thegamegallerypa

[aeolianblues]

people really need to learn how to be alone. Oh I’m not gonna go to x concert bc my friend can’t come, or I can’t find anyone interested in going with me, or I am going to go and bother the stage crew in the middle of the set because they’re the only people I know— fuck off. Are you going to go sit in your friends’ laps or do you actually want to hear the music

[timelesslords]

baby, just say yes

Read on Ao3

Summary: 

“Okay, then. Marry me.”

Annabeth waited a beat before rolling over to stare at him. His face was dead serious, but Annabeth still thought he might be messing with her.

“What?” she asked. It seemed the safest thing to say.

“Marry me.” he said, again, simply.

Annabeth never appreciated New Rome as much as she did on Sunday mornings.

They didn’t have class, homework could wait until later, there was no chance of a monster attack, and, best of all, Annabeth didn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to slip out of the Poseidon cabin before anyone noticed she had spent the night. She and Percy could just lounge around together and be lazy for half the day, before one of them finally got up and made breakfast.

It was starting to get a little late, but Annabeth couldn’t bring herself to get out of bed. It was comfortable and Percy was there. Plus, they were deep into a discussion about the architecture of the city, which only made Annabeth happier and more unwilling to move.

There was one temple in particular that Annabeth had only seen photos of, but it looked incredible. It was Juno’s, which was unfortunate, because Annabeth would really love to sketch the ceilings for her design class. 

“We should go see it,” Percy said, “It sounds amazing.”

“I wish,” Annabeth sighed, “But Juno loves to torture me. Nobody can go in unless they’re married.” 

“Okay, then. Marry me.” 

Annabeth waited a beat before rolling over to stare at him. His face was dead serious, but Annabeth still thought he might be messing with her.

“What?” she asked. It seemed the safest thing to say.

“Marry me.” he said, again, simply. 

“Are you being serious?” 

“Why wouldn’t I be serious?” 

“Uhh, I don’t know,” Annabeth said sarcastically, starting to count out reasons on her fingers, “We’re barely 21, we’re not even done with college, we’ve barely even  lived  together—” 

“We’ve known each other since we were 12, college is dumb, and we’ve made it two months living together and we’ve barely had any problems, so—” Percy said, folding each of Annabeth’s fingers down with each rebuttal.

“College is not dumb.” Annabeth countered. It was his weakest argument, but unfortunately it was also her lamest reason. 

“Okay, fine, college isn’t dumb,” Percy said, waving his hand dismissively, “but waiting to get married because we’re still in college is dumb. It’s not like we haven’t experienced the real world or whatever, we’ve been doing that since we were kids.” 

“Yeah, but that real world is different than like, being an adult, with a real job and a real apartment and bills and—” 

“How could that be harder than fighting in two wars and literally crawling through hell?” Percy asked, only he was grinning now, because he knew he had her. She hit him with a pillow in retaliation, and he laughed.

“You’re impossible,” she said, trying to sound mad, but it wouldn’t quite come out angry.

“You just don’t like that I’m out-logicing you,” Percy said, a little smug.

“You are not  out-logicing  me,” Annabeth huffed. 

“Okay, give me one good reason why we shouldn’t get married, then,” he said. That dead-serious look was back on his face. Annabeth would have preferred him to be smug. 

“Well, first of all, you don’t have a ring. What kind of lame proposal is that?” Annabeth said, knowing she was just stalling for time. 

“Who says I don’t have a ring?” Percy asked, straight-faced. The look on Annabeth’s face must have been extraordinarily panicked, because he sighed, looking defeated.

“I don’t actually have a ring ‘Beth. You can put off your heart attack.”

“Oh thank gods,” Annabeth sighed, covering her eyes with her hands. That really would have been too much too soon.

“But I can  get  you a ring, so that’s really a non-issue,” Percy continued, undeterred, “Next reason.” 

“Everyone’ll think I’m pregnant,” Annabeth grumbled, hands still over her eyes. That made Percy laugh.

“They’ll just assume that we’re crazy for each other and also madly in love,” Percy said. 

“And also that you knocked me up,” Annabeth added, moving her hands to her forehead and looking over at Percy. 

“In which case it would be my fault, and we would share the embarrassment equally,” Percy said easily, grinning. 

“That’s not even how it works,” Annabeth complained, “It would be way more embarrassing for me. Even though it's not true.” 

“We can print ‘Annabeth is not pregnant’ on the wedding invitations,” Percy said, because it was his turn to make her laugh. 

“Yeah, that’ll shut up the rumors,” Annabeth said, trying to ignore how the thought of wedding invitations made her stomach turn. 

“Okay, I concede that pregnancy rumors are at least half-way a valid reason. But I’m going to need at least one more,” Percy said. 

“At least?” Annabeth protested, “Is my potential humiliation not enough for you?” 

“Mm. Not quite. I’m sharing at least 25% of the embarrassment, so it cancels out a bit.” 

Annabeth wanted to argue that 25% was too high a percent, but he had chosen the number well. It was, to Annabeth’s calculations, fairly accurate. 

“Why can’t we just wait?” Annabeth asked. She hadn’t meant for the words to come out as seriously as they did, but she saw Percy’s expression shift from joking to sincere anyways. 

“If you want to wait, we can wait. Forget I brought it up” 

She knew he meant it, and she was really tempted to take up his offer and forget about it. They had talked about marriage before, in an abstract way, and Annabeth hadn’t exactly been  opposed, but he’d never asked straight up either. She had been clear that she wanted to be with him for the rest of their lives, but they’d never discussed a timeline for when they wanted to do things. 

But it had slipped out so easily, and so sincerely. He really did want this. The least Annabeth could do was talk about it with him.

“But  you  don’t want to wait,” Annabeth said, rolling onto her side to face him more directly. Percy shrugged with one shoulder.

“I love you. I want to be with you forever. Why wait?”

“If you want to be with me forever, why do it at all?” Annabeth asked. Percy frowned, little lines appearing between his eyebrows. 

“What do you mean?” 

Annabeth hesitated, unsure how to put her feelings to words. Marriage had always given her a kind of weird feeling, nervous and a little repulsed. She was sure a psychologist would have a field day digging up why, but she didn’t really care to know. It was only the prospect of doing it with Percy specifically that made it tolerable to her at all.

“I love you,” she started, slowly, “And I want to be with you forever. But why do we have to put this weird stipulation on it? Why can’t we just be with each other?” 

“We could. I’ll be with you however you want to be with me,” Percy said, reaching out, and brushing a stray curl behind her ear. Annabeth tried not to sink too much into his touch. She couldn’t afford to be distracted now.

“But you want to get married,” Annabeth protested. 

“Yeah. I do.” 

“Why?” 

To Annabeth’s relief, he didn’t look at her like it was a weird question. It would have been fair, it was a weird question. But he could tell what she was asking, what she was  really  asking. 

“I dunno, I can’t really explain it,” Percy admitted, “I guess I just want to make that promise to you, that I’ll always love you and always be there for you, sick or healthy and rich or poor, or whatever the words are.” 

Annabeth couldn’t help but laugh a little at the end of his statement, and his own lips turned up in a smile.

“You’ve already promised me all that, though,” Annabeth said. 

“Yeah, but this time it’s official. Something bigger than just you and me,” Percy said. 

And maybe that was it; the wrinkle that wouldn’t let her just dive in and say yes and get married at 21 like every other lovesick young adult. Promises. Because a promise made was just a potential promise broken and the more official it became, whether in a prophecy and a knife or a ceremony in front of all their friends, the worse the fallout would be.

“What’s wrong with just promising it to ourselves?” Annabeth asked. 

“Nothing at all.” 

“But you really want this,” Annabeth sighed. 

“Don’t say you’ll do it just because I want to do it,” Percy said. 

“But you really want it?” Annabeth asked. Percy took a second to answer, biting his lower lip the way he did when he was really nervous. 

“Yeah. I really want it,” he admitted. 

Annabeth studied his face, every earnest line marking his expression, right up to the crinkles in the corners of his sea-green eyes. 

She tried to imagine being married to him,  really  tried. Not just in an abstract sense, but what it would look like, what it would feel like. To her surprise, it didn’t seem that different from what they had now. Maybe even better, in some ways.

They were already so much more than boyfriend and girlfriend, they had been for a long while. Soulmates was a cheesy word, but she did honestly and truly believe Percy was hers. And while the thought of actually  getting  married was a little horrifying still, the thought of  being  married to him was a little exciting. Having people understand, at least a little bit, what they meant to each other made her feel warm inside.

And he wouldn’t break his promises to her. He was the only one who had kept every single one, and a stupid piece of paper at city hall wasn’t going to change that. 

“Okay,” Annabeth sighed, finally. 

“Okay?” he asked, a hopeful smile creeping onto his face. 

“Okay, I’ll marry you, you dumb idiot,” she said, unable to keep a smile off her face either.

Before she could continue, he leaned over and kissed her. She could feel how happy he was through his lips, and it was supremely difficult to break away, but she knew she had to or she would get lost and her stipulations would slip out of her mind, never to be seen again.

“I have demands, though,” Annabeth said, finally pulling back. Percy laughed, loud and earnest.

“I would expect nothing less.” 

“I don’t want a big wedding. Actually, I don’t want a wedding at all,” Annabeth said, trying to suppress the shudder that crept up on her at the thought.

“Easy. We can elope. Next,” Percy said. 

“Really?” Annabeth asked. She had thought that might be a bigger deal to him, but he just shrugged. 

“I want to be married to you, it doesn’t matter to me how we do it.” 

“Even if I say I wanna go to Vegas and get it done with an Elvis impersonator?” Annabeth asked, only half joking. 

“Can we really?” Percy asked, his eyes flashing with excitement.

“Maybe? If we— okay, no, I have more demands, put a pin in the Elvis thing.” 

“I’ve pinned it,” Percy promised. 

“Okay. I don’t want a stupid gaudy ring, it's not practical, and diamonds are unethical anyways,” Annabeth continued. Percy nodded. 

“No diamonds, got it.” 

“I want to keep my last name, or hyphenate or something. And if I do change it I want to wait until we’re done with school.” Annabeth said. She was a little nervous about this one, but it didn’t seem to bother Percy.

“We could both hyphenate,” Percy suggested, “Jackson-Chase has a nice ring to it.” 

“Chase-Jackson sounds better, but we can deal with the details of that later,” Annabeth said, waving her hand. 

“Okay, I’m putting a pin in hyphenation order. Next.”

“I don’t want to send announcements or anything. People can find out when they find out,” Annabeth said. 

“Okay, but we have to at least call my mom and Paul,” Percy said. Honestly it was impressive he had gotten so far without even a small amendment to her asks. “And Piper is going to be really pissed if you keep it a secret from her.” 

“We can call your parents,” Annabeth promised. 

“And Piper?” Percy asked, raising an eyebrow. But the thought of telling her best friend besides Percy was getting less cringe-inducing by the minute. Annabeth actually felt herself getting excited about Piper’s potential reaction. She would absolutely freak out in the best way possible.

“She can be our witness. If you’re cool with that,” Annabeth said. Percy grinned. 

“That sounds great.” 

“Even if I ask her to make it as irreverent as possible?” Annabeth asked. 

“We’re getting married in front of Elvis, I’m not sure how it gets more irreverent than that.” Percy said. 

“We put a pin in Elvis,” Annabeth corrected, “But I’m positive Piper can somehow make it even more irreverent if she puts her mind to it.” 

“Never thought I’d know an Aphrodite kid so willing to ruin a wedding,” Percy said fondly. Then an excited look flashed across his face.

“Plus, she won’t be able to stop herself from talking about it, and then we won’t have to tell anyone.” he added. He sounded so triumphant Annabeth had to laugh. 

“You’re right, that’s perfect. So, when are we doing this?” 

The smile on Percy’s face faltered slightly. 

“Are you sure you want to do this? Because we really really don’t have to.” 

Annabeth hesitated slightly. In truth the idea still scared her a little, even with Percy’s promises that they could do it in the most goofy, non-traditional way possible. But his insistence that he would stand by her with or without getting married was the thing convincing her. If she asked him to drop it now, he would, and he wouldn’t bring it up again, even though it was a big deal to him. 

And really, it wouldn’t be such a big deal to Annabeth as long as they didn’t make it feel so official. Breaking a promise you made in front of an Elvis impersonator felt much less disastrous than breaking a promise you made at city hall. But it didn’t even matter, because Percy would never break that promise anyways, no matter where he made it. 

“I want to be with you. And you want to be with me,” Annabeth said, “It’s a little weird for me, but if you want to do it, I’m down.”

“Okay. Cool,” Percy said, letting himself smile again. It was so radiant it just about chased away every last shred of lingering doubt Annabeth had. Not to mention the few added advantages to being married that had popped into her mind in the last few minutes. 

“Plus, we’ll get a better tax refund,” Annabeth added, and Percy collapsed into laughter. 

“I love you so much, I don’t even care that you’re marrying me for the tax benefits,” Percy said, rolling over and kissing her again. Annabeth let this one last longer, let herself sink into it.

“We’re getting married,” Annabeth said breathlessly, when they finally separated. 

“We’re getting married,” Percy agreed, grinning. 

So, maybe the institution of marriage was weird and a little sexist in origin and reminded Annabeth of old prophecies and old promises. But that was in the past. Percy was the future,  her  future, and wanted to have every single moment possible with him. 

They were going to go to Vegas, and hire a random guy dressed as a 50s rockstar off the street and have Piper make the whole thing as ridiculous as possible. And then they were going to live the rest of their lives together, maybe as the Jackson-Chases, (or if she had her way the Chase-Jacksons), and she would finally have a word to describe Percy besides “boyfriend” which had been woefully inadequate for years.

Plus, her rebate next year was going to be  awesome. 

Annabeth grinned. Maybe marriage wasn’t so bad after all. 

[just-some-random-blogger]

The Soup

Super Junior Super Junior x SuJuMaknae!Reader Characters: Super Junior (ot13 [+ SJ-M]) Summary:  Just like the way you need to give someone soup when they're sick, this is how SuJu reacts when you need them. Word Count: 1k+ Warnings: CRACK, fluff, humor, gnarlyness, etc.

A/N: i need a pick me up so i made this. It’s low key a part 2 to Secrets Of A Maknae, but not really because, well, it’s not HAHAHHAHA, but hello @farewellkorosensei, i’m tagging you cos u said u wanted a part two and i had a part two in mind but then i lost it so now you have this HAHHAHHAHA im sorry im like this

ALSO A DISCLAIMER

THIS IS FICTION IF YALL somehow THOUGHT IT WASNT

none of this is real bro that’s why its an au ?????? ok like ok

Being the only girl in a coed group that’s basically a boy group is not as bad as one may think

Especially since you're the youngest out of everyone, some people just cannot imagine how you do it

Sure like... being the only female means the testosterone thrown your way can be a lot

And there are just some things the guys can't and will never understand

Like how a woman's mind works

But through it all however

You loved being the baby princess

Because you have 13 knights at your side

anD IF EVEN ONE PERSON TRIED TO HURT YOU WELL 

AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAH 

good luck to them

And in case you were wondering, SuJu is not as sweet as you think

LIKE YES THEY’RE OBVIOUSLY THERE FOR EACH OTHER BUT

here's how each member would react to you needing them

ps yall

dis shiz is HELLLAAAA LONG SO it’s under the cut

Being the eldest meant Leeteuk found everyone as his responsibility

BOY ESPECIALLY IF THEY'RE NOT EVEN IN SUPER JUNIOR LAJSIQBSUHWBSLAIDYLAWUDLKHKK;

and to you, who is in his group, their youngest AND only female member, he would drop everything for

Like

Everyone who's watched korean TV knows this

cos yall do tv show hostings togther

and everybody knows how soft he is around you

like i mean he’s naturally caring towards everyone

and he’s normally high-spirited with others

BUT YOU TAKE THE CAKE

like you + him equals shenanigans like firecrackers

he does 8999+ dad jokes when you’re his co-host

someone save s.korea

but let us not forget is is the EPITOME of gentleman

he always offers his arm to you

he takes of his jacket or gets a blanket for you to cover your legs when you sit

errbody is like “stfu, we get it stop flexing”

you two are just like “??????????????????? bro fLeXiNg whUAT?”

“i get yall are married n in love but like. pls keep it under wraps.”

“BROOOO HAHAHHAHAH WE’RE JUST FRIENDS”

and then ????????????

mmmmhmmmm

we believe you

cos its all we can do tho

and i mean you two aren’t married but are so too tbh

ELF’s call you two the parents of SuJu

and think you two are sO ADORABLE IT HURTS

anyway

He is definitely the most understanding with you through the age gap you have

And even if he finds some of your actions odd due to that age gap, he always works through it and tries to think proactively

"What are you doing????????"

"IM DOING A CHALLENGE OPPA YOU WANNA JOIN?!" you say as you attempt to put on makeup with your non-dominant hand

THE AMOUNT OF TIMES HE'S WALKED INTO YOU DOING SOMETHING WEIRD IS BEYOND FATHOM

But if you need him

He.

Will.

Be.

There.

Doesn't matter if he's hosting 287378 tv shows at the moment

If you call because some loser broke your heart

He's taking the day off

If you call just to check in and he hears even a hint of sickness in your voice

biTCH MOVE OVER. HE GOT SOME PORRIDGE

He would take care of you even if he was also sick

He would find a way to go to you even if you were halfway across the world

You cant even get mad @ him cos you will and have done the same woops

IF SOMEONE EVEN TEST U YOU WILL BREAK THEM 4 LEETEUK

and obvi we have to add

his dog Shimkung prolly loves you more than him, just sayin

She runs to you and ignores Leeteuk when youre around

Because she loves playing with you

And she loves your energy

And the attention you give her

And the treats you bring

And because everyone loves you

And Leeteuk cant even because he loves you too

Woooooops

Yall listen up

If you think heechul is scary by himself

Try bringing up SuJu's maknae up

I dare you

Just mention your name

and he WILLLLLL EXPLODE

Doesnt matter if it's praise

He Will BE TRIGGGGGEERREEDD

there’s literally an entire 20 (and going) part video comp. of his ears steaming when you’re brought up

like the mere thought of you is already to set him off

It doesn't even phase him if the person who spoke of you is younger or older

The death threats he will sputter is limitless

his tongue is sharper than silver

And the deadliest death glare that's thrown may cause a heart attack.

strangely enough though

but knowing heechul, not strange enough

he is ALWAYS THE FIRST to throw you under the bus

during interviews

ESPECIALLY IF THEY’RE LIVE I CANT

and yall always bicker about the dumbest shit

everyone is like, “wait, they’re not the ones that are married?”

the answer is no

but honestly,

He's broken up with someone because of you

Because they were mean to you, i mean

And because he was tired of them too hekhek

and lyk Heechul may be short

But nothing is stopping him from getting into a fist fight with someone 1000+ ft taller than him.

Ok.

That may be a slight lie cos he'd prolly call the rest of the guys and 5672 security guards to be on his side.

would honestly fite anyone for you

any AND everyone to be honest

He's also very picky with your boyfriends

"Ya, he looks like a womanizer."

"Ya, he looks like an idiot."

"Ya, he smells like woman's perfume."

"Ya, he smells like cigarettes."

"Ya, I don't understand what you see in him."

"Ya, I can't believe you're wasting your time with him."

"Ya, why are your standards so low when you know a guy like me?"

"Ya,"

"Ya."

"YA!"

"You can do better."

and you’re kinda just like, “y dont u just look for a guy for me? or better yet, if you think you’re so great, why don’t you just date me?”

“pshhhh, as if, i’m too pretty for you, child”

is what heechul always says

to you and to everyone who asks why you aren’t dating

he also does’t ever answer your calls

cos he’s always too busy with his video games or selfies

so you get really frustrated when you call him to come over and he doesn’t call

but like 

he’s somehow already at your house

????

cos you needed him and he knew that

????

idek either bro

he has a sixth sense with ya gurl

HE IS SUCH A DAD TOO

***NOT DADDY 

DAD BECAUse

he will baby the heck out of you every moment he gets

but not in public cos his image

also he’s never one to flaunt even with his personality

he CUDDDLESSSS THE HECK out of you

and kinda makes himself clingy for the sake of endorphins

cos he is your happy pill

and your go to man when the world just sucks hard

he gives pretty solid advice

like the ones where you really need some

because he’s never one to sugar coat and will tell you youre a bitch if you are being one

and because of how he is, when he gets soft with you, you know he means it because he’s a broken brick most of the time

he’s also who you normally vent out your problems and burning frustrations to

not that he listens

you mostly just assault him and he takes it

JOKE HE ASSAULTS YOU RIGHT BACK

but somehow that’s therapeutic for both of you ???

smdh

i’d add heechul’s pets

BUT THAT BOY HAS A ZOO

and maybe i’m just shimkung biased lolol

ANYWAY the gist of you and his pets is that you love them and they love you

the end

bro

don’t even get me started on yesung

you know how he likes to think he’s all that

how he’s like really good at singin

wHICH HE IS UHM HAVE YOU NO EARS

but he’s like actin all airy sometimes

whICH IS Y u and eunhyuk havE A BALL MESSIN WITH HIM

EUNHYUK + U = YESUNG CANNOT LIVE

someone save Yesung from his retarded dongsaengs

lol but eunhyuk comes later

anyway, he’s airy

that side of him comes in handy 4 u

because he makes for a gr8 hypeman

letz be real

SUPER JUNIOR together is the loudest bunch of morons that will hYPE YOU DO YOUR DEATH

but you cant keep havin that when you go to award shows

YOU TRIED IT ONCE AND EVERYONE WAS LIKE AWW DATS CUTE

IT’S FKIN NOT BITSH

try havin your ears pierced with screaming every time you’re even remotely related to what the host is talking about

anyway back to yesung

he be your date to eveything

cos he ALWAYS has time to be all that

i mean you bring specific members to the specific events they fit into

u’ll understand laterz

but mostly yesung is your man for the job

cause he’s always available

you know when he’s not touring or holding concerts

whenever you need a date

he puts on all his extra accessories and offers you his arm on the red carpet

or just holds your hand cause it’s easier on his part

AND BOY HE’S ANNOYINGLY LOUD FOR YOU THE ENTIRE TIME

IT DOESN’T EVEN MATTer if it’s for some black suit event

he’s prOLLY GON BUST A MOVE and promote SJ’s black suit while he’s at it what a turd

he’s so loud in fact that you’ve reached a point past embarrassment

ur like, “Yeah, he’s my loud date. problem?”

honestly, yall have to be dumb not to see how in love you two are

there are theories on how you two ARE the one true pair

like the way yesung looks at you when you’re striking a pose

answering a question

thanking someone

receiving an award

laughing at a joke

existing in general

and you RIGHT BACK @ him

only an idiot would

but haha

nope.

just friends too

Y U ALWAYZ LYIN

ye but itz trueeeeee

no matter how fancy you get

or domestic

cos did i mention you two do the lamest things too

like there is no in between

you go buy groceries

tour Gangnam

hand in hand obviously, duh, you do it every time you’re together

as with every member of super junior but yall already knew

i think i strayed too far from my point

point is he’s there to hang out and do nothing

cos thats what both of you are good for anyway

nothing

ha

btw he’s who you bring shopping for clothes

but only like the nice kind you feel me

you’ll get that in a little while too

but like you always go to high-end stores together

never couture tho cos why ??

and YOU GUYS DO MAKEUP TUTORIALS BECAUSE OMG HE’S SUCH A VAIN AND LIKES TO PRETEND HE CAN ACTUALLY DO MAKEUP UGH I HATE HIM

he’s the one you treat like your diary mostly

the everyday stress you have piled up he’s the one you sift through with

like you tell him all the mundane things

and he’d nod uninterested

and then you’d stop cuz you realiized he doens’t care

and then he’d get mad and be all like “Ya, why’d you stop, what happened to the leaf you kicked?”

i think imma stop here cos you get it

yall good for nothing HAHAHH

you and kangin get into the stickiest shit every time your crackheads team up

and being the loyal one you are

you always point and blame him when things hit the fan

and he’s always like “Me?”

and then points right back at you

you’re reactions to each other are fandom memes fml

and you’d think with all the treachery you pull on each other you would never be able to count on Kangin

but that is so DAMN FAR from the truth

cos this boy is insufferably thoughtful when it comes to you

his favoritism shows

like he’ll sell super junior for a 1 cent

BUT YOU ARE NOT PART OF THAT DEAL

he’s usually the one that shoos the guys off when they’ll all up on your ass

he’s also the one to kick heechul when he gets too annoying

or anyone in general

He’s usually your partner in crime when it comes to screwing up SJ’s image

and you havE THIS SIGNATURE ESCAPE ROUTINE WHEN THINGS GO SIDEWAYS

“it wasn’T ME!” you both shout, and then you jump on Kangin’s back and he runs away.

and yes there is also a compilation of you morons doing that for 15 minutes straight in multiple languages

dumb shit

he’s not as big as teasing you as Heechul

but he usually calls you ugly, that’s who you are to him

if you’re texting someone, it’s usually him

you send him ideas for a prank or sm shit

and he’s like imma do you one better

and then you just burn SM to the group bwahahaHAHAHAHAHAHHA

kidding

not kidding

you guys dont actually get to hang out often

but wHen you do there is a warning signal

and idek y yall pretend to be pranking someone else

but yall end up stabbin each other anyway

But there is also those times when you just cry

and he’s there to listen

he’s not as understanding as his hyungs, cos Leeteuk knows what to do, Heechul knows what to say, and Yesung knows how to remember the important things

but he is always there

he tells you as much as he can

and he aint dumb he can say a lot

but he’ll mostly just try to brighten up your day

by telling you a plan to attack one of the members

ANDDDDDDD

PIGGY BACK RIDES

as ive mentioned before, you jump on his back when you skedaddle out of the scene you just caused

which have caused an uproar from many

your company mostly has to fend off rumors of you and him being together the second most

youll find out who soon enough

but back to you an Kangin

he usually offers to give you a piggy back ride

even tho he doesn’t really want to

when you’re down

cos u smol child like to be carried

ew grow up sis

BTW HE WILL FITE ANYONE WHO TELLS YOU THAT

dats all i got fam

you and Shindong work the third most together outside super junior

dats obviously behind Leeteuk

and #2 who will be revealed later

and actually, you two have a very serious and business-like mindset when you’re together

which is why his skillz fly when you collab

you have youtube channel together that’s just u two posting vids you guys want to do

yall fund it urselvs and get some of ur friends to join in

WHICH FANS, ELF AND OTHERWISE LOVE

that’s why you normally go to him when you need help with work

meaning if you’re unsure if you should do a drama he’s going to lay down the points 4 u

he usually acts like your manager

and visits you the most when you’re on set

he’s who de-stresses you when you’re working

and the one who you can count on to back you up when someone at work needs to have a little piece of your mind

he’s who you call up when you want to share an idea or a vision

and is the one to more than others root for you and help you all throughout

whenever works stresses you out,

you two do something fun together

watch a film

annoy one of the other members

etc

you call him up when you have a crazy idea

you call him up when you have a song or plot in mind

you call him up when you are in need of advice

though sometimes his advice is to go to leeteuk or heechul

cos he knows he has limits

which is why you love him

because he’s real and never pretends to  know more than he does

with that said though, he does know a lot

and will tell you all he knows about whatever it is you are asking about

you guys do a lot of live streams as well

sometimes its pointless

sometimes its intorspective

but most times its pointless af

and most times yesung is crying in the distant not-so-distant background

cos like i said yall hangout the most

so sometimes shindong gets into the mix

and you do the weirdest shiz in front of camera

the amount of role plays you’ve done that made viewers go ???? is uncountable smh

like like

where you’re an astronaut

and you need to tell the emperor of goryeo he’s going to be assassinated

and then yesung is the emperor’s horse

and yall die of laughter

or that time yall kissed��“by accident”

and none of yall were surprised

and everyoNE WAS LIKE I KNEW IT

and you both ended up laughing

and then everyone was like? >?????

?????

idek either tbh

or that one time you were a cake

as in a chocolate cake

running away from an orge

which was yesung

and shindong was the exterminator that kept hitting him with a pillow whenever he’d talk

i cant believe

you think yesung’s had enough with you and eunhyuk

speaking of...

eunhyuk + u is quite like u + kangin

ppl pray for you to get separated

like pls

l

o

r

d

 a

l

m

i

g

h

t

y

and then when you add DONGHAE

=

the world wants to implode and delete itself

eunhyuk is your usually your fake boyfriend

joke, he’s the fake love triangle interest

you’ll get that later

anyWAY

you say all the time every time you get the chance to that the reason why you dance half as good as you do now is because of eunhyuk

you make his ego fly through the roof

and he’s always like 

dawwwww stop 

no keep going

which is why if for whatever reason you need a dancer or a choreographer or anything between those lines

you call eunhyuk

or jung yunho but that’s not the point

point is the world explodes when there is a sexy suju concept

because you and eunhyuk are always paried up

the flexibility and coordination of your bodies

leaves the world thirsty

like

eunhyuk is pregnant because of you

Dem body rolls

Shimi-shimi

The dehydration is real

you two just do something in sync

AND THE WorLD canNOT

EVEN IF YOU DID IT BY ACCIDENT

and surprise even both of you

the world cannot

whenever you do a show together they make you do so many dances

cant blame them  tho, u two be bomb

point is he’s normally your dance partner in almost everything super junior

and 73% not super junior

but beyond that he is also your bestest buddy

and since it’s a package deal, most of the time donghae is there

yall do everything from wacky antics

to window shopping

to roller coaster riding

to just lying around talking about life

actually, yall pranked the world by saying your were going out once

and thE WORLD BLEW UP

HOW FKING DARE

WE KNEW IT ASHKSDHASDHA

but then yall were like “oh we be playin yall”

EVERYONE WAS SO MAD

LIKE YALL EVEN HAD THE MEMBERS BELIEVING

DONGHAE CRIED BECAUSE HE FELT SO BETRAYED THAT HE DIDNT KNOW

HEECHUL CALLED BULL THO

BUT EVERYONE WAS HELLLLLLA MAD BOUT THIS

When you went sikE Leeteuk wasnt surprised

and everyone gave you shit for so long

Ryeowook vowed to kill both of you

kangin thought it was pretty good though

Eunhyuk and you normally go to parties together

and because you are a d U M b fking drunk

he’s always the one who cleans up after you

because you vomit

and cry

and try to kiss everyone

which is why you have safely kissed everyone in super junior when you're wasted

eunhyuk especially

there are pics to prove it

like

but eunhyuk doesn;t mind

he’d rather be kissed by your vomit flavored mouth than have some ho try to do something to you

he gets really unsettled when other guys come into the picture

he’ll karate chop A morOn

DARE HIM I SWEAR

ya think he be small

but he be strong

those dance moves are his weapon

KA PAW BISH

and we def cant end this without saying

he makes you hangover soup

and all that jazz

when you wanna work out or feel sick

you call eunhyuk

i mean leeteuk loves you but you cant move an inch with that boy

so its eunhyuk

unless you wanna be lazy and need a mom (so leeteuk)

<3

honestly i cheated with that lord almighty part

ARG IM SO SORYY IDEK WHY I HAVE NOTHING TO SAY WHEN I LOVE EUNHYUK SO MUCH

ZHOUMI IS THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE

OR AT LEAST YOU SAY EVERYTIME YOU GET WHEN YOU SEE HIM

which you wish would be a lot more than not

IF you have anything to do in China

it’s zhoumi everyday

he’s who taught you how to speak the language and the one who makes fun of you the most because of your prononciation

but you know obviously its all in good fun

you host some shows together

youve stared in a bunch of chinese mini dramas together

but most of all, you two do a bunch of variety

which people LOVE SO MUCH

liiiiiiiiiike

if you werent so busy with the rest of the world

china would love to keep you for themselves

but anyway back to zhoumi

as i said he be the love of your life

because he’s literally everything you look for in a guy

tall, handsome, smart even though he does DUMB THINGS I CANT BE--

but the only reason why you’re not dating him is

is

is

IS BECAUSE YOU ARENT

I have no explaination

you are dating though

like outwardly

it’s like an unspoken thing

where you are dating but youre not and everyone around you agrees

???

kinda

yeh

with all the chinese variety you’ve done

yall have pretty questionable photos and footage together

like

why is you hand in his mouth

why are you two in one pair of trousers

why are you crying over literal eggshells

why are you laughing at him dressed up in a suit

why is he making heart eyes at you when you;re wearing clown makeup

why is he making heart eyes in general

why are you making heart eyes in general

idk man

what

waht

idek

but what you do know is this

there’s this entire ten page article about how he punch some rich guy in shanghai that tried to get too close and zhoumi threw a punch

yes

out of all the boys in the band who’s said they’d punch a moron on the nose

zhoumi as actually the only one who has had the displeasure of doing just that

It was quite the talk of the town

Honestly many were scared for zhoumi

U and him counted

and the rich moron even threatened to sue

but you pointed out that there was footage in the place and that he’d lose so he should just walk away

of course he walked away

and so yeah

but obviously the sonavbish tried to get rid of any footage

And make it look like an assault

It was to be like an even bigger scandal

but you being a smart bitch that has starred in many dramas with the exact same plot already had a copy and so you won that battle

and zhoumi ‘s career was not ruined

he was even hailed a hero for all the no duh reasons

Yeah he can throw a punch 

zhoumi is so soft for you though

and you for him

he’s usually the one who takes your mind off of things

but you hang out the least out of everyone due to sched differences

that doesn’t mean you dont make time for each other though

OKAY NOW FOR EVERYONE’S FAVORITE BB DONGHAE

donghae that knows all your secrets

knows all your dog stories

all your accidental injuries

all your fails

all your successes

it may take a few moments to jump start and access his mental archive

but its there

and Donghae has been your boyfriend on many many occasions

whether or not it be fake or real the world will never know

you guys are the most intimate with each other

like you guys are so casual

and comfortable

that Leeteuk tells you guys off

HeechUL GETS UNCOMFOTABLE

h e e c h u l

even suju separates you on their own will sometimes

and both of you are like

��\_(ツ)_/¯

donghae is a certified soft boi

and his softness is amplified when you’re together

PDA is second nature to you two

many hand holds

many cuddles

many suggles

platonic?

... sure

and it doesn’t matter where you two are

public

private

interview

korea

japan

america

narnia

nothing stops you from being touchy

people ask you about it all the time

but once again

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway donghae is the go to guy for heart to heart conversations

because he has a heart of gold

the softest purest gold

and he really understands and empathizes

he cries with you over dog movies

and listens to your frustrations

and you listen to him cry

and talk about his feelings

FEELINGS

and you tie it all up by making each other smile

he actually gives really good advice

i mean they all do give good advice at a point

but donghae’s are actually quite on point

even though people think he’s slow

it’s probably because he’s once connected at the hip to you

he’s the one you talk to about boy problems and relationship problems

because he’s the only one that isn’t weirded out about the topic

i mean he’s got a soft spot of you

plus hes really caring

so he’ll listen to whatever topic you want to talk about anyway

he’s really the only who, like, pays attention to all your babbling

most of them tend to overlook that

but never donghae

he’s the guy you call in the middle of the night when you cant sleep

it’s not guaranteed he’ll pick up because i mean duh he has a life

but when he does he really listens

except for when he doesnt

cos he’s tired

(:

and on top of being a cuddly living diary

he’s also your personal massager

like you know those knots on your shoulder

what knots on your shoulders

he massages them away because

youre his ultimate weakness

when you need him he’ll be there in a heartbeat, racing leeteuk to get to you

although he’s not as motherly as leeteuk

he’s more of a brother really

like he is motherly

he does baby you

I MEAN THEY ALL BABY YOU YOU’re THE MAKNAE DUH

but

i can

no actually

i cant explain

because i got nothing

AGAIN WHICH IS FRUSTRATING BECAUSE I LOVE DONGHAE

DHADJ:ASD

YOU AND SIWON ARE THE POWER COUPLE EVERYONE WISHES THEY COULD BE

yall do the most goals things ever

and end up posting it on insta like the aesthetic things you are

he’s the guy you call when you wanna go out and tour

and you guessed it

he’s the second person in super junior you work most with out of the group

can you imagine the power you two hold in dramas

sometimes you do cameos in his shows

sometimes its the other way around

YOU TWO ARE ACTUALLY THE ONLY ONES WITH FOOTAGE OF KISSING

honestly it was a make out but you know

donghae’s fine

Siwon and you travel a lot

in a small scale sense where you just go around on a food trip

or going on a short vacation to another country

dont tell the others tho

YOU DO CHARITIES TOGETHER

and its honestly the cutest thing ever like siwon and his charities ad;hkasd

you two have this meme where its just a compilation of you two lauging

cos yall get WEIRD when you laugh together

your laugh is weird in general

and super junior is weird in general

but you and siwon laughing is just weirder

Whenever you have to go somewhere where you think youre going to die because of the formality

you bring siwon along because he’s the most businessman looking out of everyone

plus he holds a rich man aura

because he is

so

haha

honestly he should just buy SM wtf

He is also the one you go to for advice

because sometimes crying with donghae isn’t really the way you want to go

he’s normally your outside opinion guy

when you normally have a course of action already in your head

but youre just not sure how to go

he gives solid points

and he’s quite firm with his answers

when you need him he doesn’t come as quick as leeteuk or donghae

but he’s the one who leaves last

because he’s just thorough like that

like if you have a mental break down

he’ll come when he can and make sure to make extra time for you

because he wants to both make it up to you and make sure you’re alright

also

i should add

that on top of being very aesthetic together with your black tie events and whatnot

yall make post memes of each other often on your own accounts SO MUCH

ELFs dig it

iconic really

ryeowook actually hates you

like

he hates you because you have such a beautiful voic

he hates that youre pretty

he hates that youre talented

HE HATES THE COMPETITION

but it is also what completes him

It adds to his purpose in life

To cruSh u

N remind u who is butter

yall bicker the most out of everyone

yall raise your voices at each other the most

you always attack each other

AND SOMETIMES KYUHYUN PITS YOU TWO TOGETHER AND

it’s too much to handle

but when you catch on that you’re being played

You and ryeowook teamup

AND KYUHYUN PAYS

EVERYONE THAT CROSSES YOU PAYS

BWHAHAHAHAAHHA

the sass is real when you’re together

THE AMOUNT OF SHADE you throw

makes both of your skin visibly darker to a point

he’s mostly the one to call you out when you and kangin are doing something dumb

or when you and donghae start getting cuddly

or when you just show your face to him

because yes he hates you

BUT

if he hears anyone say anything REMOTELY BAD ABOUT YOU

he wILL attacK

if he thinKS SOMEONE’s BEING TOO sarcASTIC

HE WILL CUT THEM

because only HE can be mean to you

which is why they actually think you’re dating

pipe the HECK down if you have something to say

and the feeling is mutual for you

if anyone says anything bad about ryeowook OR ANY OF YOUR BOYS

they’re dead

cold

but sometimes both of you hate super junior together

and theres a bunch of videos of you questioning why you’re both still here

when he’s not hating you though

he’s violently supporting you

VIOLENTLY

have you heard this man scream

HE SCREAMS HIGHER THAN ANY FEMALE FAN COULD

and LOUDER

if you’re doing something live

heS ONLY THERE TO SCREAM FOR YOU

then he’s out

him and yesung are on a roll when you get an award

and on your live performances

theres normally a cut scene to him in the crowd holding a big ass sign that says something mean

like I HOPE YOU TRIP in bold letters

but in fine print is continues IN SUCCESS AND GOOD HEALTH

cheeeeeeeeeezzzzyyyyyy

but that’s ryeowook for ya

Everyone's confused how you are able to be so violent and mean

But also so cheesily soft

Honestly u just weird

And so is ryeowook

when you need advice he fights you first

"How could you be so dumb to have a problem like that"

then,he'll tell you what to do

OR

If he can, he fights your problem

and then solves it for you that way

Thats how it is, violently soft hek

So serious

ANYWAY KYUHYUN ALSO HATES YOU 

DUH

but unlike ryeowook he sometimes actually make people end up wondering if youre dating

Cause ryeowook and u be mean but not so lovey dovey

But you and kyuhyun are mean and lovey dovey

Like

he makes sure you suffer

suffer in embarrassment in live television

and will do everything in his power to get you and ryeowook to stab each other

but if you squint hard enough

he acts hella whipped for you to be pretty damn honest

anyone with a brain can put together that he’s basically like a child

a child being mean to his crush because he doesn’t know what to do

EW FEELINGS

but yall know what

even though ya both be also killing each other

THE BALLADS YOU GUYS HAVE

I cannnnOt even

is OFF THE CHARTS TEAR JERKING

like

any drama that has been blessed with your vocals

----i meaaaan-----

your song can save any drama

becAUSE

and yall do a lot of live performances together

uhm did I mention you’re basically part of the sub-unit KRY

actuallY JK nvm, it’s you and kyuhyun alone actually

just you and him

hitting those notes like no other

AnD theN theRE was This incident

that you had to perform in on a live awardshow

BUT you Got INTO an aCCIDENT

but like a vocal accident

as in you lost your voice

YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED

kyuhyun covered for you duh

because  even if he wants you to suffer in public

he wants it to be by his hand

and not because you ended up getting sick suddenly

I do have to say he’s not very reliable tbh

for the sole reason he wishes to be the true maknae and to desTROY U

yes

that

and EW FEELINGs

“are you sure you hate her though” -literally everyone

“YES!” kyuhyun would answer without missing a beat

“seem like bull by ok”

THE MEMES YOU TWO HAVE AS WELL

THE MEMES

the there can only be one

i would’ve killed you if the lights were closed

excuse you, trash

i sarangHATE U Bitch

boi i cant wtf am i doin

and again

i cannot stress enough that kyuhyun wants your death by his hand

so if someone else comes for you

he’s going to attack that person more than they have you

whenever people ask him about you to, he gets all protective and scary

in summarry, he wants death but not really

yikes

heNRY IS THE WORST

he’s the only one who actually treats you like youre a child

wtf

like you two are the closest in age

the audacity

the nerve

i cant believe

he literally pulls the Oppa card

every

frikin

wHeRE

LISTEN BOI SHE BE GROWN

he literally holds your hand when you cross the street

he asks you if you’ve eaten

he coddles you, especially around others

he brings you juice on set if ever you appear on the same show

LieK

he’s so embarrassing

he be actin as if he’z ya dad

liIKEEE

get a grip

but as embarrassing as he is

he is also your best friend

and he talks fondly about you everywhere

literally never talks shit about you

unless its true tho lololo

and for real is probably literally in love with you

but is like “I’m her older brother tho so”

acts like an older brother 23/6

and the remaining time like a sweet and ExTreMely embarrassing boyfriend

will do anything for you to be honest

YOU TWO GO ABROAD TOGETHER A LOT AND ARE GOALS

if you and kyuhyun do lame things

YOU AND HENRY LIVE IT UP

yall do weird shit online too

and yall have done questionable things on variety

korean

chinese

wherever

which is why you’ve hosted a variety special before

IT WAS ICONIC

if you ever feel down

or sad

or angry

or frustrated

henry is the guy to call to be reminded of the brighter things

like THIS BOY IS ACTUAL SUNSHINE HELP

nothing is impossible or gloomy with henry

and yall thrive in all the crack-ish things you do together

yes

end

[9uk]

Let Me Stay Close To You : prologue

⌲ summary : you were finally free from the worst nightmare of your life in high school. the doors of college welcomed you with open arms, you were set on living your best life in here, away from the toxicity back at home. that shimmer of hope in restoring your life, was somehow effortlessly crushed by a tap on your shoulder. “Hey Y/N, why don’t you say we catch up for a moment?”

⌲ pairing : bully!jungkook x reader

⌲ word count : 3.7k

⌲ genre: a whole lot of angst, angry jungkook!!1!!11!!!

⌲ warnings : mentions of abuse and violent acts (blood and cuts)

⌲ a/n : hehe look foward to part 1, where things will start to transpire between jk & oc :> and namjoon would appear!

prologue > part one

People always found you an easy prey to bully. And that was because you were nice. Too nice. Well at least for their liking.

When they took your notes or stationaries without asking, you’d only smile. When they flip your lunch in the bin or purposely stain your skirt, you’d just skip your meal and quickly wash up. You wouldn’t even rat out at them or cry in the corner for their bullying acts. One of the ‘they’, included the handsome popular, Jeon Jungkook. He was the guy who was good at all sports, studies average, had a line of girls queuing for him, had his usual awesome circle of friends and he was flooded with money, being the youngest heir of the JEON Entertainment.

Life seemed to be going pretty well for him. 

He was nice, to those that benefited him, to his friends, to pretty girls and so on. He exceptionally loved to pick on you, you don’t know why, but he just does, even though you’re a little unreactive to his attacks. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that your family was of no merit status, you enrolled into this elite high school purely from results of distinction and flying colours—making you an easy target. It was like you were his favourite victim. How you beared with all of his petty actions made you almost seem like a masochist. And it all started from the day you accidentally tripped him, (or more like he did not watch where he was going) he ended up falling to the ground with his lunch smashed on his face and the whole school witnessed the tragic event, trying their best to not burst out laughing at the embarassing moment for the notorious and powerful student. As a person of high popularity, it obviously tarnished his reputation ever since he started his annoying insults and bullying even though you had apologised profusely.

“Y/N, watch out!” You would turn to the direction of the sound, only to feel sharp pain at your cheeks, a rubber band shot right at you. And you hear Jungkook and other students laughing.

You would wince a little, as your skin starts to sting hard and Jungkook’s laughter falls slightly as he realised you were hurting. He only bullied you to how much you can take, and he’s never crossed the line. But the line is subjective. 

Jungkook would fiddle with your hair with his pencil from behind in geography class, copy your homework and at times he would snatch the cup of berry yoghurt drink you would bring everyday to school for your lunch and drink it all at one go, leaving only a soft thanks. 

Many instances like this.

But you did not mind, you paid no attention to his mischievous acts to not let him get what he wanted, which was what all bullies wanted—their victims to be affected by them. 

You gradually became someone Jungkook frequently vented his frustrations on. Seeing how submissive and forgiving you were to what he did to you, made his blood boil at times. 

“Hey, finish this essay for me.” Jungkook would slam the incomplete homework onto your table and place his hands in his pockets. He searches your face for any displease but your visage of kindness never falters. You only agree without hesitation. “Okay.”

The word flicked a switch in his nerves. You were like a robot, turning blind to his existence and simply following his orders. Your willingness to comply to every single thing he says is ticking him off, irritating him at its maximum. 

“Okay? Is that the only word you fucking know?!” The bomb in him finally explodes and he slaps the back of your head. “Answer me.” Jungkook tugs at your ponytail and demands an immediate answer.

 “No, but what do you want?” It was like, you finally spoken up. And it elicited a smirk from his cunning face. 

“What do I want?” He cocks a brow playfully.“ I want-” 

“Whatever my reply is, you’ll hit me, anyways.” You cut him off and look down, far too tired to deal with his bullshit. You found no point in rebutting to his words or actions, the outcome would still be similar in a way or two. You were already prepared for a slap to arrive on your exceptionally daring cheeks. Or maybe even a punch in the face.

 Jungkook tongued his cheeks at your witty reply, and for not letting him finish. He feels a scorching wrath swirling in the pit of his stomach and sends you a look that could burn a hole right through walls, “I’d suggest you leave before your stupid face catches my fist.” To which you stood up and made your way out of the classroom, away from Jungkook. You could sense when he was really mad, and you would know best when to leave him alone. 

Jungkook sweeps the stationaries and papers off your desk in rage and they fall, clamouring to the floor. He just couldn’t understand how you’d always seemed to have the upper hand even though he was the one clearly possessing the dominance between the both of you. He had no form of control over anything in his life—his money didn’t come from his bank, his grades were a total flop, his every movement was restricted and watched over by his parents and the media— his life was just so out of place. And meanwhile you? You had just escalated his need of having you squirming under the very tips of his fingers. Jungkook didn’t know why he was feeling this way—it was sickening.

 Why were you so obedient to his ridiculous commands? It didn’t seem like you were afraid of him at all, either. You were really a one of a kind in his life—he had never met anyone like you at all.

When he interacted with you, he could truly be himself without holding back or resisting the urge to yell threats or throw violent fits. It was perhaps because of the fact that these behaviours were not condoned at home or in the eagle eye of the public, he unleashes the true nature in him onto you—someone that he didn’t need to impress—and in an exceptionally ruthless way.

For you it was a rather usual day at the school of bullies (or rather, bully) and being the introvert you were, you silently listened to music with your head in your folded arms. Peace was one of your major goals in the process of getting through this hellhole. And music brought you happiness, blocking away all the hushed murmurs and gossips, the loud mixture of squeals and ramblings of rambunctious cliques. You weren’t so much of a fan in raising the roof. While the rest went for recess, you stayed in class for a moment of silence. Or so you thought. 

Jungkook digs his pockets frantically. “Ah, my phone. I left it in class. Follow me to get it would you?” Jungkook nudges Yugyeom. It elicited a roll of the yes of his friend, but Yugyeom still accompanies him like the good mate he was. “Fine.”

You peeked and noticed the classroom door had opened. Followed by voices. You would have ignored them if they were talking amongst themselves but you were the main subject of their blabbering. But also, it’s not like you really cared either way.

“Wow, isn’t that like the lamest girl in our level?” Yugyeom tucks his hands in his pockets and nods at your direction, casually picking on you.

You keep your head in between your arms, refusing to look up but listen as you discreetly lower the volume of the your phone. The least you could afford to do was to not be such an oblivious idiot to their words.

Jungkook takes a quick look at you, wonders why you stick out like a sore thumb practically everywhere for a second, then heads to his bag to collect his phone.

“Oh look, she even brings a Nintendo DS to school. How cute.” Yugyeom swipes it carelessly off your table, inspecting the game console. Your head flew up to your pink gaming device being touched by the fingers of a stranger, and not purely just any stranger—but Kim Yugyeom. You tried to snatch it back but Yugyeom was faster than you in every way, swinging it away from your reach. 

“Give it back you asshole!” You shouted, tone clearly displaying your annoyance. The sound of your voice immediately grabs Jungkook’s attention away from his bag, his head whipping to your direction at the volume of your voice, never heard before. 

You must be really pissed in order to have yelled like that.

A devious smirk crawls onto his features instantly.

The usual you would have not cared, letting them push your buttons but you would never go into a outburst. However, and very unfortunately, the Nintendo console was a present from your late bestfriend, the only thing you could hold onto in his remembrance. The thoughts of the sweet boy you grew up so close to never fails to have your eyes start stinging with tears but you hold them back. As always. 

Yugyeom gives a sacarstically impressed pout at your outrage, too calm even after you retorted fiercely back at him. “Woah, she’s feisty.” Yugyeom calmly comments—almost scaringly too calm.

The calm before the storm.

“Kook-ah, let’s have some fun before we go for lunch, shall we?”

Though on the inside, discontentment pricks at his gut. No one shouts at him, Kim Yugyeom, son of the head boss of Kim Industries, raised with a sliver spoon in his mouth, almost everyone bend their heads upon his presence—let alone the loser who lacked both money and power. He still has the precious console in his possession, and you were beyond fury when he is unresponsive to your complains. “Give,” You clench your teeth. 

“It,” You ball your hands into tight fists.

 “BACK!” 

Before you know it, before he knows it, before everybody knows it, the sharp edges of your knuckles are flying across Kim Yugyeom’s face with a harsh and unforgiving strength. He flies in the direction of your hit and knocks into some of the classroom desks, toppling over and onto the ground. You had just punched Kim Yugyeom. You sighed in burnt out anger, regretting your impulsive decision to punch a rich asshole in the face—for your ass was about to get sued by the second largest company in town and all of your efforts in swallowing your pride and succumbing to all of their vicious acts had gone down the drain. Solely in a swing of your arm. Because you weren’t having it that day. And so was the person witnessing this from the corner of the classroom.

 Despite the refreshing reaction from you, Jungkook is enraged from the sight of his bruised friend. He grabs your wrist and slams you back onto the lockers at the back violently till they ruttle. You wonder why the bad boys in high school movies did this to their crushes. First of all, it actually really hurts. Second of all, you were no crush to Jungkook, and in the very sad reality, his punching bag. The loud clang of the metal locker doors did not make you flinch one bit as you were too, overwhelmed with anger. He saw no fear. You were so lost in your own damn little world, like always.

 The locking of your gazes were so intense and filled with rage, Jungkook was a little shocked at the way you were acting. He’s never seen you this riled up before. Slowly, you calmed down and you feel emptiness surge throughout your whole body as the rage dissipates. Yugyeom was still on the ground, checking his elbows and wincing upon the tragic fall, letting his bestfriend finish the job.

“The nerve of you?” It comes out softer than he expects, perhaps because of the effect of your quick change in entire demeanour on him. He grips your wrist even tighter and kicks you in the shin.

“Do you know that you’re such an eyesore?”

Jungkook shoves at your shoulder hard, you almost feel like it dislocated.

“Do you know that your fucking ignorance makes you intolerable?” His eyes grew darker with every crude remark spat onto you, the strength exerted in his strikes and the vein popping out at his neck clearly expressing the amount resentment he has for your existence.

 You are able sense that he meant every word, each sentence hitting you to rock bottom. 

You were back to the normal Y/N, not showing any sort of emotions, keeping them locked up in a cage, in a place far away from your heart. 

He narrows his eyes at you. Jungkook was getting annoyed, at how his actions and words didn’t even make you have the slightest tremble.

Despite his threatening form, you remained your calm composure and simply tweaked a smile.

“I do.” 

What comes after those retaliating words was a sharp stinging slap on the face. The skin-on-skin contact between his hand and your face enchoed through the classroom, the slap was so brutal it sent your cheek burning and his hand print stained red on the skin. Tears start to well up in your eyes, not because of emotions but the physical pain and you held them back. Like always. 

You’ve been through worse, get a hold of your damn tears.

You would tell yourself.

“Stop living,” Jungkook shows no remorse on his face and proceeds to grab your hair so tightly your scalp might rip apart.

“In,” He smashes your head to the side and something cut your forehead—the broken lock that had a piece of metal protruding. Jungkook is completely blinded by the rage and scars surging throughout his body, he doesn’t notice this and he keeps throwing you against the lockers.

“Your,” 

Cut.

“Own.” 

Cut.

“Fucking world!” By this time, thick blood starts drooling from the wound down to your cheeks.

“Yah yah yah, that’s enough.” Yugyeom managed to get up and reaches out to restrain his friend in time. But he wasn’t doing it for the sake of you, he was stopping his bestfriend from landing in jail for murder, or something of the sort.

Jungkook scoffs and you slide down to the ground in an exhausted defeat. Your frontal lobe was probably out in open air now, with the skin of your forehead having teared apart.

The game device is on the ground, probably broken from the rampage earlier on.

Everything feels too numb, and cuts and bruises were nothing.

“Yah, wasn’t that a bit too much?” Yugyeom looks at Jungkook while wincing at the bruise on the corner of his lip as he recalls your bloody head.

Jungkook keeps his eyes to the front, “You said you wanted to have fun. And you just got punched..real bad. By a girl.” Jungkook chuckles to lighten the mood. Yugyeom rolls his eyes. “I’ll pay her back for it someday..” He feels a dull strike upon his ego.

 “But I guess that lame thing really meant something to her so I probably deserved it.” Jungkook looks at his friend in suspicion. 

Since when did he become this understanding?

“Whatever. I already did the favour for you.”

Yugyeom’s brows are knitted together hard, in what seemed like confusion and worry, his eyes searching the ground for answers. He scratches the back of his neck in rapidly in frustration, as he analyses the situation earlier on.

“But it isn’t of you to be that violent. She fucking bled!”

 Jungkook halts his steps.

“What?” 

“Dude, she was bleeding like mad! We never got to the extent of picking on her to.. to that state!” His expression falls at the fresh memory of the harsh blow on your head. 

“Were you too caught up with your thoughts or something?” 

“I...Uh, didn’t know.” Jungkook furrows his eyebrows. A spark of guilt shocks him into realisation, followed by strong currents of shame washing over his whole body. For the first time, he feels apologetic, the need to check on the condition of your injury surges through him and his legs are moving on their own accord back to the classroom of that fatal accident. When he arrives to said destination, your slouched form against the lockers is long gone, the classroom had no one except a thick layer of tension lingering in the air from the incident earlier on. Instinctively, he dashes to the school’s sick bay. 

Jungkook tells himself that he is this concerned about you because he is the culprit of the sharp slice on your temple, and nothing else. He still hates you deep to the core and had already planned out a series of insults he could carry on to spit on you once you would return to school. Make fun of the ugly bandage you were going to have wrapped around your head, maybe. As he views you through the rectangular glass panel fixed on the bay’s door, he catches you smiling assuringly at the anxious nurse tending to your injury. 

It was the first time he saw you smile. 

His muscles unknowingly relaxes at the sight.

“I’m fine, it’s nothing.” 

He can make out the words you mouthed and that rip on your head with dried up blood, for sure did not seem fine at all. 

He was a monster. He was a monster to you, that is.

“I just fell.” 

There’s a pang of remorse in his conscience-stricken heart. 

The school nurse’s eyes widened in disbelief. Just for a brief moment, he contemplates to stop bullying your weak and pathetic form. There should be plenty other people out there to release his anger onto… he wasn’t even sure. You were the nicest and most cooperative victim so far in his journey of putting people down to feed his ego and have some sort of control over at least something in his life. And that is also why he doesn’t ever stop provoking you. Your perfect ignorance ignites his passion in tormenting you, for you weren’t an easy prey to intimidate, yet at the same time you effortlessly comply to his outrageous demands—he found it enticing.

The nurse wipes her forehead with the back of her hand dramatically, in some sort of despair to figure out how the hell was she going to fix you up with an injury this serious. Stitches was the final resort and it was going to be a huge hassle for the both of you, she explained. You simply chuckled at her over worrying and flustered form for you as she fondles hastily around the trays of medication in panic.

 It was certainly entertaining to see someone worrying this much about you. 

Jungkook watches your teeth slowly show and what seemed like a shy giggle falling from your lips. 

It was the first time he saw you laugh.

Light starts to fill into his dark eyes and his heart does that thing again.The thing it does when he sees his first love in 3rd grade. The feeling is long forgotten and you were the cause of it gradually lighting up again. He has no idea when he started feeling these tingling sparks in his heart whenever he sees you, but he knew love was nothing but trouble. Jungkook hates to admit it, but he cares for you more than he actually shows it. And he begins to loathe himself for doing all these stupid things to you. 

Indeed he wasn’t in his right mind. That morning his eggs were burnt, he broke his glass of milk, he wore mismatched socks, his mom nagged at him more than usual, his hair didn’t stay the way he styled it—rough morning for a boy who’d never been through hardships.

That’s why he was further more tilted when he realised he left his phone in class, only to come across you, who punched his bestfriend across the face. And Jungkook’s revenge got a little out of hand for his liking when he snapped back to his senses, he felt genuinely sorry for hurting you this time. That badly. He usually just did stupid tricks to you or yell insults at you—and today he made you bleed. 

Maybe it was time he put a stop to this.

“Look shithead, I’m sorry for creating that ugly-looking cut on your head the other day. But hey, I’m just a tiny bit sorry okay? You still belong in the trashcan.” Jungkook repeats the apology differently for the twenty-fourth time, staring at the reflection of his own cocky face. He lets out a huff of frustration. He didn’t understand why he was practicing for a stupid apology. 

Perhaps it was because it’s you.

 Someone he’d never thought he would be saying sorry to. 

Why was it so difficult? “Fuck it,” He muttered under his breath and ran his fingers through his hair, stomping out of the bathroom. 

The loud ringings of the bell throughout the school signalled the start of hell. It was a typical Monday half the school dreaded, the other half being overly-enthusiastic nerds who worked their asses off. One of aforementioned group of people being you. You, whom was constantly buried in cheesy romance novels, to which half of them were filled with his nasty scribbles and doodles, and whom he still felt like he owed a sincere ‘I’m sorry’ to. 

He hops off the black Mercedes Benz and takes his time strolling into the school building, knowing you always arrived on the dot— to probably not want to spend any more time than neccessary in this shitty system (and with him).

As he rehearses his lines once more, Jungkook trudges into the classroom with confidence. A minute late, to be specific, a strategy of making sure you were in there already.

The words memorised painstakingly in his head seem to slowly fade into a sheet of blank, and his brows knit in confusion automatically—at your empty seat.

“I’m sorry.”

But you weren’t there anymore.

[some-rfa-imagines]

A Big List Of Prompts

i thought ‘why not?’ and made one of these for myself. I wandered around the internet for a while and shoved together a bunch of prompts I thought were interesting. Pick a character and a number (pls specify) and I’ll write you a thing!

Most of these are not mine!!!

hhhhh lets hope i know what i’m doing

Dialogue:

“I don’t think this is the biggest mistake you’ve made. It’s probably like… third worst.”

“Shouting at each other across the room doesn’t count as having a proper conversation about your feelings you know. Wouldn’t you rather all of this be private, anyway?”

“No pressure, honest. It’s not like the world is depending on you or anything.”

“But if they think we’re a couple, we'll get the couples discount!”

“Are you always this prone to bad luck and violence? If so, that’s kind of sad.”

“Can I just whoop your ass… like… right now?”

“Rules? Nope, not listening. I’m not following them. Never have, never will.”

“Did operation steal the cat and return the nuclear codes get completed yet?"

“I call it 'the plan that will save the world and also remove minions for good'."

“what the hell are you doing with (other character)'s dog locked in your garden?!"

“Yeah!, heh, I just uh remembered that, uhm- I have- uh.. I have a few places to see and uh *ahem*, people to go- I mEAN- uhm, yeah,,, I-I’ll- I’ll be right back— oh! Uh, completely unrelated to that, uh, ngh, wheres the nearest cliff?”

“Shut up [name], just because you have the grace and social skills of a drunken ferret, does not mean I must.”

“You’re so convinced that I’ll hurt them that you haven’t considered it’s the last thing I’d ever want to do.”

“What have I told you about listening to your gut more? It’s smart. Do it.”

“Pal, I don’t know where you got the idea that I’m a good person, but if you want to keep it. Leave now.”

“I can be sweet. Sometimes. To certain people. It happens!”

“Stop laughing!”

“Call me [blank] - not that that's my name.”

“So I suppose you want to ask me how I pulled it off.”

“Didn’t you know darling? The key to getting away with a crime is making people think you are peaceful.”

"I hope that what I've said hasn't hurt you too much."

"Move away from the door and let me at him."

"You embarrassed me this evening."

"I want to turn back the clock to before..."

"Try focusing more on your life and less on mine!"

"There's something I need to get off my chest."

"I did a pregnancy test."

"If you get me his phone, I might reconsider."

"I knew you wouldn't be able to see it through."

"You were meant to be watching him!"

"How dare you look down your nose at me like that."

“It’s not my fault you’re short.”

“Tell me right now or I swear on my life you’ll regret everything.”

“You’re back!”

“I missed you.”

“I did my best, okay?!”

“Kiss me right this second.”

“Just do it!”

“I believe you’ll come back to us. I just know it.”

“You’re not a bad person… You… You wouldn’t…”

“I can’t trust you… Not anymore.”

“Don’t leave me!”

“You promised we were in this together…”

“Wait a minute, are you flirting with me?”

“You’re even more stunning.”

“As many as the stars in the sky.”

“CAN YOU EVEN READ?!”

“You’re actually the most insufferable person I’ve ever had the pleasure meeting.”

“I risked everything for you.”

“I… I love you, okay?”

“Who the hell are you and why is my favourite book in a puddle of orange juice.”

“This is a lot harder than it looks and I don’t think you realise that.”

“That’s the lamest pickup line I’ve ever heard of.” “Damn. Well, it was just plan A.” “And what’s plan B…?” “To take you hostage.”

“What the fuck did they do to you in that lab?”

“Ehhh, needles, comas, that deep freeze thing in the first room, shoving these onto my back. Oh also they forced me to eat soggy bread.”

“Love, you underestimate how much food I can shove in my mouth before I need to be stopped.”

“Okay so why did you have to smash that vase again” “I DIDN’T MEAN TO, IT GOT IN THE WAY”

“Welcome to my treasure trove.” “There’s a sword.” “Yeah.” “wHY DO YOU HAVE A SWORD.” “...” “caaaaaan i touch it?”

“Love, I’ve done this before. Every hundred years. For seventeen millenniums.”

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO (NAME)?!”

“Are… Who are these people? They- They look like me…”

“So, what do you want for dinner?” “I’m thinking Italian. Like, Italian.” “BABE.”

“Oooh, look at the detail on that mirror.”

“Okay now you’re just messing with me and you need to stop.”

“Okay, I know I’m idiotic to get lost in a corn maze but who the fuck are you and why are you apparently as idiotic as I am.”

“I was on my way to buy that soul for Satan, who do you think you are. You can’t do that.”

“I’m sure you know who I am.”

“Huh…? Oh, fuck.”

“I swear to god, my little sister will kill me when I get home.”

“Bit rude to swear to God right now, don’t you think?”

“Fuck. I’m going to die. Damn.”

“YOU DEFINITELY WILL IF YOU DRINK THAT.”

“You know you can’t bring (them), Your Highness, (they’ll) be used against you.”

“Don’t hold me responsible, I wasn’t even there.” “Yeah, but you gave me the idea.”

“You know what, fuck you.”

“The fuck did you say they put on my gravestone?!”

“Honey, I don’t care if you’re the fucking queen or an uncooperative cat, get off your ass and live your life you trash bag.”

“Hey, calm down, please, oh god okay, calm aura, calm aura, please stop freaking out, calm down, it’s okay, you can do this.”

“So that’s it? We’re done?”

“Please, just… hold me. Just for a moment.”

“I think I’m just gonna sleep outside and let the snow bury me until I die.”

“So… what are we?”

“Don’t you dare take another step out that door!”

“This better be good.”

“That… was the worst excuse I’ve ever heard in my life.”

“I’m saying you don’t have a rulebook.”

“These kinds of things don’t just come with an instruction manual, [name]!”

“Why, that’s absurd!”

“I would never.”

“It makes me so uncomfortable when people ask me, ‘Where do you see yourself in 'x’ years?’ Like… I see myself cold in the ground, my guy, but that’s not the answer you want to hear so this is an awkward predicament we’re in, huh.”

“Listen up fucker.”

“Let me tell you all the reasons why I won’t do that.”

“HAVE YOU HEARD OF A TURN SIGNAL EVER IN YOUR LIFE”

“I am already the family disappointment, what more do you want from me”

“Do you?”

“Get. Out.”

“If people are watching, we might as well make this entertaining!”

“I’ve absolutely never seen you in my entire life so if you’ll just excuse me now, have a good day!”

“Okay, stop going to sleep at 4am, it makes you philosophical and sentimental and that’s weird.”

“Make me.”

Setting:

The night sky lit up for a second and what followed sounded a lot like the end of the world.

It's not always the case of 'these guys are foolish to only send one guy' sometimes it's 'we should be terrified they only sent one guy.’

Dear reader, I wish I could tell you that you're going to like this story.

Without meaning to, they’d arranged two dates for the same evening.

Everything about [name] was a lie.

They'd only been apart for a week and already he had a new lover hanging off his arm.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye.

You guys were taking forever and I was hungry so I baked cookies who wants some?

First Lines:

[Character] had enjoyed ten years of being totally irresponsible.

The pencil had NOT been worth stealing.

[Character] wasn't happy about it, but [pronoun]’d been recalled to life for one reason or another.

If [Character] could change one thing, it would be carrying that gun.

It was enchanting. Either that or [name] was incredibly wasted.

AUs: (many from this blog! Complete credit to them)

Masquerade Ball AU: Person A and Person B can’t recognise each other

Frustrated Customer and Tired Employee AU

Hitman AU: Person A and Person B are hired to take each other out

Assassin AU: After watching B for so long, A has begun to fall for them

Pirate/Mermaid AU

Coffee Shop AU: Why’d you have to smile at me like that, I couldn’t even concentrate on your order oh god I’m blushing why am I so fLUSTERED

Overthrown Royalty AU: Okay so I love you and all, but why the fuck did you have to start a war they’re going to kill you - you’re a dead (queen/king) walking and I hope you know that.

Blood dripped down B’s chin. A knew B was a vampire. A knew they needed blood. But it was a little offensive when B drank from others!Vampire AU

my little sister really looks up to you because she’s going through that phase so she’ll probably kill me again when i get home!Idol AU

Fantasy AU: A is suspicious of the legends. You know, those legends. Everyone knew about them. The ones about the dragons in the hills.

Spy AU: “Fuck, why did you have to be the one to join me on this mission you do realise that it’s dangerous and they don’t care whether we die or not.”

I know my cupcakes are better than your blueberry muffins and that’s what matters and wait holy shit these are actually pretty good!Baking AU

Medieval AU

(Alt) Modern AU

We were both stood up by our dates at this fancy restaurant and they have an ‘at least two to a table’ policy so you need to have dinner with me AU

I know shit all about music theory but I’ve already written and composed hit songs while you’ve been taking lessons for years and struggle with melody please don’t kill me!Musician AU

I answered your weirdly specific craigslist roommate ad as a joke and now we’re living together!Roommates AU

You’re really short and cute and you buy a cup of black coffee every morning but you make weird faces as you sip it and you never finish your drink are you trying to look mature or something!coffee shop AU

reincarnation AU: person A meets their favourite band/singer and realises they were friends in a past life

Hello I’m your boss and you’re the new employee who just saw me shove an entire cupcake into my mouth!Office AU

We’re neighbours and you work at a flower shop and your place is always filled with flowers. I’m too self-conscious to say anything, but I’m allergic af and I look like I’ve been crying every time we meet. Now you probably think I’m in an abusive relationship or something omg

I don’t really know you but we’ve shared a bus stop for years and I just got my first car and I hope this isn’t weird but what I’m trying to say is do you want to carpool with me from now on? Like, to save the environment, I mean.

I can’t give you what you want, why didn’t I leave before we go too emotionally involved AU

I came up to the roof of our apartment building at 2 AM to see this asteroid go by and just as I stepped out you came running at me screaming so naturally I froze and you’re screaming at me so loud I can’t understand what you’re - oh the door locks behind you. Well now we’re both locked out here gdi

someone in the dorms makes amazing cookies and you’re trying to figure it out and walk in on me baking at four in the morning!College AU

I found you duct-taped to a telephone pole thirty feet off the ground

Just to be polite, I held the door open for you but now we’re both insisting that the other go first and we’re seriously about to get into an argument about it and cAN YOU JUST WALK THROUGH THE DOOR P L E A S E

I’m in this museum for a school project, but you are apparently here for fun and good lord you are good looking, so I’m totally going to pretend I know anything at all about the life and works of this random artist…Rembrandt, you say?

IKEA AU: I’m a cashier and when you looked for your wallet about a hundred of our pencils dropped out of your pocket, that’s actually pretty impressive where did you even hide them?

I was rehearsing lines for the romantic lead and I didn’t see you through that window, I had no idea that YOU were playing my romantic interest and now I can’t remember a single line

I tried my hand at this thing called cooking but I ended up making enough to feed a small army. You’re my next door neighbour, so like, are you hungry? You can bring the beer

Soulmates:

Looking around, A tried to spot their best friend when they saw it. Their own handwriting, on someone else’s arm.

A sees B in their mirror every night. They’ve never met in real life.

You can see colours but realise that recently, with each passing day, your world of colours is becoming a little duller and you’re panicking because you don’t know what’s going on, or what it means, or if your soulmate is okay.

We’re having our first argument as a married couple: do we explore this island, or do we stay in bed all day

I can’t give you what you want, why didn’t I leave before we go too emotionally involved AU

You’re not sure if the other half of your tattoo should end with this person’s words, or that one’s—wait, I think it might end with the phrase of that other person too. It’s just a very open-ended sentence…

You’re an Angel and I’m a Demon and we met while hiding in human form and I love you

Author:

Write an apology letter to the character you hurt the most.

Complete the sentence for [character]: “I think the most important thing in the world is…”

You see someone being hit in the street. What superpower would you like to have in this situation?

Write a scenario where you meet your characters.

Would your characters like you? As a person or as an author?

Have a philosophical conversation with your characters.

I would love if you added your own prompts to this! I’ll probably go back and add more later. in the meantime, i’ll go hunt down all the necessary credits! byee~

[thelostandforgottenangel]

AU Facts

Did this just for fun so please enjoy my friends!

The turtles don’t wear their full gear while relaxing in the lair – just pants and masks if it’s an off day – hoodies that are customized to fit over their shells during winter

  As they get older they are not required to train but do it anyways now that Leo has started leading the training practices while their father watches from his seat to keep an eye on the teen girl

  Splinter lived in the lab the turtles and him were created for three years before being freed into the sewers

  Like the turtle’s Raven is skilled in several things – having taught herself to cook and bake, loves to sew and after years of practice became good enough to repair and make clothes for her family, does most of the cleaning in the lair just out of boredom… learned mechanics and how to work on cars by watching Donnie and Raph

  Leonardo and Raphael are both 26 but a few months apart in age, Donnie is six months younger then Raph (25-26 depending on the time of the year), Mikey is a year younger than his three older brothers (24-25)

  None of the turtles are actual blood siblings

  Raphael even though he cares for the girl deeply starts to push her away a few years after she comes to live with them fearing he will hurt her if he lets her too close but slowly she breaks his walls down considering him her best friend even though he acts like he hates her

  The guys have rap battles at random to roast each other

  Donatello was blind until he was eight when Splinter was able find him some glasses in the garbage but as he got older the frames were smashed several times so he found a way to make his own to his prescription and now just orders them when he needs a new pair

  Splinter started teaching the little girl ninjitsu at the age of 5 – she may be years behind her older siblings but the rat saw fit that she start earlier then his sons   (Boys started when they were 8)

  3 nights out of the week are family nights so they have dinner together usually a homemade meal before either watching movies or playing games together, very rare is when Splinter is out of the lair do the siblings head to the surface to hang out for fun

  Mikey clings to Raphael more than his other brothers

  The teen gets several smaller jobs to help support the family once she learns to deal with her deep set fear of the humans bringing in more money for their needs, she is more mature than girls her own age and can sometimes act more like a mom rather than the youngest sibling

  Michelangelo having painted every room in the lair goes out to the tunnels around the home to work on his art, or takes off to Leatherheads part of the tunnels to get some peace and quiet from his brothers

    Leonardo’s love for Japanese culture was so intense he not only learned to speak the language he uses it almost as much as he does English becoming fluent by the age of thirteen, his room is decorated with art and writings from the country his brother’s managed to get over the internet

  On junkyard runs Raphael hangs back watching for danger while guarding Don’s shell before making his way to the front to feed the guard dogs playing with them and the puppies while his brothers look for things for their home so he can see the night security building and warn them if he leaves

  Donatello carried two jobs at the age of fifteen as not only a computer technician but also as a customer service assistant for people having trouble with their systems

  When younger they had to teach the girl several things – at the age of four even with very little physical contact with people of any kind the girl had a full vocabulary and to an extent could read but her way of speaking was confusing

  She was fascinated with  horror films of any kind that even the turtles couldn’t watch

  Birthdays were never really celebrated until they had a home but each of the turtles picked a day they wanted to celebrate their birthdays on: Leo picked February 13, Raphael May 11, Donnie picked November 20, and Mikey being the goof he is picked October 31. Raven’s real birthday actually falls the day after Raphael’s on May 12 but she always forgets it going all out for her brothers – usually they remind her

  Mikey and Raph takes shifts cooking with the teen during the week

  Like Donnie, Raven is a coffee addict

  Raphael actually has a good voice and when younger used to sing to his brothers – now you have to tempt it out of him when he’s either in a really good mood or drunk

  They choose nights when they go solo

  Patrols are never in groups unless it’s a mission, they split into teams to patrol parts of the city on more difficult nights but on the easy nights they divide the city into four parts each turtle taking a portion

  They take turns being teamed up with their human sister

  Splinter has a soft spot of animals and tends to be unable to say no when one of his children bring home a stray pet – he loves Mikey’s kitten

  The first time one of them (Donatello) got hurt in front of her during training the little girl had whimpered running to the turtle’s side looking the wound over before trying to clean the wound herself – Mikey practically ran screaming in horror to get their father as the little girl licked the wound to stop the blood… (It’s gross but she grew up without proper role models so seeing animals cleaning wounds on the streets stuck with her)

  Mikey was the one to figure out the child they took in was smart when she accidentally hacked into Donatello’s computer to get the parental lock off the youngest turtles game system

  Donnie buys groceries by using the online orders having them delivered to the building just over the lair where Raven or Casey poses as the owners of a small business and the teen travels to the store only for small items

  None of the mutants knew the girl was good with electronics until she was playing with her computer he had made her and managed to unlock Don’s system playing one of his games with him before they even knew she was doing so

  Raphael’s favorite treat is brownies

  Raven being raised alongside the guys had to learn not only how to fight and protect herself she was taught how to keep up with them being slightly slower, jump over areas no human could manage, and hide in an instant before she was allowed out of the sewers with them so they played games to prepare her for things that may happen on the surface

  The very first time they ever took the girl to the surface was with her brother’s for a junkyard run that was supposed to be an easy night; it turned into a fight for their lives. The turtles finally seeing that the innocent kid had a much darker side when they were in trouble. She fought several men hand to hand with ease before ultimately killing two Foot soldiers before she even realized she had done so

  The guys take great joy in teasing their baby sister for being so small or pushing her into doing things they would have gotten in trouble for – Splinter never disciplines her for them if his sons were involved

  Raphael looks to Leo for advice when he really needs it even though they fight alot

  Although she doesn’t get sent in there a lot the teen’s punishment in the Ha’shi is to stand/balance on a bamboo pole with one foot while doing anything from stitching clothes or reading her textbooks to force the girl to focus her mind

  Raphael and Leonardo are usually the ones the teenager is teamed up with being the most protective of the girl, the other reason is nether of the younger turtles keep that good of an eye trusting her to keep with them. Donnie’s mind is always wondering and Mikey get distracted

  Raven having been told to stay away from Leatherheads place without one of her brothers with her fearing their friend could hurt her if he doesn’t recognize her never listens to them, she tends to believe the mutant would never hurt her on purpose and always gives him the benefit of doubt. Somehow the two are the best of friends even though she risk her life every time she steps foot into his home

  The kanji carved into Raphael’s shoulder is a constant reminder to watch his temper after flying into a rage in the middle of a sparring session with Leo in which Leo caught him with his sword accident cutting his brother over his lip unable to dodge fast enough when Raph attacked raking  the longest prong across his brother’s eye almost taking it out leaving the scar over Leo’s eye once it healed, after being sure his big brother would be okay he ran to his room and cut the symbol into his flesh without his father knowing until he fell ill when it got infected

  Raven  although with her fears of human’s warmed up to April within hours of them meeting due to the young reporter found the girl’s weakness (Coffee)but Raven took well over a year to warm up to Casey never getting to close to the man while he was conscious still not fully trusting him but after seeing her brother’s screwing with the man for fun she makes an effort to sneak attack him the moment he gets to the lair finding it funny when Mikey shouts out the score

  Mikey has a small fluffy white, orange, and gray kitten he named sweetie after he rescued the poor baby from the tunnels without his brothers knowing hiding the sweet little fur ball in his room until the morning it got out and attacked Leo’s leg while he was meditating – it is never to be spoke of since Leonardo never heard the tint angel playing beside him screaming just before he fell off his meditation perch just as Raphael finished his workout causing him to be mocked for weeks afterwards – and due to it being able to get the best of the blue banded turtle the kitten is practically worshiped by the others

  With enough begging from the young girl each of the turtles have been forced to have a peel off face mask at least once in their lives – Mikey’s the only one who willingly gets one every week when April comes over to do one on the girl

  Leo tells the lamest jokes but yet there are still funny

  Raphael had a Pitbull puppy when he was a kid but had to rehome her due to she didn’t like Donnie walking through the lair late at night

  When the weather gets bad or the tunnels are flooded around their home the teen makes the family pot roast stew and small sweet treats to cheer up her cabin fever ridden siblings always making plenty so they have tons of extras – as soon as the guys are busy she dishes up a few servings into several tuber wear bowls making sure they will survive the journey before slipping out of the home. Due to where he lives it’s hard for him to get out and find food once the seasons grow cold so the family tends to bring him groceries at least twice a month. Making her way through the overflowing tunnels to his home to be sure he’s fed – she’s sure to check and watch her back while wading through the deep water just in case he’s out finding the croc is always grateful for her caring thoughts and food

  They created a personal holiday where one day out of the year Mikey can’t pull pranks or be annoying – they also have on the same day where everyone has to prank one another and the loser actually does chores for a few months  by themselves and Mikey usually loses

  When hurt of upset the teen shuts down – she never shows weakness and rarely cries in front of the family

  Being older brother’s each of the guys taught the human girl something  personally even though she learned a lot by just watching them:  Leonardo helps her one on one in the dojo to achieve her lessons faster if she’s having trouble while also teaching her to speak several different languages so if the need arises she can pull off any disguise and throw off enemies, Raphael even though told not to by their Master taught the girl to drive not only the garbage truck but to also operate a motorcycle before she was fifteen got in trouble then took to teaching her several fighting skills, Donnie being the educated turtle saw the curiosity the girl at a very young age and started teaching her several things from medical training so if he’s not around she could deal with injuries of all severities to honing her hacking skills until she is just as good as him, Michelangelo taught the girl how to swim and draw finding a hidden talent she possessed for awesome anime characters

  Even though the teen plays stupid around others she’s just as smart as her older brothers and acts as though she’s older then the turtles

  Raphael spends the most time next to Leonardo in the Ha’shi – Mikey is in close third whereas Donnie rarely gets sent into the room unless he’s in the middle of something with his brothers

  To stop Donatello from licking the icing off their pop tarts the young woman buys the genius coffee flavored so he will eat the entire thing practically abolishing his nasty habit but his brother’s still hide their breakfast items

  Raph has several tattoos including one for each of his family members

  The guys tend to go into a hibernated like state during the winter making it harder to wake them

  Michelangelo, Donatello, and Leonardo get sick at least two times a year whereas Raphael is rarely ever sick but it was always easy to tell when they weren’t feeling well.

~ Mikey would act like he was completely helpless and whoever was taking care of him would practically have to do everything for him – he turns into a child that constantly needs cuddles.

~ Donatello was usually always sick since it seemed like his immune system was slightly weaker than the others, so he locks his self in the lab going over everything he could find on the internet thinking he had something that was worse than just a cold – in the end where he would only be down for a day or two it’s dragged out into a week-long ordeal.

~ Leonardo basically sleeps for hours as if Donnie would have drugged him; the oldest turtle becomes completely unresponsive to the world easily knocked out cold from the smallest illness so nothing disturbs him no matter how loud Mikey tries to be

~ Raphael, when he does manage to come down with something turns into that giant teddy bear he is on the inside becoming strangely affectionate and needy to any form of comfort the other’s will give him – so when he’s sick he curls up on the couch and nuzzles up to anyone that gets too close, usually it’s the girl who’s trying to take care of him

  Donnie having gotten tired of hearing the unpleased opinions of his brother’s about his eating habits and the unnecessary energy it takes to leaving the lab for drinks or food found and fixed up a refrigerator he keeps stocked with Soda’s and snacks

  Raphael and Mikey are the ones who do tattoos for the brothers

  Once a year the family goes up to the cabin in the mountains for a few weeks – two months at the most to train, recover, relax before heading back home

  Leo makes his own candles and takes great joy in making them for his Master

  Mikey although he can be messy is very organized, he likes to collect things – comics, action figures, manga, anime, you name it he likes it and has a place for everything in his room. So it may be messy but when he feels like it his room can be organized almost just as well as Leo’s

  Raphael actually had the teen help him make his Nightwatcher uniform without her ever knowing making her think it was for a Halloween party they were having

  Raven is fifteen when she starts to have nightmares and flashbacks remembering a life she never knew she had, remembering her mother, the details that wound her up in the sewers, faces and voices she doesn’t know seem so familiar but never tells her family

  Raven had been going out with the turtles for three years when her true bloodline was revealed to them, during a battle with the Foot Raven gets cornered by Shredder away from her family but just as the man is going to kill her he stops to look her over almost in shock before ordering his men to release her. he apologized for their rudeness referring to her as princess before he tells her of a life she doesn’t remember… her real name was Anastasia, of her mother who he took in off the streets and got her cleaned up of drugs, how he cherished the young woman… and was so happy to find out she could help him continue the clans bloodline

  It is then that he tells the teen she is the heir to the Foot clan and her mother was killed for kidnapping her and going on the run when it was revealed that she was to be raised as a deadly assassin that would someday take his place over the evil organization

  He literally comes out to tell the girl she was his daughter when she doesn’t believe him

  The simple fact of learning she is the offspring of their enemy destroys her and then she becomes hell bent on training so  she can prove she’s nothing like the evil man and vows to disband the clan if she ever takes over it

 Though the family is against killing it unfortunately happens - Leo and his brothers feel bad if they do worse then injure people when it comes to the enemy ifs family over them... Raven although raised  the same beliefs has little remorse for the men that try to hurt her family

[ellipsesarefun]

Reunions.

Series: Mundane  AO3 link

Summary: In which they set up a party, eat and dance, Yuri gets drunk, and spills his love for his best friend. And forgets.

He was finally allowing himself to drink any alcoholic beverage in front of all his friends on his twenty-first birthday.

On the heavy insistence from his friends of course (mainly Mila, Sara and Leo). Yuri never did so before due to his capricious behavior of his drunk self (also noting the aforementioned memory haze that comes with the hangover). The only person he was brave enough to see him in this manner was Trista. It was not only because she was his roommate or she has a secret stash of the classiest alcohol her wealthy aunt ships from her home country, but he has infinite trust in her. Rarely does she call out on his embarrassments or tease him over nonsensical matters and has a sense of understanding that he is eternally grateful for. He will always be eternally grateful for. It somehow also helps that she herself has a number of embarrassments during her drunken state, including to twerking to Anaconda when induced from five glasses of vodka tonic (this coming from a seemingly shy and reserved individual). The party was held at the Nikiforov-Katsuki/Katsuki-Nikiforov residence. The two have been married for a few years and may soon adopt a new pup, after Makkachin's death two years prior. The old man himself also (with the indirect help of Tine and her magic wine) managed to obtain a built in mini bar that was once a portion of their kitchen. The living room furniture was spotless, dusted and wiped yesterday. The short-legged table was draped with a handmade tricolor yarned mat (crocheted by none other than Trista herself) and miniature horticulture on top (another courtesy to Trista). The lawn outside was properly mowed. The backyard already consisted of a badminton net at the center, music equipment set on one side near the house window facing the living room and a banquet of party food parallel to it. At the front stood Trista and Yuri chatting alongside Yuuri and Viktor gazing at their front lawn (must be a married thing, they all think and it's true). Trista carried a list on her clipboard. "So we got all the food and shit, plus now that the minibar is installed, I can bring in some wine." She said, scribbling whatever on the paper. "Tch," he crossed his arms, "Seriously? Wine?" "Hey, hey, you do know my rich ass aunt brings some mighty fine wine." She argued, "She may be selfish with her money but if she's somewhat considerate enough to gift me some wine every birthday then I won't complain." "Right.." "Anyways, should we invite JJ?" A low resigned grumble came.

"What do you think?" The grumbling ceased but the scrunched up face remained, "Didn't want this party in the first place." "It's your birthday, anyway. You'll like it, I swear. You're getting older. Have some fun." She assured, ignoring his rolling eyes. "You're not getting younger, either." He retorted. A slap on his head was returned. "Hey, hey, mind your manners, young man." She chided lightly in teasing undertones and he stuck out his tongue in reply. Trista lifted the clipboard to his face, "Is this alright?" He hovered over her shoulder with a frown. "Yea whatever, as long as Beka and Leo DJ and not him." He said and Trista held back a snort. "What, his music not cool for you?" "I used to hate his guts, but he's still a dick and his music's "eh"." He veered away, peering at the backyard ahead, "Leo's pretty good. Beka's the one that's got style and taste." She shifted her gaze at his contemplative face. "He must be really something, huh." There were specs of emotion on his face and she hid her smile under the guise of her faux innocence. "You keep saying that." This was a familiar conversation they've had for quite some time, probably for a few years. They come in varied sentences and responses with the gradual leak of emotions that have been brewing beneath. They always end with the same denied responses. "It's true for you, anyway." It is. She is merely a bystander witnessing the apocalypse, unwavering and ever-present. Yuri is somewhere among the catastrophe, maybe washed away by a tsunami or flown off with a hurricane or tornado. This was not her problem anyway, only to check if he was still surviving and attending to his wounds. She aids him whenever she can, but she can never stop the storm because it's his mess that conjured up from the depths of his own mind in the first place. (Sometimes, she acts like some wise Guru dropped from the heavens that it annoys him every time her face morphs into that all-knowing, perceptive gaze.) Yuri chews on his lip and veers away from the backyard, already pacing towards the car, Trista following from behind. They bade farewell to the couple before driving away to buy other things.

(509--509)

“You do know crushes fade away, right?”

(509--509)

Going to the mall for clothes, food, books and other friend shenanigans is one thing but throwing all expenses over a small party with a surplus of garbage food is another thing.

“Isn’t that a little too much?” Yuri scrutinizes the amount of garbage food on the cart. It seemed a lot for just a party, even for a day. It may span for weeks.

“Eh, it’s fine.” his roommate waved an arm in dismissal, “Everyone might be hungry.”

It was a consensus decision (albeit reluctant on a certain someone’s part) not to consume such waste, mainly due to his roommates erratic and ravenous appetite and the insistence from both Porky and his balding husband that she take a break. From chips and cola and everything that brings the wrath of her stomach and her bowel and dysmenorrhea that consistently aches.

“You mean you’ll get hungry.” he added and she scoffed at him.

“Not completely true. Yuuri-senpai will help me finish all of it.” (and it’s true; the two were known for finishing a whole gourmet of anything) Trista turned to the ginger-haired woman beside her, who was grabbing an armada of Cheetos, “Right, Mila?”

“Of course!” She agreed, wholeheartedly dumping the Cheetos into the cart, “Sala and I will be eating these too, y’know! Yurotchka shouldn’t bother into our affairs. After all, what’s a party without junk food?” They grinned simultaneously, filling the cart continuously. Yuri outwardly grimaced at the overwhelming size.

“Don’t you think that’s more than enough for a few people?” He asked again, and the women brushed his warning off like swatting a fly with a hand.

“It’s called after party, Yuri.” Trista reasoned. Weak excuse.

“Yea!” Mila chimed in again, “Junk food untouched are the best! Especially since no one but us is gonna gobble this after.”

He palmed his face and huffed out a sigh. Seriously. They’re gonna waste their stupid dollars with all that shit polluting in their cells.

“Beka,” he barked at the brunet that was wordlessly standing behind him, “Do something.”

The man merely shrugged (and it was barely even one like this was all just a mundane thing) and said, “You know she’s not gonna listen to you, Yura. leave her be.”

“That’s right!” Trista added, “Otabek, can you please accompany Yuri some place where he can’t scold me?”

A glitter of a smile shined on Otabek’s face for a brief second and vanished that followed by a, “With pleasure.” He shifted his eyes to Yuri, “Let’s go. Yura.”

“Ugh. You two will be the death of me.” After a farewell and a sassy comment, the two left the supermarket and bought drinks at the nearest cafe they (used to) frequently visit. They took seats near the entrance and talked. Just like how they did in high school.

“So, how’re classes?” Beka asks as he casually places his lips on the straw to lightly suck in the iced caffeine. Yuri snaps out of his reverie and his nails snugged into his pale skin as an urge to focus his eyes at some other point.

“You know. Science-y stuff.” That was the lamest reply he’d ever pull out after the many moments of creepily eyeing his body parts for more than the usual amount of time, but Otabek deserves to have the “bestest bestest friend in the whole wide world” badge because his silence over such matters is a virtue and he asks, “I don’t know, Yura. Philosophy, remember?”

“Yea, you and your,” he gestures wildly for effect, “Ancient wisdom.” The man across him rolls his eyes.

“Sure, Yura, sure...”

“Yes.” He agrees, “But anyways, it’s... okay, I guess? Everyday, I always have a spare lab gown (and I have around four lab gowns already) stashed in my locker when there’s a lab class. Science calculators are always needed and the stat we go for is ANOVA and shit. There’s also the basics. Like in mitosis, there’s PMAT, but then it takes around a few courses to get that there are proteins that affect other biomolecules like sugars, enzymes, or even more proteins. Like fucking Cell Biology.”

“Damn.”

“Yep. Cell Biology was awesome, because, y’know, it’s the cells and shit and you learn all those kinds of shit.” He goes on, the tense atmosphere he brews suddenly waning and disappearing, “I didn’t even know the ER and Golgi Body had anything useful until Cell Biology. But it’s just so damn complicated. So much to read and so much weird words.”

“Aren’t they usually Latin?”

“Fuck Latin, Altin.” A snort comes, “It’s fucking shit. But it’s okay sometimes. How about you? Bet you’re as hardcore as Jean Paul Satre or geeking out over Albert Camus.”

“I guess. We read. And read. And discuss. And write essays. And debate.” Yuri nods, sharing his sentiment from the number of thick books Trista has in their apartment.

The rest of their caffeine drinking flies by through exchanged tales of their college life. From frat boys, to horrible makeouts in empty halls, to terror professors who don’t curve their grades, they’ve covered the entire months that Skype doesn’t do justice. Any social media-based conversation cannot fully acquiesce the ache in his chest every time he thinks of the growing distance between him and Beka.

He’s not sure if there is but he worries.

“Some friendships from high school fade away. Some don’t. There are people who come and go in our lives once in a while and in several occasions, people can just leave without saying good bye and in the rarest ones, they still communicate with you, regardless of the distance between you. The ones who do those and make a heavy influence in your life matter than the nameless acquaintances you meet in any class.”

Trista’s words echoed in his head. It’s true. He has those friends. He gets a call or a Facebook chat from the maybe boyfriends / weird bestfriends Leo and Guang every month or so. Trista frequently shares her old notes and drawings, occasionally chiming in with some quick mnemonic devices and all the how-to-do-shit in labs, like titration shit. In every two weeks, he receives a care package from his stupid cousin and Porky. Mila and Sara share gossips with him and Trista whenever they visit. Even Georgi sends a post card from time to time (and there were some occurrences wherein he responds in kind, wishing him well).

The brunet right in front of him with his Kazakh phrases and smooth tongue has been with him through and through until the present time. Otabek sends the best care packages every week (they usually contain a couple of tiger face merch with a couple of crochet things he made once in awhile). He calls and texts as often as he could, topics range from the most random to the most serious.

Yuri saves most--if not, all-- of their online conversations, from Skype, to Facebook to Snapchat to Tumblr and down from their most recent to the oldest one. He screenshots some Tweets that were the most memorable from Beka’s account and a few stories from Snapchat. His download folder in his laptop was filled with DJ Bek’s remixes that he replays in the late night cram sessions and crippling insomnia that knaws him at the chest when the thought of losing his best friend pops up. There were traces of Otabek Altin around him, even when his physical presence remains absent.

That does not mean that there were issues. Issues as in no sign of communication that may elongate to more than three months, as in the wordless calls in three am and falling asleep at the sound of their voice when they’re too tired to pursue any conversation, as in the delayed replies from the lack of internet connection, as in misinterpreting facial expressions and/or curt replies that imply on the possible vexations that either of them harbor in some of their Skype calls.

(His thumbs pause over Beka’s name in his speed dial contacts in desperation to rant over any aspect of his day but gradually loses the courage to press the call button.)

“Are you alright?” His best friend inquired, stoic mien screwed with concern. Even with the distance and academic work pushing them apart, Beka somehow has a sixth sense to his well-being.

(He appreciates it.)

“Ah yea,” Yuri waved it off with a hand, “Just thinking about things..”

“About what?” Beka crosses his arms over the table and leans slightly.

“About us, really. How we’ve come this far ever since High School.” Yuri added with a casual shrug and a gentle smile graced the brunet’s face.

“Never thought you’d be this sentimental.” A roll of the eyes praised his comment.

“When you’ve been living with a woman filled with schmaltz, then there’ll come a time I’ll be as sentimental as she is.”

“She’s grown on you, hasn’t she?”

“She’s a little sister and a big sister at the same time, how can I not?” He rolled his eyes again in effect. She was physically hundreds of meters away but he’d tell she’s laughing her ass off somewhere.

Their rapport ensued through other topics, till there was no caffeine left in their plastic cups but ice. Yuri checked his phone as the clock on his lock screen chimed at five. Several messages from his friends were displayed, with 15 missed calls from Mila and Viktor. Something shifted at his side and he looked up at the sudden outstretched hand. A second of silence came before Yuri noiselessly grasped his callous palms and pulled himself up to a stand. Otabek released his hold and they ushered their way out of the cafe, Yuri three paces behind and a dazed look upon his face.

(509--509)

“You do know crushes fade away, right?”

“Can’t they fade away any faster?”

(509--509)

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, YURI!” The group cheered, all huddled in the Katuski-Nikiforov/Nikiforov-Katsuki backyard. Kiira started blasting the whole yard from Leo’s iPod as they all dispersed to either dance on one side or grab some food from the buffet table.

The party wasn’t much of a drag, really. If he was absolutely frank to everyone, he could say he was glad to have their presence in his life. Everyone greeted with presents. Some were food, some were plushies (he got a Otabear from Beka), some were remixes, and everyone was creative.

(At the back of his mind, Yuri felt loved. He thinks to himself that Dedushka need not have to worry about him so much from beyond the grave.)

Yuri sat on one of the laid out mats, taking his time with his chicken. On either side of him were Ji, who was bubbling with laughter over internet nonsense with Trista, and Beka, who was eagerly listening to Emil’s something (he’s not sure, it’s a bit noisy here). Beka and Emil go to the same university and share a few classes together.

He surveyed the area with nostalgic amusement. Like always, Viktor owned the dance floor with his fluid movements and hip bumping as Katsuki watched from the sidelines, cheeks flushed and Yuri couldn’t quite tell if he was exasperated or aroused by his husbands’ naughtiness. Giacometti arrived the scene with a dancing pole (it’s only seven o’clock and he brought a fucking dance pole already; where the fuck he got that shit) and mass cheered and whistled as he twirled around the steel metal in his underwear. The rest were swaying and grinding on each other’s bodies (he could catch a glimpse of Sala and Mila goofing off). Phichit was mingling around, sometimes sitting with Seung-Gil in one of the mat, even with Georgi (Seung-Gil, Phichit, and Georgi? What are they talking about over there?), sometimes whooping at Giacometti’s show, and sometimes taking pictures and selfies of anyone and everyone that most of his notifications on Instagram were piled up from Phichit’s tags.

Yuri chanced a glance at his best friend beside him, still conversing something so serious with Emil. The ash blond man beside Beka chortled, pausing his drink to respond in witty remarks. Okay, so maybe not so serious, but he has to admit. Even with that wonted stoic face, age has done nothing but generous to Beka. It’s noticeable from his chiseled jaw, down to those reformed muscles (he’s had those in high school, but they seemed a little more toned, if that was possible), to the callous hands now thicker and larger (nice to hold) and that glint of a smile that reappears every now and then. Yuri looked back down at his untouched food, a curve forming on his lips.

(Oh, Dedushka, they never change. It’s been years since we’ve come together like this but they never change.)

The night grew longer and the party grew wilder when alcohol was passed around. Katsudon managed to avoid the inebriated scene altogether (which was lucky for him, because he’d given several lap dances when he met Viktor in his youth). Trista wasn’t, as she now took the stage with another free style to Era Istrefi’s Bonbon. Minutes later, he was given a glass of alcohol (vodka maybe? he wasn’t sure) and somehow, he was ushered to dance among the wild mass of people. His hips and limbs swayed and he could vaguely hear Jason Derulo’s Swalla. All his senses merged together in an ineffable blob but he couldn’t give two fucks, already hypnotized by the swinging bodies around him.

(509--509)

“Tris, that really isn’t helping.”

“It takes time, ya know. Usually they fade away when you get to know the person better. You can become friends. Best friends even.”

(509--509)

Alessia Cara was blaring up the speakers for the past hour or so. Hours. He couldn't tell, not with the vodka swimming in his cells. Yuri surveyed the backyard. The mass of dancing bodies swirled his night vision, feeding into his dizziness. He stumbled and swerved until finally he realized he was standing in the living room. Everyone was buzzing with party fever and his friends seemed busy with other things. There was Trista at the mini bar, catching up with Mila and Sara over drunken shenanigans, who were now engaged since last month (they were also probably arranging a blind date for Trista as well; he overheard that they were adamant on snagging a boyfriend for her). Leo was somewhere by the minibar as well, lounging around his still maybe boyfriend Ji (those two are idiots; but they were one of his bestfriends). The stupid couple was also there, with shmaltzy conversations and all the sappy bullshit (gods, it's been years and they're still the same annoying and disgusting couple). It was a pretty mundane scene, if you ask him. Only, it was more distorted due to his drunken state.  He could recognize others, at least tried to with his lack of coordination. In the haze, he could find Otabek sitting at the edge of the couch, sipping red wine like he was some god. He knew that undercut and that leather jacket anywhere, despite sharing a similar hairstyle with stupid JJ. A smile carved on his face. He awkwardly sauntered towards the man and plopped himself on his lap, earning a startled gasp from the latter. "Beka," Yuri cooed, spilling himself all over his chest and hanging his arms around the nape of his neck. The latter choked on a reply. Yuri supposes he was too stunned to move any of his limbs. If he wasn't so inebriated, he would have caught a glimpse of a smile on Otabek's face. "Yura." With steady, hesitant movements, his arms snaked around his waist, grip as light as a feather, "You drank too much." The blond managed a chuckle and snuggled his face on his tanned shoulder. "Nope!" He replied, voice rumbling on his skin, "This is how I- y'know... usually drink!" A hiccup passed. From here, Yuri could feel light and constant touch of his phalanges splayed all over his waist that he couldn't help but purr and to continuously rub his face on that firm, defined, tanned shoulder. It was as though he were marking his territory. His Beka.

“Check it out! Our little princess is all over our DJ!” some moron hollered from some place but Yuri paid no heed. He’s not a Beka after all and this wonderful dark knight is his territory for the time being. The rest of the people might have notice for he heard shuffling and whispering and teasing. Yuri could hear Trista laughing at the background (little bitch had too many glasses of vodka). He would’ve barked a mean reply but that would mean letting go of this.. whatever this was.. this lucid daydream that he’d always have from time to time.

“You smell so nice.” He cooed again, sniffing the cologne he still uses since he met him. Otabek’s shoulders tensed and the limbs around his waist gripped tighter.

“You should go home.” But he didn’t want to go home. That meant letting go of this Beka, his Beka, and that meant never having to hold him like this ever again.

“No.” Yuri latched onto his neck in a tighter grip, “I don’t want to let you go.” There were “aww”s and “how sweet” that swept past his ears yet still, they drowned under the gasps of the man below him.

“Yuri.” his name tingled in his ear with a silent command but he shook his head again, adamant with the irrational decision to stay in the arms of his best friend. Beneath, he could feel his pectorals rise and fall as he drew a long sigh. He purred some more. His body heat is paradise.

There was squirming, a sign Yuri saw as Beka’s attempts to stand. His fantasy was not short lived, however, when his hands shifted downwards slightly to cup the cheeks of his butt, emanating a whimper from Yuri that only can hear.

Beka slowly stretched his legs up, keep his hold on Yuri as he did so and Yuri took the chance to snake his legs on Beka’s waist. The small tent on his black jeans was felt right on his own tight leggings that Yuri could feel the small tremble in his steps as he carried Yuri to another room, a guestroom at the second floor. The mindless chatter of his friends and acquaintances went back to normal, as if this little moment occurs on a regular basis.

(The idea of this intimate cuddling being a regular occurrence elated the blond, all still knowing that they never discussed the ambiguity of their relationship.)

Moments later, he found himself in his bed, the upper portion sat upright and a blanket draped over his shoulders. His Beka sat on the chair by the bed, facing with him usual stoic mien. Under his intoxication, Yuri could find traces of tenderness among that emotionless facade that Otabek shows everyday. he was only an inch away but there was still a distance lingering between them.

“Come here.” he croaked, waving an arm on the empty space beside him. When the man shook his head, he patted his arm repeatedly, “Please Beka.”

“Yuri-”

“Please Beka.” Using his nickname in that tone would rile him but he didn’t care. He wanted his Beka here above there cotton sheets of heaven. Sooner than later, he complied, laying his body on his side. Maybe it was the alcohol and maybe it was wishful thinking but there was that look again. That tender and unorthodox gaze that Yuri catches a glimpse frequently as the years pass by. They began to appear more often than not. Somewhere in his mind whispered that those were only reserved for him and that maybe...

Maybe..

“What’s on your mind Yura?” The object of his affections asked, as if sensing the invisible pandemonium screeching in his mind. Yuri parted his lips, but no syllable came, his larynx all dried up, consumed by the thoughts swimming around. He wordlessly shot out his hands to cup his cheeks, fingers praising the slight stubble by his mouth. How he’d love to do this with him every single day in a bed as soft as this. Otabek closed his eyes and his face softened, melting into the touch with minimum effort. In this little bubble of safe haven, Yuri supposes that this might be the only time he’d lay as defenseless as this, that his walls are as low as he allows it to be.

“I wanna kiss you.” He said, earning a light gasp from the man. He wandered over his surprised look with unwavering immensity, “I want to go out and take you on dates and ride on your motorcycle till we find a park to stop and admire the sunset. I want us to try out those fancy restaurants just for the heck of it. I want us to laze around in bed all day, doing nothing but watch our favorite shows on your laptop or listen to those remixes you play. I want to do all those things with you.” To this, Otabek opened his mouth to respond but Yuri stopped him with a brush of a kiss on his lips, continuing, “But I can’t. Probably am fuckin’ the relationship up already by tellin’ you things that friends--best friends-- should never hear but I don’ think I’ll remember any of this tomorrow. There’s nothin’ to regret if I don’ remember anyway.” He pushed himself to his knees, hovering above Otabek with a timid smile dawning on his lips, bittered by the words he spilled and the harsh regret that drops after with a tear stain on the bedsheet.

He could feel his vision blurring and his cheeks watered by the the tears. His smile was still there, kept frozen by the lingering euphoria from the affections he so initiated. He couldn’t decipher the mien of the man below him, face uttered in astonishment but somehow catches those eyes as crystal as his own eyes were. There were no waterworks on his face, as though trying to keep them still on his eyelids.

Once more, Yuri placed a steady palm on Otabek’s cheeks, reclining his body and tilting his head till their foreheads touched. Their breaths were in sync, and it took all of Yuri’s self restraint from feeling those lips again.

“When the morning is here, and I’ve already fallen asleep,” he begins, voice whispering against the still atmosphere around them, “Don’t mention anything about what I said and did. 'Kay, Beka?” His eyes suddenly grew wider a fraction, body solid as a rock.

“But Yura-”

“No,” He cut him off, the firm grip on his cheek gradually waning, “I love you. A lot more than am suppose’ ‘to. 'S better if you keep silent about this.” His eyelids began to droop, deep slumber gradually sinking his body, “I don’t wanna fuck this up.”

“Yura..” and the blond let his vision fade to black, mute to the senses of his surroundings.

When he wakes up, Beka will be gone. Yuri will have a hangover and maybe only little remnants of what occurred the night before will only be remembered. When he does wake up with those, he’ll only think to himself that it was just a wonderful dream.

A dream that he was in Beka’s arms.

(509--509)

“Hey Tris, you better swear to your god, because if this gets out-”

“Can it, Yuri, I know. Not telling a soul about your love for best friend. Copy that.”

(509--509)

Yuri woke up to the thrum of his head ache and the sunlight spilling over his sheets, eyes cracked of dried sand. He shifted his body to the left and found a letter, a glass of water and a pill on his side table. "Sorry I had to leave. We can Skype later. I brought a glass of water and a pill for you to drink when you wake up. Take care. -Beka." Ah.

[coreymichaelsmithson]

Disco Purgatory

Desperate to make my rent, I took a short-term gig working at a soup factory. The big company called in a bunch of temps to do quality control checks on a batch of product; it seems the plastic used to seal the soup into containers hadn't been adhering properly, and so the goods needed to be checked one by one before leaving the plant. The upshot of this is that I'm now standing for ten hours a day in a windowless box, squeezing hundreds upon hundreds of flimsy soup cups, waiting to see which ones will explode in a not-so-festive shower of broccoli and cheddar.

It's a delicate business, one that requires a surprising amount of stamina to maintain: the trick is to be firm enough to get results, yet gentle enough to avoid getting the goop all over you in case of a blowout. After a full day of squeezing, my forearms are on fire, my thumbs are numb, and my mind is pulped. The repetitive motions become extremely painful after a while, and my tendons have been taking a real beating. Standing for ten hours on a concrete floor is no joke, either, especially in a refrigerated environment … the cold air makes your muscles tighten up, so your whole body quickly gets sore, and your nose is constantly running. You're not supposed to touch your face, much less wipe your nose, and you're wearing two layers of gloves anyway, so it's easiest to just let your discharge flow freely and hope that nobody notices you licking your upper lip. I have to wear a baby-blue hair net under my red hardhat, which makes for a jarringly queer combo … but I also must don a beard net, an absurdly nellie-looking get-up that fails to fully contain the manly fulsomeness of my beard. It does, however, manage to catch my snot pretty well, so there's that. Your soup is safe, rest assured.

The warehouse has a strict no-headphones policy, so I don't have the consolation of music. A mind-numbing job can always be made more tolerable with a little opera or punk rock. When I worked at an aerospace manufactory, music made all the difference … I'd be sliding cardboard boxes full of heavy metal along the factory floor, following the taped lane markings, and nobody would know I was stepping in perfect syncopation against Perez Prado's horn section. Maybe I'd put an extra wiggle in my butt as I pushed a cart along with Blondie, or I'd kick-step down a ladder with Shirley Bassey, or I'd heft heavy wing ribs like a boss with Shostakovich … nobody nearby would be wise to my frivolity. Music made the workday more private and enjoyable. But here, in the land without headphones, the only music comes from the unrelenting hiss of exhaust fans, the creak of conveyors, the meep-meep-meep of forklifts as they back up. It's just me and the radio in my skull, the mental radio that I can't shut off. All day long, I'm being tortured by an impish id with a thing for earworms, an invisible inner sadist who thinks playing "Disco Inferno" on an endless loop is hilarious.

There are three giant rotating cylinders on one end of the floor. Each of these is surrounded by a spiral conveyor belt, which brings either containers or bags from the uppermost reaches of the space down to the packing area. The bags, full of cold soup, plop sloppily onto big spinning platters, where they are picked up by tired-looking people wearing hoodies. The central columns, for some reason, are faceted, and the effect as they spin is not unlike a mirrorball at a discothèque. This is the world's lamest disco, playing nothing but industrial noise and keeping the last-call lights on all the time.

Without windows, you're at the mercy of whatever cost-saving horror the company chose for a lighting scheme. In this case, it's the corporate gold standard: INDUSTRIAL FLUORESCENT DEATH GLARE. It's the kind of light that nobody looks good under, not even corpses, and it flattens everything into this uncomfortable half-day/half-night mortuary twilight. You can feel the serotonin drip from your brain as the hours tick by. Thankfully, the company hasn't installed one of those harsh earsplitting buzzers to announce each break … the kind you might call a "Time To Consider Your Life Choices" buzzer. Without the big digital clock overhead, though, you wouldn't know what hour it was … for there is no day or night in a place like this. You have no earthly idea what the outside world looks like at the moment. Is it raining? Snowing? Sunny? The dead of night? The sky could be full of tornadoes, or fire, or … or … fire tornadoes? It could be a nuclear winter out there, for all you know.

It sure feels like winter in here. I'd rather be soaking in a bathtub, finishing the second volume of Proust and sipping ginger tea while pondering the hawthorns of Combray. Instead, I'm cold, tired, and tits-deep in chowder.

How did I get here? And why?

It didn't take long for the tedium and the weird illumination and the lack of stimuli to get under my skin. So, in a last-ditch effort to fend off the gloom, I started to redesign the environment around me. The first thing that absolutely HAD to go were those godawful lights. With a single blink, I clicked off the buzzing fluorescent banks, and the plant was plunged into total darkness. Then, like Yahweh at the disco, I aimed a few pin spots onto those rotating columns, which threw beautiful swirling sparkles over every surface.

"That's better," I whispered, hoping my coworkers couldn't hear me.

I then added a few laser beams, especially on those big yellow robots that hoisted boxes, and I turned on some black lights for good measure. I mentally hurled jars of Day-Glo paint against the aluminum walls, creating dazzling fireworks and drip paintings, and I got somebody to put on one of those old-fashioned light shows, the kind that uses squishy colored-liquids and an overhead projector.

Next came the drag queens. I had drag queens doing a conga-line on the conveyors, drag queens with big showgirl feathers and lots of sequins and surrealistically cantilevered boobs. They would pose and sashay as mechanized belts circulated them around the plant. Then I kept adding attractions … daredevils dangling from the overhead gantries, aerialists working long red sashes and doing splits in midair, go-go-boys twerking atop the stacked wooden pallets, blinking strings of Christmas bulbs snaking along the HVAC ducts. I conjured up a roller-derby queen, a real red-hot mama, zaftig and frizzy-haired and resplendent, zooming around on roller skates and twirling her tasseled pasties, blowing a whistle as she zigzagged along the forklift lane. I released a troop of monkeys, all dressed in these cute little organ-grinder outfits, and they shimmied up the dangling air hoses and power cords. I hired a lesbian marching band. I imagined incense curling from braziers and censers. I threw in some embroidered throw pillows and Oriental rugs and hookahs in the corners. I strung up some of those lacy Moroccan lamps, the kind made out of pierced copper. I looked around … what else needed fixing? Ah, yes: those twin robotic arms that swiftly orbited a pallet and shrink-wrapped its load? I glued some metallic ribbons to their edges, which fluttered into life behind them as they spun. And what about those limp bags of chowder, slumping from the conveyor belt onto a big rotating platter? After a moment's thought, they were transformed into a genetically engineered breed of boneless chinchillas, which sort of floomphed and boobed and piled up over one another into a mess of adorably helpless fur.

And finally, the crowning touch: I replaced all the badly sealed cups of broccoli and cheddar with badly sealed cups of metallic glitter, so that all of us poor lowly temps might get a happier result whenever we squeezed them.

This faggoty fantasia sustained me for a few minutes of work, during which time I probably wore a distant, dreamy smile … but then my supervisor had a question about something soup-related, and I was snapped back into the cold hard reality, so to speak, of the factory floor.

And so we come, in a roundabout way, to the subject of Purgatory.

Not being a religious person, I've always had a shaky grasp on the exact nature and purpose of Purgatory. I understood it to be a kind of mudroom for Paradise, where you were meant to wash away all the gunk that had gotten on your boots before setting foot on heaven's nice marble floors. But how long were you supposed to stay? What kinds of sins could be addressed here? Obviously, they were transgressions that weren't considered gnarly enough to merit eternal damnation … but just how egregious must your errors be for you to writhe instead in an eternal-seeming boredom? If you didn't deserve an inferno, but didn't quite deserve heaven either, was this your only option? Fifty thousand years, or fifty hours a week, of eye-rolling ennui?

Dante described Purgatory as a terraced mountain. When I was a kid, and tackling this kind of subject matter for the first time, I imagined Purgatory instead as being a place that looked like a bleaker, greyer version of Tuscany: lots of thin cypress trees, gently rolling hills, uneventful shrubbery. The denizens would all be dressed in unflattering muslin tunics, and they'd have limp hair … and they'd sort of just mope around, drifting from place to place, sighing pointedly and hoping somebody would ask them about their chronic conditions, right up until the great egg timer in the sky dinged, and everybody could shuffle off to their great reward. It sounded like the epitome of dreariness, which is why in middle school I kind of skimmed over The Divine Comedy's middle chapter.

Now, as a fairly educated man in his forties, holding an advanced degree that he can't pay for and working for minimum wage on the day shift, I can tell you exactly what Purgatory feels like. It feels like acknowledging defeat.

I should be remembering what I saw in India: the hardships, the deprivations, the constant and crushing intrusions of reality. I should be grateful for paying work, no matter how boring and small and absurd it seems. I should be glad for having a sheltered place to sleep, food that meets safety regulations, a (mostly) working vehicle. I should be remembering that most of the people who don't live in America would be disgusted at the amount of food I'm throwing out every hour. In the rice paddies of Goa, I watched old women working from sunup to sundown, in blistering conditions, bent in two by their labors. I should be remembering the barefoot rickshaw-wallahs of Varanasi, men whose soles were like hooves clopping on the hot asphalt. I should think of the child prostitutes, living in shacks along the railroads of Dharavi, or the day laborers shoveling shit in a ditch in Kolkata. I've witnessed these things firsthand.

I should be counting myself lucky to just squeeze soup all day.

Besides, this is clearly what I deserve. Not quite a disco, not quite an inferno, but someplace in between. Sure, this is a place of death … but it's a little, everyday sort of death. It's a good place to let go of one's burdensome dreams. A place to release lofty ambitions and visions of glory, so that they may fly to younger and more capable hands. A place where the sins of vanity and grandeur can finally be purged. A place where one can be purified, through the fires of boredom and surrender, into a more ordinary man. A place where the heart of an artist can be broken down and compressed into just another useful lump of coal.

Perhaps this seeming professional and spiritual nadir may turn out to be something else altogether. Perhaps tedium is a crucible of sorts. Perhaps I really do need to burn away unnecessary layers of flab and complacency. Perhaps this is the alchemy that elevates lead into gold, or the embers that yield a phoenix. Perhaps humiliation can be the flame that guides a lost soul to enlightenment.

Or maybe it's just another dead-end job, in a string of dead-end jobs. Maybe it's just this month's rent money.

Whichever way I'm headed next … disco or inferno … my time here in the industrial in-between must be transformative somehow, or else I would have endured it for nothing. It’s probably gonna suck for a while, all this purging of sins, but I guess purging is what needs to be done. Hopefully, this time in food-prep Purgatory will result in a brighter and cleaner and happier future. I'm still hoping to find a flash of gold in all this packaged soup, even if it's just somebody's missing filling. Whatever the reason that I've found myself here, it was clearly meant to happen. I've earned this low season, this winter of my discontent, so I might as well make the best of it. I'll just have to keep my head down and keep my sleeves rolled up, and keep on doing exactly what the song says: burn, baby, burn.

[thefabulousfulcrum]

Someone needs to tell you.....

Wake Up, Liberals: There Will be No 2018 'Blue Wave,' No Democratic Majority and No Impeachment

via AlterNet

By Andrew O'Hehir / Salon

May 27, 2017

We received a message from the future this week, directed to the outraged liberals of the so-called anti-Trump resistance. It was delivered by an unlikely intermediary, Greg Gianforte, the Republican who won a special election on Thursday and will soon take his seat in Congress as Montana’s lone representative. (Here’s a trivia question to distract you from the doom and gloom: Without recourse to Google, how many other states can you name that have only one House seat?)

If you found yourself ashen-faced and dismayed on Friday morning, because you really believed the Montana election would bring a sign of hope and mark the beginning of a return to sanity in American politics, then the message encoded in Gianforte’s victory is for you. It goes something like this:

Get over Montana already—and stop trolling yourself with that stupid special election in Georgia too. They don’t mean anything, and anyway — that dude Jon Ossoff? He’s about the lamest excuse for a national progressive hero in the entire history of Democratic Party milquetoast triangulation. Oh, and since we’re on the subject: Forget about the “blue wave” of 2018. Forget about the Democratic majority of 2019. Forget about the impeachment of President Donald Trump. Have you even been paying attention? Because none of that stuff is happening and it’s all a massive distraction.

A distraction from what, you ask? Well, that’s a good question without a clear answer, and the message gets pretty fuzzy after that. I would suggest that rebuilding American politics and indeed all of American public discourse, now that they’ve been Trumpified, is not about the next electoral cycle or the one after that. It’s going to take a while, and I’m not sure how much the Democratic Party will have to do with it, or what it will look like.

No doubt the exaggerated media focus on Montana was inevitable, in the age of the voracious 24/7 news cycle: This was only the second vacant congressional seat to be filled since Trump took office, and the first where the Democratic candidate appeared to have a real shot. But the Big Sky frenzy also spoke to the way American politics has almost entirely become a symbolic rather than ideological struggle — a proxy war between competing signifiers whose actual social meaning is unclear.

Despite their abundant differences, Barack Obama and Donald Trump were both semiotic candidates, who appeared to represent specific worldviews or dispositions (the espresso cosmopolitan; the shameless vulgarian) but presented themselves as a disruption to “normal” politics and were difficult to nail down in left-right ideological terms. Understanding an off-year congressional election in an idiosyncratic and thinly populated Western state, where fewer than 400,000 voters cast ballots, as a referendum on the national mood or the GOP health care bill or much of anything else is patently absurd. But it’s a miniature example of the same reduction to symbolism, in which everything is said to stand for something else and democracy becomes pure spectacle.

As for Gianforte, the inadvertent vehicle for our message, nobody outside Montana had heard of him before this week, and we’re not likely to hear much from him in Washington either, where he will disappear into the chorus of fleshy, pickled-looking, age-indeterminate white millionaires who make up the House Republican caucus. Gianforte found his one moment of fame after allegedly assaulting Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs on the eve of the election, making the GOP candidate a focal point of widespread liberal wish-casting and concern-trolling. Surely the good people of Montana would see the light of reason now that the Republican candidate had been revealed — gasp! — as a thin-skinned, violent bully.

It’s almost hilarious — in the vein of that long-running “Peanuts” gag about Charlie Brown, Lucy and the football — that anyone managed to convince themselves that purportedly decking a representative of the “liberal media” would damage Gianforte. It probably didn’t make much difference; about 70 percent of the votes had already been cast before the Jacobs incident. But I think it’s safe to say that likely Republican voters in Montana, and damn near everywhere else, can be divided into two groups: those who didn’t much care or were inclined to look the other way, and those who were absolutely thrilled.

Gianforte’s decisive victory over Democrat Rob Quist on Thursday has provoked a fresh round of soul-searching from the same people who made too damn much of the Montana election in the first place. We have been told that Democrats must field stronger candidates and commit more resources, that Bernie Sanders does not possess some magic elixir that attracts disgruntled white people and that Donald Trump remains popular in places where people really like him. If that’s not quite enough Captain Obvious, Washington Post columnist Greg Hohmann devoted an impressive amount of research and reporting to the Montana aftermath before arriving at the diagnosis that there is “a growing tribalism that contributes to the polarization of our political system.” You don’t say!

Let me be clear that I’m indicting myself here as well: I edit political coverage at Salon, and I followed the Montana news closely. I knew perfectly well how it was likely to turn out, but one can always be wrong about that (as we discovered last November), and I shared some dim sense that it might be cathartic to experience an insignificant proxy victory in a state I have never even visited. But when I ask myself why I felt that way, even a little, the answers are not edifying.

For many people in, let’s say, the left-center quadrant of the American political spectrum — especially those who are not all that eager to confront the fractured and tormented state of the current Democratic Party — Montana and Georgia and 2018 seem(ed) to represent the opening chapters of a comeback narrative, the beginning of a happy ending. If what happened in 2016 was a nonsensical aberration, then maybe there’s a fix right around the corner, and normal, institutional politics can provide it.

First you chip away at Republican triumphalism, and the House majority, with a couple of special-election victories. Then it’s about organizing, recruiting the right candidates for the right seats, registering voters and ringing doorbells, right? Democrats picked up 31 seats in the George W. Bush midterms of 2006 — and will need 24 or so this time — so, hey, it could happen. For that matter, Republicans gained an astounding 63 seats in the Tea Party election of 2010, and many observers have speculated that Trump-revulsion might create that kind of cohesion on the left. So we sweep away Paul Ryan and his sneering goons, give Nancy Pelosi back her speaker’s gavel after eight long years, introduce the articles of impeachment and begin to set America back on the upward-trending path of political normalcy and niceness.

I suspect it’s pointless to list all the things that are wrong with that scenario, because either you agree with me that it’s a delusional fantasy built on seven different varieties of magical thinking or you don’t, and in the latter case I am not likely to convince you.

My position is that Donald Trump is a symptom of the fundamental brokenness of American politics, not the cause. Electing a Democratic House majority (which is 95 percent unlikely to happen) and impeaching Trump (which is 100 percent not going to happen) might feel good in the moment, but wouldn’t actually fix what is broken. Considered as a whole, the “blue wave” fantasy of November 2018 is a more elaborate and somewhat more realistic version of the “Hamilton elector” fantasy of December 2016: Something will happen soon to make this all go away.

(Let’s throw in the caveat that there are plausible universes in which the Republicans ultimately decide to force Trump out of office for their own reasons. Entirely different scenario.)

If you don’t want to believe me now, I get it. But take a good hard look at Rep.-elect Greg Gianforte, and go through all the excuses you have made to yourself about how and why that happened, and we’ll talk.

It’s worth making two salient structural points that I think are beyond dispute, and then a larger, more contentious one. As my former boss David Daley has documented extensively, both on Salon and in his book “Ratfucked,” the extreme and ingenious gerrymandering of congressional districts locked in by Republican state legislators after the 2010 census virtually guarantees a GOP House majority until the next census and at least the 2022 midterms. Yes, the widely-hated health care law might put a few Republican seats in play that weren’t before. But the number of genuine “swing” districts is vanishingly small, and it would require a Democratic wave of truly historic dimensions to overcome the baked-in GOP advantage.

As for the Senate — well, Democratic campaign strategists will mumble and look away if you bring that up, because the Senate majority is completely out of reach. Of the 33 Senate seats up for election next year, 25 are currently held by Democrats — and 10 of those are in states carried by Donald Trump last year. It’s far more likely that Republicans will gain seats in the Senate, perhaps by knocking off Joe Manchin in West Virginia or Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota, than lose any at all.

Those disadvantages could be overcome if we were looking at a major electoral shift, on the order of FDR in 1932 or the post-Watergate midterms of 1974, when Democrats won 49 seats in the House and a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. I can only suppose that’s the sort of thing the blue-wave fantasists imagine. That brings us to the final and largest point: Exactly who is kidding themselves that the Democratic Party, in its 2017 state of disarray and dysfunction, is remotely capable of pulling off a history-shaping victory on that scale?

This is a paradoxical situation in many ways, one that reflects the larger decline of partisan politics in general. The Republican Party went through a spectacular meltdown in 2016, but wound up winning full control of the federal government, partly through luck and partly by default. Meanwhile, Democrats hold a demographic advantage that was supposed to guarantee them political hegemony into the indefinite future, and their positions on most social and economic issues are far more popular than Republican positions (except when you get to nebulous concepts like “national security”). Now they face an opposition president who is both widely despised and clownishly incompetent.

That sounds like a prescription for a major renaissance — but not for a party that is so listless, divided and ideologically adrift. Democrats have been virtually wiped out at the state and local level in non-coastal, non-metropolitan areas of the country: They had full control of 27 state legislatures in 2010, and partial control in five more; today they control 14 (with three splits). There was plenty of bad faith and unfair recrimination on both sides of the Bernie-Hillary split of 2016, which there’s no need to rehearse here. But the bitterness has lingered not just because each side blames the other for the election of Donald Trump (and they both could be right) but because it represents a profound underlying identity crisis that ultimately has little to do with Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. (Again, they are the symbols or signifiers.)

I have previously argued that the Democratic Party’s civil war was unavoidable and has been a long time coming. Like most people, I assumed it would play out under President Hillary Clinton, not with the party reeling in defeat and at a historic low ebb. In the face of a national emergency, maybe Democrats will find some medium-term way to bridge the gulf between pro-business liberal coalition politics and a social-democratic vision of major structural reform and economic justice. Whoever the hell they nominate for president in 2020 will have to pretend to do that, at any rate.

But right now the Democratic Party has no clear sense of mission and no coherent national message, except that it is not the party of Donald Trump. I can understand the appeal of that message, the longing for a return to normalcy, calm and order that it embodies. What we learned in Montana this week — and will likely learn in Georgia, and learn again in the 2018 midterms — is that that’s not enough. There is no “normal” state we can return to.

For the Trump resistance to have meaning, it must be more than the handmaiden or enabler of a political party that has lost its power, lost its voice and lost its way. Electoral victories will come (and go), but we should have learned by now that they are never sufficient in themselves. Rebuilding and redeeming American democracy — if that can still be accomplished — is a much bigger job, and there are no shortcuts.