#author-kun is dying

[winterisholding]

Diluc x Gn!Reader - Proposal

Diluc wrung his hands nervously, he had been planning this night for months now just to make it perfect. He would be a massive lier if he said his nerves weren't completely through the roof. He stood just outside of Angel's Share, awaiting your arrival. He had left you a beautiful letter and rose by your shared bedside in the morning for you to wake up to, inviting you to meet him there so he may escort you on a date. You were excited, to say the least, when he had requested you dress nicely. Diluc was a very busy man after all, and while he loved you dearly he did not often have time to do such extravagant events with you.

Double checking yourself in the mirror, you made your way to the tavern, a blush blooming across your cheeks as you met his gaze. He was dressed in a fine tux, his hair pulled back into a high ponytail. He looked handsome, and it made your heart flutter in your chest. As you stepped forward, he met you halfway, taking your hands into his and pulling you into a kiss. You melted into his embrace, smiling as you resting your forehead against his. Diluc chuckled softly under his breath, the sound sending pleasant shivers up your spine “You look absolutely gorgeous.” He finally spoke, cupping your cheek in his gloved hand. Leaning into his touch you giggle “I can say the same for you, Diluc.” You steal another peck from his lips.

Diluc indulges you, as he always had. How could he not? Not when he was so smitten with you. The red haired man gently tugged your hand, pulling away to start leading you. You entwine your fingers with his, walking side by side through the quieting streets of the city. Down the stairs and over the bride, he guides you in comfortable silence. Just being able to enjoy each other's company was more than enough for the both of you. Walking along to path and up into the mountains, he sits you down on a blanket after revealing a hidden picnic basket. As you both get settled, you rest your head against his shoulder “This is wonderful, Diluc. Thank you for this, truly. It almost makes me wonder if I missed an anniversary or something.” You chuckled.

Diluc shook his head with a soft, amused smile “No, nothing like that, my dear. I just… wanted to do something nice and spend time with you is all. I love you, so very much.” He speaks as he kisses the top of your head. You close your eyes in domestic bliss “It means a lot to me. I know you're really busy and important, but that just makes what time we get together that much better right?” You grin up at him, hugging his arm now. He chuckles at your antics and gives you a fleeting kiss “Yes, for sure.” He takes his time, pampering and feeding you parts of the meal he had prepared while you did the same for him.

Once the food had all been eaten, and the sun had begun to set; you two remained side by side, looking out over the horizon. His arm was wrapped around your waist, your head on his shoulder and body pressed against his to cuddle. He laid his head atop of your own, just holding you close to him. As you looked up, you pointed towards the sky “Diluc, look! You can already see some of the stars!” You smile. Diluc gazes up towards the sky, confirming your observation “Ah, I see. I hadn't realized we were out here for so long.” He frowned, his nerves suddenly picking up all over again.

While the average acquaintance, or even some friends wouldn't have noticed the shift in the usually stoic man, it caught your attention almost instantly “Oh Diluc, it's alright I'm sure we still have time to get home and be ready for bed by the time it is for us to sleep and be fully rested.” You try to reassure him “And even if not, I really enjoyed today regardless. It's nice to get you all to myself for a while.” You joke lightly, hoping to ease whatever has him so concerned. Diluc smiles to you, taking a shaking deep breath ”No it's nothing like that I just… I love you so very much you know that right? You are my world, the spark which starts my flame, my heart.” He takes your hands into his own “You have brought so much good into my life. I never thought I would ever meet someone like you, I didn't believe I deserved it. That day when you stumbled into the winery soaked in rain and mud, was the day I was blessed by the gods. You mean everything to me, that's why I prepared this dinner and brought you here.” You feel your eyes becoming misty from the tears beginning to form, and before you reply he shifts to one knee. Briefly letting go of your hands to fumble with his pocket and retrieve a red velvet box, he presents it to you. A beautiful garnet and diamond ring stares back at you as shock consumes your person “(Y/N)... Will you make the happiest man in Mondstadt and marry me?”

#diluc x reader #genshin reader insert #genshin x reader #genshin impact x reader #genshin impact #I struggled so much with this one I swear #author-kun is dying #writers block sucks

[entertext]

HGSN 26-2

Chapter (Japanese)

(Please hit the green thumbs up at the end of the chapter on the Japanese site to show the author some support)

Rough translation by me

P1

(sfx: train clacking over tracks)

Yoshiki: (It'll take a little under two hours on the Tanshou Line from Kibougayama Station, huh?...)

Yoshiki: (I haven't been to the ocean since elementary school...)

Hikaru: Whoaaa!! Coooool!!

Hikaru: What's that!? There's a building that looks like a butt!

Yoshiki: You sure are carefree...

P2

(sfx: train clacking over tracks)

Yoshiki: That reminds me...a while back...

P3

Yoshiki: I had to go to the Mikasa family's place on an errand

(Mom: Take them this as thanks for Kaoru's yukata)

Yoshiki: So I went to the shrine

Yoshiki: Then, at the torii gate...

(sfx: BZZT)

Hikaru: Huh? Why?....

Yoshiki: Dunno...After that, I was able to go inside like normal...

P4

Hikaru: ("Mixed up"...)

Yoshiki: *sighs* Enough about that, let's talk about something else. There's still more than an hour left to go.

Hikaru: Something else to talk about...I don't really have anything

Hikaru: Just stuff like the time when for some reason your room was so packed to the brim with the ghosts of old men that it made me laugh...

(sfx: train clacking over tracks)

Yoshiki: You're kidding me right?

P5

(sfx: stepping on sand)

P6

(sfx: waves)

P7

Yoshiki: Even considering it's evening, there are really few people here...Maybe everyone's gone to the new beach instead.

Hikaru: Whoa, so cool!

Hikaru: It's HUGE! The ocean's amazing!

(sfx: waves)

Hikaru: Yaaaaay!

Hikaru: Shoes, shoes...

(sfx: waves)

P8

(sfx: waves)

Yoshiki: Hey! Come over here!

(sfx: waves)

P9

Hikaru: The ocean's great!!

(sfx: waves)

Hikaru: Hahaha!

(sfx: waves)

Hikaru: Woo-hoo!!

(sfx: ker-splash)

(sfx: waves)

P10

Hikaru: Hah

Hikaru: Ha

(sfx: water sloshing)

(sfx: waves)

(sfx: water sloshing)

(sfx: waves)

P11

Yoshiki: Hey, your pants are gonna get wet

(sfx: waves)

Hikaru: You know, when I went into the hall, I also remembered what happened when I went into Hikaru's body

(sfx: water sloshing)

P12

Hikaru: When Hikaru was dying, he wished for things like "if only no one had to be sad" and "I don't want Yoshiki to be left alone"

Hikaru: Because I granted his wishes, things ended up this way

Yoshiki: Hikaru's...

Hikaru: ...but sorry

Hikaru: I probably won't be able to fulfill those wishes

Hikaru: I'm...going to go back to the mountain

P13

Yoshiki: ... Huh?

Hikaru: The time I attacked you recently? That was probably my true nature coming out.

Hikaru: In order to fill up the empty parts of myself, I have a desire for souls

Hikaru: It probably doesn't make sense to a human, right? I've also only just realized it myself

Hikaru: I think I was always that kind of being.

Hikaru: I've killed a lot of people too, and I might kill someone again in the future.

Hikaru: But I don't want to kill you, Yoshiki

Yoshiki: H-hold...on...a sec...! What?

P14

Hikaru: If I go back to the mountain, even if the real problem isn't solved

Hikaru: At least it'll be peaceful for the time you're alive

Yoshiki: N-no way. You can't. What have we...been searching so hard for...all this time...!

Hikaru: The monster will go away, you'll be able to accept Hikaru's death

Hikaru: And look forward, living on as a human. Happily ever after. That's for the best.

Yoshiki: You..! You want to stay, don't you!? Are you stupid!?

Yoshiki: Enough!

(sfx: splash splash)

Yoshiki: This kind of thing...isn't something you have to learn to do!!

P15

Yoshiki: Be more shameless, the way you've always been...

Hikaru: You know, Hikaru...he liked watermelon, but I like ice cream pops the best. And my favorite kind's not Gachigachi-kun but Papicco instead. I'm probably the one that likes cats.

Hikaru: And movies, too. There hasn't been a single movie I thought was boring. Hikaru hated studying, but I like it. Well, not that I'm any good at it though, haha.

P16

Yoshiki: Stop it

Yoshiki: Stop...

Hikaru: You know, I...really had a lot of fun being with you.

Hikaru: Maybe to you, I was just a replacement for Hikaru, but you gave someone like me so much. I love you, Yoshiki

Hikaru: These feelings might not be romantic and they might not be friendship. But, they're definitely my feelings.

Hikaru: Not Hikaru's, but the monster's. Mine.

P17

Yoshiki: No...

Hikaru: Yoshiki

Hikaru: Thank you for everything

Yoshiki: YOU'RE WRONG!

P18

Yoshiki: You're not a replacement for Hikaru!!!

(sfx: splash splash)

Yoshiki: I don't think of you as Hikaru anymore!

Hikaru: We don't have any other solution...so I've got no choice...

Yoshiki: You've just given up! Don't you dare push stuff like "looking forward" onto me...not now, after everything...

Yoshiki: What's so "happily ever after" about that...!?

Yoshiki: Bullshit...!!!!

P19

P20

Hikaru: Even I...

??: Even if you go back to the mountain, it won't do any good.

P21

Tanaka: 'Cause you see, 'Hikaru'-kun

P22

Tanaka: You aren't Nounuki-sama

P23

Tanaka: Thinking if you sacrifice something, something else will be saved...

Tanaka: You're under some wild misconceptions

==

#hikaru ga shinda natsu #the summer hikaru died #hgsn spoilers

[loving-family-poll]

Ultimate Incest Tournament - Round 2

Homestuck fanart by Timsel-kun on deviantart

Propaganda under the cut:

Beverly/Elliot:

Hot lesbians both played by Rachel Weisz! And they're canon in the book it's based on, and like HEAVILY implied to be for realsies in love and fucking in the show. Great lesbianism, great incest

There's literally a scene where elliot is listening intently to beverly having sex in the next room, and she like moans listening to it ok

Beverly's gf breaks up with her cuz she's weirded out by the twins relationship

Beverly likes to attend a support group for ppl with dead siblings and pretend her sister is dead like the psychosexual issues here.....

beverly and elliot were literally trying to have a child together. Elliot (a gynecologist) artificially impregnated Beverly MULTIPLE TIMES

Dave/Rose:

Daverose blondetwin sweep because they were codependent without ever meeting from growing up seeing each other in their dreams

What does it mean to be an abused teenage boy growing up alone and seeing a girl in your dreams every night who is also your best friend. and when you finally meet her you go on a suicide mission together even though nobody was asking you to die with her. and then you are the only two human beings left in the recognizable universe on a cold meteor surrounded by aliens but you’re glad it’s with her. and when you finally touch the girl from your childhood dreams she looks exactly like you. because she’s your sister

I don't have words for how good these snarky assholes are together. DaveRose is brain chemistry changing. They both put up so many fronts, and engage in so much snarky wordplay, and are constantly trying to get under each other's facade. They play off each other so well, witty and sharp, I need them to be together always

We all die & we all die alone are the two cold truths of the universe but dave and rose broke both simultaneously by ascending to godhood together

Their twincest wins because it is just so confusingly tragic? profound? dave leaving rose behind in a doomed world, dave following her to the bomb. they are both so closed & cut off & curt its hard to imagine the depth of these things. but that is their love language: giving up their lives for each other over and over, in a confusing and fumbling and heartfelt love song. i can’t say i love you but i know we’ll die together anyway. because we’re made of the exact same stuff. i’ll find you again at the last moment. that’s love.

THEY DIED TOGETHER, YOUR HONOR

Confirmed canon by the author, (something happened) between them. Parallels of dying by each other's sides in EVERY timeline. They are THE womb-to-tomb. There is nothing platonic about winking at your brother while talking about crushes, that shit is incestuous. Seer/Knight archetype. They will die protecting each other.

do you realize love someone if you don’t follow them on a suicide mission into the gaping maw of a literal fucking sun after they knock you out and psychoanalyze you in your dreams? the blueprint of the “ethereal androgynous blonde boygirl twins” trope. witch/knight dynamics. they find each other to die together in every timeline no matter what (but they’re still emotionally constipated teenagers who bicker and make fun of each other in pesterchum). kids with grown-up powers. perfect little freaks of nature. what if we looked exactly like each other’s eyes

#tournament polls #tumblr polls #incest poll #beverly/elliot #dead ringers #dave/rose #daverose #dersecest #homestuck #tw incest #round 2

[svnaaaaaa]

On My Way - Sano Manjiro (Mikey)

pairing : mikey x fem reader

summary : takemichi is on a mission to save hinata, he is also on a mission to save y/n and mikey.

warning(s) : anime + manga adaptation, killing, pregnancy stress, divorce, heartbreak, dying in sleep

next : part one

masterlist

author's note : so this is my first anime-related heh. i want to make levi as my first piece but now is tokyo revengers season so yea. also i changed the plot a bit to make more sense in my part.

tagging : (if you want to be tagged in, let me know)

-

second year of middle school, wasn't the only golden year for hanagaki takemichi. but also for l/n y/n. because of him and hina-chan, she met the love of her life, sano manjiro, mikey-kun.

2005

y/n, alongside with her friends were giggling as they walked towards hanagaki-kun's class. as hanagaki-kun appears in their view, they immediately chasing the blonde yellow haired guy. feeling eerie from his back, takemichi turned around and saw bunch of girls from tachibana hinata's class. the girls were giggling which making takemichi confused by their action. "tachibana-san said that she's into you hanagaki-san." miyuki-chan said and then they left the scene, leaving takemichi confused as ever.

2017

"innocent civilians have fallen victim to the growing dispute between the tokyo manji gang." a news announcer spoke which attracted y/n's attention as she stopped mixing her cake ingredients in a bowl and placed the bowl on the counter top. "tokyo, manji gang?" y/n mumbled to herself. "six were injured in the dispute and one person was taken to the hospital and immediate suffered in cardiac arrest." the announcer continued as y/n keep her focus on the news. "at the place of the incident, there was one death confirmed due to the dispute. tachibana hinata, 26, from shibuya-ku, tokyo." the announcer continued reading the news but as soon as y/n heard the recognized name from her past, she immediately blocked the world. all she could hear was this ringing noise in her mind as the world started to spin around.

felt onto her knees, y/n felt a pair of hands on her shoulders. "nee-san, are you okay?" y/n's younger sister, yuuki, asked. instead of answer to her, y/n started to sob and immediately cry. yuuki surprised by this, went down on her knees and wrapped her sister in her arms.

"h-hina-chan, she, she-"

blackness covered y/n's view and mind.

-

seeing the black-dyed hair in her view, y/n could see the smile painted on lanky guy who she called her boyfriend. with a dragon tattoed on the behind of his neck, y/n wrapped her arms around her lover's, mikey, neck as happiness filled her heart.

it feels like she could die like this.

mikey wrapped his arms around his lover's waist and twirled her around, making her giggle. mikey has always love y/n's giggle. it sounded like angels were singing to him personally.

"i love you l/n y/n." mikey whispered in y/n's ear, making she tighten her wrapping.

"i love you too, sano manjiro."

2005

walking side by side, hinata and y/n always go to school together even they were still in pre-school. it could be said that they are childhood friends, despite y/n being cousin with takemichi from her mother's side. easy to say, y/n was the one who bring them together. "isn't that takemichi?" y/n asked as she pointed out at the blonde yellow haired guy. hinata's smile brighten up. "go." y/n said and hinata jogged a bit to catch up with takemichi who is right in front of them.

"good morning, takemichi-kun." hinata greeted and takemichi turned around and shocked. "hina-chan!" takemichi exclaimed as hinata put out a peace sign at him, smiling. "it is good to see you like this, going to school like a normal student." hinata said and y/n chuckled at hinata's comment.

in class, y/n placed her palm under her head as she looked out of the window and watch the school view of front yard. "y/n-chan~ what are you doing after school?" one of y/n's classmates asked. y/n looked up at the girl and hummed to herself. "hina-chan go to a date with takemichi so i guess i'm free." y/n replied. "want to go to karaoke?" y/n smiled at the thought and nodded her head yes. "okay sure!"

then there was a slam of the door being open sideway. "there's a fight in the hallway!" the student announced and all y/n's classmates went outside of the class to see the fight. y/n and her friends looked at each other first and then stood up to go to the hallway to see what is going on. then they saw all year three guys were lying on the floor, groaning to themselves. y/n gasped at the view. "who did this to them?" y/n asked.

"stop it right there!" it was hinata, who behind takemichi, and two blonde guys in distance. one is tall with braided hair and another one is short and have such beautiful hair. "huh?" the tall one speaks up. hinata walked up towards their way. takemichi was saying something but it was inaudiable. then there was a smack sound.

tachibana hinata, slapped the short blonde haired guy, hard.

2017

a slighty breeze seeping into the room, making curtains dance along with the wind. beeping machine sound was heard. y/n opened her eyes slowly, adjusting to the light of the room. "nee-san, you're awake!" yuuki's voice was heard. "y/n, are you okay?" it was takemichi. "takemichi.." y/n mumbled to herself and eventually, she started to sob and cry again. both yuuki and takemichi shocked by the reaction.

"it was manjiro, wasn't it?" y/n asked between the cries and takemichi just looked down at his feet. "tokyo manji gang, it was him who killed hina-chan!" y/n yelled this time and stress was taking over her as the machine beeped crazily and rapidly causing nurses to enter the room to make yuuki and takemichi out of the room. then entered a doctor into the room.

waiting at the hospital hallway, yuuki and takemichi waited patiently. yuuki sighed heavily. "manjiro-san, haven't you ever contacted him takemichi-kun?" yuuki asked and takemichi shook his head no. "it has been months since i last contact him." takemichi answered. both sighed. the door of the ward room opened and the doctor exited. both yuuki and takemichi stood up. the doctor sighed. "she can't be expose to such pressure, now that she is heavily pregnant." the doctor said and yuuki sighed this time.

to be precise, y/n has been pregnant for seven months now. exactly seven months mikey left her, without knowing that he's going to be a dad. the gender was still unknown for since y/n wishes to know on the day baby is born. nevertheless, y/n wishes to put his last name in the baby's name.

on their way back home, both yuuki and takemichi silently waited for elevator. "yuuki-chan, how did y/n and mikey-kun be like they are now? weren't they in love like madly in love?" takemichi asked. "i am not sure myself as well takemichi-kun but, what i did know about was how mikey-san keeps on disappearing until he was no longer coming back home and one thing another, a divorce letter showed up." yuuki replied, sighing at how bad luck in life her sister was put in.

all she wanted was a long lasting love life until the end.

later that night, y/n was left on her own since the doctor said that y/n has been put to sleep until the next day. little did they know, someone entered her ward room with bad intention. seeing the beeping machine still going on, the person decided to get things done immediately. pulling out a syringe with poison in it, was placed in her vein.

y/n was slowly dying in her sleep, alongside her unborn baby.

-

after the visitation from the hospital, both yuuki and takemichi parted their ways. takemichi went to the train station that he usually went to and then he received a phone call from yuuki. "eh? yuuki-chan?" takemichi wondered to himself. "hello, yuuki-chan." takemichi answered and all he heard was wailing from yuuki's line. "yuuki-chan, what's wrong?" takemichi asked right away and the wailing doesn't stop. "n-n-nee-san, she's d-dead!" yuuki yelled in the phone call and takemichi was stunned. shock even.

the ceremony were attended by close family only, for safety and pre-caution. as yuuki, her mum and dad sat at their designated chairs placed for them, takemichi became their escort. not only he lost the love of his life but also a close family member he called 'cousin'. "goodbye nee-san, yuta-chan." yuuki bidded before cremation ceremony begins.

l/n y/n and sano yuta. mother and son, daughter and grandson.

on his way back home, he refused to accept going home with the l/n as he wanted to go home on his own to clear out his mind. 'mikey-kun left right before he met his own child, hina-chan and y/n died on the same day.' takemichi thought to himself. without any warning, he was pushed off onto the train track, noticing a train coming his way. "now it's my time to die, huh?" takemichi mumbled to himself.

-

"takemichi-kun." that voice. takemichi opened his eyes and saw a pair of eyes he missed the most. a pair of eyes belonged to his beloved, tachibana hinata. "hina-chan?" takemichi looked around and they were in train at the moment. takemichi patted on his body to see he's in his school uniform. he looked at the train window and saw his younger self. "eh?!" takemichi shocked to himself. "takemichi-kun." hinata called him once again. "yes, hina-chan." "let's go sit down, there's a space there."

both sat down on the given space as they sat next to each other. "takemichi-kun, how did you do your finals?" hinata asked as looked at takemichi, noticed him getting startled up. "oh, finals." takemichi said. "that really takes me back!" hinata weirded out. "takes you back? but we just took them earlier." hinata pointed out which makes takemichi fumbled out. "y-yeah we did." crap, why did i said it out loud, he thought to himself. hinata smiled at him sweetly. "study hard okay, because you've got a dream right?" hinata asked, takemichi was taken aback for a moment. "a dream?" takemichi talked to himself.

as they were on their way to hinata's house, they saw someone familiar. it was draken on his motorbike. "uh, draken-kun?" takemichi mumbled to himself as draken held up his hand. "come to musashi shrine by tama river, everyone's going to be there." draken said and takemichi looked at hinata. hinata smiled sweetly. "i'll go with you!" hinata exclaimed, making takemichi taken aback once again. "great." draken commented and off he go. once draken was out of sight view, there was y/n stood in front of then within a distance. "oh?" hinata shocked and go off to where y/n stood at, grabbing her hands in hers. "what are you guys doing?" y/n asked hinata. "wasn't that guy was with the guy you slapped before?" y/n continued and before hinata could reply to her, y/n felt a bit jerked back.

it was takemichi, hugging y/n.

at the funeral, takemichi saw a name plate stating y/n's name and a boy's name next to her. "who's sano yuta?" takemichi asked yuuki, who setting up the casket flowers arrangement. yuuki looked down at name plate. "the baby's, y/n wanted to name the baby yuta, she knew it was a boy and she planned of the name ever since she knew about it." yuuki told him. takemichi's eyes starting to water up, knowing an innocent child has been involved with the past of his parents.

"uh?" y/n felt weird with the sudddn embrace. she put her hands on takemichi's shoulders and then pushed him off of her. "what's wrong with you baka(stupid)-michi!" y/n yelled out at takemichi making hinata giggle at the two cousins. "that was draken-kun, he invited takemichi to musashi shrine and i want to go too!" hinata exclaimed. "then i want to come as well!" y/n exclaimed as well. takemichi reminded silent, remembering the death of y/n.

"it was manjiro, wasn't it?"

"tokyo manji gang, it was him who killed hina-chan!"

"yuuki-chan, how did y/n and mikey-kun be like they are now? weren't they in love like madly in love?" takemichi asked.

"i am not sure myself as well takemichi-kun but, what i did know about was how mikey-san keeps on disappearing until he was no longer coming back home and one thing another, a divorce letter showed up." yuuki replied.

'after i realized that i've came back to the past, and seeing hinata and y/n in one piece, i knew i need to save them but how?!' takemichi thought to himself. hinata and y/n looked at takemichi weirdly. "takemichi-kun.." hinata called. takemichi looked up. "let's go?" takemichi nodded his head. "let's go." takemichi said and three of them started walking to the shrine.

'to save hina and y/n, i need to know why it happened. why mikey-kun changed when the first time mikey-kun and y/n met, they were basically madly in love. i need find the root of it, also why hina was targeted to kill by this gang.'

"uh?" takemichi, hinata and y/n looked around as they arrived to the said shrine. it was empty, dark and eerie. "seems scary." y/n commented. then a roaring sound of motorbikes surfacing and approaching their way. "eh, is this the right place?" hinata asked takemichi as he looked kind of scared. "y-yeah." takemichi replied. "not only this place is scary, but they are scary looking as well." y/n commented.

then one of the guys got off his bike and approaching the trio. "hey! quit staring!" the guy yelled as he walked towards them. "why are you here? don't you know this is toman's secret meeting place?" the guy continued. huh? toman's secret meeting? "w-well i was told to come here." takemichi replied and the scary guy keeps on tormenting takemichi. "who the hell would call you to come here huh?" the guy asked and grabbed takemichi by his collar. "hey, let go of takemichi!" y/n yelled at the guy, hinata placed her hand on y/n's shoulder. "y/n-chan, no." hinata warned.

"are you, takemitchy?" a guy asked as the trio looked at the guy's voice direction. it was a silver haired guy. "y-yeah." takemichi answered while being lifted. "oi, he's the guest of our leader. let him go." the silver haired guy said as he kneed the guy that lifted takemichi. the guy put takemichi down and silver haired guy walked in front of the trio. "follow me, takemitchy." that guy said and the trio followed the silver haired. "are you this is safe?" y/n asked while tailing them. "i'm not even sure y/n-chan." hinata said.

the silver haired stop walking causing the trio to stop as well. from there, they saw familiar faces. "yo, takemitchy. sorry for the sudden invite." mikey voiced out while sitting on his cb250t motorcycle. "yeah, it's okay." takemichi said. "hey emma, this is takemitchy's girlfriend and, who are you?" draken asked, looking directly at y/n, whose looking at draken with tense eyes. "y/n." y/n replied shortly. "and y/n, look after them. okay?" draken asked and then a blonde haired girl showed up. "oooookay." the girl replied. the girl looked at hinata and y/n, her eyes lighten up. "nice to meet you, my name's emma." emma introduced herself. "i'm hinata and this is y/n." hinata introduced as y/n bowed her head.

little did they know, mikey was watching the whole time.

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extra author's note : hello! this is my next project, i'm trying to write for anime now hehe. tell me whether you like it or not, or if there is in need for improvements. thank you in advance!

#sano manjiro #manjiro sano #mikey sano #sano mikey manjiro #sano manjiro x reader #sano manjiro x y/n #sano mikey x reader #tokyo revengers sano manjiro #manjiro sano x reader #manjiro sano x y/n #manjiro sano x you #tokyo revengers #tokyo revengers x reader

[starlightkun]

❧ word count: 19.4k ❧ warnings: cursing, graphic description of blood and blood drinking (you know, vampire stuff), graphic description of neck biting so if that’s your no-go zone it’s time to make a decision here, mentions of death and dying (in the context of vampires) ❧ genre: fluff, modern magical creatures au, fantasy au, college au, vampire kun, human reader, ft. various other magical weishens, “uh-oh one of us drank a love potion” trope but with a twist, same universe as strawberry sunday ❧ extra info: this work is set in the same universe as strawberry sunday but can be read as a standalone! there is no continuing plotline between fics in this universe, they simply take place in the same world/magic system and may have overlapping characters (neos may pop up in more than one work!) ❧ author’s note: omg omg i’m so excited to not only debut vampire kun but to begin expanding the strawberry sunday universe! enjoy! ❧ sequel

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ explore the strawberry sunday universe more here!

“Did I just drink a goddamn love potion? What the fuck were you planning on doing with a love potion, exactly, anyway?”

“We were supposed to bring them in to test their properties in the lab. And it’s not just a love potion... That already exists, I wanted to take mine to the next level. That’s why Kun’s here.”

“I just don’t get this one,” Kunhang sighed, tapping his pencil against his laptop.

He shifted in place on his bed, reaching behind him to scratch at the middle of his back. You were sitting at his desk chair, going over review questions for your Calculus test tomorrow. Your friend kept itching at his back, and you spun around, putting your notebook and pencil down on the desk.

“I think we need a break, Kunhang. You look like you need to preen,” you declared, standing up and stretching.

“Yeah,” his nose scrunched up as he set his computer aside to get at his back and shoulders with two hands.

“I’m going to get something to drink. You want anything while I’m up?”

“No, I’m good. Thanks, Y/N.”

In Kunhang’s kitchen, you downed a cup of water first. Knowing that the gryphon would be taking some time to preen his wing and shoulder feathers, you opened the fridge to see if you could find anything good. It was barren, it didn’t seem like he nor his witch roommate Yangyang had gone grocery shopping recently. The door held mostly condiments, however you did spot a couple bottles of blue and red Gorgonade. The seal on the red sports drink was cracked, but it looked completely full. You didn’t mind drinking it if your friend had only taken a sip or two. After all, red was your favorite.

Carrying it back over towards his room, you called out down the hall, “Kunhang!”

“Eh?” His response was muffled through presumably a mouthful of feathers.

“Is this your red Gorgonade?”

“Huh?”

“Gorgonade! Can I drink?”

“Have whatever you want!”

“Thanks!”

You wandered around the living room, stretching your legs as you took your first sip. It didn’t taste like the red sports drink normally did. It had a more… earthy taste to it. Still slightly sweet, and a bit rich. But definitely not the normal fruity and saccharine flavor. Looking closer at the label, it definitely said Fruit Punch. You inspected the expiration date next. Nope, definitely well within that, by over a year.

Wondering if you had tasted it right, you took another sip, staring hard at the words ‘Fruit Punch’ on the label. No, still tasted a bit off. Holding the bottle up to the sunlight streaming in through the living room window, you saw that the color wasn’t quite right either, a darker red than normal. Kunhang must have left the bottle open in the fridge for too long and it went a bit off.

You were half done with the bottle by the time you heard Kunhang yelling from his bedroom. Figuring that it was him telling you he was done, you walked back over.

He was readjusting his shirt and fixing his hair as you walked in, looking much more refreshed now. You picked up a stray grey feather that was on the desk chair and tossed it in the trashcan with the others before sitting down.

“Where’d you get that?” He nodded at the bottle as you took another swig from it.

You tilted your head in confusion, “Uh, your fridge?”

“Must’ve been Yang’s,” the gryphon shrugged. “I thought you had found the blue one that’s in there.”

“Oh shit,” you looked down at the mostly empty bottle, feeling guilty now.

“He’ll live.”

A bit ashamed, you finished off the drink and set the empty container down on the desk.

You two had gotten through only a couple more review questions before the door to Kunhang’s room was thrown open, a wild-eyed, disheveled, crazed Yangyang bursting in.

“Have you seen my—” His eyes bugged out of his head when they landed on the empty bottle next to you. He looked between you and Kunhang frantically. “Which one of you drank that?”

You immediately went to apologize, a bit alarmed at how invested he seemed in this drink, “That was me, Yangyang. I’m sorry, I thought it was Kunhang’s. Look, I’ll buy you another.”

The witch winced, looking over his shoulder at something in the hallway. Another figure entered the room then, who you recognized somewhat. You knew of Qian Kun through mutual friends, he attended classes at your campus too, in addition to being a several-century-old vampire. Though you’d never asked, he looked as though he’d been turned in his mid to late twenties, but that presumably didn’t matter much once you’d been around for centuries on end.

Kun’s hands were tucked into the pockets of his crisp dress pants as he seemed to be appraising you. Despite being a student, the couple of times you’d seen him in passing, he had been dressed more like a professor than most of your professors. Today he was in a pair of black slacks and black knit sweater with a white collared dress shirt underneath.

You and Kunhang exchanged bewildered looks before the gryphon finally spoke up.

“Yangyang, what the hell’s going on?”

“Uhm…” Yangyang ran a hand through his hair anxiously. “How- How are you, Y/N? You know, we never hang out—”

“Yangyang!” You cut him off. “Did you do something to that Gorgonade?”

“Well, no…” He refused to meet your eyes, explaining to the floor. “Becauseitwasn’tGorgonade.”

You looked at him incredulously. “What the hell did I fucking drink, then?”

“Well, you see, I had this assignment in my Magical Botany II class, and one of the options was to create a botanical blend incorporating a magical plant we studied this semester. I’m a witch, so, easy A, duh.”

“Are you telling me I just drank a fucking potion?”

“Botanical blend!”

“Why would you put a potion in a fucking Gorgonade bottle?”

“Botanical blend!”

“Put it in a weird little vial with a ‘DO NOT DRINK: POTION’ label on it or something! What the fuck is wrong with you?!”

“I ran out of glass jars last month! I’ve been meaning to run to the apothecary…”

“So you used a Gorgonade bottle?”

Kunhang cut in then, “Yangyang, what kind of potion was it? You said you had to create it; do you even know what it’s going to do to Y/N?”

“Well, I chose the lover’s embrace blossom as my plant.”

“Lover’s embrace…” you sighed, the vine immediately coming to mind. Mature plants bloomed flowers whose pollen would intoxicate those who breathed it in so they wouldn’t struggle while the vines ensnared them. You imagined it was exactly that pollen that the witch used. “Did I just drink a goddamn love potion? What the fuck were you planning on doing with a love potion, exactly, anyway?”

“We were supposed to bring them in to test their properties in the lab. And it’s not just a love potion... That already exists, I wanted to take mine to the next level. That’s why Kun’s here.”

The three of you finally looked over at the vampire again. He stared back at you, his deep red eyes feeling like they were piercing your very soul. You had to look away, back at Yangyang.

“The love potion is attuned specifically to him, theoretically. Vampires metabolize things so much faster, so their blood may make the effects more powerful, but it should burn right through you super fast, Y/N!” Yangyang tried to put a positive spin on it for you, but your jaw dropped in horror.

“I drank his blood?!” You screeched, your hand flying up to your mouth. It took everything in you to hold back gags at the thought.

“Just a couple drops, just a couple drops!” The witch tried very hard to backpedal.

Kunhang looked between you and Kun. “How long should it take to kick in, Yangyang?”

“Like five minutes.”

“And when did you drink that, Y/N?”

“An hour ago,” you informed him, the same realization seeming to dawn on the both of you.

“And… do you feel any different about Kun than before today?”

You looked at the vampire, feeling almost sheepish as you had to shake your head. Sure, the guy was attractive, but you definitely weren’t magically in love with him all of a sudden.

“No, I feel fine. Normal,” you clarified, turning to the witch. Giving Yangyang a shrug, you didn’t feel all that sorry as you told him, “Maybe your potion sucks.”

“No, it should definitely work!” Yangyang replied indignantly.

“Well I don’t feel anything!” You reiterated. “So congrats on your F, Yangyang!”

The witch huffed, brows furrowing as he looked you over. “Yeah, you’re not acting any different. What the fuck happened?”

“If that’s all, can you get the hell out?” Kunhang requested frankly. “We’re trying to study.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Yangyang sighed. He turned back to the vampire, pointing to the exit dramatically, “Back to the drawing board, Kun!”

Kun still hadn’t moved from his spot as Yangyang was mostly out of the room, then popped his head back in.

“Y/N, you’ll tell me if anything changes, right?”

“I promise, you will be the first to know if your potion did anything weird to me,” you nodded firmly. “I will personally come over here and beat your ass for it.”

“I was thinking like a text or a phone call, but that works too I guess.” Yangyang gave you a thumbs up before disappearing from the room.

You held Kun’s gaze for an awkward moment, unsure why he was still here. Maybe you should apologize?

“Kun!” Yangyang called for him again, and the vampire finally looked away from you, walking out of Kunhang’s bedroom.

It was dark out when you eventually left Kunhang’s apartment, the review guide completed, and your brain just a little fried from all that math. With your backpack slung over your shoulder, and keys in hand, you took off down the sidewalk for the short walk back to your own home.

“Y/N.” A voice suddenly saying your name from right beside you made you jump out of your skin.

“Oh, shit!” You exclaimed, clutching a hand to your chest. When you whipped around to see that it belonged to a familiar face, you took a deep breath before greeting him. “Uh, hi, Kun.”

He remained quiet.

You kept talking, adjusting your bag strap on your shoulder to calm yourself down, “Sorry about all that back in Kunhang and Yangyang’s apartment, by the way. I know it was stupid of me to drink something in a witch’s fridge that tasted off. That part was on me.”

“Are you walking home?” He questioned, focus rather intense on you.

“Yeah, my apartment isn’t far.” You gestured in the vague direction of it.

A deep frown etched itself into his features, “By yourself? It’s rather late.”

“I know! What if another vampire sneaks up on me?” You gasped teasingly.

“Will you let me walk you home? Please?”

Your eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Oh, uh, sure. Thanks.”

The two of you walked side by side in silence. You shifted your bookbag from one shoulder to the other when your muscles got tired.

“Is that heavy?” Kun asked.

“I mean, kind of? My laptop’s in there, and a couple notebooks; Kunhang and I were doing this review packet for a Calc test,” you explained.

“I can carry it for you.” He held a hand out expectantly.

“Oh, you really don’t have to.”

“I want to.”

“Uhm… okay.” You pulled the bag off your shoulder and handed it to him by the strap. Honestly, you wouldn’t be too terribly surprised if he ran off with it. Him robbing you seemed about as likely as him randomly offering to walk you home and carry your bag for you.

Kun effortlessly slipped the bookbag on. It looked out of place against his slacks and dress shirt/sweater combo, especially with your multiple cute character keychains that you had attached to the zipper.

He dutifully carried it all the way to your front door for you, where you gratefully took it back. You were very excited for tonight to be over. Between studying, the potion debacle, and now this incredibly awkward interaction, diving headfirst into your bed sounded like exactly what you needed.

“Thank you, Kun, I’m just going to—” You cut yourself off when you were finally able to see his face clearly in the security light outside your apartment door. His crimson irises were nearly gone, entirely swallowed by inky pupils, and he was pulling at his shirt almost as if he were fanning himself to cool down. “Oh my god, Kun, are you okay? Your pupils are… blown. I’d check your temperature, but I don’t think vampires can run a fever, can you?”

“I… I’m…” He didn’t even finish his sentence, biting down on his bottom lip, and holding up a finger in a gesture for you to wait a moment.

You didn’t know too much about vampires, nor whatever ailments they could possibly get afflicted with, but you did know somebody who probably would. Bringing your phone out from your pocket, you started flicking through your contacts list, “I feel like I should call Renjun. He’s a Magical Creatures Studies major. Uhm, he was able to figure out why Dejun stopped producing fire for a weird two weeks last year. He might be able to help. Here, let me—”

“No, I’m fine. I know what it is.”

“Oh. That’s good. What is it? Is there anything I can do?”

Kun straightened back up, hand going to smooth out the wrinkles in his sweater that he’d caused by pulling it at. “I believe Yangyang’s love potion was successful in a way he did not intend.”

“Kun, seriously, I don’t feel any—”

“I do.” He cut you off sternly, focusing his darkened eyes on yours.

“You…” You breathed out, eyes widening.

“I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable, I apologize.” He bowed his head. “I tried to control it as best as I could. But yes, I suddenly started experiencing extremely strong romantic feelings for you earlier tonight.”

“O-Oh.”

“I should go, I’ve seen you home safely.”

“Right, uhm, goodnight, Kun,” you nodded to him, too stunned to say much else.

You clenched your jaw not to make a noise of surprise when he picked up one of your hands with his much colder one. He bent over nearly ninety degrees to press a feather-light to the back of your hand. If you had a free hand, you would’ve pinched yourself to make sure you weren’t dreaming yourself into a rom-com right now.

“Goodnight, Y/N,” he gently let go of your hand before taking a step back from you.

After fumbling to unlock your door, you practically ran inside. Oh, you were going to kill Yangyang.

Unfortunately, you couldn’t immediately start your literal witch hunt the next day, as you had to take your Calculus exam. In fact, you had mostly forgotten your dilemma as you walked out of your classroom with Kunhang and Dejun, another friend of yours.

“How are you feeling, by the way, Y/N?” Kunhang checked in with you, pressing the back of his hand to your forehead. “No sudden urge to dicked down by a va—”

You elbowed him in the side, sending him stumbling off in one direction as he cackled. “I’m fine, thanks for your concern.”

“What is he talking about?” Dejun raised an eyebrow, his slit pupils flicking between the two of you curiously.

“You really should’ve come to the study session last night, Dejun.” Kunhang jumped to relay the story to the dragon.

Dejun had the decency not to full-on laugh at you, but you did see a couple puffs of smoke come out of his nose as he tried to hold back his chuckles. “Yangyang needs to store his potions more responsibly.”

“Thank you!” You cried out, feeling vindicated.

“It seriously didn’t work at all? I mean, I don’t know what else was in there, but lover’s embrace pollen and vampire blood… sure sounds like it should’ve done something,” he mused aloud.

And that was when you sighed, “Well… it didn’t work on me.”

“And what does that mean?” Kunhang cocked his head to the side.

“Kun caught up to me after I left your apartment last night,” you confessed with a wince. “Somehow he’s the one that’s suddenly in love with me.”

“What?!” Kunhang grabbed your shoulder and shook you with equal amounts of disbelief and delight.

You swatted him away, “I don’t know! But I’m going to find Yangyang and see what the little twerp has to say for himself.”

“He should be getting out of Bot II in ten minutes.” Dejun pointed to a building off to your right. “Try to leave him in one piece, Y/N.”

“No promises.”

Kunhang and Dejun both had other classes to get to, leaving you to wait in front of the Earth Sciences building alone, arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently.

“Y/N, hello.”

You spun around on your heel at the familiar voice, now face to face with deep red eyes and dark brown hair.

“Hey, Kun,” you greeted him. He didn’t seem as… unwell as last night. His crisp white button up was tucked neatly into his dark brown dress pants, and for a brief moment you wondered if he even owned casual clothes. Small gold earrings dangled from his lobes, glinting as they caught the dappled sunlight streaming in through the leaves above you.

Feeling hopeful, you asked, “So… how are you feeling?”

“Much better, thank you for asking.” He kept his gaze on you as the two of you conversed. “I’m not, uhm, feverish anymore.”

“Oh, good,” you breathed a sigh of relief. So everything was back to normal then.

“I wanted to give you this.” In his hand was a folded piece of paper, and you accepted it from him curiously. It was crisp, fine quality, with a nice texture that you could feel as your fingers ran along the edges to unfold it.

Your eyes widened as you realized that he had just handed you a poem—a rather good one, if you were to be honest—written in an elegant script. After another quick skim just to make sure your reading comprehension was up to par, you knew that he didn’t just want your feedback on an assignment for class or something. This was a sonnet, if your recollection of your literature class from last semester was any good, about you. For you.

You looked up from the paper to Kun, offering him a nervous smile. “This is… really good, Kun. Uhm, are you busy right now?”

“I have another class in thirty minutes.”

“I’m waiting for Yangyang to get out of his class. He should be out any second. I think we should both talk to him.”

Kun nodded, tucking his hands into the pockets of his slacks. You folded the paper back up and tucked it into a folder in your backpack.

Eventually, a new rush of students began streaming out of the doors, and you scanned the crowd for Yangyang.

As soon as you spotted him towards the back, you hurried over to head him off. “Liu Yangyang!”

“Oh, Y/N! And Kun…” He looked up from his phone at you two, clearly surprised. “Is everything okay?”

“No.” You crossed your arms. “Do you have somewhere to be?”

“Oceanography in an hour. Why? Are you alright?”

Latching onto his forearm, you dragged him over to a more secluded spot of campus, Kun following behind. You relayed all the facts to the witch as quickly as possible, watching as he turned from confused to shocked.

“So it did work!” Yangyang declared brightly.

“Hey! Focus!” You said sternly. “You said that the vampire blood means it should burn up really quickly, right? So Kun’ll be back to normal soon?”

He scratched the back of his neck nervously. “If it was going to be a quick burn, it would have been over already.”

“Excuse me?”

“Kun’s the subject but you’re the vector—”

“Don’t call me that, it makes me sound like I gave him malaria or something.”

“I think—emphasis on think—that this is a two-factor potion.”

“A what?”

“Kun’s blood is doing two things: made it so that it’ll affect him, and by happenstance of him being a vampire, it makes it more powerful. And you drinking it does two things as well: since you drank it, you’re now the target of his affection, and because you’re a human, the potion itself is working through you, and humans metabolize that stuff much slower than say, a vampire.”

“So it’s supercharged and—relatively—super long lasting?”

“Is my guess.”

You pinched the bridge of your nose, muttering under your breath, “Can this get any worse?”

Yangyang breathed in through his teeth, a rueful hissing sound. “Well—”

“Oh my god, that was supposed to be rhetorical, it does get worse?”

“It probably won’t even be an issue, Kun’s super old.”

“What does that even mean, Yangyang?”

“Well, younger vampires have a difficult time controlling how much they feed because all kinds of want sort of feel the same to them. Hunger, thirst, jealousy, attraction…”

“I’m living a fucking Twilight novel...” You threw your hands up, then pointed threateningly at him. “I am absolutely going to kick your ass.”

Yangyang held his hands up in front of him defensively, starting to back away from you, “But Kun’s hundreds of years old, so that’s totally not gonna be a problem! Right, Kun?”

Finally, you looked back over to the vampire, who had been silent through this entire confrontation.

“I don’t even live feed anymore,” Kun confirmed. “Y/N, I would never hurt you.”

You knew what he meant. There were other options for vampires now besides drinking blood from a live source, donor bags or synthetic blood replacements. To your understanding, vampires were fairly divided when it came to which they preferred—if they even had a preference at all, some didn’t care as long as they were fed, to those ones it was really whatever was cheapest and easiest at the time.

“Of course, Kun.” You nodded in understanding.

When you turned to give Yangyang one last piece of your mind, the witch was nowhere to be seen. He’d run off while you were distracted. How very mature.

“Alright, well, I’ve uh,” you checked the time on your phone. “I’ve got another class to get to. So, see you.”

“Can I walk you there?”

You had just spun on your heel to leave when he asked that, and it took everything in you not to show your ‘drats!’ expression on your face when you twisted back around to talk to give him some excuse. “Sorry, Kun, I really need to call my mom on the way there. I forgot to on my way to class this morning.”

“Oh.” His face fell, making you wince. It was sweet, but you knew that he was under the effects of a love potion, so really what was the point of entertaining any of this if it was all against his will? If at the end of all of this he would go back to feeling literally no specific way about you? And you’d look like the weirdo for indulging in it.

To his credit, he accepted your (bullshit) reason easily. “Of course, you should call your mother. I’ll see you sometime after class, maybe, then.”

“Maybe, yeah.” You wanted to slap yourself as soon as the words were out of your mouth. But it got you out of there quickly, as he seemed to like this answer, giving you half a smile, nodding, and not saying anything more as you took off towards the building that housed your next class. You were going to be about forty minutes early for it, but it was better than staying out there with Kunspeare at the moment.

Walking into the student union building after your second class, you meandered around until you finally spotted three familiar heads at a table in a far corner of the third floor. You plopped down into the open seat beside Ten.

“Were you guys hiding from me or something?” You scoffed, snatching a fry from Kunhang’s plate in front of you.

“Yeah, because I was hoping to eat all my own food this time,” the gryphon rolled his eyes, but made no move to stop you as you took another fry.

The siren beside you was drawing in one of his many sketchbooks—he was an art major—and you peered over his shoulder to see what he was working on. The whole spread was filled with pencil sketches at various stages of completion, angles, and facial expressions of what seemed like your entire little friend group: you, Kunhang, Dejun, Yangyang, and the final creature that was sitting at your table now, Sicheng.

Sicheng’s fiery orange and yellow eyes looked at you analytically as the phoenix sipped on his fountain drink. He set it down to look at you with a cocked head, curious. “Why were you so late, Y/N?”

“I had to make sure the coast was clear.”

“Oh, do you have a little bloodsucking stalker?” Kunhang asked in understanding.

“He’s not stalking me, he’s been very unfortunately, unconsentingly—on both our parts—put under the effects of a love potion. I don’t fault him for that, okay?”

Ten and Sicheng exchanged bewildered looks.

“God, Kunhang, did you not already tell them? I thought you would’ve gone around blabbing this hilarious story to everyone we know by now!” You snipped at him, dreading the thought of having to relive the mortification of retelling the events of last night over again.

“I’m sorry, did you want me to?” He bickered back without missing a beat. “I’ll go get on the PA system right now.”

You shot him a glare before delving into the gist of it yourself. “Long story short, last night I was over at Kunhang and Yangyang’s. Qian Kun was there too, Yangyang’s vampire… friend? Acquaintance? Anyway, Yangyang made a love potion and like an idiot, put it in their fridge in a Gorgonade bottle then left it unattended. I accidentally drank it, and now Kun is in love with me because his blood was in the potion.”

Their jaws dropped in unison.

“Uhm—” Sicheng didn’t seem to know where he was going with that, scratching the back of his head before picking his soda back up.

“Anyway, this man has gone like full 18th-century courting or whatever on me.” You held your head in your hands, replaying the moment of him handing you the poem in your mind.

“And they say chivalry is dead,” Kunhang pretended to swoon.

“Haha, you should do stand-up,” you said sarcastically. “Seriously, what am I supposed to say when he hands me a goddamn sonnet? ‘Thanks, sick poem, bestie?’”

“He wrote you a sonnet? Where is it? Can I read it?”

“I would sooner let Ten drown me than let you read a sonnet that…” you sighed, your voice getting smaller and smaller with each word, “describes the shape of my lips.”

You shuddered at the thought of your friend ever laying eyes upon something like that. He would never let you live it down.

“Aw come on Y/N!”

“Too late, I already burned it!” You stuck your tongue out at Kunhang, who just did it right back.

“Have you given him anything, Y/N?” Ten spoke up, setting his pencil down.

“I am not writing him a sonnet, Ten.”

“I don’t mean like that. I mean, have you done any sort of reciprocity? Given him any information about yourself? Engaged with him, genuinely, on any level at all?” He paused then, and you slowly shook your head. Your friend’s ocean blue scales shimmered just beneath the skin of his cheekbones as he turned in his seat to face you, reflective gold eyes focused on you. “Look, I know he’s under the love potion and you’re not, and I’m not saying you have to treat these as sincere romantic advances from him. But maybe try to approach them at least as genuine opportunities for human connection. Or, human-vampire connection. You know what I mean.”

You scrunched your nose up thoughtfully. “I haven’t really thought about it like that. Huh...”

“I think if you at least give him a little nudge about the stuff that you do like, he’ll stop writing you sonnets.”

“Yeah, I mean, he’s just going to keep courting you for the duration of the potion, Y/N, whether you want him to or not. Might as well get a car out of it or something,” Kunhang suggested through a mouthful of fries.

“I am not going to exploit him like that!” You scoffed. “And swallow before you talk! You’re going to get gross food bits on me!”

Sicheng wordlessly handed Kunhang a napkin.

After your last class of the day, you stopped at the top of the stairs of the Math and Computer Sciences building. If Kun didn’t mysteriously show up now, you figured you could easily get his number from Kunhang or Yangyang—though that would be inviting a whole slew of other issues.

But you didn’t have to worry about that. Just as you thought, you spotted Kun approaching from the direction of the Literature, Writing, and History building. To be absolutely certain, you waved at him, and he lifted a hand back, putting on a slight burst of speed. You walked down the steps to meet him at the bottom.

“Hello, Y/N,” he greeted you as he finally stopped in front of you.

“Hi, Kun,” you offered him a smile. “How are you?”

“I’m well, thank you. How are you?”

“I’m good, I’m good.”

“Did you just finish class?”

“Yeah, Number Theory. What about you?”

“Contemporary Creative Non-Fiction. Are you a mathematics major?”

You nodded. “Unfortunately. Thinking about switching. Though my mom might kill me if I do, that’d be the third time in two years.”

“Do you not like math?”

“I like it just fine, I’m being dramatic with the ‘unfortunately’ part. I just don’t know if I like it enough to do it for the rest of my life,” you shrugged.

Kun smiled at that. “Well, take it from me. You never have to do one thing for the rest of your life. However long that may be.”

You cocked your head at that. There were more questions you wanted to ask him. He was several hundred years old, and going to college, very possibly not for the first time. He’d most certainly studied and done and seen other stuff, and you wanted to hear about it. Ten’s suggestion came to mind. An opportunity for a genuine connection.

“Do you eat food, Kun?” You asked.

“Yes, sometimes. I don’t need it to live like you, but I do enjoy it on occasion.”

“I was about to go to this bakery that I really like. Do you want to come?”

“I would love nothing more,” he answered simply, and you could hear his earnest sincerity in his words.

Kun held the door to Half Moon Bakery open for you, and you thanked him quietly as you stepped through. The warm, sweet smells immediately wafted to your nose as you walked in. A couple of customers were sitting at the small tables they had, but your eyes were on the display cases filled with loaves of bread, muffins, and baked sweet treats.

“Oh hi Y/N!” The familiar cashier behind the counter greeted you brightly, his eyes turning into crescents with his smile.

“Hey, Jeno. How are you?” You pulled your gaze from the food to beam back at him.

“I’m great! Ooh, we’ve got a new limited-edition brownie, it’s got mini peanut butter cups and swirls of peanut butter!” The werewolf informed you excitedly, and you could practically imagine a tail wagging back and forth behind him.

“Was that your idea?” You asked knowingly.

“I might have suggested something…”

“Of course you did.” You chuckled. “It sounds good, but I’m just going to get a—”

“A matcha cream-filled croissant. I know.” Jeno finished your usual order knowingly. He then looked to Kun curiously, “And what about you?”

“A blueberry lemon scone, please. And I’ll pay for both.”

You were about to object, to insist on paying for your own food, but stopped yourself. Reciprocity. You’d have to walk this line carefully, but you guessed you’d have a harder time trying to get Kun to not pay for your food, and really your goal was to stop getting sonnets from the guy.

Jeno immediately grabbed your croissant from the case and handed it to you on a small dish painted to look like a waxing moon. Kun’s scone had to be warned up, so the two of you sat down while you waited for it to be brought out.

“So do you come here a lot?” Kun asked.

“Yeah, usually like… once a week probably?” You guessed. “I used to come three times a week last semester, between these two Monday-Wednesday-Friday classes I had. They were two hours apart so I couldn’t quite go home, but I hated staying on campus during that time. So I’d usually come here, get a matcha croissant, do some homework or whatever. That’s how I know Jeno.”

“It’s lovely here. I can see why you like it.” The vampire appraised, looking around at the celestial themed décor.

“Wait until you try the food. Then you’ll really understand why I like it so much.”

Jeno came out then with Kun’s order on a half-moon painted dish, setting it down in front of him. Once the werewolf was back behind the counter, you eagerly picked up your croissant and bit into it. Immediately, you had found the creamy center, a happy noise coming from the back of your throat.

Setting the pastry down, you looked back at Kun, feeling a bit self-conscious when you realized that he hadn’t started eating yet and was instead watching you eat.

“What, Kun?”

“Nothing,” he shook his head, a tender smile on his lips. “I think that what you did just now was very cute.”

You crossed your arms and leaned your elbows forward on the table. “Fine. If you’re going to stare at me while I eat, I’m going to stare at you while you eat. Go on, take a bite.”

The vampire picked up the scone. “I suppose that is only fair. I don’t think I’ll be nearly as adorable as you were, however.”

Fighting back the flustered smile threatening to overtake your features, you instead laced your hands together in a business-like manner. “I’ll be the judge of that.”

Kun didn’t argue further, bringing the baked good to his mouth. He took a bite, and you watched eagerly as his expression changed into one of surprised delight. After swallowing, he wiped his mouth then spoke again.

“That is… exquisite.”

“I know.”

“Now I really do understand why you come here so frequently.”

“Uh-huh,” you grinned cockily, picking your croissant back up.

Once he got over his initial shock of how good the scone was, Kun engaged you in conversation. “So how is your mother?”

Right. Your supposed phone call that you had to make earlier. Well, time to fib a little. “Oh, she’s good. She’s trying to grow an herb garden, not going so well.”

Not a complete lie, that’s what she had told you when you called her last week. Hopefully your heart rate didn’t jump enough to make Kun suspicious if he was paying close attention.

“I’m glad you got to speak with her.”

The wistful look on Kun’s face made you briefly wonder about his family. Were they vampires too? When was the last time he got to speak to his mom?

“Is your mom…?”

“My mother passed quite some time ago. She remained a human. My father too.”

“I’m sorry, Kun.”

“For what?”

You frowned as you tried to think of an answer. What were you sorry for? His parents passing? Asking that question in the first place? “I… don’t know. I just am. That’s usually what we say when we hear that somebody passed away, you know? ‘I’m sorry for your loss.’”

“I passed away too. How else would I have become a vampire?” He pointed out, lightening the mood a little.

“Well then I’m sorry for your loss of you.” You laughed, earning a chuckle from Kun as well.

“Thank you. The sentiments are greatly appreciated.”

“So what are you studying, Kun? You said you had come from a non-fiction class? Was that lit or writing?”

“Contemporary Creative Non-Fiction. It was literature. I’m an Interdisciplinary major, one of my concentrations is Literature.”

“And the other?”

“History.”

You couldn’t help but laugh, “That just doesn’t sound fair to the other students. Or the professor.”

He smiled a little. “I am doing the Ancient History track. I’m not that old.”

“Speaking of—” You reclined back in your seat to study the vampire leisurely. “This can’t be your first time going to university. Right?”

“You’re correct, this is not. I have been before.”

“How many times?”

Kun hesitated. “It would be impolite for me to answer. I’m afraid it’d sound like bragging.”

“Kun, let’s make a deal.” You shifted forward again, holding his dark red gaze unwaveringly. “I understand that you have been alive for a few hundred years and have therefore experienced more things than I could possibly imagine. That’s exactly why I’m asking you these questions. So how about you trust that when I ask you a question, it’s because I have thought about it, and have decided that I really do want to know your honest answer, no matter how braggy it might sound. And I will trust that your answer is sincere and honest and not meant to be a brag in any way shape or form, and that you have really just lived your life for so long. Does that sound good?”

At the end of your proposition, you stuck your hand out in the middle of the table, waiting. Kun eyed it for a moment before sucking in a deep breath, taking your hand in his cool grasp, and shaking it.

“I accept the terms of your proposal, Y/N.”

“Pleasure doing business with you,” you grinned at him, taking your hand back. “Now, tell me about your three hundred degrees or whatever.”

“It’s not that many, really,” he seemed almost flustered, readjusting his collar for a moment. “And I’m not sure if I can remember all of them off the top of my head.”

“I’ll take what I can get.”

“Let me see… I have gone to medical school.”

“Oh wow—”

“But that was when bloodletting was still an accepted practice, I haven’t been lately.” Kun admitted sheepishly, drumming his fingers on the table as he thought some more. “Then there was astronomy, Latin, mathematics, musical composition, psychology, literature the first time, and I started law school but then the war happened…”

“War?” You echoed in bewilderment.

“I didn’t participate,” he assured you, as if that was the only thing you were possibly confused about. “But it did disrupt my studies. I never ended up going back, which is alright, I didn’t care much for law.”

“Don’t you get bored of it all? I mean, you must be a pro at everything there is.”

“No, not at all. They’re always creating new things to do.”

At your surely skeptical look, Kun continued eagerly, “For example, I learned to oil paint two hundred years ago, but there’s digital painting now. I learned how to sail a hundred years ago, but there are planes to fly now. I can play practically every instrument in a classical orchestra, but there are entirely new ways to make music that are contained completely within a computer, that I have to learn programs, software, new tools to compose on. It’s wonderful. That’s why I like to go back to school, there’s always new fields emerging, new things to learn. And even the fields that I have already have degrees in, like medicine, have made leaps and bounds since the last time I studied.”

His face was bright and animated as he raved about all of this to you, and you felt a fond smile tug at the corner of your mouth as you listened. His perspective was so… refreshing. You had honestly expected more nihilism and angst from a several hundred year old vampire who already held at least half a dozen degrees and had witnessed who knows how many historical events. But it seemed that all those years had done was make him eager to live even more.

“And you’re not... exhausted by that idea? That you’ll never be done with everything?”

“No, not at all,” he cocked his head to the side. “If I finished everything now, that’d make for a very boring eternity.”

“I like that, Kun,” you declared, picking your croissant up. “I really do.”

“Y/N, while I am very glad that you invited me out with you, and I hope you don’t take this as any sort of complaint, I am wondering…” Kun tapped his fingernail against the side of his plate as he seemed to be thinking of how to phrase whatever he wanted to ask next. “You seemed rather… freaked out last night. I do know that you and I don’t know each other well, the love potion didn’t erase my memories. I also understand that what I’m feeling is the effects of a potion. So, why the change of heart on your part?”

After swallowing the bite you’d just taken, you sighed, setting your pastry back down. “For one, I don’t want to be needlessly cruel to you. Even if you are under a love potion, I don’t think that’s an excuse to be rude and dismissive. And, I admittedly don’t know a lot about vampires. I think I’ve only met like one before. I just wanted to talk to you. Is that… okay?”

“Yeah,” he smiled softly. “Of course. I already agreed, you can ask me whatever you want.”

“Great. Because I’ve been thinking, can you get sued for turning somebody who didn’t want to be turned? Would that be a wrongful death case? Or… wrongful life?”

Kun looked at you with something that you could only call astonished adoration. His jaw dropped before his features split into a wide grin, and his shoulders started shaking as he was overtaken by giggles that he then tried to cover with his hand.

“It’s a real question!” You tried to be indignant, but you were far too surprised and endeared by the image of the previously stoic and mature vampire breaking down into giggles in front of you.

He straightened back up, physically wiping the smile off of his face. “Of course, of course it is. Please don’t think I was doing anything less than taking you seriously. I’m just… delighted by how your mind works. I’ve had plenty of people question me about vampires and being a vampire, and that has never been one of their go-to questions. Or any of their questions at all. I’m looking forward to what else you’ll ask me.”

“Well, you need to answer this one first before you can get to any of my other galaxy-brain level questions I’ve got in here.” You tapped your temple sarcastically.

“You’re right, my apologies.” Kun laced his fingers together and leaned forward against the table. “I’m not sure about the civil liability of turning someone against their will, I would have to do some research before I’d be comfortable answering your question. However, governments have tried to criminalize the turning of vampires over the years, to mixed results. Right now, it is illegal to turn someone against their will.”

“How do you prove that someone was turned willingly or not?”

“Unicorns of course help investigations to some degree. I’ve also seen some vampires have their prospective fledglings sign contracts.”

“Pfff,” you couldn’t help the burst of laughter that you let out. “Now that just takes all the romance out of it.”

“The contracts are usually only between service vampires and their clientele.”

“I’m sorry, service vampires?” You repeated incredulously.

“Those that turn others in exchange for financial compensation.”

“Sorry, I should really start paying attention when Renjun goes on his tangents, he’s probably talked about this before. Then you wouldn’t have to give me an impromptu lecture on the socioeconomic standing of vampires in modern day.”

“I don’t mind. I enjoy spending time with you, Y/N.”

You fidgeted with a napkin, looking away from his suddenly too-intense eyes. “Uhm— it’s just that term made it sound like they were escorts or something.”

“Some are,” he replied casually. “Service vampires are a heavily regulated industry, since they’re also responsible for the fledgling they produce, ensuring they don’t kill anybody. That process requires more than a contract, you need a lot of trust to help them control their desires. That trust goes both ways, of course, so those who aren’t service vampires—which is most vampires—will only turn close family and friends.”

You looked back up at him, squinting your eyes inquisitively. “Have you turned anybody, Kun?”

He pressed his lips together for a pensive moment before he answered. “I’ve… considered it. But by the time I had found someone who I could contemplate eternity with, I’d already seen far too many fledglings, too many turnings that went horribly wrong. I understood the risk, but I wasn’t sure if they did. And that was also at a time when vampires themselves weren’t outright illegal, but fledglings were to be killed on sight.”

“Oh— Oh, God.” You breathed out.

“Mature vampires were considered to be in control of our feedings, fledglings weren’t. And, they didn’t really want us going around making more of us.”

“The person you were going to turn…”

Kun looked up at a silver star decoration hanging above your table. “It ended up being for the best, I suppose. We parted ways some years later, less than amicably.”

“Ugh, I couldn’t imagine having to have awkward run-ins with your ex for literally forever,” you joked, attempting to lighten the mood.

He laughed. “Yes, I do actually have some old friends who were married before they turned several centuries ago but the diocese that performed the marriage in the first place won’t divorce them because they’re technically dead and therefore don’t have mortal souls anymore. By their logic.”

You slapped a hand over your mouth in disbelief. “Oh my God, so they’re just begrudgingly married for eternity?”

“Yeah.” He chuckled. “They still get together to celebrate their anniversary every 100 years.”

“That’s nice, I guess.”

After finishing your food up at the bakery, Kun walked you back to your apartment—you weren’t sure if it was chivalry, a genuine concern for your wellbeing, or a combination of both—and now you were once again at your front door.

“Thank you again, Kun, for paying,” you said, fishing your keys out from your backpack.

“I was happy to. Thank you for inviting me to come with you. I enjoyed our discussion a lot.”

You focused your gaze on the keys in your hand. “Me too.”

“Are you busy this weekend?”

“I’m hanging out with a couple friends tomorrow, but I don’t think I’ve got anything going on Sunday. Why?”

“I want to keep spending time with you. As much as you’ll let me, if that’s okay.”

“Oh, right.” You could feel yourself warming up at his candidness. “Uhm, sure, we can do something on Sunday. Did you have anything in mind?”

Kun had almost a mischievous smile on his face. “Would you mind terribly if I surprised you?”

You sputtered out a laugh. “You’re asking if you can surprise me?”

“Some people don’t care for surprises. And I’m not telling you what it is, just that I would like to keep it a surprise, if that’s alright with you.”

“Yeah, Kun, you can surprise me. On one condition.”

“Of course, anything.”

“Bring me your favorite book you’ve read recently.”

He tilted his head, brows furrowed in confusion. “Pardon me?”

“On Sunday, wherever we go, I want you to bring me your favorite book that you’ve read in the past…” you ruminated on how you wanted to quantify ‘recent’ for a vampire, and finally settled on, “…year. You’re half a Lit major, so I’m assuming you own least one or two.”

“Yeah, I think I might’ve read a couple here or there,” he chuckled. “I will bring you one.”

“Not just any one, your favorite, remember?”

“Of course.”

Satisfied that he understood your request, you stuck your apartment key in your lock. “Goodnight, Kun.”

“Goodnight, Y/N.” The vampire once again took your free hand in his delicate, cool grasp, pressing a soft, lingering kiss to the back of your fingers before letting it go.

You paused for just a moment, feeling as though you should say something. But there were no words that came to mind, so you instead unlocked your apartment and disappeared through the door with one last wave over your shoulder to him.

“You’re going on a date with him?” Kunhang scoffed in disbelief from the living room.

“Did you not just hear what I said?” You pushed his head as you walked by to take your seat on the floor around Sicheng and Ten’s coffee table. “We’re hanging out.”

“Sounds like a bad idea...” Your friend muttered, grabbing his beer and taking a swig of it.

“Coming from the guy who suggested I try to get a car out of him.”

“Yeah, a car. Not a date. No strings attached.”

“You’re insane,” you rolled your eyes, trying to turn your focus to the phoenix on your left, who was shuffling the stack of cards.

You, Dejun, Kunhang, and Yangyang were over at Ten and Sicheng’s place for a board game night, which of course couldn’t pass by without a comment or two about your current love potion predicament. And when you had tried to fill Ten in on how your attempt to take his advice was going, your gryphon friend had to add in his two cents.

“Coming from the girl who is going on a date with someone who is high on love potion.”

“I haven’t had a lot of opportunities to talk to vampires that are hundreds of years old, excuse me for wanting to chat.” You accepted your stack of cards from Sicheng gracefully, then turned back to glaring daggers at Kunhang. “It’s not a date.”

He was firm on his stance. “I’m telling you: This isn’t a good idea.”

“Why? Because I’m feeding into his delusion or something? He’s going to be in love with me until the love potion wears off, whether I—”

“Because I think you’re going to hurt yourself, Y/N. You’re too soft for this. Being constantly wooed for who knows how long? You don’t think that’s going to do anything to you?” Kunhang sighed, grey eyes focused on you from across the table.

You held his gaze for a moment, eyes still narrowed at him. Then, you looked away, grabbing a handful of the snacks you’d just retrieved from the kitchen. “I know it’s not real. Can we just start the fucking game? Or does everybody have an opinion on my life that they want to share?”

Ten, Sicheng, Dejun, and Yangyang all looked at each other, then simultaneously shook their heads. Ten went back to passing out the in-game currency to everyone, and you refused to look up at Kunhang despite the lingering feeling of his eyes on you.

Later on, between the conclusion of the first game and the set-up of the next, you were laying on the ground in an attempt to realign your back that had been hurting from the unfortunate hunch that you’d been sitting with. A couple others had dispersed to do various tasks, while Dejun and Sicheng stuck behind in the living room to step up the next game. They were quietly conferring over the instructions as you readjusted the positioning of your shoulders, sighing as one specific part of your back relaxed into a gentle cracking sound.

“Y/N,” Dejun got your attention.

“Hm?” You replied, too comfortable now to get up all the way yet.

“He means well.”

“…Bluebeard?” You asked in confusion, referencing the next game you were about to play, a board-gamified version of the Bluebeard’s Castle fairytale.

“No, Kunhang,” the dragon clarified. “He has every right to be a little worried about you hanging out with Kun tomorrow.”

You sighed again. “I know. I’m going to apologize to him. I just… need to be mad tonight. If I try to apologize today, I’m going to get pissed again and the wrong thing will come out and I’ll just make it worse. We’ve been friends for a few years now, we both need to sleep it off before either of us try to apologize.”

“So… are you still going to see Kun tomorrow?” It was Sicheng that asked you that.

Taking your bottom lip between your teeth, you thought about it. Maybe the smart thing would be to cancel. But you’d already asked him to bring you a book, and you were sure he’d been carefully contemplating that request ever since. Not to mention that you were excited to see him, actually. He was interesting to talk to. You’d met lots of magical creatures, all the ones that you were currently with for starters, but there was something both simultaneously refreshing and homey about talking to Kun, finding out more about him.

“Yeah, I am,” you declared, though you’d known that there was no changing your mind about it. “Don’t worry, guys. Like I said, I know it’s not real. To me, we’re just two buds hanging out. Promise.”

A knock on your door pulled you off your couch the next day. Readjusting your outfit for a brief moment, you then swung it open. The exact vampire you were expecting was on the other side, a heart-stopping smile on his face, bouquet of flowers in one hand, and small wrapped gift in the other.

“Oh, oh wow,” you breathed out, accepting the flowers from him. It was a gorgeous arrangement of yellow tulips and white baby’s breath, simple but enchanting. “Thank you, Kun.”

“Good morning, Y/N.”

“Yeah, good morning,” you said distractedly, eyes still focused on the flowers. You looked up at him again, giving him a bashful smile, “Uhm, here, I need to put these in some water.”

Leaving the door open for him, you turned to go back into your apartment, but were stopped by Kun’s voice.

“Ah, Y/N.”

“Hm?”

He was still standing on the welcome mat outside, hands clasped behind his back. “I need to be invited in.”

“Oh, right, sorry! Kun, please come in.”

“Thank you.” He stepped inside, closing the door behind him.

“So, how does that work with school and going to class? Like, do you just have to be invited into each building or is it each classroom? What about professors’ offices? Is there like a special vampire-only orientation where the president of the college invites all the new vampire students everywhere or something?” You asked him over your shoulder as you moved further into your apartment, your destination being your kitchen.

“The rules are a little fluid, but our university is a public institution, so I don’t have to be invited in anywhere.”

“Oh. Well, that’s a lot less funny than my idea.”

“Yours was very efficient,” Kun tried to placate you as you busied yourself with rooting through your cabinets.

“So what about if you went to a private university?”

“I’ve been to one private university before. However, it was run by vampires, so the owners were dead and therefore nobody needed to be invited in anywhere.”

“Huh. And my apartment?” You knelt down to check under the sink. “I was able to invite you in, but I don’t own it, I rent. Shouldn’t my landlord have been the only one to be able to invite you in?”

Kun had an answer for that one too. “Owner and/or current legal occupant who is there with the owner’s permission can invite vampires in.”

“So my lease lets me invite supernatural creatures inside, but I can’t paint,” you rolled your eyes.

Finally, you secured your lone glass vase at the back of the cabinet under the sink, behind a couple bottles of cleaning products.

“What color would you paint the walls, if you could paint?”

You filled the vase up under the faucet. “Probably a different color in each room. Dark green in the living room, goldenrod in the kitchen, something like that. I don’t know, the neutral beige grey is so boring. Especially with the fake grey hardwood.”

He smiled at you. “Very colorful. I like that.”

Having finally gotten the flowers in water, you turned back to accept the package wrapped in simple brown paper and twine. Curiously undoing the small twine bow first, then tearing the paper open, you saw that it was an old, thick, leatherbound book, and trailed your finger over to read the spine.

“The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes?” You tilted your head. “This is your...”

Kun went to try to explain, gesturing to a couple small yellow tabs poking out of the pages. “I bookmarked just a couple that I think you’ll like—”

“Kun, I asked for your favorite from the past year, not two centuries ago!” You guffawed.

“Hey, I’ve re-read these in the past year! You didn’t say they had to be published in the past year, just my favorite that I’ve read this year, and this is it. But if you’re dissatisfied—”

“Nope! No take-backs!” You clutched the book to your chest protectively. “I’ll read them. Or, at least the bookmarked ones. I don’t know if I’ll get to them all in this lifetime.”

There was suddenly an unpleasant frown on Kun’s face, a crease forming between his brows. The teasing faded from your demeanor as you set the book down on your kitchen counter beside the vase of flowers.

“Kun? What’s wrong?”

“I just remembered that you’re human, and you know… you won’t… be here forever like I will.”

“Oh, Kun… I’m okay with that.” You reassured him, squeezing his arm.

“I know. Let’s… I don’t want to think about it anymore. Are you ready to go?” His voice was tight, the smile that flashed across his face not reaching his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah!” You grabbed your bag, then gestured for Kun to lead the way.

It was a lovely spring day, and you delighted in the still cool breeze tickling your nose as warm sun shone down on you. The streets downtown were bustling with life, and you pressed close to Kun to make sure you didn’t lose him in the crowd. You were almost knocked into by three smaller figures, a young dryad, phoenix, and human all playing tag. The dryad seemed to be It, shooting out a vine to wrap around the human kid’s waist and yanking him back. The human giggled as his friend wrapped his arms around him tight. The phoenix noticed the lack of her friends and darted back to meet them, a couple soft down feathers falling off the bridge of her nose in the process. You smiled fondly as you skirted around them and continued down the sidewalks.

“Cute,” you commented absentmindedly.

Kun’s eyes lingered on the children for another moment before he turned his gaze forwards again. “Sometimes I really do have to stop and look at where we are.”

“What...” You trailed off as you realized what he must be thinking of. “Oh, yeah. You remember what it was like before humans and magical beings lived together like this, right?”

It was before your time, but humans, magical creatures, and even different kinds of magical creatures all lived separately. You knew bits and pieces, that the kind of integration that you’d grown up with was rather recent. You had your fair share of older relatives who regarded your magical friends with thinly veiled suspicion and mistrust throughout your life.

“Yes, I do. At least, from when I was alive onwards, and I know stories from those older than I am.”

“Can you tell me about it?”

“I think that to start, it’s important to think of a spectrum of non-magical to magical that all kinds of life fall somewhere along, and not an either/or. Humans are on the furthest end of the non-magical, but they can become magical.”

“Like becoming a vampire.”

“Correct.”

“Like you.”

He nodded. “Yes.”

“Okay, I’m following so far.”

“Witches were previously just considered humans that can use magic.”

You snickered. “I know a few witches who would smite you for that, but sure, I’ve heard that before.”

“Obviously, with recent advancements in the study of magic, we know that’s not true.” Kun stopped the two of you to wait at a crosswalk signal. “But generally, it’s been easier for humans to accommodate magical beings that looked more like them over the years.”

“Closer to them on the non-magic to magic spectrum.” You related it back to his framework.

“Right. Humans were more likely to live with magical beings that looked less outlandish, and posed less of a threat to them.”

“Odd predicament for vampires, then. You look almost just like humans, used to be humans, but before blood supplements, you almost exclusively had to feed off humans.”

“Hence the... tangled and tense history of humans and vampires. I can’t really give a clear story of humans and vampires. It’s messy, depending on the time, society, village, individual family that you look at. And then of course, all magical creatures don’t get along either.”

“Dryads and dragons.” You listed off an old rivalry you knew off the top of your head. Historically, dryads despised dragons’ tendency to burn down their forests and fields.

“Right.”

“Fairies and… everyone.”

Kun chuckled. “Yeah, exactly. But the most recent history, here, now, is that mass integration to create the society that you know really came about around a hundred years ago. Witches and humans had been living together for a while, with some dryads, fairies, and even the odd vampire here and there. Then sirens, and gryphons, and phoenixes… I mean, the first human to see a dragon around here is probably still alive, you know?”

“And I just got annihilated at board game night by one yesterday.”

“Like I said... Sometimes I feel the need to just stop and take it all in.”

The crosswalk signal changed then, and the vampire with you briefly looked both ways before guiding you forward with a hand on the small of your back.

You looked over at him curiously, wishing that you could see any hint of his eyes behind his dark sunglasses. “What about when you were turned, Kun? Were vampires... Your parents were still humans... Was it hard for you?”

“I wasn’t living with my parents when I became a vampire. Which was for the best, truly, so there was no chance of me hurting them. But…” He paused, and when you looked over at him, he was looking up at the sky. “I remember when I was a young boy, and I was so small, and the world was too big. And when I was hurt, my mother would take me into her arms and tell me it would all be okay, and I believed her. I just knew it would be because she was there. Because my mother was with me and she was bigger than me, bigger than the whole world. I remember wishing I could’ve had her there then.”

Your eyes had gotten a little misty, and you reached up to dab at them with the back of your hand. Kun’s voice wavered in just the slightest, and you felt your chest tighten at just how strongly he still felt all these emotions after so long.

“Didn’t the person who turned you take care of you? When you were turning, and as a fledgling? Isn’t that what they’re supposed to do?”

“I was turned by a friend. I got hurt, very badly, and he panicked and couldn’t think of how else to save me. He was a very young vampire at the time, he had only been turned himself five years earlier. I was the first person he’d ever turned, he didn’t know what to do, how to take care of me.” Kun relayed all this to you very matter-of-factly, as if it’d happened to somebody else.

“So did you have any choice about it?”

He looked over at you with a serene look on his face. “No. But if I spend the rest of my immortal life mourning the measly forty or fifty years that I would’ve gotten at the time, that would make for a miserable eternity. Every choice that we make or don’t make creates a new life for ourselves, and yes, sometimes for others. And if we constantly mourn all those lives we never got to live, we’ll never have time to live the one that we do have.”

The fist that your hand had curled into over the unjustness of Kun’s turning, relaxed as he continued speaking. You took a deep breath to recenter yourself.

“And your mother? Your father?”

“I saw them some time after I turned. And… it wasn’t any different. They were still my parents.” He smiled, it was bittersweet, but filled with heart, with love. “And I believed again that it would all be okay.”

“And… has it been?” You asked, head tilted curiously. Could a vampire even define such a long life as ‘okay’ or not?

Kun looked down from the sky at you this time, his features turning soft, fond. “More than.”

Kun finally stopped you on a less busy street, all old buildings, stone and brick faces. The one in particular that you were in front of had no distinguishing signage out front, and you peered around curiously for any hint as to what the six-floor building you were looking at was possibly used for. The windows were tinted too darkly for you to see in, and the ornately carved dark wooden door held no clue as to its identity other than the street number, 101.

Your companion pulled on the large iron handle to hold the door open for you. Well, you did give him permission to surprise you, you certainly couldn’t complain about not knowing what was going on. So, you stepped in.

As soon as you crossed the threshold, the air around you became noticeably cooler. Not uncomfortably so, just feeling almost as if you were a basement, the sort of coolness of being underground. You were in a lobby, a woman sitting behind a counter reading a book that looked even older than the one Kun had given you. She looked about your parents’ age, some grey streaked in her hair. But you realized that assessment meant nothing, as her eyes flashed red in the warm, dim light when she glanced up from her book to the two of you.

“Good morning,” Kun greeted her, and stepped up to the counter to hold a small black card the size of a business card out to her.

She took it, skimming the front and back for all of one second before handing it back to him. Without a word, she went back to reading.

“Come on.” Kun ushered you further into the building, through the black velvet curtain past the desk.

This time, you emerged in a much larger room. There were no lights, but it was still illuminated by an old-school movie projector casting a grainy, black and white scene on the opposite wall. You watched as a woman in clothes that you couldn’t even pinpoint the timeframe of—other than definitely not being from the past century at least—walked, turned, and waved at the camera. The clip then replayed from the beginning by itself, no manual rewinding necessary.

You rewatched the short two-second clip again with delight before you turned to Kun. “What is this place?”

“It’s a gallery, of sorts,” he explained, gesturing to the video. “A group of vampires all got together and compiled videos, movies, films, kinetoscopes—every sort of moving image you can imagine—that they had been holding onto over their lifetimes. And they’re all on display here.”

“Kun, this is so cool!” You gasped.

“I think we all—non-vampires and vampires alike—tend to have this idea of vampires as being stuck in whenever they were turned. You know, a vampire turned in the 16th century is treated the same way we treat a painting from the 16th century. Like we’re... artifacts or something. And we’re not, we lived through everything else that came after we turned too. We’re not dead history, we’re living, moving history.” Kun had led you into another room of the gallery as he spoke, where a clip of a busy street market was repeating. “I think this is a good reminder of that. The oldest stuff is on the bottom from the invention of the camera, and the newest up at the top. It goes all the way to the present, digital. The top floor isn’t finished, they’ll keep adding to it as the years go by, as we all keep living through history.”

You watched the market, vendors and customers, families, horses, produce, rugs and wares. Just a microcosm of everyday life from whenever and wherever this was. A peek into moving history.

“Do you have anything here?” You asked, curious if you’d be able to see any microcosm of Kun’s life.

He shook his head. “No. I couldn’t decide what to submit. Too many options. If you ever see my home, you’ll understand that I... I tend to hoard.”

“Thank you for bringing me here.” You watched Kun’s face this time as he was focused on the moving picture. His features were lit softly from the front, cast in the same black and white as the image, except for his earnest, lively scarlet eyes.

The sun was just setting when you finally returned to your apartment. You’d ended up spending the whole day out with Kun. First, your stomach growled as soon as you two left the gallery since it was about lunchtime, and Kun immediately had to remedy that by taking you to lunch. Then, the restaurant you’d eaten at was near the shopping district, so you two meandered and did some window shopping—you really did have to physically stop him from going in and buying you everything that you even looked at for more than one second. And finally, you might have intentionally let slip that you were “kinda hungry” as it approached the evening, and your chest felt funny at the way that Kun’s face lit up before he offered to take you to dinner.

And now, you were slowing to a stop at your front door, getting ready to say goodnight.

“Thank you, Kun. This was a really fun day,” you said genuinely. “And thank you for the book recommendation, too. I’m excited to read it.”

Kun’s eyes sparkled as he smiled at you. “Thank you for letting me surprise you, Y/N. It made me happy to see you enjoy yourself today.”

“Oh, uhm, I have something for you too, by the way!”

“Really?”

“I didn’t think it was fair for you to be surprising me, and for me to be asking for a book on top of that without giving you anything in return…” You paused both for dramatic effect, and to search through your phone.

He took this as an opportunity to interject, “Y/N, you gave me plenty just by agreeing to come.”

There was a prick at your heart from his sweet words. Pushing past that, you tried to joke as casually as possible, “And yet I still want to give you…”

Finally finding what you were looking for, you selected a thumbnail from your camera roll. Shoulder to shoulder with Kun, you held up your phone screen for him to see properly. It was a video that you’d taken today, just a few seconds long, of Kun. You’d taken it while the two of you were out window-shopping, and Kun had stopped at the window of an electronics store to look over a new piece of music mixing equipment that was on display there, his face awash in rainbow by the colorful LEDs inside. You’d been caught by the spark of interest that was on his features, a different look than you’d ever seen from him since he’d been under the love potion. Sure, all the soft smiles and tender adoration you’d been getting was sweet. But to see this magnetism towards something he was truly interested in outside of the effects of the potion, you were utterly entranced.

He looked up from the video to you, brow set in confusion. “I don’t understand.”

“You said you didn’t know what to submit to the video gallery. They’re taking digital submissions, right?”

“Right...”

“I’m sorry if I’ve been treating you like an artifact, Kun. If submitting something old is going to make you feel like that, then maybe you should submit a newer piece of your moving history.”

Kun stared at you, mouth parted. He was silent for a beat too long, and you start fidgeting, suddenly unsure of yourself.

“Sorry, I’m realizing that’s like really presumptuous of me to tell you what to submit— It’s just, you know, another option, if you want it.”

“No, it’s perfect, Y/N,” he reassured you. “Please, send me it. Having you as a part of my moving history in the gallery, I really like that idea.”

You were getting hot under the intensity of his gaze, and looked back down at your phone screen. “Right. I’ll-I’ll send it to you.”

“And you don’t treat me like an artifact, either.” Kun briefly squeezed your hand, then dropped it. Part of you itched to grab his again. “I’m sorry that I made you think that. You treat me like a person, Y/N. You ask me questions, yes, but you ask questions about all of me. Me back then, me now, my family, my major, my favorite book from the past year, even my future. It’s… the first time since I was turned that I think I’ve had someone do that.”

You swallowed thickly, the gulp comically loud in your ears. He held your eye contact, that same loving, peaceful, adoring look on his face as he gazed at you.

Then, he finally looked away, at the setting sun. “It’s getting late. I should let you go for the night.”

Scrambling to reach into your bag, you ascertained your keys and started the first of too many attempts at unlocking your door. “Goodnight, Kun.”

“Goodnight, Y/N.” He took your hand, bending over to press a familiar, sickly sweet kiss to your knuckles. When he stood up straight, he added, “You will send me that video, right?”

“R-Right. The video. Yes.” You nodded dumbly, opening the door then practically slamming it shut behind you.

You didn’t make it even two steps into your apartment, sliding down the wall of your entryway with a drawn-out sigh. Fuck.

“I fucking hate Python,” you declared, snapping your laptop shut. You, Dejun, Yangyang, Ten, and Sicheng were back in the student union getting lunch together between classes, and you and your dragon friend were taking the spare time to work on an assignment. “I’m going to quit school and run away to live in the woods and survive off the land and if I ever see another computer again for the rest of my life it’ll be too soon.”

Dejun snickered from beside you, still happily typing away at his own coding. “You wouldn’t last an hour without wifi, Y/N.”

You groaned, opening your computer back up. “I know... a girl can dream, right?”

“Just change majors if you hate math this much,” Yangyang suggested from across the table, popping a tater tot into his mouth.

“It’s not like you haven’t done it before,” Ten added oh-so-helpfully, eyes not leaving his sketchbook.

“It’s not that I hate math, I just...” you trailed off as you tried to put your situation into words.

“Don’t like it?” Dejun finished for you humorously.

You stuck your tongue out at him. “No. I just... hate math classes.”

“Oh, that’s so much clearer.”

“Just like you hated Literature classes, and hated History classes,” Sicheng pointed out, listing off your previous two majors.

“Exactly!” You exclaimed, despite knowing that the phoenix was poking fun at you too. “You get me, Sicheng!”

“Scary...” he murmured to himself.

As you were desperately trying to think of any comeback other than just sticking your tongue out at him, you heard a voice calling your name. Looking up, you saw Kun approaching your table, and you gave him a small wave of acknowledgement.

He stopped next to your table, gentle smile focused down on you. “Hello, Y/N.”

“Hey, Kun,” you smiled up at the vampire, eyeing the paper bag in his hand with a familiar logo on it. “So you went back to Half Moon?”

“Yes, I did.” He held the bag out to you.

You accepted it, having to bite down on your bottom lip to keep your bashful grin at bay as you peered into the paper bag. An excited squeal left your mouth when you saw exactly what he had brought you. “A matcha croissant! Thank you, Kun!”

“You’re welcome.” He beamed at you.

Looking around the table, you ignored the pointed looks all your friends were giving you, and instead gestured to the empty chair on the other side of Dejun. “Do you want to sit with us?”

“Thank you, I wish I could,” he shook his head. “Unfortunately, I have a class to get to. Goodbye, Y/N.”

“Bye.” You didn’t even flinch when he kissed your hand this time, though your skin was on fire as you remembered very clearly that your friends were right there.

As Kun left, he gave you a final wave over his shoulder, and you waved back before returning to your friends, dread in your stomach. In an effort to appear as normal as possible, you reached into the bag and pulled out your croissant. The table was still dead silent after you had taken your first bite, and you looked up from your food to see the other four staring at you.

“Oh my god, would you guys stop?” You hissed.

“Damn... I’m such a good witch,” Yangyang cracked his knuckles. “That man is heads over heels for you!”

“He brought me a croissant!” You retorted indignantly. “It’s not like he proposed or anything.”

“Y/N, I’ve known Kun for...” Yangyang trailed off, brows furrowing as he seemed to be thinking of how long he really had known the vampire for. “I don’t know, a few years? And he’s not like a recluse or anything but he’s not, how you would say... warm and fuzzy.”

“Oh my—”

“He brought you a croissant! What looks like your favorite kind, if I’m not mistaken?”

You pouted as you took another bite. “Maybe.”

“Looks like Ten’s advice worked then,” Sicheng mused.

“You should probably give him a few more nudges about other stuff you like, though, unless you want to get a hundred matcha croissants a day,” the siren suggested, readjusting his hold on his pencil.

“Yeah. I just can’t figure out how he always seems to know where I am—”

“He can smell you.” The creatures around you all retorted in unison, nobody even looking up from their individual tasks.

You coughed, scrambling to grab your bottle to take a long drink of water. Your other hand instinctually came up to rub at the side of your throat.

“So... how are... things?” Kunhang asked tersely, sitting on the porch swing that he and Yangyang had on their balcony. You’d called him after your last class that day, begging him to let you come over.

You leaned against the balcony railing, taking a deep breath—

“That doesn’t sound good.”

—and let out something between a groan and a screech.

“That really doesn’t sound good.” The gryphon picked up his blue Gorgonade that was sitting on the side table. “Care to share, Y/N?”

“You were right...” You mumbled, burying your face in your hands.

“Sorry, what was that?”

“You were right, okay? Happy, Kunhang? You were right! You know me and my stupid soft little heart too damn well, and you were fucking right!”

“Woah.” He held his hands up defensively. “Sorry, I genuinely didn’t hear you, you kinda muffled yourself. Uh, I’m going to take a guess that this is about Kun?”

“Yes...” You whined. “I almost kissed him today, Kunhang!”

“Y/N!”

“And you want to know the worst part?”

“That’s not the worst part?” He asked, horror on his features.

“No, it’s not! The worst part, is that the only reason I didn’t is because he stopped me!” You bemoaned dramatically, squeezing your eyes shut against the embarrassment as you replayed the horrifying moment over again in your head.

Kun had found you again in a break between your classes. The two of you were just sitting on a shaded bench under a tree in a more secluded area of campus, chatting. You were just talking about nonsense, telling him about the lecture you’d just come from, how it was actually the one math class you had this semester that you liked. And Kun was just listening, and you were sitting so close to him, and Kun was looking at you like you were everything to him, and the next thing you knew, you were leaning in closer and closer to him. Then he ducked his head away from you at the last second, and you were rocketed back to your senses as you realized what you almost did.

“Oh God— Y/N!” Kunhang looked like he was about to pass out.

You covered your face again. “I know...”

“Why did he, you know, swerve you?”

“He said...” You sighed, looking up at the sky. “He said that he didn’t think it was fair, to me.”

“To you?”

“Yes, because I was... ‘falling for him under false pretenses’ since his behavior is being influenced by the love potion and not genuine feelings for me. And he thought that it was best for me, if he kept his distance for the duration of the potion.” Hot tears pricked at the corners of your eyes as you repeated his words bitterly. You weren’t mad at him, you were mad at yourself. God, you felt so fucking stupid.

Kunhang’s jaw was on the floor. “You— you were rejected... by someone high on love potion.”

“I think I’m officially the most pathetic person on the planet.” You plopped down on the bench swing next to him, pulling your knees up to your chest.

Your friend scooted over to you, and you felt the familiar, comforting weight of his arm around your shoulders and a wing nestling over you. “No, you’re not. There’s nothing pathetic about being able to connect with people as openly and freely as you do, Y/N.”

You dropped your head onto his shoulder, bringing a hand up to harshly wipe at the tears threatening to spill over. “There’s really nothing pathetic about crying over a vampire that I’ve known for six days?”

That gave the gryphon a moment’s pause as he seemed to be seriously considering your question. Finally, he answered confidently, “Nah. Pathetic would be crying over a vampire you’ve only known for five days. Six days, you’re in the clear.”

That did make you choke out a little giggle, and he gave your head a couple pats.

The door to the patio was suddenly thrown open, and you jumped in your seat, whipping around to see who it was. Which you couldn’t do at first, as Kunhang had instinctually blocked you from the intruder—which always reminded you of a soccer mom throwing out her arm when slamming on the brakes of her minivan a little too hard—so all you could see were grey feathers. Yangyang just ran around the gryphon’s wing to skid to a stop in front of you two, panicked eyes landing on you.

“Y/N!” He pointed at you almost accusatorily.

“Yangyang!” You imitated his tone, pointing right back at him.

“Have you heard from Kun today?”

You exchanged a look with Kunhang. “Uh, I saw him on campus, but not since then. Why?”

“When was that?”

“I don’t know, one, maybe?”

Yangyang checked the time on his phone anxiously. “Five hours ago?”

“Yeah, I guess.” You were growing uneasy with each passing second. “Yangyang, what’s going on?”

“Kun’s not picking up the phone, or replying to my texts. And he’s like... neurotic about that stuff, you know.”

You were aware of Kun’s tendency to reply to texts in an extremely timely fashion, and always call back on the rare occasion that he missed a call from someone. A frown grew on your face. “How long has it been?”

“I first called him... at three, because he was done with classes by then. But I’ve just gotten radio silence all day.”

Chewing on the inside of your cheek, anxiety kept mounting inside you.

Kunhang spoke up. “Did you do something to piss him off maybe?”

“No. And I would know, he has no problem telling me.” Yangyang ran a hand through his hair, then focused a pleading look on you. “Y/N, do you think you could go check on him?”

“No.” The gryphon answered for you.

“Dude—”

You added, “I’ve never been to his place, I don’t even know where it is.”

“I’ll give you the address!”

“I’m not going to go over there uninvited.” You were still arguing but felt your resolve waning fast.

“He’s madly in love with you, this will be more like a great surprise for him!”

“Yangyang, cut it out,” Kunhang told him off.

The witch tilted his head in confusion. “Am I missing something?”

“No, just go over there yourself if you’re so worried. Y/N’s not your personal errand girl.”

“If he’s not even picking up my calls, there’s no way he’ll open the door for me. Y/N, on the other hand…”

“Liu Yangyang, have you ever heard of the word no? Just fuck off for—”

“Kunhang,” you interrupted him, bracing yourself for that venom to be turned on you for what you were about to say. “Thank you, but I-I am going to go over. Yangyang’s right, that’s not like Kun, I want to check on him.”

The gryphon blinked at you in disbelief. “You really think that’s a… good idea?”

You offered him an uneasy smile. “I’m just going to make sure he’s alive. Or… undead, or whatever. I won’t even go in, just see if he comes to the door.”

Kunhang just gave you a look that clearly conveyed his disapproval of this idea.

Double checking the house number with the address that Yangyang had texted you, you took a shaky breath. This was definitely it. It was a modest size, probably two bedrooms, if you had to guess from the outside. Definitely not the sort of exceptionally lavish castle that one might think a vampire as old as Kun would have. With a shaky inhale, you raised your fist up and knocked on the sturdy wood door.

It swung open just a second later. You were expecting Kun to still be in his usual academic sort of dress, maybe even the same clothes he’d been in earlier on campus, but instead, he was just in a grey t-shirt and black lounge pants. So he did own casual clothes.

“Hi, Kun,” you greeted him as normally as possible, very aware of all the layers to the awkwardness here. You had never been to his place before, he knew that you had never been to his place before, you hadn’t been invited over, and he’d just—as Kunhang had so elegantly put it—swerved you earlier, before saying that he was going to keep his distance from you. And now here you were on his doorstep.

“Oh, Y/N, hello.” Kun smoothed over his t-shirt habitually, as if he were meaning to fix the tuck of a dress shirt that he wasn’t even wearing.

“Sorry, uhm, I promise Yangyang sent me. I’m not... uh, yeah.”

He stepped back, holding the door open wider. “Please, come in.”

With your own promise to Kunhang playing in the back of your mind, you walked inside. “Thanks.”

“So, what does Yangyang need?” Kun kept talking as he guided you further into his home, and you looked around, eyes hungrily drinking in every detail.

It seemed like the one thing Kun had never studied was interior design. His home was a maximalist mishmash of stuff he had accumulated throughout his long life. An oil painting in an ornate gold frame hung beside a colorful pop art photograph collage, both above the olive green mid-century couch. In the corner was a desk with several computer monitors, a few pieces of electronics that were unfamiliar to you, and on the wall above it, small panels of LED lights that cycled through the rainbow. It was a lot, but you were charmed, finding yourself wanting to keep looking at everything, ask about every piece. You were sure that they all had some story or memory attached to them.

The two of you slowed to a stop in the living room, and you tore your eyes from the décor back to the vampire with you.

“He said that you weren’t answering your phone. Uh, he was worried.”

“And he sent you because he was afraid that I might not have answered the door for anybody else.” He nodded in understanding.

“W-well yeah, I suppose.”

“I wasn’t answering his calls because I had my phone on silent. I was busy.”

“Oh, sorry. I’ll go, you’re clearly fine.”

“No, Y/N.” Kun took a step forward, closing the space between you two. “You’re already here, and I don’t like the way we left things earlier. Please, stay?”

You gave him an easy, relaxed smile this time. “Sure.”

“Thank you.” He smiled back, then gestured to the couch. “Sit. Do you want something to drink? Water? I’m afraid my fridge isn’t very human-friendly right now, I apologize. If I’d known you were coming I would have—”

“Water’s fine, Kun,” you reassured him.

As he went to the kitchen, you went ahead and sat down where he indicated. The sofa was comfortable, plush, and you felt like you could melt into it and stay here forever. You went back to looking around at everything, a simple joy at the loving chaos that filled his space. A poster for some black and white silent film that you’d never heard of had caught your eyes when Kun walked back in, setting a glass of water down in front of you.

“I love all the stuff you’ve got in here,” you told him as he went to sit at the other end of the couch. “I feel like I could just look at it all forever.”

“Thank you. I usually just get told that it looks like I live in a flea market.”

You snickered. “Yangyang?”

“Well, yes.”

“So, what were you doing? Before I got here.” You took a sip of your water.

“Composing.” He gestured behind him to the desk with all the electronics equipment and LED panels. “Though I have to admit, I wasn’t making much progress.”

“Artist’s block?”

“Yes, something like that.” He sighed, fingertip tracing figure-eights in the upholstery of the back of the couch. “Usually music will help clear my mind, but this time…”

You frowned. “What’s wrong? If you want to share, I get it if you don’t.”

“I missed you,” Kun admitted without missing a beat.

Your grip tightened on your glass, and you took another long sip before replying weakly, “Well, I’m here…”

“Yes, you are. Like a little miracle…”

Kunhang was right again, this was so bad for you, your chest was airy, your head was TV static, your heart hurt. You chugged half your cup.

“Have you not been hydrating properly?” The vampire asked, concern coloring his tone.

“I guess not,” you laughed nervously, setting the glass back down on the coffee table before resting your hands on your legs. You looked up at him, listening to how loud your heart was hammering in your ears. You were sure he was too.

He leaned forward, studying your face carefully, “Is there something you want to ask me, Y/N?”

You opened your mouth, about to, but immediately closed it. There was something that had been pressing on your mind for a while—well, a couple somethings—but you didn’t know if you actually wanted the answers to either, or if it was just a morbid curiosity, and you were the cat who was going to be killed by it. Figuratively and literally.

“Mmm... nope. Nothing off the top of my head. I’m drawing a blank,” you shook your head maybe a bit too enthusiastically.

Kun reached out to briefly squeeze your hand before setting his back in his lap. “It’s okay, Y/N. You can ask me whatever you want. I remember the deal.”

Of course. The deal you’d offered him in the bakery last week. That whatever question you asked him you had thought through and wanted his honest answers to, therefore he would give you them, no matter what they were. Except, despite the fact that you had thought these questions through, you knew they couldn’t hold up to those terms.

You gave up all pretenses now, voice entirely defeated as you admitted, “I know. It’s just— these ones... I can’t keep my end of the deal. That’s not fair to you, I’m sorry.”

He contemplated this for a moment, drumming his fingers on the back couch cushion. “Are they yes or no questions? Or more open-ended?”

“Open-ended.”

“Then... I’ll only answer if I think the answer won’t hurt you. How about that?”

You breathed in deeply, took another sip of your water, and readjusted to fully face Kun, one of your arms resting on the back of couch. “Okay, yeah.”

“Great. Go ahead, when you’re ready.”

Mustering up whatever strength was left in your voice, you asked, “What is it like? Being under the love potion?”

“It’s beautiful.” He began, a giddy smile coming to his lips. His fingers inched forward, bridging the gap between you and gently stroking over the back of yours, seemingly absentmindedly as he spoke. “It’s not a destructive, consuming sort of love, but the comfortable, familiar kind that you settle into after being with someone for a while. Like you just know that they’re your person. Admittedly, sometimes when I’ll think about you when we’re apart my chest will hurt a little, but then when I see you again, it feels like coming home. There are some moments I get overcome with emotion, but it’s not a constant obsession like a new crush or puppy love. I do of course remember what it was like before the potion, and how I felt about you then, but it truly feels like another life— though you can imagine that I’ve used that phrase quite a bit.”

You were biting on the inside of your cheek so hard you started tasting blood. With a sharp hiss, you freed the skin from your teeth, and swiped over the area with your tongue for a moment as you tried to think of an answer, any answer, just something to say to that. Thankfully, Kun seemed to understand the position you were in, and saved you from having to respond.

“What were your other questions?”

“Just— Just one more.” You steeled your nerves. “You had to be bit, to be turned.”

Kun tilted his head. “Yes, though that wasn’t a question.”

“H-How does it feel?”

“You’re asking me to describe being turned to you?” He frowned. “That was a long time ago, Y/N, it was honestly a bit of a blur. I’m afraid I don’t really remember all the details, but I’ll tell you what I can—”

“Not being turned, uhm, being bit by a vampire.”

He squinted one eye closed, then the other. “I can’t—”

“Oh. That’s okay, Kun. I was just curious,” you reassured him, making your voice as sweet as possible to cover up any hint of disappointment. It looked like he was still trying desperately to remember for you, though, scratching at the back of his head and squeezing his eyes shut.

When he still hadn’t said anything a few moments later, you spoke up again, “Kun, I’m serious, it’s okay that you can’t remember.”

The vampire set his gaze on you again, voice tight, “No, I—”

“Oh my god you look unwell again,” you blurted out, taking in his blown out pupils. “Seriously, should I call Renjun? Yangyang?”

He practically leapt to his feet, bumping into furniture on his hasty path to the furthest corner of the living room from you. “No, I know what it is. You should go.”

No way were you going to just leave him like this. You stood up too, but stayed in front of the couch. “Will you tell me what’s wrong with you?”

“I—” He fanned himself with the material of his shirt. “Do you remember what Yangyang was saying about young vampires?”

Of course you did, that idea bouncing around in your head for the past week had contributed to your question in the first place. Younger vampires had a harder time controlling their thirst because all kinds of want became hunger, a need to feed.

“Yeah, but I thought that you were okay, since you were so much older. You haven’t even mentioned anything other than human food unless I brought it up. Why now?”

Kun screwed his eyes shut as if he were in physical pain. “I’ve been okay as long as I was fed. But—”

“Oh my god, me coming over unannounced!”

“No, no, I just fed when I went to get your water. I don’t know if it’s something with how the potion works, but I’m afraid I’ve had to keep increasing my intake in order to stay satiated around you and I’m getting hungrier faster. So I’m very sorry, but you really need to go.”

“That’s it?” You defiantly crossed your arms over your chest.

“What?”

“You’re hungry, thirsty, whatever? That’s all?”

He slowly opened his eyes again. “Y-Yeah, I suppose.”

“You can do it without killing me, right?”

“Y/N—”

“Right?”

“Of course, but—”

“Clearly the end point of this is you starving to death. And I’m not going to let you—”

“We don’t know that. I don’t want you to feel guilted by that assumption into letting me...”

“Kun, wanting to help somebody does not equal being guilted into it!” You finally snapped at him, taking big, stomping strides towards him. “Stop being so, so… chivalrous to the point of self-flagellation! Do you honestly think that makes me feel good watching you do that? Let me help you Kun, that’s what I want, I promise.”

He held your gaze, the inky blackness feeling so much different than the scarlet red that you were used to. But… you didn’t mind it. Didn’t mind the way that the darkness trailed from your eyes to your lips to your neck and lingered there. Liked it. You knew he could hear your heartbeat thrumming in your chest, was able to pinpoint you by scent on the wide expanse of campus. What must that be like now, in such a small space, so close?

“Okay…” His voice was barely above a whisper, hoarse, as if he didn’t trust himself to talk any louder.

Kun was still holding onto the doorframe with a death grip, the wood beginning to splinter under his fingers.

“I’ve… never done this,” you prompted him quietly.

“Oh, right.” He straightened up, attempting to compose himself again. Ushering you back towards the couch, he explained, “Let’s sit down. It will be more comfortable for you that way.”

He sat down in the corner of the sofa, hiking one leg up onto it and keeping his other foot planted on the ground. Kun patted the space between his thighs for you. You sat down in front of him on the same cushion, your back so close to touching his chest that you swore you could feel the brush of his clothing against yours.

“I’m not going to overfeed, but in case you end up feeling faint anyway, you’ll fall back on me, as opposed to buckling to the floor.”

“Oh,” you said, just to fill the empty space of your side of the conversation. “Thank you.”

“Again, I’m not going to overfeed, it won’t be anything more than when you get blood drawn for tests. But just like then, I don’t want you to get up right after, okay? No matter how… good you feel.”

You were a little thrown off by his phrasing, but still nodded. “Okay.”

The vampire got even closer to you, now hovering over your right shoulder. You could hear him inhale as he paused, and a distinct thrill shot up your spine. His cool breath washed over your skin as he breathed back out, making the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

Then all at once his mouth was on you. The piercing of his fangs lasted for a split second before it was all but erased from your mind by a honey sweet pleasure dripping through your whole body. You could feel the sensation of his lips sucking at your neck too, your blood trickling out from the wounds, and his tongue laving over your skin. But mostly you just felt… good. All of you thrummed from your heart to your fingertips.

A soft moan slipped past your lips as you let your head fall back onto his shoulder, giving him even more room. You felt him stiffen right after you did, as if getting ready to pull away. Reaching a hand up, you blindly grabbed for the back of his head, threading your fingers through his hair and holding him in place against your neck. Kun seemed to understand, going back to contentedly drinking from you. You relaxed fully against him, letting your eyes flutter shut. He easily kept you upright, wrapping an arm around your front to hold you close to him.

You had no way to know or even guess how much time had passed when Kun finally took his mouth off your neck. He leaned back into the corner of the couch, easing you back with him.

“Thank you, Y/N. My miracle…” He murmured, his mouth right next to your ear. A fingertip lightly graced over a patch of skin below the bite. “I’m sorry I don’t have any bite cream on hand for you, I haven’t live fed in years.”

“Mm—” You were starting to come back down from your mellowed-out state, poking at the area yourself. It was tender, duh, but not too bad. “I’ll pick some up tomorrow before class.”

“It needs to be used within fifteen minutes, prior to any normal supernatural healing process starting,” he explained with a sigh. “Again, I apologize. There will probably be some bruising for a while.”

“Kun, it’s okay.” You sat up, turning around to face him. He definitely looked better than before. His eyes were back to red, and he was much calmer. He also admittedly looked a little debauched, his hair tousled from your fingers, and a small drop of your blood smeared at the corner of his mouth.

But as you appraised him—and he licked the blood off his lip—you grew a little uneasy, realizing that something was still… off about him. Just in a different way this time.

“How are you feeling?

“I’m all better,” he confirmed with a singular, resolute nod.

You gave him a relieved smile. “Good, good. We should ask Yangyang about if it’s something with how the potion works, make sure you’re going to be okay for however much longer it’s going to last.”

Kun cleared his throat. “That will not be necessary. I am certain that the love potion is no longer in effect.”

You wanted nothing more than to burst into flames on the spot. Quickly, you scooched further down the couch from Kun as you started a blubbering attempt at a self-deprecating, deadpan apology, “Well, that’s just… awkward. I’m going to go die a hole. Uhm, forget everything, forget me, and with any luck, you’ll never have to see me again. I’m so sorry.”

And with that, you rushed to your feet, with every intent of quite literally running out of the door. Except the living room was spinning, and your head felt like a hot air balloon. Two cold hands were on your forearm and small of your back, guiding you back down onto the couch.

“Y/N, slow down,” Kun chastised you gently. “I didn’t overdrink, but you should still sit for a moment.”

You relented, but buried your face in your hands akin to the way that you so very wished that you could bury your entire self six feet under at the moment. Maybe if you didn’t say anything, Kun would just let you sit in silence until you were recovered enough to leave, and you would never have to talk about any of this ever again. Then one day you would die, and he would continue to live for eternity and eventually forget you and this whole weird six days forever. Sounded like a fantastic plan to you.

“Y/N.”

Of course not.

You pulled your face out of your hands, dragging your eyes from your feet up to his face. He didn’t smile at you tenderly like he would have before, but instead he pressed two of his cold fingers to the inside of your wrist.

“Are you… taking my pulse?” You asked. “Can’t you hear my heartbeat?”

“Blood pressure,” he answered, continuing to hold his fingertips there, and you could feel the blood in your vein pumping against them. “Vampire touch is sensitive enough that if you know what you’re feeling for then you can… Okay, that’s better.”

“Did you learn this at bloodletting school? Because I don’t know if I trust this, you might put leeches on me next.” You tried to joke, hoping it would put you at ease a little. It didn’t help.

Kun looked you dead in the eyes. “I just drank your blood, and you’re going to complain about a couple little leeches?”

You fell back against the back of the couch, covering your face with your free arm. “So instead of letting me fuck off and die in a hole on my own, you want to be the one to kill me yourself, huh?”

“Y/N.” He repeated your name in the same frank tone as before, releasing your wrist. “I have something I would like to say. To your face, preferably.”

Dropping your arm back down to your side, you sat up straight, turning to Kun and bracing yourself for whatever he had to say to you about the past six days. It could be any litany of things. Agreeing with you to never speak about it again, joint proposition to murder Yangyang, an apology from him, demand for an apology from you; you were prepared for it to truly be anything.

“I honestly wasn’t very familiar with you before this whole debacle. I’ve known Yangyang’s coven for a hundred years, and he calls on me for assistance from time to time. I only knew you as the friend of the roommate of a witch that I know.” Kun explained, and you kept as neutral of a face as possible as you listened, having absolutely no clue where he was going with this. “Just like when I was under the effects of the love potion, my memories from before it were not erased, now that it’s worn off, I do still remember the time that we spent together during it. While I am not in love with you at present, after learning as much about you as I did… I am romantically interested in you still.”

You must have been giving him the most dumbfounded expression ever, as he felt the need to tack on an explanatory, “I would like the opportunity to take you on a date— a proper one, sometime. If you would like.”

Your head was nodding before your mouth finally caught up. “Yeah, yeah. I’d really like that too.”

“I can’t... guarantee that I’ll be exactly like I was while I was under the effects of the love potion,” he forewarned you.

“Kun that’s- that’s fine,” you reassured him with a bright smile. “Like you said, we’ll just try it out. I also learned a lot about you, outside of the love potion courting stuff, that I found interesting... and liked.”

You mumbled the last part nervously, messing with your fingers.

“That makes me very happy to hear. Don’t worry, no more sonnets now, I promise.”

“Well... you don’t have to do that… if you want.”

“Oh so you did like it,” Kun teased, reclined back against the arm of the couch with a cocky smirk that you hadn’t seen on him before.

“I was flustered! And confused!”

“That’s fair. I won’t retire my quill yet, then.”

A little over a week later, and you were back at Kun’s house at his invitation. He said he had a surprise to show you, and there was no further information. His penchant for surprises was genuine.

Kun was sat at his producing desk, and you had pulled up a chair beside him to watch. He was just logging into the computer when his phone rang.

“Yangyang,” Kun snorted. He was about to reject it when you stopped him.

“You can pick it up, I don’t mind.”

“He is not important right now.” He turned his phone off, picking up one of your hands to press a cool kiss to your knuckles.

Just a second later, and your phone was buzzing. You sighed, looking at the contact, then held it up so Kun could read it. Kun rolled his eyes.

Yangyang.

You picked up the call. “Hey Yang—”

“Y/N! Hey!” The witch’s voice blared through your speakers, and you quickly had to turn your volume down.

“Yeah, hi, Yangyang. What’s up?”

“Just wanted to chat, we don’t really talk, you know?” His voice was pitched up and he talked so fast that you could barely understand all the strung-together words. “What—what are you doing? Right now?”

“I’m hanging out at Kun’s place, why—” You were cut off by your friend hanging up. Dropping your phone onto the table, you looked at the vampire knowingly. “So I think that means he’s coming over.”

Not even ten minutes later, someone was banging on Kun’s front door. Kun went to go get it as you stayed in your spot over by his producing station.

“Stop it,” Kun deadpanned in place of a greeting as he opened the door.

Yangyang rushed in without so much as a hello. Kun focused an exasperated look on him as he closed the door, then walked back over to you.

“So, what brings you here, Yangyang?” He asked, easing himself back down into his desk chair next to you.

“Alright, it was funny at first but now I’m seriously worried.” Yangyang grabbed Kun’s face, shining his phone flashlight in one of Kun’s eyes, then the other.

“Fuck!” Kun threw an arm over his eyes, pushing the witch away with the other.

“Yangyang, what the hell is wrong with you?” You yelled out, rubbing Kun’s back soothingly. Having that done to you, a human, would’ve hurt a bit; to a vampire’s more light-sensitive eyes must’ve been a searing pain at least.

Kun had recovered a little, taking one of your hands in his for comfort. You ran your thumb over his knuckles, wincing sympathetically.

He half-squinted and half-glared up at your friend. “What are you talking about?”

“It’s been like two weeks, that potion should have definitely worn off by now.” He looked down at his hands with wide eyes. “I must be more powerful than I realize.”

You scoffed. “Hate to burst your bubble, Yangyang, but it did.”

“What? No, he’s still—” Yangyang gestured frantically to your intertwined hands. “You’re still— But, Kun— Huh?”

The vampire sighed, thankfully taking the lead on explaining. “We learned a lot about each other during the experience, and have decided to pursue a real relationship. I’m no longer under the effects of the love potion.”

“That is... There’s no—” Yangyang blinked rapidly at you two. “When? How? Y/N, Kun?”

“The hell does that mean?”

“You’re like a walking, talking, undead pair of corduroy pants, I didn’t think you had it in you, outside of the love potion.”

“Have what in me? The capacity for romance?”

“I was going to say a personality, but yeah, that too!”

Kun rubbed his temples, letting out a low groan.

“For how long?”

“A week.”

“And you didn’t tell me?”

“I’m sorry, the witch who put love potion in a fucking Gorgonade bottle without telling anybody wants to complain about a lack of communication?” You retorted.

He crossed his arms with a huff. “Point taken, albeit begrudgingly. So it just finally wore off? A week ago?”

“Well, not quite...” You rubbed at your collarbone as the memory resurfaced.

“Then how—” Your friend cut himself off as his eyes zeroed in on your hand at your neck. “Oh. He— Of course! We should’ve thought of that.”

“Excuse me?” You sputtered out.

But Yangyang didn’t even acknowledge your embarrassment, too absorbed in the euphoric lightbulb moment he seemed to have just gotten. “It was a two-factor blood spell. You drank his blood to activate it—”

“Ew...” You muttered under your breath, shuddering at the memory.

“—so he had to drink yours to stop it! Duh!”

The witch was fervently typing on his phone as he spoke, now pacing with it as he buzzed with excitement.

“What are you doing?” Kun asked sternly.

“Taking notes! This is awesome!” Yangyang continued typing away. “I’m so getting an A!”

You and Kun exchanged mirrored looks of skepticism.

With a raised eyebrow, you pointed out, “Uh, but it didn’t work on me like it was supposed to, remember?”

He looked up from his phone at the two of you with the grin of a mad scientist—or, mad witch. “Look at the two of you! I’m calling this a win!”

Kun stood up, grabbing your friend’s shoulders and ushering him towards the door. “Goodbye, Yangyang.”

“Hey, wait! I wanted to ask you about— Ow!” Yangyang yelped as he was manhandled. “No fair using your freakish vamp strength! I was just going to ask if you—”

You couldn’t hear the rest of his sentence over the sound of the door slamming shut in his face. Kun turned back around, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. “If I hadn’t known his coven for a hundred years I’d have killed him by now.”

“No, you wouldn’t have,” you snickered, reaching your arms out for him. “Come here.”

Kun walked back over to you, hands outstretched to hold yours. You gave his colder ones a squeeze, smiling up at him.

“So, what were you showing me? Before he interrupted?” You prompted him.

“Right, right.” Kun sat back down, grabbing the mouse and continuing to navigate through his programs. “I’ve been composing something… and… I wanted… to… show—”

Your phone suddenly buzzed from his desk again, and this time you let out an annoyed groan. “I’m putting it on silent, sorry.”

“Yangyang again?” He asked as you grabbed the device.

“Even worse,” you cringed as you read the name.

“Who?”

“Kunhang.”

sequel :･ﾟ✧｡･:･*

⤷ blog masterlist  ⤷ anthology masterlist

#i: kun #kun #qian kun #wayv #nct #wayv imagine #wayv x reader #nct imagine #nct x reader #kunkun #f: romance is dead #au: strawberry sunday #bias tag #writing #text #mine #*100

[babbymochiiii]

Thanks for the Doyoung scenario I requested!! It's so cute~~

How about Hendery scenario based on that song: https://youtu.be/nZ5SfoLB5yA?si=vcrtVeWXFfXZperG (It's popular these days...)

Don’t Go Insane: WONG KUN-HANG (HENDERY)

Pairing: incubus Hendery x afab reader

Synopsis: you swear you've seen him everywhere you go! Walking down the street, on the bus, wherever you are at he is there...but meeting him for the first time, officially, you find out he’s only just getting a hang of his new job.

Link: Don’t Go Insane by DPR Ian

Warnings: suggestive-ish

Word count: 929 words

Requested by @sadfragilegirl

Author’s note: thank you for requesting again hon! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing! I’ve been dying to write something for Hendery but couldn’t think of what and you came in clutch !! 😩🙏🏼

Divider credit @animatedglittergraphics-n-more 💕

You swear you’re not going insane… 

I mean, you think you’re seeing his face everywhere you go but…how can that possibly be happening when you’ve been seeing him in your dreams.  

You were walking down the street when you could’ve sworn you saw him. He even smiled at you! But when you turned around to see if it was him, he wasn’t there anymore.  

Not wanting to think about it anymore, you quickly made your way home.  

You felt your breastbone move up and down hastily as you got behind your closed apartment door. Locking it as if he followed you back home.  

It’s just your figment of imagination… 

You said to yourself as you placed a hand on your chest to calm down your ragged breathing.  

You walk towards your living room. Placing your bag onto the coffee table before you threw yourself onto the couch, covering your eyes as you tried to think of anything expect of him.  

After a while you feel yourself falling asleep. You know you shouldn’t fall asleep especially with not eating or cleaning yourself up, but you were extremely tired, and you couldn’t hold back the pull that sleep was giving you.  

Without any fight, you fall asleep.  

As darkness wrapped around you, you felt completely at ease until warm hands started to glide gently around your body. It was almost as if they weren’t there.  

Almost.  

You felt yourself jolt awake and look above you where you can see the owner of the hands.  

“YOU!” You screamed out as you pushed yourself to the other end of the couch.  

The look of being caught off guard was on the mysterious man’s face as he looked at you. A small blush heated his face, but he recovered quickly in the blink of an eye, as if he wasn’t fazed at all.  

“Hello.” He said with a soft expression that you knew it was all an act.  

“Who are you? Actually—“you said as you have him a suspicious glance as you narrowed your eyes. “—what are you?”  

A smirk broke out on his face. “Well first off my name is Hendery.” He said as he gave you a mocked bow. “And I’m an incubus.”  

“That makes sense.”  

“I’m here to eat away at your— what?” The demon named Hendery said as he gave you a confused look with a tilt of his head.  

“Well…it just makes sense. Like you’re only supposed to be around me in my dreams, but I see you everywhere. Which is honestly unheard of for an incubus.”  

A fierce blush takes over his face as he looks at you then to his shoes. “To be honest I’m new to all this. And though I’m not supposed to be letting you see me while you’re awake…I just wanted to see you.”  

“You’re a new incubus?” You teased as you gave him a wide smile.  

“I-I am.” He said flustered that you teased him. 

“Awe! That’s so cute!” You gushed at him as you went over to where he was and pinched his cheeks.  

A gasp resounds out of him as he slaps your hand away from his cheek. “Woman!” 

“Hey! Don’t be rude.” You pouted as you gave him an accusing look.  

“I am a demon! I’m not cute, nor do you need to pinch my cheek!” he huffs as he crosses his hands over his chest.  

An amused chuckle escapes you before you can conceal it. 

"Why are you laughing?" Hendery whined as he gave you a look that you swore seemed he was going to cry.  

"I'm not just..." you trailed off as you felt another laugh bubbling up and trying to escape your throat. "it's just it's hard to believe that you're an incubus when you act the way you do." you said as you felt a giggle escape.  

"I think it gives me personality." He said with a shrug.  

"Right...personality." you mumbled as you gave him a teasing smile.  

"Well, this personality got to fuck you so." He said as a smirk as he watched the way your face flushed at what he said.  

"I— you know what, get out."  

"Get out?" Hendery laughed as he placed a hand on his hand as if mocking offense. "Baby, you're stuck with me." He says as he gives you a devilish smirk.  

"Stuck with you? How?"  

"That's just how us incubus work princess." Hendery teased as he gave you a mocked look of sympathy.  

"Do I gotta get a witch in here to get you out of my life? Like I didn't ask for an incubus to come into my life." you said as you took hold of your phone and started to look into how you can get this man — well demon out of your life permanently.  

"Hate to break it to you princess but you're the one that summoned me here."  

"I— I did what?" you asked. There was no way this was true. How is it possible that you're the one that summoned him. This must be some sort of demon trick. "You're lying to me."  

"Demon don't lie. We speak the truth sweetheart." He said with an unreadable expression.  

"But you spin the truth..."  

"Always." He said with a smirk on his face.  

"So, I'm stuck with you then?"  

"That you are princess." He said as he gave you a smirk. 

Seeing the way the demon named Hendery looked at you right now, how are you not going to feel insane knowing that you have a demon companion? 

Only time will tell. 

#mochi asks 🦋 #nct #WayV #nct and wayv #nct imagines #nct suggestive #nct smut #nct hendery #wayv hendery #hendery #hendery smut #Hendery suggestive #romance #kpop #kpop imagines #kpopidol

[leonpob]

🎩Top Ten Shows of 2022🎩

I decided to make this post for fun.😜If you haven’t followed me all year then you may be surprised by my opinions here. This took me a long time to think about. Thank goodness for mdl. Also thanks bestie @gunsatthaphan for making the gifs for me so it’s not boring 🥺

Without further ado,

I couldn’t not give the number one spot to this show. It may have lagged in the middle, but by the end it was a 12/10 for me. JimmySea deliveredddddddddd. I loved it so much I bought their plushies. 

This was the surprise of the year for me. I did not like Tae in Paint With Love so I was hesitant. I saw gifs all over my dashboard mostly courtesy of @laowen. I decided to give it a try, and it quickly rose up in the ranks for me. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoyed the feel of Manner of Death since it is by the same author. TaeTee had some amazing chemistry!!

Did this show have the best plot? No, it did not. What it lacked in it made up for in the three couples. All three couples were loveable and the cinematography was really nice. I have watched this show probably at least 4 times now. ZeeNunew are kings. They carried that show. I am so excited for Cutiepie 2 You. Also how can anyone hate Nat Natsit? He is so cute I just want to put him in my pocket. 

I don’t know what it was about this show. I loved the main character so much. I was so excited each week to watch it. I would scour the internet looking for the episodes. Akira was so lovable and adorable. 

I am most definitely in the minority here. This show had me dying of laughter the entire time. All the couples were adorable. BillySeng killed it with their chemistry. If you want to laugh then you need to watch this show. I watched episodes multiple times because it was so entertaining. The subtitles even explained all the inside jokes for me and that was just such a nice touch. 🥺

I was one of the few that preferred this show over Star In My Mind. Were Joongdunk adorable? Yes of course, but the story lost me and I was very irritated by the end. I identified with Fah’s character so much. I really liked FahPrince. They were so cute 😍

This show was so so so good! The chemistry was unmatched for a Korean bl. I was so impressed. The story was a great enemies to lovers trope. It was excellent! Jaeyoung was my crush of the year 🙈

I enjoyed the original. It was interesting, but this version was so real. They tackled the relationships and explained everything so well. I really felt what the characters were feeling. YinWar have an insane chemistry. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. VeeMark messy endgame 😝

I feel like this should have been higher purely based on how adorable all three couples were, but the plot was a little frustrating at times. It made it in to the top 10 though, They were all disgustingly sweet. ParkLee, 💣and 🐻, MekKim 💙

I was sooooooo against this show. I blocked the tag because I was so irritated by seeing it on my dashboard. Someone told me to just give it a chance and I ended up enjoying it. Was I as crazy about it as everyone else? The answer would be no. The action scenes and entire production as a whole were fantastic. I felt it deserved the last spot. I did not like VegasPete and never will. I am honestly here for Jeff Satur’s Kim being the badass protecting Porchay. 

Honorable mentions: P.S I Hate You, Old Fashion Cupcake,  Fukou-kun wa Kiss Suru Shikanai!, About Youth, First Love Again, Blueming and Happy Ending Romance.

Also Between Us, My School President, and Never Let Me Go need to be mentioned because they’re all my favs right now.

#top bl 2022 #my favs #thai bl #korean bl #jaspanese bl #this was sooo hard :( #I hope people enjoy reading it #seriously #this took me like over an hour #more like 3 hours #vice versa the series #triage the series #cutie pie the series #minato shoji coin laundry #secret crush on you the series #sky in your heart #semantic error #love mechanics #my secret love the series #kinnporsche the series #thanks bestie for making the gifs to accompany 🥺 #gunnsattaphan is the best

[astro-can]

ranking anime pt 1

ranking a few of my favourite animes in terms of plot and characters

Bungo Stray Dogs (the manga) i'm actually a pretty new fan but its def the best mangas i've ever read. and notice how i say manga, not anime. the anime actually kind of sucks. the plot is very interesting and intriguing, and all the characters are very well-written. idk where asagiri got the idea of taking historical poets and authors and turning them into hot manga characters from, but i love it. its a very cool concept. you def need to read all the side stories to understand whats happening at times, but you can easily find the side stories on sus illegal websites or just buy them (or watch the anime adaptations). atsushi is a well-written main character and dazai's personality literally has my mind running in circles. this is a manga that makes you think a lot, but if you like literature, def give Bungo Stray Dogs a shot. you won't regret it!

Toilet Bound Hanako-kun (the manga) notice how i said manga again (the anime could do so much better). the art style for this book is AMAZING and the characters are SO WELLWRITTEN. like the title is a bit weird you I SWEAR YOU WONT REGRET IT IF YOU READ IT. its literally the best mixture of romance, comedy, horror, and mystery. its sort of a slowburn and i wish hanako's backstory will be revealed soon because im literally dying to know what ACTUALLy happened between him and tsukasa. and i want to know how nene and hanako's relationship grows!

Spy x Family this is the perfect comedy-action anime to watch with your family and friends. the concept is cool and its fun to see how anya, loid, and yor's relationship grows! I want to know what will happen at the end and if loid and yor actually stay together. its a very good anime and i highly recommend it.

Jujutsu Kaisen i'm a fairly new fan of jjk but i really love it! at first i had to read it a couple times because of all the fast explanations for cursed energy and stuff, but i think i've memorized it all now. yuji is a very interesting main character, and its nice to see his internal struggles with hosting the most evil cursed monster alive. his struggles of accepting his fate and his struggles of losing the people he loves is something that i like seeing (not in a sadistic way) because it accurately shows his character development. i love the strong female characters (shoko, maki, utahime, etc etc) and the subtle inclusion of the lgbtq community (kirara, mai, megumi, etc etc). the character developments in this series in CRAZYY like i actually love it so much. what i don't like is how some of the explanations are a little nonsensical and they pass over the important stuff too quickly. but overall, its a very good series and i recommend it!

Sk8 the Infinity i was so sad when season one of Sk8 ended, because it was really good. i hope they make season two soon. sk8 is so good because it shows reki's struggles, just like how gege shows itadori's struggles. the characters develop nicely, and the relationships between the characters are shown nicely. its a very fruity anime that i HOPE will end like yuri on ice (with reki and langa getting together BECAUSE I WOULD LOVE FOR IT TO BE CANON) its short but sweet and i highly recommend!

The Promised Neverland (the manga) i CANNOT express how much i DESPISE the anime. i HATE IT SO FCKING MUCH. anyways, the manga is pretty good. its another series that works your brain a lot, and it kinda makes me sad because there are literal eleven year olds being smarter than me 😭i personally really like isabella and yugo's characters, and i sort of dislike emma's desire to save the demons. like girliepop pulled the main character card and said "i wanna save everyone so no one has to suffer!" personally i would've gone with norman and ray's plan sooooooo....i also dislike how emma loses her memory at the end. i know it was really important, but i wish she could've gotten her memories back after reuniting with them again because in the canon manga, she CANT remember a SINGLE THING which means ALL THE THINGS SHE DID WITH HER FAMILY are just GONE. i actually screamed when i read that she never got her memory back. i also wish the author had maybe specified a bit more on isabella and ray's relationship as mother and son. anyways, a pretty decent story with good characters.

Demonslayer this is actually my favourite anime. I love it so much. ive read the manga over ten times and it has tanjiro, one of my all-time favourite anime characters. the reason its ranked so low is because of how simple the plot is and how it sort of repeats the action scenes. some of the characters could def be written better, but there was a lot of very good characters as well. tanjiro's character is written so well, and so is shinobu's. i wish we saw more of rengoku before he was killed off after like thirty minutes of screentime, and i wish the author hadn't killed off obanai and mitsuri at the end. that kind of made me mad. but they were reincarnated happily, so its ok! there are some nonsensical explanations and some random things here and there. people say its only because of the animation, and even though the animation is what makes it popular, i personally think that the story itself isn't that bad. its good, and i recommend.

Haikyuu haikyuu is like THE sport anime. its good and its actually taught me alot about volleyball. its also the reason i started playing volleyball. im the libero on my team 💪 its very exaggerated, but the characters are well written and the team's struggle as a whole is laid out well. i like the concept and the main character (hinata) is acc so funny like i love him so much. its the first anime i watched, and its def not the genre i would watch as a first choice, but for a sports anime, haikyuu is really wellmade. the reason its ranked low is because i'm not very interested in it anymore/not really my thing

My Hero Academia i was OBSESSED with this last year. like it was the literal reason i was living. but now that i go back to read it again, its sort of repetitive and deku has become WAYYYY too OP. it started off with a cool concept, but the author has been dragging it out for wayy too long. the fighting scenes are all the same and deku needs to put aside his "good side" and actually take actions that will be for the better, like KILLING OF SHIGARAKI INSTEAD OF WANTING TO 'SAVE HIM' LIKE WHAT?? i also hate how uraraka's whole personality has just become "i have a crush on deku" and i kinda hate how the author portrays uraraka's relationship with toga. i actually kind of despise this anime.

and yeah there you have it :)

#ranking anime #anime #my hero academia #mha slander #demonslayer #tbhk #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #haikyuu #sk8 the infinity #the promised neverland #bungo stray dogs #dont cancel me

[leportraitducadavre]

Hi. I apologize for the delayed response. I've been busy with Lunar New Year celebrations, and unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to check Tumblr until now. Here are the links that I sent in the foreshadowing ask https://www.tumblr.com/maoam/740334141571219456/chapter-182-beginning-of-sasuke-retrieval?source=share and https://maoam.tumblr.com/post/689252113529847808/narutos-feelings-in-kage-arc. I also apologize that I should have considered the possibility of you being wary about clicking on unknown links, especially given the current complex state of network security. I simply wanted to ensure my ask appeared tidy.

Hello there, I know you sent me an ask a long time ago about my opinion on these posts, I don't know Japanese so I can't say for sure if what she translated is correct.

What I can tell you, is that suicide amongst Japanese warriors was a practice that was considered the epitome of self-sacrifice towards an ideal. It was also an undying proof of loyalty, the ethos of Bushidō:

Ideas of the samurai code formalized earlier samurai moral values and ethics, most commonly stressing a combination of sincerity, frugality, loyalty, martial arts mastery, honor until death, "bravery", and "loyalty to the samurai's lord." The idea of a samurai code or codes was developed and refined centuries before the Edo period in the Kamakura period. (Source) Seppuku (切腹, lit. 'cutting [the] belly'), also called harakiri (腹切り, lit. 'abdomen/belly cutting', a native Japanese kun reading), is a form of Japanese ritualistic suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honour, but was also practised by other Japanese people during the Shōwa era (Source)

I don't understand the comparison, regardless. Why do they claim a character (Darui) speaking of double suicide directly relates to Naruto speaking of dying alongside Sasuke (they used Japanese raws in one image, not in the other one, so I'm not sure the possible interpretation of the Japanese writing, did Naruto use the same "心中" that Darui used?).

The first example they present is from a specific character and his arc (Shikamaru), is he who introduces the notion (women being a problem), and is he who closes it, modifying his views (for a specific woman, Temari).

In the second case, it's Darui who introduces the notion (in a single bubble speech, not an entire page like Shikamaru to convey the relevance of his views), so how come is Naruto the one who closes it?

There's no mention of suicide, either, Naruto claims they'll die together, but the context implies a clash, a fight between them both, not a double suicide; furthermore, Naruto's statement is "If we really do take this all the way to the end, and we both die..." He's not choosing to die, and he's not looking forward to it either, he's listing it as a possibility, that if it happened, it'll mean that in the next life, they'd have no burden of being an Uchiha or a jinchüriki, being able to understand one another without that weight upon them. Having a "clean slate" to understand one another, of sorts...

Kishimoto used the name Monzaemon Chikamatsu as the creator of puppetry ninjutsu, and he is one of the most well-respected Japanese authors. Indeed, Chikamatsu was better known for his double-suicide stories (alongside his reflection of commoners within his plays), but Kishimoto likely used this name because Chikamatsu was, well, a japanese playwright of the jōruri, puppet theatrical art, ancestor of bunraku and kabuki; so likely his homage has more to do with Chikamatsu being "the father" of puppet plays, and less to do with the idea of "double suicide" (Chikamatsu is also mentioned in a completely different arc by Sasori when fighting Chiyo, there's no mention about his stories but rather, his relevance as a puppeteer).

About the second post... I don't know what to say, Hinata confesses as she ends her speech with "I love you, Naruto-kun", while Naruto finishes it with "I'm happy I knew you", the speeches are similar as they both focus on the influence of the other person in their lives and how they inspired them to move forward in their goal; they both idealized the other (Hinata -> Naruto / Naruto -> Sasuke) so in that front, I understand the parallelism.

Naruto uses this speech to morally downgrade Sasuke ("one bad move... and I could have been like you..."). Hinata's confession focuses on how she wants to be beside Naruto, moving alongside him, Naruto's speech is mostly about how he wants to "surpass" Sasuke (their fallout starts when Sasuke refuses to acknowledge Naruto).

I don't understand the "notice how Hinata is facing away from Naruto while confessing, while Naruto is facing Sasuke. It’s the same thing whenever Sakura is confessing, Sasuke always gives her his back. This is again intentional from Kishi." The reasoning is different: Sasuke turns his back towards Sakura because he doesn't want to face her (there's rejection, yes), and Hinata has her back turned because she's facing Pain. Naruto is paying attention to her. Meanwhile, Sasuke and Naruto are facing one another because they're the ones about to fight, so the context in each situation is completely different.

#anti sns #anti sns fandom

[twilightmalachite]

Hinata Aoi - How To Distinguish the Aoi Brothers!

Author: Suika

Characters: Hinata, Aira

Translator: Mika Enstars

"Mhm. There are those who can, like Itsuki-senpai and Fushimi-senpai."

⚠️ This is an import from a unproofed Twitter Livetweet!

Season: Autumn

Location: Starmony Dorms Common Room

Hinata: (Hmm~, I have nothing to do~…)

(Yuuta-kun’s out for a job, and Hiiro-kun and Shiina-senpai aren’t home. There’s nothing interesting on TV, someone save me from this boredom~!)

(Hm? Someone’s looking over at me from the hallway…)

Aira: ……

Hinata: Why it’s Aira-kun, hello~!

Aira: Ah! H-hello…

Hinata: What’s up, you here to get something to drink? Or are you lookin’ for someone?

I’m dying of boredom right now, so lemme help you out! ♪

Aira: Ahaha… Thank you very much. But, I’m not really here for any reason either…

Hinata: Really? Ah, could it be that you’re also bored too, Aira-kun? Let’s do something together, then!

Aira: Huh, oh, no! I’m not exactly free either!

Hinata: Eh~, what a disappointment~…

(…Aira-kun’s acting strange for some reason?)

(Is he maybe nervous to meet Aoi Hinata from 2wink, as someone who loves idols?)

(No no, Ive talked to him several times already. He wasn’t nervous then.)

(And even though he’s acting strangely, he’s not looking away… If anything, it’s like he’s looking for something.)

(Now that I think about it, he hasn’t said my name yet, has he?)

…Aira-kun, could it be that you don’t know if I’m Hinata or Yuuta-kun?

Aira: Eh!? How did you know that!?

…I mean, that’s not it! Umm!

Hinata: I thought so. Yuuta-kun and I are twins, so it can be difficult to tell us apart.

Uu, I’m really sorry. It’s true, I was watching from the hallway because I couldn’t tell if you were Hinata-senpai or Yuuta-senpai. Based on what you said, I suppose you’re Hinata-senpai.

I’ve called you by the wrong names before… Even if you are twins, it’s still rude to mistake a senior, right?

So I decided to be careful not to make any mistakes going forward, but I still couldn’t distinguish you two…

Hinata: We don’t mind. There are a lot of people who can’t distinguish between me and Yuuta-kun.

Aira: Even still, it doesn’t mean it’s fine to make the mistake!

That, and just because there are lots of people who can’t distinguish you two, that means there are those who can, right?

Hinata: Mhm. There are those who can, like Itsuki-senpai and Fushimi-senpai.

Aira: Amazing. Could you maybe tell me how they’re able to tell you two apart?

Hinata: Itsuki-senpai distinguished us once by the length of our hair. At the time, apparently Yuuta-kun’s hair was 2mm longer.[1]

Aira: He was able to tell a 2mm difference!? As expected of Valkyrie’s Itsuki Shu…!

Hinata: According to Itsuki-senpai, it’s easy to tell us apart based on our personality and mannerisms. Fushimi-senpai was probably also able to tell it was me based on my behavior as well.

Also, Kagehira-senpai said that we look like two different people to him. Though he didn’t seem like he knew how to explain how he could tell us apart.

Aira: That’s really amazing. In the end, I still don’t know how to tell you two apart, huh…

Hinata: …Then, how about some special training with me?

Aira: Special training…?

Hinata: With the “Which one is it from 2wink” game, that is!

Aira: Huh, a game…?

Hinata: Oops, my mistake. Special training, it’s special training! ☆

The rules are simple! I’m going to show you a photo, and all you have to do is guess if it’s me or Yuuta-kun in the photo!

Aira: Umm, well I understand the rules, but I wasn’t able to recognize who it was even when spoken to… Won’t it be too hard to tell from a photo?

Hinata: It’s fine, it’s fine~! Maybe you’ll get the hang of it the more times you give it a go?

Now then, first question! Which photo should I use~… Ah, let’s use this one!

Ahem! This photo is from an interview from a new song event. Which one is it, is it Yuuta-kun in the photo or me?

Aira: Umm… Yuuta-senpai?

Hinata: Wha!? Correct! Amazing, you were able to properly distinguish us!

Aira: Ahaha… Thank you… very much…

Hinata: You got it right, you should be looking happier! C’mon, like “hooray~!”

Aira: …I’m sorry, Hinata-senpai. I actually cheated a little.

Hinata: Cheating? How is being able to tell who’s who from a photo cheating?

Aira: Truth is, I bought a magazine that included the interview from that new song event… So I already knew that it was Yuuta-kun in that photo.

Hinata: Ah, they did introduce us with our names in that interview article! That certainly is cheating!

Aira: Thought so…

Hinata: Welp, I guess that one doesn’t count! Let’s do it again; first question!

Hmm~… Ah, this one’ll do!

This is a photo from when Yuuta-kun and I hung out at a cafe. Now, between the one in the front and the one in the back, which one is me and which one is Yuuta-kun?

Aira: Yaay! It’s a 2wink candid shot! Rabu~i ♪

Hinata: Come on now, it’s question time, happy time. Are you gonna answer?

Aira: Ah, right! I just got excited seeing a candid shot of some idols I oshi…

Even though I say that, you still look the same to me, I don’t usually see you two in casual clothes before so I have no basis for judgment…

Huh? But, isn’t this…

Hinata: What’s up, did’ja notice something?

Could it perhaps be that the one in the back is Yuuta-senpai, and the one in the front is you, Hinata-senpai?

Hinata: Oh-ho, what makes you say that?

Aira: Well, this photo’s a selfie, isn’t it? So that’d mean the one in the foreground is the one who took the photo with their phone!

And well, you’re the one holding this phone, so…

Hinata: I see! …Hehe, well I thought that you’d use that logic, Aira-kun.

What a shame, then! It was Yuuta-kun who took this photo, and I got ahold of it later. ♪ So that’d make Yuuta-kun in the front, and me in the back.

Aira: Ah~, so you got this picture afterwards… I didn’t expect that at all…

Hinata: I mean, Aira-kun… If you always look at the situation like that, you’ll never be able to learn to tell us apart.

You have to take a good look at us both if you wanna be able to distinguish Yuuta-kun and I!

Aira: Uu, I’m sorry. You’re right, Hinata-senpai.

Even at the Old-Fashioned Sports Festival, I had assumed it was you as CosPro’s representative, I didn’t even suspect that you had switched out with Yuuta-senpai…[2]

…As a fan of you both, I want to be able to distinguish you two! So... Hinata-senpai! Next question, please!

Hinata: Well said, Aira-kun! Alright, next one~… This photo! Who is in this photo, me, or Yuuta-kun!?

Aira: …! The way the hair flutters. The corners of the eyes and shape of the hands. And that facial expression suggests that this is…

I got it! This is you in the photo, Hinata-senpai!

Hinata: Nope, it’s Yuuta-kun.

Aira: Uwaaagh!? I really don’t understand at all~!

Hinata: Ahahah! Well then, next question, shall we~?

story directory

1. A reference to Steampunk Museum. When the twins are about to introduce themselves for Shu’s convenience, he says it’s not necessary; there’s plenty of differences between the two, the most obvious being the length of their hair. They had gotten their hair cut at the same time, so the twins were very impressed.

2. In Grand Slam, Yuuta secretly takes Hinata’s place as CosPro representative because Hinata’s been busy. As referenced earlier, Aira boldly addresses him as “Hinata-senpai” without noticing at all.

#translation #idol #hinata aoi #aira shiratori

[dbfandom]

Remember the tiny one pager I translated about Future Trunks dying because Goten is just too cute, by Citrton?

Well I translated the entire first quarter (preview, SFW) of that doujinshi! It's a Future Trunks X Goten doujin (one of the very few!).

I have the full (NSFW) thing and oof it's a thing.

Because of how important the honorifics are in this particular doujin (due to Goten addressing Trunks as Trunks-san, but the other Trunks as Trunks-kun...), I decided to keep them.

You can read the whole thing on Poipiku.

And feel free to give love to the author on the tweet post, to let them know you appreciate the availability in English! It really helps me out too when I go and ask people "hey can I translate this?"

(and in the tweet thread you can actually purchase the physical version, even if you aren't in Japan, Buyee will show you how; beware international shipping added on top of the cost)

If you like my work and want to support my buying habits for old doujins for preservation purposes, please consider buying me a ko-fi

One ko-fi = one Doujin I can add to the pile ^^

#future trunks #son goten #dragon ball #dragon ball z #doujinshi #my translations #japanese to english #goten #trunks

[flingpoly]

Can you explain gentaro/gentaro's brother identity switch a little bit? I've been trying to find info online but I can't find a source and I'm dying for content

Of course!!! Under the cut for spoilers and also because I tried to be thorough.

First of all: Our Gentaro not being real Gentaro. I’m about to say Gentaro a lot in this post so for the sake of clarity, Gentaro 1.0 is his brother, Gentaro 2.0 is the Gentaro we know.

So Gen2.0 has both alluded to and straight up said that he is “not Gentaro Yumeno”. In the Marionette drama track, when they’re sharing secrets, he says he isn’t really Gentaro Yumeno, but Dice and Ramuda don’t take it seriously, so he just laughs it off. No “it was a lie”, no silly voices. In the “Catch Us If You Can” drama track, when Gen2.0 takes them to a safe place to hide, Dice asks what this place is, and he says “It’s Gentaro Yumeno’s study, although I ‘myself’ have never used it.”

We know Gentaro has a brother. This was first revealed in one drama track (the second maybe) where he’s visiting his pre-established “friend” at the hospital, but bids farewell by calling him “nii-san”. Our second clue was, again in the Marionette secret reveal scene, he jokes about Dice being his brother. He pulls an “uso desu yo”, but says there was a bit of truth in it. This is finally elaborated on in the Catch Us If You Can drama track, when he goes to his brother’s editor to try to get Gen1.0’s manuscript. The editor refers to Gen2.0 as “ototo-kun” (essentially just “little brother”), and Gen2.0 argues for his brother’s manuscript. The editor also teases him saying “Although, I guess you’re an author now too, aren’t you?”

So, the full timeline with the filled in details of everything we solidly know, is as follows:

Gen1.0 was an author who “risked his life” to create a manuscript to expose Chuuoku’s corruption. It was never published because his editor decided to use it for monetary blackmail. Gen1.0 is currently comatose, likely due to Chuuoku. Gen2.0 began acting as his brother to try to continue his work of investigating Chuuoku, and is now in way too deep.

Of course, I didn’t have to type all that because they revealed this exact thing word for word early in the manga and none of us took it seriously.

(Of course the final one I personally theorize to be about Ramuda, which is why I talk about how Gen2.0 didn’t LOSE anything when giving up the manuscript, because he did it to save the very person Gen1.0 was trying to save, too.)

Now for my own thoughts: INCREDIBLY fucked up how Gen2.0 has been basically “crying for help” in a sense this whole time. All he’s been writing about under the name Gentaro Yumeno is this situation he’s trapped in, and by all means he was ready to reveal he wasn’t Gen1.0 to Fling Posse at the very first opportunity they presented him. He’s very dedicated to his job of continuing his brother’s work, but there’s so many cracks in the facade. He says he’s fine being anyone but himself but I think he wants to tell FP more than anyone. At the end of the Marionette drama track, he was the first to say “Okay cool now let’s all reveal our secrets” but Ramuda stopped him, saying they didn’t need to. It’s poetic in that, similar to Ramuda, it’s about them loving him for the person he is rather than who he presents himself to be (Dice’s line in Black Journey: “You say you’re not ‘yourself’? I don’t care, because I know you.”) Also I’ve joked about it on main but it’s basically the same thing as what happened in Gravity Falls

#yumeno brothers #asks

[sweettsubaki]

So I was thinking about tropes and I realize that while I say I don't like quid pro quos/misunderstandings, it's not completely true because I do love it in the comedy format, most of my favorite comedies use it (gsnk or my neighbor Seki kun are good examples). I'm just not fond of it when it's used for free melodrama. I can actually like it a lot when it's either treated seriously or if there's a mix of drama and comedy like in the web toon "Father, I don't want to get married" which is both tragic and hilarious (literally the first chapter has the heroine dying from what is a quite obvious misunderstanding from the get go), I'm pretty sure the author just checked a list of plausible misunderstandings to play with and then wrote the story around them. Or for danmei (BL) lovers, Scum Villain's Self Saving System is a perfect example of it. Most of the book is a tragedy but most of my reading was spent laughing.

Basically, the comedy aspect generally just prevents the frustration from truly developing while being treated as a serious problem allows that frustration to have a resolution and be dealt with. A mix that's well done gives you a feeling of resolution you almost weren't expecting bc you were too busy watching the train wreck while eating popcorn.

Meanwhile when it's done for free drama you just wonder why you and the characters are still there.

#Tropes #Misunderstanding #Reading #Writing #Father I don't want to get married #Gsnk #My neighbor seki kun #Svsss

[secretshinigami]

Lights Out

Author: @yagami-raito-kun

For: @complicatedmerary

Pairings/Characters: Kiyomi Takada, Teru Mikami

Rating/Warnings: G

Prompt: Mikami is stuck with Takada in her apartment after the district got shut down with an unusual outage, they are forced to talk about topics other than Kira

Author’s Note: It was great fun to write for you again, considering the first Death Note fic I ever wrote was as your shinigami for the very first Death Note gift exchange almost a full decade ago. I hope you enjoy!

“Any luck?”

The prosecutor shakes his head. “They aren’t sure why the power is offline.”

Kiyomi Takada has never been the sort of woman who curses—heaven forbid—but at the moment, she understands the impulse. “How inconvenient.”

“Yes.”

Even in the dim candlelight, his awkwardness is visible, his formality hanging off him like a slip cover. With her best TV-ready smile, Kiyomi gestures at an empty chair. “Someone will take care of it soon, I’m sure. We can continue when the power is back on.”

“Yes.” He doesn’t sit.

Well, then.

“This isn’t part of the interview, you know,” says Kiyomi. “There’s no need to stand on ceremony. We can just talk until the power comes back on. Not about Kira, of course—I don’t want to miss jotting down any important notes—but other things. Whatever you like. Is that all right?”

“Of course.”

“Good.”

She waits for him to set a topic, but he gives her no further response. Despite his suit and his ordinary appearance, he stands like a man ill-at-ease in his own skin—as if he were a tenant or visitor there, rather than a permanent resident. That’s a very insightful description. I should remember that one for my memoir. 

Not that Teru Mikami seems anywhere near interesting enough for a spot in anyone’s memoir.

Kiyomi tries again. “Surely you must have other interests besides Kira. You wrote on your form that you’re an admirer of Winston Churchill?”

“I am.”

“I’ve met a lot of men with an interest in the war, but not many who cared about Europe.”

“I don’t care about the war or Europe. I admire Churchill. He was a remarkable man.” Presented with a topic of interest to him, the prosecutor becomes more animated, his eyes taking on an almost zealous gleam. “There are very few men in this world who stick to their principles in the face of opposition, but he never wavered. Popularity meant nothing to him, only duty. Only results. He gave no quarter to his enemies. The world needs men like that.”

“Only men?” Kiyomi teases lightly.

“It’s more common among men.”

She smiles and doesn’t challenge him. “You admire strong leadership, then? A firm hand in time of war?”

“The world is always at war.”

Kiyomi waits for him to elaborate, but once again, he doesn’t. For a man who admires leadership and initiative, he seems very bad at it himself. That doesn’t surprise her, really. Since her college days, she’s met no shortage of men keen to tell her about some imagined, glorious past or some long-dead, manly leader they aim to emulate. Weak men and followers, all of them. Real men are their own heroes. The only men focused on the great past are men who have no real value in the present—which is, unfortunately, almost all of them.

She’ll leave that opinion out of her memoir.

“I’ve never studied his politics in depth,” Kiyomi says, “but we analyzed several of his speeches in one of my college classes. He was an incredible public speaker, a real master of the radio address.”

“Which college?”

“University of Tokyo.”

Ever so slightly, Mikami’s eyebrows rise. “Very impressive.”

“Thank you. I had a wonderful experience there.”

“I’ve heard it’s a very rigorous program.”

A lesser woman would beam at the flattery. Kiyomi accepts it with practiced, modest graciousness. “Oh, it wasn’t so difficult as all that. As long as someone is willing to work hard, it doesn’t take much natural talent to succeed.”

“Hard work is a dying value.”

“Indeed.” She looks up at him demurely. “Like sticking to one’s principles?”

“Exactly like that.”

“Then we’ll simply have to revive them. That’s part of why I became a news anchor to begin with. Popularity may have meant nothing to Churchill, but he understood that if you want to lead, you need a microphone. And a message worth hearing, too.”

Yet again, Mikami goes silent—a different kind of silence this time. Despite the poor visibility, Kiyomi can feel that he is studying her, weighing her answers on some private set of scales. Uneasy, she shifts in her seat. “Would you mind—?”

At that moment, the lights come back on.

Oh, thank goodness.

As Mikami looks up at the light fixture, Kiyomi swallows a sigh of relief. “That would be the power,” he says, pointlessly.

“It seems so. Do you still have time to sit for this interview? I’d hate to keep you if it would be an inconvenience. We can always reschedule and talk about Kira another day.”

“There’s no need for that, Ms. Takada. The prosecutors’ office can wait.” The zealous light is back in Teru Mikami’s eyes, and at last, he takes his seat. “I always have time to discuss Lord Kira.”

Weak men and their heroes, Kiyomi thinks. With her best TV-ready smile, she uncaps her pen and prepares to write.

#fanfiction #death note #submission #teru mikami #kiyomi takada #yagami-raito-kun #complicatedmerary #naomi and halle's ambitious anniversary

[glitxhwayventeen]

The Lucky One

Hendery

Characters: Hendery x female reader

Warnings: twisted sense of humor about disabilities, love triangle, depression mentions, disability struggles, mentions of partying, mentions of drinking/drugging, homelessness mentions, dark jokes, fight scene sort of, i think that’s it but let me know if I missed anything!

Author’s Note: I clicked the wrong thing so this is a mess and it posted before it was finished. I will be fixing it within the next day or so. But Please don’t take any of the jokes made about the main characters disability seriously. My family has a warped sense of humor about our own medical issues (me included) and it’s just how i naturally pictured the character to be about hers too! It wasn’t meant to upset anyone!

Please remember that all of these chapters and the content within them are a work of fiction! They’re just for fun/entertainment!

Watch It All Burn Masterlist

The Lucky One: Part 2

Mostly🥀

Bold= Dialogue Italics= Thoughts Pink= Cantonese Blue=Native Language Red=Korean (Since all the characters would normally use Mandarin as their preferred language being from China and all)

Tag List-

After being on a plane for hours on end sitting next to some slobbering idiot, Kunhang was just dying to plant his aching body in bed and surround himself in his tranquil pillows and bellowing blankets to sleep. But even as the car consisting of his alpha, his alpha’s mate, and himself pulled up to their shared home’s driveway, he couldn’t help but feel his heart pumping a million miles a minute.

He was so exhausted only moments ago he really wasn’t sure he’d even be able to make it through the front door. But, as if a light switch had suddenly been flickered on, a rush of adrenaline and nerves began firing throughout his body. Something just felt so… off. He just couldn’t explain what.

“So you dreading being back yet Guanheng?” Yueguang joked while they were sat in the car waiting for her mate to unload some of the bags before they began their way into the house.

One would think he would be considering he hadn’t even been able to stay as long as he wanted to. Sicheng and Daiyu had their son and now he was an uncle and, though part of him was stoked for that and it factored into him leaving sooner than intended, he wasn’t looking forward to the long nights of the baby crying and the entire house smelling like crap every time he pooped.

So a small part of him wasn’t exactly elated at going back solely for that reason. But a greater part of him would just be glad he wouldn’t have to hear the newly depressed Dejun whining on and on about Yangyang’s new mate and how annoying she was.

“Believe it or not,” He hoarsely spoke as he listened to his own heart beat in his ears, “I think I might actually be… excited to be home.”

The older girl breathed out a chuckle, quickly unbuckling her seatbelt and clicking open her door once Kun signaled it was time for them to go inside, “Really? I would’ve figured you of all of us would be the one to already miss home as soon as you got back.” She shrugged, gesturing him to follow her out of the car.

It was true, Kunhang loved being back in Macau. The youngest three boys in the pack were the only ones who still got along well with their families, were accepted by their families, or even still had any reason to go revisit the country to see their families since most now lived elsewhere due to them having to flee so suddenly. And since they couldn’t all go at once on their constant visits as it would leave their small pack too vulnerable, they took short turns so everyone got their chance to see their loved ones or go on trips.

Except this time, the doe eyed boy was able to extend his visit longer than usual because his parents bought him his ticket for his birthday. It wasn’t like he could refuse the gesture they had so thoughtfully given him even if he wanted to, they were still his parents after all. Besides, it wasn’t like he wasn’t happy to comply. Hendery loved being home.

He loved seeing his sisters and his parents, all of whom treated him as if he was the most precision treasure to have ever walked the earth because he was the baby and only boy of the family. He was even worried that he would already want to go back to his homeland as soon as he landed in Korea. Even through most of the drive, he was already starting to miss the all too familiar smell of his mom cooking dinner in the kitchen and the pestering sound of his sisters bickering while him and his dad laughed at their sibling rivalry.

But that feeling of yearning and heartache quickly turned into a feeling of nervousness and excitement. And he couldn’t explain it. He never once in his life thought he’d be looking forward to living in a house with 5 other guys again.

He couldn’t quite put his finger on it. The only conclusion he could come up with was that he must’ve been delusional. That and that the heart was… a strange thing.

——

“Are you ready baby?” Your mate chimed passed the doorway of your shared room from the hallway.

You rolled your eyes playfully, “As I’ll ever be Xiao Yang,” you replied, bracing yourself for what was to come.

He hurriedly made his way over to you, helping you maneuver your legs over the side of your bed and getting down to your level so you could use his arm to stabilize yourself.

It had been a little under a month since you had started staying with the pack and you’d say things were going okay. At least by the standard that was your ridiculously stupid life.

After the day you and Yangyang admitted aloud to being mates, you pretty much just started acting like a couple even though you two really hardly knew each other at the time. But it wasn’t as though you could help it. With the both of you feeling the imprinting pull as strongly as you did, everything just felt natural.

You leaning your head on his shoulder when you were tired or worn out was of second language. Him kissing you on the forehead before going to sleep beside you was almost as easy as breathing. You didn’t even think of it.

It was as though one day your brains had just understood the facts and unanimously agreed to be comfortable with each other. It was a Tuesday, the sky was blue, and you were destined to spend the rest of your life with a stranger who would always love and protect you no matter the cost.

And your left side of your body was beginning to function normally again thanks to Sicheng and Dai’s hard work. Well, as normally as it ever would from that point on anyways.

They had actually managed to fully debride and heal up all your open wounds, but internally, there wasn’t much anyone could do. Your tendons had healed wrong from the positions you had been put in while still seriously injured and your muscle grew around most of the non-silver plated metal in your body.

Which meant that, while you’d live, you’d just never walk right again. It was something you were still trying to come to terms with. You weren’t used to feeling so helpless.

You were a kick ass soldier with years of fighting under your belt. You grew up with all brothers who taught you to fight dirty on the playground and not to take shit from anyone for god’s sakes. You weren’t supposed to be this meek little thing that needed to rely on others for help when it came to something as simple as walking.

That’s why when your ever so doting mate asked if you were ready for him to get you up so you could be introduced to his pack brother that had finally came back into town, nothing but hesitation and uncertainty laced your voice. He had to help you even get as far as the kitchen by walking by your side the whole time or by carrying you.

But that didn’t mean you wanted him to see how heavily everything was affecting you.

He was still pretty emotionally and mentally scarred from having to hear you cry and scream for days on end when you first got to the house when Sicheng was fixing you up. It had caused him to become extremely overprotective of you. He was always glued to your side, almost as if he was afraid you’d vanish into thin air if he left you for as short as a second.

Most nights, he wouldn’t even get up to go to the bathroom until he was certain you were deep asleep and had already awoken a time or two so he’d always be there if you needed him. He was completely determined to prevent anymore injury or pain from happening to you.

So you did your best to put on as confident a face as you could muster and let his strong arms help navigate you out of the room and to the front door where everyone had gathered to greet the Macanese boy.

At least that’s where you thought he was from. With the mix of languages you didn’t 100% speak floating through the house and the mix of information they’d all thrown at you when you were still pretty out of it, you weren’t really certain you even knew the basics about the kid coming back.

You did think you managed to understand that he was from Macau and that he had a few sisters back home. But aside from that, you weren’t sure of what he looked like or even his real age.

“We’re hooooome!” Yueguang declared with a smile, pushing past her mate and running over to your place once she realized the pained look ok your face, “___, do you need help?” She asked rhetorically while she grabbed your other side and helped Yangyang balance you so you weren’t as noticeably uncomfortable having to shift your weight on your bad leg.

As if you weren’t even there, your mate answered her question for you in what you only assumed was Korean, “She’s alright jiejie. Just a little tired is all,” he beamed with a sickeningly sweet smile before he kissed the top of your head encouragingly.

Since you were doing your best to downplay how bad you really felt for his sake, you just gave a polite small bow of your head in return, signaling to the girl that your mate was right and that you were just tired.

But truthfully, in that moment you weren’t really sure WHAT you were feeling.

Seconds ago you had felt like you had been run over by a tank, but now you weren’t. Your heart was racing sure, but the prickly stinging feeling you had gotten so used to feeling when you walked around on your bad leg was now numbed. In fact, all the pain you had been experiencing was.

Instead you found yourself feeling almost… excited? Why in the living hell were you excited? You suddenly felt almost as though you had enough energy to run a marathon.

It wasn’t until your gaze locked with the euroasian looking boy who had nearly just dropped his suitcase on a very tired Dejun that you realized what the feeling was, or rather what had happened. It couldn’t be… could it?

Double imprinting happened, probably more than most people realized since love triangles in general were quite common, but to have it happen in such a small pack? That was nearly unheard of. It happened when two werewolves were from opposing packs more often than not, but it was nearly unheard of happening with two wolves from the same one.

It took a minute for those around the two of you to understand what was going on and why the both of you had stopped what you were doing so quickly, but it took one person almost painfully long to catch on: Yangyang.

And when he finally realized why he no longer felt your loving eyes looking at him as usual and had instead focused themselves on his newly arrived packmate, he couldn’t help but see red.

Uh oh.

Suddenly, you felt yourself being thrown into Yueguang, the both of you falling to the floor softly as one of the boys was quick enough to react and throw himself underneath you.

Yangyang had charged at the doe eyed boy full speed, sending them both to the ground in record time, as he straddled him and started throwing punches left and right. The boy under him started to fight back rather hastily, easily landing a jab to the pink haired boys gut and turning the tables so he was now the one on top.

Soon it was the two of them rolling around on the floor with red eyed and nails that were beginning to elongate. This seemed to signal whoever it was underneath you and Yue to get the two of you out of harms way before the boys fight got out of control and they lost any recognition of their surroundings.

You felt yourself and your new sister being elevated up off the hardwood and being carried into the nearest secured room for your safety. With everything happening far too high speed for you to react properly, all you could do was struggle against the much stronger wolf holding you to try and get to them to stop them, aggravating some of your old wounds in the process.

As tears had began to form in your eyes, you couldn’t see who rushed the older girl and you into someone’s room. But, between the thoughts of worry for your mates and your brain panicking at the thought that one or both of them could’ve been hurt, you thought you had picked up on some familiar scent encasing around you. Not that you cared at the moment.

Nothing else mattered to you but the two wolves battling possibly to the death in the previous room over you. So instead of dwelling on who your ‘savior’ was, you banged on the door of the bedroom you had been hoisted to with all your might.

You banged and thrashed and begged until you felt like both your hand and your throat were raw and bleeding. When you had finally exerted your energy, all you could do was slide your sobbing self down the door and cry into the palm of your good hand while Yue came and attempted to kindly comfort you with words of encouragement.

-

It was a while before all the growling and snarling stopped. And it was even longer before you stopped panicking visibly in front of your new sister. But none of it matter once Kun opened the jail of a bedroom door and told you the boys were both okay. Somewhat hurt, but okay.

As long as they were both still breathing, you were happy. Even if both surviving such a sudden fight meant you’d have to deal with possibly two mates from now on that weren’t gonna ever probably be too civil with each other. As long as they were both still standing, you’d call it a win.

But now you’d have to work on figuring out what to do about your current situation. Just because you were ecstatic that they were both alive didn’t mean that them staying that way wouldn’t bring it’s own set of problems.

Before you came to Korea you had never had a mate before. Now in the new country, you managed to have collected two in a span of only a few weeks and you weren’t sure if they’d both willingly accept that or if they’d try to make you choose between them.

When he came to tell you everything was okay, Kun also told you he had to send Yangyang to one of the packs they were friends with’s places for a night or two so he would cool down. It didn’t make sense to send the newly arrived boy away as your first mate was obviously the aggressor in the situation given that he was the main one feeling territorial over one of his brother’s imprinting on you.

You hated that the alpha had to do such a thing because even if it was only for a short while, you’d miss him. But you knew it was overall for the best as now it gave you a little time to at least gain an introduction to the newly returned member of the pack.

Once Yangyang was sent away after he was allowed to take you back to your shared room to give you a quick kiss goodbye, you had started to try to fix the disheveled mess you called your hair while sitting on your bed. Though with only one good hand it went without saying that you fastly began having trouble controlling the disaster atop your head and were getting fed up with dealing with it.

Just as you reached out to your nightstand drawer to pull out a sharp pair of scissors to rid yourself of the annoyance once and for all, you caught the sound of the softest knock ever at your door. If it weren’t for your supernatural hearing abilities, you probably wouldn’t have even heard it due to how lightly it had been initiated.

“Come in!” You shouted with a racing pulse, your heart already picking up on who was trying to enter before your eyes were able to.

The door opened just enough for a doe eyed boy with silky hair to peak his head cautiously.

You figured that he was probably still concerned about Yangyang showing up and trying to kill him again even though he no doubt already knew he was taking his time away already.

You felt bad for it. You wouldn’t have wanted the way things took place to have been the way you were familiarized with the boy. But what could you do? You couldn’t turn back time. Not could you have seen what was going to happen before it went down anyways even if you did.

So you tried to reassure him it was safe in your own way, “You can relax, my guard dog was being overly territorial so he got sent to puppy school to be retrained.”

Though the boy slipped the remainder of his body fully through the door way while you were chuckling gently, he didn’t necessarily seem to be as amused by your joke as you were.

“That’s not too funny you know.” Hendery informed you tight lipped, cementing himself in the center of your room while twittling with his fingers clasped in front of him.

You found the move odd because you both already knew you were mates after the events from earlier and had no need to be so formal yet endearing because he was trying to be respectful enough to give you your space in case you were still struggling to come to terms with it. Most boys your age probably wouldn’t have cared. Yeah, he definitely had sisters that trained him to behave a certain way growing up alright.

You tilted your head to the side with a small smirk, “It’s a little funny.”

After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, thoughts began to race through your head of potentially having offended him with your previous joke. It wasn’t your intention to do such a thing. It was just how you were, you made twisted jokes in less than ideal situations to break the ice.

Though all tension seemed to dissipate as soon as he playfully rolled his big eyes at you, “But we’re not dogs.” He tilted his head down, though not before you caught the microscopic smile that had appeared on his face.

It was a shy genuine one. One that made your heart do flips in your chest and made you realize just how pretty he was and just how bright his grin could be. You had only taken a small glance at him in the moments that took place before the chaos hit. He was absolutely breathtaking. It was a little bit intimidating just how jawdroppingly handsome he was. But you tried to brush off your budding nervousness you were sure he would sense and continued on.

“Yes,” You reasoned carefully while acting as though you were deeply thinking, “But you’re also not NOT dogs so…” You finished with an unbalanced shrug, causing the boy in front of you to shake his head and bring his attention to look down at his feet once more.

You patted the bed beside you with your still working hand and wondered whether or not he’d always be so timid with you, “Come here.” You requested, causing him to plop down on the bed next to you very hesitantly.

Bringing his chiseled jaw to hold in your hand, you observed his injuries firsthand, an action that clearly startled him as it was the first time he had had any sort of contact with you.

He had a bruise already beginning to brown and heal on the left side of his cheek. His mouth was cracked at the skin on the corner of his bottom lip and he had an already scabbed over cut on his forehead just above his brow. Over all, he didn’t look half bad considering what happened. And he still definitely obtained his good features. Which was something that, though you noticed more of as an after thought, nonetheless brought a tint of pink to your cheeks when you noticed he was looking right at you in quite close proximity.

You were sure he noticed based on the small knowing grin that appeared on his face, but you hurried it away with a sly cough and continued, “Hmm. Well I’d say he definitely hit you with a right hook based on the split lip you got there. But I’d say other than a few bumps and bruises you’ll live.”

“Worse has happened.” Hendery all but whispered in response automatically.

Because it was true. He had been through hell for more reasons than one. Back in Macau his family life was considered happy, but the city itself was not. He grew up fighting and doing shady shit to survive. When he came to Korea with his pack, nothing changed.

The pack had known some of what he did back home, and they treated him and talked about him as though the person he had to be back home was who he wanted to be as a person. So that’s who he became.

He got in fights, ran with a bad crowd, slept around with just about anyone that was willing, partied far too hard for far too long, and did god knows what else simply because it was what was expected of him by everyone else around him. He just didn’t know if you’d also think the worst of him by default because of his past or not. It was one of the two major reasons why he was treading lightly with you. He wasn’t sure if anyone had mentioned any of his past to you yet and he figured if they hadn’t, he’d have to break the news to you gently.

“Well,” You added, “Considering he took you by surprise, you look pretty good. Guess it’s good to know my mate’s not a complete wuss.” You giggled at him, though you weren’t sure why he gave you almost a hurt look in his eye back.

Instead you tried to change the subject, “Now that that’s settled,” You sighed, grabbing the comb and brush you had been using only minutes before the Macanese boy walked in, “Mind helping me with my hair?”

The pained look in Hendery’s gaze changed to that of confusion at your request, “Your… hair…?”

He was expecting you to start asking him more about himself so you two could get to know each other, at bare minimum he was expecting you to at least ask him basic things like his full name and age. He figured you two had a lot to unpack between each other and had a lot to figure out about your next steps should be. But then you went and asked that out of no where? Were you joking?

“Yeah,” You answered in almost a duh tone, like he needed to hurry up and get with the program, “I’ve got a bum arm that I can’t use and doing like 99.99% of any known hairstyle takes two good ones. I’ve been having Yangyang help me, but he doesn’t really know how to do it and definitely doesn’t care about how well it’s done so long as it’s up somehow and out of the way. And since it’s a mess, i need it redone again.” You chuckled as your other mate’s body nearly froze before you.

He was always more than willing to help you with any and every thing you needed or wanted. That was part of what it meant to imprint on someone after all. But that didn’t mean he was always the best at it. And that definitely didn’t mean he understood it or why it was important. Especially your hair.

“What makes you think I’d do any better of a job than him?” He questioned, still a little too stunned to say it above a whisper.

You shrugged as you thought back to some of the things you’d heard about him from the pack. They had told you where he was visiting, that that was where he was from, and a bit about his family that they all acted as if they had known forever. They talked about his parents and sisters, plural, and they always called him the baby of his family. So you figured that meant he was the baby. And if being a baby in his family meant the same things that it did in yours, he must’ve done everything with them growing up.

That’s why you assumed they taught him a few things about what it meant to be more feminine, “You have a few older sisters right?”

Hendery nodded slowly, somewhat curious as to how you already knew that with your current meeting together having been the first you’ve ever had. But he didn’t point that out out loud. Right now, he was really just lucky you’d even see him after the ordeal from earlier. So he wanted to stay on your good side by staying quiet.

“Then I’m sure they’ve used you as their little helper before or that you’ve at least picked up on a thing or two about how important a girl’s hair is to them. So would you help me?” You asked again, hair supplies held out to him in your only working hand.

“Uh,” He glitched in thought for a second, wondering if he really should attempt it before he saw the pleading look in your eyes and felt a zap in his chest, “O-Okay. Sure.” He finalized, knowing from the moment the aching sensation from his heart reached his brain that he’d do anything you requested of him with little to no hesitation.

“Thanks,” You expressed in gratitude as you handed the strange looking piece of plastic that was supposed to tame your never wavering locks to him.

You could both hear and feel him start to chip away at the various knots and tangles that had formed in your hair over the past few weeks before you finally spoke to dull the silence, “It’s been pretty bad lately I know,” you earnestly choked out in slight embarrassment, “Personally, I blame my old stylist. Guess I can fire him now that I’ve got you too.” You laughed at your own dumb joke.

“Is this all your natural hair?” He quipped, lightly combing through the partially matted material stuck to your head.

He really was intending for it to be a serious question. But he already had assumed the answer to it once he noticed only a minimal amount of hair was coming out onto the brush he was given. He really just didn’t want to have to dwell on the thought of you having to choose between either him or Yangyang. Because he was pretty sure he already knew what your answer would be to that question too.

“Hmm? Oh yeah it is. I mean, minus the rats nest that was so lovingly left alone yeah.” You snorted, as if him asking you such a question was silly to begin with.

The doe eyed boy grew up with three sisters. He knew saying the wrong thing would set in a whole world of problems he didn’t need at the moment.

So he did his very best to choose his next set of words as carefully as possible, “But it’s… i mean it looks so… curly…?”

“Well that would be because it’s naturally curly.” You replied to the wolf tackling your disaster area you called hair in a duh tone, doing what you could to keep as straight of a face as you could.

“Sorry I’m just-” He tried to concentrate on keeping his hands steady so he wouldn’t upset you further by accidentally dropping a stray strand.

But truthfully he was terrified of making you sad or angry. Which was strange considering he didn’t usually care much about what other people though of what he said or did. Usually the only people’s feelings he went out of his way to be considerate of were his mom and sisters. Now here he was to have a normal nice conversation with you while quaking in his boots.

Must be the mating pull, “It’s just… not a hair type we see on this side of the world all that often.” Hendery gulped, quickly flinging one lock of your hair over the other in distraction as he braced for some sort of violent reaction from you.

“Relax dude, I’m not ticked at you for asking or anything like that. I know it’s not the norm here. I’m just fucking with you.” You couldn’t help but laugh as you saw his face change from the corner of your eye from frightened to shocked.

It was definitely gonna take him some serious getting used to you before he was ready for your type of humor. Then again, you both had all the time in the world to get to know each other now. And there was nothing stopping you both since you already knew what he was.

“Do you… do this often?” Hendery quietly uttered, barely above a whisper.

“Do i do what often?” You yawned, suddenly feeling both tired and exhausted from the day’s unforeseen emotional breakdowns while he twirled another piece of hair between his fingertips.

He cleared his throat cautiously, almost as if mentioning whatever it was he was going to say out loud would land him in hot water, “The whole ‘acting like everything’s okay’ thing when it’s clearly not?”

You let a tiny snicker into the air before you cooled yourself once more and simply put your still viable hand up with a pointed finger, “It’s called selective denial and yes i happen to be quite good at it actually. You should just get used to it already. It’ll make everything easier for you, trust me.”

“I don’t think anything about this is easy.” The boy behind you sighed with a huff, clearly already dreading the coming conversations and difficult situations ahead.

You didn’t revel in having to imagine the challenges you’d have to face either. But what you really didn’t want in the moment was to hear your newly found mate’s spirit sound so crushed at the thought of it all. It made your heart ache in a way you had only felt with Yangyang. It was strange how quickly everything worked when it came to werewolves.

“Maybe. Maybe not,” You shrugged, wincing in pain towards the end as you nearly had forgotten about your previous injuries as you slightly turned to talk to Kunhang, “But there’s not much anyone can do about it so it is what it is.”

“I mean… you could always still deny one of us.” Hendery muttered quietly.

Though you’d only known Yangyang for a short time by normal people’s standards, he knew how the mating pull worked. You were already hopelessly in love with the younger boy. Kunhang knew he stood practically no chance of being the one who came out on top. He knew he was all but a dead man walking.

Even so, he would never blame you for it. He would’ve thought he usually would’ve been at least bitter about it as he could literally die. But knowing you’d still be alive and happy with someone you actually loved was enough to cease any form of protest his inner voice may have had.

“No.” You confidently declared, rerailing his lost train of thought.

Did he hear you correctly? Had you just said no?

“W-What do you mean no?” The cameo cut chiseled boy stuttered out loud, much to your amusement.

You shrugged your one good shoulder and partially moved your bad one out of habit, “I mean just as I said: No.”

The boy was perplexed. Had you not heard his statement correctly? Were you just trying to avoid what you both knew was coming? Or were you trying to be difficult simply because that was your personality?

“But i don’t unders-” Hendery tried to get some sort of clarity, but you swiftly cut him off.

You snorted as you felt him twist a chunk of your hair to shape it the way he wanted it to go to distract himself, “Doesn’t matter. The answers still no.”

Why wouldn’t you just give him an appropriate answer? Why did you just keep saying no? Why the hell did you have to be so damn stubborn? And why the hell did that make him like you so much more?

He attempted once more to point something out to no avail. “But what if-”

“Never gonna happen soooo Nope.” You insisted with an accentuated popping sound on the P in the word nope.

At that point, You yourself began to want to pull your hair out at the Macanese boy’s need to keep the topic at hand alive.

“But Yangyang will just get-” Hendery began to point out, again getting no where with his words.

You sighed a deep sigh as you butted in once more, “Don’t care. It’s not changing my answer which is and always will be no.”

You wanted to be patient truly. But every time he spoke of it part of your heart felt like it was starting to rip open. And you had been ripped open enough for one life time.

“But wouldn’t it be easier if y-” He started again, this time with a more pleading tone and no doubt giant puppy dog eyes before you kicked his whines down.

“What part of no aren’t you getting here?!” You snapped, distraught with having to keep up with the charade of your shielded humor deflecting personality.

As the boy behind you went tight lipped and silent after a small whimper escaped his chest, you couldn’t help but feel bad. You knew he was probably just as worried about everything as you were saddened by it. He was the invader in most of the others you lived with’s eyes.

You could tell he already thought himself a goner because everyone expected you to pick Yangyang. And, while part of you knew picking one would be easier, you just… couldn’t bring yourself to do it. It felt like you’d end up burying your own heart along with whichever one you’d end up having to bury in the ground. How could someone choose between their soulmates?

So you deeply exhaled to cool down and spoke again in a softer tone, “I just… I just can’t be the cause of anymore suffering or death. I- I can’t.”

Your voice broke at the end of your sentence as your mind began to think back to all the death that seemed to just pile around you. Your brothers. Your friends. Your grandparents. Your dad. Your mom.

Life after life seemed to just fall down the hour glass you found yourself trapped in while you continued to survive and breathe. The people you could save but didn’t. The people that you couldn’t save but tried to anyways. All of their names were a gruesome reminder that you were the angel of death. And everyone hated you for it.

The family you still had alive, the comrades you so valiantly fought with, yourself. Even Your own brother hated you so much for being the reason your own mother was lost that he refused to even visit you even though you had been living in his house for weeks. He didn’t even care about you anymore.

There was more blood surrounding you than there was inside you. And you couldn’t stand the thought of being the driving force behind more people’s demises. You just couldn’t.

Looking down at your lap and fiddling with your lame hand using your working fingers, you forced yourself to finish your thought, “So there will be no denying of anyone on my end. If one of you wants to reject or deny, you’re more than welcome to. I wouldn’t blame either of you if you did. But i won’t be doing any such thing. I’ve had enough death to last a lifetime.”

“Okay.” Hendery whispered as he wordlessly continued his taming of your wild hair.

What you thought was an uncomfortable silence seemed to swarm around the room you found yourself stuck in everyday tensely and you didn’t like it. You didn’t like it one bit. So you did what you always did when you were uneasy: made dark jokes.

“Besides, even if I did want to deny one of you, it could end up killing me to and why would I want that?” You crackled out loud with a snort.

“Why would it kill you?”

You didn’t know for a 100% fact that it would, but if you were anything it was someone who always looked at the facts. And fact of the matter was, no one hadn’t a single clue what you were for certain.

“Because I’m not really all that human.” You informed him, naturally just assuming no one had explained your particularly uncommon situation to him in the .5 seconds he had actually been home before he was ambushed by your other mate.

The boy behind you cocked his head to the side in curiosity, “So you’re a wolf then? Like your brother and the rest of us?”

Dejun had explained to him that he couldn’t quite get a read on why you smelt so… strange. But he had never actually fully went into detail about just what he had meant by strange either as usually when they spoke of how aggravating you were, it would remind him of his frustrating situation with his own mate. Then he’d just go back to crying and rhetorically asking where he had gone wrong with her. One problem at a time.

“Not exactly. But I’m not human either.” You stated simply.

This was also true. You weren’t exactly a human. Your senses were a lot sharper. Your hearing was spectacular. Your vision was far beyond perfect. Your sense of smell was something only thought possible in movies. You were freakishly strong before your crash and could run for hours before you got even the slightest bit exhausted. You were unbelievably well coordinated and flexible too, things that made you the most wanted solider by units from all over in hand to hand combat alone.

But you couldn’t exactly call yourself a werewolf either. You couldn’t shift into a big furry animal like they could. Your teeth and nails didn’t elongate when you were angry and weren’t sharp enough to cut through solid rock. You didn’t feel any specific pull to anyone other than those you were related to before you met Yangyang and Hendery. Your eyes didn’t even change color the way theirs did and they weren’t naturally goldish either.

So most of the time you just gave a null answer as to what you were because fact was no one knew. And you refused to gamble in the game of life. Hence why you could only default in figuring that if you denied/neglected one of your mates you’d die same as they would. It was the safer bet.

Now it was the male’s turn to snort, “So what are you then?”

“I… don’t really know what I am.” You swallowed a bit harsher than you had intended before speaking again, “ I just know what I’m not.”

“And you know you’re not human…” He cautiously repeated back to you.

“Yes.”

“And that you’re also not a wolf…” Kunhang deadpanned.

You turned your head upward slightly and gave him the prettiest smile he had ever received from anybody with a giggle, “Exactly. Now you’re getting it.”

“I’m really not.” He grinned back automatically, as if your sudden little burst of pride at his very not real understanding of the situation was contagious.

The only thing he knew he understood after seeing you was why Kun and Sicheng had been so insufferable from an outside view for all the time he had known them.

All those times he’d walk into the kitchen to see Kun feeling Yue up as she squeeled with glee, all the moments where Sicheng randomly dropped his hand to reach for Daiyu’s as they sat sandwiched on the coach. Imprinting really hit them like they were being mowed down on a highway. And the way Kunhang wanted to just grab your cheeks and smother you with kisses. Now he knew just how hard it was to even be near one’s mate without wanting to be physically absorbed into one. His geges must’ve been saints for restraining their urges.

“Yeah,” You huffed in defeat with pursed lips, “Me either. But what can you do you know? I was always taught to live based on what life throws at you, not what you want in life. So whether I’m human or a wolf or none of the above, it doesn’t matter. I’ll still be the same old me as i was the day before.”

You rolled with the punches. That was something Hendery could admire. You were good with weird and strange. And you didn’t complain. You seemed to genuinely be fine with what was given to you cosmically. None of which could be said for himself.

“Nice philosophy i suppose,” he wet his cracked lips out of habit, “Who taught you to be that way?”

“My dad. He thought the same way about life.” You hummer in remembrance of your beloved father.

“And where is he?” Kunhang asked without thinking.

Which was a mistake on his part.

“Well…” You paused, trying to not dwell too much on the past trauma and wanting to keep things light, “Probably six feet under by now. Though I’m not sure the bombing’s probably disturbed the cemeteries by now too.”

You were brought to his pack half dead and barely breathing. Dejun had told him that the guy that brought you didn’t even want to bring you, but that he had no other choice. He should’ve realized that that meant you had no one else but your brother to turn to. He just never had to think about stuff like that before he met you. Now he knew.

“Oh w-wow,” The wolf stuttered in shock, “I didn’t- I mean no one-no one told me. I didn’t mean to-” He started to yammer on in disbelief once he realized the can of worms he had no doubt opened before you let it roll off you back.

You didn’t want him upset. And you definitely didn’t want to linger on the thought again. Last time the crying took nearly everything out of you and you ended up being so dehydrated that they thought you’d die. You had to chill out.

“Don’t worry about it. Like i said. I try not to think too hard into anything i can’t change. And his death isn’t something that can, so there’s no point in dwelling on it.”

Nervously, Hendery tried to change the topic to get your mind off what had apparently happened to your father as per your own wishes, “What about the rest of your family? Where are they? Besides Ten anyways.”

“Gone too. All my parents, grandparents, and siblings are dead. Except Chitta that is.”

Of course he just had to dig his grave with you even deeper by making the conversation even more heavy.

But he was nothing if not determined, so he once again attempted to take your mind off of everything, “Siblings? As in plural? I thought it would’ve only been Ten.”

“No,” You chuckled at the amount of panic coming from the boy, “He was definitely NOT my only sibling. I mean, he was my only one from my moms side sure. But my dad had a bunch of other kids.”

“So you had a bunch of brothers and sisters then?” He stayed on the path of siblingship for the time being as it seemed to be the safest one he could find.

“Brothers,” You corrected him, “But yeah. I had 12 total at one point. I was the only girl.”

If eyes could actually fall out of their sockets, you were positive your mate would’ve looked like a little cartoon mouse about to be eaten by an angry cat in horror.

“The Only girl??” He exaggerated, not even being able to fathom the thought of being the only boy in such a large family, “I mean- Sounds like it Must’ve been lonely.”

Sure he came from a relatively large family by Chinese standards and yeah okay he was technically the only boy in said family. But your family was reality TV show big in size. And you being such a tiny little girl surrounded by older brothers sounded very intimidating.

“Eh,” You scrunched your nose, “Not really. My brothers never let me feel left out. They just treated me like another one of the boys.”

Then you went on to explain some of the ways they kept you in the loop as kids. Like when they would all start horsing around and had you be the referee to call for interferences. Or how whenever they entered into a sport your dad would enter you in the exact same one as them, usually on the exact same team too.

You talked about how they had you working on their cars with them and about how they taught you to do sneaky pranks with them on each other. And how they’d even dress you pretty similarly to them when you were little so you’d be just another one of the guys and would stand out less amongst them.

“And that’s a good thing?” The boy towered over you to give you a questionable look of worry.

“Wasn’t it a good thing that your sisters treated you like one of the girls every now and then so you wouldn’t have felt discluded?” You countered, giving him a knowing smirk in return.

“That’s- a good question,” Kunhang thought in a moment of silence,“I… don’t know.” He finally came to his conclusion with a giggle.

“Well I always liked it.” You nodded proudly at your family life, “It made me feel like I always had the others to back me up.”

You never felt alone around them. In fact, you never really were alone back home. They were always around. With so many kids, you basically developed the buddy system subconsciously so you’d have a never ending supply of friends to play with. Just when one brother would go to school or had to join the war front, the next would take his place and continue where the last had left off with you. It was comforting. You’d never had that again.

“Plus, my dad used to say if he had one more girl to deal with he would’ve literally imploded so it was probably best that they raised me like my brothers.” You chuckled sadly, the memories of your once happy family going up into flames about as quickly as your plane had fallen from the sky.

“So where were you in the birth order?” Guanghang asked once he realized you were starting to go down the rabbit hole of despair.

“Lucky number 13.”

You were the last one. A sentence that was once figurative had now become completely literal. You were the last one standing. All because you were ‘lucky.’

But if you were truly so lucky, why did the thought of such a name now fill your heart with such anguish? Why did you now have to continue on without people you thought you’d get decades with? How was that lucky? How was that fair?

“That’s what everyone called me anyways. I never felt very lucky though.” You spoke honestly, once more looking at your lap.

“Why’s that?” Your mate quizzed.

“Well for starters,” You began, “I can’t even do my own hair anymore.”

“So you’re not gonna get any better?” Hendery questioned politely, trying not to upset you.

But he wasn’t hurting you. You knew he wasn’t meaning his words in a bad or negative way. He just wanted answers same as anyone else would. Hell, you wouldn’t have been surprised if he wasn’t even positively sure about what had happened to you in the first place. You still weren’t fully sure.

“No probably not. I mean, I can feel a little more in my hand every now and then,” You gripped your bad hand in your lap open and slightly closed a few times as you spoke, “Though it hurts like a bitch still. Daiyu and Sicheng seem to be in agreement that i might have some chance to gain more function in it if i try hard enough. But the leg’s completely fucked up for good.”

“How do they know that?” Kunhang meekly voiced.

“Well when I first got hurt, they had me laying with my legs bent at an angle on my side so that they could clean them off and stop some of the bleeding. But that, coupled with having to sit on an airplane for hours, looks like caused my ligaments to heal in different positions and at different lengths than they should be.” You gave him the rundown of what you had learned from Sicheng and his mate before they had gone on maternity/paternity leave to take care of their newborn son.

Though they used much bigger words than that and seemed to only confuse you even more. You eventually looked it up with the internet access you found yourself having a surplus’s of in your endless free time, “That’s something that can only be fixed by a surgeon and since we don’t know whether or not my fucked up gene pool has any wolf DNA…” You trailed, letting his imagination run with your silence.

“Oh man.” He commented sadly under his breath.

“Yeah,” You agreed quietly, “I can’t really even stand on it straight. I have to have people’s help to walk, well let’s be honest, limp, most places really. It’s super ugly.”

“I’m sorry.” Hendery apologized so earnestly to you that you almost broke your rule of showing no weakness to anyone and began tearing up.

But instead, you blinked back your tears and lied, “Eh don’t be. It’s fine.”

You weren’t fine. That he was sure of. He could just hear how broken your situation made you feel. He could also hear how hard you were trying to stay strong. He didn’t want you to feel like you had to do that around him. He wanted to be someone you could rely on, someone whose shoulder you could cry on.

“You don’t sound like it’s fine.” He remarked on your behavior.

Shrugging, you brushed him off, “Just another side effect of war i guess.”

“Wars aren’t any fun.” Kunhang continued your thought.

Which left you confused for a few reasons. The main one being that you weren’t really sure just how or if he knew anything about what it meant to actually be in a war.

You were always jealous of other countries and how they had it easy compared yo you and your people. You secretly hated that they sat safe in their homes and complained of their life and hardships completely cushioned as the people you knew wondered just how they’d feel their families that night or live to see the next day. You figured he was one of those people.

And because you didn’t want to hurt his feelings or make him feel less validated, you decided to bring it up in a kinder way than your brain had originally thought of, “But I heard china’s war wasn’t really that bad. I mean, i know it turned into a super strict military dictatorship. But i thought that the citizens didn’t really get hurt by bombings and stuff.”

“On the mainland you’d be right yeah. Not in Hong Kong and Macau though.” He explained.

His words confused you even more, “What do you mean?”

“We were already fighting the mainland for independence before the war broke out. But when the restrictions started getting worse, we fought back 10 times harder than we had before. And we were punished for it.” Hendery gulped deeply as he remembered his own experience.

Meanwhile, you were at a loss for words, “I- I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”

How could you have been so wrong? How could you ever be so judgmental of someone you literally hardly even knew the name of? What was so wrong with you that made you such a cold hearted bitch?

“It’s alright,” He sadly smiles, “We got out just before they leveled the place, so my family made it.”

When you shifted to look back at him, his eyes stared back at you with a vacancy behind them, “But that didn’t mean we weren’t practically buried alive in the remains of whatever building we were in when the decided to send the bombshell down sometimes.”

Flashes of terror hit the forefront of his mind of his sisters and mom. They were screaming and crying and praying to a god they didn’t even believe in that they’d make it through the night over and over again. And all Kunhang could do was help his dad hold them securely and silently plead too.

You on the other hand had guilt hit you in the gut like a truck at ever questioning him to begin with. You were about to apologize to him once more before a realization hit you, “But wait,” you thought back to his previous words speaking about the war in China, “You only said Macau and Hong Kong. Why not Taiwan? Hasn’t China been trying to take them too for a long time?” You asked, remembering Yangyang’s words of his own homeland.

“Y-Yeah,” Guanghang’s voice broke in a stutter before he cleared his throat to gain some composure, “They have. But just before the war broke out,” He cleared his throat once more, “They got a new president. He was corrupt and the mainland bought him and Taiwan’s government to stay out of trouble in exchange for boosting the economy and the change in their own pockets.”

“But why- why would they do that? Surely the Taiwanese people would’ve fought back their own government’s decision no?” You almost rhetorically pushed out, partially out of anger, partially out of horror.

You listened as the male behind you brokenly let out a dry hum, “A lot of them wanted to,” Hendery confirmed with a small nod, “But it eventually came down to either having food in their stomachs or fighting for their own moral beliefs. And knowing how cruel the government had become, I can’t say i blame them for just choosing not to starve to death.”

“Yangyang’s never brought it up…” You stated, shocked your other mate had never told you the extent to which his own people had been forced into submission.

You couldn’t help but wonder if he didn’t break it up because the thought pained him or if he just genuinely didn’t feel the need to bring it up. Another part of you wondered if he was always far too worried and concerned for you and your jagged background that he never thought it okay to mention his own.

Hendery let a smile of gratefulness form on his face, “Yeah. He didn’t have to live through it back home. Because of his dad’s work, they lived in Germany and London through most of it. We found him after we escaped the war when he was studying here.”

Unbeknown to you, your mate started falling face first into his own pit of despair, “When we first got here you know, we didn’t even have a place to stay. When we hopped off the ship we stowed away on, we made our way to the mountains and stayed in a cave. It wasn’t until Yue enrolled in school that we met Yangyang and his family.”

Your heart hurt for him. You didn’t just hear your mate’s pain, you felt it. Right next to your own heart beating. And it was soul crushing.

Why hadn’t your other mate told you about how he met his pack? Why did the pack’s story have to be so gut wrenching?

“Once his family realized our situation. They bought us this place and had us stay here. Yangyang being meant to be the pup in our pack was just an added thing,” He emphasized the family’s kindness and generosity, “They would’ve let us stay here without him since they could afford to give him his own place. We owe a lot to them.” The Macanese boy spoke his last sentence just above a whisper.

The more his mind wandered, the more horrible He felt. Yangyang and his family had been nothing but kind to him and the others. And he payed them all back by imprinting on you.

He knew he’d never be able to find it within himself to regret doing it because one, he couldn’t help it and two, you were still his mate.

But that didn’t mean he didn’t feel awful about pretty much stabbing the Liu family in the back with his animalistic instinct. If there was anyway he thought he could change your mind about denying one of them, he would have you deny him.

Your newer mate knew just how devastated the pup would be at your decision to not deny either of them. He knew how much the toll of having to share you would take on his mental health.

Kunhang would do anything to prevent the anger and hurt he knew the youngest of your little love triangle was going through. But even though he’d known you less than a day, he knew you’d never listen to him. So he was stuck with a gut wrenching guilt that would more than likely never go away.

And of course you easily figured out the mental battle Hendery was having with himself once his voice trailed away and went quiet.

You being you, you did what you always did, “You staying in a cave? Nah I dont know i don’t buy it?”

Could you have found some other way to comfort him? Sure. But you weren’t that great with feelings and quite frankly, you thought that he wasn’t either. So keeping things playful was your best bet at getting him back to a healthy state of mind.

Snapping himself out of his thoughts, he began to question what you meant as he was only partially hearing what you had said, “H-Huh?”

“I’m just saying, with your good looks, if you told me you didn’t even know what the word camping meant, I’d probably believe you. So i just don’t buy that you’d stay in a cave.” You shrugged, earning a small scoff from your mate.

“I’ve been camping before. AND stayed in a cave before brat.” He rolled his eyes, a smile creeping up on his mouth quicker than he’d care to admit.

You fake gasped, “And you made it through? You weren’t too traumatized from like, breaking a nail, to keep in functioning afterwards?”

“You’re such an ass,” You could practically hear the eye roll coming from behind you, “Do you really think I’m that much of a pretty boy damn”

Giggling moderately hard at that point, you decided to drop the teasing slightly and deliver him some truth, “I’m only fucking with you. Mostly anyways. I mean, you are pretty much the human embodiment of Prince Charming and all. But I’m sure you’re not that much of an uptight jerk. Just figured I’d get your mind off of wherever it was it had sank to ‘s all.”

While he was a little hurt somewhere inside that you’d already tried to peg him as some dickwad who only cared about his looks, he had to admit you definitely made his mind flip a switch to do a complete 180 and gave him a better thought process.

You took his mind off of what was plaguing him. And he was sure you were kidding based on the cute smile laced with hidden intentions stationed on your face.

He snickered, “Yeah well if I’m Prince Charming, doesn’t that make you some sort of princess?”

His offensive teasing started to work and now it was your turn to roll your eyes, “Yeah well, you look like a story book character. I don’t.”

Though you didn’t fit the conventional standards of beauty he was used to: fair skin, straight hair, dark eyes with a rounded small face; he could easily call you the most gorgeous girl he had ever seen.

“Mmm don’t think so. I’d say you’re a princess, princess.” Kunhang smirked at you from above as he finished tying off some of his work on your hair.

“Pfff. Whatever you say Prince Charming.” You joked back at him with a laugh.

“Why Prince Charming?” Hendery made a disgusted pained face at the remention of the new nickname you had given him.

You gave a slight hesitation at his question,“What? You don’t like fairy tales?“

You had really only meant it as a joke or some sort of had acted reference due to the fact that he was helping you with your problem without having known you even the littlest bit and had a face only god himself would’ve been allowed to create. But seeing his face retract at the idea worried you.

“Not really.” In fact, he kind of hated them, “Even if i did, i wouldn’t be the hero of it all like a prince,” he stated honestly before he whispered under his breath, “In fact, if you ask anyone else here they’d probably say I’m more of the villain type.”

Everyone thought he was just some sort of man whore. It wasn’t that he even liked sex or anything more than the average guy.

He just partied a little too hard sometimes because of who he associated with. It was like a requirement to them that he did.

And yeah of course that generally meant ending the night in somebody’s bed doing what every college kid did at some point.

But he wasn’t originally like that. He didn’t originally plan on being some sort of fuck boy everyone tried to sleep with or hang around to do bad things with. He just… became that way.

He didn’t want to admit that just yet to you. He didn’t want you to judge him or get mad at him. He couldn’t change his past, even if now he would’ve given anything to if it meant starting over for you.

“If you say so,” you shrugged, “But you wanna know something?”

Kunhang tilted his head aside, “What?”

“I’ve always preferred the villains anyways. They’re the ones that make the story interesting.” You winked, giggling as you watched his face drop.

His eyes widened in surprise, “You speak Cantonese?!?!?”

You laughed at him once more, “Yeah i do. No one told you?”

“No, no one told me!” He rubbed the bridge of his nose in annoyance, wondering why at least his fellow cantonese speaking packmate didn’t give him a heads up, “I figured you’d speak at least basic Mandarin because you’re half Chinese like Ten. But why the hell do you speak Cantonese?”

It was a longer story than you wanted to get into. So you have him the shortened version, “A childhood friend i grew up with. He and his family were refugees from Guangdong during the early parts of the war. I had his family teach me Cantonese growing up so they wouldn’t feel so alone.”

Truth be told you mainly didn’t want to tell him because the thought of even talking about your best friend hurt. You hadn’t heard from him since he left you in Korea to be taken care of by your brother and his pack. You didn’t know if he was safe or even alive.

“So is there anything else i should know about you that they neglected to tell me?”

You figured he’d just learn everything he needed to know on the job as your mate much like Yangyang was.

But you couldn’t think of anything he urgently needed to know about you, “I dont know. I don’t think so. I’m not very interesting, you know, aside from the bum leg and the fucked up arm that is.”

“I doubt that.” Hendery scoffed.

“It’s true.” Well it was either true or you just honestly didn’t care enough in the moment to think too deeply into your life.

You were bringing a lot of emotional baggage with you from your home and you knew it would take you forever to unpack.

His mouth created a raspberrying sound, “No it’s not.”

“Yes it is.” Sort of anyways.

“Nope. You’re a liar. Fake news.” Hendery didn’t buy it.

How could you possibly think you weren’t interesting? You practically fell into their laps after nearly dying from some freak accident. Who could ever call that uninteresting?

“Seriously. No one finds the stuff i do or how i am intriguing. I’m pretty boring.”

The Macanese boy snickered, “Boring? You could literally tell me why you think the sky’s green not blue and we both know I’d listen like you’d just given me the winning million dollar lottery numbers. That’s not something a boring person could do.”

While him saying he’d listen to you no matter what made your heart jump, you knew it wasn’t just because he found everything you said to be naturally interesting. It was the pull.

“That’s only because you imprinted on me. I could throw up on you right now but you’d look at me like you had just fallen in love with me and you know it.” You defiantly added.

“Alright then have it your way you stubborn little baby you.” The nickname he gave you made your stomach burst into butterflies, “But just because you think you’re lame doesn’t mean i don’t want to know more about you.”

“What is is you’d like to know?”

“I don’t know,” He thought genuinely about what it was he’d want to know about you before he settled on some very basic questions he figured he should probably get out of the way, “Do you only speak Chinese and Cantonese then? Or are you secretly a dog whisperer too?”

“Considering I somehow managed to get myself two mates in the span of like a month, I probably am a dog whisperer!” You laughed while Hendery rolled eyes at your sad joke, “I speak Mandarin, Cantonese, Russian, Thai, and my native language and it’s sign language.”

“Sign language? Why sign language?” He asked curiously.

You shrugged, “You gotta be able to talk to your fellow soldiers without talking much when you’re trying to be all sneaky sneakying.”

“Sneaky sneakying? What are you actually a baby? Or are you just plain dumb?” He laughed at you lovingly, finally coming out from behind you and sitting in front of you, pulling one of your hands into his in the process on instinct.

He wasn’t even sure you liked PDA. And usually he wouldn’t have been one for it. But something about your cute presence made him just want to hold you in his arms forever. But since he wasn’t just that familiar with you yet, his mind seemed to settle for holding your hand.

“No,” You blushed at the suddenly contact, “I’d say between the two of us you’d be the dumb one here.”

“Why do you say that? You don’t know me. For all you know i could be Albert Einstein princess.” He attempted to hold a less than enthusiastic face, though his thin lined mouth quickly turned up into a cheeky grin.

At that point, it felt like you face was on fire from the nickname usage. You wouldn’t have ever pegged him as someone who would’ve used them. Now here he was throwing them out into the open freely, shocking you.

Little did you know, your original hypothesis was correct. Or at least, it normally would’ve been. But something about being around you made him want to be… romantic and cheesy.

He wasn’t too sure why the urge was so strong so early on. But he wasn’t gonna complain if you weren’t. And you definitely had no plans of doing such a thing.

“Truuuue,” You agreed “But to counter, I’m pretty sure a smart person wouldn’t imprint on their packmate’s new mate.” You countered.

“Yeah in hindsight i walked into that one.” He looked down at your hands as he tried to stifle a laugh.

You snorted, “Literally!” You nearly shouted, thinking about how he walked into the living room for the first time after getting back home and getting attacked after Yangyang realized he imprinted on you.

After that, you both sat there in a comfortable silence as the older boy began to play with the fingers of your good hand. Neither of you were completely positive of what you future would hold. You weren’t sure how Yangyang would react or if the rest of the pack would even respect your decision.

But you knew at least for the time being, you wanted to savor the moment you found yourself in with your new mate for at long as you could. Because for all you knew, it could’ve been the last one you’d ever get with him.

(Updated 8/13/22)

#wayv hendery #hendery #nct hendery #huang guanheng #wong kunhang #nct wayv #wayv imagines #wayv scenarios #wayv layouts #wayv icons #wayv fanfic #wayv moodboard #wayv x reader #wayv smut #werewolves

[azumasoroshi]

HELLO HI YOUR LONDON SIDE DLC POSTS HAVE ME DYING I NEED TO HEAR YOUR VANLOCK THOUGHTS BEFORE THESE LOSER DIVORCEES FUCKING KILL ME

YOU WROTE THE VANLOCK DANCE OF DEDUCTION THING OH MY GOD A VANLOCK ICON HAS VISITED MY HUMBLE CHAMBERS

words cannot express how much i love vanlock like i got into it for the exes energy at first in dgs 1 and then it all spiralled from there and i started reading fanfiction (there's this one really good author i absolutely adore) bro dude i was there when there were 36 vanlock fics on ao3 and 18 of them were in chinese i have remained devoted and i will continue to remain devoted to these gayasses

most of my thoughts ive already posted about them, some of them i plan to make into fics once school stops kicking my ass with a vengeance and im writing one right now but lemme try to highlight everything i like about their dynamic uhhhh

there is so much potential post-dgs2 for their dynamic because found family and [cOUGHs in dgs2 spoilers] and literally how are they NOT gonna have to be in contact 24/7 they are going to be married in 10 years if iris has anything to say about it.

we dont know ANYTHING about their history even though they clearly have a history which is just a green flag for headcanons to go wild, i mean im already deadset on the idea that both of them at least minored in theater with how fuckin flamboyant they are so van zieks majored in law while herlock majored in either chemistry, engineering, or the art of driving everyone insane. or everything idk

they must have done a stage kiss at least once that was extremely fraught with actual romantic/sexual tension that everyone but them noticed and was extremely awkward about. benjamin/albert happens to be with van zieks when they both see herlock in the present and albert is like "oh hey i remember him you guys did that really awkward stage k-" and van zieks is like "please stop talking"

i said this in another post but it is so unclear what their relationship is that you could assign so many things to it. exes, divorcees, one night stand, several night stands, coworkers with benefits, secretly married, what are you i could write so much fanfiction about you there are so many potential complex emotions and conflicted feelings and regret and i live for that shit

I NEED BAROK TO WALTZ WITH HERLOCK IN A DANCE OF DEDUCTION PLEASE GOD

i'm pretty sure herlock DOES trust van zieks to some extent and my memory is fuzzy but i don't think he's ever really indicated that he actually thought van zieks was The Reaper despite calling him shinigami-kun/reapy/mr. reaper and such?? correct me if im wrong but he seems to subtly guide ryuu into realizing that barok is not in fact a murderer

the london dlc case literally has me reeling like sholmes used his very questionable connections to find out van zieks' birthday and then both he and iris snuck into his office to do nice things for him what the fuck like this was a family project?? they straight up adopted him and he didnt notice

i read this one addition to my post where someone talked about how barok and sholmes are a lot nicer to each other in private and sholmes says "barok" instead of reapy and i havent seen much of 2-5 but i dont even care if it's true or not im making it canon in my head im so down bad for the enemies in public softer in private dynamic like shizaya or dabihawks

the way the public actively avoids both of them, one of them because he's annoying and the other because he's supposedly a murderer is good flavor i enjoy that and i enjoy people gawking at them being in public together interacting normally i read this one fic where barok was used to observing the thirteen foot distance between him and the crowd and then herlock joined him and he was like oh. it's fourteen feet now ahskdGSDGSHKkjhdsjh

gina iris and the apprentice teasing/exposing barok for his crush on herlock is also very fun, and vice versa

them being like "my masked apprentice is better" "no ryuunosuke is better"while said apprentices are making out

they qualify for my "teachers that have tried to kill each other at least once and are also probably married and students have no idea what their relationship is" au that i lovingly bestow on all my older people ships

there's probably more but i have to get back to work ahjdkGHJSJ anyway vanlock supremacy

#vanlock #homubaro #herlock sholmes #barok van zieks #I NEED MORE OF THEM #dgs #dai gyakuten saiban #the great ace attorney #tgaa #i was looking up the eight feet nine feet fanfiction for this post #to see if i got the numbers right cuz it mightve been 7-8 feet #i did not find it in time because i started reading another fanfiction #it's very good it's called step one: be someone else #never mind i found the first fanfiction #it's 13-14 feet not 8-9 lmAOOO #i thought i was overestimating but i was vastly underestimating the distance people keep from barok