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sankyeom · 2 years

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ACT NOW, THINK LATER! | S.JY

pairing: jake sim x reader (she/her pronouns) genre(s): university/college au, strangers to friends to lovers, summary: in which you kiss a stranger to prove to your friends that you’re over lee heeseung, only to discover that this stranger is completely entangled in your life word count: 9.6k warning(s): alcohol consumption, mentions of being tipsy note: this is based on this victon subin timestamp i wrote last year, but i kind of lost inspiration for it as a subin fic and wrote it into a jake fic lol. anyway, enjoy!

masterlist

“I change my mind,” Sunghoon said, standing at the party host’s door. “Let’s not go.”

You smiled, used to his introverted behaviour. “Okay,” you agreed. “We can leave if you don’t want to go in.”

“No,” Sunghoon sighed. “We should go in. If we don’t, everyone’s going to think that you bailed because of Heeseung and Hana.”

You groaned, glaring at him. “You know what, just because you said that, we’re going in whether you like it or not,” you decided, opening the front door and gently pushing Sunghoon through the doorway.

“Hey,” he protested, stumbling slightly over his feet and laughing when he saw your irritated expression. “I said that everyone else would think that, I know it’s not true,” Sunghoon defended himself.

“Yeah, well, I’m getting sick of everyone bringing it up around me,” you admitted, making a beeline for the kitchen to pour yourself a drink. “I just wish everyone would stop talking about it! I literally have no issues with either of them, and there’s no lingering feelings or whatever. I’m good, I’m totally fine,” you muttered, sipping your drink with a frown on your face.

“Alright, I’m sorry,” Sunghoon admitted, gingerly scanning the assortment of snacks with vague disinterest.

“You know Jay and Niki came up to me today to tell me that Heeseung and Hana got back together,” you said, rolling your eyes at the memory of Niki storming into the library and Jay cornering you after your morning lecture. “It’s everyone else who’s making a big deal out of it, not me.”

Noticing how you were growing more frustrated the more you talked about it, Sunghoon was quick to concede. “I won’t bring it up again, I promise,” he assured you.

“Thanks,” you sighed. “Now let’s go find our friends before they send a search party,” you suggested, scanning the crowded living room to search for your friend group.

You didn’t have to look far, since all of your friends – minus Heeseung and his girlfriend – had spotted you first, making their way over to the significantly less crowded kitchen. You hesitantly waved them over, slightly dreading the concerned looks you knew they would give you.

“Hey,” Jay, who was impeccably dressed and perfectly styled as always, acknowledged you with a hug. You hugged back, barely seeing over his shoulder to see your other friends greet each other.

“If it isn’t my favourite heartbroken friend,” Jungwon teased you, grinning brightly in amusement.

You narrowed your eyes at him, playfully pointing a threatening finger at him. “You’re lucky you’re cute,” you told him. “Can we please stop talking about it?”

“We haven’t even started talking about it!” Sunoo complained. “I can’t believe Heeseung would do this to you.”

“He didn’t do anything,” you insisted. “And would you keep your voice down? They could be anywhere and I don’t want to start anything,” you added, hurriedly looking around to see if Heeseung or Hana were anywhere in sight.

“Actually, he did do something,” Jay said, earning a glare from you. “What?” he exclaimed, raising his hands in surrender. “I’m just saying! You don’t kiss someone and then get back together with your ex two weeks later. Especially if that someone you kissed is one of your best friends.”

“Yeah,” Sunoo agreed, scowling. “That majorly sucks.”

“He was tipsy,” you reminded them. “And it was just a kiss! It’s no big deal.”

“I think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard you say that,” Niki muttered. “Aren’t you the one who said that kisses are a jumping off point into new, exciting emotional endeavours?”

“I told you that in confidence one time at three in the morning,” you reminded him. “And that was a long time ago. My philosophy has changed.”

Jay laughed. “You’re the most stubborn person I know,” he exclaimed. “There’s no way that your philosophy on anything has changed.”

“If you guys are just going to make fun of me all night, I can leave,” you said, pointing your thumb at the front door.

“Alright, fine, we’ll stop,” Jungwon allowed, though he was still smiling at your friendly bickering. “As long as you admit that a small part of you is still pining for Heeseung.”

You rolled your eyes. “I’m not still pining for Heeseung,” you denied. “I don’t know how many more times I have to say it before you guys understand. But I’ll say it again: I’m not pining.”

Your friends clearly didn’t buy this. “You liked him for half a year,” Sunoo reminded you – as if you needed reminding. “And what, you suddenly decided to just get over him?”

“He has a girlfriend,” you reminded them. “Even if I did still like him, there’s no point in even discussing it.”

“Okay, then prove it,” Niki, who suddenly had one of those evil smiles on his face, suggested in a casual tone.

You sighed, knowing you’d probably regret asking. “How?”

“Easy,” Niki said innocently, and that was when you knew you were in trouble. Wearily, you nodded for him to go on. “Kiss the next person who walks through the door, and I’ll believe you.”

You rose an eyebrow, eyes sweeping across the room to the front door.

It would be simple to accept this challenge, and having all of your friends drop the subject would be reason enough to just kiss a stranger. But the truth was that Sunghoon and Jay were right; you did put a lot of importance into kisses, and your philosophy on this would probably never change.

Was it worth it to ignore your thoughts on kisses, especially first kisses, just once so your friends would leave you alone?

“I bet you’re hoping that Lee Heeseung will step through that door,” Jungwon said jokingly as your friends giggled, which made you instantly make up your mind. You knew they were just being playful, and they would never actually hurt your feelings, but you wanted to end this conversation once and for all.

“If I do this,” you began, abruptly silencing your friends as they stared at you in disbelief. “You’ll never bring this up ever again? And you’ll believe me when I say I’m over him?”

Sunoo laughed nervously. “Wait, you’re not serious?”

You smiled. “Just answer the question.”

“Yeah,” Jay nodded, the others slowly following his lead, still too shocked to think about what they were doing. “We’ll believe you.”

“Fine,” you agreed, pouring yourself a new drink and knocking it back with a wince. “Let’s see who the lucky stranger is,” you added, facing the front door.

Your friends swiftly whipped their heads around in the same direction, anticipation growing. Although you were trying to play it off, you could feel your heart beating just a little faster in your chest than it had been a minute ago. At this point, your confident act had gone far enough that your pride would no longer let you out of this deal.

When the door did finally open, you had no idea what would become of the next two minutes of your life. It took only a couple minutes for the doorknob to turn, and you could feel your breath catch as you waited to see who would walk through the doorway. You could hear your friends all holding their breath beside you, equally riveted to see who you would have to kiss.

Seconds later, a tall boy with perfect brown hair came through the doorway sporting a nervous smile.

You sighed, embarrassment filling your chest as your friends whispered amongst themselves.

Of course he had to be hot.

Fate couldn’t have been kind to you even once, and had to give you a ridiculously good-looking guy with amazing style and kind eyes to kiss in front of all of your friends.

He was dressed head-to-toe in black, the colour making his skin and brown eyes stand out even from a distance. You had never seen him before, which didn’t surprise you considering how big your university was. Luckily, this made your situation just a little less scary.

If you had never seen him before, chances were that you’d never see him again. And even though a little voice in your head was insistent that you were lying to yourself, you had to push those thoughts away. At that point, you couldn’t let your doubts stop you; you had to act now, think later.

As he closed the door behind him, he was met by the excited cheers of a few guys you didn’t know, and as your eyes swept towards them you could see Heeseung dancing with Hana. Admittedly, Heeseung’s presence added just enough doubt for you to falter in your steps towards the stranger.

Perhaps there was a tiny bit of truth to what your friends were saying. Perhaps what Heeseung did to you really did hurt a little.

Making up your mind, you placed your drink down on the kitchen counter and approached the boy, your friends buzzing with excitement behind you. The boy spotted you, sending you a friendly if not slightly confused smile.

“Um, hi-”

“Can I kiss you?” you asked him once you were directly in front of him, forgoing any sort of greeting or explanation. His eyes widened in shock, taking a moment to register your words.

Only after you spoke did you realise that the boy might reject you. Instantly, goosebumps rose on your skin at the thought of embarrassing yourself further.

To your relief, he said: “Yeah,” nodding his head once. You couldn’t help but notice just how beautiful he looked like this, lips slightly parted and pupils blown. That was all it took for you to grasp the lapels of his leather jacket and kiss him.

Despite the fact that he barely had any warning of your intentions, the stranger kissed you back, meeting your lips with equal fervour. You leaned into the kiss, wrapping your arms around his shoulders as he cupped your face. Even though you had never kissed this boy before, he was doing an excellent job at convincing you to do it again. He seemed to be thinking something similar as he pulled you impossibly closer.

Maybe you were right all along about first kisses being significant.

“Hi,” he greeted you breathlessly once you pulled away, thumb caressing your cheek. You felt out of breath and a little light-headed, but your stomach was warm and throbbing with butterflies.

The second his lips curved into a perfect smile, you knew you were in trouble. There was no end to those the butterflies.

“I’m Jake.”

Even his name was pretty.

Up close, his dark brown hair was swept perfectly away from his forehead and his brown eyes seemed to almost glow in the crummy entryway lights. He had pretty, pink lips and a pointed, perfect nose to top it off. The black top and jacket he was wearing made is creamy skin look even more flawless, and it took all of your self control to not pull him in for another kiss.

You could hear your friends cheering you on, causing an embarrassed flush to cross the tops of Jake’s cheeks. He let out a shy laugh, searching your eyes as if he was memorising them and sliding his hands to hold yours.

God, he’s perfect. Where on earth had this man come from? Heaven?

“Hi Jake,” you replied rather breathlessly, wondering how you were supposed to get out of this predicament. There was only one thing for it: “Um, your fly is open,” you lied, thinking on your feet as quickly as you could.

When Jake took his hands from where they were linked with yours to fix this non-existent mistake, you took your chance to escape.

[10:21pm]

niki: holy shit!!! you kissed him!!

sunghoon: i am both scarred for life and incredibly impressed, y/n

heeseung: omg what?? who did y/n kiss??

sunoo: DIDN’T YOU SEE???

heeseung: OBVIOUSLY NOT

heeseung: who was it?? tell me, tell me

jay: we don’t know who, it was just the first person to walk through the door

heeseung: YOU’RE LYINGGG

jungwon: it’s true!!

sunoo: was he a good kisser?? 😏

sunghoon: it sure looked like he was 😏

y/n: no comment…

niki: ASJFGK Y/N WHAT

y/n is offline (10:25pm)

“I’m sorry but I don’t get it,” Jay said, eyeing you suspiciously as you took your laptop and textbook out of your bag. It had been two days since the party, and you were actively doing your best to bring as little attention to yourself as possible, just in case you ran into Jake. “You’re telling me that you had an amazing first kiss with a literal stranger, and you made up some dumb excuse to get away from him?”

Your head jerked to face your friend, frowning at his accusation. “I thought it was a pretty creative excuse, thank you very much.”

“Y/n.”

“Jongseong.”

“Oh, you’re calling me by my legal name now?” Jay said, raising an eyebrow. “It’s that serious?”

“I thought I kissed a stranger so that you guys would stop bothering me,” you reminded him pointedly, opening your laptop to a new document as your Professor made her way to the front of the room.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Jay grinned victoriously, twirling a pen in his hand. “It was specific to not bothering you about the whole Heeseung and Hana thing, not to stop bothering you altogether.”

“You should change your major to law,” you mocked playfully. “Since you’re so good at remembering the clauses of our agreement.”

“Did you feel butterflies?” Now it was Jay’s turn to mock. “When he kissed you? You felt butterflies and your heart was racing, right?” he accused, relishing in the deadpan stare you sent him.

You wanted nothing more than to wipe the smug smile off your best friend’s face, but you loved him too much to actually do anything to make him stop smiling.

“That’s nothing,” you said in a hushed tone, not wanting to draw your Professor’s attention to yourself. “I felt butterflies, so what? I was nervous about kissing a stranger and had those anxious butterflies before he even walked through the door.”

“Alright, fine,” Jay conceded, dark brown eyes skimming what your Professor had projected onto the screen. Then, he met your gaze and you could see the mischievous glint in them. “Just answer this: did you feel any butterflies when you kissed Heeseung?”

“No, but he was tipsy and I don’t like him like that,” you rolled your eyes, nudging him in the arm when snorted. “So, I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.”

“Fine,” Jay tried to hide his laughter. “Then I’m going to pretend that you didn’t just suggest that you might like that guy you kissed.”

Just as you had predicted, you didn’t see Jake again.

The first week after your kiss, you had walked around campus with extreme care to avoid him, but your university was huge and you didn’t even know what department Jake was in. Even if you tried to avoid him, you didn’t know how you would go about doing so. Soon, you grew confident that you wouldn’t unexpectedly run into him at any point and continued on with your daily routine as always.

On the Monday two weeks after the party, you were running late for your first class. Of course this was the class where you didn’t have any friends that could save you a seat, so when you arrived at the crowded lecture theatre, there was only one available seat left. It was wedged between two guys you hadn’t seen before and was a real pain to get to, having to squeeze past a whole row of seated students to sit down.

With a huff, you took your seat and started pulling your notebook and pens out of your bag.

“Hey,” the guy next to you whispered.

You hummed absentmindedly, still taking taking your supplies out as you glanced sideways, eyes widening when you recognised the guy as Jake.

He was wearing a white sweatshirt and a beige baseball cap that he wore backwards, and the brightness of his clothes made him look drastically different from the night of the party. Though he was still just as handsome, he seemed more approachable and friendly in this more casual style.

To your surprise, Jake didn’t look upset to see you. In fact, he looked at you with a bright, excited grin as if you didn’t kiss him and run away with a bogus excuse only seconds later.

“I’ve been wondering,” he began but was cut off by your Professor starting his lecture. Awkwardly, Jake cleared his throat and turned his attention to the front of the room.

You reminded yourself to do the same, having trouble dragging your eyes from the boy you had shared a frightfully amazing kiss with.

Focusing on your class was nearly impossible.

The seats in the lecture hall were cramped and small, only having a small half-table attached to every chair. You could feel the way your right leg pressed against Jake’s for the entire class. Every time he bounced his leg in boredom or shuffled in his seat, his thigh brushed against yours and made your heart jump a little.

The last thing you wanted was to get flustered, but your body seemed fixated to his every movement, which made ignoring him tedious and borderline impossible.

Trying your best, you mumbled everything the Professor was saying back to yourself so you could focus enough to actually take notes and find out what would be on your midterm. Jake glanced at you from the corner of his eye, grinning at your adorable habits and observing you shamelessly once he realised you weren’t paying him any attention.

Resting his head on his hand, which was supported by the table his elbow was propped on, Jake continued to keep an eye on you throughout the rest of the lecture, not caring if he missed out on anything. After all, asking for your notes would just give him an excuse to talk to you should he ever need one.

The moment your Professor dismissed you, you threw your pens into your bag at lightning speed and grabbed your books in your arms, trying to get away from Jake as quickly as possible.

“Hey, wait a second,” Jake called after you, jolted by your sudden haste. He fumbled with his own belongings, shoving them into his backpack absent-mindedly before rushing down the stairs after you. “Where are you going?” he wondered with what seemed to be a permanent smile, easily catching up to you thanks to his long legs.

“I have another class,” you told him as he walked down the corridor beside you. You weren’t exactly lying, you just left out the part about your class not starting for another two hours.

“Oh, okay,” he replied, mumbling a small excuse me as he passed the other students in the cramped hallway. “I just wanted to make sure, do you remember me from the other night?” Jake asked since you didn’t show any sign of recognition. “You walked right up to me and-” with widened eyes, you covered his mouth with your hands, freezing in place.

A few students grumbled but reluctantly manoeuvred around the two of you.

“Don’t say it,” you warned, wide-eyed. You couldn’t believe that he was about to say it out loud; just thinking about you walking right up to him and kissing him made you want to hide under a pile of blankets.

Jake raised an eyebrow, gently removing your hand from his mouth to reveal a laugh. His hands were soft and warm, matching his energy. The mental list you were, unintentionally, keeping of all his perfections was growing by the second. “So you do remember! I was beginning to think that you forgot all about me.”

You glanced down as he intertwined your hands, thinking back to how he did the same thing after you kissed. It was impossible for you to forget him, but you weren’t about to tell him that.

“Where’s your next class? I’ll walk you,” Jake suggested, eyes bright and curious when you looked back up at him. You had approached him so confidently the night of the party, and it was endearing for him to see you so flustered and unsure now. He had thought you were pretty cute that night, but now you were downright adorable.

“That’s okay, thanks though,” you turned down his offer, pulling your hand away without trying to seem too rude. “Anyway, I’ll see you around,” you added, quickly making a beeline for the exit of the building and leaving Jake behind, confused.

You had an odd habit of running away from him just as things were getting interesting.

When your second class of the day ended, you were thoroughly looking forward to grabbing lunch and forgetting about the day. Against your own will, you had spent most of your class thinking about Jake, and the last thing you wanted was to spend the entire day ruminating on the same subject.

You had made plans to get lunch with your friends at your university’s dining hall, and you immediately booked it over to your usual table when you saw how crowded it already was.

“Hey guys,” you greeted tiredly, placing your bag on the floor and taking a seat next to Jungwon. He was munching on a carrot with an uncontrollable grin, earning a weird look from you. “What’s got you all excited?”

“Look who Heeseung invited to lunch,” Jungwon said instead of answering your question, gesturing a few chairs down by jutting out his chin.

And of course when you looked to see who he was talking about, you met Jake’s bashful gaze.

He was sandwiched closely between Heeseung and Niki with a lunch tray in front of him. Heeseung sat beside him, oblivious to everyone’s mischievous anticipation while Niki was practically bubbling over with excitement on Jake’s other side.

“This is Jake,” Heeseung introduced after taking a sip of bubble tea, not knowing that the two of you were already, shall we say, closely acquainted. “We met at the start of the semester. He was looking a little lonely so I figured he should start joining us for lunch. He just transferred all the way from Australia!”

Niki, who couldn’t contain his elation, blurted out: “Look Y/n! It’s the guy you kissed the other night!” As if you had no idea who Jake was. Niki grinned so widely that you could barely see his crinkled eyes.

This caught Heeseung’s attention, causing him to choke on the tapioca pearls he was chewing. “I’m sorry what!” he exclaimed after hitting his chest a few times, staring at Niki with wide eyes.

You squinted up at the ceiling, wondering if there were any gods, fairies, or wizards in the world that could teleport you out of this situation. And maybe get you some new friends.

“I know subtlety isn’t exactly your thing, Niki, but don’t make Jake uncomfortable,” you said with pleading eyes.

Jake, who was turning a little red at the attention, suddenly realised that he had been ambushed by your friends. “So that’s why you guys looked so happy to see me,” he mumbled to himself, the gears in his head turning. “And here I was, thinking you guys just wanted to be my friends.”

“Aw, we do want to be friends,” Sunghoon assured the newcomer to your group sympathetically. Honestly, he had only talked to Jake for fifteen minutes before you arrived and he already really liked the Aussie boy. He was charismatic and kind, laughing genuinely at all of Sunghoon’s lame jokes without judgement. “However, teasing our favourite friend Y/n comes above all else on our list of priorities.”

Nobody else realised it, but this was the first time that Jake heard anyone say your name. His eyes flitted over to where you were playfully scowling at Sunghoon, feeling his heartbeat quicken when you momentarily met his eyes.

“Y/n?” Jake asked, and you almost melted at the way your name rolled off his tongue. Your eyes widened at his sentimental tone, caught off-guard by your bodily reaction as pleasant chills went down your spine.

Jake thought you were beautiful.

“Hold up,” Heeseung ignored Sunghoon’s quip, holding both hands in the air. “Jake is the guy you kissed at the party?” Heeseung repeated, looking back and forth between you and Jake several times. “How exactly did I miss this?”

“It’s not like I live tweeted the event for everyone to see,” you reminded your friend, trying to get through the conversation without hiding under the table in embarrassment.

Taking notice of your slight discomfort, Jay spoke up. “It was a dare,” he explained, playing the kiss off as no big deal. “Besides, it was all in good fun, right? No need to keep obsessing over it.”

“Right,” Jake agreed, also becoming aware of the fact that you wanted the conversation to be over. “It’s all good,” he assured you, sending you a smile. “This seriously explains a lot. Even though I appreciated the enthusiasm, you guys were freaking me out a little,” he continued, taking the attention off of you.

The change of subject was so natural that nobody noticed it except you.

“We weren’t that bad,” Sunoo protested, lips pouting.

“You were pretty bad,” Jake insisted. “You giggled uncontrollably when Heeseung introduced me and I thought you were going to leap out of your chairs at any moment because of how excited you were.”

“Yeah, Niki totally blew it,” Jay agreed instantly, jokingly glaring at the youngest of your friend group.

“Hey,” Niki whined, eyebrows furrowing together. “Maybe I was a little excited, but it was Jungwon who kept making eye contact with me and wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.”

“Maybe so!” Jungwon agreed. “And what about it? At least it was subtle!”

“It really wasn’t,” Jake laughed, wholly entertained by your friends’ bickering.

“It was subtle enough that Heeseung didn’t even notice,” Jungwon retorted with a smirk.

At this, you had to grin. “Like Heeseung counts,” you said with a giggle. “He’s too busy dreaming about Hana to actually pay attention to anyone around him!”

“Hey!” Heeseung exclaimed, shocked that he was the one being criticised all of a sudden. “I- Actually, you know what, that checks out,” he confessed, having the decency to look a little embarrassed.

Soon enough, the eight of you were eating your lunch and discussing mindless topics comfortably with one another. You were grateful that, even though your friends looked forward to teasing you about Jake, they were behaving normally enough that you could enjoy your lunch without feeling uncomfortable.

When you got up to put your tray away, Jake got to his feet and followed you. “So,” you said after building up the courage to make conversation. “Australia, huh?”

“Yeah,” Jake nodded. “It’s been a pretty big change, but I love it here. The campus is beautiful and it’s so nice to be in the middle of a big city.”

“Well, I’m glad you like it so far,” you smiled politely.

“You weren’t drunk, were you?” Jake asked suddenly, feeling awkward even bringing it up. “The other night?”

“No, I wasn’t,” you assured him. “I mean I had a few drinks but that’s not why I- Yeah.”

“Can I ask what happened? Jay mentioned a dare?”

“Yes. Um, basically, Heeseung and I had a little tipsy kiss a few weeks ago and then, like, ten days later he got back together with his ex-girlfriend Hana. Everyone kept acting like I was really upset over it and stuff, so they agreed to leave the subject alone if I can prove I’m over him,” you rambled on, feeling nervous about Jake’s close proximity to you.

“Oh,” Jake nodded in understanding. “So you like Heeseung?”

“No,” you shook your head. “I mean, I did for a few months, and I thought he liked me too. But I guess not,” you shrugged your shoulders. “It’s okay, though. It’s not a big deal, I’m over it, and we’re still friends.”

“I get it,” he said. “Thanks for explaining, you didn’t have to give that much detail so I’m glad you trusted me to tell me all that,” Jake smiled that perfect smile again, and you almost melted into a puddle on the floor.

“Listen, I’m really sorry my friends cornered you like that,” you apologised, embarrassed on behalf of your extra friends.

“Don’t worry about it,” Jake interrupted you, already predicting what you were going to say. “They seem nice and they clearly care about you a lot, so we’re all good. Are the two of us okay?” he wondered, taking your tray off your hands and clearing it for you. The moment your fingers brushed, you could feel the familiar tingle of butterflies in your stomach.

Startled at how easygoing he was, you could only nod. “We’re good,” you said quietly, overwhelmed by how much this boy was affecting you.

“Cool,” he beamed, stacking the empty trays and turning to face you. “So, what’s your major?” he wondered before rambling on about how he was figuring out if he wanted to double major in physics. All the while, you could only follow him, feeling yourself drawn to him as if you were magnets.

Soon enough, Jake was a regular member of your friend group and sat with you for lunch everyday. At first, Niki and Jungwon would tease the two of you whenever you sat next to or opposite each other at the lunch table, but after a week the novelty wore off. It didn’t take long before Jay was their new target, teasing him for his style or purposely making him angry for their own entertainment.

In a strange turn of events, Jake was actually starting to make the class you shared bearable. What you thought was going to be an awkward semester of avoiding him every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday turned into him saving you a seat and you lending him your notes.

“So,” Jake said on Wednesday, throwing his expensive bag carelessly onto the ground and taking the seat next to yours. You jumped at his arrival, almost knocking your laptop to the floor if it wasn’t for Jake’s quick reflexes. “Sorry, you alright?” He added, catching your eyes. When you nodded, he went on. “So, I was wondering if you wanted to go see a movie with me.”

“A movie?” you echoed, thinking it over. “Yeah, I could probably go tonight. What did you have in mind?”

“We could watch the new Doctor Strange movie,” Jake suggested, eyes sparkling at the idea. “Or the new Top Gun movie! But honestly, I’m pretty flexible so we can go see whatever you’re into,” he added.

You hummed, looking up movie times on your phone and finding a showing of Doctor Strange that would be perfect for your schedule. “How does 9pm sound?” you offered, showing him the mostly-empty theatre seats on your phone.

“Perfect!”

You selected seats close to the back and smiled, “This is going to be so much fun! The boys and I haven’t been to a movie in forever because our schedules never line up,” you explained, texting your group chat and sending a screenshot of the movie tickets you bought for everyone.

Jake paused. “What do you mean?” He asked, already dreading your answer.

“Since we all have such different majors, we always have exams at different times and our schedules don’t sync up. We missed the showings for Spider-Man No Way Home because of it! But luckily, all eight of us are free tonight so we can all go see Doctor Strange together!” You explained happily, watching all your friends reply in excitement to the group chat.

“Oh, so it’s like, a group activity,” Jake realised, frowning as he sulked in his seat. “Fun.”

“So fun!” you agreed, oblivious to his disappointment.

This obliviousness went on for several weeks, and Jake wasn’t sure if you genuinely had no idea he was pursuing you, or if you were just avoiding the subject. He decided to just be upfront about it.

“Y/n,” he called for your attention as the two of you lazed around under a tree on campus on a particularly sunny day. Your head was resting on his lap as you closed your eyes while Jake was stuck to his physics textbook. “Do you want to go on a date with me?” he asked, watching patiently as you processed his words and your eyes snapped open.

You sat up, leaning back on your elbows and glancing at him. “Are you serious?”

“I’m really tempted to say No I’m Jake but I’ll refrain,” he joked, earning a small smile from you. “I’m serious. I don’t know if you realise it, but I’ve been asking you on dates pretty regularly. You tend to just invite all of our friends to come with us, which makes it less of a date and more of, well, nothing.”

“Those were all dates?” you asked, genuinely startled by this piece of information.

“All of them,” Jake confirmed.

“Doctor Strange?”

“Yes, Doctor Strange.”

“The puppy café that day it rained?”

“Yup.”

“Studying in the library?”

“All four times I initiated it.”

“Movie night in the park?”

“I actually didn’t mind that you brought the guys since it was fun, but yes.”

“The concert?”

“How you even found six extra tickets is beyond me, but yes. The concert, too.”

“Oh,” was the clever line that you came up with at this realisation, and Jake practically swooned on the spot. How you couldn’t see he was absolutely enamoured by you was beyond him, but he was enjoying your confused expression too much to voice his thoughts. “I didn’t realise.”

“I know,” Jake laughed. “That’s why I figured I’d just tell you to your face this time.”

You hummed, nodding slowly, your brain still processing what was going on. “Good call.”

“I like to think so.”

“Can I think about it? Before I answer your question,” you wondered, wanting nothing more than to find Jay and ask him about what the hell you should do. More than being your emotional support best friend, Jay also had a much sturdier, mature head on his shoulders and always seemed to know what to do.

“Take all the time you want,” Jake assured you. I just hope you feel the same way.

When it was time for Jake’s afternoon class, the two of you parted ways. He went to go meet Jungwon for coffee before their lecture, and you headed to the library to make some sense of what your Professor had taught you that morning.

It was perfectly peaceful until the double doors of the library were flung open, banging loudly against the walls and making everyone in the library jump out of their seats.

When you spotted Niki racing over to your seat you hid your face in your hands, embarrassed. “Y/n!” you heard a frantic yell of your name, sinking into your seat to escape the numerous eyes on you.

You loved your friends, you really did, but they drew way too much attention to themselves for your taste. Especially your youngest friend Niki, who didn’t really understand the definition of discretion, and therefor never applied it to his behaviour.

“Dude,” you hissed, dragging him into the seat next to you with wide eyes. “This is the library,” you emphasised. “I know you don’t come here that much, but it’s pretty common knowledge that you’re supposed to be quiet when you’re in here.”

“Whatever,” Niki rolled his eyes, reluctantly lowering his voice. “I heard that Jake asked you out on a date! When are you going?”

“How the hell did you already hear about that?” you couldn’t help but wonder. “You know what, never mind. And for your information, I don’t even know if I’m going at all.”

“What do you mean you don’t know if you’re going?” Niki asked, deeply disappointed by your response. “You like Jake, Jake likes you. It’s simple maths!” he added with excessive hand gestures that you couldn’t quite make sense of.

“Jake’s not my type,” you lied, making Niki snort.

“Sure, then what is your type?” he challenged you, crossing his arms sassily to make a point.

“Bad boys,” you said the first thing that popped into your head. “Bad boys with motorcycles. You know the kind, long hair, beards, look like they only shower every couple weeks.”

“Gross, thanks for that mental image,” Niki grimaced. “This is just like your big fat crush on Heeseung all over again!”

“I did not have a big fat crush on Heeseung,” you corrected.

“Sure,” Niki replied in a disbelieving tone.

“Do you want me to have a crush on Heeseung?”

“No!”

“Good! Because I don’t. And I’m not going to let you pressure me into going on a date with Jake,” you said, turning back to your notes. “End of conversation.”

Niki snatched your notebook from the table before you could stop him, tossing it carelessly on the floor behind him. You exhaled through your nose, exasperation growing.

“Continuation of conversation. Look, I’m glad you’re not upset about Heeseung, but you must be feeling something now that Jake asked you out.” Niki was insistent.

“Why?” you asked. “Why does everyone want me to feel something for Jake?” You wondered, recalling the conversation you had with Jay only a few days after you kissed Jake at the party.

Your friend’s eyes softened, a small frown appearing on his face. “Because for a while there, it seemed like Heeseung liked you too,” he said quietly. “And he didn’t tell you a thing about getting back together with Hana, which was really mean of him. And we all just want you to be happy with someone nice, like Jake.”

“Okay,” you allowed, feeling your heart soften at the rare show of sincerity from Niki. “Maybe I have feelings for Jake. And maybe I considered agreeing to go on a date with him. But I don’t know if it’s a good idea, and I’m still thinking it over. Nothing’s off the table yet,” you promised Niki, wanting his sad, puppy-eyed expression to go away.

“You promise?”

“Yes,” you emphasised, smiling at Niki’s concern. “You’re very sweet, Niki, but I need to make up my own mind about this. Seriously.”

Niki shrugged, getting up to pick up your notebook. “If you say so,” he sang, passing the pages over to you and smiling. “Are you coming to the party tonight?”

“Yeah,” you told him, flipping your notebook back to the right page. “Sunghoon told me that he’s only going if I come, so, it’s my duty as the group introvert’s comfort friend.”

“Great, I’ll see you tonight,” Niki waved at you.

“Didn’t you come here to study?” you asked, taken aback by how quickly he wanted to leave.

“Nah, I just came to check on you,” he said, pulling his phone out of his pocket. After replying to a few texts, Niki smiled and sent you a one-handed finger gun before leaving the library.

You grinned at the sight of him tripping on his way out the door, not expecting to have received so much love from Niki of all people.

“I got a pretty concerning phone call from Niki this afternoon,” was what Jay greeted you with two hours later. The two of you had agreed to get something to eat before the party that evening and you texted him to be ready for you to talk his ear off.

“That can’t be good,” you replied, raising an eyebrow as you read the menu of the little pizza shop you decided to try for the first time.

Jay laughed, recounting how Niki had called him because he was worried about you and didn’t want you to feel like you were alone in this decision, and how he was concerned that you would mess things up between you and Jake forever. “You have to give him credit,” Jay mused. “He certainly knows how to dial up the dramatics.”

“No doubt about it,” you agreed readily, deciding on your pizza and letting Jay order for you. “Alright, go on.”

“What?” Jay asked, placing his napkin in his lap as you looked expectantly at him.

“Don’t you have anything to say?”

“Y/n my dear, you’re going to have to be more specific than that.”

“Seriously,” you whined, whacking him with your menu. “I want to know what you think about Jake asking me out.”

“Why does it matter?” Jay dismissed easily, acting like he was usually uninvolved in your major life decisions and hasn’t spent hours trying to convince you of his opinion in the past. There was a particularly harrowing incident in which you jokingly suggested that polka dots were making a comeback, and you still got chills thinking about how fashionista-Jay had annihilated you. “He didn’t ask me out, so why should you care what I say?”

“Oh come on,” you said, unconvinced that he was truly not going to share his thoughts with you. “Jay, you’re my best friend. Why are you sitting this one out?”

“Because I want you to make up your own mind,” he replied easily, unbothered by your protests.

“That’s the funny thing about having a best friend,” you began in a faux-excited tone, clasping your hands together on the table in front of you. “They’re supposed to know your mind better than anyone else! So, what’s the verdict? Yes I go out with Jake, or no I don’t? Let’s hear it.”

“Y/n,” Jay sang your name, unable to help the small chuckle that escaped him. “Why is it that you need my validation?” he wondered. Sure, you had asked him for advice on most of your other issues, but your love life was usually something you were very independent with. “You’re right, I am your best friend. That’s why I know that you need to make this decision yourself, and not let other people get in your head so much,” Jay declared, not wanting to make you feel like he was telling you off.

“I love you Jay, but I kind of want to hit you right now,” you sighed sadly, knowing he was completely right.

“I know, and I love you too,” Jay said, giving you his most sympathetic smile. “Do you want to split some cheesy garlic bread?”

“I think that would be wise,” you agreed, slumping in your seat and frowning at your predicament.

“Okay,” Jay nodded, flagging the waiter down as you lazily stirred the melting ice around your glass. “Listen, you’ve got this,” he encouraged, noticing how disheartened you had become at his declaration of neutrality. “We can still talk about it! I want to hear why you’re so desperate for someone to make this decision for you.”

“I don’t know,” you lied. When Jay scoffed, you rolled your eyes and decided that it wasn’t even worth it to lie to the one person who could see through your every falsehood. “Okay, fine. I want someone else to make this decision for me because I’m shit scared.”

“Everyone’s shit scared,” Jay retorted.

“Not Jake,” you reminded him. “Jake is kind of fearless. At least when it comes to this sort of thing. When we met for the first time after we kissed, he had no problem expressing his interest in me. He held my hand and offered to walk me to class, and it was just so overwhelming to see his pretty, puppy-dog eyes gazing down at me as if I was the answer to all his prayers.”

“That’s probably because you are the answer to all his prayers,” Jay laughed, thanking the waiter when he brought you the cheesy garlic bread. “Jake really likes you.”

“I like him too,” you allowed for more honesty. “And I want him to be my boyfriend.”

“I’m pretty sure he’d be into that too,” Jay teased you.

“Yeah,” you smiled to yourself. “I don’t know if I want to be his girlfriend, though,” you said cryptically, not knowing if you were making any sense. “Does that make sense?”

“Not to me,” Jay replied, blunt as always. “Doesn’t have to make sense to me though, I’m not dating Jake.”

“I don’t know if I’m ready to be someone’s girlfriend,” you tried to explain yourself. “I know that Jake’s going to be an amazing boyfriend, I have no idea if I’m going to be a decent girlfriend.”

“That’s the funny thing about dating,” Jay said, mocking your faux-excited tone from earlier, clasping his hands together just as you had. “You’re not technically anyone’s girlfriend yet. You’re just floating somewhere in the realm between friends and something more. You’ll figure out when you want to be his girlfriend together.”

“Oh,” you said under your breath, actually understanding what Jay was trying to say. “I guess you’re right.”

“Always the tone of surprise,” Jay murmured with an affectionate eye-roll.

After some gentle convincing, Sunghoon finally stepped into the party and awkwardly started bopping his head to the beat of the song blasting overhead. If you didn’t know him personally, you’d have no idea that Sunghoon had extensive dance training.

“Hey,” Heeseung greeted you happily, passing you a cup and pulling you into a side-hug. “I see you managed to get Sunghoon through the door,” he added, motioning in your friend’s direction with his head.

You grinned, taking a sip from the cup and finding your favourite drink inside. “It’s my specialty,” you joked. “Where’s Hana?”

“Oh, she’s probably around here somewhere,” Heeseung casually waved your words off. “Finding someone to dance with, I’m sure,” he added.

You frowned. “What? Did something happen between you guys?” you wondered, concerned at the way Heeseung’s joy seemed to be slowly drained from his body.

“We broke up,” Heeseung explained, pausing awkwardly before adding, “Again. Actually, she broke up with me because I’m too clingy or something like that? I don’t know, I kind of disassociated from that conversation after she began recounting all the times I was unbearable.”

“I’m so sorry,” you said, pulling your friend into a proper hug and gently patting his back. “For what it’s worth, you’re really awesome and definitely too good for her,” you added, wanting to encourage your friend when he seemed so upset.

“Thanks,” Heeseung mumbled, gently pulling away and sighing. “That’s enough about me. So,” he dragged the word out. “I heard something just a couple minutes ago that I thought was interesting,” Heeseung mentioned, grinning knowingly.

“Don’t even mention who I think you’re going to mention,” you warned, knowing that this was about Jake asking you on a date. You had received several pointed texts from Jungwon and Sunoo already, and you weren’t sure if you could hear it anymore. “I’ve already had enough from the others.”

“Alright, fine,” Heeseung chuckled, finishing his drink off with a smirk. “Actually, since we’re both chatting, I wanted to apologise to you,” he added, leading you to a slightly quieter area of the living room where the music wasn’t reaching as loudly.

“Apologise for what?” You wondered. You and Heeseung had always been good friends, but you weren’t particularly close recently.

Heeseung’s expression turned embarrassed as he carefully avoided your eyes by glancing down at his shoes. “Kissing you and getting back together with my ex a couple weeks later?” He phrased it like a question, voice lilting at the end of his sentence.

“Heeseung,” you started but were quickly halted.

“No, I need to do this,” Heeseung maintained. “I never acknowledged how much that sucks, and I’m sorry that I even put you in that position in the first place. I thought that you had a crush on me back then, and even if it’s not true it was wrong of me to exploit that. Especially since we’re friends. So, yeah, I’m really sorry, Y/n,” he said, finally having the nerve to meet your eyes.

“Don’t worry about it,” you assured him, flicking his bicep with a grin. “I forgive you. That feels like forever ago, anyway.”

“Maybe it was forever ago, but it was still wrong,” he replied with a shrug, gently flicking your arm back.

“That’s okay, I’m over it,” you promised.

“So we’re good?”

“We’re excellent, Heeseung.”

“Great,” he beamed at your assurance, pleased that the two of you could go back to normal. “Since we’re good… Don’t be mad but I really do have to ask what’s going on with you and Jake,” Heeseung pleaded, inadequate at holding back his curiosity.

You groaned, “Nothing is going on with us! Absolutely nothing.”

“Why not?” Heeseung whined. “The two of you are great together, and he clearly likes you, so I don’t really get why you’re not together.”

“How can we ever be together? He’s perfect,” you exclaimed, the mere mention of Jake already lighting your skin on fire as your face warmed.

“I mean, don’t get me wrong I really like him and I’m glad I brought him into the friend group,” Heeseung said, smiling at the thought of meeting Jake for the first time. “But he’s not perfect.”

“You’re only saying that because you’re not in love with him,” you waved him off.

“So you are then?”

“What?”

“In love with him.”

You blinked, “Did I say that out loud?”

Heeseung smirked, “Loud and clear,” he confirmed with a wink, knowing you had been caught.

“Shit. Well I guess I can’t take it back at this point,” you shrugged, earning a booming laugh from your friend.

“Let’s just say he’s perfect, for argument’s sake,” Heeseung began, thoughtfully. “Why should that mean that you can’t be together?”

“Because pretty soon he’s going to realise that I’m not perfect, and I don’t want to be there when the illusion that he has of me is shattered,” you confessed, something that you had been too shy to even tell Jay. Perhaps the alcohol was helping you a little, or perhaps you felt like you had closure with Heeseung and could finally confide in him like you used to. “Once the novelty of our little flirtation wears off he’s going to realise that he doesn’t actually like me.”

“You know what, I think he might surprise you,” Heeseung argued.

“What makes you say that?”

“Because people always surprise you, it’s kind of in their nature,” he shrugged.

“Damn, you’re wise when you’re tipsy,” you mumbled in surprised, a little moved by his comment.

“Damn straight, it’s why I kissed you,” Heeseung joked, earning a hard slap in the shoulder. “Ow!” he exclaimed, clutching the spot where you struck him. “On that note, I’m gonna get out of here because I think Hana’s about to start making out with my Chem Lab partner. Give me a call if you need someone to talk to,” he excused himself, eyes narrowing to a corner of the room that was just out of sight for you.

“Thanks, ‘Seung, you too,” you said your goodbyes, deciding to go check on your friend group’s resident introvert to make sure he hadn’t run away.

Once you were sure Sunghoon wasn’t going to book it out of the party, leaving him with Niki and Sunoo to hype him up, you stepped outside to get some air. As you tucked your hands into your jacket pockets and scanned the area, you noticed an unusual sight that clashed with your worldview.

“What is that?” you asked, spotting Jake on the sidewalk near the house the party was hosted in.

He grinned. “A motorcycle,” he explained, leaning against the vehicle, looking impossibly cool.

Somehow, the image of him with the motorcycle was a complete juxtaposition; even though he looked the part with his black leather jacket and thick, leather boots, you couldn’t get the image of Jake wearing a fuzzy teddybear sweater to class out of your head. Sweet, bubbly Jake riding a motorcycle? Even now, you couldn’t imagine it.

You laughed. “I know it’s a motorcycle, what are you doing standing next to it?”

Jake shrugged. “It’s my motorcycle.”

“Shut up,” you said, rolling your eyes.

“Why?!”

“That is not your motorcycle,” you denied.

“Yes it is, actually.”

“When did you get a motorcycle?” you asked, more laughter bubbling out at the incredulous image of Jake buying a motorcycle. You knew he was rich but dropping cash on a motorcycle when he had previously never expressed any interest in one? That was too much, even for Jake.

“When Niki said that bad boys are your type,” he joked, picking up a helmet.

You paused, remembering the terrible, unconvincing excuse you had given Niki earlier that day in the library. “That’s not funny.”

“I mean it!” Jake insisted. “What you said really woke me up, I figured that it’s time to step out of my comfort zone and try something new.”

“Really?”

“No, it’s my friend from class’s motorcycle, I’m just keeping an eye on it while he picks up his girlfriend from the party,” Jake admitted, a large grin growing on his face once he realised you were starting to believe him.

“I knew it!” you exclaimed, pointing at him and sniggering.

“Is it really so crazy to imagine me on a motorcycle?” Jake wondered, pouting slightly at the thought of you not thinking he was attractive enough to pull off the bad boy vibe.

“No, it’s not crazy at all,” you admitted. “I guess I just didn’t really think it sounded like you. When I picture you, I picture you in a soft sweatshirt, not riding a vehicle that goes 300 kilometres an hour.”

“Aw, so you think about me often, then,” Jake teased, stepping away from the motorcycle to lean closer to you, just over the fence that surrounded the house. “And I shouldn’t change to better fit your type?”

“Of course I wouldn’t want you to change,” you said softly, meaning every word.

The teasing glint in his eyes was replaced with something gentler as Jake cleared his throat, averting his gaze with reddening cheeks. “Good to know,” he mumbled.

Now it was your turn to tease him. “I see how it is,” you began, grinning. “You can dish it out but once the attention is back on you, you retreat so quickly,” you joke, taking your hands out of your pockets and resting them on the wooden fence. “Like I said, you definitely aren’t a bad boy,” you added, leaning in closer.

“And bad boys definitely aren’t your type,” Jake countered, raising an eyebrow and trying to hide the pink flush on his cheeks.

“Maybe not,” you agreed, loving the way he looked when he was flustered.

“God, I had no idea this is what you were going to be like when I first saw you,” Jake laughed. “So forward out of nowhere.”

“Me walking right up to you and asking for a kiss didn’t tip you off?” You wondered with a chuckle.

“Ah,” Jake held a finger up to stop you. “But that’s not the first time I saw you,” he retorted.

“What do you mean? That’s the first time we ever talked.”

“Yeah, but I had already noticed you before,” he confessed for the first time. “We have that class together three times a week. I noticed you and thought you were really pretty and smart for, like, six weeks before you ever talked to me at that party,” Jake admitted to your great surprise.

“Are you being serious right now?” you wondered, eyes widening. “You’re not just messing with me?”

Jake shook his head. “I met Heeseung in a different class and he noticed that I seemed to have my attention on you when we crossed paths, so he invited me to that party so that he could introduce us,” he admitted, revealing the real reason he came to that party the night you met.

“Wait, Heeseung knew that you liked me?”

“He sure did,” Jake confirmed. “And in the end, he didn’t even have to introduce us. Because what do I know, the moment I walk through the door, there you were. And you were asking me to kiss you, without knowing that I couldn’t possibly refuse you.”

“That’s what he meant when he said you might surprise me,” you realised, finally understanding why Heeseung suddenly seemed so wise and knowledgable tonight. “He knew that you liked me before anybody else did.”

“Exactly,” Jake nodded, and the satisfied grin on his face made you want to kiss him.

“Let’s go out,” you decided on the spot, wanting nothing more than to spend every second with the man in front of you.

His eyes widened. “Yeah?” he exclaimed, startled by your sudden declaration.

“Yeah. Tomorrow, the day after, next week– let’s go out.”

“I think I’m free,” Jake agreed. “And if not, I’ll clear my schedule.”

“Oh really?” you laughed, taking the lapels of his leather jacket in your hands, just like you had the first time you kissed him. “Even your plans to go motorcycle shopping?”

“I’ll just take you with me,” Jake replied easily, brushing his thumb across your cheek. “So you admit, I’d look cool on a motorcycle?”

“What can I say? I guess bad boys are just my type,” you winked, letting Jake pull you in for a kiss.

note: this literally took me forever to finish because i kept losing motivation, but i hope that you enjoyed this fic! this is the last fic i’m posting before i go on a writing hiatus but i will be back with more fics in september 💜

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thewritergremlin-rae · 1 month

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Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader Rating: T Words: 564 Content: 2nd person, fluff, a tiny dash of angst, cuddles Summary: Steve returns from a long, unsuccessful mission searching for Bucky.

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It had been another months-long chase of whispers and rumours but, like every time before, Steve returned empty handed.

No solid proof of Bucky, no glimpses, no certainty that the chatter was ever true, or if Bucky was even still out there.

You knew Steve was coming back today but the sky had turned black and inky by the time he entered your rooms. He toed off his boots and socks at the entranceway and it hurt to watch those broad shoulders slump in defeat, in remorse.

“Hey,” you greeted softly.

“Hey,” Steve whispered back, forcing a smile to his lips that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “We didn’t…”

“I know.” How could you not? You took his hands and wrapped his arms around your waist, coaxing his head down onto your shoulder. “I know,” you repeated, running your hand through his hair and down to the base of his neck.

He squeezed you in response. A silent thank you communicated in a simple movement.

You pressed a kiss to his temple and just swayed gently as he breathed you in, as he grounded himself in being home. You felt him breathe deeply, pressing an open mouthed kiss to your neck that made you shudder, but you didn’t push it. “Go take a shower, Steve, it’ll help you relax, yeah?”

“Yeah,” he mumbled back, planting a kiss on your cheek and leaving, with a final squeeze, for the bathroom.

You were settled in bed in your comfiest pyjamas when he came through in a pair of sweats, hair dry and fluffy from the hair dryer.

You pulled him down on top of you, hushing his grumbling about his weight and height as you all but dragged him into you.

You tucked his head under your chin, placing a kiss on his temple before your fingers rhythmically slid through his hair.

Steve held himself stiff, not wanting to totally let go of himself, but your touches slowly coaxed him closer to relaxation and to giving in to you.

“You always look after us, let me look after you, for once. It would make me feel better.” It’s the final nail in the coffin of Steve’s stubbornness and you find yourself finally pinned by his weight.

It wasn’t crushing, he felt a lot like a very warm, weighted blanket and if you hadn’t been so focused on Steve you could have probably fallen asleep like that. But you kept up the gentle touches, every so often pressing soft kisses to his forehead.

“I just…” Steve sighed heavily. “I don’t even know if he’s ok.” His words remained quiet and forlorn. You dropped a hand to his shoulders, rubbing in slow, soft circles.

You nodded, nuzzling into his hair. “I think it’s more likely we’d hear if he wasn’t.” It was a lot easier to identify a dead man than a live one. “You’ll find him when he’s ready.”

He sighed again but you felt the corner of his mouth twitch. “S’what I get for making Buck come to my rescue all the time.”

You chuckled and ruffled his hair softly. “Karma’s a bitch, Stevie.”

He huffed a laugh and pressed a kiss where his head lay. “I missed you,” he added in a whisper.

“I missed you too. Welcome home, love.”

Steve hummed, eyelashes settling against his cheeks as he breathed out slowly. “Thanks, doll.”

#steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x you #steve rogers x y/n #steve rogers imagine #steve rogers fanfiction

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save-the-villainous-cat · 10 months

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I’d say my favourite genre to write is just. Murder. Gore. Characters losing their humanity and being absolutely feral. Whether it is to protect themselves or someone else or just for the fun of it.

I will give you anything and everything just for one snippet based off this 🤎

(Obv ignore it if you dont want to)

“They’re dead,” the hero whispered.

It didn’t matter, though. The villain didn’t stop. Again and again and again, their fist found the supervillain’s face, forcing blood out of the cuts splintered bone had torn into the skin. They kept punching, hard enough to turn the dull sounds into cracking. What followed were wet sounds and then blood, everywhere.

“They’re dead,” the hero repeated. Although they were shocked, they couldn’t blame their enemy. The supervillain had done unspeakable things to both of them.

When their gaze dared to land on the villain, they saw their hands drenched in fresh and sticky blood. That wasn’t the problem. The sound was the problem. The supervillain’s skull was crushed but the cracking didn’t stop.

It was too late when then hero realised what was going on.

“You’re breaking your fingers, stop it.” The hero rushed to their side and tore them off the body.

“No, let me—” The villain’s breathing was heavy as they took in greedy gulps of air and the hero saw they were crying. They tried to push the hero away and in other circumstances they would’ve totally succeeded. They were a lot stronger than the hero was but they were exhausted, both physically and mentally.

“They’re dead,” the hero whispered into their enemy’s hair, holding the struggling villain close. “They’re gone, love. It’s over.”

The villain’s sobs ebbed as they allowed themselves to lean against the hero. They buried their head in the hero’s shoulder and mumbled “Oh god, oh god, oh god…” over and over again. The hero rubbed the villain’s back, fingertips tracing simple shapes into the suit. Little comfort, they knew that. But better than none.

It was a violent sight. The villain had punched them until their face was beyond identifiable. They had killed them with their bare hands.

The hero swallowed.

Hatred was a strong ally, they supposed.

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” the hero suggested. They grabbed the villain’s forearm and made sure they stabilised them when they guided them into the supervillain’s kitchen.

There, they helped the villain sit down on one of the luxurious chairs and closed the bedroom door where the blood soaked into the carpet. They looked at the villain who seemed to be present somewhere else. Their eyes were glassy and their head hung low. Their hands were shaking.

“Hey,” the hero said. “It’ll be okay.”

They cupped the villain’s cheek gently but even that was little comfort. At times like these, the hero felt truly helpless. They wanted to make everything right, they wanted to comfort the villain.

But what was there to say? Congrats, you killed your abuser? That didn’t mean the damage done was erased. It was a burden the villain had to live with every day. Healing hurt, healing wasn’t easy.

There was silence when the hero searched for medical equipment but once they found a first aid kit, they had new hope.

Healing was always important, though.

“Show me your hands, please.” The villain obeyed and put them on the counter carefully. The blood had already dried but that only added to the horrible look of it. Here and there, their knuckles looked weirdly out of place.

The villain didn’t dare to look at the hero, though.

“…I didn’t think it would end like this,” the villain whispered as the hero took one hand into theirs and started to clean it. “I didn’t think I would win. I never did when it came to them.”

“How do you feel?” the hero asked. When they saw that the villain flinched, they forced themselves to be gentler with the cloth.

“I…I don’t know. Empty? Overwhelmed?”

“You’ll need some time,” the hero said. “That’s part of it. The government gave you permission to kill them but it doesn’t mean you’ll be unscarred. Maybe take a vacation, think about everything. I can arrange that for you.”

“I think the last thing I want to be is alone right now.” The hero started with the bandages, gently covering the villain’s fingers and arm. Once — their brain had actually repressed this — the supervillain had tortured them. It was for a few weeks and the villain had saved them. It had taken them some time to accept the cruelty and the reality of it. With lots of talking and support, they’d gotten through it.

They were sure the villain hadn’t been that privileged.

Sometimes, the hero would notice a certain pattern, a certain characteristic rooted in anxiety within the villain. Sometimes, they wondered if that was a result of growing up here.

Footsteps, door sounds, lighters.

All of it was an attack, ready to kill them. The hero couldn’t even begin to imagine how terrified they were.

“We could go together, if you want to. Maybe there’s a place you prefer? I won’t leave you,” the hero said. They were done with the bandage and even though their wound care ended up being messy most of the time, they’d done a good job.

They pressed a soft kiss to the injured knuckles.

“Just you and me?”

“Just us. For as long as you want. For as long as you need.”

#I miss my sandmaaaaaan #writing snippet #heroxvillain snippet #heroxvillain prompt #heroes and villains #hero #villain #hero x villain #heroxvillain #an answer for an ask #request #whump #h/c

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lonesome-witching · 10 months

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You Rule

Thank you for the prompt from @1-800-eat-shit and the tweet it was based off. I had some struggles writing this one but one of my friends said it was good so blame her if you hate it.

You can send prompts or read the previous ones I wrote.

“And another one bites the dust.” Robin pulled up her whiteboard and added another tally under the words ‘you suck’ that she had written with care.

“Yeah, yeah.” Steve crossed his arms over his chest. “Easy for you to laugh about it. You don’t know the struggles of picking up girls.”

Robin raised her eyebrows with a smile on her face. “Did your fragile male ego get bruised by the fact you suck?”

“That’s it! If you know so much about flirting why don’t you do it? Next customer is all yours.” Steve grabbed his hat and threw it on the floor.

“Maybe I don’t want to flirt with anybody.”

“Okay, if you get the next customer’s phone number, I’ll close up for a week.”

“Deal.”

“But if you don’t, you get rid of that stupid whiteboard and you stop making fun of me for the rest of the summer.” Steve retrieved his hat from the floor and held it to his chest with a smirk on his face.

“Fine.” Robin sighed as she switched places with her coworker.

She tapped her fingers on the counter staring at the people that passed the ice cream parlor. Most of the teens were rushing to catch the matinee showing of whatever movie was playing and the few that didn’t simply didn’t pay Scoops Ahoy any attention.

An old man shuffled toward the entrance and Robin worried he’d come up to her and ask for a waffle cone with one scoop of mint chocolate chip. Was the bet still on if it was a retired man that couldn’t walk properly anymore? What if it was Erica and her goons? They came over nearly every day and today she hadn’t seen them yet.

The old man turned left right in front of the entrance and Robin exhaled in pure relief. Relief that was short lived when, from somewhere behind him, Nancy Wheeler walked into Scoops Ahoy with big steps. Fuck! Fuck! Shit! Fuck!

She might be a total priss but she was also one of the prettiest girls in all of Hawkins. Scratch that, THE prettiest girl in all of Hawkins. And she was about to flirt with her.

“Hi, can I get a waffle cone with a scoop of strawberry ice cream, please?” Nancy’s eyes were focused on the display of tastes, her finger pointing towards the bright pink ice cream.

In a normal world Robin would simply nod and comply. She’d hand over the cone and wish for their fingertips to brush against each other as Nancy grabbed the treat. But this wasn’t a normal situation. She knew Steve was standing somewhere near the partition that separated him from this trainwreck and he must be snickering.

“Of course, gorgeous. Anything else? Sprinkles, maybe?” Robin tried not to look at Nancy as she spoke, instead opting to focus on her ice cream scooper and the waffle cones that stood on the counter.

“Oh uhm, no.” Nancy stammered out. When Robin looked up she saw a soft shade of pink covering her cheeks. Shit, was she making her uncomfortable. “No, I’m good.” Nancy added with a soft frown on her face.

“Are you sure?” Robin asked, she was bent halfway into the display, her scoop in hand.

“Huh?” Nancy replied.

“You know what, I’m gonna give you some free sprinkles. How about that?”

“Sure.”

Robin poured a generous amount of rainbow sprinkles on the ice cream. “There you go.” This time she purposefully touched Nancy’s hand as she handed over the ice cream and her heart nearly beat out of her chest. “That’ll be 1.25. And perhaps your number… You know, for the sprinkles.”

She must be as red as a tomato at this point. There was no way that prissy, perfect Nancy Wheeler would give her number. No way in hell.

“How about I pay for the sprinkles and don’t give you my number?” Nancy searched through her purse, one hand gripped the cone.

That sounded about right. “Oh, you are breaking my heart here, Nance.” Robin tried to play it off. She tried to not let the comment affect her as much as it did. She tapped the changes into the register, regretted it and tried to erase them. The register refused to do what she asked and she started hitting the side of it.

“Fuck!” She shouted, startling Nancy. “No, sorry. The register just won’t… 1.25, please.”

“And the sprinkles?” Nancy asked.

“Those are on me, as promised.” Robin bit her bottom lip. “And I’m really sorry if I made you uncomfortable or anything. That wasn’t my intention.”

“You didn’t.” Nancy shook her head with a tightlipped smile.

“Good.”

“Great.” Nancy replied before closing her eyes. She slid the money over the counter, her fingers pressing it as if she was afraid it would be blown away by her own breathing.

Robin tried to pry the money from under Nancy’s hand but ended up simply brushing her fingers against Nancy’s. “Excuse me.” She nearly whispered, causing Nancy to pull her hand back as if it was on fire.

“Sorry.”

“No problem. Would you like a receipt?”

“Yes, that sounds lovely.”

“Lovely?” Robin asked with a smile, trying to get the damned machine to print the receipt. Was it out of paper again?

“What did I say?” Nancy asked, almost sounding panicked. The ice cream in her hand was starting to melt and a bright pink drop fell onto her skin.

“You said that it sounds lovely.” Robin’s eyes followed the drop of melted ice cream as it descended even further and collided with the counter.

“Oh, yes. It does. It’s just that… I have a boyfriend.”

“I don’t know what that has to do with this.”

“Of course it has something to do with this. Because you are asking me these questions and I want to say yes but I have a boyfriend.”

“I only asked if you wanted your receipt.” As if the machine had been waiting for its cue, it finally started printing with a buzzing noise.

“Oh.” Nancy’s own attention drawn to register, her cheeks bright red.

“Is there something else you want to say yes to, Miss Wheeler?” Robin leaned halfway over the counter, as close to Nancy as she could get.

“No, of course not. You’ve just been… You called me gorgeous and you asked for my number and you are…” She looked around, making sure there was no one who could hear them before whispering: “You’re flirting with me.”

“Am I now?” Robin placed her hand in the melted ice cream and scrunched up her face at the feeling.

“Aren’t you?” Nancy pulled back slightly. Maybe she was about to run away? Fuck, Robin couldn’t have that.

“No, I am! Definitely am. I was flirting for sure. I don’t just call anybody gorgeous and I definitely don’t give them free sprinkles. And… and your ice cream is melting.”

“Oh.” Nancy looked at the half melted scoop of frozen strawberry delight, which was the official name of the flavor, and quickly licked at it. Her tongue coming out bright pink.

“Fuck.” Robin sighed as she couldn’t help but look.

Nancy’s lips turned into a smirk when she heard the word being uttered. “Is there something else you want to ask me, Miss Buckley?”

“I would try for your number again but you have a boyfriend.”

Nancy frowned. “Actually I don’t. I don’t know why I said that.”

“So, can I perhaps, just maybe, have your phone number?” Robin asked, her eyes not meeting Nancy’s, her voice wavering with insecurity.

“Hold this.” Nancy pushed the cone back in Robin’s hands and grabbed a pen out of her bag. She scribbled a set of numbers on the back of her receipt. “I might end up breaking your heart, Robin.”

“I highly doubt that.”

#prompts #ronance #nancy wheeler #robin buckley #my work #stranger things #fanfic #robin x nancy #nancy x robin #ronance fic #ficlet

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swap-and-possessions · 5 months

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November Update

November formally ends with another batch of male-to-male body swaps, possessions, transformations, and other means of dominating another man to one’s control. This month adds twenty-six (26) new stories to the roster, adding to the total of 220+ stories! Read these compelling and horny stories of dominating men on Discord or Blogspot. As stated before, most of last month’s stories have a general theme based on the winning vote from my star subscribers. The theme for November was "👨‍🎓Students-and-Teachers👨‍🏫". See the stories of students forcing their control upon their professors or teachers, reliving youth through their students' bodies. Read these tales in the listed stories and shorts below;

✅ – SFW | 🔞 – NSFW | 🔒 – Subscriber Access •·················•·················•

🔒🔞 Chastity Caged by Coach Oakdale Univeristy produces top-class athletes not because of their high-class, state-of-the-art training facilities, former star athlete coaches, and scientifically-backed diet and regiment that ensure players are at their top form. No. It's because of their unorthodox punishment that dissuades poor plays by players. And for them, being benched has a different meaning. It means surrendering control of your body to one of the football coaches. #Body Swap #Racial Change #Asian #Caucasian #Age Regression #Age Progression #Teacher-and-Student #Teacher #Student #Stories

🔒🔞 Forcing Himself In Ryoto has a small window before he can possess the star athlete of his baseball team. He never thought it would get so tight. #Possession #Asian #Teacher-Student #College #Jocks #Baseball #Stories

🔞 Where Are You, Matsuda-Sensei? Matsuda sensei doesn’t seem like himself all day. Ryu, his student, takes it into his own hands to uncover the truth. And that starts by peeling what he hides under that gi. #Bodysuit #Asian #Student-Teacher #Student-to-Teacher #Stories

✅ My Former Student Imagine my surprise when I found my former student as the body I would possess thanks to the “Rent-a-Body” application. #Possession #Teacher-and-Student #Asian #Stories

🔒🔞 Sleeping Pills Evan thought these green pills would solve his sleeping problems. Little did he know, it would also open his mind to a student eager to possess his body and jerk off his cock. #Possession #Racial-Change #Caucasian #Asian #Teacher-and-Student #Teacher #Student #Stories

🔒🔞 Private Tutor [Body Swap]

🔒🔞 Intrusive Thoughts [Possession]

🔒🔞 Sisyphean Task [Possession]

Other Stories

🔒🔞 Wear Me This Thanksgiving Neil searched for the same high he felt when he was turned into a skinsuit three years ago by his cousin. Now at Thanksgiving, he finally had the same chance of getting to experience it again. #Bodysuit #Caucasian #Asian #Racial Change #Cousins #Stories

🔒🔞 Punishing Him Where it Hurts After their shitty stunts, Murphy had to punish the students in question where it hurts — in the ass. #Possession #Teacher-and-Student #Teacher-to-Student #Jocks #Caucasian #Stories

🔒🔞 Seeing Double Ivan returned to fetch his forgotten wristwatch. To his surprise, there are two men fucking on his desk. The one on the table was his secretary, and the one fucking looks exactly like him! #Transformation #Father-and-Son #Father #Son #Office #Stories

🔒🔞 Customer Service "What do you mean my brother drank a dumbification serum instead of a possession potion!?" I asked the customer service. #Dumbification #Mental-Change #Caucasian #Brothers #Stories

🔞 Pilgrim Road "Suck his dick, Ennis. Suck his soul. Suck it good!" Trevor howled as he laughed. It's subtle, but I could hear someone's voice underneath his. That wasn't Trevor anymore. It was someone perverted controlling his body like a mannequin. #Possession #Caucasian #Friends #Stories

Other Shorts

✅ Overtaken [Possession]

✅ Beefy Pecs [Bodysuit]

✅ Home Run [Bodyswap]

✅ Made in USA [Bodysuit]

🔒🔞 Suffering From Success [Bodysuit]

🔒🔞 In Another’s Body [Possession]

🔒🔞 Roadside Trap [Bodysuit]

🔒🔞 Breaking Them Apart [Possession]

🔒🔞 Stuffed This Thanksgiving [Possession]

🔒🔞 No Regrets Bullying You [Bodyswap]

🔒🔞 Cock Sucking Bitch [Hypnosis]

Videos

🔒🔞 New Powers With the manifestation of his powers, Clarence used to to take vengeance on his professor. #Possession #Caucasian #Student-to-Teacher #Videos

•·················•·················•

Head over to my Discord and read these shorts and stories and 220+ other stories! If you want to access the NSFW stories, you can subscribe through my Ko-Fi and gain access to every story I’ve written. You can find the relevant links below.

With November’s “👨‍🎓Students-and-Teachers👨‍🏫” theme over, we move on to the winning theme of December. And that is “☠️Cursed/✨Enchanted Gift🎁”. The holidays is the season of thanksgiving. These gifts can either enchant you into someone better or curse you into becoming someone you don’t want. During this month, I will also open short story commission requests relating to the month’s theme. Head to Discord for more information.If you want to partake in the theme voting for January, join my discord and become a Star Subscriber🌟!

I thank my readers and subscribers for their continued support!

Access the Discord Server here >>> Link How to Subscribe >>> Link

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drama--universe · 1 year

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Height Insecurities

Pairing: Chishiya Shuntarō x tall!f!reader (not romantic)

Word Count: 3218 words

Warnings: cursing, blood, death, a bit of height insecurities

A/N reader is tall, like 1m85-ish. Also, heights are based on the live action, not the manga, which means that Chishiya is 1m68, Kuina is 1m71 and Niragi is 1m80 just for reference. Also, I added some rules to the Borderland game, but it's nothing major.

You felt uncomfortable, the ropes digging into your skin as the hood was ripped off your head. You were dizzy, your head was hurting immensely as you tried to adjust to the lighting before spotting some people in front of you. Half of them were dressed normally, carrying guns or any other weapons while the other half were dressed in swimwear. The man directly in front of you was dressed in a swimsuit, a kimono draped over his shoulders and he wore a smirk as he raised his glass at you. He started an introduction, but you could barely pay attention as your ears rang loudly and you closed your eyes. You let your head drop before you looked up at the man, who had just introduced himself as the Hatter.

"Look, I don't really care for your monologue... Just give me a bed and a few days of peace. You can have my card and I'll follow your rules..." You mumbled and the room grew silent before you spoke up again.

"Can you just untie me... Please?" You asked and you immediatley felt the rope loosen, hissing as you rubbed your wrist in pain. You mumbled a thanks before glancing at the Hatter again, sighing loudly.

"Can I just skip the swimsuit though?" You asked, receiving a scoff from someone behind you that you chose to ignore as you waited for an answer from Hatter. The man stared at you before grabbing a chair and sitting in front of you.

"What do I get in return for that then?" He asked and you reached for your bag before noticing that it was gone. You looked around before spotting it on the ground.

"My cards are in there, first of all. As for the return, I don't mind playing games often. Just tell me..." You said and he nodded before grabbing the bag and pulling out a pack of cards. He seemed surprised by the amount of cards, flicking through the bundle quickly.

"There are a lot of doubles and triples in there, just so you know." You stated and he looked up at you, asking you how long you had been in Borderland.

"5 weeks or so... Why?" You asked and he held the cards up with a frown, approaching you again.

"You have 29 cards in total." "I play every day, just to be sure I've got enough visa. If something happens, I won't die a few days later." You explained as you leaned back to avoid him a bit. He stared at you a few more seconds before laughing loudly, putting the cards down before turning to face you again.

"I like you!" He exclaimed and you thanked him quietly, a bit weirded out by his behavior.

"I can't agree though, safety precaution." He then said and you sighed before nodding/

"You'll play everyday 2 days?" "3 days." You argued and he frowned before shrugging, agreeing to the terms and you nodded. He was quick to dismiss you and you awkwardly stood up, leaving the room after receiving a wristband and room number.

You were glad that you could at least continue to wear your hoodie and sweatpants for the day, you'd figure out the rest later. You walked through the hallways, searching for your room. Once found, you just entered and went to sleep immediatley, not really caring about finding everything else in the resort. You'd do so the next day.

However, you were awoken a few hours later by loud shouts and you almost felt like the ground was shaking. You got out of bed and made your way downstairs, ignoring the stares you received as you entered the main hall. Everyone seemed to be here, all cheering loudly as Hatter appeared on the balcony. You didn't listen to his speech, it was too loud for you to focus anyway, and instead you paid more attention to the crowd. Your eyes immediatley spotted someone who seemed as disinterested as you were, a guy dressed in a white hoodie and swim shorts with chin length hair that had been bleached into a light-blonde color. He was leaning against a pillar as he lazily looked over the crowd. Next to him stood a girl, slightly taller than the male, with dreads and a blue bikini. She seemed to be talking to the man, but except for the nodding he didn't seem to pay much attention.

When the speech was over, you just joined a random team and drove to a game. You didn't really care, just following the group and grabbing a phone from the desk before waiting for the countdown. There were about 13 of you in total.

"Game Start" The phone chimed loudly and you looked down, seeing the card appear. 4 of Spades, not too bad. The doors opened and revealed a large playground. Everyone made their way inside and the doors slammed shut behind you, locking you in. Then the ground started to rumble and your phone chimed again.

"Game: Parkour. Finish the challenge in the given time." It said before the ground behind you started to crumble, someone yelling that you should all run.

So you did.

You ran immediatley, trying to ignore the screams of other contestants as you jumped onto the first course. The first was monkey bars and you just flung yourself on the bars, landing on the other side and glancing behind you to see how far the ground behind you stretched. Not far behind the monkey bars, so you continued but not before pausing as you saw one of the other contestants. A young girl, probably only 14 or 15 years old, was struggling to go fast and fell, the ground below her gone and thus she fell into the deep abyss. Another man followed, you remembered him from earlier in the car and winced.

"Don't stare, just run!" Someone yelled and you looked to the side, you spotted the blonde-haired male as he ran past you and you quickly followed. You had just lost your advantage and hadn't you been called by this man, you would've died. You continued to run until the next obstacle, a tall ramp that everyone paused in front of.

It was maybe three meters tall and you looked at the woman next to you.

"Come on, I'll throw you up." You said to her and she looked at you in shock before nodding. You let her climb on your shoulder before standing up, reaching for the edge. She wasn't able to reach it, but another man was quick to climb up with a short warning and he reached the edge. You feared that he'd run away, but he didn't and instead helped the woman up before calling the next person. The next woman went up, then another man and soon 4 people had climbed up. You were left with the blonde-haired male and you told him to go up, which he did. Then it was just you left, only 3 meters of ground behind you left. So you stepped back a bit, maybe 2 meters before sprinting at the wall and planting your foot on it. Then you tried to launch yourself up and the man from earlier held his hand out, catching you and pulling you up with only a meter of ground left. Then you sprinted away again to the next course.

You could see in the far distance that you had three more courses to finish, but then your eyes landed on the screen.

'00:05:00, 11 contestants left.'

"We have five minutes left, come on!" You yelled loudly and as on que, everyone started running faster. The next course looked easy, just jumping on tree trunks. Only problem, there was no ground underneath and only 3 paths. Two men were already on the other side and you quickly followed, jumping on the first before realizing that it seemed to easy as the log started to descend. You quickly jumped to the next one and continued until you reached the last on. It was a jump of a meter, making you pause.

"Jump!" The man on the other side yelled and you nodded before lunging forward, reaching the side and the man quickly pulled you further unto safe ground. Once everyone was over, everyone started running again to the next.

'00:03:53, 11 contestants left.'

Now a long run on thin bars, where you had to jump from one to another. You didn't think it was bad, you were one of the first to reach the other side. Two of the other contestants weren't that lucky.

'00:02:43, 9 contestants left.'

The final course was individual, clearly. 15 ropes next to each other and about 3 meters in the air was the finish line. You grabbed a rope and started to climb, wincing everytime as you slid down a bit. You didn't give up though, continuing to climb. You ignored the screams below you, focusing on reaching the top. When you did, you looked at the screen again.

'00:00:47, 5 contestants left.'

Your eyes widen before you look over the edge. Another man joined you seconds later, followed by another man. Only the blonde-haired male and the elder woman were left, both almost there.

'00:00:27, 2 contestants left.'

Only a bit more.

'00:00:13, 1 contestants left.'

The woman fell down, a loud scream that was silenced seconds later and you focused on the man again. He only had a meter or so left, so you reached out your hand for him.

'00:00:04, 1 contestants left.'

3 seconds; he reached out to your hand and you reached just a bit further while not trying to fall yourself.

2 seconds; you catch his hand and start pulling him up.

1 second; he's almost on the platform, so you continue pulling before falling back on the ground with him next to you.

0 seconds and you flinched at the loud siren before watching the ropes fall, the whole area growing silent after.

"Game cleared, congratulations!" The phone chimed and you looked down at the phone that had fallen out of your pocket before flinching again when you heard two sounds behind you. Turning your head, you saw the two men on the ground with a laser wound on their heads.

"Seems they lost their phones..." The man beside you said as he got up from the ground, brushing his hands off on his pants before looking at you. He held his hand out to help you up and you gladly took it, pulling yourself up before looking at him again. He seemed a bit surprised by your height, it felt a bit weird for him to look up so much after all.

"Let's go." He then said as he strolled out, his hands stuffed into his pockets and you quickly followed him.

"Can you drive?" He asked once you reached the outside and you nodded, making him throw the keys at you. You frowned, pausing and he stopped as well.

"Did you steal these?" He nodded in reply and you couldn't help but chuckle as you got in the car, turning the keys in the lock before frowning as the car didn't start. Trying again, nothing happened once again. You got out again and opened the hood before groaning loudly.

"We'll have to walk, someone broke the cables and somehow stole the engine." You called out to the male inside of the car, slamming the hood shut again. The man got out as well and repeated your progress of looking underneath the hood, making you frown.

"Did that already, dude. Nothing there." You grumbled and he gave you a look before shutting the hood again, which caught your fingers and made you howl in pain. He ignored you and walked off, hands still stuffed into his pockets. You followed, still holding your fingers in pain.

"That was not necessary. Anyway, what's your name?" You asked as you reached him, putting your own hands in your pockets, waiting for an answer and receiving nothing in return.

"Oh, come on. We're going to be walking for a long time, might as well talk." You said and he sighed before turning his head to look at you.

"Chishiya." "Pleasure, mine's (Y/n)." You introduced yourself and he nods before turning to the front again and continuing the walk. It was silent again for awhile before you spoke up again.

"How long have you been here?" "2 months." He replied lazily and you nodded before asking what his specialty was in cards.

"Diamond." "Oh, so you're one of those smart ones. Lucky you." You said before stopping when you bumped into his form, looking up to see why he stopped. In front of you stood a group of 3 people, one you recognized from earlier when you got tied up. His previous attire was now painted red with blood and you couldn't help but wince before making your way over, much to Chishiya's dismay.

"Excuse me." You spoke and they stopped chattering, looking a-over at you. The man you recognized seemed to recognize you as well, a smirk on his face as he spotted Chishiya behind you.

"Got deserted?" He asked and you shook your head, explaining that your car broke down. Luckily, you could join them in the car. You later regretted it though as Niragi and Chishiya kept making remarks at each other with you in between the two. The headache you had from earlier was returning and you sighed before grabbing the collars of both men, not caring about the blood got on your hands.

"Can both of you stop bickering like 5 year-olds. There people who want peace and quiet." You sneered, both men growing quiet and you let go of their collars before leaning back in your seat. They kept quiet for the rest of the ride, which kind of surprised you but you assumed that they were just silently bickering instead.

You were quick to leave the car once it was parked, not wanting to sit next to the bloody man any longer and you could feel that Chishiya was walking behind you.

"You got guts to talk to Niragi like that." He spoke and you stopped, turning to look at him in confusion.

"He's a militant, carries a weapon and can kill you if he wants." He explained and your expression dropped as you realized that you just threatened that man.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure he doesn't kill you." You wanted to thank him, but stopped when he continued. "Unless you have no use to me anymore, of course." He said and you sighed.

"Couldn't be nice, huh?" You sneered as you continued walking, but unconsciously you walked slower so that Chishiya could walk next to instead.

"Chishiya!" Someone else called and both of you looked to the side. The girl with dreads appeared, smiling at Chishiya before looking at you and back at Chishiya.

"You made friends with someone else?" She asked and Chishiya shrugged.

"She's handy." He commented and you scoffed at him, pulling him back by his hood to which he only yelped softly.

"I saved your life, you can be nice once." You said as you leaned down, your arm wrapped around his neck and he rolled his eyes. You let him go before looking at the girl again.

"(Y/n)." "Kuina, nice to meet you." She said and you chuckled, nodding at her with a slight smile.

"Likewise. By the way, where can I find a bathing suit?" You asked and Kuina smiled, taking your arm and pulling you along. You just looked at Chishiya again, waving at him before happily following the girl. You quickly found a bikini that you were okay with, a top that looked like a crop top and the bottoms were shorts. On top of the swimsuit, you decided to wear a open hoodie to cover your back and it was long enough to cover the top part of your legs. After changing, you followed Kuina again to the swimming pool.

Weirdly enough, you could hear people whispering as you passed and you started to feel uncomfortable even though it probably wasn't about you anyway. However, the next whispers were defiantly about you after Niragi called your name and you wanted to sink through the ground. He approached you, his clothes had changed into non-bloody clothes and he carried his gun on his shoulder, smirk still on his face from earlier.

Although, he only now seemed to realize that you towered above him.

"Holy shit, you're a giant." He commented and you could some people behind you chuckle at the comment. Instantly, you already felt bad. You didn't like it when people commented on your height, it only brought back bad high school memories. Niragi also seemed to notice this and looked behind you, glaring at the male that laughed.

"Did I give permission to interrupt our conversation?" He sneered, smirk long gone and the man behind you started to stutter before leaving quickly, probably fearing the male in front of you. Once finished with that conversation, not that it really was one, Niragi turned back to you.

"You should join the militants, not hang out with those shitheads." Niragi commented and you turned your head to Kuina and Chishiya, you had no clue when he appeared. Then you turned back to Niragi.

"I'll think about it." You commented, trying to not show the fact that you were quite afraid of him, and he nodded before sauntering past you. You could hear him sneer at Chishiya again, Chishiya replying once again and you sighed, which seemed to be heard by both males as Niragi left again.

However when he left, the whispering only grew louder and you could clearly hear comments about your height come up again. You grew more annoyed by the second and decided to just go back to your room, only choosing halfway that the rood sounded even better.

So you went to the roof, breathing in the fresh air before walking to the railings with a sigh. You tried to make your head empty, but it didn't stop in your head until you heard someone next to you. The railings squeak and opened your eyes, glancing at the side to see Chishiya.

"What?" You asked, clearly annoyed and not wanting the company at the moment.

"Do those comments really bother you?" He asked and you sighed again before shrugging.

"They kind of do, yes. Being this tall gains too much attention and not the good kind." You replied before sitting down, leaning against the railings. He looked down before sitting next to you.

"Just ignore them, doesn't matter what they say." "Easier said than done." You said and he looked you again.

"It's what I do." He replied and you frowned at him.

"We're on opposite sides, you're too tall and I'm too short." He commented and you leaned forward.

"You're not too short." You said and he looked at you, raising an eyebrow.

"Then you're not to tall." He replied and you sighed before nodding at him. He got you there.

"Fine, you're right." You replied and he nodded before getting up, pushing his hands back into his pockets.

"Now get up and stop moping, I tolerate you because you were strong. Besides, Kuina is worried." He called and you chuckled, getting up and wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

"Are you sure you weren't?" You teased and he pushed your arm off with a roll of his eyes, but you didn't give up and just smiled as you wrapped your arms around his neck again.

Being in the Borderland wasn't fun, but maybe it wasn't too bad with the right people there.

#alice in borderland #alice in boderland x reader #aib #aib x reader #aib chishiya #alice in borderland chishiya #aib chishiya x reader #alice in borderland chishiya x reader #chishiya shuntaro #chishiya x reader #chishiya shuntaro x reader #chishiya #reader insert #x reader

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the-loveliest-lotus · 7 months

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Kloktober 2023: Day 4 - Your Favorite Headcanon

It was 3am at Mordhaus, and Pickles was finally starting to feel the stress melt away, even if only a little bit. He wasn’t quite as buzzed as he was when he started baking, but that was necessary because the next part always took more focus. Pickles set aside the first tray of “Rice Krispies” in the fridge, he had used a combination of Reese’s Puffs and Cookie Crisp as the cereal base and had put a melted chocolate and caramel drizzle on the top with a sprinkle of sea salt.

Pickles set his original ingredients aside and put everything in the sink, and took out the other ingredients, bringing forward the smaller set of pots and the baking pan that he would be using. He lit the stove and melted the butter, and then he added the sugar free marshmallows to the pan. Toki’s treats always took a little more time and focus than the originals because the sugar free versions of everything never quite behaved in the same way that their original counterparts did. It was part of why he always made Toki’s treats second. He’d get his initial stress out of the way baking the first set of treats, and then by the second set, he was able to put so much of his focus into what he was making for Toki that the lingering stress would be back down to a manageable level by the time he was done.

He poured the special versions of Reese’s Puffs and Cookie Crisp into the melted marshmallow mixture and stirred them, and then poured the mixed into a baking pan to let it sit. He made Toki’s chocolate sauce and caramel sauce, both sugar free, using xylitol instead of sugar. When he first discovered xylitol, he thought it sounded like something out of a sci-fi movie and wondered if it was even real. But after trying stevia with Toki and him saying that the aftertaste was terrible, he had kept searching until he had found something with a minimal aftertaste.

Once he was finished, he poured the caramel and the chocolate onto Toki’s treats, added the sprinkle of sea salt, and put them in the fridge to cool. He put the ingredients away and put the pans in the sink before heading back to his room to go to bed. A Klokateer would get the dishes for him.

The next morning, Pickles was the first one up, an indicator that his stress wasn’t entirely gone. He went back to the kitchen to at least eat some of the fruits of his previous night’s labor. The next one up was Toki.

Toki noticed Pickles munching on the treat and a smile came across his face. “Dids you makes dessert last nights, Pickle?”

Pickles smirked at him, “Yeah, yer tray is ahn the bahttahm shelf.”

The speed at which Toki took the tray out of the fridge and cut himself off a piece was endearing. When he took a bite, his eyes lit up. “Oh wowee, you ams outdids yourself on these!”

Pickles chuckled, the joy in Toki’s eyes totally worth the stress that led him to making the treats in the first place. “Yeah, these came out pretty good.”

My favorite headcanon is that Pickles bakes insanely good things, and that he also uses baking as a coping mechanism when he's stressed. Attached to this headcanon is the headcanon that he bakes Toki his own treats that are sugar free when he gets diabetes.

#kloktober2023 #kloktober 2023 #metalocalypse #pickles the drummer #toki wartooth

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moonlightpirate · 7 days

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Chapter one: The Bounty

Okay here is Chapter one of my one piece fic! Sorry it has taken so long!!! Feedback always welcome! The title is mostly self explanatory for what happens in the chapter so I'll let it do the talking for you :) again I've only watched live action so im basing my fic off of that 😅 it starts at the end of season one of live action where you see mihawk and shanks in the cove like area after mihawk has given shanks luffys bounty. Im having mihawk have one too many drinks to celebrate it and pass out with shanks

Tag list (let me know if you want to be added or removed): @nikki-is-a-nerd @thetempleofthemasaigoddess @khaleesihavilliard @dclore22 @99point9percentwhump

Ao3

Masterlist

You sighed in frustration as you trudged along the beach, anger coursing through your body. The whole morning was a blur, and honestly, you weren't entirely sure how you ended up on this beach to begin with. After several minutes you decide to stop and gather your bearings. You place your hands on your hips and look around realizing that it is hot in the sun and you are totally exposed on this beach. Just ahead, you couldn't tell if it was a cave or a cove, but regardless, it looked like a great place to lay low while you came up with a plan and to get out of the burning sun for a little bit. As you made your way over, and started to get closer, you realized it was indeed a cove, and to your dismay, it wasn't unoccupied.

"Hey, is that y/n?" An all too familiar voice called out to you.

You put your hand on your sword as you slowly approached the group of men that were scattered around the cove. Once you got closer to the men you started to recognize the faces of the men. Sighing in relief that it was members of Shanks crew, you removed your hand from your sword and relaxed as you made your way over to Yassop and Benn, your eyes searching the cove looking for Shanks.

"Yassop, Benn, guys how have you been?" You put on your biggest fake grin trying to appear okay.

Your eyes landed on a familiar figure laying on the ground, and your fake smile faded. It was Mihawk, who of course was laying oddly close to Shanks.

"Shanks has had us just relaxing recently. Haven't been up to the adventures like you have been. We were just about to cook up some fish for breakfast. Do you want to join us while you wait for Shanks and Mihawk to wake? You can tell us about your adventures." Benn inquired, clearly noticing your face.

After a moment of staring at Mihawk in disbelief you finally look back up at Benn and Yassop, "Actually no I shouldn’t stay.....but I do have something I would love for you to give them when they do wake.".

You reach into your coat pocket and pull out a thin, rolled up piece of paper, and hand it over to Benn.

"If this is about Luffy, don't worry, Shanks already knows. Mihawk brought us his bounty paper last night." Benn assured you.

"Oh....really.....is that so? Well, as much as I do wish, that was Luffy's wanted poster. I'm fairly certain that it is the wanted poster of someone that both Shanks and Mihawk will find much more intriguing than Luffy or so I can hope anyways. But really, I should be going, sorry to have disturbed you. Have a great day." You reply snarkily with a malicious grin on your face.

Before any other member of the crew can stop you or even respond, much less wake Shanks up, you turn on your heel and swiftly storm out of the cove. Once you're sure you're far enough away, you collapse in the sand and start to sob, feeling the weight of everything that was happening to you breaking your heart.

Not long after you had left, Mihawk sat straight up, his eyes searching around the cove as if he was looking for someone, "Mi amor,” He whispered to himself, closing his eyes he knew he felt your presence, “She was just here, wasn’t she?”. Mihawk inquired as he opened his eyes and looked at Benn and the crew sitting a little too solemnly around the food they were eating.

Benn nodded as he wasn't sure how to break the news to the warlord as they had opened the bounty poster you had given them and he knew Mihawk would be enraged by who was on it. He knew it was best to wait until Shanks was awake to tell him about the bounty poster.

"Where has she gone? Why was she here? What happened? Why didn’t you wake me?" Mihawk stood up, sensing something was incredibly wrong and began to fear for your life.

Shanks groaned next to him, "Keep it down. Would you Hawk Eyes? Some of us are still trying to sleep.".

"Captain, you should probably wake up." Benn replied, noticing the anger in Mihawk’s eyes and realized that they needed to tell him what happened.

Shanks rolled over and looked at everyone and began to rub sleep from his eyes, "why does everyone look so glum? What has happened?".

Yassop finally took the plunge and stood up and unrolled the bounty paper you had delivered earlier.

"Y/N brought this to us earlier this morning. She wanted you guys to see it.".

Shanks immediately stood up and grabbed the paper from Yassop. His eyes were wide in shock as it was a picture of you with one of the highest bounties he had ever seen. He immediately looked at Mihawk, feeling a fire in his soul, "What did you do?! She has a bounty again! You were supposed to protect her!".

Mihawk was still looking at the paper in shock, not even listening to Shanks shouting at him. He couldn't believe the marines would go against him like this.

"Are you even listening to me? What did you do?" Shanks shouted at Mihawk again.

"Why are you assuming it was something I did? Could have easily been something you did or even something she did herself." Mihawk retorted.

"Regardless, you are supposed to protect her! How could you let this happen!".

"I have just found out the same as you. Let me talk to Garp and see what can be done about it, perhaps it was done in error.” Mihawk responded ignoring the fact that Shanks had his hand on his sword clearly wanting a fight.

Mihawk walked past Shanks and grabbed Yoru, put his hat on his head, and made his way out of the cove. Once out of sight Shanks turned to his crew, there was a fire in his eyes from how angry he was.

"She never should have chosen him. He can't even keep her safe from the marines! Boys pack up camp. We must do something to help her." Shanks instructed.

"But sir...." The crew started to argue.

"Do not argue with me. Just do it." He demanded.

Without hesitation, everyone quickly packed up the few things they had scattered around the cove and followed Shanks out. Once the cove was empty, a tall figure emerged from the shadows laughing.

"Hmmmm, the woman Mihawk loves has a bounty. Not only that, but Shanks is enraged by the whole thing and is seeking to protect her. How interesting I think I could use this to my advantage." Kuro grinned, sneaking off in the direction that he had watched you storm off to.

#one piece #one piece live action #dracule mihawk #dracule mihawk x reader #dracule mihawk x female reader #female reader insert #red haired shanks #shanks #benn beckman #benn beckman opla #yassop #shanks opla #dracule mihawk opla

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shinakazami1 · 8 days

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Give me a 12, 13 and 22 for rhys, soldier 🫵

FELLOW RHYS ENJOYER (krotiation I LOVE YOUR ART TOO SM GAAAAH THIS FANDOM HAS SUCH GREAT ARTISTS)

12. What's the funniest or craziest AU idea you've ever come up with?

I have in total, three AUs I have to finally write anything for fhasfsa (I do plan on posting Tales AU first chapter this week tho!!). 1) RHYS AI AU is something you saw me post snippets of - in general, it's an alternative version of Borderlands 2, where Jack kills Lilith and Roland very quickly and survives. Due to mourning for Nisha, Wilhelm and Angel, he one day writes code for a companion based on an imaginary friend he had but also, gives him some trait of each one of those he misses. While Rhys was going to slowly become the silly personality we know and love, this was my typical 'give the character therapy when they don't want it, and end up with them hurting someone else and trying to change'. 2) JUST WING IT AU is my Tales AU that starts with changes in ep 5, with how Rhys handles the news about Jack wanting to get that exoskeleton in him and focusing on exploring Jack's loneliness and adding him as the third character, making sort of second season for the game. The additional driving point would be that Loader Bot would be able to grab Gortys and run off with her, so the search for Vault would become longer Yet the AU I really hope to start exploring in the future, is this one: 3) Loss of what once happened but never before AU. It's a Borderlands 3 Rhack au that would focus on Rhys finding out he is a siren with huge time-travelling powers and the costs that come with it. He would turn back in time, when Jack was still known as John during the nights, and watch some of the consequences happen in the present during the day. He doesn't know though just how strong the butterfly effect will be...

13. What's a character or ship you haven't written/drawn yet but would like to someday?

Characters: Timothy, Angel, Nisha, Zer0, Katagawa, Axton, Moxxi, Lilith, Roland

Ships: Rhysothy, Rhack, JackxNisha, MoxxixTimothy, Rhysagawa, Axton x Turret (cus she is my wife I luv her)

(The list prob isn't finished cus I still have to finish playing the second game and play the third one oifhaiof)

22. Give us headcanons for Rhys

He actually likes fashion and likes casual official style in general.

He has a sweet tooth but pretends to like spicy food in college.

He actually had a heterochromia before the echo eye and decided to keep it.

He admired Jack a bit but he laughed at psycho fans, as he has some critical thinking.

Even a few years after getting Atlas running again, he still tries to make some guns himself, even if he doesn't have as much time.

He was the one dumped by his ex girlfriend even if he didn't like their dynamic because he was actually scared nobody else would be into him.

He spends a lot of time in the morning preparing his hair. It's quite wavy which gets visible in wetter climates but fortunately for him, he lives mostly in dry ones.

He met Katagawa and at first, couldn't believe he had a fan even if he had some boosted ego but felt something off about him. He turned off an invitation to Zanara because he still thinks about his talk with Vaughn about being good at faking cool. That's why he is even more awkward in future games, since while chasing the younger years, he wants to show he matured, hoping that maybe that will bring Sasha back. That's also why he got the moustache - to show he is becoming more serious. Which fails miserably.

He seemed the most confident in his new Atlas CEO stage because he had to look like it. There was nobody else to help him at the time, so he tried his best to do what he had done - acted the plan out.

He still imagines his plans the same way he did in Tales - with fantasies.

#my ramblings #rhys #rhys strongfork #borderlands #my aus #tftbl #tales from the borderlands #headcanons #this was getting too long so i cut it OIHFSAO #but THANK U SM FOR BEING INTERESTED WEUUU #IT MEANS A LOT #THANKS FOR THE ASK #fandom ask game

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twstedpometea · 9 months

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Archival Updates: Tracing, context and misrepresentation.

Hello again folks! It's been a while since my last post but I'm back to give an update on cataloging for the sources of Ugigiugi's tracing, and would like to discuss something else that has come to light during this search. I’m going to be a bit more serious for this topic as there’s been an alarming number of discoveries involved. First off, content warning: This post will contain discussions on the subject of Sexual Harassment as I’ll be discussing one of Ugigiugi’s comics and how her tracing of other's artwork changes the context of the original images.

If this topic disturbs or makes you uncomfortable, I would recommend skipping this post entirely. However, if you can handle the discussion and the image samples, please feel free to click below.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The most obvious issue with Ugigiugi is her massive tracing history. This is well documented. As of now we have a total of 85 found sources from her tracings alone. I’m certain there is more out there waiting to be discovered and confirmed. But, I felt with number of sourced images being so high and continuing to climb, it was enough to warrant this update. The amount of tracing uncovered so far is pretty alarming and given how many different types of media/fanart/comics/etc have been sourced, she's clearly been at this for YEARS. I’ve personally never dealt with this big of a serial art tracer before in a fandom space and there's an important discussion that needs to be had on why this behavior is so damaging beyond the obvious. I’ve already gone over the differences between tracing, copying and referencing in my last big post. We know based on the current art pieces already in public that Ugigiugi had no issues with taking stuff without permission nor crediting (aside from Alchemivich's resource blog of in-game sprites) and just blatantly putting her self-insert into artwork. However there’s another trend that I've uncovered with her tracing method: Changing the context and tone of the original art in order for Ugigiugi to “create” her “fanworks”. Most of the time she tends to draw her self-insert in various scenarios but there are other things she does. Let’s go over her “Play With Us” comic featuring herself and the tweels, Jade and Floyd. Like so many other fanart pieces, Ugigiugi once again has traced and copied to create her comic. Here are the sources we have so far in a side by side comparison. I apologize for the quality of some of the images. These were sent in by various people.

Artists: (All have been added to the Artist source list!) Picture 1 - yyy1205u, Picture 2 - 71 Picture 3 - びた / bi__ta Picture 4 - mekoorou For those who need a translation, the first image is a simple Floyd/Prefect fanart. The second image is from a three image panel where the twins are teasing Azul by hanging on Yuu and wondering if Azul will do anything. The third is a comic panel from a page that's Azul/Yuu with the twins coming in and standing by Azul while he’s talking with Yuu and playfully disrupting him. The last one is a Yuu image reference with Ace and Deuce also present. None of the original art pieces we have sourced had any connotations of “raunchy humor” if you can even call it that. Ugigiugi traced panels/images and stitched them together to make her "fraken-comic", completely changing the tone of innocent fanart and comics to make her own, ruining the original subject matter. I'll be frank: People can choose to interpret characters however they wish in fanwork, including exploring problematic subjects. This is why fandom space is separated from canon space. In the end, it's personal preference if you choose to engage with that sort of content or not. That being said there is something very wrong with Ugi twisting other’s people artwork to serve her needs for this comic. When this comic was originally called out for it's subject matter, Ugigiugi had stated it was all “teasing”. Some will agree. Others will disagree. That's not the issue here. The real issue is that the original fanworks she stole/copied from have been misinterpreted and bastardized to make her own poor crafted "comic". And the blatant tracing isn't the only red flag. While I understand that the TWST cast are marketed as the “Villain inspired or Bad boy” themed with their own personalities and flaws, there is a fine line between knowing what is “mature” teasing/flirting vs what obviously has the undertones of sexual harassment. Here are just a few samples of the comic that we will show with the undertones.

The language used and the images she drew give this comic a very jarring case of tonal whiplash given how the comic started out so innocently with the twins simply walking with her. She even has her self-insert telling the twins to stop and get their hands off her, and Floyd clearly has his hands around her neck, choking her.

There’s nothing really “teasing” if it’s obvious one side of the party is uncomfortable but then there’s a complete 180 with her self-insert's reaction that makes zero sense given how she responded a few panels ago.

It's one thing if a fan wants to explore darker and more mature subject matter with characters or cast them in roles of sexual harassers/ Yanderes/serial killers/etc. However, it’s another thing to take another artist's work and repurpose in a way that was not intended to be. That is beyond insulting. In fact, it's down right disgusting. This "comic" was done in incredibly poor taste. It wasn’t even tagged properly. (No “S-Harrasment” warning tag, only a basic “read more” warning). Ugigiugi took light hearted fanart pieces and jumbled them up to create this total mess therefore ruining the actual context of the source materials she stole. There’s also one more thing I do have to address with this discovery!

We don’t have all the sources for every panel in this comic, and I can’t say whether or not certain panels were taken from anything 18+, Yandere comics or other “mature” media. However, I can say that with Ugigiugi having copied and mixed in different pieces to create this "franken-comic", she’s chosen to use other people's art to present one story while the original art tell another. That adds further insult to the injury of having art stolen. Because when the context is changed, it's harder to know which tags or categories we should be looking through to find the actual sources. She has no respect for the integrity of the original art nor respects the original creator's time, effort, or storytelling within each art piece she’s taken. I’m uncertain how much else will be discovered given the amount of things we’ve found so far, but should we eventually run out of leads and can no longer find anything else; I’ll work with a few others and consider creating a tally of all the art pieces we have for an archive. We'll likely make some type of master post with all sources and side by side comparisons as proof along with the number tally. But those will have to wait until we can no longer find anything else as we’d like to find as many artists as we can for that post. So please bear in mind that! In the meantime, I would like to stress again that while I am immensely critical and dislike Ugigiugi, I’m once going to remind everyone that my findings aren’t meant to be used for harassment of Ugigiugi or anyone else who still followers her. This is merely an update for archival purposes and adding another bullet point to the discussion of why tracing is bad in the long run, especially when it comes to changing the context and tone of an art piece or a comic. ~TwstedPomeTea

#ugigiugi #twst drama #twst discourse #tracing art #misrepresentation #serious discussion warning #(let me know if i need more specific tags for this post given tumblr's full censoringship rules does block a certain tags)

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fourseasonsfigs · 3 months

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Building Block Figs - Armory

Following up on the recent sets of building block figs I've been posting, comes one of my absolute favorites!

As I mentioned with the earlier fig sets (Building Block Figs - Beautiful Fight Scene in the Middle of the Lake (Part One, Two, and Coda); Basking in the Sun, Catching Light, and Two Devils), I missed these sets when they first came out, so I've had to pick them all up on Xianyu. With the exception of this set! This one I couldn't get on Xianyu, despite my best efforts. I have only seen it for sale exactly once, and when I tried to buy it, it turned out the listing was only up to draw traffic, and the seller just had one other (vaguely related) set. I was resigned to just keep watching and searching for it and hoping for the best, which was a real pity, because just from the small sales picture I really, really had to have it.

Thankfully! Qilin, the merch wrangler extraordinaire (@88Qilin on Twitter), had bought this set way back in the day, and when she heard I was on the search for more of these sets, was kind enough to check in with me to see if I needed it. AND BOY DID I. She immediately sent it off, and it arrived in record time! She even included some wonderful little extras, that I took a picture of immediately, but for some reason can no longer find. I'll take another pic and add it! In the meantime, I'll add a placeholder:

[Qilin's extra goodies pic goes here]

I was so excited to get this set, I can't even tell you. I feel super, super lucky.

(Fun fact, Qilin is the reason I originally found out about fan made figs in the first place! I saw her post on Twitter (also way back in the day) about the New Year's series of 6 figs, and I absolutely had to have them. I had just reactivated my long-dormant Twitter account to keep up with the fandom, and I was super nervous to message her, thinking she would be like, "who is this total rando messaging me out of nowhere?!" But no, she was super nice, and very helpful, and it was entirely thanks to her I was able to buy the whole set. A minor miracle at the time, trust me, considering how green I was at navigating Weidian back then. If you ever want to buy figs directly, definitely check out her pinned post walkthrough on her Twitter page, it's invaluable information.)

The set came sealed and as usual, in a plain box. Inside there was the same set up as the other sets in this series - a double bagged bag of bricks, the card with the QR code for the online 3-D instructions, and a handy little tool to separate bricks.

The full name of this set is Lao Wen Sacrificed his Life to Save Ah Xu. It measures 8.0 x 5.6 x 12.1 cm, and is rated 10 hours to complete. The "hours to complete" ratings have been extremely accurate to date. But, I was determined to get this set done over this holiday weekend, so hoped that my prior experience on these would serve me well to get it done in record time. So I timed myself!

Here I am getting ready to start. Not a lot of colors, which is typical for these sets. Not too bad looking, huh? You'll notice that unlike the other sets, I didn't carefully pre-sort out all the pieces by size and shape. I simply sorted by color and left them in big piles like this, in a bid to shave off even more time. I was a bit curious if it would be faster to hunt-and-peck through each pile for the right bricks, or if sorting them was about the same. Given that it took about an hour to sort through the larger sets, I decided to roll the dice here.

The directions informed me there were 184 steps in this set. Not too bad! I sat down, put on my headphones, cranked up some music, and got started.

I finished the first little block just as fast as could be. I was flying! I was so proud of myself. It was a holiday weekend, the morning was bright and sunny, and I was having a grand old time.

The next step was to add a second base square in, and then a third and fourth. I added in the second base and kept on flying through it. And then...I ran out of a white brick in the largest size.

Which is kind of impossible. Each of these sets has extras of all the bricks - quite a few, actually. So I searched through the white pile a couple extra times, and sat there and wondered what was going on. As you know, I have lots of spare bricks from the previous sets, so it would be easy enough to pull the right one out, but this shouldn't be happening.

So I was like, wait a minute. I looked back at the phone directions for the step I was on, and said, hold on, I don’t see the character 白 for white anywhere. Uh oh. I Google Translated the characters that were there and sure enough, 透明 meant transparent.

I had just been going off the colors on the phone screen, and I mean, come on! The bricks looked white! If you scroll up and look at it, don't you think so too?

Anyway.

So, I pulled off all the white bricks, and replaced them with transparent bricks, and hey, what do you know, I had plenty of them.

Alright, alright, so this happens when you don't speak the language. Never fear, I'm back on track!

Dear friends, I was not back on track.

Sometime in all this confusion, I had spun around my little base square around, so when I attached it to the other base squares, I started filling in the top bricks the wrong way around. Luckily, I realized what I was doing after a few steps in, and I didn't have to totally reassemble it like I did with the Not White But Transparent Brick Debacle of early 2024. I just gently disconnected the base squares from each other, turned them around, and kept going.

So! I finished the first layer 1 hour, 46 minutes in. This, of course, includes the one major mistake and the one minor mistake. It's pretty big, isn't it? The other fig sets only had max 2 base squares, so I was pretty excited to see how nice and big this was. The transparent bricks look nice, huh?

I took a bit of a break. Made a little bit of lunch, tidied up a bit, and then came back excited to tackle the next round.

I was paying attention to the names of the brick colors at this point, believe me.

I finished the next layer 2 hours and 54 minutes in. Pretty cool looking, isn't it? It looks like some kind of disk in an alien language. I must admit when I got here, I was both quite happy and also a little concerned. Only layer 2? Still 138 layers to go, and it's been about 3 hours?

Well, no big deal if it took me longer, really. I was having a good time, and there was no actual rush. I will say that at this point, my finger tips were certainly feeling the constant pressing and snapping of the bricks. They had actually toughened up back when I was doing set after set after set, but it had been some time, and my fingertips were back to their usual soft selves.

Luckily for my fingers, I had errands to run and other things to do, so my sore little fingertips got a needed break.

The next morning, I was up and back at it!

The third layer was starting to look like the actual base of the platform from the show. I was pretty excited to finish this layer, I have to say. I took little breaks here and there, but I was pretty determined to make some real progress.

By that evening, I had gotten pretty far. I stopped here at 6 hours and 3 minutes.

I was inordinately pleased by getting to this step. I could see the robes carefully spread out here, just like the show, and their hands out there. There was also a little bit of white where I was starting Lao Wen's new hair color.

You can tell the passage of time by how the light keeps changing in each of these pictures! I always end with the bricks for the step I'm on laid out in front of me, so I always know where I am when I pick the set back up. My memory is just too bad otherwise, I'll forget what I'm doing.

Well, 3-day holiday weekends don't last forever, so I woke up this morning determined to finish this. There was a little bit of race against the clock today, since I had appointments I had to take care of, and I needed to have enough light left to take final pictures. So, I sat down, and started going as fast as I could.

At 7 hours and 6 minutes, I had built up the bodies, and was on to the heads. I hurried through my afternoon errands and got back around 3:10 pm. The sun sets here around 4:20, so I didn't have much time. Tomorrow I get on a plane, so it really was up against the clock! I didn't even put my headphones on this time, I just sat down and focused.

But, it turns out that I didn't need that much time. 45 minutes later, I was done!

Total hours clocked in at 7 hours and 51 minutes. I will tell you, I was indeed flying through this set - all those other fig sets that I made mistakes on definitely helped me. I knew what I was doing, and I went fast. If this had been my first set, or even my second (ok, let's be real, even my third), it would 100% have taken me at least the full 10 hours. It also helped that other than Big Error 1 and Small Error 1, I didn't make any other mistakes.

You can see how many bricks are left (which is why I knew something was up when I ran out of that white brick earlier). I will say that not pre-sorting the bricks is definitely the way to go - it's pretty easy to pick out the right ones, and certainly saves a lot of time just organizing them into piles.

Alright! Let's do some beauty shots, shall we? As you know, the light wasn't super great, but it was good enough!

Oops, I see I need to press down a little on Lao Wen's head to get the bricks firmly squeezed together. I'll admit my aching fingertips were not pressing down super hard at this point!

I really love the 3-D effect of the icicles ringing the platform. This set is just fantastic!

It's a little hard to see A-Xu's luxurious mane of hair here with the black on black, but it's quite nice.

Lao Wen's closed eyes! Please also note the little white underlayer on his robes here at his neck. So cute.

This is a nice angle to see A-Xu's married hair bun (minus one hairpin, of course) and Lao Wen's loop of hair.

This angle is the coup de grâce of this whole set for me. For the longest time, I thought the single bricks was his eyes and the marks down his cheeks were tears, but in reality I think the larger bricks are his eyes, and the smaller bricks are his eyebrows going up in shock and horror. But all I can see are (non canonically accurate) tears free flowing down his cheeks!

I did waste several minutes at the point I was building this just contemplating his face, and I was THIS close to subbing in the light blue for to make tears after all, because (sorry A-Xu) I find it delightfully hilarious. Little Lego tears! I can't even. But, I decided to go with the actual design for this so you could see it (and go back and replace them afterwards).

Ahem. Anyway. This is also a beautiful shot to see Lao Wen's long white hair draping over his shoulders.

More of the snow and icicles all the way around. It looks great.

Seriously, don't you think they look like tears? Right, anyway. This actually isn't a bad angle to admire the modeling on the clothing.

And we're back around. The modeling really is beautiful on this, with their robes carefully spread out behind them and to the sides of them.

Time for some closeups:

Aww, Lao Wen.

Aww, A-Xu, honey.

The bottoms-up angle was really hard to get on this set, since the base was so large.

The top down angle looks great I think. This is actually the first time that I'm noticing they have the scroll underneath them.

Honestly, I'm so impressed with this set. With only 9 colors, and some very basic building block shapes, they did a gorgeous job rendering this scene.

With my last picture, in the last of my fading light, here's my two sets of armory figs re-enacting this scene. The closest set is actually from the New Year's set of of 6 that Qilin helped me buy back in the day, so this really is full circle!

I couldn't quite get my camera to focus on both sets, but you can see the relative size difference at least. It's a big set!

Alright, these are the last of these sets for a while - there's two more sets of two single figures each, but I have not been able to locate them on Xianyu either. I'm ok with it though - this is the last of the big scene sets, and one I really, really wanted. The others are nice but not quite as special as the sets.

Thanks for the figthusiasts friends that have accompanied me on these building block fig posts! They're all quite long, so I appreciate you reading all my thoughts and experiences with these. I absolutely love them - they were a ton of fun, and I only wish I had more! I'd love to enact out the entire series with building block scenes - can you imagine?

Material: Plastic building blocks

Fig Count: 520

Scene Count: 37

Rating: Pure love

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