#2 shus in 1 week

[monochromatiica]

ahahahaha *falls over, dissolves into a pile of dust*

[meymeyzart]

True love is unbound

[4giorno]

WAAAAAAAAAAH opening the game first thing in the morning is rlly something to get you energized today ;_____;💖 the previews have me crying tbh

[rivalsforlife]

takumi posted about the showcase on twitter today (relevant tweet 1, relevant tweet 2) and from the sounds of it he delivered the speech in english because he heard the capcom showcase had more overseas viewers than japanese viewers last time. so he asked janet hsu to translate a speech for him and record it, and then listened to it morning to night for two weeks so he could repeat it by memory at the showcase. he even made notes to try and get the cadence of it down.

(source tweet)

all for the experience of us turning on the capcom showcase and going "oh! I didn't know takumi could speak english!" and he can't he just memorized a script to pitch ghost trick in english because he thought it would be interesting to overseas viewers. this guy really operates on an entirely different brain level from most people and I have so much respect for him

EDIT: Have gotten a few tags now with people saying "I don't go here", so I thought I'd provide a little more information! You can view Shu Takumi's full speech and more elaboration on Ghost Trick in this video. It's a delightful little mystery puzzle game that is often considered one of his best works, and what he says in that video interests you I highly recommend checking out at least the demo and possibly the full game. You play as an amnesiac ghost with powers of the dead allowing him to turn back time and change fate. He seeks to save other people and uncover the truth behind his mysterious death, and his identity, before the morning comes and he's doomed to fade away.

As well, Shu Takumi's most well-known work is on the murder mystery visual novel series Ace Attorney, where you play as a rookie defense lawyer defending clients against a corrupt judicial system heavily stacked against you. You can find the first three games in the series (all written by Shu Takumi) in the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy, which is available on all modern consoles and a total steal whenever it goes on sale. You can learn more about it through this trailer! I'm obsessed with those games and also super recommend checking it out if murder mysteries or visual novels are your thing.

[cinebration]

The Darkling’s Shadow (The Darkling x Reader) [Part 1]

Premise: You offer yourself as a weapon to the Darkling, acting as his hidden left hand.

Prologue | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Epilogue

Tagged: @don-daygamerz, @weallhaveadestiny, @kaqua, @sinful-wxrld, @ashdab2611, @ultarviolence, @chodingcreature, @demonenotturno, @crowssixof​, @mxacegrey​, @dreamlandcreations​, @s-r-reads​, @byulsrecs​, @peleksstuff​, @seraferna​, @imtherain​

Warnings: none

Gif Source: ethanhunt

In the Little Palace, whispers followed you like the rippling wake of a boat cutting through water. You basked in the furtive, wary glances of the Grisha you swept past, the murmurs buoying your step as you made your way to the Darkling’s war room.

If the whispers were jeers or vitriol, you would still enjoy it.

Power demanded fear.

That invigorated you more than anything, more so even than the thought of the Darkling’s amplifying power coursing through you.

Smoothing your red kefta with both hands, you strode through the war room’s doors, gliding on silent steps into the empty space.

Not entirely empty.

The Darkling stood on the far end of the room, leaning over the maps spread across the expansive round table in the room’s center. Only his eyes moved as you entered, glancing up to see who had dared disturb him.

You stopped short of the table, stared across its expanse at him.

Straightening, he swept his gaze over you. “Bone white,” he observed, a note of approval in his voice.

A sharp thrill coursed through you. “I thought it an appropriate color for the embroidery.”

“Yes,” he agreed. “How are you liking it here at the Little Palace?”

After your display in the tent, the Darkling had dispatched you to the Grisha stronghold while he determined what to do with you. You knew, of course, being of a similar mindset as he, that it had been for show. He had made his decision the moment you snapped the Fjerdan’s cheekbone.

He hadn’t even waited a week to return to the Little Palace and summon you to the war room.

“It’s…crowded.”

A frown creased the Darkling’s handsome features. “You don’t like being around fellow Grisha?”

Somewhere a clock chimed. You listened to its resounding bells until they died into silence, your gaze never wavering from the Darkling’s face.

“Grisha is your term.”

His eyebrows arched. “What would you prefer to be called?”

“By my name,” you answered, “or something more unique.”

A faint hum rumbled quietly in his throat, almost a laugh. “I understand the allure of uniqueness. It can be a curse, though.”

“I can be a curse.”

Taut silence descended between you, the Darkling’s dark eyes fixed unwaveringly on you.

“Is that a threat?”

Striding along the curving length of the table, your hip grazing its edge with a rasp of fabric against wood, you met the Darkling on the other side. You pitched your voice low, forcing him to pay rapt attention.

“I can be a curse or a scourge,” you murmured. Fervor swelled in your voice. “I can be a monster or a ghost. I can be anything you want…or need me to be. But most of all…”

His eyes refused to blink as you stared back at him.

“I can be your shadow, the boogeyman with blood on its hands and maw waiting in anticipation of its master’s next command.”

The Darkling couldn’t hide the dilation of his pupils or the slight widening of his nostrils. Strangling the smug smile threatening to give yourself away, you let your gaze linger on his face a fraction longer before glancing down at the map beneath his palm.

His breath rolled softly over your exposed neck. An exhilarating shiver rolled beneath your skin.

“If it weren’t for the loathing and prejudice of the Fjerdans and the Shu Han, I would suspect you were a spy.”

You glanced aside at him, tilting your neck further in a gesture of submission.

“Which makes me wonder why you are here.”

The lights in the room dimmed as the shadows darkened, rolling out from unseen crevices and corners.

“And what you hope to gain,” he added, the softness of his voice thrumming with power.

The room darkened to the one lamp set in the center of the table, its circle of light barely reaching you. The shadows across the Darkling’s face clung to him with a lover’s caress.

“I thought it was obvious,” you muttered.

“Enlighten me.”

You couldn’t ignore the command in his tone even if you had wanted to.

“You have the potential to be the most powerful person on the whole continent,” you said. “Well, you are the most powerful person on the whole continent. But you aren’t in that position of power. No Grisha, as you call them, are.”

The muscles around the Darkling’s mouth tightened.

Leaning against the table, you shifted a fraction out of the Darkling’s space. “I intend to change that, with or without your help.”

“You alone?”

“I am very committed and highly incentivized.”

“By what?”

You hesitated, wondering whether you should tell him the truth.

The darkness closed further in the room, smothering the lamp on the table. Only the barest gleam of its light reflected in the Darkling’s pupils.

“Power.” The word slid off your tongue with pure reverence. “I want the power.”

The hunger in the Darkling matched your own. You knew it in your bones, recognized the intense desire for power behind the Darkling’s calm mask.

Heartbeats thudded in your chest as he scrutinized your features.

“Why should I believe you won’t kill me to have it? Once we have achieved this grand vision you aspire to?”

“I haven’t learned to take power from a Grisha,” you answered. “Yet.”

“Do you think that is possible?”

“The Shu Han do, certainly. I think we should take power from them.”

Brow furrowing, the Darkling scrutinized your face once more.

You held your breath, heart thrashing against your ribs in a desperate attempt to hurl itself from your body.

The shadows receded, sliding back into their corners and crevices.

The Darkling took a step back from you, his expression a blank mask. He gestured to the map in front of him, long fingers ghosting over spots marked along the Fjerdan border.

“Verify the hunter’s information,” he ordered. “Bring me the head of their outpost’s leader.”

A mild twinge of disappointment constricted your chest. “Proof of loyalty.”

“Exactly.”

Straightening, you smoothed down the front of your kefta again. You strode toward the doors. “Very well, I’ll bring you your head. Then the real work can begin.”

“Another threat.”

“No, a promise.” You paused at the door and glanced over your shoulder at him. “Otherwise, you’re a waste of my time.”

You waited for the fraction of a second it took for the Darkling’s features to tighten, the muscle in his jaw flexing, before sweeping out the door, everything within you burning.

[honoviadakai]

What the Diaboys smell like: Sakamaki brother edition

(CW for Laito’s section, mentions of sex/sexual themes and blood for all the brothers)

Shu:

Top notes: clean linen, violin rosin, spruce wood

Bottom notes: blood, old books, cheap body spray

Shu always smells like clean, freshly pressed, linen sheets

Not because he does the laundry, that’s Reiji’s job

He sleeps in his bed for days or even weeks on end if he can get away with it

So he tends to smells a lot like his clean bed sheets because of how often he takes depression naps

While he’s the least active member of the Sakamaki family, he still has hobbies

His is music, specifically the violin 🎻

Now if you’re a musician then you’re familiar with the maintenance required for keeping your instruments in tip top playing shape

Violins need rosin in order to properly “grip” the strings and create the right amount of friction necessary to play music

And if you’ve never smelled rosin before, it’s usually a bit piny

It’s not really that strong of a smell, but given how old he is and that playing the violin is one of the few things he’s willing to do over an over again

The smell is now apart of him

Specifically his hands

Boy do his hands smell like a pine tree 🌲 💀

He also smells a bit like spruce wood

There’s 2 reasons for this

Reason 1 is because violins are typically made of spruce and therefore, smell as such

Now reason 2…

Shu met Edgar when he was just a child and one of the activities he did in his short time with the boy was to help him with his chores

Specifically, he helped Edgar cut fire wood

The area they lived in was very abundant in spruce trees so Shu grew to love this smell

However…after the fire…he began to hate that smell…

But he could never bring himself to purge himself of that smell

Instead, all of his violins from then on were specially crafted with the wood of spruce trees that grew in the area that Edgar and his family used to live in

He even chops the wood himself to give to the violin crafters

It’s his way of remembering his first friend…

On a far less somber note!

Let’s circle back to the fact that he’s a lazy ass!

His personal hygiene is not great

The only reason he does it at all is because Reiji will nag his ears off if he smells even a little bit funky

So he does buy perfume once every 6 months

…I say perfume because he goes to a store that sells both men and women’s fragrances…

This man is so lazy that the moment he sets foot in that store, he reaches for the first box that’s available for purchase…

He doesn’t even look at what he grabs!

He has bought women’s perfume for himself on multiple occasions and no, he’s not gonna return it!

It’s too much work for this mf!

So for the next 6 months he’s just gonna smell like Victor and Rolf Flowerbomb and we all just gotta accept it

He also just naturally smells like old books

Part of it is cuz his mom use to make him study till steam started coming out of his ears

Sometimes he’d even have to study so much that he’d actually just fall asleep at his desk, using the book he was reading as a pillow

For this reason he enjoys sleeping in libraries

They’re quiet and they smell nice

The smell also reminds him of his mother

They may not have always gotten along, but he did love her

So he sleeps in libraries so he can smell a scent that’s similar to his mother’s and have it permeate his being

It’s his way of remembering his mother

Now a smell that never leaves him is that of his victims blood

He’s been alive longer than he cares to remember, so he’s had more than his fair share of “meals”

And he’s not exactly a clean eater…

Sometimes the blood of a sacrificial bride will stain his expensive silk shirts

He doesn’t bother cleaning them right away, so the smell of their blood always lingers for weeks, even months sometimes

But unlike the triplets, he’s able to hide the smell and even has a good excuse as to why the smell is sometimes strong on him

He likes rare steak 🥩

Rare steak is a bit bloody

Literally every time he says that to a human they just laugh and tell him what a messy eater he is

If only they knew just how true that statement was…

Reiji:

Top notes: tea(depends on what he’s feeling that day), old books, expensive cologne

Bottom notes: detergent, mystery chemicals/poisons, blood

Reiji is pinnacle of refined gentleman should be…at least on the surface

All of his clothes are meticulously washed and pressed before the start of a new day(night?)

So he always has the light scent of whatever detergent he used on his clothes

He also buys the most expensive cologne in the human world that peeks his interest

Right now it’s Frederic Malle The Night Eau de Parfum (estimated at around $2,125.50 USD)

Honestly he doesn’t even buy it cuz it smells nice…he just likes flexing on Shu 💀

But it does smell nice and it adds to his “prim and proper gentleman” aesthetic

Something else that adds to this aesthetic is that his natural scent is that of tea and old books

Both stem from the fact that the few times he got his mother’s full, undivided attention…was when they had tea time together…and talked about the books they had read in the past month…

Yes, he was responsible for her death, but it’s something that he deeply regrets even if he won’t admit it to anyone…not even himself

Something else he won’t admit is that this is why he often reads and drinks tea at the same time

It reminds him of the few happy memories he has of his mother, so he unconsciously has his tea while reading to remember his mother and make himself happy

He also subconsciously picks out tea and books he thinks his mother would have enjoyed

The smells then linger on his body, so it’s almost as if his mother is with him as he goes about his day

Now he’s also a brilliant man

He dabbles in chemistry and specializes in creating poisons and drugs that could incapacitate even some of the mightiest of monsters he’s come across

The smell of those chemicals he works with tend to linger

It’s never to a noticeable degree…but humans who linger too close for too long tend to notice that he smells…odd…like chemicals…

It’s simple enough for him to dismiss

He’s part of the school’s chemistry team, obviously he’s gonna smell like chemicals 🙄

So humans tend to take that answer at face value and not give it a second thought

His brothers all know better though…he’s making a new neurotoxin…and they know better than to get close, least they end up his next Guinea pig…

And of course…he’s a vampire…the smell of blood sticks to him like glue…

Unlike his brothers though, the smell of blood is weak on him

He’s not a messy eater like his brothers are

And he also will clean his clothes much sooner than his brothers would

So while he will have the faintest smell of blood on him, he can hide it with a few good spritz of his expensive cologne

Laito:

Top notes: blood, sauvage mens fragrance, fish(in a bad way)

Bottom notes: the perfume of whatever woman he was with last, vanilla, Cordelia’s favorite perfume

Oh boy…this one…

Buckle up…this one’s a doozy…

So let’s start with the fact that he always has a fishy smell to him…

….

Listen, there’s no easy way to say this but this man answers booty calls like it’s his full time job

Did you really think he wasn’t gonna smell like a man whore? Cuz he does

It’s such a prominent smell that he literally can’t lie to anyone about it

If he answered a booty call 15 minutes ago and just quietly walked into a room, everyone knows

He’s not even gonna hide it

He’s proud of himself so he’s not gonna bother coming up with a lie or using fragrances to cover up the smell

But if he does use cologne…

His favorite is Dior Sauvage Parfum

He likes how it smells and he thinks Johnny Depp is a pretty good actor for a human

Also some girls and guys like it so it also helps him score

Why would he not stock up on this fragrance?

Especially when he needs something to help cover up the sex and blood smell

Like the other triplets, the smell of blood is STRONG on him

He’s the only one that gets away with it though

He claims he likes having periods sex with women and the smell just sticks with him

He’s not even lying, that is in fact a kink of his

….but he is lying…

Sorta

While it is possible he a bloody horizontal tango session with a human female earlier, it’s also possible he found time to drain a human of blood sometime before going back to class too

Hell, it might have actually been a female classmate that he banged and killed cuz he was too hungry to wait

But no one can prove it was him cuz he was smart enough to burn the body till not even her ashes remained…

And if he did get his clothes stained, he won’t even bother going back to interacting with humans

Humans shriek too much at the sight of blood and while he does find it entertaining sometimes, he doesn���t wanna deal with humans asking him a million questions over a meal he just had

So if he is clean of blood and he smells heavily of his favorite cologne….he probably just ate…

….for your safety, mind your business and do not ask him questions…

Also if he smells like Bethany’s favorite perfume, no he doesn’t

You can’t prove shit!

You didn’t hear this from me…but he does like nuzzling up to his lates plaything and smelling like them, he’ll even take a article of clothing of theirs sometimes

It’s his weird way of feeling love and giving love back to his prey

He smells like them, they smell like him, romantic right!?

….

He got that idea from Cordelia….

Whenever she and Laito had…playtime…together 🤢 she’d always make sure she smelled like him and he smelled like her…

“That’s what lovers do after all”

Even though she’s dead, he still sprays her favorite perfume on himself….

It’s his way of showing his father, uncle and even his brothers that even if she’s gone…her love permeates his body and only his body…

He does this less and less once he gets a lover who truly loves him

The “Smelling like Cordelia” bit I mean

Cuz now he just wants to smell like his lover! 🥰

He also kinda smells like vanilla

He really like Macaroons

Like he’ll eat 5 boxes in one sitting if left to his own devices

Eating so many leaves him smelling like sweet vanilla

It’s kinda funny tbh

He’s a big scary vampire

But he’s got a bit of a sweet tooth

And it leaves him with the faintest sweetness in his natural scent

Even his own scent is proof that beneath the twistedness he exudes, he’s a bit of a sweetheart

Kanato:

Top notes: sugar, blood, wax polish

Bottom notes: strawberry pound cake body spray from bath & body works, lavender scented detergent, vanilla

So remember how I said Laito was a doozy…

Kanato is on a whole different level….

So of all the Sakamaki brothers

Not even just the triplets…

He violently smells like blood…

So much so that the brothers have to lie and say Kanato has a medical condition where he gets constant nosebleeds and that’s why he often smells like he just arrived from a crime scene

To be fair…

Look at him…

Just…look at him…

He looks anemic…and he’s abnormally small for someone who’s supposed to be 17 years older

So humans will 100% believe it when given that explanation

….UNTIL HE FUCKS UP AND DOES SOMETHING THAT NORMAL HUMANS CANT/WONT DO

For example!

For a guy who’s been labeled as “anemic” by his brothers…he sure does have quite a lot of energy…

He’s so energetic that he punched a classmate in the ribs for calling him a shrimp…

And said ribs broke…

And his hand is fine…and he tries to bite the already injured student….

On the neck….

…..this is why he’s the least “human passing” of his brothers…

That and he smells like a blood bank!

He’s the messiest eater of his brothers and he won’t wash his clothes!

Reiji has to play the waiting game, steal his clothes and then DEEP CLEAN all his clothes!!

You know what else he smells like? Sugar

Like, a metric fuck ton of sugar

I don’t think vampires can get diabetes, but Kanato is definitely limit testing his body

Like he smells so much like sugar it’s almost kinda gross

Especially when the bloody smell mixes with the sugar smell

It’s such a weird dichotomy of smells but that’s what Kanato smells like

Bloody sugar

And wax finish…

…did I mention taxidermy is a very bloody hobby and that he smells like blood yet…?

Cuz it’s true…

He spends hours making new “toys” and he doesn’t always clean himself, his tools or the room he was working in when he’s done…

He does like to wax his human “dolls” when he’s done and the wax smell juat kinda sticks to him but it doesn’t do much to cover up that he smells like the walking embodiment of death sometimes….

Weirdly enough, he does try to cover it up sometimes

Key word here being try…

Cuz he’s not good at it…

One of his favorite human stores is Bath & Body Works

I’m dead serious

Walk past one and you’ll immediately understand why it’s his favorite place to buy personal hygiene products from

His favorite product is their strawberry pound cake body spray

He LOVES how it smells and wants the entirety of his natural scent to just be that smell

Hasn’t worked yet but he’s trying

Reiji also washes Kanato’s clothes with Lavender scented detergent

He heard lavender has calming effects and wanted to use it on him to make him less chaotic

…..

It hasn’t worked yet…but Kanato likes it so he allows Reiji to continue using the lavender detergent

His sweat and saliva also naturally smells like vanilla….

Do with that information what you will 💅

Ayato:

Top notes: blood, sweat, axe body spray

Bottom notes: takoyaki, musky oak wood, bat musk

Ah yes

The youngest triplet

Let’s get this out the way

He smells like blood

MF eats like he doesn’t know what a napkin is 🤦🏻

He at least has the decency to give Reiji his bloody clothes as soon as he can

Ofc Reiji also has to clean his face cuz…ya know…he’s covered in blood…

The triplets are something else sometimes man…

He at least tries to cover up the smell…with Axe body spray…

And if I’m being honest, I think he uses it to cover up the smell of his sweat…not the fresh blood that was on him after drinking his fill…

His priorities are a little scud…don’t mind him…

But yeah, he’s a sweaty guy after playing several games of basketball and he masks it with Axe body spray 🤦🏻

What a dweeb(affectionate)

He also faintly smells of takoyaki 🐙

What can I say, it’s his favorite food

He eats it every time he has the opportunity to do so

So the smell is just apart of him now

Hope you like takoyaki 😌

He also smells a Leta’s like musky oak wood

I’ll get to the musky part in a bit, but there’s quite a bit of oak trees near the lake his mother nearly drowned him in

He hangs out there a lot tbh

He and his brothers use to play around there a lot

In a way he’s hoping the good memories of him and his brothers will overshadow his awful memories of his mother

Hasn’t worked yet but he’s hopeful

Now onto the muskiness

So Ayato has the muskiest/sweatiest smell out of all his brothers

Reiji hypothesizes it’s because he’s the most active out of the 6 of them

And that’s partially true

But it’s also cuz he’s the brother who interacts the most with their familiars

And most of their familiars are bats! 🦇

You ever smell a bat???

They’re musky af!

He mostly hangs around them cuz they’re good listeners

Sometimes he just needs somewhere to vent, ya know?

They’re also great spies

If he takes a great liking towards a sacrificial bride, he’ll send his familiars out and have them report back where they are and what they’re doing at all times

So if he smells an awful lot of bats lately…

It’s because he’s been spying his crush prey

You didn’t hear that from me though 😌

Subaru:

Top notes: roses, silver, Christa’s favorite perfume

Bottom notes: blood, silver polish, sandalwood

We’ve finally made it to the youngest Sakamaki son!

He’s got a surprisingly delicate natural scent

Which is so weird given how he is

He’s also the second most active brother out of the 6 of them

So you’d expect him to smell musky/sweaty right?

Well he doesn’t

Reiji theories that it’s cuz he’s the youngest and therefore has the most amount of stamina out of all of them

So he requires triple the amount of physical activity that Ayato normally does to even start breaking a sweat

And because of that, his natural scent is delicate and sweet

Yes, he smells of blood sometimes

Buts it’s only very prominent after he’s had his fill

The the third cleanest eater of his brothers and he tried to get clean as quickly as possible so the smell of blood doesn’t send him off the rails

The main thing he smells like is roses 🌹

Is that really a surprise to anyone?

Look at how many roses are around the compound

I’d be more surprised if he didn’t smell like roses

It’s so ingrained into his being that I’m positive that even if you were to bathe him in the harshest of chemicals, the rose smell would never leave

He also smells of Christa’s favorite perfume

He has a habit of spraying the key around his neck with her perfume when he’s feeling extra sad and lonely

The smell remains him of the good memories of his childhood…when Christa was able to hold herself together long enough to give Subaru a big hug and tell her she loved him like she meant it

He sometimes brings her new bottles of her favorite perfume when he visits her

She deserves a nice gift every now and then

He also smells of silver and silver polish

He tends to hold onto the knife his mother gave him so hard when he sleeps that the smell of silver is practically burned into his skin now

He also cleans and polishes the knife daily…

His mother gave him that knife in pristine condition..so he will maintain it in good condition…

It’s also hard to deal a killing blow with a dull knife…

So he takes care of it as best he can, just like he promised his mother he would…

He surprisingly smells of sandalwood

There’s quite a lot of sandalwood trees near the manor actually

Quick fun fact about sandalwood!

They not only smell really good, they’re very easy to carve

Subaru actually picked up wood carving at some point in his childhood

He doesn’t do it often but he is quite talented at it!

He tends to mostly carve little statues of animals

His favorite animals to carve are rabbits

He will never willingly say that out loud though

So you didn’t hear it from me 👀

Sometimes he gifts some of his carvings to his mother

Sometimes he leaves carvings in his brothers rooms as surprise gifts when they do something nice for him for once

And if he REALLY likes a sacrificial bride that’s staying with them, they get a wooden rabbit that looks extra cute

If he manages to establish a romantic relationship with them he might actually give them a new carving every month or so cuz cuz he loves them so much

Hopefully they don’t mind him smelling more and more like sandalwood when that becomes his full time hobby 😉

[office-to-fantasy]

[A part 3 that I don’t remember if people asked for? However, I wrote it anyway! I hope you all enjoy!]

Part 1 Part 2

Shu Sakamaki x Fem!Reader

The pain shot through your body once again, Shu’s arm reaching out to hold you up. It had only been a few weeks since you became pregnant. Shu still stood by your side, every day working to earn your forgiveness despite him even believing he didn’t deserve it.

You held your much bigger belly gently, wincing through the pain and gripping Shu’s strong arm. He looked at you with a concerned look, hardly feeling your squeeze on his arm, focusing mainly on keeping you up on your feet.

“Do you want to sit down?” he asked, gently taking a hold of your other arm.

You shook your head, determined to keep moving forward despite the pain.

Shu frowned. “You don’t need to be forcing yourself like this. You can rest,” he said firmly.

Your mood swung faster than you could think and you glared at him. “I��m tired of sitting around, so how about instead of continually lecturing me, you help me!”

Shu’s expression didn’t change. “Stubborn woman.”

“I’m pregnant!” you defended. You yanked your eyes away from him with a pout. “Sorry,” you grumbled.

His expression softened and he held your hand gently. “Still in pain?” he asked.

The pain had slowly faded during your small outburst, and you shook your head.

Shu nodded and only held your hand, continuing to walk with you down the corridor. He had become so good at understanding your mood changes and the pain you were in. You hated to admit it, but he was being as perfect as you’d ever imagine for him to be.

The baby was growing at a rate that no one could understand. Your body had slowly been getting weaker with each passing day. The fatigue was becoming too much sometimes and being able to be held up by Shu was something you couldn’t live without. He was making the pregnancy so much easier to get through.

It was difficult at times — knowing you hadn’t, or more likely couldn’t, forgive him for what he’d done — while falling more in love with the way he’d been acting throughout it all.

Shu was tender with you, letting you use him as a body pillow while you slept in the most odd positions. He’d play with your hair to lull you into sleep when you couldn’t do it yourself. At times, you’d wake up and his head would be on your chest, a hand placed against your pregnant belly.

Perhaps the thing you couldn’t resist the most was how easy it was to love him when he’d listen to your heartbeat. While you slipped slowly to sleep, his fingers would softly tap your palm, one matching your heartbeat, and the other matching the baby’s.

It was so easy to love him… so easy to forget what he’d done to you. So easy to remember again, and the sight you’d seen when you walked past those doors. Your heart broke all over again just thinking about it.

Why did he have to do what he did…?

You daydreamed about it, about how your lives would have been if he’d never done what he did. Perhaps you’d be able to kiss and love him without restraint, and he’d do the same for you. He’d kiss you to help you forget the pain…

But that wasn’t the case anymore.

Shu had noticed the far off look you’d have when bedtime came near. A ghost of a smile would always appear on your lips when you had that look. Your heartbeat was at its calmest when you’d suddenly space out like that, and the baby was easily more relaxed.

He was so eager to know what you’d been thinking about.

Shu shut the bedroom door behind you and then gently led you to the bed. He didn’t move for a moment, thinking more rationally about how he’d ask you what that look in your eyes was. He pulled up the chair at the bedside to face you before sitting down, his eyes holding yours.

You couldn’t help the small skip your heart made when he looked at you. Your eyes focused on his beautiful blue ones before only cracking the smallest of a smile. “Thank you.”

His brows seemed to pull in more, thoughtful as he sat up straighter in his seat. “I noticed you spacing out a lot,” he began. “Why?”

Your cheeks flushed slightly, and suddenly you weren’t fully sure of how you should act at that moment. Telling him the truth was never something you ever thought of doing in that instance, and yet, he’d noticed and was now asking you to tell him.

He watched you intently.

“No reason,” you said simply, moving further back on the bed to get more comfortable.

His eyes didn’t move from yours as they looked away. He knew better than to take that as an answer, if any. He continued, “You get this far away look at times. What is it?” he asked, a bit more demanding than before.

You frowned, thinking of whether you should or shouldn’t tell him. Throughout your entire time together, never once did you ever feel a need to lie to him about anything. Whether it was about your thoughts, feelings, or anything at all, lying to him was not something that came easy. Being truthful and honest with him was what came so easily to you for him, so your lies practically meant nothing.

But you could always refuse.

“I don’t need to tell you anything,” you defended.

His brows pulled in, upset by your refusal to say it. “You’re the one who taught me about communication, and how important it is.” He looked down, remembering how it was such a huge milestone when you’d both perfected the art. “Why is it different now?”

Your heartstrings felt like they’d been pulled, and you too remembered. The day he’d expressed his true feelings about something to communicate with you was like a breath of fresh air. And to simply disregard all that progress felt… wrong.

You shifted in your seat and then turned to him again. “I think about how things could’ve been,” you said, your voice in a wavering whisper. “I think about how things would’ve gone if you hadn’t done what you did… and I…” you stopped yourself, milliseconds away from expressing your true feelings about all of this.

“You miss how things were,” he spoke lowly, a pained expression on his face as he finished your sentence. He’d become so good at that, at being able to read your words and expressions like a book.

He knew your spacings were about you two, and he tried to deny it was something that closely related to his mistake.

But it wasn’t a mistake. It was one decision after the other despite the lack of thought behind them.

You couldn’t see it as a mistake, even now.

He suddenly appeared in front of you, his face inches from yours and your eyes locked. His cold hand cupped your cheek so gently that it could easily be your imagination. He spoke his next words so gently that it felt like a caress to your ears, and it made your eyes grow wide. The dedication and love in his voice had your heart racing, but your mind tried fighting it…

“I will do anything to regain your trust, even if I die trying.” His hand softly touched your grown belly. “I will love you both eternally.”

[bye-shou]

omg first post!1!1!11!

shu yamino x gn!reader

characters : shu yamino (extra characters : elira pendora, rosemi lovelock, mysta rias + luxiem)

warnings : shu yamino (it's a fluff btw)

summary : your classmate, shu, also one of your best friends for years now, and also your crush, asked you to meet him at the rooftop today when you both went out to study at a cafe.

⇚ ↺ ⇛

yesterday, shu asked you to come with him to a cafe that just recently opened in town to study. you had a physics test upcoming, so you agreed.

you made your way to the cafe where you guys agreed to meet. when you arrived, it seemed shu hadn't came yet, so you waited patiently outside the cafe.

"hey! there you are." a familiar boy with medium length brown hair and streaks of magenta and purple with his signature banana-shaped yellow ahoge (ahegao according to selen) called out to you.

"oh, hey shu!" you also greeted to him. "did you wait long? we should go inside. it's cold out." shu said, offering his hand. you took his hand and you both went inside the cafe.

"welcome to subara cafe! please have a seat. here's a menu, and when you're ready to order, please ring this bell." the waitress said, while giving 2 menus to shu & you.

you and shu sat down at a table for two near the window that has a view of the streets outside. it was the afternoon, so the streets were quite busy from parents picking up their children from school.

you two looked at the menu for a bit and picked what you wanted. then, you rang the bell to call for a waitress and placed your orders.

shu had ordered a blueberry cheesecake to try and some coffee, whilst you decided to order a matcha crepe cake and some black tea alongside it. (if you're allergic to black tea or the stuff in the matcha crepe cake you can change it)

while waiting for your orders, you decided to bring out some books and flashcards to study.

shu also had a physics exam since you both were in the same class, so you studied together. you asked eachother questions that might come up in the exam.

then, the food came. the presentation was really pretty, and you decided to take a picture of it. you also took a picture of shu's food.

you both dug in, and it was really good. the crepe cake was soft, and the matcha taste was strong but not too strong. the black tea also had lemon and honey, with a packet of sugar on the side of you wanted some. (you can also change this)

you both ate and shared your food. when you were done, you went right back to studying.

it was now 17:00 (5pm), when you both finished studying. you both packed up your stuff and got ready to bid eachother goodbye.

"hey! uh- could you maybe... meet me at the rooftop at school tomorrow at... 12:00 (12pm)..?" shu asked. "why?" you asked to shu. "i just needed to talk to you about something." shu explained, yet it didn't really answer your question. you just agreed and parted ways, going back home.

⇚ ↺ ⇛

it was now the next day, and also the first day of a new week, monday. since you live in the dorms, the university wasn't that far from you. it was walking distance.

last night, you thought about why shu asked you to go to the rooftop today, but just ended up sleeping thinking that you're overthinking it.

"hey! good morning!" your roommate, rosemi greeted. "oh, good morning rosemi." you greeted back. "where's elira?" you asked to rosemi. she was usually the one up first. rosemi just shrugged. "maybe she went to university early for some matters. you know she's part of the council." rosemi said. "maybe." you said, before going to the bathroom to get ready.

you showered, brushed your teeth, and had breakfast. you rechecked your bag and then made your way to the living room of the dorm. rosemi was ready, too, so you both went to the university together, but this time without elira.

as you got to the gate, you found shu hanging out with luxiem. you heard that mysta had to go overseas as his mother was a famous detective that had to solve a case in france, he also had to go there, but temporarily of course. luxiem was definitely gonna miss him, but they knew he was definitely gonna come back soon.

since you and rosemi were unfortunately not classmates, you had to separate ways. you made your way to your classroom, 2-A and went inside to go to your seat.

your seat was fortunately by the window, so you got to see the outside of the university. since your classroom was far inside the building, you could see behind the building.

since the university was at a place near the forest, the surroundings were of trees and nature. it was gorgeous, and you would definitely miss this view whenever you got stressed and needed a distraction during class.

you decided to make little doodles on a sheet of paper, look out the window, talking to your classmates, and read about physics again for around 20 minutes until the bell rang.

the first subject was physics, so the exam was brought early in the morning. you absolutely hate physics, but somehow decent at it.

the physics exam wasn't that hard, and you finished it in 30 minutes. you rechecked again for around 3 times to make sure and you had 15 minutes to spare.

you just looked out the window most of the time. when the time was over, you turned in your exam papers and sat down again.

the next classes were quite boring as you pondered about what shu wanted to talk about later.

when lunch arrived, you quickly ate your lunch since it started on 11:45 and made it to the rooftop just in time.

you looked around for a certain brown haired boy and found him looking down at the view of the streets. when he heard footsteps, he looked behind him.

"oh! there you are." shu exclaimed. "hey, shu! what did you wanna talk to me about?" you asked, curiously.

"so... hey, I know we've been best friends for a long time. whenever i was sad, you always tried your best to cheer me up, and it worked. i think you're smart, diligent, clever, hard working, and... pretty. i really never thought of the day i'd say something like this, but I have to get it off my chest. y/n... 𝙞 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪." shu confessed.

your eyes widened, not responding. shu's expression became sadder, and told you "you can reject me now. i know i'm way out of your league." shu said, in a disappointed voice.

"𝙞... 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙤𝙤. i've liked you for a long time now." you blushed, you could tell you're redder than a tomato.

"i- wait, really?!" shu's eyes widened in surprise. never in a million years shu would have thought you liked him back.

"well, if you wouldn't mind... 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙚?" shu asked, blushing even harder as if it was possible. "yes!" you accepted, faster than you could think.

shu pulled you in for a hug. as you pulled away, shu's lips closed in on yours.

⇚ ↺ ⇛

𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘀!

when you guys left the rooftop, it turned out luxiem and your roommates, elira & rosemi, planned this together. the reason elira went early this morning was not because of the council, but because she decided to discuss early with luxiem before shu came.

yesterday, the reason elira & rosemi stayed up longer than usual was because they were discussing about what they were gonna do during the confession.

why they knew all of this? because shu talked to luxiem about his feelings to you, and spilled them to your roommates. since you also spilled your feelings about shu to them, they planned together to make shu confess.

they recorded the confession and shared it to you guys, so that it becomes a memory. they told noctyx, the rest of obsydia & lazulight, and even ethyria.

looking back now, you really missed those university days. but now, you're living with your husband and 2 children, a daughter and a son (could be adopted btw), and now, you go by y/n 𝙮𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙤.

[blo0d1er]

First conceptualized by The Lucky One’s Jung Jisoo in 2020, gathering trainees to form a group with a “global’ look, the group soon to be titled SLASH performed in their first showcase in late 2021. The first rendition of the lineup consisted of Chinese Neverland contestant Zheng Hui, company nepo-baby Na Sebastian, the ever ambitious Sasha Flores, and dazzling Thai trainee Lalita Suwannathat. Marketed as Lucky’s little siblings, their unique concept and captivating performance generated excitement for the group.

The buzz only continued to grow as cryptic posters began appearing around Seoul, featuring QR codes directing curious viewers to an almost empty website only showing largely blacked out and blurred profiles of each member and a link to an Instagram account, @ bloodyvalentine, which infrequently posted behind the scenes film photos of the trainees with no captions but their names in a hashtag.

The building anticipation only made Jung Jisoo more ambitious, adding trainees Spencer Shu-Bellamy, Shin Doa, and Freddie Ahn (now known as BAM!’s Kiho) to the lineup to make it a 7-piece group. Teasers and posters only increased in frequency leading up to October 2022, when they were originally set to debut according to Prismatic’s leaked plans for the quarter. 

However, 1 week before their set debut date, Lalita suffered a debilitating ACL injury in practice. Rather than allow the group to debut without her, the debut was delayed altogether. Many argue that Lalita received special treatment from Jisoo and the group’s management, and was intended to be the star of the group.

The group lay in limbo from that point on, waiting for Lalita to fully recover from her injury and a new debut date to be set. Within this time Sasha appeared on HYBE’s Dream Academy, barely being edged out of the final debut group while Hui appeared on Boys Planet 999 placing 8th and becoming an official member of ZEROBASEONE, exiting the trainee group to make his debut.

Suddenly a 6-piece unit, a new debut date was finally set for January of 2024, nearly 2 years after their original debut date, before the sudden acquisition of BAM! and other Sixth Sense Media trainees. In the quick and unexpected turnaround for the group’s debut, SLASH once again suffered the loss of a member and the postponement of their debut date. However, beginning to face pressure from both the members of the trainee group and their families, the company sent the group to America to continue training in a new environment and act as a distraction as they attempt to gather their resources. Two trainees were added to fill out the lineup; longtime trainee, Neverland contestant, and budding producer Chase Park, and Hwang Taebin newly acquired from Sixth Sense.

The 7 trainees lived in a beach-side condo in Los Angeles as they continued their training in renowned dance academies and vocal studios. The Instagram was still posting the trainees lives behind the scenes, although just as cryptic as ever. A new teaser video was posted to once again generate buzz surrounding the group and satiate the members and those backing them. However, one member would not return from America. The bloodyvalentine account inexplicably stopped posting photos of Lalita after her face took up a majority of the account’s feed previously. 

Many believed that she simply left the unpredictable group setting to pursue her own ambitions, but an unknown source within Prismatic Entertainment leaked information regarding the alleged true nature of her disappearance to a forum of SLASH fans who have been around since the very beginning. According to this source, Lalita left a note in the group’s condo one night stating that she was tired of the purgatory of trainee life and ran away to experience freedom traveling across America. She has not been heard from since. The source also noted that her family planned to take legal action against Prismatic citing negligence. 

Despite this, SLASH seems to finally be getting the debut that has been dangled in front of them for years, set to debut once again in late August 2024. After such turmoil and so many unanswered questions, SLASH’s future still remains shrouded in mystery. Will they be able to make it passed all of the struggles that may weigh them down?

[sgdlr-asdfghjkl]

Link Click Musical update 151

(a random bunch from Shanghai musicals multiverse)

⬆ from Ji Xiaokun's weibo, with Guo Hongxu >< text says 'Happy Chinese Valentine's Day ❤' (it's an old pic from 'Flames' musical set)

I've accumulated a bunch of vaguely LC musical related photos posted by the cast. The actors perform together in different musicals ('Shanghai musicals multiverse') that's why you may recognise them from lc stage but they'll be wearing different costumes. I find it fun to notice the connections so here they are~

⬆ Qian Anqi (she released these as photocards to celebrate reaching 4k weibo followers)

⬆ Wu Hanglu with 1)Teng Chunpeng 2) Wang Yifei 3) Zhou Bobo, Du Guangyi, Teng Chunpeng, Yu Mengying (+idk who's the lady in glasses)

⬆ all from Yu Mengying 🙏 1) Teng Chunpeng, Du Guangyi, Cao Muzhi, Wu Hanglu, Zhang Zhiwei, Wu Yihan, Shu Rongbo, Zhang Jiahao, Wang Minhui (+the technical crew in last pic) 2) Bai Zhuoming, Guo Zhenyan, Wu Hanglu, Zhu Hanbin (no idea who's the 3rd lady in last pic) 3) Wu Hanglu, Shu Rongbo 4) blurry Zhu Hanbin ><

⬆ from Zhu Jiayan with Wang Minhui, Zhang Jiahao, Deng Xianling and Cai Qi

⬆ very old photo of Zhu Jiayan and Ji Xiaokun (they play in long-going 'Flames' musical together)

⬆ stage door photo of Ding Xingchen and Guo Zhenyan (I found it by a total accident)

Oh! Since people were worried about him bc of his sudden health break, here are sd pics from LC noon performance on March 30th. He's back and he's stunning 😌🧡👌

Okay this one has nothing to do with Link Click except the actors >< but is super interesting (for me at least) and it makes sense to mention it I promise! So there's a musical version of 'The Brothers Karamazov'. And since it's like a restart/s2 of this play, they're doing quite a lot of promo.

3 actors from 'The Brothers Karamazov' were invited to a Shanghai Fashion Week for a brand collab, and look who's here!

indisputable fashion icon Teng Chunpeng (LC CXS & eldest Karamazov brother)🌟 but also...

Zheng Yibin 🤍 who acts as Lu Guang in the upcoming Link Click Dance Musical (yes, another one) and also as the youngest Karamazov brother ><

Second reason I bring up this musical is the other actor for the youngest Karamazov >>

it's Shu Rongbo 🥺

What I'm saying is Brothers Karamazov is the link between Link Click musicals, with two Cheng Xiaoshis and one Lu Guang >< And I think it's just neat that they know each other and have a history of working together ^^

*tcp is also starring in 'Love Begins', the same play as Zhao Jialin - QL's actress from dance musical

*Brothers Karamazov's plot is very accessible to grasp bc it's based on a famous russian novel by Dostoyevsky that's why I know about it. Also bc it's dramatic and sad af and the actors look gorgeous so I just had to learn more ><'

It was sth different this time, but I hope it was fun for you ^^ bye bye

[veerbles]

don't mind me, just trying to make a comprehensive timeline of soc/ck

seeing as grishverse is inspired by early 19th century russia, I'll be operating under the assumption that they use the julian calendrer. therefore:

beginning of soc: martius/march ("...the last gasp of winter before spring began in earnest.")

beginning of soc -> djerholm: 2 weeks ("When does[Hringkälla] take place?” / "On the spring equinox.” / “Two weeks from today.")

ice court heist: mid-martius

returning to ketterdam: early-aprillis/april ("It had been just under a week since they’d reached Ketterdam, almost a month since they’d left Djerholm.")

returning/inej's captivity -> rescuing inej: 1 week ("...Van Eck had said he would give them seven days [...] then he would begin torturing Inej. They were almost out of time.")

rescuing inej -> auction: ~1 week (failed sweet reef plan + "...fair auction [...] at the Church of Barter in four days’ time.")

auction: late aprillis-early maius/may

auction -> kaz/inej dock scene: 3 weeks ("In the three weeks since Kuwei’s auction...")

kaz/inej dock scene -> inej threatening pekka: ~1 week ("A month ago he’d been a rich man...")

end of soc: late maius-early lunius/june

overall: the entirety of the duology is around 9 weeks, plus one more week until pekka's epilogue, so 2.5 months total.

BONUS POINTS:

wylan arrived at the barrel three months before the start of soc, in the winter.

kaz and inej steal the dekappel six months before the start of soc.

inej joined the dregs "days after her fifteenth birthday", and since it's implied she'd been with the dregs almost 2 years by the start of soc, we can assume she was born sometime in the spring or summer. she turned 17 either during ck or right after. (EDIT: apparently she's a cancer according to leigh! so she was born in july or late june.)

EXTRA bonus points: using the fact that sailing time from ketterdam to djerholm is stated to be about 10-14 days, we can create a nifty (albeit roughly estimated, disregarding ocean conditions and like, the fact that earth is not actually flat) map of sailing time for all your captain ghafa uses:

ketterdam -> behz ju, shu han: 4-6 days

ketterdam -> os kervo, ravka: 6-7 days

ketterdam -> southern colonies: 6-8 days

ketterdam -> eames chin, novyi zem: 8-10 days

ketterdam -> djerholm, fjerda: 10-14 days

ketterdam -> weddle, novyi zem: 14-16 days

ketterdam -> leflin, wandering isle: 18-20 days

[shion-yu]

Not Your Fault (part 3)

Part 1 | Part 2 | Shu comes down with Alex's cold from last week, but it seems like it’s hitting him way harder. Final part, thank you for reading! Fill for my @badthingshappenbingo space "Secret Caretaking." Original work, 2,361 words. No TWs, CW mild emeto, Alex is 13 here.

The thing about Shu was that if someone near him was sick, he always went down eventually. This had been true forever and Shu was bound to catch every cold and flu that made the rounds at the office he worked in. Usually he could push through it to the chagrin of his coworkers who had the joy of listening to him cough and sneeze for the next several days, but when he woke up this morning Shu knew right away that there was no way he was leaving the house today. Thank God it was a Saturday. 

It had been a few days since Alex had come down with a bad head cold. He'd been truly sick for about two days, but as soon as he started feeling better he went back to his old self, attempting to sneak off to Ryo's as soon as he could. Shu liked Ryo a lot and was extremely glad that Alex had a friend, but he had tried to convince Alex to stay in bed for another day. "You still have a bit of a fever bud," Shu had sighed. "What if you get Ryo and his parents sick too?" Alex's face had soured, but apparently pointing out that he could hurt his friend Ryo worked because he had stayed home until the fever was gone. He waited for the twenty-four hour fever free mark and then escaped immediately. Shu was just glad he was feeling better. 

Knowing how his own body worked, Shu had been trying to get plenty of sleep and chugging Emergen-C for the past several days. He was actually hopeful that it had worked and he’d somehow been spared despite living in the same household as a germ-ridden teenager all week.

Now though, Shu knew whatever Alex had come down with had hit him, and it was hitting him hard. Shu groaned and turned over to look at the time on his phone. It was ten AM on a Saturday morning; he never slept in this late. Crap, where was Alex?

Shu forced himself to sit on the edge of the bed. It felt like his bones were creaking in pain and his headache was splitting. He stood up, was hit with a rush of dizziness, and sat right back down. He felt his legs quivering like he'd just attempted to do some monumental task. Had Alex felt this poorly? When he'd wrangled the teen to the doctor he'd just been diagnosed with a viral upper respiratory infection, nothing too serious, but Shu felt like death. If it wasn't for Alex he would have given up attempting to rise from bed at all, but he told himself this was part of being a parent. He'd signed up for this, and parents didn't get sick days off. 

Shu wobbled into the kitchen, leaning heavily on the walls as he went. To his relief he found Alex right away in the living room, sitting on the couch watching Saturday morning cartoons. He glanced briefly at Shu then did a double take, his eyes widening. "Holy shit, you look terrible," he said. 

Shu snorted with laughter which turned into a chesty cough. He had to sit down. He flopped heavily next to Alex, black spots dancing in his vision. "Thanks a lot, kid. Did you eat breakfast?" He asked, wincing at the pain in his throat.

"Yeah," Alex said. "I think you should probably not be worrying about me right now though." 

"It's only a cold, you know that," Shu said dismissively. "I'm just a wimp." He managed to give Alex what he hoped was an encouraging smile but was interrupted by a loud sneeze which he barely managed to direct away from his distant relative turned foster child. "Huh'AEESHUHh!" He groaned, the powerful sneeze ripping painfully through his aching sinuses. 

"Uh huh. Bless you," Alex said, scooting a few inches farther away from him in disgust.

"Thangks," Shu said, snorting up the snot that had begun to drip from his nose. God his head hurt like hell. "You good here if I go back to bed?" He genuinely couldn't fathom doing anything else right now. Was he just getting old that this was hitting him so much harder than it had Alex? Was this what having a cold at thirty-five felt like? 

"Yeah. Pretty sure I'm safer away from you and your biohazard zone," Alex said dryly. 

Shu didn't point out that Alex was almost certainly the one who'd given him this awful cold. He just nodded and shuffled back to bed, making a pit stop at the bathroom to urinate and grab the thermometer. It had barely gotten a break between uses, he thought as he placed it under his tongue. He looked at his haggard expression in the mirror and grimaced. Should he call his mom to watch Alex, he thought? He didn't think he could keep up with the rambunctious teen like this. He decided against it for now though, not wanting her to think he couldn't handle single parenting just like she had. Alex was thirteen, he didn’t need a babysitter, but he did need to be watched closely to make sure he didn’t do anything problematic.

The thermometer beeped and Shu looked at the flashing 101.8 on the tiny screen. Not good, he thought to himself. He downed two Tylenol and then brought the rest of the bottle with him to the bedroom. He collapsed back into bed and fell asleep before he had time to think about anything else. He spent the rest of the day coughing and sneezing and using an entire box of tissues. His sneezes were most certainly audible in every room in the house. Every cold Shu had seemed to go straight to his chest and this felt like no exception. He could practically feel the junk settling lower and lower in his lungs despite the absurd amount he was already coughing up.

Around lunch time, Shu wobbled to the kitchen to grab more water. Alex was at the table doing school work, which was a nice sight. “Hey bud, you doing okay in here?” Shu asked, wincing at how hoarse his voice had become in comparison to this morning in a mere few hours. 

“I’m definitely okay,” Alex said cautiously. “You look almost dead though.”

“I’m really okay,” Shu reassured him, which was absolutely not backed up by the way he suddenly grabbed the edge of the counter to avoid losing his balance. Alex stood up quickly, face alarmed. Shu waved his hand in his direction, trying to make it seem like he hadn’t nearly fainted. “It’s great you’re doing school work,” he said in an attempt to distract Alex. Predictably, this caused Alex to scowl and go back to what he was doing. However Shu could feel Alex’s concerned expression on his back as he slowly inched back to his bedroom.

He tried to rest, but the cough was really painful and Shu could feel his fever going up despite the Tylenol. He kept thinking about Alex. Could he really trust the kid to take care of himself all day? What if he skipped eating? Not that he usually did that, mealtime was the one thing Shu could actually rely on Alex to show up for but still. Alex was his sole responsibility and Shu wanted him to have more than just enough. He wanted him to feel comfortable and happy. He wanted to take care of Alex so all those bad memories he had became more distant. It seemed like such a monumental task at times though, and right now Shu was in completely new territory. How did he keep an eye on Alex when he could barely lift his head off the pillow?

He made it to dinnertime without incident. Shu hazily warmed up soup for himself. Alex was nowhere to be found. There was a note on the table: ‘At Ryo’s for dinner.’ At least Alex had bothered to let him know where he was and it was somewhere safe. Shu shivered and managed about three bites of the soup before his stomach rejected all of it and more. He dashed to the bathroom with energy he hadn’t known he had and spent the next half hour vomiting into the toilet. He was glad that Alex wasn’t home to hear it. Afterwards his temperature was 102.6. Ouch. Alex’s own fever had peeked at 102.3 that first night he was sick. Shu hoped his own illness was following that same trajectory and it wouldn’t get any higher. 

He forced down a single saltine cracker and two more Tylenol in the hope that it would stay in his stomach, then went back to bed. His stomach and head ached, his chest felt heavy, and Shu was beginning to grow concerned. He hadn’t been this sick in a while and he hadn’t had a kid to worry about that time. He needed to hurry up and get better. He needed to sleep.

He woke up an unknown amount of time later to the feeling of a cool hand on his cheek. It felt nice... Shu forced his eyes open and squinted at the form above him. Alex? Shu was confused. Why was Alex in here? 

"You were moaning in your sleep," Alex explained, noticing Shu's eyes were open now. He looked embarrassed to be caught. He also looked worried. "You feel really hot." 

"Just a fever. I took some Tylenol," Shu said hoarsely, although he had no idea how long ago that was now. “What time is it?”

“Two AM,” Alex said.

“Oh,” Shu said, confused. “Did I wake you up?”

"It’s alright," Alex said, and scurried out before Shu could ask any more questions. Shu didn't expect him to come back and he didn't for several minutes. By this time Shu had almost fallen back to sleep and was barely conscious when he saw Alex slink back into the room with a wet washcloth. He closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep to save Alex from getting more embarrassed. He felt the cool, damp cloth be placed on his forehead and then heard Alex leave again. Shu fell asleep with his lips turned in a smile.

The next time he became half conscious it was only because he was so goddamn cold. He was shaking uncontrollably with aches and chills. He curled into a ball and tried to wait out the pain, but he felt awfully alone right now. He missed his mom. She was always so good to him when was sick, brewing tea and rubbing his arms and legs and giving him the hot water bottle to ease his chills... Just like... Right now?

Shu opened his eyes. Somehow the hot water bottle had appeared in his arms, as well as an extra blanket on top of him. He listened carefully, but there was no quiet chatter of Chinese radio in the background that always accompanied his mom wherever she went. He did hear the sound of water running in the bathroom though, and then Alex's voice saying something like, "He'll be fine, Ry, right?" Shu wanted to reassure Alex he was definitely going to be fine, but he felt too weak and sleepy and soon lost consciousness again.

The quiet chatter of Chinese radio when he came back to his senses was a sure sign his mom was there now. "Ma?" Shu croaked, forcing his eyes open.

He could smell his mom's distinct perfume as she came to his bedside and rubbed his chest. "Háizi. Boy call me, say that you sick."

Shu slowly processed what that meant. Alex had called his mom, Fulu. "Where is he?" Shu asked.

"Friend house," his mom said. "He upset, think you dying."

"Ugh," Shu said, concerned at the thought of upsetting Alex. "Ma, didn't you tell him I'm fine? I always get high fevers..."

"He no listen. Just like his bàba," Fulu said. She handed Shu her phone, silently instructing him to do exactly what Shu already wanted to - to call Alex. He didn't think it was worth correcting his mom right at this second - that he wasn't Alex's dad. Alex was his kid, and so it almost fit. He wanted it to.

Shu's hands shook as he found Alex in Fulu's contacts and called him, pressing the phone to his ear. Alex picked up right away. "Is he okay?" Was how Alex answered.

Shu coughed in surprise. Alex sounded genuinely worried. It would have been touching if Shu didn't feel so guilty about it. "Alex? I'm fine bud. I just have a fever, that's all. Same as you did, just a little worse. I promise." 

There was silence on the line for several seconds. Shu was worried he'd hung up. But finally Alex said, "You weren't getting any better, even though I did the same stuff you did." 

Shu felt a rush of affection. Alex really had been trying to take care of him, even though it was supposed to be the other way around. "It'll be a few days, and then I'll be right as rain," Shu reassured him as confidently as possible. "Do you want to stay at Ryo's this weekend?"

"Can I?" Alex asked hesitantly.

"Of course, if it's okay with his parents. Whatever makes you feel more comfortable. I just need you to understand that you don't need to worry about me. Thanks for calling my mom. I'm glad you got help when you were scared."

"I wasn't scared," Alex shot back, but Shu knew he was lying. "Can you call me again when you feel better?”

"I feel better hearing your voice," Shu said with a smile.

"Ew."

"Sorry," Shu laughed, which quickly became several wet coughs. "I'll text you every time I'm up, alright?"

"Alright," Alex agreed. "Um... I hope you feel better soon."

Maybe it was because he felt so rotten, or because he was relieved that Alex was okay, but Shu felt tears spring to his eyes. He swallowed and tried not to let his voice waver as he said, "Thanks buddy. I will. See you soon."

[saelterlude]

welcome to lc musical list pt7, long one bcs i've been stalling lmao (special thanks to the musical gang over at the 18+ lc discord for being the only reason im up to date whilst sick <3)

(pt.1, pt.2, pt.3, pt.4, pt.5, pt.6 here)

103. 04/05/2024 day, yall Shu Rongbo and Zhu Hanbin duo is here(shortest-shortest duo lol), my two favorite voices and theyre good together plss I want more of them. theres also sulky SRB refusing to get up on the table after getting pushed off by ZHB aaaand disastrous clap lol.

(also, it's srb lg completion day. congrats on being the first cxs who has played with all lg) (nvm, not anymore! theres 2 new lg actors lmao, srb is still the closest to completion though)

104. 05/05/2024 day, back to back Zhu Hanbin clip but most importantly, it's LG UPPIESS CLIP PLSSS Wang Yifei lifting up ZHB is perfection, they cute. also, chaotic bow lmao, ZHB just wanted to fix WYF's sprout.

105. 05/05/2024 day, same performance as above, have WYF getting bullied by ZHB into announcing his lost in basketball today (15:1 lmao)

106. 05/05/2024 night, right after ZHB bullied WYF 15:1, Teng Chunpeng came out with 101 points. What the actual fuck man. So have this rare encore of him being tired and less energetic than usual.

107. Basketball highlights week 1, simba Shu Rongbo, mad Jing Yanqiao, Du Guangyi scored with one hand, Ding Xingchen lost his shoe too. and many many others.

108. Basketball highlights week 2, 110 points Teng Chunpeng, summersault Du Guangyi, cheating Wang Minhui. Zhu Hanbin continues to ignore his opponent, he only got goals on his mind.

109. Extra behind the scenes, bcs i wanna point out, on 00:45 Du Guangyi talked about how tempted he was to score a goal during the slow part of the song. On the week 2 highlight (#108, 1:50) he gives in to temptation, and fails to score a single goal lol.

Du Guangyi is the true basketball god btw. he makes the best shots and whomever he picks to win, win.

110. More BTS vids, Wang Minhui is a basketball failure <3, especially whenever he's going against Bai Zhuoming.

111. 18/05/2024 day, Cai Qi and Wang Minhui have a shoelace fight lmao

112. 20/05/2024, It's Cai Qi and Wang Minhui again! This time they're having a puppy boxing fight. Yes, I meant that quite literally.

113. 18/05/2024 night, I think Shu Rongbo was particularly salty about losing(6:8) to Guo Hongxu this day lol.

114. Basketball highlights week 3, Shu Rongbo gets whacked, Bai Zhuoming backwards shot, Teng Chunpeng high pitched screams, and more!

115. 25/05/2024 day and 03/06/2024, have a pair of Guo Hongxu and Ji Xiaokun mic-cupping shenanigans.

116. 24/05/2024, This!!! The most tender hug, head cradle by Teng Chunpeng and Wu Yihan. WYH in general is very giggly this performance its so nice to see. TCP, ofc brags abt his basketball skills at the end and WYH just pushes him out lol. There's Zhang Jiahao sneak pillow attack too.

117. 01/06/2024 night, Wang Minhui and Cai Qi fighting on the table again? nothing new. Wu Hanglu (half successful attempt at) pushing them both off the table though? That's new.

118. 02/06/2024, Wu Hanglu rightfully hunts down Guo Hongxu after he introduces her as Deng Xianling lmao. it's the LG curse to struggle with names.

119. 03/06/2024, "rock, paper, scissors is boring. we should spice it up, whoever lose gets slapped"- probably Guo Hongxu and Ji Xiaokun backstage. Twice, during People Pursuing Light and the RPS song.

120. Basketball highlights week 4, Ding Xingchen scoring with his shoes?? what's with him and shoes. Sulky Ji Xiaokun. Zhu Hanbin's basketball skill is like Du Guangyi without the nonchalance and effortless look. Wang Yifei and Guo Hongxu 0:0 gameplay.

Closing this list with (the last?) basketball highlight we're gonna get. And at 120, pretty number. Next list, we're starting with Guo Hongxu in orange, 3 new actor debuts (theyre really good btw), the return of hug pioneers WYH-SRB duo, and maybe (based on how long the list gets) the debut of TCP-ZHB duo (aka tallest-shortest). So look forward to that!

[kroosluvr]

i'm genuinely curious I WANT YOU to outline how the shu/ake/sumi romance/and-or/situationship would unfurl in a post-p5r reality (where akechi lives, of course). what are the bullet points for what would happen between them. would they have a falling out. are they doomed. would they be horrible at communicating. would they finally be good at it. which pairing comes together first, if any at all. or would all 3 pairings happen at the same time at the same pace. or are they all in a limbo, not romantic nor platonic but a secret third thing.

OMG HI. HIIIII ok so. i havent actually thought about it that much (SURPRISING I KNOW) because i honestly suck ass at timelines (in regards to canon. tennis au on the other hand...) BUT I WILL DO MY BEST a lot of this is loose too.... im totally up for most anything but this is how i see it most of hte time heheeh (TY FOR THE ASK I LOVE THINKIJGN ABT THESE 3.)

this is .. kinda.. long.. ahem

pre-p5r: sumire is acquainted with goro thru her dad's show: they're not friends, but she's talked with him more than her sister. so when goro meets 'kasumi' at the cafe something strikes him as odd but it doesn't quite register: like ehhhh well why should i care / maybe my memory is just wrong / not worth my time

during p5r: 'kasumi' has a crush on akira, a kind of on-the-surface adoration of "wow i think you're really cool and we get along well!" nothing that's super advanced on or anything, and akira doesn't see her as anything beyond friends anyway.

she drops the crush upon reverting back to sumire, and it builds slowly over the course of 3rd sem but is also never really actualized - like she likes him ok whatever but then what..??

3rd sem (long winter au): long winter barebones: maruki's idealized world starts like on christmas or smth (havent thought this out TOO much LOL) and royaltrio-centric part of 3rd sem lasts for quite a while, at least 3 weeks-1 month. how does this work w the timeline i have no idea. BUT it leads to tense moments like spending new years together with the idealized thieves and trying to stay upbeat during all that, all the attempts and failures at breaking them out of it, and a LOT of tension during this time.

they argue and fight and are irritated with each other a lot of the time (goro the most vocal abt it obviously, sumire kind of drawing back into herself, and akira doing his best to stay optimistic. i think when akira starts to lose his spark is when the others r like oh we gotta make up for that slack and they finally up their game a bit) and yeah even sumire argues with akira and with goro and etc. im figuring this out PROMSIE ill come up w stuff and draw comic/write fic for it...

also 1/9 sumire fight is probably the beginning moment when goro starts to respect sumire more/see her more as a friend/comrade than a teammate. bc she almost kills joker and then him LMAO really giving them a run for their money... and also he really sees the pain she feels at being herself and resonates with it, either unconsciously or consciously

also upon seeing her Past broadcasted on maruki live television:tm: he makes the connection and is like oh so that's what happened. so all this time she was just masquerading as someone else. hmmm

anyway they're all very fragile and scared and sad during 3rd sem so they stick to eachother closely bc they're all they got to lean on. i think they have a lot of skinship during this time? handholding hugs leaning on each other sleeping in the same room (they hang out at leblanc A LOT bc 1) they're kind of afraid of being alone during this time 2) they're afraid of the OTHERS being alone during this time 3) leblanc is "untouched", compared to other parts of maruki's reality. can u imagine if even goro's apartment suddenly became nice overnight LMAO) but its like no feelings attached, just pure comfort kinda thing

kissing could also happen during this time but also no feelings attached, purely Why the hell not etc sort of vibe.

also goro and sumire get on first name basis during this time. this comic i drew w goro dying in my head which is Why he initiates first-name basis, but we can operate off the idea that he thought he'd die but somehow magically didnt. YAY!

but they have impeccable communication w each other and are very honest with their feelings. (goro avoids talking about his past tho. so maybe not THAT honest.) but they all achieve a really strong understanding of each other to survive maruki's winter wonderland...

i do think they develop feelings for each other during this time but they're all confused whether it's feelings of like comfort/security with each other or like romance/yay. so like nightmare situationship basically. so they all individually decide to hold on to this happiness while it lasts bc they sure as hell know it won't last (when have any of them been able to keep good things)

3rd sem: the thieves join yay! i think they'd notice that the 3 of them have become very close-knit (bouncing off eachother insanely well in battle, talk to eachother casually, and are generally pretty affectionate with each other. weird but ok! at least they (akira goro.) aren't trying to kill each other all the time.

this is also nice for sumire bc she had those 3-4 weeks to kinda Figure herself (sumire) out btwn akira and goro so she's less like down in the dumps about not being 'kasumi' anymore and more secure in herself and stuff like that. yay!

they beat maruki and stuff. YAY!

post-p5r: akira moves back to his hometown for 3rd year of highschool and college, goro is who-knows-where (i imagine he gets back on his feet of his own making and then goes abroad for school somehow. idk just seems like smth he'd do esp since i think he'd avoid everyone during this time) and sumire stays at shujin for 2-3rd year, then probably goes to a uni in japan but goes abroad for 1-2 yrs (gymnastics and etc.)

the "goro doesn't die and reunites with akira/sumi" timeline

goro, walking into leblanc on 2/4 or whatever: hi guys i didn't die actually

sumire: haha why would u silly? lol

akira: WHAT THE FUCK

the end.

i think they do go to separate universities though and theyre like damn wait i miss those guys but they go thru school and keep pretty decent contact w each other and see each other during vacations and stuff when they can and then when they come back to tokyo it's like no time has passed btwn them and they just pick up where 3rd sem left off but like better and happier and more peaceful. YAY!

i haven't really thought of how they "CONFESS" or whatever but i think all of them just feel (TWINGE OF JEALOUSY) at the idea of any of them dating someone else so theyre like ok well thats that i guess. we're a thing now (they refuse to use any other terms like that i think. For a while at least. until maybe one of the thieves etc gets engaged/married and then theyre like ok we can grow up about this. but basically they're just A Thing and Offlimits:tm: and etc.)

COMMUNICATION IS GOOD HERE!!!! i think for sh/uakes/umi i prefer them becoming a Thing at once rather than 1 couple happening first (esp since i like the idea of "none of them rlly understand romance and stuff so they just say 'fuck it' and become Thing" like thats kinda funny asf to me.)

i also feel like to anyone else they just seem like a group of besties until u see exchanged kisses or hugs or interlocked arms/hands and ur like wait....? hm. well idk. (bc they don't either. no one has any idea)

the "goro doesn't die and avoids them" timeline

also in my head sumire doesn't endeavor for the olympics/world stage/international fame and just kinda sticks around national rankings while she still figures herself out (in this timeline. also probably true for the other one but shrug IT CLD GO EITHER WAY I THINK)

somewhat relevant is my shsm fic where i elaborate on sumire's emotions more during this time (especially while thinking goro's dead). <- actually this is pretty recommended cele sumire reading bc this basically totally encapsulates how i see her. the first oneshot is 6k words tho ITS A MOUTHFUL.. SORRY

she and akira drift farrrr apart. she feels extremely guilty and also bitter and frustrated about goro's death and the fact that akira didn't tell her (or goro, in fact.) and he feels guilty and sad about it too, that he should have done something? anything? for him or for her, and he couldn't figure it out and now its over. so now the two of them r grappling w this and trying to overcome it and forget each other even tho the memories during 3rd sem, although painful and haunting, still were sweet and nice and they don't want to forget but they HAVE TO MOVE ON... RIGHT....

meanwhile goro's probably thinking like "damn i miss those guys." but they also think he's dead so hes also like "this is stupid i have to move on(?) Or whatever." ok imma be honest i didnt really think THAT much into goro's thinking during this time (YET.) bc i think he'd be floundering a LOT with everything during his life and being kinda just miserable.

also during this time they try to date other people and it all is miserable and falls apart and also they havent forgotten about the other two so theyre like fuck.

akira - 25~, sumire - 24~, goro - 26~, eventually goro moves back to tokyo and kinda just goes about his life hoping he'll see them again. or maybe find out what they were up to and finally get some closure. wow he does! they kinda all go back to tokyo at the same time wow shocker soulmate things IM JOKINGGGG but they all kinda hold that sentimentality of ok so much time has passed maybe i'll feel better about this place now. and then when they run into each other again its like no time has passed at all. HAPPY ENDING YAY!

communication is less good in this timeline now they're healing from the "I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD" stuff. so thats a whole nother can of worms. probably ironically in this universe they try to actualyl figure out how this whole romance thing works so they can label each other as partners and be like OK DONT RUN OFF AGAIN. ANY OF U!!! DO NOT!!!!

ok this shit is so long im so sorry. HI. SDGSHKJFHJKDSHG THANK U SO MUCH FOR THE ASK IM BAWLING i really havent thought much of post-3rd sem stuff as u can tell........... but i WILL ipromise.

edit: LAST ADDENDUM im very passionate abt shsm being nightmare situationship. guys who never got together but got divorced 50 times. sh/uake fits into this category as well i think. i can also kinda see ak/esumi like that but ironically i feel like they'd have the most stable situationship out of the 3 individual ships..... idk.. need to let it all cook in my head a bit more BUT VERY PASSIONATE ABT THE SHSM THING.

[cinebration]

The Darkling’s Shadow (The Darkling x Reader) [Part 7]

You accept the Darkling’s invitation.

Prologue | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Epilogue

Tagged: @don-daygamerz​, @weallhaveadestiny​, @kaqua​, @sinful-wxrld​, @ashdab2611​, @ultarviolence​, @chodingcreature​, @demonenotturno​, @crowssixof​, @mxacegrey​, @dreamlandcreations​, @s-r-reads​, @byulsrecs​, @peleksstuff​, @seraferna​, @imtherain​, @vex-et-soleil​, @rayrlupin​, @peakyispunk​, @itsyaspwr​, @adajoemaya​, @b1bbles, @rockintensse​, @adharanotfound​, @allinestarr​, @pumpk1n-writes​, @seronsalk​

Warnings: none

Gif Source: timothyolyphant via ethanhunt

You made the trip alone without forewarning the Darkling. Instead of on horseback, you trekked your way back to the Kribirsk and arrived dusty and sweaty in the encampment. The Grisha parted before you, shaken to see you once again. It had been weeks since they had glimpsed you in the flesh, sustaining themselves on whispers of your exploits.

Maintaining an aloof expression bordering on dour rather than letting a smirk slip out, you arrived at the Darkling’s war tent and let yourself inside. He stood with his back to the entrance, Ivan and some other Heartrenders gathered around the table. They glanced up in unison, the blood draining from their faces.

The Darkling looked over his shoulder, straightened hastily as your name skated over his lips. “What is it?”

“I’m accepting your invitation,” you answered. Striding across the room to the table, you glanced at each Heartrender in turn, holding their gazes until they averted their eyes. “On your next raid,” you informed them, “be more discriminant of who you bring back alive. The Fjerdans have caught onto the tactics we have thus far employed and are no longer seeding their scouting missions and other endeavors with anyone who has valuable information. If anything, you need to follow them back to their bases.”

“Across the Fjerdan border?” Ivan asked, looking to the Darkling for support. “That’s suicide.”

“Then find yourself some spies,” you said simply. “I’m sure there are clever enough Grisha here to do the job.”

“Sir—”

The Darkling silenced him with a gesture. “You heard her.”

Shooting you a glare, Ivan ground his teeth and followed the other Heartrenders out on that dismissal, leaving you alone with the Darkling once again. Sighing, he pushed himself away from the table and raked a hand through his thick hair.

“It feels as though we are hardly making any forward progress,” he murmured, waving aimlessly at the maps. “There are still reports that the Fjerdans are taking Grisha from across the country. I can’t understand how they’re traveling so widely and easily through Ravka!” He slammed his fists against the table, squeezed his eyes shut.

“Have you been watching the ports?”

“Of course we have.”

“For visitors from Kerch and Shu Han?”

“Everyone gets checked—”

“Is it not feasible that the Fjerdans could cultivate non-Fjerdan agents? Couldn’t they even enlist the help of Grisha?”

The Darkling fixed you with a cold look. “Why would any Grisha work for them?”

“Never underestimate the power of ideological thinking. Nations are built on it.”

“Ravka is not—”

“The premise of building a world for Grisha is ideological.”

The Darkling’s mouth pressed into a firm line, conceding the point. Raking a hand through his hair again, he gathered up the maps and missives, shuffling them into a haphazard pile. “Until we receive more actionable intelligence, there isn’t much we can do at this time.”

“That isn’t strictly true. A raid across the Fjerdan border could be quite useful.”

“That would incentivize them to hunt us more aggressively.”

“We want them to fear us. We aren’t seeking peace, Aleksander. We are engaged in war, and the only way to win is to crush them totally—either literally or spiritually.”

“You sound like an otkazat’sya general.”

“They wage war better than anyone else,” you admitted. “It’s why the Grisha had to become their weapons in order to survive.”

Scowling, the Darkling clenched his hands into fists, the shadows in the corners of the room stretching toward him with the movement. With a deep sigh, he relaxed, the shadows retreating.

“Will returning to the Little Palace really bring you rest?” you asked.

“I certainly hope so,” he mumbled. “I tire of the stink and the…the muck here.”

“It lacks pastoral charm,” you agreed. “But is that really necessary?”

“The Ravka I knew from centuries ago, before the advent of firearms…despite being hunted, I always thought it was beautiful. Yet here it’s just mud and destruction.”

“And in the Fold, it’s barren.”

The Darkling glanced aside at you, something dangerous in his eyes and in the flex of his jaw. “Your meaning?”

“There is beauty in absence, in the harshness. You see a trampled field, but it will all grow back when there is no one to crush it. For me, I see art in the destruction—not in the result but in the way it is accomplished.”

“Is everything about destruction for you?”

You leaned against the edge of the table, staring down at the lines of the nearest map. You recognized the western border of Ravka and the Great Sea undulating beyond it. The sea you had yourself crossed at one time to reach the continent.

“I was made to destroy,” you whispered. “I don’t have it in me to create. I don’t even…dream of creation anymore. Only destruction.”

The Darkling moved in the edges of your vision, drawing nearer.

“So yes, it’s only destruction for me,” you continued, “which is why I have to find the art in it.”

He stopped a few inches away, scrutinized your face. You lifted your gaze to meet his, doing your best to make blank your own expression as he searched your features.

“The art matters.”

You nodded. “Otherwise…”

He leaned forward a fraction, trying to recapture your averted gaze. “Yes?”

“Otherwise I would destroy for the sake of it, and that would benefit no one.”

“I was under the impression you destroy everything you touch.”

Suppressing the flinch his words inflicted on you, you met his stare again. Stepping further into the Darkling’s space, you reached out and pressed a hand against his chest. To his credit, he didn’t jerk away. Beneath your palm, his heart rate jumped a fraction.

“Not everything, I hope,” you murmured.

The Darkling’s lips parted, brow furrowing as he struggled to find words. Your gaze dropped to his mouth.

“General.”

Ivan’s sharp tone tore the Darkling’s attention away. He stepped back, forcing you to drop your hand. You fought to keep from snarling at the Heartrender.

“Ivan, I am leaving for the Little Palace. Make ready the horses.”

“Sir, if I may speak—”

“That will be all, Ivan.”

Grinding his teeth, the Heartrender bowed and exited the tent. The Darkling turned back to you.

Pushing away from the table, you said, “I’ll fetch the horses with Ivan. The animals are skittish around me, so I have to choose carefully.”

You left before he could speak, your chest aching.

[bizarrequazar]

GJ and ZZH Updates — May 12-18

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This is part of a weekly series collecting updates from and relating to Gong Jun and Zhang Zhehan.

This post is not wholly comprehensive and is intended as an overview, links provided lead to further details. Dates are in accordance with China Standard Time, the organization is chronological. My own biases on some things are reflected here. Anything I include that is not concretely known is indicated as such, and you’re welcome to do your own research and draw your own conclusions as you see fit. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or additions. :)

[Glossary of names and terms] [Masterlist of my posts about the situation with Zhang Zhehan]

05-12 → Gong Jun reposted a post in memory of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. Added caption: "I have never forgotten it in the past 16 years. Bless Wenchuan with everlasting life." The same was also reposted by his studio, added caption: "Remember the pain and pay tribute to the new life. May the world be well and the country and the people be safe."

→ Gong Jun's studio posted fourteen photos from Go Fighting! episode 4. Caption: "Unlocking the limited baby-raising day! The clown brother @ Gong Jun Simon battles wits and courage with the kid brother, slaying the whole audience~ 😎 Please look forward to more exciting things"

→ Go Fighting! episode 4 aired. [full ep with subs]

→ Gong Jun Outdoor Office posted three memes of him from the Go Fighting! episode.

05-13 → Za posted a commercial featuring Gong Jun. (1129 kadian)

→ The Instagram posted ten photos of "Zhang Zhehan" running.

→ PRSR posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

05-14 → Nothing of note.

05-15 → Gong Jun posted a commercial he did for Messika, announcing himself as their new spokesperson. (1129 kadian) Caption: "Delighted to join forces with Parisian fine jewelry brand @ Messika. Please follow me to explore the charm of sliding diamonds and experience the 'new attitude of diamonds' together." He also posted this to his Instagram, caption: "Shine bright like a diamond." (originally in English)

→ Messika posted two photo ads [1] [2] featuring Gong Jun. (1129 kadian on the first)

→ The Instagram posted five photos of "Zhang Zhehan" running and two photos of feet, because Hewitt can't resist sharing his fetish.

05-16 → Gong Jun posted four photos from his ad campaign with Messika to his Xiao Hong Shu. Caption: "Ouch See you at Cannes, the next stop for work photos ✌️" One of these was also crossposted to both his and Messika's Instagrams.

→ One of the antis sued by Gong Jun is currently being restricted from high consumption (ie. not allowed to use first-class public services) for not complying with court orders. The anti in question had been running over 20 different accounts that he used to promote Zhang Sanjian and other associated people, and to harass and post malicious content about Gong Jun. No prior history of him being a Zhang Zhehan fan has been found, strongly suggesting that he was paid to run these accounts.

05-17 → Two photo ads Gong Jun did for Tissot were crossposted both both their Instagram and his.

→ The Instagram posted five photos of "Zhang Zhehan" and five of scenery.

→ Gong Jun attended the Cannes Film Festival, where he walked the red carpet for Kinds of Kindness. Fan Observation: At one point some fans in the audience yelled "Ba!" In videos, you can see Gong Jun smile and wave at them. 🥺

→ Jia Nailiang posted a silly douyin of himself and Gong Jun. Caption: "Why is our transition by clinking glasses different from others?"

→ Gong Jun posted nine photos of himself in Cannes. Caption: "Encounter with a widdle pubby." These were also posted to his Instagram, caption: "Wandering in Cannes. 🐶🐶🐶" (originally in English)

05-18 → Gong Jun's studio posted another six photos of him in Cannes. Caption: "A classic suit style paired with a unique hand-made corsage (feat. Children of the Stars), @ Gong Jun Simon's inspiration is unfettered, warm and healing, listening to the sound of every lonely universe turning."

→ L'Oreal posted a video of Gong Jun arriving in Cannes.

��� Za posted a promotional video spoken by Gong Jun. (1129 kadian)

→ Gong Jun's studio posted six photos of him in the red carpet at Cannes. Caption: "Red carpet moments! The beautiful southern France and the gentle breeze illuminate the character of the gentleman @ Gong Jun Simon."

→ Gong Jun's studio posted a behind the scenes video from the photoshoot at Cannes. Caption: "The beach? The market! @ Gong Jun Simon’s citywalk has its own ideas 😎"

Additional Reading: → The novel This Time It's Real by Ann Liang was discovered to include several mentions of Gong Jun, specifically in the context of him being an example of a beautiful man. → Something I'm able to include here because I'm late lol: It has been announced that Gong Jun's drama Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Red Moon Chapter will premiere on iQiyi on 05-23.

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