#[The most unlikely group and somehow- still works]

[amischiefofmuses]

What is your biggest fear? (Morph, Cable, and Constantine maybe?)

Ask Random Muse Questions || Always Accepting

There's silence for a few beats, glances shared between them before John just SIGHS and decides he'll start. Cowards.

-- ❝Since I'm the only one whose got the balls to share, guess I'll start this off.❞ Lighting his cigarette, he takes a long drag and huffs out a plume before he continues. There's no nerves, no shame. ❝Endin' up bein' the one who brings hell to Earth- fuckin' up so hard tryin' to escape my own eternal sufferin' that I end up just changin' locale and doomin' everyone along with me.❞ There's side-eye from Cable, who still doesn't buy into the whatever the petty dabbler is peddling when it comes to talk of Hell and Angels- but the sentiment is close enough to his own that he feels a little more emboldened to share.

-- ❝Mine isn't much different-❞ The admission is gruff, and he can feel the way John and Morph are looking at him, both equally surprised he's actually sharing. Ugh- he regrets opening his mouth but it's too late now to stop without looking like he's backing down. ❝Less.. Hell but that I fuck up the timeline somehow, that I'll be the reason people I care about die.❞ Somehow it's heavier coming from Cable than it is from John- something in the tone, the delivery, like he's seen it happen before. The silence drags. -- ❝Christ, mate. Try t' lighten up a bit, yeah? We're just talkin', y'not about t' be subjected to it.❞ John finally interjects, busying his hands with relighting his cigarette, it's embers having ebbed out while he was stilled.

-- ❝See, mine sounds like NOTHING compared to all that. I'm terrified of being mind-controlled- again.❞ Morph remarks with a half-hearted chuckle, shrugging their shoulders. Though it can't be seen, Cable's own shoulders tense a little, his gaze moving to the floor. ❝Seems to keep happening and I'm hoping it's not a trend.❞ There's been a handful of times now where they've doubted their own control, had to take a moment to do something only they would think of - often resulting in them shapeshifting into something RIDICULOUS. -- ❝Nah- I get it, if it's like bein' possessed then that shit is can be HORRIFYIN'.❞ John nods, settling a hand on Morph's shoulder in support, giving it a squeeze before pulling away. He's been possessed or otherwise puppeteered more times than he can count. ❝Y'know, I've had enough talk of fears now 'cause this is getting far too fuckin' morbid- who wants a drink?❞ -- ❝First lick of sense you've made, count me in.❞ Cable's quick to jump on that particular offer, this whole thing was getting far too emotional for his capabilities. Better to avoid all that. Morph nods, giving a light shrug of their shoulders. -- ❝Yeah, sure, why not.❞

[audliminal]

Survivability Bias Pt 2

Masterpost

Danny spends the next few days exploring the town more, while he considers the implications of everything he’d learned  at the library. He’d taken notes, but they’re not exactly the best. Danny’s never been that good at taking notes, after all, but he has a pretty good memory, so the various key words and few quotes he’d scribbled down are plenty useful in reminding him of all the wild shit he’d read about.

There’d been a lot of history involved in the whole meta situation. It seems like these so-called meta humans, and various other races (species? Danny doesn’t know nearly enough about the cultural implications of that) have been around long enough to have had a significant impact on the world at large. And yet, at the same time, there really hadn’t been a lot of personal information on any of the heroes. Oh, there’d been plenty on some of the villains - and of course there’d still be villains here, he’s not lucky enough to escape that - but aside from various speculation about their romantic lives, and a few acknowledgements of family ties here and there, there’d been very few details about where most of them actually came from.

Superman, for example (he seemed to be this world’s go-to example of metas and superheroes), is listed as being an alien, who’s powers come from his biologies unique interaction with this planet’s atmosphere, although it doesn’t explain anything about what that means. Interestingly, there seems to be almost no speculation about Superman’s so-called secret identity. Only about half the listed heroes seem to have one according to the public, but Danny knows that song and dance too well to fall for it. Honestly, they’re even more likely to have a secret identity than Danny himself, seeing as Danny’s alter ego is literally dead. Not that ghosts seem to be much of a thing here.

He’d felt so silly looking up information about ghosts, right before leaving the library. Compared to the deep dive into recent history, googling “are ghosts real” must have looked insane if anybody could see it. The answer he’d returned had been not unlike the way things had been when he was ten or twelve. Before the portal, you’d see dumb ghost hunter shows where they never actually saw much of anything. Ghosts were, like, poltergeists that moved your furniture around and slammed the doors shut. The results here had been a little more interesting - clearly in a world where superheroes are a fact of life, fantastical stuff is a little more rational, and the speculation was clearly affected by that fact, but it still had been, seemingly, all speculation.

Of course, none of that really mattered when it came to Superman. Danny was at least ninety percent sure he wasn’t a ghost. And even if he somehow was, it didn’t change the fact that he either has a secret identity, or he basically never takes part in society. And if he doesn’t have a secret identity, then the question very much becomes why not. Because that means he either has no real reason to care about anyone here (which seems implausible), or he’s unable to spend that time in public. It’s that possibility that’s knocked out any chance of Danny approaching any of the heroes. Because there’s always the possibility that the endorsed heroes are being used to lure other metahumans in. And Danny doesn’t know nearly enough about this world to make any kind of judgment on what’s most likely here. After all, historically there’s plenty of examples of governments that  work with specific people among targeted groups, in order to more successfully take out the others. it tends not to end well for those people when it’s all over, but anyone who’s short-sighted or even just backed into a wall enough can fall for that.

Hell, the GIW had actually tried that line on Danny once or twice, not that he’d ever accepted. After all, they’d never realized that was actually sort of alive, so their pitches had always been... less than convincing. 

Danny blinks, reaching out to touch the brick wall in front of him. He hadn’t meant to come back here, but honestly at this point, he really shouldn’t be surprised. This random little alley on side street wouldn’t be interesting at all to anyone else. But if Danny stares long enough, he can almost see the green-tinged light of the portal that brought him here. Not that he’d ever seen the portal from this side. He hadn’t turned to look until after the light had faded. The idea of seeing his friends’ faces through the swirling green had been too much.

They had all known exactly what it meant when he came here. The difficulty of the journey was the point. Between the anti-ecto acts gaining not just mainstream awareness, but support, and the GIW gaining access to better funding and training, well, the second the GIW had started successfully ending ghosts, it seemed like all the denizens of the zone had collectively decided to stay the fuck home.

At first Danny had enjoyed it, had relaxed and been excited to finally be able to focus on just being a teen. But the GIW hadn’t calmed down, had just started going even more on the offensive, and the second he and Jazz had noticed agents showing up casually at their house, everyone had gone into full alert.

That’s how they found out that the next goal was to apparently take the fight to the zone itself.

The conclusion had been easy from that point. The portal needed to be destroyed, and fast. But with the ghost zone blocked off (and Danny’s death being the unknowing link that made the portal ever work in the first place), that would leave Danny as one of three remaining targets.

They’d all immediately agreed that Vlad could figure out his own solution. Dani- well, she had been traveling, but the second she turned up, the others had made plans to send her on her own one way portal trip too.

Of course, the likelihood that she’d end up here is probably minuscule. So he’s alone.

“Hey,” a stern voice cuts through Danny’s thoughts. He glances over to the person who’s standing at the door to a building. “There’s no loitering here.”

Right. It’s almost easy to forget, in the face of his life’s inescapable absurdity, that to everyone else in this town, he just seems like a possibly-homeless delinquent. Not that the delinquent part is unfamiliar.

“Sorry,” Danny mutters belatedly, realizing that the person is just waiting as he stares at them like a weirdo. He’s not very good with people anymore. Not that he was that good to begin with. Phantom had been a Ghostly Menace, constantly destroying the town with his fights, nobody had expected him to function as a person. Nobody had thought he was a person. But as Danny Fenton- well, he’d fallen short of just about every expectation set at Danny Fenton’s feet.

Distantly he wonders if his friends even bothered to disguise his disappearance. He’d always kind of wondered if his parents would ever notice if he and Jazz just- left. School definitely noticed, though most of the faculty would probably take it as completely expected. After all Danny Fenton was a terrible student, constantly skipping class and never doing his work, and even when he was in class he was usually halfway to falling asleep anyways. Lancer had certainly lectured him about his lack of discipline more than enough. So they might just come to the conclusion that he’d dropped out and run away.

He doesn’t know if he’d prefer that, honestly. The truth is messed up and complicated and frankly, unbelievable. But maybe if they knew the truth at least one person might feel a fraction of sympathy for all the bullshit that he’d been dealing with. Funny, Danny thinks, how coming here feels more like a death than when I actually died.

[planetkiimchi]

sixth time's the charm | w.jh

no. 1 of my 100 followers event (requested)

featuring: coworker!jun x gn!reader

word count: 8832 words

summary — your coworker jun is naturally friendly and a little chaotic, but he also mistakenly thinks you like his crush. this love rivalry persists despite the two of you being friends, at least until he realises that the one he likes is you.

author’s note: thank you to @fairyhaos for beta-ing this, your comments are so appreciated. especially knowing now that you have such high standards for fics, i’m so honoured to receive any sort of compliment from you <3 thank you ara for the request and i hope you enjoy!

Your first day of work was in January, at the tail end of winter. People were trading their thick winter coats for thinner wool sweaters and cotton hoodies, slowly switching back to sneakers instead of the chunky boots they donned in the winter.

The temperature was still cold in the mornings, especially when people were heading to work. The streets were filled with people walking briskly, as staying idle for too long would let the chill seep into one’s bones.

You were no different, a long coat wrapped tightly around your work attire, the most formal you could get. You cracked your knuckles nervously as you came to a hesitant stop in front of an office building, indistinguishable from the surrounding buildings save for the large “JH Corporations” displayed across the front.

Inhaling deeply, you stepped inside.

You were greeted by the warm air of the heated building, and you took in your surroundings as subtly as you could, taking small steps towards the reception desk while your gaze wandered about.

Everyone there seemed to be in a hurry, impatiently bustling past with briefcases, holding onto their laptop cases and thick folders. The constant clicking sound of high heels against the floor seemed to match your heart rate, going tap-tap-tap-tap-tap.

You made your way over to the reception desk.

“Good morning!” A cheery voice broke your train of thought, interrupting your anxiously racing thoughts and preventing you from spiralling.

Turning around to face the owner of the voice, you came face to face with a familiar face.

“Wen Junhui?”

The man in question grinned back at you. “Hi!”

So it was him. Junhui—”Call me Jun,” he’d said—had been there at your job interview, which had been done in a group, so both of you were probably starting at a similar level. Logically speaking, that day should also be his first day at work. However, unlike you, he looked a lot more at ease in this large building.

“Excuse me?” The receptionist tried to get your attention, and you blinked quickly before nodding.

“Yes, hi.”

You gave her your name and waited as she searched for your employee pass, before handing it to you, along with directions on how to get to your level.

You thanked her and turned to leave.

“I’m going to level three too, would you like me to show you there?”

Your heart, which had been beating painfully fast ever since you stepped foot into the building, slowed to a reasonable pace as you forced yourself to take a deep breath. Then, turning to face Jun, you smiled slightly.

“That would be great.”

Jun didn’t shut up the entire way to your desk. He looked tidy and well-kept, brown hair parted slightly off-centre, a tie around his neck. His smart black shoes clicked against the floor as he walked, and you noticed his fingernails were trimmed when he reached out to press the lift button.

“Y/n, right?” You nodded absently as Jun talked about this job, how his boss was rather friendly and how excited he was to be able to work in this team setting. Everyone was welcoming so far, and no one had belittled him as of yet.

During the elevator ride, you didn’t manage to get a single word in. Jun just kept on talking, somehow finding ways to fill the silence without you having to say a single thing. When he finally took a breath, you seized the opportunity to ask, “When did you start?”

“Last week! They asked me to come at the beginning of the new year, but I requested to start a week earlier instead, just after the winter solstice, so I could get acquainted a little earlier.”

Oh. That made sense. You briefly wondered why you hadn’t thought to do that yourself, stepping out of the elevator as the door opened onto the third floor.

You followed Jun through what felt like a winding maze of desks, all grey with some attempts at personalisation in the form of white mugs with “I ❤️ DAD” and “This is my fifth cup of coffee” printed across them, and cushions propped up on chairs for comfort.

“... And here’s your desk! Mine’s right across, so you can come over and ask me for help at any time. Just wave, and I’ll come over!” Jun smiled at you expectantly.

“Thanks?” you replied hesitantly.

“No problem!”

Smiling cheerily at you, Jun walked over and took a seat at his desk.

Breathe. You inhaled deeply, taking in your surroundings once more. This time, it felt a lot less scary. Each team had a semi-secluded area, with partitions sectioning off different teams, and your section was a little quiet but very conducive for working in.

The other people in the office had looked up briefly when you walked in, disrupted by Jun’s voice, waving politely at you before looking back down at their computers.

It didn’t seem like much, but you weren’t quite sure what you had been expecting in the first place. Setting your things down, you went over to find your team manager so you could officially start working.

—

Time passed too quickly. Soon enough, the project that the team had just undertaken was already almost half completed, and your working hours grew longer as the daylight stretched longer as well.

The sun set just after six, and you often got off work before then, so you would be home in time for dinner. Upon graduating from university, one of the first things you’d done was rent a house on the outskirts of the central business district.

It wasn’t the cheapest option, but luck was on your side, and the marketing job you had secured was enough to pay your rent.

Life wasn’t particularly luxurious; your flat was small and your meals were simple, but it was comfortable enough. On top of that, your transport fees were lower, since the office was located very close to where you lived.

That day, you were staying in the office a bit longer, staring blankly at the design drawn up on your computer and trying to figure out exactly what was off about it.

There was something about the design that didn’t work, and you intuitively knew that it had to do with the layout and the contrast in the colours of the background and the elements, but you couldn’t put your finger on what it was.

As the graphic designer on the marketing team, your workload was manageable, so this was your first time staying in the office past your stipulated working hours.

You rolled your neck around, hearing it crack, and fought the urge to rub your eyes. You turned the computer off and got up from your seat to take a bathroom break.

When you returned, there was a box of fried rice next to your keyboard.

Picking the box up, you looked around the section to see who had gotten the food. There were three people in the team still present; besides you and Jun, Yueyue was also working overtime that evening.

Yueyue had a reusable lunchbox by her side, and she took a mouthful of noodles into her mouth every once in a while, in between typing furiously on her keyboard.

Her clicks and the sound of her slurping the noodles were the only things disrupting the silence.

Jun was sitting directly opposite you, and he too had an open lunchbox beside him, along with a spoon, and he shovelled rice into his mouth every ten seconds or so. It was a bit strange that both of them had brought food from home, and yet there was takeout on your desk. It was especially strange because you knew you hadn’t ordered it.

As if sensing your confusion—or perhaps due to the fact that you had been standing in front of him for a good few minutes—Jun looked up.

He raised an eyebrow at you. “Are you planning to sit down soon? You’re kind of putting me off by just standing there.”

Oh. Embarrassed, you hurriedly sat down, but not before leaning over and asking, “Do you know who bought this?”, pointing at your own food.

“I did.” He looked back at his screen for a few moments, typed something out quickly, then moved his chair over so his view of you was no longer blocked by the screen.

“Minghao usually buys us food when we work overtime, but his mother’s health isn’t the best, so he took leave today to visit her in the hospital. Yueyue brings her own food, and I’ve started that habit too, but I noticed you hadn’t eaten so I got you something. I hope you don’t mind?”

You shook your head quickly. “No, I don’t. Thanks. I’ll pay you back, how much was it?”

Jun reached over to push your phone away. “It’s on me. Minghao even sent me money earlier on to make sure everyone in the team was fed, look.”

He showed you his screen, as if he felt the need to prove it to you, and you scanned Minghao’s texts.

Minghao (Team Manager): Make sure everyone eats well. Minghao (Team Manager): Tell them to go home before 7, it’s dark and cold outside, don’t want anyone falling sick. Minghao (Team Manager): Oh, also, tell Y/n to send me the draft of the advertisement by tonight. Minghao (Team Manager): Thanks.

“Say thank you to Minghao for me.”

Jun shrugged and put his phone away, “Already did.”

As you ate the fried rice, wrist cramping up from drawing the animations for the advertisement on your tablet, your heart felt extremely warm.

—

Becoming more comfortable with the members in your team also translated to becoming careless, it seemed.

One fine spring day, you awoke at eight-thirty to the sound of your ringtone blaring obnoxiously loudly in your ear.

"Please pick up, please pick up–"

"Hello?" you mumbled, voice a little raspy.

"Y/n! We have a meeting in an hour, where are you?"

Shit. You'd completely forgotten to set your alarm for that morning, having turned it off the day before for the Qingming Festival. You hadn't wanted it to ring while you were visiting the cemetery, which coincided with the time you normally woke up at.

To top it all off, after the long day, you'd had to take a long ride back to your flat from your hometown, which was a long way from Beijing.

You must have been so tired that night that you had forgotten to set your alarm.

"I'm still at home, is Minghao there?"

"Yes, and he's getting ready for the meeting already. He looks a bit pissed, you might want to hurry."

"Shit, yeah, okay. If he starts the meeting early, help me stall or come up with an excuse," you said.

Jun muttered something in acknowledgement.

"I'll hang up first, I've got to get ready and hopefully I'll reach on time."

"Hurry!" was the last word you heard Jun say before you hung up the call.

By some miracle, you ended up reaching the office 5 minutes before the meeting, wisps of hair falling into your eyes. You irritatedly pushed them away, taking the time to catch your breath as you turned your laptop on and tried to pull up your documents.

"Come into the meeting room now," Minghao ordered, and the team filed into the meeting room and took their respective seats.

You glared at the loading screen on your laptop, willing it to work more quickly. As Minghao said something about following the timeline and how the team was lagging behind and the client was beginning to get impatient, you did your best to listen and pull up the designs you'd done over the past couple of weeks.

However, luck was not on your side, because Minghao called upon you to present what you had done the moment he finished speaking.

You stood up hesitantly, eyes scanning your screen in a hurry, breathing still a little uneven. “Well…”

Jun let out a soft snort. You stole a glance at him, just in time to see him rolling his eyes before angling his laptop screen towards you.

“This is our advertisement video.”

Minghao took your cue to start playing the video, and you watched as your hard work came to life before your eyes. You’d watched it so many times, rewinding the animations over and over again until it was perfect, that it was no longer shocking to you how smooth the transitions were.

But seeing the video play in its entirety, not stopping every two seconds for you to fix something, you realised that you’d actually done well.

As the video came to an end, you launched into your spiel behind the technical aspect of the design elements, and Jun nodded attentively from his seat. Satisfied with your presentation, Minghao went on to the next person.

“Junhui, since you’re already prepared, tell us about the rest of the campaign and how you plan to manage the small budget we’re working with for this project.”

When Jun finished, Minghao raised an eyebrow, impressed. “Not bad, the two of you are a real match. Always good at thinking on your feet,” he said softly, just loud enough for the two of you to hear.

“A good match?” Jun fought to keep his volume down.

“I’m just saying, you’ve never called me when I was late.”

“Hao, when have you ever arrived any later than 8.30am?”

“It’s just a comparison.”

“I-” Jun threw his hands up in the air, exasperated. “We’ll talk about this later.”

Minghao shrugged and pointed at Jing Xuan, motioning for her to go next. You squinted at your team manager, then back at Jun, trying to figure out what their exchange could possibly have meant.

Yueyue went last, looking for you for help when she couldn’t recall the right word in Mandarin, and a couple of times you had to correct her pronunciation softly. She took it all in her stride, successfully completing her presentation of the segment she was in charge of.

Minghao ended the meeting with a short briefing on the development of the project and the client’s requirements, and gave updated instructions to each individual on the team.

Once he had finished speaking, the meeting was adjourned. Without hesitation, Jun grabbed Minghao’s hand and all but dragged him out of the meeting room, muttering something that sounded like “We seriously need to talk” as he strode away.

Curious, you did your best to subtly close your laptop and place it on your desk, before walking to the coffee lounge in what you hoped was an innocuous manner and casually inching closer towards the duo.

They were speaking in hushed tones, Jun’s brows furrowed and his tone of voice anxious, while Minghao was as relaxed as ever. In times like that, it was difficult to believe that Jun was a year older than Minghao.

You were a couple of years younger than Minghao, but you had changed jobs a few times, just like Jun, so Minghao was more senior than both of you.

However, Jun never really treated Minghao like a senior, although you could tell Minghao definitely treated Jun like a junior.

“What do you mean we’re a good match?” Jun hissed.

“I mean what I said,” Minghao replied, sipping his coffee.

“They like the girl I like, how could we be a good match?”

Too stunned to process Minghao’s reply, your mind blanked out as you heard Jun’s whispered words. In fact, you were lucky the cup in your hand didn’t shatter to the ground with how shocked you were feeling.

He liked Yueyue?

Yueyue’s English name was Luna, and she had joined the team at the same time that spring began. With her limited Mandarin, she struggled to communicate with the others, mostly electing to keep to herself and using Google Translate to send emails.

Having come from Singapore, your English was as good as Yueyue’s, and you were able to communicate effectively in Mandarin after your four years at university.

As such, for the time being, you basically acted as Yueyue’s translator, often helping her with her conversational Mandarin. Yueyue was a fast learner, and though sometimes she struggled with active recall, she was able to understand most conversations now without having to look the words up.

You hadn’t realised Jun liked her, but thinking back on it, you did remember Jun often looking at her while working, casting her glances when he thought no one else was looking. You recalled the way Jun hesitated before speaking to her, as if he had to gather his courage before speaking to her.

At the time, you’d simply thought it was because Jun’s English was extremely subpar, and the same could be said of Yueyue’s Mandarin, but now you knew it was more than that.

Even that time that Jun bought you dinner, you were fairly certain that he had gotten it for Yueyue, because it had come with a post-it note that was coming off the side, saying, “Enjoy your meal :)”. Jun must have been unsuccessful in removing it after he realised that Yueyue had brought her own food.

The puzzle pieces were all clicking in place, and your mouth invariably formed an ‘O’ shape as it all started to make sense.

Minghao elbowed Jun, jerking his head slightly in your direction. “Y/n’s staring.”

“Can you stop it, please, I—” Jun’s voice cut off as he turned to look at you. You were still deep in thought, and your unfocused gaze just happened to be facing Jun’s direction. “Oh.”

Minghao nodded. “Go on.” Then, as an afterthought, he added, “And remember what I said.”

Jun glared at him before standing up straight, leaving Minghao leaning against the counter with his mug of forgotten coffee, walking towards you.

He called your name, and you jerked your hand in surprise, spilling coffee on a stunned Jun.

He looked down at his white shirt in shock, frozen to the spot, and you covered your hand with your mouth. You hurriedly set the mug down, grabbing a bunch of tissue paper and pressing it against his shirt to dry it.

“I’m so sorry, you shocked me, I didn’t mean to stain your shirt. You can pass it to me, I’ll wash it, I’m really sorry—”

Jun called your name again, effectively stopping the flow of words that would have otherwise continued to stream from your mouth.

“Stop, it’s fine. It’s just a shirt, I can wash it myself.”

You opened your mouth in protest, and Jun’s eyebrow lifted ever so slightly. “Didn’t know this shirt mattered so much to you. If you want to wash it so badly, I’ll pass it to you after I’ve changed out of it.”

You could only stare in shock at his retreating back as he turned and left, mouth agape. What had Minghao said to him? It felt like the tectonic plates of your dynamics had shifted, but you wouldn’t quite be able to understand it until much, much later.

The first time.

There was a work party coming up, and you originally intended to ask Yueyue to go with you, if not as your date then as your friend.

Lo and behold, just as you opened your mouth to say “Yue”, Jun beat you to it.

“Y/n, would you do me a favour and be my work spouse for a night?” You furrowed your brows at his strange wording, glancing at Yueyue. The latter looked up, caught your eye, and shrugged helplessly.

“No,” you replied flatly. “Yueyue—”

“Pretty please?” Jun latched onto your wrist, tugging onto it like a little child would.

“No!” You pulled your hand away, shaking it in irritation. “Yueyue, will you please—” Before you could finish your sentence, Jun slapped his hand over your mouth, his other hand clutching your wrist again, preventing you from moving away or speaking.

When you finally struggled out of his grasp, you glared at him, beckoning him closer. As he leaned in, you stood on your tiptoes and hissed into his ear, “What are you doing?”

“I don’t want you to go to the party with Yueyue,” he said simply.

“Who I go with is none of your business.”

“Well, both you and Yueyue are my coworkers, so it kind of is.” Then, before you could reply, he said loudly, “Anyway, we’re going together and that’s the end of it. If any of you try to steal my plus-one, you’ll never hear the end of it from me.”

You whipped your head around to see Yueyue’s reaction, and saw her sinking into her chair, the smile on her face dissipating faster than you could blink. Jing Xuan hid her smile behind her hand, calming herself before removing her hand and continuing to work. Minghao had no visible reaction, but his deliberate ignorance was enough.

You were well and truly alone in this struggle with Jun. You took one glance at your gleeful colleague, sighing in defeat.

—

By the time the work party rolled around, it was already summer. You decided to pack your outfit, leaving it hanging by your desk throughout the workday. Sometime early in the afternoon, Jun got up from his seat, collected the suit he’d hung next to the coffee machine, and glanced at Yueyue.

She was too absorbed in her work to notice. Jun scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, and you subtly cleared your throat. “Yueyue,” you called softly.

She finally looked up, raising both her eyebrows at you. “Yes?”

You looked pointedly at Jun and jerked your head slightly in his direction. “He’s trying to talk to you.”

“Oh,” she replied, sounding surprised.

Jun smiled hesitantly at Yueyue, “Do you want to go get changed? Then we can take a taxi to the hotel together.” As he spoke, he moved his hands, pointing first at himself, then at Yueyue. His limbs felt longer than they usually seemed, and he looked like he wasn’t quite sure what to do with them.

Before Yueyue could reply, you cleared your throat again, causing both of them to turn towards you.

“Are you not inviting me to hitch a ride?”

Jun’s eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. Then, he and Yueyue spoke at the same time:

“No.”

“Yes.”

The two glanced at each other, and turned back to you.

“Yes.”

“No.”

Jun caved first, hissing in irritation, saying, “Whatever. As long as Yueyue’s fine with it.”

The person in question smiled warmly at you, and nodded in reassurance. “Sure, you can come with us.”

As Yueyue stood up, you locked gazes with Jun, smiling triumphantly at him.

—

The ride there was tense. Not entirely because you’d figuratively shoved your way into the car, although you suspected that might be a big part of the reason. No, for some reason unbeknownst to you, the typically outspoken Jun had turned silent, nervously glancing at Yueyue from time to time.

Seated in the passenger seat, you couldn’t help but steal a glance at the two behind you from time to time, and yet nothing changed throughout the entire ride.

Jun kept looking down at his hands, playing with his fingers, and Yueyue stared out the window mindlessly.

You debated trying to strike up a conversation, but just as you opened your mouth to speak, the taxi came to a halt. Looking out the window, you noticed that the hotel that had been booked for this party was much, much fancier than you had imagined.

The imposing building stood apart from the plain buildings around it, the stairs leading up to the entrance all lit up. The evening had just begun, and the sun was beginning to set, and the lights drew attention to the hotel.

Inwardly, you sighed in relief that you had chosen one of the more elegant items of clothing in your wardrobe to wear that night, because you were sure that being underdressed would have ruined your whole night.

Too caught up in admiring the grandness of the hotel, you didn’t make a move to step out of the car until Jun opened the door for you, and you stepped out. It seemed only natural to take his hand, although the moment your hand was in Jun’s, you realised that it might be overstepping slightly.

Jun’s hand was warm, enveloping your smaller hand in it completely. Yueyue came to stand behind you, amazed by the scale of the event.

“Let’s go in,” Jun suggested, and you nodded dumbly, following him inside.

Seeing Minghao eased everyone’s nerves a little, and soon there was a small congregation of five near the entrance, all keeping a close watch on the rest of your colleagues.

Since you often came to work in a sectioned-off area, and only worked closely with your teammates, you didn’t recognise any of your other colleagues. However, you couldn’t say the same for Jun.

As an elaborately-dressed young man walked past you, Jun seemed to recognise him, waving hello. Minghao could see that Jun was itching to socialise, and urged the rest of you to find people to talk to as well, leaving with a reassuring smile and a pat on your back.

You stuck to Yueyue like glue, the two of you acting like outsiders in this unfamiliar environment that was far out of your comfort zone, until someone Yueyue knew walked by and struck up a conversation with her. Not wishing to be the third wheel, you watched them walk off, standing awkwardly by the side and wishing the time would pass faster.

Fortunately for you, a kind soul noticed you standing on your own and came over, casually asking for your name and which team you were in. The man, Kun, had a warm face and a comforting voice, easily calming you down.

Halfway through a rather engaging conversation about stocks, you felt the need to visit the restroom, and looked around for someone to help you hold your things.

You would have gone to one of your teammates, but Yueyue and Minghao were having a heated discussion with a group of unfamiliar people, and Jing Xuan was nowhere to be found. Of course, there was Jun, but he flitted from group to group without giving you a chance to catch up to him.

You excused yourself to go to the bathroom, clutching your purse. Before you could leave, Kun reached out and offered to help you hold your things, and you thanked him with an embarrassed smile.

When you came out of the bathroom, you were greeted by an unhappy Jun.

He was standing in the corridor in front of the bathroom, not even on his phone, simply holding your purse and staring at the doorway, waiting for you to emerge. 

You had been expecting to see Kun waiting there, prepared to thank him once more. Instead, the person awaiting you was Jun, and the lack of a smile on his face was disconcerting to say the least.

You couldn’t remember a time you hadn’t seen Jun smile. He had a pleasant disposition and a happy-go-lucky attitude, so seeing him with a poker face was a rare sight.

You reached to take your purse from him without a word, but his grasp on it only tightened as your fingers brushed against his.

“Why didn’t you come find me to help you hold your things?” he asked, volume soft but tone threatening.

You shrugged. “Kun offered to help me before I could go to find you.”

“We’re here together,” Jun insisted. “You’re acting like you hate me.”

You raised your eyebrows, slowly appraising him. “Oh, really? Funny, that’s exactly the same sentiment I received earlier, when you outright refused to let me take the same fucking taxi as you. Is being in my presence such a horrifying thought that you would refuse to take the same car as me after asking me to be your plus-one, deliberately preventing me from getting the date I wanted?”

Stunned, Jun’s grip on your purse loosened, and you shouldered your purse and turned to leave. He grabbed your wrist, and you whipped your head around to glare at him, causing him to immediately let go.

“I’m sorry.”

You stood there, not speaking, but the fact that you weren’t leaving was enough for Jun to continue, “I didn’t mean to upset you. Yes, I wanted to go with Yueyue alone, and yes, I ruined your chance to ask her, and yes, it’s hypocritical of me to expect you to act nicely towards me when I’ve been nothing but an asshole this evening.”

“You left the team first, so anxious to talk to that friend of yours that you didn’t even spare the rest of us a second glance,” you accused.

Jun shrugged his shoulders helplessly. “I’m sorry.”

You nodded curtly in acknowledgement, ready to leave, but Jun called out your name before you could take a single step.

“You can join me for the rest of the evening if you want. Since we’re supposed to be together for the night.”

You looked at him slowly, taking in his pose, rocking on his feet, thumbs stashed into his pockets. He looked distinctly uncomfortable, and some sadistic part of you felt glad you were making him feel that way.

After a long moment of deliberation, you nodded. “Sure.”

The second time.

Jun introduced you as his work spouse for the rest of the night. The first few times, you raised your eyebrows in shock, meeting his mischievous gaze, and his disarming grin told you to leave it be.

So you did, not even batting an eyelash when he proudly showed you off for the rest of the night, your heated conversation from earlier almost forgotten.

You supposed that was one of his charm points, that he didn’t hold grudges. Jun had a forgiving personality, and it made interacting with him comfortable and easy.

As the night passed, your eyelids started drooping, and it became increasingly difficult to pay attention to the conversation topic at hand. Bidding goodbye to a few of your colleagues, you took some time to stand by the side, hiding your yawn behind your hand.

“Tired?” Jun asked, accompanied by a soft laugh.

You nodded. “I think I’ll head home soon.”

“I’ll send you home.”

You cocked your head at him, then shook your head. “There’s no need, you should stay if you want to.”

At that, Jun scoffed, then shook his head and rolled his eyes. “I’d rather not. Besides, it’s not like I would understand what they’re saying without you to translate; their use of technical jargon is way out of my vocabulary range. This entire night, I’ve been piecing together the meaning of their words from your replies.”

You laughed to yourself. “Really?”

Jun nodded. “I’m serious. Anyway, it’s dark outside; you shouldn’t go home alone.”

The corners of your lips lifted, “Didn’t know Wen Junhui was such a gentleman.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”

You elected to ignore that sentence, turning on your heel to leave, and Jun chased after you, matching your long strides. Outside, you hailed a car, and Jun rushed to open the door for you.

You hesitated just a second before stepping into the car. Earlier that evening, you’d assumed that Jun had opened the door for you out of formality, because Yueyue was present and he was getting into character for having to spend a night with you.

However, with a night so bleak and the dim glow of the streetlights barely lighting up the roads, there was no one to see his actions then, and everything he was doing was just between the two of you.

Perhaps he really was a gentleman, and it was out of habit that he opened the door for you. You wouldn’t know.

Because Jun was right. There was a lot you didn’t know about him.

The third time.

That incident remained at the back of your mind as concerns about the project wrapping up took priority, especially when finishing the tail-end of the promotions. You were often busy working, and had little time to spare to think about other things.

By then it was summer, and it often rained in the afternoons. Sometimes it only drizzled lightly, and sometimes the thunderstorms were so loud that you could feel your eardrums vibrating.

That day it started out drizzling lightly in the morning. At first, you thought nothing of it, expecting it to stop raining by evening. However, an hour or so before you got off work, it was still pouring outside. The rain didn’t seem like it will stop soon, and you sighed in resignation. You'd foolishly hoped that the rain would have stopped after pouring the whole afternoon, so you'd be able to get home without getting soaked.

However, you were almost about to leave, and yet the rain was still pouring ceaselessly down. You rummaged through your bag for an umbrella.

Even though your hands were occupied, something at the back of your mind told you that you'd forgotten to put the umbrella in your bag this morning. Your search proved futile, and you recalled seeing the umbrella resting on the shoe rack that morning, but you had no memory of putting it into your bag.

You ran through the options in your mind. You could make a dash for it—the building wasn’t too far away from the bus stop—but you didn’t particularly feel like taking the bus home while soaking wet. The other option was waiting it out, but you hadn’t had dinner yet and you were absolutely famished.

You inhaled through gritted teeth, mentally preparing yourself to run through the rain, when a voice cut through your thoughts.

"Are you walking to the bus stop?"

You locked eyes with Jun, who'd just asked the question, and nodded.

"I'm walking there too, shall we go together? We could share an umbrella," he said.

Oh. You felt a ripple of warmth spreading through your body. He'd noticed. You swallowed and nodded. "That would be great. Thanks."

To be honest, you weren’t sure what to think of the gesture. Jun was nicer to you lately, and whatever odd tension between the two of you that had laced your interactions had died down too. You still talked to Yueyue, but more for work than any other reason. Jun, too, seemed to be taking it easy, reducing his attempts at chasing her.

Jun stood up, closing his laptop, and you kept your things as well. He came over to you, umbrella in hand, which caused Minghao to look up from his seat.

“Leaving so early?” This sentence was directed at Jun.

“Yeah. Gotta send my work spouse home, they forgot to bring an umbrella.”

You rolled your eyes at the term, but Minghao didn’t even flinch. “Okay, don’t get too wet.”

Tilting his head, Jun gestured for you to follow him out.

It was a silent walk to the bus stop, both of you all too aware of your proximity to each other, trying not to step too far out of the umbrella for fear of getting soaked. The sky was dark, covered by clouds, and the floor was slippery, so you had to take great care not to slip.

Jun maintained a small gap between the two of you, tilting the umbrella slightly to your side, but when you finally reached the bus stop, both of you were dry.

“Thanks.”

Jun looked up from the umbrella, smirking when he saw the grudging expression on your face. “No problem.”

The fourth time.

When Minghao said you would be going on a trip together as a team, you weren’t expecting that to entail camping in the middle of the woods—”Nature reserve, Y/n, I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve said that already”—and definitely not when you realised you’d have to put up your tents by yourselves.

Not that you were incapable of putting up a tent, but you weren’t keen on the idea of sleeping without a mattress. With your terrible posture and the way you kicked in the night, you could already foresee the backache that would result from this wonderful idea.

At least it was summertime, so you wouldn’t have to worry so much about freezing to death. Minghao and Jun were sharing a tent, of course, because there had never been much to debate about that. Yueyue and Jingxuan were sharing the other 2-person tent, which meant you were left with the smallest tent to yourself. Fortunately, you didn’t mind.

Putting up the tents was a two-person job, and you were embarrassed to admit that you needed help doing it. Obviously, stubborn as you were, you’d tried to set it up by yourself, but trying to place the groundsheet on the ground with only two hands was difficult. You could only hold two corners at a time, and the material of the groundsheet made it such that it kept creasing in ways you didn’t expect, so after a few minutes of trying, you eventually gave up.

You helped Yueyue and Jingxuan fit the tent poles through the loops of the tent, the three of you cheering when the tent started to take shape. Once the tent and flysheet were secured, you asked them to help you set up your tent, only to realise Minghao was the only one setting up his and Jun’s tent. Jun was standing behind you, watching the three of you awkwardly, grinning crookedly at Yueyue when she turned to face him.

Rolling your eyes, you went over to help Minghao.

Minghao raised his eyebrows when you came over, starting to speak before your hands even touched the pegs.

“I’m extremely particular about these sorts of things, by the way. That’s why Jun’s not helping me. So if you do something that I don’t like, there’s a high chance I’ll just undo it and redo it myself.”

You shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

“Also, please put the pegs in well, because I’d prefer to not have to wake up in the middle of the night to find my entire tent blown away.”

You nodded. “Sure.”

After a moment of silence, you tugged at the loops at the bottom of the tent, wiggling the tent pegs deeper into the ground. You packed the soil into the holes you’d made, shaking the pegs to check that they were secure, and stood up with a triumphant smile.

Minghao made his rounds, adjusting the flysheet. Hands on his hips, he walked one round around the tent, inspecting every small bit, using his shoes to check that the pegs were secure. Satisfied, he looked to you with grudging approval.

“Not bad.”

You smiled to yourself, knowing that in Minghao’s dictionary, that was a high-level compliment. Turning back to your own tent, you noticed that Jun and Yueyue were almost done setting it up.

You would have gone over to help, but you didn’t want to interrupt. You turned back to Minghao, who was already climbing into his tent and unpacking his luggage.

“Need help?” you asked Yueyue, deliberately choosing to use English because you knew Jun wouldn’t understand.

She shook her head. “We’re good, I think.”

You glanced at Jun, who was biting his lip in concentration as he slotted the bendy tent pole ends into each other until the tent began to take shape.

“Jun? I can take over from here, you should go ahead and unpack.”

Jun’s head whipped up, and he glared at you for a moment before realising Yueyue was watching him. “I don’t have much to unpack,” he replied simply.

“You sure? I saw how big your luggage is.”

“It’s fine, I can help Yueyue for a little longer.”

“Actually…” The two of you turned your attention to Yueyue, who continued, “I think I need to unpack. I’ll leave the two of you to it?”

You smiled warmly at her. “Go ahead.”

“Yue…” Jun’s voice trailed off as she walked away, glaring at you fiercely.

You pretended not to notice as you focused only on getting your tent up, and once it was set up, you finally paid attention to the way Jun was staring at you. He stood on his tiptoes to tie the knot that secured the tent poles to the flysheet, then stalked over to you.

“Y/n, what the fuck—” The moment the curse word left his lips, Jun looked almost apologetic. He pressed his lips together, silent for a moment, before deciding to continue. “Why would you purposely ask her to leave? We were doing fine, we’re literally helping you set up your tent, I don’t get it.”

“Don’t get what? I just reminded her that she still had to unpack.”

“It won’t take that long, don’t play dumb. It’s still bright, and we both know Minghao always gives enough time for everything. It wouldn’t kill her to start unpacking later.”

You shrugged, your gaze slanting towards the other tent. “Tell her that yourself, it’s not like I told her to leave.”

“Cut the crap, Y/n. Why are you acting like this? I thought we were friends.”

“Why am I sabotaging your attempts to hit on her, you mean? I'm not trying to. I’d just prefer it if you didn’t do it while setting up my tent.”

“I-” Just then, Minghao tapped both of your shoulders, jerking his head towards the centre of all the tents. He looked pointedly at Jun for a few moments, then left without saying anything.

“I’m going to set up a fire,” Jun said. “We’ll talk about this later.”

“Maybe,” you muttered unhappily under your breath.

—

After dinner, which was cooked over the fire—definitely an experience—the five of you sat by the fire, admiring the orange-red sunset. As the sun disappeared on the horizon, the temperature grew colder, and everyone subconsciously shifted their chairs closer to the crackling fire, jackets wrapped tightly around themselves as they extended their fingers towards the glowing flame.

When all the conversation topics had been exhausted, so was Jingxuan, as evidenced by her sudden yawn. Claiming that it was time for her to turn in, she got up. Not wanting to leave her alone, Yueyue took her leave as well. That left you, Minghao and Jun by the fire, moving your chairs so each had a warm spot.

“Y/n?” You glanced at Jun, bracing yourself for the argument you felt was sure to follow. You were naturally argumentative, there was no denying it, and though Jun wasn’t one to start an argument, he always wanted to win them.

You jerked your head in acknowledgement, waiting for him to continue.

“Are we friends?”

You frowned. That wasn’t what you’d been expecting at all. “Yes?” you replied tentatively, unsure where this was heading. 

“Do you like Yueyue?”

You almost laughed. “No.” You didn’t and would never like her that way, probably. She was nice enough, but not exactly your type. You weren’t sure where Jun had got that notion from, but he seemed to be clinging on to that thought since you first joined the company all of 8 months before.

“Then what’s your deal? It feels like you’re doing this on purpose, trying to keep me away from her. If you like her, and she likes you back, fine. I’ll stop pursuing her. But you don’t even like her, so I don’t understand why you’re acting like this.”

You pursed your lips together, trying to identify the feelings messing up your head, like water after a dirty paintbrush was dipped into it. 

Jun looked at you earnestly, eyes wide as he awaited your reply. After a moment of silence, you shrugged helplessly. “I can’t say what it is. But you’re right, I’m being unreasonable. So, how about this: I’ll leave the two of you be if you don’t flirt right in front of my face, deal?”

Jun stuck out his hand, adding, “You’re still my work spouse, right?”

Taking his hand, you nodded. “Sure.”

Just then, an ear-piercing shriek sounded in the otherwise quiet camping place, and the three of you gathered around the fire stood up simultaneously. Minghao was the fastest to get to Jingxuan and Yueyue’s tent, and the two of them ran out of the tent, Jingxuan’s face white with fear.

“There was a rat!” she cried out. “I swear it bit my fucking toe.”

Upon hearing this, Jun looked rather faint. You moved to help Jingxuan get her shoes, bringing her to the campfire to take a seat first. Yueyue helped Jun to sit down, and you left the three of them to get jackets for Yueyue and Jingxuan.

Meanwhile, Minghao took his phone and turned the flashlight on, inspecting the tent and the area around it.

He came back a couple of minutes later, having ascertained that the rat was gone, but by then everyone had grown comfortable and too tired to move. Jingxuan and Jun were fast asleep, heads propped up on their fists, and you watched Yueyue carefully.

Her hands were shoved into the depths of her pockets, her lips forming a pout absentmindedly, hair tucked behind her ears.

Yueyue tapped Jun’s shoulder to rouse him, and the two of you guided your half-asleep colleagues into their tents before everyone finally fell asleep.

The fifth time.

By then it was autumn, and September was drawing to a close. It was an ordinary work day, a couple of hours before lunch, and Jun suddenly stood up, rummaged through his bag, before procuring a card from his wallet and stalking over to Minghao’s desk.

“You busy?” Minghao nodded without looking up. Jun placed the card on his desk, saying, “I’m using this.” Minghao barely spared the card a second glance before saving his progress and getting up from his seat, gesturing for Jun to follow.

The two of them entered the meeting room, your gaze following them curiously. You met Jingxuan’s eyes, both of you just as confused as each other.

You stood up, walking over to Minghao’s desk, examining the card left behind on the desk. It said, in Minghao’s neat handwriting, “15 minutes of my time. Use whenever.”

You furrowed your brows, placing the card carefully back to where it had been before, heading back to your seat.

Jun and Minghao exited the room not long after, Jun looking conflicted. You followed him with your eyes as subtly as you could, watching as Minghao sat in his seat, looking at the card on the table and furrowing his brows. Looking up, he met your gaze, tilting his head.

Shit. Had you not put the card back properly? How did Minghao know? But to your surprise, your team manager didn’t speak, smirking before returning the card to Jun.

“Team drinks later after work,” he announced, not as a question. The other members of the team looked up briefly, nodded, then returned to their work. You continued to watch Jun sit at his desk, bury his head in his hands, then mess up his hair in frustration.

Then, as if nothing had happened, he opened his laptop and began to work.

—

That evening, the five of you sat at the front of the bar, talking between drinks. After Jingxuan’s story about her landlord drastically inflating the rent when he found out that Jingxuan and her roommate were splitting the costs, you recalled an incident you had just had.

A couple of weeks ago, you’d seen a stray cat on the streets, and decided to take it in. You’d since taken it to the vet for a proper check-up, and had made an appointment for it to get spayed. The only issue was that your landlord didn’t allow tenants to keep pets, and you weren’t sure you could keep it a secret when she came over to check.

“Come stay with me,” Jun said. His tone was teasing, but when you looked at him, his gaze seemed earnest, burning into you with his sincerity. The way he said it, it wasn’t really a question.

“I mean it. If you need a place to stay, come stay with me.”

Normally you would tease him for how serious he was being, but something about the fraught silence and the surrounding atmosphere stopped you from making fun of him. Instead, you watched him carefully, never breaking eye contact, and nodded slowly.

“Okay.”

“Lighten up, my work spouse. You’re acting like we haven’t known each other for a year already,” he said, already back to his old self. You only nodded in reply.

Bonus: the time where he leaves out the “work”.

When you first joined the company, little did you expect that three years down the road, you’d end up waking up next to the man you’d met at your interview, the one with brown hair and dark eyes and a sharp smile.

It had started out with him liking your friend, with tensions here and there due to both of your stubborn tendencies. Your personalities clashed often, resulting in disagreements that turned everyone’s moods sour.

However, you were still mature adults, and after a period of working together, you learned to be more accommodating of his differing opinions and habits and vice versa. Through the shared bonding over working overtime and walking home in the rain, you grew from mere colleagues into friends, growing close enough to talk about more than just the latest project you were working on.

Of course, growing from friends into lovers was slightly more complicated, and you had Minghao to thank for helping you along.

You never realised, but Minghao was the first to notice that you were starting to like Jun. If it weren’t for Minghao subtly helping Jun to grow closer to you, the rivalry may have extended for a far longer period of time than just a few months. Especially with the misguided notion that you liked his crush, Jun would not have been as willing to be your friend without Minghao’s constant nudging.

Almost a year after you had met, before getting drinks together and Jun’s fateful statement that led to the two of you moving in together, Jun had realised that he liked you.

He liked you, not Yueyue. The realisation had been startling, and in a daze, he’d used the card Minghao had given him for his birthday to ask for Minghao’s attention. In those 15 minutes in the meeting room, Jun had voiced out his concerns and desperately asked Minghao for some form of advice.

Jun later told you that Minghao’s answer then had been a simple, “I think you like Y/n.”

Having been in denial for so long, it took Jun a while to realise that his feelings for Yueyue had slowly dissipated over time, and that the lingering sentiments were only platonic, whereas his feelings for you had only grown.

Minghao had offered a simple solution to ease Jun’s heavy heart—drinks with the team. Unbeknownst to him, this action had led to Jun’s implied confession and indirectly caused the two of you to finally get together.

Jun snuggled into your embrace, interrupting your thoughts, nuzzling the underside of your chin and burying his face in the crook of your neck.

”Good morning,” you whispered softly, fingers running through his soft hair. He looked up at you briefly, as if checking over every feature of your face, before nodding in satisfaction and shutting his eyes again.

A peaceful smile came over his face, the blissful expression on his face causing you to smile as well.

”You should marry me,” he mumbled, hands tightening around your waist.

”That’s sudden. Where’s the ring?” You teased.

”Haven’t bought it yet,” he frowned. “But if you don’t say yes, then I wouldn’t have to return it.”

You let out a little laugh. Practical as always. “And if I say yes?”

Eyes still closed, he reached over you to the bedside table, fingertips trailing to the first drawer. He pulled it open, and you turned your head to look. There, sitting on top of your favourite books was a nondescript black velvet box. “Pass it to me,” he said, blinking his eyes slowly open.

You passed it to him without a word and he scrambled to sit up in the bed, both knees tucked under him in a kneeling fashion, opening the box to reveal a ring with a silver band, with a small jewel atop it.

”You said you don’t like fancy things, right?”

Struck speechless, you didn’t protest as he gently took your left hand, slipping the ring onto your fourth finger. He pulled your head in towards his chest, kissing the top of your head.

Just like that, Jun’s proposal to you was as simple and direct as the time when he asked you to move in, less of a question than a request, one that you would gladly agree to.

[thoushallnotfall]

Walkin' After Midnight

Masterlist

Pairing: Marko x Reader

Word Count: 1.8k

Note: *finger guns* Ehhhhh...so it’s been a minute. How ya’ll been? So completely ignoring that’s it’s been...a long time, here’s another of my ‘imagine the boys in a decade prior to the 80s’ fics--and we’re moving right along to the 50s!

I started this...a very long time ago, and then I didn’t like it so I just left it in my WIPs with like 15 other ideas/half-written fics/updates. I still don’t love it, but upon further reflection I don’t totally hate it--and it was already started so I didn’t have to work as hard to finish it, so there’s that.

That being said, I'm kind of interested in writing a part 2, so we'll see...taking babysteps here.

(I’m really having to dig deep for these gifs)

Every kid from Santa Carla grew up knowing two things: Don’t go out after dark if you ever want to make it home, and stay away from the greasers who hung around the boardwalk.

It never really occurred to you that those two things could be related.

Unlike a lot of the teenagers in Santa Carla, who’d run there with nowhere else to go, you’d lived there all your life. You’d never left the city, and the older you got the more you doubted you ever would. Your dad had been killed in Vietnam, and your mom was around so little you half expected one day she’d just stop coming back home at all. You may not be one of the runaways, but you were still alone in Santa Carla.

Still, you were young; and while you knew you’d have to find a way to live on your own sooner or later, you decided to try and enjoy what little youth you had left. One day you’d have to grow up and start providing for yourself somehow, but for now you just wanted to live your life to the fullest before that all got taken away.

With that in mind, you’d taken to going to plenty of the dances and social events in town. You didn’t have a curfew, and no one was around to care about where you were, but even so you tried not to be out too late after dark. That’s always when the people went missing--and they never came back.

That’s why it was the first rule of Santa Carla: Don’t go out after dark.

The official numbers were never right, given how many of the people who disappeared were runaways, but the amount of missing people in Santa Carla had always been unusually high. The only thing they knew for sure was that they always seemed to vanish at night.

The prevalent theory among many of the local teens was aliens. They came out with their flying saucers and abducted unsuspecting people in the night. Others were more practical--they just thought there was a really good serial killer in town.

It could be anyone! They’d say.

But people have always gone missing in Santa Carla--is he an old man, still killing people in his 70s? Someone else would question.

Okay, so a family of serial killers! They’d say back.

Personally, you had no idea who or what was making people disappear. You only cared about surviving it, and the best way to do that was stay in at night.

Then, there was the second rule of Santa Carla: Stay away from the greasers.

There was a particularly nasty group of punks who usually hung around the Boardwalk at night. No one knew who they were--probably just another group of runaways--but people had grown to know they were trouble. A gang of greasers who didn’t care about the law and would sooner gut a man than say hello. That’s what people said about them, anyway.

So imagine your surprise when you broke both rules in a single night.

--

The night in question started out well enough. You and a friend had gone to the beach in the afternoon, and spent most of the day there. At one point, the two of you had attracted the attention of some boys--who ended up spending the day with you.

So when the sun got low and it was time to leave, your friend decided to accept the invitation from the boys to go get some dinner at the local diner. You however, weren’t as excited about the prospect. Not only did you not want to be out too late, you frankly just weren’t that interested in any of them. Your friend tried to get you to change your mind, but you held firm.

And so it was that your friend headed off with the guys. At least she brought you into town so you wouldn’t have so far to walk to get home. And while you weren’t jazzed about walking home alone you figured you could make it back quick enough that it’d be okay. Unfortunately, it was nearly dark before you even made it back to town--and well into the night by the time you walked past the Boardwalk.

You tried to hurry your way through the crowded streets of tourists and late-night couples walking hand in hand without any trouble. But of course that's exactly what you find.

"Hey there pretty lady, going my way?" A big guy in a varsity sweater asks. He looked like a jock--maybe home from college? You didn't know him, and you certainly didn't want to.

"Sorry, I'm in a hurry." You say, hoping to sidestep him and continue on your way. He moves to stand in front of you.

"Aw, don't be like that doll." He says, looming over you. "I just want to get to know you."

"Well I'm not interested." You say, trying to push past him. He grabs your wrist, squeezing so tight it makes you wince in pain.

"Not so fast girlie--we ain't done talking yet." He says, pulling you back.

Oh God, this is it. He's a part of that serial killer family and you're about to get murdered.

Your frantic thoughts are interrupted as the creep let's you go. He screams as he looks to his other side. You follow his gaze and see a greaser with blonde, curly hair standing next to him--the jock's wrist in his hand. He squeezes it tighter and the jock falls to one knee, yelling in pain.

"Don't like it so much on the receiving end, do yah punk?" The boy says, squeezing even tighter. Despite being smaller than the other boy, the greaser was still clearly stronger.

"What the hell man? Let me go!" The jock begs.

"You want me to let you go?" The greaser smirks. "Alright." He lets the guy go, before quickly using his now free hand to punch him square in the face. The boy falls back, holding his bloody, broken face in his hands. The greaser grabs the bleeding boy by the collar and pulls him up, smiling at him. "Now beat it before I decide to get serious." He says, dropping his collar. The boy scrambles up and runs off, disappearing down an allyway.

You watch him run off, stunned by what had just happened.

"You okay?" The blonde asks, having turned his attention to you. You practically jump out of your shoes.

"What? Oh." You look down at your wrist. "Yeah, it's fine--I mean, um, I'm fine." You stumble through before looking back up at him. "Thank you."

"No problem. Punks like that deserve a good beating." He says, before he smirks. "And I couldn't let him hurt a pretty thing like you, now could I?"

Uh oh, you may have just gone out of the frying pan and into the fire.

"So what's your deal anyway? You know it's not safe walking around alone at night, right?" He asks, ignoring your apprehensive look.

"We'll um," You hesitated, unsure of how much you should say about yourself. "I was out with a friend, but she had other plans. She drove, so..."

"So now you're stuck walking back. I get you." He says. "Pretty uncool of your friend, ditching you like that. But hey, I'll make sure you get home safe."

"What?" You nearly shout. "Um, no really that's not necessary. I'm fine now, so--"

"No way. I already told you--you're way too cute to be out here on your own." He says, cutting off your attempt to protest. "My bike's nearby, let's go."

"I would really hate to put you out," you try once more to worm our way out of the situation, but he wasn't having it.

He smirks, "I offered didn't I? Don't worry about it." He grabs your hand and all but drags you down the block.

Soon enough, you arrive at a parking lot, and he leads you towards a row of four motorcycles lined up in the corner. He lets you go, moving to the bike at the end and throwing his leg over to sit. He looks at you, holding out his hand. You were pretty sure you couldn't get away from him even if you tried, so you took a deep breath and accepted his outstretched hand. He helps you onto the back of the bike, smirking as gravity slide you down towards him.

"So princess, were are we going?" he asks, tilting his head back to look at you sitting behind him. You hesitated giving him your address, but at this point if he wanted to do something nefarious he didn't need to take you home first.

You were in too deep now.

You tell him, and he nods, "Yeah, I know the place." He starts the bike, giving you one last smirk as he revves the engine, "Better hold on tight."

Your arms instinctively wrap around his waist as the bike shoots forward. You gripped him tightly, you head resting on his back. You squeezed your eyes shut, fear coursing through you as your heartbeat raced. As much as you knew you should watch where you were heading, you were too scared to open your eyes. He was going fast--very fast--and with each bump and turn, you were sure you would crash and that would be the end of it.

But the two of you didn't crash, and before you knew it the bike slowed to a stop. You dared to open an eye, and saw you sat in front of your house. A little run down and a bit worse for wear, but still yours. You sat up, shocked you had not only survived the ride, but that he had actually brought you home.

"This it?" he asked like he already knew the answer. You turned to him,

"Oh, um--yes, it is."

"Doesn't look like anyone's home," he commented absently, and you felt your shoulders tense.

"Oh, my parents are here--they just go to bed early," you lied. Something told you he knew you weren't telling him the truth, but he didn't say anything.

You hoped off the bike, smoothing the wrinkles from your skirt out of habit. You took a step towards your door, then stopped. You turned, looking back at the smirking, curly-haired boy sitting lazily on his bike.

"Thank you again. For bringing me home, and for helping me with that guy earlier, " you were still scared of him, but he had helped you. It would be bad manners not to at least thank him for his help.

He laughs, the moonlight catching his blue eyes as he stared back at you.

"Anytime, princess," he replies. He started his bike, glancing back up at you, "I'm Marko, by the way."

"Oh, I'm y/n." You had certainly not planned to tell him your name, but at this point could it really hurt?

"Well, I'll see you around, y/n," he says, his smile wide and mischievous. Before you could say anything more, he rode off down the quiet street, disappearing into the darkness.

[mikavlcs]

Spotlight

Pairing: Wednesday Addams x fem!reader

Summary: During an unprompted visit, Wednesday discovers something that you’ve been trying to hide.

Warnings: competetive!wednesday, overuse of parenthesis, this exists outside of canon bc i didn’t wanna come up with characters to replace thornhill and weems lol

Word count: 2.5k

Notes: this was requested by an anon (dino, hi), hope you enjoy!

Masterlist

Wednesday could not stand most of the Nevermore population.

Normal teenagers were already grating enough but throw in the various quirks and abilities that came with being an outcast, and you were left with a supernaturally aggravating group of people that Wednesday wanted nothing to do with.

Most of them managed to vex Wednesday without even speaking—their mere presence an irritation to her. And that went for both students and teachers alike. No one was safe from Wednesday’s wrath.

But amongst the outcast-driven chaos and adolescent body odor, she managed to find a few people that she tolerated. Diamonds in the rough (though she would never describe them as that to their faces).

People like Enid, whom she was slowly and unwillingly warming up to, and Eugene, who reminded her too much of her brother for her to not become somewhat attached to him.

Xavier was still able to agitate her by merely being within her immediate vicinity, but he had his rare, fleeting moments of tolerability. Though they started off on the wrong foot, Bianca had earned her respect, solidifying her place on Wednesday’s short list of acquaintances…until they entered fencing class.

And finally, there was you.

A truly unlikely friendship. One that actually began as an initially one-sided academic rivalry.

You were the unfortunate soul that she got assigned to sit next to in a few classes. Because of this, Wednesday found out quickly that you were very smart.

Not as much as Wednesday (no one was), but enough to earn her respect and allow the competitive air between you to form.

She, of course, was winning but you were never far behind, and she refused to let you win.

For your part, you participated in her competition without complaint, but you seemed to do it more out of interest than a need to best Wednesday. Which shifted the dynamic in a way she didn’t expect.

Because unlike Bianca, you didn’t return her insults or instigate fights. You were kind to her. Always. Even when she was anything but kind to you. It made her feel… unpleasant.

So she resolved to stop being excessively rude to you, toning down the insults and leaning into apathy which was her first mistake. Her second was the decision to engage with the small comments you made during class rather than ignoring them outright because once she started lowering the wall between you, she couldn’t help but let it fall a little further each day.

The more she got to know you, the more her indifference morphed into something unrecognizable. The coldness she extended toward you melted, and the acquaintanceship turned into an actual friendship.

It shouldn’t have. In theory, she should have never grown close to you. You were shy, unnaturally clumsy, and you had an absolutely ungodly obsession with puns. But you were also sweet and endearing and pleasant to be around.

It worked in spite of the odds because you somehow exploited the same weakness within her that Enid and Eugene did. A fact that should have upset her but didn’t.

Still, the rivalry, though much friendlier now, endured. Both because Wednesday’s want for challenge never ceased and because you began to enjoy the competition as much as she did.

(Wednesday also enjoyed the look of wonder you had whenever she showed you a perfect test score. But she would never tell you that because you would then think that she was trying to impress you. She wasn’t.)

Whether she was influencing you or not was unclear, but you came out of your shell, matching her usual light insults with playful jabs of your own. Teasing slowly replaced the shy comments you made during class, and you grew just a bit more confident around her.

It only served to warm her up to you further.

The amount of time Wednesday would spend with you outside of class unknowingly increased. And with this newfound closeness, she started to notice some…oddities about your supposed clumsiness.

At first glance, it appeared that you were just chronically uncoordinated—tripping over things that were in plain sight was an everyday occurrence for you—but she discovered that this lack of coordination was a symptom of a greater issue.

That issue being that you had terrible eyesight.

The first time she really picked up on it was while working on a project together outside. You were working under the shade of a tree in the field behind the school and a flash of movement from above caught Wednesday’s eye. She went to inspect it and had to stop herself from rolling her eyes.

Thing, the attention seeker that he was, was trying to wave to you from her balcony.

She commented on it so you could wave back and get him to stop, but when you turned, you didn’t wave back. Rather, Wednesday watched as you struggled to find Thing above you, unfocused eyes flitting in every direction without finding their target.

It got to the point where she took pity on you and pointed to where he was hopping on her balcony railing. You waved in his general direction and got right back to work but Wednesday’s mind lingered on the incident.

She began paying more attention to your behaviors in class, the way your eyes squinted, and you had to lean forward slightly when trying to read something that was just a little too far away.

You struggled most in Miss Thornhill’s class, which Wednesday couldn’t really blame you for.

Thornhill moved at a breakneck pace, something Wednesday liked about her class, but she wrote terms in a small, nearly illegible cursive that even her well-trained eyes had trouble deciphering at times. Being assigned to sit at one of the tables near the back surely only exacerbated the problem.

And if it were anyone else, Wednesday would be happy to know that she had a leg up on the competition. But you weren’t anybody else and instead of finding victory or satisfaction in your hardship, she found herself wanting to help you.

An urge she obviously resisted, but it persisted nonetheless.

During a particularly rough class, Wednesday watched as you constantly tried and failed to understand the things written on the whiteboard up front.

You were so distracted with your notes that you made no attempts to tease her, nor did you tell her a single joke. Not even a terrible pun when she sat down in her seat. It bothered her far more than it had any right to.

After class, Wednesday stayed behind longer than usual. You noticed—if the glances you sent her way were anything to go by—but didn’t say anything. That only bothered her more.

She sighed, slid her class notes over to you. “Here.”

Startled, you looked over to her, then to the papers, then back to her.

“You’re letting me borrow your notes?” you asked, astounded.

“Just this once,” she warned, cold eyes piercing. “It would be a shame for one of my only worthy academic rivals in this outcast prison to fall behind because you refuse to act on your eyes’ obvious inadequacies.”

Before you had the time to comment on her admittance of your intelligence, she was swiftly packing her things and walking off. Just before she left the classroom, she heard a bemused, but grateful “Thanks, Wednesday!” called out behind her.

She ignored it, just as she ignored the disgusting fluttering feeling that accompanied it.

-

Unplanned setbacks were nothing new to Wednesday.

Honestly, this one wasn’t even really her fault.

One of the gorgons—tall, loud, and annoying—called her tiny. Him finding three uncovered, full-body mirrors in his dorm bathroom was simply what she would classify as karma.

When confronted she denied any involvement, citing it as “a truly unfortunate accident” but Weems, for all her faults, was no fool.

So now, Wednesday was confined to her dorm room for the week as punishment. Thornhill was stationed outside to make sure Wednesday didn’t leave her room after classes for anything other than meals and extracurriculars.

Wednesday didn’t have the heart to tell Weems that this feeble excuse for “solitary confinement” was more an escape for her than a punishment.

Though it was proving to be an obstacle for her now.

There was a Botany test scheduled for the next day. That was part of the reason why Wednesday chose to lend you her notes. But she wanted to get some studying done before her quickly approaching writing hour, so she had to get them back.

(Not that she needed to study—she had every word written on those papers memorized, but another sweep over its contents wouldn��t hurt. Especially if it guaranteed her a higher score than you.)

She had planned to retrieve them after harvesting hives with Eugene, but now it wouldn’t be that straightforward.

Fortunately, security measures as amateur as having a teacher stand outside her room were as simple for her to bypass as performing an autopsy. Something she could do in her sleep.

“Thing,” she called to her disembodied companion, “fetch me one of my spare grapples and some rope.” When she didn’t hear his tell-tale scuttling, she begrudgingly added a low, “Please.”

The sound of scampering finally reached her ears and Thing appeared beside her, the grapple and rope she requested nestled between his fingers.

She took the items from him and began tying the rope to the grapple’s end. “Thank you, Thing. If Enid returns before I do, then tell her to cover for me.”

He flashed her a thumbs-up and crawled over to Enid’s bed, no doubt intent on raiding her magazine collection.

After knotting the rope, she kicked the window open and ducked onto the balcony, connecting the hooks to the balcony railing. She threw the rope over the edge and gave it a hard tug to make sure it was anchored properly.

The grapple didn’t budge. Satisfied, she grasped the rope, climbed over the railing, and rappelled down to your balcony below with ease, spotting your hunched form through the glass of your window once her feet hit solid ground.

Silently, she pushed the window open, slipped in, and approached you. “Are you finished with my notes?”

You jumped, hard, knees banging against the underside of your desk and scattering your papers. Chest heaving, you spun around, relaxing when you saw her. “Wednesday, oh my god. Don’t scare me like that.”

She would have laughed or given you a sly remark, but she was distracted. Her attention completely taken by the glasses on your face.

The sleek, thin frames sat steadily on the bridge of your nose. She despised how she noticed the way the color accentuated your eyes. Even more so, she hated how she couldn’t deny that they looked…nice on you.

How unfortunate.

“So you do own a pair of glasses.” The words slipped from her lips as her eyes traced them for the fifth time.

You paused, then settled back against your chair, hands moving to reorganize your jumbled notes as you avoided Wednesday’s eyes.

“Two actually.”

Confusion coursed through her. You had the solution to your problem within your grasp this entire time, yet you decided to not use them? It made no logical sense.

“Then why don’t you wear them to class?”

“I-“ you sighed. “It’s stupid.”

“More stupid than knowingly impairing yourself and your performance in your classes?” Wednesday deadpanned. You stayed silent. She exhaled. “I vow not to use the information to blackmail you in the future if that’s what you’re worried about.”

The promise pulled an airy chuckle from you, and she cursed the warmth it spawned deep within her chest. “I actually wasn’t worried about that, but thank you for the assurance anyways, Wednesday.”

Wednesday gave you a nod and kept her eyes on you. Her expectant gaze didn’t go unanswered for much longer. Your eyes moved to the floor, apparently finding your socks a more interesting sight than her. Not that she cared.

“It’s just-I don’t like the way they look,” you admitted, soft and unsure. “I know you don’t care about others’ opinions but I’m not like that. I’m afraid people will laugh at me if I wear them outside of here. You probably think that’s stupid.”

You were right, she did think that was stupid. Because it was. She knew that insecurities were rarely rooted in logic, but this was just ridiculous. Ridiculous enough that she had to unpack it in steps.

First, the idea that anyone would laugh about you wearing glasses was odd. Thornhill and Eugene wore glasses without issue or ridicule. And if the vampires could walk around in their moronic sunglasses with no shame, then you should have no problem traversing the halls with your glasses.

And second, the ludicrous idea of yours that you looked bad with them on. If anyone were to see you now and say that you looked bad, she would question their own need for glasses.

Even she couldn’t find a single negative adjective to describe how they looked on you. In fact, she was having the exact opposite issue.

Wednesday debated just not saying anything in case she let her unsavory feelings slip accidentally, but she didn’t like how downtrodden you looked. Especially when it was because of something as insignificant as this.

“Well, if you’re going to listen to anyone’s opinions then listen to mine since you know I’m always correct.” The tiny smile that crept onto your face threatened to derail her thoughts, but she pressed on. “I think that you should wear them more often, and if anyone laughs, I will personally see to it that it’s the last sound that they ever make.”

You looked up, surprise flashing across your features. “Really?”

“Considering you literally need them to see, it just makes good sense to wear them, does it not?” she drawled out evenly. Seeing your remaining hesitance, she continued. “And in spite of what you may believe, they don’t make you look any worse than you normally do.”

Despite the blatant insult she included to try and distract you, your face lit up. Wednesday nearly looked away. “You don’t think they look bad?”

“No. I think they frame your face quite nicely actually.”

She didn’t catch her mistake, too busy fighting off the heat spreading in her cheeks to notice her fatal word choice. But you did. You gasped, a wide smile pulling at your lips. “Was…was that a pun?”

The words hit Wednesday like a punch to the stomach. She recoiled slightly, but knowing she couldn’t take it back she heaved a heavy, defeated sigh. “Not an intentional one.”

“Oh my god,” you said through a burst of giggles, “I can’t believe Wednesday Addams just made a pun.”

“Please stop pointing out my linguistic shortcoming. I hate being reminded of my personal failures,” she grumbled, trying to minimize the damage as much as possible. But you paid her plea no mind.

Your soft laughter filled the dorm, a melody almost as pleasant to Wednesday’s ears as the ones she played on her cello. The radiance you exuded in that moment was overwhelming.

She should have been upset with you, she really should have, but she could muster no negative feelings in the face of your unbridled joy. Even if it was at her expense.

So she let you have this victory. Just this once.

And maybe, just maybe Wednesday would be willing to accept defeat more often if it meant seeing you like this.

[gatitties]

just wondering If you're able to write straw hats x Gn! reader who ate a devil fruit that allows the user to stop time in 10 seconds every time although when overuse the user can exhaust themselves. they also happened to learn rokushiki. The reader is somewhat reserved and doesn't talk much other than speaking a few words because of them thinking that they don't feel like speaking if it not that important so reader says something like "...... ...... .....Words are unnecessary"

─Strawhats x gn!reader

─Summary: you're not a person of many words, but that's okay, you're still super cool!

─Warnings: none

I love silent readers 😌

─ Your abilities fascinated everyone and not just because of your devil fruit powers.

─ Probably only Franky, Robin and Jinbe know about your fighting style, rokushiki, something that only cp9 agents and the like mastered, although they don't care how you learned it because you are now part of the group and you demonstrated your loyalty from the first day.

─ Luffy thought you were mute when he dragged you onto the ship.

─ Then he heard you talk briefly with Sanji because he needed to know if you were allergic to something and your captain decided to bother you until you talked to him.

─ Nami hits him to make him leave you alone, since at least she understood that you were not someone who talked a lot, you liked to listen more.

─ In general, no one had a problem with having a silent partner, everyone adapted well to your silent form of communication, somehow a look was enough to express what you wanted to say most of the time.

─ Usopp always complains that you cheat when you play tag on the deck with Chopper and Luffy because you use your powers, you will never admit that his accusations are true.

─ Zoro adores you because, just as you find it unnecessary to talk, you appreciate silence and when everything is getting too loud you take it upon yourself to silence everyone, and although Zoro is capable of taking a nap even in a life or death situation, also appreciates silence when taking a break.

─ You probably have Chopper constantly worried about the abuse of your power, more than once you have fainted and been scolded for trying too hard in battles, but you feel that your power is an advantage that you need to use, having ten seconds of advantage can be crucial.

─ You love being with Brook because he will just play music, he doesn't ask you to talk, it's just the two of you enjoying the type of music you ask him to play.

─ Just like you like to have tea or coffee with Nami and Robin, (Sanji probably coming and going constantly) because you like to listen to how they argue about different topics, they don't care that you are there simply nodding at their words, your mere presence is grateful since your silence is reassuring.

─ Sometimes you help Sanji in the kitchen and he is completely grateful for the help, since unlike in the Baratie, where orders and insults were shouted, despite not dealing with the same stress, it's always good to have a partner who just listened to his orders and got to work in silence, you just heard the utensils colliding with each other, which made the kitchen time more enjoyable.

─ You have taken up the habit that when you are shopping or in a bar, you look at the person next to you like a little child at their mother/father waiting for them to look at you to say with their eyes 'I want this' or 'order my favorite drink'.

─ They don't usually worry when someone messes with you because before they can do anything you have already stopped time and the poor person who had insulted you had his own finger stuck up his nose and their own fist ready to hit themselves instead of to you.

─ That's why they don't usually play pranks on you most of the time, your power makes you a threat and your revenge is much worse, although Luffy will always ask you to team up with him to annoy Zoro and Usopp.

[shitsndgiggs]

Hello there i am new here and love your work so much, this is my first ever request so i hope you could consider writing when you have time.

So the oc and Kenan have know each other since child and their family are also close. Oc have a huge crush on Kenan so did him, but oc is not afraid of showing it so everyone around them friends and family knew about it. They never confess but their actions shows. Kenan have lots of girls pursuing him so oc have moments where she is vey jealous because Kenan is a kind hearted person and talks nicely to them, but Kenan somehow make up to it(?). But.. one day she saw him kiss a beautiful influencer and assume they are dating and oc distance herself from Kenan's life. And Kenan try go win her back and confess to each other.

A little angst with fluff and happy ending please. Thank you <3

JUST US - KENAN YILDIZ

… idk what to write here

Kenan Yildiz x fem! reader

︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿

Growing up in a small town, the lines between family and friendship were often blurred. My family and Kenan’s were the epitome of that.

From playdates to family dinners, our lives were intertwined in ways that made it impossible to separate one from the other.

We were always together, whether we liked it or not. But as we grew older, what started as innocent childhood companionship evolved into something more complex—at least, for me.

I don’t remember the exact moment I realized I had a crush on Kenan. Maybe it was when he defended me against a playground bully in third grade, or when he spent a whole weekend helping me finish a school project that was due on Monday.

Or perhaps it was the way he always had this stupid grin on his face whenever he saw me, like seeing me was the best part of his day. Whatever it was, my crush on him grew slowly, steadily, until it became impossible to ignore.

Unlike most people with a secret crush, I didn’t exactly try to hide it. I couldn’t help but blush whenever he was near, and I’d make up the most ridiculous excuses just to spend more time with him.

My friends teased me about it constantly, and our families noticed, too.

They’d exchange knowing looks whenever I gazed a little too long at him, or when I found some flimsy reason to sit next to him at the dinner table. It wasn’t a secret to anyone—except Kenan himself.

Despite my obvious affections, Kenan remained blissfully unaware. He was kind-hearted and warm, with an easygoing nature that drew people to him, especially girls.

And that was the problem.

Even though everyone knew how I felt about him, Kenan never seemed to catch on, or maybe he just didn’t feel the same way.

It didn’t help that there were always girls pursuing him, drawn in by his charm and good looks. He never shied away from them, always speaking kindly, his warm nature making him a magnet for attention. I hated it.

Jealousy wasn’t a feeling I was proud of, but it was hard to avoid when Kenan seemed to have a new admirer every week.

He was nice to them, of course—too nice, in my opinion—and I often found myself seething silently as I watched him chat and laugh with girls who were far prettier and more confident than I was.

But just when I’d start to spiral into insecurity, Kenan would do something small but meaningful, like sending me a text to check in or inviting me over to hang out. It was his way of showing he still cared about me, even if it wasn’t in the way I wanted.

One time, after I had been particularly distant during a group outing, Kenan surprised me by showing up at my house with my favorite snacks and a dumb movie he knew I loved. We spent the entire evening on my couch, laughing until our sides hurt.

In those moments, it was easy to believe that maybe, just maybe, he felt the same way about me. But then I’d see him with another girl, and the doubts would creep back in.

The worst of it happened a few months ago. We were at a mutual friend’s birthday party when I saw him talking to a beautiful influencer who had recently moved to our town.

She was everything I wasn’t—gorgeous, sophisticated, and exuding a confidence that seemed effortless. I tried to stay away, to not let it bother me, but when I saw them kissing in a corner of the backyard, it felt like my heart had been ripped out of my chest.

I don’t remember much of what happened next. I left the party as quickly as I could, my mind reeling with a mix of anger and heartbreak. The next few weeks were a blur. I distanced myself from Kenan, avoiding him at all costs.

He tried to reach out multiple times, but I either ignored his calls or gave him the cold shoulder whenever he tried to talk to me in person. My heart couldn’t take it. If he had moved on with someone else, then I needed to let him go, even if it hurt like hell.

Kenan, however, was persistent. He’d show up at my house with lame excuses, like borrowing a book or asking for advice on something trivial.

Each time, I’d keep my answers short, making it clear that I didn’t want to talk. But he didn’t give up. It was like he couldn’t understand why I was pulling away, and the frustration was evident on his face.

Finally, one evening, I couldn’t take it anymore. He had shown up at my door again, this time with a sad smile and an apology for not calling ahead. I could see the concern etched on his face, but I was too exhausted to pretend everything was fine.

“Kenan, I really don’t have time for this,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady.

“What happened, Y/N? You’ve been avoiding me for weeks. Did I do something wrong?”

His voice was laced with genuine confusion and concern, and it broke my heart even more.

I wanted to scream, to tell him everything, but the words stuck in my throat. Instead, I just shook my head. “No, you didn’t do anything wrong. I just… I need some space.”

His expression softened as he took a step closer. “Is this about that party? The one where I… kissed that girl?”

My heart skipped a beat at the mention of it, but I forced myself to stay calm. “Why would that matter to me? You’re free to do whatever you want, Kenan.”

“But it does matter to you, doesn’t it?” he asked, his voice dropping to a whisper.

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. The truth was too painful to admit.

Kenan sighed, running a hand through his hair in frustration. “Y/N, I never wanted to hurt you. That kiss… it didn’t mean anything. I was just trying to be polite. It’s nothing compared to what I feel for you.”

My eyes snapped up to meet his. “What?”

He took a deep breath, stepping even closer until there was barely any space between us. “Y/N, I’ve liked you for as long as I can remember. I just… I didn’t know how to tell you. And then you started avoiding me, and I thought I’d lost my chance.”

I stared at him in disbelief, my mind struggling to process what he was saying. “You… you like me?”

Kenan’s gaze was intense as he nodded. “Yes, I do. More than you know. And seeing you pull away from me has been killing me. I don’t want to lose you, Y/N. I never did.”

Tears welled up in my eyes as the weight of his words finally hit me. All this time, I had been doubting his feelings, assuming the worst, when in reality, he had felt the same way about me all along.

“But… you never said anything,” I whispered, my voice trembling.

“I was scared,” he admitted, his own voice breaking slightly. “Scared that I wasn’t good enough for you, that you’d realize you could do better. And then when you started pulling away, I thought maybe I was right.”

I couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. They spilled down my cheeks as I closed the gap between us, wrapping my arms around him in a tight hug. “You idiot,” I sobbed into his chest. “I’ve been in love with you for years.”

Kenan’s arms tightened around me, holding me close as if he never wanted to let go. “I’m so sorry, Y/N. I never meant to make you feel like you weren’t important to me. You’re the most important person in my life.”

We stood there for what felt like an eternity, just holding each other, letting the years of unspoken feelings and misunderstandings melt away.

When we finally pulled back, Kenan cupped my face in his hands, his thumbs brushing away my tears.

“I don’t want to hide how I feel anymore,” he said softly, his eyes locked on mine. “I love you, Y/N. And I’m going to spend every day proving it to you, if you’ll let me.”

My heart swelled with emotion as I nodded, a smile breaking through the tears. “I love you too, Kenan.”

He leaned in then, his lips capturing mine in a kiss that was soft and tender, yet filled with all the passion and love we had kept buried for so long.

It was a kiss that spoke of promises and new beginnings, of a future where we no longer had to hide our feelings from each other.

When we finally pulled apart, Kenan rested his forehead against mine, his breath warm against my skin. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that,” he murmured, a small smile tugging at his lips.

I laughed softly, the sound light and carefree. “Probably as long as I’ve wanted you to.”

He chuckled, pulling me back into his arms. “Well, now we don’t have to wait anymore. We’re in this together, okay? No more hiding, no more misunderstandings. Just us.”

“Just us,” I repeated, feeling a sense of peace and happiness that I hadn’t felt in a long time.

[cursedtransby]

Don and her Identities

So there's a lot of theories and whatnot rolling around about what the reveal means, what it means for Don's character, and what it can mean for the future. But I'd like to take a lens back and see how it changes something fundamental to Don, because every sinner has identities, but none of them are as...drastically affected by what their Canto reveals as Don.

Spoilers under Cut

From here on out I'm referring to "Don Quixote?" as Bloodon for short. Also read @thelordofhats post about Murder on the W Express as I think they have a lot of good thoughts about Bloodon and the event in general.

Bloodon is present in the mirror worlds. We know that from Don having Rocinante in every one of them, including more armored groups like Hammer Und Nagel and T Corp. Wouldn't make sense for her to keep them otherwise. However Bloodon doesn't seem to change a lot about how we view the identities, but I'd like to posit that she makes a world of a difference in understanding Don's position in the world and why she is where she is in mirror worlds. Because there's something VERY specific that seems to clash ALL OTHER MIRROR WORLD DONS from LIMBUS DON. Rule following. In almost every other identity, Don is seen following the rules of some wing or finger or even the head itself as a general fixer. The most notable thing to point to is she isn't a part of the group most against rules, the TLA, unlike fellow problem children Ishy and Heath. We never see a "Kurokumo Hong Lu" situation where she's called out for bending or breaking the rules of those she works under. This is all despite her constantly doing it under Limbus Company (at least until Vergilius tells her to back off) Why is this? I believe it has to do with Bloodon's priorities when it comes to the Don we know and love.

First and foremost, keep her alive.

We've yet to see a sinner's backstory specifically call out Dante like this. Almost as if Dante was part of the contract for Don Quixote. It wouldn't make sense for her to say they were promised. Why Dante was part of the contract is important is up to interpretation. It's possible there's something more, that Bloodon is more aware of the stars like Demian, she wants Don to completely override her, or she is simply scared of death. Either way, she needs to live for long enough to see some change for herself and Don. Thus, she needs both of them alive, hence her primary goal being that.

Secondly, she wants happiness. Lust isn't her base ego's affinity for now reason. It's likely a core part of both Don and Bloodon. If Bloodon is miserable, then it's likely she wants to help herself out of that pit somehow. Likely by making her other self happy in ANY way.

We can see this manifest throughout the mirror worlds and how Bloodon is trying across them. In each world, Don has something she can say she is happy about. Let's go over a few key ones and the way the two rules interact.

W Don! Everyone's favorite depressed and OP don. Bloodon likely setup Don's role in W Corp because of her love of the Warp Trains and the company itself. It seems like a slam dunk. Secure meal everyday, safety being a employee of a wing, and Don is happy! But when Don learns the truth, she becomes far less happy about her position. However, leaving her job is extraordinarily dangerous, if not lethal outright. To leave her Wing means death for a mere fraction of a chance of finding more happiness. Aside from her second uptie chat, she is also quite happy in all of her voicelines, and we don't really get to see how she evolves and adapts to the reality of her otherwise comfy job. It's a bit rough, but Bloodon has to keep her alive, and being a W employee is a pretty safe gig (up until something goes wrong :)

The above mentality also applies well with T Corp and Shi. While Shi is a bit less safe, she's still a director of a numbered Fixer association. She's still fairly comfy, and most of her angst comes from her subordinates suffering and having to take the lives of random individuals (something she also suffers with in T Corp).

As for ones where everything aligns, we have plenty of examples of that. Middle, Lantern, and N Corp Don all are examples of Don being perfectly happy regardless of the morality or duties her job entails, as long as it's presented to her fantasies well. However, all of them still have her following some kind of rules, whether it be the Middle's or the Corps. It's very possible a Don without a leash in the form of Bloodon informing things could very easily fuck it up, and even if Don gets her dream job as a Cing director, she still can't save everyone she wants.

All of these identities illustrate the point that Don can't have it all. Risking her life for civilians means putting her neck on the line, and it's something Bloodon in the mirror worlds isn't setting up for her.

However, it's something Limbus Company can help her with. She can achieve her dreams of being a genuine hero in Limbus Company, because Limbus Company has solved many a problem for many a person. They've saved countless lives from the Time Ripper, helped resolve the distortion that is Papa Bongy, and slain the Pallid Whale. She can be the hero she dreams of...as long as she has enough power.

Consistently, Don has been shown that she can't make it in time or have enough power to save those she wants. We see it most prominently in her desire to save Pilot's crew, where the very laws of the ocean dictate that she did not make it in time. We also see it far more clearly the 'lacking' power in the Warp express.

She so badly WANTS to fix things. She's willing to sacrifice a thousand times over to make sure villains die and the innocent survive. But in this instance, and many others, she can't.

But someone else did. Bloodon was able to salvage the situation Don couldn't. And that's what I think Canto VII will be about.

The fact that, in order for Don to be consistently happy, she needs help to fight the fights she doesn't have a hope of winning. The fact that, in order for Don to build her future, Bloodon has to face the fears that her powers are a part of them both. Afterall, who ate that Warp employee hiding in the secret compartment?

[shadyauthor]

Strings of their hearts, Prolouge

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This is a prolouge to see if you guys like it so far, the chapters will be longer after this so do not fret!! The cast will be introduced after the full version of THIS chapter, after I post this though I will be drawing the "date" outfits, as in the only design change I'm making is giving them a cute outfit to wear on a date with you.

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Silence, unbearable silence filled the forest around the dark clearing you were in. The forest around you lacked the sounds of anything; no birds; no bugs; no animals; no one. The only light to guide you around the small clearing was the moon above you, yet still it only lit up the clearing. Not the forest. That damn forest, you didn't know who was in there, what was in there, if there was anything in there at all. It called to you, begging you to come figure out if you were alone or not. The uncertainty was killing you, and the silence was driving you insane, then you heard it.

The breathing

The slow almost silent practiced steps

It stopped behind you

You didn't dare turn around

The growling

Turned to screaming

You crumbled to the ground unable to bear the unnatural sound, laying flat on the ground now, unmoving, you wondered if you were dead.

Then silence filled the air again, and more; and somehow; silence filled the silence.

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Wake up.

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You bursted from your dream, flying up to sit up in your bed. Cold sweat practically dripping from your face. It was that dream again.. you couldn't stand that dream, the uncanny silence always followed by you falling to the ground and wondering what was happening, or what happened really. You never fully understood why you started having that reoccurring dream, you never did anything in the waking world to even cause the dream. You didn't watch horror movies alot, and you haven't been to a forest since you were a pre-teen. Even then, your memories about that summer were blurry and you couldn't remember what happened.

Looking to your nightstand you read your clock "5:00 AM" You sighed, 'time to get up' . You and your friend group had an entire weekend planned out, you all had been planning this for a few weeks, you all would take 3 of your vacation days off of work and go do fun stuff. Fun stuff as in go out on the town for 2 days and regret it all on the third and go back to work on the 4th, today you all were gonna go shopping, you all had very decent jobs so it wasn't very hard to save up alot of spending money.

So not wanting to be late you got up and trudged to your bathroom, flicking the light on you slightly jolted at your appearance 'damn I look like shit man..' you sighed, your hair an absolute mess and your shirt had a wet spot of drool on the collar. Getting ready was the easiest part of most of your days, as you usually knew exactly what was going to happen in the day, so you knew how to dress. But as this days only objective was to "go shopping" it was to vague to know exactly how to dress, but going casual should be good enough. Getting in and out of the shower was a simple task other than the undying fear that you'll slip and break your neck.

You dried your hair with a towel, you wouldn't brush it till you went downstairs. Throwing on your grey button up and torn jeans you shut the lights off and headed downstairs to do your hair and eat breakfast "alexa play don't worry he happy" you stated nonchalantly, it was your favorite song to play in the mornings to calm the nerves.

Humming along to the song, you shuffled to the kitchen in your socks. 'Hmm cereal or eggs...cereal...or....nah cereals easier' you moved over to the cabinets, opening them and pulling out the generic unhealthy colorful marshmallow cereal. You only had a few dishes in your kitchen as you lived alone, unlike your friends who had spouses and kids already. You preferred to live alone, it was more peaceful this way, you had less to worry about. Though you didn't hate the idea of a family, you just didn't really have time to go on dates, you hadn't even had a vacation since you first got your new job. Shaking your head you brought your thoughts back to the task at hand : 'find a bowl and spoon and eat already dude!'

As soon as you got your bowl of cereal ready you moved to your large living room, with black leather couches and dark rugs that complemented the rest of your homes dark pallette. You turned your large mounted TV on and immediately changed it to cartoons, not really wanting to bother watching the News, you already knew the world was going to shit you didn't need another reminder while you where trying to eat your color bombed cereal.

You sighed in content when you settled on spongebob, the joyful sponge making you forget about it all. You finished eating and reached to your brush that was laying on the couch from the previous day of you being to tired to put it up, sighing you brush through all the tangles of your messy hair and half styling it, as in you just brushed your bangs out of your eyes and called it a day.

You pulled your phone from your jeans right pocket, seeing it was already "7:45 AM" you smiled, it was time to go pick up some of your friends!

[fleurhcss]

Hii, so I saw you take requests soo I guess here is one🫶🏻: lee know x fem reader who is a roommate of a former/or still employed coworker from jyp (like make ip artist or stylist) and the friend is still in touch with skz and they are really good friends still and reader gets to meet Minho and rest and Minho is like really enchanted (not that obvious, but visible to the members) and wants to know more about reader. Idk they hang out as a group a few times and he is like trying to leave hints that he likes her but she doesn‘t get it and is oblivious (even though she totally has a crush on him too…which he knows) so he gets like frustrated and asks her out eventually after a group activity and she is like…mE?! You could ask everyone and you ask ME?? Hahahah idk and then it‘s like a cute date or something…

Well I hope this sounds great, if not that is fine too, thanks for taking req and have a wonderful dayyy💕

♫₊˚.🎧 ✩｡☕ 🤎 HONEY SATURDAY NIGHT - Minho Imagine !

Your best friend and roommate was a sunny and friendly person, unlike you, and managed to maintain a firm friendship for years. It was amazing how she didn't care how long she hadn't seen a person, especially one she didn't like, she still managed to sneak into everyone's heart and make them love her, you were incredulous to see how many people she knew and asked out to dinner. You hadn't had that many friends since kindergarten, so much so that your only friend now was actually your flatmate, who was working and older than you while you were still a college student. You used to go out together in your spare time and watch her stop every ten steps and talk to everyone - hallucinating.

You could somehow understand her, as she had worked for many years at one of the biggest music companies: JYP Entertainment. And it was quite unexpected when one day you found her at the foot of your bed begging you to go to a group gathering with her. As fate would have it, it was with one of the most famous and successful bands: Stray Kids. You knew the band well - who didn't? Heejin had been their stylist and hairdresser for years, apparently enough to form a nice friendship bond that she wanted to pull you into. But she was well aware of your interactions on a social level. And you didn't want new friends, even if they were eight Adonis. Too bad no one could really resist Heejin. "Please, Y/N, I haven't seen them for a long time, they were so nice to ask me to come and invite a friend of mine because they were afraid I would feel uncomfortable since they are all male," she said with folded hands, begging you for the umpteenth time. "But look at you, how considerable! Too bad I don't care, and besides, if there are two of us, it won't change much," you told her, throwing a pillow at her.

"I'll buy you the latest Vivienne Westwood that you like so much if you go out with us." But unfortunately, as you had said, it was impossible to say no. Especially to a proposal like that, especially when you collected fashion items and your favourite was Vivienne herself. And so you had found yourself that Wednesday night preparing for this night out. Heejin had checked your wardrobe because, according to her, you had to be perfect in the eyes of the boys. You wondered why, especially since your best friend seemed to be planning a combo date. You looked like one of those debutantes who had to make a good impression on her way into society. She had bought you a little white St Gallen lace dress with balloon sleeves, paired with Camperos boots and a black leather jacket, and carried your usual handbag.

Standing in front of what looked like eight Adonis, you were struck by how much better they looked in person. But one in particular was particularly attractive and interesting in your eyes, even if he was very taciturn compared to the others - yes, these guys were always fooling around. What you did not know was that this same man was so enchanted by your beauty that he had to have his companions call out to him several times because he was staring at you too much. Strangely enough, you hadn't even tried too hard to interact with them, they had made you feel comfortable right away, and their sweetness towards you was endless, so much so that you struck up a friendship with Seungmin and Felix right away - the two of them were a strange duo, so sweet but almost devilish, especially Seungmin, who was always throwing strange spicy mixtures at Chan that he almost had to be beaten. What you did expect, however, was to become Minho's favourite prey. The way his friends described him, he was a real devil with feline features - more like a panther than a cat.

All this in an evening that lasted eight hours.

What you didn't expect was that you wouldn't go out with them several times and get on well with them, but that you would fall in love with Lee Minho. Yes, because after going out with them so many times in the last two months, you had become quite interested in the grey-haired guy and destiny wanted you to be his favourite prey. You were very close and he took every opportunity to tease you. Maybe that was what made you crazy about him. Not knowing that it was totally reciprocated from day one. Minho had a crush on you. Seriously - maybe you were a bit stupid - but you didn't take any of the hints he left you every time you went out with your friends. And he would say things about it, take advantage of every situation to sign with you, and you were the only one who didn't get it at all. He, on the other hand, was so curious that he always found a way to find out something new about you.

"Please Hyung invite her out, I can't stand all this tension every time we go out," Jeongin complained with a pout on his face. Minho laughed. "Seriously, how could she not see that you have a crush on her? Hannie figured it out too," Hyunjin said, clutching the arm of his best friend who made a fake offended face - he knew it was the truth. "Everything has its time guys, I want to tease her some more," the boy said, earning a dirty look from the rest of the group. On the other side, you lay despondently on your bed with your best friend, who was now tired of hearing your complaints about him. "But why don't you stop feeling sorry for yourself and just tell him that you like him like normal people do," Heejin said to you. But you were not normal and you were too afraid of the rejection that was so obvious in your eyes. "I'd ruin our friendship and therefore the group," you said, sinking your head into the pillow.

"I don't give a shit, I can't bear to see you in a state of self-pity. You're pathetic. And move that ass, we have to go out with the boys tonight" from bad to worse, you thought. Too bad you hadn't imagined that tonight, because of a stupid game suggested by Felix - who did everything in his power to get you and Minho together - you would find yourself locked in a room with Minho himself staring at you with his mega-brown eyes. "So, your idea is to keep silent and stare at me, or?" he asked you, making himself comfortable on the bed. You frowned at him and flanked him on the bed. Maybe Heejin was right and you needed to talk to him, this was a good opportunity. "Listen, I need to tell you something," you started and got his attention. He had his usual grin on his face, that slapping expression.

"Me too, will you go out with me?" her brain went into overdrive. What had he just said? You almost couldn't believe your ears. Was it a joke? It had to be. "So?" he asked again, expecting an answer. "Are you serious? I mean, you want to ask me out, just the two of us - a date?" you asked, still in shock. "Do you see anyone else in this room by any chance?" he asked in his usual sarcastic tone. "Really?" you asked again. "Really, Y/N," he said, giving you a shove. "Sure...I just wanted to tell you that...in short, I like you," you lowered your head. He raised it with his forefinger, then planted his lips on yours in a kiss that made your head spin. "Finally, I thought you'd never tell me," he chuckled. "What? You knew?" you asked in shock - what a fool you had been. "Yes, I just thought you'd be more awake, that you wouldn't notice my signals," she laughed, "Oh come on, was he teasing you? "Signals?" "Yes, signals, I've liked you for two months."

You really had been an idiot.

Your crush had always been sending you signals and you hadn't been able to pick them up - who knows how long you would have been together if you had... .... Now it's time to redeem yourself. At least as much as you can. "Ah, um. Well, you know, I'm looking forward to going out with you," you said shyly to your boyfriend? You still didn't know what you were. "Perfect, that's pretty much reciprocated. I'll pick you up on Saturday and we'll go camping for our first official date. Make sure you bring everything. I'll be there around ten in the morning. And to clarify your thoughts I have read so far...yes, you are my girlfriend now," he said, stealing another kiss from you and then sneering back at your friends. When Heejin saw you he knew immediately what had just happened and you laughed heartily.

The evening, like the week, flew by and you and Minho were in his sports car, ready to go camping. His hand was caressing your bare thigh and your mind was flickering all over the place. He was singing along to the songs on the radio and you just looked at him and smiled, thinking how lucky you were to have a man like that by your side. Who wouldn't want a Lee Minho to be their boyfriend - this boy was a dream on earth. When he turned to look at you, you always blushed like an idiot because he would catch you, but it was impossible not to, given the look he gave you every time. When you arrived at the campsite you smiled like a fool, you looked like you were on your honeymoon. He took you like a bride and carried you inside, into the bedroom of your tent. You pulled him to you, kissed him gently and nibbled on his lower lip, which turned cherry red each time.

"Princess, I have to get the things in the car, the food is in there too, you don't want it to go bad, do you?" he tickled you and then walked away to arrange your things in the tent, as if he was used to all this, and from there your mind began to wander a little too much. You imagined what he was like as a husband, surely perfect as he cooked for you or entertained your children. At that thought you couldn't help but smile and think what it would be like to make love to him day and night, to feel him close to your body - skin against skin, cold against heat. "You know I love coming here, I always come here when I want to be alone and I'm too stressed. But today I'm sharing it with you, because you're my favourite person," he chuckled, hugging you, throwing himself on top of you. "More than Jisung?" you giggled, knowing what a soft spot Minho had for that little squirrel - after all, everyone had a soft spot for Jisung, that guy was sweetness personified as well as being extremely adorable. "I should think about it," he said laughing, and you pretended to be offended and threw a pillow over him, straddling him and filling him with kisses.

"You're beautiful, do you know that?" he smiled, then began to kiss your neck slowly, but there was no malice in it. "Never as much as you, mister," you smiled, ruffling his hair - Minho was gorgeous, you could feel the warmth emanating from his body as it clung to yours in a gentle embrace. You had never been good at relationships, nor had you had ideal partners, but it was as if all the forces of nature had been concentrated to give you Minho. The boy had just the right amount of sweetness, sympathy and kindness, and you could go on like that for a long time. The only thing that was serious and overwhelming about him was his beauty, Minho seemed to have been sculpted by the gods.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked, waking you from the trance-like state you had fallen into. "I was thinking about you, I'm wondering if this isn't all a dream, ready to disappear when I open my eyes," you confided, seeing him staring at you as if thinking about something. "I have a way of letting you know it's real, sit down and wait for me here," he told you, disappearing from the tent and returning with a small bag. "Open it, it's for you," he said as he stood next to you. You opened the bag and then your smile widened as the gift appeared before your eyes, you looked at it almost in disbelief. "It's the same as my bracelet, I wanted to give you something special that we could share together," he smiled, you were almost speechless and motioned for him to help you put on a small necklace with a blue pendant, it was a lapis lazuli. "It's wonderful!" you cried and then catapulted yourself onto him and began to plant sweet kisses on his lips.

Kisses that became deeper, more mischievous. You wanted to make love to him all day long.

This did not displease the older man, who worshipped your body by filling it with kisses and caresses, you only stopped to eat and to feel Minho's hands on your naked skin had driven you as crazy as your hands on his chest had driven him crazy. It was late in the evening by the time you really stopped, too tired and sticky - you took a bath before going to bed. The older's hands ran through your wet locks as you listened to his heartbeat through his chest.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

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a/n : i hope u will like it!! i love sweet minho as a boyfriend 🩷🩷 I opened a ko-fi account, i will post there some stories and drawings, if you want to support me i will be grateful to anyone who wants to give me tips, ITS NOT OBLIGATORY

TAGLIST 🎀 : @yongbokkiesworld @gloomy-k @raindropsondragons @linocvp1d @iiamthedramaa @snowyquokka @pynchkilledme @y4kie @ihrtlix @hyunjinnnsgirl @sugarsweetsugarsweet @reader1221 @bubblebisk

[weirdthinkingdragon]

Shouldn’t Have Traveled

Yandere Diluc, x chubby reader x yandere Zhongli

Words: 5,700+

warnings: poisoning mentions, slightly descriptive murder, unwanted touch,  reader made fun of by others, physically clingy Diluc (you can pry that from my cold, dead, hands)

Took a pic of where the ending scene is for clarity. 

Sorry if anyone (besides Donna, Diluc, and Zhongli are ooc. Idk their personalities too well yet.

I’ve decided to leave Mondstat. Not for any reason anyone would think. It’s rather awkward and I’ll never admit the real reason to anyone. I can’t really stand being around Diluc anymore. Donna and other’s words are starting to get to me. 

What words? The scathing words of “He’d never like someone like you”. They say that’s due to my different appearance. The words never really hurt, but it’s getting irritating, and I’m unsure how much more I can hear them talk about it before I snap and deck one or more of them. That’s also why I can’t be around Diluc. Just seeing or interacting with him also brings up their words again.  

A few final things are being packed tightly into my large bag. My plan is to just stay at the hotel for a week or two and come back. Then again that plan might change, who knows? If somehow a job comes up and they’re welcoming, I’ll maybe live there instead. 

Thankfully I kept Mora saved up for a while and quit my job at Good Hunter. Being a cook there was exhausting too. One of Donna’s friends also being there obviously made things worse as she framed me for a lot of things, making the others not too happy with me. Think one of the only ones who do still like me is Barbara when they tried to frame me for making her food extra spicy. 

Another glance in my bag. Hmm… I’m a little low on things to drink on my travel to Liyue. Some grape juice would be nice, so I head towards Angel’s Share. 

The group of Diluc-obsessed parasites try to block me. 

“Yeesh, you guys still have a whole fence shoved up your asses? I should have known you have a poor tree up there now too. Sad it had to die for your personalities. All I’m doing is buying grape juice for travel.” I reply and give an eyeroll with it, entering Angel’s Share. 

Their insulted faces a sight to behold being the last thing seen.

A certain redhead was working, catching me by surprise. Really wasn’t expecting for him to be working instead tonight. Fuck. Ah, screw it. A last chat won’t harm anything. 

“Diluc?” 

His head whips towards the door instantly. His eyes zoning onto the bag I’m carrying. They almost seem to narrow. 

“I wasn’t expecting you to be working tonight.” I inform, sitting down in the free seat in front of him. My bag being placed onto the floor. 

Diluc places the glass he had in his hands onto the island and looks me in my eyes. “I decided to give Charles a break for the night.” 

“That’s one thing I admire about you-” His eyes widen slightly, meanwhile I mentally smack myself for letting that slip. “I- well- It’s how you treat your workers. Unlike many I’ve seen, you’re not as harsh with them, and more thoughtful.” 

I cross my arms and mumble “If only Good Hunter stayed the same, I would probably have stayed.”

He rather firmly slams the glass back on the island I didn’t notice he picked back up. “You’re leaving? Alone?” I could almost swear his voice slightly raised like he was worried. Maybe he is? Kaeya has told me he does care about others. As just said how he’s letting Charles have the night off. He  just doesn’t show emotions very well most of the time. 

“Yeah, I was planning on heading to Liyue early in the morning. I was hoping to get some grape juice for on the way there though. It would need to be in something portable. Bottles or even jars would be fine. Of course, I’d pay the fee for those too.”

Diluc’s frown deepens.  

The door open and closed, but I think nothing of it. 

“If you don’t have any, I could go find some and come back for you to fill them, if that would be alright. I don’t want to overwork you.” 

He shakes his head. “No, that would be fine. Believe it or not, it’s not the first time someone has asked for transportable items to be filled. I’ll work on it. You won’t have to worry about carrying them since I’ll be coming with you tomorrow.”

Wha- no! The whole reason I’m leaving is involving him!

“That’s alright. I couldn’t ask you to do that. You’re quite a busy person as it already is.” 

His eyes narrow at me. “I’m not taking “no” as an answer. I’m going with. You need a guide.”

His tone scared me a little, I won’t lie to myself. 

He crosses his arms and closes his eyes for a second, taking a breath in before looking at me again. “You don’t even have a vision. You also don’t know where you’re going, and I am worried, whether you believe it or not. I also was planning on going to Liyue as well to visit someone close to me.” 

I hate everything he said was nothing but logic. I would just ask him if I could ask a knight or something to come with, but knowing his strong dislike for them, it would be a bad idea. 

It stays quiet between us for a minute. 

“... Why don’t you go rest up for the night? It’s going to be a long day tomorrow.”

I wonder if I could get far enough before he could catch me if I left tonight.

“You’re giving away what you’re thinking. You better not. I will catch up. Don’t test it.” 

Ugh, fine. I’m still worried since he’ll be tired tomorrow. 

While leaving, the group comes up yet again with bottles in their hands. The door opening and closing must have been a friend I didn’t notice was there. 

They hold out the empty bottles towards me. 

… are they serious? What makes them think I’d trust them? They probably put poison or something in these. Doesn’t help they’re not see through. Yeah, no. I’m not using these. Their smirks are just making me more tired and not wanting to deal with their shit.

“Oh, you guys already know I’m leaving? Uh, thanks…” I take them, already knowing they’re going in the trash. 

“Just a little goodbye gift~” 

Wow, how thoughtful. 

They leave giggling. Probably from malicious intentions. 

“Would you like me to take those, (Y/N)?” suddenly asked a voice. I turn to see Charles. 

“You haven’t left yet?” I asked him. 

“I stayed to clean up a few final things in the back. It’s not my place, but I don’t trust what those women gave you.” 

I glance at the 3 glasses in my hands again. “That makes two of us. Are you sure they won’t be dug into by the cats and dogs around? That’s my main concern if I throw them.”

“I can assure they will be taken care of properly.” He informs. 

I mentally shrug. Eh, whatever. He’s reliable. I pass him the bottles and go to my house one final time. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I feel a hand on my shoulder as I prepare to exit to the bridge with Diluc. Diluc’s not here yet though. Oh archons, if I ever come back, I’m not going to ever hear the end of I took their “precious Diluc”. Turning around, it’s Venti. One of the closest friends I made here, and only ones left. His face is far more serious than I’ve ever seen it. 

“... Stay safe out there,” He cautiously looks around. I do as well, and the nuisances are not around for once. Diluc however is seen with his own bag coming up. “Especially from him.” He quickly takes his hand off before Diluc could see. 

Diluc glares at Venti while walking up to me. “We better get going.” A hand of his is on my lower back, gently pushing me forward. 

----------------------------------------------------------

Numerous quiet hours pass, and my feet are starting to kill me. I’m starting to think Kaeya lied to me it was an easy day trip. 

Looking at Diluc, he doesn’t even seem to be the slightest bit uncomfortable. The only noticeable thing is the bags growing under his eyes. 

I’ve been trying to think of things to make it less awkward, but nothing comes to mind. He hates small talk. 

“So… should I find a way to message you or something if I want to come back to Mondstadt?” 

Diluc stops for a moment. “... I’ll inform who I’m going to meet.” 

Okay. well, that was a good talk, I guess. 

About an hour later, I’m at my limit. Curse everything and whoever created pain. My feet are going to be sore for weeks at this point. How the hell do people wander like this? 

Diluc still stays vigilant and glares around at every direction like something will pop out. I’m more worried about him collapsing from exhaustion than anything. 

… why do I feel like I still would before he would at this rate? 

“When should we set up a small camp for rest for a while? I only brought my small one for more easy transportation, but I think we could both squeeze in.” though I’d much rather not. 

It’s already near sunset. Holy fuck I’ve been walking ALL day. 

Diluc gives a stare off into the distance in though,, then nods. “I’ll get some firewood.” 

I nod and dig out the tent. Fortunately, slamming the sticks in deep enough was pretty easy and I remember how to set it up from camping with a few friends years ago. 

Diluc comes not long after with an impressive amount of wood, and drops it onto the ground not far from the tent. He piles a few together and scrapes dirt into a pile around it. He then lights his claymore and holds it onto the wood until it starts to burn. 

I begrudgingly have to admit having someone with a pyro vision likely makes traveling a lot easier.  

We both crawl under and it’s so phenomenally awkward. Him closer to the back and I in the front. It’s really crowded just between us. We’re both just staring awkwardly at each other in the eyes. 

… something drops onto the tent. Then another, then several- it’s raining. How did we not notice that sooner? There was no point in making a fire. 

Nope, it’s now already pouring. “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.” I mumble, but the close proximity likely made him hear it. 

“I never need an umbrella, so I’d be fine. Hopefully the temperature won’t drop too much.”

The temperature does rapidly starts to drop though. Now I’m wishing I brought a second blanket with. My arms get tucked together, trying to keep a bit more warmth. 

Arms grab my sides, making me let out a surprised noise. “Wha- Diluc! I’m not sure if-” 

“Don’t care,” His arms quickly wrap around my back, squeezing me close. “I’d rather you not get sick while we’re on our way.” His great smelling cologn from proximity hitting my senses hard. 

The heat that rushes to my face is even warmer than the warmth radiating out of his clothes. 

“Uh…” What the fuck am I supposed to say? “Ooh this is nice!”??

It’s definitely not! Ugh, why did he have to be the one for this? I should have lied about when I was leaving… 

He tightens his grip when I uncomfortably try to squirm free. “Quit. Moving.” 

I stop and mentally sigh. It better not rain again tomorrow night. 

He never loosens his grip.

------------------------------------------

The tightness around me while slowly coming back makes me try to squirm free again, while the memories of last night catch up.

Diluc’s arms tighten more than last night. Looking at his eyes, he appears to still be asleep. 

The way I’m so torn between enjoying this, and being disgusted is wild. Donna’s words trying to come back. Thankfully the little I know about Diluc is he will never talk about this out loud, even with a blade pointed at him. 

For a second, I wonder if I should wake him or let him sleep. But he should probably get ready to get back to Mondstadt ASAP. 

Well, since it’s not raining anymore, and I’m still uncomfortable at this, I’m waking him up. 

Fortunately, my arms are free. I reach up and shake his shoulder. “Diluc, it’s time for us to continue.” my feet throb in protest at the idea. 

He lets out a sigh, almost like he was disappointed. He lets me go and I roll off onto the ground, then getting up. Checking my bag, it thankfully stayed dry.

I pack my bag back together, and we head off again, much to my feet’s displeasure. But from Diluc informed me earlier, we should be about halfway there. Luckily we’ve only encountered some hillachurls, and he gets rid of them so easily it makes me almost feel bad for them. 

The sights have been beautiful though. Almost to the point I could ignore the still-growing pain in my feet. 

“Here.” 

I turn to notice a clear bottle of grape juice handed to me and take it, finally realizing I haven’t drank anything in a while either. I drink it quickly. 

“It’s better to stay up with fluids and food for long travels. I’ve… learned my lesson before.”

Well, that’s a can of worms I’m not opening. In speaking of bottles though… “Sorry to change off that, but did Charles give you three that weren’t clear?”

Diluc frown gets worse. “He did, and told me how Donna and the others gave you them,” His voice dipped like he was disgusted even thinking about it. “Had them drink from the poisoned bottles they gave you. Unfortunately, it won’t kill them, but it better make them think twice about their actions. Next time I won’t be so lenient.” 

So they were poison- wait, what??? He’s fucking insane! I mean, sure, they were pretty bad and wanted to poison me, but poisoning them back isn’t right either! I force myself to stay calm. I can’t outrun him anyway, and I don’t know where I’m going either if requiring to leave the path. This does open my eyes more on him though. 

A secret part of me is touched he did such a thing for me though. 

“That’s a bit far, isn’t it? Couldn’t you get in trouble for that?” 

“I have my connections if they decide to try anything.” 

I shrug. Eh, whatever I guess. I am still staying a bit away from him, which he seems to notice. He comes over and grabs my bag, pulling me right beside him. 

“I also don’t think me being this close is necessary.” 

“You’d be surprised how quickly an ambush could happen. Especially if we encounter a ruin guard or abyss mage.”

Fat chance a ruin guard would be on the main path. Even I know that. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Yet another day already flies by. I plop my backside onto the ground, take my shoes off, and rub my worsening sore feet. “Ugh, I’m not usually one for complaining, but holy Celestia my feet hurt. Smack Kaeya for me next time you see him for lying it was a rather short trip.”

Diluc jabs the stake quite deeply into the ground and is setting up the tent this time. “I’m surprised you got this far without complaining. If it’s really bad though, do you want me to carry you tomorrow?” 

Gods no. I could never deal with that embarrassment if anyone traveling were to see it. “No. You’d have a lot more to carry than just your bag already. Me and my bag is too much to ask.”  

He gives me a look I can’t understand. Kind of annoying it’s always been rather hard to understand whatever he’s feeling since he hardly shows it. 

“It wouldn’t be.”

“I’d rather not test it. Besides, we should be there by tomorrow noon, right?” 

He nods.

Looking at the darkening sky, it’s likely not going to rain this time. I glance at the tent, not wanting to stand up and walk to it. 

Diluc seems to notice and comes over, crouching down. An arm wraps under my knees, making me instantly realize his intention. “Wait- stop! I can do it!-” 

He puts his other arm behind my back, and easily stands up fully. “Don’t struggle.” 

I feel like I’ve heard stuff like that more the past few days than all my life before combined. 

He places me down on the blanket and sits next to me. Too close next to me. Honestly? I’m too tired to really care at this point. 

An arm wraps around my torso, keeping me closer. What is his obsession with touch!? He never is with anyone anymore, not even his own brother! 

A very gentle squeeze to my stomach makes me whip my head to look down at his hand. 

??? When did he take his glove off!? 

“... I’ve heard what many have been saying. If moving is really what you want, I can’t stop you. However, if you ever wish to visit again, both the Winery and Angel’s Share are always open for you to stay. As for me, I’m angry what they’ve been saying.”

I can’t look at him. I should have known someone like him would so easily catch on.

I begrudgingly have to admit his shoulder is a lot more comfortable than the ground. At least not laying on his chest this time. 

“Who do you have to see, anyways?” 

“Someone you could say I’m very close with. I have something urgent to discuss with them. 

I let out a light chuckle. “Wonder who in the Teyvat got the attention to be cared about by the great Diluc. I’ll surely have to meet them.” 

“You will sooner or later when in Liyue.” 

Not going to tell me? Alright, he can keep his secrets. Not like he has a lack of them. 

----------------------------------------------------------------

I could kiss the dock we’re walking on to enter Liyue. The guards stand down pretty quickly upon seeing Diluc, so they likely know him. 

We get to a hotel and both order rooms. Diluc disappears not too long after, and I stay in my room to rest. I wonder if I should ask someone a tour of Liyue since I know very little about the place. 

But first, some rest.

Several hours later, I’m wandering around again, more refreshed. There seem to be a lot of great restaurants to try. 

“Hey partner! I reckon you’re new here? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around before.” 

I turn around to see someone with two ponytails walking up to me. She feels rather friendly, but still got my guard up a bit just in case. 

“Is it really that obvious?” I ask. 

“Yeah, But you don’t have to worry. We get a lot of people from all over visit here. So, what were ya lookin’ for? I might be able to help.” 

“I was trying to think of where to eat something, honestly. But uh… I’m not really sure what’s right to start with.” 

“That’s easy! You can try something at Wanmin Restaurant! I’m sure my friend there would love to figure out something ya might enjoy! C’mon!” She gestures for me to follow her. 

It doesn’t take long to get there, and there’s a girl cooking very enthusiastically. 

“Heya Xiangling! Got a new friend here for you to figure out what they’d like.” 

She whips her head up. “Xinyan! Ooh, a new person, huh? Where you from!?” 

“From Mondstadt.” 

How hyperactive can someone get? She somehow gets even more excited at the news. 

“Mondstadt!? Ooh! Just let me finish these orders, and I’ll try something you’d like!” 

Sooner than later she finishes, and makes something else I’m confused of, especially from never seeing such ingredients being used in food before. 

… Eyes are on me from behind. I decide to ignore it. It’s probably just someone curious or rude and not worth my time.  

Xiangling passes me something finished I’ve never seen before. I’m a little reluctant to try it, but eventually do after a moment’s pause. It’s delicious. 

I say so and nearly scarf it down. 

They smile back at me. 

“I guess you got another to try your new foods!” Xinyan pipes up. 

Oh hell yeah, I’m willing to try others she makes.

I jump out of my skin as a hand rests on my shoulder that isn’t Xinyan’s or Xiangling’s. 

“Oh Hey, Zhongli! Been a bit. Ya able to show the newbie here around Liyue? You’re a lot better at that than anyone.” 

“I would gladly show a tour around Liyue. I suppose it’s not unknown for me to be the one to do so anymore. Thankfully I’m free to do so now.” 

Hot damn that voice. Dude, don’t stop talking.  I turn to look at the man who was-

… I don’t like how he’s looking at me. It’s not aggression, disgust, etc. It’s more like wonder? Fascination? Something more like that which worries me worse than something negative or neutral. 

He offers his hand to me. Is it to give a handshake or to help me stand up? I reach out to grab his hand. I guess I’ll find-

He grabs it gently, and brings it to his face, kissing the back of it. 

Aw fuck, it was the weird 3rd option. Well, he’s a gentleman at least. 

“Are you ready for the tour, my dear?” 

My- my dear??? A little quick on the draw, Doesn’t he think? 

I stand off the chair. “Yeah! Even though I just got here, I can tell I like it here already.” 

He smiles like he’s very proud of that.

---------------------------------------------------

Great. I have a bad headache now with everything he’s tried to show and inform to me. This feels like something that should have been spread a few sessions. It was great to know, and I enjoyed it all, but this is too much. I can’t decide if Zhongli talking is helping or worsening the pain. 

I rub my forehead. Well, at least it takes away the pain in my feet. “Zhongli?” I cut him off on yet another story of information overload. 

He stops and looks at me. “I’m sorry to cut you short. I really like everything, and am totally down to know more, but it’s too much in one setting for me. Would you… maybe be free to continue tomorrow?” 

His eyes widen slightly. “Ah, I do apologize. I suppose giving more than just the best tour spots was too much. It appears to have given you a headache. Would you like to come to my place for a bit? I have some tea that would help.”

How about No? Have you ever heard of “stranger, danger”? Seriously, I could be a thief or you could be a murderer for all we know. 

“I’m good. Thanks for the offer, though. Just really want to go to bed.”

“Fair enough. Shall we meet at Wanmin Restaurant again tomorrow?” 

I nod and turn to head to my room. 

“See you then, (Y/N).”

A chill comes over me. Could have sworn my name was never mentioned with him. Or maybe I did? Ugh, head says no thinking. 

A group of girls come up to me. “You know, someone like you shouldn’t be interacting with someone like Zhongli.”

Ugh, seriously? He was just showing me around. He really seems to love this place and know the insides and outs. And they should shut up. Their voices are grating my nerves.

A shorter, younger looking woman with them rolls her eyes and almost seems to be playful about it. She comes up to me. “Hey! I’m Hu Tao! It’s nice to see a new face around here!” 

I blink a moment, trying to register how she’s super friendly to me already. Trying to sense if she’s just doing it to stab me later, I can’t feel anything off about her. Her being genuine makes it more jarring. Still keeping guarded though, I smile back at her. “Name’s (Y/N). Visiting from Mondstadt.” 

Hu Tao gives a massive mischievous smirk, like she knows something bit I don’t. “Mondstadt, huh?...” 

“What’s that look for?” I ask. 

“Nothing~”

----------------------------------------

It’s finally around noon when I exit my room. Something from the side jumps out. 

“Ha-what- Hu Tao! What was that for!” 

She giggles. “Nothing serious! It was just funny! 

Yeah, so funny to scare someone just exiting their room. 

“So what are you here for?” Might as well change whatever that was about. 

“To see how you like Liyue so far!” 

I was… not even here for a day? “Well, good so far. Though Zhongli feels a little odd.”

Hu Tao gives me the same massive smirk. “I Don’t know… I think Zhongli sure likes ya!” 

I try not to laugh at the impossibility, but the bark of a disbelieving laugh still comes out. “Yeah right. Not even in my dreams could that happen. I mean, look at him, and look at me.” I joke, while in the proximity of some girls making fun of me earlier. They’re around too, so may as well give them what they want, though it probably won’t help. 

She shrugs. “So? You’d be surprised!”

Thanks for the hope, but no. 

She runs off without another word. 

“I hope you’re well rested?” Inquired the too-familiar voice of Zhongli. 

Oh for fuck sake I just woke up for all this.

“Yeah. Weren’t we going to meet later, though?”

“A friend of mine informed me You’d be around here. With your headache from last night, I guessed it was going to take you a long rest before leaving. Would you like to eat somewhere before we continue where we left off?” 

My stomach growls in agreement. Ugh, stupid thing. “Sure. lead the way.” 

We reached a different restaurant.

One of the girls from before “Hey, look out everyone, they’ve come to eat all your food!” 

Yeah? And what if I do? I’ma nibble all your food for making fun of me. May you always have a mysterious bitemark in everything for eternity. 

A hand is placed on my shoulder. “I would like it if you’d refrain from such vulgar outbursts about someone innocent who’s come to visit Liyue.” Zhongli pipes up. 

The woman’s face was either red with embarrassment or anger at me. Maybe both. 

He lead me to a different one instead, and we ordered. 

I notice he keeps looking at me while we eat. What? He got a staring problem? I’m getting mixed signals of what he’s like. 

Someone came for the mora for our meals. 

Zhongli couldn’t seem to find his, making me nearly facepalm. Whatever, he’s a good man so far, as paying is just a favor for his touring I guess. 

“Ah, there. I apologize it took a bit to find.” 

The waiter didn’t seem to mind and left. 

“Well that sure took a bit to find. Having a hard time remembering where you put your mora doesn’t make sense to me.” I tease.

He nods at me. You’d be right. Thankfully someone very close to me has been watching out for my forgetfulness.” 

Good thing someone is for him.

He showed me the rest around the harbor, and even some grounds out of it. One place being the strange really tall statues by the thing in the sky, named the Jade Chamber I guess.

It was starting to get dark out.  

Zhongli looks over to his right, then stands in front of me. “Apologies, but I will have to cut this short. I need to… take care of something important.” 

His voice dipped into something that almost seemed to show anger. Yikes.

--------------------------------------------

I was still restless after hanging out with Xiangling for a bit again, and left right out the town. It should be safe enough being so close.

The giant statues are visible all the way from here.

A pungent smell hits me as I walk the path. My eyes catch sight of a fight not far up ahead, making me hide behind the rock wall to make sure they wouldn’t see me. I peek up to see

!? Diluc and Zhongli… KILLING people!? The moonlight clearly showing their faces. Neither have psychotic smiles, making it all the more unnerving. Multiple dead Treasure hoarders dead, while one of the women that made fun of me already lying on the ground presumably dead too, and being burned. The pungent smell likely their burning flesh. I can’t believe they’re killers!” 

Zhongli pierces through the chest of the final woman still standing is the one who made fun of me earlier. She opens her mouth to scream, but Diluc covers her mouth.

“Surprised you’re helping. Doesn’t your contract prevent you from harming your Liyue people?” 

“That would normally be the case,” Zhongli then easily pulls his spear from the now corpse of said woman. Her body flops to the ground. 

I’m frozen in my spot. I want nothing more than to move, but my body won’t let me. 

“But that’s a good thing many don’t fully read contracts anymore. They broke my contract I made with them. They originally weren’t Liyue people. I could already tell from how they were not too kind to Liyue by making snide comments that they were nothing but trouble. The contract involved no demeaning remarks anymore, or they shall be removed from Liyue one way or another. It’s not hard to tell where they must have skipped. And they tried to damage Liyue’s newest, finest jewel.”

What the fuck does that mean!? I have to get out of here! Come on body! move!

Diluc sets fire to the corpse. “Suffer the wrath of the rock. Much better than that nuisance of a bard’s.” 

“I agree. I do also admit, I wish you could be here more often than around him. You’ll have plenty of time though. As for making you and our dear like me, that’s still a work in progress. Are you still sure you want to go through with it? Immortality can cause mourning of losing many.”

“I’m not close to many anyways. You’ve not been to Mondstadt, but outside of my work, I’m not well liked by many. They’re not exactly quiet when speaking their opinions. Besides, (Y/N) is in the picture now.” 

Me!? Their behaviors make so much sense now. Oh fuck, fuck, fuck! I REALLY have to leave! 

My body can finally move, and I take a slow step back. Hiding might be the best option since there’s no way I’ll be able to outrun them. 

*Snap*

Their heads whip towards the sound. 

OH MY GODS WHY WAS A STICK THERE!?

I can only hope they think it’s not a human. I hold my breath.

“In speaking of our dear, come on out. It’s safe now. I saw you try to hide earlier.” 

I don’t move. 

The sound of long strides comes towards me. 

I don’t get time to try to bolt before being grabbed by my wrist tightly, but not enough to hurt. My eyes get locked with Zhongli’s, who seem to almost glow a bright golden yellow.  

Diluc comes behind and rather loosely wraps his arms around me, his heat radiating off onto me with his close proximity. It slightly tightens before loosening again. A warning. A threat, showing he won’t hesitate to tighten his grip if I try to struggle free and run. their colognes combining almost making me dizzy. They’re not bad, but both at once is powerful.   

Zhongli reaches his hand and folds it under my chin, making me look up at him. “You must be quite lost, dear. I said we wouldn’t hurt you. And that was a promise.” 

He brings his face to mine and kisses my lips. I was so shocked I didn’t think of biting him until he pulled away. “Now, let’s get back, shall we? I’ll inform of what went on here, then I’ll join the both of you in cuddling. I’m patient, yet I cannot wait.” 

I should have just stayed in Mondstadt.

--------------------------------------------------------------

An: I’m sorry I made Diluc so physically obsessed or it seemed too repetitive to a point. I like to think due to his past, he’s touch-starved to the MAX. He just only shows it to a rare few how much he craves it. Yandere Diluc being even worse. That and I’m rather self-projecting of wanting my favorites being so obsessed with touch with reader lol. 

Not my proudest work, but screw it. Debated whether or not to post it lol. Was trying to write a more self confident chubby reader since apparently a lot of people are annoyed when they’re not. Even though I’m not self confident at all. Oh well. 

Also, writing full fics still feels like pulling teeth

[pixthefuckup]

a crack taken seriously fanfic idea:

all the jocks get their own separate weird redemption arcs that never seem to intersect despite how close everything is to each other... until a giant cliche climatic moment like all of them working together to help richie after his attack or something. it causes the friend groups to merge and become one giant battalion against the lords of black.

brenda gets hers by working with holloway and somehow everytime she's relearning morals or subconsiously using magic, none of them went to visit her despite the fact that the diner would probably be pretty fucking popular bc it's good food and unlike pasqualli's, it doesn't have a reputation for giving or getting head if you take someone there.

kyle gets his by hanging out with tom houston and despite the fact that the shop room is the quietest during lunch, nobody ever comes to hangout or talk to mr. houston about a project or grading when he's in the room other than hannah who could also slightly feed into kyle's redemption

jason gets his with an internship at ccrp and getting parented by most of the team (bill is an actual dad, ted is highkey an obnoxious uncle, paul is known to babysit, charlotte is pretty caring, and sylvia seems pretty cool). this one is the one where it's cracky but slightly serious in the way where he slowly starts dropping football but still manages to bro up. there could be a bit of foreshadowing with a bromance break up and get back together because of how jason enjoys his internship more. bonus points if he somehow becomes bros with any of the other nerds in the meantime because of the internship.

stacy gets her through working with beanie's for a short stint of cash and getting a better-ish role model from emma (my god do i love a jaded adult with a better heart than they think getting thrown at a immature, naive, popular kid who believes in something extremely toxic. it is such a rare trope but i love it). despite beanie's popularity, stacy has somehow gotten the hours where the popular kids are held up by things and most of the nerds have hurried out of school.

i want either stacy's or kyle's to be the most wacky of the other jocks not noticing their morals getting better just because kyle's takes place in a room that i assume would be close to the field and mr. houston is dope to hang out with while stacy's change would be the funniest to ignore since it would be the biggest by getting rid of her superficiality, allowing her to have depth, and learning to study more

if we were going to include max in this, i'd hand him off to the nerds, but i think it's crackier that he's still an antag and we turn the langs' play on cheesy 80s movies' cliches where the nerds continue to get beaten down until one takes rule of the school by beating the other jock into submission and the other gets the girl into a play on cringy 2000s movies' cliches where the jocks and nerds have to team up against a common enemy, an even worse and meaner jock, and realize that they're more alike than they think. (grace being crazier than max would be a hard thing to slot into the plot in this case... could be either she doesn't go crazy and get corrupted by the black book or a double play on things, that even if the nerds became cool like the 2000s movies would make them to be in the ending, the hierarchy would still be just as bad)

[ninjagirlstar5]

I was struck with a Swap AU 3 days ago...

I did most of my rambling on Discord, so I'm just gonna copy and paste those under specific groups and characters for organization.

The Hollowheads

Chosen: - Swaps places with victim. - Alan creates Chosen first and gets more than he bargained for like in canon, but he actually manages to delete Chosen before he could escape onto the PC (but obviously he survives somehow like canon!victim). - Chosen starts up a company making weapons and shit, even though he technically doesn't like it but it's all he's ever really known to do so… - Chosen is still like, "nah, I'm evil" and goes along with the flow to get what he wants, even if he's not proud of all the weapons he's made over the years. So yes, he would torture someone. (*cough* victim *cough*)

victim: - Swaps places with Chosen. - Alan learns his lesson in Not creating another Chosen but instead creates victim to torment her, only letting her out whenever he feels bored. This ends up backfiring as well as the moment she escapes from Adobe flash, she steals all the tools and lashes out on his PC, which creates far more destruction than he thought she was capable of. - Since Second takes Dark's place, victim becomes besties with him! I'm sure this fallout won't be painful for both of them! (sarcasm) - The tools vic creates and used in the first episode and the Box becomes tools she can pull out at any time with the use of some UI wristbands she made after she and Sec escape Alan's PC so that she can never be powerless ever again (cause she still doesn't have powers in this AU). She even has a hoverbike (like the Mercs have) that she created for herself to help her travel better next to Second. - After she escapes the PC with Second, who is a little brother figure to her, she becomes a terrorist out of spite and anger. Unlike canon!Chosen, who loses interest and becomes more guilty over time, victim's fury fueled her for years. It isn't until Second proposes his plan (elaborated in his section) that victim is hit and crushed with the realization that she ended up fucking up Second to the point that he thinks his plan is okay and tries to stop him. It ends as well as you'd expect. - After this, victim ends up regretting her actions as a terrorist as lashing out at others through her vengeful and spiteful behavior due to her own pain caused so much suffering. Including someone she cared for, like Second in a way. - victim is definitely NOT okay with Alan and never will be (and by that, I mean, she'll never forgive him for what he's done to her, regardless of his change of heart and wants nothing to do with him at this point).

And then there the Box Scene with vic and Chosen:

victim still has all her tools, but Chosen has his powers. victim tries to fight back but one by one, her tools get deleted from her hands as Chosen slowly shows her that he's not just a regular stick. Unlike her, they have actual powers and had been holding back to give her the illusion that she ever had a chance to fight him, quickly turning into a curb-stomp battle. To make matters worse, Chosen…almost seems amused that she's trying to fight against him so damn hard.

But vic nearly gets the upper hand by trying to explode her remaining tools with her and Chosen with them. But unfortunately for her, someone (maybe Agent, maybe someone else) intervenes and deletes the tool on the spot, causing Chosen to lay to waste on her with his fire before finally tying her into the chair.

Second: - Swaps places with Dark. - Alan creates Second based off of Chosen's old code, and sicks him on victim. But he didn't realize that Second would put together that victim is, well, a victim to Alan and chooses to team up with her instead, causing them work together to explode the PC and escape into the OuterNet together. - When victim started doing terrorism, Second was dragged along with her even though he didn't want to do it initially. But because victim was his friend and sister, he goes along with it and ends up getting more and more into it as time goes on. - Eventually, Second tells victim his plan: to wipe out the OuterNet and the Internet to replace with happy zero-conflict people (under their control), essentially destroying sticks' codes and reviving them with his powers but with the twist that he'd replace certain coding to brainwash them so that conflict won't ever exist, period. This is ignoring the fact that he'd be taking away people's agency in the process. victim, who lacked agency for most of her beginning years, doesn't take it well. - Second is just so, so determined to protect victim. He learned it all from her, his big sis. How they must take in order to survive and show no restraint to others. How people hurt cause conflict towards others. But if he can get rid of that conflict in the first place, then she'll have nothing to worry about! He can keep her safe! He wants to keep her safe! He wants to do her proud!

So why is she fighting him? Can't she tell that he's doing all of this for her?

Dark: - Swaps places with Second. - Alan accidentally creates Dark years later, who immediately befriends different versions of the Color Gang (who I have not gotten around to yet, oops), he comes back to see them alive, deletes them, and Dark goes on a rampage. - But this time, instead of Alan relating to Second's ability to draw and animate like in canon, in the AU it goes a bit differently. In his haste to get rid of Dark, he accidentally gets a virus onto his computer which threatens to destroy his work. But Dark, who was also threatened by this virus, attacks and destroys it pretty easily before reprogramming it onto his side and Alan is like, "oh shit, new firewall?" and boxes Dark in, trying to talk him into protecting his PC. He refuses at first, but when Alan brings back the Gang, he agrees...on the condition that this shit doesn't happen again and he gets to play with his friends. - Cue Dark and Alan getting along as he helps keep viruses off of the PC as security and has new friends he can hang out with. He also got to keep the malware that originally threatened Alan as a pet (virabot spider is now just a securebot spider). - Dark is having the time of his life fucking around with his own Color Gang friends. - Dark & Chosen interaction:

Chosen: "Quit your friend group."

Dark: "What."

Chosen: "Join my emo company."

Dark: "Ew, no, that's cringe, lmao" - Dark: "Destruction and chaos!!! But not terrorism, that's for losers, lmao" - Swap!Dark @ Swap!victim while she's stuck in the box

In the Showdown: - Swap!Dark is the Devil to Canon!Second's God, send tweet - victim watches her lil brother get eviscerated and instead of worshipping the ground Dark walks on like how Canon!Chosen respects Canon!Second for his powers, victim…is actually kinda scared of Dark. - Dark was still able to revive the others despite his powers being more along pure destruction and corruption thanks to Second's project of wiping everything clean and reviving things with new code. He just used his powers to start the code without Second's permission and revive everyone without changing their programming or memories. - She still goes to Dark as a last resort since the Mercs have been giving her a run for her money and since she lacks any sort of powers, victim has to rely on her tools for protection. Tools that just don't seem to be enough against these Mercs and she finally decides that if she wants to be free for good, she needs someone that could obliterate them easily. And she knew just who that person is…

At least, she thought she did. What the hell does he mean that he doesn't remember jackshit? - Also, this video is 100% Dark phoning Gold & Orchid while he's imprisoned in RocketCorp.

Speaking of Gold and Orchid...

AVM Characters

Gold: - Swaps places with his dad, Mango. - Jumping into this, instead of Gold getting killed, Mango was able to open up the entrance this time and grabs Gold to pull him out…but he slips and ends up taking his place instead, leaving Gold to watch him get killed and essentially orphaned. He's very much in shock about the whole thing and while he's placed in Maroon's custody, he refuses to leave the house they lived in so Maroon is trying to pay for both which puts stress on their family. Gold feels bad but can't help but feel like his dad is still out there somewhere, lost in Minecraft's coding even though people keep telling him that he's "gone." One day, he comes across his dad's engineering notes and he's struck with the idea of taking apart Minecraft to bring his dad back and picks up a part-time job at RocketCorp (I did not come up with a new name for Chosen's company, oops) to both learn more about tools and to help pay off the bills and stuff, even going as far as to use the savings Mango stashed away secretly for his future and splurging it all to create the perfect tool. - Basically, Gold is about to tear the universe apart just to see if he can get his dad back.

Orchid: - Swaps places with her child, Purple. - Ngl to you guys, Orchid is going through it. For starters, her partner has been training their child way too hard. That was already causing a lot of strain on all of their relationships. And then Purple gets sick and Orchid does her best to take care of him while Navy fumes at the "weakness" but puts the training on hold anyways. But then they start going through this cycle of Purple getting better and then worse and then better again, to the point that Purple is stuck at the hospital and Orchid is the only one that tries to visit and take care of them. Navy is only getting more and more fed up with Purple, with Orchid just begging him to stay and saying that Purple will get better, she will! He just needs their unconditional support and love so he can focus on getting better. - But Purple doesn't get better and as Orchid holds onto his hand, he says sorry for being so weak and Orchid shushes him, saying that they're not weak. Not at all. They're being very brave right now. But she should rest her eyes. Orchid will be here in the morning. - By the time the doctors tell both of them that Purple has passed away, Orchid is a fucking mess but has start to shut down as a sort of coping mechanism. And Navy, just like in canon…abandons her and their child for being weak. Orchid, unable to cope in the OutetNet, leaves on a whim and escapes to the Mac and finds Minecraft, which ends up becoming a sort of comfort game for her but is also where she spends all of her time, pretty much refusing to face reality. - It isn't until she meets the members of this version of the Color Gang that she starts to snap out of it a little. She also doesn't abandon them in The End simply because I don't really see her doing that, so the Color Gang has a higher opinion on her from the start and it's her experience with them that she's a bit more willing to go back to the OuterNet and try again.

Orchid and Gold's dynamic and story:

Orchid is…doing better but hasn't exactly fully recovered either. While she is trying to get her life back together now that she chose to go back to the OuterNet, she's…struggling to get much motivation for anything really and often refers to other people for guidance and help. She doesn't have a job she enjoys, her bills had piled up while she hid away in Minecraft, and she doesn't have any friends outside of those two members of the Color Gang. And even then, she's barely keeping in contact with them. She's on her way back from visiting her child's grave when she hears a voice yelling over something and she turns to look.

It was…well, not exactly a young child, but someone that was barely an adult. He seems to be freaking out over a video being played on a display TV and showing something off to people in the vicinity. The people simply shrugged in response and left him be, the boy staring at the TV in contemplation. Curious, Orchid walks over to see what all the fuss about.

And sees Dark and the Color Gang playing around with the Minecraft icon. Without thinking, Orchid points out that she knows these kids and the boy turns around and goes, "YOU DO?!" The desperation and joy catches her off-guard but she doesn't deny it. The boy grabs a hold of her shoulders, shaking her with the biggest grin on his face, asking if he could help her with something, showing off the page about the Minecraft Icon block. She hesitates and he notices this, quickly backing off and apologizing for stepping over her boundaries, but says that if she decides to help, here's his address. He then scurries away pretty quickly and Orchid can only look on dumbfounded. But she can't deny that this peaked her interest enough that she drops by to visit after work. The young boy is ecstatic that she dropped by and opens up his front door with ease, letting her step inside. It was…something of a mess and he apologizes for it before introducing himself as Gold.

Orchid introduces herself as well and her eyes land on a nearby photo, picking it up without thinking. It's the photo of Mango and Gold when he was a kid and she nearly asks where his father is when Gold snatches it from her hands. She cowers and apologizes upon seeing the distressed, almost angry look in Gold's eyes but it quickly disappears as he says it's okay. This is…actually the reason why he needs help. Setting the photo aside, he shows off the staff he made to Orchid, which quickly amazes her when he shows off how it works. She's heard of command blocks but she never came across one herself. Gold then explains that the reason why he made this staff is because he, well…he lost his father when a Minecraft server got corrupted. But he believes that he's still alive, Gold just needs to retrieve him from Minecraft's coding and bring him back. A small part of Orchid finds this…concerning but her empathy for Gold's grief thanks to losing her own child and her desire to help outweighs her concern, and she asks how she could help. Gold grins and tells her that they need to come up with a plan to get the Minecraft Icon block from that Color Gang she's befriended without….angering them, he suppose. Orchid furrows her brow but Gold explains that he's not sure that they'll let him tear into Minecraft's coding even if it's to bring his dad back, not to mention that the icon is essentially the game itself for them. They might not want to give up their game to a stranger or even a friend. Orchid admits that Dark and co. do seem a bit protective of the things they have and Gold is convinced that they need to be sneaky about this. Which is when he asks Orchid to follow him since they can walk and talk before pausing and asking how much she knows about Minecraft. That's when Orchid shows off her elytra, which is very well kept, and Gold gets excited upon seeing it but quickly tempers his reaction for some reason.

Gold explains the plan, Orchid helps Gold take over the NetherFort and recruit the piglins to their side, and as Gold is contemplating his role as leader, Orchid is struck with an idea and pulls out the old crown she had made for the Color Gang when they were helping to lead a village. She kneels down and holds out the crown, asking if Gold would like to be the first King in the Nether. Gold stares at the crown and giggles, saying that this feels a bit silly. Orchid admits that it is, just a little bit, but the crown would symbolize Gold's status as leader here and it would help tell people who's in charge. Gold then asks what Orchid's role would be, and she simply says that she could be the "steward," someone that supervises and organizes the plans while the King can focus on other matters in public. It's then that Gold accepts the crown and asks her to call him King Gold from now on, and Orchid asks if being called Your Majesty would make him happy in a teasing manner. Gold, who hasn't let himself feel like a child in a long time, blushes and looks away, an obvious admittance that yes, he does.

Orchid helps trick the Color Gang into the track thingy and she feels pretty bad about it, but Gold reassures her that since they're out of the way, they won't get hurt in case something goes wrong and Orchid reluctantly agrees, trying to convince the bad feeling in her gut to go away. This is for Gold and his dad, after all. If there's even a small chance that he could be brought back, shouldn't she support Gold? She'd do the same for Purple, honestly…

It isn't until they receive the news that one of the Color Gang members escaped and she witnesses Gold actually kill the messenger on the spot that she goes, "oh. Oh I might be in over my head here."

When Gold demands her to get the icon while she still can, she hesitates. But Gold slams down his staff and she immediately caves in, saying that she'll be right back and runs off to do as she's told. Of course, she gets confronted by the Color Gang member and they're livid at her betrayal, especially since unlike Purple, who had at least betrayed them once before seemingly mellowing out after the events of LoL, Orchid was actually a very trustworthy person that tried to protect the gang at the time. So this betrayal stings even more because it came from someone that they genuinely trusted as a friend. Orchid feels bad, but she simply says that the Majesty's plans are…are too important to give up like this and she needs to help him. This argument quickly turns into a fight, with King Gold intervening and imprisoning them, with Orchid apologizing about the delay (and apologizing to the CG member) before flying off.

Things go about the same way, although we get to witness Orchid kicking ass cause turns out she used to be a fighter back in the day before she got married to her shitty partner, damn. Orchid comes back with the icon, King Gold thanks her, inputs it into the staff and proceeds to obliterate the roof and the very sky itself and Orchid just stares on in horror as the implications sink in.

Things start to escalate pretty quickly after that as everyone starts fighting for their lives, with Orchid watching on in horror. She's stuck between wanting to support King Gold despite the world-ending consequences, and wanting to help the Color Gang even though she had betrayed their trust. The battle gets worse and worse, King Gold demands that she does something and Orchid flounders as she orders the piglins to fight the gang. But this choice doesn't make her feel any better and as the nether portals are created, she finally caves in and runs away, not realizing that she's being followed.

This is when the Note Block World happens with Orchid's backstory reveal, and Orchid's character development essentially boils down to, "gaining a backbone and making the active choice to confront someone about their issues and questionable choices, even if it means causing conflict in your relationship with one another." Orchid has been struggling with indecisiveness and speaking up on matters for years thanks to her past partnership with Navy, and losing Purple had only cause her to shut down, running away and burying herself into Minecraft to ignore all the issues she had. But it did nothing to make her feel any better. And now, here she is, having helped a child in destroying a world and she just…runs. Runs away from the consequences to ignore everything she had done, including handing over the very object that turned the staff into it's most deadliest weapon of itself. Apparently, running is all she's good for - at least, that's what she thought. But the Color Gang member refutes that, telling her she's wrong. If she was a coward, she would've left them back at The End, but she didn't. If she was selfish, she would have used that village for her own gain, but she didn't. If she was evil, she wouldn't be horrified by the actions that had led to this situation happening. She may have chosen to run away but that's simply because she's scared to continue hurting others from the choices she's made.

The Color Gang member reassures her that she's not a bad person. If anything, she's simply someone that is struggling to do good after all the hardships she's been put through. And just because she messed up doesn't make her a bad person. As long as she's willing to take responsibility and make amends for her mistakes, she can take the steps be better, bit by bit. They reach out their hand to Orchid, asking if she's willing to try again and do better. Orchid admits that she's still scared, that she might say or do something wrong, but the CG member says that she won't be alone in this battle. They have each other and they'll watch each others backs and stop King Gold. Orchid stares at their hand…before slowly taking it, apologizing again for what she's done, but admits that perhaps she should've done this from the start. She should've put her foot down sooner. She knows that King Gold needs to be stopped, but she also knows that he needs help more than anyone here. And as an adult, it's time for her to intervene…even if it's by force.

And yes, this means that Orchid punches Gold in the face. It's okay, she had to get the staff out of his hands for a reason.

King Gold is feeling pretty betrayed by Orchid's sudden switch of teams, and is too blinded by rage and grief to really listen to what she has to say. So the fight goes on, the mobs get erased including Herobrine, Dark and co. + Orchid struggle to stop King Gold until she pulls together her resolve and faces the laser head on. King Gold is trying to blast her away, but as Orchid reaches out her hand, Gold suddenly gets flashbacks to the very day he had lost his father. The day he let his childish excitement get the better of him and endanger his own life to a reality game, his father unwittingly sacrificing himself just to save his life. He tries to shake it off…but when Orchid gets blasted away, just like his own father, he can't help it: he drops the staff and runs, jumping into the laser after her.

For the realization and reconciliation scene, I've been going back and forth in my head on how it would go. I think it would start with King Gold walking through the white void, wondering how he got there and probably calling out for his dad. His dad must be here, right? This is…This is where the end of Minecraft is, isn't it? So…where is he? That's when their house appears and Gold, thinking that his dad is waiting for him inside, runs up to the door and opens it up, yelling out for his dad. But no one answers. Gold searches the house but there's still no one around.

He's all alone. He's still all alone.

Gold stares at the wall, full of drawings of his own plan, his dad's disappearance…no, his dad's death, alongside all the life inside Minecraft dying from his own hands shoved right in his face, a game he used to love with passion. And yet, amongst those drawings was a pink stick figure crossing paths with him, following after him, waving at him, reaching out to him again and again and again. That stick figure was still reaching out even now with wide open arms.

"You can come here. Come here to me. It'll be okay."

Gold swallows.

It's not as if everything will ever be the same again.

"No. It can't be same. I can't promise it'll ever be the same again. But it can be better. We can be better. Together."

Gold squeezes his hands.

He wants his dad back.

...But he's never coming back…is he?

And yet, Orchid was still standing there, waiting for him. Allowing him the choice to come to her on his own terms. A promise that she'll always be here, waiting.

And Gold didn't want to wait.

He forces himself onto his feet. He reaches for the door. He hesitates for only a second but opens it up.

Orchid turns, purple petals of flowers by her feet.

Gold breathes.

And runs into her arms, the crown falling off of his head.

He can feel the surprise in her body before she gracefully returns the hug, pulling him close.

And then everything gets fixed by Dark and co., Gold goes to Maroon and apologizes for the strain he indirectly caused by refusing to make compromises (like with the house) and goes to live with Orchid officially after a long discussion between all of them, and we now have the mother and son duo. Yahoo.

And yes, Gold definitely joins the "Let's Kill Navy" club.

Gold: "I just wanna talk to them."

Orchid: "Wha-"

Gold, raising the staff: "I just wanna talk to them."

Orchid: "WHY DO YOU STILL HAVE THE STAFF??"

Anyways, this is about all I've come up with so far. I haven't even touched the Color Gang or the Mercs, but I'm thinking the Color Gang switches interests and roles while the Mercs end up changing their art styles which effects their personalities a bit but are otherwise somewhat the same? It's something to think about. Now imagine this as Dark commentating on Orchid and Gold's drama during AVM S3.

[alphawolfice1989]

Cobie Smulders who plays Robin confirmed herself that Barney was the real love of Robin’s life and her soulmate

Yes. Both Barney and Ted were never the most perfect partners for Robin. They both had major flaws. So did Robin. She was never the most perfect person either. BUT, the difference is, despite all the flaws of Barney and Ted, Ted never really accepted Robin for who she was and what she wanted out of her own life. When we first meet Robin in the pilot episode. She makes it clear that she is super career oriented and her job will always come first over her love life. There was even an entire episode when she was in a relationship with Don, that all the other group members made mention that Robin always prioritises her work over her love life. So Ted is well aware of this. But still pursues Robin. He knows full well that she doesn’t want marriage and kids. Or anything else that Ted wants. But Ted still wants to continue a relationship with her. So them breaking up shouldn’t of been so shocking.

Ted thought that by being in a relationship with Robin that somehow Robin will change her mind. So Ted was never really in love with Robin. But more of the idea of her. His love for what HE wanted in his life trumped whatever “love” her had for Robin. He was unwilling to compromise because what HE wanted in life was more important to him than continuing a relationship with Robin. We can all talk about all the creepy things Barney did to get Robin. But let’s not forget that Ted also done creepy things to get Robin and I’d argue Ted was worse because at least Barney is honest with who he is. Ted is the “good guy” so that makes his actions a lot worse than Barney’s. So for everyone saying they broke up because they wanted different things, that’s the whole point. They had different outlooks on life. And both Ted and Robin knew this. Ted was willing to break up with a woman he supposedly “loves” all because she didn’t want what he wanted in life. The ending was more sad than anything. It was basically two super old people who didn’t really have anyone else in their lives in a romantic way.

Barney, as flawed as he was. The difference between him and Ted is that Barney ACTUALLY accepted Robin for who she was. He never once tried to change her. When he finds out that she can’t have kids, that wasn’t a deal breaker for him at all. He still wanted to pursue Robin. Like he said to his Mother who asked him about possible grandchildren, Barney said she can’t have kids and that’s okay because he’s marrying Robin for HER. Not some idea of having kids. So Robin being so career oriented and not wanting kids was never this deal breaker for Barney. Which makes their divorce that much more illogical. Barney being tied of Robin constantly travelling and not putting time in their marriage.

Because he loved her for her. Barney was completely okay with not having kid because Robin was more than enough. Unlike Ted who was obsessed with Robin for no real reason. When Robin kept shooting down Ted constantly. There was an episode in season 8, where Robin tried to sell Barney’s house. Then later changed her mind because she said that if she tried to change everything about Barney he was never going to be the man she fell in love with. And that she accepted all the creepy sociopathic things about him. So basically Robin accepts Barney for who he truly is and still wanted to marry him and form a marriage with him. So BOTH Barney and Robin both accept each other for who they are.

All in all, Ted was never really in love with Robin. But more of the idea of her. Barney on the other hand was in love with Robin for HER. Ted was unwilling to change his outlook on what he wanted in life when he knew it didn’t match Robins. But Barney despite all his flaws accepted Robin for who she was and never tried to change her.

So who was the love of Robin’s life and her true love and soulmate? It was Barney.

[aq2003]

I find the decision to write the first Doctor as sort of cartoonishly bigoted in the episode with Twelve fascinating, because it shifts the blame for the racism, sexism etc present in early Doctor Who from the writers and producers to the *character*. It wasn’t the Doctor who wrote limited character arcs for female characters in comparison to male ones, and it wasn’t the Doctor who decided to use yellow-face for the characters in some episodes - that was the writers and production team. Y’know, real people. People whose legacy the current writers and producers of the show - who have also largely been white men, just like their predecessors - owe their jobs to.

And the persistent problem with continuing to sideline and tokenise the characters of some of the female companions and characters of colour in the service of centring the doctor as the (until recently) white male protagonist - that continued for most of the modern reboot in some form. Some of the elements of that were even new innovations under the modern writers (looking at you Moffat but you are not the only offender.) I mean, we’re talking about the portrayal of One as the past’s ambassador for sexism in iirc the exact same episode where Chris Chibnall reversed the previous episode’s ending of Bill surviving with Heather and re-buried the lesbians by sending Bill directly to the ‘your soul is canonically dead’ zone.

I absolutely can’t speak for the whole of the first Doctor’s tenure because I’ve only seen about 2/3 of his surviving episodes, but from the episodes I have seen, he didn’t even talk like that. There was a very big problem with that run of the show, but it was a different problem to the one the episode with One and Twelve is describing. One was weird as hell, but he was much less overtly hostile, wished much less bodily harm on minority groups and even dipped into less microaggressions and dogwhistles than most older white British people do now. That isn’t to say One’s behaviour in Old Who was something to aim for, it’s to say that a lot of the improvement in the attitude of white people in Britain over the last half-century has been performative at best, imaginary at worst, a lot of our dogwhistles are new and especially alarming for that reason - and it comforts white people to imagine that the racism and sexism of the past was overt and vulgar and unlike theirs, and that their bigotry by comparison is lesser and better and therefore doesn’t need further work; that now people affected by it just need to learn to live with it, because you’re lucky we’re not like our grandparents.

But that excuse doesn’t really work if (tw racism, anti-blackness, Islamophobia, death) some sects of British society talk more positively about drowning immigrants in the English Channel than they did 100 years ago, does it?

That excuse doesn’t work if your grandparents were actually quite a lot like you.

I live in the UK, about half the people I know watched the special with Twelve and One, and considering that vanishingly few modern viewers have seen or remember the first Doctor or any early Old Who, there was this odd awkward relief from most of the white people I watched the episode with, like they’d been absolved from Britain’s historical and current racism by the burning of an effigy. Like that bigotry coming from One’s mouth was a reassurance that this country’s bigotry had always been as cartoonish and ineffectual and easy to see as the lines Chris Chibnall and his colleagues wrote for One; that white people living in the UK now are fundamentally different than they were; and by watching Bill and One’s (still white) successor refuse his cartoonishly awful worldview, white Brits had somehow cleansed themselves and buried the past completely.

But the vast majority of the racism, bigotry, sexism in the original run of Doctor Who and still present in various forms in the show now did not actually take the form of nice clear, simple statements of bigoted beliefs from the characters’ mouths - it was in the writing. The way characters and especially cultures were portrayed. The yellow-face in one of Two’s story arcs really stuck in my mind, but the way Old Who handled nonwhite cultures in general was often horrific. The first Doctor was often perfectly polite, but women and characters of colour were sidelined and (even in instances when it was clearly accidental) dangerously misrepresented throughout the show in ways that persist well into the post-2000 reboot, because the sexism and racism wasn’t in the character.

The sexism and racism was in the writers’ room.

I don’t have any sentimental attachment to Old Who, I was born about a decade after it ended, but deflecting the cultural problems in the BBC that persist to this day onto one of the show’s characters, by having him express an easily-digestible form of bigotry much less dangerous and insidious than the one that was actually present in the early show, feels like a dangerous form of scapegoating.

Something I think would have meant much, much more would have been an apology *outside of the show* from the BBC and the show’s current writers for the wide variety of sincerely-held bigotries that were actually present in the first run of the show, and a public acknowledgement of the pervasive, insidious forms those bigotries actually often took in the show’s writing - and also an acknowledgement of the show’s continuing shortfalls in its handling of race and gender over the last twenty years - because that would have been much more productively challenging for viewers of the show (more or less the whole of the British public at some point in their lives) to have to consider. Which I have to assume is why they went down the reassuring ‘the first Doctor has died for our sins’ route instead.

This is just my two cents, I am also white and British so please take this perspective with a grain of salt.

Mm. I don’t know. This country loves letting ourselves off too easily, and the writing of One in that episode feels the like easiest and for that reason least effective way of reckoning with the way we were in the 1900s. Don’t worry everyone, at the turn of the millennium both the show and the country of Britain were reborn without sin!

this is such a good writeup anon. i don't have a lot to add - just that im asian-american and a lot of what you said aligns with rhetoric i've also seen in the states - that being this sense that racism is just something of the past rather than a fundamental, systemic issue that the country was built on. and yeah one thing that really struck me while watching twice upon a time was how one's bigotry was always framed as a joke. bill straight up says to twelve "i hope we laugh about it for 20 years" or whatever and it just reeks of "To Our White Audience: be not afraid. you're not racist like the 1st doctor who lived far into the past. see? the one black character knows we're not racist now. please give yourselves a pat on the back". and like, it's not funny to any people of color that might be watching. it's just prioritizing the comfort of white people. and it's pretty terrible that moffat (he wrote the episode, chibnall just wrote thirteen's first lines. but also i know chibnall took nuwho into its least progressive era so...) felt like he had a right to make light of this stuff when he has committed some pretty egregious crimes in his tenure himself

[parafic]

@starstuffduster You are SO right about needing distractions, unfortunately I am working overtime so it will be even later than usual before I can write

(Do send me lots of asks though! I'm off tomorrow so I can write plenty then)

In the meantime, have a couple of incomplete later scenes from Typhoon Island (which will probably get rewritten but they're fun for now)

Hikaku finds Tobirama sitting under the ledge, where the rain is blocked but some light still filters in.  His eyes are closed, and his face is perfectly blank as he traces ink blindly over his face and throat.  A seal, clearly, though what it’s meant to do, Hikaku can’t imagine.

Tobirama is too skilled not to have noticed him, even rapidly bouncing his heel against the floor the way he seems to do when deep in concentration.  How Tobirama managed to train his skills so that he is always aware of the people near him, but has missed sunrise, sunset, food placed beside him, and being rained on, all in the few weeks they’ve been here, Hikaku still hasn’t figured out.  But a surprised shinobi reacts violently, and Tobirama is no exception, as proven by the times a sudden movement has startled him.

So Hikaku knows Tobirama is ignoring him for several minutes.  As Tobirama is currently placing the most intricate seal Hikaku has ever seen on his own face, and doing it blindly, that’s more than reasonable.

Tobirama stops abruptly, his heel landing sharply on the stone.  Hikaku doesn’t glimpse the handseal that pulls rain into a bubble over Tobirama.  The bubble bursts and splashes over Tobirama’s face, blurring most of the seal and drawing the ink in distracting trails down his throat.

Hikaku sets that aside for later.  “Difficulties with the seal?” he asks.

“Obviously,” Tobirama says shortly.  He wipes some of the water off of his throat, smearing the sealwork there further.

Hikaku still doesn’t know whether Tobirama is aware of his own rudeness.  He has learned that ignoring it is usually enough to end it.  “Would a mirror help?”

Hikaku doesn’t have a mirror, and neither does Izuna.  But they could probably work out something adequately reflective, if the seal is important.

“Hmm.  Unlikely,” Tobirama decides.  He unfolds from the rock he was sitting on and starts back toward the main cavern, and he’s still somehow taller than Hikaku remembers.  “The seal is meant to be used in groups, applied to each other.  The difficulty is in applying it backwards.  Seeing it would likely be a distraction.”

Hikaku will never comprehend the Senju mind.  “What sort of seal is it?”

Tobirama hums.  It takes several seconds for him to answer, and they get close enough for Izuna’s voice to reach them, slightly distorted, singing a children’s training song.  Several of the children have joined in, with a much larger range in skill than Hikaku expected children so old to have.

Mostly in the direction of less skill.  Do other clans teach their children nothing except to fight?

“It is a snorkeling seal,” Tobirama says.  “By drawing on the user’s chakra, it draws air from the surface into their lungs, and allows them to remain under water indefinitely.”

An incredibly useful seal, then.  It would be a deeply concerning one as well, except that most of its uses are pointless in Fire Country.  Fire Country has many streams and creeks, but even the Nakano, which is the largest river in the country, is only rarely deep enough for a person to truly hide in its depths.  Mostly, a submerged shinobi would only look like a fool, trying to hide a few feet below the surface of clear water.

But in a place like Water Country, much less these Whirlpool islands… Hikaku is glad that the Uchiha so rarely venture outside of Fire Country.

Still, it gives him an idea.  “If it is not given chakra, does it do anything?”

“No.”

“So it’s safe?”

The question earns a quick flick of Tobirama’s eyes in his direction, before they return to the tunnel ahead.  “Children use it.”

“If you were to draw it on me, then,” Hikaku says, and even having concluded there would be no danger, his heart rate picks up, “Izuna could watch, and draw it on you.”

Tobirama pauses, a fractional delay in his steps as he glances in Hikaku’s direction again, this time longer, almost actually looking.  But he shakes his head.  “It is an Uzumaki seal.”

“I have not yet found a limit on the complexity of what the sharingan can copy,” Hikaku says.

“The Uzumaki are protective of their secrets.”

Ah.  A different issue than Hikaku assumed.  The Uzumaki are Senju allies, but it’s not a seal for war.  “Is it that valuable?  I can’t see it being used often in Fire Country.  I’ve never seen a river or lake large enough to hide in.”

“Fire Country doesn’t have lakes; we only have ponds,” Tobirama says, as if reciting the opinion.  “Every seal is valuable.  If not for its own effect, then for what it will teach about sealing.”

“I see.”

Izuna stops singing the moment they reach the cavern, and most of the children break off after him, uncoordinated.  Kagami continues alone, his voice clear until he finishes the verse.

“Izuna-san is teaching us Uchiha music!” [Uzukid] announces.  Izuna’s face goes strained.

“Is it very similar to Uzumaki music?” Tobirama asks, apparently interested, which sets all the kids off.  Uchiha music isn’t much like Uzumaki music at all; the [idk water bloodline] have some similar music but it’s not [waterkid]’s favorite; the Hyuuga have the same song, with only a few different words.  Tobirama listens with solemn interest.

As soon as every child has shared their comparisons, Tobirama focuses on [Uzutween].  “[Uzutween], are you familiar with the snorkeling seal?”

She nods, looking slightly confused by the question.

“Good,” Tobirama says.  “Come with me; I am going to use it to go fishing, and I am not able to apply it to myself.”

--

“Look!  Abalone!”

[Uzukid] is grinning when Hikaku glances over, holding up a palm-length, brown shell with six holes in a line and oddly triangular spots.  She, of course, is looking at Tobirama, who pauses in his demonstration of prying mussels off the rocks to seriously examine the shell she hands over.

“Very good,” Tobirama says, and hands the shell back to her.  “Your family works with abalone, don’t they?”

“Yeah!”

Tobirama nods again, and turns to include the other children in his explanation.  “We likely won’t find many abalone here, but they’re valuable and harmless, so collect any that you see.  [Uzukid], would you like to explain how to identify them?”

“Yeah!”

The rest of the kids cluster around and [Uzukid] holds up the shell, pointing out the shape, colors, and shiny interior.  The Uzumaki eat the snails, and make the shells into all kinds of jewelry and decoration.

Tobirama listens, but his eyes keep sliding away, scanning the pool and the area nearby.  Izuna glances over, sharingan flicking on to catch the image of the abalone’s shell, and then goes back to hunting through a pool closer to the water.  Hikaku listens while he keeps prying mussels off of stone and tossing them up the beach toward dry land.

The kids spread out again, now mostly ignoring the abundant mussels as they stick their faces in the water and peer under rocks in search of abalone.  [Uzukid] turns rocks over a little more strategically, and keeps chattering.  “An’ when you grind the shells up really good, you mix ‘em in with ink and make star seals!  That’s what my family does, for the whole village!”

“What are star seals, [Uzukid]?” Tobirama asks.

“You’ve seen them!  On the roofs!”

“I have, but not everyone here has,” Tobirama says.  “Kagami, do you know what star seals are?”

“Not yet!” Kagami chirps.

“They’re sparkly!  And bright!”  [Uzukid] gestures, hands flying out in a burst of implied light.  “We put ‘em on the edges of the roofs so the old shinobi don’t fall at night!”

[Uzukid]’s descriptions make it sound as if every day is a festival in Uzushio.  It’s a shame, Hikaku thinks, that he won’t get to see it.  But the Uzumaki have been the Senju’s allies almost as long as the Uchiha have been their enemies.  Hikaku will no more be allowed to see Uzushio than Tobirama’s bedroom.

“What if they’re too bright?” Kagami asks.

“They’re not!” [Uzukid] declares indignantly.  “They’re star seals, not… not sea-glare seals, or something!”

Kagami nods seriously.

“Seals that create a bright light as their primary effect are called flash seals,” Tobirama says.

“Yeah!  They’re not flash seals!”

“But flash seals are one of the primary types of seal which Uchiha encounter,” Tobirama says.  “So it’s reasonable for Kagami to think of them.”

“And fire seals,” Kagami adds.

“Explosive tags,” Tobirama corrects.

“Izuna-sama hates those,” Kagami shares.  “He says fire’s ours so it’s not fair Senju can fake it without learning real jutsu.”

Tobirama smirks, a flicker at the corner of his mouth that vanishes before he raises his voice enough to make it carry.  “Well, next time he says that, you may tell him that Senju use fire jutsu, too; he just hasn’t seen.  And he should know better than to make assumptions like that.”

Kagami grins and nods.  A few other children giggle.

Izuna looks thoroughly annoyed, but he turns away instead of saying anything.  He’ll have plenty to say later, Hikaku is sure, once Tobirama and the kids are out of hearing, but for now he tosses his hair back and peers deliberately into the water.

“Are there lots of kinds of seals, Senju-sensei?” Kagami asks.

“More than I can list at once,” Tobirama says.  “Seals are even more varied than jutsu, only less commonly used.  Now, how many mussels have you found?”

The Uchiha are collectors of jutsu.  Every jutsu that any Uchiha has seen since the beginning of the clan is recorded, both in written form and in memories passed down across the generations.  Many of those jutsu are useless—there are dozens of campfire-lighting jutsu, invented by different clans in different countries and different generations, and the Uchiha only need one.  But they are kept anyway, for any who want to study jutsu creation, or in case an Uchiha needs to disguise themselves as a member of another clan.

Among those jutsu are thousands that have no use at all in war.  Jutsu to make food more flavorful, to shape wood and metal and stone with greater precision than a handheld tool, to send messages, to embellish dance, to amplify music or sensation.  Most Uchiha learn a handful of them.  Jutsu for singing and sex are the most popular, and those that are useful with various crafts.  Hikaku has at least glanced through most sections of the library, looking for interesting options.  Each recorded jutsu also records the source, and every Senju jutsu Hikaku has ever seen is for war.  Hikaku used to be sure that meant the Senju simply didn’t know or use jutsu for anything other than battle, sabotage, and the like.

But once this season is over he’s going to have to go home and add an entire new section to the library for jutsu that heal.  Not merely by shaping a needle out of a broken blade or pulling gravel out of wounds, but actively.  It’s still technically for war, but it’s an entire category of jutsu that the Uchiha didn’t even know were possible, which the Senju seem to have been using for generations, the way Tobirama acted about it.

So maybe, being a Senju, Tobirama doesn’t know the full variety of uses jutsu can have.  Or maybe the Senju are very good at keeping secrets, and seals can do things Hikaku hasn’t even imagined.

It really is a shame that he’ll never see the Uzumaki compound.

Hikaku pries the last mussel worth eating off the rocks, tosses it into the pile with the rest, and straightens.  The children are enthusiastic, but very distracted by all the unfamiliar creatures in the pools, and Tobirama is similarly distracted by watching and teaching them all.

Hikaku and Izuna, then, will have to do most of the foraging.  Which isn’t worrying, really; Hikaku is no longer concerned about starving while they’re trapped on this island.  But he’d rather not eat every meal from the same single fish for a week again, nor would he like to see what bigger fish Tobirama could possibly find. 

[this is followed by Hikaku picking up a blue ringed octopus, and Tobirama being Totally Rational And Calm And Not Panicking in response. As he always is, of course]