#...Fifth if we include Soos

[astro-b-o-y-d]

I don’t think about Ford as much as the other Pineses, and I genuinely can’t imagine why outside of him simply being in the show less than them. He’s so great and autistic and a huge dork, I cannot understand why he hasn’t clicked with me mentally as much as the other family members.

[evieskiesss]

21ST- TOM KAULITZ

a/n: you guys should read my wattpad which includes SOO many more of these imagines. i just upload some of them on here :)

𝘼𝙉𝙂𝙎𝙏, 𝙂𝙊𝙊𝘿 𝙀𝙉𝘿𝙄𝙉𝙂

𝙒𝘼𝙍𝙉𝙄𝙉𝙂𝙎: 𝙨𝙪𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙨𝙩 + 𝙛𝙡𝙪𝙛𝙛

-

You couldn't believe it. You couldn't believe that it was now the fourth time this week that Tom hadn't been home at his usual time. It was now nearing 11 pm, it being far from his usual arrival at 9.

     Your calls were ignored, messages unread as you tried to contact him for the fifth time tonight. The light from the kitchen lightly dimmed the living room, the soft blanket on you failing to bring you the comfort you had hoped for.

   This was week the same as the last. Tom arriving home late, missed calls and ignored messages, his cold responses leaving you in the gutter as you tried to ask him where he had been. "out with the guys," always being his response.

    A key rattled into the doorknob, you sat up as the door pushed itself open. Tom had his head down as he locked the door behind him, kicking his shoes off beside it. You watched him in the dark now turn around, nearly jump back at your presence.

   "shit," he chuckled, "you scared me." You didn't smile. He swiped his bottom lip with his thumb, taking a small step toward the couch you sat on. "it's late, shouldn't you be asleep?" he asked, no real concern detected in his tone.

    "shouldn't you be?"

    He gave you an odd look, "what do you mean?"

    You blinked, "you haven't answered my messages, nor my calls." He took his bottom lip between his teeth, "didn't receive them," he shrugged. He looked away, now walking toward the kitchen.

    You swore you physically felt your heart crack a little. He grabbed a cup, filling it with water as he chugged it down. You got up, standing at the edge of the kitchen, watching him place the cup into the sink.

     He rubbed the back of his neck tiredly, fingers gripping the sink as his muscles continued to tense. "where were you?" you questioned, voice small as you were afraid of the answer.

    Perhaps you didn't want to know, perhaps you did. You weren't exactly sure of what you wanted him to say, you didn't know if you wanted the truth just yet.

    He removed his hand from the back of his neck, "out with the guys." You could've almost tasted the sentence itself, after having heard it so many times, it had just lost its significance. You opened your mouth to speak, before being abruptly cut off.

    He turned around swiftly, "i'm tired. we should sleep," he muttered, pressing a quick kiss to your forehead before squeezing his way past you, toward your shared bedroom. Before you even knew it, there it was.

   The soft scent of a floral & sweet perfume. It had hit you the second he brushed right past you, the scent lingering even after he left. You smelled the air once more. jasmine, blackberry, rose & honey.

     Your skin went cold, it was a scent far too feminine to be a cologne. Far too floral, too sweet, too fruity, too.. womanly. God knows how long you stood in that kitchen, searching your surroundings for what else could've possibly emitted such a lovely fragrance.

    Your heart thudded harder as you couldn't find an explanation, it was sure that it was what you had thought. With a force of your feet, you pulled yourself to the bedroom, you were glad to see the bathroom door still shut, light emitting from underneath.

    You brought yourself to the hamper, hesitantly lifting the top before searching for the clothing. You looked through everything, growing more frustrated as you couldn't find the outfit.

    The bathroom door opened abruptly, startling you from your investigation. He walked to the mirror, patting away the small water droplets left on his nape with the towel.

    He tossed it to the side, now grabbing some lotion to put on his arms. His eyes locked with yours through the mirror, then glancing to the hamper, if you weren't so focused on where the clothing was, you might've noticed the slight change in his eyes to see you standing next to the hamper.

     "something wrong?" he asked, voice slightly weary, almost undetectable. "where are your clothes." you replied, your tone almost demanding. He broke away the eye contact, looking down as he rearranged some stuff, "put it to wash."

     fuck. He avoided your gaze, simply moving stuff around before sitting down on the bed. You continued to stand there, not believing how cold he had gotten over the span of just two weeks.

     He sighed silently, rubbing the side of his face as if to brush something off his mind. He looked tired, eyes slightly sunken in with dark circles, he looked done, but he for sure looked hot in some odd way.

     You swallowed, "where were yo-"

    He let out a silent sigh, "c'mon, let's just go to sleep," he muttered, tiredly looking at you, his hand patting the empty side next to him on the bed.

      You held back the tears that wanted to come out, suppressing the ache that now begun in your chest. You blinked, not wanting to get in just yet. He stared back at you, eyes hollow as he knew you weren't going to give in just yet.

       His finger rubbed his eye, "we went to the mall," he mumbled nonchalantly, his face flat as he just wanted you to get in bed. You didn't reply. After what seemed like an eternity, he spoke again.

    "babe.. just get in bed," he shook his head tiredly, wanting the awkward moment to just end. For some reason, you allowed the tired look on his look to win you over.

    You didn't know why. You didn't know why it only took him to ask you twice to get in bed for you to listen to him, and why it took you two weeks of asking where he was to finally get a half-assed answer.

     You broke your own respect when you walked him, crawling into the bed as you pulled the soft sheets over you. He rubbed his face one more time then turned the small lamp off on his bedside table.

    Your back faced him as you bit your lip, contemplating what you might've done wrong for him to seek another woman. Was she prettier? Funnier? Better at sex? In what ways was she satisfying him better than you ever could?

     He laid down next to you, his body stiff for a moment before he shifted closer to you. His arm gently looped itself around your waist, pulling your body to be right against his, his nose gently pressed against your shoulder.

    He placed a soft kiss, "i love you," he whispered. it took you a while, but eventually, gave in to your hearts power.

    "i love you too.."

-

    You bit the end of the pen, eyes straining on the notebook in front of you. Your leg bounced up & down with anxiety as you thought of what else to write down.

SUSPICIONS:

arriving home late

came home smelling like woman

missed calls

unanswered texts

cold shoulder

doesn't tell me where he was

     You felt slightly guilty, having to write a list for the suspicions you held against your boyfriend, but what else were you supposed to do? A couple of days had passed again, yet things were still the same.

Your suspicions grew stronger, but last night was the last straw. You'd lost one of your favorite earrings, of course after a breakdown, you searched the entire home. You flipped the entire house around, searching for the expensive earring.

     A small memory popped into your head of when you had last worn it, it was on a date with Tom to a restaurant, it must've fallen in the car. So there you were, searching Tom's car for the earring, but to your terrible luck, you made a different discovery.

    A single brown hair in the passenger side, directly on the leather seat. Your heart dropped, you had never felt such pain before, or so you had thought, until you found a second hair.. in the backseat.

      Your stomach churned, all the little bit of hope you had remaining simply left you. You quickly shut the car door, tears streaming down your face as you ran to the bathroom, hurling out everything you'd eaten that day.

    You hadn't felt such disgust. How could he? While you're at home waiting for him, he's out fucking another girl. And to make matters worse, the day right before your birthday.

    So here you were, the day after, (your birthday), writing a list to use against your cheating boyfriend. Picking up the pen, you nipped at your lower lip as you added to the list.

    Brown hair in car.

      You sat there, staring down at the paper that held your entire relationships crumble. You felt nearly helpless, not knowing what to do. You'd spent the day purely trying to cheer yourself up.

    You ordered your favorite food for lunch, watching some movies along with some snacks & a bottle of wine, but nothing seemed to distract you from the nagging question in the back of your mind, who is she?

     A certain line coming from the T.V. caught your attention, it was a famous talk show in which people would send in their questions or ask for advice.

     You leaned forward to grab the remote, turning the volume up to clearly listen. "-who cares about him? You need to prioritize yourself and your feelings. If that man is not showing you the attention that you deserve, then leave him!" the woman snapped.

     The crowed cheered, agreeing with the woman. She smiled brightly, "You are far more important than some lame ass man who won't do shit for you. So what should you do? Go out! Have a drink, go out with some friends! Go to a club and meet a new man! Trust, there's plenty," she winked.

     That striked something in you. She was right. If Tom didn't want to do anything for you, then you'd do it for yourself. You ran up to the T.V. placing a kiss to the screen, directly on the cheek of the woman.  "love you Cathy Paine!"

    You ran to your room, shutting the door before opening up your closet. You popped your hip out, nails tapping against the wall as you scanned all of your dresses, which one was club worthy?

You settled on a black/pink halter dress, it sat right above your thighs, an upside down V cut at the bottom. You curled your hair, then brushed it out to let the soft curls bounce.

      You focused on your makeup for a solid 20 minutes, trying to get it perfect. After not too long, you were done. Dress on, makeup done & hair styled. You looked at yourself in the mirror, you looked incredible.

     Before you walked away, you instinctively reached for your phone once more, checking to see if your boyfriend had texted you at all. Nothing. You stared at the blank screen, the rage of the past 2 weeks now bubbling inside you. Fuck it.

 

-

      You didn't know if you were going insane or not, but you swore you saw Tom's car. You were nearly 3 blocks away from the club when his car drove across from the other street.

    You ran the red light, following behind a couple of cars to not make your presence noticeable. "that fucking asshole," you grumbled under your breath, eyes strained on the familiar cadillac.

    Tom's car turned a left, your surroundings suddenly becoming unfamiliar. "where the fuck is he going," you whispered to yourself, your car going relatively slower to reduce attraction to yourself.

     You followed him into the street, before suddenly braking. His car was in the middle of the street, not moving. His head poked out of the window, looking straight back at you. Your breath hitched the second your eyes made contact.

     With a swift movement, he pressed the gas, his car going at a concerning speed. "fuck!" you yelled to yourself, knowing he caught you. But did it really matter? not really.

    You tried to catch up, tried to follow him, but his driving skills were better than yours, and within the span of 2 quick minutes, you lost him. You parked your car, immediately hitting the steering wheel. "fuck!"

      You had him. The chance to catch him, but you lost it. Your anger only grew stronger, how dare he leave. You were broken out of your thoughts when your phone began to ring.

     You hesitantly answered the unknown number. "hello?"

   "meet me at 293 Monroe Road. i know something about tom."

    The phone ended abruptly, the beeping sound frustrating you further as you couldn't question the person. The voice was strange, surely distorted. You were uneasy, but obliged.

    

          It took you about half an hour to reach the location. The area seemed nice, not very secluded, in fact, the building you approached seemed quite nice.

    The outside seemed to have been painted recently, the outside brightly illuminated. Your phone buzzed.

go in through the back.

     You sighed, now getting nervous. Your heels clicked against the concrete as you walked towards the back of the building. A single door was there, a paper stuck to it.

     Your fingers grazed the paper.

follow the path.

      "aw, fuck no.." you whispered to yourself, now looking back. You couldn't see your car from there, it wouldn't be a bad idea to just run. But you were already there.

    You took a deep breath, pushing the door and entering. The hallway was long, dimly lit as you could barely see where you were even walking. As you grew closer to the end of the hall, you heard scurrying.

    You stepped back, listening closely. Nothing. After another deep breath, you turned the only corner there. It was dark, incredibly dark. Your hand felt around the wall, your right one couldn't feel the other wall. The room must've been big.

     Finally, your fingers found a switch. You switched it on.

    "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" an entire crowed yelled. You nearly fell back, eyes wide as you were incredibly startled. You moved your hair out of your face, now becoming aware of your surroundings.

The ceilings were full of mirrors, large disco balls along with silver balloons perfectly placed on the ceilings & walls. It was dark yet pretty red & purple lights lit it up perfectly to fit the vibe. Long tables of sweets, bottles of expensive champagne & foreign chocolates. The one that really surprised you, was the literal mountain of gifts, all stacked up into a tall pyramid.

     You gasped at the sight of all of your friends, family, and your boyfriend. He stood with a large smile, two glasses in his hand. Bill jumped at you, engulfing you in a tight hug. "happy birthday!" he squealed, squeezing you.

      Some other friends approached you quickly, bombarding you with happy wishes, gifts and hugs. You accepted it all gladly, but we're still somewhat confused.

     "happy birthday, princess," he congratulated you, handing you a glass. You were more than confused, accepting the drink in your hand. "w-wait, i'm- im mad at you!"

       He nodded, pursing his lips. "i know you are, honey. but-"

     "-but nothing!" you cut him off. You stared at him blankly, "you- you're cheating!". Tom's face dropped, along with Bills, Georg's & Gustav's. "what?"

     Your mouth was open, but a sound struggled to come out. "you- you never answer me! you smelt like woman and- i found a brown hair! two in your car!"

    Tom's head quickly turned to Georg, both of them staring at each other before bursting into a fit of laughter. They hit each others arms as they laughed, tears threatening to spill out of their eyes before they straightened themselves up.

    "what- what's so funny?!"

 

    Tom wiped a tear, "baby, that's Georg's hair!". Georg continued laughing, hunched over as he held his stomach. His hair moved with his movements, swaying. You took a close look, the length, color and tone matched it perfectly.

   "i shed sometimes!"

   "how would it have gotten in the backseat?" you questioned him.

     "maybe when putting all of the gifts into the backseat! We spent like 20 whole minutes purely putting in gifts!"

    Tom's hand came to your lower back, holding you softly. You turned to him again, your finger to his chest. "then how do you explain smelling like woman!"

     He chuckled, "had to smell every one of them to get it right." Bill turned to you with an annoyed expression, "he had us at there at the mall for two hours just looking for the perfect perfume!" he whined, dragging his last words.

Your expression softened, turning to look at Tom. He held a slightly guilty look on his face, but a little smile still on his lips. “i’m sorry, meine liebe. i’ve been planing this for weeks & i just.. i wanted it to be a complete surprise. i couldn’t let you find out about it. you really don’t know how long it took me to get all of this together,” he chuckled, arms wrapping around you lovingly.

You smiled, looking around you. The place was absolutely gorgeous, the decorations were beautiful, it genuinely must’ve costed him thousands.

“babe, how much did this all cost?” you worried slightly. He shook his head, bringing your body closer to his, “that doesn’t matter, schatz. i did this all for you,” he smiled, bringing himself close for a sweet kiss.

Of course, he wasn’t going to tell you the amount he spent… which was definitely in the thousands place. He didn’t care that he spent literal hours searching for the perfect perfumes, the dress he bought you, the shoes, the jewelry, and all of the decorations.

The decorations being one of the hardest to find. Some things had to be exported from France, some from Belgium & so on. Although he did hire a party planner, he needed it to be perfect.

You smiled into the kiss, holding his face tenderly. “just thank me later tonight,” he whispered, his hand now giving your ass a soft squeeze. He looked at you up & down, his tongue swiping across his bottom lip.

“how come you look so pretty tonight? where you going?” he raised an eyebrow, eyes narrowing slightly as he smirked. You rolled your eye’s exaggeratedly, “nowhereeee.”

He laughed a little, knowing you most definitely had different plans for the night. He pulled you in again, kissing you with love.

“happy 21st, my birthday girl.”

[vqrtualheartss]

"𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖" — 𝑬42 𝑴𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒙 𝑭𝒆𝒎!𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌!𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓

ᴅ☆ᴇ'ꜱ ꜱᴀʏ|

Do not question why the time is going so fast part two

Yes, your friends are low-key bimbos but they book n street smart

Y'all I'm so happy that my page is growing 🥹 I love y'all fr

—Warnings: I have never been outside this country so I am NOT familiar with Brooklyn slang., Use of N word —hence why the title says it's for black readers

𝓘𝓷𝓽𝓻𝓸𝓭𝓾𝓬𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷 | Throughout Brooklyn Visions you were known as 'antisocial' —always wearing a mask even after the end of COVID, never at a party or a school function, 'dead socials', and the one that seals the deal: never seen with a boy.— Truth is you weren't even like that, up in that school the way everyone thinks is basically copied and pasted and not in a good way. It wouldn't take much to be viewed differently and not being too interested in interacting with almost anybody, you just kept to yourself. And no, this isn't some typical white highschool movie where you're bullied and apart of some loser, nerd squad, if anything it was far from that. Y'know those pretty, melanin-queen it-girls? Yeah, that's your crew, don't get it twisted though, you weren't some 'accessory friend' used by them —you we're just as pretty if not more— but you've seen how guys treat pretty girls in comparison to those "average" and who would want to be with someone like that? Definitely not you

It was the day before the mid-term break and your friends —Shadae, Nia, Kiara and Lailah— were nowhere to be found. Coming to the conclusion that they were at a party being held for whatever reason an exasperated sigh left your body closing your locker. "So that's really what they doing now? It's their lives soo if they don't care why should I?"

The sun's rays barely illuminated the hallway being hid behind clouds, playing into the gloomy theme. Walking through the large, empty spaces, head held straight going to your third/fifth class, you noticed someone staring at you through your peripheral vision—Miles Morales. A little introduction on him, he was apart of a group basically the male version of yours, minus you. Girls gushed at him, sliding notes into his locker and stuff, typical party animal, you heard through rumours that he hooks up with a new girl every other week. One would think it's false news cause that sounds absolutely atrocious but they came prepared with receipts ―But even those could be made up― and to no surprise, there were girls wanting to be one of his bi-weekly flings. Come to say though, it was a little weird how his gaze situated on you as you walked but you decided to brush it off as nothing. There's no way you could see yourself interacting with him. Ever.

In class

Since it was the last day so far all teachers gave a free period. As usual, you remained silent scrolling through whatever the media had to offer, even though having admitted that it was a boring ritual, you refrained to do otherwise. Time passed and the bell rung with you not wasting a second getting out the door, stuff already packed.

Moving along the steps going down to the next classroom, the deafening screech of the intercom went off as the minority of students covered their ears including yourself waiting for it to end, seeing a person take down their hands, everyone did too before the announcement went off.

"Attention students and staff: In light of the reduced teaching activities and productive learning for the day, we have made the decision to conclude school early. We believe that providing you with this extra time will allow you to enjoy a well-deserved break. Make the most of this unexpected opportunity and enjoy your extended free time!"

The halls erupted with cheers, laughter and talking as people made their way outside the school, although intending to head straight home, a few necessary stops to some stores had to be made before doing so. Heading out, you opened the phone still in your hand to make a list of things that came up to mind

Braiding hair

Gummy Wax

Bonnet

More coconut watrdf

"The fuck?" The words slipped from my mouth under a whisper at the sudden jolt of my body -can't even write a list in this school-, looking back I saw someone holding onto my arm, stopping me from going outside. It was Miles, -what could he ever want from me?- my eyebrow lifted, "hm?" "Sorry, I just wanted to talk to you" he released his hand off my body, leaning on a locker with his bag hanging off his shoulder "Um okay, about what?" I crossed my arms, noticing his eyes widened slightly before returning to their natural, slightly seductive state. "You actually talk?" "Nope" Trying to escape, he caught onto my hand, our eyes piercing into the others before he added "Alright that one was my fault, but I just wanted to ask if you're doing alright"

I glanced over his shoulder, searching for his friends, a camera, or any signs of people giggling, this had to be some sort of prank. Finding nothing, I gave in -one conversation can't hurt right?- "Yea I am, why do you ask?" "I didn't see your friends- wait" he tilted his head towards the door, hinting for us to go outside "You ain't tryna be seen with me or you good right here? " I looked around the room, dragging a hand down my face acknowledging the little clusters of people staring. Facing him again, I nodded and together we made our way out.

"So where we going first? Am I getting punk'd? I saw the lil' list you had" Rubbing his palms together, he anticipated my response as we crossed the road. Using my hand as a sun blocker, I squinted before answering

"You're very nosy and I will be-" "We" I stood taking a good look at the boy, blinking slowly. Realizing that he didn't plan on going anywhere else I caved in, "We will be going to the hair supply store first" he smiled at my renewed sentence.

"His dimples are cute- " "Nah shut the fuck up actually." "But he is though"

Shaking away the thoughts going back and forth with themselves, I focused my attention back to Miles who was already looking at me. To be fair, I was still skeptical of the sudden interactions and wanting to waste no one's time, I went straight toward my point. "What do you want? If you want something with one of my friends I can give it to you y'know" I kid you not when I say that this boy burst out laughing.

He held a hand at his chest before we stopped walking "That's what you think of me f'real?" I shrugged replying "That's what I think of most of them" I made a popping noise with my mouth, his hands digging deeper into the jacket's pockets. A playful smirk dancing on his face as he bit his lip, he was fine and I'm sure he knew it― Girl, no

Still standing, I continued. "Word in the street says that you copping a new chick every two weeks" he narrowed his eyes as I loosened my bag straps. "I be in the streets everyday and I never heard that" crossing his arms, he sent me a jest-filled glare before continuing " and how YOU hearing what's going on in these streets Miss Mysterious?" He pointed at me in the middle of his sentence to which I scratched my neck nervously with my index finger, avoiding any eye contact. Finishing his sentence he urged for my response with a "huh?" before looking down at me with half closed eyes, still chewing on his bottom lip

Counting on my fingers, I started to explain myself "Okay one, I don't gossip but the friends I hang around do and I have working ears, so what? And number two, I have a name sir" "Are you going to tell me it?" "It's (y/n)" "Well, (y/n) to answer your first question. Your crew? Nah, they okay but you though, you caught my eye. And I ain't trying to serve up that 'you're unique' cliché but real shit, that's what got me wanting to talk with you" "Okay I'm sure I'm not that interesting" my hands now rested on the curve of my hips, blankly looking at Miles who couldn't seem to take his eyes off of me. "Let me be the judge of that, tell me more about you"

I shook my head as I went to approach the other side of the pole he was on, worst mistake . He yanked me by my bag, dragging me over to his side as he stared at me with wide eyes "we don't do that shit around here" he extended his hand , pointing to the path infront him.

I looked back at him in disbelief, my eyes and eyebrows being the only features to express my astonishment, looking at my half expression, he laughed. "My bad, just please use your sense next time" "You talk too much, we need to get going" he raised his hands in defense "Alright ma'am" I rubbed my temple smiling underneath my mask, my lips making some type of imprint beneath it

Walking there was pretty interesting, getting bombarded with questions about myself and not about my friends. It was the first time I'd actually had a conversation with someone outside my circle, and you know what? It wasn't half bad. I found myself laughing and smiling at something that wasn't some dumb cat falling and it was quite nice.

Approaching the door and opening it, I joked "Ladies first" "Oh so you got jokes now? Guess I'm rubbing off on you" Rolling my eyes whilst walking inside, he wiped away an imaginary tear entering the store behind me. Taking a quick stroll through the aisles I saw Miles taking up some stuff too —some combs, wax, and a durag—

Shopping didn't go so smooth for me though, being stuck between three colours to choose from —1B, 30 and 350—."What's up?" Standing clueless, Miles came over to my area, positioning himself beside me, waiting for me to say something. Raising my hands with the braiding hair before slapping them on my thighs lightly, I complained "I can't choose" Taking the hair from my hands he started to put each one beside my head before speaking "You'd look like a doll in this one, go for it"

While he returned the hair back to their original positions except the one he picked —which was colour 30— I raised my eyebrows, internally questioning his choice of words before speaking up "you have such a smooth mouth don't you?" Crossing my hands as I gave him a mild, sidelong glance traced with amusement that turned into confusion when he placed his hand atop his head, biting his lip. "I woke up Chris Breezy, oh my God I'm the man" Mouth agape, I dragged a hand over my mask to stifle the laughter "Alright cool cool I get it, you spit lyrics like that. Get up" "shoulda known it's been that way, now let's go. We have more stuff to buy" He took two more packs of hair before we walked over to the cashier — the place where I had to find out how stubborn this boy is—

"Let me pay for it" "No, it's my stuff. I'm more than fine paying"

The cashier cleared her throat, annoyed at our 5-minute long bickering

"Oh sorry, here-" I shuffled inside my bag for my purse, completely oblivious to whatever Miles was doing "Here" "Thank you" I looked up hearing the cashier's words, completely shocked that Miles Morales, a 17 year old just handed the woman a black card. It must be nice.

Bagging the items he turned to face me, "See, I told you I'll pay" "Here, I'll pay you-" "No, think of it as.. a us becoming friends gift, plus we have more things to buy so save up"

Stretching my mouth underneath my nose I teased "Who said we're friends" he deadpanned while handing me my own bag with items "Don't play with me. I know your favourite colours, music, food, and more. I'm real friend material" I laughed at his reaction, not to mention his remix on the "real wifey material" part.

But he was right though, we had more places to be, taking out my phone to check the updated list we comprised together, glancing at the time, I cursed 4:48 PM. "Shit um, I really have to go home. Bye, and thank you" my words dragged themselves louder as I ran down the road waving at him frantically.

You hurried along your usual route back home, "Why the rush?" Well, the aim was to snag a 5 PM package. It might sound like a flimsy excuse to part ways with Miles knowing that girls would kill you in the armor of envy for him, but the package would be returned to facility if not claimed and who wants to wait months again? He'd understand. After securing the package you went home, fortunately enough it started to rain, the pattering of the droplets masking the sound of your attempts sneaking into your room to avoid any confrontation from your parents.

Usually when it rained you found the atmosphere peaceful— having been in a night gown with your bonnet on— but this time, it felt different. For some unknown reason you couldn't shake Miles off your mind—the sensual energy that radiated from him, his seductive stare he always wore or the husky laughs that echoed between you two— Everything about him was alluring, slowly drawing you in and you did not like it.

Miles, on the other hand didn't suppress his feelings, having to physically wipe the smiles and cut the laughter he created each time he thought about you. Ironic enough, he hadn't a clue what it was about you that had him this way. Shit, he doesn't even know how you look. He was sure of however, what it would take to even have a chance at holding your hand given the rumours that you've heard about him, but he was hell-bent on giving it a try.

[asherashedwings]

YIPPEEEE G-SQUAD DESIGNS.

Prolly some of my fav Pico antags. Totally not cuz they’re basically my OCs atp cuz there’s like. No canon material on them.

Gonna go ahead and include some of the bs I came up with for them here too

Nin

Now, I’ve already talked about Nin, but it’s been a while soo..

Nin is the leader of the G-Squad, and possesses the power of necromancy, which is one of the only things about these guys that is practically canon. But yeah, during his boss fight, he reanimates Cyclops and Hanzo and puppeteers their corpses in order to fend off Pico. Which must have been quite the experience for Pico 💀

(Old art)

Nin’s the only remaining member of the G-Squad, as when he was killed by Pico, he reanimated HIMSELF last second. So he’s still an active threat.

Extra HC: Before I found out his name was Nin, I called him Trent. I had names for all the G-Squad before I found out about their confirmed names (except Durst, I always knew his name). In Nin’s case, I hc Trent’s actually his dead name and his preferred name is Nin. To go along with this, I hc him as he/him nonbinary. Cuz silly and it fits in my brain.

Mental

Mental has metalokenesis and is the fifth boss fight in my hypothetical Pico 3.

I really wanted to emphasize the metalokenesis, so they’re just wearing literal barbed wire, which CANNOT be dress code, but fuck it we ball. You really gonna tell the kid who can throw lockers that their outfit doesn’t follow dress code? You gonna take that risk?

Oh yeah, they can throw lockers. That’s actually like, the key thing in their boss fight.

Mental is just a nickname given to them by the G-Squad, and their real name is Randy.

Gotha

Gotha’s power is the ability to shapeshift, though unlike the other dark magic wielders in the group, her’s is not an innate ability and is instead possible due to potions she consumes.

Don’t ask how she walks with belts around her legs like that. She glides across the floor. She’s built different.

She’d be the fourth boss fight, though her main thing would be causing small problems for Pico throughout the game before her final showdown. In this final confrontation, she takes the shape of a giant monstrous bat

She’s so silly chat

She has a similar situation as Mental, where Gotha is a nickname, with her actual name being Vibeke.

Geisha

Geisha’s powers revolve around poison and disintegration. She’s able to turn into a corrosive liquid and traverse quicker that way. She’d be the second boss fight.

Not much more to say about her really. Her and Gotha are lesbians.

Durst

So, Durst is unique cuz he doesn’t possess any powers like his friends. He’s not as in the know about the Penilien business the rest of the G-Squad are dealing with, but he’s willing to support his friends despite that. So he’s the first boss, guarding the G-Squad’s operation from obstacles like Pico.

But here’s another point where he differs cuz you actually have to fight him TWICE. Pico doesn’t kill him the first time around, so he comes back to be the third boss you face as well.

There’s a lot more stuff I could get into with my hypothetical Pico 3, but I’m not gonna get into all that here, especially since I don’t have it all planned out. If any of y’all are curious about more details, just ask! Who knows, it might even help me come up ideas.

[luvhughes43]

i just finished binging your blake hughes au and MY GOD do i LOVE it I ADORE IT REALLY and i would like to ask the following:

first, has blake dated people before nico? if she has what would happen if they ran into an ex of hers who never really got over her? (bc lbr blake is THAT girl)

second, what are their date nights usually like? i like to think theyre pretty chill people and that they find things to do at home together like painting or making clay sculptures

third, was blake's pregnancy/delivery hard? i hope it wasnt :(( and did carrying rudi kind of mess with her back a bit? and has nico ever done the thing where the dad lifts up the belly for a bit to offer some relief?

fourth, blake and jack are twins which is the cutest thing ever! what are your personal headcanons for them as twins? and does blake have a favorite brother?

fifth, do they have more kids after rudi? or is that a long time away?

lastly, what do you think the hischier-hughes combo are up to right now?

im soso happy you love the au!! it means so much fr🫂🤍

first: blake had a summer fling with alex turcotte when they were both younger and that does cause some awkwardness with nico because he wasnt aware of their relationship before staying at the lake house. other than that we havent really discussed any other relationships ! but maybe she dates a guy for a year or two before she gets to know nico. the ex lives in nyc and he never really got over blake after they broke up (bc she is that girl🤭). blake and they ex have a few mutual friends and so maybe the ex tries to talk shit about blake and her relationship with nico. blake ends up hearing about it but she doesnt really gaf. nico gets upset about the shit talking though and gets a little possessive if they see the ex out in public. not aggressive though nico will just be extra touchy with blake which she doesn't mind one bit.

second: they are very chill ! their date nights at home usually include making dinner or dessert, painting (they've definitely done that tiktok trend where u paint your partner then do a reveal), and a little self-care spa evening🫶 when they do go out though they like to try new restaurants, see a concert in the city, dance lessons (?). i feel like blake would be obsessed with learning salsa or something and she would def make nico be her partner !

third: blake struggled with her back during her pregnancy ! she had to start PT again but nico was very helpful ! he was definitely lifting her belly, helping her with her physical therapy, etc.

fourth: jack and blake are the sassiest siblings and they 100% match each others attitude. when they were younger they'd get into arguments over literally anything but they would also forgive each other in an instant (still true once they're older). as for favourites, blake is the closet with jack and hes literally her other half but her unspoken favourite is quinn ! blake and quinn gossip like no other. on the other hand, blake babies luke soo much.

fifth (literally do not know how i missed this i’m so sorry babes): i personally think they should have one more but i’ve gotten mixed feedback… what do u guys think? because i totally see them as being a single child household but then again, they both grew up with siblings so i can see them having more babies down the line…

lastly: the hughes/hischier combo are in nyc helping blake and nico move into their first apartment ! blakes got her brothers and her bf working overtime building furniture and carrying hers & nicos things up to their apartment ! she rewards everyone with tickets to an upcoming country concert that the group had been debating on going to <3

thank u so much for the questions i really loved answering them🫂

[lothcat-lothcat-lothwolf-run]

Hiiiii I’m back from the dead with new media analysis!

————————————————————————

Part 1:

Axolotl mention!!!

Even though we only ever see the tank empty after s1e1 (it was in the background in tourist trapped), it is confirmed that Stan has been caring for one over the years.

Frilliam, the original inhabitant of the tank was forcibly released by ford due to tensions between bill and fiddleford. It was mentioned that frilliam was released near the hot springs, which would be severely damaging to the creatures health.

“Ford likes to study weird creatures; maybe he was on a mystery hunt and found [it] out in the woods and was like, “hey little guy, it’s dangerous out there, I’m gonna keep you safe from monsters and stuff.”

From this sentence, we can assume that Stan has been taking care of the axolotl since he acquired the mystery shack, but he was not the first owner. We know that soos’s fan fiction is based off of his questions about the grunkles , and that ford prefers to stay inside his lab and only speak to dipper when it comes to his past. Soos and ford have almost no interactions in the show, so the chance of ford telling him about the axolotl is slim to none.

If soos was to speculate upon the prior ownership of the axolotl, we can assume that Stan, who sees soos as a family, would have told him that he doesn’t know where it came from. This would lead soos to assume that ford “adopted” it.

If this axolotl is frilliam or not is something to be debated, however, with the context we received in the book of bill, it’s entirely possible that ford, after breaking up with bill, went and found frilliam and kept him in defiance of his muse.

Oddly, the tank appears empty in a tale of two Stans, but that could also be because frilliam is not in view

Other notes:

This is the fifth?? Time that axolotl have been mentioned since the beginning of the show

This banger of a line from ford: “What a trick…to wounded but leave no scars.” that he says when referring to Frilliam

SYMBOLISM!!!! The Axolotl refers both to youth, immortality, and healing. Youth is represented in both sets of the pines twins being able to find themselves and stop the past from repeating itself. Immortality refers to the message of accepting the passage of time, and also could reference bill’s last words, pleading to the axolotl to continue living. Healing refers to healing the bind between both sets of twins, as well as the people that were hurt by their choices. Healing also could include Bill’s journey to healing in therapy, something that the axolotl placed him in.

OVERALL FINAL TAKEAWAY:

After Ford broke up his messy situationship with bill, he decided to find frilliam (or another axolotl) in order to spite bill and feel more connected to fiddleford. After he got pulled into the portal, Stan continued the creature’s care.

In the series, the axolotl represents the healing between generations and accepting both the past and the future as what it is: an opportunity.

[thememoryofthatday]

Yesterday Milliecake and I posted the fifth chapter of Warrior Baek Dong-soo: The Novelization. Since this is a long project and we are still in the childhood backstory section for a couple more chapters, I thought I'd offer to answer any questions you might have about the books! Ask me anything here, including for spoilers, and I'll reply in comments.

Obviously, if you want to avoid spoilers, don't look at the comments.

There is a lot of overlap between the book and the show, so some chapters may feel repetitive if you've seen the show or read my previous set of recaps, Warrior Baek Dong-soo: The Episode Guide. But there’s also a lot that’s different in the novel, and especially if you are a Woon/Dong-soo shipper, I highly recommend giving it a read. There are so many amazing bits in the novel, not only because of the wildly different ending but because we finally get to see what the characters are thinking at critical moments.

So, got any questions?

[thegeminisage]

back at it with zelda. i GOT THE FREAKY KOROK SEED!!! thank u always to cathy 4 bailing me out <3

i'm almost thru with this little pocket next to the mountain...it'll be sooo nice to have it checked off

i tried making a "better" bike i saw on a youtube tutorial, one perfectly aligned. mine lists a bit so i thought it would be good. but idk...firstly idk if i did it right but seciondly the steering is more sensitive but almost TOO sensitive. ive gotten very used to the other one!! so im keeping both in my favs for now.

YOOOO its dinraal...oh god i wanna chase her soo bad but i have my path marked so perfectly and idw give up my bike.......

is there NOTHING inside the eldin great skeleton? not even monsters?? that's so lame

...

hold on a second.

okay i checked and no gloom hands either. so wtf??

like a whole korok seed. great.

the new bike also like. struggles more carrying koroks. it's more sensitive to everything, including the weight imbalance. i do like the turning! but.

THERE'S ZELDA.......damn it all i'm too close to quit even for this..........

LMAOOOOO i found some of those zonai guys training in their underpants. inCREDible. i almost flew right past it but i saw the tent and doubled back

and then i was like well no one's here guess i'll keep going...and then i heard them and found them. this is so FUNNYYYY

right side of the map IS DONE! except for kakariko lol. look how beautiful:

kakariko, a little quest stuff, a few stray bosses, but overall clear. i'm happy. fuck having to go back to that labyrinth tho.

what now...? i guess i could at least report back to purah. i have to sleep soon but a little bit as a treat. i don't need to go to kakariko or anywhere underground yet

oh shit no more cheerful music!!

i was looking forward to seeing how it all changed but there's doom and gloom (not literal) in the air

everyone is staring at the castle and saying zelda is there. yikes. maybe i don't wanna be here after all LMAO

well, it's probably just a cutscene. despite a strong sense of foreboding i will look into the telescope

DAYTIME BLOOD MOON???? GIRL HELP

AAAAAA ITS THE FAKE.........

oh she looks sad :( it wouldve fooled me......

oh man the botw hyrule castle theme coming in...

wtf wtf the lookout landing music changed to minor key and there's strings in the back?! this rules. i can hear the hyrule castle music in this too..........

i wish link could just EXPLAIN that he knows zelda is a dragon. everyone all worried about her and looking for her but he and i both know exactly where she is, we should be researching dedraconification!! sigh this game sometimes

i don't get it...she wants me to just go to the castle...what about the fifth sage...

i mean if this is how you do it, fine, but if i need to be heading to kakariko instead...but i cant look it up without spoilers...AUGH

ok, this is a problem for tomorrow me. i could listen to this new lookout landing song forEVER tho. wow <3

[jeymzzzzzz]

Week 5

 Fifth week is here brothers. And this was the week were we had to take a Quiz. There are two parts of Quiz. Part 1 is where we would take our online quiz on prisms. And part 2 is where we would take our face-to-face quiz.

Honestly I was also surprised since I wasn't expecting for a part 2 quiz. But hey, "it is what it is". Soo uhh it started with an identification section, followed by an analysis where they were given a scenario. In this scenario, they had to link specific aspects of the analysis and create a new function based on the given one.

While many students managed to answer several questions, some, including myself, struggled. During the quiz, an earthquake drill interrupted us, forcing us to pause and "evacuate." After the drill, we resumed the quiz. (Maybe in the next quiz I'll study hard)

[cambion-companion]

need me some protective dad aemond, if you please i just know he'd be soo good

Ok finally we have more Dad Aemond incoming!

Prepare thyself for wholesomeness. There will be multiple parts.

word count: 1900

Aemond x wife!reader | teenage daughter | younger son | scaring off suitors | Aegon helps for once

A brisk wind blew the hair from your face as you hurried up the stone steps of the Keep. You glanced over your shoulder at the young man still wailing, even as he departed from the main gate.

"I am going to kill them both." You seethed to yourself, the guards in front of the oaken doors quickly stepping to the side with low bows, eager to not get in the way of your building wrath.

As you strode down the marbled hallways, you could already hear the shouting.

You daughter, hands on her hips, was practically screaming at her father, her white hair in tangles falling about her slender shoulders. "I cannot believe you!! This is the fifth time! Mother!" She saw you enter the room, tearing her blazing lilac gaze away from Aemond to look tearfully at you. "Another of my suitors frightened near to death! At this rate I will die alone and unmarried!"

"Better that than chained to a man who will make your life miserable." Aemond intoned, Aegon nodded from where he was perched atop the table behind your little family.

"What has happened?" Your son, barely past his tenth birthday, entered the room after you, tugging on your skirts. "Has father scared off another of Shaera's suitors?"

"He almost killed him!" Your daughter pointed an accusing finger at Aemond's chest. "Uncle Aegon lured him into the dragon pit, and they threatened to set him aflame."

"Wicked!" Your son grinned with delight.

"Shut up Aerys." Shaera was crying in earnest now.

You walked to her, your arms open wide and she sunk gratefully into your embrace. You glared at the two Targaryen men over her shoulder as you hugged your distraught daughter. "There had better be a good explanation for this."

Aegon took a deep sip of wine as Aemond sighed heavily, wrapping an arm around Aerys' shoulders as the boy sidled next to his father. Aegon was the one to break the heavy silence. "We did not threaten to burn anyone alive, Shaera."

"There were words said that we overheard, that settled uneasily with both of us." Aemond agreed, nodding to his brother, his lilac eye flitting from the back of his daughter's silver head to your face. "We took the boy to the dragon pit and introduced him to Sunfyre and Dreamfyre, and told him what would happen should he make good on his words."

"I will not ask you to expound upon it here." You shook your head even as Aegon opened his mouth to explain, stroking Shaera's hair gently. "Shae." You took her face in your hands, wiping away the tears. "Go to your father and make peace."

You shot Aemond a meaningful look as your daughter turned toward him. His gaze softened as he watched her approach, even though her arms were folded tight across her chest. "I am sorry I yelled at you, Kepa."

Aemond reached out, prying her arms loose and holding both her hands in his own. Aegon watched with mild interest, still sipping on his wine. Aerys moved to you, reaching for your hand, watching as Aemond placed a kiss to Shaera's knuckles. "You are worthy of a man who will not shrink in fear at the sight of a dragon."

"Was he very frightened? He said you threatened to kill him."

"A lie."

"His trousers were also wet." Shae tried to suppress a giggle. Her eyes, exactly matching the color of her father's own eye, sparkled up at him.

Aemond nodded solemnly. "He soiled himself."

They chuckled together, Aerys beside you positively cackled, even Aegon gave an appreciative snort.

"You are the blood of the dragon." Aemond continued, his face serious once more. "Above all, you are my daughter and will receive only the best in all things, including those who are allowed to court you."

"Not one person has been good enough though." Shae said hopelessly.

"There will be someone who you fall in love with, daughter." You said, smiling and walking up to where she stood, placing a hand around her waist. "Do not be in such a rush to grow up." You placed a kiss on her temple, she did not pull away.

Aegon watched this exchange with a curiously sour expression on his face, seeming to take a sudden disliking to his drink. "A lovely sentiment for those who have a choice in their futures." His voice was flat as he got up from the table, striding to the door. "Let me know if you need further assistance with troublesome youths, brother." He spoke without turning back, exiting the room, leaving just the four of you there.

Aemond's eye lingered on where his brother had disappeared, a frown tugging his curved lips.

"Father, can we practice sword fighting now?" Aerys piped up, straining on his tip toes to get his dad's attention.

"Yes of course, my son." Aemond allowed Aerys to take his hand and enthusiastically pull him in the direction of the training yard.

"Tis time for you to clean up and get ready for your harp lessons." You squeezed Shae's shoulder, earning a watery smile from the girl. "Don't be disheartened, my jewel. I will talk to him tonight."

"Thank you, mom." She gave you a hug, smelling of lilac and candlewax, before departing for her rooms.

You straightened your skirts, running your hands along the green velvet fabric. It was the fifth time Aemond had sent one of Shaera's suitors scurrying from King's Landing, tail between their legs. You would have to speak to him in private later, but for now you decided to watch him train your young son. Aerys' favorite activity, and something Shae had also begun. At her insistence, Aemond had started showing her the basics of sword fighting. Something that made you proud yet simultaneously worried.

The dull thunk of wooden swords striking each other met your ears as you entered the grey courtyard. The sky above threatened rain, but no droplets fell as your husband and son practiced.

"Keep your feet shoulder-width apart." Aemond was instructing, glancing up to grace you with a smile as you leaned against the railing. "I've told you too many times, Aerys. Do not lean forward, keep your balance over your belly button."

"I'm trying." Aerys complained, sounding a bit too whiny for your taste.

"Don't whine." Both you and Aemond spoke at the same time, he gave you a roguish grin as you chuckled. Aerys sighed, thwacking his wooden sword against Aemond's in annoyance.

They trained for about half an hour, quite enough time for Aerys to pick up several more tips from his father on footwork and arm movements.

"You are a quick learner." Aemond tousled the boy's curly hair affectionately causing Aerys to wrinkle his nose, giggling as he tried to push his dad's hand off.

"Now, off to dragon riding training trēsy. I will join you before long." Aemond looked up at you again. "I have a feeling your mother wants to speak with me."

You smiled at Aerys as he waved cheerily to you, walking away with bouncing strides in the direction of the dragon pit where his small dragon, Parthnax, waited. Aemond climbed the stone steps to where you waited, removing his leather gloves and stroking a large hand along your arm before interlocking his fingers with your own. "Yes, my lady?" His mischievous smile grew a little as you pulled him to walk with you back into the Keep.

"What happened today with that young man?" You asked. "He seemed a fine match for Shaera."

Aemond sighed, choosing his words carefully as his thumb stroked your knuckle. "Aegon and I overheard him boasting to his young friends of his imminent marriage to our daughter, Y/N. With the vulgar words he used, the boy is lucky he isn't charcoal right now."

"What did he say?"

"I will not repeat it."

Your steps faltered, you glanced sidelong at Aemond's face, his jaw was set, and his eye was staring coldly ahead. It must have been something truly vile for him to be so upset. You squeezed his hand gently. "You did well, then. But for the sake of our daughter, I must ask you to be less condemning to those suitors who have not spoken ill of her."

"I am the image of lenience."

"Aemond. This is the fifth time you've chased a boy away from her after they've known each other barely a week."

He sighed softly, remaining silent as the two of you walked together through the torchlit hallways. As you rounded a corner, you saw Shaera standing in front of a young man with shoulder-length auburn hair, deep in conversation.

You felt Aemond stiffen beside you, his hand breaking away as it instinctively went to the pommel of his sword.

Shaera noticed the two of you, her face falling slightly as her lilac eyes flicked to her father. "Dad, mom..."

"Shae." You greeted, your brow furrowing. "Did your lessons run short? Who is this?"

"This is Oliver." The young man bowed low as you approached.

"An honor to meet you, I only just arrived at King's Landing and got myself quite turned around. Luckily Shaera rescued me, and we've been discussing the upcoming tourney that I will be jousting in."

You noticed the coat of arms adorning Oliver's breastplate, but it was Aemond who spoke up first. "Mormont, is it?"

"Yes, your highness." Oliver Mormont bowed again, lower this time. "Might I take the liberty of expressing what an honor it is to meet you, as well as your lady wife." His light brown eyes smiled at you before he turned his attention back to Aemond.

Shaera beamed at him.

Aemond noticed her obvious admiration, his smile a little forced as he nodded at Oliver. "It is always a pleasure to host our friends from the North."

"I've invited Oliver to dinner tonight!" Shae said brightly, not seeing how Aemond's eye narrowed slightly as he looked at her. No, her attention was only upon the handsome youth standing tall beside her.

"We would be glad for you to join us!" You spoke before Aemond could, locking your arm with your husband's. "Now, Shae, you have harp lessons to get to."

Shae's cheeks flushed as Oliver kissed the back of her hand, bowing in farewell. "Until tonight, my lady."

"Tonight then." She nodded, looking bereaved as she watched him leave.

You could have propped Aemond up against a wall he was so tense, you gave his arm a reassuring squeeze. Shae looked hesitantly from him to you before hurrying away toward her class.

"I am going to put bars on her door and window." Aemond muttered, watching her go.

"You will do no such thing, Aemond."

"Dinner?"

"Yes, tonight in fact. He seems like a nice young man from a good house as well."

"They all seem like 'nice young men' to begin with."

You turned to face your husband, cradling his angular jaw in your hands. "My dearest love. You are correct in wanting to shelter her from the many horrible men who infest this world." You leaned in, brushing your lips along his mouth, feeling his muscles slowly begin to relax against you. "However, she will have to experience life one way or another. All we can do is our best to guide her."

"I worry for her, Y/N." Aemond kissed you gently, pressing his forehead to yours.

"As do I. But we cannot keep her all to ourselves forever." You traced your fingers across his cheek, your breaths mingling. "She is the blood of the dragon, and we must allow her to spread her wings and fly."

[favesblog]

you know, the more i think about it, the more i'm convinced that Sang-woo knew what each game would be ahead of time.

the show is constantly reminding us of how smart Sang-woo is, through the waxing of Gi-hun and Sang-woo's mom, as well as how he figured out what the second game was with limited information. this is important because it sets the stage for the choices he makes, and how they differ from the choices most of the others make.

while the others are making choices to save their own lives based on fear or impulse, Sang-woo is extremely methodical in his strategy. he is smart enough to play the games, knowing ahead of time what they are, without getting caught for "cheating."

Sang-woo plays the game ruthlessly, doing everything he can to get to the final game. but then, he does something unexpected - at least, to me. he commits suicide at the last possible moment. why?

it seemed out of character to me at first. but, the more i thought about it, the more i realized that that was his plan all along. remember when everyone was sent home after the vote? he tried to commit suicide then. nothing changed in the character's mind since that moment.

so, why accept the second invitation? well, either he would die playing games, or he would die in the real world by his own hand. not much of a difference... or was there?

there was a 50-50 chance that his friend, Gi-hun, would also accept the second invitation. if not, then Sang-woo had nothing to lose. but if Gi-hun was there, then Sang-woo's plan was simple: let Gi-hun win.

during the second game, he drops a hint to Gi-hun to pick something other than the umbrella shape. "are you sure?" he even tries to tell him outright what the game is, but there is a problem: there are too many people listening. that would not only get Sang-woo in trouble with the now-armed guards, but it would also decrease the chances of Sang-woo and Gi-hun getting to the final game. this is why Sang-woo is so relieved that Gi-hun made it through the second round; because it's ultimately not about Sang-woo winning. it's about Gi-hun winning.

during the third game, Sang-woo knows to pick only men for his team. how? he wasn't working with the doctor - that was Deok-soo.

well, remember the pictographs on the walls of the room? they were always there. something to note is that, while we have constant reminders that Sang-woo is very intelligent, we also see that he has trouble sleeping. what do you do when you can't sleep and your bed is up against a wall? you just stare at the wall, of course.

Sang-woo could see all of the games. he deduced based on which games they had already played, which games would be next. but again, he couldn't tell anyone. he knew that he would be killed, just like the doctor was. his reaction to seeing the doctor's body hanging is so subtle, but so panicked. why would Sang-woo have to worry about being hanged like that if he wasn't cheating, somehow?

so of course Gi-hun is on his team for tug-of-war, but for the next game? Sang-woo remembers that for the marbles pictograph, there are two players and one person watching. when the announcer tells them to choose a partner, he knows the next game will be marbles. the third person depicted will be the guard standing watch. in the previous game, half of the players were eliminated. so he expects the same thing to happen for marbles. he can't choose Gi-hun. but Gi-hun will need more hints, so Sang-woo has to make it through this round as well.

of course, he tells Ali out loud "why" he's choosing him as a partner. he wants everyone to see that he can't possibly be "cheating," because he knows that the punishment for cheating is death, and therefore he wouldn't be able to help Gi-hun going forward. so then of course Sang-woo does everything he can to win, including betray Ali. he has no choice. he wants Gi-hun to win. that's his ultimate goal.

for the fifth game, once Sang-woo sees the vests, he knows what's about to happen. he waits for Gi-hun to go near the vests before going to pick his own. he makes eye contact with Gi-hun, again trying to drop him a hint without getting caught. he wants Gi-hun to take the last number, which is why he goes for 15, but Sae-byeok takes that one. so he's left with 14.

once again, Sang-woo does everything in his power to ensure that he and Gi-hun get to the other side, including killing someone himself. (by the way, this also explains why he's so offended when Gi-hun asks Sang-woo if he had been player 13 for the fifth game, would Sang-woo have pushed him, as well? Sang-woo gets irrationally angry at this question. if the answer was "yes," he would have said so, coldly. but he didn't. because the answer was "no." he just couldn't admit it in front of Sae-byeok. if he did, he knew Sae-byeok would have Sang-woo figured out, and killed him, and therefore gone on to kill Gi-hun in the final game as well.)

so the three of them - Gi-hun, Sae-byeok, and Sang-woo - get through the fifth game together. they're going to have a shot at the grand prize. but Sae-byeok stands in the way. she's said multiple times to everyone that she doesn't trust a single person, and that she'd do anything to win. so he kills her. it's the only way to ensure that Gi-hun wins.

i think it's also important to note that Sang-woo is single. for all of his accomplishments and good looks, he should have a lot of women to choose from, right? there's even a whole scene about it in the show, when his mom is talking to a stranger about him. but there's a reason for this, and it's very coded, but it's there. and it's so obvious and poetically simple once you know it.

Sang-woo loves Gi-hun. he loves him so much that he's willing to kill for him, to die for him. he leaves Gi-hun and he says, "i'm sorry." and at first, i thought he was apologizing for being a murderer and manipulator. but he was apologizing for not being able to confess his true feelings to Gi-hun. but he didn't have to say it, because he showed it through his actions. everything Sang-woo did, he did for Gi-hun.

[nataliedanovelist]

GF & MvsM - Wanna Talk About Dinos?

This crossover was inevitable. It just works too well. Maybe one day i’ll write a fic about how the folks at Gravity Falls handled the robot-apocalypse. Probably shrugged it off. “Eh. We’ve had worse.” Haha! What if Stan and Ford, cuz they were out sailing, had no clue what happened and when they came back they were like, “Wait, what?”

For now, please enjoy this fic of Aaron making a new friend...

(credit goes to @stephreynaart for her OC Jacob) ~~~~~~~~~~ “Hi, would you like to talk to me about dinosaurs?”

Aaron asked this question more times than he could keep track of, but that wasn’t going to stop him from asking it. It started as a dare from his big sister two years ago, but now it’s a fun hobby. When fifth grade isn’t overwhelming him, scaring him with mountains of homework and horror stories about how hard middle school is going to be, and when he’s run out of YouTube videos to catch up on, he is on the hunt for fellow giant-lizard-lovers like a hungry Ceratosaurus.

“No, okay bye.” But it did get a little tiring to always cross out names and phone-numbers on the phone book with red ink. Hey, a dinosaur of a way to find phone-numbers was appropriate. He read the next number, dialed it, and after a ring or two he asked, “How would you like to talk with me about dinosaurs? No, okay thank you.”

Aaron crossed out another name and sighed, taking a break since he reached the end of a line of numbers. Maybe he should just be grateful for Abbey and accept that no one else wants to talk about the Jurassic Period. Or the Cretaceous Period. Or the Triassic Period. But then a big, old, gray-tinted ad distracted him. He grinned, thinking it would at least be fun to give them a call, and he dialed the number.

Private home phone-numbers were fun, but businesses were also fun! Poor, bored workers would gladly talk to him rather than crabby Karens, and they got paid for it! So Aaron smiled as the phone rang, and he grinned when someone picked up.

“Thanks for calling the Mystery Shack, you’re talking to Mr. Mystery himself! How may I befuddle or bewilder you?”

“Hi! How would you like to talk with me about dinosaurs?”

“Oh, dude! I’d love to, but I’m scheduled for a tour of the Oddity Museum in three minutes.” The man said, and Aaron grinned continuously, because it sounded like Mr. Mystery really wanted to talk with him about dinosaurs. “But hey! Can you hold on for one minute, I think I know a guy!”

“Yeah, sure mister!” And Aaron was greeted by the sound of a catchy jingle about buying t-shirts and mugs and snowglobes. He smiled and wiggled his feet along to the music as he looked outside at the beautiful late-fall afternoon, entertained while he waited.

~~~~~~~~~~

Soos was on the hunt. He planned out the house in his head. Abuelita was taking a nap upstairs, Melody was organizing the upcoming tour, and Stan took Jacob out for ice cream, so he might be…

The owner of the Shack grinned when he stopped at the doorway and saw the man he was looking for, sitting in Stan’s chair, reading a book.

“Uncle Ford!”

The old sailor smiled up at the young man. “Yes, wh-...”

“Do you think you could answer the phone for me? I have a tour and I think this customer’s request is right up your alley.”

“Uh… sure, but w-...”

“Thanks, you’re the best!” And Soos was gone before he could address Ford’s confusion.

Ford was a bit lost, having little to no business with business, but he had learned at this point to trust Soos, so he picked up the phone beside him and was immediately greeted with a sweet, “How would you like to talk with me about dinosaurs?”

Ford grinned and closed his book. “I would love to! All three periods are equally as fascinating to study, but the Triassic contains some of my favorite dinosaurs!”

A young voice gasped on the other line. “Mine, too! Everyone thinks the Jurassic period is so great, and it’s pretty cool, but the Triassic gave us Plateosaurus and the Brachiosaurus!”

“That’s very true! You know, it’s very interesting, maybe depictions don’t include feathers at all, which is a bit frustrating, but perhaps after the news has spread they will incorporate more feathers on merchandise and textbooks.”

“YES! That’s what I wanna do when I grow up, help draw better-accurate dinosaurs!”

~~~~~~~~~~

The phone rang on Sunday. The Shack was closed today, so Stan lazily answered it and was greeted with, “Wanna talk about dinosaurs?”

“Sixer, phone for you!”

Ford ran into the living room, elbowed his twin out of the chair, and took the phone. “Hello again, Aaron! Now, where were we? Right, so Australopithecus. … No, I don’t think… Oh! No, homo habilis was erect, Australopithecus was never fully erect.”

“Maybe he was nervous.” Stan groaned, getting to his feet.

Ford shot him a look as thankfully the young boy on the other end didn’t catch that and happily shared some more fun-facts about homo habilis.

~~~~~~~~~~

While most college students were excited for Spring Break so they could get drunk or lose their virginity, Katie was excited because her family had planned a special secret roadtrip. She was careful to keep up with her family and talk to her parents and brother frequently, but Aaron had a hobby he wasn’t talking about that his parents found out and were thrilled about. Aaron had made another friend.

Rick and Katie did some research and the tourist attraction sounded right up their alley! In the middle of the woods, tons of weird stuff, and a fun roadtrip filled with diners and attractions. They decided to surprise Aaron, and they made up a lie that they would spend Spring Break in California with Katie so she could show her family around San Francisco, when in actuality they would be traveling up the state to the Redwood Highway and see the oddity place, and maybe even allow Aaron to meet his new pen-pal. Or, um, phone-pal.

So after bombarding Katie with hugs the Mitchells threw her luggage into the car and drove off. Aaron turned to Katie and excitingly asked, “So where are we going first? Can we go fix the Golden Gate bridge by painting it gold?”

Katie laughed and ruffled his hair. “Maybe later, right now I wanna show you guys this fun store right outside of town. Here, check out the videos I made for my classes!” And she pulled out some airpods and gave one to Aaron.

“Cool!”

Rick and Linda smirked at each other as they drove north. By the time they reached a little diner in Redding, CA, it was very clear to Aaron that they weren’t in San Francisco anymore. “Come on, just tell me where we’re going!” The boy begged as he fed Monchi a fry.

“The best kind of prizes are the surprises.” Linda quoted.

“Eric, Deborahbot5000, where are we going?”

“Sorry, Aaron, we cannot give that information.” Eric said, he and the other robot sitting politely in their seats, happy to be a part of the social interaction.

“Yes, Mother will bury us if we disobey.” Deborahbot said matter-of-factly.

“What?! No I won’t, sweeties.”

“Won’t you ground us?”

The family laughed and Aaron let the topic go; if he was honest, he loved a good surprise. The big family stopped in a motel just at the California-Oregon border, and the next morning after muffins and coffee and orange juice they were on the road again, passing dozens of trees that made Rick feel at home. Katie happily recorded the trip, trusted to be the documenter for another fun roadtrip, with hopefully not as much mortal peril.

Aaron watched as they left the highway for a simple road, and they passed a big sign. The boy gasped and caught what was happening. “No WAY! Really?!”

“You know, I hear this Mystery Shack even has a Sasquatch.” Rick commented while Linda pulled out a pamphlet from the glove box.

“It says here it’s full of odd things you’ll never see anywhere else, even a dinosaur footprint…”

“Wasn’t there a rumor of there being a Bottomless Pit?” Katie asked, pointing her camera at Aaron to get his reaction.

“Thank you thank you THANK YOU!!!” Aaron cheered, hugging his Dad’s neck and kissing his Mom’s cheek.

“Hey, no worries, buddy.” Rick eased, fixing his shewed glasses. “We wanted to see this place, too!”

“Why don’t we eat a quick lunch and then we’ll take the backroad for the attraction? There’s a coupon in here for a diner made from a giant log!”

And so after being served by a pretty blonde teenager at Greasy’s, they drove through town to get to the backroad. Signs made them confident that they were going the correct way, as well as Eric and Deborahbot5000’s GPS. Then as they turned a corner, a big triangle-shaped building came into view. Aaron grinned at the giant sign with a missing letter. People were already leaving, arms full of souvenirs and one or two already wearing their new hats or t-shirts. Once Rick parked in the Free Parking Lot, Aaron spilled out of the car and ran for the shack, but he stopped.

Katie caught up to him and patted his back. “You cool, man?”

Aaron shrugged, holding his hands in front of him and his shoulders up to hide his face a bit. “I-I dunno… What if… What if he doesn’t like me?”

“Hey, I get it.” Katie admitted. “When I first met my friends I was really nervous. I had talked to them online for weeks and I was worried it wasn’t gonna be what it was all cracked up to be, but it was. Your system worked! You found another dino-lover! You earned this moment. Just take in a deep breath and be yourself, cuz you’re a pretty cool dude.”

Aaron smiled up at his big sister. “Thanks.”

Trusting Eric and Deborahbot5000 to watch Monchi and make sure he used the bathroom, the Mitchells went inside the shack. On the porch there was an ice cooler, a sign reading schedule times for tours of the Oddity Museum, a Help Wanted sign, and two rocking chairs with a game of checkers between them.

Inside the store a few customers filled up the gift shop, alongside t-shirts, snowglobes, a vending machine, a door beside ti that read Employees Only, a bookshelf full of comic on one side and old newspapers claiming alien sightings on the other, a fish tank holding a monkey-mermaid, and barrels full of spaceship keychains and dino claws. A new section called Camping Stuff caught Rick’s eye, selling backpacks, lanterns, flashlights, batteries, canteens, and compasses. Katie opened a comic called Lil’Stanley and laughed at the swears, taking a pic and sending it to her friends’ group chat. Linda looked into the barrel full of patches and grinned at all the fun designs, while Aaron stared happily at the mer-monkey.

The Employees Only door opened and closed and Rick watched as a man in a suit, fez, and eyepatch walked up to the lady at the register and kissed her cheek. The woman smiled lovingly and left while the guy who resembled a gopher checked a customer out. Rick waited until the buyer left to approach the register, leaning an arm on the counter.

“Welcome to the Mystery Shack, dude!”

“Thanks! So, this is gonna sound weird, but my son Aaron talks to a guy here about dinosaurs…”

“No way!” The owner interrupted excitedly. “Good to see you, dudes! I’m Mr. Mystery! Wow, you guys came a long way, huh?”

“Nah, only from California. My daughter is attending art school there.”

While the men chit-chatted and Linda joined them, Katie noticed a guy walking up to Aaron and looking at the mer-monkey. She smiled and tried to read the comic without being too nosy, but she kept her senses on her brother.

“Hm, quite fascinating, isn’t it?” The man in the blue hoodie said. “But I think my favorite is the fossilized footprint. Could be Nanuqsaurus hoglundi.”

“The Polar Bear Lizard?” Aaron clarified, touching his chin as he looked at the dino-print, his back to the man he was talking to. “Maybe, but they’re from Alaska. It’s possible plate tectonics did cause some fossils to be relocated here, but it could also be a Nanotyrannosaurus lancensis footprint.”

“The Dwarf Tyrant? Could very well be. Would you like to talk about dinosaurs after your tour?”

Aaron’s eyes widened as the voice was finally familiar to him. He turned and looked up to find an old man smiling up at him. He had fluffy gray hair with a white stripe running around his scalp, wrinkles by his eyes due to smiling, a cleft chin, glasses, and wore a blue hoodie with a maroon sweater underneath. His hands were behind his back and he smiled down at Aaron warmly, while the boy was jittery and overly-excited. He took in a sharp breath and had to fight every muscle to keep from leaping through the screen door. 

“H-H-Hi…” He peeped. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Y-Yeah, sure! I’d love to! I’m Aaron! Er, wait, you already knew that.” And he held out a hand to shake.

His phone-pal, Ford, chuckled and got on one knee to be eye-level. “Greeting, Aaron! It’s nice to formally meet you.”

Aaron shook his hand and noticed something. He had six fingers on his right hand. A quick glance told Aaron he also had six fingers on his left hand. Aaron grinned with sparkling eyes at his new friend, while the old sailor smiled warmly at the boy that reminds him of his niece and nephew when they were young.

[watery-melon-baller]

I started this post as Gravity Falls hand discourse, but as I looked deeper it morphed into Gravity Falls hand theory. Nobody asked for this, but here we go!

(Disclaimer: I know that logically the reason some characters have different numbers of fingers is to make them easier to animate, but I’d still like to discuss the in-story implications of it. This is all in good fun.)

Allow us to start with a fact: within the narrative, Ford having six fingers is considered abnormal, as the image below demonstrates:

(Episode: A Tale of Two Stans)

But notice, never is it said that five fingers is the norm, only that Ford’s sixth is abnormal. Now, take a look at young Stan and Ford, from the same episode (please excuse the poor image quality):

(Episode: A Tale of Two Stans)

You can clearly see that Stan (left) is drawn with five fingers on each hand, while Ford (right) is drawn with six. And we can see, if we look at their adult designs, that this stays consistent:

(Episode: Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons)

Stan still has five fingers, and Ford still has six.

Now, originally, this post was going to be kind of a rant about how weird it was that all the child characters except Stan and Ford in that flashback have only four fingers, and the implications that might have on the world (like, is it just accepted that people grow a fifth finger as they reach adulthood???), but as I looked deeper into this, I saw that this was not, in fact, the case. That’s not to say that many of the child characters don’t have only four fingers. Examples include:

(Episode: Headhunters)

Dipper and Mabel

(Episode: Double Dipper)

Pacifica

(Episode: The Deep End)

Even Wendy. But when I went to get a screencap of Candy and Grenda, that is where I ran into a snag.

(Episode: Carpet Diem)

Candy very clearly has four fingers, which lines up with what I expected for a child character. But Grenda? She has five.

And then I found another character that threw me for a loop.

(Episode: The Stanchurian Cantidate)

Tyler Cutebiker, an adult character, very clearly has four fingers.

Now, this threw my idea about children just having four fingers and at some point between puberty and adulthood just growing a fifth finger somehow out the window. But that did give me another idea. I went back and checked a couple of characters which we get to see at different ages.

(Episode: Blendin’s Game)

The big one here is Soos. He, even when a child, has five fingers. This is consistent with his adult design:

(Episode: Soos and the Real Girl)

There are a few other characters we get to see at younger ages in Blendin’s game due to time travel (Wendy, Tamry, Robbie) who’s finger numbers also stay consistent between their younger and current ages, but they aren’t as strong examples as Soos due to the fact that we don’t see them as adults in the series, only teenagers. What looking at this design, in addition to seeing Grenda’s, made me realize is that the number of fingers a character has isn’t tied to age, but it does seem to stay consistent. This is supported by Stan and Ford as we see them in the flashbacks, as I discussed at the beginning of the post.

And that brings us back to the very first image. Take another look:

As I said earlier, it is never explicitly stated that having five fingers is the only normal arrangement, only that Ford having a sixth (extra) finger is abnormal. From this, we can conclude that it is plausible that having four fingers is not outside the norm in this world. If it is normal to have either four or five fingers on each hand in this world, that would explain all the inconsistencies between characters’ finger numbers. The fact that character designs between adult and child life stages stay consistent on the number of fingers (as evidenced by Ford, Stan, and Soos, and to a lesser degree Wendy, Robbie and Tamry) lines up with this idea.

To conclude, I now believe that in the world of the 2013 animated show Gravity Falls, humans can naturally have either four or five fingers, and this genetic variation is so widespread that it is equally likely that you will encounter a person with four fingers as you will one with five. But this does bring up the question of, within the world, why? What within the world of Gravity Falls diverged from our own to create this difference in their human species? To you, readers, I leave this question. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

[dc41896]

The Whole Time?!

Pairing: Jake JensenxBlack Reader

⚠️: Maybe a tiny bit of technical angst (🤷🏽‍♀️ lol), fluff💕

“P-Pooch?,” you stammer unable to fathom that your supposedly dead brother was standing in front of you and his wife who was about to give birth to their son in any minute.

“Hey peanut,” he smiles stepping further in the hospital room. “I’d hug you, but I’m w-,”

You didn’t even let him finish before immediately wrapping your arms around his neck and burying your face in his shoulder. Good thing he was already wet from the rain, your tears would just be a welcomed addition.

“Wait. D-Does that mean-”

“Hey babe,” the all too familiar voice speaks making more silent tears fall as you lift your head. Just as soaked as Pooch, he nervously smiles removing his hat to reveal his spiked frosted tips. He pretty much looked the same as you last saw him. Toned arms and chest shielded by his dripping jacket along with your personal favorite, his black circular frames bringing even more attention to those crystal baby blues.

There were plenty of times you thought about what you’d do if granted this moment. Cry, scream, maybe jump into his arms clinging onto him like a koala on a tree. Possibly all three even. Now, finally being granted your wish after all these months, there was one main thing on your mind.

“Wow,” he smiles as you slowly move closer to each other. “I didn’t think it was possible, but somehow you’ve gotten more beautiful.” Just as the words left his mouth, the back of your hand connecting with his abdomen in the hardest hit you could muster nearly knocks the wind out of him as he keeled forward.

“And apparently stronger too..,” he coughs.

“How could you?!”

“I didn’t do it on purpose! We had to so we could go after the guy who set us up. And why didn’t you hit Pooch?! He was in it too.”

“He’s got one coming after my nephew safely enters the world, right now though it’s your turn,” you glare before smacking him again.

“Told you she had a strong backhand,” Pooch states quickly closing the room door before his sister decided to direct her rage at him.

The rest of the team merely watch in entertainment as your hits move to his shoulders and biceps until Jensen can grab your wrists pinning them by your sides.

“I’m sorry for putting you through all that, but it’s not like I completely left! I could still see you.”

You tilt your head in confusion ready to ask what he was talking about, until seeing Clay nervously scratch the back of his neck as he and Cougar shift their gaze clues you in on what he meant.

“SERIOUSLY JAKE?!”

“Wha-? I-,”

“Did you really think that would make me feel better?!”

“...Honestly at this point I’m afraid to answer.”

Annoyed groan falling from your lips, you tried to escape his grasp, but his larger hands slightly tightening their grip on yours, along with him following your every movement, keep you in place. “When we go home I can explain everything.”

“Will you? Or are you just gonna lie some more?”

“I promise I’ll tell everything,” he whispers, leaving a chaste kiss on your temple before flashing one of his ‘please don’t stay mad at me forever because I love you’ smiles. So far, it’d gotten him out of any argument you had. Including this one.

Darn those good looks of his.

“Fine,” you reply as you cross your arms, leaving him to find a seat in the nearby waiting room.

“Any tips here Colonel?,” Jake sighs.

“I’m probably not the one you’d want relationship advice from.”

Another heavy sigh leaves his lips as he follows your path down the hall to sit next to you. That is if you’d let him.

“Okay, is anybody else stuck on the fact that Jensen actually has a girlfriend?,” Aisha states breaking the momentary silence and making both men chuckle.

———

It’s the happiest he’s ever been to walk into his small, outdated apartment. Things weren’t exactly the same as he left it with your few new decorations and pieces of furniture trying to make the place a bit of your own, but of course he didn’t mind. It actually warmed his heart that although he was “gone” you still chose to stay, sticking by his side when you easily could’ve moved on with your life.

“Jeez, the faucet always drip that loud?,” he lightly chuckles shedding his coat and placing it on the small hanger by the door.

“It started a bit after you left,” you sigh kicking off your shoes. “Think it’s loud now, it’s even louder when you’re just sitting here alone.”

Following you to the bedroom feeling like a dog with its tail between his legs, he sits at the foot of the bed looking down at his hands as you move about the bathroom getting yourself ready for bed. Your words were like the sharpest sting as his mind vividly showed an image of you just sitting in this apartment with nothing but thoughts of loosing your brother and boyfriend along with the hum of the AC. He knew for the sake of their mission, and the team, he couldn’t say anything, but it still didn’t take away his guilt of what you went through mentally and emotionally.

“I tried to write you.”

“What, your computer go down and you couldn’t watch me anymore?,” you counter over your shoulder before rinsing the soap from your face.

“That was only once okay? I was watching my niece’s soccer game and then I thought about what you were doing and kinda sorta hacked your office’s cameras, which yes I know was wrong. Speaking of, they really should update their software, a fifth grader could easily hack into it just guessing the password,” he answers making you roll your eyes with a chuckle.

“And who’s Tom?”

“Tom?”

“Yea. Curly brown haired guy, cubicle across from yours. Big head you can see a mile away.”

“I’m sorry are you somehow trying to turn things on me when you’re the one that’s supposed to be explaining why I’ve thought you were dead this whole time?,” you ask wiping the remaining moisturizer from your hands before crossing them in front of your chest as you step closer to the now nervous looking man.

“N-no, of course not! But I mean since he’s been mentioned...”

“He’s just this guy at work that apparently likes me and asked me out but I said no, because a small part of me kept hoping that you’d miraculously come back. Happy?”

“I-uh...y-yes?”

Sighing, you sit beside him tucking your bare legs under you and taking his hand in yours to trace the lines on his palm. You never knew how or why you started, but it was something you occasionally did while you two were talking or just lying next to him enjoying each other’s company. It brought a smile and giddy feeling to Jensen, just as it did to you.

“Listen, I’m sorry I’m giving you a hard time, I know you didn’t have a choice, and understand. Selfishly though, I just missed you so much and wish I could’ve known. It definitely would’ve saved some sleepless nights and tears.”

With his other hand, his thumb and index finger gently grab your chin guiding you to meet his eyes. “I’m sorry for everything I put you through having you think I was dead. The second we threw our tags in that fire you and my family were all I could think about. Like I said I wanted to write and give you some sign that I wasn’t gone, but I could never figure out how to start. Plus Clay threatened to cut off little Jensen if I did send anything back home once he found out, which only made it tougher.”

“Yea we wouldn’t want that,” you softly laugh following a short sniffle you were trying to hold back. You really were done with crying, having done so since you got that devastating call so long ago, and just wished your tear ducts would shrivel up already. “Sorry, I thought I was done with the tears.”

“Shh, don’t be.” Leaning forward, his soft as clouds lips meet the single salty droplet in the middle of you cheek erasing its presence before moving to yours in quite possibly the most delicate, tender kiss you’ve ever experienced. Any other time, you’d probably call it painfully slow, trying to take the lead to move things along. But as you both sat there taking everything in from each other’s scents to the feel of how one’s lips and mouth felt on the other, you couldn’t feel more connected.

Just barely pulling away, his swollen lips rest centimeters above yours ready to take them again as soon as he caught his breath.

“I don’t know if I should be embarrassed at myself or amazed at whatever powers you have,” he starts, a light chuckle escaping him. “But I think you just made me-,”

“Jensen!,” you laugh, playfully smacking his shoulder. “Way to ruin a romantic mood.”

“If it’s romance you want, say no more,” he smiles taking your hand in his and placing it on his chest as he clears his throat. To the best of his ability, he begins singing the opening lines to your couple’s song, as Jake proclaimed it, instantly making you fall back on the bed in laughter.

“You actin' kinda shady, ain't callin' me baby, why the sudden change. Say my name, say my name!”

“This is definitely not a couple’s song,” you laugh feeling his forearms rest on either side of your head and chest vibrate from his laughing.

“I’ll admit lyrically wise..yes, you’re right. But it’s still ours which makes it special.”

You’d never forget that day in the grocery store trying to find a pint of your favorite ice cream as the song played overhead. Without really looking, you thought you were on the freezing aisle by yourself and began singing along as you gently bobbed your head. Suddenly hearing a voice singing the background vocals made you slightly jump turning to see the taller man in a grey sweatshirt, blue and white basketball shorts, and sneakers holding up his hands.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. I-It’s Destiny’s Child, I couldn’t resist.”

“It’s okay, and I mean who can?,” you respond, both softly laughing before shyly looking back at your respective sections to get your frozen desserts.

“Soo...you like ice cream?,” he asks interrupting the momentary silence.

“Yea, um my favorite’s moose tracks,” you answer briefly holding up your pint with a smile.

“You know who has a good moose tracks? Bennie & Bailey’s downtown. They make it from scratch and I don’t know what all they put in it, but it’s amazing.”

“Oh, okay thanks. I don’t think I’ve ever been there.”

“Well you should definitely go one day. I mean if you want,” he nervously chuckles.

“Will do,” you smile. “Only if you’ll take me though?”

At first, being met with his shocked, speechless expression made your newfound confidence falter thinking you might’ve been too bold with the cute stranger, whom you hadn’t even asked if he was single or not. However seeing his eyes shine bright and adorable smile grace his pink lips, your excitement returned as he moved closer handing you his phone.

Years later, the rest is history as you lie in bed with the man you were sure was the love of your life.

“Hey what’s going on in there?,” he asks brushing his fingertips across your forehead noticing you become quiet. Lightly scratching his goatee, you feel your eyes start to water again causing you to blink a few times trying to keep them at bay.

“I just don’t want you to leave again,” you whisper, moving your fingers to card through his chestnut and blonde mixed strands.

“I’m not going anywhere unless you ask me too.”

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If anybody wants to be tagged, has asked to be tagged but don’t see your name, only want to be tagged for certain people I write for (can be found in masterlist), or no longer wish to be tagged just let me know🤓!

[pastolcolors]

Youth of May — all my feels

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS

(photos not mine, ctto)

I have never (outside school/work) written an essay of anything I watched, but I chose to do it this time because I have so much feelings and thoughts about it that I just have to release, contain, and immortalize it in this form.

There’s so much I want to say about this drama, but if I had to choose one word to describe it, I choose ‘worthwhile’.

It was the most worthwhile drama I have seen for some time. The writing was beautiful. The emotions were raw and clear--often understated yet fully felt. The characters? Well-portrayed, realistic, passionate, flawed, and lovable. But like any work, it is not perfect.

Before I continue, once again, please be warned that there are SPOILERS in this essay.

With the due warning made clear, let me now enumerate several points that I want to include here: my complaints, what I loved, and the finale.

My Complaints

I want to start with this so that we can get it over with and just focus on what made me love Youth of May so much.

Each point here is just a matter of p r e f e r e n c e, highly subjective, and most of you might disagree on one or all of it, depending on your preference.

But let me air it out because I won’t go on saying that the series was absolutely perfect and had nothing to improve. Here are some minor ones.

On some scenes, the character looks directly at the camera, showing the point of view of the person being looked at.

The ones I can remember are: *Jin A’s & Hee Tae in the music cafe (with extra effects),

*Soo Ryeon from the policeman’s perspective, when she was crying as she jay-walked (with in-love effect),

*Hee Tae in some scenes with Myeong Hee, and

*Myeong Hee from Soo Chan’s perspective right before Hee Tae came out of the Fitting Room.

Personally, I just prefer the characters never looking directly at the camera to show someone’s POV (i don’t mind it with objects though). I just can’t ignore the fact that they’re looking at the camera and not actually at each other, but then that’s just me.

The second and last thing under “complaints” is that the ending and opening scene of episode 4 and 5, respectively, do not match.

In the ending of the fourth episode, Hee Tae did not seem surprised at all upon seeing Myeong Hee and Soo Ryeon, as if it was intentional to surprise the two ladies. However, the opening scene of the fifth episode shows him to be as surprised and confused as Myeong Hee and Soo Ryeon.

I just can’t not be bothered by this minor thing. Or maybe it is showing something that I don’t quite get? Well, as I’ve said, these are all just a matter of preference. Hardly a ‘complaint’, but let’s settle with that for the lack of a better term.

Now that those are out of the way, I will now go to the major things I love about Youth of May. Brace yourself because there’s a lot.

What I Loved

To start, in terms of cinematography, I really like the transition effect used in several scenes. Two particular examples I can think of is the parallel scene of Soo Ryeon coaching Myeong Hee how to get dumped and the sequence of the actual date. There was a part where Soo Ryeon’s hands appear to push down the frame as a transition. Another is the beginning of one of the earlier episodes where Myeong Hee is flapping a bedsheet in the Emergency Room, in which the bedsheet transitions the frame to the next scene. These kinds of transitions are not new to K-Dramas or any series but it’s just so well-executed that I’m grabbing this chance to openly appreciate it.

The next thing I want to point out is the four main characters. All four are flawed yet admirable. All four are all passionate about something. And all four actors all portrayed their them so well.

Soo Chan is tender-hearted, hard-working, and responsible. There is a rare incident of him getting angry, and this scene enriches our understanding of his character. He tries dealing with the devastating discovery of Myeong Hee and Hee Tae’s connection by himself through drinking. But what I love is that he later on confronted BOTH Hee Tae and Myeong Hee. He confronted them BOTH when he thought they were making a mistake, which I think is the right way to handle the situation. He confronted them but he did not force anything to go his way. He just did what he discerned he had to do.

Unfortunately, this anger had consequences that were not so little — and we see how he was overcome with guilt after. Him not being chosen by Myeong Hee did not stop him from helping her whenever he could. The rejection did not change his behavior towards her. Despite his faults, he has always respected Myeong Hee and has never expected anything in return for all he gave, nor did he use this in his favor.

He stood up to his father when he was about to compromise what is just and right for their business. “Father, I cannot obey you in this,” he says, determined to uphold and stand up for his principles, which became more progressive towards the end.

The eye-opening experiences that made him feel the unjust pain and discomfort he never imagined receiving in this way were the turning point. This firsthand experience of injustice moved him to fight alongside the people who continue to suffer because of it instead of being consumed by fear and steering clear from danger to keep himself safe. 

Soo Ryeon is fearless, never afraid for herself and determined to resist and publicly oppose the abuse and wickedness of the government authorities of her time.

However, like most, she’s helpless when it comes to her family, and her desperation drives her to the point of asking for things that should be beyond the bounds of asking (especially among friends!) e.g. asking for your friend’s lover to be your fiancé.

But that’s should not define her entire identity, especially because she recognized her fault and did her best to make amends. You can see her heart shine the most in this: she knows that there is a cause worth fighting for and you will find her in the thick of the action, in the frontlines.

She has a clear sight of what is most important to her. That is why after a few bumps in the road, towards the end, she finally mustered up the courage to give up everything that will hold her back, no matter how difficult it was.

She can be inappropriately brazen and insensitive, but one cannot deny that she truly cares for Myeong Hee, for the people, and the for cause she is fighting for.

Now let me look at Myeong Hee and Hee Tae in light of each other. This, after all, is their story — of love, of loss, and of life…and of death. (See. I told you, spoilers)

Hwang Hee Tae — here is a male lead that we have witnessed to be so vulnerable. He is strong in many ways, yet you see all the parts where he’s broken and wounded.

He’s a character that is competent in medicine and in handling life’s setbacks.

What I love most about him is that he is never resentful; I believe not even towards his father. And as revealed in the last episode, not even towards Myeong Soo.

He said twice to two different people (to Soo Ryeon and to his stepmom) that he has never resented them. Even if he has the reason to, might I add. On the contrary, he is always genuine in his kindness, even offering them help when needed, and even giving them advice.

Kim Myeong Hee — among the two of them, I would say that Myeong Hee is the stronger one. She is so grounded and steadfast. A force to be reckoned with. She has her priorities and goals clearly defined and she’s heading towards them single-mindedly.

Unfortunately, very few people see this about her. They push her around because they mistake her humility and kindness for weakness.

But Hee Tae knows and sees her strength in its fullness.

Myeong Hee knows her priorities. That is why at the beginning, despite wanting him too, she can easily let Hee Tae go. Because to her, the things that matter most are not at the mercy of things that matter least (Johann Von Goethe), and Hee Tae was at the bottom of her list (but not for long).

As for Hee Tae, he had some stuff going around — the songwriting thing, dealing with persistent effects of a traumatic experience, and Seok Chul’s well-being & hospital transfer. But even with all this heavy stuff going on, he really does live life lightheartedly (coz that’s his life motto according to Hye Gun).

He’s quite chill about everything. Everything except Myeong Hee, that is.

To him, there is absolutely nothing “chill” about what he feels for Myeong Hee.

The way I see it, Hee Tae is not as passionate and sure about anything as much as he about what he feels for Myeong Hee.

He wants to live lightheartedly, which is evident, but then this woman comes along and all the effort to live out his motto is shattered, completey out the window.

No more lighthearted Hee Tae. He was now about-to-weather-any-storm Hee Tae because now he had something to cherish, fight for, and protect.

He says to himself in the finale, “It was my choice to love her with all my heart.”

And boy, did he love her fiercely. Even when he was disappointed or frustrated with her, he loved her.

You feel it in his eyes and in every tear that falls from them, in every heavy exhale, in the creasing of his brows, in the clenching of his jaw, in the times of his evident restraint, and even in his silence.

Let me point out that neither Myeong Hee nor Hee Tae directly said “I love you” to each other in conversation, not once.

Despite this, you cannot deny how much they do. It need not be said. The series has an understated quality, which I love; the silences and pauses are as meaningful (if not more) as what was spoken.

I also will not miss to mention that even if the entire series (except for the finale) is only a span of one month, I love how it shows how their relationship blossomed.

In a single month, you see their intimacy gradually grow. Hee Tae fell first--and hard, he was all-in from that black-coffee-and-beer first date. Then Myeong Hee came around, almost catching up to the level of affection and certainty that Hee Tae had for her.

From new lovers going on cute and charitable dates, to having bickering-old- married-couple vibes while working in the ER, and to finally getting married! I love how their love was an enriching and healing of each other.

Before all this, Myeong Hee was trying to live a “quiet life”, she never wanted to draw attention nor cause any kind of trouble.

But meeting Hee Tae meant having someone she wanted to fight for. Before, she only stood up for other people but this pushed her to be assertive for herself to people who never expected her to say no.

Myeong Hee untentionally and repeatedly drives Hee Tae out of his comfort zone and even caused him to face his fears.

Myeong Hee believed in Hee Tae for something that he was so unsure of himself--that he can be a good doctor. She reassured him gently yet firmly.

I believe that Hee Tae would not have pursued being a doctor if not because  Myeong Hee.

Two more things I cannot not include here is that this drama addressed the important need for the younger generation to know the struggles of their nation many moons before they were born. This drama was set in South Korea in the 80s, (Gwangju Uprising) when the country was in Martial Law.

The four main characters represented different kinds of people during the time:

Soo Ryeon, an activist fighting for liberation of such a rule;

Soo Chan who, because of his position of privilege, was so detached from the reality and plight of the masses, the people whom his sister are fighting with and for;

Hee Tae, someone is aware of the reasons why his fellow students and citizens are resisting this authoritarian rule and is so close to where the fight is but chooses to stay out of it in the name of “living lightheartedly”;

Myeong Hee, a brave and selfless medical practitioner who WILL NOT turn a blind eye when she can do something to help.

Through this, we journey with and witness them grow from how they started to where we find them at the end.

It would be easy to relate to at least one of these characters. Therefore, it will help one to see how it might be for you, were you in this dangerous and ruthless time in history.

It can even open conversations with others or within yourself, asking the question, “What would I have done?” or “What would I do if it came to this?”

The latter of the “two more things” I cannot forego is the message of the story (among others) that although it seems that you (with all the limitations of being just one person, whose efforts seem futile in light of the immense violence and injustice happening around and beyond you) cannot change anything, there are things that you can do. Choose to do what you can, within the lines what is up to you.

There’s so much more I can say, I could go on endlessly --about Myeong Soo and Jung Tae, about Jung Tae saving Myeong Hee, about Jung Tae’s mom having the courage to free herself and her child from her tyrant husband, about Kyung Soo, about the “before I met you, I couldn’t hear anything” scene, and much more. But I guess I’ll leave it here.

The Finale

Finally, let’s talk about that finale.

Not to overreact, but it was a brilliantly woven  m a s t e r p i e c e. My only complaint on the ending is that I wish Soo Chan’s, Soo Ryeon’s, and the other characters’ present lives were shown a bit more. Other than that, to me, this is probably the best ending of a K-Drama I have ever seen.

The old Hee Tae was essentially the same — he is lighthearted, he confronts combative people ~lovingly~, and more than all, he is still. frickin’. whipped. for Kim Myeong Hee.

Yep, that’s the word for it. He’s just so devastatingly, unquestioningly, beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt, can’t-be-undone kind of whipped.

That’s why her loss was excruciating for him. He was extremely gutted.

Then it hit him. This was what he prayed for every day forty-one years ago. Him being left behind was actually his prayer being answered.

That’s the crux of the masterpiece right there. I was internally screaming by that part. G O O S E B U M P S.

It’s so endearing and sad how he never loved anyone else after her—not in that way, at least--and so relieving that he became the doctor she believed him to be — and better!

He said almost the exact same thing that Myeong Hee told him in the orphanage to the young doctor who decided to quit after a devastating failure. He revived that young man the way Myeong Hee did -- by having faith in him and magnifying his strength.

See!!! This is what I’m talking about — masterpiece.

It was the 41st year since Myeong Hee died yet she lives! Because in Hee Tae’s heart and consciousness, she never died.

She probably was more real to him than anything else that remained.

After finally discovering what Myeong Hee’s prayer was on the day of their wedding, he promised that the years to come will be the answer to her prayer — to not let the sorrow overwhelm his life, to not drown in the tears, and to have the power and courage to swim safely throughout this life.

It ends with, “Until we meet again, I will swim against the tide with all my might.”

I’m such a sucker for an ending as good as this. And now that I got it, I shall not forget.

[metalbvcky]

2020 Fic Year in Review

I’m waiting for my Sims game to finish updating, so I thought I’d do this since I saw @kalee60‘s post about it :) 

Total number of completed stories: 

14 (15 if you include a short 1am-oneshot I orphaned haha) 

Total number of words: 

111,575 (and that’s not including stuff I scrapped/haven’t posted omg) 

Fandoms written in:

Marvel/Stucky but also Supernatural (on my main) just a tad because haven’t posted anything yet but I’m including it anyway haha 

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expected?

Oh, absolutely! Heck, I never thought I’d write anything when it comes to fic because I’ve always kept quiet about my writing. (And I’ve been doing it since I was like 12 and it all started with my Club Penguin phase pffft)  But my interest turned into an obsession rather quickly and I honestly can say, without a doubt, that @buckybees​ is the whole reason why I even got the courage to post my first fic! I’m so glad I did because writing fic has given me a new perspective on fandom in general. And it makes me appreciate fandom/fanon even more. 

What’s your own favourite story of the year?

Pretty much all of them but Bucky's Got a Bun in the Oven? holds a special place in my heart. Not only was it my first published fic, but I never thought I’d write something like that. I go back and re-read it frequently since it’s so short. 

No lie: Sometimes I look back at that fic and it makes me wanna write a series of short oneshots with Pregnant!Bucky. Like, just Domestic Steve/Bucky living in the modern day with a baby on the way. Bucky shopping for baby clothes, decorating the nursery, having snack parties with Natasha, taking care of the baby after the birth, those sort of things. Oh, I think I just talked myself into another idea. 😂 

Did you take any writing risks this year?

Ehh, not really? However, I did write a series of crack oneshots lol. Some are crazier than others. 

Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the new year?

Apple Pie Crumble Cake - This is my #1 goal. It’s a Bakery!AU Kid Fic that I’ve been planning for months. It’s gonna be multi-chaptered, and at least 50k. I have 10 chapters outlined and there are still more I need to get to, but probably won’t until I start writing the darn thing lol. 

I wanna start posting some smut oneshots on my secondary pseud, I have some done but I don’t think those will ever see the light of day since they’re just for practice- most of them were thought of on the spot without any outlining. I’d like to keep anything (totally) nsfw separate from my default pseud, just to be organized lol. And yes, this asexual read/writes smut. 😏 (my personal rule is as long as it doesn’t involve me, I’m good!) 

I thought long and hard on this in the past week or so, and originally I thought I’d join the Shrunkyclunks ‘21 Bang but the more I thought about it, the less I wanted to do it. It’d be my first bang, and while I have an idea, it’s just a little intimating to me lol. Soo, I’ll pass this year. Instead, I’m gonna look out for a Bingo whenever a new one starts up, since I’ll prob be more comfortable with that :) 

(Does this short lil Beach!AU count even though it’ll be done in 2020 but will be posted next year?? lolol) 

On my main, I’m writing a Supernatural + Spongebob crossover fic. Sort of like the episode, Scoobynatural. And I have a feeling that it’s gonna be turned into a series because I’m latched onto this idea- that started as a joke. 

Most popular story of the year.

Are we talking hits or kudos?? Hits, Buchanan Medical. Kudos, The Case of Bucky’s Wisdom Teeth. Eitherway, I’m so happy those two made it as my most popular stories. Buchanan Med is close to me on a personal level, and Bucky’s wisdom teeth fic is something I’ve always wanted to read but never existed :3 

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:

I think @kalee60​ explained it perfectly when it comes to fics ‘flopping’ (I see this a lot on r/fanfiction) People will see it, they might like it, or won’t like it. And that’s okay! Not everything is for everyone, neither are tropes/genres. I know myself, I’m not a fan of A/B/O and the same could go for someone else who likes my personal favorite genre, hurt/comfort. And sometimes it’s kinda like an age old Tumblr saying: A post that took time and effort can get little as 10 notes but a spur of the moment post can get thousands. (Okay so, I made that up on the spot pffft) 

Most fun story to write.

Buchanan Medical, but Mercury In Retrograde was super fun since I added the whole ‘space puns/pickup lines’ aspect to it. They basically share the same AU, but they’re totally different and that’s why I love them.  

Most unintentionally telling story:

The entire Buchanan Med series. I wanted to explore Steve having asthma in a modern universe (because I too suffer from it- my whole life) and I really, truly, bled a little bit of my personal experience with the disease into the series. Having Bucky there, taking care of/treating Steve? It felt really comforting to me. And hey, write those self comfort fics!!! 

Biggest disappointment.

I hoped to finish the last oneshot of Buchanan Med this year but sadly, my motivation for it just tanked. I write hurt/comfort best when I’m in the right mood for it, and I’m still waiting for it to come back to me, whenever that may be XD. 

Biggest surprise.

The amount of reception I’ve gotten overall, the people I’ve met, the friends I’ve made, and new fandom experiences I’ve gotten to experience myself! Seriously, never in a million years did I think I’ve ever call myself a fanfic writer. But here I am, and I couldn’t be happier <3

~~~

My Sims game finished updating on the fifth question but I kept on rambling because I love taking about my writing!!! It made me realize that wow, I really did do a lot this year when it comes to fanon- especially since it was my first time delving into the world that is fanfiction writing <3 I have many hobbies, video games being the longest one, but I think I’ve spent more time writing/reading than playing games this year. My teenager-self WOULD NEVER believe that! But as the legendary Reggie Fils-Aimesays once said, "If it’s not fun, why bother?” 

I’m gonna tag you guys if you wanna do this! @buckybees​ @justice-for-plums​ @hbalbat​ @its-tortle​ @captainjanegay​ @greyhavensking​ @snarky-drabbles​ @joharvele​ @musette22​ @mysterious-marvel​