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safertokiss · 3 years

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Through a Different Lens

A/N: Well, well, well. Lookie what we have here. New content wowza. I’d say I’m surprised it’s been a while, but I simply am not. Luckily another fic swap has arrived to get my creative juices flowing once again. The gods have gifted me with another perfect opportunity to write sub spence because I was given @writing-in-april as my person yet again. Hooray! Anyways I hope you enjoy and thanks all you cool cats and kittens for the support (we almost to 1000 yeet skrrt). Also, it just happens to be my birthday today so as a gift to myself I thought about subby Spencer for a while.

Pairing: SPENCER x READER

Category: SMUT and can’t forget that fluff

Word Count: 3.2k

ENJOY:)

~~~

It all started completely by accident.

There was no possible way that she would’ve been able to predict just how much they would affect the poor kid.

She could remember, clear as day, the first time she was forced to wear her glasses to the bureau due to her ongoing frustrations with the torture devices that were also referred to as contacts. There were only so many headaches and eye-waterings that she could take before the insecurity of wearing her frames to work shriveled below the point of caring anymore.

But none of those previous insecurities held a flame to the amount of confusion she felt when she entered the bullpen and waltzed over to Spencer’s desk to say good morning with a shy smile adorning her face. Y/n hadn’t even been able to get a complete sentence out before the young doctor had turned to her and froze, his mouth hanging open like a fish, his eyes widening to the size of dinner plates, the harsh red blush she had seen before, just maybe not to this extent, engulfing his boyish features.

Before she could even attempt to ask him what she had done to warrant such a response, he was spouting out a meager, “H-hey Y/n” whilst simultaneously scurrying off in the direction of the nearest bathroom.

Completely and utterly perplexed over what had happened, she had shrugged it off and made her way back to her desk, silently mulling over the interaction periodically throughout the rest of the day.

It was a couple of the same type of interactions later that Y/n began to take notice of what was actually happening with the boy genius. The stiff and unnatural posture. The stuttering, granted that wasn’t something new, just much more frequent and severe. The audible heartbeat always accompanied by rosy cheeks and goosebumps.

Spencer Reid was fucking turned on by the glasses.

And he didn’t even try to hide it. Or maybe he did and was just really, really bad at doing so.

Either way, Y/n quickly discovered just how much fun it was getting these reactions to pour out of the kid...so of course she kept wearing the glasses even after she was able to wear contacts again. He didn’t need to know that.

It was so fucking easy too.

She would just be sitting at her desk, occupied by some particularly troubling pages of a case file that makes her have to readjust her frames out of stress, when she’d hear a high pitched squeak across the bullpen, followed by the pattering of frantic footsteps she had familiarized herself with in former few weeks.

While she felt some kind of guilt for putting him through this, it was nowhere near enough to overtake the genuine excitement and gratification that came with knowing she could have such an effect on the adorable doctor.

Of course she found him attractive...how could she not with his perfectly sculpted cheekbones and nerdy slicked back hair. Ultimately Y/n could understand his apparent infatuation with her wearing glasses as she had caught herself, on more than a couple occasions, openly ogling his own specs.

Maybe they were both weirdos...the whole situation was almost as strange as the Converse kink that she secretly harbored for years. Although her intuition was quick to suggest that, just maybe, both of her unique infatuations stemmed from the same noodle-shaped source.

Perhaps her favorite reaction of his, though, came about during the little office birthday party that the entire team had thrown for him.

He looked so adorable in the gigantic birthday cake hat they had bestowed upon him, Y/n could hardly contain her giggles at the giddy smile adorning his face. She watched on in amusement as Spencer tried desperately to get the candles on his cake to extinguish, to no avail, at least until someone felt bad watching his struggles and decided to give him a hand.

“They’re trick candles Spence, they’re gonna come back on every time.”, JJ chuckled, subtly smirking at Morgan who was also enjoying Spencer’s ongoing struggles.

A couple “happy birthdays” later and the rest of the team slowly began to disperse, leaving just Y/n and him alone in their own little space. He must’ve noticed this too because the blush that had already been present throughout the celebration beforehand seemed to deepen even further as he visibly swallowed down his nerves.

Slowly stalking towards the rouge kissed boy, she dragged a couple of her fingers across the surface of the desk, noting the way his eyes briefly flicked down to follow the movement before hesitantly returning his gaze to match her own.

She also noted the way his knuckles were basically turning white from the amount of pressure he was using to grab the sides of the chair.

“You have a good birthday, Spence?”, Y/n drawled with a teasing smile, now standing directly before the trembling young man.

Seeming to snap out of whatever sort of trance he had been in, he hastily cleared out his throat before responding with a bit of trepidation. “Hmm...yeah-yes uh yes it was v-very good, than-thank you.”

She couldn’t even attempt to conceal the smirk that had made its way to her lips listening to the genius stutter through his words. Such a nervous, nervous boy. So adorable. So fucking hot.

“Well that makes me happy. I’m glad you enjoyed yourself pretty boy.”, she paused her thoughts soaking in the little hitches in his breath surely from how close she was standing near him and the added nickname. Deciding to play a little bit dirty, she leaned over directly into his line of sight to reach for the cake set before him.

“Now how about I take this away and cut it up for all of us to eat? Hmmm?”

His eyes darted immediately to the cleavage that was so graciously presented to him as she bent over to pick up the dessert, a sharp little gasp escaping his pretty, pink lips as his pupils dilated carelessly.

Y/n inwardly smirked at his reaction and began walking towards the kitchenette, but only made it about three or four steps before being interrupted.

“Did you know that in some instances birthday candles are safe for wax play?”, he exclaimed before seemingly realizing what had just escaped his lips, his hands flying up to cover his traitorous mouth.

Bewildered, in the best of ways, by what had just been said, she slowly swiveled back around, facing him once again, before placing the cake on the desk beside her.

“What was that Spencer?”, she grinned at the petrified man who hadn’t made a single noise since his unexpected declaration. The poor thing looked like a caged in animal with nowhere to escape. Perfect.

“N-nothing! I m-mean obviously it was um s-something, but j-just uh just forget what I s-said.”, he quickly explained while frantically shaking his hands as if he was hoping he could simply wipe your memory of the last minute or two away permanently.

“No, no please go on.”, she teased. “Now I’m intrigued. What did you mean by ‘in some instances’ Spence?”

She wasn’t expecting the look of confusion, however brief it was, that peeked its way through the overwhelming embarrassment that had been showcased on his face, as if he truly couldn’t fathom that someone was actually asking him to go into more detail about a topic.

Still didn’t change the fact that he was completely mortified.

Clearing his throat, he hesitantly lifted his gaze back to Y/n’s, seemingly debating with himself over whether he could articulate the words to come out or not.

“Um...well..usually many p-people who choose to e-engage in such act-activities will use specific types of c-candles that are uh more designed especially for pl-play.”, he paused and she drank up the way his Adam's apple bobbed along his throat. “Uh… basically depending on the t-type of candle that one u-uses, the amount of pain or um d-discomfort differs. B-birthday candles tend to b-be on the more painful side so only the couples who are in-into that kind of thing would ever really utilize t-them.”, he finished abruptly, his leg bouncing rapidly in her line of vision.

She still couldn’t really believe she had actually gotten him to say anything at all, nevermind an in depth analysis on wax play. In a weird way she was proud of him. Really proud. Sometime amidst her thoughts, she’d found herself standing directly behind his sitting figure, her hands resting on either side of him against the table, the goosebumps visible on his skin from the implications of the position they were currently in.

“That’s really intriguing Spencer. I’d love to find out someday just why it is you know so much about the subject, but I don’t want to make you go into cardiac rest anytime soon.”, she remarked, giggling at the shy smile that made its way to his mouth.

She didn’t even register reaching out to lightly touch his lips until she heard his sharp intake of breath. Until he turned his head so they were mere centimeters apart. Until she watched his puppy eyes dart between her lips and your frame covered gaze. Until the space between them seemed to be lessening with every sec-

“Hey pretty boy! Where’s my cake?”

Y/n grudgingly pulled back at the interruption, watching in amusement as Spencer’s body instinctively leaned forward as if his lips hadn’t gotten the memo and were still searching for hers. “It’s coming right up you lazy ass!” she yelled back with a grin on her face.

She looked back to the boy sitting before her and was almost mesmerized by the dazed look present on his face, the blush slowly retreating as he came back to his surroundings. She could tell there were words that he wanted to say, but they just didn’t seem to be forming fast enough to actually come out. Deciding to put their little moment on hold before he passed out, she walked back over to the neglected dessert and started heading towards the break room again.

“I’ll make sure to save you the biggest piece, Spence.”,she threw over her shoulder, chuckling at the bewildered look still that was still present on his face.

~~~

The day was a big success in her opinion.

Spencer looked even more like a child than usual with the big shit eating grin that remained throughout the celebration and the bulky hat that he refused to take off. She could never understand how someone could have such an affinity for sugar as she watched him devour the huge slice of cake she had carved up for him.

But hours later, it was just her and Spencer left in the building.

And she was not about to let that go to waste.

Y/n could see him from where she stood at the entrance to the kitchenette. She could see the way he slouched over his desk with his legs curled underneath him, criss cross applesauce, as he scribbled down whatever case file he was working on. She admired his determined work ethic, that’s for sure.

But now was simply not the time to work.

Spencer immediately froze as soon as her body situated itself to be leaning against his desk, painfully aware of her gaze on his tense form.

“H-hey Y/n.”, he nervously murmured, the stutter once again making her giddy.

“Hey yourself doc. Wanna tell me why it is you’re still here working at such a late hour? Doesn’t the elusive Spencer Reid have better things to be entertaining himself with?”, she drawled, her piercing gaze making the poor kid squirm before her eyes.

“Oh um no...n-not really. I actually don’t mind working late. It’s k-kind of therapeutic in a way. But um...I’m happy t-that you’re here w-with me.”, he whispered the last part as if he was scared you wouldn’t appreciate his gratitude.

But she appreciated it more than he knew.

Noticing the little pencil holder situated amongst the file stacks on his desk, an idea popped into her mind that she just couldn’t shake, prompting her to pick it up and begin fiddling with it.

“Oh is that so pretty boy? Does my presence satisfy you?” Before he could even attempt an answer she “accidently” dropped the holder on the ground, the array of pens and pencils dispersing among the floor. “Oops my bad.”

Spencer immediately scrambled out of his seat and onto the floor to start collecting the colorful writing utensils, the perfect distraction needed for Y/n to situate herself on his desk with her legs spread open directly in front of his face.

“D-don’t worry abou-”, his sentence cut off as he looked up and was met with the tantalizing sight of her white lace panties already damp with her excitement. She swore he could die happy with the way his eyes widened and cheeks flushed. She couldn’t help but chuckle lightly.

“See something you like baby?” Unable to even form words, the young doctor slowly nodded his head, eyes still locked on the obvious wet spot between her open legs.

“C-can I..can I um…”

“Use your words baby boy. Can you what?”, she spoke clearly, grasping his chin so he’d look her in the eyes.

“C-can I taste you?” She couldn't get over the desperate way he spoke as if he’d die of thirst if he didn’t get a drink from her.

“Of course you can sweet b-” Not even letting the words leave her mouth, his hands were eagerly pulling her panties down and off her legs, his lips instantly connecting with the heated flesh at the apex of her thighs. She swore his tongue and lips were enchanted with the way he was able to effortlessly maneuver his way around, easily picking up on what she loved.

“Oh Spencer you’re such a good boy.” she couldn’t resist threading her fingers through his silky hair and tugging slightly, an action she assumed he enjoyed based on the muffled whine she heard from between her thighs.

It hadn’t even been more than a few minutes before she found herself already on the verge of letting go. No guy had ever been able to make her feel this good and just electric until now. He was quickly ruining her for anyone else in the future. She did not mind in the slightest.

“Baby I really wanna feel you inside me. Is that something you want sweetheart?”

He reluctantly pulled back after a few more kitten licks to her clit, wide eyes finding hers and whimpering out a broken “yes”. More than happy with his response she gently pulled him up by his hair and started undoing his belt, his oversized pants easily falling down without the extra support. Just another thing about him that she had come to adore. She was very pleased by the obvious bulge that protruded through his baby blue checkered boxers.

Before she pulled those down too, though, she very gently reached up and cupped his cheeks, guiding his plump lips to her own, basking in the delighted whimpers that escaped his mouth at the soft but passionate contact. She released his lips with a slight nip and proceeded with his clothing removal, coaxing him to sit down in the swirly chair he had been previously residing in, before straddling his lap.

“You ready sweet boy?”, she asked leaning forward to kiss his rouge forehead and cheeks.

“Mhmm I’m r-ready.”

Taking that as the go ahead, she cautiously positioned herself over his throbbing erection before slowly lowering herself inch by inch until he was completely enveloped by her tight, warm walls.

“Oh-ohh my.”, he whimpered at the overwhelming feeling of being connected so intimately. Gently, she started to move a bit more, hesitantly lifting up before lowering herself back down, flush against his lap, one of her soft hands anchoring herself to his shoulder while the other caressed his flushed cheeks.

“I know baby, I know. You feel so good baby boy I don’t think I’m going to be able to last much longer.”

“M-me neither.”, he stuttered as the pace she had previously set seemed to increase in speed, the excitement and ecstasy getting to the both of them and subconsciously pushing the two of them closer to their shared release.

The fire was quickly building within her body and she knew she was truly crumbling at the seams, but with the way his body was trembling and his dick was subtly twitching inside of her she knew he was right there too.

“It’s ok baby boy, it’s ok. Cum for me sweet boy. I want you to cum inside and fill up my pussy Spence.”, she muttered feeling the beginning of her end crash unexpectedly throughout her entire being, grasping onto the boy underneath her to tie herself to the earth.

Overwhelmed by the utter euphoria of Y/n cumming around him, Spencer let himself get thrown off the edge, his hands tightening on her waist hard enough she was sure little bruises would form come tomorrow, not that she minded at all.

“Oh Y/n!” She watched on, obsessed with the way that his mouth fell open in a little o-shape as his eyes squeezed shut, the tell tale signs of pleasure coursing through his veins, the warm feeling that he left deep inside of her as she gently lifted herself from his shaking legs, reaching for her panties before the warmth was able to escape down her damp thighs.

Looking back at the trembling boy after cleaning herself and him up, she couldn’t help but melt at the lovesick, puppy dog eyes he was giving her, prompting her to lean forward and leave more little kisses on the top of his damp hair.

“That was incredible Spence. Really incredible. I’ve never felt anything like that before baby.”

She melted even further at the way he shyly dropped his head to somewhat hide the wide grin that had spread like wildfire across his face. There was a comfortable silence between the two of them before his head lifted with a questioning glance.

“How’d you-I mean uh how did you know that I liked you?” There was no way she could control the giggles that left her lips at his silly question.

“You weren’t exactly subtle with the whole glasses thing Spence.”

And then the only sound heard throughout the building was her full blown laughter at the mortification that speedily adorned his cherry cheeks.

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soobmint · 3 years

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paper hearts | choi soobin [f] ; [c] 80s! au, 9.6k words

s u m m a r y ; if there was one thing you wanted to avoid on valentine’s day, it was running into your ex best friend, choi soobin. but when a series of unfortunate events involving too much purple eyeshadow, drunken punches, and one stolen bicycle leads you right back to his side, you begin to realize that maybe you truly belonged with him all along.

c o n t e n t s ; soobin x fem!reader, 80s! au, valentine’s day, ex best friend! soobin, rich boy! soobin, but he’s a major dweeb and the biggest softie, yeonjun is a major prick (i’m so sorry junnie), reader is a part time worker, soobin is best friends with lee felix of stray kids, some themes of social classes, roughly inspired by the 80s movie “pretty in pink,” mentions drugs, alcohol, and single parent households, mostly just fluff, fluff, and more fluff, with a hint of crack/humor

n o t e ; hello friends! this was a very quickly planned, last minute valentine’s day idea, and it’s actually a collab with one of my dearest friends, @chanluster ! she posted her piece of the collab as well, you can check it out by going to the collab masterlist here! this was so much fun to write and i think that 80s! soobin was just too good of a concept to pass up! anyways, happy valentine’s day, i hope you enjoy this oneshot! do leave a like, reblog, or comment if you could, it really helps so much <3

[back to my masterlist] [oneshot playlist]

IF ONE MORE CUT-OUT, CRAFT-PAPER HEART HIT YOU IN THE FACE, YOU WERE GOING TO QUIT YOUR JOB.

Of course you would never actually quit. With your mother out of the picture and your father working nonstop overtime just to barely have enough cash to put food on the table for the both of you, you had come to rely on your minimum wage part-time hours more than you liked to admit. However, the handmade strings of paper hearts that hung from wall to wall throughout the entirety of the record shop you were employed at was enough to make you consider it; not to mention the Phil Collins record that had been spinning all day, filling your ears with melodies embodying the very air of romance, and the embarrassing pink sweater your boss had forced you to wear. You mumbled curses beneath your breath as you pulled at the collar, itching away at your neck.

When you made a step towards a crate full of records, ready to tidy it up after a customer had rummaged through it leaving it a mess, you were met with another face full of cheap red construction paper. With a large growl of exasperation, you swatted at the hearts and accidentally caused the entire string of them to fall to the ground. You cleared your throat, glad that no customers were present to see your little outburst.

Your boss, Jen, still saw it all.

“That’s not very festive of you, kid,” She said, taking a drag on her cigarette. “It’s Valentine’s Day! Lighten up.”

“Ah, my bad. I forgot that I was supposed to be overjoyed on the day honoring the execution of St. Valentine,” You said as you gave her a sarcastic smile. “I’ll make sure to smile at the next couple that walks in and ask them how they plan to contribute to the commercialization of a martyr’s death.”

“You must be real fun at parties,” Jen mumbled. She shook her cigarette at you from behind the counter. “You’re just bitter because you don’t have a valentine. I can’t blame anyone for giving you the cold shoulder with that attitude of yours.”

You scowled, picking up the string of hearts that you had sent crashing to the floor. “I’m not bitter, and I don’t want a date. Also, I told you to stop smoking inside! It smells awful.”

“Last I checked, this was my shop, not yours.” You rolled your eyes as you approached the counter, handing the discarded string to Jen so she could throw it in the trash. “Now you’re making me do chores for you too? You’ve got some nerve, I’ll give you that.”

“Jen, please, I’m really not in the mood for this today.”

Jen shrugged, bending towards the trash can to throw away the string of hearts when she paused and pulled something from the bin. You glanced over your shoulder and gasped when you saw what she held in her hand—a small red envelope with your name scrawled across the front and a pink heart-shaped sticker stuck on the back.

“What’s this?” Jen asked, opening the envelope and shaking out the contents. A single slip of paper fell out, landing atop the counter. You rushed to grab it, but Jen snatched it up just before your fingers reached the countertop.

“Give me that,” You insisted, face growing warm. “I threw it away for a reason!”

“It’s an invitation to a party?” She seemed beyond surprised, glancing back and forth between you and the paper several times. “You got invited to a Valentine’s Day party, and instead of going, you asked me to give you extra hours? Why?”

You looked down at your feet, digging the toe of your sneaker into the blue carpet. There were, in fact, many reasons why you did not want to go to that party. They were as follows:

One: Choi Yeonjun was the one who had invited you. After you had rejected his offer when he asked to take you to a basketball game a month before, you could barely make eye contact with him in the school hallway without feeling guilty. That and the fact that he was one of the richest preps in the school, you knew he had just been asking you out for some sort of prank or dare that you preferred to not potentially fall victim to.

Two: you needed to work as much as you could. Money, as always, was tight for you and your father. There was no way you would sacrifice precious hours to go to a party full of rich kids where nothing but humiliation was sure to await you.

Three: your old childhood friend and the one person you couldn’t bear to see was probably going to be there—Choi Soobin.

You had barely spoken to Soobin in the four years you had been in high school. Crossing paths with him in the cafeteria, turning down the same aisle of books as him in the library, all those tiny stolen glances and accidental encounters were the only bits of interaction you had kept throughout all that time. The worst part was, he hadn’t done anything wrong.

It was nothing but your own cowardice that had driven the two of you apart, and you were still too afraid to own up to it.

Instead of explaining all of this to Jen, you simply shrugged and said, “I dunno. It just sounds lame.”

Your boss sighed, holding the invitation out towards you. “Okay, I’m letting you off early. Go to the party.”

With wide eyes, you shook your head immediately. “Absolutely not. Why in the world would I go?”

“Well, first of all, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for you. Who knows when your next chance to go to a party will be.”

You couldn’t help but roll your eyes at that.

“Second, it’s a holiday! The only reason I even opened today was because you were begging me for hours. I thought it was because you were bummed about having no plans, but clearly it’s because you wanted an excuse to be a recluse.”

“Hey, I’m not a recluse.”

“Clearly.” She shook the invitation at you once more, brows raised. “If you go, I’ll raise your pay by fifty cents for the next month.”

Your ears perked up at that.

“Well?” She asked, well aware that she had hit the jackpot. “What'd ya say?”

Weighing the risks against the benefits, you bit the inside of your cheek.

“Make it a dollar and you’ve got a deal.”

“HAPPY VALENTINE’S, CHOI.”

When Soobin heard the sarcastic remark coming from his best friend, Felix, he had to fight back the urge to burst into tears then and there. He still wasn’t quite sure how Felix had convinced him to come, but he was already regretting it. The last thing he wanted to do to celebrate the day dedicated to love was spend it at a house party—or, as Soobin preferred to call them, any outcast high school kid’s version of hell on earth.

With a quick peek between his fingers, which he had used to cover his eyes immediately upon arriving at the site of the Valentine’s party, Soobin caught another eye-full of couples getting all too familiar with one another out in the open. He gulped, letting his hands grip the handles of the bike as he averted his gaze, choosing to cast his best glare at Felix, who was busy adjusting his ever-present beanie.

“Shut up,” he murmured, slowly sliding off the seat of his bike. He dusted off the worn, tearing cushion, glancing around the area. “Now quick, we gotta put our stuff somewhere safe.”

Felix looked aghast, making no moves to help Soobin in his search for a hiding spot. “What are you doing?”

“Tryna find a safe place for my bike?” He thought the answer to be somewhat obvious, but clearly Felix wasn’t on the same track of thinking. “You don’t know today’s world! Anyone is willing to steal nowadays.”

“Soobin, your bike is coughing up oil from its chains. It should be in its own care home at this rate.”

“I don’t wanna hear your slander, skater boy,” Soobin retorted, eyeing Felix’s ebony skateboard that he refused to be seen without. As if on cue, when he pushed his bike forward, the chains squealed, drawing the attention of a pair of particularly passionate individuals who had been wrapped up with one another moments before. Soobin ignored their annoyed stares, feeling his ears burn from embarrassment. He glanced back to Felix. “Help me find a hiding spot.”

Felix was anything but enthusiastic, but he began to help Soobin search nonetheless.

“Slide it in here, Soobs,” Felix called a few moments later. He was pointed to an empty space between the home’s perfectly trimmed bushes. Soobin pursed his lips together, pushing his large glasses further up the bridge of his nose—a nervous tick of his. Felix groaned, rolling his eyes. “Or you can leave it out in the open so it’ll spit more oil on the passersby? Is that what you want?”

“Fine, fine!” Soobin huffed, wheeling his bike over to the shrubbery, chains squeaking all the way. He carefully laid it beneath the brush and moved a few branches to cover it up nicely. He stood up straight, dusting his hands on the front of his loose blue jeans. “What about your skateboard?”

Felix gave the board a pat, awarding his most prized possession a dazzling smile one would expect to see a proud father giving his beloved son. But in reality, it was the school’s stoner grinning ear to ear at his old, dusty skateboard. “Nightrider stays with me.”

Soobin scrunched his nose, cringing on instinct. He still calls that thing by that stupid name?

Felix clapped him on the shoulder before he could make a remark, catching him off guard when he said, “Right. Let’s go and get your girl.”

There was nothing Soobin could do to stop the flush that rushed to his cheeks right away. Images of you, his ex-best friend and the only reason he had even come to this party in the first place, flashed through his mind. Had he not overheard Yeonjun invite you earlier that morning and then casually mention the encounter to Felix, there was no way he would have even stepped foot out of his house that night. Part of him was peeved, wishing he had never uttered a single word about you to his overbearing friend. Yet, deep down, there was hope within him—the tiniest sliver.

If there was even the slightest chance that he could talk to you that night, he would do anything. Even if it meant dealing with a stupid party, and the never-ceasing teasing he was bound to continue receiving from Felix.

“Don’t even say that,” He said, emphasizing each word as they walked up the front steps. Soobin had to glance down at his much shorter friend to see the devious grin on his freckled face.

“Say what? That she’s your girl, your woman, your one and only?”

The blush must have been creeping to his neck by that point. He could feel it. “I. . .” There were many things Soobin wished to say; angry words that would hopefully shut the blonde skater boy up real quick. But he couldn’t bring himself to say a single harsh word, so he sighed in defeat. “I can’t even say it.”

“That you hate me?” Felix only grinned even bigger, and Soobin couldn’t help the tiny defeated smile that slipped over his features. “Oh, I know. It’s because I’m too good of a best friend.”

They stepped into the house then, instantly being overwhelmed by loud music, boisterous laughter, and drunken yells echoing throughout the halls. Soobin latched onto Felix right away, gripping his friend’s sleeve as someone stumbled into him, a bit of beer spilling from their cup. He pushed his glasses up, only for them to slide right back down as he began to sweat.

“Maybe we should go home, Lix!” Soobin shouted to be heard over the noise as they travelled further into the house. “We can always try next year!”

“Stop being a scaredy-cat!” Felix shouted back, and Soobin thought he might actually begin to cry as they squeezed their way into the living room. Soobin nearly gagged at the strong smell of alcohol as it burned in his nose. The scene was nothing short of a nightmare to Soobin—loud voices, smoke rising in the air, vodka assaulting his nose and sweat beading on the back of his neck. He had never been one to drink, and he didn’t plan on starting that night; but he was beginning to understand what Felix meant when he had once told him it was nearly impossible to get through one of these parties sober.

He was about to make another complaint and beg to leave when someone from the crowd hollered his name, causing him to wince when he recognized that voice as the one that belonged to none other than Choi Yeonjun.

“Soobin! Where you been?”

Soobin smiled nervously at the school’s heartthrob—and textbook snobby rich kid—before he turned back to Felix. He didn’t want to leave his friend, but he knew that he would never hear the end of it if he ignored Yeonjun’s persistent calls. “I’ll be right back,” He promised Felix, still holding onto his sleeve.

“No, no,” Felix assured. “You go. You’ll probably find her around that place anyway.”

Soobin wasn’t so sure of that. You were definitely not of the right social standing to be caught amongst the circle of the school’s rich boys—which was why it had surprised Soobin that Yeonjun had invited you to the party in the first place. Your high school had its own caste system, and you were near the bottom of it.

And, as much as it pained him to admit it, Soobin was stuck at the very top with all the other rich snobs who cared about nothing more than their daily allowances that came straight from their daddy’s bank account.

“What about you, buddy?” He asked Felix, desperate for any excuse to remain by his friend’s side. He would have tried to bring Felix with him, but his friend was in an even worse social standing than you were—he was poor, and he was most known for being the school’s pothead. There was no way Soobin would willingly drag him into a situation where nothing but slander and torment awaited him.

“Me?” Felix shrugged, gripping his board tighter. “I’ll just smoke away the night.”

Soobin pouted, glancing back at the group of preps as they called for him once again. He sighed, clapping Felix on the shoulder. “Just make sure you won’t smell too much of it when I come back.”

Submitting himself to his doom then, he turned on his heel and slowly made his way to where the group of boys sat near the sofa, giving them a half-hearted wave.

“Why were you hanging around that Felix guy?” Yeonjun asked once Soobin had reached their circle. “Did he blackmail you or something?”

Soobin frowned, pushing his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “He’s my friend.”

Yeonjun rolled his eyes, brushing a hand through his perfectly-straightened ebony locks. “Sure he is. Tell me, do you see every kid you find on the streets as some sort of personal charity project? Or is it just Felix and—what was her name—” He snapped his fingers then before he said, “Y/N, right?”

Soobin didn’t respond—well, it was more like he couldn’t respond. By nature he was a very passive being, but nothing drew him closer to bouts of anger than when the people he cared about were being insulted right before him.

Especially when it came to you.

Yet, as much as he wanted to tell Yeonjun off or give him a nice shove into the smoke-stained walls, words failed him. They always did. Perhaps this was why you had abandoned him all those years ago. Nobody knew him better than you did, so of course you were able to see what he truly was beneath all the expensive clothes and nervous laughter—a coward.

He figured that he’d probably have left himself too.

“Drink up, buttercup.” The chipper voice that belonged to the other Choi in the small gathering of socialites, Choi Beomgyu, thrust a plastic red cup towards Soobin’s chest.

He shook his head, throwing another wavering smile in his direction. “No thanks. I don’t drink.”

Yeonjun rolled his eyes. “Of course you don’t. Why are you even here then?”

Once again, Soobin chose silence as his only response. He swallowed, patting the front pocket of his denim jacket. As the group of boys began conversing once more, he couldn’t help but let his eyes wander around the room, searching every drunken face for the features that belonged to you, trying to hear your name in every conversation, desperate for your voice to break through the blasting music and shouting voices.

“Who ya looking for there, Big Choi?” Soobin grimaced at the nickname. He was skinny, but incredibly tall, and nobody would let him forget that. “Big Choi” was one of his most common nicknames among the elitists. He despised it, but of course, he would never voice that aloud.

He glanced at Beomgyu and smiled nervously again, shaking his head. “Nobody.”

His eyes met Yeonjun’s and he gulped yet again as the latter eyed him with suspicion. It wasn’t as though he had anything to hide, but something about Yeonjun’s calculating gaze made his skin crawl.

He needed to escape. Just for a moment, at least.

“I’ll be right back. Going to find some water.”

He slipped out of the living room then, apologizing profusely to each couple he accidentally bumped into, bowing in remorse to each person’s toes his big feet happened to stumble over. He ached to be by Felix’s side—the stoned skateboarder had become somewhat of a security blanket to the taller of the duo—but his blonde friend was nowhere to be seen.

After snagging a bottle of water from the kitchen, Soobin managed to slip into an empty bathroom. He slammed the door shut and wasted no time in locking it. Letting out the biggest sigh of relief, he closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the door, taking a big gulp of the ice cold water.

He set the bottle on the counter and carefully reached into the front pocket of his jacket, his fingers finding the piece of paper he had been storing there all evening. He pulled it out and let his eyes wander over his middle school creation. It was a big heart, cut out from a scrap piece of red construction paper. Scrawled across it in his eight-grade handwriting were the words, Be mine this Valentine’s! His name was etched at the bottom, and at the very top, delicately printed in hot pink glitter glue, your name was written as well.

He had planned to give this to you four years ago on Valentine’s day. Everything had been planned out perfectly; he was to pick you up on his old, trusty bike. It wasn’t really made for two people, but the two of you had fashioned a makeshift extra seat for you to sit upon whenever you went places together.

He wanted to take you to the Dairy Shack, which was the local ice cream shop where the two of you spent the most time together. You always got a large chocolate shake to share, playing a quick game of rock, paper, scissors to decide who got to eat the cherry on top. He was going to order a shake and specially ask for two cherries that time, and planned to give both of them to you before he would bravely present you with the handmade card he had spent all day working on.

However, when he waited for you outside your house that day, the red dusk turned to pitch black night, and you never stepped foot out your door.

He had even gone up to your door a few times and knocked, but there was no answer. Eventually he pedalled off into the night, back to his house. He was disappointed, of course, but more worried than anything else. He had hoped you weren’t sick.

But when he saw you at school the next day, he knew that hadn’t been the case.

And when you ignored him calling your name as you passed by him in the hallways, he knew that something had drastically changed.

For weeks, Soobin was in great turmoil as he replayed your last few encounters together before you had stood him up. Perhaps you were angry that he had won the last few games of rock, paper, scissors? If he had known, he would have given you all the cherries for the rest of time if it meant you would still talk to him. He didn’t care about them—he cared about you.

He missed you.

And as weeks turned to months, and months turned to years, you still barely spoke to him, and he missed you more and more. The best friend he had wanted to take a step closer to had taken a thousand steps back from him, and he still had no idea why.

But that night, he was determined to find out.

Well, if he could muster up the courage to get a single word out, of course.

He folded the heart back up and stuck it back in his pocket, taking a deep breath as he observed himself in the fogged-up mirror. He fixed his bright blue hair that Felix had helped him bleach and dye, making sure the pieces fell over the corners of his eyes just right. He straightened his white turtleneck and cuffed the sleeves of his denim jacket until he was at least somewhat content with his appearance.

“You can do this, Soobs,” He told himself, adjusting his big round glasses further up the bridge of his nose. “That’s what Felix would say.”

“Hey, rich boy!” A loud scream came from outside the bathroom door, accompanied by harsh knocking that sent Soobin stumbling backwards until he fell in the shower, pulling the curtains down with him.

“Hurry up in there! I’m about to piss myself!”

Soobin let out a shaky sigh, scrambling to his feet as he rushed to fix the curtain he had torn down with his clumsiness. “Sorry,” he mumbled, though he doubted the person on the other side of the door could hear him.

He realized then with an ever growing dread that it would be a miracle if he survived the night long enough to even find you, but it would take the work of God himself for him to actually speak to you.

He figured it was time for him to start praying.

YOU KNEW IT WAS A MISTAKE TO LET JEN DO YOUR MAKEUP.

When she had stopped you on your way out the door with a compact of bright purple eyeshadow, you had turned her down right away. No way in all of creation were you walking in a party with such an atrocious color caked up to your brow bone.

“How can you say it’s gonna look bad if you haven’t even let me try?” Jen had asked.

You had given her a once-over, your lips pressed into a thin line. “If it’s gonna look anything like the way you do your own makeup, I’m gonna have to pass.”

After that snide remark, she had threatened to fire you if you didn’t let her apply the makeup. And so you obliged, though you didn’t have much of a choice.

The booming sounds of the party hit your ears before you had even reached the lawn. Screaming teens—well, there were probably some adults thrown in there as well—and the sound of music spilled through the open windows of the home. Couples and singles alike were scattered throughout the perfectly kept lawn that was now littered with empty cups and other assortments of garbage.

You looked down at your patchwork jeans and pink sweater, certain that you would be underdressed compared to the rest of the partygoers. But from the looks of things, as you carefully squeezed your way through the front door and into the home, everyone was probably too wasted to even notice your arrival, let alone care about your looks.

You caught a glimpse of your face in the hallway mirror, cringing at the sight of your eyeshadow. You had tried to wipe some of it away before arriving, but it simply smudged, giving you quite the shocking smoky, purple eye look. For someone who didn’t even know the difference between a paintbrush and a makeup brush, it was a bold look, to say the least.

If Soobin saw you looking like this, he’d probably have a heart attack.

Soobin.

In the midst of all your frantic preparation, you had nearly forgotten about the main reason why you had planned to avoid this party at all costs. With a quick glance around the room, you realized that he was nowhere to be seen. You wouldn’t have been surprised if he hadn’t shown up at all. He was never a fan of parties, anyway.

You crossed your arms over your chest and slowly slipped past the couples crowding the hallway with their limbs intertwined, mouths practically swallowing one another whole, until you reached the living room. Surprisingly, it was less crowded in here than you thought it might be. A few minglers were scattered about the room’s perimeter, but they all kept away from the center of the room, which was occupied by none other than Choi Yeonjun and all his brainless, rich-boy worshippers. You quickly scanned the group, not able to make out Soobin among them. When you realized he wasn’t there, you were partly relieved and partly disappointed. If was to be anywhere at this party, it would probably be with these guys.

With a quick turn on your heel, you planned to make your way out of the living room before Yeonjun could see you. The last thing you wanted was for the boy with a bruised ego to see you, regardless of whether or not he had been the one to invite you.

“Y/N? You came?”

Too late.

Plastering a forced grin to your face, you slowly turned to face Yeonjun, who had just called your name. He was eyeing you with slight surprise, but soon, a smirk slipped across his lips as he motioned for you to come over. You had to hold back your sigh, wishing there was some way for you to get out of this situation. It was all Jen’s fault that you had to show up in the first place. You decided you were going to demand an extra ten cents be added to your raise the next time you saw your pushy boss.

“Hey Yeonjun,” you said once you had walked over to him. “I figured I’d stop by for a minute or two, since you were kind enough to invite me.”

He smirked, glancing at a few of his friends. They shared a knowing laugh with one another, but the meaning of it was lost to you. You wanted nothing more than to get away from them, but that wasn’t an option.

“You’re too busy to go out with me to a basketball game but free enough to come to a party, huh?” He asked.

You blinked, digging your nails into your arms. “I’m sorry?”

“It’s fine, really,” He drawled, swirling his plastic cup of beer in his hand. “You didn’t think I’d be upset or anything did you? I only asked you out because I was dared to shack up with you. But I’m guessing you already knew that, since you’re so smart and all.”

Your eyes went wide, but you managed to control the rest of your expression. It was just like you had guessed—Yeonjun had invited you to the party with the sole purpose of making a scene.

If you survived the night, Jen was never going to hear the end of it.

“You’re not gonna say anything?” He asked, pushing himself to his feet. You could tell by the slight stumble in his step and his hooded eyes that he had quite a bit to drink. He took a step towards you, causing you to back up immediately. Your back hit the wall, and you placed your palms against it as Yeonjun towered over you.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. I know why you’re here anyways.” He leaned forward, his lips hovering near your ear. “You’re here to see Soobin, aren’t you? Since he’s the only one here willing to waste his time on filth like you.”

Your blood boiled, and you had to clench your fists at your sides to control your anger.

“Don’t,” You seethed, “Call me that.”

“Call you what? Filth? Or sweetheart? Why, is that something good old Binnie used to call you—”

He never got to finish that sentence, because with one big burst of anger, you stomped on his toe as hard as you could with your worn-out platform sneaker.

“What the hell!” He screeched, drawing the attention of several others in the room. His outburst even caused a few of the couples to pull away from each other’s faces long enough to eavesdrop.

Before you could even say anything back, lukewarm liquid was splashed up in your face, burning your eyes and nose. You gasped, running your hands over your eyes to see Yeonjun with his now empty cup of beer pointed towards you.

“Think twice before you act out against me next time, sweetheart. Never forget your place.”

Tears of anger burned in your eyes, and you scanned the room to see several people exchanging whispers and giggles as they glanced in your direction. You pushed past Yeonjun and quickly made your way out the back door of the house, unable to stand the humiliation for a moment longer.

Soobin arrived in the living room just in time to see you leave.

He wasted no time in rushing towards Yeonjun, grabbing hold of his arm. “Yeonjun, was that Y/N?” He asked, eyes quickly taking in the puddle of alcohol on the floor and the empty cup in Yeonjun’s hand. “What happened?”

“Nothing you need to worry your pretty blue head about, Big Choi. I just put her in her place is all.”

Soobin’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean you ‘put her in her place?’”

Yeonjun laughed, giving Soobin a nonchalant pat on the back. “Just drop it, would you? It has nothing to do with you.”

“What did you say, Yeonjun?”

Yeonjun was growing irritated now. He huffed out a breath, crossing his arms over his chest. “I said it has nothing to do with you, Soobin. I know you like to hang around people like that pothead Felix, but the rest of us live in the real world, where we’d rather not waste our time with those who have no future anyways. I bet he’s the one that got you to dye your hair that god awful blue, isn’t he?”

Soobin bit the inside of his cheek. He so badly wished to rip Yeonjun to shreds then and there. If he had Felix’s courage, the cocky bastard would have been knocked to the ground ages ago. But if there was one thing Soobin was sure he could never be, it was brave. And so, despite his rage, he remained silent, his eyes practically burning a hole through Yeonjun’s chest from how intently he was glaring.

It seemed as though Yeonjun was about to say something, but his eyes landed on the bit of red that peeked through the front pocket of Soobin’s denim jacket. Before Soobin had time to defend himself, Yeonjun had reached forward and snatched it from his pocket, revealing the large paper heart—his valentine for you.

“So this is why you care so much,” Yeonjun said, laughing as his eyes scanned the glittery words that decorated the page. “You want her to be your valentine.”

“Give that back,” Soobin said quietly, his hands beginning to shake.

Yeonjun instead lifted his eyes to Soobin, gave him a sickly sweet grin, and ripped the heart straight down the middle. He let the two pieces fall from his hands to the ground, and with them Soobin’s heart went also.

“You’re really willing to try and go against me, and for what? For the sake of a girl who can’t even afford a new pair of jeans and a boy that smokes his life away in the bathroom stalls?” Yeonjun took a slow step towards Soobin, his eyes glinting with a sinister determination. “You may be rich, Soobin, but if you choose to lower yourself to their standards, you may as well be dirt poor just like they are.”

With his hands clenched into tight fists, his glasses sliding down his nose, and his heart quite literally in two pieces on the floor below him, Soobin decided that he had had enough.

“I’d much rather be associated with people who are kind and have actual depth to their character than be lumped together with a bunch of pricks like you with no real personality—because that’s something you can’t buy with daddy’s paycheck.”

He had to physically restrain himself from slapping his hand across his own mouth in shock. It was as if the spirit of Felix himself had possessed him to say such harsh things. He wondered where Felix was then, wishing more than ever before to have his best friend by his side as he began to tremble from either the rush of adrenaline that coursed through his veins, or from fear. Or perhaps it was both.

He didn’t have time to ponder it any longer before Yeonjun’s fist collided with his nose, resulting in a sickening crack as pain echoed throughout his face in tidal waves.

He stumbled backward as people began to shout, raising his hand to his nose and gasping when he saw that his palm was covered in blood.

Beomgyu had his arms wrapped around Yeonjun, who was desperately trying to lunge towards Soobin once again.

“Knock it off, Yeonjun!” Beomgyu shouted, pushing the elder back. “His dad is on the school board! Are you trying to get expelled?”

Beomgyu looked over his shoulder at the still stunned Soobin, who was gaping at the blood that now stained his once white turtleneck.

“Get lost, Soobin,” Beomgyu said, to which Soobin only blinked in reply, his ears ringing.

“Now!”

Head spinning, Soobin picked up the two halves of his paper heart, stuffed them into his jeans, and stumbled out the same door he had seen you go through just minutes before. After checking to make sure his glasses were still intact—they were, thankfully—he shook his head in an effort to clear his mind of the static, eyes scanning the front lawn looking for any trace of you.

It didn’t take long for his eyes to spot you among the now dwindling crowd of partygoers. Your bright pink sweater stood out against the darkness, so he was able to recognize you even with your back towards him. He sniffed, wiping the back of his hand against his dripping nose as he slowly made his way to where you sat on the curb, your feet planted on the asphalt street. He wished that he looked a bit more presentable—when he played this scene out in his head over the years in which he would finally reunite with you, he never imagined himself dazed and covered in blood.

Desperate times called for desperate measures, he supposed.

When he reached you, he simply stood beside you in silence for a moment, unsure of what to say. He could tell that you sensed his presence, but you refused to look up at him as you kept your face buried in your hands. He could have sworn he heard a few muffled sobs slip through your fingers, but of course, he wasn’t going to bring that up.

Eventually he decided to slip his jacket off of his shoulders, leaning down to drape it over you. You still kept your head down as he sat beside you on the curb, but he watched you grip the jacket and pull it tighter around your body. He smiled a bit, holding the collar of his turtleneck against his throbbing nose.

“Thank you,” you muttered, wiping your hand across your eyes. You finally looked over at him, and when you did, you couldn’t hold back your gasp. “My God Soobin, what happened to your face?”

“Oh, well, I might have gotten punched,” He said quickly, trying to wave off your concern. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Punched? By who?”

He looked down at the ground, sniffing as a drop of blood hit the pavement. “Yeonjun,” he muttered under his breath.

“I’m sorry, did you just say Yeonjun? Are you insane? Why on earth would you butt heads with the Choi Yeonjun?”

Soobin didn’t say anything in response, he simply stared at you, eyes wide with beer dripping off the ends of your hair, makeup smeared across your face, your sweater stained down the front. It didn’t seem to take long for you to put the pieces together, as the shock left your face and was replaced with something akin to guilt.

“Oh,” You said, looking back down at your shoes.

“So she knows that I did it all for her,” Soobin thought.

For some reason, the idea of that both terrified and excited him.

A second later, he glanced over to see you ripping one of the hand-sewed patches of fabric off your jeans, leaving a square of your skin exposed to the chilly night air. You leaned towards him, pushing his hand away from his nose so you could use the patch to clean up some of the blood on and around his puffy red nose.

“Y/N, your pants!” He exclaimed, trying to push your hand away. “They’re ruined!”

“I’m not worried about my pants, you idiot,” You said, swatting his hand away as you continued to press the cloth against his skin. “You got punched in the face because of me, this is the least I could do.”

“That was my choice though,” He muttered, although he stopped trying to resist your touch. He ignored the way his heart thrummed harder in his chest, hoping that you couldn’t hear.

“Well, this is my choice too.” Your eyes flicked to his for a brief moment, your bottom lip pulled between your teeth. “Why did you do it, by the way?”

“Do what?”

“Stand up to Yeonjun for me and get a nasty nosebleed as a result.”

“Oh.” He blinked slowly, keeping his eyes fixed on yours. “Just ‘cause.”

“Because . . . ?”

“Because of you.” He blurted, causing your hand to go still against him. He swallowed his fear, braving the best smile that he could. “Just you. That was my only reason.”

You didn’t say anything as your hand fell from his face, the cloth clutched between your fingers. The anxiety he had tried his best to suppress came rushing up all at once, and he was surprised that his ears didn’t begin to squeal like a tea kettle from all the pressure.

“Y/N,” He said, gently placing his hand over yours despite how his fingers trembled. “Why did you pull away from me?”

“What?”

“Four years ago. Why did you stop talking to me?”

You were quiet for a moment, digging into the ground with the toe of your sneaker. Soobin held his breath until you finally replied with, “I was afraid.”

“Afraid? Of what?”

“We were getting older, Binnie,” You said, and his heart skipped at the use of your old nickname for him. “You and I, we’re from very different walks of life. You get to hang out with people like Yeonjun, whereas I get a cup of beer poured all over my face just for existing, and you get a fist to the nose for trying to stand up for me. We’re from different sides of the track, one might say.”

“So?” Soobin asked, his hand tightening around yours. “Did you really think that would affect us that much, Y/N?”

You frowned, glancing down at his hand over yours.

“I thought you’d be embarrassed of me,” You said, your voice barely above a whisper.

“Embarrassed?” Soobin’s eyes went wide as he gripped your hand tighter still, pulling it into his lap. “Y/N, I would never, ever be embarrassed of you. Besides, have you seen my best friend? He’s on a first name basis with the principal because of how often he gets written up for smoking behind the school. If I’m not embarrassed of him, why would I ever be embarrassed of you?”

You laughed, wiping the back of your hand across your eyes once more. “I guess I was worried about nothing, huh?” You sniffed, giving his hand a squeeze. “I’m sorry, Soobin.”

He shook his head, squeezing your hand right back. “Don’t apologize. You’re here now, that’s what matters. Do think we could—you know—”

“Pick up where we left off?” You smiled, nodding vigorously. “I’d like that very much, Binnie.”

He beamed then, almost pinching himself to be sure that he was not dreaming, but the pain in his nose was real enough to remind him of that on its own. He jumped to his feet, pulling you right up with him.

“In that case, how about we finally go on that Valentine’s date I had planned all the way back then?”

“Date?” You asked, a brow raised. “Is it really considered a date if two friends are just hanging out?”

He didn’t respond as he pulled you along behind him towards the bushes where he and Felix had hidden his bike. He crouched down and moved the branches aside, feeling his heart drop to his stomach when he realized that his bike was, in fact, no longer there.

He shot up, turning to face you with eyes wide. “Felix—that bastard took my bike!”

You were quiet for a moment, but then, you burst into boisterous laughter, leaving Soobin utterly confused.

“It’s not funny, Y/N!” He whined, shoving your shoulder lightly. “I was supposed to take you to the Dairy Shack on my bike!”

“It is funny,” You said between bursts of laughter. “Only you would get such a rusty old piece of metal stolen from you.”

He pushed his lips out in a pout, sliding his glasses up his sore nose. “It’s a good bike, don’t make fun of it.”

You grinned, interlocking his fingers with yours, which was enough to instantly wipe the pout right off his face.

“Let’s just walk, Binnie. The Dairy Shack isn’t that far anyways.”

You were right; the walk to your favorite milkshake place was very close to the house where the party had occurred. Although Felix stealing his bike had thrown an obvious wrench in his plans, it was a minor hiccup, and one he could most definitely handle. Besides, he wouldn’t have to see Felix until the next day anyways. He could deal with his frustration then.

At least, that’s what he thought anyways, until the two of you spotted Felix at the skatepark on your way to the dairy shack.

Soobin’s eyes took in the deplorable sight before him—from where he stood on the dimly lit sidewalk, he could see Felix and a girl he had never seen before, their faces nearly pressed together, and most importantly, with his bike discarded a few yards away from them.

“Soobin,” You said, tugging on his arm. “They look like they’re busy, let’s just go—”

But Soobin, who had little patience when it came to Felix messing up his plans, didn’t let you finish before he screamed, “Give me back my freaking bike!”

You had to hold back your snort of laughter at his choice of words. Even when he was trying to sound angry, he was undeniably adorable.

Soobin watched as Felix startled, clutching his spliff between his fingers as he glared daggers back at his friend. Soobin gulped, trying not to let his fear show on his face. What did he have to be afraid of, anyways? He was the victim of thievery, and his best friend was the offender.

Felix took a big step towards him, but he paused, his eyes landing on your interlocked hands. Soobin glanced down as well, his face growing furiously warm as he realized the situation he had gotten himself into.

He decided to divert the subject before it could even be brought up by saying, “I can’t believe you stole my bike! All this time I was trying to hide it from strangers, but you, my best friend! I should’ve been hiding it from you!”

Soobin noticed Felix’s female companion step off the skateboard and walk over in his direction, and for a second he felt bad for possibly ruining her night with his best friend. However, his frustration was more prominent in the moment as he fixed his gaze back on his best friend, who had fixed a mischievous smirk upon his face that made warning sirens blare in Soobin’s head right away.

“Now, now, buddy,” Felix said, his voice calm and carefree as ever. It probably had something to do with what he had just smoked, but Soobin didn’t care all that much. “You’re just gonna have to let me borrow it for a little longer.”

Soobin nearly laughed at the audacity of such a statement. “You are gonna give me the bike, or—”

“How about this, Soobs?” Soobin’s lips clamped shut at his friend’s interruption, as the thief in question gestured with his joint to where Soobin’s fingers were locked with yours. “You let me keep your bike for the night, and I don’t tell your dad about you hanging out with the opposite gender.”

Unable to control yourself, you let out a big laugh. Soobin would have felt betrayed, but he was more terrified than anything else at the idea of his father finding out that he was taking a girl out without his permission. He would be grounded for weeks—no, months.

“You wouldn’t.”

Felix’s lips curled up even more into a twisted grin that Soobin wished he had the guts to slap off his face. “God, just imagine the look on Mr. Choi’s face. Imagine him finding out about your premarital hand holding.”

No. Not the hand holding.

Soobin almost felt faint, but he steeled himself to the best of his abilities as he cleared his throat. “One night, Lix,” he warned. “If I don’t see it on my porch in the morning, you’ll be sorry!”

“Oh, I’m so scared,” Felix teased. His expression changed a moment later though, when he finally noticed Soobin’s swollen nose and blood-stained turtleneck. “Wait, Soobs, the hell happened to you?”

Soobin, however, had already taken his first steps away from the skatepark, pulling you along behind him. “I’ll tell you later, bud. Enjoy your spliff with that kind girl who you probably don’t deserve!”

“Hey!”

Soobin couldn’t help but laugh as he swung your interlocked hands together, grinning as you let out a laugh as well. The anger that had seeped through him seemed to melt away in an instant as the two of you continued your journey to the Dairy Shack.

“Would your dad really be that upset if he found out about this?” You asked.

Soobin grimaced. “We should probably wait til next year to tell him about this outing. Or maybe the year after that.”

When the two of you had finally reached the Dairy Shack, you waited outside for him while he went in to order your drink. A large chocolate milkshake, with two straws, just like you used to get every time before.

When he had the drink in hand, he walked back outside and sat down beside you on the curb, smiling as you wrapped his jacket tighter around your shoulders. You smiled back up at him, your eyes creasing from the expression. Your smile had always struck him right to his core; he had missed seeing it every day.

He hoped he could see it every morning and every night from that day onward. There was no way he would let you go this time.

He just had to muster up the courage to grab hold of you first.

“You know what, Binnie, you turned out to be a lot taller than I thought you ever would be,” you said as you took one of the straws from his hands. “You’re actually enormous. It’s shocking.”

“Should I find that offensive? It sounds kinda like an insult.”

“Take it however you will,” You teased, leaning over as he popped the plastic lid off the milkshake. He grabbed the cherry by the stem and held it towards you.

“What are you doing?” You asked, holding out your fist. “We have to rock, paper, scissors for it. Remember?”

Soobin laughed as he shook his head. “I’m giving it to you this time. It’s what I planned to do all those years ago, when I asked you to hang out on Valentine’s.”

You seemed to be taken aback, but you simply shrugged as you plucked the cherry from his hand and pulled it from the stem with your teeth, glancing back over at him. It was silent for a moment, but then your eyes landed on the pocket of his jeans, where you could see a bit of red paper poking out. You leaned over even further, reaching your hand out to snatch the paper.

“What are you—hey! Give that back!”

Soobin desperately tried to take his Valentine back from you, but it was too late. You held both halves of what used to be a whole in your hands, your eyes scanning the words as you pieced them together.

“Soobin . . .”

He held his breath. Had his act of young love left you completely speechless? Were you so touched that you would burst into tears?

“This looks like a middle schooler made it.”

He let out the breath in the form of a long, long sigh.

“That’s because it was made by a middle schooler,” He said as he set the milkshake down beside him. ��I made it back in the eighth grade. I planned to give it to you that Valentine’s.”

“Oh.” You ran your finger along the card’s surface, the smallest smile creeping across your lips. “Well in that case, it’s not half bad. Why’s it ripped though?”

“Ah—well, Yeonjun . . .”

You nodded, taking another glance at his swollen nose. “No need to elaborate. It seems you had a lot planned for our Valentine’s Day back then. Is there anything else you wanted to do?”

His mouth went dry at that, and he wished that you couldn’t see his face because he was sure that his expression was quite comical. All the way back then, four years prior, he had in fact planned the perfect, ideal day in his head. Picking you up on his bike, giving you the cherry from his milkshake, and presenting you with his hand made card.

There was only one thing left on his list.

He didn’t move at first, willing himself to have enough courage to even look back in your direction. But when he finally did allow his eyes to meet yours, he felt his shoulders relax and his heart rate became more manageable.

He took a deep breath, leaned forward, and pressed his lips against your cheek.

He lingered there for only a moment before he pulled back, daring to pry one of his eyes open to take in the look on your face.

The disappointment was palpable—from the way your brows furrowed together and the way you pursed your lips. His stomach dropped, and he scooted the tiniest bit away from you.

“I’m sorry,” He blurt out, his face growing warmer by the second. “I shouldn’t have done that, I just—”

“Is that all?”

Your question stopped him mid-ramble, his eyes growing wide. “Huh?”

“Is that all?” You repeated, closing the distance between you that he had created. “It’s Valentine’s Day, Soobin. I think we can do better than a peck on the cheek.”

The implications of what you were saying didn’t register with him right away, but when it finally did, he could have sworn his heart began to beat loud enough for the entire town to hear. His hand curled into a fist as he gripped the denim of his jeans. He leaned forward, keeping his eyes open just enough to watch you as he brought his lips closer to yours. He could feel your eyes on him all the while, causing his heart to pound fiercer still within him.

When he was just a breath away, he whispered, “Can you close your eyes?”

“Hm?”

He lifted his hand, gently placing it over your eyes. He leaned closer then, filling the space between you both as his lips met yours. You tasted vaguely of cherry and strawberry slice soda, and he found it quite nice the way his lips seemed to fit perfectly against your own. As the seconds drew on, your hands slipped around his neck, pulling him closer. He slowly let his hand fall from your eyes, tracing lines with the tips of his fingers down your cheek before he cradled your jaw, letting his lips part just enough to taste the sweet sugar on your lips once more.

He thought in a haze that it was a good thing he didn’t drink anything at the party, as kissing you was proving to be intoxicating enough on its own.

When you finally pulled away, leaving your forehead resting against his, he let his eyes flutter open enough to see the euphoric smile that adorned your features. He grinned as well, gently running his thumb against your cheek.

“I think that back then, I had planned to ask you this before kissing you,” He whispered, “But Y/N, will you be my Valentine?”

Instead of a spoken answer, you laughed, leaning forward to capture his lips with yours once again, and that was the only answer Choi Soobin would ever need.

WHEN SOOBIN ARRIVED HOME THAT NIGHT, HE WENT STRAIGHT FOR THE TELEPHONE.

It was kept upstairs at night right outside his parent’s door, to keep himself and his brother from using it in the late hours. Of course, this never stopped Soobin from sneaking it downstairs to his room in the basement to make late night calls to Felix.

And that particular evening, he really needed to give Felix an update.

He grabbed the phone from the small table in the hallway, carefully tiptoeing towards the basement stairs. Before he had even taken the first step down, the bathroom door creaked open. Soobin whipped his head around to see his brother Kai standing there, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he raised a brow at his older brother.

Soobin froze, blinking slowly as he realized the incriminating situation he found himself in.

“Please don’t tell mom,” He whispered, his eyes pleading with his younger brother.

Kai nodded, although Soobin wasn’t quite convinced that the boy was even coherent enough to understand what was going on. Soobin offered a rushed thank you, and ventured his first step down the stairs.

Well, he tried, anyways, and ended up missing the first step. He tumbled down the rest of the stairs, landing on his butt at the very end.

He winced in pain, glad to see that the phone was still intact in his hands. He glanced over his shoulders to see Kai staring down the stairway with wide eyes, his lips parted in shock. Soobin quickly put a finger to his lips, begging his brother for silence.

Kai simply shook his head and walked away, allowing Soobin the freedom to breathe out a sigh of relief.

He quickly ran to his bedroom and shut the door, collapsing onto his bed with the phone as his breaths came in ragged gasps as an aftereffect from his tumble down the stairs. He figured he should have dialed Felix’s number right away, but he couldn’t help but brush his fingers against his lips, remembering the feeling and taste of having yours pressed against them.

He was so caught up in his daze that he didn’t notice Felix calling until the third ring.

He picked it up, breathing heavily into the speaker as he rubbed a sore spot on his lower back.

“Please tell me that panting is from running a marathon, and not what I think you’ve successfully tried.”

Soobin nearly gagged, holding the phone away from his face as he coughed, flustered by his friend's crude words. He brought the phone back to his face and said, “No, you sicko, I just fell down the stairs.”

“How the hell did you manage that with those long legs?”

“That’s not important, Lix!” He laid back onto his pillows then, twirling the phone cord in his hands as he stared up at his ceiling, the memories of his adventure with you that night flooding his mind once more. He couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear as he said, “Look, I need to tell you something important.”

If he didn’t know any better, he would have thought that he could hear the smile in Felix’s voice too as his friend replied.

“Well buddy, I got something to tell you too.”

1K notes · View notes

hard--mode · 3 years

Text

Here's the notes for everything that would happen up until the end of the story.... as far as I had it figured out. You'll notice things are a lot less fleshed out the later things go. That's a big reason why this never got finished. the longer I tried to keep the thing running, the more I realized I never had any idea what I wanted to actually DO with this story which made it pretty hard for me to keep up. it's hard to write a story you're trying to take seriously if all you really have are jokes, it turns out.

I haven't reread any of this or edited it at all so who knows what kind of notes I might have written in between things haha

P: so as i was saying about undyne-

C: who’s undyne?

Everyone freezes. Chara just walked right up to papyrus without being noticed. Paps freaks out for a sec before he pulls sans into a huddle. Chara frowns and tries to peek around.

~Montage of papyrus’s excitement and harder puzzles, death montage

~Junior jumble: its sudoku now

Chara’s doing puzzles and sees flowey spying. They shout him over

C: HEY! still following me, loser? Don’t you have anything better to do? (but they smile)

F: somebody’s gotta make sure you don’t get killed too much out here

Flowey pops up closer to them

C: nah, I’m fine! I’ve got that reset power!

F: not for long considering how much you use it (mumbles. Rolls eyes??) (some depiction of chara dying a lot in the bg)

C: by the way…. In the ruins you were telling me to use it… care to tell me more about it since you seem to know so much?

F: I-... uh… well you already know the most of it. It just resets you back to your last SAVE point like nothing happened. Only beings with a powerful SOUL can use it, so monsters with their weak souls can’t.

Chara stops their puzzle work and sits to even the heights: Can flowers?

F: what the heck are you-... oh, no no no. I’m different.

C: so you have the power too.

F: No! I mean-, i used to before you came around. Yeah.

C: so you’ve done resets. (urging him on)

F: yep.

Chara waits a while: ...thats all you have to say?

F: yep

Travel scenes from here on out depict chara and flowey together

Gauntlet:

Flowey remarks that he doesn't remember a save point being before it. Chara goes along and gets paps’ bit. He does to activate it

C: wait this isn't for real right? U can't be srs!!!

P: yeah I am, this is hard mode!

Just show chara repeatedly spawning at the save and running back in with flowey watching them

Then cut to the end chara on the other side of it panting and exhausted, papyrus shocked but also beaming

P: wow you did it!! I'm so proud of u human! I didn’t think you would actually be able to get through it--- I mean- drat! Foiled again! I'll get u one of these times!

Papyrus runs off and Chara watches him with a look of wonder in their eyes.

F: don’t get too excited. his pride is cheap, he’s proud of everyone and every thing

Chara grumbles and marches forward: whatever. I don’t hear you saying you’re proud of me, so why do I have to listen to what you have to say

F: You know, you’re gonna have to fight him soon. Didn’t sans say so? What are you going to do then, die over and over until you give up or are you going to try to murder him just like you did with Toriel? :)

C: I am not! I’m gonna talk him out of it and go right past him like everyone else. Who knows! Maybe he won’t even fight me because he’s that cool. Even if he does, he’s probably a wimp anyways.

F: I wouldn’t be so sure! I bet you don’t stand a chance.

C: shut up! Quit following me if you’re gonna be this useless.

Paps fight

As papyrus carries their body to the shed to rest. Opens on their vision returning and they see their hands hanging toward the ground.

C: why didn’t you kill me? You’re stronger than everyone else, you could easily do it. Why dont you finish me off so everyone can leave or whatever it is you need me to do? Why did you hold back?

P: OH! YOU’RE AWAKE!

C: you held back…

P: OF COURSE i DID! I COULD NEVER KILL YOU, YOU’RE MY-- I HOPE I’M NOT BEING TOO FORWARD, BUT I LIKE TO THINK OF YOU AS MY FRIEND! AND EVEN THOUGH WE DO NEED YOUR SOUL, YOU DESERVE A FIGHTING CHANCE TO DO… WHATEVER IT IS YOU’RE TRYING TO DO.

Chara is too shocked and confused by the sentiment: I don’t… I don’t understand?

P: WHAT’S SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT A FRIEND NOT KILLING YOU? HUMANS ARE SO STRANGE ...OH! I SEE NOW! THE REASON WHY YOU CARRY YOUR KNIFE LIKE THAT. IT’S BECAUSE YOU’RE MORE AFRAID OF US MONSTERS THAN WE COULD EVER BE OF YOU!

He sets them down in the shed on the dog bed.

P: I’M SORRY, HUMAN! I WOULD HAVE GIVEN YOU MORE WARNING IF I HAD KNOWN HOW YOU FELT.

C: then… does that mean you’re going to let me go?

P: ABSOLUTELY NOT! I ALREADY CALLED UNDYNE TO MEET ME SO SHE CAN TAKE YOU! AND YOU NEED TO REST NOW AFTER ALL THAT!

C: !! I-I don’t know who Undyne is, but I can’t do that. I’m in a hurry to get out of here.

P: HMM… IF YOU’RE IN A HURRY THEN… NO, NO YOU CAN’T! WE NEED YOUR SOUL, I CAN’T JUST LET YOU LEAVE. UNDYNE’S REALLY COOL TOO, YOU’LL LIKE HER!

C: No, I have to go.

P: AGH, WELL… I SUPPOSE IF YOU CAN GET PAST ME BEFORE I CAN CATCH YOU, THERE’S NOTHING I CAN DO. BUT I WON’T GO EASY ON YOU!

Cut to chara walking toward waterfall, papyrus calling after them to come back and hang out sometime. They keep walking and mutter to themself: Sorry, but I’ll get out of here before that ever happens.

WATERFALL

They see monster kid and side eye sans as they charge in, hurriedly.

Chara keeps flowey around and asks him to read the words for him. FLowey says it’s not important at all to anything they’re doing. It’s just monster history junk that means nothing if chara’s trying to leave. Chara’s like shut up cmon help me out maybe there's clues. FLowey reads some history stuff in waterfall treating it like shit they already know

F: why do you care about all this garbage anyway?

C: I dunno, I guess it just sounds familiar. Like a story I heard a long time ago.

Chara stops suddenly and checks their phone. Flowey asks what’s up

C: i thought it rang… you didn’t hear-

The phone starts ringing. Papyrus is cheerfully on the other end and they walk and talk.

He tells them about how he heard so many horrible things about humans and the surface but chara was much nicer than he ever expected. Chara asks where he heard that and he says a flower told him. Chara covers the receiver and looks around for flowey, suspicions of him raised.

Montage w monster kid and umbrella

Chara falls from undyne’s spear attack and wakes up in the trash with flowey over them.

F: hey, wake up. I can tell you’re not dead so hurry up and get moving.

Chara’s kind of bummed: she killed me four times back there. And it wasn’t even a fight. I couldn’t talk her down or… i couldn’t even talk to her, I could barely see her.

F: what, are you giving up or something? You know she can kill you as much as she wants and you aren’t gonna die.

C: I know that! I know this is just like a game where you can keep on going but… it hurts. And it’s exhausting.

F: what will you do then? Sit here in this trash and do nothing?

C: *sigh* no. I’m just feeling down in the dumps.

They smile and get up.

As they’re walking out, they hear a click and someone to tell them to “hold it”

Mad dummys behind them and she just has a gun. Pointed directly at chara. She starts on her thing about the cousin and then blook saves the day.

Chara meets up with blook again. They go to where the snail races used to be. It’s all busted and unused

C: what’s this supposed to be…?

B: oh…. this used to be a snail farm…. And this was a race course…. For snails…. But a long time ago people started to call the races “insensitive” so we had to close them…. Sorry you can’t have any fun racing snails…

C: why was it insensitive…?

B: ...i’d… rather not talk about it………..

Timeskip

C: hey flowey! What’s up with this place and snails?

F:...i wouldnt know.

montage

After waterfall where undyne says how many souls they have

C: flowey… if they have 6 human souls, that means 6 others fell down and died here, so…

F: what?

C: i just- i mean you were the first one i met-

F: no, no, no, ive never killed anyone. You’re the only human i’ve seen since i woke up

Chara relaxes: ok. So you dont know anything about them.

F: no. i heard some things from toriel, not much. It’s too late to try asking her, but she’s seen all of them. She was there at the beginning even.

C: the beginning?

F: you know…. When humans started falling down here and monsters started killing them.

Chara goes silent in thought: wait… how… long has this been going on? How old is toriel?

F: dunno

Chara after having a rough time: it’s hard, but no matter what happens i can just keep trying. I’ll make it out of this! You believe in me right, flowey?

F: no i think you should give up.

Page/chapter ends there. Next is chara going up to fight undyne.

Open on a riff on the “long ago” cutscene that chara cuts off by saying they already know this story

Undyne screams SHUT UP!!! I’m doing my HEROIC MONOLOGUE!! Whatever, I bet you haven’t heard the part about the King and Queen’s human child who died of illness and their other son who was killed by the humans when he tried to return their body to the surface?!

C: No I think I heard that one too? Why are you telling me all this anyways??

U: because this is an UNSKIPPABLE CUTSCENE!! NYAAAGGGHHHH!!!!!

Chara’s getting their ass beat and on low hp: I’ll die in a hit or two. But that’s fine because I’ll just start this over. I’ll start from… where was the last save point…

A vision of them with flowey. Their eyes go red and the flashback cuts in between shots of them running from undyne

F: I think you should give up

Ch: what… give up?? I thought you were on my side with all the telling me to keep going and-and the hanging out with me?!

F: as if you had any other choice but to keep going! We both know you don’t.

C: so you’ve just been following this whole time waiting for me to give up and die, huh?! Why, are you trying to steal my soul just like everybody else?!?

F: it doesn’t matter how hard you try, you’re going to die! And die and die and die! You can reset as much as you want, it won’t change that! So what if I am waiting for you to give up? You’re the last thing keeping monsters trapped down here. If you give up, you’ll give everyone what they want!

C: I thought you wanted to help me?! I thought you were my friend!

F: I would never be friends with a human! You’re all nothing but killing machines!

C: I haven’t killed anyone!

F: You killed Toriel! No number of resets can change what you did! You’re a horrible, disgusting human just like all the others and everyone would be happier if you were dead!

Flowey could say something about dying down here is better than their inevitable death on the surface. Their death would at least be worth something. Mean something

Chara escapes the fight, undyne collapses, and they walk away. they tell themselves they won’t give up. They don’t need help, especially not from that dumb flower. They’ll live to spite him and everyone else who tries to kill them

Chara goes in and meets alphys and overall is p meh abt it bc bad mood. Alphys helping them through the underground makes them talk to themselves about how they dont need flowey, they can do this themself. Friends are no good.

hotland is as normal. probably figure out some indication of things not right. make the game seem broken bc they arent supposed to get so far like this

Chara meets with sans at mtt resort for food reluctantly. Lets him say his piece. After he’s done threatening to kill them chara says to his face that they really don’t like him.

Need some hubbub about them having to kill asgore to get out. Theyll be like yeah I know that (somehow)... oh but I need a plan… how will i come up with a plan..

Flowey finally appears to chara again just before they get to new home and tries to talk them out of leaving. Disparaging the surface and telling them they could live happily down here. Chara says no, it’s too hard because people are constantly hunting them down and being the last soul, no ones going to stop that. He says that he’s sorry for the way he was before

Chara smiles back, and then looks away: What you said before… about.. My inevitable death on the surface…

F: that was… don’t worry about that.

C: are you afraid of it?

F: well- yeah, it’s a dangerous place. Everyone knows that.

C: I’ve died a lot more times down here than I ever did up there.

A beat

C: you go back and forth a lot between talking about how I should stay down here because it’s better… but also if I die down here… everyone gets to go free… to the horrible, awful surface.

F: uh,, did I say all that…? I may have contradicted myself a little… I guess… in the end I just wanted an excuse for you to stay around. I really don’t want you to die.

C: so you did see me as a friend after all?

F: well…you reminded me of someone who was my friend. I wish we could have been friends.

C: Do you think… If I reset back to the beginning and did this again, if I said the right things… we could have been?

F: No… You could be as nice to me or as mean to me as you want. No matter how many times you reset, some things never change.

C: ...Did you ever… have to reset because you killed someone?

F: ……….once… and then I never reset ever again. The power to reset… makes you do bad things. It’s wrong. I had to stop because i knew… I’d make someone really upset if I kept messing around.

C: well, in that case… I guess I’ll just have to get the rest of the way out of here without any resets!

Flowey smiles: I dunno, keep one or two under your belt. You’re a pretty big klutz.

C: Thanks for helping me out of here, flowey. Even if you just did it because you were begged.

Can you imagine a more paranoid flowey who is less interested in attacking you and regaining the reset ability, but is pleased af that you have the reset ability because that means you can't die, and instead he spends the entire game trying to convince you that humanity is hopeless. That there is nothing on the surface world returning to. That it's safer, down here.

he's part of the reason why things are so much harder

he's the one that starts the rumors about the dangers of teh surface world

there's a definite sense of paranoia all across the board

When they approach new home, flowey appears one last time and grabs chara by the hand, telling them not to go. They can live in the underground, they’ve made a lot of friends here. Chara says that they have to go, they’ll find a way to get out without killing asgore. Flowey says that he tried to stop them, this is as far as he’ll go. This is goodbye. They bid their farewells and chara goes along, but flowey secretly follows them, much less detectable than ever before. It’s revealed when he’s hiding with the flowers.

Chara walks up to new home, regarding it as a vaguely familiar sight. They walk down the many halls knowing exactly where to go. The monsters speak as they go through the motions. They find a cookbook in the kitchen with a page for snail pie missing. Chara mumbles about already knowing the story and that they should all shut up. They walk more quickly to stay ahead of them. Then one mentions the snail pie and chara stops dead in their tracks. No that’s not how it happened- they stop, and take back off.

They are stopped by sans in the judgement hall, glaring at him.

S: well I had a whole speech to give ya, but you look like you’re in a hurry. You’re a weird kid, but you’re fine. The king’s up ahead.

OTHER alternative: chara realizes something’s wrong and runs back to get everyone, probably threatening to kill asgore to convince them to come quickly. Sans is avoided due to the mob approaching behind them “I heard the word that you’re on your way to kill the king.” c: are you here to stop me? “Nah. But you’d better have a good plan to back yourself up, kid. King’s up ahead”

They run up to asgore, no nonsense. Some time is taken to progress things. As they leave the throne room, flowey watches from the flowers, chara looks back to confirm he’s there.

Asgore draws up the souls, the fight is about to engage, before he can smash “MERCY” chara yells: ASRIEL. Get the souls.

Everything stops. Flowey is behind them, stunned and confused. Chara turns and asks him what he’s waiting for. Hurry up and take the souls before everyone else gets here. Nearly every last monster is coming, if he can become godlike and absorb them, it will be enough strength to break the barrier.

Flowey is confused, how do they know that? Chara tells him he did it before. Doesn’t he remember? Doesn’t he remember them?

Either flowey does it and something happens, or flowey waits too long and chaos erupts which gets them killed, and then chara and flowey have to meet up and workshop.

Final fight:

He probably says some shit about frisk and how he cant lose frisk again, chara must insist that theyre not frisk. When they say their name is chara, he hesitates for only a moment. Finally, when chara’s pinned and about to seriously die…

C: you remember it now too, don’t you? It took me a while, I couldn’t remember a thing until i started hearing your name around. You’re an all powerful god now, you should be able to remember it all better than me

A: shut up.

C: would frisk want us to fight like this?! Would frisk want you to kill your own sibling?!

A: c-.... You’re… you’re really chara?

He lets them go

They reach the conclusion that frisk messed with everything and put them here with no memories so they could do something frisk could never do. Frisk thinks they deserve to live, no matter how much the two may disagree. They have to play along. Asriel is a god and can use his powers to break the barrier and bring EVERYONE back to life so they can live together happily.

go to final fight and everyones already there, things are very confused, flowey takes the souls and things glitch out (screen phases between bosses) and chara realizes this isnt how things are supposed to be, tells asriel theyre sorry for their baggage but he doesnt understand bc he isnt theirs, and then they gotta find frisk somehow

OR... they realize things in the speech and don't go to fight asgore bc theyre finding flowey... they feign fighting asgore and then suddenly tell flowey to take the souls("Asriel! get the souls!" and thats the first time they call him by name)...? i like that a bit better. they start going on about crazy shit that makes roided out flowey kind of lose it at them which leads to them apologizing to their own asriel but then realizing they need to find frisk

but HOW do they find frisk

The end shows chara asriel and frisk hugging eachother, all alive and well. Then the two are “processing…” and remember that oh, theyve done some dark messed up stuff.

#unsure what to tag this as lol #sorry if the readmore doesnt work for any reason

155 notes · View notes

kerie-prince · 3 years

Text

black hair dye

George Weasley x Reader (fluff)

requested: (anon) hello! i was wondering if i could request? could u write george x reader, established relationship, him n fred are getting rlly into pranks (more than they usually would be i suppose) and one prank goes just a tad too far and reader ends up getting upset and hurt and fluff ensues :) i hope that’s alright, thank u sm! :)

warnings: use of the word "mudblood"

summary: you knew what you signed up for when you started dating one of the most devious (yet sweetest) boys in school. what you didn't sign up for was to get caught up in one of their devious plans

a/n: my first request since i started writing again 🥺💙 hope you guys like it!

(gif cred)

George Weasley loved two things: Y/N and pranking. In that order? Well, we’ll get to that later.

The mischievous smirk on his face, the dedication in planning, the certain glint in his eyes, and the contagious laughter from the aftermath had been some of the reasons you fell for the devilish Gryffindor boy.

On a couple occasions, you’ve assisted in some pranks with the twins. Your favorite one being the time that you had given Draco Malfoy a heart-shaped box of chocolates on Valentine’s day, chocolates that were actually puking pasties the twins made. You skipped across the hallways and stood in front of the Slytherin blond, twirling your hair in your fingers as you gave him the box and walked away. Madam Pomfrey had spent three hours helping him clear everything out of his system. That same day, George presented you with his own box of chocolates. It took a while to convince you that they were real chocolates, but once you decided on risking it, he asked you out. It was oddly romantic. Not just because it was Valentine's day, but that he asked you after doing probably the least romantic thing together. Not many girls dream of their crush asking them out after they just sent another boy emptying his guts out for hours.

That brought you to the present, in the Common Room studying for exams with Angelina and Hermione. Slughorn may have been significantly nicer and easier to follow compared to Snape, but that didn’t make his work any easier. As you had your nose in your book, hushed whispers and the familiar laugh that had indication of scheming flowed through your ears. The ginger boy walked towards you and placed a quick kiss on your forehead, “I'll see you later, love.”

Fred and George made a dash to their shared dorm with Lee. “They're at it again,” Angelina commented with her eyes still on the parchment in front of her.

“That's to say that they ever stopped,” Hermione jokes. There was no telling what the boys were planning this time. It seemed that with every prank, they had to outdo themselves in the next one. Like a competition only between the two of them.

As they were in their final year at Hogwarts, you always wondered if George would ever retire from pranking and go on to do other things after graduation. But you also couldn't imagine him doing anything else. There were talks of opening a shop after graduation thanks to Harry giving them his winnings from the Triwizard Tournament, but to your knowledge nothing has been set in stone. George was always happy when coming up with pranks, and when George is happy, so are you.

You read the time on your wrist watch and started packing your things. “Alright girls, I'm beat. We’ll meet tomorrow in the library, yeah?” the two girls nodded in your direction. Walking towards the girls dormitories, you could hear the twins and Lee laughing loudly from their room. Oh, boys.

—

In the Great Hall, you ate your breakfast as you read over your notes for Advanced Potions when George took his usual seat next to you. “Good morning my sweet.” He kissed your forehead as he did every morning. You tore your eyes away for a moment from the book to give him a smile and peck his lips. “Morning, love.”

“Studying as always, Y/N?” Fred asked from across. “‘Course I am. Someone has to be able to tell you what ingredients to use to make a stink bomb,” you teased. Your surrounding housemates laughed at your response. Fred and George went on whispering, presumably about their new plan. You and Angelina looked at each other with a nod of disapproval and laughed to yourselves. Moments later, Lee ran in the Great Hall carrying two bottles, one empty and one filled with a black substance.

“What are you planning now?” you interrogated. Lee and Fred gave George a nod for him to go on. “This, my love, is black hair dye. Muggles use it to color their hair.”

“Yeah, I know what hair dye is. Why do you have it- are you going to mix it with Ron’s shampoo?” your eyes nearly matched the mischievous look in the boys’ eyes around you.

“I like the way you think but no,” George replied.

“This dye is going into none other than Malfoy’s shampoo.” Fred completed. The twins went on talking back and forth completing each other’s sentences.

“Lee’s the only one that has access to the prefect’s bathroom,” George started.

“Considering that McGonagall doesn’t trust us to go in there.” Angelina scoffed, “I can’t imagine why.” The twins ignored her sarcastic remark and continued. “We’re going to steal his shampoo and replace it with the one we made with the black hair dye. He’ll go washing on and,”

“Blondie no more.” Lee completed. You could imagine it now, Malfoy walking around with greasy black hair. This would probably be Fred and George’s most devious plan. They have had their fun with setting random fireworks, hexing quills to move on their own, and candies that had some not so pleasant after effects. The more you thought about it, though, the more worried you became. The three of you had detention for weeks from the last stunt with Malfoy, and his father still holds the grudge against Arthur. Something like this would not only get them in detention until the end of the school year, Lucius could use his position at the Ministry to get Arthur fired.

It seemed as if your best friend had the same thought seeing as she had the same look on her face. “Love, don’t you think that’s a bit too much?” Angelina faced Fred.

“Nonsense. We got this handled.” The boys went on with their fun. You stood up from the table and gathered your things. Angelina joined you, not wanting to risk being associated with the boys and landing herself in detention along with them if they were to be caught. You walked arm-in-arm to the library where you’d surely find Hermione with a huge stack of books. “Boys,” your best friend simply said.

“Yeah, but what would we do without them?”

—

A week has passed since and it was now the night before your Potions exam. You hadn’t seen much of your boyfriend, knowing that he was being kept busy with his brother. As much as you love spending time with him, it was nice to get some work done. You had determination to get straight O’s for your last year and you were confident this exam would help you get it. The library was closing its doors soon, so you quickly grabbed all your things to make it back to the Gryffindor common room in time.

Your ink pot spilled over the table in the midst of the rush. Somewhere in your bag was a little package of tissues and you used the whole thing to try and clean up as much as you could. The ink was staining your hands but you could care less about it. Deciding that the ink was mostly wiped off, you ran out the doors and made a straight dash to your house.

Once you made it to your shared dorm room, you tossed your bag to the side and threw yourself on your bed and fell asleep in seconds.

—

The morning came and you groaned at the sunlight blinding your eyes. Your uniform was wrinkled up, hair pointed at every direction, and your breath was enough to get you up and out of bed. The girls around you laughed at the sight of your unruly state.

“Y/N, what is that on your hands?” Angelina chuckled.

“Just some ink. I spilled my pot in the library and tried to clean it,” you answered. In the shared bathroom, you casted a spell for your toothbrush to move around your mouth as you tried to wash off the ink. Unfortunately, it wasn’t letting up. The black ink was clinging to your skin and only seemed to be spreading around even more. It was starting to stain the porcelain sink when you decided that you’ll just deal with it for the day.

You bathed yourself, changed into fresh robes and headed to the Great Hall for breakfast. Potions would be the first class of the day and you were confident in yourself to pass the exam. Before you could step into the Hall, someone grabbed you from their collar and dragged you to the opposite. “You’re coming with me, mudblood.” You couldn’t see who it was as their hood was covering their head, but the hand on you had the familiar silver ring on one of the fingers.

You questioned him as he dragged you to the dungeons. He forced you into Snape’s office, catching the professor’s attention with the slam of the door. You stood confused as to why you were brought to Snape’s office and it seemed he was confused as well. When you turned around to the boy behind you, you were met with a black-haired, red-faced Malfoy. His nostrils were flared and he had stains around his forehead and the back of his neck. You couldn’t help yourself when you started cackling at the sight.

“SHE DID THIS TO ME,” Malfoy accused with a pointed finger at you. Your laughs were dying down, and as you caught your breath, you faced him boldly. “Please, I have better things to do than petty things such as this.” He walked up to you and forcibly grabbed your hands and raised them to show Snape. “Look at this! This is clear proof she did this. Do something about this!” He demanded from the brooding professor. You had panic in your eyes as you realized the situation you were in. The ink on your skin matched with the dye in Malfoy’s hair.

“Professor, I swear I didn’t do this. You have to believe me,” you pleaded. Snape seemed unamused by the whole thing. “Then, Miss Y/L/N, how do you explain the stains on your hands?”

“I spilled my ink pot last night and tried to clean it up but it stained my hands,” you waved your hands in front of you. The situation was coincidental but even you thought it sounded suspicious.

“Rubbish, you expect me to believe that you happened to ‘clean up spilled ink’ the same night this happens to me?” Malfoy was raging as he pointed to his head. “My father will hear about this,” the famous words fell from his lips. In the middle of it all, you looked at the clock above Snape’s head and saw that you were now ten minutes late to Slughorn’s class. You were missing the exam.

“Please, professor. I didn’t do this. I’ve been in the library every night studying,” you continued begging.

“Were you with anyone last night to prove your innocence?” Snape put emphasis in his last word. You looked down and held your hands in front of you. “No, sir.”

“Then what am I to make when one of my students comes in looking like,” he paused to look at Malfoy, “that and your hands are in the state it is now?”

“But I didn’t do it,” you whispered with watered eyes.

“Alright. If you didn’t do it, then who did?” You couldn’t throw your boyfriend under the bus at that moment. Him and his brother were already on thin ice with the pretentious Slytherin. This would just make it worse. “I-I can’t tell you,” you stuttered.

“You can’t or you won’t?” Snape persisted. You stood silently, having counted that you were now thirty minutes late to class and there was no way you would be able to retake it. Slughorn was unusually strict about one thing; tardiness. “Very well then. If you won’t tell me, I’ll have no choice but to give you detention for three months,” Snape declared.

Your eyes nearly fell out in shock, “THREE MONTHS?” Malfoy had the biggest smirk on his face and his arms were crossed in victory. “And you’ll be responsible for putting his hair back to its natural state. Now get out.” He ushered you two out harshly and slammed his door in your face when you tried to plead.

The Slytherin boy just chuckled as he raised his hood and pranced away. The tears were falling from your eyes. You leaned against the wall with your head leaned back. Plans of straight O’s were out the window, but that’s not what really upset you. What worried you was having to deal with the wrath of Lucius Malfoy once he caught wind of this. And even with all this, you couldn’t bring yourself to be mad at George. It’s not like he spilled the ink on your hands.

You walked straight to your house with your head sulked down. When you started climbing the changing stairs, you heard your boyfriends’ laugh from above. “Y/N! Have you seen Malfoy yet? Godric, he looks terrible!” Fred gave him a high-five, “We did it again, Georgie.”

George’s laughter faded when he saw your tired face, tears dried on your cheeks. He cupped your cheek with his large hand and lifted your face up to look at him, “Love, what’s wrong? Did the exam not go well?”

“Got detention. I missed the exam,” you explained. Your voice sounded tired and all you wanted was to lay in your room for the rest of the day. You didn’t care about your other classes. “Detention? For what?” Fred asked from behind George. You lifted one of your hands and babbled ‘Malfoy’ before slipping past and walked inside the common room. The boys looked at each other in confusion before putting two and two together and made a dash for you inside.

“That’s ridiculous, you weren’t even a part of it this time,” George exclaimed. Fred non verbally agreed. They were appalled. “Did you tell them you didn't do it?”

“I did but when Snape asked who did, I couldn’t tell him,” you lowered your voice so they couldn't hear the last. But George did. Because of him, you missed out on the exam you have been desperately studying for and you got in trouble for something he did.

George left your room in a huff and started marching his way to Snape’s office. He couldn't hear Fred calling out for him, and you lost your breath from chasing after him. Damn those long legs.

—

Around dinner time, George walked into the Great Hall with one hand holding on to his shoulder as he moved the opposite one in circles. “What’s up with you?” Ron asked with raised eyebrows.

“Snape’s got me organizing his potions in both his office and supply closet. Man can’t organize to save his life,” George may have been uncomfortable, but he still had his signature smile. You reached your hands to massage his shoulder. “Why’d you do that?”

“Whaddya mean, love?” He looked clueless.

“Why did you get yourself in trouble? Aren't you worried about what will happen?” you whispered for only him to hear you. “I only told the truth. No need for you to take the fall. Anyways, I talked to Slughorn and he agreed to let you take the exam this Saturday at seven in the morning.” If at all possible, you fell more in love with George Weasley in that moment. You kissed him on the cheek, held one of his hands in yours and continued the night talking with friends.

“Hey Georgie, think we can top this one?” Fred looked over his shoulder staring at the wonderful victim of the previous prank. The Slytherin table were snickering at their Prince. Draco sat with his head down, threats not doing him any justice anymore.

“You're on, Freddie.” The twin boys shook their hands and started talking about ideas for what they’d do next.

Oh, Merlin.

—

requests are open!

#george weasley #requested #requests open #george weasley imagine #george weasley fluff #george weasley x reader #george weasley x you #george x reader #george x you #george x y/n #george fluff #george weasley x y/n #harry potter imagine #harry potter fluff

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kae-karo · 3 years

Note

"Are you labeling me? And not in the metaphorical fashion, you are literally putting a label on me."

venti or zhongli?

hi i hope u know this gave me so many opportunities to write fun things and i must thank u so very kindly for this prompt dear!!!!

[send me a dialogue prompt from this list and a genshin character!]

tags: modern au but it’s in teyvat? TARTALI, osial and azhdaha make an appearance, also college professor au lmaoooo

----

“I simply do not understand these mortals’ newfangled technology…”

Zhongli turns to find Osial tapping absently at his label maker, and he jumps when it begins to print whatever nonsense he’s typed. Zhongli exhales a long breath.

“While I do greatly appreciate your visit, could this not be done elsewhere?” Osial blinks up at him, pale ocean-blue eyes wide and innocent. “Somewhere that isn’t my office?”

Osial glances around as though surprised to find himself here. As though he and Azhdaha hadn’t purposely tracked down his office in this wing of the university building, determined his standard office hours, and arrived precisely when they knew he’d be here.

“You’re hard to find, Morax.” Zhongli glances over at where Azhdaha’s pulling books from his shelf at random, flipping through a few pages before returning them to their proper locations. From behind him, he hears the mechanical whirr of the label maker.

“I am not hard to find to those who know me.” He waves pointedly when Azhdaha glances up, orange-gold eyes flicking to meet his. A genuine smile touches his lips.

“No, but you did make us work for it,” Osial whines from behind him, and Zhongli glances over his shoulder. Ah, the ever-familiar pout and framed by a river of blue-white hair. Zhongli’s lip ticks up at the corner.

“I would never hide from you intentionally. You know my situation well enough.”

“No, we really don’t,” Osial says with a hint of amusement. “What could you possibly find so fascinating about...teaching?” His lip ticks up in an elegant grimace, then he turns to tap again at the label maker. He must find it fascinating in its own right, Zhongli supposes as he glances down at the pile of labels accruing on his desk.

“It makes perfect sense, actually.” Azhdaha, ever the one who knew his heart. “He’s always cared to pass our history on to mortals.”

Osial hums at this, then takes a freshly printed label and peels off the back. Frowns at Zhongli, then takes his hand from where it hangs at his side. Presses a feather-light kiss to the back of it, then presses the label to the sleeve of his jacket.

"Are you labeling me?” Zhongli asks with raised brows. “And...not in the metaphorical fashion,” he adds at Osial’s soft, wide grin. “You are literally putting a label on me."

Zhongli huffs out an amused breath, reads the upside-down text. Boring Professor. He shakes his head, removes the label and tosses it in the trash. Osial gasps, and Zhongli glances up to find his hand over his heart.

“You would so carelessly toss aside a hand-made gift from your-”

“Osial,” Azhdaha chides with a hint of amusement. “Really, Morax. It’s good to see you.” He steps away from the bookshelf, places a hand on Zhongli’s arm. Squeezes gently, so very gently for this mortal form he’s chosen to take. Really, he’s as tall as Zhongli and twice as broad. Zhongli nods his agreement.

“Forgive my impertinence, I am truly thrilled to see you,” he adds, to which Azhdaha only smiles. “And Osial,” he says as he turns. Osial quickly pulls his hand back, a label still stuck to one slender finger. Zhongli huffs out an amused breath as he tucks his hand behind his back. “I am equally glad to see you again as well.”

Osial’s eyes narrow, lips pursed in a pout, but he relents after hardly a moment and huffs out an exaggerated breath.

“Oh, fine.” Without warning, he sweeps Zhongli into an embrace, warm and smelling of the ocean. Zhongli lets his arms rest gently at his back. “I’ve missed you quite dearly, Rexy.” Zhongli shakes his head, but allows the abhorrent nickname. Osial will not change his ways anytime soon.

The door handle turns quite suddenly, then, and Osial pulls away, and Zhongli turns with a slightly forced expression of neutrality as-

“Xiansheng? Are we still- ah, am I interrupting a meeting?” Childe. A soft smile touches Zhongli’s lips, and it requires no force whatsoever.

“Professor Tartaglia, not at all.” Childe’s raised brows and wide eyes relax, and he offers a bright smile to Osial and Azhdaha. And to Zhongli.

“‘Professor Tartaglia’, such formality! Are you sure this isn’t a bad-”

“Please, forgive our intrusion,” Azhdaha interrupts with a gentle warmth to his tone. “We were just on our way out.” Zhongli turns just in time to catch his unsubtle smile, though he must hide it well enough from Childe. “Professor Zhongli,” he adds with a dip of his head before turning toward the door. “And Professor Tartaglia. A true pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Childe nods with earnest, though his gaze flicks back to Zhongli and it speaks of the confusion beneath his polite exterior. Osial, however, presses a hand to Zhongli’s shoulder before stepping between him and Childe, and Zhongli winces when he pulls Childe into a sudden embrace.

“Dear Tartaglia,” Osial starts, and Childe stares with wide, panicked eyes at Zhongli. Zhongli mouths my apologies as clearly as he can manage. “It is a great pleasure indeed, we are truly blessed to have encountered each other.”

And with that, he sweeps away and past Childe, and the door clicks shut behind him.

“That was, ah...interesting,” Childe says with a tip of his head. Zhongli hums.

“They are interesting friends indeed,” he says with a laugh. “But I am glad for the good fortune that allowed you to meet them.” He leans back against his desk, and Childe takes a step closer. Tips his head, and frowns down at Zhongli’s arm…

Where a label seems to have gotten itself stuck, or rather...Osial. Zhongli shakes his head, lifts a hand.

Before it reaches his arm, Childe’s is already there. He pulls the label away, lifts it with a smirk.

“Ancient History. Did you get attacked whilst labeling?” he asks with a glance around the office, voice filled with a laughter that makes Zhongli’s heart soar.

“Something of the sort.” He shakes his head - he’d hardly noticed the brush of Osial’s hand evidently placing that particular label on him. He probably thought himself rather humorous, though Zhongli can’t quite say he isn’t amused himself.

“Well, I think it belongs there.” Zhongli laughs, shakes his head. He does not remove the label when Childe replaces it, when he pats Zhongli’s arm for good measure. Far be it for him to throw away such a gift. “Are we still on for lunch today?” Childe adds, waving a hand toward the door.

“Wouldn’t dream of missing it,” Zhongli says as he brushes past and out the door. “The new Snezhnayan restaurant you speak so highly of?” Childe hums his agreement, steps out behind him.

“That’s the- oh.”

Zhongli hums, glances back to find Childe standing especially close, his hand at Zhongli’s shoulder.

“Something the matter- ah.” He coughs out a breath of laughter as Childe pulls away another label. Osial, the menace. “And what does that one say, then?”

Childe stares at it for a remarkably long time, and Zhongli’s brows lift. What could that ocean-devil have written to make Childe-

“It’s nothing,” Childe chirps suddenly, sticks his hand - and the label - in his pocket. Zhongli’s brows lift at the sudden splash of pale pink on Childe’s cheeks. “We’d best be going, don’t want to miss our reservation, do we?”

With that, he loops an arm through Zhongli’s and heads off down the hall, and Zhongli stares with mild amusement - and curiosity - at the grin that seems to take up permanent residence on Childe’s lips.

#genshin #genshin impact #tartali #chili #zhongli #tartaglia #childe #osial and azhdaha make an appearance #anon #ask

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mediabasedlife · 3 years

Text

A Look Back At...The Last Generation (2013-2020)

I’d like to start this off by thanking those who encouraged me to write this article, my friends and family who encouraged me to rekindle this project despite my own trepidation. I hope its quality lives up to those lofty expectations.

Say what you will about the hobby, gaming is in many ways the gift that keeps on giving. Every year there are hundreds, if not thousands of new offerings for every brand of player out there. And wouldn't you know it, there's a fairly significant portion of that library that are actually pretty good. Now, people will argue ad infinitum about what games are the best, or what consoles, or even which generation trumps the rest. This diversity of opinion is what has allowed gaming discussion to thrive just as potently as the medium which it encapsulates. Like any opinion, all of this is especially subjective; great games have been coming out pretty much every year since gaming began, a trend that seems like it will continue as long as gaming itself continues to thrive. While some may argue, I would say the latest generation thrived especially well. Ignoring the Wii-U, since I never owned one, and skirting around handhelds, the latest generation spanned the life of the Xbox One, the PlayStation 4, and technically, the Nintendo Switch. And through their seven-year life [switch notwithstanding], we saw the release of some truly excellent games - from top budget AAA titles to humble indie offerings. Now, in 2020, while we as a community are taking our first steps into the new generation of gaming, I think it fair to take pause, gaze back, and remember some of the games that made the latest generation so memorable for so many.

2013

2013 marked the start of the last-gen, with the release of both the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4. Both consoles were built to shepherd out their predecessors, marking leaps in visual fidelity and infrastructure that would empower them to become the monoliths of gaming that they hoped to be. I won't say that both consoles had an equally vibrant launch, but they both tried to put their best foot forward. While the Xbox was busy desperately trying to become the multimedia center for your living room, Sony kicked off the next generation in style, releasing a whole seven days earlier than its competitor. With the Xbox not far behind, both consoles brought a suite of new, shiny games to play. Well, in theory, anyway. I'm not here to speak of the quality of the launch lineups of either console, but what I can do is list off the game that stood out, and why it made it onto my list.

-Assassin's Creed Black Flag Black Flag actually saw its initial release on the PS3 and Xbox 360 almost a month prior to the soon to be current generation, but with both new consoles came a second release, one that came equipped with all the bells and whistles you'd expect from what was then a next-gen game. It doesn't look good for my list to start things off on a technicality, but this game is worth it. Black Flag remains one of my top three Assassin's Creed Games, which is saying a lot considering the sheer scale of the franchise. Fresh off the love it or hate it Assassin's Creed III, Black Flag looked to take a revitalized approach to the franchise formula, playing off of fan feedback, expanding upon what fans loved from AC3, and adding in new activities and a broader, fresher open world to explore. In it, you play as Edward Kenway, a charming rogue of a pirate who kicks the game off by stealing the identity of a defected Assassin. Expecting nothing more than riches and glory, his masquerade instead goes quickly sour, thrusting Edward into the conspiracy filled, secretive world of the Assassin and Templar conflict. What makes this story stand out is how different Edward was as a protagonist, seeing him acting largely indifferent to the traditional formula the assassin's creed games had followed thus far. The game's setting also helped it immensely; the game plays more like a pirate simulator, seeing players sail the Caribbean searching out treasures and fame, gathering a sturdy ship and a hearty crew, engaging in thrilling naval battles, and basking in the warm glow of the sun-drenched sands that define the game's many islands. Along the way, you interact with a bevy of historical or mythical figures, such as Blackbeard, Captain Kidd, Calico Jack, and many more. All of this came together to create an immensely satisfying game, a standout amidst its peers and predecessors, and an experience that still stands the test of time despite the numerous sequels it has received.

2014

2014 was the year the new generation really started to pick up. The consoles had begun to get their footing, truly ushering in the next wave of quality games and proving their value to the players. Several critically acclaimed games got their start here or saw revitalized releases on the current generation of consoles. However, there were a few strays, games that elected to release on the prior consoles first and foremost, games that wouldn't see new-gen ports for some time, and others that never did, but still merited recognition and praise. But how many will make it onto my list? Well, you'll just have to read on.

-Titanfall Titanfall was, for me, the first game on the Xbox One that truly cemented it as a worthy purchase. It was a melting pot of ideas and innovation that I immediately fell in love with. Built with an always-online principle, Titanfall sees players engaging in a pseudo-campaign of multiple, looping competitive matches. On the surface, you could easily glance Titanfall's way and see nothing remarkable. Another first-person shooter in a sea of competitors, all of whom had far more clout at the time. But what set Titanfall apart from the start was its dedication to movement, satisfying and fast-paced gunplay, and especially, robots. See, Titanfall's whole gimmick is this; players take on the role of Pilots, better than average soldiers of the far future who are deployed in times of conflict as superior ground troops, but more importantly, heavy artillery. As pilots perform well on the battlefield, they can call in the titular Titanfall, summoning their respective Titan to the fray. Titans are large, deadly mechs that can be piloted by the player to give them a distinct advantage in battle. What this translates to in gameplay is simple; as players make their way through matches, they build up a meter which when filled allows them to call down a massive robot to wreak havoc. Every player can do this, usually multiple times a match if they're good enough. Titans are fast, tough, and lethal, and fun as hell to control. But what kept the game balanced was the fact that titans weren't invincible. All players came equipped with anti-titan weaponry, alongside their usual loadout of rifles or handguns. This meant that anyone could take a titan down if they were savvy. The titans, coupled with the frantic movement and satisfying shooting, made Titanfall a one of a kind game. It's fitting, then, that the inevitable sequel would go on to improve on it in virtually every way, but that'll have to wait for later.

-Diablo 3 I will admit to not having played this in its initial release window, in fact, some years would pass before I finally picked it up on console during a sale. And though my time with it was quite belated, I would still consider it to be a genuinely fun game, one worthy of being on this list. In Diablo 3, players choose between seven classes; Wizard, Monk, Necromancer, Witch Doctor, Demon Hunter, Barbarian, or Crusader. From there, they are thrust into the demon-plagued land of Sanctuary, beginning their adventure in the town of New Tristram. Each class has a different backstory and a slightly different narrative throughout, but the core throughline is thus; you are sent to the village to investigate reports of a falling star, only to be swept up in a fight against hell and heaven itself for the fate of the world. In terms of game difficulty, the game sports an impressive twenty difficulty tiers; easy, normal, hard, master, and then sixteen levels of torment. Should players want an even greater challenge, there's also hardcore mode, which starts you off with permadeath: you get one life, no exceptions. Die, and the character is gone for good. Overall, I would say that Diablo's biggest strength is in its gameplay loop; Diablo plays like a top-down, hack and slash role-playing game, with players exploring the various levels in search of loot all the while battling hordes of enemies and leveling up, earning new abilities and skills that players can swap out to create their ideal builds. The core gameplay loop, while simple, is wildly addictive, with a massive loot pool to chase in an effort to grow ever stronger. Each class plays differently, but all of them are easy to learn. Diablo also supports local and online multiplayer, making it a great game to play with friends or family.

-Sunset Overdrive Sunset Overdrive is a game I've previously covered on this blog before. In fact, I'd say I did such a good job that if you want to read about it, go read that article. But if you'd rather not click away, let me give you the TL;DR. Sunset overdrive is a satirical open world game made by Insomniac in which you play as a cocky and comedic hero out to save their city from a bogus energy drink that caused a pseudo-zombie outbreak. It's built around movement, with the player grinding on rails and running on walls and doing everything they can to stay mobile while gunning down the mutated enemies and exploring the environment. It's funny and feels great to play while being hampered by an underwhelming character creator and suite of customization options, but still manages to come out on top as an immensely satisfying game.

-Destiny Destiny is the brainchild of one Bungie studios, the original creators of Halo, the next game on this list. Fresh off their amicable split from Microsoft, Bungie did what they did best; develop a truly great FPS. But this time, they added a twist; Destiny is equal parts Shooter, Looter, and MMO. It took these three core ingredients and mixed them together with gusto, delivering an immensely entertaining game that felt incredible to play both alone or with your friends. The story of destiny is a long one, but can be summarized simply; Some years in the future, Humanity met and allied with an alien being known as the Traveller, an alliance that heralded massive technological and social leaps, ushering in the new Golden Age of humanity. Unfortunately, the Traveller's natural enemies, The Darkness, attacked the solar system, destroying much, and whittling down the last survivors to a single safe city. In response, the Traveller created Guardians, reanimated protectors infused with the Traveller's power, tasked with defending the earth and all its colonies from the encroaching forces of evil that threaten this dwindling peace. Resurrected by a ghost, an emissary of the Traveller, you play as one of these Guardians; taking on the role of either the agile Hunter, the cosmically magical Warlock, or the strong and stalwart Titan. From there, you could either progress alone or join up with friends to take on the challenges of the solar system, pushing back the forces of darkness. Although lacking in longevity in its first outing, destiny was quickly expanded and iterated upon, turning it from an already impressive game to a true powerhouse and pillar of its genre.

-Halo: The Master Chief Collection I won't pretend this started off as a flawless, perfect compilation of prior Halo games. But I love Halo, and I loved playing these games again, so it makes the list. Especially after all of the improvements and subsequent additions 343 made to the collection post-launch. On release, it featured Halo CE, Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo 4, but has since gone on to include Halo 3: ODST and Halo Reach as well. If you're unfamiliar, Halo is a staple franchise in the Xbox lineup, and the master chief collection sought to unify all of the prior releases under one umbrella for the newest console. Halo is a sci-fi FPS franchise, largely following the saga of the titular Master Chief Petty Officer, John-117. John, or Master Chief as he is more commonly called, is a Spartan; a supersoldier of the future, who fights to protect humanity from an alien collective dubbed The Covenant. In the first game, Master Chief crash lands on an alien ringworld known as Halo, which later turns out to be an ancient superweapon created to exterminate all sentient life in the galaxy. Subsequent games only build the stakes from there, seeing John stave off one intergalactic threat after another in a franchise that continues to satisfy time and again. What the Master Chief Collection does is bundle everything up in one convenient package, while simultaneously offering tweaks and improvements to complement the technological advancements of the new consoles. It offers local and online multiplayer, both for its story and its competitive modes. Overall, even with the flawed beginnings, I would consider The master chief collection a must-have for Xbox players.

-Grand Theft Auto V Ah yes, GTAV, the game that refuses to die. Technically, this game released on the Xbox 360 and ps3, but it's been put on the PS4/XBO and now even the PS5 and the latest Xboxes too. I won't be surprised if this game gets ported to the consoles that come after that, too, in seven or so years. This game just won't quit. But that's also a testament to the dedication of its player base and the overall quality of the game itself. GTAV is an irreverent, biting joy of a game, replete with humor and charisma. It was, and remains, the latest in Rockstar's open-world crime franchise, in which players take on the role of not one, but three separate characters trying to make their way through life in Los Santos California; Michael, a retired crook stuck in the witness protection system, Michael's former, quite deranged partner Trevor, and rounding out the cast is Franklin, a street-savvy up and comer. Together they go about committing numerous heists, shady deals, and more than a few moments of mayhem in their quest for glory. Its secondary selling point was a robust and open-ended online mode, where players could create their own character and participate in myriad activities with and against their friends and strangers for fame, money, and clout. This is the mode that has kept GTA going in the years since its release, and it is the mode that has seen the most improvements and updates as well. I spent a not inconsiderable amount of time in it myself, but it was always the story of Michael, Trevor, and Franklin that drew me in overall.

-Tales from the Borderlands Tales from the Borderlands is the only Telltale game I'm putting in this whole list. Not for lack of quality on the other games' parts, but simply because this one has to be my favorite. For those unfamiliar, Borderlands is a series of FPS games that take place far in the future on the fringes of space; the titular Borderlands. It follows a revolving door of ragtag Vault Hunters, people who go in search of mythical, alien "vaults" that are rumored to contain vast amounts of treasure. They are incredibly popular, addicting looter shooters that match satisfying gunplay with beautiful cell-shaded graphics, topped off with charming and funny characters and not too shabby storytelling. Telltale games, on the other hand, are traditional point and click adventure games, released in episodic formats and usually broken down into seasons. They focus on storytelling first and foremost, showcasing incredibly compelling narratives influenced by player choice. You'd think, then, that these two dichotomous formats wouldn't pair well together at all, but Tales from the Borderlands proves that sentiment is wildly false. Tales from the borderlands took what was great about previous telltale games, and matched it perfectly to an original tale set in the Borderlands universe. It weaves an incredibly compelling narrative, filled with equal parts humor and feeling, and manages to tell one of the best Borderlands stories to date.

2015

I don't have a lot to say about 2015. The new generation was still going strong and saw some truly excellent games grace its shelves, many of whom are going to appear below.

-Bloodborne 2015 kicked off incredibly strong with Bloodborne, the latest instant classic from the studio behind the equally popular Dark Souls franchise. Bloodborne melds the skill-oriented, punishing combat and exploration heavy maps of the Souls games with an eldritch, psychological atmosphere, a match so perfect it went together like peanut butter and chocolate. To espouse the story of Bloodborne would be an effort in itself, but I shall do my best to summarize it; Shirking the more medieval settings of the Souls games before it, Bloodborne sees players navigating the victorian gothic town of Yarnham, a city plagued by beasts and monsters. It is these monsters you are tasked with dispatching, taking on the role of a Hunter of Beasts, sent to cleanse the town of that which ails it. But not is all as it seems, and the beasts may not be the only monsters Yarnham has to offer. Outside of its interpretive yet incredibly strong narrative, Bloodborne offered equally polished gameplay, iterating on the previously mentioned combat from prior dark souls games to create a punishing yet wildly satisfying gameplay loop that was easy to learn yet hard to master. Bloodborne forced players to always be on their guard but gave them no shield or barrier with which to do so, believing that offense was the greatest defense, making success hinge on your willingness to fight and your skill in surviving the nightmares that Yarnham had to offer. A melding of horror, action, and exploration, Bloodborne was a true success, cementing itself for years to come as a top tier action-RPG, and saw countless fans that remain dedicated to it to this day.

-The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt I'm going to be blunt; This is one of my favorite games of the last generation. It is a top tier RPG, made up of an incredibly charming cast of characters, a beautiful open world, and a thrilling, fantastical narrative that all come together to make one of the best games to release in the last seven years. Though a sequel to not only two prior games, but also a long line of books, The Witcher 3 was surprisingly friendly to newcomers, of which I was one at the time. Despite its pedigree, I felt right at home in the world of the Witcher, quickly picking up on what I had missed in its long and storied life. The Witcher 3 puts players in the role of Geralt of Rivia, the titular Witcher, a magically enhanced human tasked with routing out monsters that threaten the world of man. This time around, Geralt is searching for his ward, Ciri, as he navigates a world fraught with monsters and men in equal measure. what starts as a simple search for a missing friend quickly blossoms into an adventure for the fate of the world itself. Though a fantasy RPG at its heart, the witcher manages to tell some particularly grounded and human stories, and this game is no exception. One moment will see you stalking a beast out in the wild, the next will see you navigating political intrigue in the courts of royalty. But it all flows together to create one of the best RPGs I've ever played, and one that earned a not inconsiderable amount of well-deserved praise when it first debuted back in 2015.

-Assassin's Creed Syndicate Hot off the heels of the muddied AC Unity, Syndicate was the last proper Assassin's Creed game before the franchise would experience a massive genre and gameplay shift in its next entry. Where Unity saw too much focus on graphics and not enough care anywhere else, Syndicate finely balances all of its parts to create an impressive experience overall. This time around, players get to visit London, at the tail end of its industrial revolution. Out goes flintlocks and swords, in came steam and steel. This entry sees players in the role of both Evie and Jacob Frye, siblings fresh off their induction into the Assassin Brotherhood, tasked with dispatching justice on their Templar foes across London. The setting isn't the only big change for this game, as Syndicate saw an overhaul in both visual quality, scale, and gameplay. London feels lived large and lived in, with plenty of ground to explore and streets filled with people going about their day-to-day. Missions are split between Jacob and Evie both, with some allowing you to pick and choose and others forcing you into the shoes of one or the other as they work together to clean up the city. It innovated on the traditional gameplay loop, with this game having you going from borough to borough, toppling its templar leaders and expanding your sphere of influence with the aid of historical figures like Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, and Nikola Tesla. These famous faces are not the only people lending the Fryes their helping hand, as Syndicate also put the Fryes in charge of their own street gang, a ragtag group of brawlers and scouts that would come to their aid at the press of a button. Most times, conquering a borough involved you and your gang scrapping it out with those of the templar order, dusting knuckles to see who got the final say in the control of the area. This may seem at odds with the traditionally stealth-oriented approach prior games focused on, but that side of the game was not neglected either. Assassination missions saw fine-tuning and innovation as well, with players able to plan out and partake in uniquely tailored kills that matched the locale and personality of their target, from disguising yourself as a scientific cadaver to kill a corrupt doctor to allying with a guard and feigning capture to infiltrate and kill a target in the Tower of London. The game saw improvements out of combat as well, with Syndicate receiving a large overhaul in its parkour movement and general navigation. The Frye twins come equipped with a grappling hook that allows for speedy travel across London's many rooftops, while ground travel was made all the more expedient with the inclusion of horse-drawn carriages. The general parkour itself was also tuned, allowing for freer player movement and tighter directional control. All of this to say, Syndicate saw some truly welcomed improvements, iterating on the legacy and creating a lasting impression that stands up as one of the better games of the franchise.

-Star Wars Battlefront While I've spoken of a Battlefront on this blog before, this is not that same game. Rather, this is Battlefront 2015, a soft reboot to the previous Battlefront line of games for the new generation of consoles. This Star Wars Battlefront was helmed and developed by Dice, famed for the Battlefield franchise, a line of competent and entertaining military-focused first-person shooters. They were known for solid campaigns, but more importantly, massive scale competitive multiplayer modes. This pedigree is shown heavily in Battlefront, with the game sporting 64 players competitive multiplayer, with teams taking on the roles of either the empire or the rebellion as they fight their way through maps taken straight from the star wars universe, from the snowy plains of Hoth to the immense forests of Endor and everywhere in between. The game was replete with game modes and had the ability to be played in either first or third person. Players were given access to a modest selection of in-universe weaponry, and could even take the role of recognizable star wars heroes on occasion. Visually, the game was stunning, with incredibly faithful and detailed recreations from everything to weapons to the maps themselves. It felt like a genuine passion project, built from the ground up by competent developers and made for fans and first-timers alike. Battlefront, much like many games on this list, has since been usurped by a sequel but remains an incredibly competent shooter and a genuinely fun game to play.

2016

While 2015 saw the release of some truly impressive games, 2016 was a genuine powerhouse of a year. It saw the rise to prominence of Virtual Reality, through the oculus rift and the PlayStation VR. 2016 also saw the first re-released console of the current generation, in the form of the Playstation 4 Pro, a trend that Xbox would follow as well, seeing the release of 2016's Xbox One S, and in 2017, the Xbox One X. These were touted as faster, better performing, better-looking consoles than their base model predecessors, offering several enhancements to graphical fidelity and console performance, running games even better than they already did. And with these new consoles came an all-star suite of excellent games, a multitude of instant classics from big-name studios and fresh indie developers alike. Many of the games that released this year are ones I've individually covered before, but they still deserve their spot in this article. So without further ado, here are some of the most noteworthy games of 2016.

-Oxenfree Where Bloodborne was the standout hit that kicked off 2015, Oxenfree did the exact same thing for 2016. Developed by the California based indie team at Night School Studios, Oxenfree is a supernaturally infused, slice of life adventure game that follows Alex, a witty, rebellious, soon to be high school graduate as she makes her way to the fictional Edwards Island, accompanied by her best friend Ren and new stepbrother Jonah. This small group of friends is meeting up with what they assume will be a large group to have a weekend bash, But what was supposed to be a boisterous weekend party turns out to just be two extra guests; Clarissa, a fellow student who has ties to Alex, and Nona, a mild-mannered girl who just so happens to be Ren's current crush. Their modest get together quickly goes south when Alex uses a small handheld radio to tune into a weird signal emanating from the island, unleashing the spirits of a sunken military submarine, long since lost at sea. These wayward souls possess one of the kids and scatter the rest across the island, forcing Alex to uncover the mystery of their death and find a way to save her friends and escape the island. The game wears its inspirations on its sleeve, taking queues from classic ghost stories as much as it does retro coming of age stories, but it adapts these ideas masterfully. As for how it plays, Oxenfree is a side scrolling point and click adventure game, built around exploration and dialogue rather than complex game mechanics. It explores the interpersonal relationships between all the characters as much as it explores the haunted nature of the island itself. It easily shifts between these disparate tones, with a story filled with as many supernatural spooks as sarcastic teenage banter, seamlessly integrating player choice into the mix to create a truly excellent narrative. Oxenfree also features a high amount of replayability, with player choice going on to influence which of the game's many endings, as well as touting a new game plus mode that adds an extra smattering of content for your subsequent playthroughs. Oxenfree was a gift that kept on giving, more than earning its spot on this list.

-Firewatch Firewatch is the first of several 2016 games I've previously written about, and while my opinion of it may have not been the highest initially, ruminating on it since has led me to a new appreciation of the time I spent with it. I would recommend reading my original review, but the short summary is thus; you play as Henry, a man on the run from his troubles who takes a job in the Shoshone national forest, keeping an eye on the wildlife and ensuring nothing is amiss. Your companion through the game is Delilah, a voice through your walkie talkie, somebody else who has taken the same job as you over in one of the adjacent watchtowers. Throughout the game you explore the forest, keeping the area safe while exploring the mysteries of the area you now inhabit, all the while developing a friendly relationship with Delilah as you go. It's a simple, but satisfying first-person adventure game, with an emotionally charged but comedic narrative about one man's journey to get lost and find himself.

-Stardew Valley Stardew Valley is a retro-inspired simulator game about a down and out office worker who inherits their grandfather's farm in the titular Stardew Valley. They leave their mundane life behind and embark on a new journey in rural life, building up the farm from a rundown, untamed field into a bustling agricultural powerhouse, all the while making friends and forming bonds with the locals that you meet along the way. Stardew plays like a dream and features a stunning pixellated art style that complements its easygoing nature. Stardew is a game you can get lost in with ease, featuring an incredibly satisfying gameplay loop; It's a charmingly simple sim, one that encourages players to make their own way and their own choices, with a multitude of different ways to spend each in-game day. You're encouraged to play the game at your own pace, experiencing its range of content as it comes, rather than being railroaded into any one path for progression. It's a game that encourages exploration, diversity, and freedom, one that never really ends. Stardew made waves when it first came out for being such an open-ended, friendly experience, and it has since gone on to be heavily expanded upon by its developer, seeing releases on even more platforms and accruing even more fans along the way. It's a game that's easy to love and hard to put down, a comfort food game that makes you want to revisit it time and again.

-Titanfall 2 Where the original Titanfall was an excellent Xbox exclusive, Titanfall 2 bloomed the franchise into a multiplatform powerhouse. While it kept the excellent multiplayer modes, Titanfall 2's biggest change was the inclusion of a proper single-player story, and it's this inclusion that sees Titanfall 2 earn a place on my list. Titanfall 2's campaign is short, but sweet, seeing players take on the role of Jack Cooper, a pilot in training under the mentorship of an experienced soldier named Lastimosa. Unfortunately, on their first field mission, Lastimosa is killed, forcing Jack to embrace his future role as Pilot in an effort to survive and keep Lastimosa's experimental Titan out of enemy hands. This Titan, given the codename BT, is unique among Titans in that it can freely equip the various titan weapons and abilities, while simultaneously having an expanded AI that allows it to perform better in combat than its contemporaries. Together, Jack and BT make their way through the Frontier, coming into conflict with the varied enemy forces that they were originally sent in to stop. The campaign is brief, but what it lacks in lengths it makes up for in entertainment; the banter between Jack and BT makes for some great dialogue, and the campaign is perfectly built around the shooting and movement tech that made the first Titanfall so distinct, creating a series of levels that are just as built around gunfights as they are around precise first-person platforming. The game's environments are also beautiful to look at, varying from gritty industrial complexes to lush jungle environments that are as nice to look at as they are to maneuver through. Accompanying the stellar story mode is the recurring suite of multiplayer offerings, all of which have been upgraded and improved upon to complement the innovations of the sequel. Where Titanfall was good, Titanfall 2 is great, and it's a continual shame the series hasn't been given more time to shine.

-The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Special Edition This is another game that I've previously covered on my blog, and it's also another technicality. See, Skyrim technically released back in 2011 but saw so many re-releases in the years afterward that at this point the only device that doesn't natively play it are phones. With this particular re-release, Bethesda sought to give console players the same quality of life changes that PC players had been seeing for years, namely graphical improvements, stability patches, and most importantly, player-created content. Skyrim had developed a bustling and dedicated community of creators in its years since release, all of whom had made countless mods for the game that ranged anywhere from simple tweaks to full-on expansion sized stories, and the special edition release marked the first time Xbox and Playstation fans could get their hands on this library of unique content. It created a situation where the already hefty game could be made all the more robust with fan contributions. Don't like the music? Download one of the unique music packs somebody put together. Want any number of pop culture-inspired items? Looking for some new quests to spice up this five-year-old game? It's all there and more.

-Watch Dogs 2 You might be wondering why I've put Watch Dogs 2 on this list while its predecessor is nowhere to be found. While the first Watch Dogs was a middling revenge story that happened to incorporate some neat hacking based features, Watch Dogs 2 is where the franchise really found itself. It follows the story of one Marcus Holloway, a bright and witty young man who's been framed for a crime he didn't commit by a faulty surveillance network that monitors the city of Los Angeles in a pseudo-dystopic future not so removed from our own. So Marcus does what he does best, hacks into the network and removes himself from it entirely, embarking on a campaign to take the whole system down with the help of white hat hacker collective Deadsec. What sets this game apart from its predecessor is the charisma of its cast and the far more varied ways in which you can use the game's technology to your advantage. Hijack cameras, remote control vehicles, manipulate streetlights, the world of Watch Dogs 2 is yours to manipulate all at the press of a button. And if hacking doesn't get you where you need to be, Marcus has some skills of his own; he's particularly skilled at parkour and quite handy at non-lethally dispatching foes with a weapon of his own design, a billiard ball attached to a bungee cord. And if playing non-lethally isn't your thing, you can also accumulate quite the arsenal of homemade weaponry, all 3D printed from the base of your hacker collective. Watch Dogs 2 is a game about a group of people trying to take down a corrupt system using whatever means they can. It's a witty, satirical, but surprisingly grounded story told across a beautiful open-world recreation of Los Angeles, one that drew me in far more than its predecessor ever managed to do.

2017

2017 might not have had the same pedigree of games as its predecessor, but it did see the belated release of the latest current-gen console; The Nintendo Switch. A revolutionary step up from the Wii and Wii U, The Switch took the gaming world by storm thanks to its ability to seamlessly transition from a home console playing on your TV to a handheld console able to go with you anywhere. The Switch remains a staple of the console market to this day, easily standing tall next to the Playstation and Xbox consoles both new and old. Aside from the Switch, there was still a healthy collection of games for people to enjoy, some of which will be highlighted below.

-Night in the Woods Night in the Woods marks yet another game I've personally reviewed, and also stands proud as one of my absolute favorites of this generation. A humble offering from indie studio Infinite Fall, it was a gorgeously animated sidescroller of an adventure game that followed college dropout Mae Borowski as she returns to her small home town of Possum Springs to rekindle old friendships and reconnect with her family. Despite its anthropomorphic cast, it tells a genuinely human story, one that perfectly reflected what it feels like to revisit old haunts; how things can be so familiar yet change so much, seamlessly blending an emotionally charged narrative with a dark, suspenseful hometown mystery. Night in the Woods remains an absolutely incredible game to experience, showcasing themes like mental illness, sexuality, and identity through the lens of youthful wit and clever, dry sarcasm. I haven't played many truly perfect games, but Night in the Woods came damned close to being one.

-Kingdom Hearts 1.5/2.5 Ah yes, another collection of re-releases. Kingdom Hearts technically started back on the PS2, with the release of Kingdom Hearts 1. From there it blossomed into an incredibly diverse and lengthy franchise that saw releases on consoles and handhelds alike, from the PS2 to the Gameboy Advance. What these re-releases did was bundle all of the Kingdom Hearts games into one complete package, and tossed them all onto the PlayStation 4. It created a cohesive collection for this storied saga and presented it all in an easy to follow order that anyone could pick up and work through. Both games also offered the previously exclusive Final Mix content to the west for the first time, expanding on the already hefty games with more difficulty options, more enemies, more story content, and more challenges to keep the fun going and going. But what is Kingdom Hearts, I hear some people ask. Kingdom hearts is a series of action RPGs that follow the adventures of heroes known as Keyblade Wielders as they fight against the forces of darkness that threaten the worlds beyond. They play great, feature an especially enjoyable cast of characters, and tells a heartwarming story of good and evil. A joint project between Square Enix and Disney, Kingdom Hearts features an abundance of Disney characters and worlds, crossing over with various Square Enix properties in this epic struggle against light and dark. That's the easiest summary of the story by far, as delving any deeper would almost certainly confuse the casual reader, but let me say this; The Kingdom Hearts games are fantastic, well worth the time, and with these remastered collections, more approachable than ever.

-Nier Automata Nier Automata is a tough game to talk about in-depth, on account of just how easy it is to spoil for people who haven't experienced it. But it was also one of my favorite games of 2017, so I'll do my best to give it its due. Nier Automata is somewhat of a hybrid game; it blends so many genres together but somehow manages to do each one of them justice. Equal parts open world, action RPG, Bullet Hell, and more, Nier Automata takes place in the far, far future, in the ruins of earth. Humanity has long since abandoned the planet and sought shelter on the moon, entrusting a group of humanoid androids to defend the planet from an encroaching alien threat. The story follows several of these androids; 2B, 9S, and A2, as they wander the ruins of humanity and fight back against the robot foes that the aliens use as soldiers. It tells an amazing story that all but demands subsequent replays to get the full breadth of its narrative weight across, with each subsequent playthrough seen through the eyes of one of the other characters. Equal parts sci-fi story and humanist breakdown, Nier Automata is a deconstructive, philosophical pondering wrapped in the guise of an anime action game. That's not to say it doesn't wear the disguise well; Nier Automata plays like a dream, with stylish combat and an accompanying score that makes for easy listening both in and out of the game. It's another must-play, especially with the remake/remaster of its predecessor soon to release in 2021.

-Persona 5/Persona 5 Royal Persona 5 is an absolute joy of an RPG. It's slick, stylish, has a superb soundtrack, and tells a top tier story to boot. You take the role of a down-and-out high school kid who's been forced to transfer from his hometown in the countryside to Tokyo, thanks to a bogus police incident. Labeled a criminal and looked down on by the adults of his new school, the protagonist goes about bettering himself, raising his grades, and making the most of his new life in a new city. He forms bonds and relationships with the people around him, making fast friends with many of his classmates and even some chill adults along the way. Oh, he can also use a supernatural phone app to dive into the corrupted hearts of society, utilizing a special power to battle the evils that lie within and force them to change their ways and confess their deeds. Herein lies the dichotomy of the Persona 5; Much like the other Persona games that preceded it, the story it tells is a hybrid of supernatural mystery and coming of age drama, blending mundane highschool life with a fantasy adventure. It is equal parts life simulator and stylish role-playing game, as you and your friends do their best to repair a broken system using the fantastical powers they've been imbued with. These powers are the titular Persona, powerful creatures that embody the sides of ourselves we keep hidden behind the masks of society. These personas allow one to do battle with the shadows that lurk within these corrupted hearts, creatures that take on myriad forms inspired by religion and myth. Wielding this power, they embark on a journey of social reform, fighting a revolving door of less than scrupulous individuals that all culminating in a battle to change society itself. In spite of its overtly fantastical elements, the story it tells is decidedly grounded and surprisingly relatable; at its core, Persona 5 is about a collective of disenfranchised individuals trying their best to make it through life and change things for the better, a story that was and remains especially poignant and a welcomed escapist fantasy to fall into time and again.

-Slime Rancher Slime Rancher is an adorable simulator game and one I've praised before on my blog. It blends first-person shooter elements with the farming simulator genre, tasking players to manage and explore a planet on the fringes of space that's almost entirely populated by a race of creatures known as Slime. Slimes come in a varied selection of types and sizes, but all of them have one universal similarity; they all produce a resource known as a Plort that you can trade to an intergalactic trade center for currency, which in turn allows you to upgrade your slime farm and expand into new territories. The gameplay loop is nothing but fun, with each new expansion bringing in new species of slime that you can wrangle and combine to make hybrids that in turn create more valuable plorts. As you make your way through the planet, you start uncovering logs left behind by your farm's prior owner, that weave a narrative of love and loss, a story that drives you forward in your quest if only to see how it concludes. You're not alone in this quest, though, as you have your slimes for company as well as several long-distance conversations via the computer in your home between friends and fellow farmers alike. Subsequent game updates have only expanded upon the experience, seeing new opportunities for trade, daily activities, and more, making an already invigorating and enjoyable game all the more so.

-Destiny 2 It's no secret that Destiny 2 had a complicated launch window. Many fans felt that Destiny 2 left too much of what made its predecessor great on the cutting room floor, electing instead to reset the player base back to zero and tell a brand new story. While I missed some of what Destiny 2 left behind, I was still somebody who found a lot of joy in Destiny 2, as evidenced by the thousand-plus hour count it tells me I've poured into it since its 2017 release. The game has also seen countless improvements and additions in the years since its release, adopting a new seasonal model and even going free to play after a point. Most recently, Destiny 2 saw the release of Beyond Light, the first in a new trilogy of expansions that hopes to continue the game forward over the next few years. So, while it might have had a rough start, it still remains destiny at its core, making it one of the best shooters on the market, coupled with a satisfying loot hunt and a rewarding structure that continues to keep its fans coming back for more. That alone lands it in my list of games for 2017, and the generation as a whole.

-The Sims 4 Though this game technically saw the light of day back in 2014, I didn't end up playing it until its console release here in 2017. Thus, I place it here. There isn't a lot of complication with Sims 4. If you're at all familiar with its predecessors, you know exactly what to expect. An engaging simulator game, in which you craft an individual or family and set them on the path of life, influencing them as they go or leaving them to their own fates so as to see what happens. You tailor their looks, personality, aesthetic...it's a premier example of micromanagement as entertainment. This installment shirked some of the advancements made by its predecessor but still manages to be a robust and enjoyable game all on its own, made all the better by continued additional content releases in the years since its premiere. It's a game that keeps on giving and seems primed to continue doing so for some time yet.

2018

2018 saw the release of some genuinely top-shelf games, with the Switch continuing to establish itself against its contemporaries, while the Playstation continued to add excellent exclusives to its lineup.

-Far Cry 5 The Far Cry games have always been known for being competent shooters with large open worlds, and this one is no exception. Shirking the usual foreign locales, Far Cry 5 takes place a lot closer to home, seeing players cleaning up the rural backwoods of Montana, taking place in the fictional Hope County. In it, you play as a rookie cop sent in to apprehend an evangelical doomsday cultist; John Seed, The Father. This arrest quickly goes south, leaving you as the last lawman willing to stand up to the Seed family and free Hope County from their grasp. To do so, you systematically break the hold of his lieutenants, dismantling their bases of operations and taking down his associates in a slow climb to face him once more. Along the way you make friends and allies out of the locals, people with a similar drive to rise up and clean up their county. As far as the gameplay, Far Cry 5 is a mix of FPS and RPG elements, with a rudimentary character customization system and plenty of powerful guns to acquire. You level up and earn skills that augment your preferred style of play, be it stealthy or over the top, all in your pursuit of justice. Augmenting this quest is the world it takes place in, with players exploring lush forests, vibrant fields, and the general detritus of rural America. Hope county feels real, with looks to match, despite its farcical tone and over the top gameplay. All of this came together to make a Far Cry that felt fresh and fun, a genuine step forward for the franchise.

-God of War Prior games in the God of War series were not known for subtlety, nuance, or humanity. Rather, they were violent hack and slash games that featured the titular God of War, Kratos, seeking and exacting bloody revenge on the greek pantheon for their slights against him and his family. They were by no means bad games, but they weren't what I would consider masterpieces either. Then, we were given God of War (2017). This soft reboot/Sequel for the franchise saw Kratos embarking on a distinctly more grounded story than its predecessors, navigating the perils of fatherhood while on a journey to deliver his late wife's ashes in the world of the Norse Pantheon. He is joined by his son, Atreus, a bright but rebellious young boy who seeks only to prove his worth to the gruff and distant Kratos. This more human story is accompanied by a more grounded approach to combat and gameplay; while it retains the emphasis on action, it feels more deliberate than prior entries, shifting the combat style from the hack and slash nature to a more measured approach, with players needing to conserve stamina and plan their attacks lest they get easily overwhelmed. The game also incorporates a more open world structure than its predecessors, seeing Kratos and his son freely traversing their environment, unlocking shortcuts, and finding means to double back on past areas in a level progression that feels more like a Souls game than the God of Wars of old. All of this came together to make a game that felt genuinely innovative, a fresh new direction for a pre-established franchise that was as welcoming to newcomers as it was to prior fans.

-Donut County Donut County is a silly, short indie puzzle game in which you play as a mischievous raccoon delivering "donuts" to the unsuspecting populous around him. These donuts are, in fact, large sinkholes that expand as they eat different objects, eventually growing to swallow the entirety of the lot they were sent to. The core gameplay lies in this concept, with you controlling the various sinkholes from level to level, figuring out the order in which to consume the various objects on each map in order to grow in size. As the game progresses you unlock various upgrades to these sinkholes, like the ability to spit things out of them, adding new layers to the simple puzzles the game encapsulates. It isn't a terribly long game, as already said, only taking an hour or two to finish, but it cemented itself as a charming indie game amidst a sea of big-name titles.

-Marvel's Spider-Man Developed by Insomniac, previously mentioned in the Sunset Overdrive excerpt, Marvel's Spider-Man is a rare example of a genuinely amazing superhero game. In it, players take on the role of Peter Parker, a Spider-Man who has already established himself as the hero we know and love, but one that still has room to grow and learn. What starts off as a triumphant takedown of one Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin, soon blossoms into a complicated web that involves a shady group known as the Demons that Spider-Man must stop from wreaking havoc on the city. But the game isn't just about the Heroics of Spider-Man; The Game showcases the best aspects of Peter's character, splitting the game equally between his time as Spider-Man and his normal life as Peter Parker, a scientist working under the apprenticeship of one Otto Octavius, while simultaneously working with his Aunt May at the local Homeless Shelter and trying to rekindle his forlorn relationship with Mary Jane. All of this unfurls simultaneously, weaving a web that melds incredible movement with fast and stylish combat, stellar characters, and a heartwarming tale, cementing itself not only as a great game but also as one of the best Spider-Man stories out there.

-The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories The Missing is a heartfelt, down to earth story told through the lens of a grisly but goofy premise. In it, you play as the titular JJ Macfield, a young girl who goes on a trip with her close friend Emily to a remote island off the coast of Maine. What is supposed to be a fun excursion takes a turn for the worse, as Emily goes missing, leaving JJ to track her down. Unfortunately, this quest quickly leads JJ to her death...but not for long. Resurrected by a bolt of lightning, JJ gains the ability to remove various parts of her body, as the island quickly goes from an idyllic wonderland to a psychedelic nightmare. Undeterred, JJ uses her newfound ability to traverse the island, ever searching for her lost friend. The Missing might sound like a horror game on paper, but it uses these macabre themes to tell a distinctly grounded story about dealing with personal identity and navigating a hostile and unfamiliar world, culminating in a heartbreakingly bittersweet twist that I won't spoil here. This is all to say; the Missing is an excellent game. It's a joy to play, despite its harrowing content, and it manages to convey its themes in a way that feels genuine and meaningful, telling a story that's still relevant to this day.

-Super Smash Brothers Ultimate Smash games have always been good, and Ultimate more than earns its moniker. This is the Ultimate Smash game; iterating on its predecessors without changing anything for the worst, Ultimate is an unabashed love letter to the series as a whole, incorporating every character and every map from every prior game all in one upgraded package. If you don't know what Smash is, let me explain; Nintendo is known for a lot of fantastic first-party titles, from Mario to Kirby to Metroid, and countless others. Smash takes all of these well-loved characters, throws them in an arena, and has them fight for supremacy. Debuting on the Nintendo 64, Smash has seen one major game release for every Nintendo console since, culminating in Smash Ultimate on the Nintendo Switch. As earlier stated, it features an absolutely enormous roster of playable characters, featuring every fighter from the previous games and several new additions for good measure. This roster was only further expanded with the release of the fighter passes, seeing an additional eleven fighters across the two that have thus far been released, ranging from surprise hits like Persona 5's Joker to fan favorites like Banjo and Kazooie. While not featuring a traditional story mode, Ultimate makes good use of its characters in a suite of different game modes that can be played both alone or with friends, online or locally. It's a fantastic party game and an equally praiseworthy fighter, rewarding skilled play but catering to casual players and newcomers alike.

2019

2019 marked the slowdown for the current generation, shadowed by the whispers of a new age of consoles. This made for a simple year for games, but one no less stacked with noteworthy games and worthwhile experiences.

-Kingdom Hearts 3 After years of waiting, 2019 finally saw the release of Kingdom Hearts 3. The wait might have been long, but the game delivered on the hype, simultaneously closing out the narrative arc that had begun so long ago with Kingdom Hearts 1 and beginning a new chapter for fans to look forward to. In service of this goal, Kingdom Hearts 3 wrapped up the majority of dangling storylines from all the previous games, while still leaving a handful of mysteries to chase into the future of the franchise. It featured a new suite of Disney worlds to explore, and incorporated Pixar properties for the first time in franchise history. The new content accompanied refined and polished gameplay mechanics and a complete visual overhaul, while still retaining the heart and soul that defined the games thus far. It all came together well enough but was later expanded upon through the release of Re: Mind, the game's beefy expansion that rebalanced gameplay and added in hours of new story content to better cap off the story. All told, Kingdom Hearts 3 was another great game, building on a legacy that seems like it will continue well into the future.

-Devil May Cry 5 For those not in the know, Devil May Cry is a series of games that follow the life of Dante, a half-demon sword for hire as he does his best to kill monsters and eat pizza. It's a franchise known for skillful, precise, stylish combat mixed with goofy, over the top stories, usually involving Dante and his associates contending with the fallout of his family, the demon king Sparda and his brother Vergil. While not a flawless franchise, it saw several excellent releases over the years, but then went depressingly dormant. Devil May Cry 5 was the perpetual waiting game, but 2019 saw it finally come out, accompanied by mass acclaim and praise. it really seemed like all the years of waiting were well rewarded. DMCV features three playable characters; Nero, a fellow demon hunter first introduced in Devil May Cry 4, Dante, the series' staple protagonist, and lastly the mysterious V, a newly introduced character for this game. Together the three were tasked with working together to take down the demonic Qliphoth and its master, Urizen, an immensely powerful demon lord. The game looks gorgeous, marking the first time the games have looked truly next-gen. Accompanying this boost in visual fidelity is the franchise's staple; combat was finely tuned to be more stylish than ever, with each character having a variety of tricks at their disposal to dispatch the demon hoard that stood between them and Urizen. Devil May Cry was back, and it was better than ever.

-Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Bloodstained is the spiritual successor to the Castlevania series, helmed by its most prominent contributor Koji Igarashi. Starting its life as nothing more than a simple Kickstarter, it blew through its funding goal and a few years later saw its release on the current generation of consoles. It's not a particularly complicated game, but it is particularly fun, with it adapting many of the staples that made Castlevania so great. As a spiritual successor to Castlevania, the games play very similarly; both are side scrolling hack and slash games that take place in fantastical gothic castles, and both see protagonists with varied combat and magical aptitude on their quest to take down the castle's owner. In the case of Castlevania, that owner is Dracula, but in the case of Bloodstained, players are tasked with defeating Gebel, an alchemically modified human known as a Shardbinder. You play as another one of these Shardbinders, Miriam. Miriam and Gebel are the lone survivors of an alchemical experiment that gave them the ability to wield a power called shards, crystalline embodiments of demonic essence. The narrative is simple, but the gameplay is where it shines; as players progress through Gebel's castle, you can accumulate more and more shards, all of which give Miriam access to new abilities, abilities that go on to aid her in her continued exploration. This creates a very satisfying loop; explore the castle, collect shards, unlock more of the castle to explore. Augmenting her shards are a suite of craftable and upgradeable weaponry, a selection of melee and firearms that allows players to diversify their preferred playstyle and experiment with what works best in any given situation. Subsequent content additions have added even more to the game, in the form of new modes, difficulties, and playable characters, adding to the replayability and longevity of what was already an excellent experience. Despite starting from simple roots, Bloodstained rose up and became something all on its own, paying homage to its inspirations while cementing a name for itself as a new staple of the genre.

-Catherine Full Body While originally releasing in 2011, 2019 saw an expanded re-release complete with new characters, new stages, and hours of extra story content. At its core, Catherine and its Full Body re-release are unique gems in the gaming world. One part puzzle game, one part dating simulator, it blends the complicated world of relationships with macabre block puzzles, all the while weaving a beautiful tapestry about one man's quest for love. In it, you take the role of Vincent Brooks, an unambitious 30-something simply going through the motions of life. He has a steady relationship and a stable job, a group of colorful and enthusiastic friends, but it's clear from the start just how much he's stagnated. His current girlfriend, Katherine, is starting to ask the big questions; marriage, children, their future. Unable to parse these ideas, he loses himself in his time at the local bar with his pals, shooting the shit and getting sloshed. That is, until, a new flame suddenly appears; the seductive temptress Catherine. One thing leads to another, and it comes to pass that they spend the night together...maybe. This is where the game's narrative really kicks off, with Vincent having to navigate the day to day, attempting to reconcile his long-time love with his possible new fling. This story is juxtaposed against the game's core gameplay loop, which sees Vincent forced to climb the deadly tower of babel each night in his dreams. To do this, players must stack blocks and avoid the perils and traps that each stage presents, making a mad dash to the top of the tower before the bottom collapses in on itself and Vincent plummets to his doom. For you see, this isn't an ordinary dream; if you die on the tower, you die in real life, making this desperate ascent a race for his very life. Each stage of the tower represents the game's various core themes, and each gets more and more complicated as the game progresses. In the interim of these climbs, players are set about answering multiple-choice inquiries that influence the direction of Vincent's relationships, with each answer adjusting a conspicuous morality meter that eventually comes to determine which of the 8 endings you could attain. With Full Body, this number was increased to 13, to adjust for the inclusion of a new paramour; Rin, a mysterious piano player that sets up shop in Vincent's favorite bar. Both Catherine and its Full Body re-release are excellent games, but I was especially smitten with the layers of extra content and story that Full Body brought to the table, additions that made Full Body one of my favorite games of 2019.

-Untitled Goose Game Untitled goose game is a simple premise on paper; players take on the role of an ornery, mischievous goose as it wreaks havoc through a small English town. Equal parts puzzle and stealth game, the goose has a laundry list of tasks it seeks to complete, from stealing hats off people's heads to infiltrating the local pub. It's not a long game by any means, but it has a ton of replayability in the form of additional tasks and challenges that only present themselves after your first playthrough. These range from time-based completions to additional bouts of mischief and all of them are incredibly satisfying to chase down. Untitled Goose Game has a quaint, painterly art style that compliments the charming simplicity of the game's premise, accompanied by a dynamic, classically-toned score that rises and falls in prominence as you go about your goosely business. All said Untitled Goose Game is a genuine treat, a brief but whimsical game that's just about having fun and goofing around.

2020

It's no secret that 2020 has been a rough year for a lot of folks. Between a pandemic, political controversy, and general drudgery, it's a year that feels like it can't end soon enough. But in spite of it all, 2020 was also a fantastic year for games. Serving as the last hurrah for the Xbox One and Playstation 4, we saw the release of some truly excellent stories that kept players going through the long months of an otherwise mediocre year.

-Animal Crossing: New Horizons Releasing right at the start of widespread quarantine, New Horizons supplied people with something they couldn't easily do in their own lives; escape. Animal Crossing New Horizons is the perfect escapist fantasy for the year it released in, seeing players partaking in an island getaway in the hopes of colonizing and forming an idyllic town on an untamed paradise. At their core, the animal crossing games are simple simulators. You create your character by selecting a few presets; hair, eyes, skin color, and then you're let free to explore your new locale. With this latest release, that locale is the aforementioned island, a small paradise in the sea dotted by trees and rivers, accented by flowers and weeds. You start your life on this new Island with a handful of other residents; the Nook Family, the proprietors of this island venture, and two random villagers who are looking to make a life on this island the same as you. Things start small, with everyone working together to set up tents and create a bonfire and find some food for a welcome party. Afterward, the game synchronizes itself to your console's date and time and sets you off on your way. Unlike other simulators on this list, Animal Crossing is a unique breed, running concurrently to the real world, continuously progressing in real-time. Flowers grow, trees produce fruit, and each day is a new adventure. It follows the general turn of the seasons for your respective hemisphere, celebrating holidays and alternating available activities with each passing day. As for what you can do yourself, the opportunities are legion; you can catch bugs, go fishing, search for fossils, chat up your villagers, visit other islands, and much more. As you progress, more ventures open their doors to you; catch enough bugs and fish, and you can elect to have a museum built to showcase your finds. Collect enough resources, and you can build new furniture and create plots of land that encourage more villagers to come and move to your island. Everything you do is in service of continued growth, but also serves just as simple fun, a charming, easygoing distraction from the concerns of the day-to-day.

-Final Fantasy VII Remake The Final Fantasy franchise is a long and storied one, replete with highs and lows. One such high was 1997's Final Fantasy 7, a game that quickly cemented itself as a fan favorite and an absolute classic. Now, in 2020, FF7 is back...sort of. See, FF7 Remake is the first in a line of games that will eventually go on to tell the entirety of the original FF7's story, which means that this release is only the first portion of a much larger narrative. Adapting what was originally the first few hours of the original game, FF7 Remake expands upon the opening section of its predecessor, simultaneously remaking the old content for modern audiences and adding in new aspects for old fans. FF7 Remake improves upon the original in practically every way, serving as a genuine remake that still manages to retain what made that original game so memorable and important to fans. The game might be new, but the heart is the same; FF7 Remake follows the story of Cloud Strife, an ex SOLDIER turned mercenary hired by an eclectic group known as Avalanche to dismantle a local power plant that's poisoning the planet. What starts as a well-intentioned but extreme case of eco-terrorism quickly explodes (pun intended) into a much larger story that sees Cloud and Avalanche bringing the fight straight to the corrupt Shinra Corporation and beyond, culminating in a battle against fate itself. Because this remake only covers a portion of what will go on to be a much larger narrative, it only scratches the surface of what makes the original FF7 so great, but it does so with gusto; the game plays and looks better than ever, bringing with it a heartfelt and compelling narrative that keeps you hooked the whole way through.

-Minecraft Dungeons Minecraft Dungeons takes the charming, voxel visuals and world of Minecraft and melds them seamlessly with a charming, easygoing dungeon crawler that's approachable for casual and experienced gamers alike. Where Minecraft is an open-ended sandbox game about building and exploring a blocky world, Minecraft Dungeons sees a collective of heroes on a quest to defeat the evil Illager, a powerful sorcerer whose armies have been sweeping the land leaving destruction in their wake. It's not a very complicated story about good and evil, but it doesn't have to be; Minecraft Dungeons prioritizes it's simple and easy to master gameplay first and foremost. You collect loot, battle recognizable Minecraft enemies, and progress through a litany of stages on your way to fight the big bad. It's not very long but encourages you to play it time and again, collecting better gear and trying your hand at the many difficulty levels for additional challenges. It's not the best looking or the best playing game that released this year, but it had heart and made for a short and entertaining way to pass the time.

-Ghost of Tsushima Ghost of Tsushima isn't a game to scoff at. One of the best looking games of the generation, this PS4 exclusive is one part historical timepiece, one part action-adventure, and one part stealth game. It follows the story of Jin Sakai, a samurai and one of the last survivors of the Mongol invasion of his home island of Tsushima, Japan. Left to die, he is found and nursed back to health by a wayward thief who teaches Jin the art of stealth and subterfuge, seeing him off on his quest for bloody revenge on the Mongol invaders that have encroached upon his homeland. To do this, he must first build up a fighting force of equal minded, skilled warriors, all while dismantling the various camps and operations the Mongols have set up in the absence of the defeated Samurai army. Jin can approach this in one of two ways; relying on his prowess as a formidable Samurai, Jin can challenge the many enemies in the game to flashy yet precise sword combat, or he can utilize the recently learned skills of stealth, infiltrating their encampments and silently picking the Mongols off one by one. There's no wrong answer to how you choose to play, although it takes some time for Jin to accept his new roles as both Samurai and assassin. Both methods of play feel equally as stellar, too; Combat in this game is incredibly polished, finely tuned swordplay that focuses on timing and well-planned strikes to dispatch your foes with ease, while the stealth feels tense and requires a distinctly tactical approach, planning your routes and cleverly dispatching foes so as to not raise suspicion. But the game isn't just about taking out your enemies. Ghost of Tsushima boasts one of the most beautiful open worlds I've ever experienced, a vibrant and gorgeous landscape dotted with myriad activities and side quests for you to explore and enjoy. One moment, you could be doing battle with a wayward group of Mongols or bandits, while the next could see you tracking a friendly fox to a shrine, composing a haiku in the shadow of a large tree, or recuperating your strength at a small hot spring while you ruminate on your adventures thus far. Ghost of Tsushima is an incredibly varied game, alternating between intense highs and calming lows, all coming together to become one of the best games of the last generation.

-Spiritfarer While I have not finished this game, it more than deserves recognition on this list. In it, you play as Stella, a young girl who takes over as the ferryman for the River Styx once Charon retires to the afterlife, tasked with providing for the wayward souls who live on the river as you ferry them to their final rest. To do this, Stella must collect various resources and build up her ship, outfitting it with living spaces and various commodities tailored to her current passengers. These aforementioned passengers will, in turn, begin to open up to Stella, tasking her with making certain foods or visiting different locales, all in an effort to give these wayward souls a proper farewell on their trip to the afterlife. Spiritfarer is a simple simulator game about resource management and exploration that showcases a lovely, genuinely heartfelt story about love and loss, one that will put a smile on your face as easily as it brings a tear to your eye.

And with that, I close out this hefty list, closing out the last generation. This compendium hardly scratches the surface of the last seven years' library, but hopefully, I did a good enough job remembering some of the games that made this last generation so great. There are a lot of games that I've still yet to play, resting in wait in my backlog for the time they get pulled out and given their due, but for now, this concludes my walk down memory lane. The last generation saw some excellent additions to the vast and ever-expanding library of video game history. Here's hoping the next several years can say the same. The start of the new consoles is off to a very promising start; in the last month or so alone we've seen excellent releases from both indie and big-name developers, fresh takes on old franchises, and new IPs alike. So, here's to the Last Generation, here's to the Next Generation, and here's to gaming overall; may it continue to thrive for years to come.

#A Look Back #Gaming #Game Review

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twiceinadream · 4 years

Text

“Honey.”

Requested: Nope

a/u: Hey, everyone! Sorry its taken me so long to finally post, I hope you guys enjoy this longer one shot since you guys were saying how I should write longer ones. Thank you all so much for sticking with me through one full year, it means a lot to me and I hope for more great times in the future. I love you all, please stay safe and wash your hands.

Category: NSFW and Fluff

Word Count: 3.8k

Snow began to fall in Seoul and the world renowned girl group, Twice, woke to its beauty coating the grounds below their dorm. Mina was the first to wake as she began to shiver, noticing how cold the dorm had become; she groggily sat up pulling her blanket with her as she sat up, ‘When did it become so cold?’ The ballerina shook again as she draped the covers over her body getting out of bed to turn on the dorm’s heater.

She squealed quietly as the cold nipped at her legs as she moved out to the hallway, being careful as to not wake the three other women in the room. As she opened the door she made quick work of the distance between her and the thermostat as she read the temperature, ‘55ºF, no wonder it’s so cold in here.” Begrudgingly, Mina took an arm out of the warm confines of her blanket cocoon and rotated the thermostat handle till, 80ºF, showed on the digital screen in front of her. The fourth youngest smiled as she heard the ‘whoosh’ of the vents blowing in the warm air, she sighed soundly as she made her way to the kitchen.

She took a seat on their shared sofa as she noticed her phone charging on the armrest, ‘Must have left it here last night.’ Mina shrugged as she unlocked her phone strolling through a few emails when an advertisement for her favorite shop popped up, showing a sale on new winter outfits; she made a mental note to tell the members when they all were up, but for now, she decided to pass some time as she logged back into a game she had recently gotten.

-Half an Hour Later-

By now, most of the members were either lounging in the communal area or in the kitchen where Jihyo and Jeongyeon were preparing breakfast together. Most of the food was done when Sana and Tzuyu came into the living area together, Jeongyeon smirked as she looked up from the eggs she was cooking to look at them, “Look who’s up. Have a nice quickie before breakfast?” The rest of the members glared at her when Chaeyoung smacked her on the back of the head with her sketchbook.

“Not funny, Unnie.” Chaeyoung said as she smiled at Jeongyeon.

But Sana and Tzuyu seemed unfazed by the comment as Sana simply shrugged, “I mean you guys were kinda loud, but it was pretty good, thanks for asking Jeongyeon-ah.” Tzuyu let a huff as a laugh when the members fell quiet.

Jihyo looked at the both of them as she placed the bacon she was holding on a plate, “You know what, no. Both of you just wash your hands, especially you Tzuyu.” Tzuyu glared at her when Nayeon let out a loud laugh from behind her phone.

“Just hurry up, breakfast is almost done.” Sana and Tzuyu nodded as they made their way back to the bathroom for the second time that morning.

When the couple came back to the table it was already set as the members took their usual seats as they thanked Jihyo and Jeongyeon, and began to eat. From where she was sitting Mina looked up from her eggs and directed her question out to the eight other women at the table, “I was wondering, if you guys would like to come with me to the mall today? There’s a sale on new winter items and I wanted to check it out, and I was wondering if any of you wanted to come along.”

Chaeyoung nodded as she took a bite of toast, “Sounds good, Unnie.”

“Sounds fun, Minari.” Momo and Jeongyeon said as Mina got nods from Nayeon and Jihyo.

Dahyun swallows her food, “Count me in, Mina Unnie.”

Mina smiles at her members when she turns her attention to Sana and Tzuyu, “How about you two?”

“It sounds fun, Minari, but Tzuyu and I have a few things to finish today.” Mina nods knowingly as she decides it probably best for them to give the two some privacy.

After breakfast, most of the members go back to their rooms to get ready, leaving Sana and Tzuyu in the kitchen as they wash the dishes together. Sana gently nudged Tzuyu with her hip as she hands her a plate to dry, she leans up to whisper in the younger’s ear, “When they leave you’re all mine, Tzuyu-ah.” Tzuyu nods as her face heats with a blush and she directs her gaze back to the dishes in the sink.

When Sana and Tzuyu were sitting back at the table, both on their phones when the rest of Twice came out of their rooms and waited in the living room for Nayeon to come out, “You good, Unnie?” Dahyun asked when Nayeon emerged from her room, the older nodded as they directed their attention to the two at the table.

“Okay, we’re going now, we’ll see you guys in a few hours. Try not to burn down the dorm while we’re gone, okay?” Jihyo looked at the both of them sternly.

“Whatever you say, Unnie.” Tzuyu said, not looking up from her phone. Jihyo shook her head as the seven left the dorm and made their way to the van waiting for them outside.

When the two were completely certain the other girls had gone, Sana immediately made her way to Tzuyu who was now standing from her chair; the older grabbed her from the back of her neck connecting their lips in a fervent kiss. Sana couldn’t help but smile against Tzuyu’s lips as she nipped at them playfully, making the younger girl squeak a bit. “How is it possible for someone to be so sexy and cute at the same time?” Sana remarked as she pulled away from Tzuyu.

“Ask yourself.” Tzuyu shot back when Sana pushed her against the table making her sit, giving the Japanese woman a better angle to kiss her.

“Pabo.” Sana said between kisses, Tzuyu couldn’t help but laugh against her lips. The now blonde places her hands on the maknae’s waist feeling her up as she begins to dominate their kiss, she loved the way Tzuyu moaned against her. “Okay, now I want to see you on the table wearing nothing by the time I get back.” Sana quirked an eyebrow at the girl as she let out heavy breaths, nodding, “Good girl.” With that Sana left the dining room and walked into the kitchen, opening the fridge as she moved past a few containers to the back where she had hid a bottle of whipped cream she bought a few days before, praying Momo had not found it.

Thankfully, she found the bottle completely untouched with the seal still intact on the cap, ‘Thank Jihyo.’ Sana said to herself as she took off the plastic ring and threw it in the trash, shaking the bottle as she sprayed some of the sweet cream in her mouth, ‘This is good, but this will taste better on Chewy.’ Sana smiled inwardly as she walked back to where she left Tzuyu not too long ago.

To the Japanese woman’s delight Tzuyu did as she was told and was laying on the table, completely naked with her hands resting over her mound, dark curls hidden beneath her palms as Sana gave her a look over. Tzuyu couldn’t help but flush a bit as her elder’s eyes scanned her, she gingerly removed one of her hands from her lower regions and placed it over her breast as her nipples became stiff peaks, exposed to the air. Her eyes met Sana’s as she licked her lips, “Don’t cover yourself, Princess. You’re so beautiful.”

“But you’re staring.” Tzuyu softly replied back as she kept her hands in place. Sana shook her head as she moved next to the table, caressing Tzuyu’s cheek.

“I’m staring because you’re just so unbelievably beautiful,” Tzuyu’s body flushed again, albeit redder this time, “Plus I need to get this whipped cream on you.” The younger’s eyes drifted up to see the bottle Sana was holding, she remembered the talk they had about food play a few months ago but she couldn’t really believe Sana had remembered but, hey, things happened and Tzuyu was just as excited as Sana to try new things out.

So with a bit of convincing kisses, Tzuyu gradually dropped her hands exposing herself to Sana, “There’s my beautiful girl.” Tzuyu couldn’t help but feel the need to cover herself again.

“Uh, why do you have to be so cheesy, Unnie?” Sana smirked.

“Well, I’m sorry that’s how you see the truth.” Tzuyu groaned, but it was short lived as Sana shook the bottle again, “Ready?” Tzuyu nodded as she placed her hands to her sides, closing her eyes. And with that Sana set to work, a smile gracing her lips.

She began at the base of Tzuyu’s breast, putting a single line of the cream to outline her perfect breasts, as she moved to the valley between them once again spraying a single line down the middle. She then switched directions and moved to the top as she made a swirl over the girl’s nipple to Tzuyu’s amusement. Sana looked up to admire her work as she moved down to the plains of Tzuyu’s tight stomach, but before she could lay out more cream Tzuyu spoke up, “Unnie?” Sana didn’t look up, only letting a, ‘Uh huh,’ Tzuyu contemplated whether to tell Sana or not but she already started, so she tried again, “Mommy.” That made the Japanese girl look up. “Mommy, the cream is melting.”

Sana, let a groan, “Seriously. Screw the snow and the heater. Let me clean you up, Princess.” Before Tzuyu could process what she had meant by that, Sana tongue had dived to her breast. The heat of Sana’s tongue on her flesh caused Tzuyu’s brain to short-circuit, she couldn’t believe Sana was actually licking the melted cream off of her.

But, just as the younger thought it couldn’t get any better, the elder moved up to her nipple blowing a quick stream of air which made the Taiwanese girl shiver before Sana took it into her mouth, suckling it. Tzuyu let out a gasp as her hand shot up to the back of Sana’s head, pressing her face closer to her chest. Sana quickly let the nipple out of her mouth as she ran her tongue over it, biting it slightly, which made Tzuyu moan and gasp, “Ahh. Mommy, not too hard.” The younger had let out a whimper when Sana bit particularly hard, abusing the tip.

“Sorry, Baby Girl. You’re just too irresistible.” Sana breathed as she moved up to Tzuyu’s mouth, kissing her. The older parted her lips, slipping her tongue out and running it along the younger’s bottom lip, silently asking for permission; which was granted to her when Tzuyu parted her lips allowing hers and Sana’s tongues to get to know each other, as they began a playful dance of dominance. Sana began to trail her hand up from Tzuyu’s stomach to her breast, massaging the supple flesh as she moved to pinch the girl’s rock hard nipple; lightly pulling and teasing it, causing the younger to groan against her mouth as they parted.

“M..Mommy,” Sana moved her lips away from Tzuyu’s as she looked down at the girl.

“What is it, Baby Girl?”

Tzuyu whined at her Unnie’s words, slightly rubbing her thighs together to try and alleviate the growing ache, “Please.” The Japanese girl cocked an eyebrow in confusion of what she meant, until Tzuyu grabbed Sana’s hand and trailed it down to her weeping core, “Please, Mommy. It..it hurts, it’s been too long.”

Sana smiles at her words, kissing her way down Tzuyu’s jawline, “Soon, Tzuyu-chan. Soon. I need to get something from the kitchen, first.” But before the maknae could protest Sana gave a hard rub over her clit, eliciting an out of character moan from Tzuyu as the elder stood up from the table and made her way towards the kitchen.

Tzuyu couldn’t help but pant when Sana left her, furling and unfurling her fists as she waited her Unnie’s return, “I swear she’ll be the death of me.” But her realization was short lived as Sana came back into the room, with a peculiar bear shaped bottle in hand. “Unnie, what even is that?”

Sana let out a small laugh, “It’s honey, Honey.” Tzuyu groaned at her words, throwing an arm over her eyes.

“Jeongyeon Unnie and Chaeyoungie are really getting to you.” Sana simply shrugged, as she opened the bottle’s cap and with a brief moment of hesitation, she turned it upside down and let gravity do the work for her. Before their eyes sweet, sweet honey began to flow out of the bottle, as it coated Tzuyu’s chest and breast she made sure to leave a healthy amount over her erect nipples before she moved to drizzle some over her tight stomach. Then Sana stopped as she flipped the bottle right side up, as she looked Tzuyu over.

“Are you okay with,” Sana gestured with her hand to the honey coating her body, “all this?” A moment of silence passed between the two before Tzuyu spoke up.

“Of course I’m okay with it, Mommy, I trust you.” Sana couldn’t help but smile as she placed a kiss to Tzuyu’s lips, careful as to not get any of the sugar sweet substance on herself as she pulled away and grabbed the bottle once again; she made her way down to her favorite part of Tzuyu (aside from her personal “honey pot”). The girl’s thick thighs didn’t go without a generous coating of the sticky liquid before the Japanese girl had thrown the bottle elsewhere in the room. As Sana couldn’t help but practically drool over the perfection in front of her, making the Taiwanese girl once again start squirming. “Please, Mom–“

Tzuyu couldn’t help the whimper that came out of her mouth when Sana moved her tongue over her breast, lapping up the honey that coated it. Eliciting a low groan from the girl below her as the warmth of her tongue sent sparks across her body, causing her hips to buck up slightly. “Patience, Tzuyu-ah. I’ll give you what you want, if you can be a good girl long enough for me to get there.” A smirk played on Sana’s lips as she eyed the younger girl, her tongue flicking out to lap up more of the honey coating her breasts. The Japanese girl let out an over-exaggerated moan as she savored the honey covering Tzuyu’s body.

The sound made it harder for Tzuyu to not cant her hips toward the older girl’s knee which was placed just out of reach of her aching core. A pout was visible on the maknae’s lips as her hands were balled into fists at her sides trying her best to not beg the older girl for more. Sana couldn’t help but internally smile as she watched Tzuyu struggle under her, taking in the way the younger’s breath would hitch every time she licked up more of the honey or how her thighs shook when her teeth grazed at the sensitive spot where her legs and hip met.

Sana enjoyed all of it, and by the looks of the wetness that was coating Tzuyu’s thighs, she did too. Speaking of that wetness, Sana knew she had drawn out her foreplay longer than the younger could probably handle at this point, so she decided that it was probably time to give the girl what she so desperately wanted. The Japanese girl trailed a few more kisses along Tzuyu’s inner thigh, slowly making her way closer and closer to where the younger girl needed her most. Where she’s been wanting her for the better part of a half-hour.

“You’ve been so good for me, Princess. Now let me give you your reward.” Sana’s tongue licked from the base of Tzuyu’s pussy, stopping as she swirled her tongue around her clit before sucking the bundle of nerves into her mouth. The surge of pleasure causes the younger girl’s hips to rise off the table and buck into Sana’s mouth, chasing after the stimulation she’d been craving. A loud moan ripped out from Tzuyu’s throat as Sana stopped suckling her clit and inserted a finger into her pulsing entrance, making sure she was relaxed enough before sliding in a second finger to join the first as she pistoned into the tight heat that was, Chou Tzuyu.

Tzuyu cried out as Sana’s fingers slid through her wetness, testing her entrance before sliding deep inside. Her eyes rolled back in her head at the sudden stretch, but she was slick and ready. All she felt was pleasure as Sana’s fingers hooked into her front wall. Each motion sent a sudden spike shooting through her core, and her shudders worsened as Sana surged on top of her. The sheer strength of each thrust rocked Tzuyu back and forth, causing her to slide across the mat, but she hardly noticed. She was completely at Sana’s mercy, covered by the hard, muscular heat of her body.

Once Sana started, it was clear she had no intention of stopping. Her strokes were rhythmic and insistent, and Tzuyu could do nothing but surrender. She buried her face in Sana’s shoulder, sinking her teeth into the cord of sweaty flesh, but the slight pain didn’t distract Sana from her goal. She remained as determined as ever, pumping in and out with such force that Tzuyu could barely breathe through it.

I’m going to come. It was an undeniable fact. Tzuyu knew there was no point in resisting, and yet, the thought of letting go was slightly terrifying. Thanks to Sana’s attentiveness and skill, she normally had no problem reaching her peak, but this time, she was rising at a rate completely outside her control. She feared she might not just let go of the tension building within her, but shatter completely. She was already on the verge of shaking to pieces, with only Sana’s weight atop her to keep her anchored.

Sana’s voice vibrated near Tzuyu’s cheek, a low and possessive growl. “So warm. Tight.” She added a third finger, grinding the heel of her hand into Tzuyu’s clit. “Gonna make you come.”

The certainty of those words made Tzuyu’s stomach twist into knots. She and Sana had spent several enjoyable months living together, learning everything about each other—including their bodies. But this? The intensity was staggering. Tzuyu had never experienced it before, not yet with Sana, not ever with anyone else. But…

Part of her wanted to let go, to find out what would happen. No, not just wanted—she needed it, with a desperation that she could scarcely process while Sana drove into her like an animal. Please . It started out as a thought, but quickly became a plea, one that spilled from Tzuyu’s lips over and over. “Please, please, please, Mommy, please…”

Sana didn’t slow down, but neither did she narrow her focus. She kept thrusting, relying on energy instead of precision, and the edge of her palm rubbed Tzuyu’s clit with every upward stroke. “Come for me,” she rasped beside Tzuyu’s ear, tugging the lobe between her teeth.

The slight pinch of pain was the beginning of the end. Tzuyu went rigid as a host of competing sensations collided within her—the deep, demanding pressure of Sana’s fingers, the elastic of her panties cutting into her flesh where they were stretched out of place, the wetness leaking down her legs. The flexing of Sana’s abdominal muscles against her belly overwhelmed her, as did the hot bursts of Sana’s breath against her neck. It all coalesced into one final push, spearheaded by the insistent flexing of Sana’s hand.

Tzuyu’s release was just as devastating as she had feared, and more wonderful than she could have hoped for. It sent fire coursing through her muscles and set her limbs to trembling. Her shudders were powerful, constant, uncontrollable, but the simple act of breathing was completely beyond her. The few gasps she managed turned into wailing cries, and those were swiftly swallowed by Sana’s mouth as the two of them found each other in a kiss.

Too much. It was all too much: Sana’s deep thrusts, the way Sana’s tongue swept through her mouth, the contractions that rippled through her core until she saw stars. She felt uncomfortably vulnerable, stripped bare in a way beyond the physical, and yet she couldn’t help yearning for more. She raked her nails down Sana’s back, bucking into each thrust. Her mind and heart were being pulled in several directions at once, but her body knew exactly what it needed.

By the time her orgasm faded to aftershocks, Tzuyu was panting and drenched in sweat. The table was a mess, and Sana’s fingers and forearm dripped with still more wetness. Although she didn’t have much coordination left, Tzuyu reached down to cup her hand over Sana’s, urging her to stay. Naked and raw as she was, Tzuyu couldn’t handle the thought of losing the fullness within her.

A soft smile played on Sana’s lips as she stared at the girl under her. She could feel how Tzuyu breathed in deep to catch her breath, finally opening her eyes to face Sana as brown met brown. A lazy smile decorating Tzuyu’s face as she tilted her head for Sana to kiss her.

A kiss that said more than any words they could have spoken in that moment. Sana trailed a hand up to Tzuyu’s shoulder as she ran a finger along her collarbone, noticing the marks she had left. “Not to ruin the moment, but we should probably clean up before the others come home and find us like this.”

The younger smiled, “They tease us all the time for all the things they think we do, so they shouldn’t be surprised to see us here.” Sana let out a small laugh as she shook her head.

“As fun as payback can be, if they find us like this they’re gonna burn this table and kick us out of the dorm.” Tzuyu pouted, as she wrapped her arms around Sana’s waist.

“Fine. I’ll be in the shower.” Sana rolled her eyes as she placed one more peck to Tzuyu’s lips as they got down from the table. The younger making her way to the bathroom, and Sana to the dorm’s cleaning supply cabinet.

Steam filled the bathroom when Sana and Tzuyu finally stepped out of the shower, smiles on their faces as the older began drying her hair. They had heard the others come in as soon as they stepped out. But there seemed to be something Sana was forgetting.

That’s when Jihyo’s voice suddenly filled the dorm, “Who threw honey on the couch!” Both Tzuyu and Sana looked at each other with wide eyes as a similar thought crossed their mind.

“Back in the shower.”

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goldenlaquer · 4 years

Note

Heyy, could you write some nsfw headcanons for kondo, abuto and kamui? Love your blog

Abuto’s was already done here!

This is going to be long ;)

Gintama NSFW Headcanons:

Kondo Isao:

Like the sexually-deviant gorilla he is, Kondo wants to rut.

But the human side of him wants to take it slow, to love, and to cherish.

Well, whichever side wins out in the bed, there’s one undisputed fact: he’s a very eager lover.

Kondo can’t believe that there’s one woman willing to lay with him (or at least a woman who doesn’t need payment by the bed stand after the deed is done and/or a woman who still has all her teeth) and you betcha he’s going to praise just about every deity and you for the golden opportunity. That’s right, Kondo is a praiser.

and a grunter. Loud. L O U D, especially towards the end. You know you fucked him good if it feels like there’s a surround-sound system in bedroom.

Remember at the beginning, when he revealed he had erectile dysfunction? Yeah, well over the course of 300-some odd episodes, after all the abuse and maiming and freezing and burning-- Kondo’s dick is cured and as resilient as graphene. Kiss goodbye to the erectile dysfunction. No, literally.

It seems like I’m writing him as some antsy teenager ready to get sum, but it’s exactly that with him. Perhaps its the influence of living in a males-only compound-- all that testosterone floating in the air makes Kondo desperate for you.

He may be the clown of the Shinsengumi, but he’s the brawn, all height and glorious muscles that feel insanely good pressed up against you. He likes it when you run your hands down his back, feeling the scar-riddled surface, and loves it when you grab him by the ass when he’s deep inside you.

Kondo looks at you, his eyes serious as the both of you pant while coming down from the high. “I love you.” Every time after, without delay, he means those three words.

Then proceeds to conk out.

Okita Sougo:

Good people of Tumblr, this shithead is the absolute worst.

OK, everyone and their mommas already know just how much a dominant freak Okita is because Gintama has been entirely transparent with us. Riding crops, collars, leashes, and ropes-- his entire franchise is sadism until the day he dies.

Sharp tugs to your nipples and bites to blade of your collarbone, Okita is determined to make sure every pleasure is mixed with a bit of pain, an intoxicating mix to make you more submissive and receptive to his harsh advances.

But there’s no fun in you being so submissive right off the bat. No, Okita wants you to rebel against your bonds and orders, so that the thrill of putting you under complete submission is that much better.

The collar and leash I was talking about? He wants you on your knees, working his cock with your pretty mouth, and when the pace isn’t to his liking, he can just pull that leash and force his length down your throat. The cherry on top is when you gag on his cock.

Shibari. Need I even say it? Especially when you can’t see what he’s doing and you’re lying there, bound, and entirely helpless to his ministrations-- that’s when Okita goes down on your cunt and works you open with his fingers, tongue, and cock, torturously slow and controlled.

The gag doesn’t come as often as you think, he’d much rather hear your pleas and struggles. A nice soothing sound to his sadistic soul. And in response, he speaks filthy, filthy language in a low, mirthful voice that’ll go straight to lower belly.

Aftercare? The ‘Prince of Sadist’ title is brushed aside in favor for ‘Sou-chan’, and he’ll utter some teasing remarks that’ll totally be offset by the gentle way he unties your bonds and leads you to bathroom to clean off the sweat and cum. He’ll act like it’s nothing, those little things, but they mean to world to you.

Kamui:

I headcanon he’s a virgin, Kamui is just too obsessed with growing stronger and fighting that he completely forgoes the hormonal urges to fuck a willing woman in favor for putting his fists through someone’s chest. I guess you could say he invested all his experience points into strength.

So when he comes into your bed, Kamui knows nothing except whatever he overheard from his Yato clansmen’s locker room talk. You’re going to have to give him some guidance.

Kamui is a devoted student, his face somber for once as he rakes his blue eyes over your body and lightly brushes his fingers against your skin, exploring, mapping, and marveling. To you, it feels pleasant and gentle...

... until it isn’t.

In a flash, the tide turns from nice and simple to bewildering and heart-racing, his hands clamping down on your hips to tug you flush against his aching front as his face breaks into a smile that makes your thighs clench. “I’ve got it now.” He declares. Got it? What has he got? He’s still a virgin-- oh. Kamui is a quick study.

Abuto had once wisely said, Yato men are well-endowed; Kamui is no exception and when he’s easing into you, all you can do is writhe and struggle to take in his dick.

He moves with an age-old instinct, and when you give a particularly loud moan when he does something right, Kamui targets that area with fervor. Easy. Simple. Who said sex was hard?

Doggy style, because Yato are more beasts than men, but where he’s pushing your head down to the mattress or futon and pulling your hips up to meet his thrusts. Just like Okita, Kamui favors you under his complete whim, to do as he pleases.

It’s a plus to his male pride whenever he showcases how easily he can snap you into two, but he just won’t do it; it’s a power trip for him. From the way he effortlessly holds you up against the wall, from the way he traps your hands together far better than any cuff or rope, and from the way he can easily put bruises into your skin, especially around the thighs and waist (those are the marks that proves he’s taken you for himself).

Kamui stops until you’re passed out. And when you wake up again, he continues. Years of not doing anything to his libido has made his appetite voracious, and it’s your fault-- so you better get to it.

Filth, absolute filth. Anyways, I’m thinking that when I finish up all my requests, I’ll open my ask box for actual, short story request for a limited time.

#gintama #gintama headcanons #gintama imagine #kamui #okita sougo #kondo isao #answered ask #asks closed #maybe some grammer mistakes?#not sfw

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sapphire-strikes · 4 years

Note

Okay first your ending to that story was *mwah* perfect 👌. Second I remember you saying one time you didn't know whether to make Pabit sentient or not. What if he was and FK and Kamal freaked out seeing it for the first time and Boris just was kinda like "I thought you guys knew." I feel Pabit would be a second pair of eyes for Boris such as at "beddy time" if he was fast asleep and say FK/Kamal managed to get by and Pabit pops up yelling whichever one was up.

I've been meaning to write some about Pabit for a while but I was never quite decided on whether or not I considered him to be his own person (much like the Carlas) or just a regular puppet. There's something really endearing about him being a mini mischievous version of Boris though and I think there's a lot of potential for the dynamic between Him, Boris, the FK and Kamal.

• In the event that Pabit really was alive, it was another one of those things Boris just never got around to bringing up. Everyone already knew about the Carlas and much like his shadow form, he just never really questioned the strangeness of it all.

• Honestly, Kamal probably knows or at least suspects something. He was freaked out enough by the Carlas so he just avoided the subject of the puppet all together. Sometimes self care is pretending your roommate isn't keeping a sentient puppet replica of himself in your house.

• That brings us to Pabit himself. The cheeky, attention hungry, smile happy puppet of Boris Habit.

• When Pabit speaks his voice is higher than Boris' and lacks the Russian accent. Pabit is capable of moving and talking on his own but his voice is actually one Boris is capable of doing himself. It's unknown whether Boris is good at mimicking Pabit or Pabit speaks that way because that's the voice Boris gave him. Probably the latter.

• Even if you knew Pabit was alive it would be hard to tell sometimes whether Boris was talking through Pabit or Pabit was talking himself. The difference usually being that Pabit is much more expressive when he's talking on his own.

• Pabit is a little mischief maker but he's desperate for attention and interaction. Most of the time he's happy to let Boris puppet him around when in front of people but he's desperate for the opportunity to talk to them himself.

• He already loves you and Kamal but Boris prefers not to let him alone with either of you and has asked him not to interact with anyone when he's not around. Boris knows what a troublemaker he can be and doesn't want him to do anything to annoy his friends.

• Despite his unhappiness with this rule Pabit does listen to Boris most of the time but still finds little ways to interact with the people he grows attached to.

• Maybe the keys that you'd lost reappeared out of nowhere, setting inconspicuously next to the satisfied looking puppet. Sometimes when you leave papers on the table you come back to see them adorned with little doodles of flowers, pictures of Boris and even Pabit himself. Most of the time you chalked this up to Boris trying to be sneaky.

• On the other hand, Kamal's things tend to go missing when Pabit is bored, resulting in Kamal marching right into Boris' room and fishing them out of the puppets arm hole where they had been stashed. Gives Pabit the "I'm watching you" hand motion as he walks backwards out into the hall.

• One day you stumbled upon the puppet sitting innocently on the living room coffee table unsupervised. Giving into your base instincts you slipped it onto your hand.

Maybe that was an overstatement. It was a pretty big puppet so you just placed it over your forearm. The inside was clearly made for much bigger hands but you were still able to slip your fingers into the right spots and make it do a little chomping motion. You giggled then gazed down at the little replica of Boris, "You're a cute little guy aren't ya? Boris really did a good job on you." If you didn't know any better you could have sworn it was smiling wider than it was before.

When Boris walked in on your little playtime you lifted one of Pabit's little arms to make him wave, "Boris, we were just talking about you!" You remark jokingly.

Boris looked shocked at first but his expression soon softened when he looked down at the puppet on your arm, "Oh really? I'm sure he had a lot to say."

"Nah, I don't think he's much for conversation"

"You have no idea how wrong you are" There was a clear trace of exasperation in his voice that caught your attention.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Oh? Ah, never mind" He waved you off "It's about time for him go back to 'bed' anyways. I just finished cleaning his stand so I can put him back in my room now". You nodded and Boris reached for the puppet on your arm, gently attempting to pull it off. As soon as he did however you swear you felt something resist and the puppet stayed put on your arm despite his attempt to remove it.

Boris retracted his grip in surprise to stare at the puppet. It all happened so fast you weren't sure what really just happened but Boris looked like someone had just walked into his flower shop and smashed his prized tooth lilies. His expression shifted to annoyance and he crossed his arms, "So you're going to be like that? You know if you can't behave, I won't bring you out to play with Y/n and Kamal anymore."

Now you were the one that looked shocked. Was he talking to the puppet? I mean, he always talked to the puppet or through the puppet, usually both at the same time, but this was different. "Boris, what are you talking about?"

It seemed like Boris had finally remembered you were there as he sighed and looked disappointedly down at his felt doppelganger. "Oh it's nothing, Pabit is just being stubborn." His expression finally settle back into a smile, "Though I am a bit surprised. He usually never even lets other people put him on but I guess he always has been pretty 'attached' to you." He covered his mouth to laughed at a joke that only he seemed to understand.

You were still confused but Boris seemed to be acting normal again so you decided to brush it under the rug. You moved to pull the puppet off your arm yourself and it came off with no trouble. When you handed it to Boris he stared at it for a second before letting out a relenting, "Oh, very well" and slipping it on himself.

He turned to you with Pabit and smiled, closing the distance between you by holding the puppet out closely to your face, "Goodnight, Y/n!" It spoke cheerily. It then reached out, held onto your face and pressed it's mouth to the bridge of your nose. Letting out a drawn out, "Mmwwah!", sound before being pulled back to smile at you proudly. After saying your goodbyes both Boris and Pabit headed off to bed.

• You had to smile, Boris could be so silly sometimes. You'd have to ask him later how he got the arms to move without the wires.

• Not long after that you found more of those silly little doodles decorating the pages of the notebook that you'd left on the table. The scribbles depicted you and Pabit together with the puppet happily hugging the side of your face from his place on your arm.

• I can absolutely see Pabit being Boris' little tattletale. Kamal has caught on enough to move the puppet out of the room before doing something he doesn't want Boris to know about but you on the other hand don't catch on for a while.

• You cut your hand pretty bad one day and Boris asked you how it was later that evening. Even though you were home alone when it happened and you hadn't mentioned it to anyone.

• How did Boris know that you didn't eat breakfast this morning or that you snuck out of bed last night to watch tv? Boris's only explanation is that he "has his ways" but he's too busy lecturing you for you to press him further.

• One night you successfully snuck out of bed again and thought you were in the clear. What you didn't notice however was the puppet that seemed to get closer and closer to you each time it was out of your line of sight.

By the time you finally noticed it it was sitting on the coffee table in front of the couch. It actually caused you to jump when you turned around to see it almost directly behind you but quickly regained your composure and laughed it off.

Picking it up you turned it around a few times before placing it over your hand like you'd done once before. Feeling confident in yourself for your successful escape so far you decided to play around a bit. "You really spooked me, little guy! How'd you get out here huh? Did Boris forget to take you to bed?" You asked jokingly.

The puppets felt eyes stared up at you lifelessly and you let out a small laugh. "Hey now, don't look at me like that. You'll keep this between the two of us right?"

"...."

"Good boy, knew I could count on you!" Maybe you were just tired but you could see how Boris had so much fun with this. It was childish sure but you were certainly entertaining yourself.

Once you were satisfied with the puppet’s "agreement" to keep quite you moved to take it off your arm. "Okay, I've had my fun. So, you want to watch TLC or Cartoon Network?" You asked, not expecting an answer as you set the puppet back on the coffee table.

What you were expecting even less however was for the puppet's expression to shift to a scowl as its little arms wrapped around your hand when you went to pull it away.

"YoU shyOuld bEe in Bed!"

• Boris jumped up in alarm and Kamal fell out of bed at the scream that sounded from outside their rooms.

• You had literally thrown Pabit across the living room in surprise and were currently frozen in shock as it picked itself up, brushed itself off and hopped its way back over to climb back up on top of the coffee table.

"W-what did you just say?!"

It crossed it's arms and cocked an eyebrow at you as if sarcastically asking 'did you really not hear me? '. "I saYeD; u shYould bee in bEd! StAying up lAyte is bad 4 yor smile!"

"I.."

There was a long moment of silence between the two of you as the puppet looked at you expectantly. After a second you finally found the strength to speak, taking a step closer once you decided that it didn't really seem dangerous. "...You can talk?"

Your question seems to surprise it a bit and its angry expression shifted to one of pride. "I cAn do a lott moore than thyat!" It pointed at the sides of it's cheeks as it gave you a big smile. You went silent again and the puppet seemed to be inspecting your face, it's smile fading when it focused on your own worried expression.

"Sea? U stAyed up 2 layte and now you R all frowny :-(" It made it's way across the coffee table to where you were standing and hugged your knee. "It's okee! I'm hear 2 mayke u happie so tUrn thyat frowny upside downy!"

This wasn't exactly comforting considering that the puppet itself was the cause of your fear and you were quick to jump away when it touched you. This action was quickly followed up by guilt however when it looked genuinely surprised and then hurt by your rejection of its affection. It seemed as if it was about to speak again when Boris and Kamal both came clamoring out into the hallway.

"Kid, what happened?! We heard a scream is everything okay?"

They were both quick to approach you and check you over but your eyes were still locked on the puppet who was now looking at you sadly. Their worried questions were soon answered when they followed your gaze to the puppet sitting on the coffee table.

Boris was quick to gasp and lift the puppet up by the back of its coat like you would with the scruff of a kitten, "Pabit, did you wake them up?!"

"No, I folloWed thyem out here! " The puppet waved it hands in front of itself in defense but it seemed to forget about Boris quickly when it's eyes fixed of Kamal. "Oooh, hi, Karmal!" it yelled as it waved excitedly at him. Kamal responded by running a hand down his face.

"Oh, boy... Hi, puppet--Pabit, I mean..." The puppet seemed pleased by his acknowledgement but its attention was pulled back to Boris who seemed to be telling it off about something. You'd moved to almost hide behind Kamal who placed a comforting hand on your shoulder, "You okay?"

"I'm fine, I just...It can talk?" You looked at him for answers and he gave you a sympathetic smile.

"Yeah, tell me about it."

You were both pulled from your little moment of understanding by the voices that were being raised beside you.

"You shouldn't have scared them, Pabit" Boris's tone sounded disappointed.

"Eet wAsn't on porous, I swears it! I just wanTed 2 makE sure they waz gEtting enough syleep!" The puppets eyes moved back to you and it shook both it fists, "Y/n, yous been stayiNg up every nyight and knot geTting up 2 smile!"

"It said my name.. " Was your only response as you continued to shield youself behind Kamal. Your fear once again caused the puppet to deflate, it now hanging limply in Boris's grip with it's arms crossed as it looked at the ground.

"I'm sorry if he scared you, Y/n" Boris finally spoke to you.

"It's...it's okay, it just surprised me that's all..." You finally stepped out from behind Kamal. "How long has it been...alive?"

"Oh, since I made him." Boris answered as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "He doesn't usually talk to people unless I'm around though."

"I see..." Boris seemed to finally be taking note of your discomfort and said he was going to take Pabit aside for a moment, leaving you standing in the living room with Kamal.

"Yeah, the little guy used to cling to my leg when I’d work around the office back at the Habitat."

"So it really has been alive this whole time?"

"Yep, been dead silent since my fight with Boris though. First time I've seen him up and about since then. Been totally inanimate around anyone but Boris I guess. Until, now at least. Guess you have a knack for bringing things out of people and puppets!"

You both laughed and you turned to him quizzically, "Okay, but...how?"

Kamal raised a hand to stop you, "You think I got the know-how to answer that?" He smiled at you again "That's just more of Boris and I don't think even he could answer you to be honest."

"Heh, I guess you're right." You relented and Kamal wrapped and arm around your shoulder, offering you a comforting pat.

"Ahem"

You both looked in the direction of the cough and there stood Boris, holding something behind his back. "I had a talk with Pabit and I believe the two of you got off on the wrong foot. So..." He was looking at you hopefully and when you didn't look hesitant he took a few steps closer to you, "There is someone I'd like you to meet!"

You already knew what was about to happen next when he pulled the puppet out from behind him. The puppet fit perfectly over his forearm as he held it out to you. It was a very familiar sight but with much different implications since you now knew his little secret. Pabit himself looked to be a mixture of annoyed, nervous and sad and it refused to look directly at you despite your close proximity.

There were a few second of silence before Boris gave his arm a small shake, "Go ahead and introduce yourself, Pabit!", he whispered. Pabit remained silent, crossing his little arms once again and keeping his gaze fixated on the floor. "Pabit?"

The puppet muttered something under it's breath that none of you could make out. "What was that?" Boris asked

"I sayed; we already knows each other..." The puppet spoke out again more clearly. Clear enough that you could make out the hurt in its voice.

Oh, so that's what this was about. Thinking back now, you guess he was kind of right. The amount of times Boris brought out that puppet to cheer you up or just mess around were immeasurable. It was weird to think about; during a lot of the special moments you shared with Boris, Pabit was technically there too. He knew you at least, probably almost as well as Boris and Kamal did.

Before Boris could respond you spoke up, "I guess he's kind of right." This seemed to catch Pabit's attention and he finally looked at you again. "I'm sorry for throwing you, Pabit. I hope you can forgive me and hope we can...talk more in the future?" You gave a nervous smile and Pabit squinted at you suspiciously for a moment.

"Off course!" Boris let out an 'oof' when Pabit pulled his arm forward so he could hug your face, making the extra effort to rub his cheek against yours. "I still Luv u, Y/n!"

The shock must have finally been beginning to wear off because you were able to stop yourself from jumping away this time. You even reached up to to pat his head, “I uh, love you too, I guess?” Your words were spoken with uncertainty but they seemed to make Pabit happy as he let out an excited squeal and continued to cuddle your face.

It was definitely a strange sight to behold; three people standing in a dimly lit living room with one of them holding out a puppet that was hugging one of the others faces. Boris was using his free hand cover his mouth as he smiled widely and Kamal was standing behind you with a tired but content look on his face.

• Now that you knew about Pabit, Boris loses him as a spy but gains him as a guard dog. Now there are two of them lecturing you about staying up late.

• Unlike Boris though you can actually bribe Pabit to stay quiet with cartoons, candy or just bringing him along if you're going somewhere. Now Boris is disappointed in both of you.

• Pabit doesn't need to sleep but he can if he wants to. It's a little creepy because if he doesn't close his eyes beforehand they'll stay open. When sleeping he basically becomes a regular inanimate puppet until he wakes up.

• If you put him on he can actually prevent you from taking him back off. Tends to do it just to play around but lets go if the person whos arm he's on gets angry at him.

•Loves being used as a teddy bear. You feel something crawling up through your covers in the middle of the night and almost have a heart attack? It's just Pabit coming for snuggles.

Thanks so much for the request! Sorry, everyone, for the lack of content I appreciate all the requests I’ve been getting I’ve just been super busy lately so I appreciate your patience!

#smile for me #boris habit #dr. habit #pabit #reader/flower kid #sfm #Got that last one from a comic I saw ages ago #but I can't for the love of God find it #Still undecided on whether or not I consider this 'canon'

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lebrookestore · 3 years

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I'm glad I was of help, I can completely relate to getting hyper fixated on something related to school (which sometimes has been just having to go back to school after a 2 day holiday) and feeling like my life will be forever ruined when I have to finally face the school related situation but nothing actually ends up happening

In my case I don't really cry but I end up feeling pretty uncomfy and sick(sometimes puke) with all the anxiety, and similar stuff is the case for a lot of my friends which is just really sad :(, it's just a mixture of asshole parents/relatives that we will forever end up defending because it's just ingrained in our mind to defend adults and people who'll say school performance doesn't matter when we panic but then get inredibly upset when something goes slightly wrong (ie passive aggresive bitches :cough: teachers :cough: parents) what makes me feel grounded these days though is my brother who's a decade older than me and he seems to be living pretty satisfactorily despite being not being the best at school and recieving the same shitty remarks from my mom as I do, he has good friends, enjoys video games like he did when he was my age but still is also a responsible adult which makes me realise how insignificant all of this is and I'm more than capable of getting through it, all of us are

these set of exams I have prob done my best job avoiding the anxiety and I'm happy that I have and I assure you they will be barely an eighth of the difficulty of a typical written exam, most kids will do good and if you've done most of the prep already you'll barely have to do any revision, after you give the first one you'll prob get what I mean

as for my username, I changed it to the one I use on other social media because yes it's hard to remember (literally a keyboard smash because I didn't think I would be using Tumblr often when I made the account)

these are the sample paper links

https://cisce.org/publicationdetail.aspx?id=96

http://cbseacademic.nic.in/SQP_CLASSX_2021-22.html

(idk why writing asks on the web version doesn't allow links), these are how your forms are going to be because they are the official ones(well depending on whatever board your school is under)

and ik how exciting it is to wait for exams to get over so you can do something creative you're into, for me it's drawing and I have so many fanart ideas with all these comebacks and my new flaming passion for resident evil (idk how this happened), let's get this bread!

also, I too, am an averagewelcome to the playground enjoyer (｡•̀ᴗ-)

good night!

#fuck school

this ended up being quite a long answer but i actually enjoyed answering it!! the answer is under the cut hehe

gosh i get hyperfixated on every little thing like today school sent out a revised time table?? with new dates for the exam??? when our exams were supposed to start on thursday this week?? which would be fine tbh its extra four days to study but at the same time i was mentally prepared for the exam on thursday yk?? and now math is my last paper yall-

my anxiety gets triggered like that too!! i tend to get panic attacks or sort of blank out in stress because im so anxious and then it refrains me from functioning like a normal human being😭 i just sort of short circuit and then pray for the best lmao, and yes!!! i totally get the need to defend your parents/adults because they are at a level of superiority to you?? its like some sort of twisted duty?? honestly good for your brother, and I'm glad you have an example of the sort!!!

unfortunately im complete opposite this is the exam i am the most stressed out and anxious about rip💀💀but honestly that confirmation you've given me as someone who has gone through it is really comforting, mine start on Monday and i am in full on study mode

!! i didn't mean you had to change your username bby i just meant you could have given me a nickname for the tags but if you're more comfortable with this one that's great!! i think its cute<33

AND THANK U SO MUCH FOR THOSE SAMPLER PAPERS YOU ACTUAL ANGEL ✨✨✨ I SHALL TAG THIS FOR RESOURCES FOR LATER

i am actually always on the web oversio nf tumblr for the most part because my asian parents refuse to let me have control over anything and have put a timer on my phone so that it konks off the moment an hour is up🤡😭 the life of an indian student 💔💔

and omg you do fanart??? is that where the suggestion of people doing fanart for my fics for my milestone event came from?? in that case i would absolutely love to see what you'd create taking inspiration from my fics but don't feel pressured to do so!! and you have a flaming passion for resident evil, while mine lies with genshin lmao

📢WELCOME TO MY PLAYGROUND SUPREMACY 📢

good night! I'm sorry i answered this so late i was studying all day rip, but thank you for this ask it was a lot of fun, I'm going to study a little more before i go to bed and yes #fuck school

#asks—◌#resources.room #melonadeski

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philautiathegreat · 4 years

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🥺🌼💕 get to know your mutuals!! when you get this, it means someone wants to know more about you, so list 5 things about yourself you want your followers to know. they can be as simple as your age or as complex as your deepest fear, as long as it’s something you’re comfortable with sharing. when you’re done, send this to 10 people you want to get to know better!! 🥺🌼💕

omg thank u so much for sending this 🥺🥺 <3<3<3

1. my favourite artist is mitski! something abt her music just hits... REALLY DIFFERENT. so, so different. my favourite album of hers is bury me at make out creek, and first love/late spring is my fav song of all time. i constantly tune my guitar to open D (her preferred tuning) and just have a mitski jam session lmao! honestly a thing on my bucket list is to SCREAM DRUNK WALK HOME at the top of my lungs. like, kinda wanna take my guitar into an open field and just YELL! absolutely wreck my throat! i feel like that would be very cathartic!!! singing my body’s made of crushed little stars is already so GOOD FOR MY SOUL, like, it feels as if a weight is being taken off of my shoulders every time. (I WORK BETTER UNDER A DEADLINEEEEE I WORK BETTER UNDER A DEADLINEEE I PICK AN AGE WHEN IM GONNA DISAPPEAARRRRRRRRRR UNTIL THEN I CAN TRY AGAINNNN) i can’t even imagine what it would be like to SCREAM drunk walk home GAH i love one (1) woman! i’m so glad i found her and i have her music in my life now, it means so much to me!

2. speaking of music and musical instruments, i have 4 instruments in my room:

i have a keyboard, a roland 3-500, that is my maternal grandpa’s. i don’t play the piano, but i know some basic chords and a few easy songs and musical pieces (like the first part of fur elise lol yes cliché but so fun!), but i love singing and playing anyway.

i have a concert ukulele, a mahalo mh2vna, called maria madalena that my dad bought for me when i was 15 and she was my PRIDE AND JOY for so long. she’s my go-to when i wanna have some fun alone without much effort, bc the concert uke is probs the instrument i know the most chords in.

i have a baritone ukulele, an ortega RU5CE-BA, that i got because i was highkey obsessed with dodie for a while, and i love him. his name is flávio teodósio augusto (yes thats emperor theodosius’s name in portuguese... he deserves it...) and he has a BUTTERFLYYY on him! wonderful! also a go-to!

lastly, i have an electric guitar, an ibanez GRG140 GIO, that my paternal grandfather got me for my 18th birthday! her name is andromeda, andy for short. im not great at the guitar, and she constantly has problems with the cable tbh but i love her. i’ll never be able to play solos and hard stuff, especially bc i’m self taught at everything music related, but she’s good fun for a bedroom mitski session.

3. if you like astrology, here are my placements: aquarius sun, gemini moon, cancer rising, aquarius mercury, aquarius venus, and aries mars. those are all the ones i know by heart sidfhdfusdhsdif!! do with them what you will.

4. despite being (apparently, this is a surprise to me too,) interested in astrology, i don’t rly believe it??? like, not wholeheartedly. sorry to my friend lena she deserves better BUT i can never really bring myself to believe in this kind of stuff. i have a really complicated relationship with anything spiritual? i’m a pretty pessimistic person, so the idea of there being any kind of magic in the world just sounds too good to be true. (why do i feel like lena’s gonna read this and tell me this is such an aquarius/gemini moon thing to say??? why?) have you seen this bitch of an earth... UNFORGIVING AND DULL. however, i do believe in the possibility of these things being true, but idk! it’s pretty fun, though, to roast myself and any friends with gemini or pisces placements sdiufhdf they’re my go-to signs for roasting. it’s kind of an inside joke between my friends and me now. i’m mostly roasting myself with the gemini part. also my dad, that GEMINI. pisces i just roast for its Vibes. no offense to pisces. sorry if you’re a pisces. i’m sure you’re great!

5. i’m, like, the definition of jack of all trades master of none. i’m mediocre at 4 instruments, like i said previously. i’m ok at writing, ok at singing. i do well in standardized tests, but nothing too remarkable. i’m not not smart, but i’m not remarkably smart or kind. this is kind of an insecurity of mine, not gonna lie, but sometimes i feel like i’m stretched out too thin over too many things, and i’m not sure what i want for myself because i’m good at a lot but never great at anything, if that makes sense. whenever i bring this up to people they’re usually like “Oh! but that’s so good! and cool! you should be thankful!”, but like i said i’m pretty pessimistic most of the time sdiufhsd. i don’t have a passion; i have many interests that i can never dedicate myself to fully because 1) i never learned resilience because i was always Good at things at first try, so when i reach a Tough Spot i just quit, and 2) i have way too many things i like, and the idea of choosing Just One Thing... STRESSFUL. this is such a petty thing to complain about, but i guess it just comes down to the Gifted Kid Struggle™: you grow up hearing about how good you are and how you’re The Best, and you start to base your self-worth on being The Best at a Few Things. slowly, people start to catch up to you, and then you realize that you’re just Painfully Average and Mediocre. i’m coming to terms with the fact that i’m average, i guess. it’s ok to be, i know that, but it’s gonna be a long way before i can fully accept that i’ll never be the best at anything again. i actually think that this is what has made my relationship with food really shitty but that’s a whole Can of Worms™ that i won’t unpack here dfugdiofh

again, thank u so much for asking this!!!! it means a lot!

#ed mention #not rly #but just in case #my post #philautia speaks #thank u thank u!!!#<3 #demigodavenger #KINDA RAMBLED BUT THATS FINE

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some-ikemen-snob · 4 years

Text

Pee Pee Poo Poo (Masaharu x MC) Fanfic

Proofread by: @the-voltage-diaries :D

Yes the MC has a name, I’m sorry to those that prefer (Y/N)

I was going to make a version w/ (Y/N) and w/o commentary but I just could not be bothered

“Please come with me to a party!” Rina’s hands are clasped tightly together in front of her. A look of nervousness covers her face. When she told me she had something serious to ask of me after work, I wasn’t expecting this. She knows how much of a risk it is for me to go outside, being a wanted fugitive and all. I don’t care about what would happen to me, I just don’t want her getting caught up in any of my problems.

“You do know how ridiculous of a request that is right?”

“Yea… but it was worth an ask.” She sulks dejectedly, whatever the reason may be, I want to hear it.

“Why do you need me for some party?”

“A few days ago, some new recruits were talking behind my back. They were poking fun at how I didn’t have a boyfriend at my age and claimed I was just into hook-ups.” If only they knew who she was dating, they would shut their traps. The thought amuses me but I know Rina wouldn’t like it if I threatened them to shut up.

“I got fed up with their remarks and told them I’d bring my boyfriend to one of their parties.” Hachiko has always been the brave but stupid type. “I didn’t want to bring some random guy because I felt as if I would be betraying you..” God, the expression on her face was adorable. A fugitive like me doesn’t deserve someone as precious as her. “It’s okay, I’ll just tell them he was too late to make it.” I know what I’m about to say defies all rationality and common sense. But hey, a man’s gotta trust his gut, especially when it comes to his girl. “Alright, you win. I’ll come to the stupid party, but I’ll be in full disguise mode and lounging around in a corner.” A smile that is worth ignoring all the rationality in the world erupts on her face. “THANK YOU! THANK YOU!” Rina looks as if she just chugged a pack of Red Bull down. She gives me a peck on the cheek, much to my surprise. “I’ll text you the location and time when I get my hands on it!” Picking up her feet, she turns around and heads for her room. “Wait.” I grab her right sleeve. Confused, she turns her head around to face me and at that moment, I plant a kiss on her cheeks. “That’s payback for what you did,” I give her a smirk. She mumbles something underneath her breath but it’s inaudible to me. However, judging by her slight wobble back to her room, I can tell she enjoyed it.

The day of the party, Rina has instructed me to come meet her by the bookstore in front of the station. As I stare at my perfectly put disguise laid out on my bed, I get a knock on the door. Inui peeks his head into my room. “Can you go pick up some groceries?” “Sure.” I can make it back in time to change into my disguise then head to the party. “The least you could do is pick up ingredients since you don’t know how to cook a meal even if your life depended on it.” A mischievous Hino peaks his head in. As much as I would love to blast his head for making that comment, I could never while Inui was here. “What’s with the get-up?” Hino turns his gaze over to the disguise on the bed. “Nothing much, just don’t touch it, I’ll be leaving now.” I leave the base with a very clear feeling that Hino would definitely touch it.

Moments later, I’m walking through the streets as strangers stride past by me. That took forever. I grumble with my hands full of groceries, making my way back to the car. The last item on the list were these stupid tapioca balls that I basically searched the entire city for. “She better make something good with them.” I tuck the list back into my shirt pocket, the name of the preparator was written right next to the desired ingredient. Rina’s scribbled name looks petite and rushed. She probably had the idea to make bubble tea at the last minute. I put the load of paper bags into the trunk and slam it down sturdy. “Now let’s go home and-” “Masaharu Ryuzaki?” What? “I think you have the wrong person, sir.” “Then turn around and let us see your face.” Crap, I don’t have time for this. Best thing I can do right now is… RUN! I break out into a sprint, hoping to get these men off my track.

“There’s nowhere for you to go.” In the midst of the chase, I find myself face to face with an inescapable path. How did they manage to find me? This is the first time I’ve ever been recognized with my disguise in. These sunglasses should have hidden my identity completely! (No shade but that is actually his in-game “disguise.” A pair of sunglasses.) “Hear me out gentleman, I don’t want to fight you or anything.” “Do you not remember what you did to us?” “I don’t even remember who you are.”

< Insert the mysterious men explaining a crime Masaharu committed against their group as he shows Masaharu a scar he gave him during their previous encounter. I can’t be bothered to write this up >

Finally, he finishes explaining. I look up at the sun which has already begun its descent. I’m going to be late at this rate. I wasn’t planning on shedding any blood today but my girl’s going to be waiting for me soon.

I stuff the gun back into my pocket, the men lay in anguish on the floor. (Let the bodies hit the floor, let the bodies hit the floor). I didn’t kill them, just immobilized their movement. I look at my watch which has bits of blood splattered on it. Agh, damn! That fight took a hell load of time. If I didn’t have my gun on me, it’d have taken even longer. Rina won’t mind me being 15 minutes late to the party...right? I steer the car through the bustling city, not even making time to get home. The groceries and disguise can wait, hopefully they don’t mind seeing bits of blood on my outfit. I park my car outside of the train station, getting out to look around for Rina. Damn, she’s not in front of the book store, probably already at the party. The building is of walking distance from the station and with a parking spot already found, I begin my walk to the party. Entering the party alone must have taken her a lot of guts, even after what she told her co-workers. Plus, I don’t want to look like I just ghosted her on this meeting. I grab my phone out, I already told Rina that I would be late but she hasn’t seen my message yet. Rustling my hair in frustration, random thoughts enter my brain. Maybe forcing them to shut up wouldn’t be so bad an idea? (LET IT ALL OUT LET YOUR FEELINGS OUT, LET THE WORLD KNOW WHAT YOU'RE ALL ABOUT - Zela) No, get it together, Rina wouldn’t want you to do that. As I’m walking through the area, I hear a conversation that perks my ears. “We’re now officially husband and wife.” A couple snuggles together, leaving the marriage bureau.

“I can’t wait to see my lovely husband when I get home from work.” While their PDA makes me stay away from them, it makes me think. If Rina and I were married… when she came home from work, I would be able to welcome her home with a warm (yet deadly) meal, we could take a bath together and afterwards (insert something definitely NSFW). These fuzzy imaginative thoughts fill my head for the remainder of the walk.

This should be the right apartment number, I study the text Rina had sent me a few days ago. Light emits from underneath the door and I can hear chattering from inside. However, none of the voices belong to Rina. I knock on the door before opening it with caution. “Hello, I’m Rina’s husband, Rasaharu Myuzaki.” (can you tell I put much effort into creating the name?)

“Husband?!” I can hear the shock come from a couple of girls. Crap! I got it mixed up with the couple’s conversation. (SPY X FAMILY REFERENCE, IF YOU GET IT, I LOVE YOU)

Before I could clarify the mix up, Rina speaks up on my behalf.

“Yes, Masa- Rasaharu is my husband, so with this, can you stop talking bad behind my back, Chisaki?” I glance at who I assume is Chisaki, the one who started all of this.

“Myuzaki, you’re covered in blood.” A gentleman offers me a towel which I kindly accept. “Thank you. I work as a butcher so I often deal with chopping up pigs, especially pigs that think it is okay to talk shit about my wife.” I give Chisaki a look that tells her she better leave this country or she’ll be dead by midnight. My plan works and Chisaki immediately gets down on her knees in front of Rina and begs for her forgiveness. Three other women who I can assume to be part of her posse also do the same. Rina looks relieved, having this situation come to a close, however, there’s a hint of unrest on her face. “Now that we’re done here-” I tug at her waist. “I will be taking my lovely wife away, I hope you all don’t mind.” The confusion on Rina’s face is clear as day but she still leaves with me after saying her farewells.

The ride to the spot was a silent one, where Rina just spent the entire time trying to rub the blood off my clothing and face. (omg girlfriend goals <3) “Where is this place?” I stop the car near the edge of a cliff, the both of us get out and walk closer towards the edge. Before us is the city and the night sky. The lights create an orange like hue over the city, making it almost impossible to take my eyes off it. Compared to the noise and bustle of the city, the deafening silence here almost sounds unreal. “Found this place a while ago, thought you might want to blow some steam off here.”

“How did you know I was stressed?”

“As if you would be satisfied enough with just an apology from Chisaki.” Rina gives me a warm smile. “You’re right.” She cups her hands over her mouth and inhales. “EAT (doodoo) HONEY! I BET YOU CAN’T EVEN GET A DECENT BOYFRIEND WITH YOUR RAT ASS A T T I T U D E!” At the end, there’s a quick silence but then we both burst out into laughter. “That’s my girl!” I cup my hands over my mouth just like what Rina did. “TALK (doodoo), GET HIT.” At this point, Rina is doubling over with laughter. This little screaming session continued on for a while until our lungs could not scream anymore.

“...I’m glad you came.” “Why wouldn’t I?”

“Well...before I even entered the room, I could hear them berating insults about me. I felt really down thinking that maybe you weren't really coming.”

“I sent you a text that I would be late.” Rina checks her phone and looks at me with a sheepish smile, “sorry,” she laughs.

“But luckily, your amazing husband was here to save the day, right?” “Husband? That is a very bold thing for you to say.”

“Why? You can’t see me giving you a ring one day?” I throw a little joke at Rina but her reaction is completely different from what I expected. With her face beat red, she punches my arm.

“Anyways, didn’t you say you were going to wear a ‘disguise?’” I can tell she’s embarrassed by my joke so I let it slide. “You’re not going to question the blood?”

“I trust that you didn’t kill anyone?”

“You’re correct, just had to deal with some guys from the past.”

“Oooh, look at my hubby acting so brave and strange.” “Now look who’s saying husband.”

We spend the rest of the night just bantering as I think, ‘she’d make a lovely wife one day.’

EXTRAS:

“Shouldn’t we be going home soon? I’m hungry.” Rina asks me.

Home? Hungry? Food? OH CRAP. I left the groceries in the car. I think of how much the car is going to stink because of the fish that was left in there for at least an hour. Fuck my life.

When I get home, I remember that I left my disguise on my bed. Entering my room, my disguise is missing. Instead, there’s a clown costume on my bed and all the clothes in my closet are missing. “What the ever loving fuck?” And there’s only one person on this damn earth who knew about this and would do it. “H I N O.”

Rina’s POV:

I come into work with a bright and cheery face. On my way to work, I got a free coffee for being the one millionth customer and got to pet an adorable puppy. So, tell me why, do I hear Chisaki blasting her mouth off first thing in the morning? “I heard Rina was spotted in the red light district with someone.”

“And he looked younger than her, is she planning on being a cougar?”

This isn’t the first time I heard this from them. I did not want to start a fight right then and there.

“I was not in the red light district yesterday and I do have a boyfriend who is older than me, in fact. If you want to see him, I’m willing to bring him to a party.”

“Really now?” Chisaki looks me up and down suspiciously.

“Then bring him. We’ll all bring our boyfriends too so they can all talk.”

“Oh how considerate of you, make sure to text me the details.” As I walk away from Chisaki and her grouper, I begin screaming in my head. IDIOT, IDIOT, IDIOT, I D I O T. Ahhhhh, how am I supposed to ask Masaharu?

After Masaharu gives me a surprise kiss on the cheek, my face instantly reddens. “That’s payback for what you did.”

“I didn’t know revenge was supposed to be this sweet.” I mumble under my breath, hoping he didn’t hear me. My heart’s pounding a mile a minute.

Ah fuck, Masaharu didn’t show up at our designated spot. I’m standing in front of the door. I’m already late and even worse, my boyfriend isn’t here with me. What was I expectating? More than this being dangerous, it was plain stupid.

When Masaharu called himself my husband, my brain went full on meltdown. H-h-husband? Is he into marriage roleplay? Anyways, I can use this chance to finally shut Chisaki up once and for all.

“Why? You can’t see me giving you a ring one day?” YOU DON’T JUST RANDOMLY PROPOSE TO A GIRL LIKE THAT!!!!! DJDLDSSDF. I punch Masaharu on the arm to hide my embarrassment, THAT’S THE SECOND TIME ALREADY IN THIS FANFIC (yes I just threw a 4th wall moment in like that)

“Hey Masaharu?” “Hm?” “Why does the car smell like rotten fish?”

When I get to work the next morning, Chisaki comes up to me. “I’m so sorry for talking shit behind your back for a while now!”

“It’s okay, let’s put it behind us now.”

“But I do have to say, how come you never told me you had such a sexy husband?” Wait what, excuse the fuck me? You wanna fucking fight for my mans?

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