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hxnguxng-jxn · 2 years

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Hello, you can make a scenario 𝐗𝐢𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐚𝐧 × 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐞! 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 × 𝐇𝐮𝐚 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐠 Reader has known them for years and always had the mania of eating the nails until he is hurt and they cured it and tried to take away that habit then the years pass they havent seen each other and meet again but reader pretends to be someone else but they know it is him because of his habit of biting his nails but he does not know that they know it he just thinks he is nice to him as he would to anyone

Writer's Note(s): I can do this for you! Also, since you didn't specify if Reader was a Ghost/Heavenly Official/Mystical Monster I kept it ambiguous!

Info on Reader: Reader is intended AMAB, and uses he/him. The Reader is an immortal of some kind and knows the two characters from long ago, but age is ambiguous.

Timeline: Post Book 1, and in Book 2. Is in that timeframe. Spoilers for Ke Mo and Ban Yue, and the Ghost City.

【🔴】 Reader takes part in the dice roller scene. If you know, you know. Also, Hua Cheng bites Readers finger.

Fujoshis and Fem Readers DNI || Please enjoy!

Everyone in the group Xie Lian accompanied had strange backgrounds, behaviors, limits, and actions. He's not naive enough to not see the evidence that San Lang might be the mysterious Hua Cheng, or how the two assistants sent to protect him knew just a little too much about him and had specific memories they did not like to recall.

He could see many things, and he could understand a lot more than he could, say, 350 years ago. His mind remembers what his body could not, he likes to believe.

Especially when the tensions were so high during his adventures after his third ascension. Being in the rotation of San Lang, Fu Yao, Nan Feng... and you.

He could see glimpses of you in your disguise throughout the time he's seen you; with your choice of weapons, the food you prefer and how you cooked it, what type of clothes you prefer on other's and yourself.

But his major sign about who you might be―like San Lang's knowledge, like My Qing's eye rolls and hatred for his memories―was you biting your nails till the tips of your fingers were raw during stressful moments.

Everyone had nervous habits, even the most stoic still would like to dodge questions they prefer not to answer. And Xie Lian liked to fiddle with his bamboo hat, or start moving immediately to fix the situation.

Like Mu Qing and Feng Xin again after so long, it was almost like a lightbulb went off in his head. But unlike the unease of nostalgia hitting him, it was something warm in his heart and he was tempted to ask how you've held up all this time.

He also might have leaned on you too much during the situation between Ke Mo and Ban Yue because he knew you and what you could do. You were reliable and he did adore you...

And before long, he noticed his feelings were off somewhere and it was getting far more intimate between you two. And then you three.

San Lang―Hua Cheng proven at this point―also seemed to slither into his heart and rightfully so. He was kind, he was open about what he was comfortable sharing, San Lang treats you right, and he's sweet on him as well.

The emotions of potentially falling in love with two people at once, and seeing San Lang kiss your bandaged fingers after you chewed them raw stirred something like... butterflies, for no better comparison.

And then, Hua Cheng disappeared and you left him in one night. No notes, but all the evidence you existed around him. Breakfast from you, chopped wood from Hua Cheng, carpets on the line like you do, leaves raked like Hua Cheng.

Xie Lian ran back inside. You're not leaving him behind. He'll follow you both, to any end.

The City of Ghost's is good at bringing people together...

Red, red, red. The den of Gamblers was always filled with such color except when the customers would come in wearing anything but that. The attendants rotated the ghosts and Hua Cheng took what was owed and distributed... what he owed. If he even did.

The curtains between him and the current obsessed customer were briefly interrupted by a Heavenly Official (Lang Qingqiu) and the sudden appearance of three more individuals of interest. Of course, Shi Qingxuan was of interest because that means he had more than just one Heavenly Official in the Ghost City.

But seeing the veiled bamboo hat and the man next to him wearing a white veil to obscure their identity from afar, he could practically feel his non-existent heart beat and his fingers twitch. Who was this man under the veil? Why was he next to his gege and whispering back and forth so swiftly?

Hua Cheng was about to call them up as they figured out who would roll for Lang Qingqiu's freedom, when the man passed the roller to Xie Lian and rushed to bring his hand under his veil. For a brief moment, he thought the man would lift the veil, but the hand simply rested under it as Xie Lian looked up at Hua Cheng behind the curtains.

And then he felt the need to have you both step forward and to come to him so he can see you closer and fully. The curtains may not help seeing past your Veil of Illusion from over your face, but he could get a read on your demeanor and how you fall in line with his gege.

Having you both step forward because of the feminine announcer requesting for him was easy. "Would the challenger and his assistant with the veil please step forward. The proprietor would like to correct your dice rolling technique. It is incorrect."

Of course, gege is baffled and confused there is a technique to this, and so are the useless dreg that are his customers. The man under the veil takes after gege and helps escort him up with you, mumbling one or two things back and forth, before they stepped up to him.

Looking down at gege and trying to search for any sign of identity on the other man, he takes the offered dice roller and shows gege how to... handle the elongated item, and how to shake it up and down in even strokes. Gege's hands are strong and grip the roller harshly, so he offers to perhaps soften his touch in case he... breaks the roller.

He's helping. Honest.

And of course, the gesture has gege blanking before accepting the help he gave. But Hua Cheng wasn't done. And you aren't getting out of this without him seeing if he perhaps can identify you.

"In case your luck is bad or you're unsure if the dice aren't enchanted, I will allow this man to roll with you. I can tell your companion would know how to read magic." Hua Cheng states, knowing no slacker would wear a Veil of Illusion to the Gambler's Den. This one was smart. "But you'll have to roll at the same time."

"The same... time? How would I do that when my companion is holding the cup?" Your voice is familiar and yet so far away from what he expected. It wasn't the voice he had been waiting for (the voice of your disguise), it was something that hit his nostalgia in many ways.

"Here, I will show you." Hua Cheng assured. "Hold up the cup."

Of course, gege had terrible luck and would take any measures to make sure they didn't mess up with Lang Qingqiu, and extended the cup for instructions. "Take hold of it with your dominant hand over his shaking hand." You hesitate before you put your hand over his gege's. Good, the Ghost King thought, your not someone who sees themselves above gege in his den.

But it was after the instruction to use your other hand to hold the middle, while gege held the top and bottom, that he noticed you weren't wearing gloves or any kind of hand covering. Your nails were non-existent and your fingers were basically chewed to pieces and raw in some places, obviously chewed recently. That, and there was a specific bite mark over your index finger much further down on your non-dominant hand...

... While fixing up your hand after you had caught a sword in it, San Lang managed to lightly scold you while he patched it up. He knew you could just heal it instantly, but your fake identity was not supposed to be powerful, and it had to suffer with this annoying wound for appearance sake. Of course, Hua Cheng felt something stir in his stomach at the sight of your lightly bleeding fingers, and had taken your index into his mouth on instinct to taste the red stained there. If he might have bitten you out of surprise he had let his composure go, only he had to know...

"... Hua Cheng, sir?" Your voice snaps him out of his memories. You, the immortal under the veil, and gege hadn't been given the next instructions yet, and you sounded even more weary of this.

If he was young and human again, he was sure his face would heat and his body would betray him as the sight of having you and gege before him again was... something invigorating. He controlled all of his impulses with one short mantra he could remember, before he laughs off the wait you endured.

"Apologies, my dearest guests." He didn't give any excuse, all he gave was a simple instruction as he watches the roller between you both like a hawk. "Shake in a rhythm, match with your partner and cover where he cannot hold. The dice can't roll with no momentum."

Small Thing:

The Windmaster and Xie Lian look on as you fix your veil and make sure your outfit hasn't burned from the many fires they've had to put out from under you. A few feminine ghosts with fire inclined spells had taken a liking to your physique and your posture, and had tried to lift your veil with no results as you turned them down. Of course, getting into a fight hadn't been what you wanted, but winning was no issue with your squad as stacked as it was.

The Windmaster, Shi Qingxuan, had helped put out the final fire under your boots before making jokes at your expense. "Oh, our blushing husband, wearing his veil and not allowing anyone to see! Could he be a Ghost King in disguise? Could he be a rebellious or mysterious Heavenly Official? Wow is me!"

Of course, the God had taken off faster than strong winds could after you started chasing him in his feminine form. The Heavenly Official wasn't about to lose Xie Lian's trust by fighting the man he had accepted into their party on the way here, but he sure can tease you.

Xie Lian, when you returned to him and assured him you hadn't hurt your supposed guide at all, almost reached for your veil slowly to lift it just slightly. A face, so far in his memories lit his body on fire with a need to see it again... but he stopped short of seeing your chin. You hadn't stopped him and your adam's apple bobbed in anticipation and nerves. Xie Lian simply let the veil fall back down as his mind settled on what he wanted.

"I won't pry, but I'd love to see your face sometime." Xie Lian soothes your nerves while putting his hands on your arms gently.

"What if I'm not who you're looking for?" You ask him after a brief pause, your voice full of something bitter.

"You and San Lang, asking the wrong questions..." Xie Lian chided. I'd like you both no matter who or what you looked like. "You are him. But we're missing Hua Cheng."

There was a brief pause before whatever caused you to hesitate lets you go. "... We are. Let me lead you into the city, then, your Highness."

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hatt0riart · 11 months

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I WANTED TO MAKE MORE THAN JUST THIS but it took like. a week to get done and im sick these days

anyways in light of mk1's nonsense i revisited some koncepts i had for a roleswap au. i took hanzo's inspiration from a mix of mkx and mk11 outfits and kuai i kind of just winged it based off my own preferences in past appearances!!

more rambling is under the cut about the actual AU :-]

PLEASE DO NOT REPOST MY ART ON ANY OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA OR CROP THEM FOR ICONS. THANK YOU!

SO I HAVE NOT ACTUALLY DEVELOPED THIS BEYOND SOME OLD SKETCHES I HAD OF KUAI'S DESIGN but i had some general ideas of how this was supposed to work???

the shirai ryu is still alive and well! he's still a family man and very clan oriented. satoshi is still born and grows into his clan's responsibilities, however harumi dies in child birth.

the lin kuei on the other hand is Not Doing Well. they end up getting wiped out during a raid from the shirai ryu and most of kuai's immediate family (whether by choice or blood) ends up going down with them.

prior to this kuai ends up passing after a failed mission to retrieve the map of elements from the shaolin temple in an attempt to prove himself to his clan. (instead of bi-han being the one set on that path, kuai ends up taking the initiative instead WAY before he's ready without anyone's knowledge and ends up dying when met with scorpion.)

most of it is similar how it is in actual canon for how scorpion's story goes. he gets resurrected he pledges loyalty to quan chi in order to get revenge, blah blah blah. mortal kombat happens. the two meet again at some point.

kuai's still on that "you killed my family" juice but its...more so about familial ties (like bi-han and smoke) rather than it being the love(s) of his life (like hanzo's wife and son) , seeing as he died young from his own overzealous nature.

very much has anger issues. he's impatient and has alot shorter of a temper by comparison to scorpion in the original canon. hardly ever humbled until that point lol

hanzo on the other hand is surprisingly more lax. meditates often, drinks alot of tea and while he *IS* stressed he handles it alot better than kuai does. maybe has a problem of ignoring his problems though for the sake of the task at hand.

kuai ends up harassing hanzo alot in this AU even outside of the tournament. he's kind of a bitchy ghost there to remind hanzo of what happened to him and lowkey hanzo guilts over it.

kuai has alot of grim reaper motifs in his design. he carries a scythe made of ice primarily and fights at a more long distance range.

hanzo on the other hand is alot more of an up close brawler. he keeps alot of design traits from mkx with a bit of mk11 sprinkled in for inspiration of his "classic" design.

STILL A PYROMANCER!! i just havent thought out how. he's just regarded with a bit more respect for having those unnatural abilities lol

but yeah this is just me spitballing in bullet points. i'm hoping to make more stuff later that is a bit more...thought out properly but it follows more of like

mk mythologies --> mk9 -> mkx

type of timeline i guess? except hanzo is in bi-han's position and kuai ends up being put in scorpion's. bi-han doesn't really have a place in the AU outside of being a background character and driving motive for kuai's vengeance later on. (though we're not gonna talk about how bi-han's mentality eventually fed into kuai's at a young age and made him come to the conclusions he did before he died.... maybe.)

smoke exists for the sake of painful flashbacks lol

satoshi's also a bg character but he does end up growing up with the shirai ryu and takes on his own share of clan responsibilities. idk whether or not he takes after hanzo's pyromancy or not in this AU but either way he grows up to be a well respected figure in the clan!

alot of stuff outside of this remains the same though, just the lin kuei and shirai ryu's dynamics get swapped.

ANYWAYS YEAH IF YOU READ THRU ALL THIS THANKS FOR READING BYEEEE (i'll be adding to this au more later on when i finish my other sketches lol)

#mortal kombat #au #mortal kombat au #mk #mk1 #mkx #mk11 #mk9 #sub zero #scorpion #kuai liang #hanzo hasashi #roleswap au #subscorp #subscorp roleswap au

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okkos-ferrum · 6 months

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gray's return in the show and how it defines gray as a truly morally gray character

i just gotta ramble more abt this scene, with it being one of my favorite scenes in the show. but really i just wanna talk abt how this scene encapsulates gray's ... grayness... of the moral variety

especially since it is done so effectively since, like i mentioned in other posts, our screen time with actual gray and not graham or whatever is limited.

this scene sees the return of gray in the plot, picking up directly where we leave off from all the way back in episode 2

Bye-bye, Black Sheep...

I assume you prefer I continue to call you "Carmen"?

as i stated previously on other posts, because of the silly brainwashing plot, much of graham scenes can be thrown out. in a sense, it's the writers' way to put a big old pause on his character

and these are only one of the two conversations carmen and gray have in current day as themselves -- with no mind wiping or brainwashing (not including flashback cuz the actual issues of the relationship that need to be addressed havent been established yet)

so resuming directly right where we left off with gray trying to kill carmen, we return back to gray trying to kill carmen :D

but this time he did recongize carmen's name, alluding to his change ... even tho he is waving his electric stick around -- mirroring their last encounter in paris

side tangent: something i, additionally, love about this scene is just how it is blunt and honest. much of carmen sandiego's drama/conflict is built of misunderstanding and misdirection and mistrust of the characters. Which while, yes, i am eating up, but unfortuntely can cause many characters relationships to be burdened with a lot of things that can be easily cleared up with a talk. gray for once just bluntly takes a stance.

something that i do like is that in their only two scenes with each other as themselves, carmen (the pilot flashbacks) and gray (this scene) open up so fast with one another. there's never any miscommunication between them during these scenes .... well until vile barges into the conversation....

ANYWAY here we get revealed gray's full perception of himself and his goals very explicitly, especially since his memories and alliances was the biggest question over the viewers' head for most of the show

here gray explains that he believes that he is not a good person, someone incapable of change.

from his perspective, the only way he was able to be a "good" person was when he was brainwashed. and he had just had however long with his chats with maelstrom emphasizing that he has always been a bad person by nature. with the knowledge vile will forever have full control over him -- either as a vile operative or as a mindwiped civillian -- gray essentially accepts his fate as a bad person, because at the very least he is himself.

carmen may have gotten away from vile, but he is told by maelstrom it is due to her being a naturally good person. because his own perception of himself is as somebody who is incapable of good, he will never be able to leave vile now

and carmen is right there in front of him. it was his hesistance that landed him into this debacle, and with maelstrom and bellum both just past the door and carmen alone, gray has every chance to right his wrong.

but he doesnt. because he realizes that the very least he can make the choice of is never hurting carmen. as i stated in other posts, gray's main motive is to be free from any standard that could get in between him and his success. but his want for this freedom ironically got him trapped within following vile's orders. he had been so caught up in following vile that he had lost sight of himself and what he cares about.

so now he explains to carmen his absolute refusal to hurt her again, begging her to give up in stopping vile

selfish and selfless

But I'm begging you, give up trying to stop us, because I don't ever want to be put in a position to hurt you again.

gray's plea to carmen here is so perfectly two-sided

he is acting out selflessly in not allowing his alliances against carmen blind him. i mean that is what he fucked up last time in the train, where it was clear gray wanted to spare carmen - with giving her time to share her side of the story and providing the offer - put unwilling to stand against his mission. like an actual human being, gray acknowledges his mistake and is trying to amend it by stating clearly that he cares abt carmen.

he, in essence, is apologizing for trying to harm carmen by expressing his major regret. moreover, he acknowledges their chat in the pilot, accepting carmen will not return to vile. it stems likely from the ink blot scene earlier, where maelstrom speaks about nature, making a distinction between vile, and by extension, gray's, and carmen's morals. he is finally reconciling that he and carmen will not be on the same side, no matter how much he wants it to be otherwise.

it can also be viewed as a sense of wanting to protect carmen. because he feels so small compared to vile, he barely can ponder how anyone can actually succeed in going against them. i mean they brainwashed him and easily gave and took away his civilian life. in his eyes, carmen staying far from vile is the only way she could be safe

however, viewing it from another perspective shows gray's selfishness in his plea. when he speaks about never wanting to be put in a position to hurt carmen again, he kinda places such a responsibility on carmen, not recongizing he himself is capable of changing that.

Essentially saying "hey quit while you're ahead so you don't gotta make me feel guilty when doing crime" while ignoring that he is making the choice join vile

It kinda stems from his lack of faith in carmen or his own cowardice against vile or a combination of both. What may just be the only way he can protect to protect carmen comes off in his own lack of faith in her ability. as i mentioned earlier, this practically is his own resignation to his fate that vile cannot be fought against. he took his own defeat as the only way to be safe, refusing to believe carmen can successfully fight them.

while he was able to get past the hurdle of accepting carmen changing and no longer standing alongside him, he cant seem to understand his own responsibilty in this.

he's being selfish by demanding a change in carmen's behavior while he continue along with his own desires. While yes, i did just detail the various factors that led to him to such a conclusion, the window was LITERALLY OPEN for him to leave

following carmen blowing up the facility and rejecting gray's demand -- SHE IS SO REAL FOR THAT I LOVE HER SM IN THIS EP -- the wall LITERALLY IS OPEN FOR TO LEAVE CARMEN WITH

Goodbye, Gray

Idk how intentional this is, but the framing shows carmen literally, by her own will, forcing an opening for herself out of vile (both figuratively in the past and literally right now lol) while gray watches on idly, too scared to leave the grasp of vile but just watching on.

and his cowardice is followed through in the finale, with after months of idly watching carmen slip deeper into evil by the brainwashing, he actually takes actions against vile by actively choosing to work with acme, abandoning tigress, and being the one to land the memory recovery thing on her.

it is what makes gray such a stand out character in this show, admist his frustrating back-and-forth and selfishness and sometimes wasted writing. he keeps making a mistake but proceeds to fix it right after. his growth into a better person requires him to make these mistakes, because unlike carmen and most people in the show on the side of good, gray doesn't work on any moral compass. he is not actively evil and wishing to inflict harm and conflict like paper star or vile facilty, nor is he driven by morals such as team red and julia. he is driven by whatever he selfishly cares abt. and from what we see of him both in the pilot and this ep, he makes as many mistakes as he does have slivers of good actions

basically gray is an interesting character cuz he literally fucks up his personal goals, but he makes an earnest attempt to make it better lol

#carmen sandiego 2019 #graham calloway #cs crackle #carmen sandiego #character analysis #i tried rip #he was getting too silly and then had to have a fake out death #character rambles #barely revised this lol

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jewish-sideblog · 2 months

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hey uh goy here. if it isn't too much trouble, could you talk about some of those jewish communist groups you mentioned? i like to think of myself as a communist but i havent really had time to sink my teeth in much of any communist discussions or posts or what have you since pretty much every communist blog i used to follow has. uhm. well. I'm sure i don't need to remind you of what happened.

thanks in advance.

For sure! To my knowledge, the major Israeli socialist/communist groups that exist today are Hadash and Maki, which form a coalition with moderate two-state Arab nationalist Ta'al in the Knesset. The Kibbutz movements also tend to be communist when not religiously oriented, what with them being communes and all. I'm not Israeli myself, so there may be larger Israeli communist groups in the country that I'm not aware of.

As far as historical Jewish communists go, I'd recommend starting by looking into the Bundists and other Jewish groups in the Soviet Eastern-European era.

Jews in the diaspora today don't have any major and public Jewish communist groups that I'm aware of. Because, of, you know, the happenings. But plenty of us are still in red politics as individuals.

This is nothing against you, anon, but it's fascinating to me how far apart the political spectrum can still be. I forget that left-leaning politics often aren't aware of Jewish communist groups because right-leaning politics hyperfocus on Judeo-Bolshevism and antisemitic red scare conspiracy theories.

Thank you for reaching out!

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grand-theft-carbohydrates · 20 days

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WHAT DO YOU MEAN TANG DYNASTY CANNIBALISM?? /gen /that sounds so interesting /pls ignore if you don't feel like talking about this

Oh ho im always down to chat about history. I actually cant name any specific instance of tang dynasty cannibalism, since my knowledge of chinese history stops after 300 CE, but in general the cultural attitude towards cannibalism has been fairly pragmatic. It's not considered a moral event-horizon you can't return from. Of course, every society has instances survival cannibalism, e.g. you’re under siege/ theres a famine/ some other infinitely nuanced circumstance. But outside of actually history, cannibalism shows up in basically every single story. Not even as a major plot point it’s just there.

Take the 4 great classics:

Romance of the three kingdoms: a hunter kills his wife and uses her flesh to feed the virtuous Liu Bei. This is framed as a noble and selfless act. bonus autocannibalism; Xiahou Dun eats his own eyeball due to *checks notes* filial piety.

Water Margin: i cant remember the name of this guy, but there was this inkeeper who was killing passerbys and feeding them to the guests. He joins the main lineup of heroes. This is never brought up again.

Journey to the west: every demon wants to eat the Tang Monk’s flesh to gain immortality. Happens every 10 pages. Not technically cannibalism by the standard definition but it is a) consumption of human flesh and b) they are humanoid/are embodiments of human vice. So im gonna count it. my blog my rules.

Dream of the red chamber: havent read it and at this point im afraid to ask.

Historical tidbit: Lingchi (death by slow cuts) was sometimes followed up by selling the person's flesh to the crowd, either as medicine, or if the person had committed a particularly egregious crime, it was a way for the people to show their hatred. The phrase "the people want to eat your flesh" is a byword for "they fucking hate you, dude." though this is more to do with desecration of a corpse than the actual consumption, because if a body is destroyed, the spirit will not be whole in the afterlife.

followers feel free to chime in!

#history #asks

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kossamer · 2 months

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[WARP TO... If Darth Thanaton accepted Pyrrhous as his new apprentice] (NOT CANON!)

"Fall back, master, and I will handle this."

"You will, Kallig, and then you will triumph over all."

I genuinely thought that Pyrrhous' and Thanaton's personalities and values would click, and Thanaton would be one of the best masters for him. They will share much common ground on following traditions and forbidden knowledge.

However, his constitution will drop as certain rites of the dark side drains his lifeforce. He would also have episodes of temperament and paranoia, to the point where his brother would not (or wouldnt want to) recognise him.

Thanaton would hold nothing back when teaching him (as should any sith, he thinks), and in some ways he sees him as a son he never had. But not the "lets play baseball together" type, the "fall behind and you die" type. While he mildly relishes the thought of his prized apprentice in a dark council seat next to him, he is also fully prepared to strike him down when Pyrrhous inevitably turns against him one day.

Note: this was my first piece after my art block 😀 im really proud of it, but my poor cake loving boy 🥲 he'd probably forget how to turn on an oven

Late post because Im back home for the month! I may post a bit less or respond later. I reached 50 followers on instagram and I said therell be a thing for it, which i havent forgotten 👍

#i can feel my coloring get better #like im closer to the style i want for myself #dunno what i'll do with softer pieces tho #swtor #star wars the old republic #star wars oc #swtor oc #star wars #procreate #digital art #digital illustration #swtoroc #swtor sith inquisitor #pyrrhous

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pastanest · 1 year

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if you’re wondering why I’m having to repost this, or why you were perhaps previously following me but no longer are, please refer to this post. I was able to retrieve this thanks to the very lovely friends who have relentlessly sifted through tumblr archives to recover them, thank you all so much!! ♡

Thranduil As A Husband

- obviously, as a King, he has his duties to attend to, and number one on that list of duties is to be a Good Husband™️

- in sickness and in health, he promises that he will worry about you. a single cough passes your lips? you are rushed to the Royal Infirmary. you get a paper cut? straight to the Infirmary. a headache? infIrmary.

- he claims it’s because you’re not an elf, he isnt completely knowledgeable on the workings of your immune system, so he worries that the smallest sign of an illness will have you pushing daisies

- he worries less after you’ve spent a few centuries with him and havent died

- your birthday is the biggest celebration in the kingdom, and every year without fail, Thranduil manages to throw a more extravagant party than the year before

“But a year is less than a blink in the life of an elf, how can you justify celebrating a birthday that is not yours?”

“Well, this is a fraction of a blink that I shan’t forget, for you are the mela en’ coiamin(love of my life).”

- you have regular dates even after getting married, and they can include star gazing, training for battle together, going on romantic strolls through the kingdom, riding through the forest on Thranduil’s pet Elk, and plaiting flowers in the King’s hair

- he cant count the number of times you have requested to plait his hair, nor can he measure his level of joy at you wanting to plait his hair so frequently

- sometimes he forgets that he still has flowers in his hair when he goes to attend a meeting after spending time with you, and you will never be the one to tell him of the forgotten flowers still decorating his mane

- of course you have your own specially tailored robes, but you do enjoy lounging in your husband’s attire when you arent in the company of others, and Thranduil cant deny how much he adores stumbling across the view of you sitting at a windowsill, reading a book while wearing his clothes

- Thranduil encourages every creative endeavour you attempt. if it’s art of any kind, he will display your final pieces in the halls of the castle and proudly state to any visitor that his wife made those. if it’s singing, he will encourage you to sing at any and every opportunity in which he knows you feel comfortable enough to do so, even if you cant carry a tune at all, you will forever hold the voice of an angel to him. if it’s writing, Thranduil will listen and smile endlessly as you read out any narrative ideas you have

- he will support you more than anyone could ever dare try

- it’s obvious that the King has a soft spot for you, but it is never more obvious than when the two of you are laughing hysterically in his throne room and someone happens to walk in, because no matter who it is, Thranduil will wait until he naturally stops laughing before he addresses the presence of someone else

- he’s also pretty big on PDA

- you may not expect that from an elven monarch, but when you really think about it, that’s the exact reason he’s big on PDA: he’s the fucking Elven King, who is going to tell him not to kiss his Queen?!

- as well as that, he loves leaving you flustered in front of others, because your blush never fails to make his heart sing

- Thranduil tries his hardest to be the best husband in the entirety of Middle-earth, and he achieves that title with effortless class and chivalry

#thranduil #thranduil x reader #lord of the rings #x reader #imagine #imagines #lotr #fanfic #fanfiction

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ohplagg · 7 months

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I Love Yoo Timeline Part 4/4

The Timeline

This is part 4 of 4 of my I Love Yoo Timeline as of Episode 241.

Part 1 and 2 consists of laying out all the detailed evidence with descriptions, screenshots and episode number.

Part 3 consists of explaining the evidence, connecting the dates and some math because the I Love Yoo universe (the Yooniverse, if you will) uses letters instead of numbers to represent official years.

Part 4 is the I Love Yoo Timeline.

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If you havent read the previous 3 parts of this mega post I highly encourage you to go check them out before continuing since up ahead I will be writing and explaining under the assumption that you have read the previous 3 parts.

All the events are placed where they are according to the evidence. I will not be providing much explanation in this post as to why things are placed where they are in the timeline so if you need explanation go back to the previous parts.

I also won't be adding most of Shin-Ae focused events otherwise the timeline becomes unnecessarily messy.

And lastly, I won't be mentioning every single event that has happened in current year of the story (20XX), only major events. If you want a more detailed timeline for present year this old reddit post that goes up to episode 146 has more details.

While I was finishing writing this timeline AugmentedElle from reddit published her own version of the timeline (Elle, if you see this, big fan. I don't have reddit but big fan) which has some parts I disagree with based on my interpretation of the evidence but her timeline is so well written and easy to follow + it's more detailed than mine that I honestly do recommend checking it out as well because Elle did a way better job than me in that regard.

Without further ado..

Cheat sheet

Because the Yooniverse uses the alphabet instead of numbers to keep track of years, it's hard to really grasp how much time has really passed. This is why I created this little chart where it lays down the year with the number equivalent and the age each character had in each specific year.

Dieter, Soushi, Maya and Rika were born the same year as Shin-Ae.

Sang-Chul and Alyssa were born the same year.

Meg was born the same year as Kousuke.

Yui's age is not exact. We only know she is in her 40s meaning she can be either 40 or 49. Meaning she was pregnant with Kousuke between 16-25. I chose 20 for no other reason than it's right in the middle.

I have no idea of anyone else's age (Rand, Hansuke, YuJing, etc) so I didn't even add my guesses to not confuse the timeline. If you know any clue about someone's age I would love to know!

The Timeline

I'll start with the earliest date and move forward from there.

Italic means that it's not known when exactly in the year that specific event took place. I still placed the event where it makes most sense.

January 20WA === 50 years ago

Young-Chul Kim become Chairman of Hirahara Corp.

Prestigious Prep School starts mishandling reports of SA

+ 25 Year

October 31st, 20WY === 25 years ago

Young-Chul Kim steps down as Chairman after SA accusations

Hirahara Corp CFO of several years, Randulph Hannesson is a witness against Young-Chul Kim

Next year

January 20WZ === 24 years ago

Yui and Rand get married without the public's knowledge

Yui and Rand have their honeymoon in February

Kousuke is conceived in February

Rand gets announced as temporary chairman of Hirahara Corp on March 27th

As of March 27th, the press and public only know that Yui and Rand relationship goes as far as "seeing each other in public"

Kousuke is born November 8th

+ 5 Years

January 20XE ==== 19 years ago

Nol is conceived around March

Kousuke has his 5th birthday

Nol is born December 21st

+ 6 Years

January 20XJ ==== 13 Years ago

Nol and Nessa move to USAsia

Nol and Kousuke meet for the first time

Kousuke has his 11th birthday

Nol has his 6th birthday

+ 4 Years

January 20XO ==== 9 years ago

Kousuke Graduates High School (Nessa is at the park the same day)

Yui and Rand's public marriage reconciliation

Kousuke starts college

Kousuke gets a college friend group

Kousuke has his 15th birthday

Nol has his 10th birthday

Next Year

January 20XP ==== 8 years ago

Kousuke has his 16th birthday

Nol has his 11th birthday

Nessa is found dead December 21st

The brother incident happens

Nol is taken to the Mental Facility

+ 2 Years

January 20XR ==== 6 years ago

Nol gets out of the Mental Facility

Nol get's officially introduced as Rand's bastard son

Kousuke has his 18th birthday

Nol has his 13th birthday

Next Year

January 20XS ==== 5 years ago

Nana moves to US Asia*

Nol moves in with Nana*

Shin-Aer starts going to Min-Hyuk's middle school

Shin-Ae has her 12th birthday

Alyssa has her 13th birthday

Shin-Ae and Alyssa meet

Kousuke has his 19th birthday

Alyssa pushes Shin-Ae

Shin-Ae gets out of the hospital

Nol has his 14th birthday

*This could have happened in late 20XR. It all depends on how exact "5 years" ago was.

Next Year

January 20XT ==== 4 years ago

Shin-Ae has her 13th birthday

Alyssa has her 14th birthday

Min-Hyuk graduates middle school and starts high schools

Meg has her 20th birthday

Kousuke has his 20th birthday

Nol has his 15th birthday

For the past 2 years Nol has had no friends (ever since he got out of the mental facility) and Kousuke has been acting like his "guardian" (during which Kousuke has been constantly badmouthing Nol to everyone)

Next Year

January 20XU ==== 3 years ago

Shinae graduates Middle School

Shinae, Dieter and Soushi have their 14th birthday

Alyssa has her 15th birthday

Nol and Dieter meet while running during "summer before year 1 of high school"

Dieter, Shinae, Soushi and Nol (and the rest) start high school

Nol starts trying to befriend Soushi*

During a very rainy period Nol tries to meet his mom after 5 years of not seeing her*

Kousuke talks to Soushi*

Nol becomes friends with Dieter and Soushi*

Nol hangs out with Dieter and shortly after Soushi joins the group.*

Kousuke takes a break from babysitting Nol*

Nol, Dieter and Soushi meet Alyssa*

Nol and Alyssa start dating*

Alyssa starts the path of becoming a Kpop idol*

Kousuke and his college friends have the fallout**

Meg meets Kousuke*

Meg has her 21st birthday

Kousuke has his 21st birthday

Nol has his 16th birthday

(*All these events need to happen in that order, the placement on the timeline in relation with the other events depend on when Nessa's birthday was or when exactly Nol tried to "see" his mom)

(**I've decided to assume Hansuke doesn't really remember the exact facts of how, what and when Kousuke lost his college friends since he was in a different college, he would only occationally tag along and he was very busy with his doctor exams at the time)

Note: Whatever happened with Kousuke's friends, the fallout could perfectly have dragged throughout a couple of weeks/months. It doesn't necesarily need to have happened in a one day event.

Pretty eventful year

Next Year

January 20XV ==== 2 years ago

Kousuke graduates from his master's degree at 21 years old*

Dieter and Soushi have their 15th birthday

Alyssa has her 16th birthday

Kousuke has his 22nd birthday

Nol has his 17th birthday

(*I've decided to take Meg's flashback gossip about Kousuke with a grain of salt. This could have happened at the end of year 20XU instead of the beginning of this year.)

Next Year

January 20XW ==== Last year

In March a SA investigation in prestigious prep school (the one where Kim Sang-Chul is the Student Council President) gets launch

Min-Hyuk graduates high school

Kousuke has his 23rd birthday

Nol has his 18th birthday

Next Year

January 20XX ==== this year

Min-Hyuk goes to USA for college

Dieter, Soushi, Shin-Ae have their 17th birthday

Alyssa has her 18th birthday

In July the SA investigation in the prestigious preschool ends with nothing found and nothing done.

Dieter confesses to Shin-Ae

Saturday September 17th is the party where Shin-Ae meets the brothers

Thursday November 8th: Kousuke has his 24th birthday

Between Friday 9th and Saturday November 10th Shin-Ae's dad goes into a coma

Wednesday November 14th is the Gala. (That same night Shin-Ae was supposed to get evicted)

December 1st Min-Hyuk returns

Monday December 16th Nol has his trial (and he's sentenced for 120 days starting December 22nd)

Tuesday December 17th: Shin-Ae and Nol meet in the rain, Nol blocks everyone.

Saturday December 21st: Hirahara's Chirstmas party, Min-Hyuk's welcome home party, Nol turns 19 year's old

Sunday December 22nd: Nol is at the hospital (his sentence is pushed to start December 25th)

Personal Thoughts

This timeline broke my brain more times than I can remember. Whenever I thought I was close to being done with it I would remember something new or come across new information that would force me to rethink almost everything.

When I first started writing this timeline it was only going to be 2 parts, the evidence with the explanation and the timeline layout, but it kept getting bigger and bigger. It was supposed to be released the first week of October. We are in November. I've been writing this for 2 months.

I almost wrote this timeline in a manner that I would drag you all along through the same path of insanity that I went through but I decided against it not because I felt compassion for you all but because I plan to come back to these posts in the future for when I want to refresh my memory and I didn't want future me to go through that confusion again. I've suffered enough.

Shout out to my friend who lend me her DMs whenever I was going crazy and let me rant myself into sanity every time.

Conclusion

The timeline is not perfect, specially the events that happen between 20XS (5 years ago) and 20XV (2 years ago), but I'm satisfied with how it turned out considering the information we have so far.

Please don't take this timeline as the one that rules them all. If you have a suggestion on the order of events or theories on what could have happened I would more than love to read about them, so please do share your thoughts!

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This is part 4 of 4. In case you missed it, go read the previous parts:

Part 1: The Evidence Part 1

Part 2: The Evidence Part 2

Part 3: Math and connecting the dots

#i love yoo #i love yoo webtoon #quimchee #shin ae yoo #kousuke hirahara #nolan lochlainn #nol hirahara #yui hirahara #yeong gi hirahara #webtoon #rand hirahara #ilyoo #nol lochlainn #i love yoo timeline

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gamblersdoll · 6 months

Text

ITS THE MATTER OF IT … chapter 4

tw: mentions of busts, nasty things.

for a better reading experience, please listen to the following songs “i will possess your heart” by chained to the bottom of the ocean and “kaizoku” by ibaraki on spotify, apple music, or youtube. enjoy!

your heart was racing, but not out of fear.

not by anxiety, but by defense.

“its been a while, y/n.” sukuna said, how could he say that when you havent even met him before? “its been a while since ive seen that face.”

so this is what he kind of looked like. tattoos on his face made yuuji look rugged. but if you had to ruin it, then oh well be it. you should arm yourself, you had thought to yourself. it seemed like sukuna already understood it.

“theres no need to defend yourself, i already said you wouldnt be harmed unless you provoke me.” he chuckled, getting closer and examining you. his eyes felt like he would’ve devoured you, like a damn maniac. he more than likely would have if it was his thing or not.

“the only thing thats changed is your tits.” he said amused. he eyed them, licking his teeth as if wanted to bite them. you wouldve felt your face get hot from the king of curses talking about it….

but you didnt.

“what is it.” you meant to sound like a question was being asked, but because of your tone and demeanor it sounded like you were talking at sukuna, not to. luckily for you, he didnt catch onto that, instead he looked happy that you were at least speaking.

“you know what,” sukuna paused, lowering his gaze. “you surely dont think that i was just making an appearance to say hi, do you? or do you not believe you are the reinca-“

“–i am not some reincarnation!” you growled out, cutting him off. that shouldve been a mistake on your end, but for some reason he didnt care. “im just … me.” you trailed off.

“you look the same way you did a thousand years ago, little one.” he chuckled, practically in your face. you bet he only smelled decent since yuuji was decent with hygiene. “whether you like it or not, you are. eventually, youll grow happy that you are— or maybe just comfortable with the fact that you and i…” he took his finger and pointed back and forth between himself and you.

“we have history. whether the memories or knowledge comes to you, we do. and there isnt anything you can do.” he laughed, his pearly whites on display and he put his hands on your shoulders. “now that you are here though…”

“why didnt you say anything back then.” he asked, when the fuck did he have you cornered? this was bad, real bad.

“yes, because i completely remember what exactly happened during a thousand years ago.” you sarcastically said, rolling your eyes. “remind me of what happened with–“ you made air quotation marks with your fingers, “me and you?”

“we were close, you had feelings i guess yaddy yadda yadda.. you developed hanahaki disease, you died.” sukuna recalled, growing sarcastic as well. “why didnt you say anything to me?” he asked, growing serious again.

“realistically speaking, if i were to admit my feelings to you, you either wouldnt care, youd laugh in my face while laying down with another woman, or would just kill me and move on with your life.” you said in a matter of factly tone, he was a cursed spirit after all.

could he even experience love like emotions at all?

“you could be wrong, considering how strong you were before.” he said, which made your ears ring.

did this motherfucker call you weak?

“are you saying im weak?” you asked, planning to make a move, which could result in sudden death or a missing limb if he felt forgiving.

“not exactly, but since you are reincarnated, we never know if youre rusty or your strength depleted.” he said, taking several steps back. “if you land a blow on me, ill take back what i said, and ill settle with any conditions you may have for me.”

“and if not, then you have to accept that you are what people say you are, and youll have to work under me.” he said—

a challenge.

and a challenge that granted you authority in some areas.

…

…..

……

a challenge that seemed unrealistic!

you had been working your ass off to land a blow, not even bothering to use your domain. you were simply out of breath, your hair a mess from the constant movement.

“this isnt the beginning of you, y/n.” sukuna had said with his hands in his pockets. he was certainly worried you had lost your abilities over a thousand years, but he also thought you were always a teasing woman.

come on, y/n, think.

think, goddamnit, think!

would it.. work on him?

you ran towards him knowing he would throw his hit first—

until black particles floated in the air, forming in the shape of the human skeleton. sukuna’s eyes widen, focusing on the black matter in-front of him, bringing its fist back to throw a punch—

until he realized that you were also landing a blow into his abdomen, now having to deal with a blow in the face but also in his beloved stomach.

a reversed curse technique, is what made you, you. you could separate your soul from your body into black matter, allowing the soul to fight with you, along side of your original body. making you somewhat immortal, only in certain circumstances would it kill you.

only one knew of this technique… only one had done it successfully a thousand years ago, against sukuna, and won.

sukuna had looked away and spat, laughing at nothing. you had landed a blow– two matter of fact. he then looked at you, and smiled.

“what do you feel?” he asked, he knew you had to have felt it, too.

deja vu.

“ive… been here before.” you admitted, watching him smile the wicked grin he carried.

———

“so… what did you tell him?”yuuji asked, eating his burger on your bed that you specifically told him not to do. he had laid down plastic wrap around him though to not ruin your satin silk bedding, which you’d appreciated.

“he doesn’t cause mass destruction, him not killing anyone unless necessary, and how hed teach me some things since i had won.” you said, eating a chicken philly. yuuji had since learned you loved them, occasionally eating steak philly but preferring chicken. so, the boy had brought you one. what a sweetie.

“oh! well.. thats good— hey i think we should sleep, since nobara had planned for us to hang out tomorrow all day.” he reminded, getting up and leaning down to hug you.

when did you both decide to start hugs, was beyond you.

“goodnight!” yuuji said, waving at you and you only replying with a “night.” made him smile. only when he reached his bed was when it went down hill for him…

or uphill?

“can you please stop talking about it?” yuuji asked sukuna, sukuna had decided to breakdown what had happened with you and him. but sukuna was infact a perv— of course he was, hes a curse!

“you dont look at y/n and think about how deep you could go in that–“ yuuji had cut sukuna off,

“stop it!” yuuji had growled out at him, only causing sukuna to laugh uncontrollably at his little outburst. “shes more than that!”

“well of course she is, but you gunna sit here and tell me you wouldnt tap that?” sukuna had asked, growing curious. yuuji had stayed quiet, ignoring the question until he thought about you.

the way you said his name, the way you walk, how you didnt take anything, the way you eat…

the way your shirt would tighten around certain areas of your body, the length of your legs. he had let out a frustrated sigh. he would feel bad if he did anything like that to the thought of you, like he was the biggest perv in the world…

but did you think like that about him, too?

honorable tags: @lisaaannna @coldbreadbouquetworld all reposts and shares are appreciated to see more of my work!

…

…..

(chapter 2 of “THE WARM THE COLD THE SIX coming soon!)

#jjk x reader #jjk spoilers #jjk yuuji #jjk sukuna #nobara kugisaki #jjk #jjk smut #jjk x you #sukuna x you #itadori yuuji #yuuji x reader

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batmanshole · 5 months

Note

ylfvaaa do you have any makeup and skincare recs 😭 im trying to get into skincare but i have no idea where to start, i see a lot of people hyping up korean skincare but idk what products live up to the hype. and i need new makeup badly but im scared of ordering a primer and then it sucks yknow. you seem really knowledgeable so if you can help me out it’d be much appreciated <3

hi anon. before i get into this i love you. i love when people ask me about this kinda stuff. makes me so happy. cosmetic chemistry autism.

ALSO to get your primer thing out of the way: i dont rlly use it but ive heard good things about the ELF one and my sister swears by the NYX one and her base is rlly good. so.

also i'd look on the following websites / stores:

sephora for western brands / mainstream kbeauty yesstyle for korean and japanese stuff chic decent or individual websites for chinese beauty (i usually get mine in person tho)

under the cut cause its long af. also i linked to some products but none of this is sponsored or affiliate or anything im just linking cause i like em 👍

OK FIRST OF ALLL. starting w skincare.

i would break down your routine into three main parts: -cleansing -moisturizing / hydrating -SPF

if you wanna get fancy, you can do exfoliation between cleansing and hydrating. but you really dont have to do that if u dont want to

first: cleansing

if you wanna wear makeup you should have a good way to take it off. no. no put the makeup wipes down. they aren't efficient and u will go through SO many of them. and they're a pain and can irritate ur skin w all the wiping (trust me on this one LOL)

i would recommend using an oil based product for this!! melts ur makeup OFFFF like crazy + even if you don't use makeup it will leave ur skin super clean ^__^ ALSO you should apply this to DRY SKIN and wash it off with lukewarm water (the oil emulsifies w water and also very cold water can make it harder to remove)

if you want an oil-based makeup remover for quick removal w a cotton pad: clinique take the day off (47cad ) this one is expensive tbh and isn't as effective as the others BUT. it takes a lot less energy to use + can be done quickly. if you want a cleanser that will take off your makeup incredibly well while washing ur face: kose softymo speedy cleanser (18cad) this is my absolute FAV. i use it allll the time it works so so well and ive reccomended it to tons of ppl before and theyve all liked it. if you want a cleansing balm for heavier makeup: clean-it zero cleansing balm original (30cad) i haven't tried this one myself, but i've heard VERY good things about it.

next i would follow that up with a water based cleanser (so foaming or gel). this will help to wash away all the stuff that the oil cleanser has loosened up and will wash away leftover oil cleanser.

my FAVOURITE is the senka perfect whip cleanser (14.50cad) i adore this stuff!! ive heard some people find it very drying but i havent had that issue? idk i've also heard good things about this beauty of joseon green plum gel cleanser (14.70 cad) but i haven't used it myself. huge fan of BOJ tho!!

(this is the part where you would exfoliate if you wanted to. for a chemical exfoliant i use the giant bottle of clinique stuff my aunt got me but its not worth the price tbh. u could also try the beauty of joseon apricot peeling gel (14.70cad) IF your skin can handle it. its a physical exfoliant tho so be careful. i also enjoy the pixi glow tonic. u can get this at like shoppers or cvs or somethign idk)

second: hydrating and moisturizing

okay so. this is super important if you do a lot of makeup and thus have to wash it away thoroughly.

i start with a hydrating toner. this helps to add water to your skin and smooth it (adding water before moisturizer is a good idea bc the moisturizers will both add moisture and lock in hydration from any prev products)

i use the the I'm from rice toner (38 cad but on sale rn) which is my absolute absolute FAAAV toner. super hydrating super perfect and beautiful. stunning. (you've probably seen people talk about the cosrx snail mucin, and it is nice i will admit. but do NOT use it if you are allergic to shellfish or dust, apparently. also apply it right after your hydrating toner, it needs to be on wet skin)

then i go in with a moisturizer!! i like to use ones with niacinimide or other humectants.

my go-to is the innisfree jeuju cherry blossom dewey glow jelly (35cad) she's so important to meee <3 love her. all time fav. it is SCENTED tho, so if you don't like that, try: beauty of joseon red bean water gel (17.80cad) super lightweight and has no noticeable scent. ive heard very good things and my friend is trying it soon ^__^

finally: SPF

this is THE most important step. sunscreen. wear sunscreen.

apply your sunscreen under your makeup in the morning, and throughout the day. if you wanna reapply using a sun stick, that's great!!! but don't use a sun stick as your ONLY protection.

also i'd avoid pure mineral sunscreens unless you have a legit allergy to chemical ones. mineral sunscreens are not as good and a lot of the marketing is iffy. also they leave a white cast which is esp noticeable on darker skin. mineral + chemical ones are usually fine tho :-)

my fav sunscreen is the biore UV aqua rich watery gel / watery essence (26cad) legit the best feeling sunscreen i have EVER used. my friends who hate sunscreen like this one. there's also the beauty of joseon rice probiotic releif sun cream (24cad) which is very nice too!! not my fav but a lot of people swear by it for reapplying throughout the day, i would use the beauty of joseon matte sun stick (24cad). ive heard super good things but ihavent tried it cause im finishing my other sun stick rn lol

this is all fairly basic stuff since u said you were new to it, but i can also go thru some less necessary, more fancy products if you ever need.

as for makeup, my favourite brands are:

-flower knows -rom&nd (romand) -daisique -etude -lilybyred

and i've heard really good things about / want to try:

-colorgram -judydoll -flortte -amuse -clio -peripera -into you

ok sorry this is so long but um. lmk if you have any further questions but my arms hurt so im gonna stop typing now. MWAH love you

#skincare #ask #anon

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sxtvrns · 1 year

Text

play the game, get the girl

🎶 now playing: beautiful stranger - laufey

P: Koushi Sugawara x Fem!Reader

S: He sees you during a practice when you walk in with the team manager, late. What he doesn’t expect is to see you standing at the corner of a volleyball court for his games with a red flag in hand, and fall head over heels.

W: mild cursing, cute fluff, lack of knowledge about japanese school system + volleyball, haikyuu spoilers, VERY rushed, possible inaccuracy (i havent watched the show in two years)

N: I do scorekeeping during the volleyball season so I thought this was a cute thing to incorporate with one of the sweetest boys in the series. If the ending seems rushed, it is; I just needed to get something out of my drafts. L/N means last name, Y/N is your first name; this is in order to specify formalities. Apologies for anything that seems incorrect.

please interact if you enjoy!

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Your eyes just begin to flutter shut as the teacher writes lines and numbers on the chalkboard, the sound of it soothing to your ears and almost making you doze off, only for the bell to ring and dismiss you for cleaning time.

You don’t really pay attention when you wipe down the boards or sweep the floors, outside sounds drowned out by your own thoughts while you do your unspoken assigned job that everyone is aware of, which is how you manage to not bump into people.

The classroom door opens as you finish cleaning, the rest of the girls in your ‘group’ leaving while the boys gawk at your friend standing by the entrance. “Y/N, come with me. The team has practice and I need someone to testify why I’m late.” You nod, tossing an eraser into the bucket by the teacher’s desk.

“Hey, put this back!” A boy shouts, him goofing off earlier and getting barely any work done. “You can put it back when you’re done. I have work to do.” You say, shutting the door swiftly before walking to the gym with Kiyoko. It would make sense for her to come to you to be a witness for her tardiness, since you could come up with lies on the spot that people were gullible enough to believe.

The whole practice stops at the sound of the gym doors opening, Kiyoko holding the door open for you to follow behind. One of the coaches, seemingly, yelled from where he was in the gym at the two of you. “Where’ve you been? You interrupted practice!” Kiyoko looks down at the floor, a small pang of guilt hitting you seeing her embarrassment. “She had to do a make up test before clean up! Cut her some slack!” Your voice booms, the coach wanting to say something but going back to doing his job, as if he was intimidated.

Sure, there were still a few eyes on you; you could sense it, but you couldn’t care less since your friend muttered a quiet ‘thank you’ before she began to focus on the practice rather than the gym floor.

The sound of squeaky shoes and intense running and hitting filled the gym, along with the occasional cheer, call, or scream. Then came water break, Kiyoko getting up and passing the boys their bottles, which impressed you given the fact she knew who’s bottle belonged to who and what they looked like. Some of them didn’t even have names written on.

“Could you pass me that bottle?” A boy asks, standing in front of you with a finger pointed at a bottle that was practically prone to knocking over. You wonder why he wouldn’t grab it himself, but then remembered misinterpretation if someone were to look over at a certain angle. He mutters a ‘thanks’ with a smile, wiping his sweat off with a towel that hung around his neck. “Watch this for me?” You nod at his request, someone yelling right after.

“Oi, Suga! Stop flirting with the girl and get back on the court!” The boy with the shaved head yells, Suga’s face going slightly red as his teammates giggle while he runs back to his position.

To be fair, he seemed like a nice guy, being wary of your personal space and asking you to grab something rather than having you assume that he was going to touch you inappropriately. A small act that you held onto before remembering you had to go home.

Suga saw you whisper something to Kiyoko, handing her his bottle before you left the gym. He talked to her before leaving, the feeling he used to get while being able to talk to her not sending his heart racing. “She had to go home.”

“Then how come she came with you?”

“I needed an excuse since I was late.”

She handed him his water bottle before helping the juniors to take down the nets. Tanaka scared him once everyone was back in their club room, patting his older teammate on the back a little too hard before slinging an arm around his shoulder. “Lucky bastard! Did ya’ flirt with her?”

Her, being Kiyoko. “No. She just gave me my water bottle.”

“The bottle the other girl watched for you, huh? She must’ve gotten bored not seeing you on the court.”

“She’s pretty. No wonder she’s friends with Shimizu.” Asahi chimed, the door opening to reveal the juniors standing there, tired. “Are you guys talking about L/N?” The seniors look at Hinata, befuddled. “You know her?” Daichi asks. “I run into her sometimes at Sakanoshita. She’s usually talking to Coach there.”

“What do they talk about? How do you even know her name?” Suga asks, tidying up his things. “I overheard him say L/N. At least, I think that’s her name. Apparently she’s been doing volleyball related things outside of school, and Coach asks her about it. Teams, players, I don’t remember what else.” Tsukishima scoffs. “What are you, some kind of stalker?” Hinata fumes and tries to pounce on the blonde before being held back by Tanaka.

“I haven’t seen her on the girls team. What could she be doing?” Daichi ponders aloud, bag slinging over his shoulder. “I pass by her sometimes, and I have a class or two with her, but she doesn’t speak unless spoken to.” Suga says.

“You haven’t said hi?” Asahi stands by the door with Daichi, waiting for his other friend. “Today was a lucky circumstance.” Suga slings his bag in over his shoulder, leaving the room last out of the three of them.

“Suga’s got a thing for Kiyoko’s friend!” Tanaka yells, the last thing that Suga hears before the door shuts behind them.

He sighs, his two friends giggling for a reason he was too tired to decipher.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“How’s my team? Pretty good, yeah?” Ukai asked as you look a long sip from your milk carton, shrugging. “I’ll see you at your match against Tokonami.” He cocks an eyebrow, wondering how you know their opponent. “You’re on the sheet?” You shake your head, the sound of the door of the shop sliding open, followed by Ukai yelling out a loud greeting. “Flag. I’m not cheating you guys points for free meat buns.”

Ukai’s eyes move from you to the person who just entered. “Skipped breakfast again, Suga?” Your eyes widen at the name, head turning to see him standing right beside you, waiting. “Couldn’t pack anything for later, and I’m busy during lunch break.” Suga says before noticing you leaning over the counter. He lets out a sheepish ‘hi’ with a bow before you bow back, exchanging some cash for his lunch.

“Suga.” Ukai calls, the boy’s head perking up at the sound of his name. “Take L/N with you. She’s gonna be late to school again because she keeps ‘forgetting to keep track of the time’.” Sarcasm slips off Ukai’s tongue as he makes fun of you, your mouth spewing one-sided insults back at him as you follow Suga out of the shop.

It’s mostly an awkward silence for the first few minutes of the walk, the urge to drown yourself in your own thoughts there, but something’s holding you back from doing it. “How are you so close with Coach?” Suga asks. The formality being used off the court surprises you, but it’s probably better than just calling him Ukai.

“He found out I worked in volleyball games outside of school. It’s all we ever talk about, really.” Suga’s head perks up. “You play?” The question has you struggling to answer. “Not necessarily. I’ll be at your Interhigh match.” The lack of detail makes him want to ask about you more, but is worried that he’d be prying if he were to ask.

“Do you have practice after school today? Kiyoko might ask me to go with her again.” The boy nods with a closed lip smile. “How come you left early?” Suga asked, the answer Shimizu gave lacking detail. “The invite was… sudden. I had plans and couldn’t stay for long. I would’ve stayed for a little bit longer.” You half-lie. “And you’re coming? Today?” Suga confirms. This time you nod, approaching the gates of the school.

“I’ll see you then?” He says, half question half statement. “Yeah. See you.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Suga!” You walk up to him in the halls, seeing him with two boys you also saw at his practice; one with short hair and the other with his tied up. “I had an extra and I know you didn’t pack lunch, so…” You hand him a bottle of ice tea, the gesture making your face heat up unknowingly to your peer. He smiles, taking it from you.

“Thanks, L/N. I needed this. I have to talk to these two for the rest of break.” He gestures to his friends, who you now realize they’ve been looking at you the whole time. “That’s what you’re so busy with?” Suga shrugs, taking a sip from the bottle. “Duty calls.” He jokes, bowing before retreating into the mostly empty room behind him.

The run-in has Daichi and Asahi pestering their friend about you later that day before practice. “She knew you didn’t have lunch? And she had a whole extra bottle of tea? No way this wasn’t planned.” Daichi exclaimed, Suga chuckling at his friend. “We ran into each other this morning. She was talking to Coach, and she’s watching our game next week.”

“Eh?! Did you invite her?” Asahi asks, surprised at Suga’s supposed boldness. “She said she works in volleyball games, whatever that means.” The gym doors open to reveal the antennae being set up, you at the farther end. Coach Ukai was at the other, adjusting the height before hooking it on to the bottom of the net.

“L/N!” Suga calls, sending you a wave when you look his way. You wave back, double checking the antennae before going to check the other, sliding it down a little bit. “You set it up all by yourself?” He asks. “Mostly. I came a little earlier since I had nothing else to do after cleaning. Kiyoko and Ukai came in after I set up the poles.”

You hand him his bottle. “Kiyoko told me to refill this for you.” He takes a quick sip from the bottle before responding. “Thanks. Where is she, anyways?” You shrug. “Refilling the rest. I don’t know why she only gave me yours.” Suga lets out a soft chuckle, giving you a pat on the shoulder before putting it down on the bench.

“What the hell was that, Suga?” Daichi sneers, letting out a laugh at the end. “I don’t know, it just happened! Impulse decision?” Asahi pat his grey haired friend on the shoulder mockingly, Suga brushing his friend’s hand off. “Stop that.” He muttered.

“What are they laughing about?” Kiyoko says after coming out of nowhere, startling you after standing behind you since who knows when. “I don’t know.” You answer, sitting down on the bench with your friend after the boys go on the court. “Have you ever thought about managing?” Kiyoko asks, eyes focused on the boys warming up.

“I have. I’d be too busy; it’d conflict with my work schedule, you know that. Besides, we’re both graduating this year and asking me to manage seems… pointless.” She lets out a sigh that seems to drown out Ukai’s yelling. “I know. I’m… struggling a little bit to find someone to replace me.” You give her a nudge. “Have you talked to the first years yet?” She shakes her head. “Only second. I should’ve thought of that first.”

“Damn right, you should’ve.” You mutter.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Days pass by and the Tokonami match approaches; you stand by the scoresheet desk as you clip your hair up, the bag for the flags on the ground by your feet. You sign the sheet, sitting on the bench wondering why the teams haven’t arrived when it’s 10 minutes to warm up time.

“Y/N!” Someone calls, attention drawn to Kiyoko and the Karasuno team standing by the open doors. You wave at each other, the down referee talking to you for a moment just long enough to have your school’s team situated at their bench when you turned back around. “I thought spectators were supposed to be up there?” She jokes, making you roll your eyes. “I am working right now, okay? Some of us have jobs, Kii.” Your friend is pulled aside to talk to the down ref.

“L/N? Shouldn’t you be in the stands?” Suga asks, slightly confused. “I’m working. I’m doing line judge for your game.” You explain. “Do you do the sheet as well?” You nod. “Sometimes, yeah. I can be qualified as a referee next year.” Suga’s face lights up. “Really? That’s so cool!”

His reaction has you a little bit flustered. “I-It’s nothing, really…” You cross your arms, cringing at your stutter.

“No, really, it is! How much do you get paid?”

“Around 16 hundred per hour.” (¥1600 = ~$16)

“That’s pretty good.”

“Right?”

You notice Hinata and his friend prepare for an attack, but everything happens so fast. One second the ball is set and the other the ball hits the ground with a hard, loud smack. It makes you jump. You haven’t seen a quick attack like that before. “What the hell?” You mutter. Suga chuckles, looking at you. “You haven’t seen them do it in practice?”

“I was talking to Kiyoko the whole time and I space out easily, okay? Jesus, man, what year are they in?”

“First.”

“First?!”

Your reaction makes Suga laugh, the whole conversation seeming one-sided now as all he responds with is giggles. “You’re telling me they’re first years managing to do shit like that?!” He’s struggling to contain his laughter. “Hey,” he snickers, “watch your language or you’re gonna get fired!”

“I don’t think anyone really cares.”

“Suga! We’re warming up!” The shaved headed boy calls. “You can talk to your girlfriend after we win!” The libero teases. “Sorry about them. I’ve gotta–“

“Suga?”

“Hm?”

You send him two thumbs up. “Good luck!”

He smiles. “Thank you.”

The down ref eyes both of you. “Is he your boyfriend? I hope you won’t be cheating off points.”

“God, no, why does everyone think that?”

The ref blows the whistle after a few more minutes of warming up, signaling for the teams to get off the court. You unwrap the flag, waving it around. You wave it up, then down with a loud snap just to test it out. Luckily, the other games hadn’t started yet, so you wouldn’t get scolded by the ref before the game even begun. Giving a high five to the other line judge, you walk onto the court.

The ball is hit onto Karasuno’s side of the court, but your flag is raised, a finger pointing at the antennae still wiggling in the air. The point goes to your school after the ref gives you a nod.

The game progresses, for almost every time Tokonami hit the ball on your side of the court, your flag went up. They hit a few line shots, but they still couldn’t catch up, your school dominating and winning both sets straight. To see the quick attack again was… quite exhilarating. It always caught you off guard despite seeing it played multiple times and it being the main source of points.

Signing off on the sheet, you catch up with your school’s team, scaring Kiyoko by pouncing on her out of nowhere, giving her a tight hug. You let go of her and see your other friend lurking behind you. “Suga!” You give him a double high five, which he returns before giving him a hard pat on the back. “You did it!” You cheer, not noticing the gentle grip he has on your wrists since you were practically flailing around. It was the first win of your school you’ve seen in a while, so this was a valid reason to be so excited.

And it was a damn good game too.

“Are you watching the other games? I’m doing sheet for another match.” He shakes his head, which makes you slightly disappointed. “Will you be at the next game?” He asks, you nodding with a grin. The moment you realize he was holding your wrists, you panic and come up with some sort of excuse. “I’ll see you then, I gotta go. Bye.” You murmur quickly, unsure if he heard.

The team leaves the gym, Suga catching up with his coach. “Is she always like that? She isn’t usually so… jumpy.” He says, not wanting to be rude. “L/N’s like that when she sees good games. Gets her all pumped. It’s like… the energy flows off the court and out into the crowd, y’know? Maybe it’s because it’s her school’s first win she’s seen in a while.”

“Are you saying we played good today, Coach?” Daichi asks. Ukai pauses for a moment.

“You did good today, but we can be better.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Come on, man, just do it!” Tanaka encourages.

“You have a perfectly valid reason to offer it as well!” Nishinoya adds.

“I don’t really know if I should trust the two most hopeless romantics on the team.” Suga says. “What’s that supposed to mean?!” One of them yells, the club door opening. “What’s going on?” Ennoshita asks, trailing beside Daichi. “Suga wants to ask L/N on a date.” Nishinoya teases, making kissy noises until his teammate hits him on the head. “I’m kinda worried about Y– L/N. She usually walks with Shimizu but since she left early, she has to walk home alone.”

“Then Suga wants to walk her home and profess his undying love on the way!” Tanaka jokes. “‘Oh, L/N, I love you sooo much!’” Nishinoya mocks, the second years laughing before Suga knocks them both on the head. “To be fair, Suga, you do make it quite obvious that you’re attracted to her.” Daichi chuckles, packing his bag. “I do?”

“Ever since the Date Tech match, you two have been talking a lot and you tend to freeze up sometimes when she smiles.” Asahi points out, unintentionally embarrassing his friend. “I do not!” He denies, rummaging through his bag for a new shirt. “Suga, you froze last practice when you two looked at each other and you missed the set.” Daichi says. Tanaka and Nishinoya snicker, Suga glaring at the two.

“Suga, you left your water on the–“ Multiple shirtless men stare at you after you open the door, immediately slamming it shut.

Embarrassment and heat rushes to your face. To think that your eyes immediately darted to Suga, who was also shirtless, first thing? Absolutely humiliating. The one time you decide not to knock, you walk in on your friend half naked. What are the chances? You’ve seen other teams shirtless, so why should you care? It wasn’t that big of a deal so why were you blushing?

Your hands cover your face, the warmth of it making you realize how flustered you are. “L/N, are you okay?” Hinata asks, noticing you curled up into a ball on the ground by the club door. You give him a thumbs up, not looking at any of the first years that followed behind him. You get up, brushing yourself off and letting the cool air calm you down.

The door opens again, Suga looking back inside the room and saying something before his eyes land on you. “Y/N.” He mutters to himself. “I’m sorry, I should’ve knocked first!” You apologize, bowing profusely until his hand rests on the top of your head. “It’s okay, don’t worry about it. Though, it’s the first time I’ve ever seen someone so… flustered.” He says calmly, chuckling awkwardly at the end, the blush on your cheeks growing just as it was starting to go away.

You hand him his water bottle, which he accepts with a smile, taking a quick drink before asking you something. “Um…” He hums, bringing your attention back to him. He looks nervous, as if he’s trying to say something but can’t seem to get the words out. “Well, Shimizu usually walks with you but since she left, I don’t want you walking in the dark alone and–“

“Yeah, sure.”

“Huh?”

“You can walk with me. I was actually gonna ask you but… I chickened out.” The fact that both of you had thought of the same thing relieved Suga a little bit. “How’d you know I was gonna ask?” He asks, descending the stairs of the club rooms with you. “Sometimes you make things very obvious, Suga.”

“I do?”

“Well, obvious for people that are smart enough.”

You gesture to yourself with a grin, your friend laughing. “I hope you do well against Aoba Johsai. Oikawa keeps flirting with me and Kiyoko despite being scared off repeatedly.” A pang of jealousy hits Suga for a split second, followed by curiosity. “Who scares him off? The coach?” You shake your head. “I do. Sometimes the referee steps in, and all he does is stare at him until he runs off.”

The image of the referee giving Oikawa a death stare makes Suga laugh. You open your phone after it buzzes, seeing a text message from your mom; a message that said she left for work already and that there was food on the table to be reheated.

You catch Suga looking at your phone, closing it shut. “I don’t have a lot of people in my contacts, so there’s nothing interesting that you can snoop on.” He laughs, an idea popping into his head. “Can I have your number?” He asks. Though a friendly question, you think more of it and decide to raise the stakes. “If you win against Aoba Johsai, I’ll give you my number.”

“Really? What if we don’t?”

You shrug.

“Who knows.”

Suga pauses for a moment.

“Deal.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The rally for victory continues and seems never-ending, the sight of your school so determined nearly distracting you from your job. The score is way too close, with your school behind by one. 31 to 32.

Oikawa suddenly yells as Hinata prepares for his attack; three men on Aoba Johsai jump with their arms up, to change routes around the block being too late. A loud smack reverberates off Hinata’s hand and off the hands of the blockers, bouncing off their hand and onto the ground, where three other players lay in the ground as they failed to keep it in play.

Loud screams erupt from Johsai’s side of the gym, though all you can focus on is your school’s side of the court, the shock nearly making you drop your flag. The referee has to remind you to move to the other side for the teams to line up, the slip of paper in your pocket nearly tearing with how tight your grip is on it.

You borrow the scoresheet’s pen and quickly write down a note on your slip, signing the sheet after. You’re so overwhelmed by the upset that you don’t notice that you’re crying until you spend a long time in the bathroom trying to comprehend what just happened, staring at yourself in the mirror for longer than you thought. Some girls passed by, most of them asking if you were okay, and you only nodded, knowing that you’d start crying again if you tried to speak.

You left the bathroom feeling empty from letting that all out, deciding to leave the gymnasium entirely since you didn’t have anymore games to do. Running into Aoba Johsai now would be a really bad idea.

While walking mindlessly, you see a familiar jacket and a bunch of blonde hair entering a building. You stop at the door about to enter when you realize they managed to get in before the place was even open. Suddenly, the door slides open, an old woman greeting you and welcoming you in, though you deny her offer and instead ask her to get Ukai to come outside. For a split second, you notice the team crying silently as they eat, tears flowing down their face as they stuff their faces with mounds and mounds of food.

Ukai steps out, shutting the door before sighing. “How’d you find us? Nevermind that, do you wanna eat? It’s on me.” You shake your head, the words you want to say stuck in your throat. “Were you crying?” Ukai points out, this time you shake your head harder, fed up. “Could you just give this to Suga for me? Please?” You hand him the slip from earlier, all crumpled from holding it in a closed fist in your pocket, as well as a bottle of the same ice tea you gave him a while ago.

“Can’t ‘ya just do it yourself? I thought you two were already going out.” You hit him over and over until he agrees. “Ouch, ow– okay, I’ll give it to him! Geez, are you sure you don’t wanna eat?” You nod, bowing before you leave.

Ukai waits until the entire team finishes eating and leaves the restaurant to catch up with him. “Suga.” The boy turns around, looking at his coach. “L/N said to give this to you.” Suga’s eyes widen at the bottle, taking it eagerly. Ukai drops the slip of paper into Suga’s other hand before giving him a pat on the back.

Suga is seated next to Asahi on the bus, the ace staring out the window mindlessly at the sky. The paper had writing on it, he noticed after unfolding it.

You did a great job today. I’m proud of you.

He flips the slip over to see a phone number, realizing that it’s yours.

He never opened his contacts so quickly.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Kiyoko, what are we waiting for?” You ask her, as both of you have been standing outside the open gym doors for what felt like forever. “I found a new manager. She should be here by now.” You drag her inside. “I’m sure she knows where to go, we should just sit down.”

“L/N!” Someone calls, that person jumping onto you and hugging you tight. “Hitoka?! What are you doing here!?” She lets go, looking at Kiyoko and freezing for a second. “Shimizu offered for me to become a volleyball club manager, and I said yes because I didn’t really have any club activities.” She half-lies, unbeknownst to you.

“To be honest, I didn’t really know you came here…” You mutter, Hitoka overhearing and pouting a little. “Well… we lost contact over the years, but I think our parents still talk a little. My mom told me you went here but I haven’t been able to find you.” She laughs awkwardly.

“You two know each other?” Kiyoko asks. “I used to babysit her when her mom went to work; we were really close when we were younger.” You ruffle Hitoka’s hair. “L/N, are you a manager too?” You shake your head. “I just come to watch. Kiyoko drags me here.” She gives you a playful nudge. “You come here to gawk at Sugawara whenever he’s on the court. I’ve caught you staring at him while he’s shirtless.”

“Shut up, I do not! You said that so loud!” Your face goes red as you playfully hit your friend, who’s laughing at you. Only then do you realize the amount of eyes on you, luckily Suga’s not being one of them. You nudge Kiyoko while Hitoka stands behind you, peeking out while your friend introduces their new manager.

The new manager squeaks and turns away, catching you off guard. “Hitoka, are you okay?” You look at whatever made her look away, regretting it instantly. Of course it had to be the boys shirtless, changing out of their school uniforms. including your... friend? It wasn’t until then that you remembered what happened last time, this time focusing on the ground.

“Y/N has a really big crush on Sugawara.” Kiyoko teases.

“Shut up.”

“You know that I’m not wrong.”

“And I hate that you’re right.”

It was true; you did have somewhat of a thing for your… friend. Who could blame you, you two hung out a lot ever since their loss to Aoba Johsai. He’s sweet, caring, and has one hell of an athletic bod. Not that you looked at him on purpose, it was always an accident.

Majority of the time it was an accident.

“Can I look now?” Hitoka asks, Kiyoko confirming with a laugh as the other manager turns around.

“Y/N, can you hold this?” Suga suddenly hands you his sweatshirt he always wears out of nowhere. One second he was on one side of the gym and the next he’s right in front of you. “Were you planning to wear that the whole practice?” You laugh, beginning to fold it instinctively. “I was cold.” He says before running back to his warm up partner. You turn and see Kiyoko staring at you. “Since when were you two on a first name basis?” She says with a smirk on her face. “First off, no one calls him by his first name and second, like… a few weeks ago? He said it by accident but I was fine with it.”

“Sugawara wouldn’t stop showing us the note you gave him at the practice you didn’t come to. He’s in love with you.”

The image of him seemingly so excited made your face go warm.

“I’m literally going to make Ukai fire you.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Suga! L/N not with you?” Daichi greets his friend, a bit surprised by your absence. “She’s with Shimizu right now. She’ll catch up with exam scores later.” Immediate worry rushes to the captain. “I really hope that Hinata and Kageyama pass…” He says, hand planted on his forehead. The other two third years remembered about the training camp, also hoping the same thing.

“I’m sure we did fine. As for the youngins…” Suga cuts himself off, not really having an answer for his statement. “What if they all fail and they can’t come to the training camp?” Asahi’s face darkens, Suga whacking him on the head. “There you go again! Negative goatee!”

“Suga, you seemed really excited talking about the scores. You’re usually worried and have your fingers crossed half the time.” Daichi points out, observing his friend’s content demeanour. “Well, Y/N kinda raised the stakes for me in a way…” His friends cock an eyebrow, intrigued. “Did she bribe you?” The captain asks, a hint of anger in his tone.

“No, no, it’s nothing like that! It’s just… I kind of told her I liked her during one of our study sessions.” His friends’ mouths hang slightly open, yelling almost a little too loud. “And you were gonna tell us this when?!” Daichi shakes him by the shoulders, Asahi trying to intervene. “What did she say?” The ace stops Daichi’s freak out to let Suga speak.

“She said that if I passed all my exams, she’ll start going out with me.” Asahi pats his friend on the back with a smile. “You got this in the bag, Suga! You’ve passed every year with flying colours!” It surprised Suga a little bit, seeing him so positive about his love life. “I don’t know if I should be more surprised about your boldness or the fact that you two have been studying together.” Daichi interrupts, eyeing Suga.

“I asked her first. She’s a good teacher.”

“You’re just saying that because you’re practically in love with her.” Asahi teases.

“Maybe, but I’ve passed all my exams so far, so I’m not wrong.”

“Is it a habit of hers to keep betting on things like this?” Daichi asks, remembering the Aoba Johsai phone number occasion. “I see it as a motivational thing.” Suga says, his friends sighing, both of them saying the same thing. “Of course you do…”

Time ticks and the bell rings, Suga anxiously waiting in his seat for his name to be called. He practically rushes up to the front when it does, almost embarrassingly fast, his classmates wondering how one could not be nervous. College preparatory exams surely had much more pressure put on them.

The passing grade is 40 points, majority of Suga’s exams within 75-86 points. The glee he had on his face showing you all his papers made you blush, knowing he wanted this as much as you did. Hard work came with small, celebratory moments.

“Welcome in!” Ukai yells at the sound of the door sliding open, pausing at the sight of both of you laughing. “L/N! Suga! How were exams?” You hold up your paper, a large 87 written in red in the corner. “I beat him by one.” Suga playfully shoves you, showing Ukai his score of 86. “So you’ll be coming to the training camp! Sorry, L/N, team only.” You shrug. “Obviously. Did anybody fail on your team?” You ask Suga, him shaking his head.

“No, not that I know of. Daichi probably does, but I didn’t see him after lunch.”

“That’s because you came looking for me first thing and not your teammates.”

Ukai eyes both of you, sensing something but not saying anything of it. “You two are here for the meat buns, I assume.” Both of you nod, Ukai denying your payment, saying it was a reward for doing well. You end up shoving your cash down his hoodie, dragging Suga out the shop with you.

“Old man is so persistent…” You mutter, Suga laughing before beginning to eat. “Suga… when you told me you liked me, and when I placed our relationship on the line, I had faith in you.” He swallows, looking confused. “What do you mean?” You take a bite of your own bun before you answer. “You’re a smart kid, Suga. I knew you were going to pass regardless of the bet.”

“So you’re saying the whole bet thing was already you saying yes? That you’d go out with me?”

You nod. “See, you’re smart. But I do have one thing I want between us.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t really want anybody else to know about this yet. Are you okay with keeping this between us?” Suga suddenly remembers telling his friends about the whole bet during lunch; the only thing he can do now is pray and hope that they somehow forget about it.

“Whatever you’re comfortable with.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

As if God was watching over him, Asahi and Daichi quite literally forgot about the whole bet, but only remembered the part where Suga said that he confessed his feelings to you. When asked about it, he didn’t provide an answer and simply requested for them to keep it a secret.

He made it unintentionally sound like you rejected him, which, in Suga’s favour, made them assume you didn’t like him, which was surprising to them.

His phone buzzed, revealing a text from you.

Hi~! How’s the camp going?

He smiles to himself before responding.

We lost our match today :( Turns out Hinata and Kageyama had to take make up exams and they came late

Who drove them all the way to Tokyo?? ಠ_ಠ

Tanaka’s sister did. She’s a lifesaver.

Tell me if anyone is hitting on Kiyoko. I’ll kick their ass.

What if you get fired for that?

Technically it won’t be during my work hours, my reputation just might be ruined. I don’t mind.

You say all these things but never go through with them (￣^￣)ゞ

Because I’m not an idiot! I will probably kick someone’s ass if they tried to hit on Kiyoko though. Is Hitoka okay? Not… overwhelmed by the amount of boys?

(￣▽￣) She’s okay. I’ll let her know you checked in.

“Who are you texting?” Bokuto peeks over Suga’s shoulder, Hinata going on his tip toes to look as well. “L/N. She was just checking in.” Realization dawns upon the Fukurodani player. “Ah, L/N! She was a line judge at one of my games! I wonder if she still remembers me.” Suga’s phone buzzes again, another message from you.

Have fun, okay? Don’t get too worked up, you’ll be forced to be friends with your opponents. Stay safe, take care ＼(^ω^)／<3

Suga tries to hide the giddiness that grows in him after he read your message.

Thank you~ Sleep well ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

“Suga, who are you texting? You’ve been smiling like an idiot this whole time.” Daichi sits down in front of him, beginning to eat. The giddiness has failed to hide and reached his face. “Um… no one in particular.” He lies, putting his phone back in his pocket. At this point Bokuto’s been messing around the cafeteria, being reprimanded by one of his managers.

“Don’t worry about it. My friend is just checking in.” The word ‘friend’ soon has him wondering what terms you two are on now. You two were still friends, but it was certainly something more than that. You were both going out, but was there a label he could put on it that made sense?

Every single day after training, he’d open his phone and check for a text from you. If there wasn’t any, he’d text you first. His team members had caught onto his behaviour, sometimes watching from outside the room for a bit before entering.

Asahi saw Nishinoya lurking outside their team room, staring through the window. “Noya, what are you doing?” He asks, a bit bothered. “Suga’s giggling at his phone right now. I think it’s kinda funny, so I’m watching from here.” Confusion is plastered on the ace’s face. “Why don’t you just go inside?”

“Because if I do, he’ll try to hold in his laughs and hide his face and it won’t be as funny!” Asahi sighs in disbelief that his friend would do something as ridiculous as this, but ends up watching with him, understanding why it was so interesting. Sometimes he’d burst out laughing or he just ends up giggling like a schoolgirl, all while staring at his phone.

Kiyoko stood at the other window with not as good of an angle of the inside, taking a dinky little picture of Suga smiling at his phone and sending it to you.

Look at what you’re doing to your little boyfriend.

The photo makes you equally giggle behind your own screen.

Is he really that excited to talk to me?

I think he’s been deprived of you for a bit. You should come here.

I’d get kicked out! And there is no way I’m getting my mom to drive me all the way to Tokyo to a camp that doesn’t allow visitors.

You’re gonna miss out on barbecue on the last day then.

Tempting, but no

Kiyoko are you just persuading me because you miss me~

I don’t. Your boyfriend does though

How is he?

Don’t you have his number? Ask him yourself

Woww so rude

^ - ^

He’ll make it without me, I’m sure. I’ve just been checking in

Yeah and he falls even more whenever he sees a text from you

Shouldn’t you be doing manager things right now? Get back to work (c" ತ,_ತ)

He’s getting all pouty now because you haven’t been responding

You ignore Kiyoko, opening Suga’s contact instead.

The show of your boyfriend’s fits of giggles continued, this time with a bigger audience watching from the outside windows.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

To say Suga missed you was a bit of an understatement. He practically needed to see you. The urge to hug you and spin you around in front of his team, look at you but decided to keep it on the low as you preferred, leaving his team at Sakanoshita when they decided to grab a quick snack from their coach.

He personally walked all the way to your house, standing outside your gate rather than ringing on the doorbell, pulling out his phone.

Y/N~ Are you awake yet?

Of course I am, it’s 4 in the afternoon…

You tend to take naps around this time though..(_ _).｡o○

How was the bus ride? Are you home yet?

I’m outside

Outside? What do you mean?

Is it okay if I stay for a bit?

Almost immediately, the front door opens, the biggest smiles plastered on both of your faces. You don’t bother changing out of your slippers, running out the door, opening the gate and hugging him for the first time in what felt like ages.

“I missed you.” He says, the tension between the two of you growing. “I missed you too. You and your stupid grey hair and stupid face.” You pinch his cheek like a mom would, him wincing with a laugh. “Kiyoko sent a photo of you texting me.” His face drops, worried about what it was. “She said you were giggling and pouting at your phone. Do I really make you that excited?”

“Well, yeah, you’re my… girlfriend. I think. I don’t really know what terms we’re on.” You burst into laughter at his confusion. “I thought we already figured that out! I’ve been calling you my boyfriend all this time.” The formality echoes in Suga’s head. Boyfriend. He was your boyfriend. And you were his girlfriend.

“You never really said it in person… and you never mentioned it over text.” He defends, following you into your house. “Because you didn’t ask. But I guess I should’ve been more transparent about it.” You shrug, taking the blame. “I should’ve gotten you something from Sakanoshita… I was with the team for a bit but just decided to come here.”

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it. My mom’s gonna ask you to stay for dinner anyways.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Keeping your relationship a secret was a bit challenging, yet every time you almost got caught, you played it off and it made you realize how naïve men really are.

You’ve managed to keep it hidden all the way up to the Shiratorizawa match, which impressed you, given how many times you nearly gave in to the urge of PDA.

When both schools began to warm up, Hinata and Kageyama’s quick sending gasps across the gym. Suga’s hands are clasped together, his teammates surrounding him as you watch the setter try to warm them up in a panic. You abandon the scoresheet desk, since you weren’t doing much other than small talk with the referee.

“Suga.” He sees you walking over to him, embarrassed but also confused. “Y/N, what are you–“ Your hands clasp over his for a moment, guiding both of them to his cheeks, which, as expected, are warm. Your hands still rest on top of his, pulling his face in for a quick peck on his forehead. “Good luck. You got this.” You let go, Suga’s face bright red and looking like a kettle about to boil over.

The rest of his teammates wail in surprise, surrounding him and asking an abundance of questions.

“What the hell was that?!”

“You two are dating!?”

“When were you going to tell us?”

Kiyoko’s mouth hangs slightly open at your bold move, following you as you move from their bench to the scoresheet desk. The down ref eyes you and #2 on Karasuno. “You aren’t going to shift the game because you two are going out, aren’t you?” The assumption has you rolling your eyes. “I’m not stupid, I’d get fired. Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.” You reassure, the ref shrugging.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

You leave the gym after holding in your tears for what felt like forever, eyes meeting with Suga’s first thing. You immediately burst into tears, head buried into his shoulder. “Oi, if you don’t stop, I’ll start crying again.” He laughs, making you pull away and wipe your face. “I’m sorry, I’m just… I’m so proud of you and your team. That spike was amazing.” His thumb strokes your cheek, pulling you in for another hug.

“As much as we are all astounded you two are finally going out… does Y/N need a ride?” Ukai interrupts, you responding with a nod.

The entire walk to the bus, you take pride in being able to hold your boyfriend’s hand without worrying about everything like you used to. The sight was certainly something the team would have to get used to, but it wasn’t horrible. Mostly.

They had a field day after Tanaka yelled out that you two were kissing in a bus full of tired teenage boys.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

beautiful stranger, catching my stare. it’s fate we collided right then, back there. 🎧

#sugawara x reader #sugawara x y/n #haikyuu sugawara #sugawara fluff #haikyuu!!#sugawara koushi #koushi sugawara x reader #koushi sugawara #fanfiction

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