#But if I want to do this I have to learn- which means LEAVING THE COMFORT ZONE 🫠

[pitlanepeach]

Figure It Out | Chapter One

Max Verstappen x Isla Harrington (OFC)

Series Masterlist

Summary — Isla Harrington’s life is upended after a one-night stand with Max Verstappen leaves her a single-mom. Four years later, Max decides that he wants in — and neither of them are ready for what that means.

Warnings — Surprise baby trope, one night stands, co-parenting, grovelling, bullying and harassment, coming of age, angst and fluff.

Notes — We're going allll the way back to 2018! Strap in.

2018

Life didn’t feel real.

It felt like something out of a dream — stitched together from the pages of racing magazines and late-night replays she used to watch in secret under her duvet as a teenager. The engines, the colour, the thrum in her chest that wasn’t nerves but something sharper. Like wonder, only more practical.

Isla stood just outside the media centre, lanyard fluttering against her chest in the breeze, notepad pressed flat against her thigh to stop her hands from shaking.

She hadn’t cried yet.

Not when the email came through weeks ago — the Sky Sports internship offer she never really thought she’d get. Not when she booked her first-ever flight on her own, stuffing her suitcase with more clothes than she could ever possibly need. Not even when she walked into the paddock this morning and was handed a branded pass, with her name spelled right and everything. 

But now, with the sun warming the asphalt and the faint scent of tyres and fuel in the air, she felt the prick of tears behind her eyes.

She wasn’t supposed to be here. Not really.

Girls like her, the ones who hailed from run-down council flats and were raised by parents who didn’t know how to love the children they’d decided to have — they didn’t end up in places like this. They ended up responsible. Careful. Grateful for temp jobs and small mercies.

Not… doing this.

A voice cut through her thoughts.

“You coming in?��

It was Ted, pointing toward the press conference room with a slightly bemused smile, radio tucked in his hand. She nodded quickly, her mouth dry.

“Nervous?” He asked, walking beside her.

“No. Well — yes,” she admitted. “I just didn’t think it would be like this.”

“Like what?”

“Like people are actually going to look at me and expect me to know what I’m doing.” She admitted, her cheeks flushing pink. 

Ted hummed thoughtfully, and then said nothing. Which she appreciated.

Inside, the room was humming — literally and figuratively. Reporters murmured, technicians adjusted cables, and someone handed Isla a list of scheduled driver appearances with three different versions of the same Excel spreadsheet, none of which matched.

By the time the press briefing began, Isla had already re-written her notes twice and found a quiet corner by the back wall. She wasn’t meant to ask anything today, maybe ever. Her job was to just observe. Learn. Make notes. 

So she listened. Not just to what the drivers said, but what they didn’t. She caught the moments when their words didn’t line up with their body language, when tension rippled beneath polite phrases. She tracked patterns, noted phrases, jotted little arrows beside mentions of "strategy" and "frustrating stints."

She was invisible. And that was fine. She was good at being invisible — at watching people closely and knowing exactly when to disappear.

Later, during lunch, Natalie sat beside her and asked, “How are you finding it so far?”

Isla blinked. “Overwhelming. Amazing. I just don’t want to do something wrong.”

Natalie smiled — the kind that made Isla feel seen in a way she wasn’t used to. “You’re not here because we expect you to know everything. You’re here because the big bosses obviously saw potential in you. Let yourself rise to it, okay?”

That night, Isla lay in her hotel bed with the window cracked open. The hum of the circuit still buzzed faintly in her ears. Her notepad was open beside her, full of scribbled thoughts — not just stats and quotes, but moments that caught her attention. A brief smile between two engineers. A driver running his hand along the edge of his front wing like it was something sacred. The way the wind kicked up when the cars tore past, like they could take the world with them.

She didn’t call anyone to tell them about her first day. There was no one waiting by a phone.

But she whispered it anyway. “I did a really good job today.”

And she had.

She really had.

—

The first few weeks of the season blurred together.

Melbourne was too bright, too fast, the weekend over way too soon. Isla forgot her adapter plug, melted her hair straighteners, and spent the first day with her badge on backwards. But she also caught her first real paddock rumour before it hit Twitter; something about the Haas pit stop disaster and a quietly furious team boss who’d nearly broken his radio.

In Bahrain, she kept her head down and her ears open. Vettel took another win. The paddock buzzed with “Ferrari resurgence” whispers and the strange, low simmer of Mercedes unease. She wrote her first segment notes for a feature Natalie was doing. Half of her suggestions made it in. She didn’t say anything about it, didn’t brag or preen, but she smiled the whole way back to her hotel.

By China, she knew which engineer preferred his coffee iced, which producers liked printouts colour-coded, and that if you needed the real story, you had to talk to the tyre technicians. Not the flashy front-facing ones — the gruff old hands who could tell the shape of a weekend by how the rubber fell off the car on Friday.

There were dramas; real ones. The Red Bull crash in Baku made the entire media pen flinch. Verstappen and Ricciardo, teammates colliding at speed, the air after so thick with tension that even the Sky crew kept their voices low. Isla stood behind a monitor that night, typing notes with trembling fingers as Ted tried to piece together a timeline of blame on live TV.

She started sleeping with her notebook beside the bed. Not just for work quotes anymore, but for flashes of dialogue, metaphors that hit her during a race, questions she didn’t have the confidence to ask yet.

She still hadn’t been on camera. That wasn’t part of the plan. But she’d started to earn nods in the paddock, started getting handed spare headsets or asked for help coordinating B-roll clips.

She was still the quiet one. The intern. But she was listening.

And people had started noticing that she remembered things. 

—

Overlapping interviews. Sweat-slicked fireproofs. PR reps hovering just out of frame, brows furrowed, earpieces buzzing. Cameras jostled for position. Booms dipped low, voices overlapped. The late afternoon sun turned everything into glare and heat and movement, like the entire paddock was vibrating with post-race adrenaline.

The media pen was always like this — loud and frantic and fast.

Isla kept her back to the barrier, eyes down, a tiny Sky mic clipped to her collar like it might explode at any moment. She wasn’t meant to be front and centre. Just a placeholder. Natalie had been pulled into a strategy debrief. Ted was somewhere melting into a fold-out chair with a bottle of water. And so Isla stood in, just in case someone needed a warm body holding a mic.

“Incoming,” a voice crackled in her ear. “Ricciardo approaching. If he stops, throw him something. A question.”

She went still. “What kind of question?”

“Any question. Doesn’t matter. Just keep him talking — you’re mic’d, we’re live.”

Her fingers tightened around her Sky notebook. Any question?

Then he appeared — and for a second, the pen narrowed, as if the noise paused just slightly for him.

Daniel Ricciardo. Still in his Red Bull race suit, curls damp with sweat, that ever-present grin fixed to his face like it was stitched there. He looked like he’d just stepped out of a cartoon and landed in the real world.

“Hey,” he said, catching sight of her. “You’re new.”

Isla nodded, quickly. “Yeah. I mean — yes.”

He tilted his head, smiling. “Cool. Got anything good to ask? Hit me.”

She froze. She could feel all the standard questions lined up in her mouth like marbles — Talk us through the race. What was the strategy? Was traffic at Turn 10 frustrating?

But she didn’t say any of them.

Because she’d been watching. Closely. Not just the race, but the details — the micro-movements, the flickers of body language, the way a car talks if you know how to listen.

So instead she asked, voice steady and low, “That rear twitch in Sector Two — what was that? Looked like the car wanted to completely let go, but you held it.”

Daniel blinked.

And then something changed. Surprise first, then something warmer — interest. “Oooh, good observation,” he said, visibly impressed. “Yeah. Not totally sure what triggered it — it’s been creeping in late-race for a few weekends now. You get to a certain point, tyres drop, balance shifts… and suddenly the rear’s whispering, I’m on the edge, buddy. I’ve got to make a choice. Back off or trust the car.”

She nodded, instinctively. “So you trusted it.”

“Today? Yeah. Leaned in. Worked out.”

She hesitated — and then, before she could talk herself out of it. “Is it consistent? That late-race rear instability — your engineers have flagged it as an ongoing issue?”

He blinked again. “Uh, yeah. They’ve noticed it. We’ve looked into it. It’s not super dramatic, but it’s there — especially on tracks with more left-hand load. It’s something to manage.”

Her producer’s voice crackled in her ear. “Nice. Real nice. We’re clipping this. Stay with him — if he’s giving you answers like that, keep it rolling.”

But Isla just smiled, a little shy. And she didn’t push, had never wanted to be the kind of journalist who ran a question into the ground.  “Thanks, Daniel,” she said quietly.

He winked. “Good question, kiddo.”

And then he was gone, swallowed by a tangle of cameras and shouting journalists.

Isla exhaled — only then realising she’d been holding her breath. Her heart was hammering. Her palms were damp. 

—

The meeting room smelled like strong coffee, dry-erase markers, and the kind of air-conditioned panic only found in live broadcasting. Isla sat on the edge of a rolling chair, notebook in hand, pulse skipping in her throat.

She hadn’t even known she was invited until that morning. The email had landed in her inbox with a vague subject line — Editorial debrief — and her name, surprisingly, on the attendee list.

Now, the table was crowded with producers, segment editors, and a few of the on-air crew, all mid-chat, casually dissecting cutaways and replay sequences like they weren’t sitting in a pressure-cooker of world feeds and TV ratings.

Then someone clicked the remote, and a muted clip played on the screen at the front of the room: Daniel Ricciardo, grinning. Isla’s voice played softly over the footage. “That rear twitch in Sector Two — what was that?”

Isla blinked. Her stomach dropped.

The producer in the corner — Graham, fifty-something, glasses perched permanently on his forehead — gestured toward the clip like it was a classroom exhibit. “This,” he said, “is what we’re after.”

The room quieted. Isla forgot how to breathe.

“Instinctive, focused, sharp. That’s a real question. That’s not cribbed from a media sheet or parroted off comms. That’s from someone watching the race. Closely. That’s what we need more of in the pen. Not just echo-chamber interviews — insight.”

Someone else chimed in — Ellie, graphics editor, “It’s been clipped and run on social. Engagement’s good. Real fans picked up on it — few even said it was the first genuine, interesting thing they’d heard out of a driver all weekend.”

Isla stared down at her notebook. Her knuckles were white around her pen.

Graham looked at her. “Good instincts. You’ve got a feel for it.”

“I just…” she started, voice thin. “I noticed the rear was twitchy late on. And… I thought if I was watching from home, I’d want to know if that was going to be an issue.”

“And that’s exactly what we want.”

She flushed.

Someone laughed softly and said, “She’s only been with us six weeks. Give her two months and Crofty’ll be looking over his shoulder.”

The room chuckled. Isla smiled — small, but real.

Later, when the meeting wrapped and laptops snapped shut, Natalie passed her by, giving her shoulder a light squeeze. “Told you,” she murmured. “You’ve got it. Let yourself rise to it.”

And for the first time, Isla allowed herself to consider it.

Not luck. Not accident. Not a glitch in the system.

Maybe she was meant to be here.

Maybe she could thrive.

—

Every airport felt like its own micro-universe. Every paddock a city with its own rhythms and rules. And every time she pinned her Sky lanyard to her chest and walked through the gates, she felt it again — that pulse beneath the surface of things. That ache to understand, to see.

She didn’t travel with the main broadcast team yet. Too junior. But they'd pulled her in for every race so far that season — sometimes as a runner, sometimes as backup for Ted or Natalie. Every now and then, they even let her hold a microphone and ask a question. She’d earned their trust, after all. 

Monaco was madness. Glitz, yachts, traffic jams in the pit-lane, and tension under every surface. Isla was there when Ricciardo drove a masterclass with a broken MGU-K, holding off Vettel lap after brutal lap. She caught him in the tunnel after podium and he looked like he might cry — not from pain, but from relief. From proving something.

Canada? Vettel's redemption. Isla watched the red cars fly on Saturday, and on Sunday, Seb crossed the line with the number one board mistakenly placed in front of Lewis’ car. A quiet moment of symbolism that didn’t escape the fans. Nor Isla, who scribbled “Ferrari are quietly furious this season. Seb’s playing long game?” in the margins of her notebook.

Then came France. New circuit, new chaos. First-lap collision, safety car drama, and Hamilton back on top. But the paddock talk was elsewhere — rumours of Daniel’s contract, Red Bull’s future, and a quiet buzz about the growing number of clips being shared of a young, observant reporter catching drivers off-guard with her keen, non-generic questions.

Isla was starting to be recognised.

And so it was, one sweltering Saturday afternoon at Paul Ricard, she found herself walking the long gravel path from the media centre toward the drivers’ hospitality units — off-duty, notebook tucked away, wearing a faded t-shirt she’d owned for a couple of years now.

MV33.

The lion on the back was hand-drawn, slightly cracked from too many washes. But she loved it. Loved him, the driver. Always had. It was a devastatingly poorly kept secret that the journalist who wasn’t supposed to play favourites very much did so behind closed doors. 

She was halfway down the path, sunglasses low on her nose, when two voices drifted from ahead. Laughter, familiar and bright.

Daniel Ricciardo. And Max Verstappen.

They were walking toward her — fresh from a meeting or maybe lunch, wearing team polos and mirrored shades. Max’s expression unreadable. Daniel’s more relaxed.

She moved to step aside. Disappear into the shadows, as usual. But Daniel caught her first.

“Hey! I know you,” he grinned, pointing playfully. “You got me good in Spain. I got a right walloping from Christian for making our stability issues public.”

Isla flushed. “I didn’t mean to— I mean, I just asked about what I saw. Sorry.”

Daniel’s eyes sparkled. “Nah. Don’t be sorry. That’s why it was good.” Then his gaze dropped slightly, grin widening. “Shit — cool shirt!”

She froze.

Looked down.

Cursed under her breath.

Max Verstappen’s number stared back up at her in faded navy ink. And next to her, Max himself had stilled.

She didn’t look at him. Couldn’t. 

She mumbled something incoherent — “Thanks, sorry, long day, gotta—” — and practically bolted past them, heat crawling up her neck.

What she didn’t see was the way Max’s eyes tracked her retreat. Quiet. Slow. Sharp.

She didn’t see the slight twitch of his jaw. The flicker of something in his expression that wasn’t quite recognition — not yet — but something heavier.

He didn’t say a word.

But he’d seen the lion.

He’d seen her.

And from that moment on, he would keep seeing her.

Everywhere.

—

The heat in the media pen felt heavier than usual. Sweat clung under Isla’s collar, her mic battery pack digging into her lower back as she jostled for a clear spot behind the Red Bull line. Her notes were already smudged from stress — Max had just won the race in front of a sea of Dutch fans and the energy was insane.

She wasn’t meant to ask anything. Again. Just shadow, observe, stay out of the frame.

Ted was ahead of her, waving his mic in the scrum. Isla stayed two steps back, heart thudding in rhythm with the engines still cooling in parc fermé.

Then Max stepped in.

Still half-wrapped in the Dutch flag, hair damp with sweat, grinning that crooked grin that didn’t look real until you saw it up close. His PR handler guided him toward the waiting cluster of broadcasters, and the Sky crew leaned forward, prepping to go live.

But Max didn’t stop where he was meant to.

He scanned the line once — quickly, then again, more slowly.

His gaze snagged on her.

Isla froze.

Max’s mouth curved — a flash of amusement, or maybe recognition. And then he said, to the entire waiting press pack, “I’ll only answer if it’s her asking.”

A pause.

Blinking confusion.

Ted half-turned. “Who?”

Max lifted a finger — pointed, almost lazily, directly at Isla. “Her.”

Isla swear she died a little on the inside.

The Sky producer’s voice barked in her earpiece. “Jesus Christ, Isla, go! Ask him something! You’re live in twenty seconds—go! Go!”

She lurched forward like a wind-up toy, arm snapping up with the mic, eyes wide and horrified. Max was watching her like she was a puzzle he’d already started solving.

She opened her mouth.

No sound came out.

Max tilted his head. “That wasn’t a question.”

Her face flamed. “Right. Um.” She dropped her eyes to her notes, which were absolutely useless, full of scribbles and half-thoughts. “Uh. You—your start was really strong. You covered Kimi into Turn 1. Was that premeditated or reactive?”

Max’s grin softened. “Both.”

“I—what?”

He shrugged. “Premeditated to be reactive. I figured if I could get track position early, the race would come to me. And it did.”

She blinked.

“Want to ask another?” he prompted, voice lower now.

Her mouth opened — and without thinking, she blurted, “What’s it like hearing a hundred thousand people chanting your name?”

Max’s brows lifted, just slightly. And for a beat, he didn’t smile. He just looked at her.

Then, slowly, he said, “Loud. But nice. It reminds me to keep giving them something to shout about.”

The PR handler gestured for him to move along. Max handed her one last glance, another chance to ask something. 

Nothing came out of her mouth. 

She just… stared at him. 

And then he was gone, like always — swallowed up by the next pen, the next camera, the next mic.

Isla stood in the silence he left behind, red-faced, mic still raised like an idiot. Natalie appeared behind her, all wide eyes and flailing hands.

“You okay?” she asked.

“I think I blacked out,” Isla muttered, still staring into space.

“You didn’t cry. Or drop the mic. So that’s a win.”

“But I—I just—I feel like an idiot.” 

Natalie squeezed her arm. “Max is like that sometimes. Don’t let him get to you.” 

“Yeah.” She whispered. Staring at the back of his head as he leaned in close to a Dutch reporters microphone and laughed. 

—

The paddock had thinned out after the media frenzy. Most of the drivers were either back in debriefs or already heading out, but Isla wasn’t looking for any of them.

She was looking for Max.

And she found him — just outside the Red Bull motorhome, fresh out of a team meeting, towel slung around his neck, shirt changed but still crumpled from the race. He was leaning against a table, drinking from a bottle of water like he didn’t have a care in the world.

He saw her before she even said a word.

“Ah,” he said, grin blooming instantly. “I was wondering when you’d come yell at me.”

“I’m not—” Isla stopped. Huffed. “Okay, yes. I am. What the hell was that?”

He blinked innocently. “What was what?”

“In the media pen.” She stopped a few feet from him, crossing her arms, trying to channel some kind of moral authority. “You can’t just single someone out like that on live broadcast—”

“Why not?”

“Because—because it put me on the spot! I wasn’t ready, and I had no questions, and my voice cracked—”

“It did. Little bit,” Max said helpfully. “But it was cute.”

“Max!”

His grin only widened.

“I’m trying to be angry at you,” Isla snapped.

“You don’t seem very angry,” he said, tilting his head.

“I am! I’m—furious.”

“You’ve gone pink.”

She made an indignant noise. “That’s sunburn.”

“It’s not.”

“Stop smiling.”

“Make me.”

That made her pause.

Max’s eyes gleamed, heat and mischief rolled into something deceptively calm. “I liked your questions. You actually watch the race. Most reporters just glance at the podium sheet and ask about strategy. Boring.”

“I was… flailing! You embarrassed me.”

“No I didn’t.” 

Isla faltered — just a beat. Then she tried again. “You don’t get to throw me into the deep end just because you’re bored of answering the same questions.”

“I didn’t throw you,” he said. “You jumped.”

She stared at him.

He pushed off the table and stepped closer, just enough to feel tall in the way that annoyed her — like he knew he could rattle her just by existing. “I’ll give you warning next time,” he said, voice lower now, more real. “But I meant it. I like your questions.”

“…Why?”

His mouth curved again, slower this time. “Because you don’t ever ask what I expect. And I like surprises.”

She hated how that made her stomach flip.

And she really hated how she turned to leave — cheeks hot, jaw tight — only for him to call after her, “See you in Silverstone, Lion Girl.”

She didn’t turn around. But she walked faster. Because if she stayed another second, she might’ve smiled back.

And that would’ve been disastrous.

[the-warlock-syndicate]

Here is my hot take of the day, Gollum was winning.

Like, sure, he got kicked out of his village for murder, and basically exiled for being a nasty unpleasant person who loved learning secrets. But like, framed another way, I think it amazingly on brand for perhaps the most unpleasant hobbit we know of to have his greatest ambition to be like, gossip, and learning things he shouldn't. Anyways, he goes down to the roots of the mountains cause I guess secrets are really rad and nobody knows what is down there, and just kind of vibes there.

Secrets obtained. He didn't really seem to develop any new ambitions while down there, and was content to sit in a cave for 500 years. If he had any ambition, it might have been to improve his circumstances, get some luxuries. But 500 years in a cave means the bar is really low, like, on the ground with regards to his standards.

One of his character traits is that he has strong opinions about food. Its like, the only thing he actually seems to care about other than the Ring. He loves his fish, loves his rabbit, loves his baby eating, hates cooking his food, hates the elvish food, confused about potatoes.

My personal theory, is that the last ambition that he really had was to just have some nice meals. So he puts on the Ring, goes and throttles a goblin or two, and eats him. Or finds a really nice fish.

Here is the thing. Gollum doesn't need the ring for that. He is a good waterman, an excellent fisher, and can sneak up and throttle people without invisibility. What then, does the Ring offer him? How do you tempt someone who wants nothing?

Why, if he was addicted to the Ring after 500 years, did he leave it off, in a random spot in his cave for someone to pick up? He wasn't wearing it. He didn't even have it on a necklace like Frodo, which would be trivial even for Gollum.

I think Gollum had realized that it was bad for him, and was able to avoid using it, keeping it some physical distance from himself, while working up the willpower to put further distance between himself and it.

Mind you, going cold turkey was not good for his mental health, total relapse, but we see some pretty clear evidence that he was conflicted about the Ring during the story.

I think given another couple hundred years, Gollum might have been able to just walk out of the cave, and leave the Ring behind.

When you consider that Gollum is an extremely old man who's spent most of his life in solitary confinement with heroin being injected directly into his brain every day, he's really not that unreasonable

[aernx]

IT'S A WRAP ! ⌗ 이희승 ( oneshot ver. )

synopsis ⟢ wrapping is easy when it comes to dumplings. but when it comes to your feelings…not so much. after getting separated from your childhood nemesis, lee heeseung, you think your life will go smooth like butter (js like what BTS sang). but fate has other plans when he was forced to help around in your family’s dumpling restaurant.

◌ wordcount﹒ 13.1k

��� pairing﹒ lee heeseung x fmr

◌ genre﹒ childhood enemies to lovers, hs au, takes place in their summer break, reader is taehyun’s (txt) older sister, tbh no srs hating js silly rivalry, crack , heeyn parents r silly

◌ featuring﹒ txt, chaewon lsrfm, enhypen, brief mentions of seventeen (ily joshua n hoshi)

◌ warnings﹒ profanities, harsh language, jealousy, heeyn hating eo, kissing, fluff, heeyn silly stuffs, denial, i think that's it, oh probably bad and inconsistent grammar at times, miscommunication (that shiii)

aerinotes ⟢ u guys don't know how much i giggled at the screen when i write this 😁 THIS FIC MEANS SOOO MUCH TO MEE I HOPE U GUYS GIVE IT SOME LOVE 💗💗💗 also MY FIRST EVER LONG FIC??? aerin long fic debut!!! so im sorry if there r lots of mistakes n it's kinda messyy n if the pacing is badd !! i'll improve next time guys TRUST‼️‼️

this was previously a smau but now the smau is discontinued. i can finally say goodbye peacefully to my heeyn 🙁 i’ll miss them <3 hope you guys enjoyed this! be sure to leave a like, comment n reblog to let me know watchu think abt it !! ENJOYYYY

"MOM YOU WANT ME TO DO WHAT!?" It’s only been a week since you returned from your exchange student program in Japan yet your mom was quick to throw you a bucket of ice water on a hot summer evening.

“Which part of it is not clear, dear? Heeseung is going to start working in our dumpling shop this in this last month of summer and I want you to be his mentor tomorrow.” Excuse me what? Mentor?? “You know, teach him how to use the register, how to serve the customers, and later how to wrap the dumplings.”

No way there was no chance in hell that you were going to do this. Become Heeseung’s mentor? Hell no! You would rather give Taehyun your first born privileges.

Okay, maybe reasoning with her would opt her to change her decision. “Yes, I heard you for the first time but I can’t really place the reason why you want me to do this, mom. You know that we don’t…get along that well.”

Don’t get along that well? You scoffed internally at your choice of words, it was clearly an understatement, your mother knew that too.

You and Heeseung never got along. At all. Your mother and his mother were the best of friends so ultimately that means that he was there for good and you could not escape him. At first, mini-you was glad at the thought of having a childhood friend. Maybe you two could replicate the friendship of your mothers.

Yet at the age of five, where the two of you met for the first time and he stole your toy and decided to hide it from you, you knew from that moment that you would never get along. That first impression only triggered the competitiveness in you and it became a never ending game of chase. Of course, your mothers showed disappointment with the fact that their children did not enjoy each other’s presence, hoping that as they grow up, you and him would learn to overcome this little feud of yours.

Oh how they were wrong. Along the years that follow, your hatred towards each other only grew. Even though you both hated each other, he was still a big part of your childhood. And him being your neighbour didn't even help. You were so fucking bored of that face of his.

Eventually everyone got used to this relationship you shared with the boy and both parents didn’t try to do anything about it anymore. After all there was no point.

Although your feelings towards Heeseung were more on the negative side, you adored his parents, and your parents adored him too. Your families were close but you two weren’t. When you were younger, you would make it your life mission to get Heeseung to cry and he made it his to make you irritated. But as you both grew into adolescence your behaviour began shifting.

Now, instead of sitting by your side to provoke you, he would sit the farthest from you at the dinner table and you would do your best to ignore him at every family event. This never changed, even when you got into highschool. Both of you would try your hardest to let the other’s presence turn to ghosts, yet the tension around you remains haunting.

“Come on Yn, I know you don’t have the best relationship with Heeseung, as you guys are always fighting like cats and dogs,” Your mother muttered the last part quietly. “But I trust you with him, dear. Even though you both hate each other, you’re the one that knows him best there and I feel like he’ll focus more under your gaze instead of anyone else.”

Gosh why was your mother so persistent? “Mom, have you met us?” You can hear your mother’s snicker. “Then you should know that he won’t listen to me! There’s a reason why we don’t get along, mom. He’s gonna cause so much ruckus if I become his mentor. I find no problem with asking Taehyun to guide him instead.”

Your mother knew that you didn’t want to go forward with this. But it was really a last resort of sorts. And a little part of her wished that maybe this occasion would end your feud with him because she and Mrs. Lee always wanted their kids to get along well, just like them.

“Initially, I thought about that too. But Taehyun already has a lot of plans for tomorrow and you just went home like a week ago so you have lots of free time before your senior year starts.” She pointed out.

“Who knows maybe Heeseung changed these past six months without you. Maybe he even misses fighting with you everyday.” Chuckling, your mother gave you a knowing look as your face scrunched at the thought of that.

Hah! He? Missed you? There was no way. Heeseung was probably glad you were gone for six months. In fact he probably wished you were gone forever.

“Come on, my Yn. We’ll go shopping together with Aunty Lee and I’ll get you those concert tickets for that group you like so much. I’ll buy 4 for Chaewon, Yeonjun, and Soobin too. So you guys can watch it together.”

Your eyes lit up as her offer ringed your eardrums. One day of mentoring Heeseung for shopping sprees with your mom and Aunty Lee PLUS concert tickets for you and your friends?? Sounds like a fair deal.

“Ah…you know me so well, mother. You know I will never decline those.”

“You know it, darling.”

*

“You want me to-what?!” Disbelief, Heeseung stood from the couch and turned towards his mother who was currently sitting cross legged on her armchair.

“What did you expect?! I told you to stop sneaking around all the time and this is final! You are working in MANDU4U, Yn’s family dumpling shop tomorrow.”

Spending his summer break working? Are you fucking kidding?

“Bu-”

Mrs. Lee stood up from her chair, levelling her gaze with her son. “No buts! I already talked to your Aunty Kang and all you have to do is show your ass over there and work.” From the tone of her voice, Heeseung knew that he messed up. It was bad, like REAL bad. Maybe he should’ve listened to his friend's advice to NOT sneak out.

Mrs. Lee shrugged before continuing. “Think of this as a new experience. You’ll be learning new things and you’ll be earning money. I see nothing wrong with this. You don’t have any right to complain, young man.”

As much as Heeseung dreaded it, he knew no point in resisting. He was at fault and if it was in other circumstances he would stand his ground but he knew better. Oh well, at least she didn’t forbid him to hang with his boys.

And besides it’s not as if he’s going to meet her. He’s aware of the fact that she went back from that program a week ago. Of course he was, his family insisted that they also accompanied picking up Yn from the airport.

Did he come along? Yes. Did he have the option not to? Also yes. Did he know why he came along? Not really. Maybe he missed her and their fights just a little bit. Or maybe not. That question remained ominous as he himself didn’t even know the correct answer.

But was he glad with the fact that she was gone for the past six months? Of course he was! Well it was a bit more quiet than usual but hey! Quiet is good right? Yeah of course. Now that she’s back does he still hate her guts? For sure, yeah definitely.

“Also Yn will be your mentor and I want you to be on your BEST behaviour and do whatever she says.” Mrs.Lee abruptly added before striding out of the room trying her best to contain her smile.

“Mom WHAT?!”

*

You idly stood on the gazebo of your family’s shop, glancing back and forth towards your watch as the digital digits morphs into what seemed to be eight past twenty. Heeseung was supposed to be here at eight sharp but here you were, still waiting for his stupid ass to come.

It was only five minutes after that, the sight of Lee Heeseung appeared in your line of view. Fucking finally. “Heeseung, you’re late.” You aligned your body opposing his, blocking the entry of the door with your figure as he tried to brush himself through.

“Tch, it’s whatever. Let’s just get started.” His hand longed for the handles but you were quick to stop him. “Drop that attitude, Heeseung. I don’t want this as much as you do so you better not make this any harder on me.” Your grip on his hand opted him to fix his gaze with yours.

You tighten your grip on his wrist. Not caring whether it hurted him or not–which it probably didn’t. “Use that tone on me one more time and you’ll be scrubbing the bathroom floors instead of working behind the cash register.”

Heeseung clenched his fists in between your grasp on his wrist, a low attempt of wanting to break free. “You’re not my mother, you can’t tell me what to do.” He gritted as an annoyed expression washed over his features.

“You’re right, Seungie. I’m not. I’m your employer. And you-” Your point finger shoved his chest “-have to do exactly what I say."

*

Lee Heeseung hated it–hated this. That helpless feeling of not being in control. Especially when his arch enemy is the one stringing him like a puppet.

Kang Yn loved it–loved this. How couldn’t you when your arch nemesis had to grovel in submission for the sake of punishment from his mother. It’s fun really. It's like having a maid–you mean– personal assistant of your own.

“No Heeseung, that's not the right way!”

“Be more thorough when checking someone’s order!”

“Gosh this is tiring. Heeseung, get me a coffee.”

*

Ignoring some mistakes made, the first day of work went surprisingly fine. You taught him various things. Starting from how to work the register and basic manners to serve customers and he was actually going along with what you instructed. Gee, maybe your mom was right all along–you could be really intimidating sometimes.

“This is it for today.” You said, handing him a pen to sign his attendance. “Okay, Thanks.” He calmly received it before signing under his name. Along the string hours of work between you and Heeseung, the atmosphere remained tense. But much to your surprise (and a certain part-timer named Sunoo who went to your school) the both of you endured the entire shift without biting each other’s head off.

Sure there were some occasional fights here and there but the graph always dies down after, returning to its normal wavelength as the days progress. And you were quite happy with the outcome.

One; you did not let the intrusive thoughts win and slice his throat when he was on his break and two; you did not embarrass yourself in front of the customers by screaming frantically at him (although you did do it in private) You could say that this day was a success and you were proud of yourself. Ah you were finally free from him.

Or so you thought.

*

“So you’re telling me your mom told you that you’ll be mentoring Heeseung for the rest of the summer break?” Soobin questioned, making you groan against your pillows. You raised your head towards the window still, the sight of the moon greeted you in an instance, gracing your room with its incandescent glow.

"She made sure to leave that part the first time she mentioned, alright." You grumbled under your breath.

Chaewon patted your head as she noticed your current distress while Yeonjun and Soobin looked at you with sympathy laced upon their irises. It was currently near twilight in the nearing end of summer. From a distance, you can hear a few neighbours that stood up late making BBQ in their backyards, while some of the houses remained still and quiet.

The light on your window was like a singular lamp amidst a dark room to your unlit neighbourhood. It was summer break so your parents didn’t mind you staying up late. They even let your friends stay over with the exception of Soobin and Yeonjun sleeping on a spare mattress on the floor.

“Yn, I knew it was too suspicious that your mom was offering you THAT much just for one day of mentoring!” Yeonjun pointed out from his mattress below before joining everyone on your bed.

“At least you’re getting money out of this, am I right?” Chaewon said after smacking the poor boy with her elbows, triggering a laugh from Soobin as he saw Yeonjun’s current state.

“-Ouch! Gosh Chae that hurt!” He threw her a nasty glare and Chaewon stuck her tongue out in response. “Plus the fact that Mama Kang AND Mama Lee promised to take you shopping makes it too good to be true to just make that a one time thing.” Yeonjun shrugged before dodging another hit from Chaewon.

“Ugh I hate it when you’re smart sometimes, Junnie.”

“Don’t forget the fact that your mom promised to buy us all concert tickets!” Soobin reminded. “Work your ass off Ms.Kang. We would be thanking you for your services!” He stood from the bed, bowing 90 degrees to you causing the room to erupt in laughter.

“You all better be thanking me for this! I don’t know how I'm going to handle him for the rest of the summer! He’s literally my neighbour! I see him everyday. I can even see him across my window!” Once more, you buried your head on the pillows, gaze unconsciously averting to the blinds covering the glass panels.

“But you hadn’t seen him nor contacted him for six months right? Surely he changed.” Chaewon pondered earning a scoff from you. “Girl let me tell you, he did not.” You answered, emphasising the “not”.

Yeonjun laughed at your misery, opting you to throw a pillow at his face. The room had gone through its nth time of laughing fit before you all started to calm down.

As the room went down from its climax, Soobin’s question seemed to pique everyone's interest. “By the way if it’s okay to ask, how did you and heeseung hate each other like this? I mean the two of you never got along. Everyone knows that but like you both definitely seem more intense now like ever since you got offered to join the exchange student program.”

You sighed before answering. “Well it’s a long story but-”

*

“-I was supposed to get the offer to join the exchange student program.” Just a few meters from where you and your friend gathered, Heeseung and his friends were doing the exact same thing you were doing.

They all gathered on his mattress, sharing stories as the moon reaches its peak of serenity. “Ohh i get it, so from your point of view, it seemed as if she “stole” your future.” Jay nodded at his friend as the room was filled with collected hums and a few shocked faces.

“No lie I would’ve hated them too if someone did that to me.” Jake added, agreeing to his friend’s current situation."

Heeseung only shrugged and buried himself in the comfort of his pillows. “So what are you gonna do now, hyung?” The youngest of them questioned. “I don’t know. I mean there’s no point in defying my mom when she’s persistent. So I guess I’ll just go with it.”

“Do you still hate Yn because of it now? I mean it’s been six months.” Jungwon tilted his head, curious. “I…I don’t know. We’ve never gotten along since we were five so I don’t think our relationship changed a lot.” Heeseung raised himself from his pillows, now sitting upright.

“But it's not entirely her fault, is it? If you had been a better option for the program you would still be chosen regardless.” Jay knocked some sense into his friend.

“I guess I just blamed her for being better.” A strain smile settled on his lips.

“But to be honest I don’t really care about it anymore, you know? If i really did get that exchange student program, I would've missed so many moments with you guys, including how Niki literally got a girlfriend?? Earlier than me??” Their hearts warmed to Heeseung’s statement before laughing at his last.

The night on both sides of the window ended after crescent smiles and glee surrounding the atmosphere as the sun began to rise causing them to go to a much needed slumber.

*

“Hey, Noona. Looks like you're in a good mood.” You entered the shop with a smile as you greeted the smiling Sunoo. “Yes because you're the first person I see here, and not that brat.” You whispered the last part.

“Quite the charmer you are, Yn.” A familiar voice rang your eardrums. Speak of the devil. “Right, I was praying you would forget this whole thing and just go sulk in your room all summer.” You grumbled, not bothering to avert your gaze to align with your nemesis behind you.

You feel his presence drawing closer and closer before halting just a few inches from your back. Sunoo is long gone now, opting to prepare some stuff in the storage room.

“And make you look good, whereas I look like the rebel child? Keep dreaming, Kang.” He whispered, voice dripping with mirth.

You scoffed rolled your eyes in response, moving forward towards the register, leaving Heeseung to fend for himself at that moment.

This is going to be a long day.

*

One week has passed and you are now used to seeing Heeseung lurk around the area. Now that he’s already familiar with the register and serving people you have to go to the next step: teach him how to make dumplings.

At first, you were against the idea. But your mom insisted that Mrs.Lee wanted Heeseung to be more adapt than any other employee. Hence why he needed to master more than one skill to manage. So, you gave in.

Heeseung was ready to start his new routine. Coming to the shop everyday (excluding Sundays and Saturdays) at 8am and start preparing the register and other things before opening at 9am. He’ll be honest, the first few days, he was dreading it. But eventually, being surrounded with the busy yet calming atmosphere of the shop feels so comfortable? Or maybe because he was spending his summer productively.

But yesterday, Yn had messaged him to arrive at the shop an hour earlier than usual. Seven am?! That’s basically dawn in Summer! Heeseung dragged his feet towards the welcoming door, the sun greeted him with a morning glow as he slowly entered his demise.

“Morning, sunshine. Are you awake?” Sitting in one of the chairs, you chuckled, amused at his hunched silhouette.

“You’re crazy for forcing me to work this early on. This is basically child labor!” He sat opposing you, hands folded above the table as he buried his head in between his arms.

“Well your mother consented to this. Get up.” Your request was left hanging as Heeseung replied an audible “no”, prompting you to leave the boy behind.

Droplets of water trickled to the back of his neck, stirring him awake before he-hold on why was he wet? His fingers touched the source of coldness, his head jolted up meeting your gaze. ”You’re fucking crazy!”

“Thanks, baby. Awake now?” The smirk on your lips is evident and Heeseung swore that he was going to rip your face off.

*

“What are we doing?” Instead of answering, you hand a slightly-damp Heeseung an apron and ushered him to wash his hands before starting. “Just go wash your hands first.” He rolled his eyes before complying to your demands.

After finishing with such tasks he returned to his position beforehand. “All clean now.” He dangled his palms to align with your vision. Now that the two of you are clean it's time to start this mission. Wrapping dumplings.

Heeseung eyes lingered on the swift movement of your fingers. Quick hands easily wrap the ball of meat between a thin layer of dough. He shifted his attention elsewhere for a second and when he returned, you were already done with the process. The perfectly wrapped mandu sat in the heart of your palms, sitting proudly before him.

“That doesn’t look hard, let me do it.” The boy shrugged, earning an amused scoff from you. He took the initiative to try it for himself, but before he could reach the layers of thin dough, he felt a slight sting lingering on his arm. “Gosh! What was that for?!”

“Do you ever pay attention? Lace your hands with some flour before taking the dough so it’s not sticky, bambi.”

Bambi? Did you just refer to him as a Disney cartoon animal?! Well sucks to be you at least he was a Disney character. Not some meaningless being.

“Crazy bitch.”

“What did you say?!”

“I said I got the hitch!” Was hitch even a word? Probably. Or not. Heeseung grudgingly dipped his fingers into the bowl of flour before spreading a light amount in his palms. He then took a thin layer of dough and a little ball of minced meat mixed with onions and other dumpling stuffings(?). He placed the ball in the center of the surface before…before…uhm what was the next step again?

His hands froze mid air for a second. Should he ask for help? Oh and get roasted for not paying attention again? No thanks, his ego was too big for that. Right he’ll figure this out. This is Lee Heeseung we’re talking about. Lee Heeseung vs dumpling, let’s see who’ll win this game.

The tall boy recalled your hand movements, trying hard to remember the steps you did. Right it was uhm….take the left corner, then the right, unite them to the center? Yeah that right. Next is…squish the edges! He’s too smart and talented for this. Heeseung 1, dumpling 0.

The satisfied smile he wore was so apparent. The tips of his finger lightly pressed onto the dough in an attempt to link them together. Except it was not sticking. He kept on applying pressure, more and more as the seconds tick. Once he thought that it would hold, he settled the…ill-shaped dumpling on the table. With his hands on his hips, he turned to face your observing stance. Not bad for his first try. Or so he thought.

Five seconds of victory was cut short when the dumpling slowly–but surely–unwrapped itself from the shape Heeseung molded it to. Heeseung 0, dumpling 1.

The guise of his face showed it all–his mouth hung open, eyes deadpanning the dumpling like it was his sworn enemy–it was so hard not to erupt in laughter. You covered your mouth to contain your glee. This was too funny.

Your oddly timed coughing shifted Heeseung’s gaze to yours. At first the look in his eyes reeks of annoyance but the sound of your echoing laugh was enough to leave a ghost of a smile on his face. You didn’t get angry, that was a first.

Heeseung was shocked to see how calm you were after witnessing his failure. (except for the laughing part) “I would be a hypocrite if I got angry at you.” You started. “The first time mom taught me how to wrap these, I would always rip the dough.”

“Oh.”

“Right.” You cleared your throat. “Let me repeat the steps again, slowly this time.”

The clueless boy watched your movements distinctly. He noticed how eased you were as you did the task at hand, focused yet you were doing it so effortlessly. He also noticed how you poke your tongue slightly when your fingers pinched the perfectly folded dumplings’ little details, and the little specks of flour that landed on the tip of your nose. There was something about you today that he couldn’t ignore.

Heeseung looked at your current expression, and suddenly you both were five again. You were sitting in his living room with a crayon tucked in between your fingers, your tongue slightly stuck out as you avert your attention to your drawing as your mothers chatter dissipates in the back.

Twelve years have passed yet you still look the same to him. The first girl that entered his life other than his mother, the first girl he fought with, and the first girl he ever loved. Not that he was ever going to admit that. But perhaps just for today, he would forget your fuse with him and pretend that everything is okay

“That’s how you make a perfect dumpling.” The curve of your lips was so warm and inviting and he felt a suspiciously warm feeling slowly settling on his chest. Well that was new. Maybe because it was too early in the morning that’s why Heeseung felt so out of it today. “Ehem, okay. I should be able to do it now.”

*

“Mom, I’m back!” You enter the living room, goals set to lay comfortably down at the soft cushions of your couch. “In the kitchen, sweetie! Come Yn, Aunty Lee is here.”

The smell of homemade cooking dragged you to your mother. “Hi mom, hi Auntie Lee.” Eyes crinkled as you smiled widely at the two most important figures in your life.

“Hey, honey. Hope Hee hasn't given you a hard time.” Mrs. Lee softly smiled. “Do you really need to ask that to know, Auntie?” Your joke (not) prompts the two middle aged women to laugh. “Jokes aside, I guess he's tolerable when he shuts up.”

“Yn!”

“Kidding, mom!” Not really.

“Anyways, we owe you a shopping spree. Let's go this weekend. Your shift ends at noon right, darling? What do you say?” Your eyes lit up at the offer.

Who were you to refuse?

*

Smell of dumplings and busy chatters crowded the shop, sunlight beaming through glass tinted windows as customers took over the vacant seats available. “Here’s your freshly steamed mandu, Auntie Park.” Mrs. Park was a regular, don’t get me wrong, she was lovely, but she could be a little…nosy.

“You’ve gotten much more beautiful since coming home from Japan.” She smiled knowingly. “Tell me, have you found any Japanese boyfriend, dear?”

Your eyes widened–not expecting her direct question. “ I can assure you, auntie. No boyfriends here.” The curve of your mouth formed upwards. “Is that so?” She squinted her eyes in suspicion, eyes darting to follow Heeseung’s moving figure a few feet away. “I see that Ha-eun’s boy is here helping. Is that one your boyfriend?”

Heeseung? You boyfriend? You grimaced at the thought. You would rather eat a raw dumpling.

“Oh auntie, literally anyone but him. Besides, I’m too busy studying and helping with the shop while dad is busy planning on opening other branches.” You chuckled, denying her assumption.

“What a perfect daughter you are! I bet Ha-yoon and Ji-woo are proud to have you as their daughter.” You were about to leave before hearing her continue. “You know, I have a son your age. You should know him, he goes to Decelis too. Park Jeongsong, are you familiar? Maybe I should set you guys up.”

She lifted her point finger to her chin. “I think you guys are compatible, he's mature….”

Park Jeongsong. Of course you were familiar. He’s one of Heeseung’s close friends and the only one that you tolerate. To be honest you were quite tempted at her offer. Jay’s got it all. Perfect looks, ridiculously sharp jawline, and most importantly manners (one that Heeseung lacked for sure). You scoffed mentally at the thought. But unfortunately, you were not looking for anyone to date for the time being.

“I’m sure he’s great, auntie. I’m just focusing on myself right now.” You politely turned her down. “Enjoy your dumplings, please tell me if you need any assistance.”

“Yes, thank you dear. I hope I wasn’t being too nosy. I’m still working on that.”

“Don’t worry about it, auntie.”

*

Mrs. Lee and your mother promised to pick you up right after your shift ends. It’s been two weeks since Heeseung’s arrival and you notice that he’s becoming accustomed to the work before him. Given so, this was your first time leaving him alone in the shop. Even though there were other workers, you still hadn’t completely trusted the boy.

“Double check the orders, got it.”

“-And shut the blinds when closing.” He repeated after you.

“Honestly, why are you so anxious? I’m not going to bomb this place when you leave, Yn.” Heeseung crossed his arms. “Don’t trust me enough, flower?” His glint is mischievous, teasing apparent in his tone.

“First of all, don’t call me that.” You shudder at the nickname. “Second of all, no I don’t trust you. What if this place turns to ashes when I return.”

“Okay, flower.” He was playing with you, you knew that. “I’m not even in charge of the kitchens, I promise I won’t blow this place down.”

“Hmm, okay.” Your pupils shifted left and right–as if you were looking for someone. “Sunoo, watch over him for me when I’m gone.” You untie your apron from the nape of your neck before nearing the exit earning a nod from the young boy.

*

The shopping spree was fruitful, they really went all out on this one. Insisting on buying you dresses, cute tops, pants, shoes, as well as a few accessories. You were grateful–of course–but you would be lying if you said it wasn’t tiring. Though as tiring as it can be, you were having fun.

You entered your house with shopping bags occupying your upper limbs, the weight heavy on your arms. Your mother had a few of her own too and you wonder how she was carrying them with grace. You both dropped the bags on the floor before entering the empty living room. “Huh, I guess Tae and your father have gone to sleep.”

To be honest, any sane person would. It was almost twilight. The three of you found a night market on your way back, compelled by the mannequins and price tags, the two women dragged you out of the car to have a look around.

“So, Yn, now that we’re alone.” Your mother settled on the couch. “Tell me-”

*

“-how’s everything going on in the shop?” Lee Hae-in met her son still sitting in the lounge room upon her return, his eyes glued to the show on tv. But now, the dark screen reflected two figures sitting on the cushions, a mother with the son she grounded.

“It’s not that bad, I guess.” Heeseung started. “At first it was-”

*

“-dreadful. I hated mentoring him. He did everything wrong and would make annoying expressions everytime I corrected him. I felt like I wanted to pull his hair out!” Your hands went up to your head in frustration triggering a laugh from your mom.

“Is that so? Now that we’re basically halfway there,-

*

“-How do you think about her now? About all this, I mean.” The Lee woman questioned, ears perked as she listened contently to her son before her. “Uhm, I guess we’re getting along more? I mean we don’t fight that often anymore. A few insults are thrown now and then but that’s just how we always are at each other.”

“That’s good to hear.” A satisfied smile graced the older Lee. “How about the shop? Are you doing your tasks well, dear?”

“Yeah, I think I’m getting the hang of it now.”

The two older women were happy at their children’s answers. Just two more weeks or so and maybe just maybe this will mark the end of awkward dinners and uneasy tension.

“Heeseung, honey, I know you were upset with Yn after she won the exchange program instead of you. However, you’re almost an adult now. I think this is bothering her as well, why don’t you two take some time to talk about it?”

Heeseung pondered before answering his mother. Even though the tension has resided between you two for the time being, it was mostly due to professionalism to maintain poise in front of other employees and customers. If he wanted this to remain forever (or at least longer than the summer break) he would have to clear the air.

“I’ll think about it, mom.”

*

“Heeseug, I told you to be gentle with that!”

“Yn, I’m doing it exactly like what you told me!”

Shuffling noise and exclamation marks were the first thing Taehyun heard as he entered the shop at the break of dawn. “Gosh it's six am, they better not be fucking.” He grumbled under his breath before going into the kitchen.

“What are you guys doing?” Body leaned at the doorway, Kang Taehyun watched his hyung and noona–who claimed they hated each other–wrapping dumplings (more like wrapping each other) in a very close proximity.

Ha! Two weeks in, and they’re already getting closer. He was right. Now mom and Auntie Lee owe him so much cash for this.

You were quick to add some space in between you. The blood rushed to your face resulting to a pinkish hue. “We’re just preparing the mandus for today.”

“Riight. I’ll be at the register if you need me. Which you probably won’t.” He turned his back from the seniors behind him, the smirk on his face widened as he imagined how much money he’ll receive upon winning the bet with his mom and Heeseung’s.

flashback (few weeks ago)

Rays of sunlight occupied each corner of the living room as the songbird sang its morning praises. It was a perfect day to relax. Lee Hae-in and Kang Ha-yoon sat amidst thick cushions as they waited for their steamed milk buns to cook.

“You know, that was cheeky of you when you suggested this summer activity for Heeseung.” Ha-yoon started earning a light giggle from her dearest friend. “I have the biggest opportunity laid bare in front of me! I couldn't resist even if I could help it.”

“How long will it take for them to warm up to each other?”

“Two weeks.”

A familiar voice urged them to snap their heads in its direction, only to find the youngest Kang standing with his hand crossed over his chest.

“How are you so sure, Taehyunnie?” His mother questioned. The Lee woman also looked reluctant. “They've been hating each other for years, Tae. I don't think they will get along in two weeks.”

“Are you willing to bet on it, Auntie Lee, Mom?” His challenging tone was inviting. Who were they to deny a bet? Without a second doubt, the two women nodded their heads and smirked. “You're so on.”

*

With a final click!, the shop was officially closed for the day. Heeseung handed the key to you before taking something from his bag. “Yn, hold on.” His hand is placed on your shoulder, urging you to turn towards his direction.

“Hm? What’s wrong? You tilted your head, confusion written all over your face. The boy released the light grip he had on you before lifting up his free hand and unfolding his wrapped fingers.

A gasp escaped your lips at the item he held before you. There it was, a small lego figurine sitting on the center of his palm. And it was not just any figurine, but it was your favorite back when you were five. Your eyes wander into his own, the small smile adorning his face along with the swirl of emotion pooling in his vision.

You remember the day you lost it. How the world seemed to crumple beneath your feet as you lost–no–Heeseung stole the main character of your ultimate favourite lego friends set.

“Missed her?” He nudged the figurine towards you, a sign for you to take it and you did just so. “So you did steal her, huh. You denied it so much back then, I still remember.” You bite your lip in effort to suppress the curve that was slowly creeping in, but seemingly failed as you examined the small toy in your hands.

The plastic was old and details were worn out due to aging but aside from that, all the parts remained intact and well kept. Heeseung did not break it nor ruined it like you thought he would. Instead he took great care of it. Why?

“I recall, it was the first time we met. We were at my housewarming party and I really wanted you to play with me and Tae, but you didn’t.” The raven haired boy reminisced, the smile still etched on his face. “You kept playing with this lego set without any bother in the world. I really wanted to play with you but all you do is ignore me.”

“So you stole the figurine to get my attention?” You raised your left eyebrow, an attempt to guess where he was going. A small chuckle rang through your ears. “Well, it worked I guess but not in the way that I hoped. After that I just–I don’t know–kept annoying you because that’s the only way you’ll ever pay attention.”

His words settled heavily on your heart. All this time, your feud growing up was just a matter of attention. Guilt crawled from the depths, slowly leaking through your eyes. Heeseung was quick to notice. “Yn, that was so long ago, no need to be guilty.” His hands went back to your shoulders. Somehow, the warmth radiating from him felt nice–comforting.

“We could’ve been those childhood friends.” You whispered, rewriting memories inside your head. Echoing a “what if” scenario if you got along from the beginning.

“We could be now, if you want.” Dozens of stars are reflected in the dark pupils of Heeseung’s doe eyes and you can’t bring yourself to look away, not even if you tried. Your gaze shifted to his lingering hand on your scapula before urging closer in his embrace. Arms wrapped itself around his body, your movement slow and careful, giving him space to walk away. But he didn’t. He enveloped you further into himself. Your face is pressed against his chest, eyes closed. No words are spoken but the gesture speaks volumes.

“I’m sorry, Yn.” Heeseung broke the silence between you. “For everything I did to you since we were five.” He whispered, fingers trailing the strands of your hair. “And more importantly, for taking out my anger on you when you got accepted to the exchange program instead of me.”

“I’m sorry too.” You replied, head turning up to meet his waiting gaze. “I joined the program to spite you. Didn’t think I would get it, but I somehow did and made everything worse.” You unwrap each other from the embrace, solemn looks embroidered on your faces. A gulf of harsh wind swept through you, your body shivered slightly at the impact, instantly missing the warmth from the previous action.

“You deserve it, Yn. I was jealous, I could admit that now. If I had been the better choice, I would still be chosen regardless.”

“Oh, Heeseung.” Your frown is evident, denting your features and the boy before you feels the urge to wipe it off so badly as if it had no right to tarnish your perfect face.

“It's all in the past now, flower. We're good now, right?” Heeseung smiled and after, you feel a hand slip itself into your own, relinquishing the comfort from the hug. You looked at your entwined hands before offering a small nod.

“It’s getting late. Let's walk home together, yeah?”

*

A week has gone by in a blur of routine. Summer break is ending and no amount of complaints is going to stop the time from running. Heeseung now stands right in front of your door, heart palpitating and hands sweaty. It's been 5 minutes now and he's still contemplating whether he should knock on your door or just leave at this point.

After that night, your relationship with him began to shift. As you arrive at your designated homes, you two meet again across the windows of your rooms. Exchanging waves and passing short notes through the glass barrier before bidding good night. It was like straight out of a Taylor Swift music video.

Heeseung caught a smile corrupting his features before closing his mouth in shock. Did he just smile at the memory of you?? What. The. Fuck. He shook his head abruptly from side to side, almost as if he had a goal to remove something from his mind.

Just as he was doing so, the door suddenly swung open. “Heeseung?” A voice called out, confusion lacing her tone. “Auntie Kang, Hi!” The boy offered a flashy smile, almost blinding the middle aged woman. “What are you doing here, Hee?” The woman smiled at the sight of him and raised her eyebrow in amusement at his…enthusiasm?

Heeseung was happy in the early morning. This was a first.

“Are you okay? Why do you seem so happy? Too happy maybe.” Her eyes squinted in suspicion. “Whaaat? Nothing, Auntie! Just excited because dad said I could use his motorcycle today.”

Your mother hummed in understanding. Muttering how kids these days are so funny before asking the bambi-eyed boy, “What are you doing here thou-”

“Hee, you're here!” An excited voice called out, prompting the two figures on the doorway to look your way.

So this is what it's about. Mrs.Kang bit her bottom lip to contain the smile from seeping through. Noting the interaction in her mind to tell Heeseung’s mother for their planned brunch in a few hours.

Your mother wasn't oblivious, something clearly changed between you too. Gone were the two kids that used to chase each other in the courtyard, sabotaging each other’s items for revenge. You’re all grown up now and Kang Hayoon almost felt a tear drop from her left eye.

Call her dramatic but hey, Heeseung is as much like her child as you are. Just like you are a daughter to the Lees. And these two children used to be muttering curse words why chasing each other.

Kang Hayoon felt a wave of surging proudness. While your father is busy taking care of building another branch for the restaurant, you offered to manage the current one for the summer so your mom could rest. Even with your position as Heeseung’s mentor, you still insist doing so with the excuse that Heeseung is already well adapted with everything now.

You reached the door, giving your mom a quick kiss on the cheek and a goodbye before leaving with the boy. “Bye mom, it’s almost eight. We’re going to the restaurant now!” You greeted her from the motorcycle seat. “Bye, Auntie! We’ll be careful, don't worry!” He smiled once more and with a final wave, the two sped away from the driveway leaving the smiling woman on her porch.

“Hae-in needs to hear about this.” Your mother giggled before calling Heeseung’s mom on dial and closing the door as she decided that she could not wait for brunch to tell her.

*

To say Sunoo was shocked was an understatement. He stood behind the register, preparing the cash for change as he was met with his boss (you) and the intern (heeseung) got out of a motorbike together. His eyes were like saucers and his jaw was wide open. He’s so used to seeing you both fight in the mornings that it felt so…weird seeing the two of you all smiley.

“Fuck, I owe Taehyun 5 bucks now.” He whispered lowly, silently cursing at the bet he lost. The boy smiled and greeted you as well as Heeseung before returning to his current task, not forgetting to make those classic Sunoo bewildered faces behind the register and away from your prying eyes.

Taehyun arrives later with some special premade dumplings made by your mother. Passing by Sunoo as he received the cash with a swift motion in triumph. You and Heeseung are both too easy. He thought, suppressing the singular curve forming on his lips.

*

The restaurant thrives under your management. You silently thank your dad for teaching you these skills since you were little. Heeseung is currently working as a waiter (because you think he is still wonky at wrapping dumplings), busy tending to curious aunties with his charm. After your little heart to heart, you start to see him in a different light. The way his smile deepens as he is asked about his interests, the politeness seeping through his crinkled eyes when he excused himself and moved closer to you-wait what??

“You think I wouldn't notice you staring, flower?” You grimaced at the decor beside you, finding any mistake palpable in your surroundings, and ignoring the way your stomach fluttered at the nickname he just called you. Heeseung chuckled at your antics, finding you adorable.

“Staring? Hah! You’re so full of yourself, Heeseung.” Your false laughter echoed through the restaurant, turning a few heads from other workers before you threw them a glare to go back to work. “That was Jay and Jake’s moms. They were wondering how I’m doing.” You scrunch your eyebrows at his explanation. “Okay? I didn’t ask what you were doing, Lee.”

“Back to last name basis? You wound me, baby.” The bambi-eyed boy placed his hand on his chest, feigning a hurt look on his face. You rolled your eyes at him (and that ridiculous petname) before shoving him lightly. “Go back to work, employee.”

“On it, boss.” He replied, not forgetting to throw a wink at you before opting back to work. Fuck, what was he doing to you?

*

You’re pacing back and forth across your room, hands on your hips, and hair all disheveled. Chaewon laid comfortable on your mattress, elbows supporting her upper body as she watched your distressed state with amusement. “Yn, you’re going crazy.”

Tonight was an overdue girls night, meaning Chae is over at your house for the weekend. This day also marks the second last week of summer. That means one more week ‘till you are back to textbooks and exams. You groaned at the thought (and at Chaewon) before inching towards the window. Your eyes subconsciously reached the house across yours, revealing your beloved neighbor–shirtless–his ridiculously sculpted figure standing there on the other side of his window for the whole world (you) to see as he held what looked like shirts on his left hand and his phone on the right pressed on his ear as if he was calling someone.

“Uhm Yn, you’re gawking.” Your best friend peered behind you. Her hands on your shoulders as she took a peek of the sight before you. You hurriedly closed the blinds in reflex. “Damn okay, you don’t want me looking at your man. I’ll be respectful.” A sheepish smile kissed Chaewon’s face before turning her back on you and jumping back into bed.

“Chae, something is wrong with me.” You fall face flat to your bed, right beside your girlfriend. “Everytime I see him, I feel this weird feeling in my chest–and no it’s not the urge to pull out his hair.” You murmured, flipping your body to align with the ceiling before continuing. “Which is really weird because I used to always feel that way.” You pointed out, index finger up to enhance your stance. “But now everytime I see his face I just want to-want to-”

“Kiss him?” Chaewon’s smirk is glowing in her features, fully dripping with mischief. You sat up at her reply before turning your head towards your best friend, your expression shaped in disbelief. “Chaewon, what the hell.” You grab your nearest plushie–one that you stole from Taehyun’s best friend, HeuningKai–before (affectionately) beating the brown-eyed girl with it.

The sound of laughter filled the room like oxygen. “Yn, you can hit me all you want but you can’t deny it.” The raven haired girl said between her fits of giggle. “After that little apology session, you just want to kiss him pretty.” The wiggle of Chae’s brows urged you to throw the plushie right at her face. Your friend groaned at the impact before recovering as if it was nothing.

Suddenly, everything comes crashing down like an airplane with a failing engine. You paused abruptly, a huge thought bubble forming above your head. Fuck did you like him? Like, like–like him?? No, you can’t. You can’t be catching feelings with the boy you just made amends with a week ago. The boy you swore to hate since you were toddlers.

Chaewon read the expression on your face like an openbook before opting to sit across from you. “Yn, for what’s worth, he’s a really nice person. And he’s practically already family.” Her hands made their way to your shoulders. The feeling is familiar but different. Chaewon’s arms are lighter and more poised in contrast to Heeseung’s warm touch. Your head darted to your covered window, curiosity pooling in your heart at what he was doing and what he would think of this–of you.

“Imagine telling your family that you and Heeseung are a thing.” Your best friend started. “Auntie Lee and Auntie Kang are going to start jumping in glee and start preparing for your wedding with an eight week honeymoon plan to the Bahamas.” You rolled your eyes at Chae’s daydream. Though deep down, your heart swelled at the thought, offering a silent prayer as hope for the future.

“Ever since that day, he’s been, I don’t know, different.” Distress is evident in your sigh, storms of doubt clouding your thoughts. “Maybe I’m getting attached to him, I’m not sure. Maybe I’m spending too much time with that guy.” You place two hands on Chaewon’s shoulders before shaking her. “Chae, baby, loml, cleanse me, like right now.” Chaewon nodded at the request like a diligent soldier before shaking you with much more intensity.

“All cleansed now?” She asked, before stopping the vast movement. Your head is spinning, figuratively and literally, and you raised both of your thumbs toward the raven haired girl. “Fuck, I like him. I like Lee Heeseung.” You confessed against a pillow you found beside you, banging your head at the soft cushion before muffling your exasperated scream as Chaewon sat behind and patted your back in reassurance.

What a way to start girls' night.

*

Heeseung thinks you’re acting weird. You’ve been avoiding him lately–more than usual. Was it because he’s not improving with his dumpling wrapping skills? Or was it because that stunt Jake convinced him to pull, ending with him shirtless before his opened window across your own as he pretended to call someone, looking all important, while it was Jake on the other end, fully assuring him that this plan is foolproof. That it will make you go all drooling on him and finally fall in love.

The bambi-eyed boy mentally cursed at Jake. His plan definitely made you think Heeseung was some weirdo. Fuck, he just ruined all his chances with you and it’s all because of that stupid Austrilian.

Heeseung came true to his feelings one random night in the middle of a night ride with you. You both just finished closing up the shop, bidding farewell to your other workers before logging off for the night.

The boy noticed your tired demeanor, immediately slipping your hand in his before leading you to his bike. “What's the hurry, Hee?” You giggled softly at his antics, the sound speeding his drumming heart ever so slightly.

“Come on, I wanna show you something,” He unclasped your joint hand, and the warmth soon returned as he fixed your helmet on your head before adjusting his own.

Heeseung drives at a medium pace. Not too slow to bore you but also not too fast to risk your lives. The bambi-eyed boy passed your houses, earning a curious look from you. You watch as you exit the suburbs to a little road near the highway. The view from above was breathtaking, city lights cover the vast land like pieces of your lego city collection. You gasped at the beauty ahead of you. The dark haired boy stopped at the hook of the road, taking off his helmet and yours as his steps started inching towards the railings of the empty road.

You follow closely behind, basking on the beauty of the night. The city is still lively–it always is. A contrast to the sleeping stars that hung on the horizon, blinking in haze as humans are left to wonder from below.

Your hand is placed beside his on the railing. Gentle wind kissed the tip of your nose with grace, prompting you to close your eyes to enjoy the serene moment. “This is nice.” You whispered, releasing all the stress harboring on your shoulders and Heeseung hummed in agreement, his head turning in your direction.

The boy watched the sight before him with much intent. His focus shifted to the details of your skin, blurring the busy city’s whispers. Remnants of neon lights were reflected on your face below the moonlight. He noticed your lids fluttering before gazing at the stars above. “What a pretty view.”

Heeseung’s eyes remained on you, the city and sky distorted as he pinned his vision on you. “Yeah, it’s breathtaking.”

The two of you went home in comfortable silence. Your head slowly drowsing on his back before you fix your position to sit upright. Heeseung chuckled at your sleepy state before muttering, “You can sleep, flower. We’ll be home in no time.” His tone is soft on your ears and you hummed at him–too sleepy to voice a proper reply. And before you know it, two arms wrapped itself around Heeseung’s waist, prompting his heart to stop for a second before running at a faster pace. You settle comfortably behind him, your cheek pressed on his back as he drives with such carefulness and grace to your homes.

After returning to his own room, we wasted no time to call his closest friends, confiding to them about his newfound realization. He was in love with you, so badly.

*

Today was the day. The day where Heeseung is going to confront you. He’s tired of having to walk around eggshells around you, he wants to make things right, clear out any misunderstandings (and maybe confess if it all goes right). You texted him yesterday that you won't be needing a ride from him as you had to tend to other matters earlier than usual. As much as it disappointed him, he had no choice but to comply, not wanting to push past the boundaries you built.

Heeseung arrived at the restaurant much earlier than usual. He glanced at his watch, the time read 7:30. Seven fucking thirty. Gosh it was dawn for holiday mood Heeseung (even though it was 30 minutes earlier than his usual routine, BUT that was 30 minutes of sleeping wasted) The things he’d do for you. The boy sighed, fumbling with a copy of the key you gave him before.

He inserted the key towards the hole, turning it to the left in an attempt to unlock the door but failed in doing so. Heeseung paused before examining the handle, confusion glazing his features as his hand grabbed the knob before slowly pulling it down and opening the door with success.

What? Did you forget to lock the door before closing yesterday? No, he was sure you didn't. You were never that irresponsible. In fact you were probably never irresponsible at all. Did someone break in? There were no signs of force breaking in so that was not possible.

An echo of laughter rang through his ears, stopping Heeseung from his tracks. He peered his eyes at the sound that seemed to be coming from the kitchen. Slowly, the boy made his way towards the source, curiosity tugging his heart.

The kitchen light was on and through the window, Heeseung could perfectly see two people standing at the dumpling-making-table-thingy. His eyes widened at the revelation, there was you talking to another man beside you. He's seen him before, but he just can't quite place who. It’s one of those boys you hang around with. Soobin and Yeongjum? Whatever it was.

The boy squinted his eyes, trying to make out who exactly was this person beside you. A distraction to suppress the gnawing feeling pooling in his chest as another line of laughter escaped your lips.

His heart ached when your laugh settled on his mind. A pang of jealousy hit him across the face. You never laughed that much with him. Well maybe it was due to your past rivalry, but it's all gone now, right?

Well maybe he was wrong because your words proved him otherwise.

“By the way, Yn.” The man before you called out, prompting you to hum in reply. “How's everything, you know? With the Heeseung thing and all.”

“It's been really tiring. With school coming soon and everything, ugh.” You sighed, the crease in your eyebrows deepening and Heeseung felt the urge to kiss it away. Though he grounded himself at his position, still behind the walls as he listened to your conversation.

“I’ve been avoiding him lately, Junnie.” His ear perked up at your confession, subconsciously leaning in to hear you more clearly. Ah yeah, Yeonjun. That was his name.

“Why?” Yeonjun asked, confusion wrapping his tone as his hands skillfully wrapped the dumpling before him. Your lack of answer shifted Heeseung's focus to the ridiculously perfect dumpling sitting proudly on Yeonjun’s hand and how quickly he moves on to the next one, wrapping with such professionalism as if he's been folding dumplings since he was born.

Heeseung’s annoyance was cut short as he heard your answer. “I don't know. I just…don't want him to get the wrong idea.” Your voice is small, barely heard, but Heeseung could hear the words clearly.

You didn't want him to get the wrong idea. That was it, that was basically a rejection. You don't feel the same. The bambi eyed boy felt his heart sinking in his chest. The same organ weighs fifty thousand pounds heavier than it usually was, dragging him down with it.

“Anyway, you're driving to the concert, right?” You questioned, tone picking up ever so slightly.

Heeseung furrowed his eyebrows. Concert?

“Yeah, yeah, of course.” He heard Yeonjun reply. “You've worked so hard to earn these tickets, we’ll have the best time there together, Ynnie.”

The boy behind the kitchen window resisted the urge to scoff. So that's it? You agreed to mentor him for a stupid concert date? Jealousy was a drug and Heeseung dwelled in it with no hesitation. He ignored the way his heart clenched at the thought of losing you. Well, you were never his in the first place.

They boy left the restaurant in the same manner he went in but with more passive aggression. Taking the keys with him before driving off back to his house. Fuck this stupid mentoring shit and Fuck these stupid frelings.

You remained unaware of the tragedy that happened outside as you continued to focus on preparing the delicacy. “Yn, you have to tell him.” Yeonjun’s voice snapped you out of your thoughts. You still, knowing exactly what he meant, while hands are still moving–folding the dough as if it ran an automatic program. “I don't know, Junnie. What if he doesn't reciprocate my feelings?”

“He would be stupid not to.”

*

Yeonjun was right, you had to be true to your feelings. Your friend left after he finished helping you with the dumplings, leaving you alone amidst your thoughts as the workers arrived one by one. You watch by the front door carefully, eyes focused to find a certain bambi-eyed boy. Concern clouded your mind, the clock strikes nine and Heeseung has yet to make his appearance.

This was weird, he was never late (save the first day). Well maybe because you’ve been going here together for the past few days, but he was never late even at the beginning. Did something happen to him? “Sunoo, have you seen Heeseung?” You turned your head towards Sunoo behind the register, eyebrows furrowed in question. The boy shook his head in response and you ignored the way your heart sank.

You grab your phone from your pocket, muscle memory automatically hovering towards his contact. These past few days you and Heeseung’s been texting more often, and though you hate to admit it, the feeling made you giddy to the heart. Your fingers typed on the keypad in a swift move, texting a quick “where r u it’s late” and a “r u okay?” right after.

The boy in question was laid in his bed. Back against the mattress as he wallows in heartbreak songs all morning. The ping from his phone urged him to open the screen, his chest heaved heavily upon seeing your messages. Why do you care? He scoffed after reading the message mentally. Just let that Yeonjun replace him or something. Heeseung suppressed his impulsive thought to type that in and settled with a lame excuse instead. “not feeling well, won’t come today. sry." Before turning up the volume as Mr. Loverman comes to play.

You frowned at his reply, a worried expression taking over your features. “oh no :( get well soon hee.” Your fingers moved before you could control them. “rest up. I’ll come over after my shift.”

Heeseung widened his eyes as he read your reply, clearly not expecting your last statement. He quickly sat up, thinking of yet another lame excuse to avoid you seeing him. Fuck this was bad, his plan surely backfired on him. “U CANT! Uhm it’s infectious, don’t come near me or u’ll get sick.”

Infectious? What? Is Heeseung okay? You spent the whole week maybe even month with him lately, and whatever it is he caught, there’s probably a big change you’ve caught it too. “Did u get covid or smthn?” You typed in, concerned for yourself too slowly creeping in. It’s been years since the pandemic, you were even surprised it was still a thing. “does it mean I cld have it too? Shld i get tested? Yk what imma get tested rn.”

“It’s not covid!” His reply made you pause on your tracks. “It’s nthn srs, u don’t have to come. Js focus on the shop.”

“Will u return tmrw?” You questioned, no effort in containing your curiosity. “Idk, we’ll see.”

Yeah right, “we’ll see.” Heeseeung scoffed at his own text. He’ll see if he recovered from heartbreak enough to be able to see your stupidly beautiful face. The boy locked his phone before opting to throw it to his bed as he continued to blast to a thousand more sad songs. Fuck you and your perfect self. Why don’t you just go take care of Yeonjun when he’s sick of something.

*

Friday comes in a flash. The sun has set twice since Heeseung’s disappearance and he thinks two days are enough time to sulk and return to his current summer disposition. It was his last day here anyways. After this, school will return and you both will just pretend the other doesn't exist as usual.

He makes his way past the front doors, mind unfocused as he ventures inside the restaurant. His tired eyes met yours, and for one second Heeseung forgets everything he eavesdropped that morning. “Heeseung.” You called out, surprise laced on your tone, clearly not expecting his return after disappearing from the face of earth. The boy resisted the desire in his heart to just run and hug you until you suffocate. But the remnants of your voice that haunted him till this day pulled him back. “I’ve been avoiding him, Junnie. I don’t want him to get the wrong idea.”

Right, you don’t like him that way. He has to remind himself of that and drill it onto his brain. “Heeseung?” You draw closer at his silence. Your hand slowly made its way to his arm, touching the skin slightly before the boy nudged back, avoiding your grasp.

Oh.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s fine, whatever. I’ll just go to work now.”

You don’t know what’s going on, you don’t know what’s wrong. His tone is indifferent, cold, and weaved with a harsh emotion you can’t quite place. The boy passed by you, accidentally bumping your shoulder before starting his usual routine. You could almost hear your heart breaking in your chest, the feeling dragging you down as rain started to pour, the clouds diminishing the ray of sunlight left in your eyes and the sky.

*

The rest of the day is filled with awkward tension and forced professionalism. Heeseung is aware of his status in the restaurant so he maintained his poise. Though he can’t help but steal glances of you, managing the schedule and tending the customers with such light in your eyes, contrast to his gloomy vision. The pain in his heart is subduable but he hates it. It was stupid of him to fall for you in the first place. You were always there, not even 200 meters away from him everyday, yet why do you still remain so out of reach?

Yellow hue dissipates into serene blue, the stars finally waking up to light the dark night. Heeseung waits behind, leaning on his motorcycle as you close up for the day. This was it, his last shift and probably his last one-on-one interaction with you.

As much as Heeseung wants to avoid you right now, he doesn’t have the heart to make you walk back alone. After all the past two days has been enough.

The ride back home was quiet, awkward silence cut through the tension like knife slicing though a piece of room temperature butter. The boy stops in front of your driveway, waiting for you to remove your helmet before parking the bike in his garage.

“Thank you.” Your whisper graced his ear, your gaze finding him like a pirate longing for her lost treasure. “For the ride…and for everything.” Was what you said before turning your back on him and reaching towards your front door.

Heeseung was quick to return home, not forgetting to wipe the strain tear that escaped his right eye as he reached the comfort of his room. Gosh was he stupid.

*

“Babe, do you think Hoshi is going to notice me if I use this top or the other?” Chaewon stands in front of the full length mirror, opting two tops each on her left and right hand. The question rang pass through your ears, your focus all poured towards your window, gaze stuck on the glass panels across your own, his midnight blue curtains covering the interior, screaming at you like it held a “MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS” sign right on your face.

Your best friend turned her head towards you at your lack of reply, eyebrows furrowed as she noticed your current predicament. She was quick to move towards your window and closed the blinds, bursting the rain cloud forming above your head. “Yn, spill the beans.” Chaewon’s voice is serious and compelling, and just like that, words start spilling from your mouth. You told how gentle and considerate he’s become for the past week, the occasional night rides, the conversation that continued till midnight, the little notes you passed from your window, and the fact that he suddenly started to act cold and weird on you since Wednesday.

Chaewon listened with much intent, her hands moved quickly to wipe your damp cheeks as the tears fell without any warning. Well good thing you haven’t started your makeup. “You have to talk to him, baby.” She started, hands gentle on the crown of your head. “I’m going to beat him up for making you cry.” She whispered lowly, triggering a chuckle from your throat.

“How? All he does is avoid me. I don’t even know what I did wrong.”

The raven-haired girl hummed in response, the gears of her brain spinning. “Don't your families have a joint dinner together every last Sunday of the month?” You nodded slowly at her question, mind deliberately following where she was going. “That’s tomorrow, you’ll talk to him then. Steal him away after dinner or something.” She lifted up her arms to your shoulders before shaking them hard. “Let me cleanse you. For now, let's have fun, look at hot men dancing and doing fanservice. Forget ALL the drama.”

A chuckle escaped your lips as the light made its way back to your eyes. She’s right. Today you’re going to forget about Heeseung and that stupidly pretty face of his. Tonight you’re going to go to that SEVENTEEN concert and occupy your mind with Joshua Hong.

*

Family dinner is awkward as usual. Well for you and Heeseung, not for your parents and brother. Taehyun talking about something with your parents as you sat across the boy that’s been avoiding you. You dismissed the desire to look at his face because right now you are stuck in a perplexity. You don’t know if you want to punch him or you want to kiss him. Well you do know that you want to do it hard, either of the options doesn’t matter.

Your mothers left the dining room to prepare dessert and Heeseung excused himself to go to take something from his room. You took this as an opportunity, muttering “I need to go to the bathroom real quick.” before exiting the space to follow after him. Missing the way Taehun spoke to your dad and Heeseung’s. “50 bucks say that they’ll make out in his room.”

You sped towards the hall, taking his hand as you pulled him into his chambers. The bambi eyed boy felt like an intruder at his own living quarters, his eyes widened in shock, not expecting your actions. “Heeseung, let’s talk.” You start, voice sturdy and serious, cornering the boy before you with an arm beside his shoulder to block any escape route, his back pressing against the wooden door.

“What…what do you mean? Th-there’s nothing to talk about.” The boy grumbled, trying his best to not fluster under your gaze. Gosh why were you so close? Heeseung’s breath became shallow and quicker, the tips of his ears morphed into a crimson shade as he noticed your proximity.

Your eyes squinted at his sheepish reply. “Don’t act stupid, Lee. You’ve been avoiding me all of a sudden with like absolutely no reason!” A polished finger made its way to the dark-haired boy’s chest before he felt a light pressure at the contact. “You disappeared from the shop for two days–you’re welcome by the way for not telling our parents–and started acting like I don’t deserve your time or something.” You shove repeatedly at the same point, frustration swallowing you entirely and Heeseung? He just braced the impact like it was nothing to him.

Heeseung stilled as he waited for you to calm yourself, his gaze tenderly settled on you, in contrast to the emergency sirens that’s swarming his head like a busy ER hospital. Fuck, what was he gonna tell you? That he overheard you and Yeonjun and that he avoided you because he can’t handle a little jealousy and perhaps competition? Were you and Yeonjun even a thing? His mind is in scrambles and he can’t seem to get anything out.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to hurt you like that.” You peer towards the floorboards, features flushing scarlet as guilt wraps the previous emotion away. Your finger is still on his chest and before you can lower it down, a warm hand enveloped your knuckles. Chocolate colored iris melt into your own letting a thousand emotions seeping through like an overflowing glass of water akin to an eternal fountain. “Yn, let me explain everything.”

So he did and you let him. Heart echoing in sync against your ribcage, his hand not leaving yours anytime soon as he rubs soft circles. You almost melt in his touch. Keyword: almost. Gosh Yn were you that touch starved? Or did you really miss him that badly?

“I overheard your conversation with Yeonjun last Wednesday morning.” He confessed, thumb caressing your skin in a gentle motion. You can hear the gears of your brain spinning before wondering, “Last Wednesday…Yeonjun…What? It was like half past seven, how were you there? You said you were sick.”

“Yeah, let me continue first.” You nodded at his statement. “I wanted to, uhm I don’t know, like surprise you by going there early?” Heeseung paused, silently questioning his past self. “Oh, I also got curious why you didn’t want to ride together that morning.” The boy spontaneously added. “First when I entered I was confused why was the door unlocked but then I heard laughs–your laugh from the inside and I guess I wanted to know who made you laugh like that.”

You soaked his words like a sponge’s first contact with running water. The pattern of his thumb movements is still softly caressing your epidermis, offering you a peace of mind as you sink in his explanation. “Then I saw you with Yeonjun all comfortable and I got jealous. I realise you never smiled at me like that or laughed that much with me around. I got so jealous that I just couldn’t see you or I’ll burst in frustration.”

He stopped stroking your palm and instead squeezed it firmly before fidgeting it with both hands. “I also heard about the concert date. So I found out you mentored me for a month to get a concert date with another man. He must be pretty special, huh.” His movements went to halt and you hate how your heart seemed to ache for more–more of his touch.

“Yeonjun and I are just friends.” Your whisper is gentle upon his ears, the implication of another statement relieved his whole body. You’re still single. “He was helping out because he lost a bet and well he was damn good at wrapping dumplings too.” You chuckled, mind drifting to that particular moment and as if on cue, Junnie’s wise words echoed through your mind. You have to tell him how you feel, Yn.

“Yn I-”

“Heeseung-”

You both started simultaneously startling each other with the synchronisation. “You go first, Hee.”

“Are you sure? You can go-”

“You look like you need to get something out that badly.” You attempted to joke, lifting up the heavy mood that surrounds you like a thick fog.

Heeseung took a deep breath as he stepped closer towards you. His back is not leaned against the door anymore and his gaze is stuck on yours. “Yn I…I like you. Fuck, I love you, even, probably, I don’t know.” The boy pulled your still joint hands, lifting it up before kissing the skin in a gentle manner, one that leaves you yearning for more.

“But I want to…figure it out. With you, if you don’t mind.” Your connecting gaze doesn’t break. You breathe in his confession like a drug, addicted to the true sound of his heart. The light in his eyes dimmed at your lack of reply. But before he could turn away, a force pulled him down from the nape of his neck as warm lips pressed against his own, soft but also fierce, not lacking of passion. Almost as if you’ve been waiting to do this.

The boy doesn’t wait to reciprocate, one of his hands slithered on your waist like it was meant to be there as the other cups your cheek, angling it sideways to deepen the kiss. You could feel it, all the raw emotion rushing through the action. And right now, this is all that matters. His lips are gentle on yours, moving with such care like you were the most precious thing in his possession. Years of tension and harbored feelings melted into the kiss, you pulled him even closer to you, like you can’t handle any remaining distance between you.

Heavy breaths echoed across the room as your faces deepened into five shades of maroon, your past actions finally settling into you. You couldn’t believe it. You just kissed Lee Heeseung. And he kissed you back. If you were to tell this moment to your five year old self, you swore she was gonna punch you in the face for having Heeseung’s cooties.

“So…uhm, I like you too?” You sheepishly smiled, still enveloped in his embrace. The warmth excluding him started to feel like home.

The boy before you mirrored your smile before quickly pecking your lips. You both laughed at the carefree moment. Finally after a decade and two years of constant fighting and suppressed feelings, you both came true to another.

“Come and give me another kiss, girlfriend.” Heeseung felt the corner of his mouth curling up, eyeing his love. The newfound status rolled out of his tongue like it was second nature, like he had practiced it a couple hundred times before.

The butterflies swarming your stomach still continued to linger and even increased tenfold. The tips of your ears showcasing the color of your favorite fruit–strawberries. But instead of melting into a mush (like you would prefer to tbh), you hummed in thought, leaning backwards with his hands wrapped on your waist supporting your back before replying, “Girlfriend?” Your eyebrow shot up. “Maybe after one date, then I’ll consider.”

Heeseung harbored no other emotion in his gaze rather than one reeking of amusement and love as he kissed the tip of your nose, amplifying the crimson shade of your facade.

"Okay, next Saturday, 7pm. Wear something nice, baby."

BONUS:

You and Heeseung made your way back to the dining table with flustered faces, (slightly) swollen lips, and a suspiciously good mood. Taehyun raised his eyebrows at the two older people before him, his gaze later shifted to the side, making eye contact with your dad and Hee’s before receiving two fifty bucks under the table.

Ah, what a good day. Now he just needs to collect the remaining money from Auntie Lee and your mom’s bet.

Kang Ha-yoon and Lee Hae-in watched as their children exchanged sheepish glances instead of muttering curses at the other, a surging proudness fills the air like oxygen, letting the two woman finally breathe in the air with no cut throat tension radiating from you and Heeseung.

They might’ve lost a hundred bucks and may or may not owe Taehyun a new PS5, but as awkward dinners turn into lively conversations (without any passive aggression lacing in your tones) the two women send knowing smiles to each other.

It seemed as if their plan had worked. A little too well maybe but hey, maybe they'll officially be family if this continues. After all, your mothers have always secretly fantasised about yours and Heeseung’s wedding without any knowledge that there is a bigger chance of it coming true.

The private pinterest board rotting in your mother’s account may be for good use after all.

Fin.

TAGLIST -> @jiwuu @xylatox @ttulixia @iboughtnjz @bubblytaetae @wintereals @manuosorioh @ddolleri

AERNX 2025

[indiaalphawhiskey]

Hello hello! I’m new here but not new to the fandom by any means but I’ll be truthful, I’ve been inactive for years. I saw one of your answers floating around Twitter so I decided to dust off ye ol’ tumblr and have a chat. My question is: does it ever just feel? Overwhelming? I firmly believed in H&L for years but it got to the point where we were analyzing tee shirts for hidden messages (this is post RBB/SBB saga) and celebrating when one of them wore blue or green or certain numbers and it just felt like I was participating in nitpicking. Like the fandom was literally nitpicking tiny things to validate our beliefs. Then I left. You’ve been here for years. It never feels overwhelming at times? Like “what are we doing analyzing tee shirt references or other minute things? Has it really come to this?” I think I struggle with guilt feeling like “are we actually listening to them? Do they want us to do this or are we way overstepping?” And I don’t know how to reconcile those feelings. Your thoughts?

Yeah, of course it feels overwhelming. There have been some particular points that come to mind where I was personally like 'dude, I'm out'.

But, what I'm getting from your ask is that you largely felt overwhelmed based on the content you were surrounded by, and not what was actually happening. And to that I say: a big portion of the fandom remaining somewhat fun is making sure you're getting content from the right people. In other words, people who know their shit -- who know facts, who will honestly differentiate between canon and headcanon, and who are also willing to adapt their understanding of who Larry are now versus who they were in the earlier years.

For example, the blogs I follow don't read into coded clothing anymore, unless it's in an overtly attention calling way, like at Glasto. And, even then, the call to read into Louis' shirt came from a series of events -- liking the tweet + H stunting -- and not just because he was wearing a shirt, you know what I mean?

Sure, the blogs I follow will make memes and jokes, but they know that the coded clothing heyday of Larry is very much over, the same way the era of RBB/SBB is also over.

Longevity in fandom (in any fandom, as I've learned) is down to finding people who can have measured and reality based conversations about things, and who know when to put headcanon and speculation to bed. I think a lot of the more measured takes on Larry have been buried by the Old Guard leaving, because I remember a time when we really really really cultivated a culture of vetting and fact-checking, and it feels like we've largely lost that.

A lot of us have forgotten the reason we got into Larry in the first place, which was to support two people who were asking us to see them and their love. Signaling to us. Fighting for themselves and needing our support to do it.

I think there are much fewer Larries now who hold true to that call, and are willing to adjust their expectations based on what we're reading from older Larry and what they need from us now. Many more people would now prefer to treat this like a huge game of Come Out Clue and then will throw tantrums when they're no closer to "winning" than they were a year ago.

And yeah, if those are the people you're seeing content from, then I'm not surprised it took a toll on you.

[22ayla21]

Hi, I was wondering if you could do a Dan Heng x reader family headcanons or fic? I know in one post you said that, due to Dan Heng's lore and such, he couldn't biologically have a kid, but can maybe adopt or maybe have an inseminated baby, like either by a sperm donor or a person they know and trust? Either way, I just think he would be a good dad and have cute but funny shenanigans, also be a giant bookworm and read the kid stories and such. Also would be a little protective of both his kid and wife.

Under the Dragon's Wing

Trying to leave his past behind, Dan Heng found on the Astral Express not just a home, but also a family: a beloved woman and an adopted son.

From Author: In this fic, I've combined three requests. Screenshots of the other two will be below.

Life aboard the Astral Express was always about movement. Planets whizzed by the windows, Dan Heng delved into new data in the archives, March 7 incessantly clicked her camera, capturing another adventure, Pom-Pom habitually grumbled at Caelus, and Welt and Himeko discussed the route, knowing that every journey changed them. No one could have imagined that one day the Express would become not just a means of transport, but a true home—warm, full of children’s laughter and whispered bedtime stories.

It didn't happen immediately.

They found the boy on a forgotten planet. A dusty, abandoned orphanage where children were more like numbers in reports than living souls. Dan Heng's beloved was the first to notice him. He sat in a corner, clutching a ragged doll, of which only half remained. Dark eyes meticulously followed every movement, but he didn't cry. He didn't call out. He just… watched. Silently, as if he had long understood there was no one to call.

"Name?" The caretaker merely shrugged. "No one gave him one. He… just exists. Has been silent since he was found. Strange, not like the others. As if he understood too much, even before he learned to speak."

The boy sat, huddled, as if trying to become invisible. His thin fingers clutched an old, barely-holding-together doll—the last remnant of something that could once have been called "care." His eyes—large, dark, terrifyingly adult for a child—met Dan Heng's.

And in that moment, time stood still.

Not a single muscle twitched on Dan Heng's face, but inside, everything clenched. His heart, accustomed to restraint, was squeezed by pain and anger. Not fiery anger—no. This was a cold, conscious anger. The kind that makes you make decisions that change destinies.

He approached slowly, without haste, and knelt down. His voice was quiet, but firm, like a promise carved in stone: "I am Dan Heng. And this is my beloved."

He extended his hand. Not intrusively. Just… openly. "You are not alone. Do you want to come with us? Home?"

The boy remained silent. His eyes didn't waver, but something flickered in them—a tiny spark, a faint glimmer of hope. His lips trembled slightly, and his fingers, clutching the doll until his knuckles ached, slowly unclasped. The doll slipped and fell silently to the floor.

He didn't say a word. He simply reached forward and placed his tiny hand in Dan Heng's large, warm hand, and then in his woman's hand.

The answer was clearer than words.

The adoption process took time. The Express crew, upon learning of their decision, didn't ask a single unnecessary question—only offered support, only warmth. Welt and Himeko helped with the legal nuances, and March 7 immediately began brainstorming ideas for decorating the room.

The boy's room appeared next to theirs—with built-in lighting, soft panels, children's toys, and a bookshelf that Dan Heng personally began filling. He sought out the best editions of fairy tales—from Luofu, Jarilo-VI, and even rare translations from the languages of forgotten civilizations.

It wasn't easy for them.

At first, the boy, whom they named Yang Ming, didn't speak. He rarely ate, often woke up at night, and didn't trust easily. He was especially afraid of loud voices. Dan Heng and his beloved, though accustomed to difficulties, found themselves facing a new challenge—parenthood. The responsibility was different, almost sacred.

Initially, Dan Heng was afraid to touch the boy. Not because he didn't want to, but because… he didn't believe he could give enough warmth. But the child, despite everything, reached out to him himself.

"Are you a dragon?" he whispered one day, burying his face in his father's shoulder.

"Yes," he replied, and gently ran his fingers through his hair. "But first of all, I am your dad."

From that day on, Yang Ming would only fall asleep in Dan Heng's embrace, demanding that he read him stories. His favorite was the ancient tale of the Azure Dragon. The boy asked him to tell it again and again, and each time he looked at Dan Heng with admiration, as if he himself were the hero from the legend.

Over time, the boy began to laugh. First shyly, then loudly. He ran around the carriage, chased March 7th and Pom-Pom, made paper ships with Caelus, and confidently asked Himeko for another pastry in the dining car. Welt (like a true grandpa) lectured him on history, and then cut out a cardboard model of the Express that he himself had drawn.

When mom and dad wanted to be alone—even just to drink tea and hug in silence—their friends happily took Yang Ming under their wing. No one grumbled. On the contrary, it seemed everyone felt part of something bigger. A family.

Dan Heng and his beloved themselves changed. Before, he could sit in the archives for hours, forgetting to eat or sleep. Now, time spent with his son became more important than any ancient manuscripts or data. He learned to comb hair, fix broken toys, and even once put on a show with cardboard decorations, where he himself played a mischievous wind spirit (March 7, giggling, filmed it from around the corner).

He didn't stop being a protector. But now his water, his wind, his spear—everything was for the sake of his family. For them, he would fight any monster, would return even from the farthest stars.

"Are you afraid of anything, Dad?" Yang Ming asked one day, sitting on his lap.

"Only one thing," Dan Heng replied, and looked at his beloved sitting beside him. "Losing what I love."

The boy hugged his neck tighter. "Me too."

One evening, when even more stars than usual were visible outside the Astral Express's windows, and the scent of cocoa hung in the air, the crew gathered around the large round table.

Yang Ming, covered in confetti and wearing a wreath of artificial flowers, danced joyfully, celebrating the anniversary of his "family day."

"This is better than a birthday!" he shouted happily. "Because on this day, I found Mom and Dad!"

And truly—it was the day his heart found a home.

And Dan Heng… he quietly watched his beloved and son, his gaze soft, full of tenderness and peace.

He knew he had made many mistakes. That in the past, he was one who brought storms. But here, in this present, he had become one who brought light.

A dragon reading bedtime stories to his son. A guardian protecting his family. A man who had found the right to be happy.

And though the stars changed outside the window, one shone brightest in his heart. The one called home.

[namgoonerr]

ɪ ᴄᴀɴ’ᴛ ғᴇᴇʟ ᴍʏ ғᴀᴄᴇ~ɴᴀᴍɢʏᴜ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

tw: smut, oral (m!recieving), mentions of drug use, swearing, mdni

You don’t know why you took them. To pretend you were someone you weren’t? To feel more or to feel less or just not feel at all. You don’t know why you made most the choices you did, yet you made them anyway.

To say you weren’t totally shocked when the games you entered turned out to be games of death would be the truth. You were a addict in extreme debt who could only keep a job for a bit over a month maximum, so when a man in a suit playing ddakji in a subway offered you a way to pay off all your debts you thought ‘what’s the worst that could happen.’

You somehow managed to make it through the first game with somewhat ease. When you were back in the bunk room you looked around, observed the others there with you. The people who stuck out the most to you were player 456 the guy who supposedly had played the games before though you thought he was full of shit, player 149 an older lady who seemed to know player 007, you could only assume they were related, and lastly player 230 and 124-230 being a ‘rapper’ but he just seemed stupid and 124 following him around like a toddler.

During the second game you somehow found yourself on a team with that “rapper” and toddler. While waiting for your teams turn you were sandwiched between players 380 and 124 who’s names you learned were Se-mi and nam-gyu. You were watching the other players who were up though you really were lost in thought, about what? You didn’t remember. Though you did remember glancing over and noticing colorful pills inside 230 or thanos cross. He was offering Nam-su some before you decided to speak up.

“Give me one.” You reach your hand over nam-gyu waiting for thanos to hand you one “Señorita I-" You roll your eyes not caring for the rest of his sentence and wanting the colorful pill "Look you either give me the pill or I freak out and get all of us killed" He stares at you before saying something and handing you one of the pills. You didnt know what he had said nor did you care.

after that you hung around them, not that you wanted allies or felt comfort in numbers, you felt comfort in drugs, which thanos provided. You also found the whole place boring without some conversation. After the third game se-mi and minsu voted to leave which clearly angered nam-gyu and thanos was annoyed but no where near as upset as nam-gyu. You voted to stay not for the fact nam-gyu was pressuring your whole group to vote stay, but because you had nothing to go to outside of the games expect the possibility of an eviction notice.

After the voting everything was truly a blur to you, granted you were tired and high, all you know is by the next day both thanos and se-mi were dead. You didn’t know what minsu or nam-gyu were doing and you truly didn’t care but you did care for the cross, which you had no clue of it’s where abouts.

“y/n, psst” you could hear someone talking to you but all you could think was where the cross might be. A high chance that it went with where ever the hell thanos body went, but there was a possibility somebody took it but who? Definitely not mi- “y/n.” your thoughts were interrupted and you turn to see nam-gyu standing beside your bunk, you noticed the little things but especially his dilated pupil-which could only mean he had the cross. “You have it?” you draw out and he raises a brow before laughing “Oh you mean the cross? Yeah, I have it, but I don’t plan on giving you anything out of it” he adds and that’s when you fully pay attention to him. Thanos had pills like none of the others you’d ever had, they were super strong and made everything better “W-what, no, come on nam-gyu I’ve done nothing to you” you whine, you didn’t want to have to beg him for them, but you were in the slightest tempted too “see you were the one of the group who really stood out, I almost found you interesting” you wondered what he meant but didn’t care enough to ask since you were more focused on the refusal to give you a pill. “Nam-gyu, please, I-I voted stay like you wanted, so come on” he rolls his eyes “you did that for yourself bitch” you turn your full body to face him. “Nam-gyu please I’ll do anything” that seemed to work, he thinks for a minute before his voice got lower “While everyone lines up for food, come to the bathroom” you were confused, taken back a bit before realizing what he meant as he walked off

You weren’t into nam-gyu though you didn’t find him ugly by no means, and without one of those pills before the game you were done for, so was fucking nam-gyu in the bathroom in exchange for a pill really so bad? As you walk past the lines for food you walk to the bathroom, not thinking about what was about to happen but about the cross and what was in it.

After entering the bathroom it was a matter of seconds before you found yourself on your knees taking his tip in his mouth and in one swift thrust you’re gagging on his length. “Who would’ve thought of all people you’d be on the bathroom floor taking me” you roll your eyes before gagging a bit as he sets his pace. You glance up at him seeing the cross around his neck. He quickens the pace tossing his head back and grunting before he glances down at you. “Fuck-” you feel the tears forming in your eyes as you take his length down your throat before hearing his groan before feeling the warm white liquid fill your mouth before he slowly pulls his dick from your mouth before you hesitantly swallow every drop and watch as he pulls up his boxers and the green tracksuit pants before you speak up “uh the pill?” he looks at you before opening the cross and handing the pill over and walking out.

a/n: first time writing smut not my proudest work and lowk rushed

[jester-nonconforming]

at first i was like “oh, i wish the short showed Blitz and Loona interacting more,” but the more i think about it, the more i feel like them *not* interacting informs us about their relationship. they had all this time while Mr. Wrigglers was saying goodbye to everyone, but Loona is on her phone and Blitz is just sitting around bored. Blitz really *wants* to hang out with her, and he spends a lot of his daily life around her, but he seemingly still has no idea how to actually *engage*.

and this is a problem in all of Blitz’s relationships—he doesn’t feel secure enough to just ask people to spend time with him, so he either makes everything sexual (which he obviously wouldn’t do with Loona) or he focuses on what he can give them (money for their jobs, driving them places, cooking them food, protecting them from harm, etc). he’s gotten better about focusing less on sex as he becomes a bit more secure in his friendships w/ Stolas, M&M, and Fizz, but he still really relies on that other coping mechanism of “here let me do these things for you and in return you won’t leave when i talk about horses for an hour”.

so in a case like this, where he IS just trying to reach out to Loona (which is a lot more vulnerable for him than i think he’d admit) and the plans change in any way, he falters. he’s completely stuck on his original idea for the day and he can’t get out of that mindset enough to listen to what she wants here.

it’s not that i think he doesn’t notice other people’s interests or wants or needs—he definitely does, at least when he’s not clouded by jealousy or other emotions—i think he just does not know how to have a conversation that isn’t focused on himself. and i don’t mean that in an asshole way, i mean it in a “ADHD kid who never learned how to communicate” way. that’s why his relationship with Moxxie works in some ways, because Moxxie and Blitz are both people who will just talk about their interests without prompting (and yes this is a very neurodivergent type of friendship lol). and with Millie he can talk about their shared interests, or just play games, because him and Millie are both more physical people. and with Stolas, Blitz can be the center of attention and Stolas *prefers* it that way. but with Loona being closed off, he just doesn’t really know how to reach her?

he also tends to be really invasive with his friends (again, he’s getting better at it, but still), but he really tries to give her privacy. at least, we’ve never seen him go into her room or ask what she’s doing on her phone. which is a VERY good thing that probably allows her to feel way more comfortable around him. but it doesn’t give him a lot to work with, and i don’t think he realizes that he could just ask her questions about her interests, or would even know where to start (honestly, idk if i would either, that’s a hard thing to do when someone isn’t giving you much to work with).

and all this doesn’t mean Blitz and Loona’s relationship is “bad” or that they don’t love each other. in fact, I think Loona being comfortable with just existing in the same space as Blitz, rolling her eyes at his antics, finding him kind of annoying and embarrassing but trusting that he’ll always be there and relying on him—that’s all pretty typical “teenager with her father” behavior, and despite being an adult, Loona is still working through a lot of teenage experiences. she might have seen Mr. Wrigglers as an idealized dream father figure, but even he couldn’t live up to that standard in the end. her relationship with Blitz reminds me a lot more of how i was with my parents when i was younger, tbh.

but for all the criticism people tend to give to Stolas and Via’s relationship… there’s actually a decent amount of evidence that, when Via isn’t mad at him, those two are better at just hanging out with each other? Stolas obviously misses the mark sometimes as she gets older, but every picture of them from the past shows them both grinning and clearly actively engaging with each other. he focuses on interests they have in common (like telling her about space, or giving her a guitar to further her interest in music), and Via is a lot more receptive to that (which i’m sure is partially because she grew up around those things).

i’m curious to see if Stolas being more quiet and patient will allow Loona to open up more. the short makes it clear she *wants* to open up at this point, and that’s definitely because of the time and effort Blitz has put in over the past 5 years. but after being unsafe for so long and then closed off for even longer, i don’t think she knows *how* to open up, or when is appropriate (because showing your demon form to a random human was a pretty impulsive and unwise decision. again, a rather teenage one). i think it would be cool to see how as much as Blitz can teach Stolas about reaching out to Via, Stolas might be able to teach Blitz some things about connecting with Loona as well.

[virtualcryptz]

House MD characters with... BPD reader.

characters: allison cameron, eric foreman, gregory house, james wilson, robert chase

tws: self-destructive behaviour (binge eating, drug abuse, suicide attempts, self harm), enabling, vague description of manic episodes.

A/N: written at like 4am pls treat me kindly <3 house is slightly toxic but its accurate imo so cope!! tried to refer to a broader spectrum, including things i dont experience, so sorry if it's not all 100% accurate :C

Allison Cameron

Definitely one of the more understanding of the OGs.

Very big on communication puts a lot of effort into being completely open. Never wants to make you feel like you've been pushed aside.

Finds it kinda hard to move on from splits, but does get that, 99% of the time, you don't mean what you're saying. Still takes it to heart, though.

Will happily sit there and wait for you to come down and be ready to talk.

Worries a lot when you're manic. She doesn't want to infantalise you but she can be a little bit overbearing.

Non-judgemental when it comes to self harm. Just cleans up however necessary, sits with you and reassures you.

She does push you to stop self harming, but also realises it can be very addictive for most people.

She finds it quite hard to accept when you do something bad during episodes, but often excuses it and pushes blame onto whatever the trigger was. She's not that bothered about apologising tbh.

Eric Foreman

Struggles a lot, especially at first.

He isn't great with empathy, so it's hard for him to really understand, especially since you're considerably more emotional than he is.

After a while, he at least learns what you need from him, and he gets into the habit of reassuring you whenever you fight.

"I am mad, but that doesn't mean I hate you or I'm leaving you. We'll work it out."

After the first few splits aimed at him, he does stop taking it personally, but will understandably get annoyed if you refuse to apologise.

He takes note of any uncharacteristic behaviour - he hates to see you going down that slope.

Especially notices overindulgence in drugs, from everything with his brother. Overreacts if you end up doing any, especially if you spend a lot of money. It gets very heated, very quickly.

Good at grounding during dissociative episodes. Stays with you as long as you need him. He has little to no problem with missing work or showing up late for you.

Gregory House

Probably does a DDX on you when he notices any symptoms you display. He knew before you told him. Hell, his whole team knew before you told him!

That, and if you're diagnosed, he's probably gone digging around your records. Furthermore, if you are formally diagnosed, he does a LOT to make sure you don't have to deal with any biases.

He's honestly not great. Let's be real. But he does try, which is more than you can say about what he does for the others.

He's aware that the amount of time he spends with Wilson can be triggering for abandonment. But he's also pretty shit at reassuring you. So he brings you along to a lot of hangouts :]

Short of having his eyes on you 24/7, he never knows what to do when you're manic. He can make as many sarcastic jokes and backhanded comments as he wants it doesn't make him any less anxious.

Projects a lot of his own issues onto you, but amplifies it iykwim? Assumes that something that upsets him could trigger something serious with you.

He is possibly the worst person to split on. When you go low, he goes lower. Disagreements turn into shouting matches quickly and usually end in meltdowns.

You are one of the few people he'll actually apologise to you. Not just because he cares more, but also because there's a lot less that can go unsaid. He can guess that Cuddy and Wilson understand through his actions that he's sorry, it's less of a gamble he wants to take with you.

James Wilson

The MOST forgiving out of all of them.

The only downside is that, like he is with House, he is an enabler. He just can't find the line.

When you're splitting, he honestly just sits there and takes it.

Also never expects an apology. Would probably let you get away with using it as an excuse for poor behaviour, if you ever did.

That said, he does get that you can't really help a lot of it.

When it comes to self destruction, he's always focussed on making sure you're okay. Nothing else seems to matter in the moment, even if you've hurt him in the process.

I mean, he's a head of department in a hospital. reckless spending isn't too much of an issue. If need be, he's more than happy to use his status to get you better care.

However, as mentioned above, he does enable. He doesn't encourage it but rarely pushes you to quit more risky vices.

One of the few that would seriously push you to seek help. Very aware that BPD can be manageable, so long as there's proper help.

Also does what he can to get you medicated if that's something you're seeking out.

Robert Chase

He's not perfect, but he knows what it's like to feel alone and abandoned.

Very empathetic - he tells you he's here for you as many times as you need to hear it.

Incredibly worried about the idea of you making a suicide attempt - if it happens once he gets a little paranoid about it. If he wakes up in the night and you're not there, he panics.

He knows that splits aren't something either of you can really help, but it's tough. He tries not to leave you alone during episodes he's also not gonna sit there and take it.

Kind of mocks your delusions. It's well-intentioned but it can make it harder to be open about.

He's pretty used to being snapped at, from both family and work, so he mostly takes it in his stride.

That being said, he can usually tell when the shouting and hostility is coming from a place of self-sabotage, for the sake of burning bridges.

Overall, quite the worrier. Doesn't want to bombard you about it, but he picks up on most changes in demeanour and sort of notes it down for later. Just in case.

[scrapyardboyfriends]

Episode Thoughts…

Any other non uk people having trouble finding the episode on daily motion today? In any case, I haven’t seen all of it yet but I have seen the Robert scenes.

Did he wear three different tshirts today? Haha. I suppose at least tshirts are less expense than his jacket habit. Also I enjoyed them. I’ll take casual Robert for as long as we get him. It’s kind of nice.

I liked seeing him just hanging at the kitchen table by himself. Although clearly they shouldn’t leave him unsupervised. Haha.

I love him being able to complain that he’s doing all the work. And it actually being true. 🤣

Mack definitely needs to learn not to have shady meetings within earshot of Robert. Ross should really know better. Still waiting for Ross and Robert to have an actual scene together. Maybe tomorrow. Obviously for sure next week.

The scene with Moira was lovely. I really liked that. I did like the black coffee mention. I just need to seek him ordering an Americano from Nicola now please. But anyway, I really just like people commenting on how hard of a worker Robert is. I know manual labor was never his thing but he was always a hard worker when given the opportunity and this is no different.

I loved the bit of him talking about coming back and thinking he could just go right back to how it was and how he realized he couldn’t. And I liked Moira being nice and gentle with him a bit. Even the wedding mention.

Comparing him to Andy and John was very fun for his reactions. Haha. And it did open up an avenue for him to get information on John. I like that he’s slowly gathering what he can about him. First talking to Mack and now Moira. He just needs to keep talking to everyone and putting all of the pieces together since no one else is.

Robert making his first drug deal and just straight up admitting it was his first was very fun. And I love that the mayhem line was his. I really hope he does get this land back and is able to keep it if he wants it. I just want him to have a win.

Also I hope Mack is not too mad at him for this because I really need them to be friends. I mean if he buys that field then that would give Moira money which is what Mack wanted from the weed anyway. It’s just that Robert gets a little something for himself in the deal, which is very Robert. He needs this.

(Also Aaron you better come around quick before Robert has conned the whole village again. He needs his impulse control back)

Oh and all of these Andy mentions are just really making me get my hopes up that he’ll be back too. 👀

[masked-daydream]

DATE EVERYTHING! AU

Opposite AU

House!Reader x Human!Dateables

Skylar Specs & House!Reader

Part 1, Part 2

You are a House

More Specifically the Personification of a beautiful two-story house surrounded by nature and in a beautiful neighborhood.

Despite you being a beautiful spacious house, You had the unfortunate luck on becoming a rentable house.

Yes that's right, despite being a house originally created to be a permanent home you are relegated into a home with temporary homeowners.

Which kinda upsets you a bit.

But in the end you had no choice, as you watch multiple people stay and leave you every week, maybe a few months if you're lucky.

Which is kinda your fault to begin with.

You see you were a bit picky on what type of people that can live in you.

You don't like people who don't respect you especially when they try to destroy some of your beloved objects in the house.

There was one time a human thought it'll be a good idea to change some parts on the bedroom, which it's fine for you until they started to remove the bed, as they started to disassemble some parts you feel your anger creeping through.

You were so angry that you may or not have decided to burst one of your lightbulbs. Which made the tenant scared and immediately ran outside out of fear.

This event literally got you a new reputation on being called 'Haunted'

You thought it is a bad thing, but it got you more people to live inside of you! Which is great unless they started to destroy some your objects and furniture which is a big no. no. for you.

But as time passes it gets tiring to watch as people don't respect your rule for yourself. And still destroy some of your beloved objects.

So you have decided to do a thing that no house personification has ever done (if they exist).

Is APPEAR to your tenants, and tell them about your one rule.

It all started with this one Pink-Haired girl, She was a new human living in your house.

You wanted to show yourself to her ever since she decided to let that flying drone thing destroy the glass part of your front door, and made no attempt to fix it which left you a bit frustrated.

Which led you to appear Infront of her and tell her your problem.

It goes as well as you expected: A lot of screaming, A lot of running then she immediately went to the door she broke part of.

But then you immediately willed it to shut close.

As she tries to open the door crying as she tries to push and turn the knob to open while begging you not to hurt her.

You had enough. And smacked her in the head. Which led her to stop crying and just look at you in shock.

You sigh, Making eye contact with the scared human.

"Listen I know you humans have a lot of things to do, BUT I appreciate it that you do not destroy some part of my house and just leave it broken. It makes me angry when you humans don't appreciate a good home when you live in it. I mean look at me compare to other houses" You gestured towards your interior.

"I am a catch with two-storys, an attic, a spacious bedrooms, a good kitchen... (more detailed explanations about all the parts of the house) you humans are lucky to live in me, so I appreciate it if you learn to respect your home!" You end your rant by pointing at the Pink-Haired human who's scared face turn into a shock of confusion.

"Wait...what?"

The pink-haired human managed to say, as she stared at what she thinks is the ghost that the previous tenant says it exist.

She didn't expect a very beautiful being with a presence that make you feel like you belong and feel safe.

You stared at the human as she stares at you back with wonder in they're eyes.

Well at least she's no longer scared

You thought to yourself, as you continue to talk to remind the human again about your rule.

"So please, Do not destroy some parts of my house or any objects for that matter. Or I will get really angry..." You glare a little on that last part. Letting your voice go a bit deep and echoey.

The human immediately nodded. Then you let out a breath of relief as you finally managed to convey your rule.

Then you reached out your arm to her helping her get up from the floor. She was a bit hesitant but still took your hand with a bit of shyness as she muttered.

"sorry..." She says voice being a bit low

You look at the human again in confusion

"hm? What did you just say?"

The human just straightens herself as she looked at you apologetically,

"Sorry for destroying your house (Mr/Mrs) Ghost." She says as she looks at you with her arms both on the sides then she looked down in guilt.

You sigh as you smile feeling her genuine apology. As you float towards her and took both her hands to yours as you stare towards her.

She moves her head back up again as she stares in shock at your closeness.

You chuckle a bit, "Well... At least you're apologetic and know what you'd done. But please don't call me a ghost I am a lot more different than that." You smile to the human, with her getting a bit flustered as the god-like being spoke to her.

Then she steels herself, "Wait then what are you?" She questions as she looks at you with curiosity.

You stared back eyes crinkle with amusement, oh how cute! You thought to yourself. Then you let go of her hands as you stepped back.

"Well allow me to introduce myself to my current homeowner." You then bow in a polite way feeling the human's eyes move across your presence. Then you smile as you looked back at her,

"I am your home, the house that you stand in and the place that you currently reside in. Where your secrets become my memories and where your memories will live in eternal"

Then time goes like a blur.

You and the human which you learned her name is Skylar develop quite of a relationship.

Which is you telling her to not overwork herself too hard or she might misuse or hurt herself with some of the objects accidentally, which happened a while ago when her tiredness got the better of her and led her to fall face-flat on the bedroom floor instead of the bed.

Which eventually led you to carry her to the bed as you tuck her in.

You were always curious on to why she always pushes herself to the limit of what her body can handle.

You eventually ask her and says that she needed the money from her job to buy food, necessities and other stuff. Which you realized are some things that humans need to live and be happy.

As you watched Skylar in rest as you settled her down to the bed. You have decided to have a new purpose for your human.

And is to try to help her be happy as long as she lived inside you!

You may not understand what your human truly needs, but you get the gist of it: Food, Water, Hygiene, Adequate Rest and Entertainment.

Which led you two to have a routine of basically trying/forcing her to do all 5. A lot of which involve you controlling some of the objects inside the house to force her into eating like immediately moving her chair, she's currently using to work into the kitchen so she will not miss breakfast.

Sometimes even wrapping her in some of the blankets so you can carry her to sleep or even just telling her to drink water and take a break for a few minutes.

As much as you try to give care to your human. Skylar felt as if you're thinking she was fragile and she feels as if you're babying her.

Which led you two to have an argument, with her putting her foot down and yell at you to stop treating her as if she was weak and can't take of herself.

Her tears filled with frustration slowly drips to her eyes as she glares at you expecting a response.

You just sigh, as you look at her worriedly.

"My dear Skylar, I know you're anger at me is justified. because for I've been treating you like as fragile like one of your glasses. But I just couldn't stand watching you break yourself too hard for work when you can appreciate your life more like other humans. I just...." You hesitate as you looked at her throughly remembering her thin frame, and weak body the moment she stepped foot to your house. Which you know it's not good for a human to be like. Then you continue.

"Can't. Let. You. Slave yourself like this when there is more to this house that you can do instead of just letting yourself wither away like this..." Your voice trembles as you speak. Feeling a bit frustrated to yourself that you let it get this far.

You feel Skylar move a hand towards you but you stop her as you continue.

"You're one of the humans who respected me. Ever since that day when I first appeared to you, I thought you would leave in fear or be angry that you have to follow my only rule. But you didn't! You stayed! You cared! and it's only fair that I try my best to make you feel happy like you did to me...but... I did it too far didn't I?" You asked as Skylar slowly nodded at you

then you feel a bit guilty as you remember some times where can a get a bit too persistent at her. Not caring of her frustrations.

"I'm sorry Skylar..." You then bow your head towards her. "I know I can be a bit too much b-but...i-!" You feel your face getting wet as you try to explain yourself but got confused as water appeared in your face. You touch it in confusion "W-what is this?" You say to yourself looking at your wet hand as more water flows down dripping from your face towards the floor.

You panic a bit thinking you accidentally burst one of your water pipes in the house because of your frustration

But Skylar immediately took your hand holding it gently as she took a handkerchief and dab it to your face.

"You're Crying, Silly!" Skylar exclaims as she looks at you her glare turning into fondness as she tries to console you.

Telling you that she understands where you're getting at. But she just doesn't want you to over do in taking care of her, since she feels bad about letting you take care her cause she feels like she didn't deserve your care for her.

You stopped her in her degradation. telling her that you only want to help her as long she lived inside of you. Wanting her to feel safe and comfortable.

Then by the end you two immediately hug each other whispering apologies and reassurances. As you both promise to understand each other more.

As Skylar promise to not neglect her needs and you to not baby her too much as she is an adult and can handle herself.

Then as time passes the relationship between the two of you gradually changes. As the two of became comfortable with each other.

You begin to talk to her about yourself no longer just talking to her about taking care of herself as Skylar also begins to talk about you about her life, her work, her hobbies and etc.

Then you also decided to talk about your former tenants. About how one of the nearly destroyed your wall or how one of them nearly burned down the kitchen. You both giggled as you reminisce and also asking her about humans are in general since you still don't understand somethings since you just mostly observed them in silence.

Then she talks to you about relationships. Which you listen attentively, She says that some humans need companionship whether it is just interactions from other people, familial relations, and also friendship.

In which she explained that she currently feels for you right now. As a friend. A best friend even

Which made you feel giddy inside like a bomb about to burst inside of you. As you learn about being friends with Skylar.

Then she talks about love and hate. Which a lot of humans seem to do.

Where Hate is a feeling where you dislike someone or something like the humans who don't respect your rule and always trashing the house.

A negative feeling that curls inside for you which led to humans being angry or just being disgusted or apathetic towards someone.

You promise to Skylar that you will not let hate become the basis of your friendship. Which she gladly agreed

And there's also Love which is a feeling of true Positivity, where you find someone that can make you feel truly happy.

Which confused you a little, isn't friendship already making people happy? Or even interaction with other humans or things already making people happy?

Then Skylar explains that love is something different it is a feeling that make you complete. Like a little hole inside of you that needs a perfect piece to fit inside. Which is more to what friendship or hate can offer.

You look at Skylar with confusion as to ask to why she feels towards you is friendship instead of love.

She explains that love takes time and care, As a person needs to learn more about the other person through conversation and contact and only if the other person let's the other in and do the same, they wil become and love and be the other half of each other.

"It is a beautiful thing that us people need and want. But it is also a fragile feeling that can either let a person be a better version of themselves or the worst. Either way Love is one of the reasons for us to live as humans so that we could have a better future." Skylar explains with a smile as she looks at you gouging your reaction about the new knowledge you learn.

Then you look at her "Have you ever been in love?" You question her as her face turns a bit red as she explains that back then that she had a few crushes here and there. But she is still looking for the one that could truly complete her heart.

Then as time goes you learn more about relationships and humans as you and Skylar converse

She says that humans need to get to know each other first through dating so that they're relationship evolves into love.

Which still confuses you for a bit then you remember as you stand outside in the roof of the house. You see other human's interaction towards each other. Some conversing with others, some conversing in a small rectangular thing which Skylar explains to you that is a 'Phone' which is a thing that humans use to entertain and communicate to other humans without interaction, and also some pairs of humans that sometimes smash their faces towards each other. Which shocks you a bit in to why they do such an odd thing.

Then as to answer your confusion you ask Skylar about it she just becomes flustered and says that is a thing that people do when they're in love and it is a very intimate thing to do.

She shows you a video to her phone about the thing known as a "Kiss" which grosses you out a little. Because why would humans need to interact with they're mouths when they could just interact through touch.

Which Skylar laughs nervously, and explains that a kiss is a very intimate act but a little more subtle than sex.

"What is 'Sex'?" You then ask her curiously as she mentioned it.

Her face turns full red as she immediately came up an excuse and ran away to another part the house.

You look to where she once stood and shrugged. Maybe she'll teach you in another day.

To be Continued....

[midnight---hollow]

MY LITTLE TWISTED PONIES!! Friendship is… not gonna happen with this group of little shits-

Last night i had the urge to draw twst characters and ponies thanks to @hopeluzromantic (whos sona is on here, next to malleus ^^) and despite never having drawn ponies before i did it anyways. Im quite proud of it i think they all look very silly. Clemot from pokemon is also there just ignore him i call him “freaky pony”

Under read more i yap about why i picked that type of pony and their cutie marks and stuff

Vee: earth pony blank flank but they have their shark features. They are a blank flank because their whole story in nrc is them finding their purpose in life. They spend their whole life following orders and not thinking for themself. Vee doesnt have hobbies, talents, skills, not even morals. Their time at nrc is to have that freedom and i imagine once they learn their passion it would probably changed to a paint brush or something architect-y since they decide to become an artist and architect at the end of their third year

Azul: unicorn, his tail has his tentacles and cutiemark is based on its a deals contract. His horn is swirled to imitate a tentacles aswell. I think he would use magic to hide his tentacles tail since he is def ashamed of it. That’s also why its all bunched up.

Malleus: allicorn. His flank is covered in thorns cus yknow thorn fairy briars type shift. Under the thorns is probably malificents wings less cus it makes sense for him more cus i thought its be cool. Maybe we can take it as his future being one of power buy also one where he must practice restraint. Dragon tail and two horns which means double the power. His wings are crow wings cus of his dad so no matter his coat color his wings will be black

Luz: alicorn. In the tefiti form flowers grow through his hair and wings. His cutie mark trails down his legs. When he becomes te ka his flowers wilt and his mark is instead replaced with soot and smoke to represent the withering. I also imagine his coat color turns into a sooty withering shade aswell when he is in teka form

Riddle: tiny ass unicorn. Riddle and rose height difference is even more than in og. Cutie mark is a half painted rose with a heart snd crown in the background. I wanted it to represent the queen of hesrts and her rules yes but moreso how riddle is more than just that perfect example (hence the badly painted rose which i think hed be ashamed of before ob) he probably painted over the rose or used illusion magic to give it the impression of being perfectly red. Despite being tiny and having a tiny horn he is still a very powerful unicorn

Rose: originally i made her an earth pony because yuu isn’t supposed to have powers yknow but i decided fuck that because in every other universe i put rose in she has bird imagery and she would def be a Pegasus. Flowy hair, still blind but she is slaying the house down and trying to keep riddle from burning the house down. Her coat is white but i imagine she still dyes her mane that pastel blue. Her cutie mark is ballet shoes with some roses and clouds in the back, ballet was and still is her passion, its what she wants to do even is she has given up on her dream. While i imagine she still ends up becoming a doctor/scientist in the end her true calling never leaves her and like in twst she probably still practices when she has time to

Jade: unicorn with eel features. They got freaky fish bits to them aswell cus these fuckers are never normal no matter the universe. His mark is based on his um shock the heart since its his um and i cant think of what his or floyds passions would be. how do you make a cutie mark that says “fuck around and find out”? I cant make it based of the family business either because lets be fr thatd probably be a gun. So i based their marks off their ums. Jades is based off that one bad ass shot where there is a spiral behind him as she says shock the heart and of course there would be lightning there aswell cus he is shocking them… in the heart

Floyd: pegasus eel freak. Same thing as jade but his mark represents bind the heart and hes got weird fin wings. I think hed find a way to fly tho idk how. Same thing with jade i based his off his um so his is a heart being wound up. I put bubbles around it because in the manga… he is drowning someone when he says it???? I dont get it either but slay. Both him and jade have a pattern of an eel wrapping around their cutiemark leg. While i got the sides wrong in the drawing, the leg would of course be on the side with their yellow eye and black strand of hair

Clemot: freaky horse that stands on two legs idk i just really wanted to draw him yesterday the demons where calling me and xyzs been my comfort show as of late

[frickyeahfanfic]

〉the enemy of my enemy

chapter 6 - collateral.

ethan hunt x f!reader 》 masterpost here - playlist here summary: You’re alone. Prague is the first real lead you’ve had on VANTAGE since everything went haywire—and you’re not about to let some fancy IMF agent ruin your shot. But when Ethan Hunt intercepts you mid-mission, everything spirals. word count: 3780 (hope it was worth the wait!) warnings: some violence. a/n: sorry there's a bit of jumping around this chapter. but i just wanted to get to the good stuff - i'm sure you all want to as well!!

MARSEILLE. IMF SAFEHOUSE VILLA,  07:17 HOURS.

Tomorrow will come too fast. But for now, you can rest.

Beep beep beep 

The repetitive noise gets louder and more annoying coming from the other room. You open your eyes cautiously and see light pouring in from the windows. It’s daytime. 

You sit up and look around the room, oblivious to your bedhead, trying to pinpoint that irritating noise. It’s coming from the bedroom where Benji’s setup was last night. 

The moment you rise to your feet, the beeping stops. You wander to the room, rubbing your eyes to wake them up faster. You’re greeted with Benji and Ethan leaning over the computer, both of them with the same, focused expression on their face. They’re both in different clothes, all ready for the day. How come they didn’t wake me up earlier?

You rap your knuckles on the opened door. “Mind if I join? What movie are you watching?”

Ethan looks up at you. “We found the next server node.”

“It’s in Japan,” Benji chimes in, still looking at the computer screen. 

“Oh, okay,” you say, voice somewhat croaky. “So what does that mean?” 

“We have flights to Tokyo in about an hour. We’ll fly separately since Benji suspects that we might be on VANTAGE’s radar now, after Marseille. If we’re split up, we’re harder to target. We’ll all be in communication with each other and meet up at a rendezvous point once we’re all there,” Ethan says, moving away from the table and grabbing a backpack off the ground. 

He tosses it to you, and you catch it, wobbling slightly. He raises an eyebrow.

“My ankle?” You huff. His lips tighten slightly. He must have forgotten.

“That’s your travel bag. Don’t lose it. Keep everything inside and zipped up in the airport. You’ll avoid chaos if you do,” Ethan says, nodding to the backpack. 

“What? Like it’s got a bomb inside- oh.” You zip open the bag and see a small pistol and some tech gear. “Okay. Got it.” You figure the fabric of the bag is made of some sort of anti-X-ray material. 

You tilt your head and smile. “You’re okay with all of this? All this… power?”

“It was my idea. We didn’t want to leave you defenseless, of course,” Benji says. 

Your smile fades from your face. “I can handle myself just fine without a gun…” You mutter under your breath. 

Ethan takes a few steps towards you, then stops just a couple feet away. “Which reminds me to ask, you’re not just a programmer. So how did you learn-”

“How to take care of things?” You cut him off. 

“That’s one way to put it,” Benji chuckles. 

Ethan gives you a look. 

“You’re right. I’m not just a programmer. I had training. A sort of ‘special forces’ private agency. It was tactical and technical. VANTAGE recruited straight out of the program, said that we’d be behind screens, writing code.”

You pause for a second, debating on how much to tell them. “Soon we were in the field, gathering intel, running ops, and accomplishing… ‘tasks’”.

Ethan glances at Benji, then back to you.“Tasks?” 

“Your version would call them missions. Ours didn’t come with much briefing. We were told to not ask questions. Just get the job done. I had been so caught up with trying to prove myself that I didn’t realize what I was enabling until it was too late.” 

Your lip quavers, not with fear, but out of anger. “They manipulated us. I lost friends to VANTAGE and became someone I barely recognised. I advanced through ranks and became close to one of the higher ups. He liked me because I was efficient, and could program anything he needed. I started piecing together the bigger picture. What VANTAGE was really planning. And it hit me what that would result in for the rest of the world. I couldn’t let that happen. Not on my watch.”

You look down at the floor, unaware that your hands were clenched into fists. “I didn’t want to be caught in the fallout either. I was a coward. I obliterated my file. They tried to kill me. So I ran. And I’ve been trying to stop them on my own ever since.” 

Benji rises to his feet. “They put a target on your back because you were the only one who could stop them, didn’t they?” 

You meet his gaze. “I know too much. More than I should’ve.” 

You turn to Ethan. “They trusted me. Gave me access most people would kill for. And I let them.”

Silence hangs through the air. You squint at Ethan. “Still think I shouldn’t have come back for you?” 

He looks at you carefully, and you brace yourself for a sharp reply. 

“No,” he says, voice lower than before. “You should’ve had backup a long time ago.” 

You’re surprised by the softness of his voice. And you realize how badly you needed to hear that. 

Someone who believes in you. 

You take a deep breath and sigh. “I’ve never been to Japan.”

The tension is still thick in the air, like everyone is still thinking about what you just said about your history with VANTAGE. Only after a few moments Benji speaks up. 

“It’s a beautiful country. But we don’t have a lot of IMF coverage there. We’ll have to be careful.” 

He glances down at the computer screen. “We’ll need to get the next credentials from the relay server there, cross match them with the routing code that we pulled earlier. Once we have the second node’s credentials, we can move to the final relay location and intercept the activation sequence.”

Benji shuts the computer. “The activation requires multiple nodes to fire in sync. But since we already captured the Marseille credentials, and we’ll hopefully get the Tokyo ones, I can spoof that node remotely from wherever we are when we find the last relay location.”

“Anything to be worried about?” You ask with a dry scoff. You’re already calculating the odds, and they’re not in your favor. 

“Everything.” Benji replies without missing a beat. ��

You nearly jump when Ethan puts a hand on your shoulder. “Let’s go. We’ve got flights to catch.” 

His presence is calm, but confident. It’s enough to pull you out of your spiral. Despite everything you’re gone through with him, he’s proven to be consistent, strong…

And maybe that’s what unsettles you the most out of all of this. How much you’re starting to rely on him. 

He leaves the room without another word. Benji busies himself packing the most critical pieces of tech. And for a moment, you just stand there, letting it all sink in.

Right now, you need Ethan Hunt. 

Although you may have kept him alive, he's the one holding you together now. And helping you take down VANTAGE. He believes you. You’re not fighting your past alone anymore. 

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗

“Enjoy the flight, remember, stay in the Shinsen station at Shibuya. Ethan will arrive shortly after you and find you, then I’ll meet you both at the safehouse. Stay low and out of trouble.” 

The three of you are at the terminal, and Benji hands you a boarding pass and a fake passport. 

“No promises,” you wink at them, and then head for security. 

“She’s a handful,” Benji huffs. Ethan watches you narrow-eyed as you disappear into the sea of people. It’s a huge risk, letting you go ahead. You could take a different flight, end up miles away from them. But he’s willing to take the risk. Something tells him that you’re going to stay loyal. 

Maybe it’s more hoping rather than knowing. 

“She’s a threat. But not to us anymore,” Ethan says back. 

Benji turns, surprised. “You’re sure?” His nervousness is apparent on his face. 

Ethan avoids facing him. “She’s not going to split. She thinks that she can’t do this without us. That’s enough surety for me.”

Benji nearly snorts. “You’re not wrong. She does need us. But I think you need her just as much.”

This gets his attention. Ethan faces him, jaw tense. “We happened to cross paths with her. We got lucky she chose to stay.”

Benji shrugs, letting it go with a small smirk. “If you say so.” 

Ethan doesn’t reply. His eyes are back on the terminal, analyzing, observant as always. But the way his gaze lingered on the crowd you disappeared into…

Perhaps Benji was onto something. 

TOKYO, JAPAN, 18:01 HOURS.

Tokyo was electric, different, and busy. You had no worries about staying hidden from any followers. By the time your flight landed and you got to Shibuya district, you were high on adrenaline, carefully watching for any trouble. Head down, backpack on tight, scanning each building, each face that passed yours. 

You wanted to leave the underground station and explore the neon city, but this wasn’t a vacation. There was no time to be a tourist now. And you had to be ready for Ethan’s arrival. 

You pulled a wallet out of the bag Benji had given you and found some cash. Traveling made you hungry. In the station, there’s small restaurants lined up, and you duck inside one, ordering some hot ramen. After the waiter brought your food, you downed it in minutes, leaving none of it to waste. Who knows when your next meal is going to be. 

As you start leaving the restaurant, someone grabs your arm from behind. 

“Hey! You shout, turning to see who the offender was. You sigh of relief, realizing it was Ethan. 

“Do you not know how to use a phone?” He lets go of your arm. 

“What? Oh, I-” You squeeze your eyes shut for a second. You hadn’t even taken it out of the backpack. You look back at him. “You got here quick. Also how did you find me?”

He ignores your questions. Those were all easily explained by the fact that he was an IMF agent. “Let’s hurry. Benji’s flight lands in half an hour. We don’t want to waste any time here, the more time we’re stagnant, the greater chance of VANTAGE closing in on our location. Benji suspects that because VANTAGE is already deep in some servers, it wouldn’t be difficult to track us down. We’ve covered our tracks well so far, but who knows.” 

You nod and follow him through the station. It takes about twenty minutes by subway and walking to get to the safehouse, a good distance from the busy hub of Tokyo.

Once inside, Ethan starts laying out gear and some weapons. You can’t help but notice how small the safehouse is, cramped, furniture all nearly touching each other. 

You awkwardly stand and watch, trying to figure out how to help. You approach him at the table he was working by, set your backpack down and grab a pistol. 

“Don’t touch anything.” Ethan mutters, pulling out a jacket from a tiny closet. 

You put the gun back down on the table, letting it hit just a little too hard. 

Ethan turns and glares at you. 

You throw your hands in the air. “Come on! If you want me to be part of the team, then act like it! You’re acting like you have to babysit me or something,” you say, annoyed. “I thought you were starting to trust me,” you add under your breath. 

In a moment, Ethan steps forward, and he’s closer than you expected. His green eyes are sharp, unreadable, and there’s something else behind them. Not anger. Not exactly.

“I do trust you.” 

Your lips part, but no words come out. 

“But don’t make me regret it.” 

You’re frozen to the ground. His gaze lingers on yours like he’s waiting to see if you’ll push back or step away. You do neither. 

Without warning, the door swings open. 

Benji strolls in, completely oblivious. “Okay, good news, no one followed me. Bad news, I lost my spare change to a vending machine-”

He stops mid-sentence when he sees the space between you and Ethan. The tension is high. And you’re both suddenly pretending to look anywhere but at each other. 

“Did I… miss something?” Benji blinks, a bag of chips crinkling in his hand. 

You step backwards, hitting the wall behind you. “Ugh, this room is tiny!” you complain, trying to diffuse the moment. 

Benji says something quietly to himself and shrugs. 

Ethan goes back to prepping gear. You turn to Benji and watch as he shuffles around the room, putting his bag and chips down. He grabs a laptop out of his bag and gets straight to business. 

“So. The node is tucked away in a high-rise data center, sixty floors, just north of Shibuya. Ethan will go in as a third-party auditor doing a spot check on their physical security protocols, and you’ll get in through the roof. Is your ankle okay?”

“The roof? Do you expect me to fly?” You ask incredulously. 

Benji looks up and smiles at you. “In a way, yes. The building is a bit smaller than a few of the ones next to it, so you’ll get to the top of a neighboring building, use a wire, and just zip over to the roof.” 

You turn to Ethan, then back to Benji. “Can’t he do that? I thought you both wanted me off the ground.” 

Benji shakes his head. “Unfortunately, only authorized personnel with verified credentials can move freely through the lower floors. Ethan’s cover gives him access to most of the building, yours doesn’t. You’re the only one small enough to make the roof jump clean. Sorry. Besides, the zipline’s a fun ride. You’ll get to see more of Japan than either of us.”

“Fine. Roof access. Then what?”

“Then, you’ll make your way downstairs after planting an uplink. This will only give us access to the security personnel’s comms feed. On the 43rd floor is where the servers are. We’ll give you another drive that overrides the system and gets you the credentials again. Ethan will disable and keep the security systems offline so you can move around without getting caught. Unfortunately I can’t do much on the outside since they’re using a system I’ve never seen before, so you’ll have to wait for him to get in.”

You fold your arms. “Then we get out.”

Benji nods stiffly. “Hopefully it won’t be as bad as the last time. I’ll mute the security guards’ comms with the uplink so that they won’t be able to talk to each other. You’ll go back the way you came, though to a shorter building, and Ethan will leave the way he came through.”

Ethan clicks a magazine into a pistol. “Any questions?”

You quirk an eyebrow. “When do we start?” 

He drops the pistol into a holster and tosses it towards you. “Right now.”

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗

The Tokyo air seemed to have cooled down a bit in the middle of the night. Or maybe it’s just because you’re on top of an extremely tall building in the city, and the wind is whipping through your clothes. 

Is now a bad time to say you’re afraid of heights?

“Benji, talk to me,” you say, crouched down on the roof, a grappling hook in your right hand. “How in the world am I supposed to shoot this straight?” 

“You’ve literally killed people, you know how to aim,” Benji’s voice crackles over your earpiece. 

You look at the grappling hook, eyes trailing on the thin metal wire behind you that you secured to a small ladder. 

“I know, this is just… different.”

There’s a pause, then Benji’s sweet British voice comes back on. 

“Ethan’s just about to head in. It’s time. Just aim for the middle of the roof and shoot. It just needs to catch onto the ledge, which there’s plenty of.”

“I’m entering the building,” Ethan’s voice says lowly. Your stomach turns. You’re not used to hearing his voice on comms. 

You shake your head, vision going somewhat blurry out of nerves. “Here goes nothing.”

You press the trigger, hook shoots out, and the wire follows. Within seconds it’s attached to the target roof. 

“Perfect. Now, attach yourself to the wire, and jump.”

You clip on your small hardness to the wire like you had practiced a few times, and stand on the edge of your current building. You try to not look down, but you can’t help it. 

You’re certainly seeing much more Japan than the rest of the team, but not in the way you’d like. 

Holding your breath, you jump. The hardness cinches tight around your hips and suddenly you’re flying through the air. The neighboring building gets closer, faster than you anticipated, and suddenly you’re crashing onto the roof. 

“Ow.”

“You alright?” Benji asks. 

You quickly get on your feet and brush yourself off, ignoring the slight pain in your ankle. 

“Never better.”

“Perfect. There’s a vent just a few meters to your left. Open it and get in.”

You follow his instructions as they come through. 

“Alright inside, place the uplink. Okay, turn it on. Now move forward till you can turn right. There should be a vent opening. But wait. We need Ethan’s signal.”

You linger in the vents for what seems like an eternity, then Ethan’s voice comes through. 

“It’s all offline. Continue.”

Exhaling, you open the vent with a small tool. You drop down effortlessly, making sure to not put too much pressure on your recovering ankle. 

“Now what?” You whisper. 

“Find the elevator, it should just be down the hall,” Benji replies. 

Thankfully, there’s no security personnel on the top floor. You find the elevator and it opens without you pushing any buttons. Ethan must be controlling it remotely.

You step inside and the doors shut and quickly descend to the 43rd floor. Your heart is nearly beating out of your chest as you recall the last breach, and how you had to save Ethan from being killed by guards. 

You swallow dryly. You’ve made it so far. Imagining doing all of this alone genuinely terrifies you. 

Don’t die, Ethan. I need you. 

Hand ghosted over your pistol, you step out onto the server floor room. It’s dim lighting, but you can make out the rows of server racks, and you head towards the last one, walking briskly now. The breach flash drive is hung around your neck with a small chain. Just like clockwork, you open the racks, take the chain off, and stick the drive into a port. 

Ten armed men burst into the room. 

They’re shouting in Japanese, and from what you can tell, they’re angry. One starts shooting in your direction, and you duck down, hiding behind a server rack. 

“It’s an ambush!” You scream into your comms. 

“Get out of there quick!” 

You shoot a guard that comes around the corner and he falls. “That’s a great idea!” 

“They must have known we were coming. Or something didn’t go right when Ethan shut the system down.”

“I didn’t make a mistake,” Ethan huffs. He’s out of breath, but why? 

I’m gonna die! How am I supposed to take them all down?

Thinking fast, you get up and run to the other side of the room. If you could start a small fire in one of the server racks, it would blow up. You open a server rack and wait till the guards get closer to you, then, 

BOOM.

With one shot from your gun into the rack’s wires, it explodes, sending several men, and yourself backwards. Sirens start blaring and the overhead sprinklers blast on. It’s a mess of fire, smoke, water, and bullets. 

You run back towards the main rack where you left the drive. To your dismay, it’s gone. 

“No! I lost it-”

You’re cut off by more gunshots ripping through the air. You turn around and shoot down two more men, ducking in the process to avoid any fire. Your breath is ragged from the smoke in the air and it’s getting harder to breath. The fire you set is spreading quickly to the other server racks, lighting the room in an orange glow that flickers off the metal and blood. 

You hear more orders in from the guards to each other, and they’re getting closer to your hiding spot around a cable box. 

Suddenly- 

A pair of hands grabs you from behind.

You nearly react until a familiar voice speaks low and close to your ear. 

“Easy, it’s me.” 

Ethan. 

“What? How-?” You stammer.

He pulls you backwards, basically throwing you out of the way, then in a flash of grey and black tactical gear, he raises two guns. In two swift shots, he drops the closest threats to you, clean. 

You exhale sharply, somewhere between a laugh and sob. Relief floods your chest, but it’s not over yet. 

“You really know how to throw a party,” he shouts over the sprinklers, sirens, and incoherent shouting. 

“A little late, don’t you think?” You gasp. 

He looks at you, checking for blood. “I’m just fashionably late. I actually got here three minutes ago.” 

We’ll look at who's getting some sass. You must be rubbing off on him. 

“You could have told me!” 

“I just did. Come on, it’s not over yet, Benji’s rerouting the elevators,” he says as another burst of gunfire rains down. Ethan stays close, shielding you as your duck through the flaming corridor and reach the elevators just as they slide open. 

“Get in!” He shouts, beating you to the doors. 

You dive to make it inside, then-

BANG. A shot cracks the air. 

The pain is sharp and blinding. 

Your knees buckle and Ethan catches you just before you collapse to the ground.

He drags you into the elevator and hits the close button. Bullets slam into the metal as the doors shut.

“Benji!” Ethan barks into the comms, voice raw. “We need an exfil, now!”

The elevator lurches downwards. 

Ethan tears off his jacket and presses it into your side. You gasp, clutching his arm. 

“Look at me,” he breathes, voice thick with panic. “Just-just hold on, alright? Stay with me.” 

You’re trying to make out his face as stars dance across your vision, but for a split second you see a chain glinting on his neck. 

The drive. 

He already had it. 

Of course he did. 

Already done what you came here for. And yet…

He’s here. Holding you like losing you isn’t an option. 

Like you’re the most important part of the mission. 

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗

~ % TAGLIST: @sarahskywalker-amidala @mirrorballbb @angstylittleb1tch @allthespecificity @knowledgefulbutterfly @napplenapple @glittergellyric @solareclipse4 @sdrose93 @ninihunt @klriggs07 @theresirin @anima-patronos 

[the-daughter-of-a-wolf]

Some more 2 Old 2 Guard thoughts, having calmed down a little (but not a lot)

Spoilers galore, obviously!

Okay so I'm gonna sort this vaguely by character in hope of some semblance of cohesion. It's probably not gonna be that cohesive anyway because my thoughts bounce around a lot but ah well!

Andy & Quynh

Charlize Theron continues to be incredible, I really loved her performance in this movie.

Also the lesbian mullet. Woooweeee. That was hot.

I really liked the dynamic between Andy and Quynh. I had been really worried about how they would handle that, because obviously Quynh was going to be really angry, and possibly a li'l bit insane after what she's been through, and I wanted that to be explored but also obviously I was rooting for a reunion and forgiveness in the end. Their arc more or less gave me what I wanted. I feel like they could've gone deeper into Andy's experiences after losing Quynh and why she eventually stopped looking, because that can't have been easy, and if I were Quynh I would not have been satisfied with the explanations that were offered for that.

I do wish they hadn't returned Andy's immortality before Quynh even got a chance to learn about her mortality. I think it would've been juicier for Quynh to injure Andy and realise oh shit she's not healing, and have to grapple with losing the person that meant the most to her but also who she was really angry with, and also with having limited time to fix things between them. Either make them both mortal or leave it as just Andy, if you ask me.

The toxic yuri fight moments did give me life, though. And the beginnings of reconciliation towards the end! Those were lovely!! Honestly for the most part this plotline was a huge positive to me!

BUT on the flipside the return of Andy's immortality was a HUGE MISTAKE in my opinion. Really took the bottom out from under everything that was discussed at the end of the last movie and in the first half of this one. Having her grapple with losing her immortality means nothing if it can just be handed back to her! AND okay fine if they end up doing that like they did, THEN HAVE HER AND BOOKER DEAL WITH IT AND NOT JUST (presumably) KILL HIM RIGHT AWAY! Have Andy say "hey Booker, you're doing that thing again where you presume to know what I want with my life and immortality! Did we not talk about this last time! And actually maybe I didn't want my immortality back, which you would have known if you'd ASKED ME!" It steps on her agency so hard to do this, and that at least merits a fucking discussion!! Now they just never did anything with it. Because the movie didn't have an ending. Sigh.

Booker

I really really liked how they added Booker back into the squad. I think it was inevitable, and I very much like that Joe was the one to break first and reunite with him. I also think his conversations with Andy were really good, those were some of my favourite moments in the movie.

I also think the way Booker acted after learning about Nile's "destroyer" ability was very in line with his character, and incredibly well acted.

The scene where he sparred with Nile was also one of my favourites in this movie. It was incredibly juicy. Aside from the fact that I LOATHE the whole concept of "newest immortal can take away immortality and then you can pass it on to anyone you fucking like without their consent", Booker was the correct character to put in that situation.

But crucially I DON'T THINK IT SHOULD HAVE WORKED. I think Booker should've done all he did, fight Nile and then send Andy out to fight thinking she was immortal and himself out to die and THEN REALISE IT DIDN'T WORK. AND THEN THEY WOULD'VE HAD TO DEAL WITH THAT. How does Nile feel about Booker using her essentially to self-harm/kill himself? I would've liked to see that explored! How would Andy feel about the fact that Booker's trying to decide for her again and that despite everything they went through, he's still willing to hurt the others to end his own immortality? I WOULD'VE LIKED TO SEE THAT EXPLORED. (OR, and this would've made less sense for his character, but HAVE HIM NOT BE ABLE TO GO THROUGH WITH IT AFTER ALL! Like, he's like oh hell yeah gonna give up my immortality and give it to Andy and then realise he can't get himself to do it! That would've been interesting!) Instead he just martyrs himself like an idiot, and if we're to assume he's actually dead (well, either way because that third movie is NOT happening), these things will NEVER be explored! I'm truly so mad at the wasted potential here.

Joe & Nicky

I would've like to see more of them! Obviously! I'm biased! But I feel like they set up a lot of interesting things for them that never got explored. (Like most things. Because this movie was MISSING THE LAST QUARTER TO THIRD OF IT. AAUUGHHHHHHH.)

I liked some of their lighter, goofier moments, some not so much. The car chase felt a bit dumb and I didn't like the cartoony thumb and ankle gore, it was silly and gross. I did like their drunk antics, that was cute. I like that they get to be funny and weird sometimes! But I would've liked a bit more dimensions to them beyond that.

For example! I was honestly SO ON BOARD with the "oh I want to spend some time by myself" situation and the following Booker conflict! That shit was juicy! I want to explore their differences and disagreements as well as all the happy lovey stuff! But that didn't really go anywhere after the first discussion, which was a bummer. Obviously I don't want anything permanently detrimental to happen to my boys, but I want them to have complex inner lives of their own! I feel like they conveyed that so concisely and well in the first movie, with just few key moments of dialogue and acting, and here they were mostly relegated to the background and I was bummed about that.

The love declaration speech vol 2 was adorable and very touching, but because there was no follow-up to any of it (BECAUSE THE LAST ACT WAS MISSING), it ended up feeling a little tacked on. Like, okay foreboding sense that their time is coming to an end! Where's that going!! I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THAT!

Also not enough cuddling and no kissing. What's up with that!!

Nile

I am so frustrated about how little Nile got to do in this movie! Because it basically should've been her movie. And would've been, HAD THEY BOTHERED TO FINISH IT. I can't believe that in a movie mostly centered around Nile's role in the group and abilities, SHE NEVER GOT TO LEARN ABOUT HER ABILITIES. What a clown show.

First of all she shouldn't have that power to begin with, the whole concept was a load of crap. But if she had to have it, MAKE HER GRAPPLE WITH IT. How the dynamic between the group would immediately change. Are they gonna be careful around her and scared of her? Are they gonna want to use her powers to end their immortality? Does she get a choice? What about her own immortality? Is this not what the movie should have been about, if that element had to be introduced????

Also I'm annoyed that they brushed off that whole "hey, are you suddenly okay with all this excessive violence" thing. I'm glad it was brought up, but the fact that she was like "nah it's for the greater good, it's fine" did not feel in line with her character, or at least felt like something that should've been explored further. Like yes, I remember that in the last movie she came to the conclusion that the work they do is important enough to justify the violence, but honestly I feel like in this movie it really wasn't. Like okay, arm dealer bad, gotta kill him, fair enough. Gotta kill DOZENS AND DOZENS OF HIS STAFF AS WELL? How does that sit with the soul, I wonder. It felt gratuitous to me so I think it might've felt gratuitous to Nile as well. But nah who cares.

I would've liked more discussions about how Nile is settling into the immortal life in general.

But anyway Kiki Layne is hot as fuck and Nile is so cool and I love her <3

Tuah

idk it's really weird that he exists

I liked him fine as a character, but you can't just be adding random immortals willy-nilly like this! That really stepped on everything we thought we knew about how the immortals worked and who they were but okay then.

He should've just been a cool librarian dude, I wish they weren't all warriors!

He was cute and I liked his interactions with the main crew well enough. But again, the character existing is a big problem for the lore, so that kinda got in the way of my enjoyment.

Discord

Literally the biggest problem of this whole movie to me (aside from all the other stupid lore shit they changed).

There should not be an older immortal than Andy. And if there was, THEY SHOULD ALL KNOW ABOUT IT, WAS THAT NOT HOW THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO WORK?!? And since Tuah is suddenly someone Andy also knows, would this woman's existence not have come up?? Somewhere in the past several hunderd/thousand years??

NO, see what I think they should've done is either A) just make her a mortal?? Maybe a mortal who's conned everyone into thinking she's an immortal and is playing the rest of the team against each other in hopes of gaining immortality! That could be juicy! But a greedy mortal all the same! or B) make her someone who's gotten her immortality more recently! Like idk, if she knows about this stupid-ass ✨LEGEND✨ that's so convenient, she should've gotten her immortality by somehow having someone else lose theirs! Make her a mortal who knows about the immortals and this fuck-ass legend and have her manipulate Nile into injuring Booker or Quynh or something idfk and have her gain immortality that way!

Then the movie would've been about the old immortals who are So So Tired and Andy - who is the oldest - having lost her immortality, and these newbies/mortals being like OOH IMMORTALITY GIMME IT. Wouldn't that have been something to build a movie around?? (idk. like. the first movie. which explored this theme with great success and thematic cohesion...)

I do think there's thematic potential in a super ancient immortal who's NOT tired of life as opposed to the main squad, many of whom really are, but I don't think the way they approached it here made sense. Partly because adding her to the canon as the oldest was so stupid and bad to begin with. Also if they wanted to explore an immortal wanting to keep their immortality... make it Nicky and Joe? Like, when confronted with the Magic Immortality Cure Stabby, have Booker be like YEEHAW, have Nile and Andy grapple with it, and have Joe and Nicky say actually no thanks we want to keep going? Wouldn't that have been interesting??? Idk man, they could've gone so many ways with this, but I am not a fan of what they went with.

Uma Thurman is cool though, not gonna lie.

Anyway I guess that's most of it for now! There were individual moments I liked, the acting was excellent across the board, and I was so happy to see my blorbos again. But they retconned WAY TOO MUCH of the lore that made the first movie so interesting and impactful, and there's just no getting around the fact that THIS MOVIE WAS NOT FINISHED. It wasn't even sequel bait, it was an unfinished movie. That's such a shitty move, especially after such a long wait, and I'm very pissed off about it.

I doubt I'll watch this movie again, but I hope that at least the first one will remain untarnished in my heart and mind even with all this clownery 💔

[rascallyrose92]

Isn't it funny how Ragatha and (ugghh) Jax have trademark fears? Specifially of things that come from nature?

I mean think abt it. Centipedes are things that you don't really want to see, but they're not all that threatening (unless you provoke them). Yes they all cause pain, but they aren't life threatening (usually), and they help keep smaller bugs in check.

You know what that reminds me of?

Anger.

Something that occurs naturally in everyone, that you don't want to see, and will always hurt someone when acted upon (including yourself).

Ragatha has been hurt by her mom due to anger so many times before, and she refuses to let her own temper hurt others.

But, anger isn't all bad. Its often the result of smaller emotions like annoyance with a certain situation building up. When used to fix a situation (like injustice) it "eats up" the smaller emotions and ensures that the world is a happier place.

When used constructively, anger is a great tool, but it shouldn't be used unless as a last result, due to its inherent destructiveness.

But Ragatha isn't using her anger constructively, really she isn't using it at all, just pushing it down further and further.

She's felt the whip of wrath, she can't bring herself to inflict its pain onto others, even if it knocks some sense into them.

And as for Corn....

Its unassuming, a staple food of the world, and is overall, not dangerous (unless you have an allergy). Its also covered by leaves, and you have to peel them back in order to reveal the vegetable.

It's also a plant. It don't do much except grow and get harvested. It's less "real" than, say, a centipede, which moves around and makes a tangible impact on the world (even if it hurts).

Everyone and their mama knows that Jax has a teensy weensy problem with opening up. It's painful, it requires him to give up control (and he HATESSS that), and it leaves him vulnerable. Thats not good for someone who has Serious Masculinity Issues and has already dealt w/ a close friend (maybe) dying.

He is very at ease with centipedes (representing anger, a more Masculine Emotion), at least enough to sic them on Ragatha, just to see her reaction.

Also, we the audience find out abt Ragatha's fear of centipedes (which she is not ashamed to admit even in front of strangers) in the Pilot, but its implied the cast has known for a while. We the audience already know abt Jax's corn fear thanks to Gooseworx making so many jokes abt it, but the Cast learns about it in ep 5, the same ep that we got a Lore Drop on some of the characters.

Idk man this can't be all a joke.

[sevinagreatergood]

See this? These are the whorish cunts that just don't know any better! Well since we say stuff we like to be true. I'll say mine. I wished a Death eater would at least have some creativity of a Spanish I quisitor of the 1478.

I wanted James to be under the imperium spell and skin his wife's breasts, whereas she was forbidden to die. She would then cut James his balls too and sew it where her breasts shouldve been. And her tits would sewn where his cock and balls would've been. Then amongst that torment and screams, the de forces them to ALMOST dismember the child, to just wrench the last screams and tears out of those useless fucking nobody bullies. Then kill them, leaving the child alone.

Is that extreme enough for you, you kinky bitch? Bet it was, wasn't it? How about Death Eaters slowly skinning Lily alive, after they dismembered James to make SURE, the idea sinks in how much of a useless person he was. How he failed as husband, father and friend. Maybe even remove his teeth, to actually match his appearance to his soul. Manchild.

For someone that supports another person who uses race card for her excuses, I don't have high expectations from you lowlives to begin with. Snape almost gets killed twice, friends even admit he didn't change, sexual assault happen (that you disagree with because you probably have your own sexual assault sob story that I certainly don't give a shit about, your welcome. I mean a victim looking down on other victims basically are whores themselves, no need to thank me 🤣). Yet you found James less worse?

You know James played a significant 7 years of bullying in Snape's 21 years of life, which at that point he wished to die right? Can you do math? I doubt it. Cunts can't do math. 21-7= 14. Which means 11 years of abuse at home. 3 years in the circle of a racist guy that NOBODY else took serious.

See that bitch? It's called math. Learn it. While you're at that, learn some empathy sweetie. Less sucking and fucking, more studying. I love how you say Snape hurt far more people in the end. Lets go down that lane. And I know it's a lot for a ditz like you, so I'll try my best to put it as simply for you. Semen soaked brains is a lot, I can't relate. But best I can do is feign patience and empathy towards snaters..

Snape:

- almost died

- bullied for 7 years simply for liking slytherin

- sexually assaulted (your sobstry isn't a source, the laws are, so keep that excuse in your ass)

- backstabbed by a ginger whore

- almost died a 2nd time due to James choking him

- abused at home

- neglected by teachers

- put in a racist house WHO look down on purebloods for simply being a blood traitors. Imagine him, a half muggle.

- this is what 11 year old Snape got, and bad to stomach for 7 years. From abusive school, he went to abusive home. Thank your privileged ass you didn't live half his life, so good for you. Sad you went down the lane to rather fuck than open a book, but you know, your choice, just don't drag my baby Snape into this.

----------------------------------------------

James:

- amazing home life

- amazing school life

- amazing friends

- amazing gf

- 11 year old him got everything he wanted

- he got everything he wanted

( if you asked him if this was his ideal future without the dead,he would be happy)

----------------------------------------------

Remus:

- got somewhat a great friendship as long as Snape wasn't involved

- he was accepted

- he had caring parents

- he got everything he wanted

( if you asked him if this was his ideal future. He might add he wished for wealth too, but for the rest it is happy)

----------------------------------------------

Peter

- he had friends

- school life was more or less amazing

( he would want to change)

----------------------------------------------

Sirius:

- sad home life

- amazing school life

- he got everything he wanted

( he'd be happy with his future)

----------------------------------------------

Lily:

- amazing home life

- amazing school life

- amazing husband

- has a child

- she got everything she wanted

(she'd be happy with her future)

----------------------------------------------

Harry:

- sad homelife

- amazing school life. Yes, he gets almost killed many times, but because of that his popularity only grew as well as his friendship between him, Ron and hermione. And basically 4 teachers dote on him endlessly.

- amazing future

(he'd be happy with his future)

----------------------------------------------

Ron:

- troubled but great home life

- amazing school life

- amazing future

(he'd be happy with his future)

----------------------------------------------

Hermione:

- great home life

- great school life

- great future

(she'd be happy with his future)

----------------------------------------------

Neville:

- wobbly home life (his grandma was a bit strict, but definitely isn't harry potter is bitten by aunt's dog shit)

- wobbly school life (had a rough start but eventually got greater)

- great future

(he'd be happy with his future, he would have trouble with his parents tho)

----------------------------------------------

Snape:

- awful homelife

- awful school life

- awful future

(if you told 11yr old him his life, his suicidal thoughts would've gone from 21 to 11)

----------------------------------------------

Do you get that now? If not, I suggest some extra reading exercises. Might help. Since you're a unempathic slut. I suggest you read Lovely Bones, Boy in striped pajamas, these books will definitely awaken a thing or two within you. Such as, children arent formed evil by themselves. Society forms them. You with a great life obviously wouldn't get that.

Snape was formed by his surroundings. Characters didn't suffer thanks to him. He suffered thanks to the characters around him. Marauders, lily, teachers, DE and the golden trio. Because no matter how many excuses you get, whether you believe in SA or not. It all boils down to one thin in the end.

James ganged up on Snape whenever he got a chance. 4 vs 1 is a whore move. This is basically what you're saying. And if you support that, well, you're one as well, cupcake

I know it's hard to accept for being nothing but filth on one's shoes. To be used like a ragdoll whenever someone pays you, but alright. What else do they deserve to tear down a suicidal man that carried all 7 books. The man who gave you sluts lily Evans and marauders. The man who was based off on an autistic feminist guy. While James was built out of the ideal man to JKR who are toxic by the way.

And the tiktoks? I suggest you watch those. You know, to appear more than a dumb cunt with a mentality of "why do poor people exist? Can't they just buy a house or get a job. They're so lazy."

The show is basically Snape's life in a nutshell. Without the abracadabra. Have fun. Hope this was extreme enough for you. Sincerely, me.

Ps: I know you can't be reasoned with like some pig. Cattle is cattle after all.

I’m gonna start this off by saying that I think both Snape AND James were absolute shitheads in the books. Are they each terrible for their own reasons? Yes. Do I still love them both as characters in a fictional book series and will I continue to reblog fanart of either of them from time to time? Also yes.

But that aside, I found it a little wild when I went down the Snape-vs-James/Marauders rabbit hole on here (did not know that existed until like a week ago) and found out that the majority opinion on this wasn’t a clear-cut “James sucked less” situation like I thought it would be. Which is fine, I guess, but some Snape fans seem to get really… aggressive whenever their guy gets hated on. Just found that a little surprising…

Here’s my take, though I doubt I’m the first to see things this way—Snape and James, as characters, seem to be viewed through a lens similar to that of Voldemort and Umbridge. Both are bad people on occasion and both give the reader reasons to hate them, but one of them is more in-your-face about how terrible he is (Voldemort—or in this case, Snape) and the other is also terrible but in a way that feels more personal and relatable, and therefore, more easily hate-able (Umbridge—or in this case, James).

My point is, Umbridge seems to be more strongly hated by the fandom than the real, more obvious villain of the series: Voldemort. And the same goes for James when in comparison to a character who has done far worse things than him: Snape. Though I think the opinions within the fandom are a little more evenly split on them, at least from what I’ve seen.

Anyway, that’s at least some of what I think is happening here. At the end of the day I’m of the opinion that Snape was the worse person and hurt far more people in the end. And I guess his development could be interpreted in a few different ways, but the way I read it… I don’t think he really did anything good for the sake of goodness? Rather instead it was for the sake of fueling his own weird obsession with his late childhood friend. But that’s just my personal take, I suppose.

[styluswritesdc]

DC Rogues with Nurse Reader

General Headcanons + GN!Reader (gender not specified)

follow up post to this!

Riddler/Edward Nygma

Its obvious that you'll be answering a lot of riddles, right?

For every tablet he takes you'll either need to answer a riddle, and if you cant do that, you'll have to give him some gossip at least!

After awhile of building up a repour, he will flirt with you.

This, at the beginning, might be a test to see if you're easily manipulated in order to help him escape, but after awhile of you rebuking his efforts, he'll find himself disappointed that he cant get your attention.

He might ask you why you chose to work here, in this hell hole. he wants to know about you.

if you get him a pack of cards or some sudoku puzzles he will really like you. you might be spared come the next breakout...

Scarecrow/Jonathan Crane

"tell me, what's your biggest fear.." buddy I just walked into your cell just take your fucking medication.

Do tell him though. otherwise he will slowly begin psychoanalysing you and it will get uncomfortable real quick. suddenly he's bringing up your relationship with your father?? you're the patient here man.

if you're diligent, respectful and indulge his questions, he might actually acknowledge your existence.

ask him about his work, as a psychologist that is. He will go full lecturer mode and tell you about his work in parts over multiple visits to him.

bring him a book or two from the library to ease the boredom.

if you treat him well, lets say next time there's a breakout, he might not spray you with his latest formula.. just yet.

TwoFace/Harvey Dent

He's hostile. regardless of who's fronting. as his cell is divided in two, one side in shambles, the other nice and neat so you can tell who you're dealing with from day to day.

respect the coin. if he denies bloods or medication, come back later. the only other option would be the guards holding him down and forcing it, which sucks for everyone, and they will lose trust in you.

its better to work around them, and respect them.

please get his coin for him. the guards take it frequently as they're unruly and tend to be difficult.

you'll win their favour by just being kind. plus on the next breakout, you won't immediately be shot on sight!

Killer Croc/Waylon Jones

Oh poor Waylon. my heart aches for how he's treated, especially in the Arkham games. like an animal they want to forget even exists.

He is a human, and if you treat him like one, you will immediately be better than every other staff member there.

you will rarely have to get bloods, to monitor his condition.

be gentle with him. he feels a lot of pain due to his condition. don't add to it.

it will get to a point that Waylon will get pissed if its a different nurse. you take blood well and it doesn't hurt too much and doesn't leave a massive bruise under his scales.

Bane

For the most part he's just silent and calm. He understands you're just doing your job and he doesn't really care to resist.

The only things he questions you on is what specific medication he's taking, the side effects and how it will effect his body.

his body is his temple and he takes care of it!

get him a book, he wants to keep his mind sharp whilst in here.

he also uses recreational time to lift weights and exercise.

Harley Quinn

Shes brilliant. such a treat to care for.

genuinely so understanding! i mean she was a psychologist here after all. she also cared about her patients and appreciates that you do too.

She will natter on about all the asylum gossip! trust me, you'll learn a lot about the other inmates.

please talk to her! a bit of human companionship does her well. it stops her from going anymore crazy than she already is.

Poison Ivy/Pamela Isley

oh sweet child, you're disillusioned with the world. She hates the idea of a meat bag like you coming anywhere near her.

However, if you respect her, she'll let you tend to her.

Please ask her about plant and gardening tips, she'll be happy to indulge. plus you'll actually know why your orchid plant hates you and keeps wilting.

you're a meat bag that she tolerates.