#again i'm so sorry for the formatting | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ohmyjinsus · 10 months

Text

gorgeous

park sunghoon x gender neutral! reader

college student! au || 5.4k

this is literally over a year old and I’m only posting it now I’m the worst and I’m not going to proofread it either, whether or not it makes sense is in god’s hands, it’s also been like 5 and a half years since I played beer pong so hopefully I remember it correctly rip

there’s some underage drinking and y/n has some ~suggestive~ thoughts about sunghoon, there’s just kissing though - we’re also going to pretend y/n has a brother for the sake of this storyline, so sorry if you don’t

summary: you’ve been kind of crushing on this cute guy in your business class for a while now, but like, it’s not like he’d ever like you back anyway, he doesn’t even know you exist …. right?

You don’t believe in crushes. They’re a waste of time and energy, in your opinion. As a college student, dating someone is definitely not one of your priorities.

But of course, that hot guy in your business class exists.

You notice him on the first day of class. He’s absolutely stunning. He always looks so well put together, meanwhile there’s you, who woke up 20 minutes before class started and ran down the street in sweats. You’re sure if he was the one wearing sweats, he’d still look gorgeous.

He’s 110% your type, but you push it aside. There’s no point in trying to get with him. Even if there was, he’s out of your league. You don’t even know each other’s names. Every time you think about it, you come up with a list of reasons it wouldn’t work out. As long as you remember those, you’ll be fine.

That’s what you keep telling yourself, until you actually have to speak to him during your second class.

“Okay everyone, work with the person sitting behind you. Do practice questions 1-5, make sure you write down your answers, and then submit them to the dropbox online. When you’re done, you can leave.”

You look at your friend, rolling your eyes. In every other course, your professors just let you work with the person sitting next to you. You don’t know why this prof feels the need to make life harder for all of you.

The person in front of you is already working with someone else, so you turn around, hoping you get paired up with someone decent.

“Hey,” a voice says from behind you. “I’m Sunghoon.”

You want to throw yourself out a window. He looks even better up close, as cheesy as it is to say. You aren’t even sure you brushed your hair this morning.

“y/n.” He smiles, pulling his laptop closer.

“Last name?”

“What?” He smirks.

“For the assignment,” he clarifies. “It needs both our names on it.”

“Oh, right, duh.” You spell it for him and tell him your student number.

“Let’s get it, I guess.” You laugh, opening your textbook to the right page. As long as you can get through this without making a total fool of yourself, you’ll be fine.

“Okay,” you say, “question one.”

Thankfully, Sunghoon’s pretty talkative and he actually pays attention in class, so he has answers. You agree with them, for the most part, and add things on here and there.

“So for solvency ratios, you divide by net income, right?” Sunghoon asks, focused on his laptop.

“It’s net income divided by liabilities.” You’re pretty sure. But he makes you nervous. “Isn’t it?”

“Let me see that.” You hand over the textbook, letting him flip through to find the answer. You’re about to turn back to your laptop and scroll through your notes when Sunghoon groans. “You’re right, y/n. I’m just stupid.”

“Yes.” His head snaps up. It takes you a second to realize what you’ve said, but you can’t take it back now, so you just shrug.

“Damn, y/n. I thought we were friends.” You shake your head, not sure what to say. You’re scared you’ll just embarrass yourself at this point, so you try to focus on literally anything else.

It’s okay though, because Sunghoon is still smiling at you. You can’t ignore your heart beating a little bit faster. You hate that he has this effect on you. Especially since it’s your first time having a proper conversation with him.

He asks you for the next question, breaking your thoughts.

It doesn’t take you much longer to get through the work. When you’re done, Sunghoon turns his laptop around so you can double check everything. Once you give it the green light, he hands it in.

“I think he said we’re free to go now, right?” You ask, awkwardly. There’s still a lot of people in the room. You don’t want to be the first two to leavy.

“I believe so.” Sunghoon closes his laptop and pulls his jacket on. It looks expensive. You kind of wish you had one for yourself, but you know you probably can’t afford it. “Are you heading out? I’ll walk with you.”

You glance at your friend across the row, who’s still working. Part of you wants to say yes, and see what happens. Realistically, you know you’d be too nervous to say anything. You have no idea if he cares about you enough to continue speaking to you.

“That’s okay,” you tell him, gesturing towards your friend. “I’m gonna finish up some work and wait.”

“Sure,” he grabs his bag and gets up. “I’ll see you around then, y/n.” You nod awkwardly.

“Have a good weekend.” He smiles at you again, and it makes you just as nervous as the last time.

“You too.”

You watch as he heads down the aisle and out the door. As much as you try to focus on your other coursework, you can’t get him out of your head. You almost want to kill him for getting to you like this.

That night, while you’re practicing how to calculate solvency ratios, you’re still thinking of him.

You’ve probably seen him around campus before, but you don’t know anything about him. You have a feeling he’s older than you, but you’re not sure. You put your notebook away and grab your phone, opening Instagram.

It doesn’t take you long to find him. Thankfully, his profile is public.

You scroll through, looking at all the photos of him with his friends. There are some of him alone as well. You can’t help but notice how aesthetic his feed is. It suits him. Your profile is boring in comparison. The odds of him looking at it are slim anyway. You’re not too worried.

There’s a lot of photos of him with one girl as well. You click on her profile, trying to figure out if they’re together. There are pictures of her with some other guy. One of the captions mentions something about their third anniversary.

You breathe out a sigh of relief. You actually have a chance.

That thought makes you stop in your tracks. You don’t need a chance, you don’t have a crush on him. Do you?

You put your phone face down on your desk, opening your business textbook again.

Solvency ratios are a thousand times more interesting than Park Sunghoon. That’s what you tell yourself, anyway.

You have to get this stupid boy off your mind, as soon as possible.

===

You pretend he doesn’t exist until you see him in class on Friday.

When you walk into your lecture hall, you pass by him. When he notices you, he looks up and smiles. You try smile back like a normal person, ignoring the warmth in your cheeks.

You find your friends a few rows back, and get settled next to them. Usually when you get bored in lectures, you distract yourself on your laptop. Today, you find your eyes focusing on Sunghoon.

When you glance at him, he’s running his hand through his hair. You can’t help but wonder how soft it is. An image of the two of you making out pops into your head. The thought of your fingers tangled in his hair makes you blush. You hope none of your friends notice.

Your professor gives you some group work to do soon after that. You’re grateful for once, as it gives you something else to focus on.

Once you’ve completed it with your friends, you can’t help but glance at Sunghoon again. He’s talking to the person next to him, laughing at something they said. You can’t help but wish that was you making him laugh like that.

“Did you get what our prof said earlier?” Your friend says from beside you. You jump, trying to act normal.

“Sorry, what?”

“Our prof,” your friend says. “What pages did he say to study for our quiz?”

“Oh, right.” You scroll through the notes you took on your laptop, trying to find where you wrote it down.

For the rest of the lecture, you make sure to focus. You’ll be damned if your GPA drops because you were staring at some random boy in class instead of paying attention. That would be an absolute embarrassment.

When class is over, your friends ask if you want to get lunch with them. You say sure, packing up your things, getting ready to go.

As all of you head out of the room, trying to decide where to eat, you feel a hand on your arm.

“Wait, y/n,” you turn around. “Can I talk to you for a sec?”

Of course it’s Sunghoon.

“What’s going on?” One of your friends ask. You shake your head.

“Go,” you tell them. “Text me and I’ll meet you there after.” They nod, and you watch them disappear down the hallway.

“Sorry,” Sunghoon says when you turn to face him, “I wanted to catch you before I forget.”

“Sure,” you respond. You have literally no idea what he wants.

“I just wanted to say I know you.” You blink.

“I’m sorry, what?” Sunghoon looks down. He seems almost embarrassed.

“That probably sounded creepy, whoops.”

“A little bit.” The two of you smile at each other.

“I know your brother,” he clarifies.

“You do?” He nods, telling you they were friends in elementary school. When he mentions the classes they were in together, you recognize their teachers’ names. Your brother’s 2 years older than you, so Sunghoon must be as well.

“Last week I thought your name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t figure out where I’d heard it before.”

“Oh, wow,” you respond. “I feel bad, I don’t remember you at all.” As soon as it comes out of your mouth, you regret it. You probably sound so mean. Sunghoon doesn’t seem fazed.

“I didn’t think you would, we never really spoke before.”

“Wait,” you say, suddenly. A memory just popped into your head. “Didn’t my brother accidentally slam your finger in a door at his birthday party? Or am I thinking of someone else?”

“That was me.” Sunghoon laughs. “Of all things to remember, it had to be the most embarrassing one.”

“I’m sorry.” You can’t help but laugh too.

“I’m just glad I exist somewhere in your memory.” That makes you blush.

“Of course you do.” He smiles at you.

“Anyway,” he says. “Your friends are probably waiting for you, you should go.”

“Oh, right.” You had almost forgotten about them. “Good thinking.”

“We can catch up later,” he tells you. “I’ll see you around, y/n.”

“See you.”

Once he’s walked away, you pull out your phone, trying to figure out where your friends went. They’re right next door, so you speed walk over. You need advice. You can’t believe Sunghoon remembers you from over ten years ago. You can’t wrap your mind around it.

“He likes you!” is the immediate reaction when you tell your friends what Sunghoon said. You roll your eyes, but you’re pretty sure you’re blushing.

“Oh my god, do you like him too?” Your best friend asks. You shake your head right away.

“Of course not.”

“I wonder what he looked like as a kid, was he cute then?” You shrug.

“I genuinely do not remember him.”

“But he remembers you.”

“Maybe you have a point,” you admit.

“Exactly!” Your best friend says. “He was thinking of you outside of class, that means something y/n.”

“Oh my god.” You can’t argue with that logic. “And he said we could catch up later, what does that even mean?”

“He wants to talk to you again!” One of your other friends chimes in. “I ship it.”

You cover your face, so no one sees you blushing. “I don’t need this right now. It sounds like a fic or something.”

“y/n’s out here living my dream life. Your brother’s best friend, my god.” You roll your eyes. “Did he ask for your number?”

“No.” You sigh.

“Idiot.” That makes you laugh. “You have the rest of the semester to make him fall in love with you. That’s more than enough time.”

They all start talking about something else, which you’re grateful for. Although Sunghoon’s still in the back of your mind. They made some valid points.

He was thinking about you outside of class. And he did imply he wants to talk to you again.

Then again, that doesn’t mean anything. He was probably just being nice.

But when you get home that night, your phone lights up while you’re getting ready for bed. When you see it’s an Instagram notification, you pray it’s him.

It’s just your cousin. You hate that you’re disappointed.

As you lay there in the dark, contemplating whether you should add him as a friend, you can’t deny it.

You do have a crush on Park Sunghoon after all. Damn it.

===

For the next week, you try to act cool about it. You haven’t spoken to Sunghoon since he told you he knows you. You were hoping he would add you on some form of social media, but he hasn’t. You know you could make the first move yourself, but you’re too anxious to do that.

Your friends continue to tease you, but you just roll your eyes and tell them to stop being ridiculous.

You make more of an effort with your appearance for the next class. Sunghoon’s always showing up in blazers, looking flawless. You know you could never reach his level, but you should at least try.

The stupid boy’s got you waking up early just so you can pick a decent outfit and make sure you look alive. You hate him.

You get to class before he does on Friday. Thankfully, your friends don’t say anything about it when you sit with them in the back.

Towards the end of class, your professor reminds you of your midterm project.

“I know it’s early, but you should start preparing.” He says. “I’ve randomly assigned you partners, you can find them under the class list online.”

“What if you got paired up with your future boyfriend, y/n?” One of your friends whispers.

“Shut up.”

But you open a new tab in your browser and check anyway.

“Oh no.” Your friends all turn to look at you. You highlight where your name and Sunghoon’s are on the screen and turn your laptop to face them. “I’m screwed.”

“No, you’re not!”

“It’s a good opportunity to get closer to him.” You roll your eyes. “Literally or figuratively.”

“Stop it!” Although you have been thinking about getting closer to him physically these days. You would never admit it though. Those thoughts are for you, and you alone.

After class, you contemplate asking Sunghoon for his number, for academic purposes, of course, but you can’t find the courage to do it. You expect him to come over and ask for yours, but he doesn’t either. You’re slightly disappointed while you walk home from class.

Later that night, you get a Facebook message from him. You had completely forgotten you even have Facebook, considering you never use it anymore. You don’t know anyone your age who uses it. Then again, Sunghoon is older, so maybe that’s why.

Sunghoon [10:37pm]: hey y/n, I saw we’re partners for the midterm project

Sunghoon [10:37pm]: we should probably meet up and figure out what we’re gonna write about

y/n [10:40pm]: hey !!

As soon as you send the double exclamation mark, you want to kick yourself. You sound way too excited. It’s bad enough you’re responding less than 5 minutes after he messaged you.

y/n [10:41pm]: that’s probably a good idea, did you have something in mind already?

Sunghoon [10:41pm]: I haven’t looked at the instructions yet, I don’t even know what the paper is on

The fact that he responded so quickly makes you even more excited. Then again, he could’ve just had his phone in his hand anyway. It’s probably just convenient for him to respond to you now instead of waiting.

Sunghoon [10:43pm]: you live on campus, right?

Sunghoon [10:43pm]: we could meet in the student centre over the weekend and think it over

You’re about to respond and tell him yes, of course, when you get another message.

Sunghoon [10:44pm]: or we can wait, I know normal people go out on the weekend

That makes you pause for a second. What is he trying to say? You shake it off.

y/n [10:45pm]: are you not a normal person, park sunghoon? 👀

You don’t know what compels you to use his full name like that. Hopefully he doesn’t think it’s weird.

Sunghoon [10:45pm]: shut up y/n 😤

Sunghoon [10:45pm]: I just thought you might have like, a hot date or something, I didn’t want to ruin your plans

You want to scream. You wish you had the guts to send something back about going on a hot date with him, but you can’t bring yourself to do it.

y/n [10:47pm]: don’t worry

y/n [10:47pm]: you can have me all to yourself

Why are you so stupid? Sunghoon reads your message before you even have time to figure out if there’s a way to unsend it.

Sunghoon [10:47pm]: good

Sunghoon [10:48pm]: does tomorrow work for you?

y/n [10:48pm]: sure

You’re afraid to say too many words, in case you wind up saying something stupid again.

Sunghoon [10:49pm]: 2?

y/n [10:49pm]: yeah, that works!

Sunghoon [10:50pm]: okay cool

Sunghoon [10:50pm]: I’ll probably stop at starbucks before

Sunghoon [10:50pm]: what’s your order?

Okay, now you’re really going to scream. The fact that he’s willing to bring you a drink is so sweet. He could just be being nice, but you choose to believe this is something more.

You take a second to think about it. You can’t even remember your usual Starbucks order. Your mind’s gone completely blank. You open the app on your phone to look at their menu. Then you realize how stupid you seem. Sunghoon’s not good for your health.

y/n [10:53pm]: an iced chai latte would be great 🥺

y/n [10:53pm]: bless your soul

Sunghoon [10:54pm]: okay cool I’ll see you then

You don’t want to leave him on read, but you have no idea what else to say. You like his message instead. A heart seems a little excessive, but whatever.

The next day you get to the student centre earlier than you intended. Your anxiety convinced you it would be best to get there before Sunghoon. You find a spot in the corner and pull out your laptop, looking at the assignment requirements.

About five minutes later, you get a message from Sunghoon. You tell him you’re over by the vending machines.

It takes all your energy not to stare at the door and wait for him to come in. You force yourself to look at literally anything else. The last thing you want to do is make a fool of yourself. Again.

“y/n!” Sunghoon sits on the couch across from you, putting your drink down on the table in front of you. “Here you go.”

“Thank you,” you respond, picking it up. He got you a venti. After you take a sip, you pull out your phone. “Here, I’ll pay you back right now.”

“No, it’s okay.” He shakes his head, smiling. “It’s my treat.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, it’s fine.” He gets his laptop out of his bag. “You can get it next time.”

The fact that he thinks there’s going to be a next time makes you blush. You focus on the screen in front of you, you can’t bring yourself to look at him. He probably means another study session, but you can’t ignore the butterflies in your stomach.

“Shall we pick a topic?”

The two of you spend the next hour working. You both wanted to research a similar topic. Sunghoon says he’s okay going with your idea. He thinks it’s better than his. You can’t hide your smile.

You both go through your university’s online library, looking for resources. Once you’ve found the required amount of peer-reviewed articles, you decide to take a break.

Sunghoon watches as you chug about half of your drink.

“Thirsty, are we?” You almost choke. You know he didn’t mean it like that, but part of you wonders if he’s winding you up.

“Shut up.” He just smiles, taking a sip of his own drink.

You finish it, and suggest you get back to work right away. You aren’t sure how to make conversation with him like a normal person, so it’s probably best to just focus on your school work.

The two of you come up with an outline for your paper and decide to stop there for now. Sunghoon suggests you get together in a few days, to add some information and start writing the actual paper. You tell him sure, promising to buy him Starbucks then. He agrees.

As you leave the building together, part of you hopes he’ll offer to walk you home. He doesn’t.

“I’ll see you later, y/n.” You nod.

“Sure.”

“I’ll text you.”

That makes you smile.

“Sure,” you say again, sounding much happier this time.

You hope Sunghoon doesn’t notice, but he’s laughing as he walks away.

You completely forget about it when you get home, as your roommates bombard you the second you walk through the door.

“What’s going on?” You ask, taking off your shoes. “Did someone die?”

One of them shakes her head. “Jungwon invited us to his Halloween party.”

“Halloween party?” You frown. “We never go to parties.”

“Well no,” your other roommate responds. “But it’s Jungwon.”

That’s a solid point. All of you have known Jungwon for quite a while now.

A lot of the guys on your campus are big into drinking, throwing parties every weekend. You and your roommates aren’t into that sort of thing. Some of them don’t even drink. But Jungwon’s pretty tame, you know he wouldn’t throw a crazy party like that. This one will definitely be much calmer. You trust him.

“Do we have to dress up?” You ask, more concerned about that than anything else.

“Of course we do!”

“Let’s do matching costumes.”

“Please, no.”

“Come on, y/n! It’ll be fun.”

===

The second you step into the party, you regret going. You should’ve convinced your friends to stay home and watch scary movies instead. You feel so stupid with the cat ears on your head and the whiskers you drew on with eyeliner. You don’t even have a tail.

Now, you’re awkwardly sitting on the couch in Jungwon’s living room. There’s some Pitbull song about a hotel room playing from another room. They could have at least chosen better music.

Your friends are having fun, at least. One of them got you a drink. You aren’t sure what it is. Coke and something. Maybe vodka? It tastes good, that’s all that matters to you.

When your friends decide to play beer pong, you can’t help but laugh. One of them is quite tipsy, so her aim is way off. After missing a few shots, her partner gives up on her.

“We’re switching players,” your friend tells the other team. “y/n, come here.” You didn’t sign up for this, but at least it’ll give you something to do. You get up and walk over.

“Wait, wait,” one of the guys says. Jay, you think. You know he’s one of Jungwon’s friends. “If you’re allowed to change players halfway through the game, so are we.”

“Go on then,” you respond, grabbing a ping pong ball. Your team is losing. You’ve got 2 cups left on your side of the table. Jay’s side has 5. You know you’re probably screwed, but it’s worth a shot. Maybe it’s the alcohol that’s making you competitive.

“Get out of here, Jake.” Poor Jake looks slightly wasted too. You don’t blame Jay for wanting him out. “Sunghoon, you’re up.”

You freeze. Of course Park Sunghoon’s who you’re playing against. The universe seems obsessed with throwing the two of you together.

He’s dressed as a vampire, which suits him quite well. He pulls out his fake teeth and grabs a ping pong ball.

“Oh, hey kitty,” he says when he notices you. It takes you a second to realize he’s referring to your costume. “You look cute.” His smile almost makes you pass out. There’s no way you’re winning this. Your team would’ve been better off with your drunk friend instead.

“Shut up.” It’s the only thing you can think to say. Sunghoon raises an eyebrow at you before tossing the ball. It lands right into the cup in front of you.

“No, y/n,” he replies. “You shut up.”

You give him a dirty look, grabbing your drink. Thankfully, someone suggested you leave the cups empty and have your own drinks whenever you need to. Apparently one of Jungwon’s roommates said traditional beer pong is unsanitary. You agree.

While you take a few sips, your friend makes a quiet comment about how Sunghoon’s clearly flirting with you. You almost choke. This entire situation is ridiculous, you should just run away.

“Okay, let’s go.” You say once you’re finished. Thankfully, you manage to get a ball into one of their cups as well. Jay grabs his beer, quickly drinking some before taking his shot.

When he misses, you can’t help but cheer. You’re a little bit louder than you intended though. You spot Sunghoon smiling at you from across the room.

Your friend manages to get the next ball in as well. Sunghoon throws back his head while he chugs his drink and you can’t help but to notice what a pretty neck he has. All you want is to pull him into an empty room and mark him as yours.

Jay’s voice snaps you back to reality. Maybe you should have dressed up as the vampire instead.

Thankfully, you don’t totally suck at beer pong. You manage to get 2 balls in yourself, and your friend gets 2 as well.

The boys have only managed to get the one in. You’re down to one cup each. It’s your turn, so you let your friend take the shot.

Once the ball lands in the final cup, you cheer. All your friends crowd around the two of you, giving you a big group hug. You almost want to dance to the stupid Pitbull hotel room song. Maybe coming to this party wasn’t a total flop after all.

As you all let go of each other, you see Sunghoon across the table, finishing whatever’s left of his drink. When he puts the cup down, he makes eye contact with you. You’re surprised you manage to hold his gaze. It’s probably the alcohol.

You’re even more shocked when he appears right in front of you. It’s quite loud. He leans down so you can hear him.

“Let’s get out of here.” You can feel his breath on your ear.

“Okay.” His face breaks out into a smile, and he grabs your hand. You barely have time to process it before he’s leading you out of the room.

“Where are we going?” You ask, once both of you are in the hallway.

“My room.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Your eyes go wide.

“No, it’s okay,” he says quickly. “I live here. Didn’t you know?”

You follow him as he leads you up the stairs. “Nope.”

“I’ve lived with Jungwon since last year.” Sunghoon pushes his bedroom door open, letting you walk in first. It’s cleaner than you thought it would be. “I didn’t know you were friends.”

“We did a project together in psych once,” you tell him. You have no idea where you’re supposed to go. The only place to really sit is his bed but that doesn’t feel right.

“Come here.” Sunghoon takes your hand again, pulling you over to the window. You didn’t realize it opened out onto the roof. It’s flat so you’re not concerned about drunkenly falling off.

“Wait, this is so cool.” He opens the window, climbing through first. Then he helps you, holding onto your waist until you get your footing. “Thanks.”

He pulls off his vampire cape, laying it down so the two of you can sit on it. You make sure you’re facing him.

“The view isn’t that nice though.” The two of you glance towards the street. It’s the main road on your campus. There’s not much to look at, besides a lot of buildings.

“Don’t look at that,” you respond. “Look at me.” You’re surprised you have the guts to say it. If you're going to flirt with him, it may as well be now, while you’ve got liquid courage in your veins.

“Gladly.” When you make eye contact again, you feel less nervous. “You’re much prettier anyway.”

You can’t get a read on him. He must be somewhat interested in you if he’s ditched a party and brought you up to his room. It would only make sense.

“Don’t be silly."

“I’m not,” he replies.

You aren’t really sure what to say to him, so you two sit in silence for a little while. It doesn’t feel uncomfortable.

“I was going to ask you to come here,” Sunghoon says suddenly.

“To your room?” He shakes his head.

“To the party, I mean.”

“Oh, duh.” It must be the alcohol making your brain fuzzy. Or maybe it’s being in his presence. Or both.

“When I found out Jungwon told you about the party instead, I was kind of sad.”

“Oh?” You aren’t sure where he’s going with this.

“Yeah,” Sunghoon looks down. “I thought I missed my chance.”

“To do what?”

“Remember when you said I was stupid?” His voice is quiet. You can’t help but reach out and lift his head so he’s looking at you. Once you make eye contact, you drop your hand so it’s on his arm instead.

“Technically, you said it.” You remind him. “I just agreed.”

“Right,” he says, smiling. “Well, you had a point.”

“I know.” That makes him laugh.

“I should’ve asked for your number then.”

“What are you trying to say, Park Sunghoon?”

“I like you, y/n.” You take his hand in yours.

“I like you too, Sunghoon.” He shakes his head.

“No, like, I like you.” You smile.

“I know,” you tell him. “I’ve had a crush on you since the beginning of the semester.”

“You have?” He seems shocked.

“Of course,” you hit him with your other hand, but he grabs that one too. “Have you seen yourself?”

He looks down, smiling at himself. “You think I’m handsome?” He asks quietly.

“Why are you acting all shy?” Sunghoon looks up again. You’re pretty sure he’s blushing. “Obviously, I do.”

“Wait, wait,” he says, “I got distracted.”

“Distracted from what?”

“I meant to ask you a question.”

“Go on then.” You squeeze both his hands.

“Can I have your number?”

You can’t stop yourself from laughing. You didn’t know what he was going to say, but you didn’t expect that.

“Give me your phone.”

Once you’ve typed your info in, you hand it back. Right away, your own phone buzzes in your pocket. You pull it out, checking the message Sunghoon sent you.

Unknown [12:03am]: can I take you on a date tomorrow?

y/n [12:04am]: tomorrow as in today or tomorrow tomorrow

Sunghoon laughs from beside you. You can’t help but smile as well. While he responds, you save him as a contact.

Sunghoon [12:05am]: whenever you want

y/n [12:05am]: I’d love to :)

You wait for Sunghoon to text you back, but he doesn’t. When you glance over at him, he’s already looking at you.

“Good,” he whispers, before leaning into you.

You don’t hesitate, immediately doing the same. You can’t help but grin into the kiss. You’re pretty sure Sunghoon is as well.

When he pulls away, you’re laughing.

“Are you laughing because I’m a bad kisser or because you’re drunk?”

“I’m not sure,” you admit. “Kiss me again and I’ll let you know.”

Sunghoon smiles, pulling you into him again.

“Sure,” he places a kiss on your neck. “I’d be more than happy to.”

#sunghoon #fluff #enhypen #enha #sunghoon scenario #sunghoon imagine #enhypen scenario #enhypen imagine #sunghoon scenarios #sunghoon imagines #enhypen scenarios #also sorry for the random ass taylor swift song title again I think it’s kind of fitting #also I was trying to format this and my mother comes into the room and starts talking to me about tea like kelly I'm trying to do something #anyway #emojis look so weird italicized damn I never noticed before

72 notes · View notes

escapizm · 2 months

Text

🎟️ 🎟️ 🎟️

9 notes · View notes

sophieswundergarten · 1 year

Text

So. Everyone who yelled at me yesterday for making a ramble on Reynie going blank and then not resolving it, this is for you: (@lemondropletters, you have been tagged)

Also, it's in a Google Doc because it was definitely too long for a Tumblr post, and ~~I don't know how AO3 works~~

The (vague) premise is that, instead of Constance seeing Curtain's broadcast, they all get to the compound mentally sound, but once there, they split up to look for Mr. Benedict, and instead Reynie finds Curtain. This is the wrap up of what would have happened in the last episode.

#I'm sorry if it's also garbage #My brain hasn't been letting me sleep the last two days so I've just been working on this #And also I've never tried writing fic before so it is highly likely to be bad #But it was certainly a fun experience!#I was like “Oh I'll just rewrite that first post in this new format and then add the notes I had in my drafts”#And from there it somehow spiraled into a five and a half thousand word mess #But I think I learned some things!#And I'm sorry Miss Perumal isn't more help I got caught up in the emotion and I just really wanted the kids to work it out themselves #Especially since Reynie is normally the driving force for those kinds of solutions #But without him it took a lot longer than I expected #Also be warned I use a lot more em dashes then I think I'm supposed to #And I was trying the technique of mostly using the adult's formal names since the main perspective is the kids'#But the point is that I did it. I tried.#And if it's terrible then I will just never do it again #I'm sorry I didn't know how to end it so it's kind of vague and abrupt #I hope it's fairly in-character I tried really hard but messing up character voices terrifies me which is why I've never tried this before #I am genuinely so sorry if this is hot garbage it certainly feels like garbage #Okay shutting up now. Again my apologies #the mysterious benedict society #mbs #reynie muldoon #kate wetherall #sticky washington #constance contraire #miss perumal

35 notes · View notes

septembersghost · 6 months

Note

"(and take a guess at who destroyed the professional affinity they built with him" is this the colonel? jfc I keep hating that man

who else? leiber and stoller initially didn't know who elvis was and had some preconceived judgment in place (which happened to him a lot), but then once they actually met with him, they were impressed and developed a rapport. elvis wanted them to be in the studio when he recorded. they had suggestions and encouragement for him, about songs, about his career, and parker didn't like that, was threatened by the idea of them getting in the middle, or worse, giving him ideas (this would repeat throughout his life, it's not dissimilar to what happened with steve binder). the colonel eventually destroyed the relationship they built by sending leiber and stoller a blank page and calling it a contract as an intentional slight. they told him exactly what they thought of that, and never worked with elvis again.

longer details from here

"Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller were like the rap artists of the early '50s, pushing buttons, inviting scorn and testing the limits, as rock roared into being from its roots as blues and rhythm and blues. They were writing music for black artists, when one of their songs, Hound Dog, was heard by a young Elvis Presley. His adaptation turned it into a No. 1 hit and helped aim Leiber and Stoller toward the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

They wrote 20 songs for Elvis until the brash young songwriters had a falling out with Colonel Tom Parker, the Svengali they now remember as a 'bully' and a 'foul, greedy' man who helped destroy Elvis. But the estrangement didn't change their respect for Elvis.

'We feel that Elvis Presley was the high water mark of the 20th Century. He's legend. No, he's myth. He's in that celestial place for mythological figures. At the time, we just thought he was a white kid trying to make it as a singer', says Leiber, the man who supplied the words as lyricist of one of the worlds' best-known songwriting duos.

Leiber and Stoller originally met in 1950, sharing a love of the blues and boogie woogie. They were writing for black artists, their earliest songs recorded by Jimmy Witherspoon, Little Esther, Amos Milburn, Charles Brown, Little Willie Littlefield and, among others, Willie Mae 'Big Mama' Thornton.

It was for Big Mama Thornton that they wrote Hound Dog in 1952. Her version came out in 1953 and was adapted by several groups. Stoller had gone to Europe with royalties from some of those early songs and was on his way home aboard the Andrea Doria when it sank in 1956.

Rescued by a lifeboat, Stoller arrived in New York with Leiber yelling from the dock: 'We've got a smash hit'. 'I said, 'You mean Big Mama Thornton's record?' He said, 'No, some white kid named Elvis Presley'. Elvis had heard Hound Dog in a Vegas Lounge by a group called Freddie Bell and the Bellboys', says Stoller.

Elvis' recording of Hound Dog was released in July of 1956 and bounded up the charts, selling millions of copies. Released the same year as Heartbreak Hotel, it put Elvis on TV and turned him into a phenomenon.

After Elvis' great success with his version of Hound Dog, Paramount Studios and music publishers Hill and Range selected additional Leiber and Stoller songs for Elvis' 1957 film Loving You. It was on April 30, 1957 while working on the movie Jailhouse Rock that Elvis first met Leiber and Stoller. They were skeptical of meeting the newcomer, thinking he was a country bumpkin. However, they were very impressed when upon meeting and talking to Elvis that he was very knowledgeable of R&B music and could discuss its nuances in great detail. They went on to work closely with Elvis on the Jailhouse Rock soundtrack with Stoller appearing in the film playing the piano for Elvis' character. After an incident of pitching songs and movie ideas directly to Elvis and not going through the usual chain of command with Elvis' manager, Colonel Tom Parker, they had a falling out with Parker and essentially ended their collaboration with Elvis. Fast-forward to 1960, they did write a couple of songs that were in the running for inclusion in Elvis' first post-army movie, G.I. Blues, but, ultimately they were not used. Although the direct collaboration ended, Elvis did choose several additional Leiber and Stoller tunes to record over the years.

'We were completely unconscious of what it might imply. We were just doing numbers', says Leiber. Stoller says those numbers were unfamiliar to white audiences because he and Leiber had written 'almost exclusively for black performers, so we wrote in a black idiom. People started thinking it was entirely new, but the base we started from was the blues and boogie woogie'.

Stoller says they didn't specifically tailor songs to that early Elvis persona but began by supplying songs they had already written, like Love Me, a ballad they had already recorded. 'Then we were asked to write for a movie, Loving You, with Elvis and Lizabeth Scott'. The next project, Jailhouse Rock, included four songs Leiber and Stoller wrote while held captive in a New York hotel.

They had been living in Los Angeles, and Stoller says they rented a New York hotel suite with a piano in the living area. 'We were given a script for the movie and kind of tossed it in the corner. We were having a ball in New York, going to jazz clubs, cabaret, going to the theater and hanging out. Finally, Jean Aberbach who ran Elvis Presley Music knocked on the door and said, 'Well boys, where are my songs?' I think Jerry said, 'Oh, Jean, you're going to get them'. Jean then pushed a big overstuffed chair in front of the door and said, 'I'm not leaving until I get my songs'.

They wrote four songs in five hours, including Jailhouse Rock, the movie's title song and Treat Me Nice, both major hits.

After that, Elvis 'wanted us in the studio with him whenever we recorded', says Stoller. It was part of Elvis' 'perfectionist' tendencies in the early stages of his career, says Jerry Schilling, a member of Elvis' Memphis Mafia. Leiber says Elvis 'was like an Olympic champion. He could do 40 to 50 takes. I never saw him happier than when he was on a microphone, performing'.

Both songwriters say that studio time was their primary contact with Elvis, who was kept at arm's length from them by Colonel Parker. Stoller says Elvis once asked, 'Mike, could you write me a real pretty ballad?' Over the weekend, they wrote the song Don't for him and handed it to him only to be berated by Parker.

'He was upset that I handed a song directly to Elvis. They didn't want anybody to have direct access to Elvis. It was like Elvis was kept kind of in a glass box and away from contact except for the Memphis Mafia. They were like paid companions'.

Like almost everyone else, they also had little contact with Parker himself. 'The longest I ever spent with him was a dinner at the Beverly Hills Hotel around 1956, after Hound Dog', says Stoller.

The breaking point for them came when Leiber was recovering from a bout with pneumonia about two years later, and Parker ordered them to California to write songs for a new movie project. Leiber explained that he had just been released from the hospital and was unable to travel. 'Parker said, 'You'd better get your ass out here'. He then sent a packet with a contract for them to sign. Leiber says he pulled the contract from the packet and found only a dark line across the middle of a blank page for his signature.

'I called and said, 'I think you made a mistake. There's no contract in here'. He said, 'Don't worry about that, boy. Just sign your name, and I'll fill it in later'."

"Jerry Leiber: I called and asked to speak to (Colonel) Tom. He got on the phone and said (Leiber imitates Parker) 'How you doin' boy?' I said, 'I'm OK. I had a real close call there. I had walking pneumonia and I just got out of the hospital.' He said he wanted me to pack right away and catch a plane. I told him I wasn't in any shape to catch a plane because I'd just gotten out of the hospital. He said, 'If they let you out, that means you're all right'. I told him I needed a day or two to get myself together, but he said the schedule was very tight and he needed me to come out right away.

Then he said, 'Did you see the contract yet?' I said, contract?' He said, 'I'm sure it's there by now. It's a contract covering the forthcoming movie and soundtrack album. You better take a look, sign it and send it back. So I hung up, took the contract out of one of the manila envelopes, and saw nothing but a blank page. Nothing was written on it except two lines at the bottom where Mike and I were supposed to sign our names.

I thought they had made a ridiculous blunder. I called Parker's secretary and said, 'There's been a mistake', she said, 'Let me get Tom.' Colonel Parker got on the phone and I told him, 'There's a piece of paper here with two places for signatures, but the contract is missing'. He said, 'There's no mistake - just sign it'. Then he said, 'Don't worry. We'll fill it in later'.

I got off the phone with Parker and immediately called Mike. I told him, 'Breaking up with the Presley outfit is like throwing away a license to print money. After all this work, I really hate to do it, but I am really offended' (When I was on the phone with Parker, I almost told him that I wasn't one of his 'okie dokies'). I told Mike I didn't want to work with this jerk anymore.

I asked Mike, 'How do you feel about this?' Now Mike is a very measured and modest with very good manners. He paused for a moment, and then he said, Jer ....tell him to f**k himself!'

So I called Colonel Parker back and said, 'Tom, I thought about what you told me'. He said, 'Good! What time are you gonna get here?' I said, 'Tom, I spoke to Mike about the contract, and he told me to tell you to go f**k yourself'.

I hung up, and I never spoke to him again."

"Like many others, [Leiber] wondered about Parker's hold on Elvis. 'I think he (Elvis) had a very weak father and didn't get a sense of what a father was like. Parker came along, and his attitude was, 'Do this, do that, and I'll take care of everything'. Parker became his surrogate family'."

"Leiber: Of course, the Colonel wasn't really a colonel. He was Thomas A. Parker, whose former job as a carnival barker defined his personality. He had a definite shtick ('Pick a number from one to ten'). He told dozens of canned jokes. I can't remember any of them except that they weren't funny. But it didn't matter that we didn't laugh, because the Colonel wasn't really conscious of us. Of course, he knew we were the songwriters of 'Hound Dog' and the new songs for Jailhouse Rock. He knew more hit songs for Elvis meant more money for him. Beyond that, though, he was more interested in putting on his own show than getting to know us.

He had his long cigar and his confected Southern accent. He was a nonstop talker whose ego was always on parade. He told us in great detail all he had done for Elvis - and all he intended to do.

'Elvis' he said, 'is going to be bigger than the president, bigger than the pope'.

Naturally we agreed.

Stoller: The Colonel had the kind of energy that sucked all the air out of the room, even the dining room at the Beverly Hills Hotel. I had little interest in the man. Elvis was the guy we were eager to meet.

The session was due to start later that week.

Leiber: My heterosexual credits have long been established, so I can comfortably say that the first thing that hit me when I walked into the recording studio and found myself standing next to Elvis Presley was his physical beauty. Far more than his pictures, his actual presence was riveting.

He had a shy smile and quiet manner that were disarming."

"Stoller: It's important to remember that on the day we met Elvis, he was twenty-two and we were twenty-four. We were contemporaries. Remember, too, that Jerry and I shared the uppity view that he and I were among the few white guys who knew about the blues.

In the first five minutes of conversation with Elvis, we learned we were dead wrong.

Elvis knew the blues. He was a Ray Charles fanatic and even knew that Ray had sung our song 'The Snow Is Falling'. In fact, he knew virtually all of our songs. There wasn't any R&B he didn't know. He could quote from Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup, B.B. King, and Big Bill Broonzy.

Leiber: When it came to the blues, Elvis knew his stuff. He may not have been conversant about politics or world history, but his blues knowledge was almost encyclopedic. Mike and I were blown away. In fact, the conversation got so enthusiastic that Mike and Elvis sat down at the piano and started playing four-handed blues. He definitely felt our passion for the real roots material and shared that passion with all his heart.

Just like that, we fell in love with the guy."

"'Whenever I record' he said, 'I want you guys in the studio. You're the guys who make the magic'."

"When Elvis returned (after a studio break), his head was down and his demeanor totally changed.

'I'm really sorry, Mike', he said, 'but you're gonna have to leave. The Colonel came in and he doesn't want anyone here but me and the guys'. 'Okay' I said, not wanting to make any more trouble. And with that, I left. The next day at the shoot I mentioned the incident to one of Elvis' Memphis buddies. 'Don't take it personally, Mike,' he said, 'It's just that the Colonel doesn't want Elvis to develop a friendship with anyone but us'."

#elvis presley #leiber and stoller #i could really yell here because it makes me so upset and angry but #i was reading something with sheree north who liked him so much and wanted to help him and she referred to the mm as “the goons”#they did what they were instructed to do under the auspices of it being somehow better for elvis but it wasn't #he wasn't some thing to be managed he was a human being and an artist with aspirations #it just breaks my heart how that was thwarted or suppressed or exploited over and over again #anyway shout out to elvis australia they do so much and have such informative pages <3 #this was one of the earliest stories i read when i started digging into the foundation of his career #anonymous #letterbox #total aside but the number of guys who go “i'm totally straight but he was breathtaking” is endless and always makes me giggle #sorry the formatting on this is awful i did it on mobile somewhat unsuccessfully #i was a dreamer

11 notes · View notes

gayhomophobicscout · 2 years

Note

If you’re still taking requests, consider: pyro venting about their terrible day (whatever that looks like to you) to Pauling and/or Scout who listen supportively, perhaps interjecting with questionable advice or offers of help.

i'm gonna apologize up front and gently plea for forgiveness up top up front on this one bc this answer / post is a Messss. i'm really and truly obsessed w this req, i love it so so much, thank you for sending it <3 seeing it sent me into a state of frenzy of drawing w/o any real .. planning or. anything <3 anything at all<3333

i think if i try to be comprehensible or give further context i'm just gonna fail miserably so i humbly and meekly give unto thee

as well as

and

plus. in case scout ever is feeling like his chatty self and / or can properly understand pyro

#this is a disaster of messy sketches and formatting i'm honestly so so sorry #the in-inbox? new editor? thing was NOT working so i can't add alt text to these like i was hoping to either #so further apologies for the inaccessibility #this ask was so. like. sweet and lovely and so strangely insightful #like hey. how did you know i just had a positvitely putrid day. how did you know i needed this.#like can't thank you enough also can't apologize enough for the frantic messy response #it is five am i have to go to sleep. fr. i can see how wordy im being i can SEE it <3 #sorry for the over the top tone of this post. apologies for! all of that!#and thank you again for this request #🤡#💌#🏃‍♂️💨#🥺🔥#💜👓#what the fuck is my silly little tag for th . these two #💥e #nope that sure is not it #💥‼🧨#ayooooo got it #🖍

99 notes · View notes

transgenderfivepebbles · 5 months

Text

anyone want to sit with me and think about how carmen:giovanni :: angela:netzach together

#ramblings #sorry for the cursed analogy formatting of my point this is the only way i could articulate it #idk if i'm connecting dots that aren't there but THE WAY HE'S INSPIRED TO LIVE AGAIN TWICE...#ONCE AS GIOVANNI BY CARMEN AND AGAIN AS (RUINA) NETZACH BY ANGELA #they make me SO ill #maybe he doesn't totally understand what she wants. maybe she doesn't like him all that much #but he saw her desperation to live and remembered that he wants to live too #maybe their stories didn't unfold exactly the same way twice. but they can be seen in each other #ruina just keeps slamming me into the floor huh. they didn't lie that story can parallels and narratives

4 notes · View notes

akindablueddy · 1 year

Note

Ooohh!! Did you post you Cap-wolf/Witch Tony fic or is it a fun head-fic? It looks vry cute in any case, have any points you wanna share?

��

Thanks!!

ah!! thanks for asking about it! 〔´∇｀〕

It’s um sort of in-between? It's not a completed and posted fic, but it has advanced from the head-fic stage in the sense that I’ve written down lots of notes about it and bits and pieces of scenes. Fingers crossed, one of these days I'll have the time and strength of mind to sit down and wrangle it all into paragraph form.

As for points I'd wanna share, hm... I could try to give the basic premise of it?

Steve's a werewolf (obviously), and he's spent the past half year since he received this curse trying and failing to find a cure. He's making his way deeper and deeper into a system of caves in preparation for the full moon when the wolf overtakes him (This universe's version of werewolf doesn't need contact with moonlight.). Steve's several days' subterranean journey is reversed in a matter of a few hours by the wolf, and the beast pounds off after the scent of a town filtering through the miles of forest between them.

Halfway through this forest, without warning, Steve is lifted back into consciousness and blearily peers up at the distinctly disappointed face of a witch. He can tell the man's a witch because of the otherwise unexplainable tendrils of light reaching toward him. Before he has the chance to get a single word out, he's shoved back down into unconsciousness. When he wakes, he's on the seashore. The ocean's so far from the region Steve lives in that he's never seen it before now. Even more miraculous than any distance travelled, not a single drop of blood stains his clothes.

Steve spends the next month hunting tirelessly for that witch in the woods.

The thirtieth secluded cottage he visits is overgrown and falling to pieces in places. Disregarding the seemingly abandoned state of the property after the small army of pumpkin golems springs to life and besieges him (as, he's discovered, is standard of occupied witches' dwellings), Steve marches through the bramble and pumpkin guts covering the faint memory of a front path and knocks on the door.

The witch he's been searching for does answer the door, though more out of confusion than anything else. But it takes several tries before Steve can get more than three sentences in before the witch magics him away to whatever far-off, increasingly dangerous location suits his fancy that day.

Wow ok, wait. I'm going on about this "basic premise" for way longer than I'd meant to. I'll try and wrap things up quick!

Eventually a conversation is managed. Steve learns that Tony is a witch who specializes in magical creatures and that his taming spell somehow worked on Steve's wolf. However, Tony, for reasons Steve can't comprehend, refuses to help Steve, you know, not go on a killing spree against his will once a month. Steve despises Tony for having no conscience, and Tony despises Steve for demanding his help, not leaving him the fuck alone, and also for being a former famed beast hunter (not for sport, don't worry).

But then, Steve discovers Tony stopped his wolf in the woods that night because he's deeply interested in studying the creature. Steve's all like "It's kind of sick for you to be so interested in studying bloodthirsty monsters." to which Tony rolls his eyes and tells him, "You're not a werewolf. Somehow, your form got bound to a particularly violent member of a species of beast that's near-extinct. How you two got bound, I don't know. Why's your beast so violent? Well, being bound to you's probably enough to drive anyone to madness." (He'll regret those words.)

Steve soon realizes he can strike up a deal: If Tony keeps Steve's beast tame for the full moon, in exchange, Tony can study the beast during that time. Neither of them is at all trusting that the other will keep their word, so they bind themselves to the arrangement using a magical oath with vague, magical consequences. Those vague, magical consequences are quickly demystified when Steve steps past the low, outer wall of the property.

Tony irritably flips through his spell book to find what on Earth either of them had done to break the oath so soon and then apparently un-break it once Steve walked back toward him. Horror dawns on him as he realizes he forgot about the distancing limit baked into the oath he chose. Steve's equally horrified but doesn't pass up the opportunity to laugh in Tony's face for being such a shit witch.

And so, Tony swears to work out a way of loosening the oath's boundaries, but in the meantime, he has no choice but to let Steve move in with him (mwahahaha). The first morning, Tony refuses to give Steve anything to do. After some arguing, he reluctantly agrees to Steve working around the yard just to keep him out of the house as much as possible. Once Steve's weeded, trimmed, and repaired every inch of the yard (with the help of the recovered pumpkin golems he gradually befriended), Tony reluctantly allows repairs and tidying of the inside of the house, except for the cramped library he spends most of his time in.

Ahh!! I am not "wrapping things up quick"! Ok basically, Steve and Tony slowly warm up to each other, and Tony starts forgetting to work day and night to find a way out of the oath. Steve helps Tony unpack his past and become less of a complete hermit. Tony helps Steve solve the mystery of his curse. Maybe they catch some feelings somewhere along the way.

Anyway! Thanks for shooting me a message letting me know you thought it was cute! Mega-warmed my heart since, as you can tell, this AU is- It's kind of on my mind. like kind of. 🎃

oh! and in the drawing: It's Tony info-dumping about his favorite beasts :3

#don't worry I will not and frankly can not insist you read it all the way through anon!#I'm just dropping the bones of the lore for anyone who remembers my capwolf post and is at all interested #Once again reminded of my chronic inability to summarize and keep things short #if given the opportunity to blab i simply will #maybe it just looks like a lot bc tumblr posts are formatted so skinny?#oh AND I don't know when exactly anon sent me this ask but I know it was a goddamn WHILE ago and I'm so sorry it took me this long!!!#school's got me by the throat and I'm actually still supposed to be studying rn but.... your ask needed answered!!#steve rogers #tony stark #stevetony #marvel #ask

36 notes · View notes

lesbianpikachu · 6 months

Text

Daily Compendium Selections #10

A woman lies unconscious with an interesting shield.

#Dailycompendiumselections #oh god its cold out again which means im procrastinating my lyfee #i love this pic. also thinking ab doing series of photos #this one wouldve gone well w the last one #i could also format them differently #ah. no matter. I'm not sure if this weekend was a good or bad one #i had fun! but oh God i feel like i did no responsible things this weekend #on Friday i got vodka for the first time in a while drank some and promptly fell asleep #Saturday i read and gamed and like i think that's it. i finished a vr game then dicked around in pavlov for waaay too long #and sunday i went grocery shopping and finished the book ive been reading and armored core 6 #it's probably nothing I'm just used to responsibility ramping up in fall bc of high school trauma #and so i get worried when it gets cold #sorry for just talking here that's not the point of the posts I'm just bored #loz totk #totk #tears of the kingdom #whoops early post it is sorry

6 notes · View notes

flecks-of-stardust · 1 year

Text

The Reluctant Gift — A Rain World Short Story

i started this in... may? wrote most of it in one sitting, and then. never found the time to finish it rip. but i Just did, so lol. i was just thinking about how receiving the mark of communication would feel to something like a slugcat, and this was the result.

No formal content warnings for this piece of writing. Contains spoilers for mid-game Rain World; read at your own discretion.

The first sense it gets of something being out of the ordinary is when its hop carries it further than usual. It flails around in the air the short moment before it makes contact with the ground again, its landing softer than it is used to. Unsettled, it tries its best to dig its fingers into the rough floor, hesitating briefly in its travel. This seems to have been a mistake.

After an arduous climb up into the sky, dying numerous times to the salivating yellow lizards halfway up the climb in its attempts, it had thought to explore up this way just in case. It had expected nothing, optimistically a cache of fruit or another nest of batflies. This… is beyond anything it had expected.

It crawls across the ground, shimmying down the nearest pole cautiously. Its weight peels away from it with each slow motion it takes; it grips the pole harder as it continues down. At the bottom of the pole, it hangs from the tip, silently gauging the lack of… heaviness in itself. Normally this is a much more strenuous task, but now it barely strains to hold on. It is almost floating in place.

It prefers being heavy. This feels deeply unnatural. Its food would agree, it thinks.

It lets go of the pole anyway, holding its breath as it gently drifts down to the ground below. It bounces eerily high upon contact, and it flings its limbs out in momentary panic, spinning rapidly in the weightlessness. When the ground greets it again, it grabs onto the nearest crack in the floor it can find, clinging on for dear life. It all but slinks its way to the next pipe down.

It has no reason to explore this place. It will not yield food, and whatever shelter this location offers, it does not want it. But something, whether it is morbid curiosity or a beckoning it can only faintly sense, pushes it onwards. Not often does it explore an area for the sake of it; it does not typically have that luxury. Here, above the clouds, it does.

A paltry luxury it is, however, as it falls—or glides, more fittingly—into true weightlessness. It slips out of the pipe, and the minimal momentum it had before doing so takes it at an agonizingly slow pace through the new room. Spinning all its limbs and its tail wildly, it manages to gain a little more speed, crawling through the air ever so slightly faster towards the floor. It is like swimming, in a certain sense, but the air provides virtually no resistance. The instinctive paddling of its legs does little else besides waste its energy, and so it stops and submits itself to its slow drifting.

It makes a grab for the ground as it gets close, fingers grasping for any purchase they can find. They fail to find any, and it bounces off the ground, instantly flung back towards the ceiling. It flails, whirling clumsily towards the side wall, and grabs onto the first available chunk of material it can find. Its limbs start to shake as it painstakingly digs all of its fingers and toes into the wall, then crawls along it whisker by whisker, growling the whole way. Sometimes it wonders about the lives of the vultures, soaring around freely in the sky. If this is what flight is like, it prefers being grounded.

Many breaths later, it finally reaches the floor, and it slithers into the pipe, ears flicking in disdain. Leaving this area will be difficult and tedious. But it has already gotten so far, and so it will press on. It is a concern for later.

The air hums loudly, sharply, as it enters the room below, and it is immediately plagued with a multitude of blinking lights. It shuts its eyes and flattens its ears to no avail. The noise, the lights, they are omnipresent, and briefly it considers leaving.

But beyond the shrill humming of the structures around it, there is an additional… presence that it can feel. The energy, rumbling like thunder through the air, presses into its head, heavy and oppressive, but it drags itself forward, climbing down the pole and onto the floor, its fingers feeling for ledges as it continues onward. It feels important, relevant in a way beyond simple nutritional needs. If it has already come all this way, it can inspect the source of this energy. At worst, it will die, and it will wake up again in a shelter with more knowledge.

There are poles along the walls, some of them uncomfortably close to the lights; it closes its eyes and proceeds, its skin prickling with every motion. This whole structure—the weightlessness, the lights, the humming, this strange energy—is connected. For what reason, it does not understand. The only thing it can discern is that it should not be here.

The energy intensifies the further it goes, concentrating to a near unbearable degree as it clambers down a pipe. The room ahead is dim, illuminated only by small circles of light here and there, flickering in and out as they chase each other through the air. Pearls, shining in a multitude of hues, spin after them. It watches them whirl through the room, fingers flexing. It could do with an extra favor with the scavengers.

The dancing of the pearls guides its attention to the center of the room, where there is a strange creature affixed to the wall by a long, stone structure. Before it can inspect the oddity further, however, its weight abruptly returns, and it falls, landing hard on the floor of the room. The pearls clatter down along with it, a cacophony of noise that only aggravates its pain. Throbbing all over, it looks up at the creature helplessly as the creature spins in circles above it, observing it with a cold, blank stare. It should not have gone in here. If death should come—with the strange stone structure, it presumes—may it be quick, so it can return to its last slumber swiftly.

The creature, a garish pink with orange fur over part of its body, merely continues spinning in circles above it. It begins making a strange series of noises, hissing and groaning and clicking in rapid succession as it moves around, the strange stone fixture pulling it to various locations in the room. It pins its ears back, bunching itself together in a weak attempt to look more threatening. There are no weapons around, only pearls; perhaps if it threw a pearl hard enough, it could distract the creature long enough for it to climb the walls. But no, that wouldn’t work, as it is heavy again. It is trapped here, completely at the mercy of this creature. It squeezes its eyes shut, not willing to witness its death.

Instead, it is yanked into the air, an invisible force grasping it by the head and flinging it every which way. It cannot move its limbs, can barely feel them flapping uselessly as its body is flung around. It is thankful for having shut its eyes prior to this, as this is a worse death than it could have ever imagined. It can almost feel its neck cracking, snapping from the force it is being thrown around with, and any moment now it will wake up—

It falls again, this time landing on a bed of pearls, and it yips in pain. Its head aches, the pain much sharper than the dull throbbing in the rest of its body, as if its head is being compressed in the jaws of a lizard. It scratches at its ears, trying in vain to rid itself of the unpleasant sensation. It can feel the inside of its head trying its hardest to escape.

It covers its ears as an even sharper pain stabs through its head. “Is this reaching you?” The sounds sink into its mind like the claws of a vulture, unwanted knowledge searing itself deep into its memory. It digs its fingers into its head. “A little animal, on the floor of my chamber. I think I know what you are looking for.” Each word, each fragment of information pounding its way into its skull—skull? What is a skull? Why does it possess such information?—like the rain thundering down on it, ripping its mind open and putting it back together again, over and over and over again in the fractions—fractions?—of a heartbeat. It keeps its hands clasped over its head as the pink creature drones on.

Through a constant haze of pain that, thankfully, fades little by little as the pink creature speaks, it is given instructions: go west, then down. It retains little else still, as each word enters its mind like a spear through its head; all the talk about ‘cycles’ and ‘rituals’ becomes a dizzying blur of information it wishes it had never received. It cares minimally about such things, beyond the fact that perpetually, if it dies, it will wake up, greeted again by the grinding sound of the shelter doors opening. But it listens regardless. It does not have a choice in the matter.

The pink creature concludes its speech, coldly wishing it luck, and with the sudden dusk in the room its weight vanishes again. Head still pounding, it kicks off the ground, shooting straight up towards the same pipe it had entered through, and it eagerly clambers up. It wastes no time backtracking, its heart beating more steadily as its steps grow progressively heavier. When the familiarity of its own weight fully returns, it slumps onto the ground with a sigh, scratching its head. It is a relief it never thought it would ever need to feel.

It pats briefly all around its head and neck, searching for any indication of the encounter it had just had. Its neck is intact, though sore, and its head is unharmed, though it aches mightily. Its tail is unaltered, its limbs are still strong, its fingers are still nimble. It is, by all definitions, still itself. And yet, it cannot help but feel as if a fundamental aspect of it has been rewritten, a rearrangement of its very being that it had not asked for.

A gift, the pink creature had said. This was a gift. It puts its hands over its nose, sighing through its fingers. Time will, perhaps, tell whether it believes the same.

There is a shelter down below, it remembers, that it passed by before deciding to explore a little further. Too exhausted to stand up, it crawls its way towards the ruined ladder, pausing briefly at the edge to peer down at the dilapidated structure. The metal is corroded, the stone platforms crumbling, and—its ears twitch in displeasure as it catches the sound—there is a faint creaking as it carefully puts its weight onto the structure. But it proceeds, climbing down, even as the metal rattles ominously.

It has barely set its feet on solid ground when the distinctive clanking of metal catches its attention. It turns to see a rusted piece of the ladder on the ground. Instinctively, it leaps back, just in time to dodge a second piece that lands right where it was standing. Ears flattening against its skull, it bounds to the shelter and dives into it amid the cacophony of the ladder crumpling in on itself. It instantly regrets the decision, as the small metal chamber only causes the sound to reverberate, and it covers its ears with its hands and buries its face under its tail as it waits for the sounds to stop and for the world to stop shaking.

What feels like minutes later, it lifts its head, ears flicking warily. It is quiet now. It carefully climbs up out of the shelter, nose wrinkling at the dust in the air. The ladder is no more, reduced to a pile of rubble. It creeps up to the pile, surveying it, then slowly pulls out one of the smallest remaining fragments of the ladder. It will serve as a decent spear.

Opening the strange popping plants next to the shelter, chewing on the kernels, then sliding back into the shelter is almost mechanical as it ponders its next move. It cannot return to the strange pink creature’s chamber, now that the ladder is ruined. Its only viable route is down, but down where? The west path does not sound appealing just yet. Where else can it go now?

As the shelter doors slam shut above it, it remembers: the blue creature, sitting on a pile of rubble. It had made sounds similar to those emitted by the pink creature. Perhaps they are related? But the blue one was kind, gentle. Now, it will be able to understand the blue one.

It curls up tighter, gripping its tail. Perhaps this was a gift after all.

#rain world #slugcat #i don't know if i should tag pebbles because he's very background in this #but he Does appear #moon is mentioned. moon <3 #rain showers #but overall this is slugcat focused #like man idk wouldn't it be fucked up if you took a rat and made it able to understand quantum mechanics #i think that would give it chronic migraines #oh my god i'm so sorry the formatting was fine when i posted it i swear #how long has it been one gigantic paragraph #also for future reference if this happens again (and it probably will)#anything i post here is cross posted to ao3 under the same username #just use underscores instead of dashes

17 notes · View notes