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icharchivist · 1 year

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i made it to the end of chapter 13!! thought this would be a good place to send in an ask, since masumi had his whole deal and the play script was finally revealed! going chronologically as always ^^

wasn't sure as to why ch 6 would be called mr.cellophane and then the moment tsuzuru got frustrated with how he couldn't get a handle on chikage it clicked for me immediately like ohhhh!! like that song chikage purposefully sort of tries to make himself have a bit of mild indistinct atmosphere... that sort of wanting to fade into the background is definitely something new for tsuzuru, since I don't think anyone else in mankai company is like that. i was cheering tsuzuru on for his writer's block but also thinking to myself "man... i haven't written in while" ahah... i felt guilty which is why i'm pausing at chapter 13 instead of going further... i'll be using that time to write a bit. thinking back on the previous chapters, chikage says he's a big fan of spicy stuff but he doesn't even talk to izumi seriously about curry!! she asks him about his favorite spices and he lies about eating the ultimate curry. i mean i figured he'd be shifty because no way would they do the chika-usa reveal so early (side note: i figured the bunny thing was like! i just saw chikage with bunny ears for the year of the rabbit promo a3 is doing rn haha) but like even with just that he really doesn't say much about his interests or anything.

speaking of chikage and izumi, when masumi left them alone and everyone commented how weird that was, i scribbled down in my notes: "did chikage come up to him and be like. I don’t like women. I’m gay." mostly as a joke so to THEN get confronted with the line "don’t touch me. I don’t like women, and I don’t want one touching me. got it?” i. i. well i was pretty on the nose there huh. that scene did NOT go how i thought it would go, though, i was 100% expecting izumi to get pinned to the wall like how it went with hisoka, not for chikage to be startled! i love how chikage's voice did its classic like octave drop (i know it's probably not an actual octave, i can't hear pitches personally but it's my way of decribing a dramatic voice shift) when he was like. dont touch me. that was so good. however masumi being like "i don't think you have to worry about that" interests me SO MUCH because it's like. masumi. masumi did chikage come up to you and tell you this? did u try to intimidate him first and then he said that to you? did u just vibe check him immediately? who knows.

the moment ch 7's title read "thicker than water" i IMMEDIATELY was like "oh! oh! it's masumi's parents" i was... mostly right, in that i'd imagined they were calling him because they decided to stop being neglectful for .2 seconds and wanted their son OUT of that theatre troupe, but... that wasn't the exact case, since first of all, the calls masumi had been declining were not his parents but rather his father's secretary, which is like, even sadder, because its like. oh. that guy can't even be bothered to call himself for something so important? I'm glad that masumi let izumi stay for that conversation--I think as like, a teenager talking to, yknow, his dad's secretary... that's not really a situation where it's easy to stand up for yourself. it's good to have someone in your corner, which izumi fiercely and fully is! i thought it was a nice detail how nonchalant masumi was about his parent's divorce. like. yeah. he probably saw it coming. when suga went "you are still a minor. mr.usui is concerned about you living alone without a parental figure for so long." i was ready to stab him though. like oH YOU JUST REALIZED? WOW. and the way he just absolutely steamrolls over everything izumi says it's really like. wow fuck you. i loved how all of spring troupe (sans chikage) leapt out to defend him though. i thought that was so sweet. sakuya especially!!! being able to say out loud like. even if that is masumis dad that’s a horrible way to treat your son! yes! acknowledge it!! now turn that to yourself! like sakuya has had such... uncaring guardians over the years that i imagine this in particular would be pretty tough for him to see happen.

i really liked masumi and izumi's conversation about the whole thing later like. it kind of puts the whole "wow masumi's such a cool and popular high schooler!" thing in context like oh his family is... wealthy but also masumi wants to be like a good kid. so he'll do his best to get good grades and do well at sports... which i imagine inevitably puts him in the unwanted limelight. it was also pretty chillign to see masumi, who i thnk of as... kind of brat? refusing to even fully vocalize what he wants because he's so used to being like. i need to listen to my parents. wow. he and sakuya should really sit down and talk about what being a "good kid" even means. bc all he needs to do is listen to his parents… and the way the voice progresses from calm and level to breaking a little to getting fully emotional? so well done. tried to inject a little levity in the situation by reminding myself the same VA voices ramuda but it didn't work lol. i really liked how here it was clear that this whole situation for him was about EVERYONE like his line of “if I fight back, it might come around to hurt the mankai company” is very telling like. ah. it's about theatre. it's about every single person in here.

i cheered when tsumugi showed up!! i was just thinking to myself like “no WONDER masumi was telling tsumugi his grandma was the only person he liked” and the bam! tsumugi here to try and track down hatsue. so good of him and once again… if people hadn’t gone through that event how would’ve that been? speaking of hatsue, she was so sweet… she was just like. So happy to hear about masumi, and then gave the entire found family argument i was just WAITING for someone to make, which was very nice. not to crib from the nocturnality quote again, but I really felt like I was seeing the development of “the spring troupe is like a family” (nocturnality) to “the spring troupe IS a family” (here). that was so good. and then literally how the whole of mankai company chases masumi to the airport! even chikage, though he declines at first…

i realize why they never bring it up but i think it’s so fun that they’ve got Famous Actor tenma sumeragi just like, frantically running around the airport with just 2 15 and 20 year olds??? it was nice to see masumi get so emotional after izumi declares that they’re all family, though! I was so happy! and again the voice acting in this scene is so good… it really sells everything more than any of the sprite expressions. I think it’s absolutely crazy we didn’t get a single cg for ANYTHING in this whole week of masumi almost leaving. and hatsue showing up to save the day was nice. the music there too! so dramatic and so fun. i’m glad masumi and his dad got to talk, but personally i’m still pissed off at him for… everything. but i hope those two work things out nonetheless. it does make me wonder how masumi’s mother factors into everything, though…? like even pre-divorce she just seems like a total Non-Existence in masumi’s life. hatsue is related to masumi by his dad, too… i think it would’ve been nice to see something on that other side.

um, and then… and then… *longsuffering sigh* i liked this entire arc so much when i was reading through the chapters, for sure. i think it was very good at showing that masumi cared for like, more than just izumi, even though izumi definitely centered a lot in it. I think it was a very good depiction of like, a kid putting on a brave face and trying to protect the people he loves, with masumi leaving early but still like, promising that he’ll come back and everything. but like, the moment everything’s solved, he immediately is like “i can’t believe you proposed!” to izumi which not only is blatantly misunderstanding izumi’s feelings but also very like… it felt almost mean-spirited to me? like… we just made this huge deal of like. oh masumi this is your family. and izumi even says like. that she wants to take care of him as his guardian? and it felt almost like he was deliberately stepping over like her actual. sincere and important feelings. and then the way like. he immediately made her uncomfortable and then sakyo had to like run into the scene and put a stop to it? that made me so mad. like yeah. sakyo is right. get a hold of yourself. i understand that masumi likes izumi, but whenever he’s forceful about it’s so… it really left a sour taste in my mouth! like i loved seeing him be like yeah i fed tsuzuru protein bars bc he wasn’t eating properly since its like oh good. he’s really acknowledging tsuzuru as family, too, but then i kept thinking back to that scene and getting mad, because it wasn’t a scene that was funny OR sweet it was just weird! and bad! I’m still broken up about it because i really wanted to like, yknow… like masumi more. and i did for so much of this! and then it was really just like… yeah.

sigh. onwards to chikage earning his villain lines. i do like how his voice sounds here—it’s lower but more pleasant, striking a nice mix between the two extremes we’ve seen so far. I was just but wow, the “I was just thinking about how to tear up your precious little family” that’s really… a line. I’d tell chikage to reexamine what he was saying only it’s like. “The Organization thinks you’re dead, you know. Now what would happen to this theatre troupe of yours if I told them that you survived by betraying us?” considering he’s part of this shady as hell evil Organization… i do not think he minds if he sounds a little evil. and the DISTRESS conveyed in the … lines that make up hisoka’s response! but hisoka… literally why have u not spoken to anyone about this. what the fuck. I love seeing the little flashbacks, but i wonder if hisoka is seeing them too? like, is he regaining his memory in pieces? speaking of, that newest flashback… i’m pretty sure the guy who’s being all nitpicky is april, and i love that even back then, marshmallows and hisoka sleeping and going off alone was a theme even pre-amnesia. august mentioning testing a serum he created, though… creepy. what a shady place these three work for. the flash forward to the moon and then the feeling of what i assume was august’s dying body in hisoka’s arms… that got me. I can’t wait to know the full story of that, especially since the idea of “betrayal” is something that can be interpreted very differently for different people.

despite hisoka Saying Nothing, it was good to see that winter checked up on him! homare knowing the rate at which hisoka eats marshmallows… it’s so funny to be that he thinks sooo hard about cost efficiency for this One Thing but as far as i can tell, he does not apply this financial prowess to any other aspect of his life. still it’s lovely that winter all felt comfortable enough to check in with hisoka! it’s easy to see they’ve gotten closer. i wonder if they’d have gotten anywhere if tsuzuru hadn’t came in yelling his frustrations with writer’s block, but honestly… what a mood. time for chikage interview, part 2!

the idea of having a relaxed cafe atmosphere made me really hesitant going into this scene, because in my head i was like. ah. this is giving chikage details on tsuzuru, not the other way around… which really shows my personality haha. if someone like chikage tried to talk to me i’d be like. is this an interrogation? and then pick every answer wayyy too carefully. i had my arms crossed this whole scene like. he better not use ANY of this information for evil. don’t u dare touch the minagi family. but it’s like… wow. he knows tsuzuru’s family situation and he knows masumi’s whole deal and he’s learning how itaru is outside of work… though that one’s a little weird. when they grab chikage during the masumi debacle, he says he had to work through the night, but every time the situation of him rooming with itaru is brought up, things feel… weird. i have to wonder if chikage is… actually living in the dorms? because like, an itaru who uses casual gamer slang is one thing, but the itaru in his gamer pad is a whole other deal. I imagine it’s very nerve-wracking to have someone from work see that (and again. information chikage could use for evil). still, i do hope they work things out, since it seems like itaru’s being a little distant? chikage’s sibling answer was really interesting, though. he asks why tsuzuru needs to look after other troupe members like family, and then mentions that tsuzuru reminds him of someone he knows who got betrayed. and like, even though he spins this whole totally fake tale about this police officer uncle, when he said he had two siblings, he probably meant december and august, right? and august was probably who tsuzuru actually reminded him of. and he says, “the only thing to be found in truth is weakness” when tsuzuru asks him why he likes lying so much, which is not a line that you just… make up, out of nowhere. it was so lovely to see tsuzuru catch chikage’s expression faltering though… like, he started describing it as like “dark” and “like a bottomless pit” and that was the moment I knew he’d be alright… if he starts being able to describe chikage with fancy prose there’s really no way he won’t be able to write a play centered on him. and that’s what he does!

on to everyone’s reactions to the play, firstly i was glad omi made tsuzuru post-fainting food, but secondly i think it’s so funny that chikage has committed to this milquetoast, pleasant person bit so hard that he like. Fundamentally cannot complain about the role he’s been given. i’m just saying, “heroic” or “ordinary person” this is not, which were his two wishy washy suggestions. i do also think it’s cute that sakuya approached chikage so they can do a coin toss every day to like, improve their communication and stuff! but back to the play. Since ch 13 ended here i took a break to 1) listen to the spring troupe (sans chikage) theme songs i hadn’t heard. they were all nice but i very much appreciated gamer’s high simply for all the videogame noises and stuff they added to the instrumental. I thought it was a really effective way to make you feel like. ah. this is itaru. and the harugumi song was so charming!

and 2) i watched the play! like i said i think it’s fun that chikage cannot really complain that tsuzuru was like “I’ll write a play based off of you” and chikage was like “okay!” so tsuzuru went and then was like “this is a play about a HUGE LIAR.” and then the point of the play (at least, as i read it) is “the issue is not that this guy is a HUGE LIAR. the issue is that he is a COWARD who refuses to MAKE FRIENDS” like wow tsuzuru. i think you’re so correct to do it but it’s also so funny that you do. I thought it was interesting that the wicked wizard of the west wasn’t weak to water, here! since the rain oz brought down didn’t melt them immediately. I was really expecting oz to accidentally defeat him that way… but what we got is more interesting, i think. I think the story itself is pretty straightforward so i don’t have too much analysis to make, but knowing that the plays often parallel the real-life a3 events, i’m rather intrigued by the final parts of the play. like i said before, i think the main issue here is not that oz is a liar, but that he specifically wants to abandon the people around him! like the way he almost makes his escape and leaves rick magicless against the wizard of the west. using his blessings, he’s able to trick the wizard into believing he’s more powerful than he is… which is good! it’s good for the city. that kind of trickery is useful, as was that initial trickery to bring piece. reminds me of mp100 reigen haha… anyways. even when oz shows rick his head contraption, rick still believes it’s magic. and i think that is kind of a magic! it takes quite a bit of effort and ingenuity to run a scam like that… it’s a talent. and considering rick keeps doing it even with oz gone, i assume he believes in that. like, i also think that oz should also be more honest, especially emotionally… but being up to some trickery is still fine! and i feel like that’s actually not the biggest issue at first. what with the establishment of this coin toss trick, and sakuya being the first one to fall in a battle, and tsuzuru thinking of rick as sakuya specifically, i have to believe that as chikage and sakuya do that coin toss game, there’s going to be a point where sakuya gets it correct after all—just like that one time rick realizes that oz is lying. and then they’ll force chikage/oz into emotional honesty, hopefully? chikage seems to me like someone who’s not really going to stick around with this troupe, or stick around anywhere considering his work for this Organization… in the same vein, oz has to leave because he has unfinished business back home, which i imagine you could neatly say “in the real world, that unfinished business is this Organization thing” since i doubt it’s the kind of place where they just let you leave it. i do think that if anyone could get through chikage, it’d be sakuya, so I’m rather excited to see how their dynamic develops, and if I get anything right about how they might mirror the play!

omg here you are!! hi!!!! eheheh

omg i didn't even know that song, that's pretty cool. And yeah that sure is new for Tsuzuru there, everyone at Mankai is sort of colorful in their own way. Itaru perhaps used to want to disappear in the background, even before Tsuzuru wrote his script, but at least he was already a secondary character here and well. it didn't last very long. Everyone else is still so distinct. Tsuzuru is just "wtf this company is full of weirdos, where is YOUR weirdo status.". AND HELPP it adds to my theory that when we relate to a chara in a3 we get forced to do self improvement out of relating too hard. good luck wiht your own writer block champion o7 (DLKFJDLF yeah Chikage is associated to bunny everytime so it's his year. Beautiful really). but yeah, he's def dodging things. I think he's too much here to destroy Hisoka's life that he's just, keeping distance with everyone even those he could get along with.

But yeah then there's The Scene. But yeah, man. Chikage sure has. Stuff in his mind huh. But also, i feel you on his voice, i fucking love the voice acting so much (and that's how Wataru Hatano became one of my fav VA so quickly). He's just sooo fucking good at the way he plays with his voice. (rip moment to have to remind you he also voices Shaiapouf in hxh. Unfortunate. But the guy sure has the Range:tm:) But yeah Masumi not being once threatened by Chikage is pretty funny. Caught the vibes:tm:.

Hoping Massu's parents to stop being neglectful and for what. for more batlant emotional neglect. It's so fucked up sobs. But yes, Izumi is so good during that scene and she really helps with Masumi's situation a lot zt least. "you are still a minor. mr.usui is concerned about you living alone without a parental figure for so long." LITERALLY LIKE. OH YOU'RE REALIZING IT NOW. Masumi has been with us for ONE FULL YEAR, what do you tHINK was happening for ONE FULL YEAR for you to worry now!! wow!!!. But yes it's so good all of Spring leaped in his defense it's adorable, esp Sakuya. They really see each other as family at this point and they see one of their own getting neglected this horribly and they're just. wow! not on our watch! And yeah god Sakuya. Seeing how it's unfair when others are treated that way but not applying it to himself. But yeah esp with how Sakuya sees himself as an older brother to Masumi this must have sting so much. The realization they're even more alike, and that their family really gave up on them. it sucks so bad :(.

but yeah the whole stuff this whole bit implies about Masumi is really oof, heavy. Kind of justify Masumi being such a brat since he isolated himself this much due to how well. His father was just sueing kids who would be a little "rough" with him. How do you develop healthy relationship with people when just the unavoidable fact of being accidentally hurt by someone is something you can't afford? Tenma is also an isolated neglected kid who's parents are always afar and has to be half raised by a guy linked to professional work. And himself was a brat and a bit emotionally stunned and could only grow when his troupe, especially Yuki, was in position to call him out and bruise his ego. Masumi meanwhile can't even let people this close. If they "hurt" him, even if it's for a good cause, his parents can attack back. It brings him in a position of self isolation right at the time he needs to interreact with others people in order to grow, and it's stunning him into this sort of bratiness. and i suppose it goes double for people he might end up caring about that ends up in danger for any accident that could happen, which would justify why despite clearly caring more about Spring after the first storyarc, he still keeps his distances re: esp Sakuya. Meanwhile i think it also justify his crush on Izumi. Because she's a responsible adult in a way, she'd be less prone to accidentally cause a situation that would push Masumi away, and meanwhile as an adult she can protect herself from his parents's action more than anyone else. Add to that how he was charmed by her acting and the fact he never had a proper emotional support to tell him the right or wrong way to approach someone (and like, i'm not saying all music is to blame but a lot of songs can have for text more passionate display of love that could really skew with his perception of things). Not that i justify it bc i still hate this crush but at least it makes me think it comes from an understandable place. But yeah i agree with you, it'd be nice him and Sakuya discusses the pressure of being a good kid for people who are just neglecting them. and yeah Masumi's voice acting is just, so so good. Shirai Yusuke really does a fantastic job with it. And meanwhile yeah Masumi cares for the whole theater!!! he doesn't show it as much but he cares so much!!!!!

AND YEAH TSUMUGI OUR HERO!!! No wonder in the recent webcomics about Tsumugi's bday you see Masumi wanting to do good by him now, you can see how much Tsumugi was a good influence on that kid. And talk about having an adult that listens to you and remembers about you enough to help you out. Tsumugi full blown MVP. AND YEAH for people who hadn't read this event it's just. it would be so random!! like, we kinda knew before the event that they had their love for their grandma in common because it's the name of their relationship in the Coin Talk (Grandma's boys) and i think they have a link skill for it, so some players who haven't played the events may be vaguely aware of it. One of my friend was in this situation, she read all the events except the one Masumi and Tsumugi discuss their grandma bc it was the only event she wasn't there to grind, and when she reached this chap she was a bit confused that it was acknowledged in the story while it was only mentioned in passing so far, and i had to mention it was in the event she didn't read that it was told. Anyway Hatsue was really so good!!! we stan a grandma that's willing to call out her son when things hit the fan. She really cares a lot about Masumi and understands a found family is just as valid and it's SO sweet. And YEAH WHOLE OF MANKAI CHASING AFTER HIM IS SO SWEET.

AND YEAH LMAOO. Tenma, famous guy, probably reliving a drama he played in before chasing someone in the airport. Beautiful. It's so nice to see Masumi truly get properly emotional about all of it. It could have been a good time for a CG yeah sobs. I feel like a3 kinda has this trope of, a father being neglectful and controlling to a really insulting level but then they discuss with their sons and communication save the day, but we're still left with the bitter taste in our mouth of just how fucked up the whole thing was LMAO. Like with Tenma for example. It sucks because on a narrative level i would really love the fathers to get a much harder treatment, but on a realistic level i understand that they want to show that things can work out eventually. Cool conclusion still mad at those guys! yeah i don't really recall hearing about Masumi's mom so it's a good question.

and yeaaaah here's we're back to Masumi being annoying sobs. This arc was genuinely so good and it did such a good work on making me care for Masumi, and it gave me a lot of insight into his personality that i can still use more to think of him in a more depth way, but then they go back to the obsession and he is just so. Out of touch. Like on one hand i see it, like i said, the guy has no proper way to judge how a normal relationship is like and all, but god just because it makes sense doesn't mean it's tiring as fuck, especially in the way it undercut the very emotional scene of the whole of Mankai being here for him only to bring back the attention on his crush. I totally feel you on the reading of how mean spirited it is. Esp with saying all that while all of Mankai is watching like, bro. Bro they're all. there for you. It's really frustrating and i fault the writing still on wanting just to keep Masumi in the archetype they first established for him (the sort of yandere boyfriend type) without taking into account the organical development they got for him. Like, they know they can do more with him. They did it the whole chapter so far. But then suddenly even if he evolves on his issues he has to return to the statusquo of his "appeal" toward fan and it clashes with the narrative build up. It's really tragic. At least Sakyo is here to calm things down, in Sakyo we trust. Masumi caring more for his troupe is really sweet to see yeah, and personally i want to focus on those bits, but i'm with you on how when Masumi goes out of line with Izumi it makes it so sour it's hard to get back to the rest of his characterization. Masumi is often such a wasted opportunity and it really stings even more when you see just how good it could be if they focused on the others aspects they put on his character.

Anyway let's talk about characters who are evil on purpose at least: CHIKAGEEEE. It's such a line, the guy really is dedicated in being the villain it's truly chilling. I def think he's sounding evil on purpose because he WANTs to distress Hisoka, he WANTS Hisoka to face the hurt he has done, and he wants to hurt him as much as Chikage was hurt. It's unfair, especially considering WE know what Chikage believes from Hisoka is unlikely to be true (we know Hisoka doesn't remember, Chikage still refuses to accept it. And we believe Hisoka has survivor guilt, not that he definitely had a hand in the killing. And we know that Hisoka losing his memories is the main reason he "ran away", even if we don't know if he lost his memories before or after he had reasons to run off). But i would definitely think Chikage isn't thinking fairly or anything. He had one year to let his feelings fester and he probably just is only thinking through the scope of his own hurt at this point. But Hisoka getting distressed really broke my heart. Like i'm seeing more to Chikage's behavior now (without even having to take spoilers into accounts), but when i first read it i was yelling the whole time insulting Chikage because how fucking dare he make my angel this distressed. He did nothing wrong! even if he killed people! he's my meow meow! i think Hisoka, despite telling his whole troupe that they can rely on each other, doesn't know still how to reach out to them now that real distress came his way. And i would assume that the guilt of his possible crime makes him unable to think clearly, as in, perhaps he deserves this punishment? He doesn't know, he doesn't remember. In my opinion the flashbacks we're getting are stuff Hisoka does remember so pieces are starting to form in his mind that he knew April, he knew the August he talked about, and he knows he stood over August's dead body. I think it makes it harder for Hisoka to not believe Chikage when Chikage accuses him of crime, and to believe he must have hurt Chikage despite the two of them being seemingly close (even if Chikage was a twat in the flashbacks lmao). And therefore it makes it harder for him to face the logical situation when his emotions tells him "you hurt the man in front of you with the crimes you went in denial about and comfortably are trying to forget as if those crimes would disappear just because of it". And it would lead him to believe he deserves a punishment and makes it harder to come clean about all of this. Not to mention it would mean explaining his involvement and he has all the reasons to not want to disclose all of this just yet.

BUT YES WINTER IS LOVE WINTER IS CARE WE LOVE WINTER IN THIS HOUSE. The fact Homare could figure out something was wrong with just this metric means the world to me. It's only the Taking Care of Hisoka's concern measure, nothing else. They've really got really close. All of Winter is really doing a lot more work in trying to connect with one another in a way they wouldn't have back in the first chapter. (insert: how do people who haven't read MMMBM&Nocturnaltiy know!!). They're really doing so so good i love them so much.

back to Chikage and oooooo boy. AND YEAH MAN Chikage really manages to fish more on Tsuzuru with all of this it's so creepy. Tsuzuru is so trusting and all. I'm not going to say anything but yeah the whole situation sure is weird. It's sure nerveswracking though yea Love how so far it's all just "Chikage could be evil there" while it's true. little evil little man. Chikage's answer tho IS really interesting. I do feel like it's the typical "Liar lies so much that he can slip a bit of the truth under layers of untruth". If Tsuzuru is like August, then Chikage must have a soft spot to him even if he's still keeping his distances. Many thoughts but yeah, eventually it'll protect Tsuzuru a bit. His justifications about his lying is just so. muah. Chief kiss. We can still find your weaknesses in your lies tho <3 but i LOVE how Tsuzuru finally clicked on something like. Chikage tried to turn the whole thing into a psychological warfare against Tsuzuru and finding out his weaknesses and Tsuzuru really just turned it around like "weak point noticed, writer powers ON.". It's so funny to me. Can't escape your therapy Chikage, Tsuzuru is already on it!!!

I love how by now people learn to take care of Tsuzuru post script writing. It becomes so usual at this point all they can do is lessen the backlash. There's something so homie about it. homie, omi, it fits. AND HELPPP. Chikage really is in a weird situation isn't he. He tried so hard to play on a role of nice and pleasant and Tsuzuru really just destroyed him with "anyway mister Liar, here's how i see your therapy go." Sakuya is adorable though yes. He's really trying so hard despite chikage having built so many walls.

and then there's the rest okay

The songs are all very nice yess!!! I'm growing more and more found of Tsuzuru's song these days, and Masumi's song is really nice but i hate the lyrics so rip. But Gamer High is truly another level ti's really fun, this is so Itaru. The Harugumi song is soo charming yes! (you'll be able to listen to Chikage's first solo by the end of Awakening Moon at least ;D)

and the play!! it was such a nice play!!! I love Tsuzuru's subtle roasts. Chikage really tried to be normal and Tsuzuru is just anyway here's how i'm going to fix him 4k 2hours, let's G- It's really so funny i respect Tsuzuru so much. I think the play we get is really so interesting in the end yeah. The play is straightforward and fun, and for the analysis, i can't really comment on it since yaknow, more to come, but i really like your thoughts there. "reminds me of Reigen" NOW THAT'S A COMMENT. But yeah the play is really interesting and it's fun to see how it might reflect with the Spring Troupe for real :3c can't wait until you reach it all

Once again, thank you SOOO much for the long comment!! i love reading through your thoughts!! good luck with your writer block and i'm looking forward to see you again eheh :3c

#long post for ts #ichareply #ichafantalks a3 #aranarumei

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smoochkooks · 3 years

Text

—chapter four: white lies

this is a part of my an ode to a broken heart drabble series.

pairing: jeon jungkook/reader

genre: unrequited love, best friends to (?), heavy angst, future smut

word count: 1.5k

summary: it came easy to you to lie. but with every untold truth, you were hurting more on the inside.

previous || next

one year and 6 months ago

April was exceptionally moody that year.

Every day you woke up to either heavy rainfall or a beautiful, cloudless sky. Alternatively, it could also snow for a couple of hours just to have it all vanish once the sun reappeared. As much as you loved Spring, you hated the capricious weather with passion.

It was a normal, peaceful, Saturday afternoon. Saturday meant no classes to attend, no work to do on the side. It was just you in your small, cozy apartment, tucked underneath the blanket and binge-watching Attack On Titan.

You were never an anime enthusiast per se, but you happened to befriend a doe-eyed weeb all those years ago. Your current occupation was just a part of the aftermath. It wasn’t like Jungkook was obsessed, not at all. He was actually far from it. Now, at the tender age of twenty-three, his old hobby was like a relapse. His love for anime was coming in waves every once in a while, gradually transforming into a two-months-long hyperfixation and then, it was nothing. And the cicle continued.

He was currently in the stage of re-watching Attack On Titan, hence why you had been forced to finally give the damned anime a try as well. Hell, he was even coming over tonight to have a marathon with you.

(He’d said that season three, his favourite, you had to watch alongside him.)

You: eren's annoying little shit

Jungkook: told you so

You: but levi? damn I’d sell my soul for him

Jungkook: for a 5’2 emotionally unavailable man?

You: yep. that’s my type

It was far from truth. As much as you liked Captain Levi, he wasn’t Jungkook. You are my type, you wanted to write instead. There hadn’t been a man in my life who managed to even come close to you. But, as always, you kept those confessions to yourself.

Right when you were about to play another episode, your phone buzzed again.

Jungkook: I have a weird question

You: I’m used to that

You: shoot your shot.

Jungkook: what’s your finger size?

Confused, you read his last message once again. That was indeed a weird fucking question to ask, you thought. You had never really been a fan of rings. You only owed one - a gift from your grandmother she gave you for your sixteenth birthday. Rummaging thorough your drawer, you found it in a separate, black case.

It still fit just right, so you took a ruler, measured the size and googled the results.

You: it’s 7.5 I guess

You: why do you ask tho?

Jungkook: I need you to go somewhere with me before our marathon if that’s okay

You: you didn’t answer my question

You: but okay. what time?

Jungkook: ill pick you up at 5pm

Jungkook: you’ll see

Maybe it was for the better he hadn’t told you where he was taking you. If you had know, you would have backed away last minute. Come up with so lame excuse, blame it all on a headache or period cramps.

If you had known Jungkook was taking you to pick up an engagement ring for Soojin, you would have never come with him.

When you parked in front of one of the most high-ranking jewellery stores dowtown, the solemnity of the situation hit you like a whiplash. You took a deep, shuddering breath. Jungkook was thinking about marrying Soojin. Jungkook was going to propose to her, soon. He was ready to spent the rest of his life with her.

Jeon Jungkook, the love of your life, was about to slip out of your reach for good.

You couldn’t cry. Not in front of him. You clenched your fists so tight the knuckles turned white.

“I figured out you could help me,” Jungkook said, breaking the silence and unbuckled his seatbelt. “I checked Soojin's finger size once when she was showering and then I found out that your’s the same and well, you’re a girl so you obviously know more about jewellery than me and–”

“Jungkook,” you cut him off with a dry chuckle. You didn’t want him to speak. You didn’t want to see him. You wanted to jumped off his car and ran away from that place as far as possible. “You don’t have to explain yourself. I get it.”

You smiled at him with reassurance. It was actually hilarious, how you mastered the art of feigning your real feelings when you were with him. It came easy to you to lie but with every untold truth, you were hurting more on the inside.

“I’m here, so you don’t have to worry about chosing something horrible.”

He grinned and you noticed a dust of pink covering the apples his cheeks. It was hard, so fucking hard seeing him happy because that was all you ever wanted and yet it pained you not to be the main source of it. Jungkook was twenty-three and already so in love he wanted to get married. You were going to see him in a black tux, a prince charming waiting in front of the altar for his princess.

It ached. Why did it ache to see him happy?

The lady who worked at the jewellery store greeted you politely with a bow. “What can I do for you?” she asked.

“We are looking for engagement rings.” Jungkook answered.

You could tell she was a bit astounded but her professional smile never faltered when she responded with, “Oh, that’s still quite unusual to see the couple chosing an engagement ring together.”

You were about to protest but then, Jungkook did something you would never expect him to do.

He grasped your hand.

(It was warm. His touch was soothing. Comforting. Then why did it hurt so bad?)

“My girlfriend wants to chose the ring herself but she doesn’t know when she will get it.”

To make matters worse, he sent you a wink. The store’s clerk cooed at the scene and clasped a hand over her chest. For her it was yet another day at work, yet another pair of adults who had decided to get marry.

“You make a really beautiful couple.” she said.

Even Jungkook’s hand squeezing yours couldn’t ease the sting you felt hearing her speak those words to you. You smiled lightly for good measure. She then pointed at the display and gave you some time and space too look at the options.

Your whole face felt hot. Jungkook was still holding your hand, still playing the role of a perfect boyfriend. He didn’t seem to notice what kind of effect it had on you. He didn’t know how fast your heart was beating, how warm his touch felt on your skin. It was all just a silly joke to him.

He leaned closer to you, so the store's clerk couldn’t hear him. His breath tickled your skin. “You’re blushing.” he whispered.

“Shut up.”

He chuckled and let go of your hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable.”

(No matter how much it hurt you on the inside, you already missed his touch.)

“It’s okay. Let’s chose my damned ring, shall we?” you proposed, mustering a nonchalant tone.

Dodging uneasiness with humor always worked out, it seemed.

You felt odd and out of place standing next to him and staring at all those glimmering jewels. In the corner of the eye you saw the lady who worked there glancing at you from time to time and that was when you remembered you were supposed to act like a soon-to-be fiancée.

“They’re all pretty.” you said to Jungkook.

“Which one you like the most then?”

You didn’t have to think long about the answer. The ring with an emerald stone caught your eye from the beginning. It was different than the others, definitely not a standard choice for engagement but something about its peculiarity made you want it to have it shinning on your finger one day.

Except, you weren’t here for yourself. Jungkook wasn’t your boyfriend. You were helping him chose a ring for Soojin. And you knew exactly what she would like.

So you pointed at the number thirty-two. A sparkling, white-gold ring with an oval-shaped diamond.

Jungkook let out a hum. “It’s really pretty, yeah. Excuse me,” he called. “My girlfriend would like to try out this one.”

You ignored the phantom pain you felt as you put the ring on. You flexed your fingers and just for a moment, you pretended it wasn’t a farce your best friend came up with. The diamond shone brightly just like the glimmers of happiness in Jungkook's eyes. He didn’t have to worry about Soojin's answer. He knew it would be thousand times yes.

You were good at pretending. After all, you had been practicing the art of it almost your entire life.

So you drove with Jungkook to your apartment and listened to him babbling about his newest project at work. You made snacks, sat in front of your TV and spent the next couple of hours watching Attack On Titan. You cursed him for spoiling you a few bits of the show and Jungkook, like the petty Virgo he was, reminded you how you accidentally revealed him Little Women's ending because you had read the book years before.

As you laughed and bickered with him, you still remembered about the crimson box tucked in the pocket of his leather jacket, but you didn’t allow yourself to break. Not yet.

It was only when Jungkook fell asleep around 1am that you stepped into the shower and let the tears flow.

And a week later, when the dreaded became real–

Jungkook: she said yes!!!

A white lie was told to avoid hurting someone’s feelings.

You: I’m so happy for you, Jungkook!

After all, the best you could do was give up your happiness for the sake of his own.

#jungkook smut #btswritingcafe #ksmutclub #bangtanarmynet #bangtanhq #jungkook angst #jungkook x reader #jungkook fanfic #jungkook x you #bts smut #my writing #an ode to a broken heart

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iloveitwhen · 3 years

Note

jasonette but like siblings but like angst- like that whole trope where they are blood related and got separated, or they didnt get separated idk thats cool too i just want some sibling jasonette😅

Wow. ok. uhmmmm. this is a lot i think?? I got a little jk a lot carried away and this past week was super busy so i’ll finish the second part later??

Again... a lot...

Jason is walking home after another night at the bar when he sees a small woman, teenager? Slip into a dark alleyway and two men follow in after her a few moments later.

Jason curses and bolts across the street, what was this girl thinking? How stupid do you have to be to go into a dark alley where no one will hear you or care to help?

He jumps into the alley to find one man already slumped on himself on the floor and the other getting kicked in the teeth by army boots then falling limply.

Jason curses again, impressed this time. He scans over the men noting that they probably had pretty good concussions judging from the dent in the garbage can the first man was laying next to and the way the second guy’s head smacked onto the concrete when he fell. He lands his eyes back on the woman, no, definitely a teenager, with a smile on his face that instantly falters. The girl is in a fighting stance and waiting for him to attack so he quickly raises his hands to placate her.

“I’m not here to fight you, I saw you get followed and I was coming to help.”

“Nobody helps in Gotham,” she states, a dangerous edge to her voice that held a carefully hidden accent.

“Not from around here, are you?”

The girl narrows her eyes, “I was born and raised here, take a step further and you won’t be waking up tomorrow.”

Jason pockets his hands and smirks. He likes her, she’s a fighter, she reminds him of himself when he was younger.

“Ok. Just make sure you make it home safe. A girl’s going to get some unwanted attention at a time and place like this.” He turns around and crosses the street but as soon as he’s out of her sight he turns back and hides in the shadows to track her and make sure no one else tries to catch her alone. Just because she could handle herself the first time doesn’t mean she’s necessarily safe from the next attempt.

The girl exits the alley and starts toward the direction of Jason’s apartment calmly as if she didn’t just get attacked. At least that means less walking for him. After a few minutes she slips into another dark alley, of course she does, and Jason crosses the street again going into his own empty alley before pulling his helmet on and scaling the building. As he peers over the side of the building his helmet scans the area giving him feedback he would normally miss due to the horrible lighting and telling him that the alley was empty. He figured she had somehow gotten into one of the buildings and decided to go home by rooftops since he was already up there.

However, as he landed on the opposite rooftop his feet slipped from underneath him. Jason managed to roll out of it but before he could get his footing his hip was kicked into and he stumbled, tripped over a seemingly perfectly placed rock and smashed his head on the side of the stair house. Then, just as quickly as this all transpired, there was a body behind him, they hooked their fingers under his helmet and lifted it to expose his neck and press a knife with jagged points onto his neck. How did he know the knife had jagged points? Good question, it was, as previously mentioned, against his neck and piercing into his skin, drawing blood.

“Why are you following me?” a girl’s voice filters through his mask and he resisted the urge to roll his eyes. His mask let him know through the constant visuals that the voice belonged to a female in their late teens, not that he didn’t already know that.

“Making sure you got home safe,” he says carefully, weighing his options and trying to decide if he should let her feel like she got him or escape with a slight nick on his neck.

Eh. Jason preferred to not have a bleeding neck no matter how small the cut.

“Lies,” she hisses, digging the knife a bit deeper as a warning, maybe getting out sooner was a better idea. “What do you want?”

“Knife off my throat first,” he manages without pushing his neck further onto the blade.

A second later the girl releases him and jumps back with enough space between them to react if he ended up deciding to attack her.

Jason gives her a quick glance as he stands up, a hand to his throat to check for blood.

“I wasn’t lying-”

“You’re not fooling anyone you Red Hood wannabe,” she snaps. Jason just laughs in surprise, no one has ever accused him of being a Red Hood wannabe. He's the one who made the mantle into something to respect, something to fear. He stops laughing and levels a glare at the girl, his helmet telling him unhelpfully there was no match of facial recognition in any database.

“I am Red Hood-” he started to growl out but she cut him off again. The audacity.

“Red Hood wouldn’t have been caught by the person he was trailing, Red Hood wouldn’t have been caught off guard, Red Hood doesn’t have a stupid streak of white hair on his head. He may have been a theatre nerd but he wouldn’t do that.”

Wait what.

“What are you talking about?” But it was more of a demand than a question.

“You’re not…” she trailed off waving her hand in the air trying to find a word, “slick. Same jacket, same shoes, same build, yeah. You’re not fooling anyone.”

“Ok. Whatever, I’m going home.” He turns and starts jogging across the rooftop towards home. So much for helping out.

“Where is he?” she calls out after him.

“Right here, princess,” he spat before jumping to the other rooftop.

But as soon as his feet leave the building a big dark blue warbly hole appears and swallows him before he can react. Unfortunately for him the other side of that weird black hole was a face full of concrete.

“Prove you’re him.”

Oh this girl was something else. Jason shakes his disorientation away, he didn’t know how she did that, nor did he care but he was pissed. He swings his foot around and connects with her ankle, she falls as expected but easily bounces right back up and hops out of his range.

“Do that again and I’ll have to break my no killing kids rule,” he growls out, staring her down for a moment. Her face was finally lit by the dim yellow street lamps and he could see the entirety of her face and all the raw emotions she was trying to hide. For a split second familiarity passed through him, like when you see someone at the library then at the store a few weeks later or you see an old school friend ten years later and can’t quite place them. Jason dismisses the feeling and turns to go.

“Wait.” She says it so vulnerably that Jason gives her a chance, when he turns she pulls up her sleeve and shows off her forearm.

In the center of her arm is a faded black tattoo that was a writing symbol, but because of its name and one of its uses it was used to brand child soldiers in Gotham from a particular gang that Red Hood obliterated as soon as his first order of business in Gotham.

‡

It was the double dagger, or better known in Gotham as the death dagger. The children were expendable although highly trained and dangerous, they could give Damian a run for his money in the child assassin department. The tattoo was a reminder to the children and to the people they came across that they were soulless, emotionless, their lives and actions were not their own and they would give their lives willingly for the mission

Meaning who they were before was dead. No family, no connections, no one would notice if they went missing and no one would be able to identify their bodies if and when the time came. Sometimes poor families would sell one of their children and promise to forget them and to never contact them.

Jason was led to assume that this was another child soldier looking to thank him, or kill him. It was 50/50 these days, some of those kids just never recovered.

“So what is it that you want? You want my autograph across your head?” Jason asks dryly.

The girl just huffs and pulls her sleeve back down.

“I want to know if my brother is underneath that mask.”

I want to know if my brother is underneath that mask.

The words struck Jason deep in his chest but it only fueled his anger. He didn’t know why that hit so deep but he was not in the mood for this nor would he be at any time.

“Just because I ended that gang doesn’t mean we’re family. Go find your other assassin siblings to play house with.”

“Annette,” she calls after as he turns his back again. A strike of familiarity pulses through him and when he hesitates she continues, “that was my name before I was initiated. I was one of the first. Daddy’s little girl,” she was still talking louder than necessary since he hadn’t turned back around. “I’m the only one left from The 13.”

Right. The 13. That’s what everyone called the first batch even as they were killed off, they were the most ruthless being the oldest and were also the most aggressive in proving their worth. It was common to find a number from 1-13 placed strategically behind at the crime scene, whoever had the most successful missions would be highly rewarded, or so he was told.

“Do you remember?”

“I remember destroying that gang and their stupid leader and having to kill some of your little friends and I also remember The 13 died within the first year and a half and were easily replaced by their younger friends.”

“Do you remember me?”

“Look, kid,” he finally turns to look at her, “I don’t care, ok? Yay whoopdeedoo I saved you, get in line. It’s what I do, kill bad people and let the rest walk away. You’re not special.”

“Annette Marie Todd,” she says hurriedly, like it’s a last resort. “Jason Peter Todd,” she continues, “just you. Me. And a blitzed out Mom.”

Jason did not like this, he knew the Dagger Children were ruthless and expert manipulators but this was pushing it. He spun around to face her, ripping off his helmet, she already knew what he looked like and it was in the way of his death glare.

“You don’t know who you are messing with. If you really were a Dagger you’d know that I am not one to be fucked with.” He slides his helmet back on and without a backward glance he runs off to the next roof and continues home. Thankfully not another portal thing opens up in front of him.

———————————

Jason didn’t have a sister. He did not have a sister. He would remember having a sister. He would remember having a Dagger for a sister. But Annette was such a familiar name. And she had said her name was Annette Marie Todd. Todd.

No that’s stupid. Impossible. She was just messing with him, for all he knew she could have been subtly showing her face in random places for him to react to the familiarity of her face and she could have said the name sometime in the last few months for him to vaguely recognize the sound of her name but not place it.

But the Lazarus pit did alter his memories from childhood, it was like looking through a fog of red anger, or maybe it was always like that even before the pit, and it also completely wiped out other parts of his memory. But a sister? No. No way.

Hours of this, circling around the possibilities and shifting around on his bed trying to get comfortable until he finally drifted off in a very restless sleep.

Jason found himself in a familiar apartment, the one he lived in before his “mother” died. He looked around and it was more of the feeling of familiarity that convinced him where he was than anything else. He steps aside for a younger version of himself to run by him and turns to the window that led out to the fire escape and watches him climb out of it and close the window. Jason turns back around to see what Young Jason was hiding from. A man hands a thick envelope to his mother, Catherine Todd who had wrapped herself in a thin silk robe, her bony frame visible as well as her happy focus on the money inside that envelope. Jason couldn’t make out the man’s face but he turned around and grabbed the small hand of a little girl in pigtails. She turned her head and faced the window sending a smile but he couldn’t quite make out her face so he instead turned to himself sitting outside.

As he turned his surroundings changed but in his dreamstate he paid no mind to it. This time he was standing in an aisle of a store as a child. He looked around and found his mother dressed embarrassingly in a thin tank top and ragged jeans and flip flops. He feels a squeeze of his hand and looks down, his little sister is looking up at him and pointing to a rack of stuffed animals of Clifford the Big Red Dog that were suddenly there. He sends her a smile and looks up, intent on catching up with his mother and asking her to buy one but as he chases her his intent slips from his mind and instead he wants to taste the cupcakes he just saw. He opens a case and takes a bite but yelling makes him turn around and there is Batman towering over him. Instead of a tasty cupcake he is holding something thick and metal, a crowbar. He throws it at the man and turns to run away and jumps out of the parking garage and jumps into the air flying up. But he’s too slow, he tries kicking and swimming in the air to propel himself further away from Batman but a hand wraps around his foot.

Jason jerks awake, breathing heavy and feeling uncomfortably hot. This was much more mild than his usual nightmares, if it could even be called a nightmare, but it was bad in a different way. It wasn’t unusual for Jason to be getting chased in his dreams by one thing or another and it always ended before whatever or whoever was chasing him got him but it was getting a little old honestly.

His head was pounding so he slipped out of bed and poured himself a glass of water from the kitchen. As he takes a sip he recalls his dream and how he had looked down at his sister. But that couldn’t be right.

A searing pain in his head forces him to tighten his grip on his cup before it goes away again. Stupid head. Stupid dream. Stupid girl trying to get in his head.

As he lays back down a memory of clear grey eyes flashes across his mind’s eye.

---

Throughout the next few days Jason tries to ignore the headaches and his dreams of the young black haired girl with grey eyes and of getting chased which was more frequent and more urgent than he remembered them being. It was just all a big waste of time. At least the Dagger girl wasn’t trying to find him anymore, he didn’t know how he would react if she showed up again.

After another dream of getting chased, this time he was just so tired of it he got a few good punches in on the Bane/Joker demon that was chasing him when his phone buzzes, startling him awake. He ignores it in favor of a cup of coffee and checks the time on the oven that he never uses, it’s almost two o’clock.

His phone buzzes again several more times in quick succession. He finally heads over and clicks his phone on to see five messages from Stephanie.

Replacement’s replacement🤰

so u have a little sister and u never told me???

anyways shes at the big house and getting interrogated by bruce and i think hes ready to adopt her

hello

so rude

i mean it looks to me shes tellin the truth but like seems sus for obvious reasons and ur the only one that'll actually know so… hurry up??

Jason curses and rushes to grab his things before running outside and zooming to the Wayne Manor on his motorcycle.

welp i’ll add with another part soon that i havent finished yet but anywho let me know if jason is too ooc or something😁😁

#sibling jasonette #maribat #this is real late #sorry about it #is it angsty??#im not that great at angst #also tumblr was not letting me use the cool version of that symbol #just rude #btw I edited this feb.23 just so you know but not very big changes #i dont know if you care or not

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abluescarfonwaston · 3 years

Text

Stupidly in love

Based on this very good post by @darkverrmin

It all slowed down for one horrible moment as the potions fell. The glittery blue. The shocking purple. The feces brown.

Well he always said that mage would be the death of him. He just got which mage wrong.

“Jaskier!”

The sound of breaking glass. Geralt’s pungent but familiar scent. Pressed into his nose as Geralt shielded him. Firmly held in his arms.

“Oh fuck oh cock oh bloody shit wood are you alright fuck-” He cursed. His hands seizing on the fabric of Geralt’s shirt.

The arms around him squeezed and Geralt nuzzled against his cheek. Soft sounds slipping from his chest.

“Geralt?’ Geralt insistently nuzzled against him. The stubble of his fading shave beginning to sting. “Geralt? Uh. Let’s. Get away from the shatter glass?”

He followed willingly enough stepping with him. Not letting go. One of his hands slipped under his shirt. Running up his spine.

He pushed him back gently with a forced smile. “Let’s get that shirt off before those concoctions do more damage alright?”

Geralt let him. But he wouldn’t let go of his wrist. His neck. Constantly moving in to cover the gap that separated them.

It took a staggeringly long time to remove the stained shirt.

“Well that shirts a loss.” He admitted. Geralt’s eyes were hazed and trained on his face. A dopy grin marring his normally stern countenance. “Are you alright? I mean clearly your not but can you tell me what’s going on because a little guidance would be so helpful.”

Geralts eyes drifted lower. Watching his mouth move as he plead for answers.

Geralt leaned forward.

Tilted his head.

And kissed him.

He stayed still as Geralt pressed their lips together. Soft then hard then soft again. As he took his bottom lip between his teeth and slowly pulled back before finally letting go with the most contented expression.

“Oh.” He said simply. “It was a love potion.”

It was really as simple as that.

He grabbed the sword they’d promised to retrieve and guided Geralt out. When they got outside Geralt got distracted by petting Roach long enough for him to make use of both his hands to lead them home.

Geralt menaced behind him as he turned the sword over. Growling when the woman got too close. One hand pressing into the small of his back.

“He’s fine.” He assured her. “Little issue with a potion. Don’t suppose you know any non-abandoned mage homes nearby?”

“I heard the town to the east recently had one move in,” Geralt tucked himself into the crook of his neck. His arms wrapping around his waist. Inhaling. “Are you alright? Is he going to...” She trailed off nervously. Her eyes flickering between him and the Witcher attached to him.

“Never been safer.” He assured her with a bright smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “No harms going to come to me while I’ve got a Witcher fastened to my side!” He winked cheerily.

No harm but the damage done to his heart.

But hearts were robust things. He’d survive. He always did.

“Now one more question.” He tucked their payment away. “Which way is east?”

The routine of setting camp distracted Geralt. Gave him breathing room. A chance to slow his pathetically racing heart.

He laid out their bedrolls the customary few feet apart as Geralt cooked dinner. Stood and pointed at him.

“I going to take a piss. Do. Not. Follow me. Do you understand?”

Geralt scowled at him but shrunk down at the scolding enough that he suspected he’d gotten the memo.

Stupid love potion. Stupid mage. Stupid Geralt for protecting him from it. Wouldn’t have done shit to him. Except the stupid part of the ‘stupidly in love’ potion. But Geralt always called him an idiot anyway so really what was the difference anyway?

He was already stupidly in love with the gruff idiot.

He came back. Geralt still sat next to the fire. Watching there dinner.

But he had a sly grin on now.

“What did you do?”

“Dinner.” He said.

So he wasn’t completely beyond words then. Just mostly.

Geralt lost his words occasionally anyway. He picked up his mess kit and thumped down next to him.

Geralt shuffled, in what he imagined was meant to be a discrete motion, next to him until their shoulders touched.

He took a bite. Chewed.

Geralt watched him.

“It’s good.” He offered.

Geralt preened before digging in himself.

“Geralt?” He trilled in acknowledgement. “Promise I won’t hold any of this against you. Or let this be weird. You’re my best friend. I promise we can weather a love potion.”

Geralt nosed at his hair and kissed the lobe of his ear before returning to his meal.

“I’ll say it again once we break the spell but if you can understand I want you to know its okay. Nothing you’ve done or would do can possibly change how I feel. You are my best friend and I love you.” He stared down at the bowl in his lap. “So I promise i’ll only make fun of you for acting like this to you. To show theirs no hard feelings.”

Geralt took his hand and joined their fingers. Eating his food with his other hand.

He turned to watch him. Savoring the unearned warmth of Geralt next to him.

“I love you.” He whispered. Refusing to answer the tears longing to fall. “You are my best friend.”

Geralt smiled. Turned. Kissed him.

They finished their meal in silence.

“Geralt where is my bedroll?”

Geralt ignored him.

“Geralt. Where. Is. My. Bedroll?”

A self satisifed smile creeped onto his face. He shrugged. Lifted his bedroll.

“No! Tell me where you hid it Geralt of Rivia!”

He got an eyebrow raise for that.

“OH!” He choked in insult. “How Dare you! I do not go out of my way to buy rooms with only one bed. How dare you even imply it! If anything you should be thanking me for saving us money because chaos knows we never have any!”

He smugly shrugged and lowered the blanket. Sighing in mock contentment.

“I hate you and I will never forgive you for this.” He said as he climbed into the bedroll. Elbowing him slightly more than necessary. “Really. How dare you.”

Geralt pulled him to his chest and held him there.

“Stupid Witcher.” he mumbled into the warmth of his chest. “We’re going to overheat like this.”

A heartbeat later he was sound asleep.

“Oh you have Got to be kidding me.” He lamented when the door opened. “Why does it have to be you! Are you following us?” He jabbed a finger at her pointedly.

“You’re the one at my doorstep. If anyone’s the stalker its you.” Her eyes caught on Geralt. Who was busy scenting his neck. “What’s wrong with him?”

“Love potion. Stupidly in love would have been the name on the vial. Had said vial had a name. Also there was more than one? I’m not totally sure which one did this. Oh and before you ask. No I didn’t bring them. They broke. On Geralt. Obviously.”

She sighed in an overdramatically put upon manner really. “Geralt. Follow.” She ordered.

He did. Lilacs and gooseberries he’d have to hear Geralt sigh for the next month.

“You wait outside.” She halted him with a hand to his chest. “It’ll be easier to break without you there.” She lied. That smile definitely said it was a lie.

“Didn’t want to come into your stolen house anyway. Who knows what I might catch.”

“You won’t get to catch anything. Or pitch.” She smirked and closed the door on him.

Stupid attractive witches. Stupid attractive Witchers. Stupid mages and their cursed potions stored on rotten wooden shelves. He kicked at the stones around the house.

He froze at Yennefer’s roaring laughter through the window.

He ran too it. Banging on it until she magicked the lock open. He scrambled through.

Geralt growled. Face buried in his hands as she rolled with laughter.

“What happened? Did you break it? Did the magic bounce back and make her laugh hysterically? Because if so I think this time we should really leave her to it. She’ll be fine.”

“She broke it.” Geralt confirmed without looking up.

“Stupidly in love!” She wheezed. “Got that right at least!”

“You know laughter's the best medicine. So by that logic I think that we’ve paid plenty already. Lets go shall we? Before she decides to turn us into something?”

He tried to tug Geralt back out the window with him for a dashing escape. The absurd man refused.

“You know you were easier to manuver before she broke the love potion!”

“It wasn’t a love potion.” She wiped her eyes. Makeup still terribly perfect. “I’d call that mixture stupidly honest instead.”

He stopped his tugging. Hands still holding Geralt’s arm.

“Uh?” He so elegantly composed.

“The potions didn’t make him feel anything that wasn’t already there.” She explained. Like he was daft. He felt a little daft.

“Oh.” He managed this time. “Well. You’re my best friend.” He said once more. “And I love you.”

#geraskier #geralt x jaskier #geralt #jaskier #writing #i hope you don't mind #needed some inspiration to help me get back into writing these boys and your post was Mwa #and then they kissed and Yennefer was like ew gross get out of my house #its not a love potion cause he loves Jaskier and Roach and Yennefer #he already did #it just made him act on it

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beanieman · 3 years

Text

3B Shin/Alice Lives Route Live Play

So I recorded my thoughts here as I played the game. Here they are!

Warning: I swear and yell in all caps a lot.

Mr.Policeman had a son. Are we getting Mr.Policeman is Joe’s Dad theory confirmed???

I’M SHAKING IT’S TOO HARD TO TYPE

This is horrible but I hope Keiji dies next. I don’t want any of the others to go.

SHIN MY BELOVED

SARA DO NOT SIGN THE GODDAMN FORM I SAID ABANDON KEIJI

Ranmaru I love you. (Very thankful he tore the form, at least the first time)

Keiji taking responsibility for his actions?? Will I regret saying I hope he dies earlier?

The OST is a banger!

I wonder if Shin can save Keiji and he just refuses too. (This was later proven wrong.)

New Mai sprites!! I’m looking respectfully!! I KNEW HER HARMLESSNESS WAS AN ACT!! FUCK YEAH GIRLBOSS MAI!!

Am I going to turn this blog into a Ranmaru stan account? It’s looking possible.

Cotton Candy. I’m calling him that from now on.

Shin watching as Alice gives his speech. The game says Alishin rights! (In hindsight, I’m sad)

When Sara said the dubious consent form I misread it as “dumbass consent form” and almost lost it.

Getting the ID card is too easy. This is going to do something that kills Keiji, huh?

WAIT WAS MIDORI A DOLL THIS ENTIRE TIME?? FUCKING BASTARD!! I want to punch him in the throat so bad. Alice you deserved so much better than this bitch.

IF MIDORI WAS TORTURING HUMANS WHAT DID HE DO TO SHIN??

SOMEONE ASK IF SHIN’S OKAY DAMMIT!!

Midori is so done with Maple. Ew what does she mean insert.

SARA AND MARU ENDING?? I’m kind of okay with that??

How much do you want to bet, Shin and Sara will end up being the two living together and having to choose who becomes a doll? The drama!!

Shin looks so disgusted to take the handkerchief. I love him. Shin is also getting braver!! Which is bad for Keiji and Sara.

Naomichi and Shin’s fortitude isn’t women huh? 🏳️‍🌈 Just saying.

Shin and Alice even argue like husbands

Naomichi and Anzu are literally siblings

“Don’t associate me with him” bitch you stole his name.

NOOOO NAOMCIHI NOOOO Q-TARO

Shunsuke is gunning for the role of best Father this chapter I see

Oh shit Ranmaru’s going to snap

Gin and Alice are such a fun BROTP

Wait did Alice even shove him? Because it seems like he fell

Disappointed but not surprised the outside world is in on it

The real Sou might be alive??????

Loose his seat?? Was Sou supposed to participate?

I’m going to hope Alice’s calmness is character development and not mind washing.

Holy fuck I think everyone besides Sara is an agent of ASU-NARO

I cried over Shin’s AI dammit (Cry total: 1)

Shin could only turn up the heat when Sou wasn’t there. Shin could only be comfortable when Sou wasn’t there.

Sou might not be a member of Asu Naro?? He won’t say if he signed the form. Is the plot twist going to be Shin is the only one not an Asu Naro agent??

Shin’s into cute things and robot action figures!!

Oh wow Tia and Miley 😳

OH MY GOD AUTISTIC GIN IM ACTUALLY CRYING ITS CANON THATS SO COOL!!!

Oh fuck you Sou for taking advantage of his autism. I hate this bitch.

Oh Ranmaru is so in love with Sara (Oh count 4)

Okay so emotion route is actually the route I’m probably going to play for now on. Sara sole survivor ending seems like how the logic route will end. While Sara will die on the emotion Route. (it’s not. Logic route is still my canon route.)

Sara has a piece of Joe on the emotion Route but not on the logic route. She’s really going to feral.

Excuse me why did Sara just acknowledge Joe? Is she pretending to forget Joe for an advantage?? Holy fuck.

Also Shin was completely justified to be scared of Sara given what we just learned. I’m about to become a Shin apologist.

It’s interesting Naomichi seems to see through Shin

OH FUCK KEIJIS DEAD

I like this game a lot more without his “your cute “comments if I’m being honest. That weirded me out.

Oh fuck the fucking form goddammit I hate this stupid game Sara he isn’t worth this. You just sold your soul to the devil.

“Sounds good to me” 🙄

I don’t want to doubt Mai but...I’m doubting Mai.

I ship Ransara so hard. They’d be so good for each other. (This statement aged so poorly in the span of ten minutes.)

I mentioned Soup and Shin’s Sou persona seemed to vanish. This man lost all resolve over soup.

Sara I know you don’t want to loose anymore allies but holy shit calm down.

What the hell is going on?

Why is Keiji excited about the tools??

I’m kind of shipping Maple X Mai

I HATE KEIJI MAN

I was spoiled about Alice’s death in this route before playing :(

NOT THE SHIN AI

What in the Nagito was Mai doing??

I GOT NAOMICHI KILLED AND I DON’T KNOW IF IT WAS MY FAULT OR THAT HAD TO HAPPEN

I already knew Hinako was the traitor why am I gasping

SHIN STILL CARES ABOUT THE KIDS!!

KEIJI WAS THE GUY AT THE START??

KEIJI HAS MISHIMAS HEAD (He didn’t)

Guess I’m killing Keiji

WHAT THE FUCK Q-TARO

Q-TARO WHAT THE FUCK NO NO NO NO

I’M CRYING

Q-TARO BEST DAD.

I’m not sure I ship Ransara now. Saraanzu is where the shipping lies.

If Tia told Q-Taro it was too late....was she lying and he sacrificed himself unknowingly?? Tia did lie to the group about Kanna not feeling pain as she died. So it’s not out of character.

I love that Shin and Sara were being some what cooperative in this chapter. He’s definitely going to murder her later, but it’s nice while it lasted.

Shunsuke is the last doll standing on my route. Good. I love him. <3

I think I like the dolls more than a lot of the participants. Oops.

#3b spoilers #yttd spoilers #your turn to die spoilers #yttd #your turn to die #mod rambles

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spruceplank · 3 years

Text

I told you I was brave but I lied

AN: based on this post by @blocklasagna

Or the AU from the time after Wilbur’s death and before Tubbo’s peaceful driven presidency can really begin because rebuilding has just started: The universe takes Tommy from Dreamsmp and asks the admin of Hermitcraft to help him heal. Cue Tommy now in Hermitcraft re-learning how to live again and not just survive because he deserves a chance to be a kid again.

ao3 || 4k words || First | Current | Next

It's warm. He can feel cool air on his skin but for some reason he feels the warmth more. He feels safe. Safe in a way he doesn’t remember feeling for a long time now. He can hear the whistle of wind and the occasional sound of flapping wings. There’s a steady heartbeat he can hear clearly nearby. This is the best dream he’s had in a long time. He doesn’t want to ever wake up.

When he wakes up he’s in a place he doesn’t recognize. It's bright but only in the way the sun catches on the yellow and white block pallet around him. Where is he? It's warm here, warm and bright. His hands catch on the grey blanket around him as he slowly sits up, hesitantly eying the area around him. The sound of footsteps catches down the hallway and he freezes in place. No, no, no, please not again. His hands curl into the fabric of the blanket and his panic is all but halted when he realizes there’s something on his wrist.

There on his left wrist is one of Phil’s wristbands. The red heart seems to help keep his own steady even though it's merely a picture. At least he thinks its only a picture, Phil had magic he didn’t usually understand on a good day. He slips a finger under the band and spins it around his wrist, making sure it's actually there and not some sort of hallucination. He catches the feeling of a piece of paper on the inside part of the wrist band. Slowly he turns his arm over and pulls out a small, folded up piece of paper from the space between his wrist and the band. Ignoring the way his fingers tremble slightly, he begins to unfold the paper to reveal a message.

Tommy,

I’m sorry to do this without asking you first but I feared that if I did not get you out of this smp asap I would lose another one of my bois to whatever has infected this server. I cannot say for certain where you will be once you wake up, but you will be safe wherever you are. I wish I could say all I want to let you know but time grows short and there is much to do. I will get your brothers back to normal I swear it. When it's safe again I will come for you. By wearing my wristband I will know you are safe and you are alive, just as you will be able to tell the same of me. I love you Tommy, and I hope wherever the universe has decided to send you will give you a chance to remember and experience the world as it should be, unaffected by whatever has dream’s smp. A world full of all the things you think are merely dreams. I love you Tommy, please never doubt that, and I'll come bring you home soon.

Ph1lza

His heartbeat is echoing in his ears. Phil, Phil abandoned him. Something was wrong on the dream smp, no one actually hated him. Phil loved him. His brothers were in danger. His friends were in danger. Wilbur was dead and Techno had killed him. Phil left him to keep him safe. Phil loved him. He was all alone now.

Someone clears their throat way too close to him. Immediately he crumples up the paper and swallows it whole. Ow, his throat is scratchy already before eating paper so that doesn’t help it in the slightest.

“Oh my goodness me, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.” An unfamiliar voice apologizes. He turns his head to look at a tall person in some sort of bed outfit? Yeah no, that's a bee outfit alright. It's a weird one, like it's painted armor of done sort but the colors don't lie. Especially not with an actual bee hovering next to the person. He narrows his eyes to try and make out the details of this person who isn't even that far away from him. Why is his vision blurry?

He blinks rapidly, trying to get his eyes to focus but it doesn't seem to be working. He's so confused. Where is he? Why is he here? Who is the bee person? Someone is talking to him or maybe he's just hearing voices again. The entire world blurs together and his head throbs. Everything goes dark.

Waking up again is painful. His head hurts, his throat hurts, and he feels so weak. Is he sick? He doesn't remember the last time he was sick.

"Are you back with me now?" There’s that unfamiliar voice again. It's soft and warm like one of Wilbur’s sweaters he used to wear when he was small and they were much too big for him. He manages to open his eyes enough to make out the weird bee themed man at his bedside. Two bees over the man’s shoulders can be seen flying away out of the room when he starts to move.

"...hhhh?" Is all he manages to get out in some sort of whine. His mind nor voice wanted to cooperate with him. He felt like absolute shit.

"I'm assuming you have questions for me, yes?" The bee man asks and he nods slowly. He very much so would like some answers to whatever the fuck was going on. The bee man's expressions are hard to read through the dude's helmet with only the visor really giving him a glimpse of what bee man's expressions are. He thinks that the bee man is worried about him though because the bee man keeps talking, "Well I'll be happy to answer them if in exchange you could eat some of this food and at least drink some of a regen potion."

The bee man brings a pink potion and some bread into his field of view. The bee man looks at him expectantly and he is hungry and he feels like shit but he can't. Bee man has only been nice to him but he doesn't trust anyone. Not after Wil blew up L'manburg. Not after Techno killed him and his friends. He manages to get his voice to work enough to rasp out a response, "...No…"

"No? Do you not feel like eating? You surely have not been eating enough with how light you are, never mind how pale your skin looks." The bee man looks worried and he feels bad for making the bee man worry. The bee man keeps talking, "Well I would rather you don't pass out on me again, gave me quite a scare there earlier. Is there something wrong with the food? Do you not like bread?"

He loves bread. Bread reminds him of L'manburg in the very beginning. Of Niki's bakery and laughter. Of better and more peaceful times. He's dragged out of his thoughts when the bee man keeps talking.

"I promise you it's rather good, I just baked it fresh myself earlier. It wouldn't hurt to at least give eating a try would it? I promise you it's edible, I'm not that horrible in the kitchen." Bee man looks at him and he feels like the bee man can read his mind because the bee man asks, "Would it make you feel better to see me eat some of it first?"

He nods as much as he can without making himself dizzy. Which isn't very much sadly. Bee man doesn't take it personally though because bee man chuckles and he finds he doesn't mind at all because he knows the bee man isn't laughing at him.

"All right then give me a moment," The bee man says and he's confused for a moment before the bee man lifts his hands to the sides of his helmet, flicks some latches, and pulls it off. There's a soft hissing noise as the bee man removes the helmet and sets it to the side. He watches the bee man pick up a piece of bread and rip a chunk of it off to eat. Purple eyes seem to glow slightly just like the purple freckles on the bee man's face that he hadn't seen before because of the helmet. The bee man eats and remains completely fine after the fact. He feels better about this now and the bee man offers him some bread while saying, "See, perfectly fine. I'd be happy to brew a new potion right here in front of you if you're worried about it as well."

"...Thanks.." He says as he slowly starts to eat the bread. He's starving but he knows eating too much too fast will only hurt in the long run so he forces himself to eat slower. There's simply silence that is strangely not uncomfortable while he eats the first loaf of bread. He thinks the bee man leaves the room for a moment, because when he looks back up after eating the bee man has out a brewing stand and potion materials. The materials for a regen potion. With the man is another few bees that the man waves away out of the room.

It's when he's handed the second loaf which he takes with another quiet thanks that the bee man breaks the silence, "You're quite welcome. Ah goodness me where are my manners, I did say I'd answer your questions. Well for starters my name is Xisuma and I'm the admin of the world we currently both are in which is called Hermitcraft."

The bee man, Xisuma, is the admin of this world. Hermitcraft is not a place he's ever heard of before. He only has more questions now, "How…?"

"How did you get here?" Xisuma finishes, looking to him before continuing at his nod in response to the admin's question. "Well to be honest I only know so much about that myself. About two days ago I found you in the middle of nowhere in the deep End. You definitely could not have gotten there on your own nor could you have survived there on your own. I was tasked by the End itself to help you and keep you safe until your father could come for you. That is all I know."

That answer only makes him more confused, "The End?"

Xisuma stops paying attention to making the potion and turns to him, the admin's helmet still being off allows him to see the expression of hesitation on the man's face before he asks, "What do you know about the End?"

What does he know about the End? He has to think and recall all the vague memories he has of it as he lists them off slowly, "... Other realm… endless void… endermen… Dragon legend… Dad likes it there…"

"Does your father have magic?" Xisuma's sudden question nearly makes him jump but he manages to only flinch instead. The admin doesn't comment on his reaction even though Xisuma has been watching him while he was listing things off.

Does Phil have magic? He has to actually think about the things Phil has or does that he's just accepted are a part of Phil that are probably not normal. There are only a few things he can think of off the top of his head for sure, "Wings… World walking… This is his…"

He holds up his left wrist to Xisuma so the admin can see the wristband he's wearing more clearly. Xisuma looks at the band for a moment before coming closer to inspect it.

"May I?" Xisuma asks. He nods and goes to remove it but Xisuma holds up a hand to stop him, "You don't have to remove it, don't worry, I just want to get a closer look."

Xisuma gently takes his wrist and stares directly at the wristband. It's kind of weirdchamp but he doesn't find it all that awkward actually. After a few moments Xisuma hums in understanding, "Hardcore? So your dad's an ascended player then. An old one too at the likes of it. That explains it."

"Wha…?" He questions, not really processing what he's being told. How did Xisuma know Phil was a hardcore player? What was an ascended player? He knows Phil was old but he wasn't that old was he?

"What do I mean?" Xisuma asks, once more chuckling at his rapid nod in response. He doesn't think Xisuma is making fun of him though and he likes the admin solely for that alone. Xisuma hums for a moment before beginning to explain, "Well not only did I find you, a human, out in the deep End where the air should be too thin for you to breathe normally. You were completely unharmed and not even seemingly aware of the coldness in the thin air of the void. The End, my home, went out of its way to call me back there and lead me to you. Something that no doubt cost quite a lot both from the universe and your father. The fact that you were not only there but alive and guarded by the void itself, means your father is loved quite a lot by the End. And because he loves you so dearly that means the End adores you just the same."

That's a lot to process at once. He finds himself blankly trying to make sense of all that information until he feels a warm potion bottle being pressed into his hands. He takes it without thinking and drinks some of it before stopping. Bleh, he forgot how bad these tasted. Thankfully it kicks in rather quickly and he manages to get enough of his brain back in working order to ask a full question this time, "... Then why, why am I here?"

Xisuma looks at him expectantly and he drinks more of the potion without even thinking about it. Xisuma smiles with an approving nod and he ignores how he feels about that. He does not have the time he needs to unpack all of that right now because Xisuma starts talking again, "I don't want to make guesses or speculate on a situation I don't know anything of, but while I said you are unharmed I only meant physically and even then really only unharmed currently. You have a number of scars that some of the players in this world don't have despite a history of fighting. I was told to watch over you until your dad could come for you and while I can only make guesses as to what that entails I'm fairly certain your father wanted to make sure you were safe in his absence. As for what your dad would currently be doing, well I'd wager a guess it has something to do with all this corruption clinging to your code like pollen to a bee. Goodness me I haven't even really tried to deal with it because I know people are sensitive to having others digging through their code but this is ridiculous."

Phil wanted him to be safe. He doesn't know why but he believes it more when Xisuma says it than when he read it in Phil's letter. Phil wanted him safe while he was fixing something with the smp. But what was wrong with it? Corruption? Code? He has no fucking clue what Xisuma is talking about, "My code?"

Xisuma nods at his question, "Yes your code. It's what makes you, well you. It's the thing that allows you to come and go between worlds at ease. To respawn upon dying and travel between overworld, nether, and end."

"I don't see anything." He says looking down at himself curiously. This is the first time he's ever heard of this code shit.

"Would you like to?" Xisuma asks and it's not even a making fun of him question, but a genuine offer. He feels excited about learning something new and can't help the smile that breaks out on his face when he nods. Xisuma shakes his head amused but gestures to the half drunken potion in Tommy's hands, "Drink the rest of that potion and I'll show you."

"Bleh." He complains after finishing the potion. A small price to pay for cool new knowledge. Xisuma laughs at his response when the admin takes the empty bottle from him and he feels embarrassed about it.

"You're right, they're not very good but trust me they used to be worse. Give me a moment to readjust the settings here for you." Xisuma explains, picking up his discarded helmet from earlier before he fiddles with it. At least he wasn't making fun of Tommy's response or telling him he was just being a big baby. He decides to ignore those thoughts and thankfully is given the opportunity to when Xisuma says, "Alright, go ahead and put this on then."

He takes the helmet which isn't as heavy as he thought it would be. It's certainly not as heavy as netherite or even diamond. He swallows his sudden anxiety and sticks in on before he can overthink it. He looks around the room confused, "Nothing looks different?"

"Give me a moment here… " Xisuma says, trailing off as a screen pops up at the admin's finger tips. It just looks like a translucent blue screen which glows white wherever Xisuma taps it. It looks like the admin is typing but he can't see anything on the screen so it just seems random. Xisuma stops tapping at the screen finally to ask,"How about now?"

He's confused because nothing changes at first. Then like a furnace roaring to life suddenly there's a flash of purple across the visor as everything suddenly gains a slight glow around it. It's pretty pog to see, "Woah"

"Okay so look at my arm here, what do you see?" Xisuma asks, holding an arm out between them.

"An arm? Wait it's got all these little numbers popping up around it…" He watches amazed by the numbers. They radiate off the admins arm, briefly glowing white before vanishing from view.

Xisuma nods,"Now look at your own arm, what do you see?"

"It's also an arm. Wait the numbers, why are they all glitchy like that? What's this weird glow?" He likes this. He thinks it super cool right up until he looks at his own arm and it does not pass the vibe check. The numbers coming off his arm are like vibrating in the air. Appearing like static in a mess of colors before vanishing much sooner than the ones around Xisuma did.

His attention is pulled away from it when Xisuma talks again and he turns to look at the admin who watches him with a look he can't decipher, "That, my friend, is the corruption."

"Oh… wait, the wristband…" He nods mutely and goes to pull off the helmet when the wristband catches his eye. It's surrounded in a soft, solid green glow with no glitchy numbers but rather opaque blue boxes. Like the screen Xisuma was tapping earlier but this one has white text on it. He looks at it and starts to read, "Health bar, monitors player's health and displays it. Currently tracking,... Dad."

"If you look at the details of how it works, you'd find it's a set. One wristband out of two. The other, is connected to you." Xisuma explains, tapping on the floating description next to the wristband. Indeed there is a whole description he doesn’t bother to read but he does notice the 1/2 in the corner of the tiny screen.

That’s why he has one of Phil’s wristbands? So Phil can make sure he’s still alive? He hesitates for a moment but asks despite feeling stupid for asking, "So if I died he would know?"

Xisuma hums, considering it before answering, "Not quite? Because your dad's a hardcore player it's set directly to his code. Hardcore players take damage directly to their code, or well a subsection of their code. Your dad has it wired so if either your own code or his code starts to become so corrupted then it will be displayed on the corresponding wristband. It's a genius design in these bands if the other makes the matching set I'm assuming it does."

He has no idea what they’re currently talking about. He has so many questions, "But he doesn't stay in his hardcore world?"

"Even so, his base code is written for a hardcore player. It'd be the same as a hybrid player, where their base code contains their hybridness? That didn't work quite the way I wanted it to." Xisuma explains. When the admin looks at his face though it’s very clear that he has no idea what Xisuma is trying to tell him. He thinks about hybrid players, people who aren’t human, usually part mob or something and then thinks about the bee theme.

"Are you a hybrid player?" He asks before thinking about it.

"That's quite the personal question." Xisuma answers looking surprised.

"Shit my bad, … I wasn't aware it was personal. I just can't tell if the bee thing is an outfit or not." He explains hoping Xisuma won’t be too mad.

Xisuma looks even more surprised by him swearing, "Does your father know about your language?"

"You sound like Bad does! Yes he knows and he doesn't care!" He groans, waving off the concern. He wasn’t twelve, what was wrong with swearing?

"Alright, alright just asking." Xisuma assures him before saying, "As for the bee theme, it is just an outfit."

"It is? But the bees seem to like you more than they even like… A friend…" He trails off looking down as his thoughts drift to the people he’s left behind back on the smp. Even if it had felt like a rift had been forming between him and Tubbo, they were still best friends.

Xisuma doesn’t comment on his weird sentence thankfully, "Hmm well I can't give away all my secrets to someone whom I don't even know the name of."

"Tommy."

"What was that?"

He looks up and repeats himself, "My name is Tommy."

"Well then Tommy, allow me to formally welcome you to Hermitcraft. I'll show you around and such tomorrow when I'm sure you won't faint on me, though for now I will be needing my helmet back." Xisuma says, gesturing to the helmet still on his head.

He pulls the helmet off and hands it over, "Oh shit, sorry."

"No need to apologize, I did let you use it after all." Xisuma tells him, taking the helmet back and fiddling with it for a moment before putting it back on. It was strange to see the admin with the helmet on again but he guessed this was the usual norm. Xisuma stands up and checks something on his communicator. Idly he wondered where his own communicator had wound up before his train of thought is derailed by Xisuma offering, "Well if you feel up to it I could show you around my base here for today so you're not bored in bed all day."

That sounded so much better than being bored in bed all day.

Xisuma's base was incredible. Not only did he base stretch through multiple tower buildings full of so many different redstone contraptions he had never seen, but he was the only one who even lived here! It was entirely his base and his base alone! And it was full of bees! They were so cuddly and soft! He didn't know bees could hang around people so much! Even Tubbo's bees got bored of them eventually and went back to doing bee things. And Tubbo's bees loved Tubbo!

Not only that but the amount of resources the admin had! It was ridiculous! Phil was the only person he knew with this many resources. Well Phil and Techno but he didn't want to think about Techno so only Phil.

At some point Xisuma went to go check something or whatever, he had stopped paying attention to the admin when a couple bees flew over and started buzzing around him. Eventually he sat down in this grassy area with the same bees who all piled around him. A fuzzy bee pile. It was nice. He really was curious as to why these bees were so friendly. But for now he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Its warm, soft, and safe. He doesn’t even realize it when he falls asleep.

#hermitcraft #dreamsmp #hermitcraft fanfiction #dreamsmp fanfic #dsmp fanfic #xisumavoid #tommyinnit #will i continue to put this fic in the main tags?#you betcha!#will i be insecure about it for some reason?#hell yeah babyyyy!

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warmau · 4 years

Text

ateez x coworker!au | sf9 ver *this post was commissioned (someone asked for some cute ateez) <3

hongjoong

diligent and always on time, he puts way too much effort into any project on his plate

if there’s any word to describe him its workaholic, but hongjoong insists that he’s just being a good employee - nothing more

but it’s like,,,,,,,,,,,you’re doing the regional managers job and you are literally not,,,,,,,the regional manager

he’s some how the assistant to the regional manager and like. no one understands how because like hongjoong most definitely does the brunt of the work

but during annual reviews he’s always downplaying it and that evil good for nothing regional manager takes the credit

wooyoung and san on a regular basis: what if the regional managers tires get slashed accidentally or what if we hide all of those ugly ties he wears or what if we hack into the company's assets and make it look like hes laundering money-

hongjoong: dont do that

wooyoung and san winking: yeah, sure, “don’t do that”

hongjoong: no like seriously dont do that

his little office space is really cutely decorated though and hes the best gift giver at office parties because he always gives something handmade and unique

you have a bracelet that you got last christmas from him when you guys got paired for the exchange, and it’s really so cute and colorful you always wear it

and the office guys tease hongjoong about it like, “hey - are you guys a couple? c’mon tell us the truth - you have a matching bracelet for yourself!” (hongjoong feverishly refuses this but the tips of his ears always get red)

one time mingi, with all the good naturedness of his heart commented that you must find the deep, dark exhaustion eyebags under hongjoong eyes cute - you know, like a racoons!

and you were like o-oh well- y-y-es?!?!?! and hongjoong had proceeded to drag the poor intern out of the break room by his ear

it’s like the shy office romance that everyone is cheering for that doesnt really happen

until one evening as hongjoong is getting ready to finally leave for the day he’s astonished to see you

frantically searching on your hands and knees for something in the dim office lights

“did you lose your keys?”

he asks and you’re so startled you hit your head on the desk you’re under as you come up - you put your hands up embarrassingly and mumble that no,,,,,you lost that bracelet he gave you,,,,

he lets out a little “oh!” and waves his hand in the air as if its nothing, he tells you not to worry - it was just a little gift-

“no, it’s important to me,,,,,,,”

your voice is a slight whisper and hongjoong barely catches

“w-why is it so important to you?”

“because you made it.”

you turn back to start looking again, when you hear hongjoong put his things down on the floor and join you

his hand is warm when it brushes over yours a little

he’s never had someone cherish something he’s made like this before and so even if you two have to spend the whole night searching - he’s down for that

and when you do find it,,,,and there’s still time to take you to dinner,,,,he thinks he’s very much down for that too

seonghwa

spends half his day running away from potential suitors who come down from all the different departments just to ask him out for lunch or after work drinks

he’s just a low ranking officer, he doesn’t get what the craze is about?!?!

hongjoong, taking one hard look at seonghwa: i know what its about

seonghwa: plEAse tell me so i can live a peaceful life

hongjoong, sighing: dude. its your face

and even on the days when he comes in with glasses perched on the end of his nose and a slightly crumpled shirt from having to rush to iron in the morning

like it does not matter - he looks like and literally is - an angel

has a weird irritation about little spots on documents, like if dirt gets in the printer and its on the page hes like,,,,,eye twitching,,,,,,,,,no

three bottles, at least, of hand sanitizer on his desk

his headphones match his laptop, which match his wireless keyboard, which match his mouse - the color scheme we are going for is a calming ivory

once got called in for causing a disturbance, but it was literally not his fault, he went to ask the billing department if they had any extra ink and came downstairs with like five people all chattering at max volume about if he had plans next saturday

wooyung: damn man being beautiful must suck

seonghwa: oh thank you for understanding, it really is-

wooyoung: SIKE it rocks how do i know? look at me!

yeosang to seonghwa: just ignore him, he does this at least twice a day

you know seonghwa, how could you not, and you agree with the majority opinion: he is insanely handsome

but you have your own problems to worry about, that being a very nasty manager who seems to have it out for you

so like seonghwa, you spend half your day hiding from someone, which means

solace in the supplies closet

one day, as you’re sitting inside there, trying to work on a memo draft on your phone

the door swings open - and you jump to pretend like you’re looking for staples

but instead, it closes with a harsh noise and the person slides down against the door - heaving and fanning themselves

“a-are you ok?”

you ask, worried that the shortness of breath is from them feeling sick - when in reality its just seonghwa, on the run from lovestruck coworkers

again

he shakes his head and mumbles that he’s sorry for barging in

but you shake your head, tell him its fine

you’re both under this impression that one of you is going to bounce soon - like this is a supply closet, not the break room - but after about five minutes of utter silence

seonghwa goes, “are you also running away from work people who are in love with you?”

you giggle, but shake your head “actually running away from a work person who hates me.”

he gives you an apologetic look, but you just wave it off - not like there’s much either of you can do about it anyway

its silent for a while, and you keep trying to do as much editing as you can on your phone, not really paying attention to the way seonghwa’s eyes flick toward you in the dark

not until he clears his throat and is like, “well i think the coast is clear so ill be going back out there-”

you nod, thinking you should probably return too before your manager goes bonkers and says you’ve abandoned your position or something

as you near the door though - suddenly seonghwa shyly extends his arm

you blink in confusion and he just goes, “maybe if we go out together itll be less scary?”

the sentiment is adorable and you take his palm in yours, giving it a gentle squeeze

though the moment you two step out - there are at least ten pairs of eyes on you and suddenly seonghwa makes sure to swing your hands behind your backs

he leans down, “dont want anyone to get the wrong idea and then you end up getting hurt too.”

but you think about it for a moment before tugging your hands out into the open - a wave of gasps passes through the people around you like a wave through the sea

you tiptoe up and explain, “maybe if they think you’re taken they’ll back off?”

the sentence shouldnt make seonghwa’s heart jump in his chest like it does - but hey, maybe your plan will work

(or maybe your manager will hate you even more because what - you bagged SEONGHWA? OF ALL PEOPLE?)

yeosang

really really REALLY good at bullshitting stellar work

and not in a last minute oh shit kind of wooyoung way, but in a i dont actually know anything about the material but damn am i going to make it sound like i do kind of way

and to be fair, if yeosang stared you down in a board room meeting for fifteen to twenty minutes selling you a pitch and blinking like a cat on the hunt then like

im pretty sure you’re just going to buy into the pitch

interns are scared of him because they think hes like the no nonsense, dont bother me type

which he plays into sometimes because its fun and the interns will do what he says without bothering him about it

but the reality is he can be quite silly,,,,,,,,,jongho has on occasion caught yeosang getting giddy over like kitten youtube videos on break and everytime yeosang is like you didnt see anything

and jongho is like sure, not until it becomes beneficial to me and i use it against you

yeosang: wh

jongho: so the weather, huh?

knows everyone’s business somehow, but only gets invested if its like super super super juicy - i.e. someone in corporate is stealing money or there’s a secret poker game on the weekend for promotions

like no, san, yeosang doesnt care that you lied on your taxes

you are one of the newer hires, not an intern, just new to the job

and although everyones been pretty inviting - you kind of maybe really think that yeosang,,,,,,,,hates you

he has this routine, an hour before everyone leaves on friday he goes around the department to see if anyone wants to go downstairs and across the street to get some coffee with him

you asume its a kind of “yay the weekends here” thing - which you are very down for, but its been like a month since youve been here

and yeosang has never asked you

hell, he even asks intern mingi - who half the time is doing these starbucks runs so he doesnt have the pleasure of ever really saying no

you had chalked it up to - oh im new, and hes maybe shy? but that makes no sense because this is kang yeosang

shyness isnt an adjective you’d use for him - so the only other logical explanation is,,,,,,,you must have had a really horrible first impression

you decide to ask san about it - he seems pretty close to yeosang and hes also been super open with you - but when you go, “did i do something to make yeosang angry?”

san nearly spits out the rice he’s chewing on - he gets fidgety in his seat, something you arent used to seeing, and says he has to go

curious, you decide to ask wooyoung the same question - but get the same panicked response

so you as yunho, who gives you a sad puppy kind of look and then jongho, who just???????? chuckles

it makes no sense and you’re even more confused than before - when suddenly its friday and yeosang - yesong is approchaing your desk

“do you want to go to starbucks with me?”

the way you jump up and beam must seem like a schoolkid getting their first a+ on a project, but you don’t care - and as you follow yeosang out the whole office gives a big sigh of relief

in the elevator down, yeosang keeps himself tucked in the corner and the bliss you had felt starts to wear down

wait,,,,maybe he invited me because hes sick of me asking other people if he hates me? is he about to tell me he hates me over some iced coffee?!?!

but as you step out and make your way toward the cafe, yeosang stops - putting a light hand on your elbow

immediately you start apologizing, you dont know where it comes from - but like an open faucet you just start saying sorry for the most random things and yeosang just gives you a confused look that shuts you up

“wait - why are you apologizing to me?”

he inquires and your shoulders shake a little, “well,,,,,i mean - didnt i piss you off?”

he looks to the side and sighs, “far from it - actually i pissed myself off more than anything else.”

“huh?”

he crosses his hands before returning his gaze to yours, a fine pink dust settles over his skin

“its just, i was avoiding you because im not, im not like - you know im not like good at like asking - asking peopl- people i like -”

he starts to stutter, or better yet almost malfunction, as he tries to explain

you almost feel like apologizing again for making this so hard on him, when he just throws his hands up

“i like you - and not in the we’re just co-workers kind of way - and yes, i find it hard to approach people i find cute. there. im not mad at you and yes im aware i look like a fool, so lets just go get our coffee-”

your smile almost stretches off your face as you hear his words, instead of knowing what else to say you step forward and takes his hands into yours

“you dont look like a fool, and yes we should get coffee but only if you admit that this is kind of our first date-”

he holds back the urge to laugh but stares down into the sparkles of your eyes

“are you sure? starbucks on a first date is kind of,,,,,,,”

“im sure, ive been waiting for you to ask me to come to starbucks with you for a whole month so its very fitting”

you and yeosang have a good giggle about that - when you come back to the office, san asks where his hot chocolate is but you and yeosang are so busy rubbing shoulders and being even cuter together that you just walk past him

san: im so deeply hurt, but also so deeply moved by how sweet they look with one and other

wooyoung

the office has wildly differing opinions on him, but one things for sure: hes brilliant in the weirdest of ways

on a 9-5 basis he gets like one hour of work done on a good day but lets say like the company is going through a major crisis

the person with the lifesaving idea SOMEHOW will be wooyoung (aided by hongjoong who probably just needs to curb some of wooyoungs enthusiasm)

but yes, like people will write him off as giddy and loud - but hes not dumb

wooyoung: “you can have a bachelors degree and do dumb stuff, like thats not illegal.”

jongho: “vandalizing the ceos car when you were an intern here is illegal though.”

wooyoung, eyes wide: “how do you know about- i never did that,,,,,,,,”

makes memes and shares them in the work gc and the only people who get them are san and jongho, san because he shares a brain with wooyoung and jongho because hes literally young

hongjoong and mingi everytime: i dont get it....

you are a transfer from the companys overseas office and wooyoung takes to you right away

mostly because you’re different and know all this cool stuff that he doesnt

and you really like his fun energy, even though yeosang will be like “dont get tricked by it”

so when you and wooyoung get paired for a marketing project - you are both over the moon

until

its the night before its due and you and wooyoung have. nothing

you’re both spread out in the empty confrence room, wooyoung chugging a monster energy - while you nearly fall asleep and drop the tablet you’re working on straight on your face

wooyoung is like “lets just ask for an extension” but you insist you cant, this is your first big project here and you want to make an impression

but the slump you’re both in is BAD

suddenly wooyoung takes the tablet off your hands and you sit up, hoping he’s thought of something, but instead he blasts some pop song and you cringe as you fall back in your chair

“turn it off, i cant think with that noise.”

“c’mon, dancing will help us think of ideas.”

“wooyoung - seriously, we need to do some work or -”

he doesnt listen to you, he just pulls you up from your seat and twirls you around

you groan and try to tell him that its not going to work - but wooyoung just says it doesnt need to, you guys just need to have some fun before you die over this stupid project

you dont want to admit that hes right - that your body feels like its been reduced to a bag of sludge - so you let him twirl you again until you’re dancing too

the anxiety from the project loosens a little as you watch wooyoung dance unabashedly, tie swinging over his shoulder and dress shirt a mess

you join him, kicking off your shoes and just letting go for these ten blissful minutes

you don’t notice and as you turn toward wooyoung, your ankle catches on one of the chairs and you go tumbling toward him as he catches you and cushions your fall

you both laugh and wooyoung looks up into your smiling face - happy to see it bright after you’d looked so miserable the whole day

actually, he doesnt say it outloud, but this happiness on you is probably the most beautiful happiness hes seen on someone

it glitters and for a moment he doesnt want to let your inviting warm weight off of him

and then - just as his eyes wavier down a little from your eyes to your lips he goes

“AHAH! IVE GOT IT!”

you sit up and he follows suit, grasping your shoulders

“IVE GOT AN IDEA!”

you want to ask him how he got it, what prompted it, but hes already talking a mile a minute

and to be honest, hes pretty happy you didnt get to ask - the answers totally embarrassing - like whats he gonna say

your natural beauty inspired me? how,,,,,,,,how sweet - corny, he means corny!

san

he can most definitely turn on the charm when he needs to, making himself out to be put together and organized

but troublemaking is just too good to pass up, no wonder he and wooyoung are often referred to as partners-in-crime

100% the host for the monthly office karaoke contest

somehow the bartender always gets a little pale when san comes tumbling in because,,,,,,,he is clumsy and quite good at breaking things,,,,,,

he outwits seonghwa into helping him clean up his desk when it gets too crazy

and frequently gets bonked on the head by hongjoong who catches him falling asleep over the keyboard

or trying to play on the switch - but then getting his headphones disconnected and now everyone can hear tom nook’s voice

he adheres to the dress code, but likes to have sparkly pins in his hair or a colorful belt from time to time

just because the bleakness of corporate life SUCKS and is not san’s vibe at ALL

but hey, money.

you like san’s karaoke contests and really enjoy just how much he puts into the performances

even if everyone else is giving their half-baked effort on songs from the early 2000s

you yourself dont ever get up to sing, just because of a shyness thing and also you much rather just watch san cause havoc

until one day you show up and you and san are the only ones,,,,,,,,there

somehow - everyone else has things to do this evening - so you tell him you can just comeback next month

when he insists that no, you two can have fun together!

you end up on what someone might call an impromptu date with san,,,,,

where he does his favorite songs and you cheer while the bartender sends over two drinks “on the house” and whispers to you when you collect them that he hopes you can “be the person who will calm san down”

its awfully embarrassing,,,,,but at the same time kind of fun,,,,,,until san invites you up for a duet

you are saying no, but san is waving you over, and someone wolf whistles from somewhere

and before you know it you are up there - and san puts a hand on yours as he passes you the mic

you kind of mumble into the mic, and believe me its nothing like what san belts out when hes up there

and still - san is jumping up and down and looks like he’s legitimately having the time of his life

his energy kind of boosts your confidence and one might say you even sing a bit of the song

when the night is over, san offers to take the train with you to your stop and if you want - he’ll even take the time to walk you home

just as you two are about to emerge from the station, just sort of basking in each others presence you both get your email notifications from work

taking your phones out you read the message

subject: finally hooking those two up body: ‘so, bets on a kiss - do you think they kissed? i think they did, or at least got close to it - you know how san is during karaoke’

the next email appears, this one is from jongho

subject: re: finally hooking those two up body: ‘which idiot cc’d san and them on the email,,,,,,,,,,,,’

you and san sort of stare down at your screens and then back up at each other

the realization dawns on you: nobody was actually too busy for karaoke,,,,,,,the whole office just wanted to set you up on a date,,,,,,

you are truly at a lose for words when suddenly san is typing back and before you can question it you get a ping!

subject: re:re: finally hook those two up body: ‘haven’t kissed yet, but the nights still young.

yunho

everyone's handyman - and by everyone, i mean everyone. the janitor has asked him to screw in lightbulbs before.

fairly good worker all around, he can come in late on certain days because hes helping grandmas cross streets or saving kittens from trees

and there have been instances of tiny mistakes, mostly because his attention was on giving feedback to the interns

but yeah no complaints, hes never even been given like a warning

very tidy work appropriate outfits - like tie tucked into sweater vest baby

feels guilty when he does have enough lunch to share with every single person, you know hes bringing his jumbo salad bowl to work

the worst lie hes ever told on the job is pointing to his cup and being like, yep thats my morning coffee!!!

when in fact it was soothing decaffeinated earl gray tea because coffee makes him jittery

your assigned to yunho for basic intern training and youre so lucky and thankful because like

youve heard the horror stories, but he is seriously just an angel

and doesnt get annoyed at your questions and even helps out when you get confused

the only thing is that sometimes he gets so engrossed in showing you how to format this document

or where to get the copy paper

that personal space sorta siezes to exist and now hes hovering over you with his big hands over your keyboard

or his chest pressed to your back as he helps get the supplies from the top shelf

and you are not complaining its just,,,,,,,,,,,you know,,,,,,,,embarrassing

and sometimes you have to excuse yourself

or just wiggle away and you dont want to hurt his feelings or anything

its just you hate that with each day you see yunho’s smile in the morning and something in your chest gets a little tighter

and you are not about to date a co-woker, no way no how

even though yunho meets every checklist for the perfect boyfriend

because 1) its probably against the rules and 2) you dont want to just get your heartbroken by the man who is just that kind to everyone

until one day hongjoong makes an offhanded comment about how yunho has never taken this much of a liking to an intern like you

and you think about it all day, up until its the only thing on your mind and it takes yunho five tries of calling your name until you snap out of it and go

“huh?”

“hongjoong suggested this good place to eat, do you want to come have lunch with me since i didnt bring anything in today?”

your mouth works faster than your mind and you go,

“like a date?”

before immediately clamping your palm over and muttering an apology

but yunho’s ears go bright and he sort of loses his composure for a moment till a small, squeaky answer comes out

“yeah,,,,like a date?”

mingi

eager to please intern,,,,,,,but add in a dash of absolute obliviousness

like he wants to help everyone but sometimes the instructions from like five different people just turn to mush in his brain

and hes like delivering coffee to the wrong person or printing out three hundred copies of that poorly photoshopped meme wooyoung made instead of the needed documents

but no one can get mad at him because have you seen him? like it would be straight up illegal to even raise your voice at him

hes so sweet that numerous people offer their homemade lunches to him and hes always like eating a sandwich from hongjoong or freshly baked cookies from yunho

the older ladies of the office just a d o r e him (a little too much, but like hes so sweet natured he doesnt even read into it)

his pants are always short and someone is always like poor mingi’s ankles are so cold

but at the same time he can lift like ,,,,, one hundred pounds of printer cartridge's so its like,,,,,,,,, ok so maybe those skinny ankles actually put in a lot of work,,,,,,,,

you’re the ceos only child and when they’re off on business, you’re in charge of the department where mingi interns

and like anyone else you have a huge soft spot for him, even though you dont try to show it because favoritism is a no-no

actually in general you try to be as fair and as understanding as possible, because your parent isnt really the type

a lot of the office really likes you, but now and then someone will say something snippy or rude about you

simply because they think you got your job through just being the ceo’s kid or that you’re only lenient to try and get in with one of the office heartthrobs

you try not to take it personally and you bite your tongue when it comes to putting those rumors and the people who spread them in place

but one afternoon, you can clearly hear a group of people talking about how you lack the leadership skills to ever take over the company

it hurts, you can feel the pain in your chest, but you try to wrestle through it until you hear mingi’s voice

“i dont think you should say that about them.”

you turn and peek your head passed the cubical - mingi’s tall frame is standing in front of the pack

“what do you know, you’re just a lowly intern.”

“thats true, but ive seen them work and theyre really good at leading. theyre also doing two jobs at once - both theirs and the ceos, i dont think anyone here has to deal with so much work.”

youd think his tone was being mocking, just like theirs, but his voice is clean and clear

like hes just stating a truth he believes in

when one of them starts badmouthing mingi, you step in and tug him away from the conversation as the office workers disperses back to their seats

you tug him toward the stairs and out of earshot and mumble a small thank you

“huh? why are you thanking me?”

“well you stood up for me so-”

he shrugs his shoulders, “i was just saying the truth.”

you nod, embarrassment on your cheeks as you realize that its mingi youre talking to - of course he wouldnt have any other motive but to -

“and theyre wrong you know, one of them was saying youre not pretty and thats a lie too. youre good at your job and -”

“wait, what”

you back up and mingi blinks - “i said youre good at your j-”

“no before that, you think im-”

“pretty?”

you both stare at each other as the realization sinks into mingi’s expression and he sort of opens his mouth like a gaping fish -

“i-i - i just - i -”

you stiffle a giggle and shake your head, “no no, its nice that you think that. it makes me really happy.”

“well, im just a lowly intern so i mean i dont know if its such a great compliment-”

you lean up and peck his cheek, making him freeze midstence

“youre not a lowly intern, i believe youre way more than that and sooner or later youll probably be promoted too!”

“pr-promoted? like to a worker or like ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,to,,,,,,,,,,your,,,,,,,,,,,,boyfriend,,,,,,,,,,,”

jongho

kid genius, has a higher position than most people double his age

knows everyone's secrets so no one even tries to start shit with him about it

loves watching the office go into chaos when the printer isnt working and apparently hes the only one who knows how to fix a goddamn paper jam

but hes on a coffee break, let him watch everyone tear each other apart before he actually just presses a button to fix this all

like mingi, he can actually lift way more than him, but why would he - the intern is there for a reason lol

probably has an early college degree from some prestigious school and he doesnt talk about it but he knows people whisper about it

and hes like so what i still work at this dump but like what - is someone gonna rat on him to the ceo? - no, because he’ll just tell the ceo about that one time that person tried to charge the company card for their vacation plane tickets :)

gets work done fast and early, spends the rest of the day just playing minecraft

you used to be jongho’s number one rival for youngest, smartest position

but he sorta beat you out over time and even though you were pissed about it for a long while

youve kinda gotten over the rivalry

instead youre comfortable in your other department and dont really see jongho around anymore

which you think is normal - and actually youre under the impression that jongho is happy to be rid of you

but the reality is he makes up way too many excuses to go up to your floor, i.e. “the bathroom is better there” “their breakroom has this k-cup i like” “the view from the windows are nicer”, etc.

no one notices, or if they do - no one dares to make a peep

but you ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, are starting to think its a little suspicious

so you confront him, as he stands awkwardly by the window at the end of the hall

“are you like spying on me?”

jongho turns around, dark eyes widening just a bit

“what? no. i just like the view.”

“jongho, your office is like three floors above mine - you arguably have the better view.”

he shrugs as if its nothing but you press on

“why are you coming down here - wait, oh my gosh - do you like someone in my department?!??”

you suddenly get bright and clap your hands together, “c’mon you have to tell me!”

he looks you over once and makes a hmph sound, “why would i tell you?”

you pout

“i know we were rivals for a while, but c’mon - i promise ill put in a good word for you so who is it?”

you step closer and jongho feels his tie get a little tighter

“the new intern? they’re cute - or is it someone older like in the-”

“you”

you stop and buffer - looking at him and for the first time jongho drops his eyes to the floor first

“m-me? you’re coming down here for me? is it because of our riv-”

“no.”

he sets the cup he was holding on the windowsill and suddenly you’re the nervous one

“you’re right. i come here because the person i like on this floor is you.”

he reaches out to touch your wrist but you step back, the confession is too shocking to handle and you scurry off before you can say anything in return

you slide down against the stall of the bathroom and let out the breath you’re holding

its not that you dont like jongho back, actually your whole rivalry was sort of just a cover up for your one-sided feelings

you just never thought that they’d be reciprocated,,,,,,,

you try to pull yourself together - marching out to the sink and looking into your reflection

we cant let jongho win again, he might have confessed first, but your still rivals no matter how much you like each other so just go out there and - and -

you cant think of exactly the word, but before you know it your rushing out and to the stairs

jongho doesnt look too surprised to see you bust into his office - but the rest of the office turns to look at you two

“you-”

“yes?”

“yo-you cant say you like me first, why? well - well because ive liked you longer, so im saying it now. i like you. so i win. no arguing. take me to dinner. bye.”

and with that you turn on your heel, jongho nods - secretly smiling to himself as he puts on his headphones

yunho to mingi: isnt it crazy, jongho just got asked out in front of the whole office!

mingi, blinking: wait what? i thought that person was just mad at him

#ateez scenarios #ateez imagines #ateez au #members: ateez #sfw #office!au

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catboymingi · 3 years

Text

there’s no caution signs for life

and even if there were, who’d follow those?

navi/masterlist

pairing: mingi x reader

genre: angst, fluff

word count: 9k i am so sorry

warnings: mentions of rape, sex (nothing leading up to it, nor a description of the act) - these are mentioned as past happenings; depictions of unhealthy coping (the unhealthy coping part of sleeping around is focused on more than the sex part), self hate, medication use (prescription, for mental health issues); language

a/n: my thought process: so we want hurt... then comfort... then hurt again... then comfort... and then we are in love with mingi - also heavily inspired by this song (pihtiote by apulanta) which is written as “PIHTIOTE WE HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO STAN“ in my inspo doc

you made a mistake, but maybe it’s the mistake that finally gets you back on track

jos tuntisit mun mieleni / mun ajatukset ja sieluni / jos kuulisit sydämen / sen rytmin merkityksen... / muutos roikkuu ilmassa - if you knew my mind / my thoughts and soul / if you listened to my heart / the meaning of its rhythm... / change hangs in the air

you would’ve expected that four years after the incident you’d be over it, you held yourself to this standard, thinking that you were weak for still being affected. being incredibly affected, today, on the anniversary of the worst thing that had ever happened to you. of course you were in a bar again, as always, looking for the next poor soul to take home, and you quickly found someone. maybe you should have kept looking for someone else, because this guy was sweet and attentive, and experience had taught you that the sweet ones were hoping to stay in the mornings. but because today wasn��t just a regular day your regular concerns were not as much of a consideration as they usually were and you didn’t keep looking, you went with him. he wasn’t drunk, he was fine with it, so you took him home.

but you knew, the next morning, that you should have kept looking, when he was still next to you when you woke up.

“good morning”, and he still sounded so incredibly sweet that you felt a surge of guilt wash through your body, because you’d have to let him down.

“i don’t usually do this”, he then told you, smiling awkwardly with one arm wrapped around you.

“i don’t do relationships.” and though you didn’t want to hurt him you felt it’d only be more unfair to him if you kept him here when he was very obviously hoping he’d get to take you out.

“o-oh. sorry.” arm removed from around your waist as if he’d gotten burnt. he looked a little lost, leaving your bed and hurriedly putting his clothes back on. he sent you a last glance, a mixture of hopeful and apologetic, as he left your apartment. you hadn’t even kissed him. poor boy.

but it wasn’t something you could do. not after what happened. it was bad enough that this very specific first had been taken from you, the biggest first for most people; you weren’t going to give up any other firsts. dates, relationships, kissing, all that was out of the question. you went home with people and left the next morning, that was how this worked, trying desperately to make that one horrible first matter less if the next ones didn’t matter either. if you pretended sex wasn’t a matter of emotions, maybe one day you’d finally get over what happened. one day.

you honestly didn’t expect to see the sweet boy ever again, because you never saw any boys ever again, but found yourself surprised when he was in the kitchen of the apartment you’d woken up in without remembering this night’s boy’s name or where exactly you even were. you were just trying to get some water before leaving when you found him standing there, looking at you with a somewhat sad smile on his face as he recognised you, obvious what you’d been doing here.

“you really don’t do relationships, huh?” he knew his flatmate was notorious for quick flicks, so seeing you come out of his room at least told him that you hadn’t lied to him that morning just to get him to leave. still, it was a weird feeling.

you just looked at him, unsure of what to say, because there wasn’t really anything good to say to him. ‘yes, i’m a whore’? ‘i fuck to forget, it’s nothing personal’? that wouldn’t work.

“you know each other?” last night’s company had apparently woken up as well now, before you’d been able to sneak out, and he looked between you and his flatmate with a curious expression. that was quickly replaced by one of understanding as he managed to read the expression on the other boy’s face, and he told you, almost proud: “oh! you’re the one that made a man out of mingi!”

you’d been his first? oh fuck. you usually made sure to ask about that, because you refused to steal people’s firsts the way yours had been stolen, didn’t want to be a bad memory, but the emotional turmoil of the night you’d met mingi had apparently made you neglect this most important part in choosing your company.

“you just had to embarrass me”, the sweet, tall boy groaned out, and you looked at him wide-eyed. it felt like the room was spinning around you as the guilt hit you like a truck, the disgust with yourself, because this poor boy would never be able to get this experience back and it was your fault, your fault alone because you’d used him to get over what had happened to you.

you barely even paid attention to what happened next, to your panicked exit, because you had to get out. you needed air and you needed to be away from the living reminder of how badly you’d fucked up. you stormed out of the apartment, not even bothering to put your shoes on before you were outside, all your belongings clutched to your chest until you were on the street outside of the building. you’d taken the stairs, run down and almost fallen because you were barely paying attention to where you were stepping, earning you more than one concerned glance by neighbours that were doing whatever one does in a stairwell on a sunday morning.

once outside you dropped on the grass in front of the surprisingly nice building, trying to catch your breath and putting on your shoes. your heart was beating rapidly, blood rushing through your veins loudly, and you could feel the dreaded panic attack incoming. it was because of your sorry state that you didn’t notice that mingi had come after you, keys in hand that had to be yours since they were neither his nor his flatmate’s.

when he saw you heaving on the ground struggling with your shoelaces, though, his concern was more making sure that you were okay. “is everything alright?”

your head jolted up, and you were looking at him - through him - wide-eyed and shocked, only half able to recognise him for who he was.

“leave!” you surprised yourself with how scared you sounded, how loudly you yelled at him, and he seemed at least as surprised. had he done something wrong?

“you forgot your keys, i just-”

but you didn’t even really register what he was saying, just shouting at him again.

“i said leave!” and because he didn’t really have the right to ask what was up (you’d just had sex, obviously not a big deal, not to you) he just dropped your keys next to you without saying a word and left.

it had taken you a few days, a call to the acute unit of the hospital you’d spent several weeks in back when you hadn’t yet tried to self-medicate with one night stands, and their prescription renewal for benzodiazepines (which you were now taking near religiously) before you were even somewhat back to normal and able to go back to work or university. maybe you would have stayed home longer, though, if you’d known that mingi had been visiting your work daily, hoping to see you there and at least be able to make sure that you were okay. you’d had a work key on your keychain, and even though he did feel a little stalker-ish he’d shown up every day. you hadn’t looked okay at all, and while you obviously didn’t care about him, probably thought he was somewhat embarrassing, even, he couldn’t help but worry about you.

and when you came in four days after you’d stormed out of his apartment like that he felt somewhat relieved, because going to work meant that you couldn’t be doing all too bad. he didn’t come up to you, though, feeling like that would definitely cross the line between somewhat creepy behaviour and really creepy behaviour.

your coworker had noticed him, though, the new regular, and because she knew about your tendency to take every adult being that didn’t mind it home with you she leaned in close, whispering and pointing at him, informing you that he’d been coming for a few days now and that he seemed like a good catch. and it was first then that you noticed mingi.

it was solely thanks to the benzo that you’d taken right before leaving that you didn’t have the next panic attack right there. you couldn’t do anything about it right now, anyway, couldn’t afford to break down at your workplace. so you tried your best to pretend you didn’t see him, to pretend he wasn’t there.

he very much was there, though, barely having moved by the point your break started, which left you feeling conflicted. you didn’t want to talk to him, but at the same time you just really wanted to apologise, hoping it would alleviate even some of the guilt still eating away at you.

“mingi?”

he looked up surprised when you were calling out for him, because he in all honesty hadn’t expected that at all. he’d hoped you’d talk to him, of course, but he hadn’t expected that you actually would.

“how are you?”

he should be the one asking. he should be apologising for the awkward situation you’d found yourself in that was at least partly his fault. but instead he just stammered, somewhat embarrassed, somewhat flustered: “i’m, i’m good, i think. you?”

he seemed so sweet and you felt so bad for what you’d done. you wished you could take him out, to make up for it, wished you could go on an actual date because he deserved his first to be someone that would go out with him and that would cherish him and someone that actually cared about the experience. not a fucking slut.

“not much worse than usual.” and before he could ask about it you continued: “i’m so sorry about that night. i didn’t know you hadn’t… you know. i shouldn’t have done that.”

this situation was so weird. you seemed a lot more sorry than expected, more upset with yourself than appropriate, you seemed so different from the girl that had told him that she didn’t do relationships right after waking up. it seemed like you genuinely cared about an experience that wasn’t even yours, like you felt worse about him having spent it this way than he did himself.

“it’s fine, really. i shouldn’t have expected i’d get to take you out or anything, it was my own decision.” though he did sound somewhat sad about it still, and you wanted to hug him because this wasn’t fucking fair, your stupid way of coping was never supposed to hurt anyone else.

“i’m sorry. i wish you could. just, it’s not you, okay? you’re sweet and nice and deserve something better.” whether you meant better than a one night stand or better than you not even you knew.

mingi didn’t know what to make of this, didn’t know what to make of your behaviour, so he just nodded. but when your coworker called for you to tell you your break was over he spoke up, hit by a sudden wave of… not confidence, but bravery caused by wanting to see you again, even if you didn’t like him.

“can i come again tomorrow?”

even though you knew you wouldn’t be able to give him what he deserved you didn’t have it in you to turn him down, so you just nodded before going back to work.

and he did come again, waving at you shortly before ordering a drink and sitting down somewhere, waiting for your break, hoping you’d come to talk to him again. he was patient, looking at you every now and then but mainly scribbling into a small notebook he’d brought to kill time. when you did come over he smiled at you, a smile brighter than you deserved from him.

“how long is your break today?”

“thirty.” though you didn’t have it in you to look him in the eyes.

“can i get you a drink?”

when your head shot up in surprise he quickly added: “as a friend, don’t worry. you don’t do relationships.”

this boy was way too good for you, you knew that. but if it’d make him happy to get you a drink then you’d let him, of course you would.

“what do you want?”

“surprise me.”

surprise you he did when he came back with a berry frapino, explaining his choice with “it matches your vibe” and looking away in embarrassment at your incredulous expression. you hadn’t at all expected your vibe to be sweet and pastel, considering how you were the definition of an alt girl, facial piercings and studded belt and all, hair constantly dyed a bright, unnatural colour. you wanted to look intimidating, not like an easy target, never again, and so far you had succeeded. yet the sweet boy had decided that a pastel coloured berry frapino matched your vibe.

“it fits your vibe better”, you said finally, but took it anyway, smiling at him.

the two of you just sipped your drinks, sitting in somewhat awkward silence, but how could it not be awkward? you didn’t actually know each other, the only connection being that you happened to have spent a night together. that wasn’t really a great conversation starter.

“do you study?”, mingi spoke up after a few awfully quiet minutes, and you nodded.

“teaching. foreign language kindergarten teacher. you?”

“oh me too! teaching, i mean. maths and history for high school.”

you were surprised, though it fit him. he looked like the kind to be a good teacher, and if you left out that one night you’d met at a bar he did have somewhat of a nerdy vibe. still, it was nice to have something in common to talk about, and you quickly found that talking to him was fun, that it was really easy to just ramble on.

“y/n! break’s over!”

apparently the thirty minutes were already over - you hadn’t even noticed how much time had passed while talking to mingi, it felt more like ten, maybe.

“i have to go.” though you didn’t really want to. you knew you shouldn’t, most definitely shouldn’t because you’d just be getting his hopes up, but you thought he was nice, maybe even liked him a little bit, in the friend way.

“see you tomorrow?” fuck. his expression was so hopeful, you just couldn’t turn him down, even though the hopeful expression was all the more reason why you should turn him down. but you didn’t want to see him sad, not again, not after you’d fucked up so badly the first time you met him already.

“see you tomorrow.”

and though you quickly turned around to go back to work you didn’t miss the smile spreading on his face.

the sweet brunette soon became a regular, coming in whenever you were working (he’d still ask “see you tomorrow?” in that hopeful voice whenever your break was over, and that way he knew whether or not you’d be working the next day) and patiently waited for your break, leaving anywhen from ten minutes to an hour after you had to go back to work. he hadn’t yet gathered the courage to ask you if you’d like to really hang out with him sometime, outside of work where you couldn’t really escape, but today was the day, he decided.

“hey y/n!”

why did he always have to smile so sweetly whenever he saw you? it wasn’t like you’d done anything to deserve it.

“hey mingi”, and you smiled back before you could help it.

“i kind of have a question”, nervously, hands playing with the pages of the notebook he always brought.

“what is it?”

“would you like to hang out after work sometime? or when you have a day off?”

oh no… it seemed like your plan to not get his hopes up had failed miserably.

��mingi, you know i don’t-”

“i know”, the boy quickly interrupted, “it’s not a date. just hanging out where i don’t feel like you’re just talking to get me to buy more drinks. where you can run if you want to.”

he was so kind and cute, worrying that you might feel pressured, sending you an awkward, lopsided grin, that you just had to agree.

“friday? i don’t have work then.”

mingi’s entire face lit up, eyes two upward crescents as his smile almost made them disappear completely; he was such a genuine sweetheart and you wished you weren’t like this.

“friday! can i still come here until then or would you rather i don’t?”

“where else would you get latte art like this?”

he didn’t even order a latte, so this was a really weak argument, but it held up. it was more about knowing that you wouldn’t mind, which you’d shown with your reply. he seemed all happy and excited about that, and you felt the strong urge in you to protect him, even though he was quite a bit taller and most likely also stronger than you. but he still felt… pure, like life hadn’t tainted him yet, and though you knew you couldn’t prevent it from happening sooner or later you wanted to at least try to make it later rather than sooner.

the next two days were spent as the last few weeks had been, him spending your break with you and then leaving, except he shyly asked for your number on thursday, so you could agree on where and when to meet up and let the other know in case something got in the way. and he got it, of course, though it felt a little weird. you didn’t usually give your number out - it was meeting, going home, leaving, no need to share your number. but mingi wasn’t ‘usually’, something you didn’t know how to feel about.

nor did you know how to feel about the weird ping of anxiety you felt the next day as you got ready to meet the boy. he’d seen you in your party attire and in your work clothes, but what you regularly wore wasn’t exactly like either of those. “revealing” your style to him made you strangely nervous, but you tried to convince yourself that it wasn’t a big deal. it was just mingi, after all.

when you were ready you shot him a message saying that you were leaving now, asking where you were going so you’d know which subway to take.

[mingi]: its near centre

[mingi]: do you have pet allergies? food allergies?

a fairly odd combination of questions, but then again there was always the possibility that people would bring their pets to a café, which you assumed was where he was going to take you, so you told him that you didn’t before making your way to the train.

[y/n]: ill be there in 10. where do we meet?

[mingi]: im almost there, so ill wait in front of the station

and he was waiting, looking cosy and sweet as always, wearing a massive sweater and grinning at you brightly. his soft look made you feel a little weird, because it didn’t exactly match well with your all-black attire, but if he thought you looked odd he didn’t show it.

“hey!” excitement apparent in his voice, though the way he was standing looked a little awkward.

“hey, mingi.” and you smiled back at him, because you were happy to see him, actually.

“can i, uh, hug you? a hello hug? or is that weird”, he asked, the request making you understand why he looked like that - he didn’t know how to greet you, because this was a new environment and you’d never met up outside of work before.

“go ahead.”

he immediately did, pressing you against his chest shortly but tightly, the hug about as awkward as him but you didn’t mind. it felt nice, comfortable, and first now did you realise how long you hadn’t been hugged like this. you definitely had your reasons, but maybe a hug every now and then would be nice, still.

“ready to go?” his nervous enthusiasm had you thinking that if he started jumping up and down it wouldn’t even surprise you, but it was cute.

“where are you taking me?”

“surprise.” and without any further explanation he started half-jogging in the direction of his surprise, first slowing down when you complained that your legs were shorter than his and that you couldn’t keep up.

“sorry!”

but you couldn’t even pretend to be mad at him. and you definitely weren’t when you reached your destination - a cat café.

“i hope you like cats.” he was obviously anxious about your complete lack of reaction, just staring at the building while you were taking in his adorable choice of location.

“i’m more worried the cats won’t like me”, you joked, trying to calm his nerves because he really had no reason to be worried - you were glad to be there with him, even though you weren’t ready to think about why.

“but consider”, he countered as the two of you entered, “you’re the one with the treats.”

“not that convincing when you have treats, too.”

and in the short moment where you saw his face before he turned to pay the fee you saw something that looked like a flustered expression, causing a small smile to appear on your face without you noticing.

the smile hadn’t yet disappeared when your time with the cats was up, giving mingi the courage he needed in order to ask if you wanted to hang out a little longer. he suggested the movies, explaining that there was a fairly recent one he’d wanted to see, but really the main reason for his suggestion was that he hoped he’d feel a little less awkward if someone else did the talking and the entertaining.

“okay” was all you said in reply, not sure how much enthusiasm would be appropriate. not sure how exactly you felt about the situation, either; you wanted to spend more time with him, but you didn’t want to want that, so it left you conflicted.

he beamed at you, obviously not concerned in the slightest about how much enthusiasm was appropriate, near yelling “let’s go then!” - you thought that he was way too cute for your own good as he took off, stopping after a few steps as he remembered that your legs were definitely shorter than his.

“sorry, i keep forgetting”, he apologised with a sheepish smile, and you smiled back at him.

“just means i got a very prominent energy, doesn’t it?”

“probably does.”

you were still glad, though, when he did keep the difference in leg length in mind, walking at a pace that was easy for you to keep up with. the two of you joked and talked on the short walk to the cinema, and when you got there he told you briefly what the movie was about (to his knowledge, at least - he’d only seen the trailer), so that you could tell him if that wasn’t your kind of movies. he insisted on paying, with the reasoning that he’d dragged you here, and after several pouty “come on”s from him you finally agreed. he never got to the cash register, though, because you saw someone. someone you hoped you’d never have to see again, someone whose face you hoped you’d forgotten by now but actually hadn’t, probably never would.

fight, flight - freeze. you tensed up, gripping mingi’s arm suddenly, with a force that left him surprised. it hurt, admittedly, and he had no idea what on earth was wrong, but you weren’t even looking at him. you were staring somewhere in the room, him trying to follow your gaze and seeing you staring at a man that was currently queueing to get snacks.

“what’s up?”

you didn’t reply to his question, though; you hadn’t even fully registered that he’d asked something.

“let’s go.”

“but the movie-?”

“let’s go!” desperately trying not to yell so he wouldn’t see you, wouldn’t recognise you, but it was hard because you had to get out of there, had to convince mingi to get you out of there, and he seemed to really want to watch that fucking movie. you were half dragging him outside, hoping you hadn’t made a fuss, hoping you hadn’t caught his attention, but the fear was already bubbling up in you. you had to get home, right now, and you told the boy that.

“i’m going to bring you home.” it was a statement, not a question; there was no way he was going to let you take the train and walk to your apartment all by yourself when you looked like you were barely even there right now. and you didn’t protest, honestly didn’t care. you just had to get home.

by the time you were home it hadn’t gotten better, though, quite the opposite - your breathing was regular but shallow, you felt dizzy, and you kept replaying that night over and over in your head. you needed to do something, and there was only one thing you knew to do in those situations, so instead of thinking logically you turned to mingi, who had entered with you, determined to make sure you’d be okay, whatever the problem was.

“please fuck me.” you were desperate, wanted to erase the memories, wanted to erase the dirty feeling, wanted to erase every single one of the man’s touches, and you knew having someone else touch you would do that, at least for the moment. and mingi was the only one that was there.

“no.” stern. you’d never heard him sound as serious as this, even though he did look surprised by your suggestion. plea?

“just fuck me, mingi”, you begged again, but he wouldn’t. of course he wouldn’t, because you weren’t okay and he wasn’t going to touch you at all if you weren’t in your right mind. even if you asked him to.

“i’m not going to do that, y/n.”

and while you should be grateful that he had morals like this in that moment it just made you angry, unreasonably angry, and you snapped at him even though he’d done nothing to deserve it. even though he’d brought you home and made sure you were okay, without even knowing what was wrong. even though he was so sweet and you were so grateful for his kindness you snapped at him.

“then just fucking leave.”

so he did.

he didn’t come to your work after that. he didn’t text you, made no attempt to contact you. he was gone, because you’d fucked up again. because you’d wanted to use him again. you felt disgusting, guilty, horrible, and you’d hurt him. not just once, but twice. you didn’t deserve him, hadn’t deserved him right from the start, but you wanted to apologise, at least. even though it was selfish to want to contact him you wanted to tell him that it wasn’t him who was the problem, that the only problem was and had always been you. so, during yet another night that you were spending staring at the wall and hating yourself, you decided to text him.

[y/n]: please dont have me blocked

the few minutes between ‘received’ and ‘read’ were among the most torturous of your life. and when he replied, you felt more relieved than you’d expected.

[mingi]: what do you want

[mingi]: i wont fuck you again

and even though you knew you were a slut, objectively, hearing from him that he saw you that way now, too, hurt. a lot. you hadn’t felt this dirty in years.

[y/n]: can you call me

[y/n]: please

he didn’t want to. he was hurt, of course he was, and somewhat angry at both you and himself. you because you’d only agreed to meet him so you could get in his pants, and himself because he’d genuinely thought that maybe that wasn’t the reason for you meeting him. that maybe you liked him. but even though he didn’t want to, he still called you.

you picked up immediately, but then you didn’t know where to start. you didn’t know what to tell him. the explanations you owed him weren’t something you wanted to sort by phone, definitely not. you wanted him to come over and come clean about how fucked up you were because you did like him, you wanted to spend time with him for him and not for his dick, but that was most definitely not what he’d believe if you just asked him to come over again right away.

“y/n? are you there?”

the emotion in his voice wasn’t one you could place, one you recognised, and you wanted to fucking cry. this poor sweet boy. why was he even calling you? what had you done to deserve his kindness?

“i’m so fucking sorry, mingi.” your voice was cracking, tears starting to run down your cheeks, but you didn’t care to wipe them away. he couldn’t see them, anyway. even if he could, he probably wouldn’t care.

“you made it clear what you wanted. it’s not your fault that i thought maybe you’d actually like me, like as a person. not just for that.”

“it’s not fucking that, it’s- it’s more complicated, okay? but it’s not that.”

he didn’t know how to react. if it wasn’t that, then what was it? what other way was there to interpret “just fuck me”? it wasn’t exactly something to misunderstand.

“then what is it? i’m not some toy, y/n, so if you don’t do friendships either tell me now. don’t make both of us waste our time.”

you could tell he was angry, and you could tell he was hurt. and you could understand him, you could. you hadn’t treated him right.

“fuck, mingi, i can’t explain like this. this is probably the worst thing i could ask right now, but can you please come over? or i’ll come over or we’ll meet in public, just… i can’t tell you on the phone. don’t make me tell you on the phone.”

maybe it was the way you were sobbing into the line that made him ignore his doubts and his anger and his pain, because it was obvious that you weren’t feeling good either. or maybe he was just a fucking idiot that had fallen in love with someone he shouldn’t have, and now couldn’t fall out of love again. no matter what it was, he agreed.

“right now? i can come over, but promise… promise you won’t try that again if i do.”

“i promise.” it was barely audible, disrupted by sobs, but he understood you anyway, and he told you he’d be there soon. and before you had a chance to reply he hung up.

the time spent waiting for him was horrible, part of you expecting him to never actually come. but he did, he kept his promise, texting you that he was in front of your door now. he just couldn’t get himself to ring.

his expression had been cold for only a few seconds before he realised the sorry state you were in, softening immediately as he did so. that only made you hate yourself more - you’d hurt him, horribly so, made him feel like a toy for you to use, and still he looked at you with those soft eyes.

“you don’t deserve this”, you said as you moved to let him in.

“just explain.” he didn’t know whether to be angry or worried or hurt, but he knew he definitely wasn’t feeling good right now.

“i have issues.”

it was hard to start. you didn’t want to explain, you didn’t want to say it, you’d never actually admitted out loud what had happened. the hospital had known because it was obvious, because your mother had found you whimpering and hurt and bruised in your garden the next morning, not because you’d said anything. you’d never said anything. hadn’t described him, hadn’t aided in his prosecution, hadn’t done anything. had tried to pretend it never happened and that you didn’t care. the thought of saying it now made you panic, and you went to your night table where the little box of benzos was, taking one because you knew you’d need it. then you turned back to mingi, who was still looking at you with a weird expression.

“i fuck to forget. that’s why i usually try to make so sure i don’t take people home that haven’t done it before, because they deserve so much better than that for their first. you would’ve deserved so much better than that.”

taking in a deep breath. you had to say it now.

“i didn’t have that choice for my first and i… i don’t know how else to deal with things. besides fucking around and pretending that it doesn’t matter. i’m a fucking slut, mingi, i’m just a stupid fucking slut, and i-”

your sobs had taken over and you felt pathetic. you owed him an apology, not a breakdown. you owed him the option to get angry at you, to scream at you, but you knew he wouldn’t when you were crying like this - he was way too sweet for that. still, you couldn’t stand to look at him. you didn’t want to see the disgust that you knew would be clear on his face. he’d already sounded disgusted by your behaviour before, you didn’t want to imagine how much worse it would be now.

“can i hug you?”

did you hear right? had he really just offered to hug you, despite knowing what he knew?

“i don’t deserve it. i’m… you’re still clean.”

he had a feeling that trying to convince you that you weren’t dirty either would be a lost cause right now, so he didn’t.

“if i just do it anyway, will you let me?”

you didn’t have the energy to argue. part of you really wanted him to. you were selfish. so you said yes.

it only took a few seconds for him to wrap his arms around your shaking form and hold you tightly.

“i promise i wanted to meet you. i promise i just wanted to hang out, i promise, but i… i saw him and i didn’t know what to do and you were there and- and it’s not fucking fair and i’m sorry.” you were sobbing into his shirt and he finally understood. understood the change in behaviour, the way you were so different so suddenly.

“at the cinema?”

he felt you nod and only held you tighter. that did explain things, and he couldn’t even be mad at you anymore. he couldn’t imagine what that must have been like - of course it would shake you up.

“i don’t fucking want to be like this and i want to go on dates and fall in love but i can’t risk it, i can’t fucking risk it. if that turns shit too i have nothing anymore that could make up for it and who’d even want me anyway when i’m just a slut and when i’ve slept with half the campus and when i’ve never been in love and don’t even know how that works? who’d want a mess like this?”

maybe it was really bad timing to confess, maybe he really shouldn’t do it, but his mouth moved before his brain had the power to stop him.

“i would.”

“you’re angry at me. you hate me.”

“that’s not true.”

you chose to ignore it because you couldn’t think about that right now and because he’d probably only said it out of pity, anyway, instead continuing to say all the things you’d pretended you hadn’t been feeling for the past years.

“i just don’t feel like i have the right to do anything else anymore. i’ve already fucked up so bad and everything and i… who says i can just stop now and pretend it’s all good? how can i start making things matter when they’ve never fucking mattered before? i can’t just say ‘okay, the past hundreds haven’t mattered, but this one, this one’s going to matter’, that’s not how it works.”

“can you please look at me?”

in all honesty, the fact that he was listening surprised you, because you didn’t feel like it was something anyone else would care about. people didn’t care about how you felt, so why would he suddenly be the first? but it seemed like he was, because when you looked up at him he already had his eyes on you, with a softness in them that maybe calmed your broken heart just a little bit.

“i know you can’t pretend none of that happened, but it… it doesn’t have to be your first. none of that has to be. you can decide what counts, what requirements there are. you’re still young, you can start over, even if you’ve messed up before. you can just try again. it’s okay.”

his hand was running up and down your back soothingly now and you wanted to stay like that until he’d rubbed all your worries away, because you felt like if he just kept going long enough he might be able to.

“i’m just scared.” you were still crying, but now it was silent tears running down your cheeks rather than the broken, body-shaking sobs from earlier. “i want to be in love but i don’t know how it works. i don’t know if i can. i kind of gave up on that, buried that dream of a family and a picket-fence life and whatever people paint as love and just… accepted i wouldn’t have that. what if i can’t have that?”

“you’ll find someone that’s going to give you all that”, he told you before pulling your head back to his shoulder and keeping his warm hand on your hair, an action that made you feel small but incredibly safe, but that he’d mainly done so you wouldn’t see his face now. he wasn’t intending on getting you to give him a chance or anything, he just wanted to let you know that you weren’t as much of a lost cause as you thought you were, but he still didn’t exactly want you to be staring at him when he was being emotional and embarrassing.

“you just have to give it a try. if you managed to make me fall for you when you kept telling me you don’t even do relationships, i bet you won’t be able to save yourself from all the admirers once you let down your walls a little bit.”

again, you didn’t know what to say. you’d guessed he’d liked you, in the beginning, but with the way he’d been ghosting you (and mainly the way you’d treated him and all the issues you had) you’d thought whatever feelings there were had disappeared. apparently they hadn’t, though, and it was a little hard to figure out how you felt about that. you didn’t want to hurt him again, and in all honesty you didn’t feel like you were in the right headspace to think about this without making hasty decisions. you most definitely had to calm down first.

“you’re tired.”

he wasn’t, actually, but when you got out from his embrace in order to sit on the bed instead, back against the wall, he guessed it was a way to cuddle without having to say that you were cuddling, without having to ask him to cuddle, and he was happy to comply.

it surprised both of you how readily you put your head on his shoulder and wrapped your arms around him, but neither said anything. this wasn’t the situation to say anything. it was the situation for silence and giving you time.

“how do you know if you’re in love?” the way your voice was so soft and curious and still all quiet from crying made mingi feel a little like he was explaining love to a child, except he was explaining it to the person that made him feel all these things.

“for me, i want to spend time with the person. all the time. i get sad if i don’t see them. even if we’re just sitting in the same room doing our own thing, or eating together, doesn’t matter. i always want to see them. and when i do, it makes me happy. they don’t even need to do anything, i’m smiling. and i want them to smile, too, want them to be happy. so if i know something that makes them happy, i try to do that. and i pay attention to the small details, like how you really seem to like that berry frapino. and then i daydream about that all the time, even though it’s silly. but i think for me a big sign is that when they notice something about me, when they say something about me that i hadn’t noticed, or when they associate something with me, then i get really happy whenever that thing comes up. even if i didn’t care about it earlier, now it just feels really special. they could say they like how red compliments my eyes and i’d be wearing red nonstop, just because they like it and i like them so i like it, too. it’s all really cheesy, though.”

the sweet boy seemed embarrassed, but you were somewhat deep in thought as you let his description run through your mind. you’d been happy whenever he was at the café, and almost hoped you’d get more shifts so you wouldn’t have to tell him you wouldn’t be working the next day. even though he was mainly just watching you work, ordering a drink every now and then, it had been nice to know he was sitting there. always scribbling in that little notebook he had, tapping his pencil against the top edge of it when he seemed stuck, twice per second (had you counted? you didn’t remember that), a regular speed, and you’d imagined that little tap tap when you were home working on your assignments, having noticed that you’d picked the twice a second-tapping habit up as well. and the berry frapino he’d mentioned - of course it tasted good, you’d tried it before, but it tasted better ever since he told you it matched your vibe, so you’d found yourself getting it even when he wasn’t around. looking back at all this, it meant…

“oh.”

not exactly the reaction he’d expected. he looked at you quizzically, urging you to elaborate.

“i guess i’m in love? but i’m not really a good fit for you.”

“how do you mean?” if you were going to tell him that he deserved better than someone with your past again even though he just told you that it didn’t matter to him…

“you’re cute. like, really cute. and i’m pretty much the opposite.”

not at all what he’d expected, and it almost made him laugh. you were worried about aesthetics?

“remember the frapino? the one i keep getting for you.”

“of course.” how could you not when it filled you with a weird warmth even though it was a cold drink?

“i meant it when i said it matches your vibe. you’re cute, too. i know you’re trying not to be, and you don’t look the part, but you’re cute.”

“hm.” you were trying to figure out your thoughts and what you wanted to do, how you wanted to proceed, because the thought of being with him wasn’t as scary as the thought of being with anyone else, but you didn’t want to accidentally lead him on and let him down again.

“what if i wanted to do relationships? or, one relationship. with you?”

he lifted his head in surprise, you could feel it because his cheek was no longer pressed against your hair, but there was no way you were going to remove your head from his shoulder.

“you do?”

you couldn’t tell what he was feeling, his voice coloured by an emotion you didn’t recognise, didn’t know how to place. so, naturally, you got scared he’d been all talk and no action, didn’t like you enough to want to actually be with you. still, you hummed in confirmation, though once more refusing to look at him as you did so.

“you’re not rushing yourself because you’re scared you won’t get another chance, are you? because you’ll get plenty, you don’t have to settle for the next-best thing, you-”

he never got to finish whatever irrational thoughts he was having, because you finally looked up, looked at him sternly, and told him: “you’re not the next-best thing. don’t even think that.” then, your head went straight back to his shoulder, because this was both scary and embarrassing.

“if you want to do relationships...”, mingi started, “if you really want to-”

you nodded against him to show that you did really want to, and he continued.

“if you really want to, we can do that. but i’ll take you out on dates, no objections.”

now you tensed up a little, because the prospect of real dates complete with feelings and everything was kind of making you anxious, still.

“objections?” of course he’d felt your body tense, you were stupid to think he wouldn’t, and that it wouldn’t make him doubt.

“no objections. just… slow?”

it felt kind of ridiculous that you were nervous about going on dates when you’d not been nervous about doing what usually came after dates at all. but there’d never been feelings involved, so there’d never been feelings that could have been hurt. maybe that was why this was so much scarier.

“as slow as you want. but can i see you on campus?”

“mhm.” his neck was just way too warm and soft to lift your head and give a decent reply, it wasn’t your fault.

“i’ll bring you lunch. and little notes. it’s a little late for high school romance, but you’re not gonna miss out on all the embarrassing cutesy things.”

maybe looking at him would be worth lifting your head. maybe. you wouldn’t know until you tried.

“you can cook?”

“well, no”, and his awkward smile was so cute that for the first time, you wouldn’t mind if someone kissed you, because you felt it in you that he wouldn’t ever hurt you - he looked like he couldn’t hurt a fly, “but i’m very good at buying food. one of my redeeming qualities.”

the look you gave him was one of absolute adoration and his heart beat so hard that he could physically feel it bang against his chest. he wanted you to be his, and he wanted to be yours. maybe that was the case already, but he wanted one hundred percent certainty.

“are you doing a relationship? are we doing a relationship?”

you wanted to get rid of his uncertainty immediately, but there was also something else on your mind, and you knew this would be the easiest way to bring it up without chickening out, which you very likely would later.

“if i say yes, does that mean you’re going to kiss me?”

mingi didn’t know whether you wanted him to or whether it would be a dealbreaker, but either way his reply would have been the same.

“only if you want me to.”

“yes.”

“yes you want me to or yes we’re doing a relationship?”

he was embarrassed, you were embarrassed, the situation was incredibly awkward, and instead of “both”, as you’d intended to answer, you just told him “yes” again.

“you can always tell me to go slower, or stop”, he told you, trying to stop the happy grin at least until he was sure that you’d understood. when you nodded, there was no holding it back, though, and he quickly leaned in to give your cheek a sweet peck.

“that wasn’t what i meant”, you almost whined out when he was looking at you again, although he was avoiding your eyes.

“i know. but your piercings kind of scare me”, he admitted, obviously at least slightly embarrassed.

“scare you?”

“yeah, like… what if i get stuck and hurt you or something?”

how was he so sweet?

“you’re an angel.”

“my mum says that too.” why on earth had he said that? that was a one hundred percent fool-proof way to embarrass himself. but maybe it was worth it, because a small chuckle escaped your mouth, something neither he nor you had expected.

“she’s right. now kiss me. if ramen don’t get stuck you won’t either.” you didn’t have to tell him that ramen did get stuck - that would be your little secret. at least until experience had proven that he wouldn’t get stuck, because he was very much not ramen-shaped.

he still seemed a little hesitant, and you were about to laugh when you finally felt his lips on yours. you didn’t know how to describe the feeling you got when he did so, but it was a good one. he was warm and soft and though your noses had bumped for just a moment because you had absolutely zero idea what you were doing it felt… perfect. maybe the nose-bumping had played a part in that, too, because it felt so normal and human and authentic, not like something from a movie. it felt genuine, and that was the best thing about it. the way your hands were nervously moving from somehow awkwardly squished in between the two of you to his upper arms to his neck to his face, the way you kind of just let him do the moving and only parted your lips slightly so he could do whatever one did while kissing, the way his breath kind of tasted like pizza - which you assumed had been his dinner -, it all felt so perfectly normal and flawed in all the best ways that you couldn’t have been happier.

“regret it already?”, the sweet boy - your sweet boy? - asked you when he pulled away, half joking and half scared that you did regret it, but there was no way you ever would.

“only if you don’t do it again”, you informed him, and the smile that spread on his face at your reply was able to outshine the sun, if you were the one to judge.

“so i’m a good kisser?”

sillyhead.

“it’s not like i can judge, i don’t have any standard to compare it to”, you teased, because he’d teased you first and because you were happy and the happiness made you do things you normally wouldn’t.

“you don’t need to have tried a good kimchi to know when someone’s made a bad kimchi!”, he protested, and now you laughed, really laughed, not just a small chuckle.

“you’re saying you’re good kimchi?”

“i’m not saying, i’m implying.”

the way he was so cute and so silly and so sweet only made you fall in love more. in love. you were in love with him, almost hopelessly so.

“but i don’t really like meat, what do we do then?”

what he said next made you reconsider if he maybe wasn’t just a bit too silly, though.

“i bet there’s plenty people that would beg to differ.”

“mingi!”

he hadn’t thought a lot before saying it, just seeing it as a normal tease, but when you called out his name like that he got worried that he’d accidentally crossed a line. he was relieved to see you grinning, although you did look like you were about to playfully hit his arm.

“sorry, love”, hoping that the pet name would make up for it. and it did, because your expression changed into one of happy surprise.

“love?” as if you couldn’t believe it.

“love. or darling, baby, angel, sweetheart, i can probably think of more.” though this was him teasing you he most definitely would try to think of more, because you were his love and he wanted you to know even when you were just casually talking.

he didn’t get a reply, instead he got you dropping yourself over his lap in an attempt to have your head reach your pillow. now you were genuinely tired, and you wanted to sleep; though the day had ended well it had been among the most exhausting you’d had in quite a while.

“want to sleep, love?”

if he kept calling you love you’d probably have to get a pacemaker, because there was no way your heart skipping a beat or speeding up every single time he said it was healthy in the long run.

“yes, so come lay down.”

“you want me to stay the night?”

his surprise left you a little uncertain. was that not something you did with your partner? you were incredibly, awkwardly unaware of the rules, so you had no idea whether or not you’d just implied something that hadn’t been your intention to imply.

“if you want?” your face was hidden in your pillow, refusing to look at whatever negative expression might maybe be on his face, but you had no reason to worry, because he just pushed you a little closer to the edge of the bed so he’d fit in next to you, wrapping his arm around your waist and pulling you tight.

“i move a lot in my sleep, just a warning”, he mumbled into your hair, “and no funny business.” he knew the reasons for your funny business and was fairly certain you weren’t exactly a fan of funny business anymore, or that was the impression he’d gotten, but there was still a little part of him that was anxious. he had no reason to be anymore, though.

“no funny business until marriage”, you assured as you tried to move your face as close as possible to his chest because you wanted to feel his heartbeat, and though neither of you could see the other’s face you both wore the same expression of complete content and love.

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lilacivories · 4 years

Text

caught red-handed

characters: Diego, Klaus, Allison

pairing(s): none

summary: Diego and Allison catch Klaus going through Allison’s things again and decide that a suitable punishment is in order

word count: 1979

––––––––––––––––

When Diego passed by Allison’s room, what he didn’t expect to hear was thumping, shuffling, and swearing in a voice that definitely wasn’t his sister’s.

His curiosity successfully piqued, Diego backtracked.

Of course, the villain in question was Klaus, who was squirming around in Allison’s closet like a fish out of water. From the looks of it, he was struggling to detach one of the skirts from its hanger. Among the cursing, Diego was able to hear some mutterings, presumably towards Ben.

“You’re gonna tear it if you keep pulling like that, y’know.”

Klaus yelped and spun his head around, his hands remaining on the hanger. “Diego!” he said with a grin. “What a surprise! Oh, and what a prize I’ve found here. Won’t you give me a hand, oh dearest brother?”

Diego moved closer, wondering what could possibly be hindering him (besides the height of the clothing rack, which was honestly ridiculous). It was only then that he saw what looked like a pair of handcuffs attached to the clothing rack that had Klaus’s wrists in their grip, hidden between two of the skirts Klaus had been attempting to pilfer.

Diego couldn’t help but smirk. “What in the hell did you do to yourself?”

“It wasn’t me!” Klaus insisted. “Allison must’ve set up some damn booby trap and now I’m stuck!” He pulled again on the cuffs, but they held fast, and effectively kept his arms restrained above his head. “Diego, help me!”

“I dunno, man,” Diego shrugged, unable to wipe the smile from his face, “you kinda deserve it. Allison did tell you to stay away from her stuff.” He took another look at his brother. “Are you already wearing one of her skirts?”

Klaus shimmied his hips so that the knee-length skirt swung around invitingly. “Yeah, but she’s loaded! She can afford a million of these, and I’m out here having to steal to get by in the fashion world! It’s a capitalist scheme, is what it is!”

“I don’t think you’re in the position to be making claims like that.”

Klaus kicked a leg out at him. “Oh, shut up and let me out of here.”

Thanks to years of practice, Diego deftly caught the offending leg and held it by the ankle. “You’re also not in the position to be threatening the only person who can help you right now.” Klaus was only wearing socks, so it certainly wouldn’t have hurt Diego in any case, but the idea of tormenting his brother was always on the table.

“No no no!” Klaus struggled to break Diego’s grip in vain. “Let go! Ben, he-elp!” The last word broke off as a squeal when Diego squeezed the spot just above his knee over and over.

“This is almost too easy,” Diego gloated over the laughter pouring out of his brother. “I’m barely doing anything to you!”

“Shut up!” Klaus struggled for footing on the one leg he had at his disposal, and that combined with his high-pitched laugh and scrunched nose had Diego laughing, too.

“Looks like my idea was a success.”

Diego dropped Klaus’s leg at the voice from behind him. Allison was standing in the doorway, eyebrow cocked and arms crossed, looking very pleased with herself.

Feeling a bit abashed at having been caught, Diego cleared his throat and changed the subject. “I’m kind of impressed, they’re holding really well. Where did you get them?”

Allison walked in to stand beside Number 2, sparing Klaus an amused glance as she replied. “I told Pogo that a certain someone was sneaking into my room and going through my personal things. He seemed particularly interested in catching...” She looked pointedly at Klaus, “...whoever it is, so he and Mom made those for me to attach to the inside of my closet. Pretty hi-tech, huh?”

Klaus took the opportunity to try and weasel his way out of the prison of his own making. “Allison! Please, save me! All I wanted was to bond with you over our mutual love of fashion, and Diego’s been torturing me!”

Diego and Allison caught each other’s eye. “Is that so?” Allison asked.

“Yes, it’s been just awful! You’ve got to get me out of here!”

Allison feigned innocence. “What was he doing that was so awful?”

Diego almost laughed at the sight of Klaus, strung up and helpless, open and close his mouth like a gaping fish at the question. “What?” he finally squeaked.

“What was Diego doing to you?”

It was always a pleasure to see Klaus at a loss for words, and this time was no exception. All he could answer, after a short silence, was: “Nothing!”

“Nothing?” Allison asked. She took a step towards him; the click of her heels on the floor was intimidating all on its own. “So if Diego wasn’t doing anything, that means that...you lied to me.”

“I– I– I mean–”

“And it means,” she continued, “that you have not yet been properly punished for going through my things without permission.” Her smile was pure evil. “So I think that this calls for a double punishment. Don’t you, Diego?”

Diego’s grin matched hers. “Couldn’t agree more.”

“W-wait, we can talk about this– Nonono, not that!”

Diego looked over to find what had Klaus so riled up and panicky. He was thrilled to find that the source of his brother’s fears were Allison’s long, pristine yellow nails that she was hovering dangerously over his bare sides.

“Looks like your crop top backfired this time, bro,” Diego chuckled, giving him a warning prod at his ribs, which Klaus shrieked at.

Allison considered this. “Or maybe he’s exactly where he wants to be.” Then she grinned at Klaus. “Any last words?”

“Yes, I’d like to exact my right to filibuster–”

The moment Allison’s nails touched down on his sides, he was gone; he threw his head back and laughed his heart out. Her technique was gentle and slow– yet unrelenting, following Klaus’s desperate twisting with ease.

“I didn’t know you’d like my nails so much!” she taunted. Klaus responded with a loud snort when she dragged her nails over where his sides met his lower back and tickled there. “Oh my god– Diego, you gotta look at him.”

Diego left his position from behind their victim, where he had been pinching his upper ribs, to see what she was talking about.

“Oh my god. You’re blushing?”

Klaus, still laughing, shook his head. It was too late, however, as it was very clear to everyone that his ears and cheeks were a glaring pink that only grew darker with the attention.

“He definitely is.”

“Shuhut the hell uhup!” Klaus insisted. “You’re so meaheahean!”

“Ooo.” Diego clucked and shook his head. “And we were even thinking of letting you off easy.” He considered it, and then decided to go for the kill. “Say, Allison, I think you could put those nails of yours to good use right...here.” He gave Klaus’s belly a poke.

The reaction from both was immediate. Allison’s eyes filled with a maniacal energy that neither of them had ever seen before; she flexed her fingers at Klaus in warning, letting that one action do all of the talking for her.

Klaus, on the other hand, was begging, as if for his life. He thrashed in his bonds, tried to back up as much as possible with his legs, but one push from Diego behind him brought him right back to square one.

“Nonononono, Allison, wait, don’t– wait! Ahallison, this isn’t fair! Do you want a new skirt, I can do that! I just need some time– AAH!”

He couldn’t have been more vulnerable to her every move. Her long nails touched down on the soft skin of his belly and dragged themselves up to his ribs, then all the way back down and around. Allison looked very proud of herself indeed when she discovered that spidering her nails into his belly had Klaus caught between hiccuping, snorting (which he seemed to get bashful about, because he turned a new shade of pink every time he did so), and cackling hysterically.

Diego, meanwhile, had found a home at that horrible, awful spot under his arms just above the tops of his ribs, and dug into it with vigor. Klaus’s writhing was sometimes so vehement that he had to duck out of the way, but he always came back to it because he knew how much it wrecked his poor brother.

After some time, they gave him a break.

“So,” Allison prompted, “are you sorry?”

Klaus, to his credit, recovered faster than expected, and after a minute was able to respond, “You know I can’t apologize for art.”

Allison quirked an eyebrow at him. “Would you like to apologize for breaking and entering?”

Klaus considered this. “Well, really, you never close your door, so in a way, it’s kind of your fault!”

Diego scoffed. “You’re really asking for it this time, huh?”

“I’m just saying, I think she should be okay with sharing if she’s not even gonna shut her door all the way!”

Allison was finished listening, however. She put an arm around Klaus’s waist; her oversensitive brother jumped, and was already biting back a smile as she effectively kept him from wriggling away.

“That was the wrong answer,” she said. Then, with just her pointer finger, she started drawing maddening little circles around his navel, occasionally moving to tickle inside of it before returning to the outer edge.

Klaus pretty much went ballistic at this, writhing so much in her grasp that Diego had to step in and attempt to keep him still while she continued.

“Oh my god,” Allison laughed. “You are actually the most ticklish person on the entire planet.”

“Nohohoho!” Klaus wailed. “Dohon’t! Stohohop it!”

“Don’t stop?” Diego teased, and gave his sides a few squeezes where he was holding him still.

“Pleaheahease!”

“Please don’t stop,” Allison corrected. “Good to see he’s finally learning some manners, at least.” With her free hand, she spidered her nails on the underside of his belly, at the oversensitive strip of skin between his hips; she and Diego both laughed at the full-body thrash Klaus did that looked like more like a weird dance move than anything else.

“Okay! Okay!” Klaus cried. “I’m– I’m sahaharry!”

His sister only continued, putting on a faux-confused look. “I don’t think I know that word. Do you, Diego?”

“Can’t say I do.”

Klaus shook his head wildly. “Nahahaa! I cahan’t! I can’t! I cahahan’t!”

At long last, the two relented.

“So, what was that you said before, Klaus?” Allison prompted.

Klaus panted, still giggling. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I swear I’m sorry!”

“Damn,” Diego chuckled. “I think you actually broke him. I’ve never heard him apologize before.”

Allison made a show of blowing on her nails. “These bad boys never fail.”

Diego checked on their victim, who seemed to be loopy with unending giggles. “You alright there, man?”

“That...was wild.”

“Oh!” Allison jumped up. “I just remembered one other thing that drove him wild when we were kids.”

Without so much as a warning, Allison blew a big, silly raspberry into Klaus’s ribs. Klaus snorted and shrieked and kicked his legs, and then it was over.

Allison pulled a remote control from her jacket pocket and pressed a button; the cuffs released Klaus, who would have collapsed on the floor if not for Diego standing by to catch him and help ease him to lie down on the bed.

“You had that the entire time?” Klaus demanded, though it wasn’t a very serious inquiry with his absurd smile.

She shrugged. “Of course I did. I just needed to remind you who’s in charge here.”

Klaus swore and fell back on the bed. He couldn’t wait to see if he could find anything else in Allison’s closet in a few days.

#tua #mine #klaus #ticklish!klaus #diego #allison #2 #3 #4

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brokutosan · 4 years

Text

Title. How Do You Mend When You’re Worlds Apart? (We Carry On)

Pairing. Iwaizumi Hajime x Fem!Reader

Summary. In which long distance is hard. Inspired by the song ‘Make It Better’ by Anderson Paak.

Warnings. Pure angst, also doesn’t have much dialogue. Manga spoilers up to the latest chapters and strong language included. Title is a line from the song ‘Make It Better’ by Anderson Paak.

In highschool, Iwaizumi and Y/N were inseparable. Wherever one is, chances are the other is nearby. They were the perfect model couple, proof that highschool sweethearts aren’t always doomed to be just that. Maybe it’s because both were equally mature, or maybe it’s because of the fact that the two of them kept Oikawa on a leash, but anything the world threw at them, the two felt ready for it.

So when Iwaizumi decided to purue his dreams across the ocean, she was fine with it. And so were all of their friends. If anyone could handle long distance, it would be Iwaizumi and Y/N. Because they were Iwaizumi and Y/N, and Iwaizumi and Y/N were inseparable.

Turns out putting an entire ocean between an inseparable couple could, in fact, separate them. Iwaizumi and Y/N became Iwaizumi, student at UC Irvine, and Y/N, student at Tokyo University. The distance between them grew harder to ignore over time.

It wasn’t something that happened overnight. And to be fair, they lasted a good three years making it work before going down the hell hole of late night (or morning, for one of them) arguments and distrust clouding their judgements. After a while, the two realize that the distance has taken its toll on them. Y/N thinks that it’s because they’re too used to being around each other, but now that they’re not, they’ve become more sensitive to even the tiniest matters. Iwaizumi thinks it’s all just bad communication.

Either way, anyone could tell that they’re only uselessly holding onto something that’s very clearly broken. Perhaps it’s the fact that they’ve already put in over six years into their relationship, and that giving it up now would mean giving up those six long years together. And no one wants to be the one that says, “Yeah, I wasted six long years with an idiot only for it to all go down the drain.”

Y/N first realizes this was the case after a night of drinking with her college classmates. She definitely had too much alcohol in her system that night, but she’s always been the type to be hyper aware of her surroundings. She wasn’t the type to do something she knows she would regret the morning after.

Her first explosive fight with Iwaizumi happens a few hours after she drunk herself under the table, at around three in the morning (or dinner time for Iwaizumi). Y/N made sure to be responsible enough to get herself home safe, under her own sheets, but Iwaizumi thought different. Y/N spent the following hours until her first class to explain to her enraged boyfriend that no, that woman in the background of Takahiro’s snapchat story sucking some douchebag’s face off isn’t me!

The months that follow that catalystic event were spent like they were walking through a minefield, any small argument setting off a bigger one that usually ended in tears. At one point Y/N was nearly tempted to throw her phone out the window and completely cut off connections with Iwaizumi, but knowing him, he’d probably catch the first flight back home just to chew her ear off.

What seems to be the worst fact of it all is that they were never like that in the beginning. But at this point there’s no more going back. It’s like they’re stuck in a burning car, but they don’t want to jump out. They’re only options are to just try and put out the flames or wait for the car to crash and burn.

Today is no different.

Y/N is invited by her old highschool friends, Matsukawa and Hanamaki, to go out for drinks. Y/N complies because no one would refuse a free dinner and drinks. But as she steps out her apartment, dressed casually enough but still putting in a little effort in her appearance, Y/N receives a facetime call from none other than Iwaizumi himself, who looks more pissed off than usual.

“What’s wrong?” Y/N asks as she notices his frown, genuinely concerned.

“Are you going somewhere?” Iwaizumi evades the question. Oh well. She expected this. Y/N has known her boyfriend long enough to know that there really is something wrong, he’s just too pissy to admit it.

“Yeah. With Takahiro and Issei.” She replies curtly, grabbing her purse and house keys from the side table and unlocking the door. Iwaizumi freezes, not saying anything. Y/N almosts hangs up thinking it’s due to poor connection, until he speaks up again.

“Oh. Nevermind then.” What the fuck? Y/N thinks to herself, though has half the mind to know not to say it out loud. Instead she says, “If there’s something bothering you, just tell me. Hiro and Issei can wait.” Her offer is met by another few seconds of silence, before Iwaizumi sighs and says, “No, it’s fine. Have fun. Stay safe.” The - once usual - ‘I love you’ is lost somewhere, probably amidst his pride and whatever the fuck was bothering him.

As he ends the call, Y/N decides to press any further. Lately she’s realized that the best way to prevent arguments with him was to just ignore the things bothering her. Destructive? Definitely. But is it effective? One hundred percent. Y/N argues that it’s the lesser of two evils, and if one of those evils is a furious Iwaizumi, then she’d rather take her chances with whatever’s the other option.

The whole commute to the izakaya she agreed to meet her friends in is filled with a mental dilemma of whether or not she should call him back. And she stays that way ‘til she gets to the place and Matsukawa, the attentive bastard, is asking her, “Why do you look like shit?”

“Damn, you really hate the thought of seeing us that much?” Hanamaki adds on, because Hanamaki and Matsukawa come in pair and when one is teasing you, then chances are the other one is too.

“Kinda regretting it now. Is it too late to turn back?” Y/N jokes, but is only ushered over by her two smirking friends. Y/N, despite her contempt, complies and sits down on one end of the booth.

“You can’t run away from us. Like you physically can’t. You love us too much.” And she hates how much she knows he’s right, but she’s not telling them that because they’ll never let her live it down.

“Disgusting. Someone kill me right now.” Y/N fake gags, smiling at the waiter as he passes by with a weird look on his face. Hanamaki and Matsukawa laugh, before Hanamaki’s face straightens into a serious look.

“Oh yeah, did Iwaizumi tell ‘ya yet?” He mentions nonchalantly. Y/N wants to say, ‘no, because talking to that moron only makes my head hurt,’ but she doesn’t, mostly because they’d probably obsessively worry over it. Instead she says, “Tell me what?”

They share a look.

“Wait, seriously? I thought you’d be the first to know.” It’s Matsukawa that speaks up first, with a bewildered look on his face. “I mean no offense but aren’t you two usually the lovey dovey jackasses that can’t keep secrets from each other?”

“Yeah. I’m still not over you telling him about my Hatsune Miku shrine.” Hanamaki adds, though it’s unappreciated by Matsukawa, who throws him a dirty look and a, “What the fuck, man. Stop bringing that shit up.” Hanamaki looks at his friend with ‘hurt’ laced in his face before firing back, “Stop disrespecting my wife, asshole!”

“Are you two done?”

The two supposed grown men halt their little ‘back-and-forth,’ and Hanamaki perks up again remembering the previous topic at hand.

“Oh yeah! So Iwaizumi really didn’t tell you?” She could only shake her head ‘no,’ taking a sip of the mediocre beer in her hands. She makes a mental note to remind herself never to let Hanamaki pick which izakaya they’re going to.

“You’re both pissing me off, what did he not tell me?” Y/N grumbles, growing impatient. It could just be because the beer is far too stale for her taste. Why is this place still open?

“Apparently Oikawa went to visit him two days ago and the two idiots had a big fight. I heard it almost got physical this time.” So that’s wny he looked so pissed off earlier. Lately the only facial features he’s shown her are anger and discontent, so maybe she thought nothing of it when he did it again just an hour ago. She feels horrible, but not too much.

“Something about Oikawa not taking his bad knee seriously enough. Honestly I think Iwaizumi got mad because he’s been studying about it for three years now.” Hanamaki adds, raising his glass to ask for another cup of beer. Y/N doesn’t care as much anymore about the shitty beer, but she still gives him a weird look for being so into it.

“Oh.” Arguments be damned, Y/N still had to save face. If anyone were proud supporters of her and Iwaizumi’s relationship, it’s these two idiots arguing over a meme on Hanamaki’s phone right across the table. She racks her brain for any plausible excuse as to why she wasn’t made aware of something this big, but her mind drew a blank.

“It is kinda weird you weren’t the first to find out. Granted we had to find out from Oikawa, but if anything I was sure Iwaizumi would’ve already went crying to you.” Hanamaki muses. Oh no. Y/N knows that tone, and when Hanamaki, of all people, uses it...then she’s thoroughly fucked.

“Is there something you’re not telling us?” Matsukawa completes. Y/N tries not to laugh at the fact that they still try to complete each other’s sentences, despite the fact that they were just arguing about which Spongebob meme is better just a few seconds ago.

“Nothing, really. I haven’t really gotten the chance to check in on Hajime, with exams and all.” Y/N lies through her teeth. They were just arguing three days ago about something Y/N can’t even remember now.

“Uh huh, sure. Let me know when you pull your head out of your ass.” Hanamaki retorts. Y/N resists the urge to reach over the table and wipe that stupid smirk off his face.

“Shut up, blondie.”

“Uh, that’s strawberry blondie to you.”

“You’re both completely going off topic. Y/N, why didn’t Iwaizumi tell you anything?” Matsukawa leans over the table, wearing that unreadable facial expression he used to wear back in highschool, during a match, going up for a block. Y/N momentarily thinks how fortunate she is for not being one of those they’ve went against in highschool.

“Shouldn’t you be asking Hajime that?”

“We should, but he’s not here right now. You are. I mean you two were always like two halves of one whole, right?” Hanamaki presses on, forgetting all about their previous argument. She lets his words settle in. Two halves of one whole, huh? Suddenly Y/N is brought back to one of their most recent arguments. About their future together. Or lack of one.

Y/N looks down at her stale mug of beer, feeling hypnotized by the amber color that’s reflecting her face with a look of concern. Though she has no reason to be. Ever since getting into a relationship with Hajime, and faling into the same crowd, most conversations around her usually revolved around the topic of their relationship. It never bothered her before, so why is it bothering her now?

And it hits her. Not as a life changing revelation, but rather something she’s always known deep, deep, deep down.

That just like how she’s been needlessly obsessing over the horrible tasting beer, she’s been needlessly clinging onto something that’s not there anymore. Just like how despite this izakaya being their usual meeting place whenever they found the time to hang out, the beer tasted different today, of all days. Just like how now, Y/N finally snaps herself awake and completely understand that her and Iwaizumi, just aren’t in love anymore.

They tried, the past few months filled with arguments being a testament to how they fought tooth and nail to salvage what’s left of a bygone feeling.

Right. The argument. Three weeks ago, Iwaizumi had called her a few hours past midnight in Tokyo, excited to reveal that “Yes! I’m going to start my internship with Takashi Utsui right after graduation!” And instead of being excited for him too, Y/N picked a fight. That one was totally her fault, she admits. She pressed him on the importance of their relationship, on the importance of distance, and how the one between them is slowly eating them alive. Iwaizumi cut off communication with her for a week, before Y/N finally apologized only for them to be amidst another argument now, just two weeks later.

Y/N realizes she’s been quiet for too long, when the noise of the izakaya draws back in and she’s rudely brought back to her senses by an annoyed Matsukawa snapping his fingers in front of her face. “Are you okay?”

The question lets loose an abundance of emotions, some she can’t quite put a finger on, but she knows is bothering her. It’s been too long since someone checked in on her like that, so genuinely. So concerned. Oh god. Was she turning into a touch starved idiot like Oikawa?

“Uh, I - I don’t know.” Is her pathetic response. The two men in front of her share another look, before Hanamaki simply sighs, “We’ll drop it, sorry. You can talk when you’re ready.”

And as if a switch has been flipped, they fall into a smoother conversation, one about school and their social lives. How Hanamaki heard that Yahaba and Kyoutani went to New York together for God knows why, and how Kindaichi’s finally starting for his Division 2 team. Y/N, on the other hand, can’t seem to focus. Perhaps it’s the thing she was thinking about earlier. Okay. It’s definitely that.

Eagerly, Y/N shoots up and slings her bag over her shoulders, muttering, “Sorry, I have to go.”

“Pay for your drinks, cheapass!” Hanamaki half-jokingly calls out, also standing up. Matsukawa grabs his wrist, seemingly understanding something and leaving the strawberry blonde out of the loop.

“Don’t. I think this might just be serious.”

Upon stepping back into the comfort of her room, Y/N turns on her phone, fingers hovering just above the call button. She was so sure of it before, at the izakaya, but now that she’s had time to think, she doesn’t know what to say.

Wait - no, she’s breaking up with him. That’s for sure. She’s not exactly confident she could take another second being in ticking time bomb of a relationship, but how does she even begin the conversation? Iwaizumi was her first everything, and that might just include first break up. How do people even do this? She feels like she’s about to rip the guy’s heart out of his chest, and that’s not something she could live with.

Fuck it, Y/N thinks to herself as she presses the call button. Iwaizumi picks up after three rings, voice grumpy as ever. “Yeah?” Now Y/N feels like a bitch for doing this over a phone call. But it’s not like she could book a flight to California with the money she doesn’t exactly have, just to break up with her boyfriend of six years. So she improvises.

“Can you get on Skype?”

She hears rustling on the other end of the call, and the telltale sound of a zipper being unzipped. “Sure.”

A few moments later, she’s connected to the call, and now that she’s looking directly at Iwaizumi’s face through her laptop screen, does Y/N finally realize what she’s about to do. Before the guilt could even start to settle in, Iwaizumi opens his mouth and starts the conversation.

“I thought you were going out.” He states, face still scrunched up into that nasty scowl from earlier. Knowing the reason behind it, a fight with his best friend, Y/N isn’t as bothered by it. Okay maybe it’s bothering her. Dumping him while he’s down? She didn’t even know she was capable of something so heinous.

“I was out. I just got back home though.”

“Oh.” He looks like he wants to press further, but something’s holding him back. The same something that’s been causing him to lash out for the past few months. Y/N doesn’t miss the conflicted look on his face, nor does she miss the sigh that he lets out. Good. He’s just as exhausted as she is. Might make this a whole lot easier.

“Is there a reason why you wanted to call?” He offers an olive branch first, and Y/N happily accepts it. “Yeah, actually, there is.” She gulps, probably hard enough for him to hear, but her nerves are starting to get the best of her.

He stares at the camera, probably waiting for her to go on, then. Well, jokes on him. Y/N’s waiting too. Waiting for her to gather enough figurative balls to say what needs to be said.

“Um - okay, so,” Y/N starts, very lamely, “it’s about us.” Iwaizumi looks like he’s about to say something, but Y/N is quick to interject, “Wait! Let me just let it all out. Before I go completely crazy. And then you can talk. Yell. Curse, whatever you feel like doing after I say what I’m about to say.”

“I’m not gonna do any of that.”

“Okay. Good. Because I might cry if you do. And if I cry then I definitely won’t get to say what needs to be said.” Y/N is speaking out of her ass, that much she could tell. She could also tell he’s losing his patience, which she doesn’t totally blame him for.

“I think I know where this is going. You can say it.” Iwaizumi sounds a lot calmer, which is good, because Y/N doesn’t really know how she’d take it if he wasn’t. And then she looks down, fiddling with her fingers on her lap and the ring on her pinky finger that Iwaizumi gave to her before leaving for college.

And then Y/N decides to rip the bandage off, “I think we should break up.”

A sigh.

Not exactly her first choice of a reaction, but she’d take a sigh over a full blown confrontation any day. In fact, she’s probably a little too relieved that that was his first reaction. Means he’s thought about it too, and that she’s not the only one feeling guilty about all this.

“I’m sorry.” Y/N finds herself saying, still not daring to look up into the computer screen. She realizes how ironic it is that the calmest conversation they’ve had in months is when they’re about to break up.

“Don’t be. It’s both our faults.” He reassures her. And she finally looks up, catching her reflection on the webcam and how her eyes are slightly red and watery. (But so are his).

“Trust me I know,” Y/N finds the strength to force out a bitter laugh, and adds, “but I just...am. I’m sorry we couldn’t make it work. I really wanted it to work.”

“So did I.” Iwaizumi offers a bittersweet smile, reminding her that this probably hurts for him just as much as it did for her. “But we couldn’t. And that’s on both of us. Don’t feel the need to take all the blame.”

“God, Oikawa’s gonna fucking lose it. He rooted for us so hard.” Y/N lets out a genuine laugh, remembering her chocolate haired friend that’s probably going to cry harder than they do combined. And then silence engulfs them. Conversation that used to flow so smoothly between them long gone, and the connection they had as lovers severed.

“Um, I’ll catch up with you soon. Take it easy okay?” Iwaizumi finally speaks up, probably sick of the silence. “Yeah, sure. Talk to you soon.” Except she doesn’t. In fact, the next time Y/N hears from Iwaizumi is at his welcome home party, two years later. And by then they’ve both probably moved on (she can’t really speak for Iwaizumi), to bigger and better things, and hopefully to other people.

“And it’s easier to walk away, than to look for what would make you stay.” - Anderson Paak.

A/N. Reposted because I wanted to edit it a bit. An izakaya is basically a traditional Japanese bar! Ending is a bit rushed, but I kinda just wanted to finish it on a slightly bittersweet note?? Thank you for reading tho, I’m gonna go cry now :) - chuu

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bettydice · 4 years

Text

I didn’t expect you to be lonely (too)

Xicheng, Modern AU, JC&WWX reconciliation, E-Rated

[Read on AO3]

Chapter 4

Wednesday

Jiang Cheng spends the day after getting drunk with Nie Huaisang feeling weird. And not only because he’s slightly hungover.

Are they really friends again? Did things go back to where they were? Just like that?

In the afternoon, he messages Nie Huaisang that he’s overcome his hangover and thank you for the cocktails. He wants to say “Will we hang out again soon?”, but he’s scared Nie Huaisang will tell him no. Then he spends ten minutes staring at his phone with a hammering heart, waiting for Nie Huaisang to reply. He sees the message status change to “read”, then Nie Huaisang is “typing”. He holds his breath.

The message he receives is an incomprehensible string of emojis and “next time u pay, babe”.

Jiang Cheng closes his eyes, leans back in his chair and takes a deep breath.

They really are okay… just like that. Jiang Cheng definitely doesn’t deserve it to be this easy and he certainly doesn’t deserve the hope currently warming his heart. But what if…

For all that Jiang Cheng has blamed himself and hated himself this past year, has he ever truly looked at what it would mean if he really is the one who messed it all up? Because if he wants things to be better, if he wants to fix things… he has to do something about it. Nothing will change if he continues to feel sorry for himself and his shitty life.

The only person who ever told Jiang Cheng that Wei Wuxian doesn’t want him in his life was Jiang Cheng himself. And he’s been wrong about so many other things. So, maybe…

Following that line of thought is more than he can handle this shortly post-hangover and less than 24 hours before meeting Lan Xichen again. Also it’s a Wednesday. This seems more of a weekend thought exercise, and Wei Wuxian’s selfie today was taken by someone else, probably Lan Xichen’s unsmiling brother - so Jiang Cheng visits his sister and spends a few hours playing with his loud nephew. Jiang Yanli asks him about Lan Xichen, with a meaningful look Jiang Cheng ignores, but she only asks once.. He’s very grateful for that.

Thursday

Jiang Cheng takes the subway to Lan Xichen in a pretty good mood. While he did a lot of thinking yesterday, he decidedly did not think about his crush and whether he was going to do something about that. Even though Nie Huaisang encouraged him, this seems like a later-problem. Can’t he just enjoy Lan Xichen’s presence for now? He’s really looking forward to seeing him again. Hopefully he’ll get to see the bunnies, too. Though please, no pee-incident this time. Maybe he’ll be invited for dinner again? No, no, that was an exception. Two exceptions.

Lan Xichen opens the door for him, smiling, as usual, but today it’s a little strained.

“Jiang Wanyin, would you mind joining me in the living room? I made us some tea. There’s… there’s something I have to talk about with you.”

Oh, that sounds ominous. Jiang Cheng immediately tries to think of possible things he could’ve fucked up. Has Wei Wuxian said something and now Lan Xichen thinks he’s the worst and wants to stop their sessions? Is Jiang Cheng so tense he’s a completely lost cause? Oh fuck, did Lan Xichen notice Jiang Cheng has inappropriate feelings for him? That’s it, isn’t it???

Fuck. Fuck fuck.

They sit down in their usual seats. Jiang Cheng folds his hands in his lap. His palms are sweaty.

Lan Xichen really looks nervous now. Hands folded just like him, forehead slightly furrowed. Neither of them drinks their tea. Oh shit. He really knows.

“Jiang Wanyin… I’m so sorry.” Lan Xichen finally says after about a minute of excruciating silence. “I don’t quite know how to tell you. We… I… I think it would be best, if I stopped treating you. I’ll find someone else to take over, of course, finish all the sessions. I…”

“Oh.” Jiang Cheng knows he’s scowling, so he tries his best to put an expression on his face that doesn’t show any of the shock, disappointment, and embarrassment he feels. Of course Lan Xichen doesn’t want to see him anymore. Shit, why was he so obvious? It must've been so awkward for Lan Xichen, massaging him when…

“You must be confused. I..” Lan Xichen clears his throat and when he lifts his hand to cover his mouth, Jiang Cheng sees his fingers are shaking. “I’m so sorry, it’s so unprofessional of me…”

Wait, what? “Of you?”

“Sorry, I went about this all wrong. I had written it down and then… “ Lan Xichen folds his hands again. They’re still shaking. He looks… miserable. Jiang Cheng would like to hold his hands until he calms down. Which is probably exactly why Lan Xichen doesn’t want to continue their meetings.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to explain. Lan-laoshi, we can just… stop this, it’s okay. It’s my fault anyway.” Jiang Cheng forces a smile on his face. Maybe it’s better that way. He has enough things in his life that produce confusing feelings without adding a one-sided love affair to the mix.

“Your-? Oh no, you’re wonderful. Which is exactly why…” Lan Xichen takes a deep breath, closes his eyes for a second, then looks at Jiang Cheng, intently. “I am attracted to you.”

“What?” … What? Neither ‘wonderful’ nor ‘attracted’ are words that make sense addressed to Jiang Cheng. Definitely not when coming from the man across from him, who is undeniably both of those things.

“I’m so sorry, it’s horribly unprofessional. You’re obviously very attractive, but it’s more than just an acknowledgement of that… This has never happened to me before. Not that I want to make excuses.” Lan Xichen averts his eyes now, so Jiang Cheng doesn’t feel the need to control the shock and confusion settling in on his face, when he hears all this. “I’ll find you someone else as soon as possible, and-”

“I don’t want that.” Jiang Cheng still isn’t sure what the fuck is happening right now, but he is sure of that at least. He doesn’t want someone else.

Lan Xichen’s eyes snap back to him, just as confused as he is. “You don’t… oh. Yes, I will give your sister a refund, of course. But I still think you should continue massages and physical therapy… I would not want you to stop, just because I-”

“No, I meant I want to continue. With you.” Maybe it would be the smart thing to stop their sessions. It would certainly be the easy thing. But he also doesn’t want to be responsible for messing another thing up by saying something untrue or saying nothing at all.

“Excuse me?”

They’re staring at each other now. Jiang Cheng can feel a hot flush spreading over his face. A part of him thinks this is either a) a dream and Lan Xichen will very shortly tell him actually, no, he isn’t attracted to Jiang Cheng but to Wei Wuxian, who is sitting behind him and laughing, or b) some kind of elaborate prank. But… what if it isn’t? What was it Nie Huaisang said?

“Just go for it.”

“I don’t want someone else. I’m also attracted to you. If that doesn’t make you uncomfortable, there’s no need to stop. There’s no reason why anything has to change.” Jiang Cheng isn’t quite sure this counts as ‘going for it’, but it’s a first step, right? He confessed - right? His heart is trying to hammer its way out of his chest after all. He voiced his actual feelings. Fucking mortifying. But also exhilarating.

“You’re… “ Lan Xichen blinks once, twice. Opens his mouth, closes it again. Just keeps staring at Jiang Cheng, who is pretty sure he’s going to have a heart attack. “So… you want to just continue, like before?”

“Yes. If that’s alright with you.” Jiang Cheng’s throat is dry, all moisture probably went to his hands and armpits, but he doesn’t trust his hands to successfully hold the teacup right now.

“I… suppose so?” Lan Xichen seems to be horribly confused by this entire situation. Something they have in common.

“Should I go get undressed then?”

“What?” Lan Xichen sputters.

Oh, for fuck’s sake. What’s wrong with him??? “I mean - for the mud pack! Should I go… prepare?”

“Ah, of course.” Lan Xichen’s eyes widen a little and he shakes his head as if wanting to clear his head from whatever images entered his head when Jiang Cheng offered to undress himself. “I’m sorry. Yes, go ahead. I will be with you in a minute. Alright.”

They both get up at the same time and for a few seconds they just stand there, staring at each other some more. Jiang Cheng can feel something hysterical bubbling up in his throat - laughter, screaming, crying, who knows - and flees the room, before it can burst out of him.

What the fuck? What. The. Fuck??? What??? What. What!? Lan Xichen is attracted to him? No??? What! And now he knows Jiang Cheng thinks he’s hot and they’re… did they just agree to not do anything about it and continue things as though nothing’s changed? Is that what just happened? Is Lan Xichen now just going to wrap a shirtless Jiang Cheng up in hot mud and a towel and is he going to give him a massage after? Is he going to touch him with his fingers, while Jiang Cheng can replay ‘I am attracted to you’ in his head over and over again???

Fuck.

Jiang Cheng pulls his sweater and t-shirt over his head, then uses the towel already lying on the massage table to dry his armpits. He puts it back down, then stands next to the table, staring into space. Tries not to think of anything, because his brain is trying to tell him this is a good thing and the worst thing that’s ever happened, at the same time, and he’d rather not think at all. Is this actually happening?

The door opens and Lan Xichen enters, carrying the hot mud mat, so yes, it’s happening.

They smile awkwardly at each other when their eyes meet. Jiang Cheng lies down on the hot mud, lets himself get wrapped up. Lan Xichen hovers next to him for a few seconds, mouth open, clearly trying to think of something to say. But all that he says is “I’ll be back in about twenty minutes. Enjoy.” Then he leaves the room. Before Jiang Cheng has finished taking a deep breath, Lan Xichen enters the room again, says “Uh, the music, I’ll just - “, turns on the generic music, and leaves again.

The twenty minutes are torture. All Jiang Cheng can think about is that Lan Xichen is going to put his hands on his bare skin and that Lan Xichen knows he’s attracted to him. He really wants to call Nie Huaisang, needs someone to tell him what to do. But he’s wrapped up in a towel and can’t move.

So he just lays there, thinking about Lan Xichen. Lan Xichen, who is attracted to him. Who has very long, elegant fingers he’s about to use to touch Jiang Cheng with. Who looked so nervous, as though he did something wrong. Well, Jiang Cheng might argue that being attracted to him is not the smartest move, because he’s… him. Fuck. Maybe he should’ve just let Lan Xichen arrange for someone else to take over. But he didn’t just want to try this whole ‘verbalize your feelings’ and ‘going for it’ stuff, he also couldn’t stand the thought of Lan Xichen feeling bad about his attraction. He just wanted to soothe him somehow, make him feel better.

He’s not quite sure he succeeded at that. He definitely made things more awkward. Very, very awkward.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

How much time has passed? Has it already been twenty minutes? He’s not ready!

Fuck.

Shit, Lan Xichen is probably regretting saying anything right now. Being attracted to Jiang Cheng is one thing, but then hearing “yeah I think you’re hot, no biggie, now go give me a massage” is probably not the greatest feeling??? He really is… a fucking idiot.

This is why people never dated him. Well, one of many reasons. He's heard a few. The most memorable one being "You don't want to choke me. Maybe start smiling more, you shouldn't mislead people like that." Wei Wuxian had laughed for 5 minutes when he told him, confused. Then he'd ordered Jiang Cheng's favourite food (after his sister’s soup) and watched his favourite movie with him. He wonders what Wei Wuxian would say about this situation, about Jiang Cheng telling his crush to not worry about being attracted to him, it won’t make the massage awkward. He'd probably laugh, too.

The door opens and Lan Xichen enters the room again. Shit, shit, shit.

Jiang Cheng reluctantly opens his eyes when Lan Xichen touches his shoulder. Lan Xichen smiles at him, though it feels a little strained, doesn’t seem to come as naturally. Because Jiang Cheng has ruined everything.

While Lan Xichen carries away the clay mat, Jiang Cheng lies on the massage table, desperately trying to think of anything he could say to… well, what is it he wants to do? He wants to untangle this mess, so Lan Xichen can feel better. But how can he accomplish that?

“Alright. Let’s… massage.”

Jiang Cheng, eyes squeezed together, tenses up as soon as Lan Xichen stands behind him. Shortly after, he can smell the soothing fragrance of the massage oil.

Lan Xichen touches his skin.

What about him does he find attractive? It couldn’t have been the Jiang Cheng who had an emotional breakdown right here on this very massage table. Or the Jiang Cheng who was covered in bunny pee.

“You should… try to relax more.” Lan Xichen is quiet, can barely be heard over the music. “Jiang Wanyin, your hands…”

Oh, his hands are balled into fists. Jiang Cheng breathes out, flattens his hands and tries to… just think of nothing. He fails, because Lan Xichen moves his fingers up his neck, begins massaging his jaw and a stray thought enters Jiang Cheng: “Would he touch my face this gently if we kissed?”

Because Jiang Cheng is so occupied with fighting his indecent thoughts, it takes a while for him to notice Lan Xichen isn’t massaging him anymore. His hands are simply resting on Jiang Cheng’s shoulders.

“Lan-laoshi?” Jiang Cheng opens his eyes, even though he can’t see Lan Xichen like this.

“I’m sorry… but… would it be possible… could we talk a little more?”

“Oh, of course!” Jiang Cheng sits upright, then turns so his legs are dangling off the massage table. Lan Xichen is going to tell him now that this is too awkward after all and they should simply stop these sessions. Which is probably the smart thing to do.

Lan Xichen hands him his t-shirt and Jiang Cheng hastily pulls it over his head, while Lan Xichen grabs the stool from under the table, so he can sit down in front of Jiang Cheng. He seems to still be just as nervous as during their earlier talk. Hands clasped in his lap once more and whenever their eyes meet, Lan Xichen smiles weakly, then looks away again.

Jiang Cheng waits a few seconds for Lan Xichen to say something, but when he doesn’t, he takes the initiative. “I guess it wasn’t the best idea I’ve ever had to just go back to business as usual. It must be really awkward for you.” He laughs, even though he really doesn’t feel like it.

Lan Xichen looks at him then, surprised. “Oh, no, that’s not… but I could feel how you tensed up. Clearly this… you’re uncomfortable. As for me, I suppose I’m just… a little confused?” Lan Xichen’s words sound like an apology, even though he really doesn’t have anything to apologise for.

“I’m not… well, I did tense up, but I’m not uncomfortable, not really… it’s more… ah… because it feels… good.” Jiang Cheng often feels like a fool, but right now he literally wants the massage table to become sentient and throw him out of the window. Did he just basically tell Lan Xichen that Jiang Cheng finds the massage arousing? His face feels hot and he wants to rip it off.

“Oh.” Lan Xichen blinks a few times while he processes this embarrassing statement. A slight flush appears high on his cheekbones, making him even prettier. “I see… Well, that’s good then!”

Is it!? Jiang Cheng stares at Lan Xichen, slightly incredulous. Lan Xichen smiles up at him, still flushed. So, on a scale of one to ten, how badly do you want to make out with him? Nie Huaisang’s voice suddenly appears in his head. Twelve, definitely a twelve.

“I think I’m just a little off-balance, because while I had considered possible outcomes of our conversation, it never occurred to me you’d feel similar.”

“How could I not be attracted to you!? I mean - “ Jiang Cheng bites his lip to swallow down the rest of his sentence. Can he not think before he says something for once?

“Oh, well, attraction works differently for everyone, doesn’t it? I would never presume...Also, for me it goes further than just appreciating your good looks.”

Lan Xichen says this earnestly, without embarrassment or humour. As though it’s a given Jiang Cheng is good looking.

“Uhm…” is what Jiang Cheng replies.

Luckily, Lan Xichen keeps talking. “So, I suppose I’d just like to know what you mean, when you say you’re attracted to me. Is it purely physical or…”

Lan Xichen does sound a little embarrassed now, so Jiang Cheng doesn’t check his words before they stumble out of his mouth, as he rushes to reassure him. “Oh, no, of course not! You’re obviously ridiculously attractive, but you’re also just so very… lovely. And you cooked for me. And your smile…”

Said smile is directed at him once again “That’s… that’s good to hear. Thank you.”

Jiang Cheng can’t help but return the smile, pleased that he somehow was able to reassure Lan Xichen. Even if it meant embarrassing himself.

Lan Xichen suddenly huffs a laugh and rubs his forehead. “Ah, I’m really sorry I sprang this on you so unexpectedly. Your time here is supposed to be relaxing - I’m afraid today was anything but, wasn’t it?”

Jiang Cheng does not feel relaxed at all, that much is true. But he does feel lighter, in a way. “Well, certainly unexpected, but not unwanted. Or… or unpleasant.”

Lan Xichen visibly relaxes and the smile he sends Jiang Cheng’s way once more is radiant. Jiang Cheng almost has to look away, because fuck, knowing Lan Xichen is attracted to him makes it even worse that he’s so hot. Jiang Cheng could probably kiss him. It’s not an unattainable day dream anymore.

Luckily, Lan Xichen distracts him by asking: “Jiang Wanyin, would you maybe be interested in meeting me in a different setting than this?”

“You want to go on a date with me?” Jiang Cheng blurts out, needing to confirm he heard this right.

“A date.” Lan Xichen cocks his head a little, thinking about it. Oh, so it’s not what he meant. “Yes. I think that would be nice. Would you want that?”

“Oh, yes. Sure. Definitely!” Jiang Cheng almost, almost gives Lan Xichen a thumbs-up. Thankfully, he’s able to suppress that urge. A date. Him and Lan Xichen. Dating. Jiang Cheng is really, really bad at dating. Abysmally so.

“Wonderful! How about tomorrow?”

Fuck. He needs more than one day to prepare for a date. A year wouldn’t be enough. But Lan Xichen looks so excited, Jiang Cheng can’t say no. “Tomorrow would be great!”

“When and where would you like to meet? Or I could come pick you up?”

Uuuuh… The only place Jiang Cheng can think of is the trendy lounge he went to with Nie Huaisang, and he’s pretty confident it wouldn’t be the right place for Lan Xichen. “Why don’t you pick a place? I’m fine with anything!”

“Oh… well, I’m… I don’t really know any suitable places, so I’ll just follow your lead.”

Jiang Cheng doesn’t know any places either! Fuck. But Lan Xichen’s eyes almost look pleading, so he really doesn’t have a choice. “Why don’t I, uhm, text you with the details tomorrow morning? We could meet in the afternoon - 4:30 p.m. maybe?”

“Sounds great. I’m looking forward to it!” Lan Xichen really sounds like he means it and Jiang Cheng is torn between wanting to just sit here and stare at this happy, smiling Lan Xichen for a few hours, feeling just as happy, and yearning for that sentient throw-happy massage table again, because Jiang Cheng and dating always ends in a disaster.

“Should we continue the massage then?” Lan Xichen suddenly asks.

“Uhm… yes?”

“Great! Why don’t you take off your shirt and lie down. Now that we’ve cleared everything up, you can just close your eyes and… enjoy.” Lan Xichen’s tone and smile aren’t suggestive at all, but there’s a glint of humour in his eyes that leaves Jiang Cheng feeling a little flushed.

Tomorrow is going to be interesting.

#the untamed #cql #mdzs #xicheng #jiang cheng #lan xichen #Jiang Cheng/Lan Xichen #Modern AU #To Meet You verse #betty drabbles

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nimmy22 · 3 years

Text

A Mistake: Chapter 10

Rick was disposed of on Friday. He has been dead for three days.

Raccoon High school ~ 8:00 AM Monday

Heading to her locker, Cara found her friend already waiting for her. Claire stood leaning against the locker, bouncing a ball back and forth. She had a far-away look, chewing her bottom lip. she didn't notice Cara approach. Her mind occupied elsewhere.

Hiding behind a pillar, she spent a few minutes preparing herself for the act before the filming started. There were no second takes in real life. She had only one chance, and that was it. It was now or never. Blowing her bangs out of her face, she gripped her bag tighter and approached Claire.

Feeling cold sweat trickle down her neck, Cara tried to calm her breathing. she resisted the all-powerful urge to run in the opposite direction. She wondered if Claire figured out the truth about what her most trusted friend had done to Rick in the Arkley mountains. Claire looked bothered, and the likelihood of Rick being the reason was high.

"Hi," Cara called out with a smile that Claire matched with her own.

"I was starting to think you weren't gonna show your face around here." Cara's heart fell. She gripped her books tighter to keep them from slipping through her clammy hands. Alarms went off in her head. Did Claire know? Rick wasn't yet reported missing by his mom as she had eaten the lie up for now.

"What? Why wouldn't I?" Cara hid her grimacing face in her locker, pretending to look for something. She struggled to swallow the thickness at the back of her throat.

"Mr. Augustine is subbing in for the first period. That fucker is notorious. No one is setting foot in that class while he's in there." Claire growled, throwing her ball extra hard into the lockers across from them. The sound drew several sleep-deprived eyes for a few seconds.

The tension left Cara's shoulders, and she exhaled slowly. "I could use some normalcy in my life right now. Bad teachers are normal." Cara mumbled without thinking.

Giving her the side-eye, Claire stepped closer, caging her friend against the lockers. "Something you’re not telling me? Something definitely happened." Claire tilted her head, narrowing her eyes as she regarded her friend.

Cara's mouth went slack for a moment. She racked her brain for a way out of these questions. It was hard to think through the alarms blasting in her head.

"Is it bad for me wanting things to be back to the same dull routine? Routine is safe, but what's happening around here recently isn't. Bank robbers taking hostages. And before that, the kid who drove his car into a tree and burned to death. And lastly, my runaway almost-boyfriend. I would like a week where nothing bad happens."

Cara couldn't bring herself to mention her missing parents, getting assaulted in the woods, killing someone, and the endlessly piling bills. How could she possibly say anything without digging herself a depthless hole?

"Oh yeah, Rick. So weird what happened with him. No one just up and leaves like that. Apparently, he wrote this note about going to his dad's place and left. But his mom can't get in contact with her ex-husband either." just like that, Claire backed off, and Cara was thankful.

"Maybe he got fed up with this town."

"Or maybe you smashed his heart with a nasty rejection, and all he could think of was getting the hell outta here. Shame though, you could've gotten yourself a man."

"Hey! he didn't make a move while we were alone together. Maybe you just read all the signs wrong. he was not interested in me from the start."

'Lies. Lies. Lies.' Cara screamed in her head, but on the outside, she maintained a playful expression.

"Impossible! I'm good at reading people. Like, wasn't I right about that one guy who was sniffing around my bike? He was saying he was just checking it out, but I knew he would try to steal it. Guess who ends up sitting at the back of my brother's cruiser? the view he's got now doesn't include a sky."

"That was one time," Cara scoffed, making her way to her first class.

"Your point is?" Claire raised an eyebrow, hands resting on her hips.

"My point is, your ability doesn't seem to delve deeper than surface stuff because you missed some real shit about Rick," Cara said bitterly.

"What do you mean?" Claire watched her friend with wide eyes, her mouth hanging open.

"Oh, you forgot to mention how funny and adorable Rick was- is. When I saw him at the trails, I was immediately hit in the head with how handsome he was. Please, keep hooking me up with great guys like that, and I'll bleed them dry with my rocking charm. They'll never know what hit em."

"don't worry, I'll find you a nice hunk to make up for our runaway boy. I'll make sure you got a date for that fundraising party they're gonna have at the station. My brother got us invites."

"That's cool. I... can’t wait," Cara said as she stood in front of the classroom.

"Are you actually going in?" Claire grabbed her friend's arm.

"Yeah, why not? one bad teacher isn't the end of the world."

"Goddammit, fine, I'm coming with you. You’re such a bad influence on me,"

"Only the best." Cara giggled but remembered the problem at hand. One of many. She turned to her friend. "Hey, Claire,"

"Yeah," Claire answered as she dug into her backpack for a pencil.

"Do you think I could stay with you for a few days?" Cara said in a low voice, her finger fiddling with a hole in her jeans.

"Fuck yes! We haven't been able to hang out for a while. In fact, Chris will really appreciate somebody staying over with me. He's been gone a lot these days, especially at night. Work isn't as clear-cut anymore. what's up though?"

"My parents are out of town. I'm scared someone might break in while I'm alone." Cara lied, grimacing internally with every word. she hated lying to her friend. Still, there was no way she could tell Claire that she is being evicted.

The rent was already late. Late for months. The landlord was already fed up and refused to give her more time. She couldn't come up with even a quarter of what was owed, and an eviction notice was posted to her door last night. With her parents still MIA, she couldn't save her home. While it wasn't the happiest place on earth, she grew up there and had some fond memories amongst all the bad ones. The staircase was her favorite place to play as a child. She would meet up with the other kids there, and they would play for hours while their giggles and shouts echoed floors below. It was a time of innocence, moments of joy away from their abusive homes.

"Girl, I'll protect you. Come on over whenever. You don't even need to ask." Claire giggled, balancing the pencil on her nose and crossing her eyes. "Claire bear will take good care of you."

"Thanks, Claire, you the best," Cara meant every word. This was the only truthful thing she had said in this conversation.

----------------------------- 4 PM

On her way to the bus stop, Cara made a mental list of all the things she should pack from home. This was likely the last time she will be setting foot there. Obviously, she couldn't take any furniture, not that anything was worth more than curbside pickups.

Just as Cara reached the bus stop, a light drizzle of rain began. It reminded her of that night. The night she had the misfortune of meeting the infamous captain of the STARS. While she had seen and experienced some horrible things since meeting him, nothing was directly his doing. Those hitmen would have tried to kidnap Sherry, Rick would have tried to rape her, and her parents would have left whether or not she had met him. He helped her several times, and she had to acknowledge that he may be an ally she could trust. But he still had control over her life which frustrates her.

Stepping into the bus shelter, an advertisement caught her attention. Cara approached the poster, her eyes skimming over the print with increasing interest.

Participants wanted for clinical trials at Raccoon General Hospital to test the efficacy of a new drug. Each participant will be paid a starting amount of 900$ at the beginning of the study if selected. More details will be provided after the extensive selection process. All interested parties must complete an application and submit it to the secretary of Dr. Sandford on the third floor of Raccoon general hospital, room 312.

The money stood out to Cara, so much so that she walked out into the rain with a destination in mind. The money wasn't much, but it could help her get by for at least a month or so. she needed a little booster until she could sort out a job. She couldn't survive just on babysitting, especially since the Birkins hadn't called her at all this week. They've been too quiet, and she was starting to miss Sherry.

---------------

With dripping hair and drenched clothes sticking to her like a second skin, Cara finished filling in her details while the clipboard rested on her thighs. Using the number of the phone Wesker had given her, she filled out her contact information.

The rain had not let up, only coming down harder. It was soothing to hear the rain periodically hitting the windows. She was the only person in Dr. Sandford's waiting room until the secretary sauntered back in and rolled her caked eyes at Cara.

"Still here? Oh, take your time its not like I enjoy staying back past my shift. You must be something desperate. Why don't you visit one of them shelters, you know, the ones for troubled runaway teens." she said through loud, open-mouthed gum chewing. A generous amount of red lipstick coated her front teeth. It was a wonder how she did not taste it.

"All done!" Cara chirped, skipping to the secretary's desk. She slid the clipboard over the counter with a big smile earning her another eye-roll. she could almost feel the cash already in her hands, and nothing could dampen her mood. Making her way to the door, Cara hoped she would be selected for the study.

"Oh? so you do have a home. But on that side of town. It might as well be a cardboard box in a back alley." the secretary snickered as she looked over Cara's application, twirling her Coiffured hair. She held the form carelessly, pulling out the piece of gum in her mouth and sticking it on the corner of the paper.

All Cara wanted to do was walk up to the older woman's face and smack the smug look off her face while screaming every profanity she could think of. Instead, she grabbed the bottom of her shirt and gave a generous squeeze. Water spilled all over the polished white floors. "Sorry, I can't afford to catch a cold."

----------------------------

Cara sat curled up on a couch next to Claire, a cozy blanket laid over them. The only light in the room was the flashing of the T.V as shots were fired. Half the popcorn in the bowl was on the floor as they kept tossing the kernels in each other's mouths and missing every single time.

"I gotta go pee, be right back," Claire declared before hopping over the back of the couch and jogging to the bathroom. Pausing the movie, Cara stood up to stretch.

As Cara started clearing the popcorn mess, her phone rang. She knew it could only be Wesker or Dr. Sandford calling. Without wasting time, she stumbled off the couch to grab her phone off the coffee table. in her hast, she ended up sending it sliding beneath the couch. "Fuck!" she hissed.

Peeking below, she couldn't see it. Using all her strength, she flipped the couch over to reveal her phone sitting in a pile of dust. She didn't recognize the caller's number and squealed. Taking a deep breath, she answered the call.

"Hello?" her voice shook, hands clammy. Short of breath, she had to remind herself to breathe.

"This is the FBI. We are calling regarding an arrest warrant made for you." A young boy spoke. He couldn't be older than her.

"Oh yeah?" Cara clenched her jaw and narrowed her eyes. These little fuckers chose the worst time to mess with her.

"Have no worries, Miss. We can have all the charges withdrawn from your record. But first, we need you to confirm your social insurance number for us."

"Oh, sure. It begins with....1234 go fuck yourself," hanging up, Cara covered her face with her hands. she felt stupid for worrying over something that turned out to be a prank call.

While she enjoyed hanging out with her best friend, the wait was slowly killing her. She wanted to do something about her situation ASAP but was stuck watching the rented movie Claire nagged about all day. What calmed her nerves a little was that Claire had agreed to go job hunting with her the next day.

Cara fixed the couch and threw herself on it with a sigh, tossing the phone beside her. Leaning back, Cara rested her head and closed her eyes.

Her eyes flew open as the phone rang again, with another unknown number. With an eye roll, Cara answered. "Listen, you little shits. Find someone else to-"

"I guess your mother was too busy snorting drugs to teach you any respect. I suppose you weren't desperate for the money after all," Cara recognized the secretary's haughty voice, her eyes widening like saucers. She mouthed a half dozen curses before collecting herself.

"I am so sorry, mam! someone was prank calling-"

"Did I ask? Despite you being such a low grad choice, you've been selected. I have no idea what low standards the doctor has that he will take just about anyone. Come to the same place Wednesday at 6 PM sharp and don't be late."

"Thank you. Thank you!" Cara cried, bouncing on the couch.

"It's only 900$," With a click of her tongue, the secretary hung up.

Claire came back from the bathroom and watched with raised brows as her friend bounced around. Not knowing what her friend was happy about, Claire joined her in jumping on the couch. Together they broke into a fit of hysterical giggling. She was glad to see her friend less troubled.

-----------------------------

Cara sat in a small crowd of twelve selected participants around a meeting room at the hospital. She was the first to arrive, eager to remedy her situation as soon as possible with the soon-to-be easy cash in her hands.

"During the experiment, you will be required to stay in an assigned room. Contact with the outside is strictly prohibited. Until we state otherwise. Many competitors out there will do anything to steal our research. As such, actions will be taken to prevent any and all data leaks. My team of researchers will monitor all medication's administration, and You may not refuse any doses given." Cara and several others scoffed at the scientist, Dr. Stanford.

Grey-haired, tall, and plump with dark skin, this man was the definition of sketchy. His ambitious eyes were calculating as they hardly spent time on each individual. His clothes and lab coat were immaculate, crisply pressed.

"Hey, I am not trying to be a lab rat for big pharma here," A man yelled, spittle flying out of his mouth. His clothes were worn, hair disheveled and dirty.

"You will receive your initial payment of 900$ now and then $2000 at the conclusion of the study. Any questions?" No one else spoke up. No complaints. Everyone's eyes gleamed with the prospect of additional money in their pockets. Cara couldn't deny how lucrative the amount was despite the sketchy situation.

The study would last only three days. Three days of absolutely no contact with the outside. Three days and she would have $2900 in her hands. It was good to be true.

---------------------

30 min earlier.

Wesker stood at the loading area behind the hospital, leaning against the wall. Behind his shades, he watched as the two men loaded his cruiser with boxes of donated medical supplies. Once they were finished, the men returned inside.

Under the guise of checking over the contents of the boxes, Wesker peered inside to locate the reason he was here in the first place, A yellow folder of classified information about the newest test subjects. The job was clear. He would wipe any traces left by the research project and prevent any future missing person cases from being fruitful. Without opening the folder, he placed it back in the box and closed the trunk. Trust Umbrella to begin the cleanup operation before the first injection was administered. They like to cover all their bases.

With his hand on the door handle, Wesker paused. Something felt wrong, but he couldn't figure it out. Taking cover behind the car, he took out his gun, surveying the rooftops for a sniper. He waited several minutes, yet nothing happened.

Seeing no danger to himself, he lowered his gun back to its holster. There was no visible threat, yet he couldn't shake off the sense of danger. Frowning, Wesker wondered if Umbrella's paranoia was getting to him.

Making his way into the hospital, he began a search but didn't know what he was looking for.

Something was very wrong.

#claire redfield #resident evil #albert wesker x oc #albert wesker #oc

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ariesbilly · 4 years

Text

JULIA’S FICS MASTERLIST

so it’s my wifes ( @fredheads ) birthday and im a flop who doesnt have her birthday fic ready (it’ll be done... before the end of the month. absolutely should not take that long but thats the only definite timeline i have lmao) SO to celebrate, i think you all should read her fics and leave nice comments because it’s what she deserves :)

MULTI CHAPTER (unfinished)

She's The One (fem!fredsythe)

Just Like Heaven (fredsythe, alice - fred escapes the Sisters au)

talk about a dream, try to make it real (fredsythe, gladys - college au)

quiet mercy (fredsythe - the OG fred & the sisters of quiet mercy fic)

Papa (fred and artie exploration)

wanna be your backdoor man (fredsythe - h*rny neighbor antics)

With a Girl Like You (fred and gladys friendship)

all our costliest treasures (baby fredsythe at christmas julia i would like to see more... its your birthday i should not be requesting things my apologies)

but your kids are gonna love it (archie and jughead - back to the future au i never saw that movie so i cant say for sure but they do time travel so that checks out to me)

Riverdale High's Last Annual Father-Daughter Winter Fling (fred takes veronica to the father/daughter dance because hiram is in jail =/ )

i say the phrases that keep it all going (different takes of fred fp archie and jughead dying in each others arms julia where is the fredsythe one... just asking)

MULTI CHAPTER (finished [according to ao3])

wouldn't it be good (ensemble - everyones paired up and has to raise an egg)

love is like a heat wave (fredsythe summertime antics)

burnt toffee (halice - working at an icecream shop, falling in love, v cute)

if only in my dreams (penelope lies about having a boyfriend)

let nothing you dismay (alice cooper fixing christmas)

there's a blue light in my best friend's room (hal and fred bonding hour)

The Trials of Cheerleading (or, "Throwing In The Megaphone") (the parentdale bible just read it and forget anything else anyone [ras] has ever told you)

fred andrews adopts a gang (bet you cant tell what this is about)

from the rich to the poor they are mostly unkind (i think this is a sweet pea centric fic?? julia really has something for everyone but dont expect her to do this again)

fp's adventures in domesticity (fp taking care of the andrews household while fred recovers from getting blasted in the chest)

Oblivion (all the times fred has experienced god)

west of memphis (jarchie post 107 thats all i can tell you idk)

ONE SHOT

Wherever you go i'll be with you (fp and archie - a timeline after freds death)

that's as close as i'll get to loving you (fremary - fred asks mary out)

i'm only good at being bad, bad (gladys hating her deadbeat husband <3)

and all the miles in between (fp and tom on the bus to basic training)

excerpts from the same party (freds interactions...at a party... the title is pretty self explanatory but who doesnt love a party fic ammirite ladiez)

don't you know these days you pay for everything (fred, fp, mary - i remember this being fp playing wingman to get fred and mary together cuz he likes mary better than hermione.... read more to find out if im right)

tying faith between our teeth (fredsythe - au where fp goes to college and doesnt ruin his life)

and they were roommates (fredsythe - another college au)

The Construction Tree (jarchie - idk what this is about i dont read kid fics im sorry... but julias a bomb ass writer so im sure the jarchies will love it anyway)

flowers grow through cement (fred gaining weight and feeling insecure)

night creatures call and the dead start to walk in their masquerade (HALLOWEEN FREDSYTHE BABYYYY!)

get me a prescription for that one perfect touch (fredsythe sick fic)

i don't know where else i can go (more hal and fred bonding hour)

everybody's got a hungry heart (fredsythe sexy time with food... that sounds weird.... listen either youre into it or youre not)

not so typical love song (fp and mary bonding hour)

all the redemption i can offer (fremary after the shooting... im pretty sure... listen i have a bad brain i cant remember things just read it)

Simply Irresistible (fred is a ho)

took the words (right out of my mouth) (four times fred and fp say ‘i love you’)

if you wanna get it done you gotta do it yourself (fp and mary loving fred... who is a ho)

people livin' in competition (more fp/fred/mary nonsense with fp gay pining what a good triangle i would have liked to seen it...)

buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight (mary works at youth crisis hotline and fred calls in)

that's what they say when we're together (halram post high school au)

a good old fashioned romance (hiram flaunting his wealth instead of displaying emotions)

you don't know what (you) got (fred has great friends even though hes a bit of a putz)

watch your weight (more fredsythe food shenanigans)

Valuable Lessons Learned On The Tilt-A-Whirl, or "Babe, You Ought To Quit This Scene Too" (alice hermione fred and fp go to the fair)

what once was (jughead and the andrews after freds shooting)

you must remember this (i have no recollection of what this is about but it sounds jughead centric)

takes guts to be gentle and kind (idk what this is either lmfao but i know julia saved moose and midge in it... idk midge but good for her [granted this also takes place after 202 so keep that in mind])

FP Jones and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad House Party (or, "Nothing Good Ever Happens At One Of These") (oh i remember this one.... mmmm. title tells you all really)

and so please help them with your youth ( ‘fred teaches archie to walk. archie returns the favor’)

andrews & son (more fred and archie post 201)

Blueberry Pie (fredsythe - my review of this fic is just me clutching my chest saying ‘oh god, oh fuck’)

never drill for oil on a city street (part 1 of mary working at a youth crisis hotline and fred calling in and i should put this above the other fic but like... you can figure out one and two on your own i believe in you)

The Perils of Faking Illness (or, “two times Fred Andrews faked sick to get out of class and one time he actually needed a hospital”) (read the title)

healing, in three parts (fred fp archie and jughead attempt a roadtrip)

all along the watchtower (#fredandrewsisriverdale)

guess that we were too much of the same kind (fred getting visitors in the hospital)

sometimes wonder what's beneath the mess you've become (fred and alice bonding hour)

nice day for a white wedding (fredsythe hospital times babyyyy!)

The Unexpected Perks of Feminist Activism (or, "Fingertip Rules") (fred gets fucked in a skirt by fp thats all you need to know)

Any Way You Want It (reggie x moose idk what it is but if you like them here you go)

fun, fun, fun (till her daddy takes the t-bird away) (beach antics! freds a menace but fp loves him anyway...)

hands over the ears of my heart (fred and hermione share a bed but platonically)

the apocalypse comes sooner than you think (fredsythemione antics)

small as a world and large as alone (a series of drabbles about archie jughead and fred post 104)

do a good turn daily (archie x reggie post 103)

seven minutes in heaven (archie and reggie picked for 7 minutes in heaven)

tell me every terrible thing you ever did (archie drops jughead off after the pep rally)

#READ HER WORK!#riverdale fanfiction #idk why im bothering tagging this i doubt its gonna show up anywhere thanks to tumblrs rules but whatever

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ts-unsolved · 4 years

Text

Final Wrap-up for Chapter One

((since chapter one will be coming to a close shortly and there is still an assortment of questions left over, here is a masterpost of responses to queries that couldn’t be addressed during the story!

[reminder: the ask box will be left open, however the characters are not available. please keep in mind that non-plot related questions will not be answered by the characters after this post.]

Anonymous said: ((Just wanted to tell you your drawings are so pretty and I love ur blog. That is all I have no braincells to ask questions))

Anonymous said: OKAY MOD I JUST WANT YOU TO KNOW I LOVE THIS AU SO MUCH AND ITS SO COOL AND GOOD AND YOUR ART IS TOO!! sorry for caps I’m just excited

Thank you! Sorry I didn’t always get around to answering asks like this, but for every one that was sent in, I appreciated it with all my heart. You guys are angels 💖

Anonymous said: What is one haunted location you guys would really like to visit someday?

Poveglia is definitely the highest on the list for the notoriety alone, although they would likely never get the permission to go (the history in general is almost excessively horrible and tragic, so nothing good would come out of doing an episode there. Maybe it’d be good as a final-chapter type location? 🤔).

@anxious-fander-bean said: Hey Logan, have you ever tried swing dancing? It's really fun and good excersize! There's also a lot of bouncing and upbeat music, so Patton might enjoy it as well! ((I'm doing it. I need the qpp boys to be happy and have fun, bc they deserve it.))

(LOGAN: I’ll...consider it.)

You did it, you got them to go on some good ol’ platonic dates! B)

Anonymous said: I feel bad that I don't have any deep question or something along those lines, but what's your favorite thing to bake, Pat? - 💐

That’s alright! Questions don’t have to be deep to be fun/interesting.

(PATTON: Cupcakes! You can make so many different flavors, and there are tons of fun ways to decorate them!)

@why-should-i-tell-youu2 said: Why cant anyone else see the seal?

You need to have The Sight to be able to see demon sigils. Patton has this ability naturally, and Dee has it because Elliott taught it to him. Otherwise, Virgil and Roman would be the closest in terms of gaining this ability, but a scared/skeptical part of them is holding them back.

Anonymous said: My good dorks, is there a way to, I don’t know, get a better/more effective charm for your office? One that costs more than $10? -🍁

Anonymous said: Hey, Logan, potential naturalistic explanation for ya: depending on what the charm was made of, shifts in ambient room temperature could have caused minuscule expansions and contractions in the material that would eventually crack the charm. Do I believe my own explanation? Absolutely not. Am I grasping at straws for a non-supernatural explanation? Absolutely. And ambient room temperature doesn’t even begin to explain the red symbol around the charm

(LOGAN: Our budgeting is already a mess as it is, the last thing we need is to waste more funds on decorations. And that theory seems much more reasonable than the contrary explanation.)

Anonymous said: Is the demon that Pavreen summoned the same demon that possessed Elliott?

Anonymous said: Welp Virge SUMMONED A DEMON- (Why do I have a feeling Remy was the demon that possessed Elliot-)

Nope, they’re all different demons! The demon that Parveen summoned is notoriously difficult to contact, so a bunch of teenagers wouldn’t have been able to do it. Likewise for Remy; you can only summon him once you have his True Name, and he’s already destroyed most references to that (sorry Patton).

Anonymous said: omg omg omg what part of mythology is remy part of???

He’s not from any particular mythology, but he is partly based off of Alps from German folklore and the general mythology around sleep paralysis!

Anonymous said: Can Patton see supernatural beings like ghosts and demons and stuff? I just think it would be interesting if his scars make him able to see them :3c

Anonymous said: If both Dee and Patton can see the sigil, and Dee can see ghosts, does that mean Pat can see ghosts too? With the whole red glowing thing (forgot what its called) it seems to be connected.

Yes he can see ghosts/demons, and you’re right that the scars (or rather the deal with the demon which gave him his powers and scars) are what lead to him being able to do it. The red is just a general indicator of something supernatural/not of our Realm.

Anonymous said: Wait so if Patton and his family all have that mark could that mean Patton is not completely human 👀 -🌈

I supposed you could say that Patton’s not entirely human because he’s a witch who was born without a soul, but he’d find that pretty offensive tbh.

Anonymous said: Are Elliott and Patton maybe related, even distantly? Also, roman needs to suck it up and have Feelings for the Snake Man

There’s no relation between Elliott and Patton. Elliott is the child of a seer and a psychic, Patton is the son of witches. They’re similar, but different. (Also you’re assuming that Roman hasn’t liked the Snake Man since high school, but considered him off-limits because he’s his brother’s best friend).

Anonymous said: Does Patton know that Dee can see spirits and does Dee know that Patton is protecting them all?

Anonymous said: Dee, pat, do you know that each other can see the sigil?

Anonymous said: is ... is patton a witch and dee a dee-mon and that's why they don't like each other.....?

Anonymous said: Pat what do you think about making deals with demons?

They’re both aware of each other’s secrets! Technically they’re both doing their best to protect everyone, but that doesn’t mean they agree with each other’s methods or bond over the shared responsibility.

Patton is indeed a witch, and Dee is a regular human who happened to summon a demon one time. Patton thinks Dee is the occult equivalent of a satanist, which he disagrees with because dark magic is unnatural/dangerous in his eyes (making deals with demons only leads to trouble!), and would prefer Dee not endanger his friends. Dee doesn’t like Patton because of his perceived moral superiority, and finds the way he can be so secretive and two-faced creepy

Regardless, they’re both sitting in glass houses and have more in common than they think.

Anonymous said: Patton Should Hug Dee *

Maybe. But he won’t. 8′D

Anonymous said: Since Dee has been able to see ghosts for a long time, was he an open believer in ghosts before Elliot died? Since it was mentioned that the reason he lies about his belief is because he knows that they're dangerous, he wouldn't have had a reason to hide it in the past. And if he did are any of the others aware of the belief change? Well, besides Remus. I'm guessing that one is pretty obvious.

He may have been more involved as a believer in the past, though that doesn’t mean he was ever super open about it. He was aware of how it would look like to outsiders (being genuinely skeptical at one point himself), so he wasn’t going to paint a target on his back by talking about ghosts and demons and things most people can’t see.

Of course, that didn’t stop people from stereotyping and making those sorts of assumptions about their friend group anyway, but no one besides them really knew about their secret-- not even Virgil.

Anonymous asked: What would happen if one time, the gang ended up getting something supernatural on camera?

The result of that would depend on the being. Ghosts can kinda appear on camera, although it’s very rare for them to appear as a full bodied apparition, which is why they usually only manifest in spirit orbs or light/shadows. Poltergeists are better since they’re able to interact with objects, but likewise since they can’t manifest into a physical form they can easily be brushed off. Demons and other miscellaneous creatures will straight up not appear if captured directly on film; you’ll simply get video glitches and distortions.

So essentially, they may technically have found something already, but capturing evidence that’s also compelling is a lot more difficult than you’d think. I imagine there’s a good chance that anything legitimate wouldn’t get taken too seriously because of how easy it is to fake evidence nowadays.

Anonymous said: Okay so a little bit of a rant but not really ig but imagine the ladylike and unsolved crossover for this AU like I can see it as like Thomas' friends dressing up Roman and Dee in style and seeing a blushing mess and maybe flirting going on because of how good the clothing complements each other but this is kinda a weak idea lol

It’s not a weak idea at it, it’s really cute! (though I may just have a soft spot for the Ladylike cast and crossovers).

The only thing to note is that I’ve chosen not to include Thomas’ friends in this AU because I personally weird about writing fiction about real people? (I was on the fence about including character!Thomas for a while too, tbh). So, apologies to anyone who’s sent similar asks or wanted to see any of Thomas’ friends; they wont be around!

Anonymous said: Did Dee and Remus ever have that talk Dee said he would try to have a while back????

They might have gotten the opportunity to chat back when Remus came back to help shoot the Room 1046 video. It wouldn’t have been a complete reconciliation by any means (dealing with years of baggage in one sitting is Hard), but now Remus is aware that Dee is open to discuss things again at some point in the future, so progress!

Anonymous said: wait wHAT?! When did he (Emile Picani) die?? Give us the deets oh wise one

Anonymous said: emile is... dead? what happened?

I see y’all, but unfortunately you’re not getting any answers from me just yet! You’ll have to wait until the next chapter~.

Anonymous said: Shit is about to go down and I am worried about the next ghost "adventure"

:) Don’t Worry About It.))

#OOC #((that should be all the big questions!#i'll update this later if anything comes up))

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Batman: Soul of the Dragon – Bringing a Little Bruce Lee to Bruce Wayne’s World

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This article contains Batman: Soul of the Dragon spoilers.

The latest DC animated film Batman: Soul of the Dragon is a complete reimagining of the Dark Knight. It’s an out-of-continuity story, the kind of tale DC usually places under its Elseworlds banner. Set in the 1970s, Soul of the Dragon places Batman (David Giuntoli) as part of an ensemble of heroes, a collection of the top martial arts masters in the DC universe including Richard Dragon (Mark Dacascos), Lady Shiva (Kelly Hu), Ben Turner a.k.a. Bronze Tiger (Michael Jai White), and O-Sensei (James Hong).

“It’s a weird movie in that you can literally take the voice cast and transpose it into live-action and they can make the same movie,” gushes writer Jeremy Abrams, “They’re all accomplished and good looking. It all works!”

Batman: Soul of the Dragon is a mash-up of Batman and ‘70s Kung Fu films. For this film, the comics character Richard Dragon is reinvented as a thinly disguised homage to Bruce Lee.

“I pitch a lot of martial art DC comic ideas,” confesses Abrams. “I’ve been pitching Batman meets Enter the Dragon for a while, and evidently, [Executive Producer] Bruce Timm had a similar idea.” Timm said he’d love to do a 1970s Batman martial arts thing, which led him to Abrams. “Bruce wanted to add on a Big Trouble in Little China element, which is like catnip for me. That’s one of my favorite movies. So, it ended up being like four hours just talking about stuff, and what would work, and what would be cool.”

Abrams and Timm have a great love of ’70s cinema. It’s an unusually fruitful period to set a Batman story according to Abrams.

“One of the great things that they had is all these really distinct genres,” Abrams says. “You had blaxploitation, you had Kung Fu movies, you had James Bond movies. Then you had horror movies that were the satanic panic type cult movies. And our movie is in the center of that and it just all seemed to lend itself to this movie.”

In the 1970s Batman comics strove to distance themselves from Adam West’s campy TV rendition which had become the dominant impression of the character since its wild success from 1966-69. Part of this reinvention involved scaling down Batman’s reliance on gadgets and technology in favor of a more two-fisted, detective style approach. Batman: Soul of the Dragon explores Batman in his formative years, and scales back his resources accordingly. “You’re not going to get the Batcave,” explains Abrams. “You’re going to get the loft above a building, a dance club.”

There are so many Batman stories already so to stand out, the filmmakers sought to bring Batman to his roots by making this more about Bruce Wayne.

“We’ve tried to humanize Batman,” adds director Sam Liu, “so he’s not in the costume for the majority of the film, and it’s more of a human story.”

There’s always risk when retooling a beloved character.

“We get to work on big, A-list superheroes,” Liu says. “These are iconic heroes. They’re not just made up from cartoons and stuff like that. It’s a big responsibility sometimes, but if I spend too much time thinking what it means to so many people, I could get intimidated. After a while…you kind of want to try something different. We’ve done so many Batman stories. Sometimes you try something new and it’s interesting to you, because again, it’s different. But then the fans don’t get on board with it because they kind of want them to stay the same.”

Who is the Best Martial Artist in the DC Universe?

Given the formative theme, Batman: Soul of the Dragon illuminates Batman’s training in martial arts. However, this isn’t exactly Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins either. Batman doesn’t study ninjutsu with Ra’s al Ghul. Instead, he trains under O-Sensei alongside the most powerful martial artists of DC. Abrams, a consummate comics and martial arts geek, already had his top three DC Universe martial artists picked out.

“Well, I know Shiva’s in there. I know Richard Dragon’s in there, and I know that Ben Turner’s in there,” Abrams says. “I definitely think they are the top. I don’t think Batman breaks the top five in terms of DC martial artists. But he’s cool. I just think he supplements martial arts with so many other things.”

Even though Batman has top billing, he’s not the main character. According to Liu, each of the others in the quartet of heroes could carry their own story.

“We didn’t want any of them to be sidekicks,” Liu says. “We’re so used to these Batman stories where Batman is the guy. It was a very conscious decision in building this, that we made sure that Richard was never a sidekick. If anything, this was a little bit subversively kind of supposed to be more of a Richard story. Batman is just one of the characters. He grew up with these characters, and he’s just part of this ensemble, and each of them have their part in this grander story.”

In the wake of Bruce Lee, Kung Fu oriented characters spread into comics. Marvel’s upcoming Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, based on a popular comic series that came out in the 1970s, is a leading example, however DC had their own stable of martial masters.

“I know and I love the glut of DC martial arts characters of that era,” states Abrams emphatically. “Everybody has their peculiarities in the things they love about fandom. I know a guy that is really obsessed with the background creatures of Star Wars. But one of my obsessions in the DC universe are these really cool well-defined martial arts characters they have.”

Batman: Soul of the Dragon takes a deep dive into several secondary DC martial artists like Judomaster Rip Jagger (Chris Cox), Edmund Dorrence (Patrick Seitz) and the nefarious Kobra Cult including Jeffery Burr (Josh Keaton), and Lady Eve (Grey Griffin). What is it about cobras and martial arts villains nowadays?

Enter Richard Dragon

While all of the martial artists in this film have been reinvented to some degree from the comic pages to this animated adaptation, the biggest change is Richard Dragon. In the comics, Dragon was originally Richard Drakunovski, a Caucasian character. In later story arcs, Dragon’s title is usurped by his villainous student, Richard Diaz Jr. In Batman: Soul of the Dragon, Dragon is Chinese, a clone of Bruce Lee’s character ‘Lee’ from Enter the Dragon.

“‘Race swapping’ is not usually where I go first because I’d rather just make a new character,” confesses Abrams. “But we made this an Elseworlds, so there’s a lot to be set up. We can do whatever we want.”

For Liu, bringing a positive Chinese character to the DC animated universe was huge.

“It’s funny because when we started this film, they sort of approached me saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to put you in this sort of ’70s Enter the Dragon meets Batman kind of a story.’ I was like, ‘Oh boy. This could go either way.’”

Liu remembers laying out the ground rules in an early writer’s room meeting by saying “Look, I’m Chinese. I just want to make sure that you’re going to do this respectfully, because I don’t really want to be a part of something if it’s just sort of…irresponsible.”

Liu was reassured to learn that respectful representation was at the forefront of everyone’s mind from the very beginning and that sold him on the project.

“I’m an older guy, so I’ve experienced racism and all that kind of stuff, because I grew up in the South when I was very, very young,” Liu says. “It’s horrible. I’ve always liked to get more representation.”

For Liu, Batman: Soul of the Dragon is another step towards increased acceptance of diversity. As an Asian American, he has experienced xenophobia all his life.

“As volatile as it is nowadays, it’s much better,” Liu says. “I remember my dad being an Asian man in the South, and some of the stuff we had to go through. I come from an era where you’re oppressed, so you’re just expected to be that way. Any little movement forward is a big step. For me, personally, I think it’s great.”

As the world’s first global Asian celebrity, Lee was a pioneer before long before diversity became an issue of debate. He lived by example, all the while infusing his philosophy into his constant battle against racism.

“It’s like a theme that’s in Enter The Dragon, the art of fighting without fighting.” In Batman: Soul of the Dragon, there’s even an homage to the scene in Enter The Dragon where Lee drops that line on Parsons (Peter Archer) and tricks him out of a fight.

For Abrams, shifting Richard Dragon to Asian was true to the roots of the character. Dragon first appeared in a paperback novel written by Denny O’Neil under a pseudonym. According to Abrams, “On that cover, it looks like Richard Dragon is an Asian man. And for Bruce [Timm], that’s how he always saw him.” Abrams feels that bringing Dragon back to how he was depicted on that original cover was the way to go. “I think it adds a great diversity and it pulls away from, ‘Oh, here’s another white guy with Batman.’ It makes this really cool ensemble, even more definitively different.”

The Launch of a New Franchise?

The finale of Batman: Soul of the Dragon leaves the door wide open for a sequel. Batman, Dragon, Shiva, and Turner enter another hellish dimension, and what lies ahead is anyone’s guess.

“The ending is actually one of the first things that we came up with,” reveals Abrams. “We looked at each other and thought, ‘This is crazy. But, what if this happens?’ We’re looking around at each other, like, ‘Somebody’s going to stop us, right?’ It’s like, ‘Nope. We’re going to do it.’ The ending fits perfectly with the dream of Batman, which is, ‘I get to fight evil, forever.’”

So will there be a Batman: Return of the Dragon?

“Bruce Timm had talked about potentially doing more if this does really well,” adds Liu. “I think he’s in talks with some other creators and stuff like that, because he’s such a fan of the ’70s that I think that he would love to be able to continue doing more stories, especially in this genre. This story is really, really personal as far as just all the things that he loves. I think both him and Jeremy are in love with this era and this genre.”

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Batman: Soul of the Dragon is available now on Digital and Blu-ray.

The post Batman: Soul of the Dragon – Bringing a Little Bruce Lee to Bruce Wayne’s World appeared first on Den of Geek.

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