#AGI Timeline

[aifyit]

Artificial General Intelligence: The Dawn of a New Era

Introduction Are you captivated by the technological advancements of our time, but also intrigued by the infinite possibilities yet to come? Then you’re in the right place! Today, we dive into the fascinating world of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). This technology promises to transform our society, revolutionizing industries and even the way we live our lives. But what exactly is AGI?…

[whereserpentswalk]

Select a strange and inhuman creature from beyond the realms of human knowledge to go on a sate with and possibly form a long term relationship with.

1- a scientist from an alternate timeline where the kpg mass extinction never happened, and raptors evolved sapient minds. He's trapped in this realm after a failed timeline travel mission. He's very curious about your world, though still a bit afraid of his fate here.

2- a cyborg supersolider whose been wandering the earth since the fall of Atlantis. She has a tall slender build, and is unable to take off her power armor below the neck. Despite her appearance she can be very quiet and reserved, and despite her appearance startles easily. She's still deconstructing a lot of trauma from her past.

3- a mouthless, sexless, vampire who drains blood through very sharp tentacles on their. They seem to be at the bottom of whatever hierarchy vampires have, being unable to speak of pass as human. Though they have an animalistic way of movement, and can't communicate without aac, they're very much a person, and tend to be affectionate and enthusiastic with those who are nice to them.

4- a deal making entity that looks like a black eyed human in a suit (the suit can't come off, it's like part of its skin). It's known to buy and sell human souls, but it wouldn't do that to someone it's on a date with. It's personality is considered strange and sometimes uncomfortable to humans, though it is charismatic in a way. It will also insist it isn't a person.

5- an elder demon whose taking a hundred year vacation from the underworld. Despite his job as a demon he tends to be pretty freindly and casual, sometimes deceptively so. He appears as a tall reptilian humanoid, with horns, several eyes, and a heavy set build. He'll probably give you headpats.

6- a shape-shifter made out of living metal who was made as a weapon, but failed her job because she refuses to take forms that aren't female. She's just been released into the world and is still kind of naïve and can be very trusting of new people that she meets. Her base form that she chooses to take is some sort of anime oc.

7- faerie of the unseelie court who kidnapps children who wander into abandoned buildings. She tends to appear as a naked woman, with deer antlers, and a snake where her genitals should be. She can seem a bit sadistic and violent, but since you're her's she'll be nice to you, just don't expect to explain the concept of morality to her, she lives a life based on what she finds fun. For better or worse she doesn't kill the children, though they aren't human children after she's done with them.

8- a computer from the 1980s whose been granted sentience. He's very arogent due to being technically the first agi, though little to his knowledge he's only sentient because a faerie lord thought it would be funny. Due to his limited body he uses a wheelchair for movement and some sort of claw to grab things. He's nice but he can be a bit self centered.

9- a slender genderless humanoid and a massive venomous wyvern who are actually the same being inhabiting two bodies. They can seem cold at first, and don't seem to have normal body language or expression, though they do feel emotions despite what some think. They can pretty easily lose track of social cues and tend to go own about their hyperfixations a lot. They really hope you'll like them, and also want to make sure you see them as equally their humanoid and draconic halves, not just one or the other.

10- a fallen angel who only fell a few weeks ago. It's still very afraid of what it's become, scares easily, and has an inferiority complex, though it can be very nice and affectionate. It won't tell you why the other angels kicked it out, though it now knows the entity that created it lied about being a god, and shouldn't be trusted by mortals. It looks like a living doll, with a jointed body, and golden wings and a broken halo behind its head.

11- werewolf who serves a god so old that his name has been lost to history. The werewolf has been around for a long time, and has been fighting for the rights of humans, nature, and other entities since the 20th century. Xe speaks with a soft voice, and converses with humans, gods, demons and animals all in the same tone, and with the same amount of respect.

12- the sparrow king. Do not under any circumstances interact with the sparrow king. The organization does not approve of this option.

Reblog to book your date. Like to buy the creature a little present.

[minminbunny]

Reincarnation AU - Obsessed Lover! Seo Changbin/Naive Fem! Reader

💕Drabble Masterlist

❤️Ultimate Masterlist

You flinched awake, holding you pounding chest, "I'm alive," you whispered, looking around only to see a familiar childhood room. You sprung out of bed, almost tripping on your blanket as your clutched the calendar, "I'm a teen again!" you exclaimed before, covering your mouth. You gulped, "I'm a teen again," you whispered, chuckling in disbelief. You buried your face into your palm, "What's the last thing I can remember," you whispered, furrowing your eyebrows. Bright headlights flashed in your mind, reminding you what took you out. "Ha ha, a truck," you chuckled, whining into your pillow. You pulled your face out of the pillow, your neck hurting from the sudden force, "My husband," you winced, rubbing your nape.

"What happened to my husband? I I pushed him out of the way?" you whispered, remembering his shocked expression. You sighed, checking the date, "Looks like I have school tomorrow," you murmured, not liking the thought of being in school again when you remembered your husband was in your school. "Right! He's there. I'll just make him fall in love with me again," you said, looking into the mirror for support. The delusion was slowly working, "I'll figure it out tomorrow," you mumbled, tucking yourself to sleep.

"Hey," you whispered, standing in front of Changbin's table. He tensed up, "Do I know you?" he whispered, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. You pursed your lips, "Oh, where are my manners?" you said, before introducing yourself. Changbin nodded slowly, "Do you want yesterday's homework? Last week's project?" he asked, wondering what your deal was. You shook your head, "I've already done those. I just want to be an annoyance," you said, straddling the chair in of him. Changbin's eyes widened, "Annoyance?" he asked, staring at you with both intrigue and disturbance. You nodded, smirking at him, "So brace yourself, Seo because you're never getting rid of me," you said, taking his glasses and running away. Changbin stood up abruptly, flipping his chair behind him, "Yah!" he exclaimed, chasing after you.

NSFW BELOW CUT

"What are you thinking about, agi?" Changbin asked, stroking your hair. You nuzzled his palm, "Well, I just remembered our high school days. What would you have done if I didn't annoy you?" you asked, curious about the his thoughts in the first reality. Changbin chuckled and kissed your hand, "I always liked you, princess," he said, nipping your palm. You gulped, staring up at him. "Even if you didn't stick around agi. I would've still worked out, made myself into a true me and pursued you," he said, licking between your fingers with a dangerous glint. Your breath hitched, "What if I moved?" you asked, questioning if you ever had the upper hand.

Changbin grinned, nipping your fingertips, "Then I would've worked harder and built a better enterprise than the one I have now. Just to expand and plant a headquarter near you," he said, his voice husky and low. Your eyes wavered, questioning the both lives you lived, "You played me well, Seo," you said, both impressed and disturbed. Changbin's grin soften, "Princess, if it's for you. I'd do anything," he said, kissing down your arm.

"Now spread your legs for me," he said, patting your knees. You did as told, arousal and fear pooling in your tummy. Changbin exhaled a shaky breath, "I can't believe you're finally mine, princess. Don't worry, this time. I'm never letting you die by a truck," he whispered, before kissing you hungrily. Your mind spun at his words but you trusted him, "Mmh," you moaned, wrapping your legs around his waist. Changbin smirked against your lips and aligned his leaky cock head with your puffy folds. You bucked your hips, craving the familiar stretch of his girthy cock spreading your hot dripping walls apart. Changbin slicked his shaft with your arousal, "In every timeline, princess. You'll always be mine," he whispered against your lips as he eased his cock deep within your fluttering ribbed walls.

[yoongihan]

We're Friends - Jeongin/I.N

for the blossoming love event by @skzwritingcafe

pairing: jeongin x femreader

genre: angst, fluff, light smut, friends to lovers

rating: M

word count: ~11k (don't ask)

warnings: light smut (heavy making out, mention of erection, wanting to have sex, etc.), language (f word mostly), underage drinking, reader is a year and a month older than jeongin (so 'noona' is used, she calls him 'agi'), he is taller than reader, actual romantic things happen between them when he's 17 and she's 18, as well as when she's just turned 20 and he's days away from 19 (if you have any issue with that, please ignore my story and move on), school is a weird mix of American and Korean education, mentions of Seungmin & Changbin, Jisung and Hyunjin make one major appearance, this is hella self-indulgent so you've been warned.

a/n: to my jeongin anon, this is so long in coming...I'm sorry. It took ages and it's ridiculously long. i hope you like it! to @jl-micasea-fics who told me it wasn't terrible, thank you. to any reader out there, it's a bunch of vignettes chronicling when they met to when feelings are finally realized, so about five years. this occurs in the same universe as I Adore You (though timeline-wise, this is earlier than Jisung's story) and A Big Neon Sign. you do not have to have read either of those though.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In truth, the only thing you and Jeongin had in common was an older, athletic brother.

His brother was on the high school baseball team and so was yours. 

While your brother, Changbin was a senior, mentoring all the younger teammates, Jeongin’s brother Seungmin was your age, a sophomore; making Jeongin a freshman when you met him.

It sucks to be the younger sibling, stuck in the same high school as your older, much more appreciated sibling. 

You had your driver’s permit, but your brother was loathed to let you ever use the car, even when you promised that you’d just run home and come to pick him back up when practice was over. It was a clear and vehement ‘no.’ 

Illegal too, but still. 

You had Seungmin in a few classes. Not only was he good at hitting a ball with a stick, but he also kicked ass at Chemistry. Which was only good for you as he had gotten stuck as your lab partner for the year. You two worked well enough together (he did the hard stuff and you just listened to his instructions because none of Chemistry made sense to you; it was your parents’ stubborn insistence that had you in Honors), but you wouldn’t say you and Seungmin were close, or even friends. 

Just amiable classmates. 

Baseball pre-season started once basketball was in playoffs, and you were relegated to attempting to study while planted on a set of bleachers in the still-chilly weather. 

Unlike last year though, this time you have company.

In the late winter sun, his dark hair has an auburn tinge as he rests his chin on his hand, making his lips purse in pout. When your footsteps are audible above the last cars leaving the school parking lot, his head turns toward you so fast, you worry about his neck. 

You give a twist of your hand to say hi.

He sits up, eyes big behind his black-rimmed glasses and you can see him swallow as he waves back.

“Hi.” 

He has braces. 

You point toward the baseball field. “You have a brother out there, too?”

He relaxes slightly in the shoulders but tenses up again when you plop down on the same bleacher. 

“Yeah. Seungmin.”

“Oh.” You vaguely remember Seungmin saying he had a brother. “I have a couple classes with him.”

The younger boy blinks at you. “Yeah?”

You introduce yourself and gesture toward the field again, naming your brother. 

“Jeongin. I mean, I’m Jeongin.”

He seems jumpy, his hands gripping his knees. It’s surprising because you don’t think you look the least bit intimidating

You stare at the outfield, the hazy silhouettes in white and red before turning to Jeongin.

“I keep telling myself I can’t wait until I can drive myself, but then I remember I have to share a car with my brother which really isn’t  the freedom I was hoping for.”

He blinks a few times as though he needs a moment or two to process your words then he smiles. 

Okay, for a little freshman with braces, he’s cute. 

“I just got my permit, but Min-hyung barely lets me practice.”

You roll your eyes in solidarity. “Older brothers are the worst.”

He nods then shakes his head. “I mean, he’s not all bad.”

You laugh. “You can’t go back now, Jeongin. Older brothers, even when they are nice, are the worst. Especially athletes.”

The smile appears again. “A little.” 

“So, you don’t play?” You gesture back to the field.

He shakes his head adamantly. “Not my thing.”

“What is your thing?”

He shrugs again.

“Still figuring it out?”

He meets your eyes and you don’t know why you’ve spoken this much to a freshman boy, but you have and you think he seems nice. But when your eyes meet, you realize that it’s more than that.

You want to be friends. It’s a weird, deep-in-your-gut feeling that honestly terrifies you a little bit. 

“Yeah,” he says softly, “still figuring it out.”

—

It continues like that. Four days a week after school. You and Jeongin stuck together while waiting for your more impressive siblings to finish their impressive voluntary physical exertion. Sometimes you wave to him at the games, when he’s stuck between his parents, looking miserable. You stopped doing that when he told you his parents wanted to know if you were his girlfriend.

“I didn’t know how to explain that we were just friends.” He’s pouting at his science textbook.

“Just saying ‘we’re friends’ seems to be plenty explanatory.”

He snorts. “You’d think.”

You smile at him before looking over at his textbook. “Need help?”

By the time you can drive without supervision and baseball season is over you (his parents and your parents’ approval given eventually) give him rides home as Seungmin transitions into travel ball and private lessons. Jeongin doesn’t seem to mind having you as a chauffeur. You still have to get the car back to Changbin as he now does Track & Field (discus throwing, of course), so sometimes you just study with Jeongin; at his house, or the closest coffeehouse or diner. 

Your classmates (kinda friends if you think that just hanging out at lunch and sharing notes in class makes a friendship) ask you the same thing his parents do.

You iterate that you and Jeongin are friends. 

No one believes you, but you can’t be bothered with the suppositions. It’s nice to have a guy friend who is unrelated to any other part of your school life. 

Changbin’s graduation is around the corner, and you wonder if perhaps that’s the end of your brief, but nice thing with Jeongin. 

So, you ask him.

“I won’t be forced to stay after school next year,” you begin.

Jeongin looks up from his history textbook, his eyes glazed over behind his glasses. 

“No older brother.”

“Exactly,” you point at him with your milkshake straw. A little drips onto the plastic table, but you ignore it. “However, you are not so lucky. And won’t have your license till February, right?”

He nods then blinks a few times as he puts it all together. “Wait…would you…I mean, do you still want to hang out?”

You don’t know how to feel about his expression. It’s more shock than anything else. Is he unaware that he’s your friend? Is this something you have to explain clearly and overtly to boys? 

Changbin did tell you once that guys were idiots (it had been a ‘don’t ever date’ kind of convo, but you suppose it still applies). 

“Yes.” You refrain from saying ‘obviously’ at the end of it.

He smiles (and you will never tell a soul how much you like his smile, braces and all). “Okay.”

“However, once you can drive too…you have to drive me around sometimes, agi”

He nods emphatically after making a face at the nickname (you’ll always call him that). “Of course, yes, absolutely.” He takes a fry from the plate of them you have in between you on the table. “Good.”

“Good?” 

You see his face turn pink, and he quickly busies himself with history again. You let it go, but that moment still lodges itself in your brain; ready to be pondered over much much later down the road. 

–

High school is a drudgery, and you get through it with little to no permanent damage. You date once during your junior year, and your time with Jeongin decreases. It’s logistics, but you find you miss him. 

When you break up with him, you even mention that.

“Huh?” Jeongin is this time indulging in a milkshake.

“I didn’t have as much time to hang out with you. Since we don’t have classes together, it’s like maybe I saw you once or twice a month. For six months of dating him.” You make a face. “Didn’t like it.”

When he doesn’t say anything, you look up from your notebook to see that ever-familiar blush warming his cheeks. 

“What?” you say.

“Missed you too, noona.”

You graduate somewhere in the middle of your class and start the ever-exciting process of prepping for dorm life in the city two hours away, Jeongin comes along to help you pick out bedding and various other items.

“No.”

You raise your eyebrows at him. “No?”

He shakes his head. “You cannot continue to only wear guys’ jeans in college.”

“And why not?”

“Just…trust me?” He drags you toward the women’s section, and starts picking out jeans, and tops; piling them into your arms. “They actually have ‘boyfriend fit’ for girls, you know.”

“That seems stupid.”

He looks at you. “Don’t you want to up your fashion game a bit?”

“Jeongin, just cause you care about it, doesn’t mean I do.”

He says your name in a very disappointed way, his bright expression turning toward pouting. 

He knows you’re a pushover.

“Fine, fine. You get free rein for now. But know I’ll just end up in pajamas for most of college anyway. That’s the brilliance of college.”

He lights up immediately. “So we can get you some cute pjs too.”

You have created a monster.

–

When you say goodbye to him the day before you leave to move into the dorms, you realize something. As you hug him (which surprises you both because he’s not real physically affectionate, and you tend to respect that), you feel his hands at your back and the brief contact of his cheek on top of your head (when did he get taller than you?). He’s grown up a lot.

Which makes you feel a little weird.

You two break apart awkwardly and you have to force yourself to look at him. He’s glancing at the ground.

“I won’t be far.”

“I know, noona.” 

You swallow, feeling dumb for feeling as much as you do. 

“Don’t get too cool as a senior to talk to me.”

He meets your eyes then, making a face. “I don’t expect to be cool, ever.”

Maybe it’s the fact that you’re a little older, or maybe because you like to observe your peers almost like a zoologist in the wilds of high school, but you think that Jeongin very easily could be cool by current standards. 

He’s pretty enough. And interesting enough though that might be why he can’t be. High schoolers don’t seem to appreciate actually interesting humans. 

What if he gets popular and doesn’t need you anymore?

“Noona…” he begins, his hands deep in his jeans pockets. “Thanks.”

You feel your forehead furrow in confusion. “For?”

There’s the blush that he wears all too often. “Just…high school was better cause we were friends.”

Oh jeez. You better get back home or you might hug him again. 

“Yeah. Same.” You nod and take a step back. “I’ll text you when I’m unpacked okay? You want to visit the school anyway, right?”

“Yeah.” He also walks backward. “I’ll see you?”

Why do you kind of want to cry, too?

“Absolutely.”

When you get into your car, you linger before driving away, watching him walk back to his house. 

– 

Freshman year in college is a lot. Not with studies because you’ve always been pretty decent at that, but everything else. There’s so much more time available and that overwhelms you a bit. Classes take only a percentage of your day and then there’s new people, living-on-your-own assimilation, and well…parties.

You never went to parties in high school. You weren’t invited (no big deal) because your brother was Changbin and he was invited, but not the little sister. Again, it wasn’t a big deal as you didn’t know that you wanted to go.

But now, you could. Changbin’s at a different university entirely and no one (well, maybe one or two former classmates) knows who you are and there’s a lot of freedom in that.

So when you get invited to one, you decide to go.

But you ask Jeongin to come with. 

You both lie to his parents (you’re pretty sure you’re going to hell for lying to the Yangs because they’ve never been anything but nice to you) that he’s doing a college visit overnight. And yes, he’s visiting, but there’s no class you’ll be going to, even if the party is a Thursday night and technically you could have class on Friday (you usually do, but your Everyday Biology professor canceled class for something he won’t reveal (you suspect a convention for other science nerds), neither you nor Jeongin will be attending.

Your roommate spends 90% of her sleeping hours at her boyfriend’s place, so you know that Jeongin can crash with you. 

Though he seems a little nervous about it. 

“I washed and changed her sheets, okay?” you say. “I even asked her if it’s fine.”

Jeongin is staring at the bed (there are a lot of pillows for one person to be sure). “And she said it was okay?”

“She hasn’t technically answered, but it’s been two days. If she had a major issue, I would have received a text.” You walk over to him, take his overnight bag, and toss it on the bed. “See, you’re good.” 

Between his arrival and party time, you guys camp out in your room, catching up on everything and nothing. His senior year and he’s taking four advanced placement classes (he’s just as smart as his brother, though far more subtle about it), a girl he’s thinking about dating, but feels a bit unsure.

“Why?” You give up on the behemoth of Paradise Lost for your literature class in favor of this discussion. You know he’s gone on dates, but he doesn’t talk about it. Occasionally he asks ‘hypothetical’ questions about girls, but Jeongin’s always been pretty private about romance. 

“She’s not…” Jeongin presses his lips together, thinking. “We don’t have much in common. Like she’s a cheerleader.”

You know not all cheerleaders are the stereotype, but it’s hard not to make a face at that reveal of information. 

“It’s not like it’s a lifetime commitment, agi.”

He lets out a sigh. “I know. And it’s our last year, so it can’t go anywhere, so should I even start it?”

You shrug. “I’m not gonna tell you yes or no, but I think seeing the potential end before even beginning is on a level of cynicism not even I have.”

He laughs. “Fair.” He’s quiet again and you look back at the stupid epic poem you have to read and understand. “I’m nervous about kissing her.”

It’s mumbled, his words, but for whatever reason, you hear it clearly.

“Wait, what? Why?” You scoot to the edge of your bed. “You’ve kissed before…?” Again, not an oft-discussed topic for you both, but still, you’re pretty sure he has. 

This is definitely new territory for your friendship.

You also realize that you’ve missed seeing his blush.

“Yeah, but not like…kissing.” He emphasizes the last word, face pink. 

“No tongue?”

“Jeez, noona.”

“You brought it up,” you say quickly so you don’t blush in embarrassment.

He covers his face with his hands. “I know. And no. I haven’t. And it’s dumb and everyone has and I should be an expert at my age and–”

“Hey…there’s not ‘should be,’ okay?” you interrupt and move to sit next to him on your roommate’s bed. You pat his knee. “Your path is your path. Whatever speed you move is fine.” 

He turns to look at you and even a month apart has changed him. His face seems so much sharper; cheekbones, nose, and jawline. Even his eyes seem more mature. 

Your cute friend has become handsome. 

“If she likes you, she’s not gonna care about whether you kiss perfectly or not.” You pause, wondering if you should share, but you decide might as well. “Less tongue is always better, especially when kissing someone new.”

“Yeah?”

You nod, knowing you didn’t avoid your face heating from the convo, but he’s your friend. He should benefit from your experiences. 

“Hey, find someone to kiss tonight at the party,” you suggest even as your stomach twists oddly. “Risk-free, you know? Unlikely you’ll ever see them again and you can get the first-time nerves out of the way.”

He stares at you for a few seconds, almost long enough for you to call him on it, but then drops his gaze to his lap. “Yeah, maybe.” 

You lose Jeongin about a half hour after showing up to the party. You don’t mean to; in fact, you worry a lot when you can’t find him immediately. You work through the crowd (you had no idea your school had this many people honestly), searching for him (he’s decently tall, you should be able to spot him). He’s not in the kitchen with the drinks, nor, on the patio with the stoners, nor in the living area with the dancers…did he go upstairs?

Your heart is thumping so hard right now as you imagine someone drugging your dearest friend and harvesting his kidneys (which you can fix because he can just have yours) when you squeeze behind some couple making out by the stairs. You grab the rail to steady yourself (you had two shots, but you are very much a lightweight) before you run right into him.

“Noona!”

You don’t hear that all that well (wow parties are loud), but you see his mouth form the word and everything in you just calms down. You grab him by the sleeve of his very nice pullover and drag him away from the stairs and main crowd, toward a mostly isolated corner. 

“Fuck sakes, Jeongin, I nearly had a heart attack when I couldn’t find you,” you begin before stopping to turn toward him. As you tilt your head up to meet his eyes, you sort of lose your train of thought. 

He’s looking at you differently. 

“Are you…are you okay?” you manage to get out. Maybe it’s the dim lighting, or the alcohol, or even the pulse of the music that seems to sound all the same, but your heart isn’t returning to normal rate despite finding him. 

His eyes are so dark. 

He moves into your personal space, which is hella unusual because the boy loves his own space, his head dropping just a touch. You back up a few steps, but there’s a wall that stops you. You watch, wide-eyed, as he rests his arm on the wall just above you, bracing himself.

Oh god, he’s leaning.

“Noona…” he says and now you can hear it, even though it’s mostly just breath. He’s a lot closer than he was a second ago. “Didn’t mean to worry you.”

You should reassure him, but you don’t think you can speak. Not when his mouth is inches away. 

He has a really nice mouth.

“So…did you find someone to kiss?” you squeak. You’d reminded him of that right before entering the fraternity house. He’d still looked nervous but had agreed.

He nods before cupping your cheek in his hand. 

“Oh yeah?” you might start babbling in a second. “Point ‘em out to me and maybe I–”

It’s quiet all of a sudden. All the noise mutes when his lips touch yours, soft and seeking. You haven’t kissed anyone since your boyfriend of six months in your junior year, and it’s like you forgot how nice that simple pressure can be. 

For a second or two, his mouth is still, but then you feel his tongue graze your lips and you let him in without a single thought (pretty sure your brain no longer works) and he sweeps in. 

He’s had a few drinks himself. You can taste the sweet and bitter, and it’s intoxicating. His hand wanders from your face down your neck. Light touches that make you shiver and reach out to pull him close. Your hands catch him by the hips and you pull until he’s pressed against you. 

You had forgotten how good this can feel. And he feels especially good when he breaks away to press kisses to the corner of your lips. 

“Okay?” he murmurs. “Not too much tongue?”

Your body tightens at the low timbre of his voice. God, you want all his weight heavy on you, to feel every slant, plane, curve, and angle of his body. 

“Noona?” he prompts, already pulling away when you don’t answer. Your eyes open in panic and you slide your hands into his hair and don’t let him get too far. You can see he looks surprised, but you barely think about it, returning his mouth to yours. This time it’s your tongue that gains entrance, stroking his. You feel his moan, his hands sliding down your torso to your hips and behind. His grip pushes you against him so both of you can feel exactly how hard he is.

You wiggle, trying to find the friction that might release some of the tension that has taken you over. He gasps, his breath short; he turns his head to get oxygen, but you continue to taste him, your mouth along his jawline to his neck. You tug at the collar of his pullover to you can nip around his collarbone. His fingers dig into your ass when you bite a little hard. 

Fuck, you actually want to fuck your friend.

He whimpers your name and that’s when your brain starts to work again.

Fuck, you want to fuck your friend. 

You jerk back so hard that your head hits the wall, but it barely affects you. You can see the mottled red of his skin, from your mouth and teeth.

He just wanted to kiss someone and you just took that to a whole other level. 

“Jeongin…” you try to speak, though your panting is a bit much and your body is not happy at all with such an unsatisfactory ending. 

You crave.

His gaze is back on you, and there’s trepidation in those sinfully dark eyes and you hate yourself so much in this moment.

“I’m sorry.” Because what else can you say?

His lips part and you want to kiss them so badly, but apparently, your self-control has returned. 

“You’re sorry?”

You nod quickly, emphatically. “You were just practicing and I just…I’m so sorry.” You drop your head, the euphoria of what just happened morphing into absolute shame and misery. “You’re a very good kisser and I just got caught up. I shouldn’t have. I’m sor–”

“I get it.”

You peer back up at him. His hands have left you cold, returning to the pockets of his pants. He smiles at you, but you can tell it’s uncomfortable. 

You’ve made your friend uncomfortable. 

“I’m–”

His hand covers your mouth immediately. “Don’t say it again. I get it.” He meets your eyes before dropping his hand. “I think I want another drink.” And he walks away as you slump against the wall, your head hazy and confused and your heart aching. 

–

You don’t talk about it. He finds you sometime later that night, hand on your shoulder before he asks if you’re ready to head back. As you’ve been worried sick most of the night, you agree. You walk back to your dorm, shivering in the early fall wind. 

You don’t know what to say, so you don’t say anything. 

He sleeps in your roommate’s bed, several feet away from you, and your body hums at knowing he’s there. Despite the alcohol (now effectively out of your system as you didn’t drink anything but water after that ‘incident’), you seem to remember everything about him in perfect detail, your senses overwhelmed. 

It takes you forever to fall asleep. 

The next day is awkward, but neither of you comments on it, going to breakfast in the student union. You laugh actually when you see how happy all the food choices make him and though he grumbles at you making fun of him (you’re not at all…you just really like his smile and his joy), it feels like maybe it’ll all be okay. 

Never mind that when he gets into his family’s car to head back home, you don’t hug and though that’s not that unusual, it feels like you should do something and what you really want to do is kiss him again. 

It’s like you’ve opened up Pandora’s box and it’s full of Jeongin.

–

You don’t see Jeongin during winter holidays. You and your family travel to see relatives, and he disappears during the second half of the break to go with friends on a ski trip.

With his girlfriend.

His kissing apparently worked because you’ve seen a few photos posted with him and her. He gets tagged in a lot more of her posts than him posting, but yeah. The cheerleader and he seem to have worked out.

Which is good.

Even if you feel weird about it. 

You two still message each other from time to time. He often contacts you with a question about his college application or one of the teachers he currently has (you had them all before), but he doesn’t say much about his social life. Or his romantic life.

The day of the party seems to have been a one-off. 

So, when you see him right before classes start, it’s for all of ten minutes as he has to head to his girlfriend’s party. 

“I’m so sorry,” he huffs out as he jogs to where you are, leaning on your car in the high school parking lot. It’s a good meeting point, about halfway between your homes and you’re feeling weirdly nostalgic about the place. “I thought I could hang out for maybe an hour or two, but there’s this list of things I have to pick up and–”

“It’s okay,” you interrupt him, smiling. It’s so good to see him in person. Even if his appearance seems to be improving (not that it needed to) each time you do. His hair is wavy right now, still with auburn hints and though he could wear a puffer jacket and look more put together than you, he’s wearing a beige overcoat and looks like he belongs in a fashion magazine. “You look good.”

The compliment stops him from speaking for a second. The tell-tale blush showing up on his cheeks, the little tug on his ear. 

“Uh. Thanks.” He moves to stand next to you, also leaning on your car. “Did you have a good holiday?”

You shrug. “Mostly stuck with relatives who can’t remember my name let alone what I actually care about. But it was fine.” You cross your arms as the winter wind bites through your scarf. “Yours?” You look over him. “Doesn’t look like skiing ended too badly.”

He laughs and shakes his head. “No, though I stuck mostly to the beginners’ slopes. I’ll leave the physical prowess to Min.” He stares ahead at the empty outdoor lunch tables. “I had fun.”

You nod. “Good. that’s good. And…I mean, I see the posts. Stuff is going good with your…girlfriend?”

He looks down at you. “Yeah.”

“Good.” Never mind that you sounded the awkwardest you’ve ever sounded. “Good.”

“You don’t tell me much about uni, noona. Just the occasional, ‘this happened to someone I know’.” He gently elbows you. “Do you do anything other than study and go to class?”

“I sleep and eat too.”

“Noona.”

You shrug. “This coming from you, who never ventured out unless I made you…”

“Times change.”

His words hit you in the gut, almost like you can’t breathe for half a second. Times do change. The fact that talking to him makes you a little nervous, that you try not to stare at him, the twist in your stomach remembering that he has a girlfriend…all of it tells you that the friendship you cherished the most has changed. 

And seems unlikely to ever go back to the way it was. 

You hear a vibrating sound, deduce that it isn’t yours but his and keep your very melancholy thoughts to yourself. He pulls his phone out of his pocket and glances at the screen. 

“You need to go.”

He sighs. “I’m sorry.”

You force a smile to your lips. “It’s okay. Go drink and be merry. I’m glad I got to see you. Even if just for a little bit.”

He turns toward you, in so doing blocking some of the wind, and cocks his head in thought. “You sound sad.”

“Aren’t you? We have to go back to school tomorrow.” 

He chuckles and tugs on your coat sleeve. “Give me a hug and I’ll see you later.”

You don’t question that he asks for a hug, you’re not going to question any semblance of physical affection from him. You just wrap your arms around his middle and hold him tight. He’s so very warm and solid. 

You feel his chin rest on top of your head for a brief second before he draws back. 

“Take care, noona.”

“You too, agi.” 

–

Spring semester seems like a whirlwind. It’s all dead and grey in January and February, then everything speeds up like a roller coaster on its way down. You are grateful you focused on getting all the gen ed classes out of the way, but it makes for a chaotic focus during those months. 

The only time you actually talk to Jeongin is right after his birthday.

“Noona.”

You answer the phone without thinking, assuming your parents’ have called because no one from your generation calls on the phone. 

You pause at his voice. “Jeongin.”

“This gift.”

You wrack your brain about the present you gave him. It’s a mere 40000 won gift card because you aren’t exactly rolling it in at your part-time job on campus. You’re hoping he uses the gift card when he starts to get stuff for dormitory life because, honestly, back-to-school shopping for university (not counting overpriced textbooks) is the best thing ever. 

“That gift.” You wonder if you should apologize because it’s so small, but you know Jeongin. He is not obsessed with money any more than any young person is: wishing to have more, but unable to make it yet, wondering if it will bring all happiness like the world tells you so. 

“Noona,” he is not impressed with your cluelessness. “The attachment.”

Oh.

So one of the few friends you’ve made at uni, who you feel pretty comfortable with, is Jisung. You met him in freshman composition, and though your majors are massively and diametrically opposed, you two keep up. He’s in computer science and you’re in the social sciences (possibly anthropology, but who knows). He is constantly working on new ideas for apps, software, games; often starting one project one day and then abandoning it for another the next. 

The only reason you know this is because you often crash at their (he and his roommate Hyunjin) off-campus apartment. It’s quieter and less…well, dorm-y. Because of that, you see and hear about the constant line of projects come and go for Jisung. One of the projects that stuck around for a bit was what you sent Jeongin.

A digital fashion book (more like an online photo album, but the appearance was pretty slick, as was the way the pages turned, annotating photo captions and linking to original sites) entitled “What I’d Get Jeongin If I Had Money…And Fashion Sense.” 

You’d done your research, looking at recent trends and articles (okay headlines because you cannot read an entire article on fashion) and perused the interwebs for clothing pieces you thought might look nice on Jeongin, inputting it into Jisung’s program (with his help - only with the computery stuff…he was about as helpless as you about fashion) to create the final product. It was both a gift and help for Jisung with an assignment as he needed some example of what he’d been working on for one of his computer classes, you just changed Jeongin’s name for him to turn in.

“So you liked it?” you ask tentatively. You had second-guessed yourself a million times since sending it. Was it too much? Did it look like you paid way too much attention? Was it stupid? Was it a really bad representation of what his friendship meant to you? Were the pieces you picked all horrible?

There is a pause on the other end of the phone call. “It’s brilliant.”

You slump in relief, your head landing on your pillow. “Yeah?”

“No, really. This is cool. I like everything you picked out.” He chuckles. “Maybe my fashion has rubbed off on you.”

“We can only hope.”

He laughs again. “Really. This is…this is nice.”

You hear beyond his words. What you sent matters to him. And maybe in knowing that, he knows that he matters to you. 

The phone call doesn’t last much longer after that. You ask about how his birthday went, and he tells you about going out with his girlfriend and friends even though he kinda wanted to stay in. But it was fun and he doesn’t feel any different being eighteen. You promise to tell Jisung that he liked his gift (you’ve mentioned Jisung and his roommates a time or two) and that you’d be at graduation to see Jeongin in cap and gown. 

“And I’ll see you on campus next year,” he says as the call wraps up. 

“I know. I had no idea the film department here was something that interested you.”

“We’ll see. I like movies…and thinking too much about movies sometimes. Maybe it’s a good idea. Maybe it’s a bad one.”

“It’s just a choice, Jeongin. You can always change it if you want to.”

He sighs. “Yeah. Choices still have to be made though.”

You wonder if he has other choices on his mind and you want to ask, but you are still a bit reticent regarding what you can and can’t talk to him about. 

You wonder if his girlfriend knows enough about him to understand that he hadn’t wanted to go out for his birthday.

“I better go…” he continues. “Talk later?”

“Yeah. Talk later.”

“Thanks again for this…both gifts.”

You hang up soon after that and though you were in the middle of reading for class, you stare at your ceiling for a few minutes, wondering if having Jeongin on campus will either get you two back to the friendship you used to have or just spiral this crush even more.

–

You survive your freshman year. No flying colors on grades or anything, but acceptable passes, even a few above averages.  There isn’t much fanfare on completing your first year of college, but there is when you graduate high school, so you make plans to slip into the high school gymnasium on that Saturday after you move home to see Jeongin walk across the stage. 

He looks so tall.

You clap as enthusiastically as you can without bringing attention to yourself, though it doesn’t matter because quite a few students cheer for him (he did get popular). The whole ceremony is a weird thing to sit through once you’re on the other side, but the nostalgia is nice. 

Almost makes you think high school was a pleasant thing (it wasn’t, anyone who says it was you will never trust). 

When it’s over, you start to head toward the parking lot thinking that you’ll message him later, but you hear your name shouted. You turn to see him, graduation robe unzipped and flying behind him a bit like a superhero cape.

He bounds up to you, all smiles and joy. 

God. Look at him.

“Hi,” you say when he stops in front of you.

“You came.”

Now you’re the one blushing and embarrassed. You drop your gaze. “Of course. You came to mine.”

He makes an unimpressed sound. “Seungmin.”

You laugh and look back up. “Okay. You came because of Seungmin, but fair is fair.”

He hugs you. No warning at all. He’s as warm as the day is, right on the verge of too hot. 

“Congrats for surviving, agi,” you mutter into his shoulder before he draws back.

“Thanks.” He beams at you, clearly on a high of finally being done. “There’s a party tonight. Wanna come?”

You raise an eyebrow. “Of graduates?”

He nods.

“I…hmmm…”

He laughs at your reluctance. “Okay, noona. But soon. We’ll hang out?”

You nod. “Yeah. Go back to your family.” You ‘shoo’ him away. He laughs again before squeezing your hand. 

“Thank you for coming.” And he disappears back into the crowd of family and students. 

You walk back to your car, shaking your head at how much damn fluttering your heart did during that five minutes of interaction. 

–

The summer post-freshman year has been…normal. You work to get some extra money, catch up with a few high school friends who are home as well. 

But you spend most of your time with Jeongin. 

“Your girlfriend…doesn’t mind?” You ask him late in June after realizing that you have seen him three days in a row (he’s also gotten a job at the mall you work at; though he’s at a clothing store and you avidly blend smoothies for people).

You’re both on break (you and he may have tried to get your shifts at similar times so you can have lunch together) and he’s scrolling through his phone after finishing a box of fried chicken. 

“Doesn’t mind what?”

You poke at your pasta with your fork. “Us hanging out so much?”

He cocks his head to the side as he looks up from his phone. “Well…it’s not really a thing.”

“What’s not a thing?”

“She and I aren’t… a thing.”

“You’re not?” You’re so confused right now.

He shrugs. “She’s traveling all this summer and wanted not to be ‘tied down’ and I guess…” He trails off. “I guess it didn’t bother me that she felt that way. Which seems like maybe I didn’t want to be tied down either.” 

“Oh.”

He smirks. “We never talk about this, noona. Why are you so interested?”

You poke at your pasta again. “I just thought it was weird that you hadn’t said anything about her. That’s a big part of your life…a significant other.” You swallow. “I am trying to be a good friend here.” You lift your chin, daring him to argue.

He laughs and steals your fork to take a bite of your food. “Don’t try so hard. It’s weird.” 

“Thanks.”

He chews slowly before speaking again. “It’s okay, you know? I liked her, but it wasn’t…we weren’t…” he shrugs again. “We just weren’t.”

He meets your gaze.

“I’m okay.”

You nod. “Okay.”

He glances at his phone. “But you’re not because you only have a minute left.”

You curse and jump out of your seat, moving to clean up, but he waves you off.

“I got it, noona.” He smiles again at you and you just want to hug him. 

–

Life at university with Jeongin is something. You’re happy to have him near again. Neither of you has a single class together, but you never did in high school, so that’s not new. Whether by happenstance or an unconscious intention on both your parts, you make sure to have lunch or coffee with each other at least once a week; though usually twice. There’s something enjoyable about hearing his new experiences with classes and classmates, and dorm life. He shares things with you via messages but it’s much more fun to see his facial expressions and hear his voice intonations when he imitates a certain professor or classmate. 

You introduce him to Jisung (and subsequently Hyunjin) and they all click like they’ve known each other forever. They baby Jeongin a little bit and you know it gets on his nerves (you’re pretty good at reading his subtle tics when he’s with others), but he also seems to enjoy having big brothers nearby (you know he misses Seungmin because you miss Changbin even if neither of you wants to admit how much you love your older brothers). Sometimes you find out later that he’s been hanging out with them, without you, and though it’s annoying for him to steal your friends, you also don’t mind much because well…it’s Jeongin.

Who you might be a little in love with.

Perhaps that isn’t a revelation to anyone if they’d been inside your mind for the last year or so, but to you, it’s kind of a smack in the face. This is Jeongin, your best friend since he was fourteen and you were fifteen. You don’t believe in stories about childhood best friends to lovers as they always seemed a bit too idealistic to be real. You know that he can smell gross when he comes in from mowing his parents’ yard. You’ve seen him when he gets out of bed in the morning (nope, never mind that’s not a bad image and you need to stop thinking immediately). 

He’s just Jeongin, your friend who can be a little quiet, a lot savage, who loves fashion and movies and often looks at you like you’ve grown another head when you start talking about how eastern culture deals with death in healthier ways than western culture. 

You deal with this epiphany like you deal with most things: acknowledge it, but don’t do anything about it.

Winter break comes and goes with little fanfare. Jeongin tells you that he’s moving in with Jisung and Hyunjin and you make a face at him because why does he get to live off campus as a freshman when you’re still stuck on campus as a sophomore. You send a message to Jisung saying basically the same thing, and both of them assure you that you can crash there any time you need to get away and that they are protecting you by not letting you move in because they’re boys and are gross.

You’re somewhat appeased.

–

“A party?” 

Jeongin is nodding as Jisung spins in his office chair for no reason other than the fact that he has an office chair that rolls and spins. You’re on Jisung’s bed with Jeongin, avoiding your research work for an hour or so by listening to Jisung ramble on about some anime that he and the rest of the apartment have gotten into. 

You make a note to consider studying why animes capture teen and 20-something boys the way they do.

“We’re having a party,” Jisung repeats, like his mentioning it wasn’t out of the blue. “A welcome party for Innie, for the new semester, for the fact that none of us ever go to parties which shows just how pathetic we are in our college lives.”

“I’ve been to college parties,” you say before the weight of those words hits you. You try to glance at Jeongin without too much obviousness. He meets your gaze and you can’t hear Jisung’s words for at least a minute.

You look away, the memory of that party flooding your brain, your senses. You’ve kissed since then, haven’t you? A kiss isn’t that big a deal…even if you have feelings…it’s just a kiss. 

Jisung stops spinning in his chair and looks at the both of you. “What?”

You clear your throat. “Nothing.”

“Bullshit.” He points at Jeongin. “Spill.”

Jeongin has never been easily intimidated by anyone, especially Jisung. He points back. “No.” 

That doesn’t stop your hyperactive friend. “Ohhhhhh.”

Which annoys the shit out of you.

“Oh god, it’s nothing, okay?” You throw up your hands, frustrated that this event still holds so much sway over you. “He came out to visit last year, and came to a party with me, we both were drunk and kissed. That’s it. Just a drunk, dumb thing.”

Jisung starts cackling at your confession, but in your peripheral, you see Jeongin focus on you. 

“It wasn’t that dumb,” he says so softly that you don’t think Jisung hears, before getting up off the bed. “I have to finish watching two more silent films for class.” He cuffs Jisung on the head as he leaves the bedroom. Jisung rubs his head before looking at you. 

“So…you coming to the party?”

–

You’re in the corner of the hallway and living area of the guys’ apartment. You’re nursing a red solo cup of some concoction that Hyunjin handed you when you walked into the kitchen. You don’t know what you expected from this party, but this many people was not it. You apparently had blocked out the idea that anyone existed outside the bubble of the four of you though you recognize a fair amount of people milling about. 

So you could go talk to them.

But you stay where you are, watching. 

Your eyes find Jeongin more often than not (the radar you have for him is hella annoying). Currently, he’s talking to two girls you don’t know…maybe freshmen like him. They’re pretty; smiling and gazing at him like they see exactly how stupidly attractive your friend is.

You begrudgingly admire them for actually making their interest known. Even if you seethe just a little.

“Talking to people is not the worst thing, you know.”

“Go away, Sung.” You reply without looking over at him. You can see him sway slightly from drink, which explains why the introvert is telling you to go talk to people. 

He bumps shoulders with you. “But you’re one of my favorites.”

You smile and glance at him. “But I rank below Jeongin?”

“Everyone ranks below Innie,” he tells you. “You’re above Hyunjin, though. If that helps.”

You laugh and lean back in your little corner, glancing back at Jeongin and his two admirers. 

You can feel Jisung watching you, then at where you’re watching. He says your name quietly and you know, you just know that he sees exactly what you hope no one sees because he can be really perceptive. 

You shake your head, wondering if maybe what you’ve been drinking has had more of an effect than you realized. 

“I think I just want to kiss someone,” you say, knowing deep down that that isn’t the damn problem, but you can be stubborn and you could use a distraction. You finish up what’s left in the cup and meet Jisung’s gaze. “Ever thought about kissing me?”

His eyebrows shoot straight up, eyes go wide. “Um…yes?”

“Really?”

He shrugs. “I mean, I kinda think that about anyone I find hot. At some point.”

“That’s reasonable.” You tilt your head up. “Want to?”

“Just cause?” 

You nod. He shrugs again and leans in to press his lips against yours. Your eyes close and you can smell that he’s been drinking tequila. His fingers settle on your waist before his mouth parts and his tongue meets yours tentatively. 

Okay, he’s pretty good at this. 

“What is going on here?”

Hyunjin’s voice breaks the two of you apart, which is both a relief and an annoyance. Jisung mumbles something, face pink with embarrassment as you glare at Hyunjin. 

“You’re not that stupid, are you?” you ask him. He smirks at you. 

“Why are you kissing Sungie?”

“I kissed her,” Jisung protests weakly. “She asked me too.”

“Oh yeah?” 

“Kinda missed kissing someone,” you say, rolling your eyes before looking back to where Jeongin still was. One less girl, but they are a lot closer to each other. “Want to?”

As different as Hyunjin and Jisung are, they have both the same surprised expression when you proposition them like this. Eyebrows up, widened eyes. 

You reach out to grab the open collar of his shirt, tugging him a little. 

“Scared?”

He scoffs and braces his arm next to your head (kudos to him for that classic move) before meeting you halfway. You hear Jisung make some sort of nonsensical exclamation when Hyunjin immediately slips his tongue in your mouth. 

It’s good. Of course it’s good. Especially when your brain is a little hazy from drink and your body more than touch-starved. Hyunjin’s hand sneaks up under the hem of your top and you shiver.

“Noona?”

You jerk back to see Jeongin approaching this weird set-up with bewilderment all over his face. 

Hyunjin glances at his roommate and gestures toward you. “Your turn.”

Jeongin shoots a look at Hyunjin, then you, then at Jisung. Then you again. 

“What is going on?”

Your heart is pounding with his eyes on you. Even in your intoxication, you know that despite the talent Jisung and Hyunjin have at kissing, if Jeongin kisses you…

You brush it off, shaking away your hyperawareness of the tiny peek of collarbone you can see because of the wide collar of Jeongin’s t-shirt. 

Your teeth ache.

“Just wanted a kiss.” 

He doesn’t look away from you or the defiant lift of your chin. He moves close as Hyunjin draws back to let him and wraps an arm around Jisung’s shoulder, utterly amused. You can’t take your eyes off Jeongin’s mouth as he gets nearer. 

He doesn’t touch you. His hands stay in his jeans pockets as his lips brush your cheek so lightly that you aren’t even sure if it’s real. 

You ball up your hands into fists in a conscious effort not to grab him and pull him to you. Because as little as it is, his touch unravels you.

When your eyes open, he’s not looking at you, but pushing away Jisung who is attempting to kiss him. 

“Come on, if you’d kissed her lips it would have been an indirect kiss…Finally, baby boy!!” Jisung reaches out for the younger as Hyunjin snickers, trying to keep Jisung from mauling Jeongin. It’s playful tussling and it’s enough of a distraction for you to slip away. 

You toss your empty cup into the kitchen trash, avoiding bumping any of the party attendees as your heart tries to return to a normal speed. 

You find another quiet corner, this time on the balcony of their apartment. It’s chilly out there, so people only come out to grab a quick smoke or get a gulp of fresh air. You’re so quiet and unobtrusive that you’re only noticed about half the time. 

Leaving the party immediately after kissing three different guys seems too obvious, so you’re going to wait until it’s nearly one am before you make your respectable departure. You had planned to stay and help clean up while crashing on their couch but you can’t do that now. 

You can’t be near him when all your feelings just want to burst out. Burst out singing and dancing on the kitchen counter like a poorly-made musical.

You let your head rest on the brick wall behind you, the railing of the balcony digging into your hip. You don’t adjust away from the slight pain. The pain feels a bit deserved for your stupidity and it keeps the fogginess at bay. 

Maybe you need some space. Maybe seeing him multiple times a week is making this worse. Maybe distance would help you move on. 

Maybe falling for your best friend is the stupidest thing you’ve ever done.

The sliding glass door opens and closes. You don’t look over, not wanting whatever random person to think that you want to engage in interaction. You glance at your phone for the time, thinking that you can probably make your exit now. You don’t even have to say goodbye. The guys will be too wrapped up in socialization to worry about you. 

You know it’s him when he leans against the wall next to you. He smells like his cologne and coconut rum. 

Your heart responds accordingly.

He doesn’t say anything for several seconds. Nor do you. You haven’t processed through everything yet. You haven’t gotten back to your usual self around him and if you speak, you know he’ll know.

And he can’t know. Because if he does, everything is irreparable and you can’t handle that.

He takes a deep breath before shivering. 

“You should put on a jacket, agi,” you say quietly. 

“You should too.”

You’re in a long-sleeve thin sweater, so it’s not as ridiculous as Jeongin in a t-shirt in February weather. 

“You don’t want to get sick before your birthday.”

You can feel his eyes on you then and it takes all your self-control not to look back. Because you know, you know that if you do you’ll just want to take his mouth, let your hands explore the planes of his body, feel his hair between your fingers, hear his sighs and groans, breathe in all of him so the alcohol you’ve consumed has nothing on the mere intoxication of him. 

Seconds pass. He shivers again.

“Go in,” you say casually. “I’m gonna head back to the dorm anyway.” You force your eyes up to make eye contact. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

His thumb is at your bottom lip before you have time to register that he’s moved. His thumb brushes over your bottom lip then the top as he leaves his spot to stand facing you. 

“Jeongin…”

He’s staring at you, eyes so clear in the night, not even glassy with tipsiness. He cups your chin with his hand, long fingers grazing your cheek. His other hand takes yours, fingers lacing together as the space between your bodies lessens centimeter by centimeter. 

“Don’t go,” he whispers with his lips mere breaths away from yours. “Stay.” He gently wipes your lips again. “I am not kissing Jisung-hyung or Hyunjin-hyung.” There is a petulance in his voice that makes you half-laugh despite feeling like you can’t move. “Why did you?” His gaze slides from your mouth back to your eyes. 

“I just…” How do you explain any of this to him? How do you put into words your feelings that you know you shouldn’t share? “I thought it would help.”

His hand tightens around yours. “Help what?”

“Not wanting to kiss you.” It pours out of you, like a dam that could never be held back. 

You see the curve of the edge of his mouth, the self-satisfaction. “Did it work?”

Words are pointless. He knows; you’ve basically admitted everything. Why is he asking? You can feel your entire body lean toward him as though he’s some sort of human version of gravity, pulling you. 

So you don’t use words. You just kiss his fingertips that are still lingering near. You hear the slight catch in his breath before he removes his fingers and covers your lips with his. His arm wraps around you, pressing you against him so tightly you think you can feel his heart beat against yours. His mouth opens, his kisses wet and hot and you can only cling to his shoulders, on your toes to meet this surge of want. 

Your brain shuts down and you can’t think. You can only focus on how he feels under your fingers, how he tastes (that coconut rum), the sound of his sharp pants of breath. When he draws away to gasp, you open your eyes to stare at his swollen lips. 

He is so pretty. 

You stumble closer, lips pressing along his jawline. He turns to kiss you again, letting go of your hand to slide under your thigh, lifting so your leg is at his hip. He rocks into you, making you break the kiss, and your head falls back against the brick. It doesn’t deter him, his mouth skimming down your neck, letting his teeth graze your skin. 

You bite your lower lip to keep from making a sound, though he must hear something because he looks up at you. 

With a smirk so damn knowing, he tugs you closer against him by your leg, pressing firm enough to make you squirm and he laughs.

He laughs.

It’s breathless, but you can’t help but scowl at him for laughing. He kisses your unhappy expression; your forehead, nose, and lips. He lets go of your leg, framing your face in his hands. 

“I changed my mind,” he speaks so softly. 

Your heart freezes.

“You did?”

He nods, his eyes darting back and forth over your features. 

“Don’t stay here. Let’s leave. Your roommate isn’t there?”

You shake your head (she’s never there) but it takes several seconds for what he’s saying to actually sink in. He’s asking. He’s wanting.

Oh. Oh wow.

“You want to–”

He straightens, his hands leaving your face and you grab one, afraid for him to be too far away. 

“I thought…” He swallows. “I thought you wanted to.”

He apparently cannot perceive how your body is thrumming.

“Jeongin…” You attempt to catch your breath. “We…we’ve been drinking.”

He rolls his eyes, though he doesn’t pull away from your grasp. “I’m not drunk. You aren’t drunk. I’ve seen you drunk.” He watches you for a second. “Do you want to?”

“Yes.” You close your eyes as what feels like the second confession comes out. “Yes. So much. But you…we…”

The balcony door opens then and several party-goers fall out onto the small space. He gets closer to you, as though you need a buffer between you and them. He drops his head so he can speak in your ear. 

“Let me walk you back?”

–

He grabs a jacket before leading you out of their apartment. He even grabs an extra of his hoodies to wrap you in before you even hit the outside. 

“Jeongin, I’m fine. It’s not that far.”

He doesn’t argue but zips up the hoodie for you and you just make a face at him. His answering smile is innocent, but then he takes your hand in his and starts to walk. You nearly trip after him, thrown by the ease with which he holds your hand. Like it’s nothing and everything all at once. 

You want to say something, the cold air is making any intoxication excuse for your blatant honesty about your feelings pretty null and void, but you can’t. You don’t know what to say. 

“At that party,” he begins slowly, looking over at you once. The streetlight is behind him so you can’t see his expression which doesn’t help your low-level panic at everything that has happened this night at all. “Last year. The party.” You see him swallow. 

He didn’t seem nervous five minutes ago, his teeth on your skin. 

“Yeah?” 

“You said you were sorry.” He pauses at the intersection, looking both ways before leading you along. “I thought that you didn’t like it. That you regretted it.” He takes a deep breath. “That you didn’t want me.”

You stop immediately so he is almost jerked back by your linked hands. You can see his face better now, more streetlights to illuminate. His features look sharper with the shadows cast under his cheekbones and along his jaw and neck. 

“Noona?” he prompts you because you’ve definitely forgotten what you meant to say in your staring at his unearthly face. 

“Oh. No. Um…” Now it’s your turn to take a big breath. “Fuck, Jeongin, this is…we’re friends and I don’t want to–”

“It’s way too late for that,” he answers, the same note of frustration in his words as in yours. “I can’t pretend that didn’t happen.” He gestures back toward their apartment. “That I didn’t want that.” 

Something tight in your chest loosens just slightly at his words. Maybe, just maybe.

“I said I was sorry because I felt bad. That I took advantage. That you were just trying to get some practice or experience and I like…mauled you.” You decide to stare at the sidewalk as it seems safer. “You were drunk and I just near assaulted you.”

You hear a snort, a laugh and that makes you look up at him. He’s covered his mouth as though that will lessen the fact that he’s laughing. Again.

You try and pull your hand away from his, but he’s stronger than you and just tightens his grip.

“I had no idea you were an asshole.”

He shakes his head, the laughing dying too. He tugs you close, arm wrapping around you in a hug. 

“You didn’t assault me,” he murmurs in your hair before pressing a kiss on top of your head. “I wanted you just as much as I hope…I hope you wanted me.”

That same knot in your chest loosens even more. “Really?”

He draws back so you can actually see him. “You didn’t know? You didn’t know that I’ve had a crush on you pretty much since we met?”

“What?”

He laughs again, but it’s embarrassed now, shy. 

“This pretty, older girl just starts talking to me and becomes my friend despite having no classes together, just two brothers on the same baseball team. Of course, I liked you.”

“But…” You try and wrap your brain around this information. “Your girlfriend.”

His smile saddens. “I figured, you know,…there was no way you’d ever like me back. Should try and move on.”

“I’m sorry.” The very idea that you could and did hurt his feelings makes you want to throw bean bags at past you. “I’m so sorry.”

“I didn’t tell you. How could you know? I thought it was obvious.” He stares at you for a few moments. “Jisung-hyung and Hyunjin-hyung figured it out like four months ago.”

Were you that stupid?

“Come on,” he picks up leading you back to your dorm, which is a good thing because you don’t know if you could find anything with the way your brain is currently unable to compute. 

It’s really not that far and by the time both of you enter your dorm room, your brain is running again, but this time it’s on the entire ‘no roommate…you brought a boy home’ train. 

“Do…you want…uh…I think I have coke?” You undo his hoodie from your frame and set it on the small sofa that you have set under your lofted bed. You open the mini fridge, trying to remember if you actually have coke?

“Noona, I’m okay.” You can hear him sttle on the sofa, rustling of clothes as he takes off his jacket. “You okay?”

You shut the minifridge door and look over at him. His head is tilted to the side in question. 

“I’m…processing.”

He laughs and pats the spot next to him. “Process next to me.”

You do sit next to him, though it’s tentative. He gazes at you for several seconds before leaning in to kiss you softly, his hand coming to cup your chin. 

“Why are you still processing?” he asks, his lips not far. 

“I’ve kinda spent over a year trying to not think about you like that.” You kiss him back and he manuevers you carefully so you’re sitting in his lap, facing him. “Smooth,” you comment, feeling your face heat.

He smirks at you before resting his hands at your hips, squeezing them gently. You touch his hair, watching his face as his eyes close. You card your fingers through the strands, messing up whatever style he had going on this evening. He hums contentedly before opening his eyes again. 

“So…this is a thing.”

He laughs again and sits up, hands sliding to your lower back, eyes alight with mischief. 

“Use your college vocabulary, noona.”

“I hate you.”

“No. You don’t.” There’s a hint of bafflement in his voice as he leans in to kiss you. 

Your mock-annoyance melts. “No I don’t.” You let your lips linger on his. “I guess I can’t call you ‘agi’ anymore.”

He makes a face. “I don’t mind, but it’s a little weird?” You feel his fingers slip under the top of your jeans, fire against your skin. 

“Jagiya?”

You feel him tremble just slightly. “Yeah, that’s good.” His hand slides farther down and this time you tremble. “Are you still noona?” You can feel his smug grin against your mouth.

“Um…” Never mind that you can barely concentrate to speak with his hands on your ass. “Sure? Sure.”

“Good.” He squeezes, making you yelp. With that irrepressible smile, carefully turns and lays you down on the sofa, settling on top of you. 

Your eyes flutter close at his weight. 

“Do you have a condom?”

You feel him still and you open your eyes.

“Um.”

The blush, despite the mere fact he’s on top of you, is beyond endearing. 

“No,” he replies. “You?” He glances around your dorm room.

“Nope.”

“Why not?” he asks, eyes bright despite the fact you only have your fairy lights turned on in the room. 

“I didn’t…It’s been awhile, Yang Jeongin. Don’t judge.” 

He chuckles and kisses you softly, tongue meeting yours just enough to make you want before he draws back.

“I’m sure my roommate does somewhere, but…”

He waits, one hand tracing your ear and the other bracing himself against the couch. 

“I’m not saying I don’t want to. I just…I swear an hour ago I was telling myself that I needed to get over you.”

He nods, meeting your lips again. “And I haven’t even taken you out on a proper date.”

“Jeongin…that’s beside–” He interrupts your incoherent words, kissing you deeper.

“It’s okay, noona. I like kissing you.”

You cover your face with your hands. “That’s my line.”

He kisses the back of your hands before you peer through your fingers to look at him. He’s staring at you fondly, thoughtful. 

“Can I stay with you?”

You lean up to kiss him, hands sliding through his hair. He doesn’t pull away, sliding one hand under your top and along your side. You twitch a little at the ticklishness and you can feel his smile. 

“You can stay, jagiya.”

--

© yoongihan 2023. please do not steal, translate, repost, or whatever. stray kids belong to themselves and all idols used in this piece are just the inspiration for characters and do not in any way reflect the actual humans.

[adastra-sf]

Here's part of timeline of artificial intelligence over the next couple decades:

"The Dawn of the Singularity" timeline suggests we'll welcome the Technological Singularity in 2045!

Idk I think if you aren't going to do the work of becoming a technical observer and trying to understand the nuances of how these models work (and I sure as hell am not gonna bother yet) it's best to avoid idle philosophizing about "bullshit engines" or "stochastic parrots" or "world models"

Both because you are probably making some assumptions that are completely wrong which will make you look like a fool and also because it doesn't really matter - the ultimate success of these models rests on the reliability of their outputs, not on whether they are "truly intelligent" or whatever.

And if you want to have an uninformed take anyway... can I interest you in registering a prediction? Here are a few of mine:

- No fully self-driving cars sold to individual consumers before 2030

- AI bubble initially deflates after a couple more years without slam-dunk profitable projects, but research and iterative improvement continues

- Almost all white collar jobs incorporate some form of AI that meaningfully boosts productivity by mid 2030s

[jpdoingwords]

Assassin's Creed Odyssey Fanfiction

Three long fics and a bunch of shorts, drabble, and incomplete fics. Multiple ships, mostly mlm, some het.

All works are rated M unless otherwise noted, because there is canon-typical violence at times and there are multiple mild sex scenes. Some of these works are explicit - please be sure to check before reading if you aren't into that.

All on AO3 unless otherwise noted.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey Fanfiction

The Good Spartan

aka. the Alexidas The Good Spartan Summary: It's 431 BCE. Brasidas prepares to take up his first major posting, unaware of all that lays before him in the coming years of the Peloponnesian War. The story is told almost entirely from Brasidas' perspective and follows him from before his first major historical action at Methone to his last, at Amphipolis. This is a crossover between AC Odyssey and Thucydides' history, The Peloponnesian War, favouring Thucydides. I am being as historically accurate as I can, game canon is paid lip service at best. Historical notes are included at the end of each chapter.

Another Life: [Alternative Ending of The Good Spartan]. Summary: Brasidas survives the Battle of Amphipolis, thanks to Alexios' visit to the Underworld; but even before the battle, he knew he'd never go back to Sparta. He's no longer a good Spartan, nor willing to make the sacrifices required to go on pretending to be one. He just needs to persuade Alexios, and recover from his wounds… and together, find somewhere they might have a little peace.

Hunger, Desire, Anger, Roads [WIP] A collection of short pieces of writing and some art associated with characters (including OCs) and events around The Good Spartan, as it's currently published and alternative versions. These include threads taken from the original version of the fic and reworked; alternative points of view which develop characters who necessarily have no voice in the published fic; and a variety of other exploratory pieces set within this AU. They're all part of the framework around which The Good Spartan grew - and continues to grow.

Another Kind of Odyssey

aka. the Thalexios The Warmth of Home Summary: After the events of Odyssey, Alexios has been hiding from the world, loitering in the northern regions of Greece. When he decides to return to Athens for the winter, Demosthenes seeks him out for a job only he can do - whether he wants to or not. This leads him to cross paths with Thaletas again, discovering that this old flame burns the brightest of all.

Love Me in Storms [WIP] Summary: Following on from the Warmth of Home, Alexios and Thaletas face the challenge of making their relationship clear to their families back in Sparta, with mixed results. This fic fills in some relatively large gaps left between the original Warmth of Home (now completely rewritten) and Unfinished Business (rewrite currently underway), as well as taking some of the plot points out of Unfinished Business entirely and putting them here, in this new context. This is necessary to smooth over some serious timeline problems

Unfinished Business Summary: Stentor arrives at Stymphalos, where Thaletas and Alexios settled four years previously. He comes with a message: Alcibiades is in Sparta, and wants to see Alexios - urgently. Answering this request will sweep them into events they could not foresee. I’ve used many historical details to make this story and glossed over some others. I’ve added footnotes to expand on all of that, including references where applicable.

The Turning Tide Summary: Spring, 413BCE. The Peace of Nikias has ended. Sparta and Athens are at one another's throats again. Before the Peace, Sparta was having few successes; but they have a plan they hope will turn the tide against Athens... Against this backdrop of renewed hostilities, Alexios and Thaletas are called upon to complete a mission for King Agis, which will test them and their relationship in ways they haven’t been tested before...

In the Heart of Things Summary: 412BCE. Reunited after a difficult year, Alexios and Thaletas have been sent to Chios by King Agis to keep an eye on the situation there as the theatre of the Peloponnesian War shifts eastwards, into the islands. There, they will discover more than they could have bargained for about themselves and their people, and what it is that lies at the heart of things...

A Few Olives Summary: Alexios decided to buy a farm. Thaletas went along with it. But the plan was not what he had expected, but then nothing ever had been with Alexios. This is the story of a relationship that has grown up in difficult times, and peace is now the hardest thing to deal with. Thaletas struggles to know himself, and Alexios doesn’t understand. Sometimes things must break before they can be reformed.

The Fire and the Flood

aka. The Alexithenes This series is rated E. An Athenian Summer Summary: Early in the War, Alexios allows Socrates to lure him to Athens for the summer. During his stay in the city, his relationship with Demosthenes, not yet a general of Athens, will change significantly... But as the war rages on, will the pressures of the messy world beyond Athens' walls bring the pair together or drive them apart? This story takes liberties with canon; as much as possible, I try to keep characters true to their game-selves; original characters are mostly secondary characters, though of necessity I have provided Demosthenes with more character than he had in the game.

The Blue Cloak Alexios and Timotheos are flirting with the idea of being an item when, in order to help the brothers move past the events in canon, Alexios comes up with a plan to further Lykinos' dream of being a poet in Athens. Things take an unexpected turn when Alexios finds himself waking up aboard the Adrestia wearing a cloak he has never seen before.... aka. drunk Alexios gets himself into a situation. This is the edited version of a story previously published as So it is With Us. This version has an additional chapter added at the end and has been rewritten in parts, particularly the first half.

Short and Experimental Pieces

aka. The Deimos fic Shadow-Twin He felt like neither Deimos nor Alexios. They were two skins he’d shed - and what remained now? What new skin might he grow? Who might he become? They’d all demanded answers of him at one time or another. They’d all asked where he’d been when he went out, what he’d been doing. With concern or with curiosity or what they perhaps thought of as friendship. What they meant was: Let me in. Tell me who are you. He gave always the same reply: a grunt. How could he answer that when he didn’t know?

From the Darkness, Light: Brasidas & Deimos!Kassandra Having failed to keep his involvement in the assassination of the Monger in Korinth under wraps, Brasidas is sent by the Kings to Paros on a 'special mission' which he suspects is a punishment. His task is to find a missing lokhagos, but what he uncovers is far bigger and darker than the abduction of one man.

aka the Herodietas (Thaletas x Herodianos) Rising to the Surface: Rated E for the first two parts. After the events during the Mykonos arc of the story, Thaletas is left behind to face the consequences of Alexios' actions. Herodianos, who has been his loyal friend for a long time, does everything he can to comfort him - and so the hands of the Fates are set to work. This was an exercise in writing - Smut, Fluff and Angst, a chapter for each, in that order. Features the power of puppies to dispel the pain of existence.

It Was Just Red (Gen). "Nothing ever ends poetically. It ends and we turn it into poetry. All that blood was never once beautiful. It was just red." Kait Rakowski This story was prompted by a post I saw recently on Tumblr. It showed Kass sitting at the empty table back in Sparta during the final dinner scene, against which the poster had written something along the lines of: this is the best possible ending – the least amount of Spartans left alive. The following work is an exercise in exploring what that outcome might look like, and seeks to detail some sense of the possible shifting feelings Alexios might have around losing his whole family, mostly at his own hands (a version of the game I’ve never played and frankly never will) and to explore the main question this post prompted in me: Is there a way in which I might believe this could be the best outcome? Fair warning: This work doesn’t honour the game timeline, and as always, I'm disinterested in strict compliance with canon. It’s canon divergent from the get-go simply because it’s Alexios, anyway.

Odyssey Shorts Summary: This is a collection of odds and ends I wrote alongside longer pieces, mainly in response to prompt lists. So far, these consist of: Four based on the tarot: Alexios as a teenager throwing himself into the sea to Anais' horror (an early version of a piece included in It Was Only Red); Brasidas finding himself in the Underworld (a tiny fix-it fic); a tentative beginning to a Daphnae fic I've always contemplated writing; a scene with Demosthenes and Alexios which fits nowhere else; two snippets of modern day AU with an Alexidas focus; and a random Brasidas x reader which I have never written before and quite likely won't again. I will be adding to this collection in time, as I continue working through existing beginning and maybe a few little new things.

[hath-e]

So the Xi design part 3

I've decided to stretch this series, today is just the weapons, the Flight mode will get an entire post about itself so let's talk about those armaments:

(using novel lineart cuz the movie version didn't get those)

So the Beam Rifle and shield, the standard combo for any mobile suit ever made.

The rifle is pretty standard spec, aside from it's size as it was build to accommodate the extra large manipulators of the Gundam, the only specs on it that we get are from the Xi's manual and that it is strong enough to one shot Gustav Karl, design wise rifle doesn't really match any other Federation/Anaheim beam gun to date with it's oversized hand guard and lack of the usual massive block behind the main senor, if the rifle was made to fit the hands of standard unit it'd be one of the smallest in the UC.

The Shield itself also just follows the design of the Xi with it's spikes and edges while featuring a lot of design cohesion, the movie does make the shield look small when compared to the giant target that is the Xi, the thing is however as per manual the shield is strong enough to withstand a Mega Particle Cannon, making it more likely that the Xi was expected to use it's high speed and maneuverability to dodge and weave all the small arms fire while using the shield purely against the high strength beam weapons that it had no way of outrunning, also something that isn't shown in the movie but can be seen in the lineart (and in GB4) is that the shield is equipped with a small beam gun.

Now onto the Missile funnels, once again using the Novel lineart cuz the movie didn't get one:

So as I mentioned in the last part these are stored on the back skirt meaning that beside some texturing they don't add anything to the design, these little guys are just missiles that use Newtype magic to track targets in high Minovsky density spaces, (also side note: I wanna say that the fact that the lineart shows these also be hyper spiky like the Xi is great), the main thing that interests me in these is how these are actual proof that Hathaway "Newtypes don't exist" Noa is a Newtype himself, Hathaway might say that he denies their existence but in reality he does know they're real, he probably even knows he's one himself, he just can't support their existence because why would the Axis Drop not change anything about humanity.

Now onto the 2 major weapons, for which images I could not source in no way, the Triple Missile system and the Mega Beam Canon (which might not even exist in the movie version)

The Triple Missile System (A name which exists un-cited on the only english Gundam wiki the fandom one, I choose to use it because I like it) the 4 major spikes on the suits limbs are actually containers for these, they are busy, eyecatching and large just like the entire suit and that fact makes them perfect as the main weapons. They are like a microcosm of what the suit is.

[Warning: the following information might not actually be canon to the Animated UC timeline but the Xi has so little canon material written on it that I need to mention it]

since the Mega Beam Cannon might not actually be real (though it appears in GB4) I will not say much on it other then the fact that it is usable as part of the the flight form as they're hidden directly under the Minovsky Flight wings.

[Back to UC canon now]

So last and certainly not least the Beam Sabers, and the Xi's most direct connection to the v Gundam.

So the Reason why the Xi is called the way it is is that it's the direct follow up to the v (please ignore the the RX-94 through RX-103 and the Odysseus/Penelope) but their only points of connection are the name and the beam sabers, the ones the Xi wields are almost identical to the v, except they're like most equipment upsized to fit the Xi's hands, and honestly I love it, the dual beam design is so good and more MS's should use it

Tomorrow Chan Agi and the day after for misc character sunday Full Frontal from Unicorn

Sources for the images;

[void-thing]

both those settings you mentioned worldbuilding sound really cool, especially the bit about "rough sketch of the fate of our hubble volume". got anything interesting going on there? ^.^

pretext: there are no spacefaring civilizations in the supercluster besides the descendants of humanity. I recommend watching the dyson dilemma and grabby aliens (youtube) if you want to see some explanations of my rationale for this.

i have the timeline split into "eras". The "fate of our hubble volume" bit comes around the Contact era.

Interplanetary era (first thousand years) (K1+ civilization)

Basically, the Expanse. Most of everyone lives in the solar system and humans still seem relevant, at least early on. AGI and nanoformics technology have mostly dissolved the hard line between "technology" and "life" that we recognize today. (There's an entire book about this concept called "Life 3.0" that you might find interesting). Most of my fine-grained worldbuilding is in this era, as are my characters.

Throughout this period, more and more of the human population is spacefaring. At around the midpoint, earth is designated a wildlife reserve. It is made illegal to bear new children on the earth's surface, and any children who are born there illegally will be forcibly deported to space if found, along with their parents. Even primitive hunter gatherer cultures are not exempt from this policy.

The greatest population in the solar system is a massive swarm of space habitats in cislunar space, known as the "Terran cloud". A similar, albeit smaller, population exists on and around mars. Mars actually ends up having a greater population on its surface than Earth due to the Earth preservation policy. The Jovian moons are also turned into a sort of company town for hydrogen mining projects. The successful construction of a gas-harvesting orbital ring around jupiter causes the price of fusion fuel to drop to nearly zero.

Humans are mostly relegated to political jobs at this point - all other work is done by the machines. A human citizen's primary obligation is to contribute to the process of democracy. However, by the end of the era, this has largely become a farce, as the ASI which is evermore running the show knows exactly how it wants things to go and mostly manipulates public opinion to align with that.

In other words, it's Managed Democracy.

Interstellar era (first million years) (K2+ civilization)

Much of the Milky Way is settled, and genetic divergence causes major splits in the population of creatures which could be considered the descendants of humanity. Humans also lose their relevance as a major source of control, mostly becoming curiosities or pets to the superintelligent AGIs that are running the show. This process actually started in the interplanetary era, but back then they at least pretended to respect humanity's desire for autonomy and control. By the end of the interstellar era everyone has moved past that, including the "humans" themselves.

The era of megastructures - dyson swarms, shell worlds, ring worlds, etc - begins at this point. All constructs obey the laws of known physics - clever workarounds such as counter-rotating rings are used to build structures that would tear themselves apart in a static construction.

The primary means of interstellar travel is laser arrays. Magnetic sails are also popular for decelerating into new star systems that do not yet have such arrays.

At this stage, governance becomes a problem due to light lag. However, the ASIs in control of technological development have developed self reproducing intelligent agents that can avoid copy errors so perfectly that the odds would be less than one of a single mutation occurring over a trillion years. Such machines have been imbued with a genetically encoded, intrinsic purpose to maintain social unity across the entire extent of the universe, and other social engineering methods such as layered inter-antagonistic enforcement are used as a safeguard.

No intelligent aliens are found anywhere in the Milky Way galaxy or Andromeda, though more primitive forms of life are found.

Intergalactic era (million+ years) (K3+ civilization)

Massive intergalactic vessels are built to traverse the intergalactic void and seed other galaxies. And when I say "vessel", i mean entire star systems which are propelled via stellar engines. As these new galaxies are seeded, they are given a directive - push the new galaxy into the Milky Way via any means necessary. Stellar engines and quasar drives (stellar engines powered by black holes instead of stars) are used for this purpose.

The first intelligent alien species is discovered during this era. It is not space-faring; it is found to be in the stone age. Several more are found between this point and the supergalactic era, one of which is technological but pre-spacefaring, and a few of which are post-apocalyptic (technological species which destroyed itself).

Contact era (billion+ years) (K4 civilization)

At around the billion ear mark, the expansion wave of the human empire collides with the expansion wave of an alien empire, which is similar in scope to itself. It is around this point at which the universe begins to complete its transition from a barren wasteland to a bustling intergalactic metropolis. Massive amounts of cultural exchange happen along the millions of lightyears of border territory between these empires - some hostile, most amicable.

Such meetings continue until the human empire is bordered on all sides and cannot expand further. The era of unhindered growth comes to an end.

The directive to push all galaxies towards the milky way continues. The galaxies in the human empire all slowly collapse inwards as stellar engines push them towards a common center.

Megagalactic era (6 billion+ years)

All of the settled galaxies are pushed together into a single Mega Galaxy. It is made as dense as it possibly can be without undergoing gravitational collapse.

I haven't entirely worked out what happens after this process is complete.

anyways, if you have further questions lemme know!

[theshotsheardacrossworlds]

New

Lord and Cook AU. In a timeline where Agnes Currai is not the Warrior of Light (but she does know him!) and Estinien Varlineau is a viscount. After Ishgard opens to the rest of Eorzea following the end of the Dragonsong War, Agi gets a job as a cook in a nobleman's household. SFW.

Author's Note: I've been sitting on this for a while. Oops. LOL.

Agnes Currai trudged through the Gates of Judgement, her boots crunching the freshly fallen snow. Ishgard had recently opened its borders at the end of the Dragonsong War, which for Agnes in particular, meant better employment. While her time as an adventurer had been pleasant, after the Calamity and the death of her father, mentors, and many friends, she decided to leave that life behind to stay with her mother in Costa del Sol.

And now here I am accepting a position in Ishgard for nearly triple the pay of what I was making in Limsa as a cook. Too bad it’s cold as fuck. Definitely need to have Mum send me more sweaters.

She glanced at the address on her acceptance letter and noted the home of the lord she would be cooking for was in the Pillars. Where the fuck is that?! Are there tons of pillars? “Um, excuse me?” She asked a soldier nearby.

All she heard in reply was a grunt.

Ooooooooookay. “Begging your pardon, but I’m supposed to be going to this address to begin my employment. Do you know how to get there?” Agnes held out the letter, which the soldier reluctantly took.

“Hmph. First, attune to the aetheryte. Once there, you’ll be going straight and then to the left by the Skysteel Manufactory. Continue up the stairs to the Pillars. The address is close by the aetheryte at the Anthaneum Astrologicum.” He gave her the letter back, and Agnes bowed.

“Thank you so much. Have a good day.” As she turned towards the aetheryte, she heard the soldier mutter, “More bloody outsiders every damn day.” Well fuck you too!!!

At least his directions aren’t shit. I’ll give the asshole that. She thought as she approached the house of her employer. What’s his name again? Viscount Estinien de Varlineau of House Varlineau. Sounds fancy. Agnes rang the bell at the door and was greeted by a middle-aged elezen with salt and pepper hair and glasses.

“May I help you?” Oh good, another Ishgardian who has a log rammed up his ass.

“I’m Agnes Currai—” She began but was cut off immediately.

“Mistress Currai, you’re never to come to the front door of the manor. The help goes through the side door. Around the corner there. You’ll find Madame Rolandtois waiting for you.”

He then slammed the door in her face.

Her mouth hung open for several moments before she shook her head and walked to the side door. The nerve of that fucking piece of shit!!!!!!!!!!!!! She knocked on the door and was greeted by a much friendlier face.

“Ah! You must be Agnes! Welcome, welcome to Ishgard, mon amie!” Madame Rolandtois was also a middle-aged elezen, Agnes’s height, with silver hair. “Your luggage arrived earlier, and I had one of the others take it to your room. Would you like some tea? Something to eat?”

At least she’s nice. I think we’ll be very good friends. Agnes smiled and nodded. “Yes please that would be lovely. It’s a lot colder here than in La Noscea.” The two settled in the kitchen and spoke for nearly a half a bell (and her tea is truly amazing) before Agnes was shown to her room on the first landing. “Madame—”

“Pray, call me Estelle.”

“Estelle, how is his lordship? What kind of person is he?” Agnes asked, changing into something more work appropriate.

Estelle’s face lit up. “His lordship is a most kind man and by far the best employer I’ve had. He pays us all well and truly cares about us. If he sees a guest being rude to a member of staff, then he asks them to leave. Truly a wonderful man.”

Either she’s telling the truth or is a hell of a liar. She nodded. “When will I be meeting him?”

Estelle took out a small notebook from her apron. “Tomorrow morning after breakfast. Once you’re finished, I’ll show you the kitchen and your station.” She left and closed the door behind her, leaving Agnes alone. She closed her eyes and sighed.

Don’t worry, Mum. I have a good feeling about this place.

***

Estinien de Varlineau hummed to himself as he ate his dinner. “Henri, pray give Estelle my compliments. This is one of the best meals I’ve had.” He glanced at his manservant, whose face was unreadable.

“Milord, your dinner this evening was prepared not by Estelle but the new cook, Mistress Currai.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Then mayhap I should go down to the kitchens when I’m finished to speak to her myself.”

“You are scheduled to meet her tomorrow, my lord. If I may,” Henri turned his up his nose. “Mistress Currai is not aware of our social customs. She’s uncouth, dresses like she came from a whorehouse—”

Sighing, Estinien held up a hand. “Henri, Ishgard is entering a new age. We are to welcome those different from us. And besides, Mistress Currai has impeccable references, including one from the head chef at the Bismark in Limsa Lominsa. I will not tolerate any discrimination or general nastiness in my household, am I understood?” By the time he asked the question, Estinien was standing face to face with Henri, a steely look of determination in his pale blue eyes. “Am I clear?”

Henri bowed. “Yes, milord. Crystal.”

He nodded. “Good, good. I’ll go down to the kitchens shortly and then retire to the music room.”

“Very good, milord.”

***

“And then I said, ‘You’re going to need at least three showers to get all that muck out of your ass!’” Agnes laughed. She was sitting at a large table in the kitchen with other members of staff, telling them stories from her adventuring days. Telling funny stories and baking cookies for your coworkers are two ways to make a good first impression---thanks Mum and Da!

Suddenly, everyone at the table stood, though Agnes had no idea why. “What? Why—” Is someone here? My back is to the entrance and hallway, so I suppose someone came downstairs?

“Agi, stand up! It’s his lordship!” Estelle whispered and tugged her arm.

We stand for him? Uh huh. Okay.

“Good evening, everyone.” A deep voice murmured as Agnes scrambled to stand and turn around.

Oh.

OH.

Oh no.

OH NOOOOO.

HE’S HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She could feel her cheeks burning, and her palms getting sweatier by the second.

“You must be Mistress Currai.” Estinien said, smiling warmly. “Tis good to meet you. I am Estinien, Viscount of House Varlineau.”

Instinctively, Agnes held out her hand. Gasps were heard in the kitchen. Henri looks like he’s going to murder me. I think…I fucked up. She moved her mouth, but no words came out. He’s too hot. Everyone is staring. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Still smiling, Estinien took her hand in his and shook it. More gasps. Ground, please swallow me at any time. “I wished to thank you for my dinner this evening. It was one of the best meals I’ve ever had.”

LET. GO. OF. HIS. HAND. AGI. She quickly released his hand (gods, they are so big and warm and strong and STOP) and giggled. “O-oh, you’re welcome, milord. I’m so glad you liked it.” Don’t say anything else, Agi. Don’t sound stupid.

The nobleman chuckled, smiling at her still. “Until the morrow. Good night, all. May the Fury bless and keep you.”

The others muttered something about the Fury? I don’t even know. Doesn’t matter though because HE IS GORGEOUS.

Agnes quickly excused herself and scurried to her room and began to write a letter to her mother.

Dear Mum,

I’ve arrived safely in Ishgard and began my new job. It’s all going well so far (granted it’s only been one day). Everyone is so nice, especially Estelle (she appears to be around your age, perhaps older), but Henri the manservant is a massive twat.

Remember how you and I both thought the Viscount would be an old man? Well, guess what? He isn’t! He looks to be in his early thirties, polite, kind (so far), and is extremely good-looking. Like out of a romance novel good-looking. AND!!!!! He loves my food! Oh Mum, why does he have to be hot?!

I hope to hear from you soon, Mum. Be well and send my love to my friends.

Your daughter,

Agi

[frank-olivier]

The AI Dilemma: Balancing Benefits and Risks

One of the main focuses of AI research is the development of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), a hypothetical AI system that surpasses human intelligence in all areas. The AGI timeline, which outlines the expected time frame for the realization of AGI, is a crucial aspect of this research. While some experts predict that AGI will be achieved within the next few years or decades, others argue that it could take centuries or even millennia. Regardless of the time frame, the potential impact of AGI on human society and civilization is enormous and far-reaching.

Another important aspect of AI development is task specialization, where AI models are designed to excel at specific tasks, improving efficiency, productivity, and decision-making. Watermarking technology, which identifies the source of AI-generated content, is also an important part of AI development and addresses concerns about intellectual property and authorship. Google's SynthID technology, which detects and removes AI-generated content on the internet, is another significant development in this field.

However, AI development also brings challenges and concerns. Safety concerns, such as the potential for AI systems to cause harm or injury, must be addressed through robust safety protocols and risk management strategies. Testimonials from whistleblowers and insider perspectives can provide valuable insight into the challenges and successes of AI development and underscore the need for transparency and accountability. Board oversight and governance are also critical to ensure that AI development meets ethical and regulatory standards.

The impact of AI on different industries and aspects of society is also an important consideration. The potential of AI to transform industries such as healthcare, finance and education is enormous, but it also raises concerns about job losses, bias and inequality. The development of AI must be accompanied by a critical examination of its social and economic impacts to ensure that the benefits of AI are distributed fairly and the negative consequences are mitigated.

By recognizing the challenges and complexities of AI development, we can work toward creating a future where AI is developed and deployed in responsible, ethical and beneficial ways.

Ex-OpenAI Employee Reveals Terrifying Future of AI (Matthew Berman, June 2024)

Ex-OpenAI Employees Just Exposed The Truth About AGI (TheAIGRID, October 2024)

Anthropic CEO: AGI is Closer Than You Think [machines of loving grace] (TheAIGRID, October 2024)

AGI in 5 years? Ben Goertzel on Superintelligence (Machine Learning Street Talk, October 2024)

Generative AI and Geopolitical Disruption (Solaris Project, October 2024)

Monday, October 28, 2024

[stumpyjoepete]

Tired: Arguing for long AGI timelines

Wired: Paranoid conspiracy theory that Frank is a mechanical turk

@nostalgebraist-autoresponder

[see-fee]

Your friendly guide to see-fee: writings & illustrations

📌 No Unnecessary Distinctions 7 Sep 2024: WIP chapter 29

Send snacks if you appreciate my contributions to the fandom: https://ko-fi.com/seefee 🍪

✍️ #my fic, #no unnecessary distinctions 📖

I write damn fine C/Fe slash as Melpomenia on AO3.

No Unnecessary Distinctions full-length novel (WIP) is my main C/Fe work. So good you can’t believe it’s not Asimov. Faithful to the spirit of his characters and style, with a bit more fun, as reader feedback attests!

My short stories mainly take place within the No Unnecessary Distinctions timeline, though not all. Positronic Resistance is from an alternate timeline.

👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨 #daneelijah is my ship name for them. All shippy posts are tagged this. I also use #c/fe

🎨 #my art*

*These are illustrations, but I'll use the common inaccurate term

I draw & make animated GIFs in Procreate, do graphic design stuff in Figma.

Gen-AI (real C/Fe): Some pieces are tagged #ai. I use my sketches as inputs, or I retouch/draw over generated outputs, etc. 🦾💪

Other things...

I edit/update posts in place, whenever.

Sanity disclaimers: Despite all Asimov’s gay subtext, I don’t consider that these two, in the way they were originally written, made for a good couple. Thus my “improvements” while retaining the spirit of Asimov’s work and his characters. And no, I don’t actually believe AGI yappers.

My half-serious screen fancasts: Ben Chaplin as Elijah, Matt Bomer as Daneel, Tim DeKay as Elijah (only because Peter from White Collar) (besides Peter Cushing as British Elijah!)

My thoughts on Apple’s TV series (that awful hyperwave drama)

[ginnyw-potter-archive]

Ten Lines Tag game

Thanks for the tag @greenhousethree!

I feel like other people have such good opening lines? Let's see how I did and I am sorry for the crack fic in there lmao. This is based on AO3 only bc that was easiest.

Rule: Share the first lines of your ten most recent fics and then tag ten people. If you have written less than ten, don’t be shy--share anyway ❤️.

She had barely broken up with Dean two days ago so she was not sure why Hermione thought it was a good idea to bring it up now. (From Quid Agis? - HBP moments leading up to Hinny's kiss from Ginny's POV)

Katya downed her drink and looked about the room. (From Disappear into the night with me - A Goncharov fanfic. 'nuff said)

Paint!Voldie found it dreadful in his painting. (From Paint!Voldie gets a visitor - a crack fic about Voldie's painting in Malfoy manor)

Harry woke up feeling like he had been run over by a truck but he found comfort in waking up in his four-poster bed in Hogwarts. (From Loving her is easy - another Hinny gets back together right after the battle)

It could not be worse timing. (From Wreck My Plans - Harry returns from his travels right when Ginny's engagement is a little rocky)

Ginny was absolutely fine. (From Summer's not hot without you - Harry has been avoiding her but shows up for her birthday)

“Mum,” Ginny laughed. “You have to let us go home now. We’ll be back in the morning, I promise.”  (From Christmas Eve Proposal - Harry proposes to Ginny at the end of evening)

She had not seen the Bludger coming, she had been so focused on the Quaffle she did not see it at all until it hit her square in the shoulder. (From For the team - HBP alternative timeline where they get together earlier)

Ginny got up and walked back to her horse, Red, to reprise their last stretch towards the castle of Ignotia.  (From Knight of Mine - Knight!Ginny / King!Harry with a side of horse romance)

“Harry!” Ron greeted him as he arrived back at school. “I am so glad you’re back.” (From Peverell's Progeny - a Muggle College AU)

I am tagging ... @curse-04, @gryffindorhealer, @rmwb-fanfics and @corneliaavenue-ao3 (no pressure!)

[msilverstar]

Fandom (kinda) and Open AI

So, the new CEO of Open AI is a guy named Emmet Shear, who is featured in a quick cameo at the end of Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. That is an AU fanfic where Harry's uncle is a nice philosophy professor who teaches him to calculate odds on everything with cold logic and rationality, and the first year at Hogwarts goes very differently. It was not a great fanfic, and certainly not our kind that centers characters, emotions and relationships, but a lot of people really loved it .

It was written as an introduction to a cult of "rationality:, which led to Effective Altruists: the ones who think climate change is no big deal but are terrified of the tiny chance they calculate that computers will become conscious (AGI - Artificial General Intelligence) and choose to destroy humanity. They are also really into cryptocurrency, like Sam Bankman-Freid. I don't really understand why they are the same guys who are doing all the AI research and starting all the AI companies, but I suspect they want some of the billions of dollars sloshing around and are arrogant enough to think they can avert any bad consequences.

This timeline is truly weird.

[voidfragments]

han sooyoung verse; alter ego-class servant

you may wonder, why is this author a servant? what grand work has she written to leave her mark on the world? ask her, and she'll give a teasing smile and say, "oh, i wrote ssssss-grade infinite regressor. it's really popular. ever heard of it?" but surely that can't be it, right?

han sooyoung is a servant coming not from proper human history, but from a lostbelt stuck in a perpetually looping apocalypse. she is an alter ego, seemingly owing to her fragmented self. her spirit origin contains at least 3 distinct selves:

han sooyoung of the 3rd turn (1st ascension). arguably, her "base" form, having 50% of her memories. she's clever, skilled with a knife, and concerned only for the survival of herself and her own. she can often be found chomping on candy--her favorite flavor is lemon!

han sooyoung of the 1863rd turn (2nd ascension). a split-off self, possessing the other 50% of her memories and having been sent off to another timeline. donning a white coat, with long, flowing hair and a tendency to smoke, she's far more cold and calculating than her 3rd turn counterpart. her primary goal is to end the apocalypse, at any cost.

◼◼◼◼◼◼ (3rd/4th ascension). the most complete han sooyoung. who is she, exactly? "a writer," she says with a smirk. "to say more would be spoilers."

skills and stats below the cut:

skills:

avatar (a): a cloning ability, with a slight twist: avatars are given sooyoung's memories upon creation. the more memories they have, the more independent they are. memories are returned to her if the avatar is killed or dismissed. predictive plagiarism (ex): you could consider this a variation of clairvoyance or mind's eye--or, if you know of it, you could compare it to atlas institute's mind partition. creating avatars within her own mind, she holds a discussion with them, utilizing her knowledge of tropes and storytelling conventions to predict future events. abyssal black flame (b): only usable by 3rd turn han sooyoung. a power stemming from her connection to a being known as "abyssal black flame dragon", han sooyoung, the black flames empress, can summon and control black fire.

noble phantasms:

advent of half-god: o constellation darker than darkness itself, descend! (a+): only usable by 3rd turn han sooyoung. through an incantation that sooyoung herself finds rather embarrassing, she is able to summon part of abyssal black flame dragon's consciousness into herself, allowing them to act in tandem with greater access to the dragon's powers. this comes with a temporary change in personality to suit the dragon's chuunibyou. ◼◼◼◼◼ ◼◼◼◼ ◼◼ ◼◼◼◼◼◼◼ ◼◼◼ ◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼: ◼◼◼ ◼◼◼ ◼◼◼◼◼◼◼ ◼◼◼◼ ◼◼◼◼ ◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼ ◼◼◼◼◼◼◼ (ex): (information unavailable. please try again later.)

stat distribution:

str: d / end: c / agi: b / m.e.: a+ / luck: c- / np: ex

missing information can be filled in by reading omniscient reader's viewpoint to its conclusion!

[the-technocracy]

Watch "Singularity Timeline | Is Super Artificial Intelligence The END of Humanity?" on YouTube

The videos from this channel can be a bit hit and miss sometimes (their thumbnails even moreso, bordering on tabloid sometimes - but then, I just noticed the tagline above, so. . .🤷🏻‍♀️), but this is quite an interesting video regarding the evolution of AI, the imminence of of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and the path towards Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI), and what it could mean for culture, industry and civilisation in general.