypocrite. She would shame and abuse these women for being whores and sluts while she paraded around in no panties with a man she wasn't betroth to. I always pictured her as this uber-anal, only-have-sex-to-reproduce, stiff, old hag. When you build up a character that's existence is reliant on a character's retelling or the audience to fill in the blanks, it's so easy to ruin them by making them flesh and blood.

I want to pretend this movie doesn't exist.

Aside from the disappointment in meeting my hero, I liked the movie. The ending was solid. It's hopeful...and opens the door for more movies for Norman's spawn. 6/10. I really liked the movie. It can't be 100% a stand alone but it'd be a 8/10 if it was. I'd watch it as one and pretend it didn't ruin three other movies for me.

7. Black Christmas (2006)

A murdering sociopath escapes prison and returns to his childhood home. However, he finds out that his house has been converted into a sorority house and begins killing the students living there.

The casting is amazing, for one. They pulled Lacey Chabert fresh off the set of Mean Girls. May Elizabeth Winstead had just wrapped up making history with Final Destination 3 (2006), lugging Crystal Lowe on set with her. Katie Cassidy had just finished getting slaughtered on When A Stranger Calls (2006). We practically grew up with Michelle Trachtenberg. It's like Do Revenge: drag the pop girls and boys from popular shows/movies and you'll have a cast people will be excited to see before even considering the plot.

Because this story sucked.

Maybe it's me. Maybe I'm the problem. This has everything I ever asked for in a 2000's movie. What else could I need? Am I ungrateful?

I have tried countless times to get into this movie. I'll cut the shit, like three times. And every time I have zoned out. I'm burnt out with this movie. It takes too much effort to be fully engaged and I don't know why. I love Sorority Row (2009), which has a similar premise, and Scream 2 with that sorority scene was amazing. I eat it up every time I watch it. Slashers with predominantly women casted is one of my bread and butters. But Black Xmas is just....I don't know. I don't know! I can't get into her. 3/10

8. The Thing (2011)

Kate Lloyed, a paleontologist, is recruited to Antartica by a team of scientists when they discover an alien buried in the ice. However, when the alien escapes, the team fights to figure out who they can trust as the alien could be any one of them, mimicking their dead crew.

This is such a good movie to watch when it's grey, raining, or ice cold. I love Mary Elizabeth Winstead and she is one of my favorite horror girls. Plus I get to see Kristofer Hivju, who I drooled over in Game of Thrones. This creature feature has a good creature reveal that doesn't completely ruin it. If anything, it enhances it. That one scene of the alien merging too people together and then crawling around on all fours was amazing. They don't make it an easy alien movie where you can pinpoint the creature. It can turn itself into one of the crew members, mimicking everything except inorganic materials like teeth. You get this claustrophobic feeling since there's limited places to run. They're stuck in the cold, unforgiving land of Antartica with a town miles away. The ending was a nice addition. I immediately bought the DVD and it is now added to my collection. It would've been better to watch the original John Carpenter movie, but this one popped up on my Netflix header and I immediately clicked on it. 9/10

9. The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)

When her parents go out of town, high school senior Trish decides to throw a slumber party. But things go downhill when an escaped killer wielding a power drill is loose in the neighborhood.

This movie seems derivative of Black Christmas (1974) and also came out the same year as the original The House on Sorority Row. Escaped convicts hacking up young girls were just on trend.

This one is kind of like Black Christmas (2006) for me. No matter how many times I watched it, it's like I never did. This is a rewatch, but not really because I didn't pay much attention the first time. It really brings nothing new for me. A movie doesn't necessarily need to be groundbreaking and fresh plot wise for me to like it, but it sure does need allure...some type of glue that keeps me watching. The Slumber Party Massacre didn't really have that for me. I watched it and immediately forget all that I just finished watching. As I watch these 80's movies, you really realize how nude obsessed this generation was. Pluto in Scorpio, sure, but these movies are just filled with boobs and bush, bush, bush. 5/10

PART TWO COMING SOON!

#frankenhooker #whorrorgrlreviews #whorrorgrl #the thing #black xman #black christmas #slumber party massacre #christine #shrooms #horror #horro movies #fun movies #horror comedy #psycho #Anthony perkins #John carpenter #alfred hitchcock #thrillers #movie recommendations