#and i genuinely don't know if people are laughing more at the subtitle or at haha sillay jiang cheng

[minimeowsom]

Moonlight Chicken just ended and i can't deal with it.

So i cried, not today no today i laughed and squicked mainly. But yesterday or last week, the last four weeks of Moonlight Chicken were gut wrenching sadness. And just two weeks ago I posted a Post saying I was ready to throw hands if Li Ming and Heart don't get a happy ending. I was willing to trait everybody else's happiness to make sure the babies are happy. But now I think I can't stay with that. but more on that later. 

JimWen

So I saw a very good post about people not being able to really care for JimWen because they can't relate to them. And I agree, I am , let's say, around 10 years younger than them. I didn't have to deal with the struggles they had to deal with yet, they feel genuine and tragic to me, but not relatable. This is in no way meant to discredit Earth or Mix Acting, they were really good in this, I could feel especially Jims Hurt and anger a lot. But what I am trying to say is I don't feel like I am able to say something useful about their Relationship or characters because I don't know what I would do in their situation, I will leave that to people who can. moving on.

LiMingHeart

 LiMingHeart the Heart and Light of this show, especially in the first seven episodes they were the light to everybody else's darkness.They of course both had their on set of problems and struggles do deal with, but between Li Ming feeling misunderstood and Heart not feeling heard at all, whenever they were together they were shining, loving and supporting one another. I would say as a couple i can relate to them the most, (alan is also a strong contender here but we talk about him later) I am just like one and a half years older then someone who is just finishing highschool, and i had to explain to my parents that i have no idea what i wanna do after school, and coming from an academic household that is not what they wanna hear. me going to university was always a given to them. Li Ming's main conflict with Jim revolves around a similar situation. I can feel how misunderstood he feels, especially because Fourth is an exceptional young actor, he is so good at conveying his feelings through his eyes. I am baffled every time. 

And Heart with his parents just breaks my heart every time. The way they needed some eighteen year old kid , come in and show them how to love their son is so sad. But we love to see some character development and how in the end they not only learned sign language for him, but allowed him to go to the states with Li Ming.Gemini as Heart was fantastic too, the boy had three lines in this show, so his lines were his facial expression, the way heart signed (because we didn't get subtitles for what he said either) and his body language. And Gemini made you feel it all, the happiness with Li Ming, or the anger and frustration at his parents for not trying to learn for him.  I loved their story and the way they discovered first love between them, and as I said I was ready to let everybody else suffer to make sure they stay happy…. but then someone just went straight into my heart.

AlanGaipa

Alan just struck a chord with me. Not two Weeks ago I got out of a four year Relationship my Partner ended (for me) out of nowhere and I still have him in my life, because we have the same friend circle and we don't want to break it because of our breakup. So yeah how do you deal with your partner still being there but not really being there. So from the moment we got introduced to AlanWens story I felt with him, yes he had no right to act like Wen cheated, which he didn't, but Wen didn't really help the situation by continuing to sleep with someone who was obviously desperately trying to hold on to him. But somewhere along the story I just wanted something bright in Alan's life. not just for him, but for me , someone to help us heal. And who better than a boy who has so much love to give, who needs someone that recognizes that love and is willing to give just as much love back to him. Because we know Alan gives so much to his Boyfriend, maybe a bit too much for Wen but I am sure Gaipa can take it, and respond with the same amount.

This is also very much swayed by my love for FirstKhao and everything they do. Khao is such a talented actor when it comes to his emotions and his feelings. It is the first time I cried for a TV series in my life, when I saw him breaking down in the hospital after his mother died. 

And the way First played Alan gave me the Feeling of looking in an emotional mirror, because yes i know what he feels like and how hard it is to let go of five years of love.

But in the end we got crumbs of what their flirting and future might look like and it was enough for me to fall in love with them and feel like Alan will for sure find Happiness in him and maybe just maybe a Geipa will walk into my life too. 

At first i thought for sure they wouldn't give Gaipa and Alan a story, i was sure they would just go off to heal on their own, because we had nothing after Episode 6 and normally the show takes time to develop something as big as a Relationship, but maybe that's what they tried to tell us, not every Happiness takes as long as Jim and Wen, maybe you can meet the cute chicken seller boy, get his number, and ask him on a date in a couple of days. 

Something i thought after watching yesterdays and todays Episode was that they put it in because it is FirstKhao we are talking about, their friendship and especially their success as a couple, but that is not true, they filmed Moonlight chicken while the Eclipse Premiered, before First and Khao became the “Powercouple” they are today. Like they let the scene in where First cried when Khao sang, because that is what it was, because it was not in the script, First is just a huge softie for Khao.So I am even happier about the fact that in the end even both people that were left behind by Jim and Wen found happiness in each other.

Something Else i wanted to add was a very interesting post about the color coding of the show. Alan is seen in dark and Blue colors, taking it with him wherever he goes and even putting it on other people, it shows his sadness and loneliness even more, but the moment he meets Gaipa at the Funeral he starts to glow golden like the rest of the characters in love.

And as he leaves Gaipa and the Funeral and goes to leave it comes back, we then again see him in yellow and gold again with Gaipa at the bank and the restaurant, because Gaipa brings the light slowly back in his dark world. 

Conclusion:

Honestly 10/10 would recommend, for everybody, not only BL or Drama Fans, just everybody, i am probably gonna force it on one of my movie nerd friends, just because of the Filmography and the superb acting in this series

#moonlight chicken #firstkhao #first kanaphan #khaotung thanawat #moonlight chicken the series #earthmix #gemini #fourth gemini #geminifourth #mark pakin #bl series #drama series #review #moonlight chicken finalEP

[llycaons]

Ep1: wuji still fucking slays

I've watched some parts of this show more often than other parts, but I would estimate this is my...fourth or fifth rewatch, it has been a solid two years

god I forgot how long the op is. unlike netflix, viki doesn't have a 'skip intro' option

SECT LEADERS YAO AND OUYANG APPEAR BEFORE ANY OTHER NAMED CHARACTER BESIDES WWX. SCREAM

read in a joke yaoyang fic once that they did attack each other during that fight but I assumed the fic author made it up

editing is really overwrought, especially in this first ep. far too many fast zooms imo. seems clumsy and juvenile, tho I know a lot of editing on this show is really good. sets and music and (eventual) character work more than make up for it

don't really like this first ep tbh.

subtitles are WAY different than netflix's. I can hardly follow what the characters are saying sometimes

wwx's voice is way deeper than I remember, too

this confused me so bad but it's nice to have a reminder that wwx IS in his og body, but mxy always concealed his face so the mos don't actually know what he looks like and so wwx showing up to replace him doesn't seem weird to them. they must have been very similar in height, build, skin tone, etc. lucky coincidence

wwx looks so handsome in those beige robes gotta say

he mentions that peanuts and wine both don't taste as good as they used to, which is a curious addition that I assume is temporary because he doesn't mention it again. and because he's chugging that emperor's smile later like it's the only solace in this cold harsh world

WUJI!!!! the emotions I felt when it started during the first flashback to lwj....GOD what a fucking good song. all the music in this show is good but wuji is just hitting it out of the park. ACHING yearning. HIGH romance. POWERFUL pathos.

oh shit ding and tong were sweethearts in the book but I forgot they were also in the show, tho only briefly

this was also in the book. they have protective sigils sewn into their robes, which is implied here but I guess I missed it when I watched it the first few times. honestly a lot of this is still quite confusing to me

you know I give lsz a lot of crap for being so boring but it was genuinely very nice to see him be like 'please respect disabled people and be kind to them and believe them when they make accusations against people more powerful than them' bc wwx does a similar thing in the next episode and I feel like it's one of those things that gets swept under the rug amidst the louder themes of the story but besides just being a 'good' and polite boy he genuinely does care about and advocate for people who are denigrated and mistreated by the more powerful figures in their society

is it just me or is this shot kind of horny

wwx's reaction to lwj actually does make sense to me because he's still clearly mooning over him but he also can't trust that lwj will be on his side considering that in the past he kind of wasn't and wwx is probably still a bit paranoid and mistrustful so it makes sense? he's very sad about like. being reminded of him + knowing what he can't have and also is kind of freaked out at the idea of seeing him again

I FORGOT THEIR MONEY IS CHUNKS OF SPRAYPAINTED ROCK AND STARTED LAUGHING OUT LOUD. I LOVE THIS SHOW

EYYYY LITTLE APPLE!!!!!!!!!!!! I fucking love little apple bro

THERE HE IS!!!!!!!!!!! RED AND BLACK LEGEND IS BACK!!!!

Personal highlights: ep1

wwx going 'lan zhan' all heartfelt and gutted when playing wuji on the piece of grass

sexy lwj hand shot

the way that money looks

#as has been pointed out.he doesn't wear red robes postres BUT he does still have that red ribbon #you can take the man out of goth but um you can't take the goth out of the man. or something #cql re-rewatch

[rainbowsky]

I found that clip of WYB crying. It was cut from the 9 minute one. It might be one of those 'do not reupload' bts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHQw4oWeleM

This is in reference to previous posts here and here.

That is fake. That person is misleading viewers.

Let's break down the creative, manipulative editing this person has done to come up with the clip you see above.

Part 1 - where DD is supposedly crying. That happens at around 7:17 in the clip.

Part 2 - where they come together in the bottom of the boat and GG offers him a tissue. This part starts at 4:28 - nearly 3 minutes before DD is supposedly crying.

As you can clearly see, DD is laughing and smiling when they come together in the bottom of the boat. He's definitely not despondent or crying, as this video clip claims.

I hate these kinds of videos where people try to pull together evidence of something from a bunch of clips. They frequently use underhanded editing to make things look like something they are not. The same thing happened with the clip where GG supposedly said that his ideal partner was female.

When presented with something like this, it pays to go back to the source material - in this case, the original 9 minutes of bickering, where all of this was taken from - and see for yourself the context and action and see if it matches what was claimed.

I think it's especially dishonest for people to use BTS in this way, because viewers are more likely to buy the lies. They will have this faint notion in their heads that 'maybe it was from the bit that was cut out'. In this case, it wasn't. It was all from the original 9 minute clip.

Actually, last night I took the time to dig back through hundreds of BTS clips to find anything from this boat scene. I have four clips from this boat, and in none of them is DD crying.

So why does GG offer DD a tissue here? Maybe his nose was running and DD had a huge booger hanging down. Maybe they cut the bit out where DD is dealing with it and GG is teasing him (or, more likely, admonishing the cameraman for filming something like this - which is what he did during the 'sharing nasal spray' clip).

We may never know what was cut out, but what we can be sure of is that clip of 'DD crying' is doctored and fake fake fake.

EDIT: GG was (hilariously) probably jokingly offering tissue because it looked like they were squatting to take a dump. More on that here.

And GG doesn't ask GG why he's crying. That is a fake subtitle. Say what you want about Fefe, but if he had said that, she would have put it in the subs.

A couple of other supposed crying moments in that clip are also fake, although some are genuine. Let's go through the rest of them:

The last day of filming shot there with the blue background, yes it appears he was crying. Apparently a lot of the cast and crew were.

While singing Wuji on DDU, DD is not crying (starts at 1:20:39).

The next shot with DD walking toward GG crying, It is not confirmed that he really is crying there.

Thailand fan meet rehearsal - I don't think DD is crying there. I actually have the entire rehearsal from a BTS and it's just a sheen on his face probably from sweat.

From the fan meet where they were wearing the costumes - shots from this moment are constantly making the rounds. No, DD is not crying there. It's sweat from the hot costume and exertion from the activity.

When they were saying farewell to their characters in the next shot - yes, they were both crying, as were other cast members.

With all the innuendo, sexual gestures, looking out for each other, etc. and all the other genuinely romantic things that happened in the BTS I don't get it why any BXG feels the need to invent and manipulate things like this. It makes no sense and is incredibly disappointing. Shame on anyone who does stuff like this.

They probably do it for clicks and clout and to make a pretty story, but to me it couldn't be an uglier one if it's based on lies and misrepresentation.

#bjyx #yizhan #untamed bts #bxg perspectives #really fake rumors #bxg fact checkinig #ggdd bickering

[wyrmmaster]

I know some people who watch vtubers, but don't understand japanese. They don't even watch subtitled videos. Can you help me understand why someone would watch an anime jpeg play video games poorly in a language they dont understand

That’s needlessly reductive and insulting to the streamers and viewers. I don’t think you’re approaching this in good faith, but I’ll play ball.

The answer’s pretty simple: some things transcend language.

Not all of them are bad at games, and watching someone good at something perform is always entertaining if you like the activity. If they are bad at the game, watching someone beef it and react in another language has very, very little difference to watching them do it in yours.

Most of them are not indie. They are hired talents chosen on the basis of their ability to entertain, passively or actively. They all have the ability to ride an audience or a situation and play a proper reaction out, even if they’re legitimately caught off-guard by something. It’s very easy to catch their vibe and get pulled in, especially with a game you’re somewhat familiar with in the background and/or they’re someone like Fubuki who’ll just start spouting memes in English or break out into song.

Watching them interact with each other and play things together just makes it more interesting. You don’t need to understand what’s being said to understand a group dynamic, especially not if they’re playing some shit like Ultimate Chicken Horse and one of them is beefing it super hard and getting mocked.

The majority are playing cute, sexy or just plain interesting characters with speech patterns and tones that are beyond doubt familiar to anyone with any experience with anime at all, so that’s just more pull.

Adding on to that, some of them are just straight up ASMR-tier at a default. Personally I could listen to Ayame or Mio laugh ad infinitum. Fumi’s genuinely put me to sleep after I put up her stream in the background one night while working on my dissertation, more than once. Aragami Oga’s voice is audible chocolate. Man’s got a bass.

I can’t speak for the people you know as I do understand Japanese, but honestly if these same personalities were in Chinese I’d probably still watch them.

Hope that helps. 

#Anonymous

[skamofcolor]

I don't completely hate, but have never been a fan of the Noora/William season on OG Skam. Is Skam Netherlands any good? Do they fix all the weird slightly abusive issues with William in Netherlands? I kinda wanna watch because I like the actress for Netherlands!Noora.

**Spoiler warning and mentions of sexual assault in this answer**

I would highly suggest watching both seasons of Skamnl if you haven’t already, but only if you’re okay watching things with sexual assault in them (if you’ve watched OG season 2 you already know about this storyline, and I would say NL makes it more explicit. They did add trigger warnings to those videos though after fans reached out to ask them to, in case you still want to watch but need to skip those clips). Both Suus de Nies (Isa / Dutch!Eva) and Zoë Love Smith (Liv / Dutch!Noora) are radiant mains and superb actresses, plus the supporting casts are so fun and bring a lot of emotionality to their roles. I think NL works because of it’s strong foundation (talking about the NL showrunners, not necessarily OG) and a dynamic cast.

In regards to Noah (Dutch!William) and Liv (aka, Noliv) in particular… (take this with a grain of salt because NL’s S2 isn’t over yet so we don’t know how well this analysis or opinion will hold up, particularly around Noah’s reaction to Morris (Dutch!Niko) assaulting Liv…)

I am an avid anti-William and anti-Noorhelm person, precisely because William reminded me of my abuser and I didn’t seen anything romantic about their storyline. One of the hard things about answering this question is that (and this is true of all the “Williams,”) is that they’re based on such an abusive creep that each remake would have to had changed the characterization and storyline from S1 to really make me enjoy the remake counterpart. I don’t think any remake has done this, to be frank; the baseline is so horrible, imo, that doing so might have actually been impossible. But that being said, I think Nl, Druck, and España changed enough aspects of their William so that they A) don’t remind me of my abuser and B) are actually a bit fun to watch. At this point I’m not a Noliv, Winterberg, or Norandro shipper but they’re tolerable enough for me that I’m not anti- like I am with Noorhelm and the others (at least when it comes to S2).

imo there are a few things that make NL S2 so much better than the OG, and a lot of it has to do with the framing of the story as more about Liv and her growth rather than like… William manipulating Noora and Noora… realizing William wasn’t all that bad? idk. Noliv is central, don’t get me wrong, but it almost feels like a secondary point, just one of many things going on in Liv’s life, as opposed to being the only thing that matters (as it often felt for me during Noora’s season, even with all the other stuff going on for her). For all intents and purposes, Noora’s season always felt like it was about William’s feelings and reactions, not about Noora’s - even her being sexually assaulted was framed as more about how William would react, and then, how he did react. It always felt like Noora was (I’m not talking about her sexual assault here) was a passive player in her own season, constantly gaslit and doing things because of William. Liv seems to have more agency in her own story - she does things because she wants to, even if she doesn’t want to admit it to herself yet.

So with this framing in mind, I think that there are a few major things that I would say make Noliv better than Noorhelm:

1) The acting. Sorry, it has to be said. I’m not sure who directed Josefine (Noora) to look constantly frightened and/or annoyed or who directed Thomas (William) to look like a serial killer but that really didn’t help. I’m not sure what people are talking about when they say Noorhelm has chemistry just because the two actors looks so flat and uncomfortable all the time in every scene, imo. It’s sad because generally Josefine lights up the screen and is great at microexpressions but she looks genuinely frightened or flat in most of the Noorhelm scene that are supposed to be “romantic.” Thomas either looks creepy or bored. In contrast, Zoë and Monk (Noah) I think bring really nuanced emotions to Noliv. Monk portrays someone who seems 50% serious, 50% laughing at everything in any given situation, and I think he brings something fun to Noah. Even in Noah’s creep moments (like when he keeps showing up at Liv’s place unannounced) Monk is so… charming in that role that it’s easy to forgot that this is like… something an actual stalker does and it’s not cute. Similarly, Zoë makes Liv look at Noah with a genuine fondness as their relationship grows, like “I can’t believe I actually like this dork.” Zoë portrays a host of emotions that make sense in the scenes, and is great at showing hints of emotions that Liv feels but doesn’t want to show.

2) Liv’s agency. So again, I always felt like in OG S2, things were happening to Noora or that she was pressured into things as opposed to her choosing to do things. I think NL made a few dialogue and timeline changes to make it seem like Liv had more choice than Noora did, imo. For example, when Liv asks Noah to stop contacting Engel, he says “sure, if you go on a date with me,” but it seems like a joke? And then… suddenly Liv and Noah are on a date AFSGRG it didn’t have the blackmailing/build up that the OG Noorhelm date had, imo. Or how Noah’s mom dies during the season (actually, during the first Noliv “date”/meeting/whatever), and the show doesn’t try to frame him as being!an asshole from that trauma? As opposed to William, who was an asshole because of the trauma of his sister being killed… offscreen…  years ago. But anyway in doing this, it’s Liv who decides to go to Noah’s house and stay over to comfort him, rather than Noora going to a party “for Vilde” and then staying over. There are a few other things but I always got the feeling (which is why it read like abusive) that William was always controlling and one step ahead of Noora. Liv and Noah seem like they’re much more even footing, oftentimes with Liv controlling the narrative.

3) Noah’s characterization. Look, I’m the first one to say being a ~sensitive artist~ doesn’t mean you can’t be a raging misogynist, and I think that’s true for Noah. A lot of his actions in S1 were rooted in misogyny and he never really made up for that. But at least Noah has a personality. And it’s not just being an artist hipster, I actually find him funny and occasionally thoughtful and he’s charming enough for Ralph to like him. I also think he’s more intuitive then William was, just in terms of how he responds to Liv’s reactions to him. It’s baseline empathy but he leaves when she asks him to, he seems to take her fears about their relationship seriously (instead of just rolling his eyes and telling her to get over it), he often waits for her to make the first move. It’s like… from the beginning we know he’s interested in Liv but a lot of the framing is that he’s not actively pursuing her or cross her boundaries - it’s her who comes to him, imo. I actually see redeemable qualities in Noah (again: with the caveat that the season isn’t over yet). I find him fun to watch and I actually smiled at a lot of the interactions between him and Liv. I even thought his reasoning for beating up that guy made sense (the OG bus fight parallel), and I was sympathetic to both his and Liv’s feelings about it. I also think it helps that none of the characters (and, dare I say the show itself) take Noah very seriously? LMAO I always felt like William was supposed to be like, this Unattainable God (ugh) but Noah is just… funny? Like during one of his slow-mos in S1 someone shoots a literal canon of glitter as he walks by! Or how the girl squad keeps calling him “wack painter kid” LOL. This again, has a lot to do with Monk’s humor coming through, but Noah isn’t overblown the way William was, imo. There’s no idol-worship happening behind the scenes…

So with all of this together I think they did manage to make Noliv better because it doesn’t feel abusive the way that Noorhelm does. In the beginning of S2 Noah is still creepy and the show seems to be framing it as cutesy which is my biggest issue with the ship (plus the Engel (Dutch!Vilde) and Noah S1 backstory). But so far, I think they’ve managed to make it something that’s at least a bit enjoyable for me and not downright hard to watch. This is just my opinion, though, if other abusive survivors feel differently they’re also entitled to their opinions! But if the sexual assault storyline won’t bother or trigger you, I would say give S2 a try. NL also isn’t geoblocked and the skamdutch team adds English subtitles right on the Youtube clips! So def watch it on their channel if you try it out.

- mod Jennifer

**NOTE: formatting should be fixed, ok to reblog now**

#answered ask #anti noorhelm

[killiansbutt]

Hello, I love your writing. Can you please do #14 with the Uni prompt. Also I submitted a prompt request last week, and I don't know if you wrote it and I missed it, or if you haven't gotten to it yet. I hope that didn't sound rude or that I'm rushing you. I'm sorry if it does.

Hey, friend! Do you remember what your request was? I have a few still waiting in my inbox that I haven’t written yet… If you let me know which one, I can bump it up though and no worries, it’s not rushing me, I definitely need a kick in the pants sometimes anyway! ♥ If I did post it though, you can check here. 

Extra long one for making you wait for your other request! 

title: Are You Still Watchingpairing: nalurating: K+words: ~2100summary: Lucy needs a break from her overbearing father. What better way than watching Netflix over someone’s shoulder at the library? (prompt from here)

Her father has Lucy on a leash even halfway across Fiore and it’s a little unsettling to the outside eye to see that he calls her the exact second glasses are supposed to end with a demand worded as a request. He only lets her go to school, really, so he can flaunt the fact that his daughter was getting a business degree to take over for him. Something to brag about to his friends.

It was strange, really, how she went from only worthy of marrying someone and granting him a grandson to the actual heir to his business. She doesn’t quite know which one is better, really, because at least as a baby-making machine she was left to her own interests, as far as though interests didn’t interfere with matchmaking. 

Now, as an adult, she’s stuck under his thumb worse than ever and it’s only the creative writing classes that keeps her going. Maybe it’s not polite to admit she’ll skip out from under his thumb and out of school the moment she can’t take them anymore, but she figures if he can bully her into attending school, she can damn well take a class she actually likes.

She’s in the library now, her phone stubbornly buzzing on the desk in front of her, and she feels a trickle of exhaustion creep over her. Her day is class, business with her father, and then falling asleep in her bed – only to wake up abruptly at the reminder of all the homework awaiting her, but she digresses. The most important part of her wandering thoughts: she’s tired. 

She picks up her phone, scribbling a message to her father. 

Father, I will be studying at the library for an important upcoming test and unable to attend the lunch with Mr. Everlue. Please send along my apologies and well wishes. 

 It’s a lie in only the smallest test. She does have an upcoming test, just not for a few more weeks and that gives her plenty of time. She feels a little bad for fibbing, but when he sends his reply back – formal, but as positive as he could get – she can’t feel anything except relief. She has a whole afternoon to herself. The first in ages, perhaps. 

Except… 

What do people do with their free time?

A man with shocking pink hair laughs obnoxiously, earning a jab and a shush to the gut from a friend sitting beside him. Both are sitting at the desk across from her, their backs to her, allowing her to only see pink hair and black hair. “Ouch, don’t hit me, stripper, this is my computer!” The one with pink hair says. 

Stripper scoffs. “Natsu, you’re the one who is going to get us kicked out. Do you really want Erza to come over here?” 

Pink haired man – Natsu – seems to acknowledge the threat as they both share a shiver, looking back at the computer. Natsu shifts a little, getting comfortable, and she can see his screen now. She doesn’t recognize what it is, but she can see a television show playing and she leans forward, hands resting on her desk, to peek at the font playing across the bottom of the screen. 

She can see some of it. Just not enough, but the flashing images of the crime show they watch is entertaining even without the words. She can’t see names or dialogue, but she can read between the lines and she builds a story up herself, leaning forward in her seat to watch closely. 

Minutes, hours, days later, the one named Stripper stretches and she pouts when they shut off the show. It had just gotten to a good part and she wants to know what happens to the detective and her new, supernatural consultant. “Try not to be late for class, Flame Brain.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Natsu grumbles, beginning to pack up his laptop and she gaps at his features. His messy pink hair is natural, of all the strangest things, but more than that, he’s actually handsome and Lucy rarely thinks that about anyone, certainly not the people in her social circles. She can’t tell how tall he is, but she can see his muscular arms as he puts his things away with long, graceful fingers and though he has a splattering of scars on his arms and one on his cheek, he’s got a happy grin on his face despite his words, one that makes him all the more handsome. 

She’s still staring when he looks up, seeming to sense the eyes on him, and a mental yelp escapes her as she darts her gaze down to an opened notebook in front of her. It’s only when his chair scraps and his footsteps disappear that she lets out a breath, cursing herself for falling into such a deadly trap as ogling. 

His eyes are definitely the best part, a lively green, and only a split second of eye-contact led her to believe that he had little to no secrets in them. Like she was looking into his soul. 

She slaps her heated cheeks, willing the blush to go down, but it’s not like she’ll ever see him again. There’s no reason for her to worry so much about what he might think of her. 

That’s what she thinks until the next day when she sees him again. He’s watching what she now knows is Netflix, his friend noticeably absent and his feet propped up on the chair across from him.  She sends a text to her father, not even bothering to wait for his reply as she takes a seat near him; she can read the subtitles now and she conceals a smile, using her textbook as a shield. If he chances a glance, she’s just coincidentally looking in his direction, she’s definitely not borrowing his laptop screen for entertainment. 

And, really, she thinks it’s a little ridiculous that she’s doing this. It would be easy to purchase Netflix and watch it herself – but there’s a certain thrill in watching it with someone else. He gasps when something happens and her mind races to imagine the music that must accompany a scene. When he snorts, she has to bite her lip to hide a smile. She nearly ruins the whole thing when something bizarre happens to the consultant’s brother and a giggle spills from her lips.

His gaze shoots to hers, but she’s already holding her phone, pretending to skim a message that makes her laugh. He can’t see that it’s blank, she knows, and he turns his gaze back to the screen in time to see an explosion, one loud enough to mask her gasp of surprise. 

It continues like this for several days, though the actual events take place over several weeks. Her test is nearly upon her and she has to sacrifice some of her library time to actually study, but when she sees him at his usual spot, sans laptop, she figures that she isn’t missing anything. It’s funny, really, when she realizes that he seems to only watch this particular show in the library because it always seems to start exactly where it stops the day before. She pretends its for her, but she knows that it’s just a lucky break. 

They are nearing the finale for season one and she bounces with excitement three days after her test. Campus is starting to wind down for the term and she just knows that he’ll be in the library to watch the final episode. He has to be because she’ll need another excuse if he isn’t – her father only let her escape today when she told him she was speaking with a teacher about the year. 

She enters the library, making a beeline for her spot. Generally, he’s already there, doodling in a notebook while his Netflix loads, but today, his chair is suspiciously empty and she frowns, footsteps slowing to a trudge. Maybe she’s early? Lucy really doesn’t know his class schedule – she doesn’t want to either, she’s not a stalker, she’s just… pretending to have a friend, which is even more pathetic than stalker, in her opinion.

She settles into her chair to wait. It’s a Wednesday and loathe as she is to admit it, she knows enough about his classes to say that he’s always here on Wednesdays. 

So where is he?

Ten minutes pass, then thirty, then an hour, and then two hours. Her time is running out and her foot bounces with impatience and worry. She wants to say it’s for missing out on the finale of her show, but it’s really worry over him. Had something happen? She hopes not and wracks her brain for some news on campus, but she rarely pays attention to events unless her father wants her to reach out to the community and he hardly does.

Perhaps he watched it already, she thinks, her worry fading to annoyance. She shouldn’t be, because he doesn’t know that he can’t watch it without her, but surely he knew. On a subconscious level at least! She’s well into her own thoughts when he finally stumbles into his chair and she’s standing up before she knows it, marching over to him.

“Did you watch the finale already?” Lucy asks sharply, hands on her hip. “What the hell, Natsu?”

Natsu blinks slowly at her, his laptop sitting on his desk, and it’s only when a sudden grin blooms on his face that her anger drops like a ball, disarmed by the genuine happiness on his face. She swallows, face flushing as her words replay in her mind. 

“I mean… That is… if you’re…” Lucy stutters, pressing a hand to her cheek. He’s laughing now, the type that makes someone want to join in, but all it does is make her cheeks redder. She’s possibly resembling a tomato now. “Umm, I’m just going to go now.” 

“No, wait!” He stops her, taking her wrist gently and she lets out a breath as sparks dance across her skin at the contact. She lets him tug her closer, her fists clenched to hide the trembling in her fingers as he kicks the chair next to him out. Natsu fingers trail down her wrist to her hand almost absently when she sits down, as though he isn’t aware that her heart is stuttering at the contact. “I was waiting for ya to say something, can’t believe you waited till the last episode to introduce yourself. Kinda rude, if you ask me, you’re basically acting like a leach, but it’s funny when ya try to pretend that ya weren’t watching.” 

She rubs her cheek with her free hand. “You knew? Since when?”

“Third episode, it was too much of a coincidence to see you here again, looking at me that way. And also you’re book was upside down, I figured that wasn’t normal,” he admits almost sheepishly. She can’t figure out why until a pink tinge appears on his face and she realizes that third time was, quite literally, weeks ago. 

No wonder the font was bigger after that or that he was sitting differently, his shoulder no longer blocking a quarter of the screen. He knew she was watching – and he made it easier. 

Lucy pulls her hand free to hide her face. Secretly, she’s a little pleased that he didn’t mind, but the larger part… “I’m so embarrassed.” 

Natsu laughs and she peeks out from between her fingers to study her face. Though his cheeks are still slightly pink, there’s happiness on his face. “Nah, now we have the best meeting at this school. You’re a stalker, I’m an enabler, see? Perfect.”

“That’s not a good thing!” 

“Eh, let’s not worry about specifics then. Let’s watch this last episode already.”

She peeks at her watch. “Don’t you have class?”

“Nah, that’s why I was late. Volunteered to meet my teacher early so he had less people to handle today. Didn’t think the meeting would take so long, woulda been better off just going to class. At least we finally got to meet though!” He’s awfully chipper and his good mood is contagious enough that she smiles back at him. “This friendship is off balance, by the way. Ya know my name, but I don’t know yours.”

It’s not a subtle, but then she doesn’t think he’s a subtle person. His words and action thus far are proof enough of that.

“I’m Lucy. Lucy Heartfilia.” She sticks out her hand, but he slaps a pair of headphones into her fingers instead of taking it. She blinks, puzzled, but then he points to his laptop. 

“Now you can hear their voices. Better late than never, eh?” His laptop is shut, but he opens it; Netflix is already open, the episode waiting for them. She scoots her chair closer, pushing the headphone in as he hits play. 

Natsu watches her carefully with a heat that makes her heart flutter, but as the music of the opening theme hits her ears for the first time, Lucy finds herself smiling. 

#nalu #fairy tail #fynalu #ftfanfics #ficsforvera #mine #nalu ff #Anonymous #my fic