#But it becomes a sorta comedy thing halfway through

[thechillsquid]

The first official art for the stupidest ship ‘HillBilly’ (@coquette-baguette you’re a fucking genuis)

If you can’t tell by now, I’m having too much fun with gravity fall aus atm

[magnificentposting-fabrizioart]

Halfway through Episode 19 and the Harem plots are getting nuclear levels of dumb

Well, Ahmet Paşa's rebellion was a joke. Woops.

The bit with the head and Ibrahim reminiscing was peak MC unintentional comedy tbh.

Also, we know, yeah, Ahmet very bad, Ibrahim good loyal Muslim, yes, orphans and widows, we know, it's in the Old Testament too, btw.

I'm not saying it's wrong to show the misfortune of people, btw, I'm saying the market scene was kinda cartoonish in how it did so, might as well have shown Ahmet kicking puppies and laughing maniacally (to be fair it sorta did that).

Buried the lead enough, time to address the time paradox budgies in the room-

DON'T YOU FKING TOUCH NIGAR YOU WELL DRESSED HIGH SCHOOL BULLIES WTF!!!

(Also Hürrem pretty much got what was going on anyway even if Nigar wasn't speaking out of fear of Mahidevran vulturing from the other balcony)

This is so dumb tbh, like, Nigar is literally doing her job, also they're both Sultanas, also even if she dies Hürrem is just going to get given another handler/kalfa, it's not like anyone cares that harem girls keep dying.

WHICH BTW WTF GUYS.

Also Leo, please, like... Either ally with Viktoria, run away, kidnap Hürrem, become gay, DO SOMETHING other than sulk, you're gonna die anyway at this rate.

...This ring thing is gonna be very dumb too, innit?

[blackjack-15]

The Puzzle is Just the Italian Language — Thoughts on: The Phantom of Venice (VEN)

Previous Metas: SCK/SCK2, STFD, MHM, TRT, FIN, SSH, DOG, CAR, DDI, SHA, CUR, CLK, TRN, DAN, CRE, ICE, CRY

Hello and welcome to a Nancy Drew meta series! 30 metas, 30 Nancy Drew Games that I’m comfortable with doing meta about. Hot takes, cold takes, and just Takes will abound, but one thing’s for sure: they’ll all be longer than I mean them to be.

Each meta will have different distinct sections: an Introduction, an exploration of the Title, an explanation of the Mystery, a run-through of the Suspects. Then, I’ll tackle some of my favorite and least favorite things about the game, and finish it off with ideas on how to improve it. Like with all of the Odd Games, there will be a section between The Intro and The Title called The Weird Stuff, where I go into what makes this game stand out as a little strange.

If any game requires an extra section or two, they’ll be listed in the paragraph above, along with links to previous metas.

These metas are not spoiler free, though I’ll list any games/media that they might spoil here: VEN, RAN.

The Intro:

From the French-inspired streets of New Orleans, Nancy jumps on a plane to Venice and is caught up in international espionage, theft, a mafia ring, and a cast of hostile suspects living in the same house as her.

Sounds a bit like my first semester of college, honestly. Minus the whole “Venice” and “international espionage” parts.

Coming directly after CRY, VEN isn’t quite as thick with atmosphere, doesn’t have any of its philosophy or thematic elements, and is really only famous for being set in Italy and for the fact that they hired four voice actors for our main cast sans regular characters (Colin, voiced by our good ol’ boy Jonah Von Spreecken, counts as a returning VA), but hired 6 distinct VAs for the singing gondoliers, most of whom the average player will never hear.

Yeah, VEN is kind of that type of game.

There’s a lot that makes VEN the trippy experience that it is – more on that immediately below – but nearly none of that makes VEN as confused as it is. Nancy’s hired by a foreign government – sort of – but there’s also a love line – sort of – a roommate story – sort of – and some touristy stuff like overpaying for flowers and gelato.

Taking place overseas, VEN might have been mistaken for a Jetsetting game if it weren’t for the fact that every bit of the game is permeated with the sense that nothing was quite thought out, nothing quite flows together, and there’s no emotional response in anyone – including the player.

That’s not to say that there’s nothing enjoyable about VEN; it’s one of the most highly memed games, in fact, with a catsuit, horrific fashion choices, and little laser roombas all making up the most memorable meme material (and that’s not even touching discount Justin Timberlake and his slides of seduction). It has strongly-painted characters (even if there’s a touch of the caricature about them), the return of recurring characters, the first appearance of a semi-recurring character, poisoned chocolates…it’s almost like someone tried to do STFD, but with a sprinkling of spies and Italy thrown in for good measure.

VEN can be a lot of fun, but it’s also a grind a lot of the time; the required puzzles can be ridiculous, for example, and, in a twist for Nancy Drew games, there’s a puzzle for everyone to hate, no matter if you dislike stealth games, card games, speed-reaction games, or even language puzzles.

Which brings us to the biggest problem with The Phantom of Venice: the common puzzle thread, the thing that keeps recurring, the ‘mission statement puzzle’…it’s just the Italian language. The game hinges on the idea that the player won’t know any Italian (or any Romance language, honestly), and that’s where the majority of the difficulty in the game (barring bad hand-eye coordination) comes from. It’s not a good thing at all, and it brings the entire game down with it.

Well, it has a little help. Let’s talk about the Roomba in the museum, shall we?

The Weird Stuff:

There’s a lot of things that are weird about VEN, no getting around it. But there’s one solid thing that makes it…well, Odd in the way that the other Odd games are qualified, and that’s this one simple fact:

This is a Hardy Boys mystery, with Nancy clumsily inserted in instead of Frank and Joe.

Think about it; called in by a foreign government, espionage, nearly drowning, contacts in the government and police force, an Italian crime ring…these are all things straight out of a Hardy Boys novel, not a Nancy Drew novel. There is a Nancy Drew book titled The Phantom of Venice, true enough, but this game doesn’t bear any resemblance to it besides, well, Venice itself. You could swap out Nancy with the boys and the whole game could go on, minus the whole ‘keepsake necklace from Ned’ thing, and depending on what you ship, even that might fly under the radar.

And no, I didn’t forget the dancing in a catsuit thing. Pure comedy right there.

Nancy’s a homegrown detective; most of her cases are ‘small thing spirals into bigger thing’. It’s not that she doesn’t deal in espionage, at times in foreign places, or stumble upon a crime ring. It’s just that that’s not the type of thing Nancy’s called in for, it’s the type of thing she trips over halfway into a lower-stakes mystery.

The Hardy Boys, however, because of their father’s contacts (in the novels) and their position in ATAC (in the games) are exactly the kind of people that work with police chiefs and security experts and foreign spies and the like. It’s very nearly their bread and butter. Which is why I have a wild but not out-of-the-way wacky sorta-serious theory. Bear with me:

This game was designed as a Hardy Boys game, and Nancy really was clumsily inserted in with a few weeks to spare.

At this point in history – the far-behind time of July 2008, as the Great Recession was descending, the fury of an election year was coming to a head, and you couldn’t go to a supermarket or clothes store in America without hearing OneRepublic tell you that it was just a little too late to apologize – HER wasn’t doing badly, per se, but they certainly weren’t doing as well as they could have been. They weren’t that far from having had to majorly upgrade their engine for a rapidly changing technological world, and there seemed to be no end in sight. HER had plenty of staff change-ups coming because of new sponsors, but weren’t making enough simply with what they had.

Put simply, they needed a carrot. And what better carrot than the fan-favorite Hardy Boys?

There are two Hardy Boys games put out around this time: The Perfect Crime and The Hidden Theft. While neither one was done by Her Interactive, there was a HER Hardy Boys game in the works: the DS masterpiece Treasure on the Tracks. The audience for a Hardy Boys game was meant to be young boys/teenaged boys, but the side audience expected was fans of the Nancy Drew books and games.

So while I know logically that Phantom of Venice was just the latest in a  line of ‘adulted-up’ Nancy Drew books (and games), in my head it makes much more sense to say that it was supposed to be a Hardy Boys game meant to promote Treasure on the Tracks and HER got nervous and pulled the plug, stuffing their erstwhile teen detective in instead.

The Title:

As far as a title goes, The Phantom of Venice isn’t a bad one; you can tell it comes from the ‘hotter and sexier’ Nancy Drew books, and as a collection of words, it works rather well. It’s an evocative title, giving us our location, our crime (‘phantom thieves’ are common as a type of thief), and doesn’t say too much else, so as to not spoil the mystery.

As a title for this game, however…well, so little of the actual game deals with the Phantom that it’s rather non-indicative as a title. By the time you’re 16 Scopa games deep and are wearing a sparkly red dress with a cat mask and sneakers around Italy, you’ve pretty much forgotten about the Phantom and are more worried about exactly what happened to the pigeon you used as a messenger and why exactly flowers and gelato cost so much for 2008.

The Phantom of Venice just…deserved a better, more cohesive, more…well, phantom-y game than it got. That’s all.

Now, onto the mystery!

The Mystery:

Nancy’s been called in by the Secret Italian Police because a thief has been stealing art.

No, really, I’m being serious.

Sure, Prudence Rutherford has a hand in getting her called in, but basically Nancy goes from small-time cases, sometimes getting her name in the papers, to called in by the Italian Secret Police.

Caught up at a house where no one likes her (understandable, given that she just Appears one day, forced on the Ca’s owner, Margherita Fauborg, and her residents at the Ca’), Nancy soon becomes embroiled in a mystery most foul when she discovers ties to the art thief – or thieves – right around the Ca’, poisoned sausages and message-laden chocolate boxes, and shades and shades and shades of tiles offered by the Ca’s resident nerd.

Soon, Nancy is juggling police contacts, heists, Scopa games, and the impersonation of a world-class spy just to give the Italian police a hint as to who might be stealing Venice’s greatest artworks. It gets personal, however, when the Phantom Thief himself shows up, stealing Nancy’s locket which she’s just been given by Ned.

Oh, and did I mention that the whole thing is told in media res? Yeah, very, very weird choice right there.

Honestly speaking, the mystery isn’t…bad, per se. It’s got solid bones – art theft, mysterious thieves, romantic location, interesting-seeming suspects, some spy shenanigans. The problem with VEN’s mystery, largely, is that there just isn’t any cartilage to connect those good bones. Without something to hold it all together, it just kind of falls apart – exactly like a skeleton without cartilage.

Simply put, there’s a lot of mystery, but no plot to carry the mystery along.

The Suspects:

Beginning with Margherita Fauborg, the tanning-obsessed matriarch of the Ca’ Nacosta, seems like a good place to start. Dismissive of Nancy, tourists, and Nancy being a ‘tourist’, Margherita prefers to stay on top of her house tanning the day away rather than take part in any shenanigans.

Having Margherita not be a member of the ring was almost as inspired as having Helena lead it; she’s not nice, does suspicious things, is entirely self-centered – but she’s not a villain, nor does the game really pretend that she is for more than a second. I really like characters like this in the Nancy Drew games, who are honestly just People not enamored with the teen detective, but aren’t villains just because of that.

Also, the story of her husband’s death is just incredibly hilarious.

Her half-ward, half-employee Colin Baxter, on the other hand, is anything but dismissive of Nancy. He’s part of the ‘kinda crushing on Nancy’ club, but is Far less beloved than any other member of that club. It comes from his inherent creepiness, criminal record, and love for tile slides, I think.

Colin, as a suspect…well, he’s just there to make the numbers add up. It’s a shame that his largest utility is to show Margherita’s slightly unscrupulous nature, but he should have been kept as perhaps a figure that Nancy could call to get the story, rather than an in-person suspect.

The other person staying at the Ca’ is Helena Berg, fulfilling the HER mandate for having a German villain in their European games. Having Helena be the mastermind of the ring is a pretty good plot point, honestly, as I expected the first time for her to just be part of it, and to have that be the Big Surprise.

She’s also one of the few villains who promises revenge on Nancy and/or is still out there. I know it would have been Way too soon to have Helena be the returning culprit in RAN rather than Dwayne, but honestly she was a better candidate for it. While any hope of a good ND game (and mostly any game, honestly) is pretty far from me, I always hoped one day Helena would return in all her platinum blonde glory.

Enrico Tazza is our most encountered (kind of) and outwardly suspicious suspect, but he’s not exactly…well, scary. He makes Nancy-as-Samantha play a card game with him, then disappears, despite being the Preeminent Villain Face for the first half of the game.

I do love Tazza, however, just for his presence in the game. He’s cartoony, fun, well-acted…he’s just great. And as a potential villain, he’s great too! You’re never meant to doubt that he’s a ‘baddie’, you’re just meant to go along for the ride. Excellent.

Finally, Antonio Fango is the most prominent suspect that you’ll ever completely forget the name of, due to his lack of screen time despite being the Italian Police’s favorite suspect. He has a whole convoluted backstory involving multiple colleges and degrees, but really he’s just the communication go-fer for Helena’s theft ring.

As a villain…well, Fango does his part, but due to being a nigh-unseen suspect, he’s really just not very memorable. He’s like most of the ring – necessary to establish the numbers, but other than that, a non-entity.

The Favorite:

Despite the plot holes wide enough to steer a gondola through, there are a few things that really make VEN stand out.

The first is Samantha Quick; originally a stage name suggestion from Simone in FIN, she shows up as an actual character in VEN, albeit only by phone and shadow. Her pissed-off phone call to Nancy is a highlight of the game, especially as she ends with the vaguely threatening line “say hi to Ned for me”. Her shadow at the end in Colin’s window is the final clinch to make SQ a personal favorite of mine, and her presence (and the feeling of her presence, which is sort of different) is a high point in the game.

The location of the game is another plus; not so much Venice, but the Ca’ Nacosta itself. It’s a wonderful ‘home base’ location for any Nancy Drew game, filled with light, staircases, and pretty impressive stonework given that just a few short games ago, everything looked like it was animated out of melted gummy bears.

My favorite puzzle(s) are the chess puzzles, honestly. I just kind of like chess puzzles to begin with, and it’s a nice respite from forcing pigeons to do your bidding and avoiding various foods.

My favorite moment in the game is honestly the Samantha Quick shadow, but if I had to pick another moment, it’s where Nancy implies that she’s stripping for money, and Ned just replies that he’ll be really glad when she’s back home safe in the States. It’s such a random, hilarious thing to happen, and Ned’s complete underreaction to the idea of Nancy earning money in such a way (as she makes it sound way worse than it actually is) is what really sells it.

The Un-Favorite:

There are some un-favorites as well, however, that drag down the game to the place it currently resides.

The first is…well, the location and the means used to get Nancy there. As much as I have no problem with Venice, this attempt to open up the world makes little sense when you consider that there’s no way the Italian Secret Police would hinge their hopes on a small-time 18 year old American detective, no matter how highly Prudence spoke of her.

The jumbled plot (when there is a plot, at least) is another point against VEN; the writers just didn’t know what to do with Nancy being in Venice, and so just…didn’t do anything with it.

I also dislike that this game happens in media res. There’s no real reason to do it – and it makes any actions that the player takes that’s slightly apart from the ‘main plot’ – gondola rides, ice cream, looking at slide after slide after slide – seem incredibly out of place and borderline inappropriate. At the very least, if the Hardy Boys were part of the game, they could be yelling her name as she began to drown, which would give a sense of urgency that’s missing from the confused opening.

My least favorite puzzle…well, that brings me to a huge problem: every puzzle in this game is based around the fact that it’s in Italian, and they expect no one playing this to even have an idea of Italian (or any romance language). It boils down to this: the puzzle is just the Italian language, and they have nothing else up their sleeves. I don’t have a least favorite puzzle, because apart from a select few, they’re all the same puzzle, wrapped in slightly different clothing.

The Fix:

So how would I fix The Phantom of Venice?

Coming off of CRY, we’ve now had two games with two (or three) player characters, so that’s what I’d start with doing. Include the Hardy Boys, who have been called on by the Italian Secret Police because of their work with ATAC. They’re helping the mystified police track down this ring of thieves when Nancy mentions offhand that Prudence Rutherford is recommending a stay at a Ca’ in Venice whose owner owes her a favor (as a treat/vacation). Upon hearing this, the Hardy Boys ring her up and ask her help, as they’ve stalled out. They’re not allowed to come into physical contact with Nancy (to save money on animating them/Nancy), but they want her to investigate from her end, as she won’t be suspected at all.

The real reason the Italian Police let the Hardy Boys get her involved, of course, is that they need someone to impersonate Samantha Quick, and they’re having a rough time with their Joe-in-a-wig tests. They need an American who can convincingly pull off the act, and the brothers mention Nancy’s stints undercover. Desperate enough to grasp at anything, Nancy’s officially in.

That along would help beef up the plot, as suddenly we have an actual police plotline with the Hardy Boys (playing as one or the other, it doesn’t matter, or maybe both with different ‘jobs’ to do as one or the other). Diving the suspects is a good idea too; Nancy would take Helena and Tazza as her primary suspects (of course, only Tazza would be the ‘primary’ at the beginning), while the Hardy Boys handled Fango and his side of the ring.

The final puzzle (with the flashlights and such), especially, makes more sense as a Hardy Boys sort of thing. Nancy can snoop around the market and the Ca’, discovering clues as to Helena’s guilt and such. The Hardy Boys take down the ring, but Nancy takes down Helena.

I would also give Nancy a better reason to be undercover at the dance club. It’s a weird little minigame to be sure, but if it’s gonna exist in the game, there should be a better reason. Even better, take it out and have her solve puzzles – something other than the Italian Language, mind you – in order to get money from the police or something.

(Even better, take out the money thing, as someone helping the Police and pretending to be a spy should not be or appear to be short on funds.)

The last big change I’d do is to take Ned out (sorry, Ned, but there’s really no reason for you to be in this game) and swap him for Carson. Carson really should be in a few more games than he is as it stands, and this is a great way to bring in the fact that…well, Carson can’t be entirely Comfortable with the direction that Nancy’s life is going, even if he is proud of her.

Most of the time, Nancy’s family and friends are just used to say “and she’s ‘normal’ and loved and supported even though she’s never home”, and I think using them to establish her character and the stakes is a far better use of these pre-existing characters.

[skyhopedango]

anime I’ve been watching recently

Oh hey, I’m alive. Sorta? Between work being overwhelming and my schedule being kind of out of whack my energy to do anything in my off time, other than staring at the screen, has been at an all-time low... so low I can’t even throw words on the screen to make some posts.

But hey, I’ve still been staring at the screen, and I do have some opinions that I really need to get out of my system. So, this is the stuff I’ve been watching in the past months:

Listeners: No screenshot for this one because I don’t have any lying around anymore, but anyway, yeah, this was fun? Sure, the ending was stupid and didn’t make any sense, but then again, I wasn’t watching this show for the story, or with any expectations of it being “great” or “worthy” or whatever. It was a fun way of turning off my brain for half an hour every week, and I really enjoyed the music references which were much better-informed/researched and executed than in most anime or manga (where they usually just throw the reference in your face and be like “get it? huh? getit??? aren’t we smart?? you should feel smart, too!”). So what if it ended with “Uh, we actually never planned this far, let’s just do every mech anime ending ever”, the journey was worth it.

Nami yo kiitekure: No screenshot for this one either. Nami yo kiitekure was... meh? It started out well, with Minare being a fun and relatable lead, but then it kind of... stalled. And to be honest I got really annoyed with all the shouting. I don’t mind shouty comedy at all (some of my favorite anime comedies are like that) but here the pacing didn’t really work. And I never got the appeal of the live radio segments either (even though I do actually listen to a lot of radio!), perhaps because the seiyuu was just hamming it up instead of delivering a convincing performance, which I kind of expected to be the point. Anyway, I dropped this halfway through. Nothing technically wrong with it, but it’s not my cup of tea.

The Great Pretender: I actually wrote about this previously, and I haven’t seen any new episodes since then. Are they already out? :O What’s going on with this show’s release schedule?

Appare-Ranman: Oh, this is back! And I... don’t really like it as much as I did the first 3 episodes? I dunno, in the recent episodes it kind of lost its swagger and instead settled comfortably into that “Show That Could Have Been On Adult Swim In When American Anime Fans In Their 30s Were Watching That” routine that has been so prevalent in the recent Netflix-backed shows that I seriously believe it’s on purpose, to emulate popular shows in the US and appeal to viewer nostalgia. And this means that to me the show has become kind of... boring, really. Like, again, there’s nothing actually wrong with it, it’s by far the best of PA Works’ attempts at trying new things, and I am still watching it and derive enjoyment from it. But I don’t find it particularly interesting, it’s just going through the motions without adding anything exciting, visually, story-wise or character-wise. Like come on, it’s The Year of Our Lord 2020, do something new or interesting! Like for example...

Deca-Dence: Oh yes. See, when the first episode came out and people were raving and doing the “anime is saved!” thing, I was like “...huh? but this was like every damn fantasy adventure anime ever.” I mean it looked nice, sounded nice, but it was soooo derivative and boring. And then the second episode rolled around and I was like “OK, now you’ve got my attention! :D” and my attention has stayed with the show ever since. See, here’s the difference between this and say, Appare-Ranman: it’s not that Deca-Dence is doing anything revolutionary either, but it’s at least doing something instead of just following a template. Its ambitions don’t stop with having cool visuals and cute character designs. 

And another plus for Deca-Dence vs Appare-Ranman: the female characters in Deca-Dence don’t have that stupid PAW “cute anime girl” permablush. God that’s so annoying.

Gibiate: And on topic of shows trying for a retro appeal... yeah. There’s this one. You know those snobbish anime fans who always bemoan the decline of anime, and talk about how back in their time anime as such was better? Yeah, you can tell those people have had a very curated experience of anime “back in the days”, because back in the days, in our case in the ‘80s and early ‘90s, “anime as such” was actually more like this one. Really, Gibiate feels like it’s a zombie of some early ‘90s action show resurrected for some weird experiment, and now it just kind of shambles along aimlessly, not knowing what it’s doing in the present or how it should handle the changes of time. It’s kind of embarrassing, really... well, it was for the three episodes I watched. I dropped it out of secondhand embarrassment, more than anything.

GITS:SAC 2045: Oh yes, there’s this one as well. As I predicted, it was crap. It kind of feels like the creators were contracted to do a new series, but they had no actual ideas for a GITS:SAC sequel, nor any inspiration, and also nothing particular they wanted to say with the new show. Hell, apparently they didn’t rewatch GITS:SAC to refresh their memories of the show they were ostensibly trying to create a sequel for. OK, Imma rant about this a bit (copy-pasting something I wrote elsewhere).

1. The visuals are shit. Look, I'm not biased against CG, a lot of shows I enjoy have CG, a lot of them have bad CG. I tend not to care a lot about animation quality be it amazing or crap, as long as I enjoy the rest of the show. But this show looks like shit. The characters are rubber dolls floating in virtual space, physical character interaction is distracting, and all the action is hilaribad. Character animation is fucked up so often, like, they tried to give the Major a sexy hip sway but the result has her walking like she has a stick shoved up her butt. Hell, often they couldn’t even animate lip flaps properly, which doesn’t make the soulless masks the characters have for faces any more expressive. Also, character design-wise, the Major sticks out like a sore thumb, looking like a Sexy Dollfie among all the semi-realistic character designs. It’s kinda offensive, really. 2. Again, I could have lived with the visuals, if the rest of the show was any good. But it's not. With the exception of that one episode with the bank robbery, that was good and felt like real GITS:SAC, this is like someone's subpar fanfic, which is sad considering the writers behind the show. Characterization is weird and fucked up and doesn’t follow SAC. The worldbuilding went from the rather well thought out backdrop of SAC to a mess of ~edgy~ concepts mixed without any particular depth given to them. "Sustainable war!!! Thinkpol!!! 1984!!!!!" 3. The concept of post-humans is such a huge missed opportunity. Paired with the whole "ThinkPol" thing (as eyeroll-inducing as that is) there was a pretty good chance there to explore the dehumanizing aspect of the internet, and tie it into the "anon vigilante crowds" thing the story seems to be trying to get going. But nope, they just went with the stupidest routes. Also, the whole idea of "post-humans" doesn't flow organically from the worldbuilding of SAC, it just feels like something they came up with because they had to do something new. It also kinda feels like someone watched Darker Than Black one too many times.

So yeah, so, so disappointing. I’ll be watching S2 when it comes along because eh, more GITS, but I’m not gonna pretend this is anything but a subpar attempt to cash in on the franchise.

[leggomylino]

light switch | yandere!seungmin

Genre: yandere, romance/fluff, thriller, a little angst, some comedy (mainly in the first half) Pairing: yandere!Seungmin x reader Word count: ~11k (and this is only the first half…) Warnings: Author rambling, run-on sentences, mild language (censored), a few memes, moments of high tension and possible anxiety, ooc, and mild abuse/violence A/N: Requests are open~ | Masterlist in bio! | rip this turned out WAYYY longer than I meant it to and it’s my first time writing this format (and yandere for that matter) but, I hope y’all enjoy :’)) Thanks for reading!! <3

Okay so

You and Seungmin had been friends for a while

Y’all met in junior high and immediately hit it off

Here’s what happened fam

It was your turn to stay after class and clean up

The other kids who had been assigned to help you had already done their jobs and left

You let them off easy because it was raining and you didn’t want anyone to miss the bus

You always walked home since you lived in the neighborhood and you liked the rain so it was no big deal to you

*cringey middle schooler voice* “Hey is it okay if we head out? Are you okay by yourself?”

“Oh yeah sure go ahead! Have a great day!”

“Thanks! See you later (y/n)!”

Yeah a n y w a y 

So it’s raining out and it’s just you in the classroom after school, cleaning the whiteboard and sorta zoning out

The cloudy weather and sound of steady rainfall on the asphalt outside isn’t helping

But luckily you’re almost done, just gotta get a chair to reach the top of the board and--

Chunk!

What the

Um

Hello?

What was that sis

You look over your shoulder mid-swiping to see the silhouette of a person climbing in through the window

But you can’t see who it is at first cause right at that moment there’s a flash of lightning that lights up the whole room and casts everything in a veil of black and the hollow roar of thunder (just like in all the cliche horror movies), and a scream gets caught in your throat (like half of the cliche horror movies)

It successfully freaks you out a bit but

Once you’re able to see clearly again you realize it’s a boy

A boy you recognize

Barely tho

Like hardly

Because he’s honestly never around

Always skipping class

Typical delinquent kid

His name, you scarcely recall, is Kim Seungmin

He probably thinks he’s some sort of billy-badass or smth, you dunno

Well he’s just frozen like you are, halfway inside with his legs straddling the windowsill, soaking wet, just staring at you

Staring

Staring

Still staring...

You furrow your brow at him, slowly getting back into the groove of getting your business done and hightailing it outta there. “Take a picture, it’ll last longer.”

He smirks and leans forward, resting his hand on his chin, just watching you while half of him is still getting soaked by rain; he looks like the freakin’ Cheshire Cat. “The same could be said about you.”

You’re about to ask him what kind of a comeback that is when it dawns on you that you’re still staring as well, and you visibly shun yourself and whirl away to face the board again. He chuckles and you hear him toss his incredibly late ass all the way inside, closing the window and leaving a trail of rainwater and mud and dead leaves and outside nastiness on the floor that you just finished sweeping and cleaning uGH WTF BILLY-LATEASS WHY YOU GOTTA DO ME LIKE THAT

Great now you’re gonna miss the newest episode of Totally Spies and that rerun of Sailor Moon you were really looking forward to...all because this punk had to show up half past four.

He lifts one of the chairs off the desk and takes a seat, and when you curiously peek over your shoulder to see wtfudge he’s doing, he’s watching you. Again. Just sitting at what would be his usual seat in the middle of the room if he were ever in class on time at all. You roll over the teacher’s desk chair to finish cleaning the board and have just decided to leave the trail of dirt and wet grass for him to clean up

But uh

Unfortunately you have a brain made of spaghetti like the author

And well

You somehow managed to forget for a second that the chair has wheels, and the floors are still a little slick

So the moment you clamber your (enter height here) ass up on that chair guess what happens?

Just guess

Yeah you guessed it

London bridge comes falling down

Well in this case (y/n) bridge

It all happened so fast

And yet

You never touch the ground

No you didn’t spontaneously gain superpowers like in a Marvel or DC comic

This isn’t My Hero Academia either, you’re definitely quirkless

It’s this guy

He actually managed to throw himself over the desk and slide over just in time to save you

Wow maybe this is a bit of a superhero movie

Go Spiderminnie B))

Batminnie?

...Okay lame names and rambling aside, he saved you

You stare at him with a shocked look on your face, a bit winded from the experience

But also at the way he’s staring at you

It’s kinda sus sis

He’s looking at you like...almost like he’s seeing right through you

Into your soul

You know how they say the eyes are the window to the soul?

Well this bish is sunlight and he’s cutting right through...effortlessly

Gracefully radiating a strange unnatural light you aren’t really sure how to define

It’s weird, and foreign, and a bit uncomfortable

But a part of you kinda likes it

Which bothers you because sure this guy did just save you from getting a concussion and possibly breaking your neck but still

“Uh...thank you…” you mutter, not sure what else to say. It’s a miracle your spaghetti brain even managed to remember to say “thank you” at all smh

He’s smiling down at you kindly (even tho it’s a bit creepy, surely he means well) and uh

Does he plan on letting go of you anytime soon?

I mean 

He’s still wet and you like the rain and all but

Okay there we go he’s setting you down now

Phew see he’s not a weirdo or anything, it’s all good

“That was a smart move you just pulled. I’m guessing you aren’t very fluent in the common sense department.”

Uh eXCUSE ME?!

Okay wow rude much

Who says something like that after saving someone?

Who says something like that to anyone they barely know ever?

Way to ruin the moment … wait what moment

There wasn’t a moment

That wasn’t a moment that was just uh...he was just…

:)))) moving on

You squint at him and scramble up to your feet to get away from this rude boy who you’re just starting to notice is kinda cute even if the way he looks at you is a little creepy and his attitude needs work, dusting yourself off and inwardly cringing at the chill snaking up your side. That’s just from the rainwater, right...? “Like you’re one to talk.”

He laughs at that...his laugh sounds like a bell. A bit obnoxious, but it’s still pleasing to you. And that makes you pretty angry.

“Stop laughing at me!”

“Stop laughing at me!”

“Huh?!”

“Huh?!”

“I mean it! Cut it out!”

“I mean it! Cut it out!”

He’s mimicking everything you say in a horribly applicated high-pitched voice, which only fuels your anger and frustration. Not to mention your embarrassment.

You’re embarrassed, right? That’s why your face feels so hot right now? Or you’re running a fever. Maybe you caught the bug that’s going around. People catch colds all the time during a rain shower, it’s only in every cliche romance anime ever.

Wait a sec…

Romance anime?!

Uh hahaha no no sis that’s not what this was

Not in the slightest

But I mean

It’s all set up like one

The rain

After school atmosphere

Cute delinquent guy with a bad attitude rescuing and teasing airheaded good student

Crap crap crap

Abort mission abort abort

You gotta scram baby

So that’s just what you do

...Well you try to anyway

But next thing you know he’s lifting you up in his arms and like

Dude

Have you not heard about personal space before?!

You turn your heated face down to him and he’s smiling up at you, so sweetly, so purely, all rainbows and sunshine

“Sorry, I was just teasing you. I thought maybe you could use a lift?” ❀

Well crap

He wasn’t wrong tho

Hnnnnn you can feel your face heating up again; er, even more

HNNNNN THIS REALLY IS AN ANIME ROMANCE ASDFGHJKL;

Okay okay calm down (y/n)

Just go with the flow

No use fighting it

Nothing good ever comes of fighting it

So you smile and mumble your thanks and let it happen

And guess what?

You two end up becoming the best of friends \^-^/

It’s quite cute actually

And it happens very naturally too

A nice slow burn transition into acquaintances, then friends, then good friends, and finally by the time you reach high school, y’all are besties

He’s always there for you when you need him

...

Like, always

It’s kinda strange actually...

He always knows right where to find you and texts you the moment you unlock your phone to text him

You: 𝖶𝗈𝗐, 𝖨 𝗐𝖺𝗌 𝗃𝗎𝗌𝗍 𝖺𝖻𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗍𝗈 𝗍𝖾𝗑𝗍 𝗒𝗈𝗎! 𝗈𝖠𝗈

Him: 𝖮𝗁 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗅𝗅𝗒? 𝖧𝖺𝗁𝖺𝗁 / 𝖶𝗈𝗐, 𝗐𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗈𝖽𝖽𝗌? / 𝖨 𝗐𝖺𝗌 𝗃𝗎𝗌𝗍 𝖺𝖻𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗍𝗈 𝗍𝖾𝗑𝗍 𝗒𝗈𝗎!! :) / 𝖦𝗎𝖾𝗌𝗌 𝖨'𝗆 𝗉𝗌𝗒𝖼𝗁𝗂𝖼 :𝗉

But more recently, it’d gone a little something more like:

“𝖸𝖾𝖺𝗁, 𝖨 𝗄𝗇𝗈𝗐 <𝟥”

… *shrugs* 

Guess he’s got some kind of a sixth sense or something

He just knows you so well

But you don’t think much of it because the two of you do spend an awful lot of time together

As in you’re practically joined at the hip when you’re not separated by classes or your mom calling you home for dinner if you happen to go out on the town somewhere

Usually it’s the ice cream parlor or the mall

His buddies Felix and Changbin work at one of the shops there so you like to stop by and say hi to them

But you don’t stay too long because Seungmin really values your alone time

Just the two of you strolling side by side, sometimes hand in hand, while he listens to you ramble on about your day and get excited over cute things in the storefront windows and grumble about being hungry every time you pass the food court

You always tug him in front of one of the stands with the full intent of buying, yet he always ends up paying; he simply insists on it

Because he loves it

Your whining 

Your excitement

The way you ramble over the speed limit and express your passion so effortlessly

It’s real to him

Attractive

Inspiring

Photogenic 

He’d bottle each memory up and relive them over and over again if he could

Of course they’ll always be in the picturebook of his heart, but that’s a little cringe

He doesn’t care though cause it’s true

Watching you twitch your nose and turn your head like a muskrat as the scent of fresh cinnabuns wafts through the air 

It makes him smile and beam with delight and the whole atmosphere becomes warm and inviting

Of course, you don’t know that

Because Kim Seungmin isn’t an open book

More like a locked diary (with chains all wrapped around it like something out of a medieval fairy tale)

Some people have questioned why the two of you aren’t dating yet

But Seungmin’s too shy to say anything; the very notion makes him feel faint and his heart race; and you always dodge the question or tell people you’re simply “just friends”

Because to be honest, any feelings you thought you had for him have sorta cooled down into a comfortable friendship 

And while you may have thought about the two of you being an item before

You’re not sure how he feels 

Before you rant at the author whAt do YoU mEAN hAve yOU nOt beEn pAYInG aTTENtiOn to WhaT’S gOinG On?! 

LET ME (well you) EXPLAIN

While the two of you HAVE been rather inseparable over time since that fateful encounter in junior high

Seungmin is still a bit of an odd duck

Ya know him

But sometimes it feels like you don’t

Lately he’s been getting harder and harder to read

At least when it comes to the feelings department

Aka pathos

You know he certainly cares for you, a lot

And you care for him...a lot

But surely it doesn’t mean anything...more

He’s like the brother you never had

Just looking out for you, wanting the best for you, like family

It’s not anything romantic~ or lustful~ or anything like that …

Is it?

I mean uh

So what if you cuddled while watching movies together, and when you started to drift off against his chest you distinctly felt him place a soft kiss atop your head? So what if you shared milkshakes and ice cream sundaes at the parlor while holding hands beneath the table and speaking of hands you both blushed and giggled cutely when they touched while reaching for the popcorn at the same time? So what if he made you flower crowns and took pictures of you looking like a beautiful mess down by the river, or at the beach, or in the garden behind his house? So what if he occasionally showered you with gifts and bought you food and always left you the biggest mess of flowers and chocolates on Valentine’s day and worked himself tirelessly trying to teach you material you didn’t understand, and was the first one calling to see how you were doing when you got sick, even going so far as to skip class to bring you soup and tease that “you probably caught that dummy virus you had the day we met” and stayed sitting crisscross applesauce on the floor while you laughed stuffily at Tuxedo Mask calling Usagi/Sabrina a Meatball Head and he smiled at your congested laughter while mimicking you in a memey fashion (to which you respond by throwing used tissues at him that never get very far), copying all of the days notes you missed into your journal with that surprisingly pretty cursive handwriting of his...and leaving cute little love poetry off to the side for you to find later...so what if...something is starting to click inside your head...it doesn’t mean anything. None of it does. None of that meant anything!! \(>-<)/ …

……

……...right?

You scream internally into the void

For you do not know 

(╥﹏╥)

One day after school of your senior year you’re doing rounds like you normally do

And you whine like you usually do

And he snickers like he regularly does

And y’all wander over to the food court like two happy little love birds (to him) and a couple of friends in a we-aren’t-dating-we’re-just-great-buds-it’s-complicated relationship (to you)

And that’s when you see him

Wow

I mean WOW

This new guy behind the counter

You recognize him from school

He just transferred to your school from out of town

His name is

Uh...

Shoot what’s his name? (._.”) ??

It’s almost your turn in line

Guess you’re about to find out ♥

Gosh he’s gorgeous wowowow

He’s looking more attractive the closer you get, and you’ve only seen him from a distance at school and he was ALREADY the bees knees then

You take a step forward up to the counter…

That is until Seungmin stops you

This bish just completely cut you off 

His tall 5’9 ass is completely blocking your view of Hunkilicious >:((

Your peeking around him as best you can, but it’s hard when he’s constantly shifting his weight in time with you; you still manage to get a glimpse though, and wowza he’s fine (♥‿♥)

That sandy blonde hair

Those gorgeous bright eyes

A whole snacc sis

You smile at him while Minnie’s placing your order, and he catches your shy little wave, sending a flawless wink back at ya

 (/❛o❛)/❤,.-~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸,.-~*´¨¯¨`*·~ o(~_^)o

OOF

MAN DOWN MAN DOWN

HE GOT YOU

ONE HIT KO

AHHHHHH <3

If love at first sight is a thing

This may very well be it

He’s. So. Cute~ 乂❤‿❤乂

At least you think so

Seungmin, on the other hand…

…

Not so much :))

In fact

The way he’s looking at this guy

You may not know what he’s thinking

But you can tell

He’s trying really hard to put up a normal/average front

His aura is…

Well

It’s not pleasant that’s for sure

When you two stand off to the side, waiting for your order

You tug at his sleeve and ask him if he’s alright

“Hm?” He snaps out of glaring daggers to peer down at you, smiling softly. “Yeah, everything’s fine.”

You highly doubt that, but you aren’t about to open any doors that should remain locked

“Okay…”

Just then your order is being called, by the cute blonde by that recently stole your heart

You instantly light up like a Christmas tree, and before Seungmin can make a move you dash over to the counter to pick it up

Leaving Minnie in your dust

“……”

He doesn’t say a word

Meanwhile, back at the food stand, you’re taking the bag of goods from…

You’re squinting at his nametag…

Only to notice he isn’t wearing one. Now you feel kind of dumb.

“It’s Jaemin,” he laughs, dropping some extra napkins in the bag. But also…

Why is winking at you like that?

“Maybe I’ll be hearing from you sometime?”

What…

You look down into the bag

Sure enough, there’s a phone number scribbled out in pen over the top napkin

...Wow. He’s not even trying to be sneaky about it. He’s letting you know what’s up.

But doesn’t he think that…?

You look at him earnestly. “Don’t take this the wrong way or anything, but um…”

His eyes grow soft, and looks disappointed all of a sudden. But he seems to be taking whatever he thinks is going on respectfully. “Oh, so you are in a relationship. I’m sorry, I thought that-- well, Jeno told me you two weren’t anything serious, so I thought that--”

“Jeno?” You look over his shoulder, and sure enough there’s Jeno, school jock, meeting your stare and giving you a quick “what up” nod before he hustles back to work

Jaemin sighs, making himself look busy by swiping down the counter. “Sorry, again. That was really rude of me, you can just ignore--”

“No!” you cut in.

He’s looking back up at you, a bit surprised, and you clear your throat. “I mean uh...he’s right. Jeno’s right. I’m not...seeing anyone right now. I mean, I’m not in a relationship or...anything like that. Seungmin and I are just really good friends. He’s like a brother, almost.”

Jaemin’s surprise quickly spreads into a smile that travels from ear to ear, and chuckles mostly to himself, giving himself a nod as well. “Okay. Sounds great. Maybe I really will be hearing from you then.”

Hnnnnn your insides are turning to goo, and you nod a little too ecstatically, having to contain the excited squeal threatening to erupt from the butterflies in your stomach as you hurry back over to Seungmin’s side

He’s right where you left him, and he looks…

He looks like a kicked puppy

There’s no way he could have heard what just happened

But you knew he saw the whole thing

...That didn’t matter though, right?

Cause it’s not like you guys are dating

He doesn’t even like you like that

Just friends

Just friends, (y/n)

So it’s fine

You don’t even care if he sees the phone number napkin

Which he’s looking at right now; actually glaring intensely would be a better word

And now he’s

Oh

He’s reaching inside the bag

He’s taking it out

He’s glaring at it

He’s debating something

He doesn’t look very happy

Brave (Y/n) tries to reach for the phone number

Her attack missed

Minnie’s power level is too strong

It’s over 9,000

Now he’s walking away and…

You gulp as he waits to get Jaemin’s attention

exchanging some words with him

Oh dear stars

What are they saying?

What’s going on?

You’re not sure why, but your legs won’t move

There’s some kind of...barrier...there’s this aura emitting off of Seungmin. It’s the same as earlier when he first caught you smiling at Jaemin. 

But now it’s stronger, more powerful. Clearly you aren’t the only one who feels it either, because the customers and employees around him are taking a few steps back and sending curious glances as well...when he comes back, he’s empty handed. And he looks…

Calmly pleased with himself. “Sorry about that, (y/n). He won’t be bothering you anymore.”

You frown. “He wasn’t bothering me, Minnie. In fact--”

You don’t get to finish that thought, because he’s ushering you off like a shepherd herding a lost sheep away from a pack of wolves...

Except you’re starting to suspect that he may be a wolf in sheep’s...well, shepherd's clothing

You sit down to eat, and it’s like nothing happened. Minus the twitch in his face every time you so much as look toward the Cinnabon shop.

~~~

The next day you’re sitting in your chosen science course, Environmental Systems. It was either that or Quantum Physics...and let’s face it, you hate math, so ES won ten to none

You’re sitting at your lab table totally zoning out...you can’t stop thinking about Minnie’s behavior the other day. What the heck had gotten into him? Why was he acting so strangely? So rudely?

He’d gotten better after he started hanging out with you. He’d stop skipping classes, started taking his classwork seriously

It turns out Minnie is actually really smart; like, really smart. His IQ has gotta be in the 150 range. It was just a matter of applying himself and actually giving a hoot; and for some reason, he’d listen to you. Most of the time, anyway.

 So you’re sitting there all slumped over in your stool, elbows on the table with your head propped up in both hands. Your eyes are locked in an internal battle with the clock on the far wall; each second that ticks by is a second lost, a second wasted, a second longer that you STILL can’t figure out what’s wrong with--

...Say, why is this bothering you so much anyway?

You two ain’t dating

You’re just friends

But you still care about him and are worried for him...as a close friend, right? That’s normal, isn’t it? You’re like a fretting sister worried about her brother’s strange behavior

Yeah yeah that’s all it is

Also what was up with that aura coming off of him?

You’re pretty sure even the Fire Nation would have turned and run with their tails between their legs

Wonder what it was he said to Jaemin…

...Aw man

Jaemin

So much for that romance waiting to be written (“=3=)

You feel a hand on your shoulder

“Ahh!” 

You whirl around to see Seu--

…

Lucas?

He gives you a tender smile, slinging his backpack to the floor beside the table. “Hey. You okay?”

“Oh…” You sigh, shaking your head to clear it. “Yeah. Yeah I’m...fine.” ...Not fine, but it’s okay.

New character introduction! → This is your lab partner, Lucas. He’s sat beside you all year, but you normally don’t speak much beyond idle chitchat and classwork. 

But today is different

Because today is the day he’s finally getting up the courage to…

...No, not confess his undying love for you. He just wants to talk more. He’s seen you around with Seungmin a lot; in fact the two of them share a class together, and let’s just say you’re not the only one who’s noticed some odd behavior. Lucas is a caring guy, and he’s worried about you… He thinks you’re a good person. And to him, good people are precious treasures that must be protected!! (/oAo)/

He takes a seat in his stool beside you, the one next to the window, and looks at you with concern in his eyes. “So, listen...I know we don’t talk a lot, but…is it okay if I ask you something?”

“? Sure, go ahead.”

“You and Kim...what’s your relationship like?”

You frown. “We don’t have a relationship. I mean, I’m not romantically involved with him...we met in middle school. We’ve been friends ever since.”

“...Are you sure about that?”

...what?

“What do you mean?”

“Well...not to sound out of line or anything, but I’m a bit surprised...well, I have a hard time believing...erm, seeing a person like you hanging out with a person like him. And it’s not just me, either. Anyone who knows either of you feels the same way.”

(• ε •) ? Why tho

You’re looking to him for the answer, but he doesn’t give you one. Instead he’s changing the subject.

“...Not to be nosy, but Jaemin told me what happened the other day. Uh…” He rubs the back of his neck, glaring down at the table. “He wanted me to apologize to you again, in his place. But you really should have told him if you were--”

“I’m not in a relationship with him!”

You’d slammed your hands on the table, jumping out of your seat. The rest of your classmates all silence their chatter or last minute scribbling of unfinished homework assignments, staring at the far left corner of the room where your table is.

Oops

You uh

You hadn’t meant to do that

Muttering an apology you sink back down into your seat, head bowed to allow your hair to hide your face like a curtain. Showtime’s over, folks. No encores, please.

Lucas hesitates, but after a moment he places a hand against your back. Something wet rolls down your cheeks...sheesh, when did you become such a crybaby? Are you seriously crying about this right now? But why…?

 You hear him swallow, and next thing you know he’s asking you for your side of the story, and you tell him everything. About Seungmin flipping like a light switch. About his scary aura you’d never noticed before. That you had no idea he was gonna react like that.

“I see…” Lucas is quiet for a moment. Then he holds out his hand to you. “Give me your phone for a sec.”

??? Okay…

You give him your phone, and he smiles a bit at the phone charms of things you stan clinking together as it’s being passed over to him. He grabs your wrist for a second (lightly) to unlock it, making you chuckle, then he’s opening the contacts app. He slides it back over not but a few moments later with the friendliest smile he’s ever given you; a smile letting you know that everything’s going to be alright.

“Text me anytime. I gave you Jaemin’s number as well. You should call him. I know he seems kind of like...a womanizer, but he’s really not. That’s just a dumb rumor going around from the popular crowd ‘cause he turned one of the cheerleaders down. He’s really a nice guy, and he talks about you a lot.”

……

QAQ <3

LUCAS I COULD KISS YOU RIGHT NOW

OmgoshomgoshomgOSH \(^.^)/ 

GO LUCAS YEEHAW

You do hug him at least

You can’t help yourself

You feel like a weight has been lifted

Like you can breathe a little easier

Lucas just laughs half awkwardly, half genuine, and pats your back before the teacher walks in and makes a comment about PDA, and you both roll your eyes and take your seats

You spend the whole class chatting and catching up like two good friends that hadn’t seen each other in a long time, really hitting it off even though you’ve been lab partners the whole semester 

Your teacher doesn’t mind as long as you get your work done; today is a relaxed, catch up on late assignments kind of day

You’re so engrossed in a debate about which flavor of ice cream is superior that you scarcely hear the bell ring; you notice it but it leaves your mind after five seconds because this hoe over here is trying to convince you that vanilla is better than chocolate

CHOCOLATE IS SUPERIOR OKAY?!? (Author Note: if you feel otherwise, just pretend the roles are switched✌️)

 You’re going into heavy detail about how your flavor is just melts-in-your-mouth kind of good, being a river of pure joy when you notice Lucas staring towards the door with a troubled look on his face...is he trying to tell you he needs to go?

Probably. Well shoot, is it pretty rude to keep someone from getting where they need to go…

You’re about to apologize and turn to get your things and uh

Seungmin is there

At the door

Just watching you two

He’s wearing the same resting b*tch face he wore during the Jaemin fiasco

Uh-oh.

He doesn’t approach you like you fear he will, though. He simply waits patiently, one eye on you, the other on Lucas.

The moment you get your things together you bow your head to Lucas, being overly respectful in a state of minor panic before scurrying for the door. Seungmin flips his attitude again to be all smiles and sunshine, taking your hand a bit too forcefully and sending a look over his shoulder before hauling you off. 

“What was that all about?”

He may be smiling, but his tone is the complete opposite, making you frown

He’s not gonna freak out again like yesterday, is he??

Uh uh uh

Wait you don’t have anything to hide

You have the right to have friends

You know what

YOU KNOW WHAT

You’re about to tell this guy

This whole thing is dumb, you’re probably making it out to be way worse than it actually is

It’s surely nothing

Guys are just weird and testy

...But when you open your mouth to let him know how you feel

Aka the truth

Nothing comes out

Not a dang thing

You close your mouth; open, close, open

N o t h i n g

Then something finally does come:

“Lucas is my lab partner. We were just talking about--”

He cuts you off, squeezing your hand a little tighter. Ow. “No, not that. I meant before class.”

Be--

Before class?!

“I saw you handing your phone to him. What happened?”

Uh

Sis what

He saw that? He was there?!

WHERE?!?

He always walks you to and from class, but you were sure you saw him leave after he dropped you off! He...He had to be hiding somewhere…

Normally you’d think it was a bit cute because “oh he’s just a helicopter brother” or laugh ‘cause he’d be trying to pull a prank on you but

Given what happened yesterday

It freaks you out.

He’s squeezing your hand tighter. It’s really starting to hurt.

“Um...it was nothing! It was part of a warmup assignment!”

“Warm-up assignment?”

“Yeah! We were comparing the current temperatures around the world, and his phone wasn’t working, so I let him borrow mine!”

The lie comes tumbling out of your mouth like a rolling stone

You can’t very well give him the truth

Not if he can’t handle the truth

Plus you need time to sort out what’s really going on with him

But does he buy it?

Well let’s see

He stops and looks you in the eyes

His gaze is cutting through you again

Just like it did when you met him some four or five years ago

It’s more than a little unsettling, but you refuse to crack

Please buy it please but it please buy it…

He sighs and studies you, more gently this time, before pressing his lips together and giving a few small nods. “Okay. I guess that’s okay.”

He uh

He what now?

He guesses that’s okay…?

……

“...Listen, Seungmin. I think we need to talk later.”

“I do too. I have something for you.”

He um

He has something...for you?

Another present?

“What is it?”

His grin is almost too excited. Yet it also seems so pure and innocent. His eyes are smoldering… At least that’s how your brain interprets it, but surely he’s just trying to scare you as is his hobby 24/7. “But you’ll have to wait ‘til tomorrow to open it.”

~~~

Tomorrow comes sooner than you know it

It’s Valentine’s Day

Flowers and chocolate and greeting cards are all over the place

Ribbons and lace and delicious cakes

Hey that kinda rhymed B)) You’re the new Shakespeare

Okay anyway

You’re at your locker; for once Seungmin isn’t around between periods, he’s being held up with a board meeting

Oh yeah, that’s right...forgot to mention, he’s on the Student Council

Told you he was smart tho

But that also made him a lot more...worrisome, given his recent outburst and weird personality flips

The Student Council had a lot of influence at your school

They practically ran the whole circus here

For example, you knew it wasn’t a coincidence that you no longer shared Statistics class with Jeno, Jaemin’s buddy.

… sigh

This whole thing was just one giant me--

UM

What is all this?? (o.o)

You open your locker, right

And well

There’s a huge mess of roses

And chocolates

And greeting cards

And ribbons and lace and delicious cakes; word 😎

You have to grab a few bouquets and boxes before they spill all over the floor

How is it that...since when did you have so many admirers?

No offense to you or anything

You were a very nice girl

Cute, smart, sophisticated, good sense of humor

But you were also rather quiet and shy

Mostly because Seungmin took up all your free time

He kept it that way

Once you survive shoving everything back into the locker in a way that won’t result in them burying you alive, you open one of the greeting cards while a janitor and a few students give you looks at the mess of petals all over the floor

(𝑌/𝑛),  𝐻𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑦 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑒'𝑠 𝐷𝑎𝑦! (\(^-^)/) 𝑊𝘩𝑒𝑟𝑒'𝑠 𝑚𝑦 𝘩𝑢𝑔? 𝐽𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑘 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝘩 𝑡𝘩𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑢𝑚𝑚𝑦 𝑣𝑖𝑟𝑢𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 ;𝑃 -- 𝑆𝑒𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑚𝑖𝑛

You open another:

𝑅𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑑, 𝑉𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑏𝑙𝑢𝑒, 𝐿𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑡𝑢𝑙𝑖𝑝𝑠 𝐹𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑎 𝑏𝑖𝑟𝑑'𝑠 𝑒𝑦𝑒 𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤

??? Okay then…

You’re noticing that all the cards and boxes are labeled “Seungmin” or “Minnie” or “you know who” as you’re shuffling through the garden that has become of your locker

You find the tulips near the back next to some daffodils and classic red roses, having to use half your strength just to wrestle them out

Oi vey

You peer inside from “a bird’s eye view”

…

But you don’t see anything

Wait a second yes you do

There’s something dark and boxy buried inside the bouquet

You dig inside...fish it out

It’s a lovely black box, long and rectangular, with a beautifully elegant ice-blue ribbon tied around it

Wow this thing looks pretty pricey...how much did he spend on you exactly?

Seungmin had always been a little extra when it came to you but this year was overkill big time

There’s a note sticking to the back of the box; it says: 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑚𝑒

Wow he may as well just attached all the notes he gave you into a novel

But okay you read it

You like reading anyway

𝑂𝑝𝑒𝑛 𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑐𝘩𝑜𝑜𝑙 𝑝.𝑠. - 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑠 <𝟥

...Huh??

You examine the flowers before you…

Your eyes instantly land on the one in the center, which looks slightly different from the others

Because it’s fake...

~~~

Minnie helps you carry your things home after school. He handles your bags and chocolates and most of the flowers, but he insists that you carry the tulips

Why not roses? →  Tulips were your favorite flower

But even if they hadn’t been, he’d bought you one of every kind of flower on the freaking planet anyway, as well as every good chocolate combination in existence

He’d even gotten you that cute plushie you’d been eyeing in the window of a toy shop in the mall

“Did you like everything?”

“Yeah...it’s great. You didn’t have to, though.”

His face gets a little...resting b*tch again. “Nonsense. I wanted to. You deserve it.”

M’kay…

“...Thanks, Minnie.”

“I mean it. You deserve this and more.”

“No, no. This is plenty. Wayyy more than enough.”

You laugh at first, but the moment you notice Seungmin’s not laughing, you stop.

There’s an uncomfortable silence in the air for the rest of the walk, that is until you reach your house.

“Listen, (y/n)--”

“Welp thanks for everything today!!”

You rush inside, dumping the load in your arms by the front door. When you run back outside to get the rest of what Seungmin is carrying, he tries speaking to you again.

“(Y/n)--”

“Geez it’s awfully cold out! Winter sure is a bummer huh? But I do love curling up inside and um...oh wow I’ve got a lot of homework to do--”

“(Y/n)!!”

You wince at the harsh tone in his voice; if you were an animal you’d have your ears flat against your head right now. “...Y-Yeah?”

Something...uh...uh-oh

His cheeks are turning the color of the roses in his arms.

This can’t be good

But when his lips part to say what he needs to say, nothing comes out

Cause here comes Lucas riding his bike down the street

And there’s a red rose gripped against the handle

Oh dear stars what fresh hell is this

You’re lost for words

Maybe he’d just passing by on his way to give some other girl a--

Nope he’s putting on the break in front of your house

He’s wheeling his bike over to you

Seungmin’s going into resting b*tch mode again

Why does karma hate you??

“(Y/n),” Lucas chuckles. “Don’t get too excited or anything. This isn’t from me. Jaemin asked me to give it to you. He’s been swamped by girls all day and hasn’t had a moment to himself to come find you. He’s got practice after school so...well I owe him a favor after losing a bet last week, so here I am. Haha...ha.”

Oh man, karma really does hate you

You look over to Seungmin, slowly, careful that any sudden movements will set him off (if Lucas’s words haven’t)

…

……

Wow he’s actually pretty calm right now

Hey maybe he’s okay

Wait no he’s not

He’s crushing those roses and chocolates in his arms pretty tightly

He looks really stiff and rigid

You’re surprised there isn’t a vein throbbing out of his forehead right now

And that scary aura is leaking back into the air again…

“Uh, th-thanks Lucas…” You can’t stop stuttering as you reach for the flower

You take it and after exchanging a few lame jokes and chatter, he waves and gives Seungmin a Bro Nod before riding off

...I mean

That could have gone way worse

You honestly thought Seungmin was going to try and stop you

Or say something

And truth be told the author did plan that

BUT

Then she got another idea okay back to you (y/n)

Gee thanks >->

Okay now

You’re watching Lucas ride off into the sunset (not romantically or anything, just seeing him off and secretly cursing him for choosing such a poor time to pull a stunt like that) when Seungmin blocks you view and is standing...really close to you. 

Why is he so close?

He’s...looking down at you intently. Watching you closely.

Huh who what

Why

This is weird

He just keeps getting weirder and weirder

Making less and less sense

And then he says:

“(Y/n)...listen for a second. Please?”

Um okay

Kinda scared to but sure

“Okay…”

“About what happened yesterday...I’m sorry.”

Oh! He’s apologizing!

He’s not crazy after all (っ◔◡◔)っ ♥

I’m fine you’re fine everybody’s fine

You smile in relief, feeling your muscles relax and all the tension leave the air. You’re seeing the old Minnie you became friends with in those sparkling eyes, that kind lopsided goofy smile, those soft lips, that...that uh…

……

Soft lips?

Sis I

*internally shaking your head*

Girl you gotta get your butt inside RN

You quickly tell Minnie that it’s alright and sweep the whole thing under the rug, giving him a FRIENDLY kiss on the cheek that he may or may not have taken the wrong way

And you get your crushed flowers and broken chocolates and scramble up the sidewalk leading to your doorstep.

…

You fail to notice how long Seungmin is glaring after you with the purest, yet most lecherous, smile on his face

~~~

The moment you yeet yer ass back into the house

It’s like a reminder notification goes off in your head

And you remember about the tulips

Luckily your parents are out having a romantic dinner at some four-star restaurant, so you gather up all the stuff Seungmin had bought you and make three or four trips getting everything securely into the closet of your room

Plushie goes on the bed

You put the tulips in a vase, pondering curiously at what to make of the whole “last flower dying” business

But that can also wait

Because you have a gift to unwrap

You crack open a box of broken chocolates first (hey they’re still good even if they are a little messy and no longer visibly attractive), then you set the box down before you on your desk and just...stare at it for a minute

Admiring how pretty and fancy it is

It’s after school now, sooo…

You tear into that bad boy ヽ(⌐■◡■)ノ♪♬

…

……

………

It’s

It’s a

   ᴵᵗ'ˢ ᵃ ᵏᶰᶤᶠᵉ

Seungmin

He

He got you a--

Holy cow uh

Holy shiz

What

What are you supposed to make of this?? 

……………………

There’s another note inside the box, beneath where the knife was

You carefully set down the weapon, you don’t know if it’s a switchblade or what and the last thing you need is this thing popping out at you

𝑊𝑖𝑡𝘩 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑡𝘩𝑜𝑢𝑔𝘩𝑡

𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝘩𝑎𝑡 𝑏𝑖𝑛𝑑

𝑆𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑠

𝐵𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝘩𝑒𝑦 𝑔𝑜 𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑑

……………………………………..

*takes a breath*

Okayyyyyyyy

You take it back

There’s a sinking feeling in your gut right now

You have an idea of what this could mean

But you don’t want to

…

You peek outside your window

No one is there

You stick your head out into the hallway; no one’s home either

Normally you’d hope Mom and Dad would bring you home some leftovers

But tonight you’ve lost your appetite

You don’t even know why you’re stuffing your face with chocolate right now

Stress eating you guess…

…...

You close your door again with a small shiver, reaching down to examine the knife he gave you

Once you manage to get it open anyway

You let out a little yelp the first time, but after practicing a few times it becomes easier and less scary, your confidence in not cutting yourself or losing an eye growing

You turn the blade in the sunlight

It was really freaking pretty

Like 

Really really pretty

It’s shiny af

So so shiny

And let’s face it you love shiny things

You were probably a seagull in a past life with how attracted you were to sparkly objects 

S o s p a r k l y ✨💕

The colors blended so beautifully too, one spectrum flawlessly cascading into the other, then the next

The whole thing was very elegant and feminine

But also cool and kind of retro-looking

A rainbow-stained blade with a black chrome handle

It had a little pocket clip on one side, in case you wanna clip it to your jeans or attach it to something

The design on the handle is pretty

It honestly looks like a butterfly knife, but it’s not

Just a basic spring-assist

You only know this because Minnie catches you examining it again the next day and tells you 

Why did you bring a knife to school, you ask?

Well…

What if your mom decided to do cleaning? Was your whole thought process; she always gets a little nosy after Valentine’s Day and likes to tease you about all the stuff Seungmin usually busy

Wait til she gets a load of Butterfly Gardens in the closet

You’re looking over at Seungmin now, who’s all peaches and cream, looking cute as a button for someone who just gave you a deadly weapon the other day

He looks really excited and pleased with himself 

And then he asks you

“Are you gonna keep it?”

...

Well let’s see

You’re pretty sure if you bring a knife home

As in, your parents see you walking through the front door and actually find out about it

Even if you are just about a legal adult now

Your mom is gonna freak

Your dad won’t be having any part of it either

“yOU’ll shOOt yOUr EyE OUt!1!1!”

“Mom it’s not a gun and this isn’t A Christmas Story!!”

“You’LL STaB YouR eYe ouT1!1!”

Ugh yeah it’d be a no go sis

Plus with that poem he wrote you…

And everything else…

Even if you are friends and all…

Or whatever the heck your connection to him was

It’s all too much

You’re about to respectfully and politely decline when you look at Seungmin’s face and

...

He’s staring at you

Hard

Really hard

Like he looks a little pissed

It’s almost like he read your whole thought process just now

Like he knows you’re about to say no and hand it back to him

Holy shiz

Uh okay bro chill out haha...ha

“Well?”

Dang he don’t sound very pleased either 

Uh uh uh

You smile to cover up the weird feeling in your gut, gripping the blade close to your chest (closed, ofc): “It’s great! So pretty! I love it!”

...That’s not a total lie, anyway.

It is really pretty

And you do like it

Even if it does creep you out a little a lot

But you getting grounded and swamped by Angry Mom™?

Not so great no

Seungmin is suddenly all smiles again, back to his usual goofy/cheerful self. “That’s great, I knew you’d like it. It suits you perfectly. It’s colorful and charming...just like you.”

He swipes a stray hair from your face, tucking it behind your ear tenderly. The whole action is oozing with love and affection...but you’re not sure if it’s the good kind. It’s light on the outside, but it’s got some weight to it. It’s got a...it’s just...

The final bell rings, signaling that All Students Must Yeet Themselves Off The Premises Because Teachers Wanna Go Home Too

Seungmin places a hand against the small of your back, leading you off campus

Once you turn the corner off official school grounds that hand snakes it’s way around your waist, resting on your hip

U m

You’re uh

You’re honestly too scared to say anything

A chill runs up your spine that doesn’t disappear until after he’s dropped you off at home

The next day goes by in a flash, mostly because for the first time ever you stayed up horribly late way past your usual bedtime to stare at what Seungmin had given you, other than a recent case of the heebie-jeebies (> ︿ <”) 

You’d managed to keep the blade hidden from your parents; the moment Minnie dropped you off you’d rushed inside before he could invite himself over (since you could tell it was heading that way and uh...well he was starting to get a bit more handsy) and stormed straight up the stairs to your room, shutting the door and stashing the deadly weapon in a drawer

Seriously, what the heck was going on?! Why was he acting like this? >:((

...

It was on your mind the rest of the evening, while you were doing homework, when you were having dinner

Not even a few episodes of Sailor Moon or your favorite sitcoms were helping

Not even Studio Ghibli

Your mind was present for all of five seconds of Arrietty before you came back to reality and the credits were rolling

Preferably that one part where the dad goes, “sometimes it’s best not to go looking for danger...”

S i g h

Tell me about it, Papa Borrower

You’re trying but it’s like danger won’t stop looking for you

Danger by the name of Kim Seungmin...

...

Was he really dangerous, though?

Kim Seungmin? Dangerous?

He was such a sweet boy

A former delinquent, yes, but the worst he’d done was skip class to do...whatever it was he did. He’d never hurt a fly— at least, not that you knew of

He’s was a Chaotic Shy boy with a kind face that loved photography and flowers and being a sarcastic ass half the time

So what if he had a thing for knives?

It’s normal for teenage boys to be into all that stuff

And maybe he didn’t even have a thing at all

He probably just wanted to catch you off guard to fool you

He wanted to freak you out on purpose

It was all a joke

Yeah!

That’s it!

A dumb prank

Finally you could get some shut eye…

“Would you like to answer this one, (y/n)?”

Your head snaps up, and a few giggles circle round the classroom. Your face flushes in slight embarrassment. 

“Um...yes Mrs. Hwang, of course”

Okay you’ll get some shut eye as soon as school is over

You got the answer wrong, btw

Stupid Seungmin 😞😒 you’d let him have it for giving you a scare like that later

That poem was a nice touch too, the bastard

And as soon as later rolls around, you’re ready to pass it over, boys

Here comes the thunder

It’s your free period, and while you thought about taking a nap and telling a friend to wake you a few minutes before Environmental Systems (that friend being Lucas), you were too upset to sleep

You had to give this jerk a what for 

A good slap upside the head outta do the trick

Yeah!!

He should be in Woodshop right now, if your sleep deprived brain was remembering correctly

Get ready you jerk 😤 cause here comes the—

...

Your froze in the doorway

Wanna know why?

It’s because your eyes instantly find Seungmin

But the moment they do they can’t help but travel downwards to the project he’s working on in his hands

It’s a statue of you

Like okay hear me out

You ain’t tryna be vain or nothin

Because while the carving is really beautiful and all

It’s totally you

There’s no mistaking it

It’s really freaking detailed

And you see yourself in the mirror at least twice a day

So you should be able to recognize yourself when you see her

And bish that is most certainly, without a doubt, a wood carving of you

......

What are you supposed to do now?

What were you doing here again??

Um uh uh

Sh*t bro

This ain’t good

Normally one would be flattered, right?

But you don’t know

You don’t know what to think

You haven’t known what to think since the incident involving Jaemin

You really aren’t sure how you feel about this sudden new development 

You’re just standing there two steps into the room with a fist raised when the boy next to him, your friend Felix (but mainly his), looks over his shoulder and smiles to you, not even questioning why you’re frozen like that. 

“Hey, (y/n)! How’s it going?”

Crap.

Seungmin immediately looks up, and his whole demeanor goes from zero to sixty, calm and focused to chaotic and delighted

If only you could say the same about yourself

“(Y/n)...I wasn’t expecting you to come find me.” He smiles. He does that a lot so long as there isn’t another guy around. (Felix and Changbin not included). “Is everything okay?”

“Um…” Say it, (y/n). Say it! 

You put on a brave face, trying to look as stern as possible. But that idol of you staring you down from across the room is weakening your stature like kryptonite. “Actually...no, it’s not. It’s really not. I need to talk to you--”

“Then let’s go someplace quiet.”

Wait

Right now?

Apparently so

He’s pulling you out into the hall, yelling at Felix to “cover for him.”

The last thing you see is the freckled boy giving him a thumbs up before you’re dragged off to the Student Council office

It’s empty and dark when you get there; the door is locked

Seungmin must have known it would be

He pulls out a key and unlocks the door, sliding it open and sweeping you inside.

He closes the door but

He doesn’t turn the lights on

So you reach and try to feel your way along the walls for the switch, but your fingers find his instead

Causing him to intertwine them with his

He pulls you right up against him…

And he kisses you

Softly

It’s very gentle, very tender

And you find yourself melting into it, even though just a second ago you were ready to klonk his brains out

But then…

Then he shoves you into a wall

No, he’s not passionately throwing you up against it

He’s slamming you into it

Hard

It honestly knocks the wind out of you for a second

And the first thing you see now that your sight has adjusted are his eyes; they’re boiling, dark, violent

He’s definitely not a happy camper

His grip on you is tight; like he’s trying to make you pop or something

It hurts bro

It really, really hurts

You suck in a sharp breath of air, but he silences you by getting the first word in

“Why the hell are you so difficult?”

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUh

You, difficult?! He’s one to talk!

“Wh-What are you--”

“Shut up! I’m not finished talking yet!”

He’s totally cutting off your blood circulation

You feel your arms starting to go numb, then your hands. He continues yelling at you in hushed tones.

“Why did you let me kiss you just now? Why did you kiss me back? Why are you...and them…”

...Them?

Is he talking about...Jaemin? And Lucas? And all the other guys you’ve so much as smiled to?

“...I can’t do this anymore, (y/n)...not if you’re not going to listen to me or do as I say. It’s driving me crazy. Don’t you get it? Don’t you f***ing see how I feel about you? Have you really been so dense this whole f***ing time?!?”

You

You don’t know what to say

But that’s okay because he’s not finished yet anyway

“The other day...on Valentine’s Day...when you told me...you said it was too much…...even if you were just joking…”

He loosens his grip on you for all but two seconds before squeezing you again tenfold

You no longer have it in you to meme the situation or find any part of anything remotely ironic or lighthearted

You let out a whimper of pain and he shoots a hand over your mouth to stifle it...then he’s cupping your face with both hands, using his thumbs to brush away the tears

You’d run

But you’re too scared to move again

Seungmin is much stronger than you

Taller

Faster

And now that you think about it

You’re pretty sure you heard him lock the door while you were fumbling around for the light switch

“......”

“......”

You hiccup and bite your lip, trying to stop yourself from crying so he’ll give you the space you need right now

This isn’t driving you crazy anymore

It’s scaring you

He’s scaring you

You want the old Seungmin back

The one that wasn’t bipolar and insane

Cause it was all starting to come to you now

The dots were finally connecting

How could you be so blind…?

…

Blind…

Blind.

The poem

What did it say again?

𝑊𝑖𝑡𝘩 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑡𝘩𝑜𝑢𝑔𝘩𝑡

𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝘩𝑎𝑡 𝑏𝑖𝑛𝑑

𝑆𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑠

𝐵𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝘩𝑒𝑦 𝑔𝑜 𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑑

……

You just got an eerie feeling in your chest

Seungmin is still looking at you like a puzzle he can’t seem to piece together. You’re sure you’re looking at him the same way.

“(Y/n). I need to know...tell me, do you…” You can feel his cheeks getting hot inches away from your own. “...Do you feel the same way?”

Crazy? No.

Scared? Upset? Yes.

“...I……” You end on a little sigh, a hesitant puff of air. You can’t get your voice box to work properly.

Unfortunately for you, Seungmin takes this the wrong way; slamming you back into the wall again, he reaches into his pocket, cursing while punching in a number you can’t see. Probably because you’re sinking down the wall with fresh tears in your eyes. You seriously want to go back five years ago and reverse such a terrible mistake...or at least be at home.

You think he’s calling someone, but for some reason he only holds the phone to his ear for all of five seconds before hanging up and putting it away. Guess whoever he was trying to reach wasn’t around.

“......”

And then you see something slowly cross over his face. Like watching a sunrise of realization. Like waking up from a horrible dream, a bad nightmare. 

And then you see that he’s crying.

The tears are silent and steady

And he angles his body quickly to gape at you with a look of pure horror on his face. 

“(Y-Y/n)...”

He drops down to his knees, reaching for you again

But you squeal in panic and flinch away, and he retracts his hands, gripping them close and hanging his head in shame. He’s shaking all over...staring at his hands in disbelief

“......I...I’m so sorry, I...I just...wanted to protect you, (y/n).”

“......”

“Th-Those guys you hang out with. They aren’t good for you. I wanted you to see that...”

“......”

“I’m the only one, (y/n). I’m the only one that understands you. But when you toy with my heart like this--”

“Toy with your heart?!”

You found your voice again. And she ain’t happy.

“...” he swallows, tilting his face up to look you in the eye. Still crying, softly. “...Yes. I--”

“I’ve never toyed with your heart once in my life! I can’t get a word in because you scare the heck out of me! Ever since I met Jaemin at the mall and started talking to Lucas you’ve been acting totally crazy! It’s like I don’t even know who you are anymore…!”

………

And then it’s silent for quite some time

“......” he swallows again, turning his head away and muttering curse after curse to himself while he heads to door.

He locks it behind him.

~~~

Well you found the light switch, but turns out it doesn’t work for some dumbass reason

You’re sure you’re doomed

Your phone is in your bag with the rest of your belongings

You’re confused

And sore

You don’t know what to think anymore, for real this time

You could try calling for help? But…

The Student Council hall is located in a more isolated part of the school that rarely anyone uses

Then Seungmin comes back

And he’s got a first aid kit with him

As well as that kicked puppy expression on his face

Nothing really happens, thankfully

He just patches you up (even though you don’t really need it, since it’s just a few bruises and minor scratch marks)

……

And he leaves you alone

School is long over, so you grab your things from where you left them in your cubby--

…

Wait where’s your stuff

Your bag is gone

Your phone was in there

All your textbooks and homework

Gone

...This day just keeps getting better and better doesn’t it?

Then you turn around

And Lucas is standing there

He’s looking pretty worried with his bag slung over his shoulder, yours in the opposite hand

“Where were you today? You just up and vanished all of a sudden. It’s not like you to skip out on class like that.”

“......”

“Some girls in your class told me you didn’t show up for Statistics either.”

“......”

“Or English.”

“......”

“...” Lucas sighs...then his eyes travel down to your arms, catching on a bit too late, and he gapes at you. “...What happened…?”

“......” You can’t help it. Maybe it was the traumatic experience you just had. Maybe you were about to start your time of the month. But (y/n).exe shut down and fell apart.

Lucas drops everything as you run to him, and he stands there and holds you while you sob into his chest, just letting everything spill out: tears, secrets, all of it.

“(y/n)...”

You gasp for another breath, looking up at him. 

“...” His face is twisted with pain, letting you know you’re not gonna like what he’s about to say. “...I think you should stop hanging around him. In fact, I think you need to get a restraining order. I’m not kidding. You don’t know this, but...the way he acts when you’re not around...it’s very different than when he’s with you. He’s very hostile and closed off. He rarely speaks a word to anyone unless he absolutely has to. He’s civil at first, but he gets short pretty easily...he gets hot under the collar the moment anyone, especially a guy, so much as mentions your name...and then today, with you…” He squares his shoulders, standing straight and tall as he’s looking down at you. “Why don’t I walk you to my house? You’re parents went out of town today, didn’t they? I don’t think it’s safe for you to be alone if he knows where you live…”

…

It was true

You’d practically forgotten

Your parents would be out of town for the evening on a short overnight business trip

……

You really don’t want to be alone right now, and you’ve never gotten a bad vibe from Lucas before. You’d grown closer to him since the two of you exchanged numbers as well, so…

You nod your head, and he gives you a kind, sympathetic smile as he leads you away with an arm wrapped carefully and lightly around your shoulders.

~~~

The moment you get to Lucas’s house

You call your mom to let her know you won’t be home

In case she tries calling the house phone and you don’t answer

You can’t tell her you’re staying at a boy’s house that she’s never officially met before, because even if you do trust him she won’t go for it; and because you don’t want to tell her about the Seungmin fiasco either, you mean to tell her you’re staying at a galpals place

But unfortunately for you you don’t have any you can recall off the bat, and because Seungmin is still on your mind his name is the first one that rolls out of your mouth

And you have to go with it

Your mom is a little unsure at first, buuuuut...well okay, Seungmin is a nice boy, he’s over all the time and you’ve known him forever. Just be careful and don’t stay up too late!

Honestly you thought she’d yell at you even if it was Seungmin, so you’re a bit surprised but 

Oh well

At least she won’t call or worry now

You ask if you can at least stop by your house to get a change of clothes and your toothbrush, but Lucas doesn’t think it’s a good idea; instead he buys you a new one from the convenience store and let’s you wear his clothes

The t-shirt nearly swallows you and you have to tighten the drawstring pants all the way to keep them up but

It works out okay ^_^

You’re still a little shaken up over everything, but Lucas is a really good friend; he makes up a space on the floor just for you (he insisted a million times you take his bed; he’d changed the sheets and everything) but you didn’t wanna put him out since it was all such short notice, and he finally caves but makes a tent for you that’s as comfortable as possible

The two of you actually have a lot of fun making a pillow fort.

He orders delivery and the two of you curl up in the tent together watching some old Disney movies on a small box TV he hauls out of his closet

Wow this dude is vintage af with his VHS tapes

But it’s nice

The two of you sipping noodles and laughing at Toy Story and Finding Nemo

You started drifting off halfway through Emperor’s New Groove when he decided it was time for lights out and cleaned up everything

He tucked you in and made sure you were nice and comfortable before closing the tent and turning out the lights

Big Brother of the Year award goes to: Lucas Wong. *applause*

But, well…

M e a n w h i l e

At a certain Dandy Boy™ house

Something was rotten in the state of…[enter town name here]

It started with a phone call he’d just gotten from a little someone called (Y/n)’s Mom

Or as he referred to her, Mrs. (L/n).

“Mrs. (L/n)?”

“Hey, Minnie! I was just calling to check on (y/n) and remind her to bring the mail in before she gets too comfortable. She’s not answering her phone and well...you know how scatterbrained my daughter can be sometimes. I’m sure she’s just got it buried in her purse again or forgot to turn it off of Silent mode.”

“...I’m sorry, I don’t understand. Is (y/n) not home right now?”

“...Well no...is she not with you? She called about...oh, three hours ago? Said she was spending the night at your house.”

“......”

𝑻𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒆𝒅.

[recurring-polynya]

Saw your tags on the 6th Div's artwork and man, not to sound dramatic (still a bit is ngl) but if you ever write something about Ginrei and/or Soujun, know that I'll love you forever ! ;v; They deserve more love ;A;

I am working on a Ginrei story!!

Okay, right now, I am about halfway through the next story in my RenRuki slow-burn epic, The Heart is a Muscle, which was supposed to be about Rukia passing the vice-captain’s exam, but has somehow become about Byakuya facing all the grief he’s suppressed for the last 150 years (it’s a comedy, obvs). It somehow now incorporates a whole-ass Hisana backstory and I had to make up a name for Byakuya’s grandmom/Ginrei’s wife (she’s super dead), which is why I was doing Kuchiki research. If anyone’s interested, I ended up naming her Sonoyo, which means “night garden”, and shares the character for ‘night’ with Byakuya’s name, since all the men in his line have colors in their name, I don’t even speak Japanese, how did I get like this?? Ginrei gets mentioned a lot, as Byakuya realizes that having a headstrong young shinigami in the house who wants to run around fighting people for $0 kinda sucks, actually, especially when you love that idiot young person and would like them not to die, and he sorta kinda, starts to have, like, a molecule of empathy for old Granddad.

ANYWAY, the next story after that is about Ginrei coming to town and making Byakuya miserable and I’ve already started it, even though I knew I shouldn’t’ve. Like all of my Kuchiki nonsense, it is Extremely Disrespectful-- I honestly can’t believe actual Byakuya fans like my writing, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  I only love Byakuya because he is Awful, and I love Ginrei even more because he is like if you combined the Awfulness of Byakuya with the Awfulness of the Captain-Commander, that whole storyline with Kouga is my absolute fav. Anyhoo, G’s retired now, and living his best life. (I think Bleach Brave Souls finally came out and said he had died and I do not care, I do what I want).

We know absolutely nothing about Soujun except that he was adorable and he is dead, but he just seems So! Pure! I have made the point in my lt’s exam fic that one of the reasons Byakuya is being a butt about Rukia taking the exam is because Soujun died a vice-captain. If you have read my writing long enough, you will know that I sometimes get attached to random throwaway lines and eventually spin them out into short fics. I can *feel it in my bones* that I have a Soujun fic in me, but I’m not sure what form it’s going to take yet. I’m sure he would have made a very poor Clan Head, but I hc that he was the emotional insulation between Byakuya and Ginrei that made Those Kuchiki Boys a family. True Kuchiki can’t live with each other without having a big softie once a generation to keep the peace.

Anyway, because I love it when people ask me about my writing, here’s an extremely early excerpt from the Ginrei fic:

When Byakuya emerged from the captains’ meeting, a patiently waiting Hell Butterfly fluttered up from a nearby bush and alighted on his finger. The voice of his adjutant echoed in his head. “Hey, sir, hate to tell you this, but he was early.”

Byakuya said an extremely dirty word (it was “curses”), startling Captain Hitsugaya thoroughly, and flash-stepped back toward his division. 

It was worse than he expected. 

Ginrei had every shinigami in the company lined up in the training yard, and was shouting them through various sword forms. Renji stood off to the side, looking thoroughly amused, and gently correcting the form of some of the younger officers in the back lines from time to time.

“Abarai!” Byakuya hissed.

Renji sauntered over.

“Are you letting my grandfather run drills?”

“He wanted to.”

“You cannot just let him do whatever he wants!”

“He’s just running the drills I was gonna run. Figured there were a lot worse things he could be getting into. He sure looks like he’s having fun.”

Ginrei smacked Fifth Seat Kuchiki on the foot with his practice sword and yelled something at him. Then he glanced up, and a pleased smile spread over his face. “Lieutenant Abarai, take over for me!”

“Sir, yes, sir!” Renji barked,

Renji dashed over, relieved Ginrei of the practice sword, and promptly whacked Fifth Seat Kuchiki on the other foot with it.

“My ungrateful grandson has finally found time within his taxing schedule to welcome me!” Byakuya’s grandfather announced while striding over.

“You were due to arrive at 2,” Byakuya stated coolly. “At the Manor. Rukia and I both arranged half-days. It is eleven.”

“We made good time,” Ginrei explained flippantly. “And we did stop by the Manor, I left everyone else back there. I wanted to see how the old division was making out, and what’s the sense in stopping by when you were expecting me?”

Byakuya’s eye twitched. “And… how did you find it?”

“Running surprisingly ship-shape in the absence of its captain!”

“I was not absent. I was in a captain's meeting. It was an hour.”

“By gaw, I do like that new adjutant of yours.”

Byakuya blinked. “You… what?”

The both looked over at where Renji was criticizing the Eighth Seat by wobbling his elbow so that he lost his grip on his sword, bobbling it wildly.

“You wrote me a ten page, strongly worded letter when I hired him,” Byakuya frowned. “As though the Gotei were overflowing with literally anyone else who had passed the lieutenant’s exam at the time.”

“Well, that was then. You’ve got him now, and I like the cut of his jib. He showed me around while Genryuusai was wasting your time. The division is looking very modern. I was impressed by the new weight room.”

Byakuya felt a headache coming on.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Righteous Kill (2008)

Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro, back on the screen and together once again! Unfortunately, they’re stuck in a pretty mediocre movie.

The film is told in flashback as Detective “Turk” (DeNiro) confesses that during his nearly 30  years as a police officer he’s killed 14 people. He and his partner (Pacino) are veterans, the kind of officers that get the job done, but not without pissing off the young bloods around them with their attitude and giving a lot of lip to their supervisors. The two find themselves investigating a strange crime. A dirtbag pimp has been killed, shot dead at point-blank range. A poem has been left at the crime scene. As the bodies pile up, the two partners team up with Detectives Karen Corelli (Carla Gugino), Simon Perez (John Leguizamo), and Ted Riley (Donnie Wahlberg) and together, realize that it’s a cop responsible for the murders. Will the officers figure out the one responsible in time to prevent more bloodshed? Even if they do, will they do anything to stop the killer?

The premise sounds alright, but as the movie develops, it starts to sag. At first, it’s entertaining to see Al Pacino and DeNiro as buddies. DeNiro is the one on the edge, always bursting at the seams, ready to beat the snot out of any culprit that mouths off to him. He’s got trouble with his kinda-sorta girlfriend (I’ll get back to her in a second), the years on the streets are wearing him out. By contrast, Al Pacino is much more collected. He’s kind of having a blast seeing his partner beat up the bad guys when their hands are tied in handcuffs but knows just when to reel him in so he doesn’t go too far. He’s as cool as a cucumber, making jokes, running circles around the other police officers. Nothing seems to phase him. Seeing them doing their regular thing is fun, but the movie isn’t about that, it’s about these two guys getting thrust into a lame serial killer plot.

It’s really easy to figure out exactly what’s really going on in the film. I won’t spoil it but basically halfway through you know how the movie is going to play out and you’re just waiting for the characters to catch up with you. Some of the twists and red herrings included are really convenient, to the point where the whole story feels artificial. What hinders it further are the numerous one-dimensional characters. Every bad guy taken out by the serial killer is a mustache-twirling villain. I realize that many rapes go unpunished and that even more aren’t even reported, but did we really need yet another court scene where the grinning misogynist laughs his way out of court while the victim cries and the judge informs the audience that the police officers have screwed up in some way and that she absolutely has to release him to the public? A little imagination, please! 

All of the stereotypical bad guys police officers are prone to encounter put in a row and then knocked down “righteously” by a serial killer that writes poems. To keep the identity of the killer secret we have obligatory scenes where the victim sees the killer and goes “oh, it’s YOU! What do you want?” deliberately addressing someone they know in an awkward manner before getting killed just to keep us guessing. I took particular offense to Carla Gugino’s Detective Corelli. As soon as she arrives on-screen, you know exactly what part she will play during the climax - assuming you don't forget about her midway through. She just disappears for a huge chunk of this story.

Righteous Kill ends in a contrived manner that leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Director Jon Avnet and/or writer Russell Gewirtz might've had a message to convey about real justice vs. court justice but this was not the way to convince us, it’s just a lame thriller that suckers you in with some big stars.

More forgettable than insulting, Righteous Kill is a big letdown. The mystery is easy to solve, making you feel a whole lot smarter than the police officers involved and you become restless waiting to hear the big confession at the end where the killer explains why all of the events played out the way they did. I can’t recommend it, even if you’re starving to see Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro do something other than lame comedies. (On DVD, May 20, 2014)

[kinetic-elaboration]

March 8: Orphan Black 4x05

Tried to do some fic reading this evening but I kept getting distracted and then I got all lost in my thoughts and anyway--bit later than I wish it were.

Today’s episode of Orphan Black continues the streak of excellent episodes this season. I’m also halfway through the season now, so either I was too harsh on it last time or it felt apart damn fast.

This one was obviously primarily about Brightborn, getting more into what exactly this branch of Neolution is doing, or trying to do.

I really loved that Cosima and Alison are getting a chance to be at the forefront of an investigation. I mean, I do like Sarah as leader, but Cosima has spent so much of the show either being the exposition or the victim, and Alison is usually off doing completely different story lines, being the ‘dark suburban comedy’ break from the bleak sci fi. And yet they are two ‘main’ clones! It seems right, and long overdue, that they should get their own primary-plot related story line.

Not that Alison was in that much of this ep in particular, but it is obviously her obsession too, and she was working on it last time. Cosima barely gets to leave her hideaway (or lab last season), so she deserved to carry the A-plot today. And it actually did have to be her, with her science knowledge.

I really liked her outfit also.

Much as Cosima and Donnie are a little awkward together... I did enjoy that they got some clone and clone’s husband bonding time. Also I just love Donnie a lot. I’m not sure precisely what he and Krystal were doing in this ep, or where they’re going with Krystal in general (I sorta suspect they’re not going anywhere, they just like her because she’s fun so they keep adding a little more and a little more to her story), but some of the stuff got so heavy, I needed their comic relief. I needed the Classic Fake Massage Scenario scene.

I’m quite sure that Evie’s story about her magically cured genetic ailment is the explanation for the mouth implant. Advanced, cutting gene therapy? Yeah, that’s what it is. I liked the way they unfurled the story line, though--like in S1, like in any good story with a twist, the complexity comes from what the audience doesn’t know, and the order in which information is revealed.

The rest of the Briighborn plot is... becoming more clear and also... either less interesting or like I’m missing something. Susan Duncan made it sound like what they wanted was just to cure disease, to make healthier people. That’s not so nefarious, as a GOAL. It’s also less interesting than ‘self-directed evolution’ giving people tails. Like they’ve painted the Neolution club nerds as just the small fry but what are the people at the top doing? The same sort of experiments we’re doing in real life...? Like idk I know why germline editing is creepy. It’s also a real thing lol.

I‘m not explaining myself well but I’m just.. dubious that the conspiracy is getting weirder. It seems to be getting more normal. The big thing is obviously the questionably consented-to human experiments, which, yes, classic disturbing mad scientist-y thing to do.I basically understand what they’re going for here too: the discarded rich people embryos go to the “carriers” in their poor-people experiments, those embryos are or become the super weird ones, and a lot of them are deformed or nonviable at birth. That’s gross, obviously. But I can only get so into it because I don’t really...GET... it? Like okay, if they are advanced enough to cure Evie’s genetic illness and create babies who don’t get colic, how do they not know what they’re doing with these other fetuses until they’re born? What else are they trying to do with them?

Finding out another power of Kira’s--that she has some sorta psychic connection to all the clones--reinforces my old theory: they are trying to make her. Which is at least... interesting.

I also sort of get, I think, what the connection is to the clones. Susan Duncan calls them the “perfect baseline for studying the genome” and implies the garish Brightborn experiments are the alternative: a lot of trial and error on individual humans. However, since the clones seem to just be out here living their lives, it’s not clear.. how you get from clones to a better human. As Cosima points out, they changed one (1) thing on them and ended up with a bunch of sick clones. So I wouldn’t call them a ‘perfect’ anything.

Just occurs to me that Kira is their idea of what germline editing does. Sarah has edited genes (...sorta? I guess? or did she not get the edits because she is not infertile? and I know this is a bad question but why was that embryo different?) and when she had a child, that child inherited weird stuff from those edits. I guess.

Either this doesn’t fully make sense OR I am just dumb and not getting it.

Anyway. I vaguely remembered something nefarious about Adele, so I was waiting for that, but I guess I was just remembering Sarah’s paranoia. She was suddenly extremely more watchable (no longer disbarred I guess?, likes hanging out with Kira, makes a genuine attempt to bond with Felix’s family, hates Republicans), and so I was glad that it was fake-out situation. She’s the real deal and that’s nice. No complaints.

I feel some anxiety poking at me and I think that’s a sign I need to sleep. No more incoherent attempts at making sense of this story. I enjoyed the episode, and I’m enjoying the season, that’s what’s important!

[tazzykiki]

Random Thought #7

I love how the creators/writes/whoever have made the characters. They feel real and don’t fall into just one section. I especially noticed this in “The Voltron Show!”. Characters are usually put in ‘boxes’ or tropes to define them, only being able to stay in that box and having that as their ‘personality’. While the characters do have titles(such as Pidge being the brains and Lance being the romantic), they have so much more to them.

-Pidge: She isn’t just smart, she’s strong, quick, witty and brave. She isn’t the usual pacifist ‘the brains’ tend to fall under, if she has to, she will fight and even kill. She also doesn’t let her height stop her, she’s quite the inspiration when you think about it. Pidge also has her silly moments like everyone else. I just love her so much.

-Lance: His trope/box/whatever way you put it, is a common one. It’s the goofball and the flirt. But Lance is so much more. He isn’t an over-confident asshole, enchanting the ladies isn’t the only thing on his mind and he has his flaws that match him as a character. Lance isn’t the most open of guys which is why he masks his pain under aloofness so often. I’m assuming he only opens up to strangers because they don’t know much about him and can’t find ways to backlash on him(I only remember him talking with the Yupper when they were breaking out Slav). Lance also genuinely cares about people, he becomes upset when they are hurt, and does his best to help. Plus, he is in pain because he feels he’s letting the team down because he believes he isn’t worth much(Lance, my precious child). He cares about the team so much that he almost left for their benefit!

-Hunk: He is seen as the ‘big guy’. This trope is especially seen in “The Voltron Show!”. Think Bulkhead from Transformers: Prime. Bulkhead is the muscle, the big softy and the oaf. While Hunk is a big softy and the muscle, he’s also a gentle giant. BUT, he isn’t just those things. If he needs to fight to protect, he will. He also has a temper and gains a one track mind when really focused on one task(like saving Shay). Not only this, he isn’t just the big ‘ol softy who eats and cooks, he’s also an engineer with intelligence to match Pidge’s. Hunk is so many things and more, it’s sad we don’t get much about him.

-Keith: The hot-head, hot-rod with a hot-bod. While Keith is moody, sometimes grumpy and so emo, he is also more. Keith is caring, sweet and protective. His outbursts are justified from being a loner and just his overall passion and intense emotions for things. With the ‘loner’ trait, Keith isn’t even just a loner. He’s a guy not use to social interaction, but wants social interaction. Whenever he is hugged, he smiles. When he has outbursts or gets over emotional, he apologizes. Keith cares so much about others and even puts them over himself when not focused solely on a task(butisweartogodifthatmotherquiznakertriestokillhimselfforthegreatergoodagainimgonnakilleverybodyinahundredmileradius).

-Shiro: Shiro the hero! The big man! The giant cat head! He is the leader of Voltron and is meant to be the best of the best, the strongest and without flaw. Well this is halfway true. Shiro is strong, one of the best fighters on the team and has impeccable leading skills. But, Shiro also has a deeper side to him.He is caring, he is sweet,he is silly, he is protective, he is scared, he is hurt, he is suffering. Shiro has been through a lot and it shows. His flashbacks and triggers can get in the way of progress, but isn’t just thrown in and then forgotten about. Shiro doesn’t let this stop him, only slow him. He is a leader who puts his team first. He is smart but isn’t always right. He is a human being with flaws and I adore that. He is also Best Quiznaking Space Dad too.

-Allura: Magical princess from space. Her planet went bye bye, now she’s watching over a bunch of very odd humans like some sorta Space Mom (The Best Quiznaking Space Mom too).But she isn’t an un-flawed goddess or damsel in distress. She doesn’t need people constantly protecting her and she isn’t always right. But she isn’t invincible and needs help when it’s, well, needed. Some of her views are outdated(A moment of gratitude and love to the writers not drawing out the ‘racist Allura’ thing for too long) but she will recognize it and try her best to fix it. She doesn’t instantly fix it either, she has inner conflict and still does currently(12/25/2017). That’s a real person. Someone with problems that can’t be fixed in a blink of an eye. she also seems to have some sort of superiority thing but I’m not entirely sure.(when she saw Haggar was Altean, she seemed surprised. It could be due to her thinking her and Coran were the only ones or her being baffled that an Altean could do such things like Haggar did. I dunno, but when they went to the Alternate Universe where Alteans were the bad guys, she also seemed shocked.)

-Coran: Coran Coran the Gorgeous Man! The comedy relief while also being the Best Quiznaking Space Uncle. But despite his short screen time, he has levels to him too. He sees the paladins as family and cares so much about them. But he also feels like he could do more and be more. Coran seems to have problems with his age(If you take away the 10,000 years of stasis, he is about 600 years old). Especially seen in “The Voltron Show!”(wow this episode gives a lot on characters surprisingly). He takes a drug to be a better him, to help the paladins and do something worth while. And in “Eye of the Storm” he gets really sensitive about being called old. While it can be seen as comedy, it’s also insight into how he really feels sometimes. Coran is the wise old man, but he is also a silly, nice, and deep man. I want to see more of him. There’s also a head canon saying that the reason Coran can be aloof and a bit of a ditz is because he’s about 600 years old(mentally and physically[in Altean ways of course]) and he needs a bit more time to sort through HUNDREDS of years of information. I believe it.

The same character development and bits go to the Galra and Zarkon’s forces, but I can’t dwell into that now, this post is long enough as it is!