#I’m really on my ‘Gege when I catch you…Gege when I catch you..Gege when I catch you’ ERA

[lizajane2]

I fucking love and hate this manga at the same god damn time. I HAVEN’T HAD A MOMENTS PEACE SINCE READING IT!!!

I honestly just feel tortured every time a new chapter comes out. And Gege is just sitting there with this goofy ass smile on his face cause he enjoys tormenting everyone.

CAUSE WHAT IS THIS SHIT?! WHAT IS THIS GEGE:

"eating meals that were made out of habits, watching the sunlit laundry, walking side by side with a person like you (Itadori), and seeing off Tsumiki. i wanted to think "ah, i'm so happy"

[oddstone]

um I just think it’d be neat if I wrote/ plotted with some jjk writers.

[quinnyundertow]

Ahhhhh the commission I ordered for “When I catch you Gege” Chapter 6 was just completed! So excited! Yuta and Junpei ❤️❤️ Art done by the amazing @elsartzz

Excerpt from Chapter 6

It took every fiber of your being to not follow him the last twenty feet to the shed. You doubled over gasping heavily trying to catch your breath from the long sprint. You could hear the sounds of Junpei being beaten as the door to the shed was ripped from the sliding track it was on. Your eyes were wide in shock as the metal doorway was thrown through the air like a scrap of paper in the wind. The weight of it only showed when it crashed to the ground and impaled itself into the mud of the grass field.

Various yells of surprise were heard at the dramatic opening of the supply building before the sheer chaos of hell itself devolved in front of you. Hellish screams escaped through the now gaping maw of the open entry. Pure unbridled fear escaped the men who had beat Junpei as Rika laughed hysterically. You heard the crunch of bones and the squelch of flesh being pounded into the ground. One of the men tried to make a break for it. He appeared from the shed in an attempt to escape retribution. He had almost made it into the light of the outside world when a massive white hand reached out of the dark and clasped itself around the man's leg. Black nails punctured into the fat of the bully’s calves as the special grade curse Rika dragged him back into the interior darkness screaming. His face twisted in terror as his hands scrabbled against the dirt uselessly before he disappeared back into the shed.

A moment later, from the darkness emerged another form. Junpei came flying out of the pitch black, his outfit damaged and his face bloodied from the beat down the bullies had given him before Rika and Yuta emerged into the dark. Upon seeing him you started crying, calling out his name. His eyes met yours as he startled at you being here. You rushed into him throwing your arms around his neck before burying your face into his shoulder. He looked down at you. The fear he felt mixing with new concern and confusion, “Y/n? What are you doing here?! We need to get out of here!”

Junpei’s arms wrapped tight around you as you sobbed into him, “It’s okay Junpei, that’s my friend Yuta. I’m so sorry we were late, I almost failed you again.” Junpei froze his face in an expression of awe as he looked back towards the small shack.

Only silence was heard from the shed now. It was broken by Yuta in a cold and remorseless tone, “If you or anyone else so much as looks at Junpei the wrong way again you won’t escape with your lives.” There were some noises of understanding in the form of moans before Yuta emerged from the shed back into the light. A smattering of blood was on his white school shirt and on his cheek, his clothing only slightly ruffled.

Junpei stared wide eyed at the newcomer as you turned your crying face from where it hid in Junpei’s shoulder to look where Yuta stood. “That’s…your friend?” Junpei asked speechlessly.

You nodded into his chest, your arms letting go from around his neck to wrap around Junpei’s middle tightly. “Junpei, are you okay? I was so scared, did they hurt you badly?”

You and Junpei had your eyes on Yuta who stood somewhat awkwardly in the background. Yuta tried to make his expression disarming with a small smile, his eyes closed. It didn’t really work considering the blood covering him and Rika’s ominous presence; but Yuta couldn’t look more beautiful to you than he did in this moment.

Junpei returned his gaze to your tear stained face. He flushed hard at the concern for him he saw there. A heat went through him as your body pressed tightly up against his own. “Y/n, listen, don’t cry, I'm okay. They’ve done way worse before. Besides, your friend made sure that won’t happen again…”

You nodded, sniffling, letting Junpei go reluctantly before you moved towards where Yuta stood. Rika lurked behind him a wide grin on her face as she examined her claws sprayed with blood. You looked at Rika first knowing she had done the brute force of the job, “Thank you Rika.” You bowed to her in gratitude. You turned to Yuta now, fresh tears starting to fall at his kind expression, “Thank you Yuta.”

He smiled down at you before putting a hand on the top of your head, “Hey, everything is okay now. Please don’t cry.” He lifted his other hand to your cheek to use his thumb to wipe the remaining tears off your face. “You did a great job Y/n we made it just in time.” the hand on your head stroked your hair lightly in reassurance.

You nodded, turning slightly to include Junpei, “Junpei this is Yuta, the friend I wanted you to meet.”

Junpei nodded behind you before bowing in gratitude as well, “Thanks..”, the fear from earlier was no longer in his expression, just a deep curiosity. This shouldn’t surprise you given Junpei had a similar reaction to Mahito killing his bullies in the theater in a much more violent way. Junpei looked down at his feet before continuing, “Can you teach me how to do that?”

Yuta blinked in surprise, shocked that the new boy wasn’t terrified of him. He barked out a laugh in response before saying, “No clue, but I guess we can find out together.”

[iamyoursonly]

Try again? (30/9/2023)

I’m trying so hard to cope please bear with me. WHEN I CATCH YOU GEGE

edited on 12/12/2023

‘Love is the most twisted curse of all.’ You always say. And yet, you fell in love with me and I fell in love with you.

“Yo.” You wave, and you walk over to me, with that soft gaze and cocky smile. I knew you well, so I would just run over and give you the biggest hug ever. I mean you loved it even though the impact would make you fall down. “I missed you so much.” You’d breathe down my neck, and I’d say it back, “I missed you more, Satoru.”

We walked down the street, hand in hand, with ice cream too, preferably. You’d steal mine when you finish yours and we’d bicker until the same old man tells us off.

“Just buy a new one you good for nothing lanky tall guy.” I’d call you to make you pissed, but you would just tell me, “You love me though don’t you.” with that signature smirk of yours, and you take advantage of your height and take my ice cream away from me. It was like that everyday. It was good while it lasted though.

I moved to England the year later, but we facetimed every night. You visit me on every single weekend and every holiday you have, but I was forced into too many activities that I couldn’t make enough time for you. That must’ve been the case, because you broke up with me a month later, saying you can’t take it anymore. I know it was a full on lie but I had to give up, or I would bring you down with me. “I’m sorry Satoru, I-” I cried on call, I could see the red stains on your eyes too, but you were pretending to be calm and cool, I know you’re lonely but I can’t do anything about it. “Save it, just take care.” Then you cut the call, and I bawled my eyes out that night.

Moving on after you was hard, those times I had with you in Japan kept appearing in my mind. I heard from Shoko that you’d moved on and was dating another girl whose name was Himeko, I knew she was pretty and I told Shoko to tell you that it’s good that you’d moved on. I started picking up drinking at the age of 17, then smoking at 18. It was hell when you weren’t around, I regret not begging you to stay when we were on call.

I knew I was dying once I was admitted to the hospital unconscious. My parents wanted to know what was wrong with me too, but I couldn’t bear to tell them after all the money they’d invested in me. Shoko visited me, she said that you didn’t know yet, because if you did, you’d go on a serious rampage and might hurt someone. I was in the hospital for two whole weeks before leaving. On the last day though, a bouquet of roses was on my table. No card, nothing was slipped in the bouquet, but I really hoped it was you who sent it.

I got up to my feet again and started working hard, hoping that I could go back to you as soon as possible, but it was too selfish for me to. You have a girlfriend and a happy life, your instagram was full of smiles and laughter, it makes me forget that I wasn’t with you anymore. When I finally posted on my instagram story, with a photo of me with a neck full of medals together with a friend, you messaged me and said ‘good job’ like you always do. To be honest, I hoped that you’d forget about me and never look back, but deep down I hoped that you had never given up on me.

Turning twenty years old and coming back to Japan to finish med school after 2 years of prior study in England, I speak fluent English and tried to appear with more confidence. I got to take glimpses of you when you caught my eye at the shopping mall I loved to go to. The only thing that was different was you were with your girlfriend, laughing. But wasn’t with me.

When Shoko told me you and Himeko broke up and I was almost overjoyed, I hope you won’t drink that much and get drunk because god knows what you’d do. Before I knew it you were at my door, apparently Shoko gave you my new address and there you were, looking as handsome as ever and was so drunk your ears were bright red.

I opened the door and you locked eyes with me, “Hey.” You say, your voice was so much deeper now, you were so much taller too, “Hi, Gojo.” I say back and you furrowed your brows, “Isn’t it Satoru for you?” My heart fluttered, it shouldn’t have been like this but I couldn’t help it, “Satoru, I thought you moved on, what happened.” You just stood there, in front of my door, and I was so glad somehow, “Can you hug me? Please? I know it’s out of line and all but-”

I cut you off with an embrace, “I missed you so much, Satoru.” and you hug me back, “I missed you too.” I bring you into the house, you were really drunk, and you kept rambling about how you were really sad when you broke up with me, “I really didn’t want to, maybe you could’ve had a better future there without me and all, and I really tried to move on, I dated Himeko because of that, but when she figured out that I was using her because I missed you, she broke up with me. I love you so much and I missed you so so much, my love. I might’ve messed up real bad when you moved to England, but I just wanted you to have a better life with someone better. I didn’t know that my heart would ache that much without you around.”

Tears were streaming down your ocean blue eyes, and I felt somewhat responsible for that, “Satoru, listen. I had no choice but to move, my parents spent so much paying for my tuition in England and I couldn’t let them down, I indulged myself in all that studying and extra activities I couldn’t even make time for you, it’s my fault too, I understand that you’d leave me for it. But hey, I never moved on from you, every night I’d think of you, hoping that you’d show up at my door all smiley and tell me that the break up thing was a joke, but you never came. I also hoped that the bouquet of flowers was you when I was in the hospital because I missed you too much but I made it, and I’m back.”

I was crying too, and we just held each other until the sun rose, “That bouquet was me. I’m sorry, I should’ve wrote a card or something.”

When I woke up, you were nowhere to be seen, I was too desperate that I had my real feelings show. The doorbell rang, and when I opened the door, you were there with your soft gaze and a somehow still cocky grin, “Hey. Wanna try again? The dating thing?”

And I mean how could I say no, “Yeah, let’s try again.”

Soon after it was my twenty fifth birthday, we were at your favourite restaurant and ordered your favourite food. You had me wear my best outfit — that blue dress I adore so much, to go to dinner with you. Everything was going smoothly, I was happy, you were happy, we were talking and laughing. The music in the background played joyfully and it made people feel like a stone has been lifted up from their lives.

Suddenly, the music stopped. And I turned around to the pianist that was playing the song. The man smiled at me, then as if on cue, the birthday song started playing.

You sung, “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to my love~. Happy birthday to youuu!”

I was overjoyed, and was ready to throw myself in your embrace and fill your face with kisses. But you knelt down on the floor, opened up your red velvet box, and asked me, “Will you marry me?” I didn’t know what to say, the shock and the embarrassment got to me — not that I mind though. Every moment with you is and will always be precious to my heart. So I helped you up and threw my arms around you, before muttering a soft “yes”. You teased me, telling me to say it again, as embarrassed as I was, I simply couldn’t resist your charms and just let you be.

“Are you ready to be my amazing wife, Mrs. Gojo?” You teased.

“Do I look unprepared?” I laugh, “I’m more than ready to spend my whole life with you, you goofy freak!”

You just laughed at the mention of me calling you a ‘goofy freak’, but added, “You love me though.” and I just said, “Too bad I do.”

And you were right, ‘Love really is the most twisted curse of all.’ But I’d still take the risk to love you over and over again.

master list

[bakugoushotwife]

🤲 yk imma need a jjk matchup pretty please 🤲

i’m feeling extra delusional today so it’s gonna need to be a romantic one, i don’t have a gender preferrnce, and if u feelin frisky u can throw in some nsfw parts too 🤭☺️☺️ luv u kyleeee

oh of course my darling, anything for you <3

i ship you with...

c h o s o k a m o

sweet, clueless, but oh so sweet

and he tries really hard to be a good boyfriend

you're his first relationship so you have to be patient or you will hurt his feewings

he's such a great listener???? mainly because he wants to be super attentive and learn how to love you, so he's always paying attention to your ramblings to learn what you think is cute, what you hate, what you've been wanting from what store, and what you think is annoying

particularly fond of your ever rotating music taste

look he has a lot of catching up to do, so he enjoys bouncing from genre to genre and artist to artist with you

omg please take him to festivals this is coming to me in a vision rn

i see him, ponytails, pink cowboy hat mhm, i see cowboy boots to match, paper thin jeans riddled with holes with black chaps and no shirt....yes yes...i think im cooking here...

anyway yes, festivals please please jordie im on my knees please

you guys would have so much fun sitting on little blankets on a hill bc you got there early and you're gonna eat and smoke and start drinking as the sun goes down and the first artist comes on like im collapsing into tears beside my bed banging on the floor

literally he would love this more than anything, after everything he's seen and done and come back from like this kind of youth and love and high on life is exactly what he needs

never smoked a blunt before you lol but loves it now and can almost roll by himself hehe

speaking of substances....pussydrunk man. sorry. no im not.

like you're his first everything girlfriend like he has never tasted pussyjuice?? and then you teach him how to make you feel good and he earns his first taste he's...never leaving your side actually may become a bum because of it

im dying im sorry he is just so addicted, like boy breakfast boy lunch boy dinner eatin coochie

he of course still shares you with me, because he understands my value, that's a whole diff headcanon story ;)

big cuddler because he's terribly clingy

i think he has the sexiest veiniest arms and hands, like ughhhh and he doesn't understand how sexy that is either like he'll just be casually running his hands through his hair or something and you're sobbing and he doesn't understand fjsjfsndlrg\

loves your reptiles omg he is a hoagie stan for sure iykyk

i just see this as something so cute and peaceful and pure awww

i mean he would definitely kill a bitch for you, but that's hopefully left for a darker, past, time!

doesn't listen to yuji's advice when in arguments with you anymore <3

decides to always earn forgiveness by worshiping the ground you walk on xoxo

anyways texting gege this should be canon i fear

[cursedvibes]

so what I’m hearing is Kenjaku didn’t have a father & was raised by a kind loving mother but craved attention & care since she was not always there for them? (also daddy issues huh?) It kinda explains a lot about their behaviour. Such a shame we finally got a piece of characterisation for their character only to end up like this. Really hoping there’s more to Kenny’s “death” next week since Gege’s not dumb but I’m keeping my hopes low

Sorry this took a while, but I wanted to wait until a full translation of the chapter was out.

Hm, I'm not really sure if that story is true because this is a sketch and the stories told there are often made up. Kenjaku and Takaba aren't actually running around catching stray dogs or eating dango, so this could be made up too to sell the whole Momotaro joke. However, Takaba would be the only one who would find out about this and Kenjaku has gotten sentimental around him before and even remembered their 20s, so it's not impossible what they said here is based on their real backstory or only slightly exaggerated. It would certainly fit very well and explain their strong personal connection to motherhood.

Even if it is a made up story, it's still interesting that Kenjaku centres a mother in it. I haven't had the time yet to really take it apart, but I do think Takaba & Kenjaku's little Momotaro journey is supposed to represent something greater and maybe reflect on the protagonists strategy to defeat Sukuna and Kenjaku. But I haven't quite figured it out yet. Anyway, this could mean Kenjaku's story about their "mother" isn't meaningless either.

A single mother who is always busy and never has time for their child(ren), but loves them deep down and likes to tell stories. Sounds a lot like Kenjaku if you ask me. Like, this is how Kenjaku might see themselves as parent, at least in regards to Yuuji. Yuuji certainly doesn't want their attention though, quite the opposite. Who knows, maybe Kenjaku's mother was exactly like that and Kenjaku ended up emulating her behaviour, only much worse.

This also reminds me of Tengen a little bit. Kenjaku desperately wants her attention and even when she's not around much, they are happy to spend time with her. She must've also told and taught them a lot in the past. Either way, no matter if this story is true or not, Kenjaku got some issues relating to motherhood and this seems like further evidence for that.

[namazunomegami]

okay so yuta coming back makes sense. i can get on board with that. i was pretty sure he wasn't dead anyways, that's cool

but shjfkglsdg "yuta uses kenjaku's curse technique to steal gojo's body" is a whole new level of wild.

it's interesting that gojo says to yuta what sukuna said to yorozu. "i totally would not lose but if i did i'd be dead. doesn't matter what you do with my dead body."

i'm so impatient for the full translation because damn, what did gojo mean by "catching up" on that panel of geto? is he like, trying to be an idealist like geto was, and "follow his path to the end" along the lines of what geto said? and that whole "becoming a monster" thing?

is he talking about potentially killing megumi? gege doesn't show us enough of gojo being isolated and lonely in the modern day for yuta's "he had to be a monster" line to really hit hard enough, imo.

he is just a silly guy with his students and sometimes murderizes evil curses or gets testy with the higher ups (even then he only bitches at the higher ups! he doesn't kill them!).

cw: me being angry for a hot minute, possible grammatical errors due to me being an impulsive bitch who’s mindlessly typing on her phone

Sadly, as I saw on tiktok and in the leak tags (I also found links to twitter porn, bruh, pls go elsewhere), some fans overestimate Gojo's relationship to others. Some of them, well… oversimplify human relationships. You can love someone but at the same time can’t understand them or can’t agree with them and even hurt them willingly or unwillingly. Humans are meant to be complicated.

We shouldn't forget about Gojo’s isolation, both in a physical and emotional sense. His connections are superficial at best (no, I refuse to believe that he’s a father figure to Megumi, he didn’t adopt him just supported him financially), he has no strong sense of identity. He didn’t know the answer to Geto’s ominous question.

I understand that a lot of fans are hurt because “everybody treats him as a weapon not as a person”. Umm… girliepop, Gojo wasn’t doing his best to improve the quality of his interpersonal relationships or even doing anything to stop others viewing him as a multipurpose tool. He might as well identified with the title of the strongest completely because that’s the only thing he has to center his personality around.

Like... a lot of people expected Shoko to object to the whole body hopping thing. Maybe Shoko didn’t expect him to lose? That’s why she smokes a whole pack of cigarettes during the fight like the self-destructive queen she is? But I dare to mention that to me, their relationship never felt that deep or meaningful. Sure, Gojo is respectful towards her compared to the rest of the characters but I could always feel a little resentment from Shoko. Gojo basically excluded everyone out of the collective tragedy of Geto becoming a curse user. He made it all about himself. It's his pain. His trauma. Nobody’s loss can be compared to his. He unwillingly isolated himself from everyone in that sense.

That’s entirely my hot take nobody’s obligated to agree with it.

I know that he’s the fandom’s darling boy but some fans give more dimension to the character than the canon sources do. Some of them have their idealised version of his character living in their head without all his flaws (you can love flawed characters, you can love said flaws too, you can love morally fucked up ones too it doesn’t make you a bad person). I’m not surprised, I’m not mad, but what they did to Yuta is honestly disgusting.

Yuta is actually the closest to know what Gojo has been through. He understands his loneliness, he went through almost the same experiences in life. Their relationship is much more intimate than the fandom realises. Heck, maybe Yuta understands him more than Geto does. Geto did view him as a weapon for a minute before his departure. You know, when he talks about how his goals can be easily achieved with his power. How he can make such impossibility turn into reality. But ofc that doesn’t mean that their conversation is not inherently about Geto making Gojo question his place in the corrupt jujutsu society, giving him a reality check and pointing out the hypocrisy in his statements.

For Yuta, taking Gojo’s body is not a choice. But a must. And a lot of people forgot about how Yuta has zero self-preservation. He was suicidal, he was ready to sacrifice himself in jjk 0 if it meant to save his friends from Geto and to free Rika. And he's ready to do the same again. Even if it meant to become a monster. Gojo has monstrous moments, and Yuta is his official successor in every aspect and it was told throughout the story over and over. This moment is his succession, officially taking his place on top of this weird sorcery food chain, carrying Gojo’s burden when he can’t do it anymore. Nobody’s “worthy” enough, except him. And this is actually the loveliest part of Yuta’s character: he’s a force to be reckon with, he has the ability to be a monster but his heart is filled with love, he strives to be humane, putting everyone’s needs and feelings before himself even in this dreadful moment.

At one point, Uraume says to Hakari that they can only win this fight if they abandon their humanity. Now, they have no other choice. Using Gojo's body is a mean to an end. Ofc, it's tragic, but it's tragic for both Yuta and Gojo. And we shouldn’t forget about that sorcerers are not good guys. They’re very fucked up guys actually. They’re emotionally and mentally damaged because they literally need to harness intense negative feelings for their power to work. Having a few screws loose is not just a mere expectation it’s a fucking requirement. They’re not morally good, they never have been.

I do want to be wrong when I say that jjk peaked in Hidden Inventory and Shibuya. You know, all the thought, nuance, symbolism and such.

Story wise and in themes I think Hidden Inventory and Premature Death is peak. Pacing wise I think Shibuya is a perfect arc.

But now I think Gege lost trajectory in his own writing. What’s the overall message of this story? Love and how it can turn into a twisted curse if not handled properly? How the youth is always forced to fix the mistakes of the previous generation?

What the hell is even Sukuna’s goal? Being evil for the sake of evil hardly works in a satisfying way in this era of writing.

My biggest beef with Gege is that he can’t handle his own characters (especially if they’re women), he can’t develop his characters and build their arc in a consistent manner. But now… my biggest beef is: from the moment he started this arc, he gave us no exposition, no buildup and no other story elements but instead immediately jumps to the action. It's utterly chaotic to me, like he didn’t do any planning beforehand and now just squeezing important details between fight scenes whenever he comes up with them.

Like, anything that happened in that one month before Shinjuku is shown through flashbacks, instead of you know... writing a whole ass buildup to the final fight, spend some time with the characters, showing us how they prepare and such so we can feel the desperation, we can know that this fight has stakes and requires tremendous sacrifice from the gang.

Maybe Gege writes the fight in this particular way because of shock value. And let me tell you, I hate pointless shock value. It reminds me of GoT season 8.

And maybe if Gege wouldn't use flashbacks as the only tool for writing, this arc wouldn't be memed like "oh shit, this character died too, who's going to face Sukuna after them? We're running out of cast lmao".

[youhideastar]

New Fic: Tender

The Untamed / Wangxian / 21,000 words

When Lan Wangji travels to Yiling to see Wei Wuxian at the Burial Mounds settlement, instead of arriving at midday, he arrives that evening and takes a room at the inn. There, he sees Wei Wuxian leaving another man's room, disheveled--sees Wei Wuxian accept money from the stranger. And Wei Wuxian sees him, too.

Looking up at Lan Wangji through his eyelashes, Wei Ying murmurs, “Just tell me what you want, Rich-gege – I know you must have thought about it. I remember how you used to look at me.”

Lan Wangji flinches, despite his best efforts; the blade came from the dark, no sign of the strike before it hit.

Instantly, the mask of cruelty falls from Wei Ying’s face. “Lan Zhan,” he says, ducking his head and stepping back, “forgive me. I should never have—I shouldn’t have said that, not any of it—”

Lan Wangji nods. It’s all he can manage, even after a full ten breaths to absorb the hurt.

“I’m sorry,” Wei Ying says again. “I thought I wasn’t ashamed. I really thought that.” He gives Lan Wangji a rueful smile. “And then I saw the pure and virtuous Hanguang-jun there, watching me sell my bed-time, and seeing myself through those eyes, it wasn’t…” He blows out a breath; his two front locks of hair dance in the air. “You didn’t catch me at my best. Forgive me.”

That hurts, too – to be reduced to 'the pure and virtuous Hanguang-jun,' when Wei Ying had always seemed to see more in Lan Wangji. He was one of the very few who had.

Read Tender on AO3!

[saturnznct]

d-4; meeting santa | hrj

➸ word count; 720 words

➸ tengfei; aged 12, bojing; aged 8, jinghua; aged 4

nct masterlist | dadmas masterlist

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ ⋆✦⋆ ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

‘Gege, come on,’ Jinghua pulls Tengfei along the trail, the oldest of her brothers stumbling behind her.

‘Careful HuaHua,’ Renjun calls after them, ‘Santa’s not going anywhere!’

‘Poor Tengfei,’ you shake your head, knowing the the twelve year old likely isn’t enjoying this little trip too much. 

You and Renjun had decided to do something special for Christmas this year. Renjun had found that in the countryside, there was a yearly Christmas event where the children could meet Santa in a cabin in the forest. You were on the forest trail, which was lit up with fairy lights and lanterns.

‘Are you excited, Bojing?’ Renjun asks your younger son, who’s lagging behind a little bit. Naturally being eight, he was heading towards the age where he doubted the existence of Santa.

‘Uh-huh!’ he nods, ‘just watching the lights.’ 

Renjun affectionately pats his shoulder, before shouting out, ‘Hua, stay where we can see you please.’

‘Sorry,’ Jinghua slows down, waiting for you guys to catch up.

You walk a few steps, before Jinghua suddenly perks up, and starts to run in the direction of the brightly light cabin. 

‘God, I sometimes wish it was acceptable to put a four year old on a tether,’ Renjun murmurs as he jogs after them, shouting after Jinghua.

‘Come on, let’s go catch up,’ you nudge Bojing, and you both begin a brisk walk towards the cabin.

Jinghua is quite literally jumping up and down in excitement when all five of you arrive in the doorway. A thick green wreath hangs on the doorframe, adorned with twinkly gold lights.

‘Right, let’s all knock at the same time,’ Renjun gathers the children around the door, ‘three, two, one-‘

The three kids knock in unison (well, Jinghua more accurately taps), and the door swings open to reveal a lady.

‘Well hello!’ she beams, ‘are you here to meet Santa Claus?’

‘Yeah!’ Jinghua exclaims, the two boys nodding with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

‘Right this way,’ she opens the door further, making Santa visible to the children. Jinghua audibly gasps, and Renjun chuckles, pressing a hand to her back to encourage her inside.

‘Hello!’ Santa booms, ‘you must be Jinghua, Bojing and Tengfei!’

Jinghua and Bojing’s eyes widen at the man himself knowing their names, and they both make their way over.

‘Sit down, sit down!’

All of you place yourselves on log stools around the room.

‘Now, have you three been good this year?’ Santa asks, prompting Jinghua to nod rapidly.

‘Yeah! Really good!’

‘Well, as it just so happens, I have my naughty and nice lists with me here-‘ the Santa pulls out a piece of laminated paper, ‘would you like to know if you’re on the naughty or nice list?’

‘What do you think, guys?’ Renjun asks, encouraging the children to answer.

‘Look at that!’ Santa turns around the paper to show all three of the children’s names under the title ‘Nice List’.

‘As part of being on the nice list, that means you get to let me know what it is you’d like me to bring you for Christmas!’

Jinghua and Bojing are beaming with excitement, both imagining that Santa would definitely bring them what they wished for.

‘Oldest first? Tengfei, what would you like me to bring for you?’

‘Oh, I would quite like a camera.’

‘A camera? What would you be using the camera for?’

‘I like to take pictures,’ Tengfei murmurs, a tad embarrassed, ‘like of the city, the planes, whatever I like.’

‘Bojing, what about you? What are you hoping Santa will bring you?’

‘I’d like a bike. I want to learn and go for bike rides with mum/mom and dad.’

‘I’m sure I can do something like that for you! And finally, Jinghua, what would you like for Christmas?’

‘I would like… a cat!’

‘A cat? Woah!’

‘A grey and white one.’

‘Well, those are all really great things you’ve all asked for! I’ll try my best to be able to bring those for you on Christmas Eve.’

‘What do you say, kids?’ you say, and the three of them all chorus ‘thank you’ in unison.

‘You’re welcome, and Merry Christmas!’

‘Mama, that was so cool!’ Bojing and Jinghua are buzzing as they practically skip back down the trail, Renjun close behind as he begs them to slow down.

[duckiemimi]

I AM SO PISSED OFF ABOUT GOJO'S DEATH, like everyone is ofc, the execution was so miserable. but lemme elaborate

I love tragedies, i love when a character dies before they can achieve their goal, when the ending is completely hopeless, when happiness is completely out of reach for the mc, that's my type of thing, i love stories that are willing to have an ending that kicks you in the nuts and makes you regret ever consuming it. and I'm 90% that's what gege is going for, maybe not that extreme but a sort of bittersweet ending (more bitter than sweet tho).

but the thing is that writing effective tragedies is hard, it's a very careful process because it can easily feel cheap or lazy, you need to set it up properly or it will fall apart, and i personally believe that gege's set up was pretty decent! but they pay off...

i'm used to important characters dying, i love it! but i look at Gojo's death and it's like... damn, what a wasted chance. that thing had the potential to be one of the most impactful deads in modern manga, yet it was so rushed, so lazy and cheap, a good character death can make you cry for a character that u didn't even care about to begin with, but with Gojo, whos character i loved, I didn't shed a single tear! gege really set up this amazing character FOR NOTHING, IT COULD HAVE BEEN SO POWERFUL, WE WERE ROBBED!!!

also, I'm so angry abut the lack of reaction from gojo, like, you are fighting the child you basically RAISED, SHOW SOME EMOTION, sure he is possessed but it's still his body??? like at least pretend to care y'know? it could have been another incredible powerful thing yet gege said "nu-uh :3"

when i catch u gege....

i completely agree! and i know gege’s capable of writing fantastic tragic character arcs because geto’s a great example—no one ever actually complains about how his death was written! gege absolutely nailed the set up of his character and the downhill journey he went through in the hidden inventory arc, and even when he turned villainous, readers still loved him because of how human he read. geto never had a happy ending! but we still loved the way he was written and the way he ended! it made sense, it had meaning.

gege used to be great at resolutions and pay offs, at delivering the unwritten promises he started the story with, but this arc has just been one big mess…just like you, when gojo died, it didn’t feel real to me. but not because it was grief for a well-loved character; it was because it held no weight at all. he died and the world kept turning, and while that’s just the way their universe works, having someone who came out the womb shifting the balance of the world just die inconsequentially makes no sense. no one stopped to mourn him? no one gave him the minute he gave to geto in shibuya? no minuscule pause at all, no shock or outright anger? was he not loved?

i’ve lost most of my hope for the ending i’d hoped for, but i’m staying because i want to see yuuji decide to live for himself. but even that small flame of faith i have, it wavers…

[edenwolfie]

just wondering if you could elaborate more on the times hua cheng suspected wujin was xie lian, and what his internal turmoil was like while debating this

Hi anon! Thanks for the ask, this is going under a read more because a) p big spoilers for ppl who haven’t read the fic and b) I suspect this is going to be a long answer (spoilers, it ended up being 2k words rip).

I’m basically going to just be walking you through my thoughts of the various steps in the fic where Hua Cheng is having Thoughts (and woohoo for the 21k of Hua Cheng POV I wrote for kicks and getting some thoughts in order lol), so buckle up for way more than you asked for. I hope it makes sense because I am very tired and I think I may have just rambled to myself for a solid hour rip

Initial suspicion!! Chapter 2! Literally the first scene Xie Lian sees Hua Cheng where Hua Cheng is just fucking staring at him for a little bit too long (he had been staring for a while before Xie Lian noticed it). TGCF Ch 192: “However, that black-clad youth replied, “You are. I will never forget your voice and your form.”” Hua Cheng fucking clocked this guy who was very gege shaped (he’s lucky Yanxun has been feeding Xie Lian, might have been a little harder at the start). He realises whoever this is is clearly uncomfortable with the awkward little bow and pointedly looks elsewhere, but quickly picks up Xie Lian again and keeps half an eye on him all night when he can.

Chapter 3! From there you get a couple of scenes of the light stalking because this guy’s pinged his gege radar and Xu Hao was able to tell him a few useful things from Den gossip: he’s taking years for patrons in bets, the other staff really like him as he brings them little gifts, is a cultivator with some kind of abstinence path, and he’s older than he looks, (Mental ticks in the ‘wanting to help others’, ‘kind’, ‘cultivator’, and ‘old’ columns). This section is mainly Hua Cheng seeing if he can get anything useful out of Wujin himself by catching him off guard, see if his behaviours or words don’t match what Hua Cheng remembers of Xie Lian. How old is he, what’s his name, how brave is he, how willing is he to share info, why is he taking years for these people—all the while trying not to be nice about it, because there’s no way after living in Ghost City for 2 years that Xie Lian hasn’t heard of Hua Cheng and his reputation and its too late to use San Lang because Xie Lian’s seen him, and also, if it’s not Xie Lian, he doesn’t want to be friendly to some fucking random asshole. It also seems to put Wujin on edge a little, so unsure if this is because he keeps surprising him or if this person is nervous about such pointed questions (if it’s a spy/trap, are they nervous about Hua Cheng catching them out etc). Xie Lian also moves way too fast when Hua Cheng makes a grab for his mask which, ticks in the ‘great reflexes’ or ‘cultivator’ columns, and out comes daozhang-gege, because he is fun to tease. Also, double tick in the wanting to help people column, and tick in the selfless column. Xie Lian technically also doesn’t disagree about the gege thing, so that’s a maybe on age.

Then you get the scene with the dipshit who curses Xie Lian in Hua Cheng’s presence and gets the afterlife kicked out of him. This is tricky because Xie Lian is very intentionally hedging here because he’s just pinged that Hua Cheng could know him and not be pleased about it. Hua Cheng is in two minds because Xie Lian could be cleaning because it needed doing and he’s a hard worker, or it could be that gege feels guilty to be somewhat part of the ghost’s death, OR an imposter is trying to pretend thats the case. He does seem oddly flustered after the conversation and escapes as soon as Hua Cheng’s questioning becomes pointed which could indicate either Xie Lian is nervous or the imposter is at being caught out. Also, the butterfly was with Xie Lian for much of the night before this moment and Hua Cheng was absolutely watching, so he did notice the way Xie Lian paused at the mention of his name, which annoyingly, could point to either Xie Lian or someone trying to pretend to be him.

Basically, by this point Hua Cheng has settled on this either being Xie Lian or it’s someone very intentionally trying to pretend to be him for unclear but probably nefarious purposes. His common sense is beginning to be outweighed by his desire for it to be real so where he had been flirting to put off guard and mess with him a little, it’s becoming much more genuine and his inner thoughts are very much slipping away from referring to Xie Lian as Wujin.

Chapter 4! Black Water, point in Xie Lian’s column of standing up to getting absolutely dunked in He Xuan’s aura, though once it happens Hua Cheng gets between them pretty quick cause NOPE, leave gege alone thanks you. Then Xie Lian comes in with the food, and he brings the fucking wine which IS the one that was on the table when they confronted Lang Ying and he’s like ???? Hello? Gege? Of all the wines you pick that one??? Which is a solid point in his head for it being Xie Lian because Hua Cheng doesn't think a spy would be able to connect that event to the two of them, or it could be coincidence :/ … (You may note Hua Cheng pointedly Does Not Drink The Wine because Fuck That Guy lol).

Attack on the Den! More unhelpful hints of Xie Lian/imposter; can fight well enough to protect the place but did get hurt though unclear in what circumstance. Doesn’t have much spiritual energy when checked which either means 1) possibly has a cursed shackle like Yin Yu does (or a good spy network might know they’d need to emulate one), or b) he’s being truthful about the changing paths thing and his current energy store has collapsed. He also gets an exciting look at gege’s leg which, nice.

Because of this, Hua Cheng is like, I GOTTA see this guy fight in person, preferably with me if I can swing it—and he does! Also during that convo Xie Lian brings out another interesting wine choice from somewhere he knows Xie Lian worked once because he’s followed this part of his trail and spoke with the winemaker (now a ghost, hence why so many bottles, bun bonus info), so again, could be legit, could be someone who’s done their research as well as Hua Cheng has. Seems like a stretch, but its possible, gotta be careful. Xie Lian also confesses that his path does not consume alcohol (point in gege column) and that he ‘stopped being used to fine things a long time ago�� which, another tick - but again, if someone’s done their research, :/ . Hua Cheng also gets a new lead he did not have before: Banyue. Which either means Xie Lian was there, or this imposter is setting up a trail which may or may not be legit. Either way, worth looking into to see if anything can be sussed out. Pack sunscreen Yin Yu.

Then we fight! This is where Hua Cheng starts feeling legitimately confident that it’s Xie Lian because so many of the little pieces he’s put together so far point to Xie Lian, and while all the other things could be things a spy or whatever could have learnt about Xie Lian and emulated, this skill would be really fucking hard to fake, and Hua Cheng has seen him fight before, he moves right. Also, Hua Cheng was not going easy on him and Xie Lian kept up, he was just as knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the swords as Hua Cheng remembered him being which, extra ticks. Xie Lian also gets very, very excited and rambles at Hua Cheng about a particular move and my god Hua Cheng is having little flashbacks to being alone with Xie Lian after fighting the binu just before Land of the Tender. So, all round, signs point to gege—and ding ding ding! I hid a little language clue here, as after this point, Hua Cheng never calls him daozhang-gege again and moves to just using gege.

Chapter 5! We get Qiandeng temple! Again, Hua Cheng is still fishing for information just to be sure, but here he wants Xie Lian to trust him, wants to convince Xie Lian that he’d be safe if he wanted to take the mask off. Hua Cheng thinks he gets a little something, when Xie Lian says ““I’m glad he saved you.”” which I feel reads as a more personal/emotionally charged response to the event than compared to what Yanxun might have said to hear such a thing. Then, ““I think we can give up pretences,” Hua Cheng said and anxiety clogged Xie Lian’s throat. A pause, then, “Gege is far older than he appears. Did he ever worship His Highness?”” That pause was intentional, cause he was considering just asking Xie Lian to take the mask off or just saying that he knows its him (cause he wants to, and Yin Yu’s been fucking hounding him about it and its annoying), but deicides to continue with his plan of making sure Xie Lian trusts him and wants to take the mask off on his own terms.

Chapter 6! Main clues were Xie Lian not having siblings (tick) and going into Feng Xin’s temple (frowny tick). Bonus info: This was also a little bit of a test to see if Xie Lian would run if left alone in the human realm for a time (Hua Cheng did not need to go do things, he had all the info he needed, he just changed forms and lurked about for a while), but Xie Lian does not try to escape and Hua Cheng is fucking thrilled. We also get Hua Cheng’s slip up when he nearly calls out Your Highness when Xie Lian falls into the grave, was mainly a clue to y’all that he’s feeling confident enough that he is referring to Xie Lian in his head as such, even if still some doubts. Then of course the chapter goes to hell (poor Xie Lian, I do love to whack him with a stick) and Hua Cheng doesn’t know where he went wrong and he’s fucking torn up about it. At the same time, he hears a little about Xie Lian’s childhood which sounds much like what he’d expect for a prince. Yin Yu thinks its all a ploy to gain Hua Cheng’s sympathies and Hua Cheng is Very Displeased about this suggestion. Hua Cheng doesn’t get much out of Xie Lian for a little while because Xie Lian is obviously fucking Going Through it and he doesn’t know what to do until he finally can’t resist anymore and asks and Xie Lian admits ““This is not even close to the worst thing to happen to me.”” Which oh boy, Hua Cheng knows what that's referencing and he’s so scared that something else almost as awful has happened to him—Anyway, he also learns that Xie Lian was trapped somewhere for a long time and oh man he hopes he’s wrong but he and Yin Yu hit a wall on his trail about 120+ years ago and he’s very scared he’s just learnt why with the addition of the 'worst thing' comment.

Chapter 7! By here, Hua Cheng is p goddamn certain it’s Xie Lian and isn’t really intently fishing for any information, he still does of course, as there is of course a little voice in his head being like you’re wrong you’re an idiot you’re desperate and seeing what you want to see etc. On their Zhongyuan date Ju-er tells him that Xie Lian is a god and very beautiful under the mask (and my dudes, if they had not fucked (up) in the alley, Hua Cheng had full intentions of cornering that lil guy and taking him to the temple for confirmation the next day). Then Hua Cheng’s a sneaky lil fuck and, where in canon Xie Lian is using the palm reading thing to see if Hua Cheng is a ghost, Hua Cheng here is using it to be like, I’ve carved these hands so much, I’m p sure I know how they look and oh boy they look pretty dang close that's fucking great, and they share a meal and a drink and they play street games and he just gets,,,so lost in the happy sauce, and Xie Lian says please like that, then oh fuck, we did an oopsie. We’ll get more into those thoughts in chap 9 so I won’t elaborate beyond what Hua Cheng said in chap 8 :)

Hope that was even vaguely coherent/interesting/helpful???? I’m sure I’ve forgotten shit too (there’s defo a few little heartbeat moments that Hua Cheng can hear, but they’re often not hugely helpful to him) but man I need to sleep, so goodnight all!

[yuujispinkhair]

NAAAAAAN I’m dropping jjk 😭😭 nooo why !! Tbh i never understood the “gege when i catch you” meme but now- 🥲 (well i got spoiled and knew somehow that it was because a *major ever…*) i don’t wanna spoil in case ppl don’t know

I’ve been following jjk since its first release but i got busy and left my manga reading list for a bit- then i picked up new interest and explored them a bit (it took a while lol)

But now i’m back but WHAT THE FUCK????? I’ve been crying since 11pm and it’s currently 1am!

How could do this gege!! Do this to all the ppl that read jjk!!! HOW DARE YOU !!

I’m currently at chapter 221 but I’m just gritting my teeth every time swearing that i’ll drop but no i can’t i have to know! Surely i’ll get better right?? Right???

Sorry i vented in your ask but i was so sad i needed to talk about it. I think i’ll just go to bed for now… 🥲🥲

Aaaah I hope you're feeling better now 💗💗 JJK is really intense at times 😭 What I do when the manga makes me sad is to escape into fanfics and into my daydreams, where all my faves are fine and have a lovely life without any curses or sorcerers etc ;) It's Gege's story to tell and his characters, so I accept what he gives us. I feel like there need to be some bad things or it would not be tragic enough for a story like JJK :( But yeah, I am happy that I can always imagine my own AUs into which I put Gege's characters to comfort myself.

I am sending you lots of love 💗💗

[quinnyundertow]

QUINNY HELLO!! Its me aleks @yuutito

I have been following both the time travel fic (when I catch you gege) and the asylum one since day one! But I’ve been really shy to make new moots so I haven’t made the effort to come and say hi >.<

But I want to pick your brain about the time travel fic hehe so here I am !!

- since JJK has ended, has your plans for the story changed at all? Like have any plot lines or your planned story been altered by the ending gege gave us?

- since we haven’t met yuuji or megumi or Nobara yet, I’m wondering.. will our MC stop Yuuji from eating the finger? You don’t have to answer but I’m so curious if you will loosely follow JJK storyline or if you will make sweeping changes… vague/nonspoiler answer is ok ^^

- I really like what you did with suguru’s character. I was actually shocked when we met him in the ryokan and he was like “why would I take Rika from Yuta?” I was like OH like we are ACTUALLY making a difference I was so happy 😭 but now I’m here wondering what will kenjaku do if the night parade never happens… I wonder if he’s still in kaoru’s body.. aaaa I have so many questions I’m so very excited you see..

- loosely speaking, I know it’s a reverse harem so MC will have lots of romantic interests, but does MC have romantic feelings for one person or all of them? Or is it more that she’s being swept away in the moment by all these guys? I want to root for an endgame couple (not naming any names, definitely not biased 😌) but I’m also having lots of fun watching MC romance them all!!

- I also really like what you did with Junpei. The eren jaeger hair is a LOOK I’m living for it truly… he looks so handsome in my mind…

Sorry if you’ve answered any of these before but I reread your whole fic last night and my mind is buzzing..

🥰 Ahhhh don’t feel shy about saying Hi I’m just a humble trash gremlin. I’m so glad you’ve continued to like the fics from so early on. 🥺 Thank you for the kind words and support!

These are some interesting questions! Let me see if I can give answers to them 🤭 Potential manga/anime spoilers below. I definitely got carried away responding.These are simply my opinions from watching/reading interviews and the source material.

- since JJK has ended, has your plans for the story changed at all? Like have any plot lines or your planned story been altered by the ending gege gave us?

For a little while I was pretty concerned about how the ending would affect the fic but to be honest almost all the tragedy we are focused around stopping is in the anime (Junpei, Haibara, Nanami, Suguru, Toji, Yuji’s Trauma, Childhood trauma for Gumi, Mechamaru, Tsumiki etc etc.). So no changes to the story line based off of the manga ending. That actually goes for all my fics. Phew.😅

- since we haven’t met yuuji or megumi or Nobara yet, I’m wondering.. will our MC stop Yuuji from eating the finger? You don’t have to answer but I’m so curious if you will loosely follow JJK storyline or if you will make sweeping changes… vague/nonspoiler answer is ok ^^

There will be sweeping changes while loosely following the storyline. 😅 MC will be doing her damndest to avoid Yuji chowing on the finger. That’s all I’ll say on that.

- I really like what you did with suguru’s character. I was actually shocked when we met him in the ryokan and he was like “why would I take Rika from Yuta?” I was like OH like we are ACTUALLY making a difference I was so happy 😭 but now I’m here wondering what will kenjaku do if the night parade never happens… I wonder if he’s still in kaoru’s body.. aaaa I have so many questions I’m so very excited you see..

I feel like I need to explain how I see Suguru’s character to respond to this. Suguru is such a fascinating character. Even if you think early intervention could have stopped his whole “Monkey” era. He has to have something innately inside him that is broken for him to be able to flip that hard (Nurture vs Nature argument). Yes he goes through extreme trauma but lots of people go through extreme trauma and don’t become racially charged serial killers.

In the show he goes from (arguably) Lawful Good to Chaotic Evil. In WICYG I want to explore Geto as a Chaotic Neutral.

Why didn’t Suguru even THINK of taking Rika from Yuta in WICYG? This stems from my analysis in his canon choices. Some of the decisions Geto makes in JJK 0 frankly don’t make sense if he wanted to achieve his goals of a non-sorcerer free world. Suguru is very intelligent and capable of understanding others deeply and in canon manipulating them.

I think in JJK 0 Geto was fucking exhausted by having to bare the weight of the world on his shoulders but felt totally pigeonholed into his choices and was past the point of no return. Geto knew what would goad Gojo into killing him. Targeting young children, attacking Gojo’s students, declaring a public war so Gojo couldn’t back out. Geto gave Gojo no choice but to kill him. Maybe he wasn’t fully cognizant of making that decision but I think he did. Geto could have easily killed Yuta and Stolen Rika when Toge and Yuta encounter Geto at the abandoned mall. He didn’t do it because he didn’t want to.

The WICYG Geto can’t even fathom murdering a young sorcerer with potential just to become more powerful himself. We will get more into these choices as Suguru’s story progresses!

- loosely speaking, I know it’s a reverse harem so MC will have lots of romantic interests, but does MC have romantic feelings for one person or all of them? Or is it more that she’s being swept away in the moment by all these guys? I want to root for an endgame couple (not naming any names, definitely not biased 😌) but I’m also having lots of fun watching MC romance them all!!

Reader x all is the ending. I’ve thought about it a lot. This was the first thing I needed to establish before starting the story. How to have a believable happy harem ending. Trust in me 🙏

- I also really like what you did with Junpei. The eren jaeger hair is a LOOK I’m living for it truly… he looks so handsome in my mind…

I needed him to have a hairdo with his forehead exposed because it’s a visible sign of readers success in Jupei’s story so far. He was never bullied to the point of cigarettes being put out on his face. Go reader! Also Man buns 🙌 Now I need to pay someone to draw him like that hehe I’m glad you approve.

Thank you for all the questions and kind words and sorry for the rambling. I enjoyed responding ❤️

[randomingoftherandomness]

your juezhi fics are the only source of energy powering the metaphorical metropolitan city that is my brain, i hope u know that

for some reason we all like making yuanzhi hurt skdjslsl i think we should have a psychologist analyze the collective hivemind

if you’re in the mood!! a short gab writes for yuanzhi when he catches his ge staring into the distance or at a certain pot of white rhododendrons - how does he react?

A/N: I have finally emerged from my fog of ibuprofen and a double wisdom tooth extraction. If I have to deal with this pain, I’m inflicting it on you guys too. Emotionally, of course.

(ό‿ὸ)ﾉ

Also, what a compliment hahaha! Thank you Nonnie. This is definitely making my week feel a little less dim ❤️ Also to @rose-tinted-vision I know I said this was coming out a few days ago but it got... delayed :>

—

There’s a distance between them that sits and splits in an endless gulf of guilt and regrets. It isn’t a new bedfellow to Yuanzhi. This void is a familiar ghost in their bed, made even more tangible with every single bloom of pale flowers that seems to glow in the midday sun.

It mocks him. Taunts him with the surety that there is nothing he can do to take away the hollow look in Shangjue’s eyes when he catches sight of them.

The distance grows each time.

And so, Yuanzhi downs his scalding tea and lets the pain of it going down his throat anchor him to the ache in his chest. Takes in the way Shangjue grows absent by his side, even when he can physically feel him there — can feel the shape of him distorting the air, can hear him inhale and exhale, can almost taste the regret in the way his gaze stays on those white petals.

More than that, he buries the pain deep in his heart and doesn’t say a word of it out loud because saying it makes it real. Makes the fact that Yuanzhi is no longer the most important person to Shangjue, real.

It hurts. In ways Yuanzhi cannot express.

He swallows down the bile.

The ghost sits in the corner of this sunny room and laughs.

Yuanzhi has to turn away from Shangjue and quickly brush away his tears. Not that his Gege would notice. Mumbling a quick excuse about how he has work to do, he scurries out of Jue residence as fast as his feet can carry him. He thinks he hears someone calling his name but he just can’t talk right now. He cannot bring himself to care.

His own attendants know better than to come to him when he is in one of his moods. They leave him be to mope around his workshop, wishing he was by Gege’s side instead. It’s just mere days before Shangjue has to leave the valley again and usually, around this time, he’d be sticking to Shangjue’s side and not even leaving half a step between himself and his Gege’s shadow.

How childish.

Yuanzhi bites down on the inside of his cheek. It’s about time he grew out of wanting to be sole focus of Shangjue’s attentions. It’s not healthy. Yuanzhi knows that Shangjue is planning to look for Shangguan Qian, knows that he can’t compete with what she can give Shangjue.

It’ll be just a matter of time before Shangjue finds her, Yuanzhi knows it. He knows his Gege has made some inquiries in the jianghu that have paid off. Couple that with the way that their Zhiren himself has wordlessly sanctioned it -- hard not to when his own wife was from Wufeng -- there's really no excuse for him not to be on a horse heading out and bringing her back.

Shangjue hasn't said a word about Shangguan Qian since the day she left even if it is clear in his eyes that the phantom traces of her linger in every corner of Jue residence. She's there at the door when he's home. She waits by the flowers and sits at their table. She blots away the spaces he had spent years carving out for himself and Yuanzhi would hate her if he didn't understand why.

The pain that twists in his chest is unbearable.

Yuanzhi sighs shakily. Sniffling, he rubs his cheek to his shoulder. It doesn't matter. He's not stupid enough to believe that what he and Shangjue have could ever account to much. Not when it is pretty much a family priority to have as many children as possible.

Perhaps this is for the best. Perhaps it's time Yuanzhi lets go of the one person he has ever loved and let him live his life without having to have Yuanzhi be a factor in his decisions in life. He doesn't want to live his life as a ghost orbiting the happiness that will be Shangjue and Shangguan Qian's life together. He doesn't even know if he can even survive watching that up close.

"Didi?"

Unable to hide the way his body stiffens in surprise, he coughs, quickly hiding his face as it burns with shame. Shangjue, thankfully, doesn't come close.

"You... What are you doing here?" Yuanzhi manages in a croak, willing himself to be calm.

"You left so abruptly," Shangjue says. "I got worried."

The ghost in the corner of his heart snarls, 'At least you know how to still be worried about me'.

Yuanzhi bats it aside. Licking his lips, he lowers his gaze to his table top. Still not looking at Shangjue even as he slowly approaches.

"You were crying."

"It's nothing." Yuanzhi rises, making to keep some space between him and his Gege. He doesn't know if he can do this.

Someone in the pantheon of deities must hate him some, because Shangjue easily pins him in space. Holding him by the wrists, the pressure and weight of him forces Yuanzhi to meet his eyes.

"Were you crying because of me?"

Yuanzhi goes still at that and it's an answer enough. "Please don't ask questions, you don't want the answers to," he eventually says. Uncurling himself from Shangjue's touch, he straightens himself. "You should go."

"Yuanzhi, I--"

"Don't." He interrupts. "Don't, please. Don't try to justify yourself, don't try to give it a reason. Please. Do me this one thing. And just go."

Yuanzhi quickly busies himself with rolling back his sleeves and rearranging the shelves of herbs, ignoring the way Shangjue's eyes burn a hole into the back of his head.

"I'll come get you for dinner," Shangjue says in lieu of a goodbye. Yuanzhi doesn't reply. Doesn't get a chance to because Shangjue leaves.

And all that is left is the ghost who sits silently at Yuanzhi's feet watching him go.

[nevraeldarya]

do you have anymore book recommendations? I’m in between books right now while waiting for others to update and i really need a good read.

doesn’t have to be PJO x ROR

TWST x YuGiOh

And You Thought Things Were Over - Chapter 1 - lazella - Multifandom [Archive of Our Own]

Genshin Impact Isekai

The Downside of Paradise: It's Actually a Shitty Place

Game of Thrones/House of the Dragon, Daenerys time travel

Dragons, Dreams, and Second Chances

Twisted Wonderland no Grim

Atramentum

Jujutsu Kaisen Isekai

When I Catch You Gege

Twisted Wonderland Isekai

Wish Upon A Star

Jujutse Kaisen x Inuyasha

How To Tame A Sorcerer

House of the Dragon, Alicent Self-Insert

The Rook |•| A SI Alicent Hightower

Percy Jackson, Fem Percy (Rhea) time travels to the past, it's a re-write

I have swallowed my pride (To say goodbye)

Jujutsu Kaisen x Naruto, Obito ends up as a curse, chaos ensues

helping the world via murder, a guide by your local reformed terrorist

These are the things at the top of my head now.

[onyxino]

JJK 236 SPOILERS

YO! So it’s really sad he’s dead and all (maybe not dead dead idk I’m delusional) but we don’t need to be sending LITERAL DEATH THREATS GEGE’S WAY!! I’ll say the say same thing I said when everyone jumped on Hajime Isayama about AOT…..it’s his story and he can do with it as he pleases and if that includes killing a character then he may do so. Bros doesn’t owe us a single thing. He worked very very hard to get to where he is now don’t ruin it by sending him hate. have a discussion amongst the community, be angry, disagree but don’t go out of you way talking about how you’re gonna hurt him or when you catch him blah blah blah. It does a lot more harm than good don’t ruin this guy because you’re mad. Sure it’s all jokes (mostly) but guys, he may see some of this stuff and his family and friends may see it too. It could be quite disturbing and distressing cause while y’all are laughing about it and not taking it serious they may not be seeing it the way you do.

Aight aight my rant is done.

Not proofread, idc I don’t have my glasses on lol.