#{ i will always be with you : far cry 4 verse }

[call-sign-shark]

Echo of Shadows || Masterlist

Pairing: The Darkling x Heartrender!OCreader || Alina Starkov x Heartrender!OCreader || Malyen Oretsevx HeartRender!OCreader

Summary: "They called her the White Plague, a saint or a monster—but she was neither, only destruction wrapped in a pretty bow."

In Ravka's frosty heart, the legend of the White Plague spreads—a woman with snow-white hair, frozen-fire eyes, and powers that rival those of Jurda Parem. Once a slave in the Menagerie, the one who calls herself Heaven is now a myth, either leaving towns in ruins or former disease-ridden people crying with gratitude. A Sankta.

General Kirigan's interest soon turns dark and his desire obsessive. Never had he been so captivated and haunted by someone. Someone he could finally share his eternal life with. Caught in a cruel game of power and love, she's torn between Kirigan’s corrupting passion and Alina Starkov’s promise of freedom.

Amidst the chaos, one question arises: will she become a savior, a monster, or something far more dangerous?

TW: Explicit sexual content, slow burn, borderline consent, heavy pinning, toxic relationship [manipulation, obsession, extreme jealousy, controlling behavior], graphic sexual description, graphic depiction of murder and torture, blood!kink, size!kink, radioactive couple, codependency, reference to past SA and child SA, dark romance & mad romance trope, ambiguous relationship with Alina. This story is brutal, bloody and rated +18.

ACT I: A BURNING LIMERENCE

1. Keep Moving, Little Girl

2. Their Frozen Shackles

3. The Court of Shadows

4. The Fear Within

5. Beneath his Watchful Eyes 🔞

6. Until Nothing is Left

7. Dangerous

8. A Dance of Puppets

9. Burn Your Village

10. Gazed Into the Abyss…

11 ... The Abyss Gazed Back Into Me 🔞

12. All I've Ever Wanted. 🔞

ACT II. RAPTURE OF THE DEEP

13. Queen of Spades

14. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Light

15. I was Made for Loving You, Baby

16. Blinding Light

17. It's in Our Veins

18. Your Darkness Flayed 🔞

19. After the Storm, the Sun

20. Safe in the Dark 🔞

21. Paint Me Black 🔞

22. Golden Cage for a Pretty Bird

23. Your Heart, My Chains

24. Good Ending? You Haven't Paid Attention

ACT III. THE CALL OF THE VOID

25. The Assasymphony

26. Never You

27. Barbwire Kiss🔞

28. It Has Always Been You 🔞

29. I'm Not Ruined. I'm Ruination.

30. Here Comes the Wolves

31. Your Love is an Open Wound 🔞

32. The Mask of the Red Death

33. The Starless Saint of Broken Hearts

34. Symphony of Our Ruins

35. Epilogue: Eternal Eclipse

ONE SHOTS

Much Ado About Jam Toasts- fun & fluff

Away From the Deep Shadow

MODERN AU*

Happiness Therapy

Folie À Deux

A Rose in the Corridor

Friend and Festivities - @justrainandcoffee

Kindred Spirit - @justrainandcoffee

Enrichment

Scrabble and Struggle - @justrainandcoffee

*Amos is Aleksander's modern identity.

VISUALS

Light in the Dark

"Call me Aleksander" - trailer by the beloved @elizabethblood9

ASK

Modern!Aleksander x Heaven for Christmas

Notes:

☾ I haven't read the books so this work is based on the TV show even though I know it's fairly different from the original Grisha verse. If you're an adorable lore psycho, you might not want to read that! :(

☾ Taglist: @lunawants , @emtaz-art, @lightinbug, @kmc1989, @thepassionatereader @mystic-mara @m-riaa @kallista-diune @meadows5 @kasagia @watersquirtpewpewboomm @the-sweet-psycho @sarahsobsession @elizabethblood9 @ritzzzzz

[svt-luna]

ʚིᵋ ⋆ GAME CATERERS X SVT ࣪ ! ˓ ౨ৎ ࣪˖ ─── episode 1-4.

Game Caterers x SEVENTEEN

synopsis: Episode 1-4! The continuation of the character quiz which leads to the epic conclusion. Will the members of SEVENTEEN be able to eat... at all?

╰ ౨ৎ LUNA-VERSE MASTERLIST

╰౨ৎ fan reactions ╰౨ৎ game caterers masterlist

[added captions are in brackets] ღ

bold dialogues are spoken in english ღ

The members of SEVENTEEN gathered around the table, the atmosphere buzzing with anticipation as they prepared for the next round. The tension from the previous rounds lingered, but there was also an undercurrent of excitement.

Dino, always the optimistic maknae, voiced the collective determination with a firm, "We can do it." His words served as a rallying cry, boosting their morale as they readied themselves for the challenge ahead. The room was filled with the familiar sounds of laughter, light-hearted banter, and the occasional exclamation.

[Round 7]

PD Na, ever the efficient host, wasted no time as his eyes landed on Mingyu, the first in line for this round. With a slight nod, he showed the picture to Mingyu and began the countdown, "1, 2, 3."

“Paik Jong Won,” Mingyu answered confidently, his voice strong and assured. The members erupted in praise, their trust in Mingyu’s ability paying off.

[100% accuracy so far]

"You got it," PD Na confirmed with a small smile before swiftly moving on to the next in line— Luna. She leaned back slightly in her chair, her posture relaxed but her focus intense. The picture was revealed to her, and PD Na began counting down once more, "1, 2, 3."

“Yoo Jae Suk,” Luna responded without hesitation. The room filled with the sound of clapping and compliments, a chorus of “Good job!” and “Nice one!” echoing from all sides.

[Another Ace]

“Correct,” PD Na acknowledged, his approval clear as he moved on to Dino. The youngest member leaned forward, ready and waiting as the picture was shown to him.

"1, 2, 3."

“Suzy,” Dino answered quickly, his voice full of confidence.

“Good!” Dokyeom exclaimed, his excitement palpable as he clapped enthusiastically for Dino’s success.

Without a moment’s delay, PD Na moved to Seungkwan, the next in line. The picture was revealed, and the countdown began, "1, 2, 3."

“Yang Sehyung,” Seungkwan answered with absolute confidence, standing up as he did, a wide grin spreading across his face.

“You got it,” PD Na confirmed once again, and the group continued to cheer for each other, the atmosphere thick with tension and excitement.

Next in line was S.Coups, and as the picture was shown, the rest of the members all started muttering the answer to themselves, a collective whisper that filled the room. But S.Coups seemed to struggle, the pressure clearly mounting as he tried to recall the name.

"1, 2, 3…" PD Na counted down, and S.Coups, visibly flustered, stuttered, “Song… Song…” But it was too late, and he fell to his knees in defeat as the members around him groaned in frustration, their collective shout of the correct answer nearly deafening.

"Yoon!"

[All together]

Seungkwan and Jeonghan, who were seated on either side of him, couldn’t help but smack him on the back in mock frustration, yelling the answer into the air, their voices a mixture of exasperation and humor.

Jeonghan turned to Vernon, who was watching the scene unfold with a knowing smile and gestured toward S.Coups. “See? I was right. It’ll end here,” he said with a resigned shrug, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.

[It's over]

After struggling to answer, he dropped to his knees in despair, a dramatic gesture that drew collective amusement from his fellow members. As if on cue, they began to sing a song by the artist whose name S.Coups had failed to recall, their voices merging into a playful chorus that only heightened the hilarity of the situation.

[Teasing]

['REALLY REALLY' by Winner, written and composed by Yoon]

Meanwhile, Vernon, ever the quiet observer, seized the opportunity to remove a dish from the table. He stood up, grabbed a container without a word, and discreetly took it away, knowing full well the group would soon be too distracted by their leader’s antics to notice.

S.Coups, still on his knees, tried to salvage the moment by bowing and saying, "Who… Hello, Yoon," before pointing behind him, gesturing vaguely as he added, "Someone said Song."

Jeonghan, quick to rebut, replied, "Who said Song? We all said Kang," gesturing toward the members who had tried to help S.Coups by muttering the correct answer. The room erupted in laughter as S.Coups collapsed onto Jeonghan’s legs in mock defeat, clinging to them as if they were his last hope before he finally returned to his chair, laughing at his own mistake.

PD Na, ever the playful instigator, mockingly chided S.Coups, "Still, if it was someone from a different field or a senior, you can just feel sorry, but he's a fellow singer."

[He's a fellow singer]

Luna, always quick with a playful jab, joined in, "You're terrible at this," her words earning a nod of agreement from Jeonghan, who added with a grin, "You're not good at this."

[Bunny power]

Mingyu, unable to resist, teased, "I bet if Seung Yoon had to answer you, he wouldn't get it."

S.Coups, still laughing, shook his head in agreement. "Right. He wouldn't get me."

"I can ask him now," PD Na offered, leaning into the joke.

"I'm sure he wouldn't," S.Coups said, his laughter bubbling up once more.

Seungkwan, ever the sharp-witted one, deadpanned from beside S.Coups, "Maybe because you're not as famous," causing the room to explode with laughter and a chorus of "Oohs" at the playful burn.

S.Coups stood up, chuckling as he shook his head in mock defeat.

As the members prepared for round eight, the room buzzed with anticipation. They began to shuffle their seats, deciding that S.Coups, after his earlier blunder, should go last. Woozi was moved to the front, while the rest adjusted their positions according to their preferences.

[S.COUPS moves to the back]

[WOOZI moves to the front]

Amidst the reshuffling, Luna found herself seated in the center, between Dino and Wonwoo. Dino was calm and ready, but Wonwoo, too nervous to sit, paced back and forth behind Luna, anxiously preparing for his turn.

PD Na observed the new arrangement and turned to Woozi with a hint of expectation. "Yes. I think Woozi will actually be good at it. Because you said you never leave home. What would he do at home?"

"I’ve been focusing the whole time," Woozi replied, his usual calm demeanor showing a hint of tension.

"How's your score so far?" PD Na inquired, curious about Woozi’s self-assessment.

"It wasn't high. Honestly, I've been practicing this quietly. This is really hard," Woozi admitted with a small smile. Determined, he added, "I'll do my very best."

From his seat, Mingyu leaned back casually and offered some advice. "Relax. Lean back. Just do it. Do your best."

Woozi, catching onto Mingyu’s laid-back approach, mimicked his posture, sitting arrogantly as he replied, "I know them all."

Luna, sitting comfortably in the center, couldn’t help but add, "The Kim Mingyu method really does work," recognizing that confidence was a big part of the game.

[New method for the quiz: 'Kim Mingyu Method']

Mingyu, eager to reinforce his point, pointed at himself and asked Woozi, "Look. Who am I?"

"Mingyu," Woozi answered without hesitation.

"That’s it. Who’s this?" Mingyu pointed at Seungkwan.

"Seungkwan," Woozi replied, catching onto the simplicity of Mingyu’s strategy.

"That’s how you play," Mingyu said, grinning.

Woozi, now fully engaged in the playful banter, pointed at Jeonghan and confidently said, "Jeonghan."

"That’s right. Good," Mingyu encouraged, enjoying the light-hearted moment.

PD Na, seeing the playful yet effective strategy, added, "Keep that tone."

[Done practicing]

[Round 8]

PD Na, with a mischievous smile, reminded Woozi, “Say it clearly,” before revealing the next picture.

“1, 2, 3,” he counted down.

“IU,” Woozi announced confidently, and the room erupted in cheers and applause.

[Ji Hoon did it]

[As if he was a baby taking his first step]

“We filmed together once before,” Woozi added, a small smile of pride tugging at his lips.

[Touched]

“You were on ‘IU's Palette’,” Hoshi pointed out, bringing up the show where Woozi and IU had a chance to interact.

“We almost became friends,” Seungkwan chimed in, playfully adding to the banter.

Mingyu, eager to keep the momentum going, asked, “Can we proceed?”

“Sure,” Seungkwan and Jeonghan nodded in agreement, their excitement palpable.

PD Na then turned to Mingyu, showing him the next picture.

“1, 2, 3,” he counted down.

“Cho Jinwoong,” Mingyu declared as he stood up, visibly amazed at his own accuracy.

[His shoulders are reaching 61cm]

“Good job, Mingyu,” Dokyeom praised him, his words echoed by the other members’ cheers.

Without wasting time, PD Na moved on to Seungkwan, showing the next picture.

“1, 2, 3,” PD Na counted down.

“Joo Hyun Young!” Seungkwan answered with exaggerated enthusiasm, jumping to his feet as the room exploded with cheers once more.

Next was Jeonghan, who raised his hands, “Wait. Wait. Wait,” he said, trying to keep his cool before PD Na revealed the picture.

[Keeping inner peace]

“1, 2, 3,” PD Na counted down.

“Joo Woo Jae,” Jeonghan answered, and the room’s energy reached a new high as half the members jumped up in excitement, their voices overlapping in an intense chorus of celebration.

“My goodness. We’ll get to play,” someone exclaimed.

“It’s coming!”

“Nice!”

“We have hope.”

“You were lucky,” PD Na teased Jeonghan, but his eyes were already on Dino, showing him the next picture.

As Dino saw the picture of Seungkwan, Jeonghan, and Luna, who were sitting on either side of him, instinctively covered their mouths, trying to hide their whispering.

“Boo Seungkwan,” they both murmured quietly, just in case Dino needed the extra nudge.

[Mom and Dad were saying the answer just in case Dino doesn't get it]

“1, 2, 3,” PD Na counted down.

“Seungkwan,” Dino laughed as he answered, and everyone cheered as Seungkwan grinned proudly, seeing his own picture.

[He got his own picture]

Luna was next. Despite the excitement and the loud cheers from the members, half of whom were now standing, she remained seated with a nervous smile, her fingers playing with the necklace around her neck. Her eyes were fixed on PD Na, focused yet anxious.

[The 'Kim Mingyu Method' is lost on her]

Jeonghan noticed her nervousness immediately. With a gentle yet firm voice, he raised his hand, “Wait. Wait. Wait,” signaling for everyone to calm down. The members, sensing the seriousness in Jeonghan’s tone, quickly quieted down, creating a space for Luna to concentrate.

PD Na then revealed the next picture, showing a familiar animated character.

“1, 2, 3,” he counted down.

“Elsa!” Luna jumped from her seat, excitement flooding her voice.

The room erupted in the loudest cheers yet. They had hit the halfway mark— a feat that had never happened before.

[They reached halfway for the first time]

PD Na moved on to Wonwoo, who was still behind his seat, gripping the backrest with a determined expression. The tension in the room was palpable as all eyes were on him, the silence amplifying the anticipation.

“1, 2, 3,” PD Na counted down, revealing the next picture.

“Doolie,” Wonwoo answered calmly, his voice steady.

The room exploded into cheers as the members who had already answered jumped to their feet. Vernon stood there, wide-eyed, his fist raised to his mouth in awe. The accomplishment was significant, and the energy in the room was electric.

[They're on the peak]

“It’s Vernon’s turn,” PD Na announced, as the focus shifted to Vernon. The atmosphere buzzed with excitement as PD Na showed him the next picture.

“1, 2, 3,” PD Na counted down.

“Kang Daniel,” Vernon answered without hesitation, drawing even more cheers from the group.

Dokyeom, who was next in line, stood up and braced himself, looking like he was about to tackle a lion. His eyes were wide with concentration, his body tense with determination. The pressure was mounting, not just for him, but for the remaining members who hadn’t gone yet. A chorus of murmurs filled the room, a mix of anxiety and encouragement.

“My goodness.”

“It’s coming.”

“Please don’t reach this far.”

The members whispered among themselves, the pressure of the upcoming turns weighing heavily on them.

PD Na showed Dokyeom the picture, counting down with his usual cadence. “1, 2, 3,” he said.

“Calm Down Man,” Dino whispered suddenly, magically appearing next to Dokyeom, relaying him the answer.

“Calm Down Man,” Dokyeom repeated, his voice betraying a hint of nervousness, but he managed to answer just in time.

Cheers erupted once more, though PD Na, unaware of the slight cheating, added, “You got it. It’s a warning. You were late.”

Minghao was next, and the atmosphere shifted as everyone turned their attention to him. The tension was palpable, especially between Minghao and Jun, who were holding hands in front of them. Their fingers were interlocked, and their faces were a mix of determination and sheer terror. It was an amusing sight that made PD Na laugh out loud.

[2 cats are shivering]

“Good luck. You can do it,” Jun encouraged Minghao, squeezing his hand reassuringly.

“You can do it,” Dokyeom echoed, his voice full of confidence, trying to boost Minghao’s morale.

“You were good at it,” Minghao said to Dokyeom, his voice a little shaky but sincere.

Luna, sitting nearby, couldn’t help but soften at the sight of the two holding hands. “Oh my… They are so cute,” she remarked, her voice filled with affection. “It’s okay. Calm down, Haohao, Huihui,” she added, using their affectionate nicknames.

PD Na pointed at Minghao and Jun, chuckling as he observed their position. “They’re holding hands,” he noted with amusement.

Minghao, despite his nerves, managed to make a small joke. “Give me the easy one,” he said, his voice half-serious, half-pleading.

“Here we go,” PD Na responded, readying the picture. Minghao leaned forward, his focus sharpening as he prepared to answer.

“Give me the easy one,” Minghao repeated, his tone almost like a mantra to himself.

“1, 2, 3,” PD Na counted down, revealing the image.

“NewJeans,” Minghao answered with a confident smile.

The room erupted in praise and relief. “Good job!” Luna exclaimed, proud of Minghao.

“Nice,” Dokyeom said, genuinely surprised as he pulled Minghao into a hug.

“It’s too small to see,” Vernon noted, still processing how close the call was.

“He covered Minji’s face,” Mingyu added, pointing out the difficulty of the image.

“I thought that was S.E.S.,” S.Coups admitted, which made Seungkwan scoff with laughter.

[But The8 was happy with the question]

PD Na’s voice cut through the cheers, bringing everyone back to focus. “Among two obstacles, you just passed one small obstacle. You have the big one left.” His words hung in the air, heightening the anticipation for the next turn.

[S.Coups is the Himalayas]

The members collectively turned to Jun, who was up next. PD Na held up the next picture, and the countdown began. “1, 2, 3…”

[Hesitant]

“Karina,” Jun answered, his voice slightly hesitant, but sure enough.

[He was late]

A moment of silence passed before the room exploded. The members stood up, pointing at Jun and shouting to PD Na, insisting that he got it right. Their excitement was palpable, filling the room with a renewed sense of energy.

“I almost said it's wrong,” PD Na admitted, a grin spreading across his face.

But Jun wasn’t done. “I can do the dance,” he said, and without missing a beat, he got on the ground to demonstrate.

['Black Mamba']

As he began to move, the familiar beats of 'Black Mamba' came to life in his mind, and he sang along, “‘Black Mamba’,” while performing the iconic choreography. His fluid movements and confident delivery had everyone laughing and clapping in appreciation.

Seungkwan, not wanting to be outdone, jumped in with another song, teasing Jun to keep going. “‘I’m on the next level’,” he sang, his voice carrying the tune as Jun seamlessly transitioned into the dance for 'Next Level,' his body following the rhythm effortlessly.

PD Na, watching Jun nail the dance with ease, confirmed with a nod, “A warning.”

[One more warning]

PD Na’s voice rang out, breaking the intense atmosphere that had settled over the group. "Now you have three members left," he announced, his gaze shifting to Joshua, who was now on his knees, Hoshi, who had his hands clasped together in a fervent prayer, and S.Coups, who was leaning forward with an intense focus. The tension was palpable.

[Urgh/Performance Team leader/Leader]

"This is crazy," Mingyu muttered, glancing nervously at the remaining players.

PD Na nodded in agreement. "From Joshua to S.Coups, we'll go fast. If S.Coups gets the answer, you win."

“Why am I getting so nervous?” S.Coups said, his hands now clasped to his chest as if he could physically steady the pounding of his heart. “He’s selecting the question,” he commented, watching as PD Na prepared to reveal the next image.

Joshua’s turn was up. PD Na showed him the picture and began the countdown. “1, 2, 3.”

“Cocomong,” Joshua answered quickly, his voice filled with a mix of certainty and calmness.

“You got it,” PD Na confirmed.

A collective gasp filled the room, followed by a chorus of excited murmurs. “Is that right? Is it Cocomong?” S.Coups asked, still in disbelief.

“It’s Cocomong,” Joshua repeated with a nod, confidence growing in his voice.

“Isn’t that Chocoemong?” Mingyu asked, a frown of confusion creasing his face.

“What?” Luna and Jeonghan simultaneously whipped around to face Mingyu, their expressions of shock and disbelief making him laugh sheepishly.

[Appalled]

“Chocoemong is what you drink after drinking,” Seungkwan corrected Mingyu with a deadpan expression, earning a round of laughter from the others.

PD Na gave a final nod. “You got it. The answer is Cocomong.”

With that confirmation, Hoshi jumped to his feet, his hands still clasped together as if in prayer. The tension in the room skyrocketed. “Hey, be quiet,” S.Coups hissed, trying to focus as they readied for Hoshi’s turn.

[Noisy people: S.Coups, The8, DK]

The members quickly rallied around Hoshi, trying to calm his nerves. “Let’s go, Hoshi,”

“Relax,”

“You got this,”

“The tiger’s eyes.”

[Next is the tiger's eyes, Hoshi]

PD Na revealed the next picture, and the countdown began. “1, 2, 3…”

There was a long, excruciating pause as Hoshi’s mind raced, but no words came out. Finally, he collapsed to his knees, letting out an agonized “Ahh!” that echoed around the room.

The members burst into laughter as PD Na’s voice cut through the chaos. “Wrong!” he declared, his tone full of mock disappointment.

Hoshi finally found his voice, albeit too late. “Lee Seok Hoon,” he muttered, now fully aware of his mistake.

[Too late]

The room buzzed with a chaotic mixture of reactions as Hoshi remained on his knees, the reality of his mistake settling in. Some members were in shock, wide-eyed and mouths agape, unable to believe that Hoshi had fumbled his answer. Others reacted with visible pain, feeling the weight of the near victory slipping away. Some rushed to Hoshi's side, offering comfort and pats on the back, trying to soothe his obvious distress. But there were also those who couldn’t help but laugh, their laughter mingling with the groans and sighs in the room.

[While everyone's in despair,]

[someone's happy]

Amidst the flurry of reactions, S.Coups felt an overwhelming sense of relief wash over him. For once, it wasn't him who had cracked under pressure. A grin spread across his face as he stood up and made his way towards the swarm of members surrounding Hoshi. "It wasn't me. It wasn't me," he repeated gleefully, pointing at Hoshi, who was still on the ground. The weight of the moment had shifted entirely off his shoulders. "It was him."

[I'm happy that I didn't get it wrong]

[He got it wrong]

Now, all of them were standing, eyes fixated on Hoshi, who was still kneeling in defeat. The room was buzzing, but S.Coups’ relief was evident.

Luna, her heart softening at the sight of Hoshi’s guilty expression, went over to him, peeking through the crowd. “It’s okay,” she said softly, her chuckle light and gentle. “It’s alright.”

Hoshi glanced up at her, still looking remorseful, but her words seemed to bring a small amount of comfort.

Vernon and Mingyu stepped forward, each taking one of Hoshi’s arms and helping him to his feet. “It’s okay,” Vernon reassured him with a smile, while Mingyu patted his back. Hoshi tried to smile, though Dino’s laughter, which echoed loudly through the room, made it difficult to stay serious.

[Get up, warrior]

[You're pardoned]

[We can just remove the food]

“It’s okay,” Jeonghan said as he walked over to the table, glancing at the remaining food with a sigh. “Let’s remove yogurt.” He nodded towards Seungkwan, who quickly went over and removed the container from the table, a sign of moving past the small defeat.

[Yogurt is out] [4 dishes left]

As the group settled down for the next round, a sense of determination and camaraderie filled the air. Minghao was the first to break the silence, his voice calm but optimistic. "We see hope."

"We saw possibility," Dokyeom added, nodding in agreement.

"We reached very far," Jeonghan chimed in, acknowledging and reflecting on their progress.

Seungkwan, always quick with a response, said, "We almost had it."

Mingyu, nodded and said, "We just did pretty well."

Woozi, however, wasn’t ready to let Hoshi off the hook just yet. "I don't get how he couldn't get it," he said, shaking his head slightly.

"I agree," Mingyu said, echoing Woozi’s sentiment.

"That he didn't get Lee Seok Hoon?" Seungkwan clarified.

"Yes. Even I knew it," Woozi replied, still a bit perplexed.

"It means he didn't watch the show Seungkwan was on," S.Coups teased, trying to lighten the mood a little.

"Wonwoo and Minghao were on it too," Mingyu pointed out.

"Even if you didn’t, you should know," Jeonghan said, still dwelling on Hoshi’s missed answer.

"All of us were there," Woozi added, his tone a mix of understanding and disbelief.

Luna, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, couldn’t hold back any longer. "No– ya! Hoshi knew him. He answered right, he just ran out of time 'cause PD Na doesn’t want us to eat," she scolded them, her tone both protective and teasing. Her defense of Hoshi made PD Na laugh, clearly amused by her assessment.

[Bunny no. 1 defending the tiger... hamster(?)]

"I know him…" Hoshi trailed off, his voice a mix of frustration and regret.

"But you couldn't recall it," Luna finished for him, nodding sympathetically. "It's alright."

"I understand," S.Coups said, his voice gentle as he tried to ease the tension in the room.

As they prepared to move on to the next round, the atmosphere in the room was a mix of anticipation and amusement. PD Na addressed the group with a hint of strategy, "If you're starting with S.Coups, you want to deal with the problem first and end it."

"It means we’ll get rid of the lemon," Seungkwan quipped, his comment making everyone burst into laughter.

"The lemon?" S.Coups stood up, chuckling in disbelief at Seungkwan's playful jab.

"Don't be like that," Dino said, trying to keep a straight face.

"Just admit it," Seungkwan teased further, causing S.Coups to laugh even more, shaking his head.

[Our success is what matters]

"Let’s start. S.Coups will go first," PD Na announced, setting the stage for the next challenge.

"Give me an easy one, please," S.Coups leaned forward, his voice a mix of pleading and nervousness.

PD Na, with a grin, added, "I think he should go talk to Jeonghan," suggesting that S.Coups might need some counsel from Jeonghan, which made the two laugh in agreement.

[The counseling office is always open]

"Chill out," Jeonghan told S.Coups with a calm, reassuring tone.

Mingyu jumped in, trying to help with his own method of deduction. "You know them. Like Seungkwan, Jeonghan, Jiyeon," he pointed out, using the members as examples to help S.Coups focus.

"The Kim Mingyu Method," Luna said, naming Mingyu’s approach with a grin.

"That worked really well," Seungkwan and Woozi agreed, finding humor in the method.

"Who's this? Jeonghan. Jiyeon, Wonwoo… Dokyeom. That's what you do," Mingyu continued, trying to show how easy it could be if S.Coups just followed his lead.

"You got Dokyeom confused," Wonwoo chuckled, pointing out Mingyu's mistake, which made Mingyu giggle in response.

"Are you ready?" PD Na asked, bringing the attention back to S.Coups.

[With ease]

[Round 9]

A chorus of encouragements erupted from the members.

"Relax."

"Chill out."

"It's easy."

"You can do it."

"Here we go," PD Na said, building up the suspense as he showed S.Coups the picture and began counting down, "1, 2, 3."

S.Coups stared at the picture, his expression a mix of disbelief and resignation. "Who’s that?" he asked, chuckling as if he had already given up.

"Wrong!" PD Na declared.

All eyes were on S.Coups, who stood in shock, staring at the picture in disbelief. He had been given another easy question, yet once again, he found himself unable to answer it. Instead of groans, the room was filled with silent, stunned expressions as they tried to process what had just happened.

[Shocking]

Mingyu couldn't stay seated any longer. He shot up from his chair, making an exaggerated hand movement as he exclaimed, "Ya! I can even see it from walking past."

"Kim Woo Bin," Jun stated, turning to S.Coups with a mix of surprise and concern.

"Kim Woo Bin," Dokyeom echoed, shaking his head accompanied by a pained chuckle.

"You need to stop drinking," Seungkwan deadpanned, his sharp comment causing both PD Na and S.Coups to burst into laughter.

Luna, who had been observing quietly with her arms crossed, finally spoke up, her tone playful yet stern. "I don’t think we are playing the character quiz…" Her statement made the members turn to her with amused yet confused expressions.

[What?]

"He's the mafia," Luna continued, pointing at S.Coups with a chuckle, a reference to their iconic Mafia game from the 'Don't Lie' segments in ‘Going Seventeen’.

The realization hit the members all at once, and they erupted into hysterical laughter. The idea that S.Coups, their leader, was somehow sabotaging their game was too funny not to embrace.

As the laughter continued to fill the room, Mingyu was clearly the most amused by Luna’s joke. He laughed with his whole body, doubling over as he let out deep, hearty laughs. Unable to contain his amusement, Mingyu got up from his seat, making his way over to Luna. With his hands raised high, he eagerly sought a high five, which Luna gladly returned, their hands clapping together in triumph.

But Mingyu’s laughter didn’t stop there. As he collapsed in hysterics, he fell forward, his head landing on Luna’s lap before he slid down to the floor in front of her, still laughing uncontrollably.

[Mingyu finds it the funniest...]

[Watch ‘Going Seventeen’ to understand why]

Hoshi stood up dramatically, covering his mouth with his hand as he stared at S.Coups with wide eyes, adding to the hilarity. "S.Coups is the mafia!" he declared, his voice filled with mock horror.

The laughter grew louder as the members joined in the joke, shouting in unison, "Let’s kill him! Let’s kill him!" They mimicked the thumbs-down movement they used in the 'Don't Lie' game, fully embracing the absurdity of the situation.

[Let's remove a dish]

As the laughter finally began to subside, the members of SEVENTEEN shifted their focus back to the game, this time discussing which dish to remove from the table. Joshua, ever practical, suggested, "There are two kinds of meat. How about we remove the spicy stir-fried pork?"

Seungkwan, still in a playful mood, stood up and hovered his hand over the LA galbi. "Would you warm it up again? LA galbi is expensive," he reasoned, addressing the crew with a serious expression, his voice tinged with concern.

[Spicy stir-fried pork versus LA galbi]

Jeonghan, always looking out for the younger members, suggested, "Then remove the acorn jelly. Dino hates it."

Luna, nodding in agreement, added, "Dino hates it."

Vernon, weighing in on the discussion, said, "Right. Let's remove the spicy stir-fried pork."

But Luna, without realizing it, pouted slightly as she responded, "No, why the spicy stir-fried pork?"

Joshua chimed in, "There are two kinds of meat anyway."

Determined to protect the dish, Mingyu said, "Remove the acorn jelly."

Seungkwan, still standing at the table, his hands hovering indecisively between the two dishes, almost whined, "Between acorn jelly and spicy stir-fried pork, what's it going to be?"

"Acorn jelly," Jeonghan said firmly. "The youngest doesn't like acorn jelly."

[Strong reason]

"Really? You don't? Then let's remove acorn jelly," Vernon agreed, sealing the fate of the dish. With that, the acorn jelly was finally removed.

[Acorn jelly is out] [3 dishes left]

As the group settled back into their places, Jeonghan, ever the contrarian, remarked, "Isn't spicy stir-fried pork better than LA galbi?"

Joshua, eyebrows raised in disbelief, questioned, "Really?"

Wonwoo, always practical, chimed in, "Apparently, LA galbi is expensive."

Seungkwan, ready to move forward, returned to his seat and said, "We still have two kinds of meat left. Let's play first."

Mingyu chuckled, adding, "They'll be gone in no time," referring to how quickly the dishes would vanish even before they would start eating.

[Gone in no time]

Before the next round began, some of the members shuffled their seats again, trying to find their optimal positions. Luna ended up seated between Jeonghan and Seungkwan on the right side of the line. Jeonghan then asked, "So? Do we start from here? Or there?"

Mingyu, with a grin, suggested, "I think S.Coups should go last. All thirteen people get to experience it, and S.Coups will end it by dying," which made Luna burst into laughter.

Woozi, catching on to the plan, swapped seats with S.Coups, who begrudgingly accepted his fate and moved to the end of the line. "Shall we?" Woozi asked, settling into S.Coups’ former spot.

[They quietly send S.Coups to the end]

"We'll start from here again," Seungkwan decided, pointing to the other end of the line where the round would begin.

As Woozi took S.Coups' seat, he noticed a yogurt from the container sitting there, looking confused. "Hey…" he said, holding up the yogurt, which made both Jeonghan and Luna glance over with mild curiosity.

Seungkwan, immediately recognizing the yogurt, reached for it and said, "Give it to me." It had been his seat before, and he'd sneakily taken the yogurt and hidden it for himself.

[It was Seungkwan's seat]

Jeonghan and Luna remained unfazed, though clearly amused as they watched the scene unfold. Woozi handed the yogurt over to Seungkwan, asking, "Why are you keeping yogurt?"

[He saved yogurt for later]

Luna, with a smirk, decided to help Seungkwan out, "It fell earlier."

Jeonghan, always quick to join in, added, "It was on the floor."

Seungkwan, stumbling over his words, tried to justify himself, "It said it's got patented probiotics."

Wonwoo, ever observant, asked, "When did you take it?"

Minghao, shaking his head with a sigh, joined in with a half-serious, half-playful tone, "Be honest."

The entire group burst into laughter at the ridiculousness of the situation, Seungkwan finally admitting, "Sorry," as he sheepishly held onto the yogurt.

[We pursue earnest and bright society]

As they braced for the next round the atmosphere in the room was a mixture of anticipation and tension. PD Na announced, "Here we go. Dino is going first," signaling the start of what everyone hoped would be a successful round.

Wonwoo, still pacing behind his seat, muttered, "I should practice," he said as he tried to prepare himself mentally.

[Round 10]

The screen flickered as PD Na displayed the picture for Dino. "1, 2, 3…" he counted down, giving Dino his cue. Dino pointed at the picture, but to everyone’s surprise, no words came out of his mouth. His mind seemed to have drawn a blank at the crucial moment.

[Say something]

"Wrong!" PD Na exclaimed, breaking the silence with a mix of surprise and disappointment. The other members turned to Dino, their expressions ranging from disbelief to shock.

Vernon, unable to contain himself, shot up from his seat and pointed at the youngest member. "How can you miss this?" he asked incredulously, his voice rising.

"You always… you always copy him," Wonwoo chimed in, echoing Vernon’s disbelief.

"This is your special skill," Vernon added, still in shock, "You copy him all the time."

Dino covered his mouth with his hand, his face reflecting his own disbelief. "Why can't I remember all of a sudden?" he murmured, almost to himself, the realization of his mistake slowly sinking in.

PD Na turned to Hoshi, who was next in line, to see if he knew the answer. "Hoshi, who's this?"

"Song Kang Ho," Hoshi responded without missing a beat, his voice confident and sure.

"He's your special skill," Wonwoo repeated, emphasizing Dino's usual talent.

[There must be something about his special skill]

"You should show him," Hoshi suggested, gesturing towards PD Na with a smile.

Dino chuckled, shaking his head. "No," he said, reluctant to demonstrate his impression.

[What is it?]

"Show him," Mingyu encouraged, nodding his head with a grin.

"Which one?" Dino asked as he slowly made his way to the center of the room, the focus of everyone's attention now squarely on him.

"The one that gets censored," Wonwoo said with a playful smirk, recalling a particularly notorious impression that is not suitable for TV.

"He'll censor it," Mingyu reassured Dino, trying to coax him into performing.

"What is it?" PD Na chuckled, his curiosity piqued by the group's reaction. "What is it? You made me so curious."

"It might not be suitable for the show," Seungkwan interjected, standing up to explain on Dino's behalf.

"If it can't be aired, we'll edit it out and give you one more chance," PD Na explained, his tone both understanding and encouraging. The members, realizing they might get another shot at saving the round, began to cheer and clap, urging Dino to go for it.

[We'll give Dino one more chance]

"You have to do it," they chanted, their enthusiasm infectious.

"The viewers won't know what it is, but they'll assume it was funny," PD Na added with a chuckle, trying to put Dino at ease as he stood there, torn between hesitation and the desire to redeem himself.

Dino hesitated for a moment, then decided to explain his upcoming performance. "In 'The Host'…" he began, using his hands to gesture as he spoke.

"Song Kang Ho?" PD Na interjected, seeking confirmation.

"Yes," the members responded in unison, nodding.

Dino continued, "He has to go save his daughter, but he gets caught in the hospital. They start injecting things into his brain for a biopsy. I'll reenact that emergency situation." He mimicked the injection process with his hand gestures, painting a vivid picture of the scene he was about to recreate.

"He impersonates the actor but doesn’t know the name," PD Na commented, shaking his head in amusement.

Seungkwan immediately jumped to his feet, standing beside Dino as he pretended to inject something into his head. Vernon followed suit, joining in as they began the impromptu performance.

Dino, fully in character now, exclaimed, "Ya. I have to go save my daughter."

"Lie down," Seungkwan commanded, keeping up the act.

"Help me," Dino pleaded, still in character.

"Lie down," Seungkwan repeated, his tone authoritative as they continued the reenactment.

"Okay, okay," Dino relented, pretending to struggle as he was held down by his fellow members.

"Lie down!" Seungkwan shouted, raising his voice to add intensity to the scene.

Luna, sitting in her seat, couldn’t help but giggle and cringe simultaneously, her arms hugging Jeonghan's as they watched Dino's committed performance.

Dino, fully immersed in his role, suddenly blurted out, "Ya! You bastard! You son of a bitch!"

The room erupted in laughter. PD Na, the crew, and the rest of the members couldn’t contain themselves, cracking up at Dino's cursing and his spot-on impression.

"I have to save my daughter," Dino concluded dramatically, ending the performance.

[Done]

"That was so good," Dokyeom chuckled, shaking his head in disbelief at Dino's dedication.

Vernon, overcome with laughter, collapsed onto the floor, his distinct laugh echoing through the room.

[Laughing]

Luna, still giggling, hid behind Jeonghan's arm, her laughter mixing with a hint of secondhand embarrassment from Dino's antics. She peeked out from behind him, still smiling. "He's really on another level."

"You don’t know Song Kang Ho, but you're impersonating him?" PD Na asked, still trying to wrap his head around the absurdity of the situation.

"Exactly," Dino replied, suddenly modest as if he hadn’t just been yelling obscenities. "So if you give me one more chance…"

"I will give you another chance," PD Na said, making the group erupt in cheers and applause, grateful for the opportunity.

[He got another chance]

[He earned his chance]

As Dino returned to his seat, Mingyu leaned over, chuckling, "You cleaned up your own mess."

[It's a precious second chance]

As the redo of the round was set to begin again, Dino nervously prepared himself.

"It'll be funny if he messes up again," Woozi giggled, glancing at Dino, who was now steeling himself for his second chance.

[RE: Round 10]

PD Na held up the picture for Dino and began the countdown, "1, 2, 3."

"Mimi," Dino blurted out confidently.

"You got it," PD Na confirmed, nodding his head.

"I got it!" Dino exclaimed, standing up, visibly shocked and immensely relieved that he had nailed it this time. The tension from earlier had melted away, replaced with triumphant disbelief.

Next up was Hoshi. He stood up, a mix of a sigh and a whine escaping him as he clutched his chest, clearly feeling the pressure.

[And]

[the hamster's having a heartache]

[Sigh]

"Hoshi, it's okay. You're okay," Luna said softly, her voice tinged with amusement as she watched him.

"Hoshi, doesn’t your heart ache?" S.Coups teased with a chuckle as if empathizing with the intensity of the situation.

"I think I’m going to go crazy," Hoshi admitted, making S.Coups laugh heartily.

[He understands how Hoshi feels]

"It’s okay," Jun reassured him, placing a comforting hand on Hoshi's arm as he tried to calm him down.

[Character Quiz can be harmful]

[Talk to Producer Na about side effects]

PD Na then presented the picture to Hoshi. Before he could even count down, Hoshi sprang to his feet and pointed at the image, shouting, "Jee Seok Jin!" His excitement was so overwhelming that he fell to his knees, overwhelmed with joy. The members erupted in cheers and applause, sharing in Hoshi’s elation.

"Seok Jin!" Hoshi repeated, pointing at the picture as if he couldn’t believe he had actually gotten it right. The sheer relief and excitement radiated from him, and the members continued clapping for him, their laughter filling the room.

"He’s my dad’s age," Hoshi said, still out of breath, eliciting even more laughter from the group.

[He was born in 1966]

"'He’s my dad’s age'," Luna repeated with a chuckle, nodding at Hoshi in understanding as she smiled at his endearing comment.

"Joshua’s turn," PD Na announced, signaling the start of the next round. He showed Joshua the picture and counted down, "1, 2, 3."

"Song Hye Kyo," Joshua answered, his voice steady yet his eyes wide.

[Song what Kyo?]

The members burst into applause and cheers, congratulating him for the correct answer.

"Didn’t you say 'Song Ye Kyo'?" PD Na asked, slightly puzzled, prompting a few members to stand up in defense of Joshua’s answer.

[He suddenly misses his hometown]

"Is 'H' silent?" PD Na inquired, trying to clarify.

"I heard it. I heard the 'H,'" Luna raised her hand, backing Joshua despite knowing it wasn’t quite accurate.

"You don’t say 'H' in Hermes," Mingyu argued, causing the room to erupt in a chorus of "Oohs" at his logic, laughing at the sheer absurdity of the lies being thrown around to save Joshua.

[That makes sense]

"He’s right! He’s right!" Luna clapped her hands in agreement, pointing at Mingyu, who playfully winked at her.

"Okay," PD Na said with a sigh, as he turned his attention to Jun and Minghao, who were next in line.

[He'll move on since he's persuaded]

"Oh my. It’s the big obstacle," he remarked, before showing Jun the picture and counting down, "Here we go… 1, 2, 3."

"Michael Jackson," Jun announced confidently, standing up and busting out an iconic Michael Jackson move, making the members cheer loudly in excitement.

[He's in Performance Team]

[Neat finish]

"You’re pretty good," Dokyeom complimented, and others chimed in, "Good job."

[One obstacle is gone]

PD Na then turned to Minghao, who was leaning forward in his seat, a hint of nervousness visible on his face.

[Another obstacle]

"Minghao, it’s okay. You can do it," Seungkwan encouraged, his voice soft.

PD Na showed Minghao the picture and counted down, "1, 2, 3…"

"Sorry," Minghao bowed apologetically, admitting that he didn’t know the person.

"It’s understandable," Mingyu chimed in sympathetically, his tone reassuring.

"It’s understandable," Jeonghan echoed, nodding along in agreement.

"It’s alright, Hao," Luna added, her voice gentle.

[New reaction]

PD Na looked taken aback by the unexpected support, clearly surprised by how forgiving the members were of Minghao’s mistake. As a foreign member, the group understood his struggle with some of the cultural references.

"I don’t know her," Minghao admitted, his voice tinged with regret.

[Jeon Do-yeon]

"It’s okay. He did that on purpose," Luna said, playfully pointing at PD Na, causing the members to chuckle.

"He gave you the question you can’t answer," Mingyu agreed, his tone light-hearted.

"He was trying to get him wrong," Jeonghan added as they nodded in agreement. "He wasn’t considerate enough."

"He just doesn’t want us to eat," S.Coups joked, eliciting more laughter.

"'I’ll make you fail,'" Jeonghan imitated, his voice dripping with playful sarcasm.

"Give me easy ones," Minghao said, his voice lightening as he joined in on the banter, making everyone laugh.

"Sorry," PD Na chuckled, amused by how the members had turned the situation into a light-hearted moment.

In the end, after much deliberation and laughter, the group reluctantly agreed to remove the spicy stir-fried pork from their menu, leaving them with two dishes, the kimchi, and the LA galbi.

[Spicy stir-fried pork is out]

[This is all they have left]

PD Na, sensing the pressure building among the members, decided to lighten the mood while also giving them a push. "If you get it now, it works for both of us. We've got enough airtime. If you lose any more food, CARAT will get mad at us. It's about time for you to pull it off," he encouraged his tone a blend of seriousness and playful urgency.

[Round 11]

"Come on. Let's go," Woozi said, clapping his hands together in anticipation.

"Let’s do this," Minghao added, steeling himself for the challenge ahead.

The tension in the room was palpable as the game moved into the next round. The members were all on edge, knowing that every wrong answer could cost them another dish. Despite their efforts, the round came to a halt when Jun, staring blankly at the photo, couldn't identify Robert Downey Jr. The members sighed as they watched the LA galbi slip away from their grasp, leaving only the kimchi behind.

[END GAME]

[LA galbi is out] [Only 1 dish left]

[In the end, it happened]

[Only kimchi left for the final round]

"We’re about to lose the kimchi," Woozi remarked, half-joking, half-serious as they prepared for the next round.

"We must succeed this time," Seungkwan said, determination clear in his voice.

"Yes," Dino echoed, the weight of the situation not lost on him.

"He’ll give us the easy ones now," Jeonghan observed, watching PD Na carefully as he chose the pictures for the next round.

Luna, who had been quietly observing the proceedings, now rested her head on Jeonghan’s shoulder, her eyes following PD Na and the writers as they discussed the next steps. Jeonghan, sensing an opportunity, leaned forward slightly and proposed an idea. "Can you mix the ones we already did before?" he suggested.

[He demands to repeat the questions]

"What?" one of the writers asked, clearly taken aback by the request, causing the group to burst into laughter.

"He’s serious," Luna explained to the writers and PD Na, patting Jeonghan’s knee affectionately, her head still nestled on his shoulder.

"That’s what he’s like," S.Coups pointed out, gesturing toward Jeonghan with a knowing smile.

"We only have kimchi left," Jeonghan reasoned, trying to make his case.

PD Na considered it for a moment before agreeing. "Sure. Let’s do that. That doesn’t sound like a bad idea at all," he said, nodding.

"Thank you!" Luna exclaimed, her gratitude evident as she smiled warmly at PD Na.

"We can’t get it wrong twice," S.Coups said, the seriousness of the situation hitting them all at once.

"It could be harder this way," Woozi mused, his brows furrowing slightly.

"It might be harder," Jun agreed, nodding in contemplation.

"Getting it wrong twice is twice as embarrassing," Luna chuckled, the absurdity of the situation bringing a lightness to her voice.

"If anyone messes it up, let’s compliment them," Jeonghan suggested, his tone playful as they all agreed.

[Let's compliment that person. No cursing]

"'You don’t even know this? Good job,'" Woozi demonstrated, his sarcastic delivery making everyone laugh.

"Very good," Joshua added, chuckling at the sarcasm.

"That’s more annoying," Jun pointed out, shaking his head.

"It might end here," Joshua said, gesturing to S.Coups, who was first in line.

"Then we should just compliment him," Jeonghan replied, his tone teasing.

[Just compliment him]

"Let’s compliment that person. No cursing," Dokyeom said, trying to keep the atmosphere light.

"Don’t curse," S.Coups warned him, his voice mock-serious.

"Okay, don’t worry," Dokyeom chuckled, waving off the concern.

"Let’s compliment big time. ‘We already saw this before, but you got it wrong again? You’re amazing,’" Woozi suggested, his tone dripping with exaggerated praise, causing Joshua to laugh out loud.

PD Na, now fully on board with the idea, laid out the plan. "Here’s what we’re going to do. I’ll mix six random pictures from the previous questions. Even I don’t know what they are going to be."

[Even the production crew doesn't know the order]

"But you have to go very fast," PD Na explained, demonstrating how quickly he would count down.

[Demonstration]

"Okay. Let’s start," Jeonghan said, his voice steady as they braced themselves for the rapid-fire round ahead. The tension was thick, but so was the camaraderie, as they prepared to face the challenge with a mix of nerves and humor.

As the group prepared to dive into the rapid-fire round, some of the members took a moment to review their previous answers, just in case the same questions resurfaced. There was a mixture of nervous energy and determination in the room as everyone tried to remember the faces and names they'd already encountered.

[Going over the previous questions in a rush]

In the midst of all the preparation, Luna and Jeonghan remained side by side, their quiet confidence evident in how relaxed they were. Luna’s head was still resting comfortably on Jeonghan’s shoulder as she casually replied to a text from her mom on her phone. Jeonghan, noticing her focused expression, watched her fingers as they moved swiftly across the screen.

"Is that your mom?" Jeonghan asked softly, his voice barely above a whisper so as not to disturb the others.

"Mmm," Luna hummed in response, her attention still on her phone.

"Tell her I said hi," Jeonghan suggested, his tone warm and familiar.

Without missing a beat, Luna turned on the front camera of her phone and positioned it in front of them, capturing a photo of them smiling together. Neither of them moved an inch, maintaining their comfortable position as she quickly sent the picture to her mom.

Laughter and quiet conversations filled the room, but soon enough, PD Na's voice cut through the noise, drawing everyone's attention back to the task at hand.

"Is there anyone who got all the answers?" PD Na asked, his tone carrying a hint of playful challenge.

"I haven't gotten any wrong yet," Seungkwan quickly raised his hand, pride evident in his voice.

"I got all mine right too," Luna added, lifting her head from Jeonghan's shoulder to sit up properly. She gave a small, confident smile, glad to be able to say she hadn’t slipped up yet.

Jeonghan, noticing Luna's shift, also raised his hand with a casual, "Me too."

From behind his seat, where he'd been pacing, Wonwoo raised his hand as well, adding, "I don’t think I got anything wrong either," his calm demeanor hiding the subtle pride he felt.

Mingyu, ever competitive, raised his hand after Wonwoo, as if reluctant to be left out.

PD Na scanned the room, his eyes landing on those who hadn’t raised their hands. "Anyone who got everything wrong?" he asked, humor lacing his tone.

Only S.Coups sheepishly raised his hand, chuckling at his own misfortune. "I never got it for once," he admitted, laughing at how ridiculous it sounded.

[Park Bo Gum/Yoon/Kim Woo Bin]

PD Na pointed at S.Coups, his laughter infectious. "He got zero," he emphasized, causing the room to erupt in giggles.

"I didn’t think I’d be this terrible," S.Coups confessed, still smiling despite his poor track record.

"You’re terrible," Vernon teased, unable to resist ribbing his leader.

S.Coups shook his head, still in disbelief. "I was pretty good when I watched it on TV," he said, his tone a mix of amusement and frustration.

"Everything looks easy when you watch it on TV," Joshua pointed out, understanding where S.Coups was coming from.

"It looked really easy on TV," S.Coups repeated, the laughter in his voice signaling he had made peace with his less-than-stellar performance.

The room was buzzing with playful energy as PD Na's gaze swept across the members, his eyes finally landing on S.Coups. “Who should go first?” he asked, a mischievous glint in his eye. “S.Coups?”

S.Coups, with his hands clasped over his chest as if to steady his nerves, nodded with a resigned smile. “Yes,” he agreed, knowing he was about to face another round of teasing from his members if he still got it wrong.

“Do you know the worst-case scenario?” PD Na asked, his eyes narrowing with exaggerated concern. “The game ends with you hesitating."

[And the game ends there]

'No fun, no impression,” Woozi piling on the pressure with a grin.

“No style,” Mingyu chimed in from beside Woozi, unable to resist taking his own playful jab. His tone was light, but the teasing was relentless. Dokyeom couldn’t help but laugh at how perfectly they were roasting their leader.

“We should still compliment him,” Jeonghan suggested.

[Even if the worst possible thing happens, we'll still compliment you]

Woozi caught on immediately, nodding in agreement. “We’ll give you warm compliments,” he promised.

Vernon, ever the deadpan, delivered his line with perfect timing and zero emotion. “Well done,” he said flatly, making PD Na burst out laughing as he clapped in appreciation of the humor.

[That's a compliment]

Jeonghan raised his hands as if to assure everyone. “We’re not negative,” he insisted, though the grin on his face said otherwise.

Joshua, picking up on Vernon's tone, echoed with an equally flat “Well done,” his expression matching the dry delivery.

[Last round]

S.Coups knelt on the floor, his heart racing as the anticipation grew. The entire group was focused on him, holding their breath, hoping he would finally break his streak of incorrect answers.

PD Na, with a knowing smile, revealed the next picture and began his countdown. “1, 2, 3.”

“Uhm Jung Hwa,” S.Coups exclaimed, his voice filled with a mix of determination and desperation.

For a moment, there was silence, then the room erupted in applause. S.Coups had finally gotten it right. He sat back down with a relieved smile, as the members clapped and cheered for him.

[He finally saved his face]

“You got it,” PD Na confirmed, moving quickly to keep the momentum going. He turned to Joshua next, the picture already in hand.

Joshua, ever calm and collected, focused on the image as PD Na began to count. “1, 2, 3.”

“Suho,” Joshua answered without a moment's hesitation, earning another round of applause from the members.

“You got it,” PD Na acknowledged with a nod, wasting no time as he showed the next picture to Hoshi.

“1, 2, 3.”

“Lee Seok Hoon!” Hoshi shouted, jumping to his feet in excitement, his energy contagious as the room cheered again.

“You got it,” PD Na confirmed, laughing at Hoshi’s enthusiasm.

“It’s Seok Hoon!” Hoshi repeated, still riding the high of getting it right.

Next up was Jeonghan, who, in his typical relaxed manner, remained seated as PD Na flashed the picture. “1, 2, 3.”

“Hani,” Jeonghan pointed out, his tone steady and sure.

“You got it,” PD Na responded, pleased with the quick succession of correct answers. He turned to Luna, who was next in line. Luna, who had been quietly observing, was now the center of attention.

PD Na showed her the picture and counted down, "1,2,3." And with a smoothness that only she could pull off, she responded.

“Harry Potter,” Luna said, her English accent and pronunciation so flawless that it left PD Na momentarily confused.

[What?]

“What?” PD Na asked, his brow furrowed as he tried to make sense of what she had just said.

The members were quick to jump in, eager to explain. Joshua and Vernon, who understood her immediately, were the loudest.

“She’s right!” Joshua called out.

“She got it right!” Vernon added, both of them nodding earnestly.

[American line defending]

“What was that?” PD Na asked again, this time with a hint of curiosity, leaning in as if that would help him understand.

“Harry Potter,” Luna chuckled, her English accent still pronounced.

Jeonghan couldn’t help but grin as he added, “She’s English.”

“She’s from the United Kingdom,” Hoshi chimed in, nodding as if to emphasize the point.

“It's her accent,” Joshua pointed out, sharing in the playful banter.

Mingyu, always one for humor, threw in his own comment, “She said it the same way Harry Potter would have said it.”

This set the members off, as they began mimicking her accent, each one trying their best to sound as authentic as Luna had.

“Authentic. Authentic,” Seungkwan said, nodding appreciatively.

Luna, playing along with the joke, repeated her answer once more, this time with a deliberately exaggerated Korean accent, “Harry Potter.”

The room burst into laughter at her playful switch, the tension from the game momentarily forgotten in the shared humor.

“I understand,” PD Na finally said, smiling as he gave her the point. “You got it.”

"Seungkwan is next," PD Na announced, the anticipation building as he turned to the next member. He showed the picture and began counting down, "1, 2, 3."

"Song Kang Ho," Seungkwan answered with confidence, his eyes locked on the screen.

"You got it," PD Na confirmed, causing the room to erupt in applause.

“Okay,” Jeonghan exclaimed, his voice steady and calm, as the group continued their winning streak.

PD Na then turned his attention to Wonwoo, who had stopped pacing and now stood firmly behind his chair, ready to tackle his turn. As the picture was revealed, PD Na began the countdown, "1, 2, 3."

"Hyeri," Wonwoo replied calmly, his voice steady.

The members erupted into excited claps, thrilled by yet another correct answer.

"You got it," PD Na affirmed, pleased with their progress. "You're already halfway."

[It's the peak]

At this point, half of the members were now standing, their energy mixed with excitement and nerves getting to the,

"It's Vernon's turn," PD Na announced, signaling to Vernon who looked intently at him.

PD Na revealed the picture and counted down, "1, 2, 3…"

But nothing came out of Vernon's mouth. The seconds ticked by in silence, and the tension in the room grew palpable.

[Spacing out]

[Blinking]

“Wrong!” PD Na declared, the room filling with a momentary chorus of groans.

However, true to their earlier promise, the members quickly transitioned to compliments, mimicking Vernon’s earlier deadpan tone.

“Well done,” they chorused, surrounding him and clapping enthusiastically.

“Good job.”

“Well done.”

“Good job.”

“You did great.”

[They're complimenting him]

They high-fived him and shook his hand, their smiles wide as they supported their teammate despite the sarcasm dripping in their voices.

[Everyone wants to shake his hand]

Luna, still seated, couldn’t help but laugh at the scene unfolding before her. The group’s playful nature always brought light to even the most competitive moments.

“So? Kimchi slap?” Minghao joked, holding up the container of kimchi, which caused PD Na and the writers to burst into laughter. Minghao then walked off to remove the kimchi from the table, still grinning.

[Kimchi is leaving]

“Good job. Well done,” Jeonghan clapped, his eyes gleaming with amusement.

[When we're having a hard time, we compliment]

Suddenly, Vernon casually picked up the yogurt Seungkwan had been hiding earlier and began drinking it, catching everyone off guard.

[I drink yogurt when I'm sad]

“When did you take it?” PD Na asked, his tone filled with curiosity, while Seungkwan looked at Vernon, eyes wide with shock and a touch of betrayal, considering he had been the one to smuggle the yogurt earlier.

“I brought it from home,” Vernon said casually, clearly lying but with such a straight face that it only added to the hilarity of the situation.

“It was fun. Good job,” Minghao said, clapping for their efforts as they all returned to their seats.

[But the table is empty]

Back in their seats, the group settled down, the atmosphere still buzzing with excitement. Mingyu, ever the instigator, leaned forward and asked, “Any bonus round?”

Jeonghan, with a mischievous glint in his eyes, gestured toward the rice and soup they were supposed to receive for free. “With everything one more time,” he suggested, the familiar spark of a bet flickering across his face.

[Shameless]

Luna simply grinned at this, already accustomed to Jeonghan’s penchant for bets, while PD Na and the writers exchanged shocked glances.

“What?” one of the writers said in a high-pitched tone, their disbelief evident, which only served to amplify the laughter in the room, with Dokyeom laughing the loudest.

[Is he here to bargain with Dormammu?]

“'What?'” Luna mimicked the writer’s tone, followed quickly by Joshua, who couldn’t resist joining in on the fun. “'What?'”

“The final round with all food,” Jeonghan said, his lazy smirk still plastered on his face but with a seriousness that made it clear he wasn’t joking. “We won’t have rice.”

“We’ll bet rice and soup,” S.Coups chimed in, adding to the stakes.

“You’ll starve?” PD Na asked, his tone a mix of concern and amusement.

“Yes,” Jeonghan replied, his smirk never wavering.

“We can’t let them starve,” PD Na said to the writers, trying to gauge how serious the members were.

“It’s okay,” Hoshi interjected.

“We don’t mind. We skip meals often.” Jeonghan said.

“Hunger got us this far,” Seungkwan added with a solemn nod, making Luna nod in agreement as well.

“We’re betting rice and soup too,” Hoshi declared, his tone final.

“We’re putting everything on the line.” S.Coups gestured to the rice and soup.

“You should too,” Luna joined in, her voice filled with playful defiance.

“We’re betting our all,” Jeonghan reiterated. “You should bet your all too.”

S.Coups nodded in agreement, his eyes fixed on PD Na.

“Yung Suk,” Seungkwan called out, using PD Na’s first name with an exaggerated sigh to convince him, causing PD Na to laugh despite himself.

“All versus all,” Vernon clapped, fueling the enthusiasm of the group.

“But there’s a big gap between the two,” Dokyeom chuckled, acknowledging the absurdity of the bet.

“I’ll bet soup, rice, and S.Coups,” Mingyu listed with a grin, knowing the stakes were now absurdly high.

[We're good]

“Okay. Let’s go,” PD Na finally agreed, which prompted the group to erupt into claps and excited exclamations.

[All versus all]

“From this moment on, I’ll be CARAT’s enemy. I’m going to make you starve,” PD Na said, his tone mock-serious.

[That's Producer Na's opinion]

“I’m afraid CARAT will be like, ‘We’re sorry,’” Seungkwan joked, causing another round of laughter.

“But we have a chance. We got this,” Hoshi said, wrapping his arms around Luna and Seungkwan, who had moved seats earlier and was now next to Luna.

“We got this,” Jeonghan agreed, his confidence unwavering.

“I can feel it,” Hoshi added, his tone optimistic.

“We always succeeded in the end,” S.Coups said, his voice filled with determination.

[Subtitle to retrieve our reputation]

[The leader stands out in crisis]

“We always succeeded in the end,” Luna repeated, nodding in agreement.

“Are we going to compliment again even if someone messes it up?” Mingyu asked, looking around the group.

“Are we going to compliment again?” Dokyeom echoed, his curiosity piqued.

“We should,” Jeonghan nodded, as if setting the rule.

“Do you want to curse this time?” Dokyeom asked, half-serious.

“Curse?” Jeonghan laughed, the idea amusing him.

“Someone might curse,” Luna chuckled, imagining the scenario.

“Let’s compliment,” Dokyeom decided, his tone firm.

“Yes, we should compliment,” Hoshi agreed, his voice supportive.

“We’re a positive band,” Jeonghan declared, the sentiment echoed by the others.

As the banter continued, Joshua, who had been relatively quiet, suddenly spoke up from his spot next to Jeonghan. “I’m getting nervous,” he admitted, his voice tinged with anticipation.

Jeonghan, always the attentive one, reached into his pocket and pulled out the candy he had received earlier. Without missing a beat, he handed it to Joshua. “When you’re nervous, have something sweet.”

[The chocolate he got earlier]

Joshua smiled, taking the candy gratefully before eating it.

[Recharging thanks to his friend]

Meanwhile, Jeonghan fished out the last candy from his pocket, catching Luna’s attention. Their eyes met, and without a word, Jeonghan unwrapped the candy and held it up to her mouth.

[The twin bunnies share]

Luna stared at it for a few seconds, her gaze locked on Jeonghan’s as she contemplated his gesture. Then, with a small smile, she leaned in and bit the candy in half, the sound crisp as she did so. She nodded her head towards Jeonghan, signaling for him to have the other half, knowing he had planned to eat it before offering it to her.

“Thank you,” Luna said softly, her voice filled with a warmth that made Jeonghan hum in acknowledgment before popping the other half into his mouth.

The SEVENTEEN members continued to watch with focused anticipation as PD Na and the writers huddled together, deliberating over which pictures to use for the final bonus round.

[Selecting questions]

Mingyu, always the one to lighten the mood, leaned in and told the group, “Watch Producer Na’s glasses carefully. You might see the reflection.”

The suggestion was so absurd that it drew immediate laughter from everyone. Jeonghan, chuckling, turned to Mingyu. “On his glasses?”

S.Coups, unable to contain his amusement, shook his head. “Are you a gambler or what?”

Before the teasing could continue, PD Na’s voice cut through the laughter. “Are you ready?”

“Yes, we’re ready,” Jeonghan responded confidently, his tone steady.

“We’re going all in,” Hoshi added, his voice filled with determination.

PD Na hesitated for a moment, the concern evident in his tone. “I’d feel so bad if you don’t eat anything…”

But the group was resolute. “We’ll be fine,” Luna said, nodding in agreement.

“It’s okay,” Dokyeom echoed, his usual cheerfulness still intact.

“It’s fine,” Jun added with a reassuring smile.

One of the writers, catching PD Na’s conflicted expression, spoke up, “You decided to be the enemy.”

“CARAT’s enemy,” Dokyeom repeated with a dramatic flair, eliciting more laughter from the group.

“Right. I decided to be CARAT’s enemy,” PD Na sighed, but the laughter that followed showed that no one was taking it too seriously.

Seungkwan, ever the spokesperson, chimed in with a grin, “We’re grateful for this chance.”

PD Na, playing along with the joke, nodded solemnly. “You should remind them later.”

“I’ll record that separately later,” Seungkwan joked, his quick wit earning more chuckles.

[The real last round]

“Do I go first? I’ll go first,” Mingyu volunteered, his competitive nature shining through.

[Mingyu will go first for a safe start]

As the others agreed, Mingyu couldn’t resist adding with confidence, “You can start with a hard one.”

[He stays laid back]

"Here we go," PD Na announced, his voice filled with a mix of anticipation and seriousness as he showed the picture to Mingyu. The entire room held its breath as PD Na began the countdown, "1, 2, 3."

"Umji," Mingyu answered without missing a beat.

"You got it," PD Na confirmed, and a wave of relieved cheers and claps echoed around the room.

"Good job," Luna’s voice called out from the other side of the line, her tone warm and supportive.

Next in line was Woozi, who, in his quiet determination, murmured to himself, "I know them all."

PD Na held up the next picture and started counting down once more, "1, 2, 3."

"Joo Hyun Young," Woozi answered, his voice calm and confident.

"You got it," PD Na said again, validating Woozi’s answer. The room buzzed with excitement, the members feeding off the positive momentum they had built.

Jeonghan, who had been pacing behind the seats with Wonwoo, paused, watching Dokyeom who was next in line. "We’re on a roll now. We got this," Mingyu encouraged, the energy high.

"Dokyeom, don't be nervous. Chill out," Seungkwan added, his tone soothing.

[His record today: He got Calm Down Man. He also got a warning]

The pressure was on as PD Na presented the next picture and began the countdown, "1, 2, 3."

"Sunshine," Dokyeom blurted out, his voice confident at first, but as he tilted his head in realization, he knew he had missed the mark.

"Wrong!" PD Na announced, and the room erupted into laughter.

[Shining wrong answer]

Mingyu, in a dramatic display of defeat, collapsed onto the ground.

[He feels like his shoulder shrank by 1cm]

The members' laughter was infectious, with Joshua and S.Coups chiming in, "Sun," trying to correct Dokyeom's slip-up.

"Ahh, Sun," Dokyeom whined, sinking to the floor in mock despair.

[Oh, Sun]

"You met her just the other day," Seungkwan pointed out, half-laughing, half-scolding.

[They met for 'Amazing Saturday' 2 days ago]

"You met her on the show the other day," S.Coups added, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Sunshine," Luna giggled as she stood up, joining the group that was now surrounding the fallen Dokyeom.

The laughter continued as Dino slowly approached Dokyeom, ready to deliver a playful jab. Recalling his own earlier impression but with a twist, he leaned in and said with exaggerated seriousness, "Ya!… you bastard. Why would you get it wrong, you son of a bitch?"

[It's a compliment]

[SEVENTEEN is a very positive band]

[The youngest spoke up for everyone]

The room exploded with laughter, Dokyeom laughing the hardest as he clung to Dino’s legs in mock desperation.

[DK is happy]

Even PD Na, the writers, and the crew couldn’t hold back their laughter, the atmosphere light and joyful despite the mistake.

[Final result] [They lost everything]

As the laughter finally began to die down, PD Na clapped his hands together and said, "It's over."

The declaration made the members stand from their seats, with no complaints, just a collective acceptance.

"Let's go," they said, their voices in sync as they began to move.

[Getting ready to leave]

"We should be cool about it," Hoshi said, earning nods of agreement from the others.

"We shouldn't beg," Jeonghan added, his voice firm but lighthearted.

"Okay. Well done," PD Na said, acknowledging their efforts. The members bowed in thanks, their gratitude genuine despite the outcome.

[SEVENTEEN will look for their next chance]

With that, they headed back out to the green room, the playful energy from before lingering as they prepared for the next segment.

[Break]

The members of SEVENTEEN moved out toward the green room, their steps light and laughter filling the air. Jeonghan and Luna walked hand in hand, Luna's steps playful as she skipped along. The warmth between them was palpable, a quiet connection that spoke volumes amidst the group's playful banter.

"It's fun to be with everyone," Dino said, his gaze wandering to the basketball court set up nearby, a hint of excitement in his voice.

"I can't believe we got to do this," Dokyeom added, the wonder still fresh in his tone.

"Seungkwan is on a roll today," Vernon remarked, a grin spreading across his face.

"I know, he was hilarious," Mingyu chimed in, clearly enjoying the memory of Seungkwan's antics.

As they neared the green room, the conversation shifted to the perfect weather that had accompanied their day. "It's such nice weather," S.Coups noted, his eyes scanning the clear sky.

"It's so nice. There's a cool breeze," Wonwoo agreed, his voice soft as he soaked in the moment.

"I love the sunshine," Luna added, her head tilted up towards the sun, her eyes closing in contentment. The unintentional nod to Dokyeom's earlier mistake made everyone burst out laughing.

"Sunshine," Dokyeom laughed, throwing his arm around Luna in a hug. "The sunshine is just so warm."

As they reached the green room, the reality of their earlier bet sank in. "Do we really get no food?" Dokyeom asked his tone a mix of disbelief and hope.

"Of course," Mingyu answered with a grin, his voice playful yet firm as they finally stepped outside the green room.

[They're moving to the green room as they talk about the Character Quiz]

The members naturally settled into their own activities, some remained inside the green room, while others wandered outside, soaking in the peaceful atmosphere.

Jeonghan and Luna found themselves lingering by the doorway, sharing a quiet moment. With the door slightly ajar, the sunlight filtered through, casting a soft glow on their faces. Jeonghan leaned casually against the doorframe, his posture relaxed, while Luna stood nearby, her fingers lightly grazing the frame as if tracing invisible patterns. Their eyes were on each other as they quietly conversed. The air around them seemed to hum with unspoken words, a tension both innocent and charged, lingering in the subtle distance between them.

Suddenly, their attention was drawn to the staff, who were lighting up the candles on a cake. The realization quickly spread as they understood who the cake was for.

[They see a staff lighting candles on a cake despite the strong wind]

[Jeonghan] [Not the birthday boy] [Born on October 4]

[Luna] [Not the birthday girl] [Born on January 30]

"Mingyu," one of the staff called out.

Mingyu turned around, his eyes lighting up as he spotted the cake. His birthday had been three days ago, but the gesture touched him deeply.

[Mingyu] [The birthday boy] [Born on April 6]

[A small birthday party for Mingyu whose birthday was 3 days before the shoot]

"Thank you," he marveled, taking the cake into his hands, his voice full of gratitude.

"Thank you," Seungkwan echoed, as the rest of the members began to gather around the cake, their excitement palpable.

[We couldn't give you any food, but we'll still celebrate your birthday]

"Yay," Mingyu said with a wide grin, genuinely touched by the surprise.

"What a nice show," Seungkwan remarked, appreciating the gesture.

"That looks really good," Vernon added, joining the others.

Mingyu then approached the nearest camera, holding up the cake with pride.

[Let's get the close-up first]

"Wow. Let's eat," Mingyu announced, placing the cake on the ledge in front of the green room, the members eagerly crowding around.

"Mingyu, did they put anything inside?" Dokyeom joked, his tone light and teasing.

"No one is reliable," S.Coups chimed in, playing along with the joke.

"Wow, it looks good," Luna said, moving closer to them, her eyes fixed on the cake.

"Let's try the chocolate cake," Jeonghan suggested, reaching for chopsticks as they began to dig in, the atmosphere filled with chatter and chewing.

"It's really sweet. I love it," Mingyu said after his first bite, his face lighting up with satisfaction.

Luna took her own bite, her eyes widening in delight as she did a little happy dance. "It's amazing," she exclaimed, her voice full of genuine pleasure.

"Wow," Jeonghan echoed, savoring the sweetness as he took his own bite.

"Really? That good?" Wonwoo asked as he arrived, curious about the reactions.

"It's so good," Mingyu assured him, already reaching for another piece.

"Jeonghan, do you eat cakes?" Dokyeom asked with a playful grin.

Luna, without missing a beat, offered a piece to Wonwoo, who gladly accepted it. "Try," she said with a smile as he took a bite.

"Are you eating it just because you need sugar?" Wonwoo teased Jeonghan, a knowing look in his eyes.

"That's exactly why," Luna nodded, her tone conspiratorial as she and Jeonghan exchanged a glance.

"Help yourselves," Seungkwan said, returning with more chopsticks to share among the group.

[Seungkwan is sweet enough to get them chopsticks]

[The cake turned into a meal in front of the green room]

"Happy birthday, Mingyu," Wonwoo added, his voice warm and sincere.

"This is so good," Vernon said, his approval echoed by the others as they continued to enjoy the cake, the sweetness of the moment shared among friends.

[Celebrating his birthday again with a delicious cake]

[They continued eating the cake]

[Have a proper meal next time]

[To be continued in Clip 2-1]

ೃ⁀➷ comment or message me to be added to the tag list :)

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ SUBMIT A REQUEST AND ASK ME ANYTHING!

: ̗̀➛ requests are always open ♡ - lunaఌ

Taglist: @yeoberryx @minminghao @angie-x3 @jennwonwoo @k13endall @heeseungthel0ml @chisskaa @megumi2020 @yoonzzziino

[tomicscomics]

12/08/2023

On your Mark...

JOKE-OGRAPHY: 1. The Gospel of Mark begins by talking about John the Baptist.  In a few quick verses, Mark says John was a desert-dweller who came to baptize people in preparation for the Messiah's ministry.  Mark also argues that John's coming was prophesied by Isaiah, who said there would come a voice crying out in the desert, a messenger sent ahead of the Lord, making straight His paths.  Some of John's followers assumed that John himself was the Messiah, but John told them, "One mightier than I is coming after me.  I am not worthy to loosen His sandals.  I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." 2. In this cartoon, the key verses about "going ahead of the Lord" and "making straight His paths" and "one mightier than I is coming" have been torn from their sacred context and crudely slapped into the new and exciting context of Jesus and John playing Tag as kids. 3. Jesus muses that John always runs in a straight line, making it easy to follow him, and quotes Isaiah as Mark did.  However, unlike Mark's quote, which implied John was preparing his followers for Jesus, Jesus's quote simply implies John is bad at Tag-tics -- that is, the tactics of Tag -- and has erred gravely in accepting Christ's challenge. 4. At the end, John screams in panic.  In Mark's Gospel, he says, "One mightier than I is coming after me," because he knows the true Messiah, Jesus, will be joining public ministry shortly, and he wants people to anticipate His coming.  In this cartoon, John says, "One mightier than I is coming after me," because his little Cousin has come after him with a speed that far exceeds his own, and when John is terrified, he screams like a maniac.

[mxdarling]

[“put that down! you’ll hurt yourself with that.” / “you’re so pretty when you smile.”]

•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅• •❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•

ೃ⁀➷: summary: idia bought a new multiplayer game, and he wants to play it with his player one, you.

ೃ⁀➷: word count: 2.3k (2334)

ೃ⁀➷: reference/Inspiration: playlist

ೃ⁀➷: event: [200 followers event]

[author's note:] JDJDKD MORE IDIA CONTENT WOOHOOO this was supposed to be his belated birthday gift from me but uhh cough cough writer block hit me like a bitch soo.. didn't finish before new years, and it's now like- 4 months late??? anyways, thank you anon for requesting idia with dialogue #3 and #7!! my last yandere idia work had him a little creepy so i made him cute this time loll i hope it's to your satisfaction anon!

[warnings:] lowercase, yandere behavior, more fluff than yandere, established relationship, reader is a gamer, cuddling, kisses, reader is ticklish, poor explanation of game mechanics, mentions of fear for judgement, reader is portrayed as a crybaby, one paragraph mentions idia being a creep, game is a rip-off of minecraft (fantasy version), toxic teammates.

[note:] If there is anything else triggering here that I didn’t list in the warnings section, please tell me. i don’t condone this type of behavior, this is merely just for entertaining purposes and some sort of coping mechanism for me. if you continue to read beyond this point, ignoring my warnings, i am not responsible for your actions from here on out.

[GN reader]

IDIA SHROUD seemed to be in a good mood today, at least according to what you've seen so far. probably because his latest purchase is the cause of his being in such an upbeat mood. not that you're complaining; it was rather cute seeing him all excited and giddy when he found a new game to play. it's like a whole new, different side of him comes out whenever he starts to ramble about the features of the game and why he should absolutely play it right now. of course, as his player one, you're automatically going to be the first person he's going to play with. not that you mind, really. playing with idia was always a fun experience; it reminded you a lot of how you would spend your free time back in your world.

(those days of laziness, those days of unproductivity where you did nothing but lay down on your bed and do nothing—no school work to do, no club activities to do, no studying for an upcoming exam—just pure idleness. then when you're bored, you could just use your phone, PC, or iPad to entertain you as the day goes by, playing nonstop until late hours in the evening. god, you miss those days.)

you often wondered what genre of video games this new world had to offer. you knew that it wouldn't be so different from your own world, but you weren't sure just how many of your friends were affiliated with gaming entertainment. out of fear that judgement would be placed upon you if you shared this interest of yours, your love for video games has been hidden—so to find someone else (with that someone else being idia) that likes video games and is very well versed in them is a dream come true. it was a long process to get him to play with you, let alone consider you a friend and not try to avoid you every 2 seconds—still, it was a feat you were proud of because now you get to experience many, many different sides of idia that you would have never known 9 months ago.

(you once heard idia curse like at least twenty times in one breathe when one of his teammates was being shitty and a prick, he sounded so angry and scary that you backed into a corner to avoid getting burnt by his scorching, bright red hair that grew the more angrier he got. the only reason he stopped was when he heard quiet sobs in the corner of his room and turned around away from his computer to see you huddled in the corner of his room. quickly he went over there, completely abandoning his game and comforting you. he hates seeing his cute prefect cry, especially because of him, he's not the great at comforting but when he hugged you so tightly, your quiet sobs turned into silence. right then and there he swore to never be the reason you're crying and when you do, he'll be right there with you.)

you are currently cross-sitting in his very comfy bed, watching as idia set up two controllers and plugged in the PCs to turn them on (you're still surprised he's got more than 2 PCs, which, if you really think about it, his family background makes it make sense). after waiting for the PCs to turn on, he then connects the controllers to the PCs and opens up the game on both screens. you would insist on helping him set up, but due to you literally being isekai'd into this unknown world of twisted wonderland, you aren't too familiar with many things besides the whole magic stuff—plus, you aren't too keen on breaking any of idia's stuff because of your lack of knowledge on how to do technology.

(technology in general is so extremely confusing, you would argue wholeheartedly all day and all night, and idia would agree with you and low-key flex on how knowledgeable he is in the field of technology, just to impress you and show how reliable he is. secretly, he likes it when he's useful to you.)

"sorry! it took a while to set up..." in slightly shaking hands, he hands over the controller to you while holding the other in his free hand. he looked rather nervous when he faced you to give the controller, like he's worried he wasted your time waiting for him. it reminded you of a puppy looking up to its owner apologetically when they did something wrong, so cute, you thought, adorable even, you added.

"haha! it's okay! you didn't take that long anyway." you gave him a reassuring look, a soft smile, and bright eyes, showing him that you weren't bothered by having to wait a bit as he set up for you two to play.

both screens show the in-game loading screen, and the bar quickly fills up due to the fast internet speed (one you're quite envious of). slowly it fades to the starting screen, where a big text is bouncing 'tap to start' in both of your faces. Idia presses to start immediately, wanting to get into gameplay as fast as he can while you take a moment to admire the visual aspects and effects of the game in silent awe. you always had a thing for the visual stuff that was shown in-game. by slowly pressing the button on your control, you enter the game and begin a fantastical journey with idia.

“put that down! you’ll hurt yourself with that!” he says worriedly as he watches you damage your avatar's HP bar this early in gameplay. usually he gets really annoyed when he plays with noobs and normies; they stink at comprehending basic knowledge, do dumb things in-game, ask too many questions, and ruin the whole gameplay experience for him. 'ugh, how annoying.' is his usual reaction to such—of course he wouldn't think of that towards you! never ever would he ever think this way towards you; even if you do things noobs and normies usually do, he can't bring himself to be annoyed—you were too cute in his eyes. he would never admit this to your face, though, and he still gets red just at the thought of him thinking you are cute. It's true though; don't get him wrong, but... the embarrassment that comes with thinking about these thoughts is just too much for his poor little heart! honestly, he's for sure that one day you'll be the death of him, does he care though? not really; in fact, he would probably love that.

(he blushes so hard whenever he thinks of you in his clothes; it's the way your natural scent clings onto his shirts, the way his shirts made you even cuter than you already are—one of the only reasons he doesn't wash his clothes immediately because he wants to savor your smell to memory. he's a creep, yes, but he's one devoted creep.)

"whoops! sorry didn't see that, haha..." nervously laughing at your mistake, you eat whatever consumable you have in your inventory to try and restore as much health as you lost. as your avatar munches on the food in its hand, from the corner of your screen, you can see idia's avatar walking towards you. once it's near enough to your avatar, you can see the animation of a bunch of items being dropped and your inventory picking up due to the proximity between the items and your avatar. you opened your inventory, curious about what he just gave you since it looked like quite a lot of items, and confused about why he was giving you so many items in the first place. your eyes widen in shock as the items he's given you are one stack of steak, every weapon in-game (sword, axe, pickaxe, shovel, hoe), but in steel, and a full set of steel armor.

your mouth continues to gape open as you put on the armor set on your avatar. how did he get so much stuff this fast? it hasn't even been an hour yet! "where.. did you get so much stuff!?" you ask naively, following idia around as you don't want to get lost, die, and lose all your stuff. "stole half of those from villages, some from mining, and a few from trading" he says so casually as he continues to walk in an unknown direction, like this was a regular thing for him, not to mention this was a hard difficulty! he's playing this game like it's not easy mode! "could've gotten more if it weren't for those stingy mobs..." furrowing his eyebrows, he let out a small huff of frustration, pressing slightly harder on the buttons on his controller, not noticing how your mouth dropped down even further at his passing comment. as she presses on, walking in an unknown direction, you're hit with the hundredth reminder that he's on a whole other level than you when it comes to gaming.

three hours in, and you guys decided to play on public servers, where you'll get to play different game modes other than the usual story and survival modes. once the two of you picked a game to play, the room quickly filled with laughter, shouting, incoherent grumbling, screams of terror, and many more in between. you two decided to save a team game as last since idia wasn't enthusiastic about playing together with other players because he just wanted to play with you, and there was an underlying fear that you would encounter toxic teammates. but since you were practically begging him to just try it at least once, he couldn't help but give in to your pleas.

it was fun, he supposed. it wasn't as annoying or infuriating as he thought it would be, but he still had to keep up not making really snarky remarks when certain players were interacting with you. he'd hate to have you see such a mean, ugly, and disgusting side of him. other than that, it was an okay experience. he thinks it would've been better if it was just him and you on a team; wouldn't it be kind of romantic? you and him against everyone else?

then what he feared most would happen actually happened. suddenly some fucking jerk is screaming insults at you for not being good enough, and before that teammate got two more words in, he exploded on them. curses upon curses spit out his mouth in rapid speed, and the voices of that said teammate slowly but surely die down as their ego and pride go down with them. in the midst of anger and chaos between him and the teammate, you could feel tears building up inside you; everything around you started to blur, and the sounds that filled your ears were starting to get tuned out. you couldn't even hear that idia stopped screaming curses, turned off both PCs, and went to take the controller from your hand, lift you up into his lap, and slowly wrap his arms around you.

once he had you fully in his grasp, he tightened his grip, making sure not to let you get away from him. he wasn't good at words, especially when trying to comfort someone, but seeing you cry was making him cry too. he did, after all, swear to always be with you when you cry. raising one of his hands, he placed it at the back of your head and gently pushed towards his neck. then his hand went down to rub your back, up and down, up and down, at a slow pace. letting you cry it all out in peace while also letting you know he's there with you.

a few minutes have passed, and your sobs have gone silent. your eyes have become droopy and sleepy, and it feels almost impossible to keep them open. suddenly, a hand lifts your chin, and you feel a pair of lips come into contact with your forehead. it wasn't like a quick kiss; no, the kiss lasted for at least a few seconds before pulling away. even then, upon pulling away, you feel another kiss on your cheek, this time a little quicker than the forehead kiss. then another kiss on your other cheek, then another on your nose, another on your jawline, another on your earlobes, and finally, his lips hovered over your own lips.

you could feel the hesitation when he let out a nervous breath; the thought of your lips on his always sends him into an electrifying and drunken daze. he can't think straight when he's this close to you, but even then, it gives him an unusual feeling of contentment and confidence. the luck he has to be able to snag such an adorable, cute, amazing, and beautiful person like you in his life. he almost can't believe it. swallowing his own nervousness for your comfort, he presses against your soft lips delicately. soon after making physical contact with your lips, he feels a smile form on your face—a small smile, yet it was enough for him. any smile from you is enough for him, because seeing you happy is the best view he could ever lay his eyes on.

feeling out of breath, he's the first to let go but also the first to frown at the loss of touch. i want to stay like this forever, he thought as he watched you emit a giggle after the kiss. fire burns brightly in his heart, and he starts to wonder if you being the death of him will really come true. his cheeks burn that ever-warm red that he knows you've seen many, many times before, but he can't help it. when you pull him into a world through rose-tinted glasses, no way could he be immune to such an effect.

"i really can’t take it when you cry like that… smile for me, alright? you’re so pretty when you smile."

•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅• •❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•

PLEASE DO NOT COPY, REPOST, SHARE, TRANSLATE OR REUPLOAD ANY OF MY WORKS TO OTHER SITES WITHOUT MY PERMISSION + REBLOGS AND COMMENTS ARE APPRECIATED.

[fj0t0lf]

a pretty interesting take on seung hui cho's use of the number 88, from @.sscc on the columbine forumotion:

My assumption, given Cho's tendency to speak in biblical terms and his family's Christian beliefs, has always been that this was a biblical reference.

I looked at the bible and the only book that even has an 88th chapter, as far as I can tell, is Psalms. This seems like a possibility.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psalm_88 According to Martin Marty, a professor of church history at the University of Chicago, Psalm 88 is "a wintry landscape of unrelieved bleakness." ... Neale and Littledale find it "stands alone in all the Psalter for the unrelieved gloom, the hopeless sorrow of its tone. Even the very saddest of the others, and the Lamentations themselves, admit some variations of key, some strains of hopefulness; here only all is darkness to the close.—Neale and Littledale.

http://www.bible.ca/ef/expository-psalm-88.htm After much thought and study of Psalms 88, the typical commentary appraisal is it is entirely negative, totally given to the expression of grief and despair. True (if you haven't already, read it now), it seems to be a picture of un-alleviated misery, seldom found anywhere in the Scriptures. Often, in the book of Psalms, you will be able to find hope even in between statements of despair. In many of the Psalms there is lamentation and negative emotions honestly expressed, yet they are resolved by some statement of hope and trust. Not in Psalms 88, we may immediately conclude. In Psalms 88, from verse 1 to the end of the chapter expresses the emotions of one who is writing from the pit, deep in despair. Even after you grant the writer literary license to use exaggerated poetic language, this poem cannot be lifted to any level of joy it seems. It is a continuous, bitter expression of one living deep in despair, sometimes with language that may seem to border on reproach against God.

I can see why someone like Cho might be drawn to it. The psalm is all about being abandoned by everyone to suffer, including god himself. KJV Psalm 88 wrote:

88 O lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee: 2 Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry; 3 For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave. 4 I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength: 5 Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand. 6 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. 7 Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah. 8 Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth. 9 Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: Lord, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee. 10 Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah. 11 Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction? 12 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? 13 But unto thee have I cried, O Lord; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee. 14 Lord, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me? 15 I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted. 16 Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off. 17 They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together. 18 Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.

A more accessible version of the psalm. CEB Psalm 88 wrote:

88 Lord, God of my salvation,     by day I cry out,     even at night, before you— 2     let my prayer reach you! Turn your ear to my outcry 3     because my whole being is filled with distress;     my life is at the very brink of hell. 4 I am considered as one of those plummeting into the pit.     I am like those who are beyond help, 5     drifting among the dead,     lying in the grave, like dead bodies—     those you don’t remember anymore,     those who are cut off from your power. 6 You placed me down in the deepest pit,     in places dark and deep. 7 Your anger smothers me;     you subdue me with it, wave after wave. Selah 8 You’ve made my friends distant.     You’ve made me disgusting to them.     I can’t escape. I’m trapped! 9 My eyes are tired of looking at my suffering.     I’ve been calling out to you every day, Lord—     I’ve had my hands outstretched to you! 10 Do you work wonders for the dead?     Do ghosts rise up and give you thanks? Selah 11 Is your faithful love proclaimed in the grave,     your faithfulness in the underworld? 12 Are your wonders known in the land of darkness,     your righteousness in the land of oblivion? 13 But I cry out to you, Lord!     My prayer meets you first thing in the morning! 14 Why do you reject my very being, Lord?     Why do you hide your face from me? 15 Since I was young I’ve been afflicted, I’ve been dying.     I’ve endured your terrors. I’m lifeless. 16 Your fiery anger has overwhelmed me;     your terrors have destroyed me. 17 They surround me all day long like water;     they engulf me completely. 18 You’ve made my loved ones and companions distant.     My only friend is darkness.

It would be interesting to know if Cho felt some connection to this psalm. His manifesto was full of rage and expressions of righteousness but we know that he was very depressed and alone as well.Could it have been an expression of the deep despair that Cho felt throughout his life? Did he feel abandoned by god?

(Or, assuming that it was relevant to him, could he have been explaining the despair that he hoped to inflict on his victims and the community? Did he want them to wonder where their god was as he was carrying out his massacre? Did he want them to feel that they were abandoned by god?)

Some interpretations say that this psalm is the lament of sinners being punished with the absence of god's mercy. We know that Cho felt that he was attacking "Apostles of Sin." Did he think he was carrying out god's will in destroying them? He certainly seemed to think he was participating in a revolution of the "Weak, Innocent and Defenseless," so was it a holy war in his eyes? Was he acting on behalf of god or was he possibly acting on behalf of a god that had abandoned him and the others like him?

I found this photo of Cho's "88" in the manifesto.

The symbol is the "Number of the Anti-Terrorist." The drawing above it is, I assume based on Langman's transcript, "Seer of Veracity. Seal of the Anti-Terrorist." As you can see, the seal includes a cross, which again suggests religious themes.

If you look at the transcript on Langman's website, it seems that on the page before Cho adds these images, he speaks constantly of Jesus Christ and false Christianity, which he equates to terrorism. This is why Cho called himself a martyr and said he would die like Jesus Christ. He was an Anti-Terrorist, one of the innocents who had experienced brutality at the hands of false Christians (sinners, terrorists, descendants of Satan and spillers of blood), and he was sacrificing himself in the hope that the weak, defenseless and innocent would be inspired to inflict their own wrath on the terrorists who had brutalized them.

Considering Psalm 88 in this context, maybe the point would be that only those who have experienced total loss, total despair, without a shred of hope would know to follow in his footsteps of revolution as an Anti-Terrorist. Maybe they hadn't even been abandoned by god but in god's plan, their never-ending despair was intended to help them see the truth ("Seer of Veracity") and like him, become Anti-Terrorist martyrs who, through their own sacrifice, would rid the world of false Christians who torment the innocent. The hedonists were clearly blind to the injustice and abuse so maybe he felt that the despair was the key to seeing the truth. Being subjected to pain so deep would leave no other choice but to inflict the same level of pain on the tormentors in the name of Jesus Christ.

Potentially relevant quotes: Seung-Hui Cho wrote:

As the time approached, I wished for a last minute miracle and discard this mission you’ve given me. Heaven knows I wouldn’t hurt a single leaf of a flower. But when the time came, I did it. I had to. What other choices did you give me? All this time... You never know that a human being is capable of doing until you fuck him to the edge. When you’re raped of everything, you got nothing to lose

By destroying we create. We create the feelings in you of what it is like to be the victim, what it is like to be fucked and destroyed. Because of your annihilations, we create and raise new breeds of Children who will show you fuckers what you have done to us. Like Easter, it will be a day of rebirth. It will be a start of a revolution of the Children that you fucked. You have never felt a single ounce of pain your whole life, thus, by destroying you, by giving you pain, we attempt to show you responsibilities and meanings of other people’s lives.

Only if you could be the victim of your reprehensible and wicked crimes, you Christian Nazis, you would have brute-restrained your animal urges to fuck me. You could be at home right now eating your fucking caviar and your fucking cognac, had you not ravenously raped my soul. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Can you feel the pain that you fucked us in, you Descendants of Satan? Well, can you feel it? All the shit you’ve given me, right back at you with hollow points.

Anyway, that's my muddled theory (or theories or more accurately, my set of questions with no answers).

(And this is completely subjective but when I see the photo of "88" from the manifesto, it reminds me of an abstract drawing of two people embracing. This seems apt for someone who was as alone as Cho was but intending to inspire his "Brothers and Sisters" to follow his lead with this act of mass murder.)

[yenqa]

SHE PLAYS BASS!

synopsis : prince sunghoon had a boring life. never had he ever gone out with his friends or fallen in love like a normal teenager (not like he liked the idea of falling in love). instead, he was forced to prepare for when he would be crowned king. but when your band, le sserafim is invited to play at the royal palace. his perspective on love would change all because of you.

featuring : le sserafim, hyung line of enhypen and a mention of jungwon

warnings : swearing, angst, parents w broken relationships, crying, kissing, reader wears makeup for performance, sunghoon is REALLY bad at conversations, will update as writing!

wc : 8.4k (woww!)

pairing : prince!sunghoon x afab!reader

a/n : it’s out!! sorry for the wait everyone and its a little weird but i hope you enjoy! thank u sm to @redm4ri for reading over it and making sure everything is good 🫶 also if you find anything we both missed… suck it up and ignore it

taglist : @chaechae-23 @ssjxmh @favorjtecrime @ineedsomezzz @aki1e @chaewon-slays @blu3ming-hoon @sd211 @foxsunoo @yunjinluvrr @homelycat @222brainrot @shinrjj @harufluff @viyqe @yoonsaves @sweetjaemss @jiawji

perm taglist : @jwnghyuns @ja4hyvn @trsrina @redm4ri @badmuni

01 NO CELESTIAL WAS ALWAYS YOUR FAVORITE SONG TO PERFORM.

you enjoyed playing the guitar riffs and singing until your lungs went out. you enjoyed the small portion of choreography you had and the energy it brought to the crowd. but as much as you enjoyed the melody itself, you enjoyed the lyrics even more.

to you, no celestial was about breaking the standards and just being yourself (ex. lyrics “angel-like perfection, bye” in first verse). but the song also meant that you can’t be perfect, and to not be afraid when someone realizes that. no celestial gave you a sense of freedom, like nothing else mattered but the sounds of your voices. and you would do anything to have that freedom.

well, it was the kind of freedom you already had until the attention’s eye was on you. now, you couldn’t even meet up with an old friend before someone turned it into a dating rumor. it was hard to ignore those rumors and continue on, but that was what you had to do to make it far.

and, you weren’t sure if it was worth it until now. staring in shock as you open the intricate blue envelope decorated with gold lining. on the back, is text stating “The Royal Palace”. Yunjin squeals in excitement as you carefully pull out the paper, reading the contents hidden inside.

Dear, Source Music

It has come to our attention that your band, Le Sserafim has been spiking in popularity in our kingdom. As the Prince’s birthday is coming soon, we would like to formally invite Le Sserafim to perform at the Royal Palace on December 8th to entertain our guests. Please arrive at 3:30 pm or before as you’ll be performing at 4:15. All food and drinks will be provided for you, outfits will also be provided and we’ll have to schedule an appointment to get some measurements. Please tell us what kind of concept to go for, and we’ll do our best to achieve that. We trust that the band will perform well as always. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Yang Jungwon

you look at your members in disbelief as they do the same before kazuha breaks the silence.

“we’re going to perform at the royal palace!” she excitedly squeals, as the room explodes into excited laughter, deciding what songs will be performed.

“well we have to perform fearless! it’s our hit song,” yunjin begs, trying to get nods of approval from the group's leader.

chaewon sighs, looking back at yunjin, “we’ll have to see how many songs we can perform and if they want us to perform any particular ones. we can ask our boss at our next meeting. he’ll probably have all the details we need,” she smiles warmly at her members, stretching out her arms and engulfing them in a warm hug.

“wait- when’s our next meeting?”

🎸

no celestial was not on the setlist. nor did your boss even think about performing it.

as the stubborn girl you are, you immediately asked why no celestial wasn’t on the list, and your boss laughs at you. stating that the palace didn’t choose the song and it wasn’t the right place for it. you thought that the song would be able to be performed anywhere (except, maybe a funeral but that’s not the point) but it apparently went against palace rules. it was stupid to you, isn’t that what the song’s telling you not to do? follow the rules?

you were surprised the great mermaid was picked, considering the amount of ‘foul language’ in the song. but since the prince was turning 21 (or 20 you couldn’t remember) you were sure a swear word wouldn’t hurt him.

it wasn’t until late at night when it hit you, you were performing for the prince in a month.

02 SUNGHOON WAS NOT EXCITED ABOUT HIS BIRTHDAY

all the decorations, outfits, and people were too much for him.

yes, he loved having the party, but having every single person he’s had any interaction with invited? just seemed over the top. he wished only his closest friends to come, but every year his parents would try so hard to marry him off to some random girl his age, which always ruined his mood (and his plan to have a small birthday party). sunghoon knew this year wouldn’t be different, so he didn’t look forward to it, simple as that.

when his parents revealed they were inviting a band to perform on his birthday. his lips had slightly upturned. would it be tomorrow by together? or seventeen? maybe even red velvet? his face immediately dropped when he heard the name. who the hell was le sserafim?

after he was dismissed sunghoon immediately looked up the band that was recently introduced to him, playing the first few songs that popped up.

out of the seven songs he listened to, he liked the song “sour grapes” the most. sunghoon didn’t look much into the lyrics of songs, as a song was just a melody he sang along to. but the rare times sunghoon did (which was when he was listening to sour grapes), he didn’t understand most of the lines. what did they mean by love is sour grapes? because to him, he didn’t think love resembled any kind of fruit.

well, what did love resemble to him? sunghoon didn’t know. after seeing his parents grow apart over the years, sunghoon wasn’t one to ask about the subject. and nor did he ever want to be.

the small number of lyrics he understood, made it even more obvious why love wasn’t that appealing to him. it would always end in heartbreak, which is why he vowed to himself to never fall in love. but deep down, he knew it was something he could never admit.

he was scared.

03 BREAKS WERE YOUR FAVORITE PART ABOUT PRACTICE

after practicing for three hours straight, chaewon decided for an hour's break. of course, no one disagreed which left you immediately leaving the building and deciding to walk around the kingdom.

the town was always a safe place for you to walk around since the palace is near your building and heavily guarded. after getting drinks for yourself and your members, you decided to head back to the practice building.

as you walked around you always stopped to watch some young kids playing outside, enjoying the laughter and happiness they brought to voice. you smile at their enjoyment, amused at the stupid games they make up.

you try to push your body away, as your head wants to keep watching. until you bump into someone, making you drop the drinks you had previously bought for your members.

“oh my god i’m so sorry! did it spill on you?” you frantically ask, crouching on the floor to pick up the wet cups on the ground.

you stand up to see a man around your age, his fluffy brown hair slightly covering his eyes and clothes too formal for a walk around the town. his face seems too familiar, almost like you’ve seen him before.

“it’s fine, sorry about your drinks, can i get you new ones?” he offers, a slight rasp evident in his voice.

“oh no, it’s okay! but do i know you? you look really familiar,” you ask curiously.

his state quickly turns to panic, before answering “n-no i don’t think so.” he curses himself for being so nervous.

“oops! sorry then, well my name’s y/n nice to meet you!” you offer him a hand, which he shakes.

“my name’s sunghoon nice to meet you too.” shit did i just say sunghoon? he realizes, horrified at his clumsiness.

“oh like prince sunghoon?” you mention, flashing him a bright smile.

“yeah haha…” he awkwardly replies, helping you throw away the dripping drinks in your hand. “are you sure? i’m sorry i feel really bad,” he rambles, looking at you with concern.

you swiftly pull out your phone to check the time, realizing you wouldn’t make it back in time if you went back to get drinks. you smile at him, showing him the time on your phone, “i have to be back soon! but maybe if we ever meet again you can pay me back,” you smile, and he smiles back before you run off, waving to him.

fimmies chat

you

lawl i just met the cutest guy !!

sakura

are u forgetting ure semi famous…

eunchae

did u rizz him up

yunjin

do u think y/n rizzed him up

be honest

you

no i didnt forget!! and i did rizz him up so good

yunjin dye.

anyways i didn’t get his number </3

kazuha

did u get his number

oh

chaewon

youre so lucky he didnt recognize u

but come back soon breaks almost over

you

im omw

04 HIS BIRTHDAY CAME SOONER THAN YOU REALIZED

you were too nervous about playing for the palace, you played your bass thousands of times in front of a crowd, you think, doing whatever to calm yourself. you had known all the chords by heart (including no celestial which your band decided to sneak in), you had warmed up your voice, and you had memorized and practiced the dance for hours and hours. you were going to do fine.

when you guys stepped onto the stage all that was heard were claps and a couple of cheers, you quickly made eye contact with the queen giving her a small head nod. you step in a line to bow and introduce yourselves, before getting to your instrument.

the first song you were performing was “the great mermaid”, sakura tapped her drumsticks three times, signaling for you to start the song. your hands instinctively moved to the right chords, strumming accordingly. as each chord passed, more was to be played. your hands shakily played each one, trying to sing your parts as stable as you could.

you felt a sigh of relief when the song ended, you placed your guitar on your hips, resting your hands while listening to the audience's boring claps. no shouts or cheers, just repeating claps, prim and proper. as chaewon introduces your next song you scan the audience, locking eyes with the young man on the throne, wait-

was that sunghoon?

your eyes widen as you hurry to your position in the dance, waiting for the music to start.

was sunghoon the prince? why didn’t he have a disguise? or some kind of security? did i seriously meet the prince on accident and didn’t notice?

you quickly came back to life, focusing on the dance you were currently doing.

your hips had to be on point, your legs had to be fully extended and in place, your arms had to be in the exact place, and your facial expression had to be on point. you hoped your expression looked how you imagined it.

you glanced at your manager noticing his approving, almost proud smile. you almost smile in response, containing it in quickly moving into formation.

the next few songs were a blur until you got to no celestial.

you nervously spoke into your microphone, introducing the song.

“for our last song we are performing a song called “no celestial”! this song is similar to our first one “the great mermaid” so if you enjoyed that song, you might like this one.” you wink at the audience, as you notice the manager giving you a look of disbelief.

you ignore it. adjusting your bass, starting up the next song. once you got to the pre-chorus you could feel your manager's glare burning in your scalp, you glance at sakura, exchanging nervous glances as yunjin sings her heart out, without a care in the world. by the time the song ends, you’re exhausted, and your legs and arms feel overworked,

you say your goodbyes and bow to the crowd as you walk off into the dressing room, where your manager waits with a menacing stare.

“hi sir…” you hesitantly start, he raises his left eyebrow at you.

“who came up with the idea of playing no celestial? the queen was giving me dirty looks! you’re lucky i’m not getting thrown in jail tomorrow. did you come up with the idea of playing no celestial for the palace y/n?” he yells, fuming with anger.

you look down at your feet, as your members watch, unable to prevent anything.

“yes i did.” you quietly answer.

“what’d you say? god you need to speak louder y/n,” he bluntly scolds.

“i said, yes i did,” you speak menacingly, he looks taken aback, almost surprised.

“this is your last warning y/n, one more and you’re out of the band, okay? i’m sick and tired of you taking your position for granted.”

“yes sir.” you bitterly answer, your body twitching trying to hold in your tears.

“now go! i can’t look at you right now,” he sighs.

you take your chance to quickly walk out of the dressing room, avoiding any servants walking around (and your members if they followed you). you slowly push open a door and find yourself on a path, surrounded by flowers and bushes tailored by the most perfectionist workers. each step there seem to be more and more plants unknown to you. you stop to look at a certain flower, reading the name on the index.

“the alstroemeria caught your eye?”

you jump at the sound, turning around to see (prince) sunghoon, walking next to you with a grin. you quickly bow, wiping your tears “oh! i’m so sorry for being here, i don’t know if i’m allowed here, so i’ll go!” you ramble, his smirk growing at the sight of you.

“it’s okay, y/n right? you did really well today,” he looks you up and down, slightly biting his lip.

“thank you, sir! happy birthday to you too.”

“no need for formal names, sunghoon is fine.”

your eyebrows furrow at his words, tilting your head slightly, “are you sure? it’s really no bother.”

he smirks at your comment, “you seemed fine with it two weeks ago,”

your eyes widen as his grin switches to a sly smirk, “i just didn’t recognize you,” you argue. “you don’t recognize the prince?” he raises one eyebrow. you huff at his response, opting to change the subject instead.

“shall we walk?” you ask, referring to the path you were earlier following. he nods as he starts leading the way through the abnormally large garden, making sure you stay away from any ditches or rocks.

“so, how was our performance? what was your favorite song?” you ask. he doesn’t think for long before deciding.

“sour grapes.”

“no reason why?” you give him a grumpy look which he notices, so he continues. “i like the melody, and lyrics.” he bluntly states, looking back at you for approval. “did you like the last song? no celestial?” you ask, silently praying he did.

“it was good, but i prefer slower songs.”

you nod accordingly, noticing how the loud ballroom music fills your silence, quite different from the songs you had performed. you walk to an empty field, which sunghoon explains that it’s empty because his parents gave up on the garden, deciding to do something better with their time and money. you frown at his story, why give up halfway in?

your legs grow tired, so you ultimately declare a break, in the middle of the field. sunghoon agrees, teasing you for your tired state.

when you sit down comfortable silence overtakes you two. you both calmly listen to the classical music, still clearly heard from the castle. after a few minutes, sunghoon light’s up with an idea, quickly standing up and offering his hand to you.

you, confused, look up at him. “what? are you trying to shake my hand?”

he laughs, “no, but would you, lady y/n have a dance with me?”

you grow flustered by the idea. you’re about to take his hand, before realizing you aren’t sure how to ballroom dance. you shyly mutter, “i don’t know how to properly do it”. he chuckles softly, taking hold of your hand, and pulling you up.

“i’ll teach you.”

sunghoon wasn’t sure why he was feeling so tense when he’d started teaching you. he’d be crazy to think that he wasn’t flustered by the way your hand was on his shoulder and the other intertwined with his, or the fact that you broke out into a smile every time you’d accidentally step on his foot or miss the spin. you were just pretty, he told himself, praying his hands didn’t feel clammy.

his hands were soft, and smooth contrasting with your calloused, and rough hands. but he didn’t seem to mind by the way he was smiling.

soon, your bodies blend together, like the sun and moon, forming an eclipse. taking each step in sync with the other. you can’t find your eyes anywhere else but locked on his. he smiles at you, and you smile back. you two dance until your feet get sore again after several songs. too tired to sit, you lay back on the slightly wet grass, staining the back of your stage outfit. sunghoon grins, laying down next to you, admiring the stars with you.

“sunghoon, do you know any constellations?” you ask, trying to make a familiar shape out of any of them.

sunghoon extends his hand out, scooting closer so you can see. he points to a particularly bright star, then another, and another he repeats that until he puts his hand down.

“that’s the ursa major, you’ve heard of it correct?” he looks over to you.

you chuckle, “of course, i know what the ursa major is. it’s so pretty, isn’t it?”

sunghoon stares at you, your bright smile facing the sky, your happy eyes almost in disbelief you're seeing such a beautiful sight, your makeup for the performance now slightly smudged but still gorgeous on you.

sunghoon thinks you’re the most beautiful star.

his eyes don’t move away from you before responding “yeah it is.”

he diverts his eyes when he sees you looking back at him, “the ursa major is used for navigating, because it completes a full circle around the north star.”

you nod, taking in the bright stars, shining straight at you.

sunghoon notices your silence, deciding to start a new conversation.

“what’s your perspective on love?”

sunghoon quickly realizes his mistake when you choke on your saliva, clearly not expecting him to ask you that question as you sit up. his face turns pale, hurriedly patting your back. “sorry, was that too far?” he asks.

you chuckle at his reaction, your laugh filling up his silence. “no,i just wasn’t expecting it. but i’ll give you an answer.” sunghoon gives you a nod, silently telling you to keep going.

“i think my opinion changes, like when i wrote sour grapes, obviously i didn’t like it. but now i think it’s quite the opposite,” you answer, sunghoon carefully thinks about your words, nodding approvingly.

“what about you sunghoon? what do you think about love?”

he stays silent for a while before answering, “i don’t believe in true love, i think it’s made up,” he states bluntly.

you slightly tilt your head, “and why do you think that?”

“well because my parents they’re-”

you’re caught off guard when the sounds of panicked yelling come to voice. “prince sunghoon? prince sunghoon!” people frantically call, you can see the silhouettes of people running around, trying to spot their beloved prince. you look over to see a just as panicked sunghoon. he quickly stands up, pulling you up too. his expression turns almost disappointed before saying,

“i have to go. it was nice talking to you y/n, i hope we meet again.” he gives you a small smile. taking your hand, and placing a soft kiss on it. he looks into your eyes after, then runs to the voices. leaving you a flustered mess.

walking back to the dressing room happily excited to tell your members about the interaction you just had, you realize why you had even been out in the garden. because you were upset, but sunghoon distracted you from that.

you smile to yourself, sunghoon was quite the distractor.

05 MEETINGS WITH SUNGHOON BECAME ORDINARY

you often found him around the place you first met, waiting in the only pink chair at the cafe. every time the bell above the door rang, his head shot up looking for your familiar face. every time it was you, his eyes crinkled, which you guessed was a smile considering his face was hidden behind a mask. you would always wave to him, setting down your stuff before ordering a drink. this became a routine for you two, you would arrive at two ten and leave at two fifty, to get back to practice on time.

after practice you (and sometimes with eunchae) would always walk to a specific bench near the river, admiring the dark city with the quiet noises of running water. arriving at eight twenty-ish every time, you would place your purse down right in the middle of the bench, so no one would sit next to you.

that may seem selfish, but it was for your safety as an idol. the park was almost always empty, with the exception of people there for the same reason as you, to admire the scenery.

you were almost dumbfounded when you noticed someone sitting at your bench, the body covered by their hood twitching every so often.

your steps slowed down, unsure of what to do. until you heard small sniffles from the body, with broken cries and sounds of snot. you weren’t the most social person you’ve met, so you don’t know why your body led you down to sit next to them, asking them “are you okay?”

the person doesn’t spare a glance at you, staring directly at their shoes instead. you study their face, realizing the person was someone you knew.

“sunghoon? what’s wrong?” you blurt out, his head whips towards yours, his panicked expression clearly gone when he looks at you with soft eyes.

he quickly remembers his state, wiping his tears as quickly as he can. “nothing,” he mumbles, knowing you’ll recognize his blatant lie.

you hesitantly place your hand on his back, softly rubbing it. he lays into you, sobs coming out of his body like a river, coming downstream. your throat tightens hearing the cries that fill the park, disturbing the few that passed by every so often.

noticing his hiccups become less and less apparent. you hesitantly ask, “do you want to talk about it?”

he nods, swallowing the lump in his throat. he chokes out, “it’s just the pressure i have on my shoulders, being the next king and all. i have no one to rely on or even ask for help. my parents are too busy fucking arguing to even give me the time of day, and it’s just so stupid they put all the kingdom’s problems on me because it’s training. when in reality it’s just them being ignorant and immature.”

you nod slightly, pulling him in a soft hug as if he’ll break if you hold any tighter. you wince at the feeling of his damp tears on your sleeve, reminding yourself that there was a more important matter.

you two hold each other in comfortable silence until sunghoon sits up and wipes his tears away. you look at him with worry to which he says, “i don’t really want to talk about it anymore if that’s ok,” he looks at you with uneasy eyes.

you give him a warm smile, “that’s fine sunghoon, do you want to talk about anything?”

“no, i don’t really have anything in mind,” he answers.

you nod trying to fill the void of silence somehow. spotting a moving figure near the waterline, you point to it, “hey there are some ducks!”

sunghoon follows your finger to find the animal you were pointing at. eyes crinkling at the sight. you watch his amused face, not realizing the smile growing on your face.

“didn’t know you were such an animal person,” you chuckle, as sunghoon rolls his eyes.

“it’s not like i see them much, ya-know being trapped in the castle and all that,” he remarks. you throw your hands up in defense, “sorry, forgot about your prince duties for a second.”

“yeah whatever,” sunghoon jokes, turning to gaze at the stars, just like at the castle.

you take this time to look at his face, looking hopefully into the sky. like he was hoping a shooting star would come. you let out a breathy smile, to which he hears turning to look at you, making eye contact.

realizing he caught your stare, you look away, your cold cheeks now growing in temperature.

sunghoon chuckles at your reaction, not realizing his reddening cheeks either. he pulls up his sleeve, glancing at his watch. you lean over, looking for the time stating 9:02.

you gasp loudly, making sunghoon whip his head up, looking at you with confusion. “what happened?” he asks.

“i have to be back by 9:15, curfew and all. i’ll see you soon, okay?” he nods, a smile present as he’s waving goodbye, watching as you take off running to get back on time.

sunghoon can’t seem to get rid of his smile after you leave, touching his upturned lips softly. he isn’t sure why his smile’s still lingering even after you left. he doesn’t smile for a while after jay or jake leaves him.

despite the chilling weather that most definitely left him shivering, he can’t get rid of the warm, fuzzy feeling inside of him. maybe he was sick, or maybe he was just prepared for the cold weather. but he knew there was a different reason. one that he wasn’t ready to admit.

06 YOU HAPPILY JOGGED BACK TO THE BUILDING

imagining your member's reactions when you tell them you had met up with sunghoon once again. you push open your dorm room at 9:12, barely making it back without getting a scolding from chaewon.

entering your shared room with eunchae, you take off your jacket, zipping it up to place it on a hanger.

“y/n! you went to the park without me!” eunchae whines from her bed, stretching out to cover it.

you laugh at her position, mentioning nonchalantly, “sorry eunchae! i saw sunghoon there though.

she dramatically gasps causing all the other members to rush in with looks of worry. “what happened?” chaewon asks, standing in the doorway.

“y/n met up with sunghoon at the park!” she exclaims. yunjin reacts first, running up to you dramatically, shaking you by your shoulders. the members exaggeratedly gasp at you, kazuha even pretends to faint.

you roll your eyes, pretending to busy yourself on your phone.

“y/n you have to tell us what happened!” chaewon hurriedly sits down on the edge of the bed, to which everyone else follows.

“nothing really happened,” you giggle, unable to stop the redness from spreading from your cheeks.

sakura pushes you softly, “oh boo, i know something happened, just tell us what!”

deciding to not mention the crying part, you mention everything else.

watching the member's reactions could honestly entertain you for days. whether it was a simple touch or action you two did together, they always had an exaggerated reaction towards it. when you mentioned how he had caught you staring at him, yunjin had dramatically fallen off the bed. hitting the carpet floor with her hand clutched repeatedly.

after you finished the story, they left as giggly as you came in. you quickly get ready to go to sleep, not wanting the exhaustion to get to you before you brush your teeth.

laying on your bed, you weren’t sure why they were so dramatic over some interactions you had with sunghoon. i mean, you were just a boy and a girl hanging out.

nothing weird about that.

okay sure, he did have really nice hair, pretty eyes, and a really gorgeous smile. and he was so sweet and funny but also comforting, and you like being around him and always wanted to be around him. but what does that have to do with-

oh.

oh.

no, it couldn’t be it, you weren’t that far in deep right?

was love what you were feeling? love for the man you had randomly met in the kingdom? love for the man you had barely met but had spent hours talking to?

yeah, maybe you did love him.

and maybe, you wanted to plant his soft lips onto yours the next time you saw him.

but he was too good for you.

like the brightest, most beautiful star in the sky, loving the dimmest, and unpleasant.

it would never work.

you sigh, pulling over the blanket over your cold body. peacefully closing your eyes.

07 CONFIDING IN SAKURA WAS ONE OF THE WORST IDEAS YOU HAD

you would think the oldest person had the best advice, but truly she was set on you doing one thing.

“confess to him!” sakura exclaims as soon as she hears the news. rolling your eyes at her idea, she lightly frowns.

“what? can’t you just tell him? i don’t get it.” she huffs, slightly lifting the hair on her face. you furrow your brows, “and risk him not liking me back?”

“okay so what if he does like you back?”

that simple question leaves you speechless, it’s not a crazy question, but as stupid as you sound, you didn’t think that would happen. nor was that a chance you would want to take.

“i don’t think he does, i mean we just met recently! he barely even knows me.” you’re shortly given a questioning look, followed by “don’t you meet like, every day?”

you sigh in defeat, “okay yeah we do, but that’s not the point! the point is that he doesn’t like me back.”

“look, he might not like you back, so why don’t you get it over with? the worst he can say is no.” her shoulders lift for a second, continuing back to focus on her phone.

“okay, no is definitely not the worst thing he could say. he could say like, “ew no you peasant! get away from me you dirty scab.” sakura dramatically sighs.

“are we talking about the same guy? the same guy who spent hours talking to you outside his own party?” you huff.

“yeah, but it’s still a possibility! you never know how royals are,” you argue. she quickly bites back, saying.

“exactly!” her eyes widened, “you don’t know how royals are, so you never know if he likes you back! which i’m sure he does.”

“okay so i confess to him, and he says no. what if our relationship changes and we can’t fix it because i made things so awkward? what would i do then?” you cry, she furrows her brows.

“you never know until you try.” she finishes, finally laying back down to go to sleep.

“fine.” you grumble, tiredly walking back to your room.

maybe you could confess to him.

you quickly throw yourself onto the bed. landing with an ‘oof’ sound on your stomach. brainstorming ideas or even just imagining scenarios. you hadn’t realized until two minutes of thinking was that everything you thought of was probably a normal occurrence for him.

picnics? you were sure he had done it many times. a restaurant? his chefs probably cook better and you’re both famous. movie date? even you didn’t want to do that idea.

giving your mind a rest, you rolled around on your bed. kicking the blanket off your sweaty feet, you grabbed your phone. opening safari.

i mean, it can’t hurt to look right? you quickly typed up the words, embarrassed at the dilemma you were in right then.

you scrolled through the websites, opening “15 best date ideas for you and your boyfriend.”

sure you weren’t at that stage, but it had to have at least one good idea.

scrolling through the options you stopped on one, thinking of what could happen then. painting together, that seems like it could be fun?

you quickly prepare yourself for the text you're about to send, staring at it for a while before actually sending it.

you

sunghoon are you busy this weekend?

sunghoon

not on saturday, but on sunday yeah.

why?

you

do you want to go painting with me 😁😁

sunghoon

sure, where?

you

yk the bench we met at like two days ago

we can meet there at 2pm ??

sunghoon

sure, see you then.

you

see youu

you slam your phone into your mattress, silently screaming to yourself imagining how the date would be. you prayed that sunghoon wasn’t some kind of artist who would laugh at the market's paint you had bought because it was such poor quality to him. sunghoon wouldn’t do that, he’s really sweet. you remember you check your calendar in the living room, writing down the date for saturday.

you scan the calendar, in three days you’ll confess.

08 YOU WEREN’T SURE YOU COULD PAINT WITH SUCH JITTERY HANDS

you had managed to get there at 1:58 seeing sunghoon there already. scanning his outfit, you found the gold details on his navy blue suit to fit him well, it was similar to the letter the palace had sent you but you didn’t want to point that out.

realizing how professional he looked, you quickly feel embarrassed at your outfit. some simple jeans with a crop top and a sweater, and a mask covering your face.

“hello y/n,” he smiles at you, helping you place your stuff down.

“hello sunghoon! here-” you hand a canvas to him, “this is for you, and you know how to paint, right?” you mentally slap yourself, of course, he knew how to paint y/n!

his eyes slightly squint in confusion as he chuckles, “of course, i know how to paint y/n, what do you wanna paint?”

you lock eyes with him, trying your best not to get flustered saying, “i don’t know yet, probably like the river in front of us. what about you?”

he looks around, suddenly smirking at the idea he must’ve had. “i’ll surprise you,”

“whatever,” you playfully roll your eyes, handing him his canvas and palette. his hands brush yours, lingering longer than they should.

you ignore it, carefully dipping the paintbrush into the water, then into a light grayish blue. you gracefully spread the paint around, trying to replicate the water to the best of your abilities. the blue slowly runs out, your paintbrush becomes dryer than your liking. so you delicately press the paintbrush into the water, swirling it around before dipping it back into the same blue color you were using.

while you’re doing that, you glance at sunghoon to see him sketching a person with a pencil. “who’s that?” you ask, he looks at you seeing you stare at his sketch.

his eyebrows furrow, “you can’t tell?”

you scan the canvas again, noticing the outfit looking very similar to yours. you squint slightly, “are you drawing me?”

he grins, “no.”

“what? that literally looks exactly like me!” you argue.

“it’s your mom.”

you sigh, rolling your eyes and turning back to your canvas, he laughs at your reaction. “i hate you so much,” you lie.

“right. you know i can get you thrown into prison right?”

“yeah you could, but you like me too much to do that.” you boldly state.

he gives you a side eye, nodding sarcastically. “whatever you want,” he says, you triumphantly continue painting, finishing the sky before starting on the river and the scenery.

you add more paint to your original color, brightening it before starting your river. making sure you get each detail.

while you’re working on your river sunghoon starts painting the background, realizing he forgot to do that.

you two continue with small talk, conversing about favorite music, events that are coming up, and even events happening recently.

you’re reminded of his birthday party, how he never finished his answer before he got pulled away by the crowd (or whoever was calling for him).

the conversation slowly dies down, sunghoon decides to start a new one before you could.

“how’s it like being an idol? like getting to do whatever you want and still be liked.”

you give him a bittersweet smile, “i don’t really get to do whatever i want, but i probably have more freedom than you do.”

sunghoon sighs, “yeah, sometimes i really hate being a prince, i wish i had more freedom like you.”

“well, i don’t have that much freedom, but i don’t really care. i just do whatever i want and hope i don’t get caught,” you chuckle, sunghoon smiles at you,

“you don’t get scared of the consequences you could get?”

“not really. if anything, i can just debut again.”

sunghoon clearly taken aback by your confidence covers it with a smirk, “are you always this confident?”

“not with you,” you blurt out, not realizing your mistake until you see his face visibly turning red. he quickly turns away, pretending to add finishing touches to the painting with nothing but water on the brush.

now you realize, its time. you quickly build up your confidence, not wanting to stay in this awkward silence any longer.

“look- i don’t know how to say this. but i like you, so much.” you can see sunghoon’s mouth slightly open, eyes widening as well. you continue, “and i know your idea of love isn’t that fond. so i hope we can still be friends after this. but please take my feelings into consideration.” you slightly smile at him.

he’s still in shock when he answers. “y/n, i don’t like you back-”

you blank for the rest of his sentence. realizing now that you should have left those words unsaid. so, so many words that should’ve been left unsaid.

he stops talking, waiting for your reaction. you aren’t sure if you feel like crying or screaming, but one thing you were sure you felt was that you wanted to get out of there.

you nod in disappointment, taking your canvas and paint with an awkward goodbye. you walk away, trying your best to ignore the slight blur in your vision.

09 “SHE WHAT?”

was the first thing jay said when he told them about the date. jake gave sunghoon a look of disbelief, and heeseung laughed at him.

“dude, we know damn well she did not say that.” heeseung smirks, stifling a laugh.

sunghoon eyebrows furrow, “what? she did say that! and i don’t know how to feel! she also isn’t answering my calls so that’s why i invited you over, not to have tea and biscuits.”

jake quietly puts his tea cup down, missing when sunghoon rolls his eyes at him.

“okay so what’s your opinion on her?” jay leans slightly forward, looking at sunghoon with an eyebrow raised.

“well-” sunghoon abruptly stops. how could he put this into words?

for one he always has a smile on around you, whether it’s a smirk or a genuine smile. either work.

two, he thinks you’re pretty, like the moon in an empty sky, or a person seeing a sunset for the first time. but that would surely get him teased, so he keeps quiet on that one.

three, he thinks you’re kind, too kind for your own good. just yesterday when you had bought all the supplies for painting when you both knew he could’ve rented out the whole park for you two, or when he offered to pay for the drinks you got for your members after the time he bumped into you, to which you declined fully knowing his economic status.

yeah, you’re kind.

sunghoon barely manages to get out, “she’s… kind?”

jake scoffs, “just kind? after all the date’s you’ve had with her, you don’t think she's funny or pretty or anything?”

yeah i think a lot of things. he thinks. deciding to also keep that to himself.

“i mean she’s pretty and funny.” sunghoon blankly states, not wanting to overshare.

“c’mon dude! i know you’re thinking some poetic shit but are too scared to say it to us. we won’t judge!” heeseung argues.

jay laughs at heeseung’s last comment, knowing full well it was a lie.

sunghoon rolls his eyes for nth time, realizing he’d have to say something anyways.

“well i think she’s pretty, but like so pretty you can’t describe it.” he thinks for a moment, trying to put it simply, “also her smile,” sunghoon lets out a breathy smile. making his friends all seem disappointed.

“it literally just sounds like you’re in love with her. your girl problems are too easy,” heeseung sighs, taking a bite of the biscuit waiting to be eaten.

“well, i’m not in love with her! i just enjoy her company.”

“i enjoy jake’s company but i don't dreamily sigh about his smile,” jay adds, to which jake winks at him.

jay gives him a disgusted look, turning to focus on sunghoon and his problem.

“okay well i don’t want to be in love with her!” he says, throwing his hands in defeat.

“why? what’s so wrong with liking a girl?” heeseung asks, his voice slightly muffled by the food he was eating.

sunghoon furrows his brows in disgust. “okay, first of all, don’t talk with food in your mouth, and second of all…” he pauses, does he really want to get that personal right now?

the answer is no.

“second of all, i don’t want to fall in love just to be disappointed in the end.”

jake sighs, “man, if you don’t want to fall in love that’s fine, but just think about the good things that could come out of it.”

sunghoon nods, taking in his words. what good things would come out of it? unrequited love? heartbreaks? being married to someone else because you’re a prince?

he didn’t think anything good would come out of it.

so sunghoon decided he didn’t love you romantically. and he never would.

010 YOU WERE STILL IGNORING HIS CALLS

every text left on delivered, every call left unanswered and sunghoon didn’t know what was wrong.

well, yes he did know what was wrong but he wasn’t sure how to fix it. his friends certainly hadn’t helped and he had no one else to ask.

so maybe he had to take matters into his own hands.

his plan was to host a ball then formally invite you to it. you couldn’t decline an invitation personally from the prince could you?

then he would just go with the flow, talk to you and apologize and become friends again. easy, right?

convincing his parents to invite you to the ball was simple. even if his mom was a little uneasy, she was delighted he wanted to personally invite someone to the ball they were hosting.

for once sunghoon left them with a smile on his face.

now all he had to do was wait. he knew it would never happen but everytime he got a notification, his face lit up. frantically checking the message for any sign of the word “y/n”. but he never found one.

all sunghoon did that week was wait for a text back. it hurted his brain honestly, all his worries were constantly flooding it. everytime he tried to focus on whatever his teacher was saying he couldn’t. not when his friendship was at stake.

he wasn’t sure why he was so worried about you, considering you were just friends. but the more he thought about it, the more confused he got.

but when the day finally came, he wasn’t as ready for it as he should’ve been.

yes he mentally prepared himself, and he made sure everything at the ball was perfect. but he forgot the most important part.

planning the apology.

sunghoon wouldn’t say he was the best at apologies. when people say that the words should come from the heart he laughs. it’s not like the heart has a mouth to speak with, he always thinks. but this time, he’s really relying on those words said by others.

but stupid phrases couldn’t help now.

so, sunghoon took a deep breath. and foot by foot, he entered the ballroom.

011 HIS FACE TURNS A WARM PINK WHEN HE SAW YOU

wearing a grayish-blue gown with sparkle lined layers towards the bottom. you had a huge smile on your face, talking to another woman.

he was so busy scanning your features he hadn’t noticed all his friends crowding around him. they all continuously teased him for the love struck look in his eyes. one that i don’t have. he thinks, ignoring the comments they had made.

he notices the look in your eyes, slowly growing less happy as you scan the beautiful lady in front of you. your smile slightly falls, but still evident in your face when she leaves. you look around, locking eyes with him. your smile falls this time, not hiding the slightly dreading facial expressions you had.

sunghoon calls you over, seeing the bright smile on your face return to meet his friends.

you happily greet each of them, each sharing a small fact about themself. you try to listen to each one, even though you’ll most likely forget it in an hour.

finally, you shake sunghoons hand. ignoring the awkward tension between you two.

jake quickly starts a conversation, saying, “y/n! you were the band that played at hoon’s birthday right? what instrument did you play?”

you nod, “yeah i play the bass! i also do some singing but i’m not the lead singer,” you chuckle. jake nods, taking a sip of whatever drink he had.

you look at sunghoon finding his eyes already latched onto yours. you look away quickly ignoring the interaction.

jay senses the tension, finding an excuse to lead his friends away from you two.

sunghoon mentally lets out a sigh of relief, realizing he had to start his apology soon.

“y/n look- can we talk about last week?”

you sigh, nodding.

“i was just thinking about it and i realized how rude i was that day, and that i’m sorry for that,” he braces himself for your reaction, a wash of relief goes over him when he sees your soft smile.

honestly, you don’t even remember what he said, but he must’ve been pretty mean.

“you don’t have to be sorry for rejecting me sunghoon, i get it. let’s just move on. okay hoon?” you tease, to which sunghoon rolls his eyes, barely keeping his smile in.

he doesn’t think anyone else can call him that anymore.

sunghoon makes eye contact with his mother, urging him to join the dance floor ever so near him.

you give a knowing look to him, dragging him to the ballroom floor.

the floor is filled with people, sunghoon leads you through the people, all moving in a unison formation. you finally find an empty spot, stopping there.

he laughs, “you remember how to dance right?”

“of course i do,” you answer, placing your right hand on his shoulder, softly holding his other hand.

he starts moving you two around, twirling you and lifting you up. you two laugh every time a small stunt comes up. but for a majority of the time, you’re just waltzing around, engaging in some small talk.

“you know i’ve always wanted to play an instrument?” sunghoon asks.

you shake your head, slightly frowning, “if you told me i could’ve started teaching you how to play bass guitar!”

he laughs at your response, taking in the atmosphere around him.

sunghoon can’t ignore the fact that your hands have gotten softer than before, or that you had some makeup on that enhanced your features, or that everytime you would mess up you would laugh it off.

sunghoon can’t help but have a smile on his face around you.

he can’t help but enjoy being with you. he can’t help but look forward to spending time together. he can’t help but find you infinitely gorgeous and perfect.

he can’t help but fall in love with you.

and this time, he accepts it.

soon the music comes to an end, but you're too busy enjoying eachothers company to acknowledge it.

he randomly says, “i’m sorry for what i’m about to do.”

sunghoon knows he’ll regret this, but he does it anyway.

he plants his lips onto yours, softly kissing you. you’re shocked at first. before you return the kiss, wrapping you arms around his neck. you pull out to take a breath, looking deeply into his dark brown eyes.

he smiles at you, and you smile back.

maybe this time sunghoon will give love a try. and maybe it’ll work out for him.

012 EXTRA

this was the fourth time sunghoon had tried to sneak you out of your schedule, everytime he tried something new but it never worked.

but this time he had a new plan.

you had just finished your stage at music bank, and still had hours to go until awards were announced.

sunghoon’s job was to distract the staff, and let you sneak out unnoticed.

he arrived at the back door, starting small talk with the staff in front of the doors.

“hey have you seen my new selfie?”

“do you like this theme for the next ball?”

“which suit should i wear?” he repeatedly asks, nudging his head as a symbol for you to go.

you, watching throw a small crack in the door, open it and take off running out from the side which was slightly out of their view. you run as fast as possible. foot after foot, step after step. ignoring the weird looks sent your way, you finally stop at a familiar tree.

a few minutes later he comes running to you, waving at you.

before you say anything he tackles you into a hug, almost knocking you over.

“someone missed me huh?” you tease, softly caressing his shoulder.

“yeah i really did,” he smiles, giving you a quick peck on the cheek.

“how’d you even distract them for that long? they always keep their eyes on the door.” you furrow your brows, worried they were chasing after you.

he smirks, keeping eye contact while putting your hair behind your ear. you quickly get flustered, dropping the subject.

sunghoon truly was quite the distractor.

thank u sm for reading! if you liked this plz check out my work “apple cider” :)) have a great day!!

yenqa © please do not copy, steal or translate.

[redrikki]

A Song of Ice and Fire Masterpost

The Return - Robb sends Theon home to Pyke. If you think this has a happy ending, you haven’t been paying attention. (Asha Greyjoy, Balon Greyjoy)

The Headsman - When the order came, Ned sent two men to seize and bind Theon Greyjoy and another to prepare the block. The gods would know Balon Greyjoy for a kinslayer, but it would be Ned Stark swinging the sword so what did that make him? (Ned Stark, Catelyn Stark, Theon Greyjoy)

Hey, Brother - “My sons will be your new brothers,” Lord Stark promised Theon, but it was a bit more complicated than that. (Theon Greyjoy, Ned Stark, Robb Stark, Jon Snow)

Every Captain a King - Young Theon Greyjoy is made a hostage of Dragonstone. When Davos Seaworth finds him crying behind the water casks, he can’t resist playing the father. (Davos Seaworth, Theon Greyjoy)

Somewhere in the Dark -The night after witnessing his first execution, a nightmare drives Robb from his bed. Somewhere in the dark, he stumbles across Theon. (Theon Greyjoy, Robb Stark)

Empty Promises, Empty Threats - “Far be it from me to question to wisdom of your lady mother,“ Theon said, “but maybe sending the man who killed my brother to treat with my father is not the best idea.” Robb sends a different envoy to the Iron Islands. He and Theon live with the consequences. (Robb Stark, Theon Greyjoy)

Grin and Bear It - Theon attends the tourney at Lannisport following his father’s war. King Robert rubs his hair for luck as he heads to the lists. Theon hopes he dies. He hopes they all do. (Theon Greyjoy, Ned Stark, Robert Baratheon)

Strange Children in Our Bed - It had been seven long months since Catelyn’s husband had been home and in her bed. Theon Greyjoy was the only thing spoiling their reunion. (Catelyn Stark/Ned Stark, Theon Greyjoy)

The Boy in the Garden - Alayne finds a strange boy crying along in the heart of the the Eyrie’s garden. There are no gods in the godswood. Just Ned. (Sansa Stark, Ned Stark)

The Heir - After the war and the loss of their sons, Balon demands she give him a new heir. Alannys is determined to thwart him at every turn. (Alannys Greyjoy/Balon Greyjoy, Asha Greyjoy)

I can’t belong to winter - Balon Greyjoy dies when Theon is three-and-ten and home has never felt so far out of reach. (Theon Greyjoy, Ned Stark)

The Knife - The wounds on Lady Catelyn’s hands turn sour, so Theon Greyjoy takes the assassin’s knife to King’s Landing instead. Theon’s main skill has always been complicating other people’s narratives. WIP (Theon Greyjoy, Ned Stark)

Second Verse - Theon Greyjoy leaps from Winterfell’s walls and ends up in his past. Can he save the Starks from themselves? More importantly, does he even want to? (Theon Greyjoy, Jory Cassel, Jeyne Poole, Mance Rayder, Bran Stark, Robb Stark)

Little Bit Louder, Little Bit Worse - In a world where the War of the Five Kings goes very differently, Asha Greyjoy sails north to retrieve her brother. Sequel to Second Verse where a time traveling Theon Greyjoy has made some changes, not all of them for the better. (Asha Greyjoy, Theon Greyjoy, Robb Stark)

Skinchangers: A Definitive History - Selected experts from the book Skinchangers: A Definitive History by Maester Germ, being the definitive work on the nature of the art and its role in the history of Westeros from the Dawn Age through the Age of Exploration.

Words Are Wind - Fills from the 3 Sentence Ficathon

1) Theon comes back wrong 2) Jeyne will never forget her name 3) Catelyn on Ned’s unfortunate habit of child acquisition 4) Theon vs. specimen jars 5) Jeyne can’t quite forgive 6) Jeyne and the power of naming

A Meta of Ice and Fire -

Chapter 1) Why Ned would have executed Theon Chapter 2) If canon Theon didn’t bully Jon, why is it so popular in fic? Chapter 3) Westerosi and Medieval European Hostages: A Comparison Chapter 4) Comparing Robb’s book & show love interests Chapter 5) Overthinking the Common Tongue of Westeros Chapter 6) Robb as the anti-Ned Chapter 7) Comparing Viking and Ironborn thralls Chapter 8) Making sense of the Greyjoy Rebellion

[light-miracles]

Please share some fav frelma moments or headcanons? The fandom is so quiet ahaha

Sure!

Canon from the books trilogy (spoilers duh) (shot out to my friend Clei for getting me the books)

1) When Daphne makes Velma accidentally admit she has a crush on Fred and her reaction is just 'Damn Velma I didn't know you were so traditional'

2) When they dance together in Shaggy's house in the second book

3) Fred shamelessly flirting by touching her hair at school and Velms' almost heart attack.

4) Really, Velma's pining in the books is delicious.

5) The almost kiss in the third book.

6) When Fred almost dies in that fire and Velma just starts to cry out of pure relief when she sees him alive

7) Fred telling the journalists next thing he's doing is asking 'the girl he likes' out when he leaves hospital.

8) Their last scene together at the end. Which lives rent free on my head. I even wrote a little continuation/expansion of that scene in a drabble.

(Overall, the books aren't perfect. The focus is Daphne and Velma's friendship and that means too little focus on Shaggy and Freddie. But it was absolutely worth it. It was like the best Frelma fanfic but actually canon in its verse. Clinging to those books forever)

Honorific mentions of other versions: the "DORKY CHICKS LIKE YOU TURN ME ON TOO" line in the live action (lmfao) (Linda Cardellini and Freddie Prinze's chemistry was awesome), Fred going all the way to show her he appreciates everything she does in Be Cool Scooby Doo, and their scenes together in The Mystery Begins. Also every moment they share the screen in 'Mystery Incorporated: Welcome to Coolsville'. That version of the characters was the best one in recent years.

..

Headcanons now:

1) Has anyone watched that animated short horror video parodying the totally awful Velma show? The one with eldritch monster Scooby? Yeah they're together the next time Scooby reboots reality. Both of them are aware of what's going on and try to scape the time loop (confusing if you don't know the story of the video 'Velma Meets The Original Velma' on YouTube, plz watch it)

2) Moving on to greener grasses, eventually they have twin boys, Ricky and Roger (named after Fred and Shaggy). Obviously Daphne and Shaggy are the godparents.

3) Shaggy let's them adopt 3 puppies from the Doo family years in the future.

4) Scrappy lived with them for some time. Velma was the only one who could boss him around. Fred spoiled him.

5) Velma sends him food to his work out of nowhere because sometimes she's sure he's forgotten to eat. He does the same plus flowers. Both of them are right: they forget to have dinner. Shaggy never shuts up about it.

6) (I usually go with Archeologist!Fred and Astronomer!Velms. They travel a lot) (The kids are homeschooled until they can leave for a boarding school)

7) Ricky and Roger are mama boys

8) Fred does the taxes. Velms always forgets.

9) Shaggy is a chef (duh) and Daphne a private detective and they're never too far away. Their kid is a little older than the twins but they hang out a lot. Sometimes Velma refers to Daphne as 'her sister' so the boys don't figure out Daphne isn't their 'actual aunt' until they're older.

10) Velma has a photo of him on her wallet. Fred is the little spoon.

[shukakumoodboard]

*Pulls out my massive bag of money and jewels and blow* I’m your biggest fan so I must pick your brain now that you have a tumblr ask box. your finest gaalee romance hcs my good sir. Please

help.

I’m your biggest fan

did you know im crying ab this. kissing u on the face rn

ok gaalee romance headcanons. i've been thinking about this for days. grab ur mojito mix lets frockign gaur

ill be upfront in that i have very few i'll-die-on-this-hill opinions about the boys, but here's some i'm pretty stuck to <3

sfw headcanons

1. lee's better with words, gaara's better with actions, and they're both secretly envious of the other for it: my thoughts here are that gaara spent so much of his life not understanding love that he'd still struggle to articulate it in flowery ways that i think, as a born theatre kid, lee would be good at. but gaara would absolutely be that person who shows it in subtle ways -- like taking care of someone when sick, remembering food preferences, always ensuring lee takes care of himself when lee forgets or is busy having a self-flagellation moment. not that i think lee would be incompetent, but he strikes me as more of a scatterbrain, but would always be on top of verbal reassurances and affection (which i also think is what gaara would benefit from: clear straightforward declarations of feelings and intent)

2. they're both super cuddly in private look, you put together a touch-starved former monster vessel and a social outcast who mostly knows touch from violence (until gai) and you are going to get some clinginess imo. you can't convince me they're not the kind of people who would sit side by side at the dinner table so they can eat holding hands. bro (emotional)

3. they're probably actually really shit at "conventional" dating hear me out ok. they're like initially so far away and gaara is the whole president and lee kicked a meteor in half one time you think they can just wander around and go to restaurants? it's absolutely nonsense that shinobi don't suffer village celebrity paparazzi syndrome in nart tbh. not exactly the same but i have a whole wip in the bort-verse about them sneaking around. tldr i'd bet they sometimes get casual breakfast or dinner but i think more likely takeout and quiet time together as opposed to like fancy dates

4. language learning and hobbying as a form of devotion as a purveyor of my wares u may notice i have language headcanons. it is also my gaalee romance hc that they learn each others -- i've incorporated this into in the space between and a wip called multilingual, which is all about nejiten teasing lee about his crush on gaara in front of the man. i also think that lee would lean into gaara's gardening stuff with gusto because if it's something gaara loves, lee would want to love it too.

nsfw headcanons huehuehuhe

1. they're switches and i WILL die on this hill i think this is self explanatory but listen. listen i am SIQUE of the assigned top/bottom nonsense they both deserve to rail and also be railed. i may be the resident owner of the Rock Lee Fucks tag on AO3 but i also own the Gaara Fucks tag. ill kill a man over this

2. lee is absolutely a service anything this ties into the previous one. a big component of his canonical personality is that he's a disciple of gai -- he's a follower who bases a lot of himself around those he cares for. not the kind of person who is suddenly going to crop up with an intensely specific preference, imo? i think he would base his role on whatever his partner needs the most at the time.

3. rock lee's canonically huge dick ok lol listen. listen this one's canon jokes aside i think lee is hung as detailed in We Don't Talk About Fight Club and i will continue that joke. that being said i think normal hung. not arizona tea can hung which is a hilariously illustrated discord joke

4. tbh i think they're kinda vanilla in the bedroom i say this in a positive way i think they'd be far more into like, just being able to be with each other instead of getting into wild sexual mischief all over the villages although they definitely bone in weird places secretly. they Fuck, but like i don't see them as super kinksters or anything. however, i have seen many a kinkfic that im like nodding my head this is valid cakesitting bdsm what who said that

5. gaara's vaguely nebulous oral fixation i really have no justification for this one i just think some of those animal bijuu instincts might linger and turn into what that mouth do idk i keep going to write smut and whoops my whole body slipped and gaara's licking something. happened in fight club and fight club II, happened in hole time, happened in tgod, happens in at least two wips i have cookin' in the background... what is goin on actually

dkghkdf i hope you enjoyed this episode of kel's questionable headcanons. i really enjoyed answering, thank you so much for the ask <3

[eye-candy-film-enjoyer]

My favorites of 2023

I wanted to make little wrap up of 2023, so here are my favorite movies and performances from 2023

Top Five Favorite movies

#5 The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds and Snake - dir. Francis Lawrence

I am a YA/dystopian boy through and through. I thought this was a very faithful adaptation and very visually stunning. The performances were all great and I just really liked it. However, I had my problems with the book itself and I felt the movie didn't do a great job truly villainizing Snow (I found him too likable until like the end of the film) All in all though a fun watch.

#4 Saltburn- Dir. Emerald Fennell

If there's one thing I'm gonna do on this account, It's support a boy's wrongs. This movie has so many visual details and story details, it truly blows my mind. The soundtrack? Banger after banger. I'd never heard Murder on The Dance Floor before this movie but now I want to dance around a mansion to it. The cast? I mean just look at them. I do think occasionally this movie occasionally felt like it was just being shocking for shocking's sake and I got a little tired of it.

#3 Spiderman: Across The Spider-Verse- Dir. Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, and Joaquim Dos Santos

I love art. There's no other way to say it. I am in love with creativity. The amount of details that are in this movie are so utterly mind blowing that every time I read about a new one, I feel like I have to rewatch this movie. The first Spider-verse film is an absolute masterpiece and this movie was not about to disappoint it. From the voice performances to the bleeding-water color, to animating on every other frame, this movie just had me floored. I hope it wins an Oscar for best animated feature or I'm throwing shit. I do want the second part before I fully judge the story but so far I think this is one of the best superhero stories in a while

#2 Barbie- Dir Greta Gerwig

I have never cried harder to a Nikki Minaj song. But actually, this movie made me fall in love with the simple act of being alive. It's a movie about a doll and yet its about enjoying life and growing up and how everything's so messy and it's so beautiful and we're so beautiful and I just. I get it. I get why Barbie wanted to be a human. We are all so fascinating. The ending montage alone is enough to make anyone with a heart cry. I hope that one day everyone is as in love with the world around them as this movie made me.

#1 Asteroid City- Dir. Wes Anderson

If you don't know the I'm Wes Anderson's number 1 fan, I'm doing something wrong. Truth be told, I didn't get this movie at first. I left the theater knowing that there was some deeper meaning but...what? So I thought about it for two weeks and then it hit me. There is no clear answer. There's no clear answer because the actors can't find a clear answer. There's no clear answer because the in-universe playwright didn't write one and maybe Anderson himself didn't write one. The movie has clear themes of grief and love and identity but at the end of the day what you choose to make of it is all up to you. There's also a lot to be said about how the play is existential and about uncertainty in the future and I think that's another reason I liked Asteroid City. I'm always so worried about the future. It terrifies me. But what can I do. And with that I once again realized that Wes Anderson was truly genius, and I don't think I'll ever see a film quite like Asteroid City again.

Favorite performances from each film

#5 Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird

I never got the hatred for Rachel Zegler. She was absolutely phenomenal in the 2021 West Side Story and she ate up Lucy Gray Baird. I just felt through the screen that Rachel understood her role so well. She played Lucy to all her vulnerability and strength and goddamn I am in love with her voice!! The old therebefore gave me absolute chills.

#4 Allison Oliver as Venetia Catton

being complete honest she's who I wanted to be in like middle school. Allison Oliver managed to play her as both such a free spirit and then to haunted on such the drop of the dime. From her subtle emotions to her snapping at Oliver in the bathtub she had me eating out of the palm of her hand. She would've loved Tumblr.

#3 Shameik Moore as Miles Morales

He had me laughing, crying, cheering and getting goosebumps the whole time. The absolute power Shameik Moore gives Miles is truly what tie the whole movie together. I feel like his performance often gets overshadowed for some of the bigger names in the cast and I truly find that shame. He gives Miles such a powerful and realistic portrayal that I admire it so deeply. From "Nah, I'mma do my own thing." to his conversations with Gwen to arguments with his parents, Shameik Moore makes Miles feel like a teenager who's trying to figure out who he is and a superhero saving a multiverse from collapsing

#2 Margot Robbie as Barbie

I'm fucking sick of only hearing Ryan Goslings name mentioned when we talk about the BARBIE movie! It is Margot's movie!! SHE ATE THAT SHIT UP!! She managed to so subtly bring in the changes of barbie being only a doll to being a real person. She provides so much of the movies comedy too. Her laying down crying had me wheezing not gonna lie. But she also shows us that how strong Barbie is and how she's so multi-faceted.She is truly someone little girls should see and be inspired by. Margot truly brought Barbie to life in all the ways that the audience and the script needed. She had me laughing, crying and smiling so goddamn wide the whole film. Here's to you, Margot.

#1 Jason Schwartzman as Augie Steenback/Jones Hall

It was the year of Schwartzman and nowhere was the proved more than in Asteroid City. Here we see, Jason Schwartzman playing and actor playing a single dad war photographer. Schwartzman manages to play all these layers so well, letting them blend together through on intense common factor: grief. Jones' grief bleeds into Augie in such a fascinating way that you might not even realize at first. It's so subtle and yet, it complete makes the performance. When we see Jones on his own a few times, though Jason Schwartzman manages to make him feel like a completely different man than Augie. The entire scene from Jones walking offstage to us being returned to 'Asteroid City' is truly some of my favorite acting of the year. Even through subtle expressions, we can truly see everything that Jones is experiencing. It's just such a sight to watch and it blows me away.

Some honorable film and performance mentions

Oppenheimer- Dir Christopher Nolan. Good film but a little too long if you ask me. Sorry!

Fav performance- Emily Blunt as Kitty Oppenheimer. She might not have been in a lot of the film but she stuck with me

Renfeild- Dir Chris McKay. Sorry I like fun camp! sue me!

Fav performance- Nic Cage as Dracula. I'm sorry Nic Cage is just so goddamn funny

Poison- Dir. Wes Anderson. Maybe the real snake was the Benedict Cumberbatch we met along the way.

Fav performance- Dev Patel as Woods. Wes please cast Dev Patel in a longer on of your films he ate this up.

Five Nights at Freddy's- Dir. Emma Tammi. I wanted to like it more but it felt like 3 different films until the last 20 minuets

fav performance- Matthew Lilard as William Afton. I want Stu Macher back after this.

The Swan- Dir. Wes Anderson. (Last time I mention Wes in this post I swear.) Hey Wesley! Quick question! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?? Thank youuuu!

Fav performance- Rupert Friend as Narrator/Peter Watson. Yeah he was the only guy speaking and he carried! The one moment where he breaks the stoic delivery and truly pleads for them to not kill the swan? Wow.

Gaurdians of The Galaxy Vol 3- Dir James Gunn. I have never cried over cgi this hard in my life!

Bradley Cooper as Rocket. Just hearing him scream sob almost had me open mouth sobbing in public.

Scream 6- Dir. Matt Bettinelli-olpin, Tyler Gillet. Starting to get real pissed at radiosilence.

fav performance- Jasmin Savoy-Brown as Mindy Meeks-Martin. She's so funny, I love her.

If y'all want I also have a favorite tv shows of 2023 post

[toddandersonn]

Okay, so I've been doing the "re-listen and rate all the 11 albums" thing. I did Debut on Wednesday, so today it's Fearless's turn!

1. Fearless. What an opening!! Easily in her top 3 opening tracks. Seeing this in the Eras and doing the 🫶 was one of my fave moments of 2023. Rating: 10/10

2. Fifteen. While I don't revist this song super often, I still think it's great and quite touching. My favorite lyric is, "But I found time can heal most anything, and you might just find who you're supposed to be". Rating: 9/10

3. Love Story. This is the first Taylor song I ever heard in 2010, so I'll always have a soft spot for it. But it's also genuinely a perfect song. Rating: 10/10.

4. Hey Stephen. Super cute and iconic. "All those girls, well they're beautiful, but would they write a song for you?", you'll always be famous. Rating: 8.5/10

5. White Horse. You guys give this song too much hate. It's s not her worst track 5 by any means. You guys just don't get her like I do. My favorite lyric is "Maybe I was naive, got lost in your eyes and never really had a chance.My mistake, I didn't know to be in love you had to fight to have the upper hand.". Rating: 8.5/10.

6. You Belong With Me. Banger of all time! Been there, too, Nerdy Taylor in the mv. Rating: 10/10.

7. Breathe. One of my fave deep cuts. There aren't a lot of friendship breakup songs out there, so I'm glad she exists. My favorite lyric is, "Nothing we say is gonna save us from the fall out". Rating: 10/10

8. Tell Me Why. The fiddles here give me life. It has a lot of good lyrics, my favorite one is "You could write a book on how to ruin someone's perfect day". Rating: 8/10.

9. You're Not Sorry. Gonna piss a lot of people off, but I genuinely don't like this song much aside from a few lines and the production. I just find it rather boring, and it's really similar to White Horse because both songs are about not forgiving an ex and going your own way after finding out they were cheating on you. I do like the first few verses. My favorite lyric is "And it's taken me this long baby, but I figured you out" and I love the guitars and violins, but yes, I don't have a lot of positive things to say about this song. Rating: 6/10.

10. The Way I Loved You. What a banger!! The guitars, the banjo, everything!! Chorus of all time, which also has my fave lyrics in this song. My favorite lyric is Rating: 10/10.

11. Forever & Always. Another perfect song! And late 2022 me really related to this (fun fact F&A was written on the same day I went through a friendship breakup that had me blasting this the rest of that day). My favorite lyric is, "Was I out of line? Did I say something way too honest, made you run and hide like a scared little boy?". Rating: 10/10

12. The Best Day. I get why some people may not like it, but I love it. Favorite lyrics are, "I'm thirteen now and don't know how my friends could be so mean. I come home crying, and you hold me tight and grab the keys, and we drive and drive until we found a town far enough away, and we talk and window shop till I've forgotten all their names", because yeahh... anyways. Rating: 9/10.

13. Change. Love the production, but lyrically, it is weak. I don't 100% agree this is Long Live 1.0, because Change feels more like a rousing speech, while Long Live feels more like a celebration of their achievements, declaring that in case everything goes wrong she hopes everyone will look back fondly on their times together. My favorite lyric is, "Because these things will change. Can you feel it now? These walls that they put up to hold us back will fall down". Rating: 6.5/10.

14. Jump Then Fall. This song is cute and all, but I just think Hey Stephen is better tbh. My favorite lyric is, "The time is gonna come when you're so mad you could cry, but I'll hold you through the night until you smile." Rating: 7/10.

15. Untouchable. I've debated whether rating this song or not since it's just a cover, but since it's on both the 2009 Platinum version and on Fearless TV, I'm rating it. I think her vocals here are quite good, and I love the country rearrangement. My favorite lyric is, "In the middle of the night, we can form this dream, I wanna feel you by my side, standing next to me. You gotta come on, come on, say that we'll be together." Rating: 8.5/10.

16. Forever and Always (Piano Version). Since this is genuinely another version of the song with different vocals and production, and not just a remix, I'm rating it. While it's not my preferred version of the song, I think it's a nice rendition. Rating: 8/10.

17. Come In With The Rain. Soo underrated, her vocals are quite nice, and the production is really good. Rating: 8/10

18. Superstar. I don't get why you all hate this song. Is it the best platinum track? No, but it's not the worst one when Jump Then Fall is right there. Rating: 7.5/10.

19. The Other Side of The Door. Another banger of the century. One of her best outros!! Rating: 10/10.

20. Today Was A Fairytale. Sooo cute, you are mean for hating on this one. Rating: 8/10.

21. You All Over Me. I'm gonna be honest, I'm not big on the Fearless vault tracks, because I feel like most of the truly great material made in either in the standard edition or the platinum edition, so what was left off was overall just alright imo. I don't dislike this song by any means, but I prefer production on the 2005 demo over the one on the Taylor's version because it just doesn't like a Debut/Fearless Taylor song and it sounds a little too polished (idk if it makes sense? Idk, the only time Aaron Dessner has let me down is when it comes to the Fearless Vault). Rating: 6/10.

22. Mr. Perfectly Fine. It's definitely the best vault track on Fearless! My favorite lyric is Mr. "Insincere apology so he doesn't look like the bad guy". Rating: 10/10.

23. We Were Happy. I quite like this song, actually, but I prefer the demo production over the TV one. While it does feel more Fearless esque than You All Over Me TV, I didn't love how they switched it from the orchestral arrangement to a downtempo ballad one. Rating: 7.5/10.

24. That's When. Writing wise, this song makes no sense... but melodically, it's quite nice soooo... Rating: 6/10.

25. Don't You. I kinda hate this song... the lyrics are okay, I guess, but the production??? This sounds like a Midnights demo... why are you doing synths and vocal layering on the most awarded country album??? Rating: 5.5/10.

26. Bye Bye Baby. Well, I hate this one more, actually. I do like the lyric "It wasn't just like a movie, the rain didn't soak through my clothes down to my skin", because of how it contrasts with Fearless the song and her vocals here are nice, but everything else sucks imo. Rating: 5/10.

Overall score: 7.8/10 (counting the vault), 8.6/10 (if we're going off solely the original tracks).

[emilykaldwen]

thanks so much for the tag @theladyelizabeth!

tagging: @acrossthesestars, @stannisfactions, @arrthurpendragon, @mercurygray, @alicentive, @nyctophilic0vitnir, @selfproclaimedunicorn, @themaradwrites, @lya-dustin, @dragonsoftheeast

1. How many works do you have on AO3?: I have 9 so far! I ended up deleting some old works that were abandoned and didn't have a lot of interaction that were over a decade old (and they didn't have bookmarks either so I wasn't worried)

3. What fandoms do you write for?: Currently, House of the Dragon is the hyperfixation

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The Maiden and the Drowning Boy - HotD Canon Divergent

Soulmates Never Die - The Borgias (my oldest fic)

Fight For Me (If It's Not Too Late) - Teen Wolf

Boy With a Broken Soul (Heart With a Gaping Hole) - HotD Fae AU

You're the Lighting of the Blaze - Hotd Canon Divergent

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Always! (and if I don't it's legit cause I forgot/thought I did and AO3 ate the comment). I love the community aspect of fic writing so if you take the time to leave me a comment, I love to engage. I especially love it when commenters ask questions and look for discussion.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? probably one of the old Prequel Star Wars Fics I wrote way back in the day.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Right now, it's a tie between You're the Lighting of the Blaze and Bright Star

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not on my fics directly but I have gotten some rancid hate in my inbox re: Abby (And then that escalated to telling me to end myself so). This is why I now have anons turned off. Sorry guys.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I do write smut! I'm not sure what it means by 'what kind'? I've done a few solo smut-shots, and Maiden will have a few explicit scenes when this arc is completed. I'm definitely someone who loves Plot with a side of Porn, and as long as the smut flows well and isn't overly repetitive, I'm here for it.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I have written a crossover! I had a mini-series of Whedon-verse/Supernatural called It Must Be Tuesday back on LiveJournal. Sam and Dean meet River Tam in a bar and the apocalypse happen. Dean and Buffy hooked up. I was acutally very proud of that LOL

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not stolen but I did have some concepts lifted from a Once Upon a Time fic

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Not that I'm aware of!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes! Soulmates Never Die was co-written with a friend at the time (we've lost touch since then), and then when I was in the Charmed fandom, I adopted out an abandoned fic of mine and was the beta/co-writer on a big future Fic series with Wyatt, Chris, and Chris' friends. Those were some fantastic stories.

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship? Oh man. I really love me Jacelaena and Helaemond still has a soft place in my heart (but the trajectory of a lot of the fics has just been... a turn off). Harry/Luna will always be warm and fuzzy for me (I used to be the ship captain back in the Fiction Alley days). Buffy/Angel was my first real Fandom OTP.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? Hmmm... I don't have anything right now that fits that. I did have Isabelle Martin's Life is Totally Over which was a Derek/Lydia future Kid fic that I was actually enjoying but the fandom was such an utter turn off by that point.

16. What are your writing strengths? God fuck if I know. I think I'm really good at tying things together/call backs and really emphasizing those themes. I like to think I'm thoughtful at cause/effect of character action and consequences. 

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I feel like my descriptions are lacking and I get lost in the weeds. I struggle with finding the stakes in a story. Conflict is difficult. 

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? me crying with dote on doing some appropriately translated high valyrian for Maiden instead of just copy/pasting from one of the online translators. Only very, very, VERY few people will know that they're grammatically correct and honoring the original development of HV, but it was important to ME.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Star Wars back in the late 90s.

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written? Maiden obviously holds my heart and soul, and it's always going to be everything for me, but I'm actually incredibly proud of Fight For Me (If It's Not Too Late). It was a two parter, and I wrote it in the span of a week? Maybe two weeks? and it was the last thing I wrote for a very long time.

[liminalmemories21]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

tagged by @rmd-writes. Thank you!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

31 (apparently? seriously? it doesn't feel like that many)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

451,541 - which is an oddly pleasing number.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

911 Lonestar

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Long Story Short (5 Ways Carlos's Family Could Have Met TK + 1 he met TK's)

a home isn't always the house we live in (Judd's POV on TK and Carlos)

It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes, or bags! (Christmas (and Hanukkah) fic)

Always Wear Your Invisible Crown (high school reunion fic - also one of the only stories I've ever written from TK's POV)

When the sun came up you were looking at me (S2 Interstitials)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I love comments, and I try hard to respond to all of them.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I don't think I've written anything with an ambiguous ending, or an angsty ending. Although @wtfuckevenknows says the end of Knave 3 made her cry (it has a happy ending, I promise. But, apparently it's happy with a side of emotion?)

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

All of them. No really. All of them.

I guess maybe It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes, or bags! has the schmoopiest ending.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Only once so far. [fingers crossed, knock on wood] Not looking forward to more.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes. It took a while, but I got there.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I haven't ever written a crossover! I do kind of want to do a 911/Lonestar crossover, but that is just so many characters.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I'm aware

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not a posted one. I have co-written with a friend before for The Old Guard, but we never actually finished and posted it.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Nope, nope, nope. I have been around waaaay too long to pick a favorite. I can give you a historical selection.

Fraser/Ray K (Due South), McKay/Sheppard (SGA), Arthur/Merlin (Merlin), Arthur/Eames (Inception), Buck/Eddie (911), TK/Carlos (Lonestar), and a lot of others unnamed

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

a bunch of them. I do tend to cannibalize though, and bits of abandoned fics end up in other places.

16. What are your writing strengths?

dialogue? descriptions of internal emotional processing (?) someone else tell me.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I'm going to say plot, and you are all going to laugh at me after 150K of Knave-verse. But, honestly, plot.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I've included words here and there of Spanish, but it's not one of my languages so I'm always hesitant to try and be colloquial.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Published? Lonestar. Unpublished? Merlin

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Knave 2 (The Knave of Hearts . . . he said he'd steal no more). I think that's easily the best thing I've ever written.

tagging @freneticfloetry, @cha-melodius, @bonheur-cafe, and @carlos-in-glasses in return

[prismaticpichu]

heyy, hope you've had a good day so far, and that it continues to be that way :)

for the question ask game... 4, 9, 29 if you have the time!!! And thanks in advance!!

AHHH right back at ya, friendo!! <333 My morning’s been lovely so far!! Wishing only good vibes your way in return!! 💕

~

What is your favorite book? ~ Oooooooh!! Good question!!! For this one, I think I gotta go with One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey. The prose is absolutely GORGEOUS + Nurse Ratched with always be a deliciously evil villain 🤌 Classic read all around!!

What do you consider your biggest accomplishment? ~ Awww! That’s a good question too <33 And I gotta say, while it may not seem like much in the grand scheme of things, getting through this past school year when my mental health was arguably at its lowest yet has filled me with a sense of strength and pride that I think will continue to push me forward for years to come 💞💞 Keep soldiering on, friendos!! We’re in this game of life together!!

Favorite song lyrics right now? ~ Yessssss! Music!! I’ve been listening to so many of my old favorites recently dhdhdh, and this verse Maroon 5’s Makes Me Wonder has just been bouncing around in my mind for a few hours now xDD

🎵 Give me something to believe in

'Cause I don't believe in you anymore, anymorrrreee

I wonder if it even makes a difference~

It even makes a difference to try

And you told me how you're feeling

But I don't believe it's true anymore, anymoreeee

I wonder if it even makes a difference to cry

Oh, no, so, this is goodbye! 🎶

[corn-egg]

NPMD song tier list

Controversial

As cool as I think I am: I never really vibed with this song. I mean it's good but compared to every other song it just doesn't excite me as much. Although it does always make me laugh and cry.

If I loved you: I just started warming up to this song, but it's also like as cool as I think I am. And then also to sing this right after Ruth dies? If this was placed after they honored her a little more that'd be fine. The emotional whiplash from just for once to this song

The best of you: definitely an earworm. I love all the highschool characters we got from this one song (like brooke and rudolph) and also how this is like their up-town funk, that idea is absolutely adorable. But then, 3 kids died from murders (soon to be 4) in the course of one month and they just forget about it? I can't help but feel a little sour about that. But other than that I love it.

Cool as I think I am (reprise) this song brings me to tears every time I watch NPMD. LIKE joeys performance in this? Breathtaking. It's very sad but also very short

The summoning: I really want to put this song up higher but I do get second hand embarrassment for some parts. Other than that I love the LIB and was absolutely ecstatic we had something for them all together. I really love pokey after yellow jacket so I wish they evened out the lines throughout the song

Dirty Dudes must die: I love how batshit insane Grace became at the end. She is a true icon. And the vocals? CHEFS KISS! Her ending pose is everything. She is THE GIRLBOSS

Dirty girl: I'm going to be honest, I skipped this the first time I watched NPMD. But rewatching and relistening to it really made me appreciate the amazing harmonies in this song. I love them so much in this, although its extremely embarrassing watching with your friends

Literal monster: again, I would love to put this higher but it's hard to rate this. I love love love how max sings a verse in this. But also how the nerds sing too, god the choreography is just sjrjrntjng

Go Go Nighthawks! THE FUCK YOU CLIVESDALE VERSE HAS ME ROLLING ON THE FLOOR LAUGHING. And Richie dancing in the mascot costume is so funny to me too. Especially cause Jon was battling to keep that on his head when he was in the play. Plus this song is the last time we'll see everyone happy together.

Bury the bully: this song is so funny. But also how everyones voices go together? Changing from bully the bully to bury the bully is GENIUS. the end when "I just cut off his nips" and grace screams "GIVE ME THOSE" is definitely an underrated line

Bully the bully: I know I keep on saying that these songs are hilarious, and that's because they are. Like, the chemistry all the nerds had in this scene? The spins? You can see how much more sure of this they are then in the 'reprise' and how they think this is going to solve all of their problems (it does for like two weeks)

Hatchettown: all the cameos in this made the hours of going through NMT so worth it. (I do recommend watching it. At least season two) even kn tje cast recording boy jerry is in it calls Jeri a dirty girl and I don't think many people know about that. And the bridge in this song? Heavenly. Actually a 10/10 song.

Nerdy prudes must die: this scene is heartbreaking but it was necessary for us to hear Jon's amazing voice. The little details where max uses his powers on him and he like flops to the floor? To good. And he thinks saying "I'm not a loser" will help his case like in all of his animes LMAO. This just really shows how far everyone in starkid has come.

Highschool is killing me: best opening number ever (totally not biased) the opening lines always give me chills how it always smoothly transitions. I think everything in this is perfect.

Just for once is one of the best songs of the hatchet field trilogy and here's why: it uses clever word play and shows how Ruth isn't just a throwaway character.

Jeff blim isn't really known outside of the fandom from having the best lyrics (I obviously love them but this is just some beliefs other people have) he really outshined with this. It just looks so dumb but when you really feel dive on what the double meaning for every lyric is you really start to appreciate it.(someone pointed this out once and I'm just obsessed:the joke of her brushing her hair with the grill brush is also funny because she doesn't have any hair from her chemo treatment)It's heartbreaking to see how Ruth longs for something people wouldn't consider a big deal; she wants to be a middle aged mom. That goal just to be found is so sad to see how much she wants it and then you see that she's never ever going to reach that goal because of Max jagerman. Ruth definitely makes people uncomfortable when watching the musical, but for her character saying the most out of pocket things is her way of getting attention, and then also to have such a pathetic death? It really rubs salt in the wound.

In many ways I can relate to Ruth. Her want to be something when she's older. Ruth's need of attention and affection is also kind of how I do it: with theater and saying weird shit. Although when I say weird shit I think it's hilarious to see their reaction. But she also wants to perform and I love to perform so much and being someone you aren't for just an hour seems so fun.

They couldn't have chosen anyone better but Lauren for this role. You can see how much thought she put into her acting: her little facial expressions, the slightest change in tone of voice and her posture. I love the way she acts in the beginning of the song with the eye batting and the over animated movements are so satisfying but also serve a purpose. It shows how Ruth is mocking the play, but once the movements become less and less animated you see that she longs for that life she is talking about. I just absolutely adore the song and character although she is seen as weird. ENDING NOTES: THIS SONG IS SO GOOD!! LISTEN TO IT RIGHT NOW

If you actually read the whole thing thank you :))

[yenqa]

SHE PLAYS BASS! (teaser)

READ HERE!

synopsis : prince sunghoon had a boring life. never had he ever gone out with his friends or fallen in love like a normal teenager (not like he liked the idea of falling in love). instead, he was forced to prepare for when he would be crowned king. but when your band, le sserafim is invited to play at the royal palace. his perspective on love would change all because of you.

featuring : le sserafim, hyung line of enhypen

warnings : reader uses she/her, swearing, angst, parents w broken relationships, crying, kissing, reader wears makeup for performance, sunghoon is REALLY bad at conversations, bad parents, will update as writing!

wc : teaser is 0.97k but i expect like 5-7k words but idk bc this one seems longer LMFAO

pairing : prince!sunghoon x afab!reader

release date : idk actually… maybe mid/end march?

taglist : open! comment or send an ask !!

a/n : ok long fic num 2 🫶🫶 im not as nervous for this one but we’ll see!

cut glitch :)

NO CELESTIAL WAS ALWAYS YOUR FAVORITE SONG TO PERFORM.

you enjoyed playing the guitar riffs and singing until your lungs went out. you enjoyed the small portion of choreography you had and the energy it brought to the crowd. but as much as you enjoyed the melody itself, you enjoyed the lyrics even more. 

to you, no celestial was about breaking the standards and just being yourself (ex. lyrics “angel-like perfection, bye” in first verse). but the song also meant that you can’t be perfect, and to not be afraid when someone realizes that. no celestial gave you a sense of freedom, like nothing else mattered but the sounds of your voices. and you would do anything to have that freedom.

well, it was the kind of freedom you already had until the attention’s eye was on you. now, you couldn’t even meet up with an old friend before someone turned it into a dating rumor. it was hard to ignore those rumors and continue on, but that was what you had to do to make it far.

and, you weren’t sure if it was worth it until now.. staring in shock as you open the intricate blue envelope decorated with gold lining. on the back, is text stating “The Royal Palace”. Yunjin squeals in excitement as you carefully pull out the paper, reading the contents hidden inside.

Dear, Source Music

It has come to our attention that your band, Le Sserafim has been spiking in popularity in our kingdom. As the Prince’s birthday is coming soon, we would like to formally invite Le Sserafim to perform at the Royal Palace on December 8th to entertain our guests. Please arrive at 3:30 pm or before as you’ll be performing at 4:15. All food and drinks will be provided for you, outfits will also be provided and we’ll have to schedule an appointment to get some measurements. Please tell us what kind of concept to go for, and we’ll do our best to achieve that. We trust that the band will perform well as always. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Sim Jaeyun

you look at your members in disbelief as they do the same before kazuha breaks the silence.

“we’re going to perform at the royal palace!” she excitedly squeals, as the room explodes into excited laughter, deciding what songs will be performed.

“well we have to perform fearless! it’s our hit song,” yunjin begs, trying to get nods of approval from the leader of the group.

chaewon sighs, looking back at yunjin, “we’ll have to see how many songs we can perform and if they want us to perform any particular ones. we can ask our boss at our next meeting. he’ll probably have all the details we need,” she smiles warmly at her members, stretching out her arms and engulfing them in a warm hug.

“wait- when’s our next meeting?”

🎸

no celestial was not on the setlist. nor did your boss even think about performing it.

as the stubborn girl you are, you immediately asked why no celestial wasn’t on the list, and your boss laughs at you. stating that the palace didn’t choose the song and it wasn’t the right place for it. you thought that the song would be able to be performed anywhere (except, maybe a funeral but that’s not the point) but it apparently went against palace rules. it was stupid to you, isn’t that what the song’s telling you not to do? follow the rules?

you were surprised the great mermaid was picked, considering the amount of ‘foul language’ in the song. but since the prince was turning 21 (or 20 you couldn’t remember) you were sure a swear word wouldn’t hurt him.

it wasn’t until late at night when it hit you, you were performing for the prince in a month.

SUNGHOON WAS NOT EXCITED ABOUT HIS BIRTHDAY

all the decorations, outfits, and people were too much for him.

yes, he loved having the party, but having every single person he’s had any interaction with invited? just seemed over the top. he wished only his closest friends to come, but every year his parents would try so hard to marry him off to some random girl his age, which always ruined his mood (and his plan to have a small birthday party). sunghoon knew this year wouldn’t be different, so he didn’t look forward to it, simple as that.

when his parents revealed they were inviting a band to perform on his birthday. his lips had slightly upturned. would it be tomorrow by together? or seventeen? maybe even red velvet? his face immediately dropped when he heard the name. who the hell was le sserafim?

after he was dismissed sunghoon immediately looked up the band that was recently introduced to him, playing the first few songs that popped up.

out of the seven songs he listened to, he liked the song “sour grapes” the most. sunghoon didn’t look much into the lyrics of songs, as a song was just a melody he sang along to. but the rare times sunghoon did (which was when he was listening to sour grapes), he didn’t understand most of the lines. what did they mean by love is sour grapes? because to him, he didn’t think love resembled any kind of fruit.

well, what did love resemble to him? sunghoon didn’t know. after seeing his parents grow apart over the years, sunghoon wasn’t one to ask about the subject. and nor did he ever want to be.

the small number of lyrics he understood, made it even more obvious why love wasn’t that appealing to him. his reason was it would always end in heartbreak, which is why he vowed to himself to never fall in love. but deep down, he knew it was something he could never admit.

he was scared.