#I’m the third youngest of 13

[simpxxstan]

lunch

pairing: elementary school teachers lee seokmin x f.reader

genre: fluff, fluff and some more fluff. a tiny pinch of angst.

summary: as a veteran at sebong elementary school, you don't let any of your juniors get too close to you. the new science teacher, lee seokmin, doesn't seem to get the note, though.

word count: 9.6k words

rating: pg 13 

warnings: use of a few profanities, mention of alcohol and illegal gambling. reader is a bit cold in the beginning. slight age gap.

a/n: SO MUCH FLUFF my body hurts but it was so nice to just write good guy dokyeom after all that angst for wonwoo. i'm sorry to any hyungwon fans who may be reading this though T_T

would love to hear feedback!! reblogs and comments are so so much appreciated <3

this is part of the boys over flowers series featuring booseoksoon + chan! this is the first instalment in that series.

It was a day of much ruckus and excitement. The teachers and students were all waiting eagerly to meet the four new teachers who were joining Sebong Elementary School that day. Children with bright cherub faces peeped from their classroom windows, some crowded in the corridors, and teachers whispered loudly, as they all waited to see the four faces of the new teachers emerge from the Principal’s office. And when they finally did, a loud, collective gasp was heard rippling through every room and corner of Sebong Elementary School. And then the bubble broke, as loud whispers and giggling overtook every other noise, as the four men smiled at the kids and adults gathered through the school. They shone brighter than the tubelights on the ceiling-

“Okay, I think you’re exaggerating, Sohee. I’m sure they don’t have 1000 watt smiles.”

“Oh, Y/N, but they do! Even an ice queen like you is going to melt when you see them. They just exude warmth, kindness, and handsomeness. They look like idols, really!” 

“Now you’re definitely exaggerating. Park carefully, and don’t daydream please. I’ve been nervous from the moment I let you drive my car.”

“It’s a third-hand car. I should, in fact, smash it, so that you can buy something better. The government’s just moments away from declaring it as junk.”

“This is all I can afford, Sohee.”

“Car loans exist!”

“Bankruptcy exists!”

Sohee huffs, and you meticulously check the rear view mirror to ensure she parks neatly. Once done, (read, once Sohee has finished touching up her lipstick and her mascara, and put a few cute hairclips in her long brown hair, cute by her metrics), you both step out of the car. The heat has become harsher, and you’re a little taken aback by the sting of sunlight on your skin. But it feels good to be out again after that stupid bout of fever which had kept you away from school, and consequently, your life. 

You meet several students getting out from the bus in front of the school, some smiling and already chattering with their friends, others shyly holding on to the fingers of their parents. Some of them wave hi to you, others loudly squeal their welcome backs. Your morning grumpiness is slowly wearing away, and you can feel energy bubbling in. It’s barely been the start of the year, and the little ones are very, very gradually warming up to the idea of being away from home for longer than three hours. It’s a trying time for their teachers, and you’re grateful that you don’t teach the youngest class. 

On the short walk from the parking area to the school, and it’s such a miracle that Sohee doesn’t start talking about the four new teachers, because you’re frankly tired of hearing about them. It feels like they don’t exist, and even if they do, they’re going to be massive letdowns compared to Sohee’s descriptions. Sohee does have the habit of hyperbole. 

But you fall headfirst into it as you slide open the door to the staffroom. Everyone stands up and greets you, as you’re one of the earliest members of the staff. You’d like to think that their greetings are out of affection, and not just respect, but you don’t mind. Majority of the staff is quite young, and people look up to you as the sunbae, and it’s a position of respect you crave and enjoy. It’s not like you’re great at showing how you love them either. You can just hope that they get to know about it from time to time, and don’t hate you for not being too affectionate.

As everyone stands up, you bow to the general crowd, and greet them back, but you’re also welcomed by four unknown faces. 

Oh. They must be the new teachers. 

Well, Sohee wasn’t really wrong-

Sohee immediately sparks up and begins talking about how you had really high fever, and every evening she found you lying inside your bed, covered in blankets like a burrito, messy in snot and sweat-

“Okay, that’s enough. Sohee, please spare them the details of my ugly illness.” You’re embarrassed and quite red all over, and out of the corner of your eye, you’re watching the reactions of the four new men. Sure, you may not care much about what other people think, but it’s your first impression after all. Everyone is quite vehemently cooing at you now, and the four men have confused, but concerned expressions on their faces. 

Minseo comes to the rescue, when she diverts the topic to introduce the new faces to you, and you’re grateful for the first time to hear about these new teachers. 

“This is our sunbae, Y/L/N Y/N! She’s one of the first teachers at Sebong Elementary School.” “Aaah, Minseo-yah! You make it sound like she’s old!” Sohee scolds, but you don’t mind. You sure feel old after the way that fever broke your immunity like a twig.

“Aah, sorry. And Y/N Unnie, these are our new joinees this year!” She gestures towards the men, and they bow. You bow in return, and take a full look at them, smiling back at them. 

“Hello! I’m Lee Chan, I’m a ‘99 liner! I’ll work hard and show my best side to you, sunbae!” “Good morning! I’m Boo Seungkwan. Nice to meet you!” “Oh, sunbae, hello! I’m Kwon Soonyoung, I’m also glad to meet you Y/N-ssi!” “And I’m Lee Seokmin! I’ll work hard, please take good care of me, sunbae!” They shake your hands like dominos, and your eyes linger a second too long on the last one, the tall one with the brightest smile. 1000 watt seems about right? “I’m happy to meet you too! Let’s work hard for a long time!” You smile back, and there’s a collective Fighting! through the room, before the school bell rings, and the cacophony of kids entering their classrooms breaks the silence of the school building. 

_

It’s lunchtime, and you’ve already forgotten their names. Sohee insists that you sit with them at the same table for lunch, but you’re not hungry enough to take lunch. It’s been a tiring day, and you just want to sip your iced americano and finish the pending work on your desk in the staffroom. Missing a week of school is as burdensome for teachers as it is for students. There are piles of things left to be done, and you assign yourself the task of finishing filling in the register with the names of the students for that lunch break. The staffroom is empty, and you’re happy to work in peace. 

You’re so focused on your work that you don’t even notice when a tall man walks into the staffroom sometime in the middle of the lunch break, peeps at you from his desk at the other corner of the room, and then leaves. 

_

It’s finally Friday, and that’s how you’ve spent the last four lunch breaks. You’re finally getting through the pile of work at a steady pace. On top of it all, the Principal has promoted you to the Head Teacher of Science Department, as the previous head’s tenure is over, and that means all the science teachers have to approve their lesson plans for this term through you and you’re also in charge of allotting field trips for scientific experiments. 

That’s why Lee Seokmin ambushes you when you’re about to leave at the end of the school day. “Sunbae, I was wondering if you could perhaps look at my lesson plan once? Maybe you could go over it during the weekend?”

You halt your actions of packing your bag, and carefully take the folder from the outstretched hand of the tall man towering over your desk. “Umm, I could look through it now.”

“No, I mean! I’m sorry I didn’t know how to approach you earlier, Sunbae. I’m sorry, I don’t want to keep you from heading home, I’m really sorry-”

“Please stop apologising, Seokmin-ssi. It’s not a big deal. It’s better for me to go through it now in your presence, rather than take it home. I’ll be able to discuss it more smoothly with you then, in case any changes are needed.” 

His puppy brown eyes become tiny slits as he smiles wide. You realise that his hair is draping over his forehead in black curls, and the white shirt he’s wearing reveals the column of his neck very elegantly. He does look good enough to be an idol, you think. 

“Seokmin-ssi, come take a seat here. I won’t bite, in spite of what you may have heard-”

“Oh no! The kids are all praise for you. I’m so thankful to be succeeding you in the classes, because you’ve set such a strong foundation for the students. You’ve made my job a cakewalk, truly.”

“I’m just thankful that you deal with the younger ones now. I enjoy teaching them, but sometimes they can…” You smile lopsidedly, and Seokmin grins. “I’ve heard that I have a lot of patience, sunbae…” “And you have a lot of fighting spirit that we tend to have when we’ve just joined the school. You’ll manage.”

And then the conversation halts. It flows in bits and pieces, as you flip through his lesson plan and discuss changes with him, speaking from experience of having taught these same classes six years more than him. His lesson plan book is very colourful, filled with stickers from cartoons, and brightly drawn smiley flowers. Something in you makes you think that maybe he’s not just doing this as a show for the kids, but also because he likes to do it. He’s very animated in every statement he makes, hand gestures all over his face, but he quietens down when he realises you’re no longer looking at his face, and would rather just get through the work quickly. You’re not annoyed at him, no. It’s just a little overwhelming to see all this energy being thrown at you, and it makes you tired, wondering how to reciprocate it. So you just silently finish your task, and bid him goodbye. He offers to drop you home, but then you say you have your own car, so he gives you another smile and with a natural ease, hops on to his electric bicycle and rides off into the road. 

_

Seokmin-ssi, you realise, doesn’t want reciprocation. He greets you cheerfully every morning, whenever you see him in the campus, whenever you’re making eye contact before leaving for the day, and whenever you both arrive at the same time at school. He doesn’t just say hello, but he also asks if you had a good weekend, if you had a good sleep, if you ate breakfast, if you’ve recovered fully from your cold, if you’re taking your vitamins. It makes you more uncomfortable than before, confusing you whether he’s just buttering you up as a sunbae or whether he’s genuinely this nice. It’s also a little worrying because it makes you feel like he’s trying too hard to be close and you don’t want to be a bother for him, so you hope he takes the hint. But he obviously doesn’t, because the next time you walk into the staffroom determined not to leave your desk, and instead enjoy the peaceful solitude of the staffroom to recharge your battery, you notice a very neat lunch tray sitting on your desk with a note attached on top, “Sunbae, please don’t skip your meals!” It takes you aback, and you stare at it for a good four minutes. Finally you realise you’re too flustered to eat it, and you just keep it aside and get back at your work. 

When Seokmin comes back from his lunch break, he makes the mistake of looking at your desk to see if you’ve eaten, and there. He makes eye contact with your razor sharp eyes looking at him from above your reading glasses. He walks up to your desk and says, “You didn’t eat, sunbae?”

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“I- I- just wanted to-”

“Firstly, Seokmin-ssi, I’m not skipping meals. Secondly, I don’t know if this is normal for you, but I’d appreciate it if we could be harmonious as colleagues. I don’t need you to be my mother for me and feed me. I’m an adult and I know when to eat.”

You can see him gulp and fumble, and for a second, you think you’ve been too harsh. You almost backtrack and apologise, scared that the little light in his eyes is going to go out, but he speaks faster, “I just don’t want you to fall sick again, sunbae. I’m sorry if I was too presumptuous. I’ll do better from now on.” And without another second, he turns and walks out of the room, leaving you speechless. The light in his eyes may not have gone out, but you sure were too mean. Afterall, he was just being nice to you, wasn’t he?”

_

So, the next week, when you’re finally on track and completed all your pending work, you walk into the cafeteria looking to take a lunch break. And you spot Seokmin sitting with Chan on one table on the teacher’s side of the cafeteria. Chan is a sweet boy, and you want to make amends with Seokmin, so you carefully walk across the room to their table and ask, “Can I have lunch with you?” You ask them both, and Chan instantly begins to clear space for you to sit down, but you’re distracted by how wide Seokmin smiles, and you know the ice has melted. He’s forgiven you, so you gently sit down next to him.

It’s a mistake. You hadn’t accounted for how broad he is, and how much he moves his body while speaking. His thighs inch closer to yours with every movement, although very much unconsciously. Even though you’re both sitting, he’s still taller than you, and it makes you shy.

You’re thankful when Soonyoung joins you across the table and you can distract yourself by speaking to him. “Sunbae, it’s so nice to see you in the cafeteria! We rarely ever see you outside the staffroom.” You smile as wide as you can, your mouth full of food. Chan joins in, “Yes, sunbae! Seokmin hyung’s been so-” “We’ve all been worried,” Seokmin interjects, and you’re hit by a pang of guilt. It is pretty natural for coworkers to care about each other. Especially since you’re their senior and they must be looking to make a good impression. 

“I’ve been a little busy with all pending work. The start of the year can be stressful for us senior teachers.”

“I hear Seungkwan hyung is being put in charge of the after-school creche duty?”

“You’ve heard right, Chan. He did apply for it, and given his congenial personality, I think he’d do well if he joined the creche roster.”

“A roster? That means he won’t have duty every day?” Soonyoung asks you.

“Yes, there will be two teachers alternating from Monday to Friday.”

“Oh! Someone lucky gets two days only!”

“We try to ensure even distribution through the month,” you say. “Plus, of course, there can be others volunteering from time to time. So for example, next month, there’s a storytelling week at the creche. Sohee and I will be volunteering for that week as storytellers- that way, the ones responsible for the creche can have a week’s leave from the extra duty.”

Soonyoung and Chan nod in understanding, but you’ve noticed Seokmin is extra quiet, uncharacteristically even. “Do you enjoy the cafeteria food, Seokmin-ssi?” you ask him, speaking softer so that Chan and Soonyoung can’t hear you. It must surprise him, because he looks up at you with wide, boba eyes, and he looks more like a puppy than ever. “I do! The variety is good.” “I’m glad. The caterers recently got changed. The previous ones were seriously falling behind on quality.” Seokmin smiles and eats a big bite of rice and soup, and you chuckle at the comical way his mouth fills up. 

_

You didn’t even think Seokmin would remember. In fact, you’d forgotten that you’d mentioned it yourself. 

But he does. He doesn’t just remember, but he also brings a bag full of old picture books.

You swear your heart stops the moment he enters the hall where the after-school creche is organized and hands you the bag. “These were books my mother had kept for ages even after I’d finished reading them a million times. Thought I’d use them somehow, instead of just letting them gather dust on shelves,” he says as he smiles that pretty, wide smile again. It’s been long enough into the new semester now for you to get used to both Seokmin’s smiles, so you can bask in it. The children bask in it too. Most of the tiny members of the creche know him from the class where he’s teaching about animals, and they squeal in excitement. “Aah, Seokmin-ah, you really didn’t have to. You could’ve gone home and rested for the weekend.” His smile drops, and you mentally slap yourself. You really should take care of your words better, so you rephrase it, “What I meant is… you don’t have to do this out of your way.” “I’m not… going out of my way. I just thought I’d come and watch you, sunbae. I want to learn how to handle little children even better.” 

So he sits in a corner of the hall, Byul and Jiwon sitting on his lap, while his eyes are fixed on you. You’ve taken the storytelling class two days this week, and this is your third day, so you really shouldn’t be so slippery, but something about how he’s looking at you so intently is making you stumble and fall over your words, and your pronunciation often comes out as jumbled as the three year olds sitting in front of you. You’re made even more aware of Seokmin’s presence when snack time arrives, and the kids are too distracted with the picture books to pay attention to their food and eat. Thankfully, Seokmin uses his charm and somehow gathers everyone to sit in a circle around the table. The children have incessant questions, some about the characters they met in the story, and some random questions too, like Are you married, Teacher Seokmin? It doesn’t matter that you pause in your movements to hear his response, a wide-eyed Minhyun looking confusedly at you, wondering why your hand holding his candy is stuck mid-air. It also doesn’t matter that your heart paces up when you see Seokmin glance in your direction before loudly proclaiming that he’s not married. 

The parents arrive soon after that, and then there’s only a crying Byul left, who’s wrapped in Seokmin’s arms as you three wait for her father to arrive. You wonder for a second, how did you ever handle kids, because when you see how Seokmin handles them, you think you’ve done it all wrong for years. He holds her two tiny hands in his own, places her in between his legs and quietly brushes her hair while whispering more imaginary stories about the elephant Byul saw earlier in the picture book. You feel unwanted in this perfect scene, Byul going perfectly silent as she listens to Seokmin talk. But then, honestly, who wouldn’t be in rapture of this beautiful young man?

Byul’s father arrives twenty minutes later, and Byul gives Seokmin a little peck on his cheek before she leaves his arms and goes off with her dad. 

“Sunbae, thank you for letting me be here! I had so much fun, and I also learnt so much from you.” You laugh, “I doubt, though. You’re such a natural with children.” He smiles, “That’s just because I have a lot of cousins. But it’s different handling kids at school. I always have to be extra-careful with them because I’m a complete stranger and not a relative.” “You’re right, and that shows in your care too, Seokmin-ah.” He blushes, and you smile as you lock up the hall and finally make your way to leave the campus. Your back hurts from sitting on the floor for so long and you’re surely glad to go home.

“Sunbae, did you bring your car?”

“Aah, no. Today was Sohee’s carpooling turn, she left early. I’ll just take the bus.”

“Let me drop you home, sunbae! It’s late already.”

You pause, and turn to look at him. His hopeful face, still radiant after the long day. And you feel that same overwhelming feeling take over you. Till now, Seokmin has only given and given, never expecting anything in return. He’s extended a helping hand without you asking for it, he’s reminded you for meals even when you’ve ignored him, he’s been nothing but kind to you. And if he’s doing this even after three whole months of him joining the school, then it can’t be just buttering tactics. 

“I don’t want to get you late, Seokmin-ah.”

“I won’t, sunbae. It’s not a worry, honestly.” He bites his lower lip, his eyebrows furrowed as he asks you again, “Please let me drop you, sunbae.”

It’s been years since a man has been this kind to you. Kind enough without coming off as a creep. A part of you is wary, but something in Seokmin’s eyes makes you feel guilty for ever mistrusting his intentions. 

“Alright, Seokmin-ah. Noona owes you one.” 

You can see the stutter in his eyes even before you hear it in his voice. 

“N-noona? Oh. Noona! I’ll drive you safely!”

And he does. Diligent, puppy-like, kind Seokmin drives you home quickly and safely. For the first time in years, you sleep with a smile on your face.

_

You enter the Principal’s office to find a very nervous-looking Seokmin standing next to the Principal. “Good Morning, Mr. Han. Is something wrong?” “Yes, good morning Y/N. I’ve just received a complaint from a parent, and as the head of science teachers, I’d like you to look into it once.” “Of course.”

Then you turn towards Seokmin, who is standing very upright, but you can see him nervously twitching his feet. “Seokmin-ssi, is the parent here in school, or have you received a written complaint?” Seokmin’s voice is barely audible the first time he speaks, so you take a couple of steps to be closer to him. “Don’t be so nervous. Please tell me everything so that I can help resolve this.” He looks at you, his eyes still wide, and the tension obvious in his face. But he takes a deep breath and says, “They’re here, in my science classroom.” “And can you tell me the gist of the matter?” “I… I… I had asked her daughter to not draw with crayons on the walls of the science classroom. And one time… I’d asked her daughter to bring more nutritious food to class instead of chips every single day.” He says softly, his eyes focused on the blue linoleum tiles on the floor. You take a deep breath. As you’ve grown more senior, you’ve eventually detached yourself from the classes of the youngest students, those below four years of age. So naturally, you’d not gotten into messes like this for a long time. But with your experience, you know just how to deal with such cases. 

So you excuse yourself from the office and walk down to Seokmin’s homeroom, gesturing him to enter as you both walk into the classroom. It is deserted, except for a very grim-looking gigantic woman standing next to a tiny girl with even tinier braids. “Good morning. I’m Y/L/N Y/N, Head of the Science Department.” “Yes, well, I’m hoping you’d be more competent about it all rather than Mr. Lee here.” 

You forcefully smile tightly and ask, “Please let me know the details of the matter.” “Where do I begin! Mr. Lee has been… very dictatorial with my daughter. First he forbids her from colouring, and then he forces her to starve herself! It’s absolutely ridiculous that a teacher can do such things!” Out of the corner of your eye, you see Seokmin shrink further away into the corner, his eyes wide. 

“Based on how well I know Mr. Lee, I can’t imagine him forcing a child to starve themselves. Correct me if I’m wrong, but did he ask her to bring a different set of food for lunch, rather than chips?” “Yes, but-” “And that was purely based on nutritional concerns, Ma’am. As teachers at Sebong Elementary School, we want to ensure our students receive proper nutrition at their growing age. And I can assure you that chips are not the most nutritious food your daughter can eat every day.” “I’m a working mother-” “I’m sure you can buy a fruit or toast a single slice of bread along with a slice of cheese along with the chips, if you’re so busy.” 

 The woman in front of you stands speechless for a second, before continuing in her boisterous tone, “But who are you to dictate what I feed my child?” “Nobody, truly. But Mr. Lee is a kindhearted man, who cares for every child in this school, and even his colleagues and peers like me. As a teacher, he has the best interest of his students in mind, you see.” “Certainly can’t be more than that of her mother.” “Of course, which is why I’d advise you too, as would any other paediatrician, that only chips is not the diet a four-year old child should be exposed to on a daily basis.” 

The woman takes a step back. Her grip on her daughter’s fingers loosen, and the child takes a step forward. “Miss, I really like the grapes Mr. Lee gave me the other day! That’s why I’ve stopped eating Eomma’s lunch!” She smiles at you, and you bend down on your knee to meet her at eye level. “Is that so? But darling, you should always eat what your mummy’s giving you. Good girls don’t skip meals, understood?” She nods her little head very seriously, so you pat her once on her head. Then you stand up again and look at her mother. “I see your daughter does enjoy eating grapes. Perhaps you could buy her some fruits for lunch.”

She tilts her head a little bit, looking fully like a kid who’s been punished for being too outspoken, and honestly you’re glad to have made that effect. Some people can be so entitled and so rude, and it leaves such a harsh impression on softer teachers like Seokmin. Which is exactly what you see when the parent does leave with her child a few minutes later, as the man, who hasn’t spoken a single word since entering the room, comes up to you gingerly. 

“Noona, thank you so much. I was so- so scared.” You smile at him as warmly as you can, “Please don’t be. It wasn’t your fault at all that some parents can misunderstand even the best intentions of teachers. It’s pretty common- as time goes on, people will just find more flaws, whether it be in your teaching skills or your child-handling skills. You just need to be less nervous when things like this happen. If you ever need help in these things, of course I’m always here… as are your other seniors. But it’s best if you learn to handle these things without taking them too much to your heart, unless you see there is genuine room for improvement for you.” He nods throughout, and his eyes have become round like a puppy’s eyes again. “I will introspect, Noona.” He laughs a bit, “This honestly isn’t the first time someone’s misunderstanding my intentions. But I will try harder to be more clear and not … not be presumptuous,” he says, looking deep into your eyes, before he bows and leaves the room.

As you stand there in the classroom, alone you realise that the situation oddly reminds you of a similar conversation you had with him at the beginning of the semester. When you’d asked him to keep his distance and not interfere … all while, he was just trying to be kind. Oh god. You’d been just as rude as the parent had been today, hadn’t you? Oh dear god. No wonder he’d looked so downcast and rejected after that.

_

Sohee’s thousand-day anniversary at the school is coming up so Minseo’s put on a surprise party at her house. It’s not a surprise to just Sohee, but also to you. “Oh, why didn’t you let me know earlier, Minseo-yah?” “We would, but you’ve just been so busy with the end of term reports and grades that we didn’t want to bother you.” “Well, that’s not something only I’m doing. I’m sure you all were busy too.” “But none of us are head of departments, you know?” She giggles, and you know it’s not a jibe. But it still feels bad to not be able to contribute when everyone is contributing in some way or the other. 

So you order a six-pound blueberry cheesecake for the party, knowing blueberry to be Sohee’s favourite flavour. And, as expected, it’s a party hit. It turns out to be the favourite flavour of a lot of people, even Seokmin, who helps himself to three slices, and you’re just glad to see them all enjoying it. There’s drinks, pizza and music playing in the background. And although the teacher community at Sebong Elementary School is not too big, you’re a lot of twenty-six people, and you’re thankful that Minseo comes from a rich family that has a big house. And yet, it feels cosy and familiar. You barely attend parties or social gatherings,  and unless it’s family occasions, having been out of the dating scene for years. But this type of party seems fun to you- perhaps it’s you growing old, perhaps it’s you no longer finding staying up late exciting, perhaps it’s you realising that getting wasted is not as interesting as you used to think it was in college. So you settle for being the woman who’s dressed in a sweater although it’s barely autumn, already mentally classified as a spinster for almost everyone you meet, thirty and with no life outside of work, and you’re happy. You’re happy right now, sipping a cocktail and eating the fried chicken Minseo’s airfrying and constantly supplying to the party, celebrating your closest friend, Sohee. You know that although Sohee’s a couple of months younger than you, and definitely has a more active love life, she’s just like you at heart, and she’s the sister you’ve never had. As she gets drunk (you can tell it’s the first time in a long time by the way she’s getting tipsy even faster than she usually does), she leans over to smooch you loudly on the cheek, and you laugh and give in to her. It creates a loud wave of cheers across the room, but it’s such a warm moment. She clinks her glass with yours and rests her head on your shoulder, while raising a toast to the teachers at Sebong Elementary School. There’s another round of cheers, and then your phone reminds you it’s ten pm, and you should be heading home because it’s a school day tomorrow. The buzz feels good, and you want to stay longer, but you’re not drunk enough to forget your responsibilities. And so the party gradually disperses. You hug Minseo and thank her for organising the wonderful party, and somehow Sohee manages to stand up on her feet steadily. Seungkwan takes the duty to drop Sohee home as he lives near her house, and before you can say anything, Seokmin takes on the responsibility of dropping you home. 

“I don’t want to impose-” “But I insist, Y/N Noona.” “Why do you always insist, Seokmin? I feel like I’m a burdensome sunbae, not a nice sunbae.” You try not to pout when he leads you to where his car is parked and opens the door for you. He giggles, his face red with the dopamine (and drinks) from the party. “You’re just fishing for compliments, Noona. You know I never think of taking care of you as a burden.” 

Perhaps drinking that third cocktail was a mistake. 

But you did drink it, so you lean over the centre console of the car and say, with a soft giggle, “If you say things like that, Seokmin-ah, people are going to misunderstand and think you like like me.”

“But I do like like you, Noona.” 

You almost miss his words while waving goodbye to the other teachers standing on the pavement in front of Minseo’s house, waiting for their rides. 

Almost. 

“What?” You spin your head so fast it gives you whiplash, and you feel like you’re instantly sober, the way you become alert instantly. Seokmin’s looking at the road as he drives into the main road, his eyes bright by reflecting the street lights. “I do, Noona.”

“No- no, you can’t. Are you serious, Seokmin-ah? Because if you are, you can’t.” 

“Why?” 

There’s a red light, and he’s looking at you, the street lights shining on his face and the gentle handsomeness of his features are glowing in their full glory. This isn’t the first time you’ve found him awe-strikingly beautiful, but right now, he looks positively angelic. His eyelashes form delicate shadows on his cheeks, and the way his hair gets swayed by the wind coming in from the open car windows makes him seem even prettier. 

“Because… you’re so… young. And fresh, and beautiful. And I’m thirty, I spend my days working and my nights reading romantic classics, and I’m so boring a-and you deserve better.”

His mouth twists bitterly, and he says, “But none of that is true, Noona.”

“It is, Seokmin-ah. You barely know me.”

“But I want to. I’m just asking for a chance.”

You stay silent for a long time. In the sparse traffic of the night, you’re reach your house quicker than you’d thought. 

“I don’t want you to make a mistake, Seokmin-ah. I shouldn’t be someone you like more than simply as a sunbae.”

He pauses, then replies, “If you don’t want to give me a chance, that’s okay Noona. I can make peace with it. But you can’t ask me to stop liking you, Noona. My feelings are mine.” 

You don’t say anything on the rest of the journey. You don’t have anything else to say. You can’t even be harsh to him because what he’s saying is logical. You cannot take away his right to like you, even if you don’t think it’s the right choice for him. You’re an adult, he’s an adult, you both have your own opinions and choices. 

It’s only when the car does reach your house that you attempt to say something. 

“I feel sorry for making you come all the way to my house to drop me. Do you want to come in to eat something? I had some dakgalbi made for tonight’s dinner before I got to know about the party.”

He looks at you for a long time. You can see the wheels turn in his head, before he says, “Okay.” 

_

Your flat is on the third floor, so you’re patiently climbing the stairs. Seokmin makes light conversation, breaking the ice, and you actively try to respond. You don’t want him to feel dejected, but you also don’t want to feel like you’re taking him to your house because you pity him after you outright rejected him. 

Your efforts go to waste when you see a figure sitting on the floor in front of the door to your apartment. 

“Hyungwon?” 

Seokmin pauses behind you, as you stand stunned on the last staircase before the landing, and the man you addressed looks up at the two of you. Even in the dim light of the single bulb lighting up the stairwell, you can see that he’s very wasted. “Y/N-ah! I- I’ve been waiting for you.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Oh, you haven’t changed, have you? Straight to the point. No hellos, no-”

“Yes, Hyungwon. What are you doing here?”

He sighs as he stands up. “I missed you.” 

Your head starts to spin. It’s like you’ve been transported back to 2022, when Hyungwon had confessed to you that he’d gambled away all your money, and that he’d been doing so for the last seven months, and that was where he was spending all his evenings at instead of the evening college you’d enrolled him into and whose fees you thought you’d been paying.

Your head spins again, and you’re stumbling back until someone catches you midway before you tumble down the stairs. 

“Noona!” that someone whispers in alarm in your ear, and you realise it’s Seokmin. 

Fuck. 

Fuck, fuck, fuck, not Seokmin. 

Why does Seokmin, out of all people, have to see this?

“Seokmin-ah, leave-”

“Ooh, who’s that?” Hyungwon takes a step closer, and takes a drink out of a soju bottle he’s holding in his left hand. “Boyfriend? You’re still into pretty boys, aren’t you?”

Seokmin pulls you closer to him, your back nearly touching his chest. “Who are you?”

“I’m Hyungwon, Y/N’s first love. You better get out of here, kid.”

“What do you want, Hyungwon? Don’t bullshit with me about missing me. No apology, no regrets, and now you’re suddenly at my doorstep?” You carefully break away from Seokmin’s gentle clasp, and walk towards your ex-boyfriend. “You want my money again.” The lanky man in front of you grins, that fucking lazy, pretty grin you’d fallen so hard for in college. 

“Y/N, where’s the love gone, jagi? Why are we talking about money?”

“Fuck off, Hyungwon. The love was gone long before I even broke up with you.”

He lifts his free hand and tries to reach out to you. “Jagiya-”

“I’m not your jagiya! Hyungwon, I’m not giving you anymore money, so you should just leave! And stop coming to me every time you want money, for god’s sake! We’re done, Hyungwon.” 

The man in front of you falls to his knees, “Please, I’m begging you, Y/N-ah! I’ll get into serious trouble if I don’t repay this debt by the end of this month! Y/N, for the sake of old times-”

“Hyungwon, please don’t! I’m not giving you any of my money, no matter how much you beg.”

His hand wraps around your leg, “Y/N-ah, please, just hear me out once! I am sorry for everything I did, and I’m so willing to amend my ways-”

“Please leave, Hyungwon-ssi, you’re making Noona uncomfortable.” Seokmin suddenly says from behind you, and you walk backward down the stairs until you’re again close enough to him that you can feel his body heat on your back. It makes you feel oddly safe.

“Who are you to say anything about Y/N, huh? You don’t even know her for long, I bet! Y/N and I dated for seven years!”

“It doesn’t matter how long I’ve known her, Hyungwon-ssi. What matters is that right now, she feels safe with me, and not around you. So please leave, Hyungwon-ssi.” You don’t even realise when his hands have come to wrap gently around you, not quite touching your body, but caging you away from the man who’s looking at you both with frantic and desperate eyes. You don’t know he knows that you’re feeling safe around him, but you’re so grateful. “If you don’t leave now, I’ll have to call the police, Hyungwon-ssi.”

The man in front of you gulps. “Fuck! I’ll be back, Y/N-ah. And then I’ll see where this boyfriend of yours will be!” And he storms down the stairs, cursing under his breath, and you’re still shaking in Seokmin’s grip. 

Five minutes pass before he asks you, gently whispering in your ear, “Are you okay?”

“Yes.” You slowly turn around and face him. You’re awfully close to him, and as you stand on the higher staircase, you’re eye-to-eye with him. “I’m so sorry you had to see that, Seokmin-ah.”

“No, Noona. I’m just upset thinking of what would happen if I hadn’t come up with you here tonight.”

“No, don’t be. He’s… harmless. He’s all talk and no action.”

“Has he been here before?”

You bite your lip. You don’t want to tell him things which will involve him deeper into this. He doesn’t know anything, he’s a complete stranger to it all, and yet, he is right, you do feel safe around him. But that doesn’t mean you burden him any further.

“Seokmin-ah, I don’t want you to get worried about this. I can take care of myself, it’s just Hyungwon. Like I said, he’s only bark and no bite.”

“Noona-”

“I’ll be fine, honestly! I’m sorry you had to see all this happen.” 

He opens his mouth to say something, but then he becomes silent again. 

“Do you want to come in-”

“No, Noona. I’ll just leave. I won’t take any more of your time. Have a good night, Noona.”

“Seokmin-ah, pl-”

“Goodnight, Noona. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

And then he walks away, and you’re left there, unarmed, uneasy and all alone, swimming in your own thoughts. You feel like you should run after him like in the movies, and stop him from leaving, but your legs feel like lead. There’s a sinking feeling in your heart and a sense of emergency, and it’s not because your ex-boyfriend came up to your door asking for money to waste again.

_

You don’t go to school the next day. The day after that is a Saturday, thankfully a holiday, and you can spend a day moping in regret, stuffing popcorn into your face and pretending like you’re not an adult anymore and you can live without worrying about responsibilities and keep time standing still. 

It doesn’t work. 

Sohee arrives to your door on Sunday morning, sunglasses perched on her head. “Where have you been, sweetie?” She doesn’t wait for you to respond and shoves herself into your flat. 

“Nowhere, Sohee.”

“You’re pouting, your bed isn’t made, and I can smell caramel popcorn. Something’s up. Tell me, baby.”

She sits down on the couch, pulling you down next to her, and taps twice on your shoulder prompting you to spill. So you do spill. 

You tell her every thought that has crossed your mind these last 48 hours. How Seokmin confessed that he likes you. How you’d turned him down instantly. How Hyungwon had turned up at your door and ruined the night after the party. How you’d practically shooed Seokmin away although he’d been nothing but protective and helpful to you. How you’d wallowed in regrets since then, having realised that you’re such a coward. 

“Yeah, you are a coward. In what right mind would you turn down Seokmin when you’re so down bad for him?”

“Huh?”

“Dummy. You can’t even realise your own feelings, and you act like you’re so mature. Age is truly just a number,” she sighs before digging into your bowl of popcorn. 

“I don’t… I don’t have feelings for Seokmin.”

“What makes you think so?”

“He’s… he’s just a hoobae.”

“So are Chan and Soonyoung and Seungkwan. Why do you always blush when you talk to Seokmin, even if it’s over something as mundane as lunch? Why do you so often go to his classroom and aid him in his lessons during your free periods, even though he doesn’t necessarily ask for it? Why do you talk more to him than to your other hoobaes?”

You stay silent for a second. 

“Y/N-ah, think carefully about this.”

“I shouldn’t think of him in this light… he’s so much younger.”

“You’re just three years older than him, Y/N! Stop acting like you’re so old!”

“But…”

“Oh fuck, this isn’t about age, is it? You feel like you’re going to be to him what Hyungwon became to you? Predatory?”

You’re left silent again. Sohee understands from your (lack of) actions, and jumps across the couch to hug you. “Oh, Y/N-ah. Stop beating yourself up for that. It’s been so, so long. Stop blaming yourself for something that’s not even your fault.” 

“But Seokmin deserves better, don’t you think?”

“And you deserve better than beating yourself over an ex like Hyungwon. You deserve a second chance at love too, baby.” She hugs you tightly, and you don’t know when tears have started rolling down your cheek.“I’m a coward, Sohee. I can’t get the courage to even accept my feelings.” “Then let Seokmin help you. Honestly, with the way he always looks at you like you spin his earth and you’re his god, I don’t think he’ll have any issues waiting for you to realise your feelings.” You blush and hide your face in her neck at her sly words. She’s too outspoken for her own good. 

“What if it’s just a crush for him, that’ll pass soon? There’s not much about me that will keep him interested in me after a few months.”

“You’ve got to stop being so pessimistic. Again, just because one guy was stupid and decided to rip off your hard-earned money and your blind trust in him, doesn’t mean another guy will! I’ll say it again, you deserve a second chance!”

The doorbell rings right then. You get up to open the door, to find a letter on the doormat. 

“It’s from the local police station.” You pick it up and show Sohee, who’s equally confounded as you are. “Well, open it, girl!” 

It’s a letter stating a level one restraining order has been requested for your protection against Chae Hyungwon, who has repeatedly disturbed you while drunk, and demanded money for illegal gambling purposes. 

And the request has been made from Lee Seokmin.

“So you just have to sign it and that’s it? Hyungwon out from your life forever?”

You nod, unable to reply, you’re still shocked by the letter. So is Sohee, it seems. Because all she can manage is, “Wow. Y/N, you’ve gotta marry him.”

“Who?!”

“Seokmin, of course. If this is his level of devotion-”

“You don’t think this was unnecessary?”

“Y/N, are you for real? He’s literally looking out for you and doing what you should’ve done ages back, and you think he’s overstepping boundaries? He’s one gem of a person seeing that he’s doing all this without even you prompting him and even after you literally rejected his confession.”

You take a deep breath. She’s right. She’s so right that your heart hurts and you want to bend down on your knees because your body feels limp. How much more does Seokmin have to give you for you to be able to start giving back to him? One voice in your head chastises you. Love isn’t quid pro quo! You fight back. Fair. But at least you’ve started admitting it is love. The voice laughs at you, leaving you vulnerable. 

“Well, he said yes.”

“What?” You spin your head to look at Sohee who’s holding your phone in her hand. 

“Seokmin. He said he’ll meet you at the park near school. In about an hour.”

“Did you just text him from my phone?”

“I did, for your own good. Because if it were up to you, you would have overthought yourself into a hole you’d dig for yourself and not made a move at all even when he’s literally played all his cards and proved his commitment.”

“Aishh, you’re so annoying,” you playfully shove her. 

“Your annoying friend just wants to see you happy,” she pouts cutely, and you laugh at the face she’s making. 

“Okay, now go get dressed. You have to finish this game now, Y/N. I’ll drop you to the park.”

_

When Sohee drops you a little far away from the park, kissing your forehead and wishing you fighting!, you find Seokmin already sitting on a bench on a relatively empty side of the park. He looks up at you as you get closer, and you wave at him. You feel so timid, so nervous, just walking up to him, his handsomeness hitting you with full force as you see him in more casual clothes than ever before, knowing that this man, this beautiful man likes you. And he wants you, and he’s proved how far he can go to care for you, even when you’ve rejected his care.

“Noona, how are you? We were worried after you called your day off on Friday.”

“I’m sorry… I wasn’t sick or anything.” You laugh awkwardly. “Just, taking some time to ponder over things myself.”

“Oh.” He sits down on the bench, the loose end of his checked shirt gently swaying in the breeze. 

“And I regret how I acted that night. I’m sorry for being so harsh-” he starts to say something, but you gently put a finger on his hand, and that makes him shush. “I’m not just talking about Thursday night. I’ve been harsh to you ever since the beginning of the year. You’ve been nothing but kind and generous to me. But… time has made me unnaturally wary and I find it so hard to accept attention or even kindness easily. Thus, time and again I’ve pushed you away, yet you’ve kept coming back. It’s true that I didn’t realise your intentions earlier, but I know, deep down in my heart, that I’ve liked you too for quite some time.”

His eyes are wide, and you move an inch closer to him on the bench.

“I thought it was silly, to have a crush on a man so obviously young like you. I’m thirty now, turning thirty-one in a few weeks. I’ll always be older than you, less energetic, more boring and to be honest, I think it’s not even age but just experience which has made me like this. And I denied myself your attention because I thought you deserved better. And I still do. You sent a restraining request to the police on my ex-boyfriend on my behalf. You… you’ve gone out of your way so many times, even when I’ve been so harsh with you. You’re the one who’s precious, you’re made out of stardust. I’m just a broccoli that’s stacked in the corner of the fridge because no one wanted to eat me when I was fresh and no one should eat me now because now I’m stale.”

“That’s a ridiculous comparison. Even Soonyoung comparing himself to a tiger is better than you comparing yourself to a broccoli.” He finally says, and you laugh before you realise it. 

“Stop calling yourself old, Noona. Three years of an age difference isn’t a big deal. If the reason you’re holding yourself back is Hyungwon-ssi…”

“It is, I won’t lie. Hyungwon and I started dating when we were in college. We were so good, for so long. Until the pandemic came and took his job. That’s when he started getting into these bad habits. He took to gambling, and to stop him, I enrolled him into an evening college, hoping he’d get more productive and use the time we were stuck at home to get himself more educated and get a better job soon. It turned out he was wasting all my money on gambling, again. Every fees I’d paid to him had actually gone down the drain at a local club. And he even had the audacity to refuse me when I told him I want to break up with him.”

“Well, but he eventually did. That didn’t stop him from coming to my doorstep ever three or four months, asking for cash. Sometimes I’d drive him away, sometimes I’d give in if I was too tired to argue with him and if he was sober and dangerous.”

“Would you have given him money that night… had I not been there?”

You look down at your hands in shame. “I may have. I don’t know.”

“Do you still have feelings for him, Noona? It’s okay if you do have feelings, you know.”

“God, no. I don’t have feelings for him. It’s just that… we were together for seven years. We’ve grown up together. Seeing him in a pitiful state like that makes me sad. And I hope each time, that this will be the last time he’s at my door asking for money.” You look away, too ashamed to look at Seokmin. But he uses a hand to gently grip your chin and turn your head towards him. 

“You’re too kind for your own good, Noona.” You blush at the proximity, and the gentle way he’s touching your face. “This is why I like you. Because you’re so human in a world where everyone is plastic. I don’t like you because you’re a sunbae I want to impress. I don’t like you because boys like me find older women hot. Well, I do find you hot-”

“Seokmin!” You haven’t heard someone call you hot in so long, and it makes your skin burn. 

He giggles, and slowly flattens his palm to cup your cheek. 

“I think the restraining order should do the trick, then. He’ll not harass you any longer.”

“Thank you. You’ve been brave when I’ve been a coward.”

“That’s what makes us a good team, Noona.” 

You finally make eye contact with him, gazing into his doe-like brown eyes which are crinkled at the edges with a hint of a smile and wide with hope. 

“Your eyes are so pretty, Seokmin-ah. Just like the rest of you. Especially your heart.”

“It’s pretty because it belongs to you, Noona.”

You blush harder, and turn your face away from him. “I’ll not like you any more if you’re cheesy like this.”

“But it feels good to make you blush like this. How dare you compare yourself to a broccoli, huh? You have no idea what you do to me- when you enter any room, you light it up with your aura, you make it so much warmer, so much brighter. And then a fucking broccoli?”

“Stop! I didn’t mean it to be so deep. It’s just what I ate for lunch because that’s all I had in my fridge.” He giggles again, and you giggle along with him. You realise you’ve both moved closer to each other on the bench, until your thighs are touching. 

“Then you’ve got to have lunch again. No one should exist by eating just broccoli.” 

“With you?”

“If you’d like that.” He cups your other cheek with another hand, and you can feel your skin on fire. His eyes are gently inching towards your lips so you slowly close your eyes. “If you’re going to kiss me, know that I don’t have much experience in that. I’ll be your hoobae in that regard, sunbae.” You hear a soft giggle, and the kiss doesn’t arrive, so you open your eyes again, just to see him blush all over. “God, you’re so pretty, Noona. I could look at you all day.”

“How about you tell me when you started liking me?”

“Umm, I think that time you came to eat lunch with us for the first time? I think it all started with me just trying to get you to eat meals on time. Good girls don’t skip meals, as I heard someone once say,” you playfully hit his chest lightly, and he laughs. “I don’t know, maybe it was before that. But that afternoon, I realised my crush on you was so serious. I was getting tingly all over every time our shoulders touched.”

“Oh! Well, thank goodness it wasn’t just me.”

“Really? From so long ago? Oh, Noona, if you’d just told me earlier…”

“Shh!” You giggle, “I didn’t even realise anything. I was just desperate to get you to forgive me.”

“But I was never angry at you. I could never be.”

You smile again, and he pulls you closer until your entire body is touching him. “So are you giving me a chance, Noona?” 

“Yes. I like you, Lee Seokmin, and I’m still shocked that you like me, after everything you’ve had to see.”

“Well, I do. I like you so much that I might be seeing stars over your head every time you come into my line of sight.”

You giggle again, your insides turning to mush. “Will you be my girlfriend, Y/N Noona?” His voice is, oh, so soft, like a melody. And his eyes so earnest, like an autumn leaf. “I’d be very honoured to, Seokmin-ah.” “May I kiss you?” You feel yourself getting red with anticipation as you quietly nod your consent. 

And so he kisses you. Like your very own Prince Charming, he kisses you, one hand on the back of your neck, and the other cupping onto your cheek, first gentle and slow, and then a little more passionate, as you pull him closer by holding on to his slender waist. “Fuck, Noona. You taste so sweet,” he says while taking a breath, and then attacks your face all over by placing tiny pecks all over your nose, cheeks and forehead. “I like you so much, I think I might die from it.” You laugh once again at his words, unable to say anything else because he’s effectively shut you up through his incessant kisses. When he finally moves his face away from yours, his 1000 watt signature smile bright on his face, you say to him, “Not before we have lunch together, though.”

a/n: read the stories of the other three boys here! lmk your thoughts <3

tagging: kokoiinuts

[typewritingyip]

Menasor, Motormaster, Dragstrip, Dead End, Breakdown, Wildrider, Offroad, Blackjack.

25, 24, 22, 21, 20, 18, 17, 13

Breakdown has seven siblings.

Offroad is in the city, getting a part to fix up an old tractor for their parents. Offroad dies in one of the earliest quint attacks. His last words? Who knows. He died alone.

He was seventeen, the second youngest.

Breakdown has six siblings.

Three years pass.

Dragstrip is a pilot. Dragstrip loves to win, it's what kills him in the end. Dragstrip could have lived, but he would have had to run. Dragstrip kills the quintesson. Dragstrip gets to win. Dragstrip dies that day.

He was 25, the third oldest.

Breakdown has five siblings.

Two years pass.

Blackjack isn't compatible, Blackjack is safe, but he's moved away from everybody. But Blackjack is safe, their youngest brother is safe.

When six out of seven siblings tested are compatible, it makes you wonder why one isn't. This is probably what the government thought when they sent him to be experimented on.

He was 18, their youngest.

Breakdown has four siblings.

Menasor, Motormaster, Dead End, Breakdown, Wildrider

30, 29, 26, 25, 23

Ten years pass.

Breakdown goes to space on a mission the government told him to go on.

Breakdown falls in love.

Breakdown has four siblings (too far, too far, toofar, toofar toofartoofartoofar), and one lover.

Knockout is... well, a knockout. Glowing red eyes, a pale white face, long talon-like nails. It sounds like he's describing a vampire. The reality is even more insane. An alien robot doctor, Ha! If only his mother could see who he ended up with, she might have nagged even harder about finding a nice girl to settle down with.

Menasor would laugh his ass off if he ever heard about who Breakdown fell for.

Motormaster would probably huff a bit, pretend he didn't care, then go give the meanest shovel talk he could to Knockout.

Dead End and Knockout might like each other, both paying quite a bit of attention to their appearances, but it's far more likely that Knockout would dislike Dead End's constant pessimism.

Wildrider is a toss-up. He's a crazy bastard and always has been, who knows what he'd think about Knockout. (He'd love him because he makes his older brother happy.)

...

Someone jokes that Breakdown doesn't know what it's like to lose to the quintessons.

Breakdown goes quiet. Knockout notices. Breakdown leaves. Knockout follows. Breakdown waits. Knockout asks.

"What's wrong Breakdown?"

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok, so here's the thing I actually didn't mean to write him a backstory, I wanted to have Breakdown have... well, a breakdown. I feel like the circumstances are what would be the difference between rage and sadness, but I'll write that later.

Oh, also, I scrapped the last line this but I really liked it, so here's the original

"What's wrong Breakdown?" Soft red velvet voice, not in a tone to speak to a spooked animal, but close enough.

It probably would have turned into a Thing (yes that is capitalized for a reason), but I am not going to stare at this for another hour because I can't summon the right emotion to write it the way I want to

TLDR: I can't write Breakdown having a Breakdown, so have a backstory instead + a tiny bit of angst and an open ending

Also, I didn't write anything about the parents because I couldn't remember if they were dead or not, and I was too lazy to check, so they're Schrodinger's parents.

I also couldn't remember exactly when Arcutus One started, but I thought it was about 15 or 16 years from the first quint attack.

I also wanted to keep all the Stunticons alive originally, but then I read about Dragstrip and I immediately decided I wanted him dead <3

Ok, Now I'm done rambling

Oh my god that’s so fun. God I’m an Angst writer too…

I have to share this, it’s so good.

I also had to check, Breakdown’s parents are still alive, as for how long it’s been in the current time like it’s 2014. The Quints first arrived on earth in 1984, the war had been going on for almost 30 years.

(Originally, Arcturus was supposed to take place in 2004 but I kept writing thirty instead of twenty so.. yeah)

Breakdown is likely of our group the only one to have been old enough to have some memory of the first attacks, so his brothers living and dying does make sense.

I promise some of his family lore will come up in Arcturus One.

[forwntrx]

GIRLS LIKE GIRLS ┊͙˚. 13. THE JEALOUS TYPE

𑁍┊how i met you (written flashback)

sweat stuck to your forehead. the higher ups of sm entertainment judged you with sharp, razor focused eyes. they looked at your curves. your thighs. they noted your attitude. your flow. your stability. they only wanted the best of the best.

out of the six in the room, you knew you had a spot on this team.

it wasn’t arrogance. you just knew. you heard it in the upper offices, in overheard meetings with shareholders, this girl group was made for you.

it was just a matter of keeping up with their word—proving yourself over and over, so they’d never have a doubt in your mind. that you wanted this. and you did. more than you had ever wanted to breathe, eat, or drink anything.

the song came to an end. the six of you are in the final poses. you turned around to the representatives at the back of the room. white nametags stuck to your clothes with a number.

you’re number one. the representatives call you out by name. you come forward, and this time they will give you a one word response. pass or fail.

this was the final cut. the final decision on who would be in the group and who wouldn’t.

you’re called first. they looked at you for what could be the final time. they’ve studied you for years.

each one of them nodded their head. internally, you breathed out in relief. not because you thought you wouldn’t make it, but because now you could live without constantly looking over your shoulder. you moved to the other side of the room. who would be next?

the other girls’ in the room, some of them you’ve known for a long time, looked terrified. you held your fingers together, wishing for good results for jimin and yizhuo. luckily, jimin is called second and yizhuo third. the rest of the girls looked ready to vomit, except for one. it’s like the more time went on, the calmer she got. and then you saw why.

you had barely talked to her. she had joined the same time as jimin and yizhuo. they were both her friends. you thought at first she had hated you based on the way she avoided you. but jimin assured you that she was just shy.

but this was not shy behavior. she was confident, assured, even more so as her name was said.

“kim minjeong. pass.”

jimin and yizhuo cheered. the two girls left broke out into tears. you felt the sting. one of the representatives lifted up, and rubbed both of their shoulders.

good luck next time, the representative said.

the four of you bow to them and it finally set in. you were teammates now. no longer did you have to compete and compare.

now, you could be real friends.

jimin offered to treat for the meal out in celebration. you shared millions of laughs and hugs. but still, your eyes only gloss over minjeongs (you hope you are remembering her name correctly). you have no idea what to do—or what to talk about?

how come you always knew what to say except for right now? jimin and yizhou seem to notice the division between you two. as you both finish up eating, yizhou offered to head for ice cream, being the youngest she nominated you to buy. you rolled your eyes before agreeing.

“whoever’s there last is a rotten egg!!” yizhou winked to you, before grabbing jimin and running down the street.

you knew what she was doing; you weren’t gonna run after them, and it seemed like minjeong wasn’t doing that shit either.

you both laugh together for a moment, because yizhou is unbelievable. but then the laughter ended.

there’s an awkward silence that settles between you two. you can feel her eyes on you for a moment. then, you look at her—properly that is. she didn’t wear much makeup, if any at all. her hair is long, and shiny, and her face is oddly..cute? that’s the only way you describe it. you wanted to hug her until she got tired of you and threw you off.

you really wanted to be her friend.

so you smiled at her. “i’m yn. you’re minjeong right?”

minjeong smiled back, then nodded. “that’s me. i think i’ve met you somewhere, no?”

you hum and tap your chin like your in deep thought. “maybe in a mall somewhere?”

“i thought i saw you at that one spa?” minjeong asked with a furrowed eyebrow. there’s a certain glimmer in her eye. like she saw something in you that you didn’t understand.

you will see it more and more over the years.

you both fell into laughter. you shook your head and pointed to the ice cream shop only a bit away.

“how about we race and see who gets there first?”

she rolled her eyes. “i’m winning.”

you grinned. “wanna bet?”

years later, she’d turn into your best friend. aeri would join the group after this. aespa, the name of your group, would debut and soon become something more than just friends.

𑁍┊i’ve waited years

you were tolerating the situation. just one more day. then things would go back to normal. that’s what you kept telling yourself.

the van felt tighter somehow. even though minjeong was right next to you, you two couldn’t be more far apart.

schedules felt long and boring without you two laughing and giggling the whole time. your fingers were cold. your lips were blue. your heart was angry. it was barely december and seoul’s weather still had your teeth helplessly chattering, fingers shaking inside the pockets of your fur jacket. you want to hold her hands, they were always warm like baskets of oven-baked bread, but she was so cold now.

you were good at pretending for others, but you had little luck when it came to minjeong. it’s hard to act like you don’t feel her eyes on you.

her glare never eased up.

it was at practice when you messed up a dance move. at interviews when you laughed and smiled. at schedules when you greeted other groups. at twelve hour flights fresh out the airport.

she wouldn’t say anything. wouldn’t even open her mouth to let you know what was going on. she would just blink and look at you with those big pretty eyes of hers.

you hated the way she frowned when you spoke. you wanted her to smile. somehow, you made her feel this way, and you had no idea how.

you tried to touch her, hold onto her, hold onto some part of her she had now locked away from you; and become confused when she just..pushes you away. like you meant nothing.

you kept trying. everytime, she’d brush you off with a timid, half-assed laugh.

at first it hurt.

then it started to annoy the shit out of you. it was breaking you. there was only so much you could take.

now, it’s the second week of schedules. as of today, minjeong has ignored you for a solid five days. you asked jimin about it, and she just shook her head. then, you asked ning ning. she wore that guilty look on her face like she knew.

last, you went to aeri. they all knew what was going on, but no one wanted to be the one to break the truth. aeri is the only one who’ll tell you a little portion of it.

she’s mad, she told you. yeah, you already knew that. so you asked why. she shrugged, and said, when isn’t she? and you rolled your eyes.

you finally understood at a particularly late practice. in three weeks time, your group would be releasing a single for sm station. a remake of a popular girl group song. you liked your parts. you and minjeong went toe-for-toe with drawn-out high notes, and she sounded beautiful.

the legendary boa was mentoring you all, making sure everything being worked on was crisp, pristine, and neat. you’ve been worked this hard before, but that didn’t make it less tiring.

you knew the dance well. you had picked it up the fastest. five minutes. but that didn’t mean you were a robot. in the middle of the song, you collapse. the whole room rumbled in annoyance.

you breathed hardly, and made something of an apology. aeri instantly dropped to your side and rubbed your back.

“don’t worry about it, yn. you’ve been going hard this whole time. calm down,” she smiled, trying to make the tense air lighter.

though no one said anything about it, everyone was tired and wanted to go home. your inability to keep going was only making things worse. you wish you could pull it together, but the pain in your abs from hours and hours of hardwork begged you to rest.

beside you, minjeong whispered. “how many times are you gonna mess up the same part?” you almost snapped. it took everything in you to close your eyes and focus on your breathing.

not in front of boa. not right now. you opened your eyes and glared up at her. she looked away in surprise. yeah, i definitely heard you.

“all right,” boa said, her eyes flickering from you to minjeong in confusion. “someone get her some water, and we’ll go over this tomorrow i think. i’m gettin’ a little tired. yn?”

everyone let out a little noise in relief. ten hours of practice, and now, they were granted with a couple hours of sleep.

you looked up to boa. “i’m sorry. i don’t know what’s up with me today.”

boa shook her head. “you’re fine. you’re a phenomenal dancer. one of the best i’ve met. that’s not what i want you to worry about.”

jimin ran to grab you some water and once she had your bottle, kneeled beside you and carefully held the drink to your lips. you gulp it down in five seconds. she pulled it away from your lips and nodded. aeri, still beside you, continued to rub your back supportively. though everyone was tired, they still would always make sure you were good. minjeong, even with how things were with you two, was looking down at you worriedly.

“you okay?” she asked. “i’m sorry for my comment. i let my tiredness get the best of me.”

you wiped away the excess water from the corner of your lips. “it’s whatever.” you’re cold. she winced. yeah, you can do it too.

boa made a face at your communication. you can tell by her face what she’ll say next. you want to wince next. fuck.

“i can tell you both know it well, but yn, i want you to work with minjeong for a short while on the part you two have together. there seems to be a little bit of tension here. for it to have the best look, you have to work together.”

easier said than done.

the others waste little to no time on getting out the room. your manager peaked his head inside, said he’d back for you two later, and ushered the others out the building. you groaned as the door shut behind him. now there was no telling when he’d be back. ‘a short while’ could be another two hours.

you weren’t fond of picking up others messes. to you, this was a mess that wasn’t your responsibility to fix. minjeong was mad. okay? you had already asked her five million times what was wrong. it was her choice to sit there, mope, and glare at you instead of helping you fix the issue.

jimin is the last to leave the room. she gave you both a look and whispered to you. fix it. why was it always your responsibility?

you loved minjeong. you did. but you weren’t doing shit until she said something.

the practice room is eerily quiet. you noticed her small movements. she walked across the sleek wood, rummaged through her bag, drunk some water, closed the cap, and took her position at the mirror. you turn to look at her, head to toe—messy hair, grey sweatpants, loose grey t-shirt, bare face. you loved her like this. she looked so new. not like winter, but like minjeong.

you wished she would look back at you.

instead, she spoke.

“let’s just do the part so we can go home and sleep.” she said.

“yeah, sure.” you slowly nodded your head. you hated the way her words lingered in the air. you lean forward to a long table on the left side of the mirrors. there’s some cds on the table and a music player. you press down on the familiar track, and quickly get into position before it began. an electronic beat entered your ears. you count down.

jimin opened the song, then ning ning, then you.

you mumbled the lyrics, expertly and skillfully dancing on the beat. minjeong followed after you with small little moves, only going all out when her parts come on. her voice is strong, powerful, and feminine. she had gotten her lines down in two takes. if there was one thing minjeong could do, it was sing her ass off.

you tried your hardest to just focus on your own body in the mirror, how it moves and flows from years of practice and natural talent. but minjeong is distracting. there’s something about her dancing. it’s not unique or jaw-breaking. but it’s sharp, and steady, and focused. she knew what she was doing. she loved what she was doing.

you missed your part. you blinked. fuck. she was distracting. you quickly tried to match up your footwork with hers but you’re a beat behind. minjeong let out an exasperated sigh.

she paused the song and quickly spun around to you with arms folded against her chest. “what’s up with you?”

you have to stop yourself from screaming. why is she making this your fault? why is she acting like YOU did this?

“what’s up with me? what’s up with you!” you didn’t know why your voice was so loud. it’s been years since you’ve spoken like this to her. you didn’t raise your voice much, it wasn’t in your personality but you couldn’t help it. minjeong pushed your buttons and now she took it too far.

“what?” she asked, playing dumb.

“don’t WHAT me! you’ve been avoiding me for days. in real life, in texts, at work! it’s exhausting!”

her eyes narrowed and her bottom lip quivered with anger. you both took steps. breaking the gap between you two. you got the closest you have gotten in days. you could smell her easily. sweat, amber, and vanilla. you could almost taste her.

“i’m exhausting?” she asked, her voice growing louder.

“you know that’s not what i meant!” you’re almost yelling. she is too.

“sure it is! you’ve stopped making time for me!started hanging out with other people! stopped texting when you go out! what am i suppose to think, yn?”

you laughed in a slightly condescending way. she recoiled. “i’m not your girlfriend, minjeong! i don’t need to constantly update you on my whereabouts!”

her face flashed with hurt, before it quickly went away. “you disappeared, yn! you can’t do that. you could’ve been hurt, or dead, or something—i don’t know! you don’t just abandon your friends!”

you stared at her for a moment. she’s talking about after the show. when you snuck off with yunjin. she’s still upset over it.

both of you are breathing hard. her chest rose and fell. the room was quiet. you hyper-focus on the sound of fast cars zooming through seoul, the energetic chatter of people on the streets, the sizzling pans of street vendors. the faint violin strings from another practice room. she surveyed your face, searching for any type of an answer.

“you sound jealous of yunjin.” you said. it made perfect sense. you had friends, but none of them were as important to you as minjeong. she never had to deal with competition before.

how she saw it, yunjin was competition. you didn’t see it the same way. you could admit you had messed up in this situation, as everyone was saying. but you can tell that’s not the only thing she’s upset over. minjeong won’t admit it, but you knew it was yunjin.

minjeong is shocked. she shook her head. “i’m not!” she yelled again.

“yunjin is my friend, you’re my friend!” now you’re yelling again. minjeong is quick to cut you off.

“please,” she’s exasperated. she’s close. your eyes widened, but you don’t take a step back, “don’t lie to me. i know you.”

you paused. you didn’t think of it much—the possibility of your feelings for yunjin. you liked her company, you thought she was cute. maybe pretty. no, honestly, she was beautiful. but feelings? that was something big, that was something too tangible for someone like you. that was real. you didn’t do real. not like that.

you loved your career. your band mates. your fans. your friends. you didn’t have room in your life for a relationship. for something so new.

“i don’t have feelings for yunjin!” do you mean it? you don’t know. this is all new. and it might be real.

minjeong wanted to believe you did. “yn—“

this time, you cut her off. “be honest with me! for once, minjeong. tell me the truth.”

you’re high off the tension, off the senseless anger. you closed the space, whatever is left, between you two. her eyes widened next and for some reason, they flicker down and then back up to your eyes. what?

she swallowed. it’s quiet again. she couldn’t deflect now.

“if it’s not yunjin, then i’m seriously confused. i just want to fix things, okay—” you tried to continue, but minjeong groaned.

“fuck it.” minjeong’s fingers grabbed onto your waist, jutting you forward. you gasped.

she scrambled your brain into soup. your skin felt like it was on fire. your eyes fell onto her lips. they’re so pink. you’ve never seen them this close—her breath fanned against your lips—this barely made sense. you can’t form a sentence, or even think, because none of this made sense.

“m..minjeong..” you are able to whisper out.

minjeong is in another world. she’s usually shy, non-confrontational, always in her own head, but now she’s present. here with you.

“would you be surprised if i told you i’ve wanted to kiss you since i met you?”

you’re lightheaded. what? you tried to make a sentence, but it just came out in a gibberish mess. she laughed a little.

“you’re always so cute when you’re confused.”

you want to say something, anything, but then she asked you a question.

“can i kiss you?”

and you swear you can hear your heartbeat in your ears. this is real. too real. and you should say no, but she’s too pretty like this—and something deep inside of you wanted this—and then you’re nodding your head—but then she’s talking again.

“i need to hear you say it.”

you knew that a kiss would change everything—your relationship would never be the same—are you ready for that? are you ready for this? but then her lips parted slightly, and you lost all train of thought, and for some reason you’re whispering—“kiss me,” so gently you thought she didn’t hear you.

but she did. she’s just taking it in. like she had been waiting for this. you realize that she had. and then her lips were pressing onto yours.

her fingers cupped your cheek, and you leaned into the touch. her scent of amber and vanilla is overpowering you, but you couldn’t get enough.

the kiss was careful, scared—and you start to panic—you’ve never done this before, with minjeong and—you thought of yunjin.

no. no. no. you pulled away before you could overthink even more.

minjeong realized instantly that second. you regretted it. her cheeks’ fled red. “i’m sorry, yn. so sorry. i—i’m sorry.”

you hated the way she hid from you. you wanted to tell her, you don’t regret her. it. but you don’t know what you’re feeling right now. but still, you reach out to her, but she’s already running from you.

running from her emotions, again. running from communication, again.

“wait, minjeong—”

but she’s already gone, and the door of the practice room slammed after her.

you stood alone. confused. you took the ride back to the dorms by yourself.

yunjin called you later that night.

you declined it.

𑁍┊masterlist －previous — next

and that’s act one

i enjoyed this throughouly

don’t worry yunyn agenda you will have a comeback!!! ;)

𑁍┊ a/n: i’m sorry, i’m really putting y’all through it 😭😭😭

𑁍┊ taglist: open :) @runawaymazola @wintersgff @winieter @luvjanexx @justme-idle @sewiouslyz @lcv3lies @yerisdumbass @nasyu-kookies @kchwnsgf @jeindall777 @dr-wholehearted @thoughtfulqueenlady @yunalvrrr @juhyunsthirdwife @haerinfangs @awkwardtoafault @idk-idc-rn @unforgiven-000-hotline @dream-chasers-things @pandafuriosa60 @1r3n31ty

[clangenrising]

Month 13 - Newleaf

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The thunderpath was oddly warm to the touch. Past the thunderpath, fields stretched out and eventually tapered off at the foot of the city’s farthest reaches. Smokyrose gingerly stepped onto the edge of it, marveling at its strange texture and acrid smell. She’d never actually touched it before, leaving such foolishness to cats like Yarrowshade who thought it was worth the risk to try hunting on the far side. Now it was her turn to take a necessary risk. 

“Okay,” Songdust said, glancing side to side, “Should be safe to cross.” 

“Thanks again,” Smokyrose said. “I really appreciate you coming with me.” 

“I told you, Rose, I’m not gonna let you go in all alone,” Songdust said, swatting at her friend’s ear. “Now come on, let’s hurry before a monster comes.” 

The two cats sprinted across the thunderpath as quick as their old bones could carry them. Smokyrose felt her heart rate spiking with the thrill of it. She smiled as they panted in the grass on the other side, glad that she wasn’t too old to appreciate a good dose of stomach fluttering excitement. After she’d caught her breath - which took a good moment or two longer than it did for Songdust to catch hers - they started again towards the city. 

The plan was simple. Find Ghost and have a conversation. If she was lucky, she might also be able to sate a bit of her own personal curiosity, but that was secondary to the goal of making peace. Lives were at stake and in her paws.

They walked mostly in silence, Smokyrose sometimes huffing, out of breath, for a long time. Songdust suggested they break every now and then but she was determined to get there as soon as possible and so declined. 

At one point, Songdust said, “I’d catch us something to eat but there’s almost nothing out here, it seems… Sad. This place used to be a really fertile hunting ground.” 

“I must be scaring all the mice away,” Smokyrose laughed between labored breaths. 

“No, I think it’s more than that,” Songdust frowned as she surveyed the grassland. “I don’t think the city cats know how to preserve next year’s hunt.” 

“We’ll have to teach them,” Smokyrose smiled. Songdust hummed to herself and the two continued on their way. 

Eventually, the smell of city cats came to them on the wind. Songdust stopped to taste the scent, tail twitching. Smokyrose gladly stopped as well, sides heaving with effort. She hadn’t thought she was so out of shape. She lifted her head to look over the grass and spotted three sets of ears, one shorter than the others. 

“Hello, there!” She called, causing Songdust to stiffen. The cats ahead of them stopped, ears flicking in her direction. 

“Who’s there?” one of the voices called, sounding wary. 

“Friends,” Smokyrose said as pleasantly as she could. 

After a moment, the cats crept closer, stopping again once they came clearly into view. The first of them, the one who seemed to have spoken before, was a short-furred white she-cat with a faintly grey speckled back and a notched ear. The second was a brown rosetted tabby tom around the same age with a notch of his own. The third and youngest of the group was a grey speckled tabby who looked no older than Oddstripe’s litter, ears intact. The small group regarded them carefully. The youngest opened his mouth to drink in their scent and his tail immediately bristled, arcing down behind him. 

“They’re savages!” he squeaked in fright. The other two cats’ pelts prickled at the realization.

“Rude,” Songdust huffed, mostly to herself. 

“I thought you said there weren’t going to be any wild cats!” the white one accused.

“Bucket said they don’t cross the road!” the brown one shot back, more offended than worried. “He said the Folk keep them at bay!” 

“Well, clearly these ones got across somehow!” the white one hissed back. 

Smokyrose laughed awkwardly to herself and tried, “I-it’s alright, really, we don’t mean you any harm.” All three of them snapped their attention back to her sharply. She smiled and continued, “My name is Smokyrose and this is my companion, Songdust.” 

“I’m Mulch,” the brown one said carefully. Neither the white one nor the grey one offered their own names and after a moment of awkward silence, Mulch said, “What are you… doing out here?” 

Smokyrose brightened. “I’ve actually come to speak with Ghost. Do you know him?” Mulch let out a breathy, nervous laugh and glanced at the others. The white one squinted suspiciously. 

“Yes,” she said, speaking like she was testing out the ice on a frozen pond. “Why do you know Ghost?” 

The younger one gasped excitedly. “This must be his wild girl!” The white one’s ear twitched. 

“Bit old for a ‘girl,’ don’cha think?” Mulch muttered back with a chuckle. 

Smokyrose blushed and pursed her lips shut in embarrassment. Ghost’s wild girl - what a ridiculous thought, like he owned her or something! Was that how he talked about her when she wasn’t around? She hoped not but bile rose in her throat nonetheless. 

“I’m a mediator,” she said, choosing to ignore that for now. “I solve disputes and facilitate communication between parties. Ghost is the cat in charge, isn’t he? I’d like to speak with him and see if we can come to some kind of peace agreement.” 

“Oh, she must know the Transgressor!” the youngest one whispered to Mulch.

“Will you shut up, Flick?” Mulch raised his brows indignantly and swatted the younger cat lightly in the face. 

“Sheesh!” grumbled Flick, swiping half heartedly back at him. 

“You want to make peace?” the white one scoffed disbelievingly. 

“I do,” said Smokyrose and she meant it. “I want to try and resolve the conflict before anyone else has to die on either side.” The three city cats exchanged glances with a mix of what Smokyrose thought was suspicion, reluctance, and respect. They looked back at her then the white one jutted her chin towards Songdust. 

“Why is she here?” 

“I’m her protector,” Songdust said firmly. The cats shifted uncomfortably. 

Mulch said, “Can we have a moment to discuss?” 

“Of course,” purred Smokyrose, sitting down, “take your time.” Songdust sat down as well and they watched as the three cats shuffled off into the grass to talk, Mulch having to give Flick a tug on his scruff when he forgot to walk instead of stare. They kept their voices too low for Smokyrose to listen in but she didn’t mind. It was nice to rest for a bit and patience was something a good mediator had in spades. 

After a few moments, the city cats came back and Mulch said, “Alright, we’ll take you into town.” 

“Splendid!” Smokyrose purred, standing up. “I really appreciate the help.” 

“Yeah, sure,” he shrugged, looking uncomfortable. With a flick of his tail, he gestured for them to follow and started off back towards the city. As they went, Flick and the white one fell into step around them, almost like a guard. Smokyrose could feel them watching her every movement. It was almost flattering that they thought she would be able to try anything. 

After a while, Flick leaned in and said, “I’m Flick by the way.” 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Flick,” said Smokyrose, starting to huff again. 

“The grumpy one is Jumper,” he added. The cat in question bristled. 

Smokyrose kept her attention on Flick. “I see. What were you doing out here?” 

“Don’t answer that,” Mulch shot back before Flick was finished opening his mouth.

“Apologies,” said Smokyrose, “I was just trying to make conversation.” 

“Yeah,” Flick protested, “We were just talking.” 

“Well don’t,” Mulch snapped, mostly at Flick. Glancing at Smokyrose, he added, “Sorry, but my brother doesn’t know how to keep his damn mouth shut.” 

“It’s alright,” she said, “I’ll try not to encourage him anymore.” Mulch nodded, satisfied, and they continued towards the city in silence from then on. It was a longer walk than Smokyrose had been expecting. The more they went the more she realized the actual size of the twolegplace, the buildings starting to grow and loom in the distance like an angular forest with no leaves. Eventually one of these structures drew near, a large, rickety shape that smelled strongly of hay and manure. On the far side, she could see wooden planks arranged in repetitive rows and columns that created a barrier around a group of strange, smelly deer-like things. 

“What are those?” she couldn’t help but ask. 

Flick followed her gaze and said, “Goats. Do you not have goats on the frontier?” 

“No, we don’t,” Smokyrose said, busy puzzling over the word ‘frontier’. She’d never heard it before but she had to assume he meant Clan territories. 

“They stink,” meowed Songdust, face crinkled in disgust. 

“Yeah,” Flick laughed. “But the Folk seem to like them anyway.” The Folk - that meant twolegs, right? She squinted at the creatures curiously. What would twolegs like about these goat things?

“Come on,” Mulch said, “we’re nearly there.” 

They curved around the wooden structure, revealing another one, shorter but wider, and an expanse of gravel and dirt. Smokyrose winced at the texture of the rocks on her paws but soldiered on. She was so close. They crossed the gravel then followed along the edge of it for a while, leaving the structures behind, until they came to a large empty space of dirt surrounded by weeds and wildflowers.

Cats were scattered across the dusty field in pairs, sparring, most of them with notched ears. Cats wearing collars strolled around in between them, hissing orders or giving harsh corrections. A few cats watched from the edge of the clearing and one of them, a brown tabby tom with a silver collar that reflected the sunlight like a concentrated band of heat waves. The tom stood, head tilted, and started walking their way. 

“Great,” Jumper said, “here he comes.” 

“Shut up,” Mulch said, “This is fine. We’ll hand them off and be done with it.” They stopped where they were, waiting for the tom to close the distance. Smokyrose took in his appearance as he grew closer. He had a sleight build and slim cheeks giving him an almost kitten-like appearance despite his full grown size. His fur was a warm brown with dark, brindling stripes and a neat mask framing his green-yellow eyes. His collar, which seemed less shiny up close than it had far away, bore a small, blue, vaguely fish-shaped charm covered in geometric silver scratches. 

He smiled as he neared them, bright and friendly, and said, “Well, now, what do we have here?” 

“We ran into these wild-cats while we were out hunting,” Mulch said and Smokyrose picked up on the deference in his tone. “They crossed the road. Said they wanted to speak with Ghost.” 

“Really?” The kittypet’s eyes widened with interest and he turned his gaze to Smokyrose, inviting her to speak. 

“Yes,” she purred with a gracious dip of her head. “My name is Smokyrose and this is my companion Songdust. In my Clan I work to handle disputes and settle arguments and I wanted to speak with Ghost to see if we could make peace between our two peoples.” 

“Well, Ghost is currently indisposed,” the tom said apologetically, “but I would be happy to take you to speak with Razor instead.” The cats who had escorted them all tensed at the sound of Razor’s name. Songdust took a step closer to her.

“Indisposed?” Smokyrose frowned in concern. “How so?” 

The tom winced. “He recently had a bit of an accident and has been resting to regain his strength. I’m sure he’ll be fine in a few days.”

“Oh, alright,” she said, ears drooping. What kind of an accident? Her gut twisted in worry and she sent a silent prayer to StarClan to let him be okay. 

“Why don’t you walk with me?” the tom offered, half turning towards the city. 

“Alright,” She agreed. Despite her disappointment, she still had a job to do. “Thank you.” 

“Of course,” he purred. Looking at Mulch, he said, “You’re excused.” Mulch let out a relieved breath and nodded. 

“Thank you, sir,” he said, then turned to the others and said, “Come on, let’s go.”

“Goodbye, Flick,” Smokyrose waved her tail. “It was nice to meet you.”

“Yeah, sure thing,” Flick said. Mulch cuffed him over the ear and the little group turned and went the way they had come. 

The kittypet lifted his head and called over to the other cats watching the training. “I’m off to see Razor,” he said, “You’re in charge, Dexter.” One of the other kittypets nodded. Lots of cats started to stare. The tom in front of Smokyrose and Songdust smiled at them again and said, “This way.” He led them down the edge of the gravel path, walking side by side with Smokyrose, tail curling back and forth in a friendly wave. 

“I don’t think I caught your name,” Smokyrose said, focusing in on him.

“You can call me Sardine,” he said. “I hope the others were good to you. I’d hate for the Chaff to give you a bad first impression of the city.” 

“Oh, they were quite hospitable,” she exaggerated. “Thank you.” 

“I’m glad to hear it,” he purred. “You said you settle disputes among your people. Did they send you here or have you come on your own?” 

“I have Goldenstar’s approval to go forward with peace talks,” said Smokyrose, even if that was not entirely true. Goldenstar had asked her to wait even if she was open to the idea. 

“Goldenstar, that’s your leader?” he asked. 

“Yes,” she purred. “She’s quite eager to see this conflict end peacefully.” 

“That’s good to hear,” he said. “I know there are many here who feel the same.” 

“Really?” Smokyrose asked, her heart lifting in hope.

“Oh, yes,” nodded Sardine. “I think everyone will be relieved to have this whole war business over soon.” 

“Good,” purred Smokyrose. That was a relief. She glanced at Songdust to share in the excitement but found her companion grim faced. She frowned slightly but shook it off. She would have to talk with Songdust once they had a private moment. Sardine was talking again and she returned her focus to him, answering all his curiosities pleasantly and asking questions of her own. Eventually the gravel turned to the hard stone of the thunderpath and Sardine asked them to stay close to him for their own safety. 

“Just a bit further and we’ll arrive at Razor’s garden,” he said. 

“Excellent,” she said, tail swishing. “I can’t wait.”

UPDATES: - Smokyrose ventures to the city to try and make peace.

[alicescaling]

BRCN DOUBT 2

DOUBT ≠ Ukyo; SISTERS CONFLICT

Masterlist.

This story takes place within the Sisters Conflict universe, in which the brothers are the Asahina sisters, and Ema is a boy named Chiibou. (AKA, everyone is the opposite gender.) The names for the sisters are generally the same as their male counterparts, with a few exceptions, being: Masaomi —> Masami, Louis —> Louie, Yuusuke —> Yuuki, Fuuto —> Fuuko, Wataru —> Wataho.

DOUBT ≠ Ukyo; SISTERS CONFLICT

13 women all in love with the same man.

Do you think that something like that could ever happen?

Especially if all 13 women were sisters.

….. It sounds ludicrous.

Undoubtedly, that’s what all of you must be thinking. Really, even a low-quality weekly publisher could come up with a better story, I’m sure.

But in reality, that really has happened. Happened between my sisters and I, and our brother we call “Chiibou”.

And it is the story that I, Asahina Ukyo, would like to tell you.

A story of true love–.

★☆★

I’ll never forget the day that Chiibou first came to the mansion to start living with us sisters– May 22nd.

Our father remarried Chiibou’s mother (who we later found out is actually his adoptive mother, a fact I’ll avoid covering in avid detail for now in order to not introduce any disorder into the story), leading him to start living with us.

On a clear, sunny day, appropriate for the fresh verdure of the season, I’d seen him through the window. I still remember how he’d seemed to almost glisten in the sunlight.

We’d done our best to all be there for our first meeting, save for the few who couldn’t make it.

Therein, before we can introduce ourselves, Chiibou says this:

“Wow, everyone’s so beautiful.”

At that instant, some of us– no, maybe all of us– present are wholly captivated by him.

Wataho: “You’re handsome too, Onii-tama~”

The first to move is our youngest sister, a 13 year old elementary schooler named Wataho. She springs up from the sofa she’d been sitting on until now, rushing towards Chiibou and clinging onto him.

Wataho: “Wataho wanted you to be a boy soooo bad, Onii-tama. ‘Cause everyone else in the house’s a girl!”

As she says this, she rubs her face against Chiibou’s body.

Ukyo: “Wataho!”

She’s still an elementary student, so it’s understandable that she’s not aware of such things, but due to the height difference between the two, Wataho’s face is just under Chiibou’s belt.

I cannot overlook such blatant rudeness. As the second daughter of the family, I have taken up the role of our father in his constant absence, and am thus the one who shoulders most of our household duties.

Ukyo: “Please stop it, Wataho. You’re troubling your Onii-sama!”

I seize Wataho by the scruff of her neck, pulling her away.

Wataho: “Waaaaah–!!”

Masami: “Ukyo, there was no need to be so harsh.”

Ukyo: “Masami-neesama!”

My older sister, and the eldest daughter of the family, Masami-neesama, takes my hand. Onee-sama is extremely soft and lenient with Wataho.

Masami: “I’m sorry for the sudden noisiness, but that’s how our home always is. Welcome to the Asahina family.”

Masami-neesama says this with a smile. In return, Chiibou responds with the following:

“Uwah~ Amazing, you’ve got such large breasts.”

W-why would he say t-that out of nowhere?!

Masami: “Ufufufu…. It’s a bit embarrassing, but they can be rather helpful for my job as a pediatrician. When holding babies, they think I’m their mama, and stop crying.”

“Really….”

Kaname: “Hold on a second. When it comes to breasts, I can’t be beat, either. …. What do you think?”

The third eldest sister, and the biggest problem child of the family, Kaname, says this as she leans forward. She ostentatiously pushes her chest out.

“Wahh, what a beautiful shape. They look just like Mount Fuji.”

Kaname: “My, what a unique compliment. Fufu, I like it. ….. Hey, Otouto-chan, why don’t you come by the nunnery I work at sometime? Let’s go to Nirvana together.”

After she says this, the sex obsessed nun steals Chiibou’s lips.

This stirs up a commotion, a high-pitched shriek ringing out mere moments after.

Tsubaki: “Ahhhh—, it’s no fair if Kana-nee gets him all to herself! Tsubaki wants in, too–!”

The fifth sister, Tsubaki, hugs Chiibou from behind and kisses at the nape of his neck.

Tsubaki: “Hey, c’mon, Azusa, join usssss~”

And so, the younger of the identical twins, Azusa, gets swept up into the unfurling events as well.

Azusa: “I’m alright, you can do as you like, Tsubaki. But it makes me sad to see you doing such lewd things with men, you know. Please remember that.”

Tsubaki: “Stop it, Azusaaaa. People’re totally gonna get suspicious about our relationship if you say spout stuff like that. Don’t say things people’re gonna misunderstand–”

Unsure of what to do in the midst of my sisters acting so unruly, I look around me in an attempt for assistance.

Of us 13 sisters, only the eighth sister, a beautician named Louie; the ninth sister, a college student named Subaru; and the eleventh sister, a high school student named Yuuki remain of those who are present.

However, Louie is sitting smiling on the sofa, Subaru is hanging her head down, her face red, and Yuuki is just standing bolt upright with her mouth hanging open.

I breathe out a sigh.

(Just how in the world are things going to be from now on?)

★☆★

The disorder that Chiibou joining our family brings into the mansion far exceeds my expectations.

Kaname and Tsubaki take absolutely every opportunity available to flirt with him. As for Wataho….

Wataho: “Onii-tama, let’s go night-night together~”

She says this day and night, chasing after him with a blanket in her hands.

And Subaru’s the most miserable of us all.

Every morning, she goes out for a jog and then takes a shower, and after she goes to the kitchen to drink some milk before getting fully dressed.

However one day, as she was doing so, Chiibou walked in and she was horrified. She was so flustered that the towel wrapped around her body had fallen off.

Her face flushed so red that it went white.

At seeing this, Chiibou said,

“Wow… Subaru-san, your body's so toned and beautiful. You look just like a statue you’d see at an art museum. I can’t tear my eyes away…”

The amazing thing about Chiibou is the way that he always says exactly what he thinks, without any trace of ulterior motives or manipulation in his words.

In short, it’s as if his heart and his mouth are directly connected, with no sort of sense or filter separating the two.

— To put in plainly, he’s a natural flirt.

And to someone like Subaru, who’s wholly devoted to basketball and never talks to men, let alone ever been in a relationship with one, I cannot even begin to imagine the sheer, immense destructive power that must have on her.

Subaru: “What should I do……. Him or basketball, which should I choose….”

Ever since then, Subaru hasn’t been able to focus on practice or matches, leading her to be benched from the position she’d been playing since she first started university.

And just like that, our family’s fallen into complete and utter pandemonium. At least there’s one good thing that’s come of it, however.

Yuuki has been properly coming down to the dining table for breakfast in the mornings.

Yuuki: “Yeahh, I made it in time this morning—!”

Tsubaki: “Shuddap, don’t be so loud in the morning. Annnnnnyways, by the look of those dark circles you’ve got, you didn’t get any shut eye last night, didja?”

Azusa: “Well, we’ve got to give her some credit, Tsubaki. Yuuki knows that her only appeal lies in the fact that she can go to school with him.”

Yuuki: “S-Shaddap. That’s none of your business, Tsuba-nee, Azu-nee.”

Chiibou attends the same school as Yuuki. He wakes up at a fixed time, and he leaves the mansion at a fixed time. If he can't leave on time, then Iori bikes him to the station with her.

Iori is the 10th sister, and is in high school.

She wasn’t able to make it when Chiibou first arrived to the mansion, but after, as the days went by, she and Chiibou seemed to get closer and closer.

“Thank you, Iori-san.”

Iori: “No, thank you. I’m the one who normally commutes to school by bicycle. I should be the one pedaling.”

“And I’m the one who asked for a ride from you, Iori-san, there’s no way I would make you pedal. ….. On another note, Iori-san, you’re looking beautiful as always today. Your figure is flawless. What do you do to stay so pretty?”

Iori: “I don't do anything in particular. I merely pray to God on occasion.”

Such conversations are like her worst nightmare come to life for Yuuki. Unfortunately for her, however, it seems as if Yuuki’s feelings for Chiibou are rapidly heading in the direction of “never being realized”.

Especially considering the sister that Yuuki gets along with the least– the twelfth sister, Fuuko.

The idol has taken a liking to Chiibou as well. One day, in front of everyone, she’d made a sudden declaration.

Fuuko: “Chiibou belongs to me. If I catch any of you so much as ogling him, I’ll be seriously pissed.”

For someone like Yuuki, who’d kept her feelings hidden for so long, unable to do anything about them, she must have been beyond frustrated at this.

Of course, if not Yuuki, then no one else would dare accept such a selfish declaration.

Louie: “Chiibou is everyone’s. It isn’t right to try and monopolize him.”

Iori: “You’d best not get in my way.”

Subaru: “W-Whenever you have time. I want you to come to one of my games. I’d like you to see me make a three-point shot…”

Kaname: “Otouto-chan. Hey, let’s talk of love again tonight. We’ll use up our words and bodies until dawn breaks…..”

On the contrary, it agitated everyone instead.

Moreover, Chiibou’s response to such behaviour was,

“Everyone’s so cute and beautiful, I couldn’t possibly choose just one of you.”

How could he so blatantly disavowal the system of modern monogamy! …. That’s what I want to say as a lawyer. However, since these are Chiibou’s true feelings– since this is him speaking from the heart– there’s nothing I can do.

“I’ll give you all your own turns to be doted on. So please don’t fight. Okay?”

Because of that, everyone began to flirt with Chiibou more than ever before. No one bothered trying to hide their affections for him anymore.

Thereupon, once again, Chiibou–

“I want to respond to everyone’s feelings. How about I do so in groups of two or three?”

He went and said something absolutely shameless!

Tsubaki: “Ehh, really, really?!?! Alriiiight!! C’mon, Azusa, let’s go!!”

Azusa: “I suppose it can’t be helped…. However– Tsubaki, no touching his lips. Got it?”

Masaomi: “Ufufu. Hey, Wataho, do you want to play together with your Onii-chan and I?”

Wataho: “Yaaayyyy, let’s play doctor together–!”

Furthermore, Father soon announced that the wedding they’d had to postpone for a variety of circumstances was finally going to be held.

Because of this, the two sisters who live alone finally met Chiibou.

The seventh sister is an office worker named Natsume.

Natsume: “I see, so you like video games. Do you want to play some samples from my company? They don’t have a manual, though… How about you come over to my place on your next day off and we can play them together, then. That way I can help you. Since we get new stock often, here’s the key to my apartment. Feel free to stop by whenever you’d like.”

And then there’s the fourth sister– a writer who ceaselessly insists on talking and dressing like a man, and the biggest pervert of the family, Hikaru.

Hikaru: “My, you’re amusing. I’ll have plenty of fun with a playtoy like you. …. Hm, you’re wondering why I dress like a man? That’s because it makes it easier for me to collect data from married women and sheltered young ladies. See, I write erotic novels. You want to read them? Hmmmmm, you’ve got some guts.”

With those two thrown into the mix, and the entire lineup of us sisters complete, the Sisters Conflict over Chiibou grows more intense than ever.

★☆★

Of course, as the conscience of the family, I cannot simply stay silent and look the other way when presented with such a state of affairs.

Ukyo: “Please do not do such shameful things in the mansion! At the very least, go to your room!”

Everyday, I find myself continually saying the same things.

However, everyone seems to hold a devil-may-care attitude in response. To make matters worse, where Masami-oneesama is concerned….

Masami: “Ukyo, there’s no need for you to worry. It’s alright, we’re just deepening our familial bonds.”

— That is NOT a reasonable explanation for this!

I want to scream that out loud, but I fear I may too become unpleasant if I succumb to hysteria. Left with no choice lest I want to join in everyone’s immoral group, I can do only nothing.

When summer leaves us, autumn follows in its wake, and a problem soon arises.

Chiibou’s grades have dropped significantly.

Which seems only natural, considering what he has spent his days doing.

However, apparently Chiibou has always been one to get good marks, so seeing his grades fall had seemed to be a momentous shock to him.

“What should I do…. If this keeps up, I won’t be able to get into the university I want to attend….”

I’m not what one would call a necessarily doting sister, but seeing him in such a sad state makes me start to feel upset as well.

Ukyo: “If you like, I would be willing to tutor you.”

“Ehh?! Really?”

Ukyo: “Yes. Even if it’s only the subjects you’re struggling with, studying will make a difference, won’t it?”

“Alright, classic literature then. Please help me with classic literature.”

And so, I started tutoring Chiibou in classical literature. However, his textbook’s primary contents were stories and songs from the Heian period, which I’d forgotten were mostly love stories.

“Huh…. so this song has a hidden meaning. It’s kinda lewd.”

“How terribly bold… hearing you read it out loud is making my body flush, Ukyo-san.”

Whenever I tutor him, he murmurs such things while gazing at me with lidded eyes.

Little by little, I’ve started losing my composure, gradually growing more and more unable to handle being alone with him for long periods of time.

Ukyo: “Very well, taking what I just said as reference, translate these sections into modern Japanese. The dictionary is over there.”

“You’re not going to explain them to me, Ukyo-san?”

Ukyo: “I’m sorry, I have a work call I need to take. I’ll review your answers when I return.”

Of course, that’s a lie. I just want to try and avoid Chiibou.

However, this ends up leading to an unforeseen situation occurring.

Ukyo: “What are you looking at!?”

When I return to my room, I find Chiibou at my bookshelf, looking through an old photo album.

“You were gone for a while… I was getting a bit restless.”

Ukyo: “Give it back.”

“Okay….”

But it’s already too late. Chiibou has seen the contents.

“Um, about that album.”

And so, having seen inside it, he naturally asks a question.

“The person in that photograph…. looks a lot like me. Who is he?”

How do I answer…… I find myself growing troubled.

Ukyo: “.............. someone I used to know.”

“How about now?”

Ukyo: “Like I said….. It was a long time ago.”

“What happened?”

Ukyo: “....... that’s none of your business.”

Unable to bear it any longer, I say,

Ukyo: “Our tutoring ends today. Please ask Iori for any further help, and leave.”

“Eh…. w-why? Ukyo-san, your teaching is amazing, please keep tutoring me.”

Ukyo: “I’m sorry. I can’t.”

“Ukyo-san…. Is this my fault?”

Chiibou’s face falls, saddened.

Since he’s come to the mansion, his face has always been laughing, smiling. I’ve never seen an expression like this from him before.

Ukyo: “Please leave.”

I can barely force the words out. And so, from that day forth, I begin distancing myself from Chiibou.

★☆★

Hikaru: “This should be good, don’t you think, Kyo-nee?”

Shining brightly, Hikaru says this to me in the kitchen as she sprays perfume, wearing a men’s suit.

Ukyo: “Hikaru. You can do your makeup in your room. Why must you insist on doing it here?”

Hikaru: “That’s because it’s far more fun to watch my beloved big sister flare up at me.”

Ukyo: “Hikaru!”

I suddenly hear the sound of a cell phone snapping a photo.

Hikaru: “Here, look at this. Even our loving little Otouto-san would retreat if he saw a face this scary.”

Ukyo: “.............. do as you please.”

Hikaru: “Fufu. …. That aside, things can’t keep on like this.”

Ukyo: “What?”

Hikaru: “You know.”

Hikaru’s lips curl up in amusement.

Ukyo: “....... there's nothing I can do about it.”

I reply as I clean the dishes.

Ukyo: “Chiibou said that he wants to love everyone at the same time.”

Hikaru: “You don’t get it, do you. Otouto-san is merely kind.”

Hikaru leans her waist against the table, crossing her legs.

Hikaru: “You might not get it yourself, but he’s a sensitive person. The type of person to feel others’ pain as if it were his own. So he does his best to prevent hurting others’ feelings.”

Ukyo: “Regrettably, it seems as if your deduction skills have fallen off as of late.”

Hikaru: “How so?”

Ukyo: “Someone like that wouldn’t arbitrarily look through my photo albums while in my room, would they?”

Hikaru: “Hmmmm.”

Hikaru’s eyes flash with suspicion as she regards me.

Hikaru: “Could Otouto-san have caught a look at a picture of you and Amamiya, Kyo-nee?”

Ukyo: “I will leave that to your imagination.”

Hikaru: “Alright then. But, Kyo-nee. I don’t think that you should blame Otouto-san for doing so.”

Ukyo: “Why not?”

Hikaru: “Demanding delicacy from Otouto-san is unreasonable. He’s still innocent, like a child. It caught his eye, so he looked at it. But that doesn’t mean that he isn’t sensitive.”

It’s growing painful for me to keep speaking to my annoying little sister.

Ukyo: “Should you not be heading out soon, lest you be late for your appointment?”

Hikaru: “It’s alright. That old lady’s the type to be happier if I make her wait a little.”

Hikaru picks up the plate I was drying from the side.

Ukyo: “What are you trying to get at?”

Hikaru: “I’ll say it just once more.”

Hikaru looks incredibly amused.

Hikaru: “Otouto-san is doing his absolute best to give everyone love and attention. As much as he can physically handle before succumbing to fatigue, that is. However, unfortunately, that doesn’t work for us sisters.”

Ukyo: “What do you mean?”

Hikaru: “Nobody likes having to share Otouto-san. Everybody wants him for themselves.”

Hikaru begins to count on her fingers.

Hikaru: “Tsubaki and Azusa. Natsume and Subaru. Yuuki and Fuuko. And…. Kaname and Iori. Everyone’s relationships are strained, ready to blow at the slightest altercation. And Wataho seems to be trying to compete with everyone.”

Ukyo: “....... this is ridiculous,”

I say. However, my voice is barely audible, quiet and low.

Hikaru: “Masa-nee is doing her best to encourage him, and Louie is doing her best to comfort him, but the issue doesn’t lie with Chiibou– it lies with us sisters, which means it can’t be resolved.”

Ukyo: “........”

Hikaru: “At times like this, it’s up to the eldest of us to act their age, right? But Masa-nee is unreliable. And Kaname’s also part of the problem, so she won’t be much help either.”

Ukyo: “But you’re here?”

Hikaru: “I am the fourth sister, aren’t I…. fufu.”

I find myself growing uncomfortable at the sight of her smile.

Hikaru: “I’ll leave the honor of saving the family to someone older than me.”

Hikaru picks an apple up from the table, and bites into the skin.

Hikaru: “But time is running out….. you know?”

After she says this, she spits a seed out from her mouth. It hits the calendar, before falling to the floor.

December 24th.

The date that the seed hits marks a week from now.

Hikaru: “I’m rooting for you…. Onee-sama.”

Having said her piece, Hikaru leaves the kitchen.

★☆★

Yuuki: “Ehh? What’d ya just say, Kyo-nee?”

Ukyo: “I’ll say it only once more. For one week starting today, we will be entering a “Christmas Truce Agreement”. During this period, everyone shall be prohibited from spending excess time together with Chiibou.”

The next day, I call everyone to the living room and make an announcement.

Fuuko: “I’m not agreeing to that. I’ll do as I please.”

Ukyo: “Fuuko, that won’t work with me. This is compulsory. Anyone who does not abide by it will have no choice but to leave the mansion. If that’s alright by you, then by all means, do as you please.”

Fuuko: “Haah?”

Fuuko glares at me. I don’t falter.

Ukyo: “You’re free to turn this into a trial if you so wish. I'll be your opponent.”

Fuuko: “......... stupid.”

Wataho: “That’s not faaaaaair, I already got a present—”

Masami: “Hold on a moment, Ukyo.”

Masami-neesama cuts into the conversation.

Masami: “Don’t you think this is a bit tyrannical? Especially right before Christmas.”

Ukyo: “That’s exactly why I have already received Father’s approval, Masami-neesama.”

Masami: “Dad’s?”

Ukyo: “And just so you know, Masami-neesama— you’ll be no exception.”

Masami: “Ehh…..”

Finally, as is appropriate, the atmosphere in the room shifts, everyone now paying attention.

Subaru: “Kyo-nee…. what exactly’s being considered forbidden here?”

Ukyo: “Spending time with Chiibou will not be tolerated, save for within this living room. Flirting is completely out of the question, and everyday activities will also be prohibited.”

The room sinks into silence. It’s broken by Natsume clearing her throat.

Natsume: “Even just hanging out won’t be allowed?”

Ukyo: “Correct. If you have a game you’d like to give to him, please deliver it through mail instead, Natsume.”

Natsume: “Oi, oi…. Just what about Chiibou’s feelings? You can’t just be deciding stuff like this for him, Kyo-nee.”

Ukyo: “No, I can’t. Which is why I asked him. Chiibou already gave me the OK.”

Natsume: “..... what’d you just say?”

Ukyo: “This is to protect Chiibou.”

I survey everyone as I speak.

Ukyo: “Do you understand how much time Chiibou spends with you all, exhausting himself? Because of this, he has no time to study or do much else.”

At this, Yuuki speaks up, as if remembering something.

Yuuki: “Now that you mention it, I’ve been seeing him fall asleep in class lately. He never used to do that before.”

Wataho: “He even looks super sleepy when he holds me in his laps sometimes–. His sleepy face is suuuuper cute~”

Kaname: “..... I see. If that’s the case, I’m in favor of the truce. We should definitely give him some freedom.”

After Kaname says this, Iori nods.

Iori: “I understand. In which case, I’ll postpone our graveside ceremony to next year.”

We all internally question what Iori means by that, but no one wishes to add yet another problem to our fast-growing list. And so, no one decides to ask Iori or delve into it.

Tsubaki: “Azusaaaaa. What d’ya think? Kyo-nee looks pretty serious.”

Azusa: “It can’t be helped. Actually, I’ve noticed that Chiibou looks considerably tired lately as well.”

Tsubaki: “Riiiiiight. It really can’t be helped–.”

Louie: “It’s important to protect Chiibou-kun……”

I take out the contract that I’d prepared beforehand.

Ukyo: “Then, if you’ll all please sign this. ….. Ah, and Hikaru.”

Hikaru: “Hm?”

Ukyo: “I would like to ask that you keep a close eye on everyone during the cease fire to make sure that no one tries to sneak anything by. Is this alright?”

Hikaru: “Ah, that does sound rather interesting, doesn’t it….. alright. I’ll cooperate with you this time, Kyo-nee.”

And so, all us sisters sign the contract and bind ourselves to our pledge.

Ukyo: “This should do well. I earnestly hope that you take care not to act imprudently.”

After this, it feels as if the days go by slowly.

However, every morning, during breakfast, as they see Chiibou’s state improving, everyone gradually begins to assent to the situation.

And so, the 24th finally arrives.

Ukyo: “I would like to thank everyone for meeting my demands. Let our family party commence now.”

I had put all of my effort into making a grand feast.

“Merry Christmas!”

I feel as if everyone, from the bottom of their hearts, is having fun partying together.

(All 13 of us haven’t gathered together for Christmas since childhood. …. I’m truly glad.)

Hikaru: “This party turned out better than I expected. If you’re capable of this much, you should make it a habit of doing it all the time. …… ahaha.”

Although I don’t need her here.

★☆★

I tidy up with Chiibou after the party ends. Then, after we’re done cleaning up,

“Let’s go for a walk, Ukyo-san.”

“After this?”

“...... mmhmm.”

Ukyo: “I’m sorry. The agreement is still in motion.”

“But it’s already past midnight, so it should be okay, right? …… look.”

As Chiibou said, it’s already the 25th.

“I’d like to go to Inokashira Park.”

Ukyo: “The park? At this hour?”

“Yup.”

Then, Chiibou says,

“I want to talk with you– just the two of us, Ukyo-san. We haven’t had the opportunity to…. since then.”

Ukyo: “..... I understand. Very well.”

If he says it like that, there’s no way I can refuse. I agree to go with him.

(We’re just going to the park and then coming back, that’s all.)

It’s very cold outside. However, it’s the sort of cold that’s refreshing, perhaps even comfortable.

“Today was really fun.”

Chiibou speaks after we step outside.

“It was lively having everyone together.”

Ukyo: “...... yes, it was.”

“Thank you for your hard work, Ukyo-san.”

Ukyo: “No,”

I follow half a step behind.

Ukyo: “I should be apologizing to you. It must have been frustrating, having your freedom taken away for the week.”

“It wasn’t. Or, maybe I should say it was actually helpful.”

A wry smile rises to Chiibou’s face.

“Despite what I said before, handling 13 people is a lot more difficult than I expected.”

Ukyo: “Twelve people,”

I say.

Ukyo: “I’m not included.”

“Ah… you’re right.”

The conversation cuts off there. Neither of us open our mouths. However, thanks to the bustling crowd in front of the station, the atmosphere doesn’t feel awkward.

Before long, we arrive at the park. Thanks to the cold, there’s barely anyone there. Still in silence, the two of us begin to slowly walk around the large pond there.

“Hey, Ukyo-san. Can I ask you something?”

After a while, Chiibou suddenly speaks up.

Ukyo: “What is it?”

“Do you hate me?”

I instinctively stop in my tracks.

Ukyo: “Why would you ask something like that?”

“Because you never once requested something of me, Ukyo-san.”

Ukyo: “That’s…. that’s because I’m different from the others.”

“How? You’re just as beautiful as they are.”

Ukyo: “...... that’s not what I mean.”

I look back in the direction we’d come from.

Ukyo: “We should start returning home.”

“Ah….. wait. Here, let’s sit and talk for just a while longer.”

Chiibou sits down at a nearby bench without waiting for my answer. Reluctantly, I take a seat as well, keeping a bit of distance between us two.

“.......... Ukyo-san.”

Ukyo: “Is there something else?”

“The man in that photo is your ex-boyfriend, isn’t he, Ukyo-san?”

Surprised, I stare intently at Chiibou.

Ukyo: “How do you know that?”

“Hikaru-san told me.”

Ukyo: “That girl……”

“She told me that you two broke up. Just what happened?”

Ukyo: “It has nothing to do with you.”

“But it does have something to do with me. Because I want to know everything about you, Ukyo-san.”

Chiibou gazes directly at me.

Ukyo: “I don’t want to tell you. Let’s head home.”

“..... I’m not going back yet.”

As I stand up to leave, Chiibou grabs my wrist.

Ukyo: “Hold on–....”

“I want to know. I don’t want to make the same mistakes that he did.”

Ukyo: “Huh?”

“........ please.”

I sigh as I watch Chiibou bow his head.

Ukyo: “....... very well. However, once I’m finished, we’ll return home. Understood?”

“Yes. …… thank you.”

I sit back down on the bench, and heave in a big sigh. I never thought that I’d be telling this story.

Ukyo: “His name is Amamiya Reiji. We dated in university. I truly loved him. …. Until I learned of his true character.”

“True character?”

Ukyo: “His real aims lied in Father’s connections.”

“Eh?”

Ukyo: “Father has a lot of friends in the business world. He wanted to try and get future prospects working as a lawyer for a major company. The reality is, he had the skills to. All he needed were the connections. So, he used me. …. That’s it.”

“That’s horrible….”

Chiibou looks dumbfounded.

“I thought that people like that only existed in stories.”

Ukyo: “Well, I suppose that it’s for the best that he revealed his true intentions to me once he’d accomplished his goal. That way, he isn’t stringing me along forever.”

“Do you hate him?”

Ukyo: “Of course I do!”

“Then why do you keep a photo album of him?”

Ukyo: “Eh……”

I feel my heart squeeze in my chest.

“You still think about him.”

Ukyo: “No……. no, it isn’t like that…..”

I can barely wring the words out.

Ukyo: “It’s a warning to me. So that I don’t ever take such foolish things seriously anymore.”

“....... you’re lying,”

Chiibou abruptly says, his voice firm.

“Ukyo-san, you’re fooling yourself.”

Ukyo: “No, I’m not!”

I shake Chiibou’s hand off and stand up.

Ukyo: “I’ve decided I’ll never love anyone else again.”

“I can’t allow that for someone as amazing as you, Ukyo-san!”

Ukyo: “..... stop it!”

I turn my back to Chiibou as he stands up.

Ukyo: “It’s impossible. I….. I’ve forgotten how to love someone.”

“Ukyo-san…..”

Ukyo: “.... I’m going back home.”

Determined not to stop in my tracks this time, I begin walking away.

– At that moment.

“Don’t go.”

Strong arms capture my shoulders from behind.

“I’ve always liked you, Ukyo-san.”

Ukyo: “Chiibou….”

Chiibou wraps his arms around me.

“Everyone else is wonderful, too, but they didn’t take long to say they liked me. Before I could get to know them, what kind of people they are, they started pursuing me…. and I had no choice but to respond to their feelings.”

I don’t want to hear this, I think. ….. And yet, my feet won’t move.

“You’re different, Ukyo-san. You gave me time, and you’re mindful of my feelings. Like today….”

Ukyo: “Please, just stop…”

That instant, I feel my body being turned around.

I’m met with Chiibou’s face. He stares at me with uncharacteristically serious eyes.

“I love you.”

Chiibou’s lips meet mine.

(.........!)

“I’ll make you forget about Amamiya.”

Ukyo: “......”

“It’s okay if you’ve forgotten how to love someone, Ukyo-san. Because I’ll help teach you how to love again.”

At that moment, something inside me crumbles. I can feel it falling apart.

The walls that once shielded me. I’d built them up, never able to tear them down myself.

Ukyo: “Chiibou…..”

I return Chiibou’s embrace, clutching him tightly.

“Ukyo-san….”

He responds, squeezing me just as tightly back.

(He’s….. so warm….)

“From tonight on, I’ll absolutely never leave you.”

Chiibou whispers this into my ear. At his voice, I give a strong nod.

★☆★

— And so ends the story of Chiibou and the Asahina sisters, and how he and I fell in love.

Since then, the seasons have changed, and it is now summer. Half a year has passed since Chiibou and I officially announced our relationship to everyone during Valentines Day.

Even now, Chiibou still spends time with our other sisters. However, I do not blame him for this.

Because I know that what he does for our sisters is for comfort and consolation, and that I am the only one he loves.

Despite this, there are admittedly still times where I get jealous.

But whenever this happens, Chiibou is always incredibly kind and gentle.

“It’s alright, Ukyo-san. I won’t leave, not unless you tell me to.”

Ukyo: “I’m sorry…. I’m being selfish…… but I’m happy….. hold me tighter…..”

That’s right. I love Chiibou, and Chiibou loves me.

I can say this to someone who looks exactly like him.

Because I found someone far more wonderful than him.

So now, I can now puff my chest out with pride, and tell the me of before,

“You’re fooling yourself” –.

[thefangirlrant]

Once again I’m going down the rabbit hole of determining the age of anime characters 😆 I’m part of a Sailor Moon fan group, and someone posted something about Ami and Shingo being a ship, to which someone else replied with appalling surprise, “Isn’t Shingo 10?!?!?!” Well, even if he is 10, the age gap would be the same as the one between the main couple of the show.

But that did get me wondering, how old is Shingo? He is obviously still in elementary school, because he doesn’t go to Usagi’s Junior High school, which means he could be 6th grade, which means he could be as old as 12. But then I realized, at least within the show, we could determine his actual age.

In the Sailor Moon R movie, Usagi and Momoru meet for the first time as children. They are in the hospital, Momoru is there recovering from the car accident that killed his parents, and Usagi is there because *drum roll* her mom just gave birth to Shingo. So how does this help us? Well, I did some digging, and most of what I read said that the car accident that killed his parents took place on his 6th birthday (meaning Momoru is 6 at this first meeting). So now the question is, how much older is Momoru than Usagi? I stated earlier that they’re about 4 years apart, but I wanted to make sure that was accurate (because if they are 4 years apart, that means Usagi is 2 at their first meeting).

Now, we know Usagi is in her second year of junior high at the start of the series, and by season 3 Usagi is in her third year of junior high and she has her 15th birthday. So the majority of seasons 1 and 2 she is 14, but I would say she’s probably 13 in the first few episodes for a few reasons: Japanese schools start in April, Usagi is wearing her long sleeve uniform (meaning it’s probably not late spring and definitely not summer), and Usagi’s birthday is June 30th, roughly a month before Japanese schools’ summer break (which takes place in episode 20 of season 1).

A lot of sources I read say that Momoru is 17 at the start of the series, which considering his birthday is in August, that actually makes perfect sense. He is 17 at the start, and then roughly around episode 20, he turns 18, making him 4 years older than Usagi. Which means Usagi is only 2 when she first meets Momoru on the day Shingo is born (why is this 2 year old wondering around the hospital by herself?!?!).

So in terms of the shipping of Shingo and Ami, they’re only 2 years apart, which is less than the gap between Usagi and Momoru. Now, this particular ship does come from an episode (17) in season 4, which is a bit messed up in terms of the timeline. Season 3 obviously ends in winter (as it is snowing in one of the later episodes), and season 4 still has all the main girls in junior high, which means it all happens before late April, but in the episode where Shingo shows an affection for Ami, they’re all at the beach… in winter… yeah the anime creators really screwed up the 4th arc. In the manga they’re in high school by this arc, so I’m not sure why they didn’t do that with the old anime.

Anyway, to sum this up, at the beginning of the series, Shingo is 11, and then turns 12 in August or September (depending on how long Momoru was in the hospital after the car accident).

And because I know someone is going to ask, the other ages for season 1 (and probably season 2) are as follows:

Usagi: 13 for the first few episodes, and then 14 sometime before episode 20

Momoru: 17, 18 after episode 20

Ami: 13, 14 sometime after episode 20 (her birthday is in September)

Rei: 14 (her birthday is April 17th, meaning she’s the oldest)

Makoto: 13 (there’s a good chance she doesn’t turn 14 until season 2, as her birthday is in December, which oddly enough makes her the youngest)

Minako: 13, there’s also a possibility that she is 14 by the time she first appears, as they are all in their long sleeve uniforms again (her birthday is in October).

Season 3 would have them all one year older (as it is a new school year), and the outer guardians’ ages would be:

Haruka: 16, maybe 17 at the end (her birthday is in January, and it is winter at the end of season 3)

Michiru: 16 (her birthday is in March, so it’s unlikely she ages up in this season)

Hotaru: 12 (first year junior high) and instead of aging up on her January birthday, she ages down at the end of the season 😆 (it’s not clear if her “birthday,” is her first birthday or when she is reborn at the end of season 3, or if they happen to be the same day)

Setsuna: who knows lol. She’s not in school in the anime, and she’s not really shown having a life outside of being a guardian, so there’s really nothing to base her age on in the old anime. Her “birthday” is October 29th, but the 90s anime kind of gives off the impression that this Setsuna wasn’t reborn, but is the original Sailor Pluto who came straight from the door of time (which would make her really really really old, like thousands of years old 😅)

Now, these ages only apply to the 90s anime, the manga and Crystal are different (and that’s a post for another day).

[hime98]

Lonely Escape in Seoul (Lee Dong Wook x Y/N)

Chapter 13 - Chaotic Phone Calls

Third Person POV

The warm, golden light of the late morning spilled into the apartment, creating a serene atmosphere as Y/N and Dong Wook sat on the couch. Y/N fidgeted with her phone, her nerves palpable. Her fingers hovered over the screen, unsure whether she was ready to make this leap—introducing Dong Wook to her family. But she knew it was time.

“They’re going to freak out,” Y/N muttered under her breath, chewing on her bottom lip.

Dong Wook chuckled, reaching over and gently prying the phone from her hand. “Is that so bad?” His eyes twinkled with mischief. “I’d like to meet them. Besides, I’m great with parents.” He winked at her, his playful demeanor only slightly masking his own nerves.

Y/N rolled her eyes, her lips curling into a smile despite herself. “Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Dong Wook’s reassuring smile never faltered. “I can handle anything for you” he said, confidence radiating off him. He leaned back on the couch, folding his arms behind his head and settling in, clearly ready for whatever chaos her family was about to unleash.

Taking a deep breath, Y/N tapped on the contact labeled Family Group Video Call and waited, her heart fluttering in anticipation. The call connected, and one by one, her family members appeared on screen.

First came her mother, looking at Y/N through the camera with an expression that combined concern and affection. “Y/N! You haven’t called in days! Are you eating well? Are you safe?” she asked, her voice thick with worry.

Her father’s face soon filled the screen, his brows furrowed in classic disapproval. “And what’s this I hear about you extending your trip? Who’s paying for all this?”

“Did you get lost? Need me to fly over and rescue you?” Her youngest brother’s voice cut through, and he appeared on screen with a half-disheveled face, his messy hair the evidence of a morning still unfolding.

“Wait, wait!” Y/N interrupted with a raised hand, her voice loud enough to break through the noise.

“Everyone, calm down. I have someone I want you to meet.”

The room on the other end immediately went quiet. All six family members stared at her, the curiosity now written across their faces.

Dong Wook leaned forward into the frame, offering a warm, polite smile. “Hello, everyone. I’m Lee Dong Wook.”

The silence on the other end stretched for a beat too long. Her youngest brother, who had been half-watching the video with his usual goofy grin, suddenly jerked his head back in surprise.

“Wait. THE Lee Dong Wook? The actor? Mr. Grim Reaper? Gumiho?!” His voice cracked slightly, as if the name had been too much of a shock.

Y/N's flushed, clearly not expecting this level of reaction. She opened her mouth to respond, but before she could get a word out, her mother gasped dramatically, hands flying to her face. “Oh my goodness, is this real? Why are you with Him?”

Her brothers erupted in disbelief.

“I don’t believe this. You’re trolling us, right?” one of them teased, his voice filled with incredulity.

“Mom, don’t faint!” another added.

“Sis, what is happening?!” came the last brother’s voice, his shock clear.

Dong Wook, calm and collected as always, laughed heartily. “It’s true. I’m dating your sister, and I wanted to introduce myself.”

The noise settled into a stunned silence. Y/N's mother, still in shock, now had both hands over her mouth, her eyes wide and unblinking. Y/N;s father cleared his throat loudly, adjusting his posture. “Well... Mr. Lee, it’s nice to meet you. But if this is just a one time thing—” His voice was serious, but Y/N could tell her dad’s protective instincts were kicking in.

“Dad!” She groaned, rubbing her face in embarrassment.

Dong Wook raised both hands, the perfect picture of respect and understanding. “I understand completely, sir,” he said, his voice warm but sincere. “You don’t have to worry. I care about her deeply. And I plan to make this last forever.”

Her mom, finally recovering from her shock, leaned in toward the camera, her tone shifting to one of genuine admiration. “You’re even more handsome in real life! Y/N dear, how did this happen?”

Y/N chuckled nervously, feeling the heat of her mom’s sudden admiration. “It’s a long story, Mom. We met by chance and just... clicked.”

For the next half hour, the conversation was a blur of laughter, teasing, and heartfelt moments. Dong Wook answered questions about how they met, how they spent their time together, while Y/N's brothers bombarded him with questions about his career and his intentions.

Her mom couldn’t stop gushing over him, clearly enamored with his charm, while her dad, though trying to remain stoic, slowly warmed up. At one point, he even nodded in approval.

When the call finally ended, Y/N let out a sigh of relief, leaning back against Dong Wook. Her cheeks hurt from smiling so much. “You survived,” she teased, nudging him with her shoulder.

“Barely,” he grinned. “Your dad's a little intimidating.”

“You have no idea,” Y/N replied, laughing. “But now it’s your turn.”

Dong Wook, still looking amused, grabbed his phone. “Okay, let’s do this.”

Next, they video-called Y/N's best friends, Taeyeon, Tiffany and Sunny. The moment their faces appeared on the screen, the entire vibe shifted. Y/N was immediately greeted with excited shrieks from the three of them.

“Girl, who is that?!” Tiffany exclaimed, pointing directly at Dong Wook.

“Wait- what? I know that face!” Taeyeon's eyes widened. “Y/N, are you with Lee Dong Wook?!”

Y/N's laugh was uncontainable. “Yes, you said last time that you want to know his face and name so here it is. Oppa, these are my best friends, Taeyeon, Tiffany and Sunny”

Dong Wook flashed his signature smile, causing all women to visibly swoon. “Nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Tiffany grabbed Taeyeon's arm and clutched it dramatically. “This can’t be real. Are you two... together?”

Y/N beamed, her heart swelling with a quiet joy as she nodded. “Yes,” she said, her voice full of pride. “He’s my boyfriend.”

Sunny, unable to contain her excitement, clutched her chest like a love-struck teenager. “Y/N-ah, you’re living our dream! How are you so calm right now?!”

The conversation quickly turned into a mix of playful banter, with jokes about how Y/N “bagged the Grim Reaper” and teasing remarks about her dating a celebrity.

The women shared memories of their time together and asked Dong Wook questions about his career, his time with Y/N , and his thoughts on their relationship. Their admiration for him was obvious, but it was clear that they were also supportive and genuinely happy for Y/N.

“You deserve this,” Taeyeon said warmly, her smile full of sincerity. “He seems like an honest guy.”

Dong Wook turned to Y/N, his gaze soft but serious. “I am,” he said, his voice filled with determination. “And I’ll take care of her.”

Y/N's heart swelled at his words. She felt so incredibly lucky in that moment—not just because she had found someone like Dong Wook, but because she knew, with every beat of her heart, that he felt the same way about her.

As the call ended, she leaned into Dong Wook, her hand finding his. They didn’t need to say anything—everything was clear. She had introduced him to her family, to her friends, and now, there was nothing left to hide. What they had was real. It was theirs.

And she couldn’t be happier.

(To be continued)

Previous — Chapter 13 — Next

Author's note: This is far from being done lol

[andthekitchensinkao3]

Bits and Bobs, or the whole g-dabnit list of assorted fanfics by Yours Truly

Okay. Here goes.

A masterlist of all my fics? Here ya go!

Sorted by fandom, in alphabetical order. Whether it’s finished or a WiP will be pretty self-evident in the list, which will be updated as I go.

Baldur’s Gate (1)

A Promise Kept (13/13) also known as the BG3 fairytale mashup with Loki the TV series no one asked for.

A Lokius Fantasy Romance set in the BG3 universe, with all the fairytale tropes you can shake a stick at.

When Loki, youngest son of Odin Fraxinus of the Elder Tree, happens upon a charming former Paladin in Baldur’s Gate’s central market, his life is irrevocably changed. He hopes he’s finally found someone who’ll see him for who he truly is, and love him, body, mind and heart.

Unbeknownst to him, former Paladin Mobius not only has a troubled past, but an agenda of his own. Sent to spy on the Elder Trees’ host, Dyllard Portyr, for the tenday, Mobius is tasked to find out if he knows anything about Duke Ravengard’s disappearance. Or, if Odin does.

For, it is said, Odin once made a pact with a devil. A pact no one can discern the extent of, nor its ramifications in the present day.

But one thing is for certain: a promise kept is a promise fulfilled.

I’m posting this in a Series format on AO3, don’t ask me why.

Prologue (1/1)

Act 1: Love's Beginning (2/2)

Act 2: For Love or Duty (1/?)

Act 3: Love’s End (?/?)

Act 4: A Promise Fulfilled (?/?)

No, but literally. For every chapter I posted, it got fewer hits, likes and comments. It's now back as a multi-chaptered fic. Sigh.

Detroit: Become Human (26) (predominantly Hank/Connor RK800, but some Simon/Markus too)

Note: there’s 26 flippin’ fanfics in this category. I’m gonna add them over the weekend. In the meantime, click the fandom link to go to all of them. Below are a few of my own, personal favourites. If I can toot my own horn for a bit.

Metamorph (18/18) - my first ever DBH fic! HankCon, obviously. 137k, I kid you not. After a peaceful Android Revolution, Hank and Connor both try to navigate this new world they’re living in.

Silent Treatment (17/17) - in which the entire game plot is turned into a near-future sci-fi thriller. Go me!

The Knight and the Fool - fairytale mashup time! In which Hank is an old knight who goes to prove himself in a tourney, hoping to keep his farm running.

How to Create a Monster (10/10) - undercover high stakes, badass Connor, separate timelines and POVs.

Being Alive (19/19 ) - so I basically rewrote the whole HankCon third of the game, in a Reverse AU where Human!Cop Connor doesn’t smoke, is not a Gavin Reed knockoff, or “Hank” as played by Bryan Dechart instead of Clancy Brown.

Only You - A what-if spin and continuation on Being Alive, if that fic hadn’t had a happy ending.

Great Pretenders (1/1) - undercover shenanigans meet fake dating/fake relationship! Two of my fave tropes combined!

The Witch and the Werewolf - my prompt fill for a Halloween event. What it says on the tin, really. HankCon reimagined as a historical thriller with Sleepy Hollow vibes. And magic.

Spa Day (5/5) - Porn with Feels, in which Connor lovingly doms the heck outta Hank.

Loki (TV) (7-ish) (Loki/Mobius M. Mobius)

50 Years (1/1)

Between an ancient deity and an analyst with a heart of gold, 50 years isn’t nearly enough. It’s nothing. But it’s also more than long enough. And Loki has an idea for their fiftieth anniversary as lovers.

A Promise Kept - (a fairytale in four acts)  A Lokius Fantasy Romance set in the BG3 universe, with all the fairytale tropes you can shake a stick at.

When Loki, youngest son of Odin Fraxinus of the Elder Tree, happens upon a charming former Paladin in Baldur’s Gate’s central market, his life is irrevocably changed. He hopes he’s finally found someone who’ll see him for who he truly is, and love him, body, mind and heart.

Unbeknownst to him, former Paladin Mobius not only has a troubled past, but an agenda of his own. Sent to spy on the Elder Trees’ host, Dyllard Portyr, for the tenday, Mobius is tasked to find out if he knows anything about Duke Ravengard’s disappearance. Or, if Odin does.

For, it is said, Odin once made a pact with a devil. A pact no one can discern the extent of, nor its ramifications in the present day.

But one thing is for certain: a promise kept is a promise fulfilled.

Loose Ends (6/?)

After the events of Tapestry of Time, Loki has his mind set on going back to Asgard. On his timeline, his branch, to either face the consequences of his actions, or discern Odin's role in everything that led up to his encounter with the Chitauri, and the assault on Manhattan.

Sledgehammer (2/2)

When an anonymous user sends an amateur porn clip to Loki’s TemPad, he doesn’t know what to think. Who sent it to him? Why? But he’s charmed by the easy swagger of a young Don leading the way into his bedroom, drawn in by his confident, laidback sex appeal.

But the longer he watches, the more difficult it is to stop. And once he’s watched the contents of the sex tape, there’s no turning back.

Question is how to keep going forward without inadvertently ruining his friendship with Mobius.

Tapestry of Time (10/10)

After the season finale, the TVA gang is left in a state of shock. None moreso than Mobius, who finds a note tucked into his breast pocket.

It says "I love you. Forgive me."

It changes everything, and sends Mobius on a quest to get Loki back, without dishonoring his sacrifice.

Turns out that's easier said than done.

Variations on the Theme of Us (2/?) - set in the same ‘universe’ as Sledgehammer, but after the events of that fic.

When Loki wants to do something nice for Mobius whether or not they have an actual anniversary coming up, he sneaks off to the Sacred Timeline on a whim.

Unbeknownst to him, the adult toy store he walks into is manned by none other than the Don of his combined wet dreams and nightmares. And Don? Spells all kinds of trouble.

Void (1/1)

Post-S2 finale, Mobius hacks his TemPad to recreate one of his own memories, and uses the time loop chamber thingie to relive it. Over. And over. And over again.

Person of Interest (1) (Reese/Finch)

How Not to Say I Love You (1/1)

When Reese and Finch go undercover to help a Number at a couples therapy weekend retreat, not everything is as it seems, and John has to navigate his own emotions while posing as someone whose situation hits too close to home.

[asordinaryppl]

A3! Main Story: Part 4 - Act 15: PAINFUL RE:BAKE - Episode 13: Make Blossom

Host: The third season of “Make Blossom” has finally begun!

Host: Eight unique challengers, both pros and amateurs, will be taking on this survival challenge for a month!

Host: One participant will be eliminated each week, and the last three to remain will aim to become the best makeup artist.

Host: Whoever wins the Final Battle will win a prize in cash and the right to work at the forefront of the fashion industry!

-

Host: Last but not least, our youngest participant, a high school student… ZAMI!

Host: Despite his age, he is already an active member of a theater company. He’s a promising rookie in both the makeup and acting worlds!

Host: What kind of sense will he show us!?

Azami: …

Azami: (Filming for TV really is different from being on stage. This ain’t like me, but I’m nervous.)

Host: I will now announce the first task!

[DOON]

Host: The theme is… “vampires”!

Host: You will now be given a photo of the model you will work with and 30 minutes of thinking time.

Host: After you’re done thinking of the makeup, you will have 2 hours to apply it to the model themself.

Azami: …

Azami: (30 minutes thinking time is basically improvisation. I take my time when thinking about the makeup I’ll do for the plays… I’ve got to switch gears.)

Host: And now, Thinking Time Start!

Azami: …

Azami: (Vampires remind me of Nocturnality. I hadn’t joined the troupe then, but I’ve seen videos.)

Azami: (A pale blue base… An overall feel that’s porcelain and non-human…)

Azami: (I wanna show something high level here, rather than just a flashy concept.)

Host: Time’s up!

Challenger A: There’s not enough time…

Challenger B: It passed by in the blink of an eye.

Host: Next, we will take you to the makeup room, where the models are waiting for you!

-

Host: In any event, your fate will be decided in 2 hours! Who will be our first elimination!?

Host: Makeup Start!

Model: … 

Azami: (Their skin tone’s different than it was in the picture… I don’t think this bluish base will suit them…)

Azami: (Nah, I don’t have time to change my plan now. If I carefully prepare the base, it’ll work out somehow…)

-

Host: Time’s up!

Judge A: Oho~ Everyone was fully concentrated.

Judge B: I’m looking forward to seeing the fruit of their efforts.

Host: We can now begin the review period!

-

Host: We will now announce the ranking! In first place is… SAKI!

Judge A: You used the red and purple from the vampire motif impressively, and it caught my eye.

Judge B: The artistic way in which you expressed both aggression and alluring mystery play a big part in your high score.

Azami: (This is makeup that looks great on TV… The others have also made bold looks with good concepts)

Azami: (Compared to them, my makeup’s too plain…)

-

Host: We will now be announcing the sixth place!

Host: The two left for the end are candidates for elimination, so if you want to stay in this race, this is where you want your name to be called!

Host: In sixth place we have– Misaki.

Misaki: Let’s go!!

Host: Which means… That the first elimination for the third season of Make Blossom will be one of these two!

Host: Our youngest competitor, ZAMI, and the goddess of covering up flaws, Miri!

Miri: ——

Azami: …

Judge B: It seems ZAMI didn’t take full advantage of his model. The look he created was too meek and bland

Azami: …

Azami: (Can’t say anything back… That was totally my mistake.)

Host: We will now have you two compete in a makeup skills battle.

Host: We will see just how well you can apply eyeliner in under 5 minutes, and the loser will be eliminated! It’s a full-out battle with no room for cheating!

Azami: (So a one-on-one competition? This suits me just fine.)

Host: Now, both of you, on your marks…

Azami: (I’ve got experience in quick stuff like this. But I can’t let my guard down with the judges looking.)

Azami: (I’ve done this countless times before… I just gotta remember the feeling.)

Azami: (I had to rush the Spring Troupe’s makeup right before their performance, too.)

Azami: (There’s been countless times when I’ve had to apply everyone’s makeup just before the opening buzzer rings out.)

Azami: (I’ve made it this far with the intention of never letting anyone get on stage with sloppy makeup, even with time literally against me.)

Azami: (If I just think of this model in front of me as a member of MANKAI Company…)

Host: Are you ready? … Get set, GO!

-

Host: Now, we’ll have the judges raise their signs all at once!

Host: ZAMI, ZAMI, ZAMI… With a 3-to-0, ZAMI’s survival has been guaranteed!

Judge A: Watching Miri’s hand tremble from nerves made me nervous.

Judge A: On the other hand, our youngest ZAMI here managed to keep his cool through this short period and created something beautiful.

Judge B: I wonder if his experience with stage makeup helped here? This is an amazing feat for a teenager.

Azami: … Crunch time’s the norm where I come from

Host: That’s our rookie for ya! ZAMI, congratulations on keeping your place here!

Judge B: I’ll be waiting for you to break out of your shell with the next challenge, too.

Azami: (If I don’t get my shit together, I’ll definitely be eliminated next week…)

Azami: (I gotta go all out as if next time will be my last.)

-

Ibuki: …

Host: “Please look forward to the next Make Blossom!”

Ibuki: … Kinda peaked here. This is so going viral.

Ibuki: “supporting my classmate sooo hard rn! #MakeBlossom #PassedLast #CrunchTimesTheNorm"

-

Sakoda: AZAMIIIIII!!! WAAAHHHHH, I’M SO GLAD!!! CONGRATS ON PASSING, AZAMIIII!!!

Sakyo: Pipe down, already…

Banri: But you were clenchin’ that fist real tight, Sakyo-san.

Taichi: I was on the edge of my seat!

Sakuya: I’m glad he made it through!

Kazunari: And he’s trending! Look at all these “# Crunch time’s the norm”!

Kazunari: There’s an article titled, “Who’s ZAMI!? I looked into him a little”, and it mentions MANKAI Company!

Omi: He’s already making the rounds.

Juza: Azami’s awesome…

Yuki: He got attention ‘cause he’s the first high schooler to participate, and then he got more because he was on the verge of being eliminated from the first episode.

Kumon: But I wonder if he’s gonna be able to deal with all this attention…

Banri: This is Azami we’re talkin’ about,

Juza: … We gotta keep it up too.

Taichi: You’ve got a meeting tomorrow, right?

Tsumugi: Have they delivered a script?

Banri: Nah, not yet. I don’t even know if they’ll give it to us tomorrow.

Tasuku: Sounds like you’re about to go through something crazy again.

Banri: I’ve seriously got no idea what that leader guy’s thinkin’, man…

previous episode | masterpost | next episode

NOTES:

(1) not really a translation note, but i made ibuki's hashtags look like that mostly for the sake of readability

[xixiao-yankai]

Who says Harry isn’t powerful?

Lily’s letter to Sirius mentioned Harry zooming around on his toy broomstick at a year old. I’d say displaying magic at that age is impressive. Plus going on to become the youngest Seeker in a century.

Killing the Basilisk. At age 12! With help from Fawkes, but still! Godric Gryffindor level of combat skills.

Conjuring a stag Patronus at age 13 to fend off a hundred Dementors, when most adult wizards couldn’t even cast an incorporeal one. His ability caused quite an uproar at the Wizengamot later on.

Surviving and WINNING the Triwizard Tournament at age 14. Had help here and there, yes, but Harry walked onto each battlefield alone.

Using Protego masterfully by age 15 that it reflected Snape’s Legilimens spell right back at him. Casting a Shield Charm powerful enough to expand and fill the Great Hall. Many adult wizards have trouble casting a sufficient Protego.

Leading Dumbledore’s Army and improving their DADA skills to significantly above average. Fighting courageously and sustaining the least physical damage at the Department of Mysteries.

Succesfully casting Imperio and completely resisting it. Successfully casting Crucio on his third attempt. Unforgivable curses take powerful magic, said Snape.

And finally, Hogwarts studies - yeah, maybe not top in nearly every subject like Hermione, but getting all Es on exams he wasn’t interrupted during and an O in DADA, outperforming his best friend Ron who grew up in a pure-blood wizarding household. Harry was raised by Muggles. Not the same starting point, and yet Harry ended up slightly surpassing Ron academically with that Outstanding score.

Recognized powerful characters - Marauders generation, certain Death Eaters, the professors - they are at least 20 years Harry’s senior. Being defeated by them does not, at all, make him mediocre. I’m sure that by his 30s, he’d have greatly increased in magical aptitude and solidified his status as one of the most powerful wizards of his generation.

[thgfanfictionlibrary]

Friends to Lovers Fics Masterlist (9)

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 /

Created: June 6th, 2024

Checked:---

Don't Talk To Me-hutchabelle (ao3) Summary: Katniss Everdeen hates people. Well, that’s not exactly true, but she doesn’t exactly like them either. They’re too…human or whatever. Too many acquaintances. The last thing she wants to do is get close to any of them, especially after the events of the past few months. She’s barely holding it together as it is, and introducing people or, even worse, friends could tip her right over the edge. She values her sanity. That’s probably why the new, sweet, disgustingly optimistic, overly friendly hire at the coffee shop where Katniss works irritates her so much. He’s just so nauseatingly earnest. It makes her want to punch him in the face. Enemy-HGRomance (ao3) Summary: I’m Katniss Everdeen-Snow. I’m eighteen years old, the president’s granddaughter, and the youngest gamemaker Panem has ever known. I’ve been taken prisoner by Peeta Mellark and the rebels of District 13. But I’m dangerous and trained to kill, and I’m not going down without a good, long, hard fight. Canon Divergence. Everlark Coffee & Tea-JHsgf82 (ao3) Summary: Modern AU. Katniss and Peeta, who are best friends, decide to open a coffee & tea shop together. How will it turn out? Will they become more than business partners? Oh yeah, and they were roommates! Everlark Spring Break-Xerxia (ao3) Summary: Prompt 17: Katniss can’t afford to go away on Spring Break, so Peeta brings Spring Break to her. [submitted by @hutchhitched ] For the Everlark fic exchange, spring edition on Tumblr. Falling Like Stars-JLaLa (ao3) Summary: Katniss was more than happy to cater Gale and Madge’s wedding. Until she found out she would be working with Peeta Mellark, a returning District 12 resident—and her childhood crush. Finding my way Home-Xerxia (ao3) Summary: When Peeta Mellark needs a 'plus one' for a family wedding his best friend, Katniss Everdeen is the logical choice. Isn't she? Get the Money Shot-hutchabelle (ao3) Summary: Written for Everlark Fic Exchange Springtime Edition 2021 Prompt 32: Katniss Everdeen, famous musician hates posing for photoshoots whether it’s for an album or a magazine with the exception of celebrity photographer Peeta Mellark who seems to always know the way to get the best shots. Guy Time-JLaLa (ao3) Summary: Peeta Mellark returns to his hometown to help his best friend, Katniss with her two rambunctious kids. What happens when he starts to fall for all of them? Have Your Cake and Eat It Too-katnissdoesnotfollowback (ao3) Summary: For his twenty-fifth birthday, Peeta gets exactly what he's always wanted. Written April 2017 as a birthday gift for franceschee via everlarkbirthdaydrabbles on tumblr. He Doesn't Belong Down There-oakfarmer (ao3) Summary: It’s not unheard of for a merchant’s third son to end up in the mines. But why did it have to be the baker’s third son? In a Panem without the Hunger Games, Peeta becomes a coal miner and someone isn’t happy about the Boy with the Bread spending his days underground.

[khlegacynexus]

I am working on the Next Chapter of Others! But I’m slowing it down until A03’s disruption issue is resolved. Also stream the movie 🎥 if you can today guys as part of the celebration of its release.

Also inspired from the third Q&A here’s some Mystic Prodigy Trivia

I do want to incorporate the recent description of Frida’s Ninpo. I figured out how But I can’t do much more than that right now. Beyond Frida is actually Self taught.

Bonds for the MP kids are as follows Strongest to Weakest currently

Leo: Donnie/Mikey>Lizzie>Raph

Donnie: Leo/Mikey>Raph>Lizzie

Raph: Mikey>Lizzie>Donnie>Leo

Mikey: Leo/Donnie>Lizzie\Raph

Lizzie: Frida/Mikey>Donnie>Leo>Raph

Frida: Lizzie>The boys

Ages for the Turtles are as follows youngest to oldest

Elizabeth- 13

Michelangelo 14 1/2

Leonardo 15

Donatello 15 1/2 (there is a 6 month difference between Their hatching. I have a try to show with the human form if they have been born human they definitely would’ve been twins.)

Raphael, Slash and Frida: 17

So Apparently the sibling that was lost in another dimension was the Brother. And the actual Oldest. While I had always planned for Raph Frida and Later Slash to share that status. Wholly shit I feel so bad for Raph here! First his Leadership position (which if you pay attention to the show closely wasn’t always long for this world.) and now his title as the oldest. I’m not changing that now. 🤣

Also while Slash is a Hamato by blood He has his own life and family in Oaishu

[vague-bisexual-crimes]

I’m thinking about Rowan being the youngest and probably being babied by his older siblings his entire life and how protective he’s always been of Jimmy which was fine when they were 13 and just in school but then they become friends with Lister and The Ark gets big and suddenly without even realizing what he’s doing he’s taking on the responsibility of older sibling/parent for Jimmy and Lister because well someone has to and it’s not even that it’s necessarily a bad thing for a little while but suddenly he’s carrying all of the emotional weight and responsibility of two mentally ill teenagers + himself (third mentally ill teenager) and of The Ark as a band that they want people to take seriously but he can he even stop? because if he isn’t holding this band together than what is? and he might not even be aware that he’s doing it because it’s just what he does but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel the stress of it all and he’s just taking care of his friends and The Ark is the most important thing in their lives and they wouldn’t have even slightly the lives that they have without it so how could he ever not?

[ruka-the-animefangirl]

Happily Ever After

This is my first time writing a story for Twisted wonderland, but I did it for myself. I thought it was a cool concept and I wanted to write it. 

I’ll probably do the art of the characters and post them later. Thank you for reading !

It's a big realization, when a person finally sees how unfair the world is. Or at least just how fucked up it is. I was a sheltered kid, my family always surrounded me. There was never a time where I found myself alone somewhere. Someone was always with me. But the problem was…

My family hates me..

They don't like me, they can even stand me. So I was confused as a child, seeing my family always surrounding me but can't even look at me. Without that gleam of hate.

I never cared much, I only thought I was such a cool anime main character. That I was like Zuko from Avatar, being hated by my family but super cool and awesome.

But no matter what they still had my back, at least that's what I thought. I never even knew they hated me up until this moment. 

Until the day came where the universe was o so gracious enough to show me how wrong I was. During a beautiful sunny day. Me, a short 6 year old little girl, with black hair and brown eyes and glasses was invited to my cousin's, Mark, birthday party. He was 15 at that time, and he always made fun of me, but he didn't go too far. At least he was never allowed to. 

No matter, I was playing in the garden with my best friend. 

My family were inside talking and eating and celebrating. I didn't pay attention however.

"Morro, imagine if I was the green ninja. I won't be as cool as Lloyd but I would still be cool" I said grinning ear to ear. He chuckled and ruffled my hair. " Sure you would kid. But it's a really big responsibility ya know. I think your too short for that" 

"Heyy!! I'm gonna grow!" He laughed loudly at that. 

While we were talking (arguing), my mom came over and told me to keep it down.

"Brett come here, we're gonna start singing soon" I looked behind me to see my mom and aunts looking at me while holding a really big cake.

My eyes brighten up looking at it. It was 3 layers and was black and orange. Mark is a basketball player, so the cake was basketball themed, it had small decorations with tiny basketballs. That was all it took, I needed to eat that cake.

"OK ma! I'm coming" 

I turned to look at Morro so I saw him standing and holding his hand out, "let's go?" I smiled and grabbed his hand. He pulled me up and picked me up. "Let's go eat that cake before you blow up" 

I giggled and went inside, while holding Morro's hand. Everyone was already gathering near the table. So I just walked between people's legs till I was near my other cousins. 

I was the youngest and the shortest kid, so everyone was bigger nonetheless. Morro stayed behind me as everyone sang happy birthday to Mark. Then came the time to eat CAKE!

All the adults left right after, like they always do during our birthdays. Something about them drinking the red grape juice. 

I just enjoyed my third slice of cake with Morro. He doesn't eat anything, I don't know why. Like its food, food is good. He did take a bite of the cake though so I was happy enough.

Anyways, while I was eating and talking to him. Alan and Mark came up to us. Alan is Mark's youngest brother, he was 13. They sat down next to me and started asking me about my imaginary friend.

"Hey short stack! How's that imaginary guy of yours" Alan said while grinning wildly,

"He's doing fine" I said in a small voice and kept eating. 

He never even gets mad at them either, he just smirks and watches us interact. He does always tell me not to react if they try to bully me, and that's what I learned to do.

"You seriously need to grow up, you look like such a weirdo outside. Do you know how weird my friends looked at me cos of ya!" Mark said while picking up his plate with cake.

"Good thing they thought you were a stupid toddler, so they dropped it." 

Leo stood up, "yeah like why don't you just start acting like normal people, remember last week?"

"Oh yeah where she jumped in the lake and accused her imaginary friend" 

His friends came up to us, one of them asking if he was serious.

They all just laughed and laughed as they kept reminiscing about the times they found funny.

I remembered that moment, it was when I was playing with Morro and he picked me up and threw me into the river. We then swam together and saw fishes.

My mom got mad at me later on because she found me drenched and yelled at me for jumping into the water with no supervision. 

While they kept laughing, my mood slowly disappeared. Why can't they leave me alone…

Morro, sensing my discomfort, ruffled my hair and told me, "do you want more cake? I'll get you some more." He smiled at me " These idiots are gonna stay idiots, so ignored them"

I looked down on my plate, "sure I want cake I said softly" 

As he prepared to get up, Leo looked at me and said while smiling "awww are you talking to your imaginary friend ?"

Mark laughing chimed in "you want more Cale? Seriously?" 

He looked around and then back at me, "why don't you take mine then? I don't feel like eating more"

He grabbed his cake and threw it at me. I stayed frozen, hair and face covered in cake, some of the cream falling down on my dress. 

Morro looked at me and grabbed some tissues and started to wipe my face.

The rest of my cousins realized what happened and joined in the laughter.

They didn't care about me, they all just laughed at me whenever Mark torments me. My aunt, Malak, came to the room to see what the commotion was about. Saw me and chuckled a bit. "Brett, sweetie how did you get cake all over you" 

Mark got up and pretended to wipe the cake off of my dress. "She tried and fell on her slice. I was just helping her out." He said smiling.

"Yeah but we also couldn't help to laugh at her" Leo said, "sorry, haha" 

She smiled and then looked at me. She was the only person who cared about me besides Morro; but she always took Mark's side because he was one of the older children. 

Malak wasn't a very tall person, but she was super nice. She always covers her hair with a cloth, when I asked about it, she said it's because of her religion. I don't know much about it, only that my parents disapproved of it a little, but were still content with Malak. My uncle was also part of the religion I think. Cos I see him praying similarly to how she prays. 

My parents don't follow a religion, I don't think they do. We don't go to church, unlike some of the people we see. Nor do they pray or wear the cloth like Malak and my uncle. 

Whenever I asked Morro, he avoided the topic and said that he believes there is God or multiple Gods and doesn't say anything else. So I just do the same, I believe there is a God there, but he makes things really hard for people sometimes, I don't know why tho. 

Breaking my thoughts, Malak picked me up and took me to my mom. Who, the moment I saw me, glared at me so hard. My eyes started to water. 

She scolded me and told me I should have been more careful after Malak explained to her the situation. 

My mom is a tall woman, she was harsh and very serious. She always made sure that I did well in school, even if I'm still a child. She got me to take up music and sports so that I have activities to do after school. 

She always has big expectations of what I need to do, and how to do them. Whenever I don't reach them she gets mad and grounds me. So when she saw me with a dirty dress covered in cake. She was livid. 

"Charlotte, calm down, it was obviously an accident. You know how Brett is." My dad calmed her down, she stared at him and sigh. "Drop it Oliver, she knows better"

She took me to the bathroom and kept scolding me while cleaning me up. 

I started to cry, snot and tears running down my face. "But Mark was making fun of me and threw the cwake at me awnd I couwldnt-"

"Stop! That's enough from you. Why do you always have to accuse Mark of stuff? Just drop it!" Suddenly she gasped horrified. She called my dad over, who also came in and looked at me horrified. He sat down with a smile and held my shoulders tightly, and started to chant something. Some of my uncles and aunts came too and just stared at me. They were all glaring at me, eyes filled with hatred. When suddenly I passed out. The last thing I saw was Morro staring at me with glowy red eyes.

At that time I never knew what that situation was about, but what I did know was that not only was the world shit. But it also hates me. The reason was unknown to me until I was 10 years old. When Morro finally explained to me the situation. 

Why everyone I knew ignored his existence, why he was able to come to school with me, why I was the black sheep of the family.

 To make things clear, I have known Morro since I was a baby. He was so cool and was my only friend. He was always there for me, no matter what happened. But I fully got to know him when I was 3, when we became friends. He played with me when my parents didn't. He gave me food, clothed me and walked me to places. My parents never brother to do any of this. They only cared that I stayed silent and polite. And kept the appearance of a normal child. Which obviously wasn't the case, especially since I walk to Morro every time of the day. He told me his name was Moros. Which reminded me of a bunch of Morro from Ninjago, so that's how I ended up calling him Morro. He didn't mind, so I kept it. He was tall, like really tall 190 cm tall. He has dark purple wavy hair, and wears makeup. He's the definition of an emo kid honestly speaking. He swore a lot- which is where I got my swearing problems too- he taught me to be independent, and how to be myself. He helps me with my homework, especially the extra ones ma gives me to make me smarter than other kids. He hates my family, and they hate him too. For a good reason too.

"I'm Moros, but what you don't know is that I'm also through God of Doom. I was stripped of my title and forced to this earth cos I was tormenting humans too much. I turned into this demon creature by default. Your parents, who were mages from this other world, sealed me into you as a favor from the gods to stay in this world instead of theirs."

"My parents are from another world ?.." 

"Yeah, your whole family is. The world is called twisted wonderland, it's a very interesting world. They have sorcerers and mages, along with inherent creatures and people. Like mermaids, beastmen and other gods such as I was once myself. They have a very rich history and a very interesting one at that. Much better than this boring world, where people have no magic, no supernatural, nothing at all." 

He picked me up, and suddenly we were in the living room. Where my parents were. They jumped when they saw me and were shocked to see me with Morro.

My dad got up, but Morro pushed him back down.

"So…the reason why your family hates you, is because they used you, to seal me inside of you like I told ya. But the reason they did it was because they made a deal with some gods who wanted me gone."

My mom stood up and started yelling at him to shut up. He glared at her and continued, "if they took care of me, if they got rid of me, then those gods will send your family to this world."

"We did this to have a peaceful life!!"

"At the expenses of your child!"

"Shut up!! You have no right to talk to us that way! She is our daughter. We can do whatever we want to her!!" My dad screamed back at him.

They kept arguing and screaming, I couldn't follow, I wasn't able to. 

Did they really sacrifice me to come here, why do they hate me? They did this to me. Is that why I'm the only one that can see Morro? But they're seeing him now, did he just now show himself to them? I don't know what to do. I don't understand. Why is this happening to me! Why can't I be a normal child! Why is this happening to me of all people!

Before I knew it, my dad was sending fire at Morro, I was choked, this is the first time I ever saw magic. So Morro wasn't lying, they're mages. They can use magic, so everything else he said must have been true. Was I really just used to just being a sacrifice for Morro? Do they really hate me that much to do this to me?

My mom grabbed me by the arm and held it tightly. But I couldn't think, I didn't know what to do. It was starting to feel really hot, and I couldn't breathe. I couldn't see either. My breath became short and harsh, tears streaming down my face. I was crying and hiccupping, barely able to breath. 

Mom was yelling at me but I could hear her, everything was blurry, and my ears started ringing. With Morro and mom's voice in the background.

"Kiddo, please calm down, everything is okay, just breath" 

Everything just stopped, I opened my eyes and I saw Morro in a black area. He was kneeling, holding my face. He started to breathe and I followed.

In and out

In and out

Until I could breathe properly

I took a really deep breath and sighed. I looked into his eyes, as he was wiping my face form my tears.

"W-where" sniffing loudly "are we?"

"We're inside your head right now?"

I stayed silent and wiped my face. "Am I like Naruto then? I have something sealed inside me which is why people hate me?"

He chuckled "yeah I guess you are. Is that bad?"

"I don't know" 

"Are you feeling better"

I hugged him 

"I'll see you outside then, and let's getcha ice cream kiddo"

I hated that day so much, but it really showed, who cares about me and who doesn't. 

My parents, after that day, made it clear that I am not wanted. They started to work more and exclude me in events. Morro, however, stayed with me through thick and thin. And I loved him for it. 

I ended up growing alone, Morro being my only friend and family. High school is the hardest for me. I was already short growing up, and I'm still short. I look nerdy and I haven't developed much. 

I was slightly overweight, I had braces and wore glasses. I was the perfect person to bully through high school. But I didn't care. I ignored them as much as I could.

I started to learn magic after I found out about everything. Morro did his best to teach me, but it's not his Forte so it was hard to learn for us both. Until I found a spellbook in my parents room. Morro created an illusion so that it looks like it's still there while I learn the spells. And well, I ended up being really good at it. At least from what Morro tells me.

"Stop narrating about how you think your too weak"

"Come on! How am I supposed to believe that I'm good at this?!"

" you can trust me and believe me when I tell ya"

"Yeah but like… am I really that good at magic? Like it's not like I can compare my magic to someone"

"You don't need to compare yourself, you're an amazing girl. I wouldn't exchange ya for anything in the world"

 "Thank you"

You're probably wondering why the hell, I'm even ranting about every single traumatic shit that happened in my life at the moment. Or how I was basically disowned by my parents. 

Yeah well I'm templating my life choice right now, cos well.

I'm stuck in a coffin

I have no idea how it happened, or how. Or who put me here.

But here I am.

In a coffin, upright and having nothing to do except to contemplate my whole life.

Honestly as fuck up my life is. I like it, I have an amazing best friend, who's awesome. And who taught me everything I knew.

"You also forgot to mention how I gave you my powers?"

 That too. Morro has very powerful magic, as the God of Doom. He can see how people die, along with some teleportation abilities and this guy can make amazing illusions. As in, good enough where they're like shadow clones. You can touch them and they don't disappear. I don't know if you realized it, but I abused the hell out of this. I’m 17 ok?! I’m using this power, it's super powerful, I'm not giving up on it.

A loud click brought me back to reality, light blinding me for a few seconds. The door of the coffin opened up.

[therainroguedoodles]

Mugen∞Drops Information

♾️ About the Series

Say hello to the Mugen Drops! They are a strange family, to be sure, but despite each of their quirks and weird habits, they love each other dearly and will always have each other’s back at the end of the day.

Did you know? Mugen (無限) means “infinite” in Japanese, highlighted by the infinity symbol above each of their heads that ties them all together. These little guys may be simple and seem pretty childish, but I really did work hard on making them to the best of my non-art ability. They are not perfect, but nothing in life ever is! I’m quite proud of the work that I’ve put into bringing these guys to life. Please welcome them into your hearts with warmth and love ❤

The Mugen Drops were originally made for an art trading card website that I won’t name back in… 2021, I believe? For the first time in my life, I felt super excited to draw. The thought of people wanting to collect these little guys made me so happy, but the idea was rejected. I get that they receive a large influx of submissions from real artists, so there’s no way my crude little drawings would take a spot over someone with actual art talent.

I knew that, but it still hurt my sensitive ass. I gave up on this series and I gave up on drawing in general. In 2023, I returned to this series with new additions after rediscovering how peaceful and fun it is to doodle. I want to create a small comic with this family someday soon c: I hope you’ll stick around until then~

♾️ Family Records (oldest to youngest)

Alan Drops (Family elder / Sula's older brother) #13

Sula Drops (Alan's younger sister) #15

Melinda Drops (Alan's first child / mom of Aspen, Lucien, Akito / older sister of Hudson, Jin, Eli, Wade) #9

Hudson Drops (Alan’s second child / Father of Oliver / Husband to Darcy / Younger brother of Melinda / Older brother of Jin, Eli, Wade) #4

Darcy Drops-Mallar (Hudson’s Wife / Mother of Oliver) #5

Jin Drops (Alan’s third child / Father of Rano and Cicily / Younger brother of Melinda and Hudson / Older brother of Eli and Wade) #18

Bubbs Drops-Galazaran (Husband to Devon / Father of Yaz and Balthazar) #16

Devon Drops (Sula’s daughter / Mother of Yaz and Balthazar / Wife to Bubbs) #14

Eli Drops (Alan’s fourth child / Younger brother of Melinda, Hudson, Jin / Older brother of Wade) #6

Wade Drops (Alan’s fifth child / Younger brother of Melinda, Hudson, Jin, Eli) #10

Oliver Drops (Son of Hudson and Darcy) #8

Aspen Drops (Melinda’s first child / Older sister to Lucien and Akito) #1

Lucien Drops (Melinda’s second child / Younger brother to Aspen / Older brother to Akito) #11

Akito Drops-Kamino (Melinda’s adopted child / Younger brother to Aspen and Lucien) #7

Yaz Drops (First child of Devon and Bubbs / Older brother to Balthazar) #3

Rano Drops (Jin’s first child / Older brother to Cicily) #17

Balthazar Drops (Second child of Devon and Bubbs / Younger brother to Balthazar) #12

Cicily Drops (Jin’s second child / Younger sister to Rano) #2

[the-loststone]

Review for Wonderland of Love

It’s been a while since I was absolutely obsessed with a series the way I am about this one. Wonderland of Love is an absolute masterpiece among dramas that I’ve watched lately and I can only encourage more people to watch it. 

Plot:

It’s pretty complicated but I’m gonna break it down as much as I possibly can.

The story starts with the Li emperor and most of his family being killed by the Suns, who rose up in rebellion and took over the country because of how incompetent and stupid the Li’s are. The remaining Li family are one of the younger son’s (Liang) and his three sons (Jun, Lin, Ni), and the deceased crown prince’s son. The story revolves around the youngest son of Liang, the thirteen grandson of the emperor, Li Ni. He was punished by his grandfather and father when he was younger (13) for being rowdy in court by sending him to guard the border in the army. Li Ni became a very competent and intelligent leader of the West Pacifying Army, a rather poor but skilled army, led by the Pei’s,  and enjoys a simple life. When war breaks out, the Pei’s decide to name Liang emperor, even though he is currently being held hostage in the capital by Sun, while his older two sons are being held hostage elsewhere, and Li Ni leads the army. Li Ni advocates to name the crown prince’s son emperor, who is on the run, and tries to find him while fighting the rebellion. 

So that’s two sides of the war: Li and Sun. But there’s a third party as well. The Cui’s have also taken a stance in the war. Frustrated by how stupid the Li’s are and evil the Sun’s are, they decide to fight for power as well, and also say it’s for the crown prince’s son, who is a child and will be easy to rule through. Cui Yi is the General of the Cui army, and he has a daughter, Cui Lin. Cui Lin can’t exactly lead the army because she’s a girl, so her adopted brother rules in her name, while she takes the mantle of Commander Ying Ho and acts as his advisor. 

The story revolves around A Ying and Li Ni. Their love story is the primary story arc, but it is immersed in the politics of the situation. Li Ni doesn’t want the crown or the power, knowing that the court is a snake pit and wants to be far away from it because of the corruptible aspect of power, to return to the border and live an easy life. A Ying is aware the country is suffering and would rather be in the thick of the action and wade through the snake pit and have power to make change. They two begin as enemies, both fighting for cities and food under their own armies. The Cui army is considerably more wealthy than the West Pacifying Army and they have the advantage in terms of man power and weapons. The West Pacifying Army has stronger and better warriors though. Li Ni and A Ying are both incredibly cunning and intelligent leaders, so their relationship begins with them trying to outmatch each other and gaining the other’s admiration and respect. 

A Ying begins to believe that Li Ni would be a great emperor, which he would be, and tries to push him to claim the crown because of his father and brother’s dangerous incompetence and Sun’s evil. Li Ni is extremely unwilling however, especially having promised the former crown prince’s consort that he would restore her son’s right to rule. 

Nevertheless, situations arise that force Li Ni into power, as he is the most popular candidate compared to his brothers, despite the fact that his father is extremely prejudiced against him, and biased towards his stupid brothers. 

The moral of the story is that people in power should be competent, skillful, and good hearted. You can’t just be one of them, you need all of them. It’s also about the love story between Li Ni and A Ying who struggle with their different ideologies but love each other despite it. 

Characters:

Li Ni is the central character. He is smart, cunning, witty and kind. He is the son of Liang, who dislikes his youngest son because he is the son of a maid. His older two brothers, following their father’s bias against him, bullied him continuously as a child. Because Li Ni respects their mother, he remained quiet about his brother’s bullying and his father’s dislike of him grew more from it. Li Ni was raised primarily by women, his stepmother and his nanny. His mother died giving birth to him, and he feels a lot of guilt towards her. As a way to escape court and his family, he causes a ruckus in court and is sent away by his grandfather, the emperor, to defend the border. The border is guarded by the West Pacifying Army, led by the Peis. They take Li Ni under their wing, and he rises within the army and becomes the leader of the army. Among his disastrously incompetent family, he is the exception. He gains many military feats, and is regarded as the best candidate for crown prince among the courtiers when his father is made emperor. I don’t want to undersell it here. He is the superior candidate; everyone agrees. And the only reason he probably hasn’t killed his dad and brothers is because of censorship in China, because that family is so dumb. He is quietly grieved by the death of most of his family, but he does his best to protect those that he has, and has very close bonds to the men in his army, who he views as brothers more than his blood brothers. 

A Ying, Cui Lin, is the other central character. She is smart, cunning, ambitious, and compassionate. She is the only child of Cui Yi, the general of the Cui Army. Since she can’t lead the army herself, despite being more than qualified, because she’s a girl, her foster brother rules in her name. I mean, literally taking her name and they act like Cui Lin is a boy. She acts as his military advisor and is able to make decisions through him. Her mother died when she was younger, leaving her with trauma of the battle and her mother’s death. For this reason, she is extremely critical about people in power and believes that the Li’s governance has been a disaster, having seen how people suffer because of their rule. She believes that the Cui’s should take power through the crown prince’s son and bring peace to the empire since no one else seems to be able to, at least until she meets and gets to know Li Ni. She was raised primarily around men, and is dissatisfied with the way women are not able to show that they have ambitions and the same aspirations as men. 

Liu Chenfeng is A Ying’s foster/adopted brother. He takes her identity when she’s a child because her father didn’t want to remarry and since the father didn’t have a son, he decided to pretend the child he does have is a son. First he pretended that A Ying was a boy, and when that could no longer fool people, he had Chenfeng pretend to be Cui Lin. It’s a tragedy. Liu Chenfeng was too young to consent to lose his identity to someone else and he literally became A Ying’s shadow. It’s not that he was mistreated in anyway, Cui Yi treated him as his own son and raised him as his own. But there was always A Ying there as well. His entire identity was about her. When faced with the possibility that she would leave him, or that he would in someway lose her, he’s not the most stable person. Liu Chenfeng had romantic feelings for A Ying, which she did not reciprocate, having always believed him to be a brother to her. It’s messy. He’s messy. And his friends help him in his delusions. There was this one really funny post someone wrote which described Liu Chenfeng and Shu as a Voldemort and Quirrel pairing and it really made me cackle. 

Lady Gu is the daughter of a minister in court. She is saved by Li Ni and becomes obsessed with him. Or rather, she becomes obsessed with the idea that he might help her in the world. In her family she is not especially high regarded and so when Li Ni comes by, she sees him as an opportunity to gain some respect and stability in her life. She’s a clever girl, and it is gratifying to see a second female lead who isn’t a complete idiot, even if her ambition gets the better of her in the end. 

Relationship:

I don’t want to spoil too much. So if I’m vague, I’m sorry. Li Ni and A Ying have the best chemistry. Their relationship is primarily competing against each other trying to get the upper hand in political situations. I mean they are literally bartering cities in their courtship and it is adorable. It is so clear to them that they met someone who’s their intellectual match and they are so attracted to each other because of it. Like, A Ying got herself a man who likes it when she tries to poison him, and Li Ni got himself a girl who feels invigorated when he foils one of her plans. They are so cute. 

Now that’s not to say they don’t have problems. Li Ni doesn’t like it that she wants him to sacrifice his dream of returning to Laolan and having a simple life, and A Ying doesn’t like it that he wants to abandon his responsibility to the kingdom and leave it to people who are less competent and likely to do more harm than good. I understand both. Li Ni doesn’t want to sacrifice the life that he could have and the future that he could have with her, and A Ying wants him to face the reality that the life he wants would never be possible. When she’s forced to make that same sacrifice, they even end up switching roles where he makes her understand the reality of their circumstances and that she can’t have the ideal life she wanted. 

Production:

I love the music in this show. Absolutely killer soundtrack. The production is amazing. The only issue I would say in production is how artificial the Wonderland looks. It’s supposed to look like an oasis, and in a sense it does, but it is so obviously painted and fake that it’s almost funny. But otherwise, a beautiful set and cast and cinematography and lighting. 

The fights are, of course, very choreographed and fake. I mean, that’s very standard in dramas though so I don’t really care or expect anything different. I mean, when a person can throw an arrow into another person who then will go flying ten feet away, I’m not going to put much belief in it. But it’s still very fun to watch. But just go into not expecting a real action scene. 

There’s of course some dubbing as well, but it’s not too much or too noticeable in my opinion, which I appreciate. 

Flaws:

Now, every show comes with its own flaws, and WoL comes with many of the same pitfalls that other shows have. It’s overdramatic in some scenes, has some inconsistencies, and can be very corny. I think my least favorite part was the whole bit about drawing little cartoon characters of themselves in a book. I think it was for advertising purposes, like the hotpot, and they tried to incorporate it as naturally as possible and towards the end where we like the characters and plot enough we can be forgiving. It was still annoying though and I just ignored it. 

Why else:

If you are still looking for reasons to watch this show, then do it for the cast. Xu Kai doesn’t disappoint. I think this is my favorite of his dramas to date. And Jing Tian is beautiful and spectacular. 

I think you’d like it too if you’re into books like ACOTAR or Fourth Wing. 

If you liked Love like the Galaxy, you'd definitely love it.

If you've only watched kdramas, then try your first cdrama!

So don’t be shy, and give c-drama a try. It’s available on YouTube.