#(if i were writing my own au for season 3 everything from the first ep to the last would have been different)

[enchantedchocolatebars]

An Opportunity To Change

Inspired by this comic here.

Tagging: @talisman975.

Luz watched with uncaring eyes as her enemy's slime started to form and assemble into a form much smaller than his original one.

As soon as she saw a broken little boy wearing a mask appear before her, Luz's serious expression quickly turned into one of shock.

Her dark pupils, surrounded by gold irises, immediately widen, taken aback by Belos's choice to come into view that way.

'Why did he choose to take on that form?' she wondered.

'Why didn't he just turn back into an old man?'

Given his current state, she was unsure about his ability to control what he turned into.

"... It's not fair," she heard him utter in a low, venomous growl.

His voice resembled that of a small child as Philip held his fists tightly while on the ground, his body starting to quaver.

"It's not fair," he slowly said, repeating his statement.

As Luz continued to stare down at him, she sent Belos a glare.

'This has to be a trick,' she told herself to keep from feeling any smidge of sympathy for him.

She was completely repulsed by his behavior.

'He's lied to me countless times before. What's stopping him from doing so again?'

Luz wouldn't fall for this childish act that Belos was clearly trying to pull.

"It's just not! None of it is! It's not fair!" Philip roared, rage emitting from his voice.

"I just wanted him back!" he reveals through his shouts, slamming his fists onto the ground in pure frustration as he continues his tirade.

He threw his mask off.

"YOU-!!" he squeezes his eyes shut as tears spill from his glands, his fists clenching tighter.

"YOU TOOK HIM FROM ME!" Philip screams, directing his accusation at various factors, but more specifically at the witch who took his brother away, who was no longer alive to hear him.

Speaking of Caleb, that's the only person he can currently think about and see in his mind as memories of them living peacefully together in Gravesfield begin to play.

...

"It's going to be fine, I promise," Caleb had told Philip, who had an unsure expression on his face.

The blonde then tried his best to shine a smile that didn't look too forced. "We will get through this together, Pip."

...

"With this mask," Caleb began, his voice trailing with playfulness as he smirked, slipping the brown mask he had carved for his brother on.

"Witches are going to be afraid of you!" he beams, his triumphant tone filled with heroism and a sense of eeriness while holding up a claw hand.

Philip started to giggle.

He loved his new gift.

...

"They're doing another witch hunt!" Philip, now a preteen, exclaimed with great excitement as he quickly approached his brother while holding his mask.

"Please take part in it with me, Caleb!"

However, Caleb didn't seem to have the same enthusiasm for the hunt as Philip did.

"Oh- I'll sit this one out," the blonde told him, troubled by the news.

Philip's excitement quickly waned, leading to a sad expression.

"... But we always go together," he whispered, slipping on his mask to hide his tearful expression.

Caleb felt bad about his decision to decline the offer, but then a smirk appeared on his face.

"What. You still scared of going alone, Pip?" he asked, causing Philip to quake with anger.

"I'm not!" he shouts, greatly offended by the teasing. He then releases a huff. "Fine! I'll go by myself!"

"You'll be fine!" Caleb said with a chuckle as he watched Philip walk off.

...

"All of you witches...," Philip spat, glaring at Luz with tears in his eyes. "You can't win... I won't let you!"

...

".. Caleb?" Philip quietly said as he turned around to see his brother sneaking off into the woods.

He decides to follow him, leaving behind the mob of townspeople who are going in the opposite direction, holding their pitchforks and torches high in the air.

...

Crouching behind a bush, Philip silently watches Caleb have a sincere conversation with the same wicked witch he had warned his brother to stay away from.

He suspected that the two were secretly seeing each other.

...

"You took him," Philip murmured, looking down at the ground.

...

Philip watched his brother leave through the portal doorway and removed his mask, revealing his crestfallen face.

Holding out his hand, he prayed desperately for his brother to come back.

...

"Because he never would have..." Philip finally collapsed to the ground, his fists still clenched in agony.

"Left me," he whispered to himself, silently crying.

The sight of Belos broken like this left Luz speechless.

She soon realized that he wasn't trying to manipulate her with tears, as the tears racing down his cheeks were genuine, and so was the dejected state he was in.

Although it was strange to witness Belos crying, Luz understood that he was a human just like her.

He was still salvageable, right?

"Hey," she began in a stern but soft voice, causing Philip to look up to see her offering him a hand.

"Listen, people are bad, and you're probably the worst of the worst after everything you've done..."

Philip growled at her as he sniffled.

"But," she sighed.

"They can always improve. No one is destined for evil, not even you. It's never too late to change. So, what do you say?"

Inhaling saliva at the back of his throat, Philip attempted to spit at Luz, only for said spit to land on his cheek.

"Ugh!" he snarled, furiously wiping away at his face with his sleeve.

Luz frowned at this. "Dude, I'm trying to offer you a second chance here. You should really take it."

She could have easily had Eda, Raine, and King just step on him for his refusal.

"And you should really just die," Philip grumbled.

Luz had to refrain from calling him multiple swear words in Spanish.

"You mentioned someone while you were crying. A he. I'm gonna assume this dude meant a lot to you based on how you talked about him, and probably still does. Would you at least be willing to change for him? I'm sure he'd want you to," Luz told him.

'Caleb...,' Philip thought to himself.

He had so much regret inside for ending his brother's life as well as the lives of his Grimwalkers.

'How could such a close, brotherly bond end in flames and bloodshed?'

Would taking Luz's hand and offer for change cleanse him of the sins of his past?

Although Philip was uncertain, there was only one way to find out.

He sighs and extends his hand to Luz, silently expressing his desire to improve.

It will take time and hard work, but he wants it.

He wants to be better.

A small smile appears on Luz's lips as she helps him up from the ground.

[strideofpride]

Not a passage exactly but I would love to hear your thoughts on your role swap au and how you flipped the blair-chip-louis triangle to dan-georgina-olivia. Really I’m just interested in your thoughts on olivia paralleling louis bc I think it’s galaxy brained of you 💛

Okay so backtracking a bit, obviously Brooklyn!Blair/UES!Dan is a significant AU trope within the dair fandom. I wanted to do my own spin on it, and especially have a little bit of pining!Blair/denial!Dan in there as well, like this image series, because you never really see that swap get explored. Originally I wanted to like...do a swap of the entire show lol but that ended up being way too ambitious (unfortunately capitalism exists and I can't devote all my time to writing fic), so I settled for doing swaps of individual episodes.

And then when I was trying to make it make sense for season 1 eps, I had this thought...what if I swapped Nate and Serena too? Dan/Serena's dynamic would become Nate/Blair's and vice versa. Same goes for Dan/Nate and Serena/Blair (although I didn't really get to explore the latter unfortunately). And then I had the thought that I thought was TRULY galaxy brained which is: what if I swapped Georgina and Chuck? Which, god, was SO much fun to write. And I felt that all kind of worked. Because much like Dan & Blair, Serena & Nate and Georgina & Chuck all share similar traits so it doesn't change things too much.

I was honestly going to try to avoid the ~royal arc~ of it all, because like...I hate it very much lol. Blair and Louis' engagement is when the show jumped the shark imho. But I also didn't want to do a season 5 episode where they were already together because again...I really really wanted pining!Blair and denial!Dan lol, so I ultimately had to include at least a little bit of it.

As for the Louis and Olivia of it all, I had actually already talked about their parallels a while back on here. But to recap: Louis and Olivia brought Blair & Dan into whole new worlds (royalty/Hollywood), both purposely did not reveal their true identities at first as well, and these relationships were just distractions while they avoided dealing with their feelings for other people.

So when I was writing that chapter and needed a Louis for Dan, it was a no brainer that it was going to be Olivia for me cause I had already done the whole relationship parallel analysis. And honestly that parallel had probably just occurred to me in the first place because I had gone through and looked at their dynamics with all their other love interests.

But yeah, I think it worked well! Obviously, there would be no pregnancy or a "who's the father" mystery. But I had some fun with this little monologue:

“Are you kidding me? Look at everything we’ve been through together. You kept it a secret when everything with Georgina went down. You shielded me from the world when the paparazzi wouldn’t stop trying to get dirt on my relationship with Olivia and you brought me to a therapist during my darkest hour. You wrote Olivia’s big romantic acceptance speech for her, and then you saved me from the most awkward Oscars party imaginable. Do I need to go on?”

And kinda implied that Dan still cheated with Georgina and that blew up in his face somehow and that instead of having a wedding, Dan got to go to the Oscars instead lol (good for him!). And I mean, in some sense, it's kind of just a more dramatic version of the Dan-Olivia-Georgina triangle that already existed in the show. (Does this mean that in the season 3 world of my swap, Blair had a casual fling with Chuck before dumping him for Louis?? Does this mean that Chuck bribed the NYU housing office to be Dan's roommate?? Idk but those ideas do make me laugh lol)

EDIT: Wait also does this mean that Blair, Louis, and Vanessa (the one character I didn't swap btw - although I guess I kinda soft-swapped her with Eric in terms of his role in a certain scene) had a threesome that caused Blair to realize that she actually had feelings for Vanessa?? Obsessed

Anyway, I'm glad you liked it! Honestly, your championing of this fic is the reason I even finished it in the first place so thank you!!

fic dvd commentary

[lilydalexf]

Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.

Interview with Slippin’ Mickeys

Only 3 stories by Slippin’ Mickeys ended up at Gossamer, but she’s written many more stories than that. She’s also one of the few authors who posted numerous stories during the show’s original run and then again in the revival years. I’ve recced some of my favorites of her stories here, including Last Chance Falls and Currahee. Big thanks to Slippin’ Mickeys for doing this interview.

Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)?

I would say that it does and doesn't surprise me. It surprises me that anyone would want to read something I wrote all those years ago, (only in that I was an actual teenager at the time, and had no chops at all -- I've grown a lot as a writer, and honestly have trouble reading my old stuff because I would have made much different creative decisions now). But the fanfiction that came out of the original run of the show -- from almost day one -- was so rich and varied and a lot of it so well written that I am not the least bit surprised that people want to read it today. I go back and read old favorites often, and am always thrilled to find something that's new-to-me, even if it's 27 years old.

What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it?

The first thing I think about when I think about my fandom experience are the friends I made along the way. The X-Files came up with the internet, and there was a whole new way of connecting with people that liked the things that you liked. To this day, I am good friends with many people that I met through the show back in 1997-98. When the revival came about, I dove back in, and made new, more recent friendships that are just as rich. I love the show, but I also love the people I met along the way.

Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?

I first got into the show's online community on some random message board that I think I probably found through a Yahoo search one day in a computer lab on my university's campus. I connected with one woman from Greece named Fay that day, who invited me to join a group of women that chatted about the show after it aired on Monday nights. After the first time I hooked up with them, we talked almost daily via ICQ. Later, in the early aughts, I found the forums on Mighty Big TV/Television Without Pity, where some of the most intelligent discussion was going on. The forums were heavily moderated, and so they were always on topic, and it was just a smart, funny, great place to be.

Eventually, I started working for TWoP as both a writer and moderator (surprise! A lot of people don't know this because TWoP protected the identities of their mods so well, but I was the X-Files board mod after Jessica left!). It was my first paid writing gig and opened doors for me both professionally and personally. Two TWoP recappers were in my wedding!

What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?

Fanfiction opened my eyes to storytelling as a medium. I'd obviously gone to school and read books, but it opened my eyes to words to could do and be. It was a heady time. There were stories of every stripe. Short, long, canon-compliant, AU, experimental, you name it. We had such gifted writers, too. To this day, I'd almost rather read a piece of well written fanfic than a good book. Fanfic made me want to be a storyteller myself.

What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show?

It was the 'ship. God bless the ship. My first episode was Never Again, but I didn't watch again until I was sitting with my college roommate freshman year and she was like "sorry, but I have to watch The X-Files on Sunday nights." That first episode was Redux. The next week was Redux II, and by then it was all over for me. The lengths Mulder and Scully would go to for each other? And the relationship wasn't even sexual? Here were two people who loved each other. Really loved each other. Selflessly. I was SO IN.

What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?

At first, I started reading it. This was back when you could only watch the show in reruns or on those VHS tapes that were sold in three packs that had two eps on each tape (I still have the trading cards that came with them), so after I burned through the VHS options (of which there were few), and set my VCR to tape the weekly reruns on FX, I needed MORE. I found fanfic. And in fanfic, Mulder and Scully actually like, kissed and maybe even had sex! I read everything I could get my hands on. Pretty soon, I wanted to write it myself.

What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom?

Things are tough these days. It's a hard world to live in, and politics aside, it just feels like everything is falling apart around us. When I first found the show, my life was in a bit of upheaval and I dove into the fandom to distract myself. I'm doing the same thing these days. When the show ended, I left the fandom and lived without it for about 15 years. But when the revival came (and really only after finishing season 11 -- season 10 didn't do much for me), I dove back in. I have quite a few more responsibilities these days, but when I can't watch the news anymore, I log on to XF Twitter (I use my fandom account far more than my IRL account) or Tumblr and get lost for a while. And most nights find me reading or writing fanfic before bed. When the world gets better (I'm cautiously optimistic) and the show has been off the air for years and years, will I leave again? Maybe. But for now, it's once again my happy place.

Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?

Nothing hardcore. The X-Files is my ride or die.

Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully?

I do an occasional episode or movie rewatch. Not too often, but when I'm jonesing and have 45 free minutes, I'll put one on. But I'm writing fanfic again, and I get hit with inspiration at random and odd intervals, so it's safe to say I find myself thinking about Mulder and Scully probably more than is healthy.

Do you ever still read X-Files fic? Fic in another fandom?

All the time. The old stuff, the new stuff, the good stuff. If I have five minutes and my kid is entertaining himself? I'll happy pull out an old favorite.

Do you have any favorite X-Files fanfic stories or authors?

I'm reluctantly abstaining from this question, as I'm still active in the fandom and I know that naming favorites will hurt some feelings.

What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise?

Of The Eight Winds is probably my favorite. I've had a lot of fun writing AU's lately. It's a nice creative outlet, taking our favorite agents and plunking them in a totally different world.

Do you think you'll ever write another X-Files story? Or dust off and post an oldie that for whatever reason never made it online?

Do I! I have a whole ass queue. It's frankly irresponsible.

Do you still write fic now? Or other creative work?

I was writing professionally before I had a baby, and I took years off to be a stay at home mom. Once my kiddo was finally in school full time, I started writing again. With the pandemic, that's for the most part on hold, as I just don't have the bandwidth to dedicate to professional work. Fanfic is easier to play with when you only have five minutes here or there, and it's also great exercise when it comes to plotting and prose, so I'm  sticking with fic for now. When the kiddos are all back in school, maybe I can start getting paid again.

Where do you get ideas for stories?

I get a lot of prompts that I just adore. And honestly, a lot of times, I'll post a stupid picture or ridiculous prompt of my own on Twitter and get dared to write it. If the idea gets stuck in my craw, I generally have to exorcise the demon.

What's the story behind your pen name?

Bad Blood had just aired and I was obsessed with it. I wanted to pay homage to it, so took Mulder's "who slipped him the mickey?" quote and ran with it. Do I regret that? Sometimes.

Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions?

My husband knows and is supportive. He's a working writer, so he supports my endeavors, though I know he wishes I were doing something I could monetize. But it makes me happy, and ultimately: happy wife, happy life and all that jazz.

The friends of mine that I've made through the fandom all know and are super supportive.

As for the rest, well... I have a nom de plume on purpose!

Is there a place online (tumblr, twitter, AO3, etc.) where people can find you and/or your stories now?

All my newest work is on AO3. My old stuff can be found on various archives. Like the truth... it's out there.

Is there anything else you'd like to share with fans of X-Files fic?

I'd leave it with: we're a blessed fandom. The show we stan (even with the real stinkers, there's always something to love) keeps giving, the fellow fans are all some of the smartest, sweetest, and most dedicated people out there... we've been blessed for 25 years, and I don't see that stopping any time soon.

(Posted by Lilydale on August 11, 2020)

[ellewords]

Congrats on 1000+ followers!!! That’s so many followers, and you deserve every single one of them, tbh. Hope you don’t mind, but this is for your matchup game.

Pronouns: she/they

Fave plot/character tropes, dynamics, AUs: enemies/rivals to lovers, playful bickering, everyone can see they’re pining for each other except the other person, would probably do anything for the other…. but secretly (They can’t know I care, so I have to keep them guessing ;)))))

Five to seven facts about self:

Likes the moon, to read, write, roller skate, listen to music and pretend i’m living out movie/book scenes

Dislikes crowds, disappointment (being one or experiencing it), spiders, getting too far out of my comfort zone

Pretty shy at first before opening up. Can be loud and sarcastic, but will shut down around new people. Tend to come off as innocent, but it’s because most of the dirty jokes and snide remarks stay in my head out of politeness and social anxiety. Can be supportive to a fault: sometimes I would much rather make sure you’re taking care of yourself and doing okay and have someone there for you than worry about my own issues. Other times, I focus too much on myself.

Dream job is to be an english professor and/or the owner of a cute bookstore

Kin (from Haikyuu) Yamaguchi, Sugawara, Bokuto, and Oikawa (slightly)

you’ve been cast !

a note from the director ! hi hi sorry this took quite a while,, but i did enjoy writing your matchup :> (also huge same on being supportive to a fault haha) thank you so much for sending in a request, i hope you enjoy this <3

elle presents… [ first and lasting impressions : a university au ]

starring

y/n  <3

TSUKISHIMA kei as the main lead : sparks literally flew on the first day you met, they aren’t exactly the good kind of sparks though. you’ve been at each other’s throats since you accidentally bumped into him one clear monday morning of your freshman year. just like that, you’ve been letting out a few snide comments towards each other. something about you just lights a fire within him, and his nonchalance somehow makes it more difficult to pull away. however, behind everything, tsukishima does have a strange sort of fondness for you. his glare softens when he watches you take care of your friends, when he sees you absentmindedly nodding your head to the music on the bus ride home — a small smile on your face and a faraway look in your eyes. it makes his heart flutter when a smile follows your eye roll, or when he catches the smallest hints of affection in your teasing. tsukishima just can’t seem to get enough of you. 

GOSHIKI tsutomu as the second lead : the close friend who looks at you like you had just hung up the moon for him. goshiki has always taken care of you in the sidelines, especially during the times where you couldn’t find it in you to take care of yourself. he doesn’t mind your loud and sarcastic nature, it’s only proof that you were close enough to let your guard down around him. he’ll lead you through crowds and indulge your fantasies of being in another world — like those books and movies that you simply adored. people have always thought the two of you were in a relationship, and goshiki doesn’t mind that they do. unfortunately, he knows that you never saw him anything other than a friend. so he stands in the sidelines with a smile, watching you fall for someone else.  

[ series synopsis ] yn and tsukishima. anybody who knew them knew that it would not be the smartest move to put them in the same room, unless they wanted to hear several hours worth of bickering. but what happens in their final year of university when several moments offer a different side of the other that they’ve never seen before. 

the pilot ep : now in their final semester of university, yn and tsukishima are placed in the same literature class. he still insists that the coffee she spilled on his shirt years ago was not an accident. the mid-season ep : tired of their fighting, the professor pairs yn and tsukishima for their final project. their class is excited to watch the chaos unfold, but goshiki is concerned. the series finale : the semester has come to a close and yn thinks they have way too many loose ends left to tie up.  

a song from the ost : heart by sleeping at last      “ what if we could risk everything we have, and let our walls cave in ” …plays during the finale. yn and tsukishima are on the rooftop of her apartment building on the night before graduation, the two of them looking out into the city and realizing how far they’ve come in terms of their relationship. 

a scene from the script ; from [ ep. 10 — finale : goodbyes ]

EXT. ROOFTOP GARDEN - NIGHT

The city is buzzing with life, bright lights from the surrounding buildings reflect on their skin as they stare out into the horizon. YN and TSUKISHIMA are standing side by side, leaning on the concrete boundary, elbows brushing against the other’s. The moon shines high above them and both couln’t help the look of complete serenity that made its way onto their featues.

YN looks at TSUKISHIMA, as if it were the first time she was truly looking at him. They’ve never considered how much has changed in the past couple of months, but with graduation looming over, it’s almost like they had no choice but to do so. Had she been alone in this very space with him years ago, they would have been threatening to push each other off the edge. 

TSUKISHIMA Don’t tell me you’re in love with me.

YN steps back in shock, but TSUKISHIMA simply keeps his gaze ahead. He had felt her eyes on him, and if she stared any longer, the blush on his cheeks would have been more noticeable.

YN (scoffs) You just had something on your face.

TSUKISHIMA Nice excuse. (rolls eyes, tone teasing) I’m not dumb enough to believe that.

YN Still so mean. (shakes head, looks back to the horizon) It could be our final night seeing each other.

TSUKISHIMA You’ll miss it.

YN I don’t think I will. (a beat passes, she hesitates before finally letting out in a quiet breath) I’ll miss you though. 

TSUKISHIMA I’ll miss you too. Who else is going to fire back at me with terrible retorts?

YN gently shoves his shoulder and the two share a laugh, knowing that the other meant their words. 

feel like getting cast for something too ? see if auditions are open here. 

[mysterylover123]

Does Bones have a BKDK ‘agenda’?

mysterylover123 

The speculation I’ve seen so far about why Bones cut the flashback from the TodoBaku scenes in Chapter 164/Episode 79 is because they were ‘so preoccupied with BKDK in the new movie that they forgot about Bakugou’s development with Todoroki”. Which does raise the question, does Bones indeed have a BKDK shipping agenda of some kind?

The idea of an anime studio preferring a pairing and adding in tons of extra material to bias fans towards it is an absolutely founded suspicion. Clamp putting out official homoerotic art of Suzaku/Lelouch, that foot wash scene Madhouse added to Death Note between L and Light, Pierrot pretty obviously liking SasuNaru and Naruhina and throwing in tons of extra material for both; Studios do do this. They prefer certain pairings and they play them up. So does Bones have a BKDK agenda? 

The answer I’ve found on examination is a resounding “YES”, but Ive preserved my ‘let’s find out’ tone of writing for the rest of the examination.

Well, let’s start with the OPs and EDs, the first original contributions Bones was able to make in the adaptation. “The Day” does indeed have a long sequence focusing on them, but it’s not unreasonable given the content of S1. “Peace Sign” doesn’t include anything in particular, nor do ED1 or 2. ED 3, “Sora Ni Utaeba”, does have a scene of Kacchan meditating about Deku and getting mad, then blasting towards him at the end and the match-cut with his eye. But this is pretty minor, and fits episode 2.24. ED3, “Datte Atashi No Hero”, is the first time an OP or ED appears to have an agenda of shipping these two, hardcore. LiSa’s song is, according to her, about their relationship, and the Fantasy AU ending has the mutual understanding shot at the end. But it also has smiling prince Shoto, Dragon Kiri and Uraraka greeting Deku, so other ships get a nod too.

“Odd Future” has very little, though one could interpret the snow behind Deku as meaning something romantic. “Update” does include the lines ‘love’ over and over again in the final shot where they stand together watching the stars, but others are there as well, like Shoto and Ochako. Aside from the symbolism of DVK2 in OP5, the rest of S3’s ops are pretty light on BKDK, as was Polaris and ED6, and our current OP too. However, ED7 did have those mirror shots of them brooding in bed, and growing up.

So yes, the OPs and EDs do have a lot of emphasized shots between them. But nothing too crazy. Let’s get into Filler, movies and changes to episodes now.

Season 1 features no filler and no overt tweaks to any episodes; the only bit of added on BKDK I can think of is Deku blushing as a kid during the flashbacks in DVK part 1. Nothing too dramatic in Season 2 either, as the filler ep is about Tsu and nothing is particularly altered from the manga, besides throwing in the Kabe-Don in Katsuki Bakugo Origin. OK, that’s a big besides, given the sexual implications of that in anime culture. Season 3’s filler ep has Bakugo challenging Deku to a swimming contest, but there’s also a bit of TodoDeku and KiriBaku and IiDeku extra teasing there, so again, nothing like a pure bKDK-based agenda.

The 2nd filler ep of S3 has a little BKDK, as does the film, but nothing overt. The film has a bit of KiriBaku agenda, given all their scenes together, and throws in extra TodoBaku (the first bit of extra TodoBaku, alongside Episode 58, that they tossed our way). S4 gave us Deku’s soft smile at Kacchan’s antics, and contemplating on the retake arc last ep, indicating that Bones is indeed including little nods. And now there’s Heroes Rising, though that one was Hori’s idea.

My theory is that Bones does kinda like the ship, but that they have started including more and more BKDK because of how popular it’s getting. Winning the Tokyo Tower contest for the film, the 12,000+ fanfics, the unceasing winners of the Popularity Polls….my guess is Bones knows how popular BKDK is, so they’re adding in more fan service of it. But they were adding in little bits since Season 1 (The cherry blossoms, the smol Deku blush), so saying they have a bit of a BKDK agenda might…not be inaccurate. They do throw in a bit of Fanservice for other ships too, like Izuocha, KiriBaku, Tododeku, and even TodoBaku a little.

But aside from the popularity of BKDK…I think it’s also the key relationship of the series. Everything at it’s core is about them, they’re the main characters and the main focus, so it doesn’t seem too silly to slip in lots of them. But they’ve never had trouble tantalizing other pairings before this, even if they always added more to BKDK than the others. So I don’t think they cut TodoBaku’s scene just because they like another pairing better. I mean, that wouldn’t make much sense anyway.

But that is what started this discussion, so now we come to the real main question. Is Bones downplaying TodoBaku for BKDK? Certainly, BKDK is the only platonic pairing in canon that they’ve slipped quasi-romantic fanservice into in the anime (the blush, the cherry blossoms, the kabe-don, all things that have more romantic implications than anything done with Tododeku or Kiribaku). This needs another closer look.

In Season 1, Bones doesn’t especially play up Todoroki, or his future significance. No extra glances that aren’t in the manga, no closeup shots on him when he’s not the subject of a scene, etc. S1 is pretty much a straightforward adaptation of Chapters 1-21, no filler added, no noticeable agenda either way. In S2, that remains the truth for most of the season. I did notice that Bones makes some small changes in season 2 to the framing on Bakugou in a few scenes, like In Episode 25 where he’s made to look especially menacing Pre-last match, or Episode 27 where Jeanist physically restrains him (not in the manga). I’m not sure what agenda that might push, if any, as far as the ships go.

The season added in a scene of Bakugou tutoring Kirishima, which is in one of the Light novels and not the manga. They also, of course, as I mentioned above, added in the Kabe-don in Katsuki Bakugo Origin, as well as that entire alleyway sequence. The filler episode has a small scene between Deku and Todoroki that could be read as shippy. But yes, in S2, Bones doesn’t add in any extra, non-manga Todobaku.

The drama CDs and Smash, interestingly enough, do. Neither seems to have a lot of Todo/Deku, but they sure like slipping in TodoBaku subtext. There’s 2 drama CDs where they get stuck together by villains who want to scandalize them with compromising photographs, and multiple Smash comics joking about how their heated interactions come off as sexual tension. Of course, Smash has fanservice for pretty much every ship at some point.

In S3′s filler ep, Bakugo does yell at Todoroki “you too” after challenging Deku. It’s pretty minor, but it’s new stuff. Everything for the rest of the Training Camp arc is manga-canon and straightforward, as is the hideout raid. No real playing up of any one pairing over the other. The PLE arc adds in some filler that does seem to be hinting at a slight Todo/Momo agenda, since it has her wonder ‘what would Todoroki do’?, and indeed if Bones has a Shoto Ship leaning in any direction, it’s probably that one. But nothing extra added to BKDK or Todobaku that wasn’t in the manga already.

Episode 58 and the movie, however, do add in TodoBaku scenes. Their same usual dynamic from before, of course. Bones seems to see TodoBaku as essentially, how a lot of the fans see them: Bakugou antagonizing Shoto and Shoto’s reaction being an unbrideled ‘meh’. They do depict them working together in the film, and having a secret grin - though that grin has to do with BKDK a little. In context, Baku is being soft that Deku and All Might won, Shoto sees it, and smirks, making him tsun-tsun. 

S4 did add an extra scene in Filler ep 3 where they talk about their future plans. There’s an adjusted reaction from Deku in the next ep, where he smiles fondly at Katsuki. The new OP also doesn’t show Todoroki and Bakugou together, alone in any of the shots of them; they’re always separate, brooding about their own problems, when this OP could’ve been a good time to show them together.  Outside of crowd shots, they don’t share the screen.

So yes, all in all, the conspiracy theory idea might not be so far off. Bones definitely does include little nods to BKDK that make it even shippier, and does seem to be downplaying TodoBaku a bit, at least more so than the Drama CDs. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, since at least unlike Naru/Hina vs Naru/saku, it’s unlikely to actually influence the series’ content - there is no actual love triangle here to be played up or played down, just fanon ships. Still, it is noteable.

[celestialholz]

So, let’s talk about The Folly of Jephthah...

Spoiler-y review ahead, friends! Under a cut accordingly. (Spoiler, but not one you need to be saved from: bloody LOVED IT. <3)

Okay, so unpopular opinion: last year’s Flambeau ep did nothing for me. As much as I love Felicia and am always happy to see her return (although this is the first thing I’ve seen from this year’s series, I’m sure she’s a joy this time round too), I felt balancing the episode between her and Flambeau just didn’t work, which is a shame because the actual episode plot was great. He got half the screentime, very little of his normally electric chemistry with FB, and it felt like an absolute waste of the brilliance that is John Light. So beyond anything else, I was desperately hoping that series eight would bring back all of the above; that he’d grow, both as a character and in his acquaintance with the good Father, which is what I want from a Flambeau episode, and that we’d get to see Felicia shine in her own right in a different tale. Now, probably worth mentioning that I ship Flambeau and the Father to the moon and back (#geniushusbands), but that really wasn’t why the episode didn’t work. It didn’t work because neither of them got the time they deserved, and instead became one another’s plot, which is doing a severe disservice to both - they’re strong characters who can more than carry an episode alone. You’ll find no slander from me, Felicia/Flambeau pals - you’re all super valid. Personal preference alone. :) 

... But I think perhaps the BBC felt the same way, at least about the time balance, because what we got was an incredible return to form for my favourite Frenchman that isn’t Jean-Luc Picard. We managed to firmly reestablish the wonderful friendship/fairly profound gay overtones of him and FB, at the same time as watching him actually become something of a dad. Allow me to elaborate on why this was so damn amazing...

a) Instant exposition. We’re immediately in on Flambeau, all the reasons why we love him condensed in two or three minutes - flirting, charm, manipulation, theft. Let’s go. THIS is what we were missing last year already.

b) THE CHEMISTRY. IT’S RETURNED. I LOVE IT. I’m obviously a touch biased here, but I’ve never met a Father Brown fan who doesn’t love the dynamic between these two, whether it’s seen platonically, in a familial sense, or romantically. We only get to see this glory once a year, and it came back in all its fully-fledged chaos. Mark and John are absolutely fantastic together, truly. <3 We start with this lovely confessional scene (the GROWTH from The Blue Cross conversation in the same place is just moving, honestly - we need a proper side-by-side comparative, really. I can’t do graphics, please help lol), and we just have this delicious banter; neither is particularly harsh, again showing the growth of friendship over time, but it’s to the point and snappy. Kit Lambert understands that we need to go places but also be instantly grabbed, and it’s managed so well.

c) The fakeout! The fact it was his daughter, and then it wasn’t, but no, hang on, IT BLOODY IS. That’s just a microcosm of how Marianne’s learned from Flambeau that we see more in-depth throughout, and it’s so clever.

d) Flambeau trusts FB. With his daughter’s entire life choices. “There is no man I trust more” indeed... I cherish that this is a spiritual sequel to series four’s episode - Marianne was a whole waste of a single episode character, and she’s absolutely brilliant here too. You see everything she was then, all the potential, all the heart beneath the lack of morality... eurgh. I love her. Gill does an epic job here of balancing these different aspects and still making her so convincing as Flambeau’s daughter.

e) Dad vibes. Seriously, so many dad vibes, from both of them. This is literally what happens when you plot something with one of your parents as a kid, and the other disapproves, and there’s a mini battle in your house but you know it’s all fine because they each love you and you love them. It’s so stupidly sweet that they have this dynamic, that’s been built on from The Cat of Mastigus’s family vibe. Where’s the crime family AU where they bring her up? I’ll write it one day, probably...

f) The general family vibe of the whole thing. My god. Just... Bunty fully believing he won’t hurt anyone? That little Mrs M kiss? Brown just permanently knowing that he won’t go too far, that he’ll have that innate knowledge of where to stop; that he’d never just abandon her to her fate? Brown absolutely trusting Mrs M to be the bag carrier, again knowing that she won’t be hurt? That Flambeau looks so damn offended when Marianne’s eating scones with them? Kill me. Just murder me. It’s precious, without ever being too saccharine. It feels so damn in character for everyone and I adore it - it shows how far they’ve all come, and we didn’t get a damn shred of that last year. It was still very much Flambeau and Brown against the gang, and we see that develop amazingly this time around from past series. <3

g) ... FB is just having far too much fun with all of this, bless him. It’s like “Make us a plan, dear priest”, and suddenly you’ve got chess pieces and elaborate riddles and the man who doesn’t judge as the awkward judge, and it’s fantastic. I really enjoy these moments when you see how bored FB is of his quaint life, that he needs these nuances and intellectual challenges because as much as he loves his vocation, his family and his congregation, they aren’t quite enough to keep him fully happy. I love the role they gave him in this, more as an overseer; the formula of him and Flambeau racing off and being naughty is great and I’ll never tire of it, but this was a different take and it worked so damn well.

h) The dynamic between Marianne and Flambeau is exceptional. It builds so well from what we saw of them before, what we often see of Flambeau; that we’ve always had this guy who is supremely immoral but actually cares far too much, is very afraid of being damaged even more, and so hides behind this intellectual shield until he can’t anymore. We’ve got that constant oneupsman/womanship that we’re so used to with this delightful new spin, with a truly worthy adversary, and we learn so much more of the fact that Marianne really is a chip off the old block - a villain with far too much heart, whilst also being fully her own character. The interplay between them and FB is even better here than it was in series four and it’s a damn delight to watch. The different ways they approached their acquisition of the pieces, too, was just engaging, and again spelled out both the similarities and the differences between them as characters.

i) That whole heel turn/constant twist thing that Flambeau brings is always amazing, but it’s just awesome here. Handcuffs into book stealing into Flambeau putting himself deliberately in danger, on the back foot, to save her, to her saving him... it’s just great. The best thing about Flambeau eps is that we never quite know where we’re going - he’ll win, but we never know how, or to what degree. I think we all know he was never going to shoot that poor guy, but hell, it still had me endlessly intrigued about how it was all going to go down, whether we’re be in fake death central again, whether he’d be properly injured in the process... gah. Just gah. The family reunion thing felt so very earned by the end, because not only had they been through the emotional wringer, but they’d gained one another’s respect... and in the kitchen, of all places. The family, watching the family reunite. Perfection. And it isn’t all sunshine and roses, which I appreciated immensely - you can’t fix abandonment so quickly, and it never felt like a full redemption, just a wonderful beginning. And he won, because of course he did. Beautiful, truly. <3

j) Chess. I don’t care how you wish to take that, that’s just... that’s peak gay, friends. Charged conversations over a chess board, full intellectual prowess on display, smiles all around, and Father Brown finally winning a confrontation between them? Look, I’m just saying, Father - asexuality is super valid. Just marry the man, good lord... but however you all viewed it, the point is, the single best part of Flambeau episodes is always the electricity between these two, and this whole chess thing just brings it front and centre. This is why I felt bereft last season, because we just didn’t get any of this absolute magic, and that was the true crime of the episode. My personal thanks to Kit Lambert for bringing this wonder back. <3

Tl;dr: Flambeau’s back, folks, and he’s better than ever. Found family, actual family, duplicity, scheming, and a very, very bored priest to tie it all magnificently together. God, I hope the rest of the series is this good... <3

[baskervilleshund]

4,5 years of Gotham in my life♥

Wow my emotions these last days. I’m not much of a text poster on this site but when Gotham ended I really felt I wanted to write this!

Gotham has been a huge part of my life for so long now. 4 years and 7 months since the first episode aired, that’s some time gosh. And so much has happened during this journey! I just wanna mention some memorable things during these years. Like remember the pre-s02x09 excitement?? And other stuffs, ah here we go!

The first trailer made me SO EXCITE, I had wanted more batman villains content for years since I have always found the batman villains squad so interesting and good and unique characters, there is so much to explore here! And so the Gotham trailer came and I just OH MY GOD this is exactly what I want!! And so it started and it was amazing. My first love was Ed, it took him his first scene in ep1 to make me go totally THIS IS MY FAV! More eps went on and I required more Ed content. But then Oswald slowly grew on me kinda out of nowhere like I wasn’t expecting it. And when amazing ep7 aired it just hit down on me from the sky, like it does when I know I got a new obsession/fandom. Oswald’s amazing scenes in ep7 and I went ”Okay this is it, I’M DEEP INTO THIS NOW AND I LOVE IT!”. In exactly THIS↓ scene/moment I basically said those words out loud and realized this is my life now, ugh also one of my fav looks I miss the bangs:

Shortly after ep7 I started shipping Nygmobblepot, since we knew who these characters were and who they will end up being it made SO much sense in this show, they were like the two familiar main villains in kinda the same age and I also loved them both so I mean it was obvious for me. Man in the beginning we were so very few in the shipping Nygmob pond, in the OCEAN of Gobblepot. It was a bit of a struggle sometimes, ppl wrote hate on my Nygmob posts n stuff shrug. And I just didn’t get how not more ppl could see it? It would make more sense if this were new characters like they hadn’t even met but since we knew this is Riddler and Penguin it just was fate for them to cross paths soon enough! We needed Nygmob content! I started making tons of my own AU:s since if the show wouldn’t give us content I would do it.

BUT we had Robin & Cory with us! Reminder that Cory invented the shipname after 5 minutes and Robin & Cory’s amazing twitter activity during s1 especially I will always remember as a fav. Remember when they we’re so into roleplaying Nygmob and spoke how Ed & Os loved each other and all sorts of things. All about going to The Foxglove together and stuff. Ugh it was amazing, I miss their interactions.  

In this very smol pond is when one day my shining star @conscience-killer (aka okimi79)  approached me, with this ♥ ”Sometimes I feel we’re the only Nygmobblepot shippers in the world…well apart from Robin and Cory. We should have a secret handshake or something.”

And man did we get a secret handshake! Gosh MY DEAR OKIMI! That I up til this day since then has spoken with like everyday for 4,5 years, you are amazing ♥ And in that time of so few shippers it felt even more special, to have  someone else out there as obsessed as me. I’m so grateful we found each other at exactly that time and we’ve been through so much on this journey ♥.

When Nygmob in spring finally had their first scene it was so amazing and I have no idea how many times I have watched that scene to this day, and also with that the ship grew a bit yas!!

Let’s jump forward a bit. NYC Comic Con 2015 in fall, one of my fav Robin & Cory cons/interview times! Because the legendary ep 2x9 was soon upon us and OMG remember how excite they were in those interviews!?! And THEN, that fkn night THE episode aired. I couldn’t believe it was real, it was EVERYTHING we had dreamed of!!! SO MUCH NYGMOB CONTENT and so in character and gosh. Man their season 2 relationship is just so beautiful and I love it til this day and 2x9 is forever my favorite episode because it meant EVERYTHING for us shippers and more people also started seeing the connection between Nygmob and so more ppl started to make content and join in!

A time after another shining star came into my life, @constant-sinner (aka (riddlelvr) ♥ This amazing person and artist! And together with her and okimi I am part of the best trash family of three and I can’t believe I’ve been a mom (yet i’m the youngest but i’m fashion fur coat mom okay) to these trash sinners for like 4 years. ♥

Okay but remember all INSANE SMAYLOR CONTENT BEFORE SEASON 3!!? Man that was also one of the best times I had during these years. God they were so excite for their relationship in s3 and WEREN’T WE ALL! And omg Comic Con. I had my fkn header for 3 years soon lol, man that moment I remember seeing the signing booth stream all casual and Robin & Cory goes “Smaaylor!! Nygmobblepot!!! ;))” And I’m just wait WHUT omg. Their press tours with Sean is something I’ll miss even more than the episodes, always such a joy seeing those three together!

And when season 3 started it was just insane. To be honest how their relationship grew in s3 that’s how I expected it to grow after their meeting in s1, it made sense already back then. Ed admiring Oswald and sneaking to his club and Oswald would be a huge part of Ed’s journey to become the Riddler but ah well, I did my best with my AU:s back then!

And then s3 came and Gotham EXPLODED and I had no idea where all million ppl suddenly came from lol. It became huge. But since it still feels kinda close to this day (2,5 yrs though man), my most nostalgic feels will always be over s1-2 so I’m not gonna write so much about the season 3-5 times in this text. My closest to heart milestones is during the first years and now that I’ve seen all episodes I still think season 1 is the best overall, except the lack of Nygmob content ofc ;)

I’ve not just felt love for the show ofc, the show isn’t perfect. There has been serious flaws and bad writing and plot drops. Tbh s4 I just felt so NOPE about? 22 eps of waste…Like Ed’s plot for example like he barley had his own plot what happened? And we also have the q*eerbait Nygmob issue obviously. I have also felt the show has been a bit childish being -helloo- GOTHAM city we’re talking about? I think it would have been much better off with a MA-rating tbh to properly tell certain stories. After s4 though I’m glad in s5 Nygmob finally got some proper screen time being together and in character!! Like that’s how their relationship should have been from beginning of season 4, or season 1 if u ask me lol but ya know!

BUT I LOVE THIS SHOW, the amazing actors and characters and scenery and costumes!! Ed, Oswald, Robin & Cory will ofc always have the most special place in my heart ♥ The Nygmob journey in the show has meant so much to me to follow it from day one and I never knew how much this show would mean to me when I started back in the day.

This show. And not just the show itself but my journey and life around it!!? So much has happened. For one example I had made a bit of gifs before but Gotham really got me into gif making, and it’s been a joy sharing content and my Nygmob AU will always be among my most fun things I’ve done, it was like if they ain’t gonna give us enough content I WILL. It’s a fun way of gif making to manip scenes to create something new! And today I still enjoy making gifs, as you probably know heh. Thanks so much for all nice comments and reblogs through all these years ya’ll!! It warms my heart and I love to read reblog tags! 

I have been at con and got to meet Robin, enjoyed so many interviews and promos, chatted with wonderful people. Every Friday night I have been up in my Europe timezone at 2am to live watch the show, the workdays after has been a bit of a struggle of being tired with going to bed like 5am lol but man it’s been so nice to follow it when it airs!

Watching together with my dearest @conscience-killer and @constant-sinner . Two of the best that happened to me during these years. These two people that I’ve spoken with like everyday for 4 years! Through Gotham finding two of my dearest friends in my life. Watching the show together and screaming, crying, laughing during this journey, about not just the show but EVERYTHING in life. They also are amazing writers and artists ♥ And also helped me endless times with gif caption when my non-native brain trying to write gif captions at 3am after the episode lol. All my love to you both ♥

THANKS TO ALL AMAZING PEOPLE that impacted me over these years. The cast and nice fandom people! My dearest @conscience-killer and @constant-sinner. And I also wanna mention dear @millicentcordelia and @selene-volturo that are amazing ppl that have been here with me since the very beginning of season 1. And they have always been so down to earth even during the stormiest periods of this show’s existence ♥ I’m so glad we’ve shared this LONG journey!

And also hugs to my dear mutual fandom friends that I’ve shared hours of conversations with over the years. Some of us maybe don’t speak as much nowadays and some of us have gone separate ways with new interests but I hope you know who you all are, regardless if we spoke yesterday or 2015. You have made my fandom time a joy!

I’m actually okay with the show ending now you know. Ofc it’s a bit sad but as I said I felt s4 was kinda stomping around in the same spot and even s5 had some fillers like they didn’t have more to do to push the story forward? The last ep was a nice easter egg wrap up for this LONG journey. And I mean shows live on with fan content, and who knows maybe it will return somehow? But it feels good they told us it would end so I was prepared for this and to say ”goodbye”. But it’s not goodbye because content will continue on this site and I’ll continue re-enjoy this show!

This is 4,5 years. In 2 pages, I could prob write 20 but ah, but i felt I got to to summary the most important things for me over these years ♥. This show and stuff that came with it will always be such a big part of my life, ALL LOVE AND HUGS!

[linklethehistorian]

W.I.P. Week — Day 2 (February 25): A WIP Containing Your OTP

Since I actually have two main OTPs — and yes, I know the term doesn’t make sense when there’s more than one, but they’re both equal to me so that’s just the way it has to be — rather than just one, I was really hoping to get one of each up today, but in digging through all of my sketches/W.I.P.s., both old and new, I came to the realization that I actually don’t have any OdaZai ones that were of any recognizable substance yet, and only two that were ChuuArt related.

After I’d finished, I was trying to decide on which one to upload for today’s theme; ultimately, though, I found that impossible and instead ended up deciding that I would just upload the first one whole, and then include a portion of the second one.

So these are two ChuuArt related works — the first one tentatively titled “Already Gone” after the song by Kelly Clarkson (although the cover that inspired it was by Sleeping At Last), and the second yet untitled.

Bonus Question: Who Is Your Favorite OTP and why?

As I’ve said, I currently have two that I view about equally — OdaZai (mostly just platonically) and ChuuArt — which are both from the series of Bungou Stray Dogs. I plan to write bigger articles in the future about my feelings on these two pairings and why I think they’re wonderful, but for now I’ll try to sum it up best I can here in as brief a manner as possible.

Please bear in mind that this will contain spoilers for Dazai Osamu and the Dark Era/Season 2′s Ep. 13-16/the BEAST AU Light Novel and the Fifteen Light Novel, respectively. If you are not up to date on these, please do not read any further into this section of the post. Thank you.

OdaZai (Oda “Odasaku” Sakunosuke x Dazai Osamu)

Honestly, I think for anyone who knows the series at all, this is pretty self-explanatory, but there are just so many reasons to ship these two — especially platonically as I do. Odasaku was clearly the only person in Dazai’s life who truly understood him and saw him for who he really was inside — a lost and crying child who desperately wanted to find a reason to live and be happy, but who had known nothing but suffering, loss, mistreatment and misery his entire life; he was the only one who treated him like a human being and spoke completely honestly about his feelings as though there was no hierarchy gap between them without any ulterior motives whatsoever. Odasaku radiated the perfect light that Dazai needed and inspired him to seek that path and become a better person even after his own death.

Dazai lived only for him; it has been canonically shown that Dazai not only thinks of him all the time and dearly misses him — not only dresses very similarly to him, carries around the few precious possessions of Oda’s he has left and emulates him in every way he can — but also in alternate universe was willing to rewrite the entire world just so Odasaku could live, be happy, and become a writer.

The two very simply, plainly, genuinely, mutually love each other, and they are nothing but good for each other in every way.

ChuuArt (Chuuya Nakahara x Arthur Rimbaud/Randou)

Now, since this is a rare pair (as in, I’ve never met or even heard of ANYONE who truly ships them at all in any way yet and so I created their ship name myself), I’m sure this one will require some manner of explanation. 

I was actually just explaining this to a friend of mine the other day, but the long and short of it is that, although it’s true that we never (to my knowledge) really saw them get to bond much in the incomplete version of the Fifteen light novel, I wholly believe that if they had gotten the chance and/or circumstances had been even just a little different than they were, Chuuya and Arthur/Randou would have really become close and that they would have been extremely good for each other; Arahabaki’s fiery presence within Chuuya may indeed have been enough to warm Arthur’s eternally freezing form and given him someone he could depend on who truly understood and cared about him, without the fear of betrayal, and likewise, Chuuya would have someone who could have given him a reason to live, who understood him and his origins better than any other person in the world and would remind him that he is valuable as his own person and far more than just a safety device to a mass energy of unbridled, uncontrollable power.

As it is, it was extremely evident that Arthur/Randou was an extremely loyal person towards the people he loved, even if those people mistreated him and/or turned completely against him, and he would go to the ends of the Earth to save them, even if it meant risking or even sacrificing his own life. He also was shown to have been fascinated by Arahabaki’s mere existence and all but implied that when they met, Arahabaki’s fire burned him in a way that he could never be the same again; it was very obvious that, regardless of what some of the reasons may be, he continually sought him after that point and had a desperate desire to find and (for better or worse, in some manner) keep him. Furthermore, he was the only person who truly was implied to have thought of Chuuya as a pre-existing real person rather than a false personality and, in spite of himself, was remorseful that he had to tried to harm Chuuya for the sake of his old traitorous friend, Paul Verlaine, and very clearly wanted him to live.

As for Chuuya, it’s very obvious that he does care sincerely about Arthur to this day, even if only because their last interaction gave him something to live for; after all, he wears and protects Arthur’s only remaining possession — his hat — with his life and visits his grave often.

(Not to mention the fact that RL! Chuuya basically adored RL! Arthur and saw him as a hero of sorts, having been noted to even try to dress in exactly the same way as Arthur did at times and translate his works into Japanese.)

There’s honestly just too much to unpack right here and now, so I’ll continue this explanation another time.

TL;DR: They’re just really, really good for each other in spite of everything and it’s so, so sad that the only person who could honestly give Chuuya the support, understanding and closure he needs instead ended up dying at his hands.

Do not repost my artwork anywhere without my explicit permission or claim it as your own. See F.A.Q.s for details.

All of my other entries for W.I.P. Week:

Day 1 (February 24): Your Oldest W.I.P.

Day 3 (February 26): Your Canonverse or Your AU W.I.P.

Day 4 (February 27): Your Most Popular W.I.P.

Day 5 (February 28): Your Favorite W.I.P.

Day 6 (March 1): Your Previously Unpublished W.I.P.

Day 7 (March 2): Any W.I.P.

[stylinbreeze60]

My “WIPs”

Thanks @sugaandyams. I don't get tagged too often, so thank you!

“The Rules: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous.”

Oh my goodness. I had stuffed saved in all different places. I’ll start with the folders that contained fics that are incomplete. Welp, here I go!

Great Galactic War - this folder is the dump for my Haikyuu space/war AU, one of three or four fics I may focus on writing in the near future (first chapter is already published); the folder has very little atm, but I have about two dozen different scenes on my phone that aren't saved on PC

Kenma Project - the dump for my actively ongoing Haikyuu next gen captain war AU. I have a file in here further titled Ennoshita chapter. I wonder what that’s about? ;)

Three Kings - the dump for my Haikyuu samurai AU starring Hinata and Noya, the second possible fic I may commit to writing (first 2 chapters already published); there’s a chapter outline (which is dated because I’ve updated it in my head so much), and there are notes and many chapter tidbits on my phone too

Vice - the dump for a canonverse Haikyuu fic that was borne from a desire to write more Nekoma, so I subjected them to debilitating angst. There’s a rough chapter outline in here, and there are a couple of chapter drafts saved as emails on my phone. It’s the third fic that I might commit my time to (first 2 chapters, starring poor Inuoka, already published)

March of Justice - this folder was the dump for my aborted One Piece/My Hero Academia crossover, in which a couple of One Piece villains travel to the BnHA universe to conquer it

And here’s the rest I found. Some of these are just notes on fanciful ideas I had for a day and then never revisited. Others were never intended to see the light of day whatsoever

Abe dake ga Inai Machi - Oofuri-Erased - oh goodness. I had to stare at that title for a while to figure out what was wrong with it. An Oofuri/Big Windup fanfic that I didn’t play with for very long, but I was surprised to find I actually wrote the first chapter. Like Boku Dake ga Inai Machi (Erased), there’s a murder and then Abe finds himself transported back to the start of the Oofuri series, 10 months earlier. I reread some of this first chapter, and by my standards, it’s awful

Ace of Diamond - scandal fanfic - one of the ones never intended to see the light of day. It’s just notes. Basically Seidou pulls off its own Black Sox scandal and gets nailed, with some drama over whether Eijun is actually guilty

Ace of Iron / Ace of Swords - a Diamond no Ace samurai AU, mostly notes but also including drafts of a first chapter. It grew so huge there was no chance I could ever write it as a fanfic, so I actually converted it into an original story idea that I may do something with some day

Big Windup - cheating ploy disaster - this one is just notes and also never intended to see the light of day. An Oofuri idea in which Nishiura’s defeated rivals suspect them of cheating and kidnap the club boys to force them to confess. It goes even more downhill. (I’m very glad that, since discovering Haikyuu, I now conceive fanfics I actually want to write.)

Day of the Countercoup - I had to dig to find this one cos I knew it existed, but it wasn't a file. It was a tab in an Excel doc I used for my Haikyuu political AU, Coup d’Etat. It’s notes for an aborted sequel (Coup d’Etat’s original title was “Night of the Coup,” hence this contrasting title) that I scrapped soon after starting work on it. So glad too! Coup d’Etat got its due, and that AUverse shall be left to itself now

Haikyu - Gospel of Shouyou - oh goodness. I’m not gonna explain this one. Me experimenting, not intended to see the light of day

Haikyu - Nightmare from Heaven - this one may be the fourth candidate for continuation as a long-term fic but is currently unpublished. A war/occupation fic in which Miyagi Prefecture is conquered during a contemporary World War III, and the Karasuno boys must now live under foreign military occupation. The first chapter and part of the second were written, and I've got several notes on my phone and PC about subsequent chapters. Thank goodness tensions in that part of the world have simmered down since I devised it

Life Hereafter - Chapter 6.5 alternate ending - oh no. Life Hereafter is my darkest and most sensitive fic, published only on FFN, written to process a RL tragedy I was distantly affected by. I struggled with the ending of Chapter 6, which covered Tsukki and Yamaguchi’s coping with the canonverse tragedy. One draft (called “6.5″ in case I ever wanted to publish it, but I likely never will) featured Tsukki, seeking solace and desperately wanting to console Yamaguchi, giving in to poor judgment and kissing him. Only to then learn Yamaguchi doesn't have the same feelings back. Topping off their hurt with this was far too cruel and painful, and even before I started typing it, I knew I wouldn’t actually publish it. Rereading the draft even now made me feel uncomfortable which is why I kept it because it’s perhaps the best friendship-ruining moment I’ve ever written

Oofuri fanfic - Sakura Conspiracy - I thought I wrote a chapter 1 draft too, but this is an outline for a WWII Oofuri AU in which Nishiura, after winning Koshien in the late 20s or early 30s, moves on to military and political careers, one of their former teammates dies under suspicious circumstances, and Mihashi fears one of his old teammates may be responsible. The story stretches from 1937 to 1945

I'm actually surprised I found no notes on my Haikyuu mafia AU idea. I guess I never actually transcribed any, even though the plot is substantially complete in my head!

These four are all notes for gigantic crossovers:

Periods of World fanfic - This was an experiment, in which each century from 2000 BC to 2000 AD was listed out, a different part of the world selected for each century, and then a different anime or manga assigned to each part of the world. The idea was to write a chapter set in that century in that area starring those characters. The last chapter, for the new millennium, would have covered all parts of the world. The file is dated 2013. It never became more than this list

Periods of World fanfic 2 - and so it seems I tried again! This file is dated 2014 and shows just a teeny bit more dedication, with the 20th century further subdivided into decades, then every year from 2000-2009, and then every six months for 2010-2014. There are some different anime choices than the 2013 version. Never went anywhere with it, never gonna

Reborn epic crossover anime tribute layout - yes, that’s the literal filename. This is from my days as a Katekyo Hitman Reborn fan, and I don't even recognize most of the character names anymore. Apparently the villains of Reborn travel to seven other anime universes to kidnap major characters to sacrifice them as part of some weird magic scheme that I can’t properly decipher now

Random multi-anime WWII fanfic plan - yes, that’s also the literal filename. This is an outline for a 50-chapter crossover set before and during World War II, where the main characters of Naruto are Russian, One Piece are British, Bleach are French, Katekyo Hitman Reborn are German, Blue Exorcist are Italian, Fairy Tail are Japanese, and Ed and Al from FMA are American. The plot is emotionally devastating, doesn’t pull the punches on all sorts of WWII-related triggers, and frequently and cruelly denies catharsis.

To be perfectly honest though, rereading it, I swear this is the best story I have ever invented! It has a heartrending blend of tragedy, poignant poetic justice, subplot causality, and social commentary and contains few of the traps I sometimes fall into like cheap shock and subplots going nowhere. I really wish I could do something with this narrative now

And I’ll count the hefty handful of TV scripts I’ve written in an effort to practice and hone my scriptwriting skills. All but the last one of these are hypothetical new seasons of real anime:

Blue Exorcist s2 - 1 episode. My attempt to write the Impure King arc, years before they actually produced the Impure King arc. This was not my best work

Noragami: God’s Secret - 2 episodes for a manga-based Season 3. These were pretty decent imo

Oofuri/Big Windup: The Coming of Fall - 17 episodes. I got really into this one. A speculative season 3 assuming three cours (imo we probably won’t be blessed with that many episodes if season 3 comes), covering everything up until the end of the fall tournament. The first 13 episodes covered the story up to chapter 84 minus the Kasukabe match, followed by an OVA (ep 13.5), and then I was working on the Kasukabe match told in hindsight before planning to continue with the big game of the fall prelims. The third cour would have covered the fall tournament itself

Mekakucity Actors XX - 4 episodes. My own idea for a season 2/alternate ending. Because I was very conflicted with how the anime ended

School Babysitters - this was an original episode idea for Gakuen Babysitters that I enjoyed writing very much but turned out too long (40 pages) and features the babies turning into insects. I wouldn't mind publishing it somewhere actually!

I am going to tag @wire-pudding and @kemoiunder! Anyone else who reads this and wants to explore the abyss that is non-started WIPs, be my guest too!

[welcometoteamz]

verse.    »    canon

Blaine as presented in the iZombie canon. Willing to write him at any point in time during any season. open to all.

verse.    »    i don’t think he’s faking

So there was a year long hiatus between seasons 2 and 3 where I wrote Blaine’s amnesia as being a legit and lasting thing, and he forged new dynamics and relationships with folk. i didn’t want to throw all that out so. he has Blaine’s history, but basically he becomes a new character with the same name/face . selectively open to mutuals.

verse.    »    new and improved version

Blaine tells Peyton when his memories return, and he makes a genuine effort to turn his life around. In her words, his memories come back, but he stays this new and improved version of Blaine. who is honest and doesn’t let his own fears and insecurities and accountability skirting fuck things up for himself. selectively open to mutuals.

verse.    »   bye bitch Blaine never feeds Angus and he’s left to turn Romero and eventually decompose at the bottom of the well.

open to all

verse.    »    untitled DuBeers verse

Rita survived getting shot in the head, and due to having no where else to turn went to Blaine. The two struck up a partnership/kinship/cute yet mischievous little dynamic. pretty much exclusive to @fairisfair, but if anyone wants threads set in that verse they can let me know.

verse.    »    teenage dirtbag

Blaine prior to the iXombie series, where he is a high school/uni student who eventually turns to selling underage kids beer which turns to him pushing drugs which leads to works for Boss after Angus cuts him off. open selectively to mutuals.

verse.    »    untitled au where blaine never started up meat cute

Yeah by this point he had turned Angus and carelessly turned Jackie but in this verse liv confronts him after seeing him with Dougie and Hutch. in this verse blaine didn’t know he could turn someone via sex, but after the confrontation at the morgue and being unable to get drunk he needed to feel something and turning jackie was an accident. so now liv is keeping a close eye on him which means no criminal activities. exclusive to certain mutuals.

verses under cuts bc their descriptions are too long. 

»    the blaine didn’t steal the cures au/rob thomas is inconsistent

» the latter half of s3 and all of s4 were lackluster imo and i wanna ignore it them

verse    »    the blaine didn’t steal the cures au/rob thomas is inconsistent

bc i’m bitter. Blaine tries to turn his life around, but get caught in a lie and fuck it up for himself due to his own insecurities and fear of rejection. it’s more tragic if he still tried to behave himself even after his lie was exposed, and it was the hit from Angus that dragged him back into his old life after he got his retribution. like he was all angry but also defeated when don e showed up and told him they were taking his clients. he was just resigned to his miserableness. he was that devastated over losing his new life, nothing mattered to him anymore. and yeah. the fact he was with Peyton while lying is no doubt problematic and i’m mad at them for getting me on board with that and then pulling the rug out from under me…

But in my mind, he was still going to try and start anew even if she chose Ravi. even after his lie was exposed, and he knew he wouldn’t change how they saw him…he knew he was capable of doing good, and would have kept doing it. imo. He stopped caring about the business when he was in his depressed funk. Candy had to get on him about the orders. He wouldn’t have stolen the cures, because in that state, he didn’t care. he was so apathetic about everything. it took nearly getting killed for him to have a sense of what to do with himself. and yeah, they showed him with the blue juice recipe. that’s what i mean by inconsistent. one episode he’s all “well at least i have this and i can be dastardly” and the next he’s drunkenly singing love songs and moping and neglecting the business. You’re telling me that Blaine stole the cures, went shopping for the blue juice ingredients, and then went to get drunk and sing his set? nah son.

Which goes into the whole “i think there was more to the Natalie situation than we got, but they changed it bc she left the show for a new one and they were reduced back to 13 eps.”

Not just the inconsistency of her having money, and of Oates not finding her like she said he would. esp. when she was amnesiac…but they had the bodyguard see Ravi’s ID, and note where he worked. There had to have been a reason for that.If she told him about the cure and used it to barter her freedom.If she sold the information to them or something…because if she said she got it from Major, and his friend Ravi, then they’d know to ransack the morgue. For that matter, when she escaped, you don’t think they’d go looking for her with the guys who tried to save her from them? but like. if Ravi hadn’t slept with Katty Kupps and if pavi had sailed in s3. Blaine would have kept working as a lounge singer while also doing shady plots stuff, and he would have been content.

Which goes to ways Blaine could have gotten out of his lie, that someone like Blaine would have thought about. Like.

Why not just get out of his lie with another lie? It would have been in character. Lie and say Ravi’s memory serum works. Major is injected with both at the same time, no one thinks anything of it when his memories come back. then do the same thing when a cure is able to be mass produced. Blaine gets to be happy and be with Peyton. Yes he loses the brain business, but I think he’d be willing to give that up for a fresh start and someone who loves him. Even if he gains it through bad and shifty/dishonest means.

Let’s not forget that was the episode where he had to sign the millions in inheritance back to Angus. if he that had not happened and he had all that money to fall back on? my trashy lil dude is set. so yeah. that was inconsistent and Lazy and this verse ignores that. open to all.

open to all.

verse.    »   the s4 was lackluster and i wanna ignore it au

S4 was all over the place and Not Good imo. idk if that is due to the episode count or if they changed things when they realized they had promoted a predator... but you have the Renegade stuff, the FG stuff, and the angus stuff.

Which wound up being all filler. like. why not tie it all together and have Angus as the ultimate big bad? not that i wanted fuckface to get more screentime. but like. how about Angus’ cult his plan to team up with FG from S3? if Blaine or don e tell them?

IT DOESN’T EVEN COME INTO PLAY AT ALL IN S4 WHEN FUCKFACE RETURNS. NO ONE CALLS HIM OUT ON HATING FILLMORE-GRAVES, REMINDING HIM OF HIS PLAN. HOW AWESOME WOULD IT HAVE BEEN IF THIS WAS EXPOSED TO HIS CHURCH AND THEY TORE HIM APART LIKE THE HYENAS DID SCAR IN THE LION KING?

And they never mention Blaine killing chase’s brother/Vivian’s husband Harrison. Now there are two tangents I could go into here. the first is how Blaine storyline in the back half of S3 may have suffered due to Andrea Savage leaving the show for her own series, I’m Sorry.

It’s possible we would have seen her and Blaine face off if she learned he presumably killed her husband Harrison.  but like. they still could have done that with chase. chase is Harrison brother. he worked with Blaine. he is smart enough and would easily be able to figure out that Blaine was the OG brain supplier and would have been the one to kill his brother.

Once he no longer needed Blaine, i.e. was done with his blackmail? He would have but him in the guillotine. I expected this. I expected Blaine to pull the same card he pulled on Liv in S1. That without him, they have a zombie apocalypse on their hands. There was a brain shortage prior to the outbreak when Blaine approached him in the S3 finale. In S4 it’s even worse. There’s even a plot about Major tracking down watered down brain tube dealers.

Chase is a proud man, he wouldn’t have gone back to Blaine automatically… but after the US Government cuts off the brain supply in the finale, Major enlists Blaine to increase his operations.You don’t think that in the middle of the brain shortage crisis, Chase would have bitten the bullet and remembered Blaine’s proposal?

Ok, at this point, you’re probably asking yourself. “Mmhm, okay, so maybe that’s a better plot for Blaine… but then who did steal the cures?”

Again, see the last verse. Osborn Oates. Don’t remember him? Yeah, neither do any of the characters, apparently. He was the guy who was Natalie’s captor. Who apparently had the the influence to bribe Max Rager guards under Vaughn Du Clark’s nose. He was described by Ravi as being like a Bond villain. Natalie warns Major that wherever he goes, he’ll find her, but then… he doesn’t.

She travels the world. He doesn’t track her down. Even when she herself would have been vulnerable and amnesiac.

He doesn’t even try to track down Major and find out what he knows… if he was responsible for her escape. We know he is aware of Major. Major and Ravi followed he and his body guard.His body guard even checked Ravi’s morgue ID, and would have known where the cures were kept had he known about the cures.

Which… I think, Natalie might have told him about, in an effort to barter her freedom. Remember when we first met her? She said that since she was paid in brains by Blaine, who had become her pimp after turning her, that she ran through her savings and was broke. Yet… when she returns in S3, she tells Major that she traveled the world and had a place in Italy that she got thanks to her savings earned as sex worker.So… what is the truth?

I don’t want to speculate about a villainous Natalie. I actually liked her character, and she was certainly victimized and I don’t want to take away from that at all. Given her desperate situation though, might she have made some choices out of self preservation? Her own best interest?

I think there was more to the Natalie situation than we got. I think it suffered because they went from 19 episodes in season 2 back to a 13 episode order. I don’t know if her exit had more to do with propelling Major’s character’s decisions, or if because Natalie’s actress Brooke Lyons had gotten work as a series regular on the show Life Sentence. Maybe a bit of both? Maybe they did plan to kill her at the end of the arc, but the arc happened sooner than anticipated due to the shortened season? Knowing that they’d be losing her, they couldn’t carry that thread over to S4?

So instead they just dropped Osborn Oates, and over the summer Rob Thomas decided to change it to Blaine in S4 because no one would question it? Sorry Rob, I question it. You said in post S3 interviews that you planned to reveal who stole the cures in the finale, but there was no time so you’d get to it in S4.Really? That’s why? No time? If you had the time, how would it have come into play? The way it did come into play was Blaine seeking out Mama Leone, because Chase was blackmailing him. Are you telling me Chase would have done that in the S3 finale? That you would have seeded Renegade as a plotline even then?

I’m calling bullshit .I think it’s far more likely that plans fell through, and you needed the time to do a rewrite.

Even if Natalie had nothing to do with the cures being stolen, if it was planned to be Blaine all along…

You kill her off, and she doesn’t even get to confront Blaine? They never have a scene together? He’s responsible for her being a zombie, which led to her being kidnapped, and then held hostage.Yet he helped Major find her when he could have pleaded ignorance. He gave him Oates’ address and let him know when he was back in town. He didn’t have to do that. He could have said that it’s not the address on record, and Major wouldn’t have questioned him.

He could have elected not to tip Major off that he was back in town, and he wouldn’t have been able to find Natalie and give her the cure when he did.I’m not saying this excuses Blaine of what he did to her at all, or that the two would have been “even” or made peace. Not at all. There is no retribution for what he did to her.It does however, go back to my belief he was legit trying to change. open to those who are interested.

[thekidultlife]

Adagio Cantabile | Woozi College AU

Words: 9227

Genre: Porn with Plot or Plot with Porn?? (generally fluff with a mix of angst and smut); Enemies to lovers

(Because of Ep 7 of Going Seventeen, Change Up, now Pinwheel, I’m falling for Woozi more and more. He’s just too handsome. Anyway, this contains pretty obscure musical terms and I may or may not be correct in using them because I just got them from the net wiki and my own experience and before I started doing SVT fics, I used to write about music because I really, really love classical music and I often go to orchestra concerts annually. Well I hope you like this~)

“In case you’re becoming deaf or blind, Y/N,”

You rolled your eyes as your strutted down the lobby of the College of Music in Seoul National University, fury seething from your rigid figure.

“Let me tell you that, that D sharp is not a fucking fortissimo.”

Hate. Hate was the only thing you would describe the student conductor for the Annual Gala Night. You hated him with every fiber of your being as you gripped on to the score of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor on your hands.

“’In case you’re becoming deaf or blind, Y/N’… well, fuck you!” you repeated his words with a mocking tone, walking towards the nearby dorms and seeking out the sanctuary which was your room.

“Where the fuck are you looking?! Look. At. Me. Y/N!”

You could still hear his voice buzzing in your ears which was making you more livid than ever before. He shouldn’t have embarrassed me in front of the whole orchestra! Fuck this! Fuck him!

Brashly inserting your keys into the doorknob, you slammed the door open and shut it at the same manner; leaving no care for those who are unfortunate enough to hear you angrily knocking things over. You tossed the loose scores on top of the black baby grand piano in the middle of your tiny living room (which was already filled with the large mass of the instrument) and plopped on your poor excuse of a sofa without much grace.

You were quiet for a second. Then, you were not.

“FUCK YOU, LEE JIHOON!”

Lee Jihoon might or might not have heard someone screaming how he was such an asshole but, not like he did care. He was so used to being hated by every musician in Seoul National University that he had grown immune, or, he might not have given any shit in the first place. What was important was the Annual Gala Night which will be held three months in the future and time was running out. He, the conductor, the orchestra members and the concert pianist were already chosen a year before based on school performance and scores were given six months prior—this gave no one the opportunity to excuse himself with lack of time and practice.

Because of this, Jihoon expected a well-seasoned performer not a shitty second-rate, a poor excuse of a pianist. Not that his description had any bias; it just so happens that the concert pianist was his greatest rival in the whole universe. Jihoon shared classes with you because he had piano as a minor degree and you were there just to show how you were so much better than him in the piano.

Yeah. He knew he was being an asshole. But it doesn’t matter.

Jihoon made for the comfortable bed at the far side of his bedroom, near the window. He hadn’t had any good night’s sleep since he began studying the score for Piano Concerto No. 3 and he felt especially entitled for an afternoon nap after that shit of a first rehearsal.

But no. His brain was wide awake. Had he taken too much coffee this morning?

“Fuck this,” Jihoon muttered; staring at the expanse of his cream colored ceiling and praying to the higher beings to let him sleep for once when he needed it the most.

As if on cue, Jihoon could hear the faint musings of a piano floating with the late afternoon sunlight and he never felt a song so appropriate to the ambiance of his room that he thought for a second that someone might be playing for him.

“What’s the title of this song again?”

It was an involuntary whisper; he was not even aware that he had said something yet he knew it was good—really, really good that it had calmed his nerves at once as if it was morphine. He felt the melody wrap around his senses, dulling them and then trapping him into a dream-like trance. Jihoon didn’t care though. If it was the only thing that could make him sleep, then so be it.

1 year ago

It was literally one of the best nights of your life—the party was lit, your date whom your friend Soonyoung suggested was no less than perfect—you were enjoying the night away after getting the role of concert pianist in next year’s Annual Gala Night. Nothing could make you happier that day.

“Congrats, Y/N! We knew you’d get it!” a fellow piano major, Junhui gave his salutations to you as he swayed with flashing lights and the booming music, the ever-changing lights gave his blond hair various hues every ten seconds. “You’re the best in our year after all!”

“Yeah sure. If you’re tone deaf, that is.”

A familiar stingy voice emerged from the crowd and you just groaned, knowing who it was. Yet you would not let anything destroy your absolutely perfect night, especially not him.

“Bitter, aren’t we Lee Jihoon?” you replied with equal amounts of sass and you simply looked at his frowning figure standing by your mutual friend Soonyoung, who you knew was a dance major.

“In case you missed it, I’m actually selected as the conductor. So, I’m not exactly bitter, Y/N,” he remarked as he shot an eyebrow at your glaring eyes. “Better be prepared next year. I’m quite a demanding conductor.”

He stalked away after imparting his final words as if on cue and you just pursed your lips together, humoring his natural hate towards you. You haven’t actually done anything wrong towards him, yet he just despised you and you were logical enough to return it.

“Don’t worry, Y/N. He’s kinda on the edge lately…probably not having enough girls to fuck,” Soonyoung, who was left behind, offered consolation and you smiled at his concern.

“I still wonder why you and Jun are friends with that jerk,” you said with a scoff, swirling the red cup of alcohol on your hands.

“Nah. What’s actually weird is that he dislikes you so much. He’s just grumpy on the normal,” Jun exclaimed, and then running off after spotting another dance major, Minghao entering the stage.

Right on cue, your date for tonight Jinwo appeared right behind you and Soonyoung knew he had to bail out. So he gave you a congratulations and went to where vocal majors Seungkwan and Seokmin were.

It was truly a beautiful night. Everyone was having fun including you. Jinwo proved to be quite an awesome companion—laughing at silly things, trading inside stories about how you beat Lee Jihoon’s ass during that one recital, and doing goofy things one after another. You two just clicked together. You decided on that night that you were going to say yes when he asked you on a date another time. You were happy, ecstatic, with a heart full of laughter and lightheartedness.

Well, that is, until Lee Jihoon ruined your night as easy as breathing.

“Seriously, Y/N? Him?” he asked with a disgusted look as he refilled his cup with cocktail by the buffet table. “Who knew you’d stoop so low just to get a guy?”

“Excuse me, Lee Jihoon. What do you even know about Jinwo?” you defended with arms on your waist and a brow shot high on your forehead. Jinwo was beside you, glaring at the brown haired man who had a mocking smirk on his face.

Jihoon simply eyed at your date and then scoffed as if he knew something that you don’t.

“You don’t know, Y/N? He’s like dating one girl from every department in our college,” Jihoon grinned after continuing; amused at how you were wide eyed and speechless.

Yet Jinwo simply looked enraged that time as his face flushed red and gave you the cup of vodka he was holding. Your date took a step closer to Jihoon who didn’t even flinch when the taller guy seized his collar.

“Say that one more time, you fucking bastard!” Jinwo dared and you knew Jihoon was going to do it just to provoke him. So you moved to stop Jinwo’s arm from hitting Jihoon’s face even though you wouldn’t mind it.

“Jinwo, stop!”

You were shouting at him yet his fist was faster than you could have imagined. Jihoon got squared in the jaw and the fight erupted soon after. Jihoon was hitting Jinwo with an intensity you never imagined he could and the taller man was surprised at how the other was so intent to kill him.

Afraid that it would transform into a bigger fight, you called for the host, Choi Seungcheol who quickly separated the two. Jinwo was still thrashing around, held on the arms by Kim Mingyu as he was brought outside of the venue until you can’t see him from the crowd of onlookers. Jihoon, with a cut lip simply stood beside Seungcheol with an arrogant composure as he fixed the collar of his sweater.

You were still in the middle of shock when Jihoon grabbed your arm and dragged you out of the party. He must have said something to you yet you weren’t really listening to anything anymore. At your grasps, you had everything you wanted in your life then it all came crashing down because of one single guy who was now guiding you down the street towards your dormitories. You had realized this and halted in a screech.

“What the fuck is your problem with me, Jihoon?” you weren’t shouting, more like you were getting tired of his unexplainable shit that it all came into one exhausted question.

“I don’t like you. You know that,” he replied nonchalantly, without turning to look at you.

“And so?”

“So, what?”

“Did you know that you just ruined my entire night? I was having a blast! I got a main role in the Gala, my date was the best I had for two years, and I had friends congratulating me! But what did you do? You fucking picked a fight with Jinwo! Can’t you just leave me alone?”

He was silent under the dark shadows of the elm trees on the sidewalk yet you weren’t really waiting for an answer. You walked pass him; having enough drama for one night and strode straight ahead to your dorm.

You knew he was gazing at your retreating back yet he stood there motionless in his spot until you turned at the curb.

“Where the hell is that asshole?” you hissed to yourself after tuning the piano with the whole orchestra.

Apparently, Jihoon was late for practice and this was the first time it happened. Normally, he was right on schedule and he would scold anyone who would dare appear late. You never tried to, though it was somewhat tempting to piss him off yet for the sake of everyone, it was better not to provoke the conductor. You were broken from your reverie when you heard the auditorium doors swung open and out came marching a panicky Jihoon who had his scores messily gathered in a folder and his baton sticking out from his pocket.

“Sorry I’m late. I assumed you would have finished tuning so let’s begin with the 35th measure of the second movement,” he blurted out rapidly as he climbed the stairs and to his podium right beside you. He assumed position without even catching a breath, raising both his arms with a baton on his right hand as he said, “Alright. Let’s begin.”

“Stop. Stop,” the brunet conductor slammed his baton on the music stand and sharply turned to you, who looked both confused and wounded. “You are supposed to play in the background! Can’t you tell that you’re being too loud?!”

You grit your teeth at him as you shot daggers with your eyes. You tried to remind yourself not to go along with his outbursts yet you just couldn’t let it go without defending yourself.

“How would I know what you want when you keep on scolding me like that? Can’t you just tell me normally that you want me to play pianissimo in this part? That’s the problem with you! You keep things to yourself so how are we supposed to play like you want us to?!” you retaliated as you sat up from the piano bench and marched towards him.

“You should know what to do by now! How many times have we practiced this piece since last week?” Jihoon narrowed his eyes at you and then continued. “Or maybe you don’t want to follow what I say because you’re that much of a show off? Why don’t you just fucking play solo? You don’t need the orchestra!”

His words bit you so cruelly that you were simply rendered speechless and warm tears pooled from your eyes and fell down to your flushed cheeks. You held on to your fists as you bit your lip; trying to contain the emotions which were welling up from inside you.

“I hate you so much.”

You cursed under your breath and then escaped from the stuffy auditorium so that your jerk of a conductor would no longer witness how his words scarred your self-esteem.

 Jihoon dragged his body from the front door towards his bedroom and upon reaching the comfy mattress, he allowed himself to fall into its soft comfort face front. Today was the worst among all the shitty practices he had in his life and it was not helping his headache nor his insomnia.

What he needed right now was that song.

If he could hear it one more time, he vowed to himself to give his neighbor some gratitude for helping him calm down. It was the reason though why he woke up so late in the morning and thus, almost missing orchestra practice yet he didn’t care. Nothing could make him sleep so soundly, however, without it, Jihoon was cursed to replay the events that happened just half an hour ago in his head.

The image of you crying was burnt into the back of his mind. The tears running down your cheeks and the words you told him had widened his eyes and tug on his heart and when you made a run for it, Jihoon felt too exhausted to continue the rehearsal and dismissed everyone.

You should apologize to her. It was his conscience calling him yet his pride was pulling him not to.

A man shouldn’t make a lady cry. Jihoon bit his lip and gave a defeated groan against the comforter. So what if some of his pride was crushed? He did accuse her of things she wasn’t and she was hurt by his words.

He must have had that line of thinking when the song began playing again from the other room and it didn’t take long for him to fall asleep; lulled by the gentleness of the melody.

3 months ago

He shouldn’t have come here.

“Jihoon! Your turn!”

He could hear Soonyoung forcing him to swallow the shot of soju on his hands and he was too tipsy to even whine a refusal.

He shouldn’t have come here.

“Wow! How many shots have you taken, Y/N?”

“I dunno. Close to ten, maybe?”

Jihoon could hear the reason why he was in that drinking party in the first place and he couldn’t even formulate an insult at his condition.

Fuck this. Fuck my life. Fuck Y/N.

Hm. That wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

No. Bad Jihoon.

“Y/N! Could you take care of Jihoon for me?

It may be Soonyoung talking or something. He saw you looking hesitant at the request.

“Are you insane? He hates me, I hate him!”

Yeah kinda. But he was just too drunk to say that he can take himself home even without your help. Jihoon simply slid down the floor; looking at your general direction and mesmerized by your actions.

“I know you won’t kill him, so just take him home please! I’ll treat you with anything you want after!”

“I’ll make sure you treat me with some expensive shit.”

Jihoon wasn’t really paying attention anymore to the conversation and the next thing he knew, you were holding him by his arm and dragging him down the street to the dorms. You were cursing and complaining about everything as he slumped his head down; mind muddled up with the scent of alcohol and your perfume.

“I can’t believe such a puny guy can be so heavy! Jesus Christ!” you grumbled as you towed him over your shoulders; realizing that the dorms were just too far away. “Dammit Jihoon! Walk, for fuck’s sake!”

“Sorry…” he muttered and then tried to walk, in which he barely succeeded, nearly toppling both of you to the ground. “Am…shorry…Y/N…sho sorry…”

Somewhat surprised that he was apologizing to you, you haven’t uttered a single word; afraid that anything you would say would sober up the demon inside him. Upon arriving to his front door, you struggled to fish for the keys Soonyoung gave you before he disappeared with a random girl on his arms.

“Jihoon, where’s your bedroom?” you asked the brunet hanging by your side as you flicked on the lights of his dorm.

“O’er there…” he replied, pointing weakly at the door beside the grand piano and so, you continued to drag him until you gently laid him to his bed.

“Shit. I feel like my arm’s gonna fall off!” you exclaimed as you sat beside him and stretched your upper body. You had completely forgotten about Jihoon for a moment and had a small heart attack when he suddenly tugged your shirt to get your attention; half-lidded eyes and red cheeks met yours.

“Sorry…sho shorry…didn’t…mean to,” Jihoon repeated again and again as he feebly sat up; seizing one of your hands and gently massaging it. “Good…?”

You stalled for a few seconds until you remembered how to breathe and then stuttered to answer him. “What…what did you say?”

Jihoon frowned slightly and then started to press on your muscles harder. To say that you were absolutely confused about his sudden behavior was an understatement—you were completely baffled and weirded out. Lee Jihoon wasn’t supposed to be soft. He was the devil incarnate; a little gremlin—you often described him. He doesn’t know how to apologize to you, much less show a little gratitude or affection. He’s as bitter as his favorite black coffee and as cold as his permanent narrow gaze.

Yet here he was, massaging your tired hand as a way to recompense.

“Good…Y/N? Am…I…goooood…now?” he asked for reaffirmation and you nodded at him slightly; still somewhat stunned and you thought you couldn’t become any more astounded than you are currently. Yet when he gave you a small warm smile; his dimples showing and his eyes forming an eye smile, you thought that all of that night was just a dream.

“You’re…um…doing great. Tha-thank…you,” you mumbled and then stumbled on your words when Jihoon gave you a bright grin; cuddling on your shoulder right after.

“I’m happy…so…so happy,” he whispered solemnly. He had ceased on massaging your hand, instead, he simply held on to you tightly as if you might run away. You would have under normal circumstances, yet everything that night was not normal. Jihoon smiled…the world might be ending tomorrow.

“Have…to practishhhh…Y/N….shorry…tessst tomorrow,” he suddenly changed avenues and shifted on the bed yet he was too weak to do abrupt actions, so he simply remained on his position but continued mumbling anyway.

“You can’t. You’re shit drunk, Jihoon,” you scolded, however you didn’t attempt to move him in any way; afraid that the brunet might cling to you more.

“Have to…be…besssht…have to top…” he replied with a meeker voice than before. “Or they…they…won’t…I…can’t…shtuddy…no more,”

“That’s…um…I—”

“Mother…Father…scoldssss me…doesn’t like…me not…best.”

“You’re already great. Better than me actually.” Good thing he’s drunk.

“No, no. Y/N…Y/N’s good…really, really…good. ”

“This guy, really…you shouldn’t go to drinking parties when you get drunk so easily.”

You sighed and faced him; placing the hand which he was not grasping, on his head as you began to gently pat him. He seemed to like your gesture and nuzzled closer to your neck as if he was a child. Or your boyfriend. Ok. Y/N. Just because he turned soft on you for ten minutes, you’re now having weird thoughts. He might be Romeo when drunk but still Jihoon the gremlin when sobered up.

“If he’s just a bit nicer, it wouldn’t be weird if I did have a crush on him.”

 Jihoon couldn’t exactly recall what he had seen or heard that night. All he could remember was a melody playing on the piano; his piano. His thoughts were too scattered to realize that nobody should be playing on the piano because he lived alone and never gave anyone a duplicate of his keys, yet it didn’t matter. The song was nice—it suddenly became his favorite tune—lulling him to a paradise where his parents appreciated his work, where he wasn’t pressured to succeed and where he had a nicer relationship with you.

When a few streams of sunlight flashed upon Jihoon’s face the next morning, he felt like a train had hit his head last night and his mind was like a collection of jumbled ideas and images. He was staring at the ceiling yet he couldn’t recognize that it was indeed the ceiling he was looking at. Then the next thing he knew, he was on the sink; emptying his stomach.

“I shouldn’t have gone to that fucking party.”

“What’s this?”

Raising a brow, you took the sticky note off your door and read it more closely.

“’Liked that piece you played on the piano. Slept well ‘coz of it. Thanks.’ Well, what a way to start a day!” you exclaimed and inserted the note on your piano scores with a grin on your face. At least you were in a better mood to ignore your conductor’s rants.

Since your first class was around one in the afternoon, you decided to take a good bite at the nearest sandwich shop. You were in a good mood after all.

Ordering something like a chicken panini or whatever, you happily munched on a booth nearest to the window; your sheet music sprawled on the table for you to review the certain parts that needed your attention.

“Wait, what? A pianissimo after a series of octave jumps?” you whined as you took a bite on your lunch, chewing as you imagined how the piece would go. “C’mon! I have Rachmaninoff on my plate!”

“Why? Can’t you have Liszt and Rachmaninoff at the same time?”

You choked on your chicken panini when you heard the voice you wanted to hear the least; snapping your head in front of you and meeting his tired gaze. You automatically reached for your bottle of soda and drank the contents of your mouth down your throat.

Jihoon sat on the chair in front of you without giving any sort of preamble and just watched you panicking because of his unexpected presence. His hands eventually reached for your music sheets and helped you arrange them back to your folder.

You got more and more weirded out as you saw him help you clear away the table and by the time you were done, you sat back on your seat slowly; watching him with a confused expression.

“So…um…what brings you here?” you asked with hesitance; still wondering why he wanted to talk to you in the first place. “Is this for the rehearsal? The assignment in music theory? Or…um…chicken panini?”

The brunet conductor shook his head at all three of your questions and then suddenly retracted as if he had said something wrong. “No wait. It’s…yeah, it’s about the rehearsal. The other day’s rehearsal…”

“The other day…” you repeated his words and scrunched up your brows in confusion until you finally remembered why you went home crying in middle of your last rehearsal. “What…what about it?”

Jihoon gazed at you for a few seconds as if trying to scrutinize what you were feeling that moment before closing his eyes to collect himself. After some time, he opened them once more and then began to speak.

“I…well…I’m—I’m s-sorry. I said things I shouldn’t have…and, um…I made you cry, so…” Jihoon clasped and unclasped his hands as he struggled to spit out the words. “It’s against my conscience to make girls…no, um…rather, you cry. I don’t want you to cry…”

You honestly thought you were still asleep—there was no way such a day would be so good to you. You didn’t even want to breathe or blink, or Jihoon might disappear in front of you; so you sat as still as you could.

Yet Jihoon was not planning to stay a bit longer. As soon as he blurted out what he wanted to say, the brunet dashed out of the sandwich shop faster than you can react and you were left there standing and staring at his retreating back.

“What on earth am I supposed to feel?”

1 month ago; Leeds, United Kingdom

Leeds International Pianoforte Competition.

Your hands were sweaty as you stepped a foot into the lobby of the competition’s venue with the music score on your hands. It wasn’t your first time entering a contest abroad yet the Leeds was one of the biggest competitions you had in your entire life and you knew you can’t just screw it up because it means a great deal to your future career as a classical musician and—

“Would fucking hurry up, Y/LN? Unlike you, I don’t want to embarrass myself later.”

Your thoughts were abruptly interrupted as you were shoved away by Kim Jaehwa, another competitor from your university which seemed to be more hostile to you than Lee Jihoon simply because you refused to date him back in first year. Not wanting to stress yourself before the competition, you moved pass him yet the other simply clicked his tongue and gave a mocking laugh.

“What? Can’t seem to taunt back?” Kim Jaehwa called out from your back yet you simply rolled your eyes and continued walking. “Hey! I’m still talking to you, Y/LN!”

Proceeding to walk without any care, you ignored the shouts of the idiot behind you. You only stopped when you heard Lee Jihoon’s voice which was definitely weird because you knew he was back in South Korea doing god-knows-what. You turned around immediately, only to be greeted by the image of the smaller Jihoon arm-locking Kim Jaehwa.

“Better go elsewhere, buddy. Or I might break every single bone in your hand right now,” Jihoon muttered to the guy as you simply stood there watching in awe.

Luckily, Kim Jaehwa was smart enough to run away because you knew Jihoon would definitely break his fingers if he would try to retaliate. So, breaking out of your initial shock, you placed your arms over your chest and began questioning the other person in the lobby.

“Mind if I ask why you’re here?” You arched a brow and he gave a careless shrug.

“Why? Can’t I?” Jihoon smirked and you sighed in exhaustion. “My competition in Germany is already over, so might as well watch you embarrass yourself.”

“Thank you for your unwanted concern, Mr. Lee. I better go and embarrass myself now. Goodbye.”

You turned around and walked towards the backstage slowly with pursed lips, leaving Jihoon alone to his own devices.

“I’ll be waiting for your mistakes later. Be careful with those runs and match with the feelings of the piece!”

He still warned you though. Fucking perfectionist. Yet, you smiled for the first time that day.

And when the conductor raised his baton parallel to his chest, in one breath, you began. 

Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op. 26 by Sergei Prokofiev

It begins with a slow andante clarinet solo; soft and mysterious and then gradually followed by the orchestra in the same slow tempo yet suddenly turns into a fast-paced movement with the piano entering immediately—also in fiery tune. With the whole orchestra clashing into one another in a threatening unrest, the piano almost in a battle with the orchestra. Reverberating low chords, tolling melancholic bell-like tunes, rapid movement mimicking a chase, strings foreshadowing a struggle about to unfold—it was as if the whole symphony was telling a story.

While Jihoon has higher standards than the highest mountain in the world, yet with you playing, you managed to go even beyond that. He can feel his whole body quivering in excitement as the notes kept on jarring with each other; forming an overall sound which made his eyes widen in exhilaration and anticipation for more.

It was a difficult piece. Just by hearing it, Jihoon knew that it was not a piece you can easily defeat in just a few days. The fingering techniques needed for those rapid piano movements interspersed with one another, for short, your hands were on top of one another while moving up and down the keyboard.

It was a performance which took him into a different realm…this is how Y/N would perform…this almost otherworldly performance…it resonated inside him.

Fuck.

That day, Lee Jihoon became afraid of his feelings.

3 months later; Seoul National University Auditorium

“Ahhhh. I feel so nervous!”

You could hear Kim Mingyu, who was contrabass one whining at the farthest end of the backstage and you simply sighed; trying to expel all the tension building up in your body. It was the Gala Night and everything which you and the whole orchestra had rehearsed would be tested and heard by everyone tonight. It was a night that would decide what comes after university.

“Alright, listen everyone!” The conductor, Lee Jihoon shouted as he stood above a wooden crate so he could be seen by everyone. “I won’t say don’t be nervous because you never listen anyway. However, this is it. This is our judgement day, our day of reckoning. Perform like it’s your last concerto and remember to be careful. I know we are all here for a reason. Let’s show those people why.”

You nodded yet continued exhaling breaths to control the shaking on your arms. God, you hated that feeling. Everyone dispersed with a calmer atmosphere and went back to reviewing the scores however, your  eyes were still trained to Jihoon’s that he had immediately noticed your gaze. He got off the wooden crate and walked towards you with a substantive expression which scared you.

Both of you never really had a decent conversation after Jihoon had apologized that day in the sandwich shop. Rather, he had grown somewhat on guard every single time you were around and he would limit his interaction with you as business-like as possible. You wondered if you had done something wrong because why is Lee Jihoon, who insulted you in every opportunity he gets, suddenly became so silent? It felt both unnerving and empty at the same time. You did miss fighting with him.

When the brunet finally came up to you, you weren’t really prepared to say anything. Instead, you just stared at him as if waiting for him to begin and so he did.

“So…um, how should I say this?” Jihoon stuttered as he scratched the back of his neck as the suit suddenly made him feel stuffy. “Even though I told you many times that you’re not that good of a pianist, I know that um…you…y-you—”

“Oh stop it Lee Jihoon,” you broke off his words with a groan and sighed. “I know it’s hard for you to compliment me, so just say what you want in the language you’re most comfortable with, because you being this weird is really, really frightening.”

Jihoon blinked at you for a few times until his apprehensive expression turned into his rare dimpled smile that made his eyes look like tiny upside down crescents and showed his small but sharp canines

“Alright. I’m looking forward in watching you embarrass yourself up there. Try not to be too excited,” he mocked you yet his tone seemed to be teasing rather than offensive.

“If I embarrass myself, you go down with me. Remember that, Mr. Conductor.”

“Then, remember to look at me and go with the feelings of the piece.”

“Since when did I find it difficult to look at you?”

“What? What did you say?”

“Nothing. C’mon, it’s our cue.”

As you made yourself comfortable in front of the grand piano with your stunningly exquisite golden gown, you glanced down on the ivory keys. Tonight, they are both your ally and your enemy as you battle with fate, with chance, with your body and your mind.

Under the glaring overhead lights, the whole orchestra stood before the expecting audience. Lee Jihoon had picked his baton with controlled composure and placed a glance at you. Nodding at him, you took a deep breath and a small prayer before he waved at the orchestra to begin.

Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30—Sergei Rachmaninoff

The first movement begins with allegro ma non tanto revolving around a beautiful, almost song-like melody; diatonic in nature. It then fully dives into a B-flat major key as the first theme—trotting gradually to a loud development section which opens with toccata like quavers in the piano and reaches a loud chordal section. It was emotion brewing; hidden under layers of notes and cadenzas as if it was an ode to life’s complexities. The climaxes were ferocious especially in the cadenza and morphs into a quiet wind and brass solo section. The first movement ends with the piano restating the first theme alongside the orchestra, and concluded with a rippling coda; a nostalgic retrace of the second theme.

As the second movement had set off filled with its heavy romantic thoughts, you recalled that this piece was one of the hardest to play in the whole world and it wasn’t a concealed fact that you had cursed, complained, cried and suffered during the whole three months of practice. The violins rolled in with the movement’s second theme as the orchestra accompanies the soliloquy of the piano. You glanced at Jihoon in front of you, guiding the orchestra to the masterpiece of the night. He must have sensed you watching him as you pressed your fingers on the chords and he turned to you with a small smile.

When the second movement had ended and the piano had continued to the final movement with a cadenza-esque passage nonstop, the mood of the auditorium was immediately charged with your quick and vigorous attacks on the piano; the brass section adding flair to every note. However, the final movement diverges from a regular sonata-allegro form and Jihoon had precisely informed you during rehearsals to be careful with the unconventional development which was a long-winding digression using the major key of the movement’s first theme. It was much easier for you after that, with the recapitulation of the original themes building to a toccata climax much like the first movement. As the conclusion draws near, the sweat in your brow was falling down your cheeks as you pressed four-note rhythms in a victorious and passionate melody in D major as the orchestra accompanies you through the end. Your hands and arms were quivering as you felt the vibrations of the music well up your emotions and with a final notes on the piano, Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto in D minor completed with tumultuous cheers and applause.

Two years of failed auditions, one year of anticipation, three months of general rehearsals and tonight it had all ended.

You, for a moment, had muted out your surroundings yet when Jihoon finally tapped your shoulder to stand up, you immediately averted your gaze towards his eyes. He gave you a wide grin which you were secretly fond of as he clapped with the audience.

“Wasn’t that perfect really. You made a mistake in the first movement yet I’ll excuse you for tonight. You did great,” Jihoon had whispered to your ear as he guided you to the backstage to get a glass of water and the standard bouquet of roses.

“You really love to pick on me, don’t you?” you replied with a huff after downing cold water down your throat.

“No, I just don’t like you. Better prepare for an encore, by the way.”

“Wait, what?”

“You forgot? It’s tradition.”

When you got back on stage as the audience clapped once more, you were cursing Lee Jihoon silently for not informing you that concert pianists needed to do encores during Gala Nights. Feeling rather unprepared yet having no choice, you sat in front of the piano and decided to play something you knew by heart.

As you began with a sweet yet calming melody reminiscent of a quiet afternoon ambience, the whole crowd suddenly became quiet and the buzz from the excitement earlier had gradually died down. You were playing the main tune on your right hand and simple arpeggios on your left with a serene smile on your lips. Despite being instrumental, the piece you were playing was closer to a song—an adagio cantabile.

Jihoon who was standing just at the mouth of the backstage, felt his breath stop momentarily as his ears heard the notes you were producing on the piano. He felt confused, moved, astonishment and an assortment of emotions which he couldn’t describe any longer.

Fuck.

“It’s her. It’s her all along,” he muttered under his breath.

As your encore had finally ended, you gave a bow to the audience and shook hands with the concert master before walking back to the backstage for your long awaited rest.

Jihoon was still there in the same position and when you finally walked pass him, he had grabbed your arm and whisked you away from the oncoming barrage of orchestra members.

“What the hell is it again, Jihoon?” you asked with a bewildered and slightly annoyed expression. “You’re so difficult to understand!”

“And you’re always barging into my life!” he replied with the same tone as yours.

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“It’s you! You’re—”

“Jihoon.”

You would almost roll your eyes at the person interrupting your discussion when you felt Jihoon visibly freeze on his spot. When you turned to place a glance at the newcomer, you immediately understood why.

“Father. I—”

“You disappoint me, Jihoon,”  

The first words which came out of his fathers’s lips stung to the deepest recesses of his being like poisoned thorns. And you simply stood beside him like an idiot, watching the events unfold.

“I’m sorry. I did my best so…” Jihoon heard his voice going smaller and smaller and his words choking him on the throat.

“Best? Tell me again that you did your best when a company or conservatoire approaches you after the concert. No one did, am I right?”

“Father…um…”

“I shouldn’t have let you study music when you’re just going to slack off.”

Unable to just observe the scene in front of you, you walked in front of Jihoon’s father with courage you never thought you had.

“Excuse me, sir. I may be intruding but I just want to point out that Jihoon never slacked off. He gives everyone hell but he gives himself something worse than hell. So for the sake of us who suffered under him, please retract your words.”

Jihoon’s father simply looked at you with the same cold gaze Jihoon had yet you grew immune to that certain hard stare that you were not by the least intimidated.

“And who are you?” the father asked, his tone harsh.

“Just some pianist. But that’s not the point. Please retract your words, sir because Jihoon was never a disappointment. He has won tons of awards and he will be working in Europe after we graduate!” you defended him with an intense glare before taking a breath and began talking once more. “He’s the most hardworking person I know that he even wants to practice even if he was dead drunk.”

Jihoon simply glanced at you with wide eyes and his mouth ajar, wondering how the hell you knew so much about him. But before he could ask you, his father had beat him to it.

“Let me ask you again. Who are you?”

You grit your teeth because you knew what he was asking for. He wanted to know who you are in Jihoon’s life yet that was a question you don’t know the answer to. He was neither your friend nor your worst enemy any longer. He was not your conductor because the Gala Night had just concluded. Jihoon was just a schoolmate and a friend of a friend yet you were defending him in front of his father.

That is if you continue to deny who Jihoon really is to you.

“I’m…I’m…I, um…wait—no, Jihoon is…Jihoon is someone I care about a lot. So Mr. Lee, please retract your words because it invalidates all of the efforts he did and struggles he had while studying music.”

You answered resolutely as you pursed your lips; waiting for an answer.

“I still think Jihoon has disappointed me tonight,” his father replied as he glanced at Jihoon who was staring at the concrete floor as if it was the most interesting thing in the world, and then looked back at you. “But, I will acknowledge that he had been working hard. Just like you said, Ms. Pianist.”

Jihoon’s father turned around and began walking towards the exit but before he disappeared in to the door, he had called out to Jihoon who twitched at the sound of his name.

“You should pick better friends, Jihoon.”

As the older man had gone off the backstage, you heaved a long sigh and placed your hands on your hips.

“We’re not even friends, for Christ’s sake!” you exclaimed however, instead of replying Jihoon simply seized your arm once again as he dragged you out of the auditorium and towards the compound of dormitories just far ahead.

“You need some explaining to do Y/N,” he told you as he pinned you on the door to his room; eyes boring through your soul as he stared at you intently.

“What? What are you talking about?” you replied as your brows knitted in confusion.

“Don’t play dumb with me. Tell me how you knew about my parents,” he demanded and you simply arched a brow at him, silently surprised.

“I…well, you told me…when you got drunk during Soonyoung’s birthday party and I had to drag your ass back to your dorm room,” you replied slowly as Jihoon simply gave you a puzzled look. “You…you don’t remember, do you?”

Jihoon stared at you blankly for a while as he tried to processed what you said and compare it to what little memory he had that night. Moments later, you didn’t need to be told that Jihoon had finally realized that you were telling him the truth. 

“Fuck. This is so embarrassing!” He grimaced but you simply shrugged.

“Well, what’s done is done. So can you let me go now?” you asked yet he snapped back at you again and you just had to give an unamused frown.

“I’m not done yet.”

“What is it now, Jihoon?” You groaned as you sighed; rolling your eyes in irritation.

“I should be the one irritated here. Have you had any idea how much you messed up my life?” he asked you and you stared at him incredulously.

“Wow, bro. So it’s my fault that your life is shit? Excuse me, Jihoon, you may not notice but you’re the one who keeps pissing on my life!” you replied, your blood beginning to simmer.

“Good that you noticed how I’m trying to get rid of you from my life but you keep on coming back that I don’t know what to do anymore!”

“Alright, Lee Jihoon. It’s your time to start explaining.” You pressed a finger on his chest as you shot daggers at him with your glare. “Why the fuck are your trying to get rid of me when I have no fucking idea what I did wrong? Tell me! Did I say something offensive to you? Did I physically hurt you? Did I hurt your chances of dating other girls—”

“YES—!”

“For the love of God, Jihoon—what the fuck did I do? Shit. Did I make you seem uncool during class or some—”

“Would you just fucking shut up—”

You were shouting at each other for a moment, then the next thing you knew was the feeling of his soft lips pressed roughly on yours; his hands cupping your cheek as your eyes dilated in shock. Jihoon moved and slightly angled himself to gently nibble on your lower lip as your breath hitched at the sudden action. He must have realized your surprise when he pulled away and gave you a tentative look before nuzzling his head on your neck.

“I’m never going to think of someone else as much as I think of you. It’s your fault. No one’s gonna be better than you, nicer than you, funnier than you or prettier than you. No matter what I do to make you leave my mind…insulting you, ruining your day, teasing the hell out of you, but it’s all just making me feel like shit,” he mumbled on your shoulder as you closed your eyes to digest everything he had said.

Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. I swear this guy…!

“Lee Jihoon?” you called out his name softly with restraint and he hummed in indication that you had his attention. “Someday, I fucking swear I’ll hit your head on a concrete wall. But for now I just want you to kiss me.”

As soon as he heard your words, Jihoon immediately left your shoulder and gave you a look of surprise. However, you didn’t have time for that and simply yanked the collar of his suit and pulled him towards you for a kiss.

It didn’t even took much for Jihoon to reciprocate as he again nibbled and licked your lips, earning a gasp from you which he took as an opportunity to insert his tongue in your mouth. His hands travelled to your hips as yours went around his shoulders; fiddling with his brown hair.

Playing with your tongue, he pressed his hips against yours and definitely felt his half-hard member grinding against your thigh. You left out a soft mewl as Jihoon pulled away from your lips and went in for your jaw and down to your neck; placing butterfly kisses here and there. He ghosted his lips on your pulse point before leaving marks that you wouldn’t care if it would stay until tomorrow.

One of his hands left your hips and opened the door behind you, letting both of you inside his room. Jihoon kicked the door shut while giving your collarbone a variety of nips and bites up until the upper part of your chest as you held on to his head, moaning every time he sucked harshly on your skin.

“J-Jihoon…ahh…the afterparty…Soonyoung might—”

“I don’t care. I wanted you for so long and no one’s gonna stop me.”

He then pulled you into his bedroom where his hands found your cheeks once more and gave you a long-drawn kiss as you hummed happily against his lips. Jihoon snaked his way to the zipper of your dress and pulled it down to get your bulky clothes off of you and pushed you down on the bed. As you hit the soft mattress with only on your underwear, you could immediately get a whiff of Jihoon’s scent on the sheets as the real Jihoon standing in front of the bed, discarded his coat and shirt and hovered over your sprawled figure.

“You’re so beautiful,” Jihoon whispered as he bent over your neck and peppered small kisses which eventually turned to licks and harsh bites.

“Jihoon…”

His name escaped your lips as soon as he began to touch your bare breasts; licking your nipples which hardened against the cold temperature of the room. He pinched and sucked as you cried out his name; your hands on the back of his head, messing his soft but messy brown hair. One of his hands then moved to your hips and then to your inner thighs, stroking the sensitive skin. You felt the wetness between your legs drench your underwear as Jihoon caressed your body more.

Without giving much warning, he pinched your clothed clit and your breath hitched in surprise, however, he continued to play with it, making you grasp on the sheets to control yourself. Impatiently, Jihoon pulled your underwear off and knelt down between your legs as he began to kiss, then suck on the skin of your inner thighs. You wanted to close your legs together instinctively however, he was holding you at the back of your knees that you couldn’t do anything but arch your back and exhausted your throat with breathy moans and gasps as Jihoon latched on your clit; ruthlessly sucking.

“Fuck! Jihoon…god! Your tongue feels so good…”

Screaming, you held on to his head as he ate you out; pushing a finger in and out of you which made you pull on his hair lightly. Eventually, you reached your own climax as your body quivered and shook at your own release. Jihoon hummed pleasantly as he lapped on your juices while you cried out his name over and over again; proud that he was making you feel good. He then sat up and wiped his cheeks which were glistening with your own juices; licking his hands clean as he gazed at you and only you.

“Did that feel good, baby?” he asked you, smirking as he placed chaste kisses on your cheeks and forehead and then chuckled at how helpless you looked. “But I’m not done with you yet, Y/N. You think you can handle rough?”

“Wha-What the fuck…Jihoon—”

“Of course you can, right? You’re the only one who can handle me.”

Your half-lidded eyes widened at his suggestion as excitement filled your lower half once more.

“Alright. On your knees, baby,” he ordered and you instantly followed; secretly exhilarated on what was about to come.

You shifted on the bed with your ass high on the air as your arms supported your upper half. While you were doing that, Jihoon finally pulled both his pants and boxers down as he pumped his erection at the sight of you. You could see on your peripheral view that he was bigger than you had expected him to be and you were slightly frightened with how much he would stretch you out.

Jihoon approached you from behind and caressed your ass as he slid two digits into your still sensitive pussy. You mewled when Jihoon pulled his fingers out as quickly as he pushed them and instead rubbed his shaft against your lower lips; his cock grinding against your clit. You could hear him chuckling behind you.

“Damn it, Jihoon. Stop teasing and fuck me already!” you cursed; having enough of his playfulness.

However, instead of following you, he merely bent down by your ear and whispered. “I’m sorry. What did you say, Y/N?”

You bit your swollen lips as Jihoon continued to grind himself to you; deciding long before that you needed him so much that it doesn’t matter if you begged.

“Jihoon…fuck. I need you. Please, please fill me up with your cock,” you pleaded; letting out a silent moan as he did not waste any time filling you up, his dick stretching you out.

Waiting for you to adjust to his size, Jihoon placed small kisses on your back, oftentimes, sucking on your skin and giving you kitten licks. However, when you finally told him that it was okay to move, Jihoon pulled and thrusted into sharply; making you scream on the pillows that smelled so just like him. His pace was relentless—fast and rough thrusts into you as he rubbed circles on your clit; grunting every time you tighten up for him.  

“You…feel…so good, baby. I wanted…you…for so long,” he breathed in every word as he pushed into you; filling the room with the sound of skin slapping and your sweet cries of pleasure.

When Jihoon shifted and altered his angle, his cock had brushed against your sweet spot that you didn’t care anymore if other people could hear you two fucking. Your voice was long hoarse yet you couldn’t help but scream when he pounded into our G-spot ruthlessly.

You felt your release building up as Jihoon continued to overwhelm you with pleasure until you collapsed on his pillows, crying out his name as your climax washed over you. Jihoon on the other hand, felt himself fall on the edge as you tightened around him; making his thrusts erratic. After pounding into you for a few more times, he finally pulled out and came on your back with his loudest groan.

Being so exhausted, you have never even realized that you had drifted to sleep until you stirred from your slumber. You felt an arm snaking around your waist as another body was nuzzling on your hair and for a moment, you panicked at the foreign sensations, however after remembering what had happened earlier, you simply sighed in relief and turned around to Jihoon who you never thought would be capable of cuddling.

You simply watched him sleeping for several minutes until his peaceful face contorted into an annoyed frown.

“Y/N, stop staring at me and just go to sleep,” Jihoon scolded you with a gruff voice and placed his head back on top of yours; breathing in the scent of your shampoo.  

“Jihoon I have a question.”

“Make it quick before I fall asleep,” Jihoon mumbled almost unintelligibly and you shrugged, knowing he would really fall asleep.

“Before your dad arrived, what were you about to tell me that time?”

“Huh? Ah…I just realized that you were actually the one who was playing that song after all this time. I really liked it.”

“Song? What…what song?” you finally replied with a rather small voice.

“You know, that one that goes like…”

Jihoon began to hum the tune of the song he was talking about and you realized then and there that he actually has a good singing voice.

“Oh that. I composed it a long time ago and I would play it when I feel really stressed.”

You could feel Jihoon hum an acknowledgement and you knew he was slowly drifting off. So, you went to tell him what you wanted to say before he falls asleep.

“Y/N, just be quiet already.”

“Hey. If I wake up alone here, I swear—”

“I won’t leave you alone, okay? We have a date tomorrow so shut up already and sleep.”

You shot a brow up as a small smile perked up on your lips.

“I want to eat ice cream tomorrow. Remember that,” you remarked and buried your head on his chest.

Jihoon smiled as he thought of ice cream parlors that you might like to go tomorrow before he had finally fell into slumber.

 Admin Hyeri

[angermango]

Kirby!

i’m guessing you want all of ‘em for Kirby? OKEY DOKEY!

(some of them aren’t fandom specific though i noticed because this meme’s format is a lil funky. I cut those out instead.)

1. Name one of your favourite characters

let’s put a bit of variety in and I’ll say Bandana Dee. He’s everyone’s idol, and a cutie pie to boot! When he first became playable in RTDL I was all over that because!!! Waddle Friend!!!

2. Name one of your favourite villains

Customer Service. Ha you think I can make an ask meme about Kirby WITHOUT MENTIONING HIM?!

3. One actor that you look up to and why

Banjo Ginga, perhaps expectedly~ How that man managed to voice both CS and Nightmare in the anime when they’re at least 50 octaves apart in vocal range is a miraculous thing

4. One actress that you look up to and why

Makiko Ohmoto. She’s a lowkey woman of a thousand voices in the series, and the mini-drama with Susie and Sectonia proves she could seriously do a full blown voice OVA with just her playing all those personalities spot on. Not sure if Kirby should go fully voiced in the future, but hell if he hasn’t proved it can be done!

5. Favourite episode from any show you watch? (Or just an episode you love)

Favourite ep of the anime probably still hands down the quiz episode. Troll on, based salesguy

8. Name 3 OTPs

none really stand out to me in Kirby, aside from friendships. Does the Susie/CS FoeTP count?

9. One character you have a crush on

none

10. One of your favourite fandoms to be in and why?

Even though this be a general one, Kirby has legit been the best for me all these years. You just can’t go wrong with Kirby, and pretty much everyone who loves Kirby is chill and friendly.

11. Describe (insert show here) in three words

Kirby = Eat the nightmares

15. If you were a fictional character in (insert universe here) what would you probably be doing and what life do you think you would have?

lol, if I lived in Kirby’s world, I’d be chillaxin for the rest of my life in Dream Land, enjoying the food and the sights. Sure, place gets frequently attacked and invaded by Eldritch Abominations but Kirby always pulls through doesn’t he?

16. Who do you think is a misunderstood character?

Hmm… I think ‘misunderstood’ in terms of ‘people tend to not portray them right’ (rather than ‘poor misunderstood baby’) would have to be… eh, maybe Dark Matter? I’m not against it but sometimes people seem to be quick to assume Dark Matter is like the ultimate source of evil in the Kirby universe, whereas I believe it’s just one of many evil beings that exist - albeit a powerful one. Maybe it’s just because Dark Matter has appeared more than once in the series, giving it an edge over most of the other bosses. I mean there’s a point where people going “X must be Dark Matter/Zero’s reincarnation because look!!! EYEBALL!!!1!” is basically becoming a bit of a meme.

17. Which character do you wish you were siblings/best friends/dating with?

I wish I could adopt Kirby as a sibling/friend. How could you not want that?!

19. What are three things you’ve learned from one of the shows you watch?

damn this is a little deep… But it’s true Kirby has really been an influence on my life in general since I first encountered it. If I have to say something, I’ll probably say:

[1] Being kind and gentle with others goes a long way (Kirby’s ‘All-Loving Hero’ status inspired this)[2] Cute, innocent and simple things should never be equated with weakness and childishness (The Kirby franchise in a nutshell)[3] There’s always going to be bad in the world as well as good, but we can always choose to punch it in the eye

20. If you could be a writer for any show you wish, how might you develop the plot/characters?

If I was a writer on Kirby, especially the anime, y’all know what the hell I’d be up to - BRING BACK CS/KEEP HIM ALIVE GOD FFUCKING DAMMINT!!!

Though the show had a good run, I wouldn’t mind a reboot or a comeback season. Can’t quite decide which would be nicer:

On the one hand, it would be cool seeing a sort of ‘X years later’ after the original ending with all the familiar anime cast back at it and a little older, a chance to introduce other game characters and elements in and maybe even play with adapting in a few of the game’s plots and devices.

On the other hand, reworking the original anime by expanding more into the GSA/Nightmare war and fleshing out some of the characters (like Silica & Knuckle Joe, the vets of the war, hell even those epic one-offs like Rona) as well as still having the chance to introduce game elements/characters into the anime universe.

I’m honestly easy either way, i would love to make either take happen.

Just as long as Customer Service also makes it back in, of course.

21. What’s one of your favourite quotes from a show you watch?

I rather like Sectonia’s establishing monologue during her first appearance. It’s just so… fitting. It’s cold and grand and tells you all about her and her motivation - particularly when she goes “My beauty rivals the divine… And my power shall crush all you hold dear!”

22. Favourite type of AU?

*crawls up slowly and leans very close to your ear* AN AU WHERE CUSTOMER SERVICE LIVES.

23. Write a brief headcanon for one of your OTPs

For the Susie/CS enemy ‘ship’: Both of them love finding ways to get the other’s personal emails/numbers and spamming passive aggressive messages or taunts. No matter how much encryption or changes of details either of them employs, the other always finds their way in.

25. Why do you love the shows you watch/books you read/fandoms you’re in?

What’s not to love about Kirby? Everything Kirby touches turns gold, and honestly the franchise can do just about anything and pull it off to a good level (even the slight duds still had their perks).

I particularly I love how the Kirby games are making this rich fantasy/sci-fi universe of their own - You can have the cute and fluffy and whimsical existing next to some pretty horrific shit, magic and tech working together like nbd, and in the recent games they’ve been hiding some really deep lore and feels under all the adorableness.

As for the anime, it’s still one of my favourite things to watch whenever. It’s like a favourite treasured childhood snack you can keep going back to and smile over, even despite its little hiccups and dated elements. It’s just innocent fun, and actually had a decent plot at times and even interesting characters, all which left room for expansion and the imagination while being enough as it was.

[markofcastiel]

Tagged by the absolute sweetheart @castielismyfavouriteangel​

1. What season did you start watching Supernatural?

Season 1, back when they were babies ;u; I stopped around season 3-ish and then restarted it when I caught the episode where Cas entered the show. After that I went back to see what I’d missed and became way too addicted.

2. Who was the first character you fell in love with?

Dean. His shit eating grin caught my heart like a flytrap.

3. Who was a character that you hated at first but grew to love?

Meg. Meg 1.0 was such an asshole (even tho I loved her style and thought the actress was super pretty) but then came Meg 2.0 being damaged and deep and calling Cas a unicorn and I just ;_;

4. Which character would you most want to be in a long - term relationship with?

Cas. He’d be the best hubbie. He’d probably bring me honey and plant flowers that attract bees in our yard and try to make my favorite dishes. He’d suck at cooking at first but then read 50 books about it and become the best and I’d egg him on and be his #1 supporter in everything. I’d crack “he’s such an angel” jokes all day and die a little each time he smiled.

5. If you could go on just one date with one character, which one would you choose?

Dean “best night of my life” Winchester.

6. What would you do on this date?

We’d go to the movies, probably for Guardians of The Galaxy or Wonder Woman, eat a bunch of junk food (and actually watch the movie cus we’re both too nerdy to miss it). Our cheeks would hurt from giggling all night at stupid puns. When he dropped me off, before we left the Impala, I’d lean in and kiss him- and then invite him in with a cheeky grin :P

7. Which character would you most want to be like?

Charlie. She’s so awesome and I want her tech skills ;u;

8. Which character would you most like to see brought back from the dead

^^^^^^^ CHARLIE ^^^^^^ (still not over it)

9. Which character would you most like to punch?

Tony freaking Bevell. Ugh. She deserves it.

10. Who is your absolute favorite character?

All of TFW. But with a special spot in my heart for Cas, let’s be honest.

11. Which “Big Bad” do you think was the worst?

Lucifer, I guess, since he started EVERYTHING. Everything bad that happened in the show began with him. The worst villains for me were Azazel and Alistair + the whole Apocalypse arc but it was caused by Lucifer.

12. Which character are you most like?

I think I’m a mix of Donna (with the cheeriness and trying to be optimistic  even when you’re dying inside) and also Charlie (with the tech geekiness, fandom nerdiness and the LARPing).

13. What death hit you the hardest?

Cas, when he walked into the lake, cus I really feared he wouldn’t come back (and maybe Misha wasn’t even supposed to come back but did just because of all the fan uproar that was created at the time).

14. What season finale hit you the hardest?

Swan Song, man. Swan Song. But Sacrifice is right up there too.

15. What are your ten all - time favorite episodes?

Honestly it’s hard to pick just 10 (so i didnt) but here are some of my favs:

The Man Who Would Be King (6.20) Swan Song (5.22) Baby (11.04) Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets (12.10) The End (5.04) A Little Slice of Kevin (8.07) Hunteri Heroici (8.08) Changing Channels (5.08) Sacrifice (8.23) Free To Be You And Me (5.03) Survival of the Fittest (7.23) Lazarus Rising (4.01)

Can you tell I’m destiel trash? ^^’‘

16. What’s been your favorite season?

Season 5? Idk, tbh. There are always good and bad eps.

17. Who is your favorite angel?

Aside from the obvious (Cas) it’s Gabeee!! (and also Balti aaa)

18. Who’s your favorite demon?

Crowley

19. Who’s your favorite evil character?

Rowena all the wayyyy

20. Do you have any Supernatural ships?

ALL OF THEM. Destiel is the OTP though

21. Who’s your favorite supporting actor?

Ruth Connell! SHE’S SO FUCKIN PRECIOUS i wanna hug her silly ;u;

22. What’s your favorite quote from the show?

"How important is lipstick to you, Dean?”

23. If you could cast one famous actor in an episode of SPN, who would you chose?

Lin Manuel Miranda as actual Hamilton in a AU time-traveling episode.

24. If you could write your own episode, what kind of creature would you like to see included?

Sasquatch. Dean would make jokes about it being Sam in disguise the entire time and Sam would have his Bitchface on at all times. Cas doesn’t understand and reassures Dean that his brother is fully human.

25. Who’s your favorite girl that Dean’s hooked up with?

Rhonda Hurley. Bless her for the best canon ever #pantykink

26. Who’s your favorite girl that Sam’s hooked up with?

Jess ;;_;;

27. What are some of your favorite convention moments?

The entire resume-off (”as long as the animal is asleep”); “What’s it like being REALLY attractive?” Jensen replies, very seriously, “I should probably take this one”; “Would you just drink your fucking water”; the “Influence”; Jensen singing; Jared stopping all the trains; Misha’s deadly fart; every time Dmitri crashes a panel and Jensen does his unicorn laugh and of course... ROARING. NESNEJ.

28. If you were going to guest star (or be a recurring guest star) on SPN, how would you want your character described?

I’d be Diana, the actual goddess. TERRIFYING, POWERF- “Wait, why is she petting every animal she sees? Sammy, I don’t think this is our big baddie...”

29. What do you hope to see in the next season?

AU Castiel, Dean pining and suffering and BEING HONEST ABOUT IT, Jack actually being a good guy or at least redeeming himself (unlikely, but a girl can hope), Castiel coming back, Destiel hug, Mary coming back and finally doing right by her boys, SAMMY BEING A LEADER!!!

DEAN AND CAS KISSING AND DECLARING THEIR ETERNAL LOVE

30-40. If you had to choose…

Bobby or John? Bobby

Bela or Ruby? Ruby

Jess or Madison? Jess

Jo or Lisa? Jo

Charlie or Kevin? Charlie

Balthazar or Ash? Balthazar

Cas or Crowley Cas

Ben or Claire? Claire

Jody or Donna? Jody

Sam or Dean? Dean

Tagging: (if y’all wanna do it, of course)

@jimminovak, @royalrowena, @hangsabove, @beekeepercain @prayforjensen, @godstiel-collins and anyone else who fancies it

[fairytalesandtimetravel]

Monday Morning (Afternoon) Rewatch 621-622

Okay there be negativity here but it will be at the end and under a cut lol

BEANSTALK iN THE TITLE CARD

MY WIFE

Omg All the Captain Charming just all of it! That scene at the bottom of the bean stalk was the greatest and broke my heart. 

MY WIFEEEEEEEEEE

MY SON.

IN-LAW

Died. 

Killian and the Giant’s table obstacle course was so great. 

And then “Mummy?” I can’t I’m so sad we won’t be getting anymore Killian teasing his in-laws bc I love it.

I do love Emma and Henry working together it was so sweet.

And omggggggg That little flashback on the roof hurt! I loved it!

And her staring at Killian’s picture in the book as it burned. UGH

All the call backs were really nice especially Snow and Charming’s

Alright that shot of Henry walking down main st with Charming’s sword and the sunset in the background that was gorgeous!

I do love how Emma defeated Gideon like damn and then also her reunions with everyone especially Killian and all those cheek kisses I loved that as short as it was.

And omg I loved Snow’s hope speech about endings and how now we live and stuff I thought it was just beautiful and It made me tear up. 

Same thing with the montage. Killian’s a deputy! holy shit do I wish there was some conversation in that montage but it was still really nice and made me cry. I can’t believe it’s over ;_; 

The last supper...... like nice imagry as awkward as it was but ummm do we want that connotation... of you know.. Jesus dying the next day.... ummm that’s nice... I was planning on checking out the first episode but I don’t think right now I will be... I’m going to wait to hear what happens. if anything I am going to be a super casual viewer next year as I write my own season 7...

How the frickity frack does rumple get a happy ending with Belle like that is so messed up after everything that has happened between them. He does not deserve one. He was just planning to double cross everyone!

Can next season Killian finally kill Rumple. I will be absolutely watching that episode singing Revenge is going to be mine the entire time please and thank you. 

WHy is everyone comforting regina and not Killian AND IGNORING KILLIAN EXCEPT YOU DAVID BLESS YOU AND YOUR ADVENTURES!!!

I was just so bored? like omg  I was bored for the majoiry of it it was actually really bad I’m really annoyed with how bored I was.

Emma had a way smaller roll than I hoped and she was so passive and we didn’t get to see her decide to come back.

And all that Captain Swan set up in the beginning only to completely fall flat in the next episode and for them to exchange 3 lines... 3 lines.... CS exchanged 3 lines in their last ep everyone... thats awesome. F u adam and eddy and all your baiting. Honestly I’m really disappointed with that.... That was not cool. 

Henry’s arm magically healed after 2 minutes?

Most anticlimactic ending to the Black Fairy and the ending of a curse?

Belle twisted her ankle?

Clippy rumple for rumple?

Idk man I’m going to watch the musical again have that and the 20 minutes of footage I liked from the finale be my ending. This new Au season scares me. I’m jelly of everyone excited for it but I can’t even think about it and what this possibly means for everyone’s happy ending’s i’m not emotionally strong enough for that lol 

Edit: Alos like when did the dwarves and Regina ever get on well enough to  put queen on her door to the mayor’s office???? there is just so much missing charcater developement for her

[xfilesnews]

FanWorks Wednesdays - crossedbeams

by Keva Andersen

After a short hiatus, we’re back with our author profile series! Meet @crossedbeams. She’s a relative newcomer to the fandom and found her way to The X-Files in a way that’s a little different than most. But despite only meeting Mulder and Scully a short time ago, she’s taken to the characters like an author who’s been with them for years.

Take some time and read through crossedbeams’ collection of “MSR Moments,” a collection of ficlets and prompts that are fun snapshots of Mulder and Scully’s day-to-day life. With a little angst thrown in too, of course. If AU’s are your thing I highly recommend “One Week at Quantico.” The story looks at what might have been had Mulder been teaching at the Academy while Scully was there. Jump in for this line: “But for the sake of argument, quantum physics doesn’t actually rule out time travel” and stay for the rest of the story! And if, like me, you’re looking for a great post-revival kick in the feels check out “Lost Letters.” The story explores how Mulder and Scully deal with Maggie Scully’s death in a world where “Babylon” and “My Struggle II” don’t exist.

We talked with crossedbeams about writing, inspiration, and of course The X-Files.

How long have you been a Phile?

I'm pretty new! I think I watched my first ever episode in November 2015, I completed my first watch through two days before the revival started and I joined the online fandom a year ago! I came at it all kinda backwards... I'm a massive theatre nerd who missed the London run of “Streetcar” (my favourite play) thank to illness, and had never quite gotten over it! The NY show announced summer of 15 and I'd already decided I was going, hell or high water. Then when I was reading about the production it mentioned that “Blanche” was in The Fall, I'd only seen Ep.1 so I got hooked on that, figured I'd see what else Gillian had done, saw The X-Files, I only knew it was one of those cult shows I'd missed thanks to my TV-less childhood and so I figured I'd give it a go... little I knew!

What was your first episode?

The pilot! I'm a completist to a boring level, chronology is my jam (which makes late season mythology suuuper fun!). I think I actually saw the pilot three times before I made it further, once with my sister who wasn't interested, once when I was so tired I couldn't remember what happened and then finally the day I watched most of S1 in one hit. Whoops!

How long have you been writing fic?

According to my blog I posted my first drabble on March 28th, 2016! So almost a year, which seems both way too long (I still feel like a desperate newbie) and not long enough.

What inspired you to start writing?

I've always been a reader, no TV as a kid = loaded bookshelves, my family are wordy, my degree is in English literature and I work with books, so words are my most constant companion. I've always liked to write, the process of catching an idea or a sensation just perfectly in a sentence is on of the most satisfying things I can think of, but while I was at Uni, it was like a switch flicked in my head. I think it was perhaps the first time in my life I was truly unhappy for more than a few hours, and also the first time I didn't have anyone to talk to that I trusted. I became very isolated, shut myself in my room a lot and all the words that used to be my friends where just fighting in my head, angry or sad or whatever, the noise was endless. And on day I just snatched up my laptop and started writing. I don't even remember what, probably some self-pitying explosion of adjectives, and for a little while I felt better. I wrote a lot of poetry, essays and journaled while I was at uni, my only attempt at stories was curtailed by a creative writing tutor who I despised, but in one form or another I've been writing ever since.

Who is your favorite XF character to write?

Originally it was Scully, I tend to gravitate to female voices and hers is the kind of awesome, no-nonsense, bad ass lady voice I wish I had, but lately Mulder has crept in and I honestly enjoy writing both their perspectives equally, though Scully still comes a little more easily. “Quantico” was the first time I feel like I successfully pulled off a split narrative between the two and kept both their characters completely clear. My absolute favourite thing to write though are the bits in between the characters, the omniscient narrator parts where you get to dig into your vocab to try and describe succinctly the emotional impact of a word, or the desperation of their need etc. But that's not really a character so... Scully!

Are there any XF characters you dislike or find too difficult to write?

Besides Mulder and Scully, I've only ever tried to write Maggie, and that was in letter format which is kind of a cheat, so I don't feel like I've necessarily got enough experience to answer this well. I'm pretty good at writing within a brief, so I'm not adverse to writing anyone, I just don't have any ideas for most of them! I suppose Reyes appeals to me the least, just because I don't feel like I ever properly connected to her or understood her true purpose in TXF universe (especially post-revival). I don't dislike her at all, I just don't get her and so likely couldn't do her justice.

Is there a story you're most proud of or that's a favorite?

I think “Quantico” will always be special because it took me by surprise; it was the little request drabble that grew and I am still overwhelmed by people's response to it... but.. “Trinity” is my baby, and also my great shame, because it's been a WIP for way too long and I'm still dithering. I'm proud of it because it's the biggest risk I've taken in my writing; my first proper case file and my first attempt at crossover. Writing Scully, Stella Gibson, and Blanche Dubois into one canon compliant universe is possibly the stupidest idea I have ever run with, but so far it has paid off and the feedback from those prepared to risk it has been phenomenal. I love writing Blanche, Stella fights me and Scully is my safe place but the mental process of characterizing that story, advancing that plot, is the most satisfying, terrifying, exhausting writing I've ever done. And I desperately need to get on with it.

Where can people find your work, and what's the best way to send feedback?

I have a master list that I update regularly on my blog header and I'm also on AO3 as crossedbeams and everything is indexed there too. Feedback can be via tumblr message, comment or ask, AO3 comment or people can email crossedbeamsfic@gmail.com I'm still amazed that people read what I write so any feedback is the cherry on top! I'm also good with constructive criticism, I'm still new and learning after all.

Do you take fic prompts from fans?

Yes, though it can take a while. There are guidelines to what I will/won't write on the Request A Fic tab on my blog, and a disclaimer too! But I'm always open to discuss it.

Have you written your own original characters outside of fandom?

Yes. I have a few unfinished short stories, a couple of finished ones, and in my previous incarnation on tumblr I wrote a pretty long, often terrible, series that covered several generations of a cast of original characters!

Anything you’d like to share about your writing process?

I'm kind of a messy writer. I write mostly in long sittings and the words just come. Most of my favourite drabbles have been written in a single sitting and posted when the last full stop drops. (Hence the typos in early reblogs!) I find this stops me over working the prose and getting too verbose but it does also backfire at times. I find it much harder to write longer form pieces, because my writing is often emotion driven. There was a six week gap between most of “Quantico” and the final two chapters, a four week gap between parts 3 and 4 of “Close”  partly because I put immense pressure on myself to "finish things well" but also because emotionally I couldn't find the right groove. “Quantico” began in a fluffy, happy place where I was optimistic and not in my head, “Close”… I think I was tipsy and had come in from a date! Trying to finish those fics as they deserved to be finished when a week later I was miserable and self-flagellating, or feeling decidedly unsexy felt almost impossible. I often wish my process were more considered and structured, that I could sit and get down a couple hundred words and edit it better later, but my mind just doesn't work that way, and I've learned that I can't force it to.

Do you have a favorite author? (fanfic or published!)

Only about 9000000! Fic wise, @somekindofseizure on tumblr has a gorgeous way with words I envy and aspire to. I could list so many more but I'll only leave people out so I'll just say that if you check my ficrecs tag you'll find so many people, many of whom I'm lucky enough to count as friends, who do so many things so well. Some of them are plot beasts, others ruin me with beautiful language and some are just steam queens.

My favourite print authors are probably Ngugi, John Burnside, LM Montgomery, Roald Dahl, Alice Hoffman and Oscar Wilde.

Is there any advice you'd give to aspiring writers?

Just do it. Keep doing it. Until you've actually scribbled or typed something down it's only ever an idea. Even if you hate it, keep it, try again. You can't get better at something you're not actually doing and thinking your ideas til you're blue in the face doesn't count! Read, learn what you like and don't, be inspired. Keep writing. And don't compare your work to the work of others, you'll never match "their voice" so don't try. Mark yourself against yourself, if you capture something better every time you sit down and write, you're headed the right way. Just do you, do it regularly, ask for help, and keep going!

Anything else you'd like to share that I missed?

I'd just like to say thank you for asking me to participate, I'm still finding my feet in this strange new fandom place and I am so very grateful to you for asking, to all those who read my writing and to everyone who has embraced me and made this such a great year, I've been a fangirl of many things, but it's my first time as part of a family and it's been such a lifeline.

Thank you so much to crossedbeams for talking with us! We’re always looking for authors both new and old favorites, so if you have suggestions please message us here, hit us up on twitter or facebook.

[misscrawfords]

Ugh, you're SO RIGHT about the Sherlock tag. I would have LOVED to hear people's thoughts/ opinions on the ep, discussed them etc, but a quick venture into there quickly changed my mind! What did you think of the new episode? I would be so, so interested to hear all your thoughts! I always love reading about how you found things, whether they're how I feel or not, you just do it so well!

I think it’s time to answer this. Anon, buckle up! And I hope you’re still here…

As a bonus, you get my thoughts on all three episodes. Isn’t it your lucky day…

You’re also going to get reaction gifs. Because I’m on my laptop and I can do them. It’s my lucky day tbh. I’ve just watched an hour and a half of the purest shit that’s ever appeared on my TV screen, green lit by the BBC and with piles of money from my licence fee spent on making it and paying the writers salaries.

Writers who I basically imagine look like this:

So I need a treat. So I have my tea and some cake from my cousin’s baptism party earlier today (so pure! so good! so help me God if I ever let him watch this trash show!). Let’s get going.

Under the cut because

Sherlock was an entertaining, clever(ish) show at the beginning. It was a modern AU of Conan Doyle’s stories and it was fun to see how they were updated, like any modern AU. The mind palace was original, Moriarty worked as a different kind of villain and the way the episodes were updated was interesting and overall successful. I remember enjoying The Hounds of Baskerville particularly. I’ve never shipped anyone with anyone so, y’know, I’m going to talk about that aspect of fandom and the show. (At least not yet.) It’s not my arena.

And then at some point Moffat and Gatiss let success go to the head and this happened.

This gif, incidentally, could also sum up the level of plot explanation and coherence from many episodes. Sherlock’s mind palace basically becomes super powers and nothing makes sense any more.

Because Moffat really loves writing stories about unconventionally attractive, misunderstood super geniuses saving the world while implausibly brilliant, psychologically disturbed hot women fall in love with them.

So anyway. You asked about the first episode of this season. Uh, I’ve already forgotten it tbh. Something something weird girl on the bus something is John cheating something something aquarium something MARY GETS SHOT.

Oh now I remember.

So Sherlock is obsessed with Moriarty despite the fact that he is dead. (Probably?) I mean, he might not be because Moffat is famous for refusing to let characters stay dead and he’s basically unaware which show he’s writing for, DW or Sherlock, at this point. And he also likes to suggest things to the fans which aren’t the case but the fans which they were. Apparently that’s what being clever means.

Anyway, he’s waiting for a message from Moriarty and he’ll know it when it comes because… he’s just that good and there’s all these hints that Sherlock can basically predict the future using… science and his phenomenal brain?

And the whole episode is bookended with a riddle about a merchant going to Samara which is the equivalent of a trashy YA fantasy quoting Hesiod in the original Greek at the beginning of the volume to try to look cultured. I mean, it basically doesn’t mean anything or even necessarily make sense but for a time you’re bamboozled into thinking you’re reading/watching something really incredibly intelligent. Just because literary allusions and alinear narratives can add depth to something doesn’t mean the addition of them automatically improves something!

AKA the viewers to Moffat. So long, and thanks for the meta.

Back to the episode. There’s the disappearance of boy that Sherlock solves in five seconds because he can do that? It makes no sense and by this point I don’t even try to suspend my disbelief. I mean, what’s the point?

Sherlock gets obsessed with the 6 Thatchers and thinks it’s to do with Moriarty but actually it’s connected to Mary Watson who is actually an ex-assassin because being a complex human woman living in the real world is too far beyond Moffat’s comprehension to contemplate writing.

Meanwhile John can’t cope with fatherhood and starts texting a random girl on the bus who is clearly sinister. Then Mary dives in front of a bullet to save Sherlock despite having recently become a mother. I’m not a mother but from everything I understand, a mother’s primary instinct is to protect the child, especially a vulnerable baby. Mary is consistently presented (ha lol consistent characterisation jk who dis) as loving John and valuing their life together above everything else. So… what conceivable motivation could she have for depriving her child of its mother in this way and prioritising Sherlock’s life over her own? Her affection for Sherlock is ultimately baffling except in the context that all women love Sherlock, despite him being condescending, rude, manipulative, dishonest and emotionally unavailable.

But hey, it’s pretty original stuff to kill a female character to advance the character development of the two white male protagonists who’ve been queerbaited since the beginning of the show, right?

So yeah, that’s the first episode.

Second episode was all about Sherlock concocting another plan involving him turning into the Sybil of Cumae with no rational explanation in order to make John come and save him. Because Mary told him to in a video message presented to look like it was from Moriarty. Yes, it makes just as much sense as it sounds.

Credit where credit is due, Culverton Smith was a really chilling villain and unmasking him would have made a great S01 episode. This episode was really actually not bad in many ways if you ignore most of the stuff beyond the main plot.

But then! The ending! John’s therapist was the girl from the bus in the previous episode and she’s Sherlock’s insane sister! Called Euros! (Which isn’t a girl’s name wtf that’s a masculine ending.) Which means East Wind! Which has apparently been referenced to in previous episodes! And everything was building towards this! 

Because what could be more predictable and obvious than Sherlock having a long lost sister who is even more clever than he is who is introduced as an even bigger villain than Moriarty? Spoiler alert: She was also an American transfer student to Hogwarts and Draco Malfoy fell in love with her.

On a more serious note, the reason this “twist” is hilarious and predictable is because it is yet more of the same. Each threat is escalated beyond belief and Ebony Euros is just the latest in a long line of dangerous, genius women set up as foils and/or love interests for Moffat’s genius/emotionally stunted heroes.

Arguably Mary might be in this category too. Moffat hasn’t progressed beyond the characterisation of women of a basic fairy tale: in other words, they either help or hinder the hero on his journey. If they help, they are either old (Mrs. Hudson) or in love with him (Molly, Mary in the sense that she is willing to DIE for him and make him the centre of her universe despite her husband and baby) and if they hinder him then they either do it by being utterly unappealing and monstrous (the woman in the aquarium whose name I’ve forgotten - she’s old and she shoots Mary - there’s something grotesque about her in that scene) or they use sex as an entrapment (Irene). These women simply cannot exist beyond these binary roles towards the hero.

Eunos in episode 3 obviously can’t fancy Sherlock due to being his sister, but she nevertheless falls into the category of being quick-talking, psychopathic and her sexuality is expressed through an odd sequence with Moriarty. Like Moriarty, she claims to not care or even notice the gender of the person she’s boning which just sounds weird as opposed to liberated, which I suppose was the intention. In fact, Eunos’ characterisation is hardly different to Moriarty’s. Perhaps this is intentional, considering the role Moriarty is playing in Eunos’ plans but it just feels tired and not half as slick and clever by this point. 

At the end, Eunos is revealed to be the little girl on the plane WHICH MAKES LITERALLY NO SENSE FROM A NARRATIVE POINT. How even? And how did they end up at that house? I mean, I just really have no idea. By this point I’m just praying for it to be over soon.

But anyway, she’s the little girl on the plane and thus turns into another one of Moffat’s tropes from DW of the little traumatised girl whose entire existence is built to basically revolve around the hero.

Anyway, most of this trash episode is Eunos playing games with Sherlock, John and Mycroft. How they are manipulated beggars belief and therefore there is no suspense. Obviously she’s going to kill the governor’s wife anyway! She’s a PSYCHOPATH - why do you trust her to play by her rules?

So I really have no idea why they play along with her for so long. It makes the whole thing very boring.

Anyway, one of her games is to force Molly Hooper to say “I love you” to Sherlock and I’m not dwelling on this because I find shipping on this show very tedious because the whole thing is a manipulated construct by the writers and nothing is genuine and it’s obvious they were never going to end the show with Sherlock and John locked in an embrace so, honestly, what were you expecting? I guess this is another example of a tease that isn’t actually fun but rather a cruel bait to the fans of the show. A fake declaration of love - that actually never develops into anything and confirmation that Molly is in love with Sherlock because she simply can’t not be. I’m so angry. This is so many things and I can’t even be bothered to discuss it further.

Anyway, I’m running out of steam. What else? The plot is a giant mess, Cumberbatch playing the violin is an embarrassment to violinists everywhere. The whole thing is a self-conscious nod to and slap in the face to its fans. Its smugness is utterly insufferable and entirely unjustifiable.

I think what makes it totally laughable rather than just plain bad and insulting to everyone who isn’t Moffat’s demographic is the fact that for at least this season and quite possibly longer, the show doesn’t even have internal consistency. It’s impossible to suspend disbelief when watching it. I don’t even know what kind of show it is. It is impossible to believe in any of the Sherlocks because they are incomprehensible, not quite human in a universe that doesn’t allow them to have special powers. And no amount of trying to give Sherlock emotions can change that. None of it hangs together at all.