#I’m trying to remember their ship name but I am not liking the options

[afterartist]

Who let him out of containment??

[gh0stsp1d3r]

ℳ𝒶𝓎𝒷𝒶𝓃𝓀𝓈 𝓈𝒾𝓈𝓉ℯ𝓇

Chapter 6- just like your father

Series masterlist

Warnings- once again not too much rafe): I’m trying to get more rafe in the next parts, the readers drunk the whole time basically lol

“Now a live update from the sheriffs department.”

“Yeah, after six weeks, the five teens that had been missing from Kildare county have returned, been reunited with their families.” Rafe went closer to the tv, sitting down and staring out. “We’re still waiting for details about their journey. But I’m sure they have quite a tale to tell.”

“We also got word that the father of one of the teens, John B Routledge, who’s been presumed dead for a year now, has also returned live and well. Wonders never cease. Right now, we’re just trying to get those kids settled back into school, with their families. They’ve been through a lot.”

“The teens were down in Kildare island with two other Kildare teens, Sarah Cameron and Y/N Maybank.” The sheriff spoke.

Rafes eyes widened at the mention of you and his sister.

“Sarah’s the daughter of disgraced real estate magnate, Ward Cameron, who confessed to the murder of Peterkin two months ago. y/n is the daughter of Luke Maybank, who is also presumed missing after escaping prison.”

Rafe watched as both of your pictures were put on screen, he recognized yours to be one of you you posted to your instagram, you at the beach. He was in the background, he noticed upon looking closer. Then, a picture of your brother, you and your dad.

You looked at the tv screen, scoffing at the picture they put up when they said your dad’s name. A picture of you, JJ and your dad. It was JJ’s first day of school, you remember that day as if it was your own first day of school.

You gripped the can harder, heavily sighing and leaning back in the chair. Yeah, you’d need more than one drink today.

“When I was there, Rafe was talking about how the cross was his. Not- not Ward’s.” You told them all, hiccuping after and covering your mouth.

“Are you- are you seriously drunk right now?” Pope asked, all of them noticing the way you slurred your words.

“Fuck off. I’m an adult. Can do whatever I want.” You said with a childish giggle.

“It’s like 10 am in the morning.”

“Yo!” Kiara sapped her fingers. “Can we please get back on the topic?”

“Right. And he’s coming into Wilmington tonight at eight. It’s being shipped by train from like… R.. Ra… Raleigh I think? I dunno.”

“You get any other information?” Pope asked.

“Uh, y/n got the cargo number.” Kiara spoke, picking up the paper.

“Okay, well, that’s a start.”

“I mean, they’re definitely fencing that shit off as we speak. So we should probably get a move on.” JJ said, watching you down the rest of the can, and grab a 4th one next to you from your spot on the floor.

“Sarah, you hear from John B?”

“No, I mean, he’s probably off somewhere with his dad. But the problem is they have the Twinkie.”

“Our transportation.”

“I have a car, you know? It’s a hunk of shit, but it works.” You shrugged.

All of them raised their eyebrows at that. “It’s back at Ricky’s. I should probably go talk to him anyways.”

They all were hesitant, you could tell.

“I’m- I’m your only fuckin’ option, so, my car or nothing.”

“She’s right.” JJ told them, already hopping on his bike.

“Ricky?” You shouted when you opened the door. He wasn’t home, you sighed, taking the keys off the counter and stumbling back outside.

“He not home?” JJ asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

“Nope.” You told him, locking the door. You go into the car, trying to get it started. But it never turns on, you groan in annoyance, fumbling with the keys, and trying again.

“Goddamnit!” You laughed, slamming your fist onto the dashboard and going out.

“It’s… not working.”

“Not working? What’s wrong with it?”

“I don’t know! It’s not fucking starting.” You shrugged.

JJ threw his hands up in defeat.

“Alright. That’s okay. We can.. try my dads.” Pope said.

“And I’ll try to see if my parents will.” Kiara spoke.

You ended up going with JJ and Kiara to her parents.

“Jesus, Cleo was not wrong. It does look like the White House.” You mumbled when you entered. You drunkenly stumbled up the steps, JJ rolling his eyes and eventually just helping you up once you almost fell.

“We just found out it’s… it’s gonna be in Wilmington tonight.”

“Okay, and the cross is Popes family-“

“Popes family heirloom.” Kiara finished.

“Shit, this house is nice. Think we could just…?” You told JJ, grabbing an expensive bracelet sitting on the counter and pocketing it.

An idea popped into his head when you did that. If they don’t wanna give them the keys, he can take them.

“He’s alive!” Kiara argued. “JJ.” She turned, the cutlery clanking as he put it away guiltily, getting caught messing with it.

“Do rich people really need to use like… fancy everything? Like fancy plates? Is that necessary?” You mumbled, mostly to yourself as you took another sip.

“A little help?”

He put his hand up, counting off his fingers.

“Wards alive in the Carribean. He’s living off the loot he stole from us, and, uh, yeah, he’s flying across to Wilmington.”

“I was-“ you covered your mouth when you hiccuped again. “With them during the whole thingie. Basically I fell into the water…” you imitated water splashing with your hands.

“And it was like ‘ahhh! Now I’m stuck with my ex boyfriend who’s also crazy on an island, ahh!’ And then we went to some vacation home he has, and I saw Ward and he was like ‘sup, y/n. I’m alive.’ And that’s what happened.” You nodded to yourself, all of them staring at you dumbfounded.

“Give me a break, man.” Kiara’s dad spoke.

“Yeah, you’re right. What do I know? Just saw it with my own two eyes.” You shrugged, rolling your eyes and taking another sip from the bottle. “So did Kiara and JJ but, whatever.”

“I’m skeptical, okay? I am skeptical, y/n as in I think it’s all bullshit. And I think you’ve been led astray, Kiara. And you, JJ, Y/N- let’s get this out in the open.”

“Just take it down a bit-“ her mom tried.

“No. Let me tell you something, you need to understand that I do get it.”

“Sure you do.” You and JJ said in unison, you both laughing at that.

“Do you hear me?”

“Sure. Sure.”

“I like you, guys, and I bet you’re fricking fun to hang with, and to ditch school with, go down to the break, and.. drink beer,” he directed that last sentence to you, eyeing the can in your hand.

“because I was once just like you both. I didn’t think that anything mattered, thought I could make up any bullshit story and these stupid kooks would believe it. But then I learned about hard work.”

“Yeah, well, hard work doesn’t get you shit if you’re like us. I mean- shit, compared to me, you have no clue what hard work is like.” You spat, pointing to yourself. He was getting to close to JJ for your comfort.

He narrowed his eyes at you. “And about what really mattered. All I care about, all that I care about is my daughter. That’s it. And all I know is that she was a lot better off before she met you and your friends.” He said, this sentence directed to JJ.

“Dad, I was never better off!” Kiara argued, you looked at JJ, shaking your head when you saw his reaction. You were gonna kill this guy.

“I was miserable.”

“Miserable? No, no. No!” He shouted, turning to you and JJ.

“No, these pogues have ruined my daughter’s life.” He shouted in your face, you stood in front of JJ, trying your best to protect him.

“Didn’t mean any disrespect, Mr. Carrera.” You told him, turning to usher JJ out.

“Y’all have a good day.” JJ spoke, both of you heading to the door.

“Yeah.”

“What are you doing?” Kiara asked.

“Protecting my daughter.”

“Can we please-“

“Wait a second. Everybody says it, they are liars and thief’s!” Her dad shouted.

You and JJ stopped in your tracks.

“They’re just like their father! I mean, one of them is already drunk off their ass!”

The two words neither of you wanted to hear.

You looked at JJ, who held back tears at the words. You held your own back, throwing the rest of the can, looking at it pour onto the hardwood floor.

You grabbed the keys from the tray, you looked around again, shrugging before grabbing a jacket on the coat hanger, as well as some shoes.

“Wanna talk shit, you’re gonna get bit, right?” You mumbled to yourself, shrugging and following JJ down the steps.

“Is she.. talking with Topper?” Pope asked, all of them turning to you and Topper at the bar.

“He didn’t want me to say anything, but he’s a fucking mess.” Topper said with a laugh, you laughed with him.

“Yeah, well, he was an asshole. So…” you said, taking the shot you ordered.

“Believe me, I know.” He told you,

“Hey, Jayj.”

“What?”

“I bet you Topper has a way to transport the cross.” Pope spoke.

“Actually, Popes right. He does have a rig.”

“No.” Sarah argued.

“Yes.”

“Yes, come on.”

“No, absolutely not.”

“What are we talking about?” You asked them, coming up behind them suddenly.

“Sarah, you already got him whipped anyway, right? So why don’t you just take one for the team?”

“What would John B say?” She said.

“I think John B will completely understand. Think about the circumstances, it’s about treasure.”

“We can handle John B. Just talk to him.”

“Why do I feel like I’m gonna regret this?” Topper spoke, all of you happy when you saw her hug him.

You ended up falling asleep on the boat. Your eyes shut as they all came up with plans.

You can’t even escape him in your dreams. Because when you fell asleep, a fond memory of the two of you popped up in your mind.

“Shit, slow down.” He laughed, grabbing onto your hand as you ran down, pushing past people and making your way down straight to the floor.

“Can’t believe I let you drag me into this shit.” He said with a laugh when the band came on stage and cheers erupted.

He watched you while you paid close attention to the band. And when your guys song came on, he was told to sing with you, he hesitated but eventually did.

“Got the music in you, baby. Tell me why. You've been locked in here forever. And you just can't say goodbye. Your lips, my lips. Apocalypse.”

You both sung to each other, you staring at him with the most love and adoration he’s ever seen, and him staring at you with the most love anyone’s ever seen him have.

You both leaned in, but before your lips connected…

You woke up, quickly sitting up and groaning, wiping the sleep from your eyes.

“Jesus. Think I drunk too much earlier. I’m going crazy.” You told them, all of them turning to look at you now.

Taglist

@cassie0sstuff @rafesgiirl @fals3-g0d @tiaamberxx @callsignwidow @saintnourah

[see-arcane]

I figured I should interrupt everyone's dash for some notes on current real life things.

This is a hefty one, so I'm tucking everything below:

A little good news. As of this writing, I’ve sold 74 copies of The Vampyres, in eBook and paperback! That’s 74 more than I thought I would ever sell! Thank you to everyone who picked up a copy or asked your library to grab some. Especially when I know I haven’t been the most stellar self-marketer. I can’t remember the last time I opened the septic tank formerly known as Twitter, so it’s all been down to this little corner here and a skinny appearance in Goodreads. Which means I owe any attention this short and sinister tale has received to you all and plain old word-of-mouth.

That said, thank you x100000 to you and any new readers yet to take a look. (And doubly so for those of you who go out of their way to leave comments and reviews around for me to reread ad infinitum.)

For those not in the know, all the info on The Vampyres can be found here, and all my author odds and ends can be found on my website here.

On a less heartening note…

As I’d already expected, the market for career writers is…rough. Copywriting—and writing in general—is technically a big open field (full of caveat descriptions about having to work with/teach AI programs to eventually swallow your job)! Tons of open positions! Most of which either pay you in pocket change while you’re working full time or expect you to singlehandedly run the entire marketing of a business for slightly more pocket change. Everything else is bloated with contract and/or freelance work*.

*Read: Gig economy schlock trying to pass for an actual job position with payment being a coin toss. I’ve also seen one too many listings on the job boards that are volunteer positions. Plenty of exposure to rake in though, right? Ha. Ha ha.

I’ve still been applying like clockwork, same as the rest of my fellow creators trying to get by in a field that seems to actively punish trying to be a professional in said field, and still no bites further than an interview. I have years of experience and a degree, but everyone’s chasing the same crumbs, so. Yeah. I’ve got to start padding things out.

Reminder that I do have a (barely peddled) Ko-Fi. It’s there for art commissions and chucking a few spare bucks at. Which is an increasingly big ask these days, I know. You can’t scroll two posts down without hitting someone else’s Ko-Fi, Patreon, GoFundMe, Kickstarter, et cetera. We’re drowning in arting starvists here. And although I have been asked before whether I would consider going full Freelance Storywriter on top of selling art, I’m still a little hesitant on it. I do occasionally send out story submissions and have even gotten published a few times, but I get nauseous thinking about:

1) Putting up a paywall on the scribbles that assail me like a baseball bat wielded by an unmerciful Muse. 2) Putting up a ‘Stories for Sale!’ sign only to wind up disappointing prospective buyers because I didn’t do their blorbos justice even after researching X background for the piece. 3) Getting duped into being a nonconsenting ghostwriter and discovering someone else has published my work under their own name.

So, still a bit iffy on that. I’ll chew on it. But what else is left?

Before you click the button!

Stop!

NOT YET!

Before you click, please know that I am being serious about this as something to potentially make 1) something of good quality and 2) earn more money than it loses. Looking around at the merch-making/selling options, there are fees involved with making an account just about anywhere in the online store game, give or take the price tweaking needed for shipping and manufacturing blah blah blah.

With that in mind, please do not automatically hit ‘yes’ because you want to be nice. I appreciate it, but this isn’t the same thing as the Ko-Fi where there’s no real loss in just leaving it up and drawing something once every few months. This will take new designs, another subscription to pay for, more logistics to untangle for quality and pricing and all the rest of the mess. Only hit ‘yes’ if you, personally, genuinely, would like to purchase some nefarious See Arcane wares beyond a book or a digital drawing.

[tornoleander]

Wow, you're the beta reader for bbnb? I didn't know that. (So you can confirm that Hat is infact not dead because I haven't seen any activity from them in a while and my brain always jumps to worst case scenarios)

Anyway, definitely didn't forget to respond for like a week, but here are some of my theories/scenarios:

-I still think Cole's the one who'll remember bits and pieces because A. He's a ghost B. Hat used he/him when talking about who will remember and C. It would be incredibly emotionaly impactful

-HOWEVER, I think Pixal could also remember some stuff. None of the emotional stuff but she did technically die when Nadakhan erased her. Besides, it could be fun to see her try to let Jay or Nya know she remembers while still stuck to Zane.

-also Zane's falcon died but he was never mentioned in this fic so 😔

-Jay DEFINITELY has c-ptsd. Like, 100%, I'm sure the nurse/psychologist whose name I forgor would agree with me

-I'm pretty sure Wu just died by some falling island or something like that. Or he could've died by the storm, that would be cool.

-I know he said that swearing is a sign of weak verbal skills but I feel like Jay would start swearing more for comfort. Like, Nadakhan hated it but never truly did anything horrible to him because of it :)

most of the scenarios in my head play out with the ninja being captured again

-for example, Jay using his internal electricity to shock someone when they all have vengestone

-or them getting tazed and Jay sending the current back like he did in the electric chair

-or they're all traped and saying shit like "there's no other option" or something and Jay replying with "suicide's still an option" like that's a normal thing to say which obviously worries the others

And then there's the non captured scenarios

-something something Jay falling into autopilot after being told/asked to clean to ship and ends up also cleaning the hull "Why are you cleaning the bottom? We're in the air and you're not even tied to anything???" ".... trauma response?"

-or just straight up Jay having a panic attack out of seemingly sowhere (Cole said he wished he could eat cake again)

Anyway, those are the things I could think of right now, there's more but it's 3:39am and I'm tired :3

Hope it's not too long lol

Yep! As of ch 15. Me and hat have been chatting for a while and I bug them for feedback on Art accuracy so I help them with some writing corrections too!

I have been working on beta reading earlier chapters as well currently half way through 4. It is certainly an experience but now I yell my feelings into comment instead of just the void

*reaches through horrific horror to correct spelling mistake.

Yup Hat is alive! They were just fixated on something else for a while but they are back.

Ok now for scenarios

-Cole remembering bits……. I will refrain from giving my thoughts.

-Pixal and Zane’s falcon died pretty early so I do think they may remember up till then but It probably wouldn’t help understand much.

-I don’t think Wu died? But it’s not impossible.

-CPTSD?

I will ask hat about this one but seeing as bbnb events qualify as at least 4/6 of these causes of it AND ptsd is a tag I’m going to give it a yeah. Cause non complex ptsd is typically less prolonged.

-the swearing I do think he might do more but not necessarily for comfort

-For your head scenarios I am not sure all the ways hat is planned show how the events of the fic messed him up. But I know they’re a big fan of consequences for events…

From what I’m guessing he is going to be trying his best to hide everything and it’ll be somewhat canon compliant? But to be fair He is pretty consistently the most mentally unstable ninja. Take This with a big grain of salt I’m saving the analysis for my skybound video, but his behavior does generally line up well with SA surivers. the first time that Jays a prisoner post Skybound is when he says “You don’t argue with a man who’s navel is that close”

Which

Drives me insane by the way

Side tangent, I’ve been doing a lot of Skybound digging for my eventual video essay. And my current best theory on why this is a line has to do with SA of men being played for laughs.

Like older audiences are supposed to hear that and find it fucking funny. It’s unfortunately not uncommon in kids programming. My quest to best explain why S6 is so uncomfortable has been… enlightening. Terrified of approaching a controversial topic so I have been learning a-lot about approach and how to not be awful. But my fixation is being channeled led into the eventual Skybound video.

Hope I answered what you wanted to know and It wasn’t purely my Adhd rambling

[astupidgaydog]

Intro Post (NEW)

I. About me;

Hello !! I’m so glad to be back on Tumblr once again !! Since you probably don’t remember my account I’ll give a short refresher. I used to have the user name “@//Thesilliestperson” and ran a pro-ship safe mood / stimboard account.

I was under a lot of stress at the time and had quite a lot on my mind. I kind of just deleted my account out of no where because I felt like I couldn’t balance doing requests while also doing a bunch of school work. I don’t know why my first thought was to delete it but, hey, that was quite a while ago.

I’m going to try to build my account from the ground up, so be prepared for me to be on here pretty much 24/7 !! ( I still have to go to work so not 24/7 but you get what I mean. ) Thank you all for being so patient even when I deleted my old account out of no where, lots of hugs and kisses !!

For those who don’t know me; I’m Silly / Silliest !! I go by all pronouns except for She / her and I hope you can respect that. I am 17 and strictly anti-harassment in all shapes and forms as I know how it feels to be bullied to your lowest point over stupid things. Even though this is a pro-ship stim / moodboard account, I am currently iffy about dark-ships, I will most likely be posting them in the near future because of other people’s requests though so don’t let that discourage you from sending dark-ship requests !! ( I also ship some myself, it just feels kind of iffy to me. )

II. Stim / Moodboards;

I allow pretty much anything. You name it, I’ll make it into a stim / moodboard for you. As you can see, I don’t really have many boundaries when it comes to requests. ( The only requests I do not allow are NSFW requests since I am still a minor and am extremely uncomfortable with making those things )

If you want to request something from me please do the following; Add the media source, character(s) you want featured in the board, and if you want to be @‘ed or not in the post. You can optionally add what color palettes you want the board to follow and what ever extra things your heart desires.

I try to be very fast when posting stim / moodboards but please be patient if I don’t do your request(s) immediately, I might have a long list of other requests in front of yours. If after a month or two yours hasn’t been done it either got buried under requests or didn’t go through. If that happened, please re-send the request with a short message that should look something like this; “Hey, I didn’t receive my board yet! It included; ( Insert request. )” I will try my best to do yours as soon as possible when I see that message.

If something’s wrong with your stim / moodboard don’t be afraid to tell me !! You can privately DM me the issue or just talk about it through the request box. I will almost immediately try my best to fix the issue I made with your board before doing any of the other requests. ( I will keep the original board up unless you request me to take it down before posting the fixed version. )

III. My F/O’s;

This is a list of my F/O’s ( Also known as ‘Fictional Others’ ) that I adore with all my heart. You may request stim / moodboards that include my F/O’s, I don’t mind sharing them with other people / characters at all !!

💚 = Romantic , ❤️ = Platonic , 💛 = Familial

☆ Cracklin (ION) 💚

★ Gelatin (BFB) 💚

☆ Aventurine (HSR) ❤️

★ Leafy (BFB) 💛

☆ Kankri (HS) 💚

★ Mituna (HS) ❤️

☆ Sylveon (PK) 💛

★ Vaporeon (PK) 💚

☆ Moon (FNAF) 💚

★ Sun (FNAF) 💚

☆ Master Frown (Unikitty) ❤️

I love my guys / gals so much !! more may be added in the future, I’ll see what I do.

IV. The End;

Thank you for reading my long ass intro, I just wanted to redo the one on my old account in the best way possible. I hope this was good enough way to feature everything I do !!

Anyways, I hope to do lots of boards for many different people in the future !! I’ll try my best to make good ( or decent at least) boards. I haven’t made one in a while so this will be the best start to remembering how to make them again !!

Again, thank you for being so patient with me, even through tough times, I greatly appreciate it you have no idea.

Lots of love,

Silly 🎉

[db-gochifan]

Dragon Ball Ships Week 2023 (2) - Day 1: Karaoke/Juke Box

Days: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

Title: Karaoke Party Pairing: Erasa/Gohan Characters: Son Gohan, Son Goten, Chi-Chi and Erasa Summary: Gohan attends to Erasa's birthday party and she makes a move on him. Do not repost, claim to be your own work or use it without perrmission. Cross-posted on AO3

“What?” Gohan raised his eyebrows at the paper in his hands and had a confused look on his face.

“A karaoke party.” Erasa repeated with a lovely smile on her lips. “You’re going, right?”

“Uh…” He scratched the back of his neck. “I’m not sure… I can’t sing, so a karaoke party isn’t for me. I’m sorry, Erasa.”

“Hmmm…” She didn’t bother hiding her disappointment. “I understand that, but are you really going to let that stop you?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“You never try new or different things.” She looked right into his dark eyes and he felt his cheeks burning. “How do you live?”

“How do I… live?”

“That’s right.” She nodded. “You don’t seem to do things teenagers do. When do you have fun?”

“I… I…” Gohan looked around nervously, desperate for a reason to end that conversation, but couldn’t find any. So he went for the only option left for him. “Oh, look at the time! It’s getting late and I need to go home. My mom must be worried. I’ll see you tomorrow, Erasa!” He yelled over his shoulder and waved at his friend while running down the hall.

“Gohan, we’re not finished! Come back here!”

“I’m sorry, I really can’t.”

****

Gohan sat on the rooftop after dinner that night. He stared at the full moon and the stars as he let his mind wander for a while. He couldn’t stop thinking about Erasa had asked him earlier, and he hated to admit it, but she was right. He never had fun. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to sometimes, but his future was on the line. Besides, he didn’t socialize much because things could get out of hand. He sighed deeply and lied down.

“Gohan?” Chi-Chi’s voice echoed in his ears and he turned his head to his left, where she was standing. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine, mom. Do you need anything?”

“As a matter of fact, I do.” She moved to sit beside him and embraced her knees, avoiding any eye contact with him. “I need to know what’s on your mind.”

Gohan couldn’t help but let out a small laugh at that. He placed his hands behind his head and stared at the sky once again.

“I was invited to a party.”

“That’s great, son!” She cheered and pressed her hands together. “Whose party is it?”

“Ah, it’s from a friend from school.”

“Videl?”

“No.” Gohan shook his head. “Erasa. I don’t know if you remember her. She only came here once.”

“Hmm, I don’t remember hearing that name before.” Chi-Chi placed her index finger under her chin and looked up, trying to search about it in her mind. “Either way, are you going?”

“No, probably not.”

“And may I know why not?” She inquired and their eyes met for the first time since she joined him.

“Huh?” The teenager raised his eyebrows with surprise. “What do you mean by that? I have to study.”

“There’s nothing wrong with taking a night off, sweetheart.” He was taken by surprise when he felt her hand over his.

“Mom, are you okay?”

“Of course! Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, normally you’d say I should study as much as possible, to become a great scientist.”

“Yeah… I started looking at things differently when your father died and Goten was born.” Chi-Chi squeezed his hand lightly. “So I say you should go to this party.”

Gohan bit his lower lip, clearly contemplating the idea, but still unsure about it.

“If you want to, that is. If you don’t, it’s fine too. As long as you’re okay with whatever decision you take.”

“I know. Thanks, mom.”

“You’re welcome.” She smiled warmly at him and then looked up again. “Are you feeling better now?”

“I am.” He nodded. “I really needed to have this conversation.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” She give his shoulder a light squeeze before standing up. “Alright, being here makes me a little dizzy, so I’m going in. Are you?”

“In a few minutes. The sky is very pretty tonight, so I want to look at it a little more.”

“Okay, don’t take too long to go inside. It’s getting a little chilly here.”

“I won’t.”

****

The week went by in the blink of an eye, to Gohan’s relief. Everyone was talking about Erasa’s party and what they’d be wearing for it. Eventually she stopped asking him if he was going, but he could still see the disappointment in her eyes sometimes when they exchanged glances. They made him feel uneasy. To make things worse, he couldn��t stop thinking about what he and Chi-Chi had talked a few nights ago. Maybe he should go to Erasa’s party after all. If he wanted to embrace his earthling side, he would have to act like a normal teenager. That included socializing with other people, even if they did things he didn’t agree with.

****

Goten was happily swinging his legs on his bed and laughing quite loudly while reading a comic when Gohan walked into their shared bedroom with only a towel wrapped around his waist.

“What are you reading?”

“It’s a comic Trunks lent me. It’s so funny, Gohan. You should read it.”

“What is it about?”

“Oh, it’s about a boy who tries to be a super hero, but fails incredibly.”

Gohan couldn’t help but think that story sounded a lot like Great Saiyaman, except the last part. He could never be a failure as a hero.

“Let me see it.”

“Gohan, don’t you think this boy’s disguise looks like yours?”

The older boy looked down and raised his eyebrows. “It really does. I guess the writer found inspiration on his outfit.”

“Suddenly it’s not so funny anymore.” Goten frowned and threw the comic aside, crossing his arms right after. “You’re so much cooler than him.”

“Haha, thanks Goten.” Gohan chuckled and turned to grab some clothes in his drawer and wardrobe.

“Where are you going?”

“I have a party tonight.”

“I thought you weren’t going.”

“Yeah, I changed my mind.”

“Can I go with you?” Goten asked full of hope and Gohan felt his heart break into a million of pieces.

“I’m sorry, Goten. It’s not a party for children. But I promise I’ll take you to that park nearby tomorrow.”

“You promise?”

“Of course!”

“Yay!” He jumped out of his bed and went to tell Chi-Chi the big news.

Gohan couldn’t help but smile at his little brother and his naivety.

****

Gohan was in awe when he landed outside the place Erasa was having her party. He knew she had a rich family, just like Videl, but he had no idea it was this rich. After a moment of admiration, he shook his head and walked in.

If the outside was already stunning, the inside was hundred times more. Gohan couldn’t help but wonder how much her family must have spent on that party. Probably thousands. The floor looked like a chess board, with black and white floor tiles, and the whole place was decorated with golden and silver, with some red mixed in. It looked like the inside of a castle or a palace. It didn’t take long until a piercing scream echoed in his ears, and he turned towards where voice was coming from.

“You made it!” Erasa came to him with a large grin on her face. “I can’t believe you’re here!”

“Well, you better believe it.” He smiled back at her and felt his cheeks burning when he noticed her outfit. He was taken back when she threw her arms around his neck and jumped on him.

“I’m so glad you came!” She pulled away from him and grabbed his hand, pulling him further down the place. “Come on, let’s go meet everyone.”

Gohan gradually felt more relaxed as time went by. He chatted with both Videl and Sharpner and even watched them go to the dancefloor and dance to a few songs together. Then his eyes fell on his blonde friend and he felt his cheeks burning red for the second time that night. There was something about the way she was dancing that got him mesmerized. Before he knew it, a smile appeared on his lips and he started moving his foot in the rhythm of the song. He followed Erasa as she went to the dancefloor and felt his cheeks become even more redder when she met his gaze and gave her a beautiful smile. It didn’t take long for her to get near him and grab his hand softly.

“Don’t you want to dance?”

“Uh… no.” He replied, looking at her. “I’m a terrible dancer. Believe me, you wouldn’t want to dance with me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t see why anybody wouldn’t want to dance with you because of that. Besides, I’m sure you’re not that bad.”

“Ah, no. I am. believe me.”

“I’ll decide if you’re a good dancer or not when I see it.” She pulled him to the dancefloor, with much more strength than Gohan was expecting.

****

The cool breeze messed Gohan’s hair when he walked out in the rooftop of the building. At that moment, almost all guests had left. The hybrid Saiyan was about to go home as well, so he went looking for the birthday girl everywhere. Eventually he had to resort to finding her by her ki. And that’s where it led him.

“So this is where you are.”

His cheerful voice echoed in Erasa’s ear and she turned around with the most beautiful grin. This time, not only Gohan felt his cheeks turn bright pink, his heart started beating faster in his chest. He shook his head, trying to hide the blush on his face.

“Yeah, I needed some air.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Everything is fine.” She put a locker of her long blond hair behind her ear. She had put on extensions for her party, but Gohan thought she looked pretty with them. “Did the guests leave yet?”

“All of them, to be honest.” He hoped she wouldn’t feel upset because of that.

“I see. So in other words, you’re the only who’s stayed.”

“Actually, I…” He gave an awkward smile and rubbed the back of his neck. “Basically, yes. Everyone else didn’t know where you were and ended up leaving without saying goodbye. I’m sorry, that wasn’t a nice thing to do.”

“Well, they would have to leave eventually, wouldn’t they?” She sat on a bench nearby and stared at the wall ahead of her.

“Well, yes.” Gohan stopped beside her, behind the bench. He wasn’t sure whether he should sit down or not.

“You can sit down if you want.” Erasa said in a reassuring tone, still not looking at the boy next to her. Instead, she was combing her hair with her fingers.

Without saying a word, he followed her instructions, trying to keep a safe distance from her, so their arms wouldn’t touch accidentally.

“I’m happy you came, Gohan.” She spoke softly beside him, and for the first time since he came out there, they made eye contact.

“I’m glad too.” He confessed with a smile. “I’ve had a great time tonight.”

“You have no idea how happy that makes me.” She beamed with happiness. Then she looked over her shoulder and her smile disappeared. “Too bad the party is over now. It went by so fast.”

“Yeah. Speaking of that…” He motioned to stand and was surprised to feel her holding his hand. He looked over his right shoulder towards her. “Erasa, what are…”

“Do you really have to go?” Her bright blue eyes looked into his black ones and Gohan felt a lump on his throat.

“Yes, I’m afraid so. My mom will be worried if I take too long to arrive.”

“Come on.” She insisted. “Just for half an hour, I promise.”

****

And so the thirty minutes turned into a whole hour. Erasa and Gohan were having fun at the karaoke. The boy felt much relaxed when it was just the two of them and even sang a cheerful pop song that was a big success at the time. He had heard her and Videl sing a lot of time, though the latter never admitted that out loud.

“That was amazing, Gohan!” Erasa exclaimed with a grin and clapped her hands a few times. “You should sing more often.”

“Uh… no, thanks.” He chuckled and scratched the back of his neck. “I’m just as bad at it as I am at dancing.”

“I’ve seen it and I guarantee that you’re not as bad as you think. I’ve seen worse guys, trust me.”

“Thank you, Erasa. That means a lot to me.”

“You look cute when you’re embarrassed.” She stood on her toes and kissed his cheek, feeling her own burning with embarrassment.

It was when she had an idea, so she went to put a love song on the karaoke. Gohan shifted with discomfort in his seat when the first chords of the song started playing in the room. She started singing the first few lines and suddenly stopped; her eyes still locked on her friend. She stood right in front of him.

“Erasa… aren’t you going to sing?” Gohan didn’t know how he managed to speak, with her so close to him.

“I could… but I thought of something more interesting to do right now.” She grabbed his hand; still looking at him intensely.

“R-Really?”

“I’ve had a crush on you for a while now, and I’ve caught you looking at me a few times.”

“I… I…” Gohan felt his hands sweating. He absolutely had no idea how to react in a situation like this.

The following events happened so fast he barely had time to react or understand what was going on. Erasa had her lips pressed against his, and it was only when she had her arms wrapped around his neck that he reluctantly did the same around her waist. She didn’t want to push her luck in deepening their first kiss and scare him. There’d be time for that in the future, she was sure. So she pulled away after a few seconds and giggled when she saw his blushing cheeks.

“I knew you felt something too!” She beamed with happiness and then went to turn off the karaoke. The hybrid Saiyan, on the other hand, looked like a statue. The blonde couldn’t help but find the situation a little funny. “Gohan, you don’t need to be so embarrassed. It was just a kiss.”

“I-I know.” He shook his head and looked at her, offering her a half smile. Then he shoved his hand on his pocket, to pick his phone up. His eyes widened when he realized it was way past the time he promised Chi-Chi he’d be home.

“My mom is going to kill me.” He was happy the words found their way out of his mouth, yet he cursed himself mentally for not saying anything about the kiss instead.

“I can talk to her if you want. After all, I was the one who begged you to stay.”

“Thank you. I’m sure she will understand though.”

“Well, in case she doesn’t… I’m here.”

“Thanks, Erasa.” He motioned to leave the room, but to his surprise – and hers – he came back and kissed her on the left cheek. “Tonight was amazing.”

****

Gohan looked around the street, to make sure there was no one around. When he was sure it was safe enough, he whistled and softly called for the flying nimbus. Flying was usually much better, but he didn’t want to go home that way, considering how much his mind was racing with the last event. Sitting on the fluffy cloud would give him time to think about it. He was sure things between him and Erasa would change from now on, and if he had to be honest, he didn’t mind it at all. He knew they would find a way to get through it.

[impeerpressure]

Coming out again, because sometimes that’s important.

Hi. If you know me already, you can skip this first chunk. If you don’t, I’m Ben. I’m a teenage boy from the great midwest. I write, read, play DND and different video games. I like Splatoon and fried rice and fantasy and different futuristic aesthetics. I grew up on dystopian fiction and that’s part of the thing that’s made me so optimistic for a future for people like me. For the minorities, the marginalized, the attacked and abused. We’ve won before and we’ll win again, no matter how long the fight.

I’m a transgender, gay, and asexual boy. It took me a very long time to reach these labels, but now that I have I’m comfortable with them. They may change in the future, but for now, this is who I am.

I came out as bisexual at eight years old. I wasn’t ‘groomed’ into it- I was raised in a straight family with straight grandparents and straight aunts and uncles. None of my neighbors were openly queer and I almost solely consumed straight media. The only reason I was able to figure this out was because I had friends who were already figuring themselves out. The labels they used taught me that there were other options than straight and cis. I was curious and confused and a little hesitant, but that’s normal when you come across things that aren’t common to you. I learned and that was that. I sat down with my mom and told her I was bi and she said “me too.” That was my first realization that people like me were everywhere. We’ve always existed, just maybe not so openly.

I tried different labels and gender identities for years after that. Different pronouns, different names, but nothing quite stuck. Somethings felt better, but nothing felt good. I wrestled with attraction for a while. I’m autistic, and that can cause me to struggle a little with understanding my own feelings. The boys in the area I grew up in were downright cruel, too. I didn’t know any of them that I could possibly be actually attracted to. I was bi, pan, lesbian, aro/ace, pan again- it kept changing. There’s nothing wrong with that. I was testing out labels until I found what felt comfortable and that’s okay. Most self exploration isn’t linear.

And then I grew older and I started meeting boys who actually were decent. Around that time, I was starting to dip closer and closer to he/him pronouns. I was slowly learning that masculinity and boys aren’t inherently evil; the place I was raised in had a strong ‘boys will be boys’ culture. They were expected to be loud and rough and cruel. Then I found boys who wouldn’t make fun of you for your identity or your race or your mental or physical disabilities or simply just for being different. Masculinity isn’t inherently evil and I was allowed to be masculine.

So I let myself try he/him pronouns and a boy’s name and I let myself admit I’m attracted to boys and more masculine people. I still remember how it felt like a weight off my chest when people started using he/him pronouns for me. I started looking at gay ship art and reading gay fiction and once I’d had my fill of projecting myself onto one of those guys, I moved on to just generally queer media. I watched people like me thrive and create and exist exactly as they were.

We were always here, we always will be here. Coming out is one of the scariest queer experiences I can think of, even when it’s just coming out to yourself. But it is worth it, even if you’re the only one who knows. It’s okay to not come out to other people or to only come out to specific people. This is a beautiful, personal part of you and no-one is entitled to it. Never let anyone tell you your identity makes you less deserving of a gorgeous, beautiful, happy life.

[frostluvrs]

TAG 9 PEOPLE YOU WANT TO GET TO KNOW BETTER

I was tagged by @charthanry tyy i love doing this type of stuff.

THREE SHIPS

i’m just going to put three ships i’m really loving right now and then three ships i consider my top three of all time (which is so hard to just pick three, but i’ll try).

top 3 that i’m enjoying right now:

peeta and katniss from the hunger games

tinn and gun from my school president

claire and cam from the clique series (this one is so random but they were one of my childhood ships and i’m rereading the clique series so i’m remembering how much my childhood self loved them 😭😭)

top 3 of all time:

lois and clark from smallvile

ricky and gina from hsmtmts

stiles and lydia from teen wolf

i missed so many that i love but i’m adding rory and jess and lwj and wxx from the untamed and and all the other depictions as runner ups bc i was struggling between stydia literati and wangxian to put for number 3

FIRST SHIP

i can’t remember my first real ship but i’m just gonna name ones that i remember wanting together so bad when i was younger (i’m going with ages 7-12) from the shows i watched or books i read

sam and freddie from icarly

rikki and zane/cleo and lewis from h20

claire and cam from the clique

 mason and alex from wizards of waverly place

lois and clark from smallville

piper and leo/phoebe and cole from charmed

quinn and logan from zoey 101

 luke and lorelai/jess and rory from gilmore girls

miley and jake from hannah montana (ik jesse is the better option now, but i loved jake and miley so bad when i was younger)

stiles and lydia from teen wolf

matty and jenna from awkward

jake and addie from unfabulous

eli and clare from degrassi

LAST SONG

i’m listening to alien blues by vundabar right now as i type this but i also have a playlist (that i’m not done adding songs too i’m just adding them as i listen to music and think it fits) that i’m listening to right now called “a very specific vibe i can’t explain” and the songs on there are:

washing machine heart by mitski

cigarettes out the window by tv girl

steve’s first bruise by briston maroney

jealous by eyesdress

alien blues by vundabar

 LAST MOVIE

the last movie i watched was the hunger games: mockingjay - part 2. it was the first time i watched it which i know is surprising, but for some reason in my 22 years of life i’ve only seen the first one. and i never read the books- i have no idea why but i watched all the movies and i loved them.

CURRENTLY READING

right now i’m reading the clique: best friends for never. for some reason i really had the urge to reread the series so i’ve been doing it and hopefully i finish it. there’s like 13 books or something like that but they’re relatively short and they’re literally for middle schoolers so it’s not that hard to read (not hard at all actually). i’m still finding them as entertaining as i did when i was younger (definitely less but still entertaining) but i keep thinking about how much this series probably affected my insecurities. i can’t believe middle schoolers were reading this (me included) 😭😭. also massie is literally a lesbian and in love with clare

CURRENTLY WATCHING

there’s a lot of shows that i’ve either put on hiatus or i watch sometimes but i’m not even gonna bother listing them. shows i am literally keeping up with at this moment are:

the last of us (aka the show where it’s just me sobbing every week)

abbott elementary

gap the series (technically it’s over but i haven’t watched the last episode yet)

never let me go

my school president

moonlight chicken

also i’m rewatching hsmtmts with a reactor on patreon

i don’t know if it counts but since i’m watching it on patreon instead of just listening on spotify - back to the barre which is a dance moms podcast by christi and kelly who were two of the moms on the show

CURRENTLY CONSUMING

nothing right now but i’m probably going to eat my leftover mcdonald’s fries and apples with caramel. and maybe coffee and water.

CURRENTLY CRAVING

my leftover mcdonald’s fries 😭😭

ONWARD TAGS

i’ll tag @isakmikhailoflorenzi and anyone who sees this and wants to do it

[bensbooksandbeloveds]

Master Kenobi,

I hope this letter finds you in good health, I know your work in the war has only gotten more demanding. I do not know if you remember me much, but we shared a night on Corsin, when you were there for negotiations.

I’m afraid I write to you with news that’ll surely upset you, but must be said. It seems that the protection used on both ends that night failed us, as I have been left pregnant. I’m sorry to say it so frankly but I wish to be level with you.

I have debated several options, and have decided I am going to carry it to term. It may be the only child I will ever get. Women in my family are not particularly blessed in that regard, I was my mother’s only child and she, her’s. I do not know what will happen after the child is born. I know that Jedi are taken from their parents early. Is there a different Temple I could maybe send them to if you do not want them near you? If I send them there do you still want your last name attached to the child or no? Please let me know. It is custom on my planet for the child to take it’s father’s name no matter what but I can attach my own if that makes you uncomfortable.

I am sorry this has happened, I do not wish to stress you out. I debated telling you at all but I did not want you to find out when the child in question showed up to the Temple.

With regards,

Lilium Pierce

The letter addressed to General Kenobi arrives at the Temple just a week later. I pray it doesn’t get lost in the copious amounts of fanart he must receive.

Ben carefully opens the letter as he moves toward the Council room, his breath completely leaving him once the news drops.

You're... you're pregnant. He's a father. How could this happen?! The very first time he decides to have sex, he gets a girl pregnant?!

Those very thoughts must be visible on his face and in his eyes as he slowly wanders into the Council room for a meeting, because everyone stops talking, staring at him with grave concern.

"Obi-Wan?" Plo Koon asks softly, leaning forward, "Are... you alright?"

Ben looks up from the letter, realizing he's already in the room. "I- I... no." he shakes his head and moves to sit in his normal chair.

"What's the matter?" Mace asks now.

Slowly, Ben studies each and every individual in the room, knowing he should just come forward with it. He trusts these people. They... they'll take care of him.

"I... on my mission to Corsin," he starts with a whisper, wiping his palms on his robes. Gods, is he really sweating?! "I had uhm- physical relations with a woman. She... she is now pregnant. With my child."

Yoda nods a little, giving him a soft smile when he finally looks up. "Surprising news, this is- but in trouble, you are not. Love, against the Jedi Code, it is- but sex, against the code, it is not. A DNA test, to ensure the child is yours, we would like to request. People, take advantage of the Jedi, they sometimes try to."

Ben's eyebrows furrow. "Wait- you're not- upset with me? What do I uh- what do I do? She wants to keep the child."

"Hm..." Yoda thinks for a long moment. "Move her into the Temple, we could- based on cultural or religious exemption."

Ben shakes his head, "But I'm not-"

"Move her into the Temple, we could," Yoda says again with a slow nod, "Based on cultural exemption."

"Oh..." he nods a little. "Alright. So- what- do I write back?"

"Yes," Yoda hums. "Write back. Excited to meet her we are. To meet on Coruscant, you must ask her. Provide a ship for her, if she needs it, we will."

Ben nods again and sits back a little in his chair, relieved that an answer such as that is what he received rather than something far worse.

The Council decides to continue with the meeting as planned, but Ben, admittedly, can't focus on anything but the thoughts of being a father. It's... a scary thought, but one that isn't completely unwelcome. Sure, he's not open to love, and attachments are forbidden- but he would see the kid at some point anyway, given that it will most likely be Force sensitive. So why not have the child live with him and nurture it and then, maybe, become its Master when it's old enough?

When the meeting is over, Ben quickly returns to his quarters, writing you a letter in return.

Lilium,

Of course I remember you. I admittedly had never shared my body with anyone else before that night with you. It was memorable, as were you. I wish we had more time to get to know each other when I was there.

I also admit that I was rather freaked out when I first received the news. However, I want you to know that being a father is not the worst thing I could imagine for myself. The child will most likely be Force sensitive and I would like to take them under my wing as a padawan when they are old enough, if I find I am ready for it. I would love for the child to take my last name. I... do not have much connection to my previous family whatsoever, and would like to build a legacy for the name all on my own.

I have brought this up with my Council, because I was unsure of what to do. My Master, Grandmaster Yoda, would very much like to meet you. He... also would like to move you into the Temple with me. In my quarters. I was wondering if there was a time in the near future you could meet with me on Coruscant? The Jedi Council will happily provide you with travel to and from your home if that is an issue.

This baby is a blessing, even if it may seem scary. I hope that you're doing well and are not too lonely at home.

Please write back as soon as possible. I look forward to hearing from you.

Ben Kenobi

The letter arrives at your home about a week letter, the mailing system a bit delayed thanks to all the war efforts and messages being sent to and from different battlefields.

[xoteajays]

Oh! I did message you in instant messages. I can't always remember who I message someone. And I know that I send long messages that not everyone likes. So there's also that reason too.

Yeah. The High&Low franchise came out eight years ago. So you wish there was more people who still created content for the H&L fandom.

Which is bizarre to me? Because High&Low was a popular franchise when it came out, but now there seems to be nothing for the fandom. Especially because there are similarities between High&Low, Worst and Tokyo Revengers. Pretty boys who are delinquents. [I've only ever seen the Worst crossover movie with High&Low, not even the original series. So I can't comment much on Worst.]

Chimknj also wrote another High&Low story. Well.. There story would be a one shot, a one chapter story. Not that you have to read it. But it is a smutty story between Rocky and his girlfriend (original character) - during the events of the first movie.

And, I think, there is a person who's under the name FireOfJudgment on here. They have H&L stories, and AIB stories too. But I don't know what characters or ships they write for though. In case you may want to search their work. They might be an option for you.

It's best for me to write notes for ideas to stories, and characters, and who knows what else while being involved in the fandom. Because if I try writing when I'm not in any fandom, then my thoughts and ideas... I became fickle and scattered on what I want to write. It's a problem.

Being in a fandom makes me more focused to write for that fandom. If that makes any sense.

I mean.. The color coordination to my characters was accidental for me. Because I tend to go for a specific appearance for my characters, I was very adamant about using those people for my face claims but I wasn't sure for what fandom - and I probably will use them for a lot of other fandoms too. Most likely. But not sure which other fandoms yet though. Anyway. Anyway.. But one person's favorite color is blue, one is orange, and another is red which eventually became their signature colors. So I unconsciously connected them to their respective gangs, which is kinda funny because their personalities actually seem fitting for those gangs too. And since the High&Low cast of characters have been predominantly men, I wanted more female characters involved in the story. But there have been a few things I've been stick on lately.

i am just hella awful at answering my private messages. i’ll be like ‘ill reply to that in a bit’ and then completely forget.

it’s just weird. like fandoms used to stick around for longer and h&l is still relatively recent. like 2016 wasn’t even a decade ago yet! everybody go watch h&l and feel emotions you didn’t expect about a pretty boy gang show. the song ‘break into the dark’ literally got me F*cked Up, everybody go watch the unofficial music video.

i will absolutely go read a smutty fic, that’s half of what i’ve been reading lately anyway. love me an explicit fic. and rocky has grown on me, do really like that dude.

i used to be really good at writing short original stories, but now i find it a bit harder. need that high school inspired brain back. fanfics do come a bit easier for me, but i also second guess myself a lot and some stuff i don’t end up posting or even finishing. which is a shame bc it’s supposed to be a fun hobby. i definitely need a fandom to obsess over or i just go totally blank in the brain.

im so bad at colour coordinating my ocs, i can rarely ever decide on what colour suits them best. idk if anyone’s noticed how many light blue or pink characters i have ahsjdl. my own h&l oc kinda started as an oya oc and then developed into something more and got switched around a bit, i think i’m mostly happy with where she’s at rn tho. im having a lot of fun with her.

h&l is definitely lacking in the female character department. like even the strawberry milk girls don’t get a whole lot of screen time like i thought they would, which is a shame bc i think they’re cool and i love pink. i think naomi got the most screen time out of all the girls and even that wasnt a whole lot. n-e-way yamato’s mum and the bartender lady are, like, definitely gfs tho, that’s my hc.

[yaralulu]

IVE MISSED YOU !! I love doing these so much bc I get to just talk but with purpose. Thank you for putting these questions together <33

1. Who is your longest fandom friend?

The one and only @highlordofkrypton . We’ve been friends since the trenches days (elaingate). I’m so very grateful for having met her this year 😙🫶.

2. Who is your newest fandom friend?

I fear I made a hand full of friends a few months ago and nothing else. To be fair I’m not the type to just jump in people dms and try to be friends because I am actually very shy ( shocking ik).

3.What were the highlights of your year?

Lots of fun things happened this year!! Started a new year of uni with my bsf, made this acc and met so many lovely ppl, STARTED WRITING ?? Like I’m actually a writer now after spending so many years consuming fics. That’s probably the most bizarre thing to happen this year. Me from a year ago would lose her mind if she found out just how different our life/ we are today.

4. Do you have favourite artists in the fandom?

So many talented people in this fandom and just to name a few, @thrumbolt @copypastus @works-of-heart @rosesncarnations @geniemillies

5. Who is a mutual you think you reblog the most from?

@gwandas OG cassian hater in my eyes, never a bad take. I probably have everything she’s ever posted reblogged.

6.Do you have a memorable moment in the fandom that warms your heart?

Am I allowed to say elaingate bc I totally am. Despite all the drama, all the memes were so good and I had too much fun making dumb posts about tamberon.

And this is very random, but when the fated mates quiz got added on sjm’s website and everybody just ran to do it and shared their results. I’d only been on tumblr for like two months back then and that was the first time it hit me that I was actually apart of this community and just how much I loved it.

7. Is there a mutual you've always wanted to DM but were too shy to? hehe

I will admit nothing 🙂‍↔️🙂‍↔️. ( but yes there’s many, many, mutuals Id love to DM and be friends with.)

8. In the last questionnaire, you mentioned you would be posting your favourite fic that you have written. Which is it?

Omgee your remembered 🤭. I think when I said that I was referring to a lucienweek fic I was working on which is End of Beginning.

9. Do you have a fic of yours that you love, but wished it got more attention?

Gonna be real, I don’t check my stats anymore. It’s just too detrimental to my sanity and I’m sensitive lol. I find it easier to write when the numbers and disappointment isn’t clouding my head. But I’ll promote my new fic ( Am I making you feel sick?) bc I’m very proud of it 😙.

10. Pick: Toxic yaoi or Old Man Yaoi?

TOXIC YAOI ALL THE WAY!!!

11. I forgot to ask: Did you want a Tamcien gift? Or did you have other ships in mind?

My main ship was tamcien! But I do enjoy other ships like tamsand/azris/nezriel.

12. Do you prefer an anthology gift (one shots) or a multichapter gift? (This has no bearing on your gift :3 l am just curious!)

I’m ngl I’ve always been more of a one shot reader and that’s very much bled into my writing. I mainly write one shots because it’s what I enjoy reading most. Reading multichapter fics takes a lot of investment from me and I’m not always looking for a whole convoluted plot-filled fic to read. I feel like I’m the odd one out when it comes to this bc ppl love 100k+ fics and that’s just never been me lol 😅. So to actually answer your question lol , I’d say a longer one shot or a short multi chapter fic but I’m gonna eat up wtv you write anyways trust and believe.

13. After all this time, do you still trust me to take you on an adventure with your gift? hihi

I literally trust you with my life. The suspense is killing I can’t wait 😫!!

14.What is your 'Tamcien song'?

Oh this is my favorite question to be asked. Lots of mitski song options but for me it’s “I Don’t Smoke”. This song fully spiraled my tamcien insanity back in february. I blame it for everything.

15. Aside from Tamlin and Lucien, who are your favourite characters in ACOTAR?

Nesta and eris !! Also azriel but we don’t talk about that.

16. Who do you think is underrated in ACOTAR?

Jurian, starter of the sassy men apocalypse 500 years ago 🙏.

17. Who do you wish had more development in ACOTAR?

I’d erase all of Feyre’s development and remake it from scratch. So many interesting ways her character could’ve gone but instead look at what we got lol.

18.Who is your LEAST favourite character in ACOTAR that you never wanna see again?

Cassian. Yes I dislike him more than rhys. Atleast rhys shows up serving something, cassian’s just plain dumb and annoying. #cassianhaterforlife

19. Who do you think is the real villain of ACOTAR?

sjm 👍

20. If you had to guess what your gift was, what do you think it is? (Ur gift is already set, so this also has no bearing! I thought it would be fun to see if you were on track!) We will come back to this in the coming days!!

Oh god I have no idea, I totally trust what you’re doing especially after reading your ficlets. I do have a feeling it’ll be something atleast a little smutty, maybe angsty. Solstice themed?? You’re gonna hurt my feelings that’s for sure. I have no clue further than that ( unless you wanna drop some hints since the gift is done 👀).

21. What is your least favourite trope?

Miscommunication. I get that’s it’s a common thing IRL but it irks me beyond belief when a huge plot problem could be solved by a literal conversation. Like just no. Also anything pregnancy/children related. No I don’t want to see my fav ship having kids and that’s me totally projecting my own shit what about it. It’s just not what I enjoy yk.

This was so much fun, thank you 😙💗!!

my queen @yaralulu :3 i have more questions for u! pls feel free to skip any if u don't wanna answer~ but i have #reasons skibidibap 2 ask these1!

Who is your longest fandom friend?

Who is your newest fandom friend?

What were the highlights of your year?

Do you have favourite artists in the fandom?

Who is a mutual you think you reblog the most from?

Do you have a memorable moment in the fandom that warms your heart?

Is there a mutual you've always wanted to DM but were too shy to? hehe

In the last questionnaire, you mentioned you would be posting your favourite fic that you have written. Which is it?

Do you have a fic of yours that you love, but wished it got more attention?

Pick: Toxic yaoi or Old Man Yaoi?

I forgot to ask: Did you want a Tamcien gift? Or did you have other ships in mind?

Do you prefer an anthology gift (one shots) or a multichapter gift? (This has no bearing on your gift :3 I am just curious!)

After all this time, do you still trust me to take you on an adventure with your gift? hihi

What is your 'Tamcien song'?

Aside from Tamlin and Lucien, who are your favourite characters in ACOTAR?

Who do you think is underrated in ACOTAR?

Who do you wish had more development in ACOTAR?

Who is your LEAST favourite character in ACOTAR that you never wanna see again?

Who do you think is the real villain of ACOTAR?

If you had to guess what your gift was, what do you think it is? (Ur gift is already set, so this also has no bearing! I thought it would be fun to see if you were on track!) We will come back to this in the coming days!!

What is your least favourite trope?

[wincore]

field day | jung sungchan

pairing: sungchan x fem!reader

synopsis: when you, as cheer captain, are best friends with the pride and joy of the soccer team, rumors are bound to fly around.

genre: high school au, soccer au, bff2l, fluff

words: 7.5k

warnings: language, jung “the risk i took was calculated but man am i bad at math” sungchan

request: sungchan + ball + “ everyone is looking at us. is that a good or a bad thing? ” (from the first option) ^__^

song recs: after school - weeekly / pleaser - wallows / some - bol4 / sweet talk - saint motel / love so sweet - cherry bullet

a/n: i tried recalling some hs memories for this and im hoping i wasnt the only one that went through the “shipped with a random dude” ordeal LOL. i haven’t written shorter fics in a while so i’m glad i got to. tq for requesting, lovepie <33

In high school, peer pressure tends to come in different forms. For you, it’s taken the shape of this.

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” 

You look around your classmates, scanning each and every face chanting with glee like you’re a star player scoring the winning point. The tall figure shifts beside you, glancing at you like a blinking idiot. You’re not even on the losing team but it feels just as frustrating.

You glare at the boy beside you. The trouble is Jung Sungchan. The trouble has always been Jung Sungchan. 

“Come on!” Chenle calls with a teasing grin from the buzzing crowd. The little shit. It’s getting hotter with each minute you spend by the green soccer field and its dusty chalked lines, just at the tip of the bleachers. You didn’t even get enough time to breathe before you were surrounded, the soccer team pushing a stumbling Sungchan onto you. It’s too sunny for this today.

“The star soccer player gets a kiss from the lead cheerleader after a winning game! That’s the rule.” Chenle announces.

Sungchan looks at you and you turn to him, the both of you looking at each other like fish out of water. Even though you’ve clarified at least a hundred times that you’re just friends, your peers don’t seem to be satisfied. (“Famous last words,” they say.)

“No,” you say, firmly. 

“No,” Sungchan agrees, nodding his head wisely.

“Don’t copy me,” you say, smacking his chest, and a quiet ‘oof�� escapes his mouth.

The fact that you’ve been best friends since Sungchan offered you a light green crayon in elementary school just fuels the idea that you have to date. There’s this difference between elementary school kids teasing and high school kids teasing—it was so much easier back when boys were afraid of cooties from girls. It was innocent too. Now, it’s more of nudges and sly grins, teasing with unnecessary innuendo. (What else do you expect from teenagers experiencing puberty?) It doesn’t stop you from being best friends though. Sungchan still visits on Fridays to get on your mom’s nerves and help you with homework (or try to). You still have all the little trinkets he’s gifted you over the years and the lock to his phone is still your birthday. You’re best friends and strictly that. 

When you got into the same middle school though is when it started going downhill. Holding his hand was awkward, touching him in any way was awkward and god forbid you compliment him on something. The kids around you would run across the halls saying “(name) likes Sungchan!” or the other way around sometimes. Heathens, the lot of them. But at the very least, he wasn’t too fazed and you wonder how he could be that even-tempered. If it was just you feeling that way, then maybe you did like him more than he did you. 

You shake it off. 

Sungchan’s much more grown now and at least a foot taller since his awkward adolescent years; he looks handsomer too but you wouldn’t be caught dead saying it out loud. After all, it’s only going to spark another debate on the anonymous school forum. (“(name) finds Jung Sungchan attractive, they’re totally dating.” “I knew it. A boy and a girl can’t be friends, especially if they’re both good looking.”) If you’re being honest, you hate the rumours so much—it’s one of the reasons, apart from puberty, stopping you from being as close as before. However, you do understand that this is how the passage of time works. You’re not going to be spending all of your time with each other, yes, but you still regard him as important. Your life is too busy now, with exams and practice—and you’d think a busy bee would get some honey as reward.

Sungchan’s curls stick to his forehead, unruly after he wiped at them with a towel. The sunlight plays with his eyes when he looks at you intently and you shrug. The smell of sweat is starting to make you nauseous. You remember that you too need to take a shower.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” you mumble.

“Not today?” He asks.

You shake your head. “The girls have a plan.”

It’s not just the sweat. Or the crowds. You don’t like being here at all. There’s one more problem with this place.

You hate soccer. 

And by hate, you mean you despise it. Like you’ll throw up at the sight of it. What’s so riveting about a bunch of smelly, sweaty guys excited about chasing a patterned ball? You’ve tried to understand it but every time your dad explains the rules, you find yourself zoning out of whatever alien language he speaks. 

Sungchan has been the closest to getting you to understand the game and even then, you refused to learn. It’s not like you’re society’s definition of girly—but you’re not a tomboy either. The school has granted you the “ice queen with a warm interior” stereotype so you’ll just go with that. To be honest, you’re just a little more awkward at open affection than your friends. (And Sungchan has the “friendly beagle” stereotype which you’ll agree is partly true. He’s more of a retriever though, with that size.) It’s just funny how you can never seem to know who you are but other people see so clearly.

You hurry up to the locker rooms and hope for a better evening than this afternoon.

-

The sky burns blue and you wipe the sweat off your brow once you step out of the changing room. Cooling off from your shower has gone to waste. Adjusting your school skirt, you take your usual strides to the school gates. 

Ryujin seems to be showing Yuna a very flamboyant dance move while the latter hypes her up. Ryujin is in her gym uniform because she has no care for her reputation apparently, but she makes it work. Yuna’s about to show her own move when she notices you and waves at you vigorously enough to make you jog towards her and stop embarrassing herself in front of the after school crowd. But then again, she’s too cute for that.

“We got bored waiting for you,” Yuna explains, voice hoarse from her cold. Poor thing wasn’t let into performing because of it. “Do you wanna see our cool new move? Ryujin came up with it!”

Ryujin rolls her eyes. “You’re trying to advertise me to (name) so she can recruit me into cheerleading, aren’t you?”

You smile and cross your arms, facing Yuna who’s been caught mid-act. She smiles sheepishly and pats your shoulder like she just said a funny joke.

“Actually…” You begin and Ryujin holds up her arms in a cross.

“No. Never. I’m already part of the hip-hop dance club.”

“I was going to say that I’ll join you instead.”

Yuna gasps in betrayal, big eyes widening, and Ryujin grins before sticking her tongue out and potentially ruining her image with that expression. She doesn’t care, however.

“Anyway, I can’t wait to get to college and join a dance club.” Ryujin looks at the two of you excitedly. “I keep getting snaps from Yeji and feel so jealous.”

Yuna pouts. “Don’t be so happy about leaving me.”

“Aw, is the baby afraid of not getting any more sisterly doting?” Ryujin teases and you laugh at the disgruntled expression on Yuna’s face. 

“Don’t worry,” Ryujin continues with a sly grin. “Taehyun’s here to keep you company for another year.”

Yuna turns red in the face, a high pitched complaint emitting from her throat. “I told you to keep quiet about that!”

“Oh, what’s this?” You wiggle your eyebrows. “We’re starting boy talk early today.”

Yuna huffs. “At least, mine’s just a crush. I don’t know what relationship status: complicated you have going on with Mr. Soccer Captain.”

You flush hotly. “There’s no relationship status to be complicated about! Seriously, why does everyone think we’re a thing?”

“You’re cheer captain and he’s soccer captain,” Ryujin answers logically. “Plus, you’re best friends.”

“You have a lot of sexual tension,” Yuna answers honestly.

You make a face, slipping your arms into theirs and pulling them along the sidewalk. You better get something to drink before the sky starts to turn purple from pink tinged blue. 

“Ooh, another desperate attempt from (name) to not get teased,” Ryujin leans back to whisper to Yuna.

You stop walking. “Wait. Where are we going?”

Yuna shakes her head. “I’ll lead the way.”

Skipping over the concrete sidewalk, you laugh at your friends and their stories (read: Ryujin gushing over Yeji’s college dance club and Yuna’s newfound crush on Taehyun). The blue sky has tinged orange by now but it’s the sort of colour that sits in between more significant timeframes, like night and evening. Passing by a city square, you eye the people with wonder. A girl in a pink skirt skateboards smoothly over the concrete, her boyfriend filming her with a loving smile. 

“We’re here!” Yuna announces.

You look around the large open plaza, with people of all ages and in different attires trying out skateboarding and rollerblading over the grey concrete. It’s been getting popular lately, with idol pop stars taking to it too but you never knew there was this big a community. There seems to be a few stalls renting out skateboards too. The wind caresses your hair, evening cool settling in nicely on your skin. The sky is purple but it’s lit up with the city buildings and street lamps flickering on. It’s not a bad day at all.

Someone catches your attention. A boy that sticks out like a sore thumb everywhere he goes. 

“Sungchan?!” 

Your eyes somehow always settle on his figure, tall and standing out in the crowd of teenagers. He clutches his blue bag, the one he’s had since third grade, close to his chest and looks more like a tourist in this place than a frequent visitor. He’s not the only one in school uniform now that you’re here.

“(name)!” 

You hate how you love the way his face lights up when he sees you. You’re not actually into him. It’s your friends brainwashing you.

“I was going to invite you,” Sungchan says, a sorry smile on his face. 

Ryujin and Yuna frown at each other but you can’t exactly ask the reason for it.

“Isn’t it great we had the same plans?” he beams at the three of you.

Yuna suppresses a smile and you wonder why. It’s not like your friends would know he’d be here—you’d know first as best friend.

"How did you guys come across this place?" He asks, eyes round with curiosity. 

"Somi's Tiktok," Yuna answers, smiling. "We thought she works here but if she really was, guys would be swarming this place."

Ryujin raises her eyebrows. "Speaking of which, I can clearly see why there are so many girls here."

Sungchan beams, turning to you for affirmation and when you don't give him any, he drops his grin to a more polite smile.

“I don’t work at the stalls though,” he answers. “I’ve just been here a few times.”

“You’re trying to learn, aren’t you?” Ryujin asks, raising an eyebrow.

He nods. However, you furrow your eyebrows at her. How does she know? Eyes widening, you realize it must be the school forum. You remember reading a post about a student wanting to learn skateboarding and the wording felt familiar but you didn’t think much. How they figured it out, you will never know.

“Oh! Oh, I think my nose is bleeding. Oh god.” Yuna sniffs vehemently, her finger at her nose. “I think I’m going to need Ryujin to get me to a clinic.” 

Linking her arm through Ryujin’s, Yuna makes an apologetic expression and runs off into a particularly crowded area.

You blink. The realization dawns. 

"They just left me," you tell him, exasperated. "How could they just leave me?"

He shrugs. "My team left me at a rival school's field once."

Great. Your last outing before midterms and your friends have abandoned you. If this is the case, you wonder why they complain about you spending so much time with Sungchan and allegedly ignoring them.

You regain a sense of your surroundings and turn to him. "Wait. They really left you?"

He nods diligently, eyes trained upwards as he tries to recall the memory. "I told you, didn’t I? On the plus side though, I made friends with the opposite team."

"That's so… cute."

Your cheeks heat up at saying it out loud. If Sungchan is affected by it in any way, he doesn't show it. Instead, he has his usual smile on. 

“Do you wanna try?” he asks. “Skateboarding. Or rollerblading but I personally don’t recommend that.”

He curls his lips, shaking his head slightly. You laugh. Of course this beanpole has trouble balancing on skates.

"I- I figured you'd be good at skateboarding. Since, you know, you're so balanced and all."

You raise an eyebrow. "You wanna add skateboarding to your resume or something?"

"Yeah, that and the ability to imitate dog sounds. Wanna see?"

"No, thanks. I’ll pray this weekend to cure your furry behaviour."

Before he can respond, you’re interrupted by a whirlwind of colours and excited calls. A few girls run up to the two of you, younger and probably in middle school, flocking to Sungchan like bees to honey. Never in your life have you felt so ignored as in this singular moment.

You blink, turning to Sungchan who looks like a rather helpless, flustered eye of the hurricane. The winds don't seem to be stopping any time soon.

You clear your throat trying to get their attention. 

"Wow, you brought your girlfriend?" One of the girls exclaims, sounding disappointed.

The other girls make similar whines of disappointment and you have half the heart to whack them over the head and tell them to focus on their academics instead of boys. 

"You're so lucky to have him as your boyfriend," a girl comments, round eyes brimming with jealousy. 

“He’s not my boyfriend,” you declare sharply.

Sungchan looks at you with his doe eyes, blinking cartoonishly. You nudge him with your elbow.

“Yeah!” He agrees, with far too much gusto to be believable. “I’m not (name)’s boyfriend. I have no idea why everyone keeps saying that.”

“Let’s go, babe,” you say, resisting the urge to stick your tongue out at the girls. They’re younger than you and you have high school dignity, you remind yourself.

Slipping your hand into his, you take a few long strides away from them before you realize what you said.

“I- I did- I didn’t mean to call you babe,” you sputter, pulling your hand from his to look at him with wide eyes. 

“It’s okay though?”

Sungchan raises an eyebrow and slips his hand back into yours, smiling. 

“I don’t mind the rumours, you know?” He says honestly but his smile feels all too teasing. “Maybe we should go out for real.”

You huff, separating yourself from him again. “Maybe you just love attention. Disgusting.”

You point an accusatory finger at him and he bites at it playfully.

“While you're here, wanna see a cool trick I learned?" He straightens only having to tilt his head to look at you.

"If it's you falling on your face, then yes."

"I mean, hey, I could totally do that. Done that several times actually."

You smile despite trying your hardest not to. You like this about him—that he’s easygoing enough to make you look at life less seriously. If it’s with him, you could quit everything that makes you unhappy and start everything you love. 

“So where is your skateboard?” you ask, walking side by side with him, who has finally learned to match your pace.

“It’s with one of my friends,” he answers, and points to a tall girl with long brown hair, wearing a pair of tomboyish shorts and T-shirt. Another girl with short hair and a bucket hat accompanies her, wearing a long hoodie and shorts, but she leaves before you reach them. They must be from a different school because you’ve never seen them before. The first thing that pops into your head is that they’d be good replacements for your cheerleading position if you were ever to leave. You shake your head. Now is not the time.

“That’s Jimin!” he introduces, and you wonder how he’s this way—how he makes friends so easily.

Jimin waves at Sungchan and then proceeds to ask if you’re his girlfriend with a big smile, like a script being followed everywhere you go.

She seems a little disappointed at the answer. “Well, I was going to suggest one of the couples skateboards.”

You flash her an awkward smile. 

“But those are pretty difficult! I’ve been here for a month and my idea of skateboarding is still sitting on it while Soeun pushes me around. That’s my friend, by the way.”

“Ah.” You nod. “This is my first time skateboarding, actually. The only ‘sport’ I’ve ever done is cheerleading.”

Jimin furrows her eyebrows before her eyes widen. “Wait a minute. You’re the cheerleader best friend that Sungchan wouldn’t shut up about!”

Sungchan flusters, in the subtle way he usually does, and waves his hands robotically trying to explain. “I was just saying- that- that you’d be good at skateboarding. Because of the cheerleading.”

A boxy grin accompanies his explanation. 

“Right.” Jimin covers her face and sends an obvious wink your way. “Anyway, you can have my skateboard for the day.”

She hands over a smooth black skateboard with white wheels, but on closer inspection you find that they’re light-up wheels instead. It’s oddly fitting for someone like Jimin even if you’ve known her the entirety of ten minutes. Sungchan is good at finding friends, rather. Soon enough, she runs off after making Sungchan promise he’ll deliver the skateboard home.

The trick Sungchan wanted to show you was a failed kickflip. At the very least, it made you laugh so hard you almost spit out the strawberry milk he’d bought you. Sipping his own banana milk, he sulked for a moment or two, telling you to try it out and see how difficult it is.

On the contrary, Sungchan was right. You are good at balancing on skateboards. But that’s where it ends. You don’t think you’ll be naturally good at kickflips, though being able to glide through the plaza while Sungchan runs after you with the drinks puts a big smile on your face. It’s the most fun you’ve had in a while.  

Accompanied by Sungchan’s panicked “oh no”s and “oh we messed up”s, the two of you try the couple skateboarding move too; no one’s watching you here. It’s fun to see him stress over a skateboard because frankly, you’ve never met anyone as easy-going as Sungchan. (“I’ll figure it out along the way,” he says when you ask if he’s studying for finals, and proceeds to get a decent enough score). Suddenly the wandering gap is closed again. You’re not going to worry about stupid rumours from now on. 

But for some reason, ‘you like him as a friend’ doesn’t sound right either. Despite having said it so many times, you might not believe in it. You shake off the thought. This evening, at least, you’re going to enjoy with Sungchan without thinking of teenage drama and hormones. 

"You still don't think you and Sungchan make the perfect pair?" Yuna pouts. 

You narrow your eyes. "I don't take opinions from traitors."

Chaeryoung leans back on her chair, and whispers to you asking if you’re okay. At least someone is concerned about you.

“It hurts to be left by my own friends but—”

“No, I meant, are you okay? Why aren’t you dating Sungchan already? You’re so cute together! And you’re best friends—Netflix writers literally daydream of this.”

You groan, throwing up your hands in defeat.

“And,” Yuna adds, knocking her chair closer. “Who’s really the traitor here? Us who ditched you with the love of your life—or you, who runs off every time she gets a call from her boyfriend?”

“Sungchan is not my boyfriend.” You cross your arms.

“She even shares her lunch with him more,” Ryujin complains from the side. “And they’re not even in the same class. Unlike me, by the way. Class 1 Shin Ryujin. Same class as you, (name).”

You slump, resting your forehead against the desk. At this point, you wish the teacher would walk in and start the class already. Unfortunately, lunch break isn’t over for another ten minutes and lady luck clearly isn’t smiling upon you. 

“Speak of the devil!” Ryujin announces monotonously, leaning against her desk.

Sungchan and a few of his friends from the soccer team wave at you and the girls from the classroom door. Noticing Taehyun, Yuna quickly fixes her hair and you would tease her if Sungchan hadn’t casually strolled up to your desk and sat down on the chair in front of you. Long legs barely contained in the space, he adjusts himself by resting his arm on the headrest and his chin upon it. It’s all normal. However, when he leans down to match your eye level, you hear the sudden pit-a-pat of your pulse in your ear. At this proximity, you can even see the mole on his lip that he’s pointed out before. The sunlight from the open windows is pulling golden strings over his eyelashes and his lips aren’t dry as a desert like you expected. You know he uses the watermelon flavoured lip balm. 

“Too close,” you croak. Embarrassed at your own voice, you rise sharply and glare at him.

“Is your heart fluttering?” Sungchan asks, smiling as he looks up at you.

You roll your eyes. 

You can hear Yuna’s giggling and before you can shoot her a glare, Sungchan calls. 

"Do you have any bandaids?" 

He points to a rough scratch at the base of his palm, fingers slender and less calloused than what you'd pictured. Then again, soccer players don't use their hands much, do they?

You blink. "You came all the way here for bandaids?"

"Well… I remembered you keep band-aids in your phone case. And the nurse hates me."

You giggle.

Yujin mouths from behind Sungchan, “He just wanted to see her.” 

You would feel flattered if you didn't know these people and their shenanigans. They'd do anything for some drama (and to get two innocent people into the dating trap).

“Why would I waste my cute band aids on you?” you mutter under your breath. “They’re limited edition, you know?”

No way are you sticking Ice Bear on your urban hazard of a best friend. A tall, cute, surprisingly polite hazard but he still annoys you nonetheless.

However, Sungchan's pleading smile has grown on you.

You reluctantly take the band-aid out of your clear phone case, the pink panda doll attached to it swaying with the movement. Proceeding, you take Sungchan's hand and lay it on your desk. With careful focus, you place the band-aid, admiring the size difference of your hands before snapping to reality.

Enough with the pink cloud of thoughts, you scold yourself.

When you look up, the proximity makes your heart skip a beat despite the logical part of you saying you shouldn't. Your faces are too close and this time, you don't even have the energy to croak it out.

"Thanks, (name)," Sungchan smiles at you. 

Right then, the sound of a chair sliding harshly against the floor makes the two of you jolt away from each other. All of your friends and his friends seem to be sporting Cheshire cat grins and you don't like it one bit. You don't like not being in on the gag.

"Anybody up for gaming after this? My treat." Chenle looks around. “Sungchan is banned from the arcade soccer game though.”

"'Ey," Sungchan complains.

"Hey, Jisung and Ryujin are banned from DDR too but that's because they almost broke the handles off last time."

The memory makes you smile. Sungchan was there too, and you don’t know why you’re only just recalling all the memories with him in it, carefully and in detail. Every one of them seems to have been amplified, the little interactions suddenly coming to mind. 

“(name)? You’re coming?”

You take one look at Sungchan and give up. Even if this is another childish ploy by your peers, you don't mind spending some more time at the arcade with infuriatingly addictive games. A tiny part of you is even willing to go along with them and see if it turns out the way they want it to.

“I’ll go,” you mumble, and the rest of the group cheers. 

“But I have cleaning duty today.”

The group groans. 

“Just get someone else to do it. Like a junior.”

“Isn’t that bullying?” You ask, frowning.

“Ask nicely. Anyone would be willing to do your bidding, (name).”

“Chenle, will you do it?” You give him a sickly sweet smile. “You’re class president after all.”

Chenle wrinkles his nose. “You’re getting stupider every day, (name).”

You sigh. “Fine. I’ll ask one of Yuna’s classmates then.”

“By the way,” Chenle announces. “Only twelfth graders are invited—”

A bunch of groans interrupt him. 

“Quit whining.” He crosses his arms, glaring at them. “What do you even have to worry about? We’re preparing for the exam of our lives. Oh, and Jisung is an exception.”

“We’re only two years apart,” Yuna mutters under her breath.

“Oh, and from class 5, only Sungchan is invited.”

Another round of complaints pass and Chenle breaks into laughter. “Just kidding.”

Your friends are and will always be an odd bunch. Sungchan has previously proved to be the weirdest (several times) and it makes him the most lovable too. But then again, you don’t have free space in your timetable to put in teenage crushes, much less falling for your best friend. What you do have time for this afternoon, however, is relaxing at the arcade. 

-

“Let’s go! I am so good at this. Think I’d impress your Steve Curry?” Ryujun gloats, after having scored three hoops in a row at the arcade basketball game.

“It’s Stephen Curry,” Chenle corrects. “And no, let’s focus here. Our goals are—”

He points to the two figures by the DDR machine, looking like a real couple. He’s been acting as damage control for the rumours and making sure you don’t drift apart because of it. They really don’t make guys like him anymore, Chenle sighs. He should get a friendship award or something.

“—those two.”

Really, Sungchan better be thanking him by the end of this. He’s never met anyone quite like Jung Sungchan, especially because Chenle cannot picture himself liking the same person since elementary school.

“Man, now I wish I had a girlfriend,” Chenle mutters.

Ryujin snorts. “Who’s going to date you?”

“You don’t have a boyfriend either,” Chenle reminds and gets a basketball to the shoulder.

“Why are you playing that when you don’t even know how to use it?” Your voice rings through to them.

“I said I’ll figure it out!” Sungchan reasons.

Chenle and Ryujin stare at the two of you blankly, as you bicker over a claw machine game and they share a look.

“Do they need our help?” Ryujin whispers.

Chenle shakes his head. “I think they’ll figure it out from here.”

Soon enough, you were laughing at Sungchan’s failed attempts and trying to outplay him. Your friends have already given you the shove. Chenle and Ryujin share a high five and that’s where the new story begins.

You finally know the thrill of a teenage crush. It makes you so damn infuriated that it had to be Jung Sungchan. 

Now every time he waves at you from the field or hands you a bottle of strawberry milk or explains the calc notes you missed or does the bare minimum, you need to deal with the quickening of your pulse and a few butterflies loose from their cage in your stomach. It doesn’t help that you’re almost always together.

The two of you currently sit by the school field, Sungchan tying his shoelaces while you cool off with the water bottle he offered you. Practice ended a while ago for you and the girls have receded into the air conditioned indoor gym. The indoor gym is apparently occupied by the gymnast club and you couldn’t be more disappointed that you didn’t join them instead. 

If anything, however, you’d rather leave this whole thing and focus on your academics. Hobbies shouldn’t be draining you—they should feel like skateboarding on a lilac evening with the wind in your hair.

With a friend you like very, very much.

“Sungchan,” you call quietly. 

“Hm?” 

When he looks up, you can’t hold in the urge to fix the hair out of his eyes. You’ve never been very physically affectionate so it might have come off strange. Sungchan looks at you quietly, stars in his eyes and you clear your throat.

“How long have you been playing soccer? It was before we met, right?”

He hums, eyes traveling up and then back to you when he remembers. “Since I was six. You were there at my first soccer match actually.”

“I was? Oh my god, was it the one you lost horribly and the whole team started crying?”

“Yes. Yes, it was.”

You giggle. “Six year old you would be so in awe now.”

Sungchan beams at that. 

“Who knows?” he smiles, looking into your eyes with firm determination. “Maybe I’ll be the next Son Heungmin.”

“Even I know who that is so… no.”

Sungchan pouts and you make a face in disgust. “Don’t act cute, it gives me hives.”

“Okay, maybe not Son Heungmin. I could definitely be the next Park Jisung—and I don’t mean him.”

Sungchan points to a boy passed out on the benches, his exhaustion typical of any high schooler while another boy sits beside him, fanning him with a bunch of assignment papers. Jisung and Chenle really are more entertaining than any game on this field. 

You turn to look at Sungchan, who’s moving his head around trying to catch their attention. When he finally does, he waves at them and gets big grins in response. He’s not all that bad, you think. In fact, he’s quite possibly the most amiable boy in senior year.

“Just be Jung Sungchan,” you mutter. “Not Son Heungmin or Park Jisung.”

Sungchan turns to you, smiling wide. “Advice taken.”

You scoff. “Whatever.”

Maybe it’s just you but Sungchan has been glancing at your lips very frequently today and mentally thank Chaeryoung for letting you borrow her lip tint. You didn’t know something so subtle could get you this giddy.

“Are you… going to give the CSAT?” You ask, glancing at him nervously. Part of you is sad you only developed your first high school crush in the very last semester. Or if it’s comforting, you could believe you’ve liked him all this time.

“Nah. Sports scholarship,” he says nonchalantly. “I was going to tell you but… I’ve been scouted already.”

You gasp. “That’s… great. Your future’s all settled.”

Sungchan seems to dislike the idea, lips pursing. “I don’t think anything’s settled except for the next step.”

You nod, somewhat understanding. 

“What about you?” He asks. “Any university in mind? SKY? I’ve seen you study extra hours at the library.”

You look away, not feeling ready for the conversation.

“I don’t know,” you say quietly. “I don’t know what I like and what I want. I don’t even like cheer anymore.”

Sungchan gazes at you wordlessly but it’s the most comfortable you’ve felt talking about this.

“Maybe I should quit,” you mumble.

You don’t want to commit to something you no longer have passion for. But then again, you’ve spent so much time on it that it’s hard to leave. 

“You should,” he responds, honest. 

You scoff, shaking yourself from that moment of vulnerability. “But why would I quit something I’m good at?”

“If you don’t like it. If it hurts to leave but isn’t any better when you stay, you should leave.”

You roll your eyes. “You’re quite the philosopher.”

“I’m smart, right?”

You smile. 

“Oy, you two!” Chenle calls, making his way to you two with Jisung trailing behind. “I don’t mean to interrupt your flirting but you got a spare water bottle?”

“Are you two going out now?” Jisung asks as a follow-up, and you feel a hot flush for some reason, unlike the previous times you’ve been asked this question.

“No,” you answer. You don’t mind the idea though now.

“Don’t lie,” Chenle complains. “I saw that picture of Sungchan teaching you how to kick a ball. You? And soccer? Something’s up.”

You throw up your hands in exasperation. “Seriously, who keeps up posting to the school page? And where do they get the time?”

"Two people with this much compatibility will always be a hot topic."

"We're not compatible," you retort quickly.

"Wait," Jisung says. "I know how to resolve this."

You raise an eyebrow.

"How do you have your cereal?" He asks, looking from you to Sungchan.

"Cereal first, obviously," you answer.

Sungchan looks up, finger below his chin as he thinks. "I drink the milk first, then eat the cereal and then breakdance to mix it all together."

You pinch your nose. "I swear I question your sanity all the time."

"Hah! That means you're thinking about me all the time."

You look away, rolling your eyes. He responds with an open-mouthed smile and finger guns.

"See?" Jisung grins. "Compatible."

The gruff voice of Coach Lee startles the four of you and Sungchan leaves with a sigh and a promise of meeting after practice. Jisung leaves with Sungchan and Chenle gives you one last teasing smirk before sitting down and going through the assignment papers he was using as a fan previously. You will never understand his miraculous ways of performing his presidential duties.

You don’t have a good feeling about the next match. The only reason you’re even sticking around anymore—as embarrassing as it—is to spend more time with Sungchan. Being with him puts you at ease, even if the school tries to wrap the two of you in a rope of uneasiness. This is your very last practice, for the next match is the final one of this year and then you’ll be back to spending even longer hours at the library with a stack of textbooks. It’s supposed to be a carefree age. At least, adults say that. Your high school life seems to be riddled with worries, and with that thought, you head into the air conditioned room to take a breather off your anxieties. 

Only one more match, you remind yourself. 

The pre-match buzz is driving you to the edge.

Your form is off, you can feel it already and Coach Kim isn’t as sunshine-as-rainbows as she usually is, courtesy to it being the last match of your life. She’ll never know though, how much you don’t want to do this. 

Sungchan waves at you as he usually does before a match, disappointing a third of his fangirls, but it helps you ease. One last time, (name).

Watching the crowd of people, parents and siblings and friends, all excited and talking makes you take a deep breath. You practiced but it wasn’t good enough. You can never do well at something you don’t like anymore. This time, you feel guilty for committing to things half-heartedly. You want to start that fresh new college chapter already, with all of this behind.

There’s ten minutes left. You go back to the empty hall outside the lockers only to pace. This isn’t helping.

“(name)!”

You turn around abruptly to find Sungchan’s tall figure, and you must be looking miserable because his smile falls.

He doesn’t even ask what’s wrong, only takes careful steps towards you. “Do you need water? Medicine?”

His hands hover over your shoulder but he doesn’t burden you with them. You put your face in your palms and sigh, sinking down to the floor in a crouch.

“I want to quit,” you whisper. Your voice comes off more brittle than you’d like, and you realize that Sungchan hasn’t seen you cry since seventh grade when you failed a math test. You didn’t tell him then but you appreciated him studying extra hours for math just to teach you.

“You don’t have to go out there if you don’t want to,” he says quietly, dropping to the floor beside you. “I’ll stay with you.”

You stare at him dumbfounded. “Don’t be ridiculous! They’ll lose without you—you’re the ace, Sungchan!”

“There will always be an ace,” he retorts. “Maybe Jisung will finally get to shine. Or anyone else. I don’t mind spending an hour with you alone.”

You feel a hot flush spread over your cheeks. Looking away to the side, you mumble an ‘alright’ and only glance from the corner of your eye to see him smiling. Jung Sungchan is the most unreasonable boy you’ve ever met. Perhaps it makes him somewhat loveable too.

“It’s your last match,” you whisper helplessly.

“I’ll join the college soccer club and get to play more matches.”

You sigh, giving in. If he’s so adamant, you think that perhaps there is something in you worth sacrificing his game over. It makes an oddly warm feeling bloom in your chest. Sungchan is so damn convincing with his words. You wonder if it’s really okay.

With shoulders touching, an awkward silence takes over in the next second. You turn to him and open your mouth, watch him do the same and close it at the same time he does.

“You know,” he begins, “I was kind of lying about not worrying because I get the feeling coach will evaporate me tomorrow but—I can handle it. Mostly.”

You stare at him with wide, worried eyes. “You don’t have to do this, Sungchan. I’m the one running away.”

You slouch, pulling your knees closer to your chest and burying your face in them. The urge to scream is boiling within you but you can’t get caught. Not now.

“Sometimes to run is the brave thing,” he responds, insightful. “If you’re not up for it, it’s better to quit early than to regret it in the long run.”

You don’t know if it’s the fact that he just quoted Taylor Swift or spoke like your old school counselor—but you find yourself laughing. He makes sense. Sungchan, in his weird, oddball ways, always makes sense. And in that same way, he feels like home.

“You’re so good to me,” you say, looking up at him and at a proximity you’ve never been before.

It’s his turn to fluster, though he doesn’t do so as visibly as you do. He clears his throat, shifting his eyes around before meeting yours. “I- This is bad timing but… I like you. I really do. Since third grade when you drew that birthday card for me. I have it in my bedside drawer, by the way.”

He looks away and makes a face, probably wondering why he said that out loud.

You press your lips tight to prevent the smile that tugs at them. He looks at you with a wobbly smile, trying his hardest to resume his usual dignity—but he’s just a boy, after all. 

“My type is dumb and pretty, though?” You tease, the smile escaping. “You said it yourself.”

He blinks. “Well, I am pretty but if you want me to be stu—”

You shake your head. “I like you too. You don’t have to act cute.”

He pauses, thinking. “I have never acted cute in my life ever. I was born cu—”

You hold his face between your thumb and forefinger. “You do that again and you die.”

He breaks into a smile. 

“I’ve never met someone quite like you,” you whisper, embarrassed of your own feelings bubbling up from the bottle you had kept them in.

He laughs, open-mouthed and pretty. 

“Actually, hey, I didn’t like you all this time from fifth. I liked you and then I didn’t like you and then I liked you again—”

“Okay, I get it.”

His shoulders relax and he smiles at you. You look up at the clock on the wall by the entrance to the field and bite your lip. You don’t love performing anymore but you know all the girls do, even the stand-bys. Jisung might not have to take over Sungchan’s position but you bet one of those tenth graders would love to take yours, the same way you did back then. They’ve practiced harder than you too and it’s only a matter of deserving.

You take a deep breath and get up, pulling up Sungchan by the hand. He raises an eyebrow, inquisitive eyes scanning over your face and you smile at him, strengthening your resolve. You should have done this way sooner.

-

Sungchan plays. You don’t let him sit it out with you. 

Halfway through, you cheer the hardest you ever have, plastic decorative gemstones stuck by your eyes borrowed from the other girls cheering. It’s much more fun, you think. You’ve never experienced soccer like this. You’d love to sit at stadiums and join in victory chants. There’s enough weight off your chest to yell your lungs out.

Sungchan scores a goal almost immediately after and sends a thumbs up over to you. You laugh. This is the best break you’ve ever taken from cheerleading. 

“Ooh, is this perhaps the (name) effect?” Chenle’s voice rings through the speakers and you feel yourself shrink slightly under the eyes. Out of the corner of your eye, you can see your homeroom teacher signal very angrily to the commentator box. You shake yourself off it. So what if everyone’s looking?

Sungchan places his hands on his hips, chest heaving and sends another signal to you before beelining for a straight goal. You whoop and the girl with a notebook beside you is visibly annoyed at this point but you don’t care. 

Without doubt, your school wins and you watch as Sungchan runs to his team, a big smile on his face. The second he’s done getting pet by the team, however, he rushes to the bleachers, skipping over the steps to you, panting when he stops. The risk he took was definitely not calculated. He holds up one finger while he heaves.

“My cheering worked best this time, it seems,” you say to him, laughing.

His face is flushed from the exertion but he laughs heartily. “You could be yelling profanity at me and it’d still encourage me.”

You shake your head at the cheesy line. He takes a step forward, well inside your space but you don’t mind. He leans in.

“Everyone is looking at us,” he says under his breath. “Is that a good or a bad thing?”

You look behind him to find the whole team, along with your girls sharing furtive glances and giggling at the sight of the two of you. A few of the junior girls slap each other’s arms, bouncing on the balls of their feet in excitement. You’re not a celebrity. But everyone wants to cheer things on once in a while, don’t they?

“Good,” you answer, before pulling him by the shirt into a chaste kiss. When you pull apart, Sungchan’s face is so struck with awe that you want to look away but instead you bite back an obvious smile. It’s about damn time, someone from the soccer team yells.

“Woah. I think I scored a goal either way,” he says, an offbeat smile on his face.

“Oh come on, we didn’t even get to chant ‘Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!’ yet—oh shit, the mic’s on.”

Chenle is definitely getting an earful from your teacher after this. The two of you wave at him at the box and end up laughing at him trying to hide behind the desk. 

As expected, the whole crowd surrounds the two of you in less than a minute’s worth of time, with several congratulations and “good score” offered to the two of you. The boys mess up Sungchan’s hair while the girls compliment you on how cute a couple you are. There’s also the question of when you started dating that pauses the buzz and makes everyone look to the two of you for an answer. Sungchan turns to you and you turn to him, and there’s no way you’ll tell half the school that your confession came in a private hallway outside the field—teenage imaginations run wild. 

Instead, you slip your hand into Sungchan’s and run down the bleachers and towards the exit, laughter spilling from your lips. There’s only one place you can think of going to spend a cool blue late afternoon with.

“Skate plaza?” He asks.

“Skate plaza,” you answer.

[thepiratequeenofneverland]

For all you panlix and one more lovers this is with my OC but go ahead and change the name if you like… here’s

The boys I once knew

Summery: After Henry was kidnapped by Greg and tamara and taken to neverland, the hero gang along with some of the known ‘villains’, and the girl that made her way into the hearts of said heroes, and just so happens to be the sister of a certain one-handed pirate. Kierra Jones was once on top of the world but something that happened in the past made her who she is today. During the curse she became Briar Mills the adopted sister of the feared Regina Mills, Mayor of Storybrook. Now being the only Aunt that Henry has she has to face her past, and with what she finds, she needs to save henry and all that she recovered from her past.

—————————————————————————

CHAPTER 1

I never thought that I would be able to see them again but standing here seeing them wanting to kill my friends and family, I wasn’t expecting this outcome.

“Bri watch out!” Regina called for me, making me see the lost boy that was aiming for my head. Ducking out of the way, I grabbed my twin blades that I got back from Killian, and made my way to the boy, knocking him in the head with the handle of the blades to make him unconscious.

“Where’s Henry! Where is he.” Emma yelled at a lost boy resulting in the fighting to stop and the lost boys retreating behind Pan.

“Remember what I told you. That map will show you where Henry is...only when you stop denying who you really are. I'll make sure to send Henry your regards.” Pan said, a heavy British accent was heard through every one that was there, a shiver was sent down my spine, as I hadn’t heard his voice in such a long time. I let out a breath that I didn’t realize I was holding as I stared at the lost boys retreating, an ache in my heart I could feel as they left.

“Are you okay?” Killian asked me on our way back to the camp his accent heavy as well but it had more of an Irish root, but it was more british.

“If I’m being honest, no.” I said blinking tears away my own British accent somewhat coming through my voice, I took off the scarf that I had covering my face so I could breathe better. “You know why, and what happened last time I saw them.” I whispered back.

“I know, I’m just making sure you were okay after seeing them.” He put an arm around my shoulders, and we kept walking to the camp. My mind wandering back to the two lost boys that had broken me.

Once there Emma, Regina, David, and Mary Margret kept trying to find a solution to Pan’s map riddle or went to get more supplies. I made my way to my hammock that I set up and sat in it. I thought back to the first time I came to this island, all those years ago.

“Killian, what the bloody hell happened out there?!” I shouted as he and some others in the crew made their way back onto the ship. At this point I was used to Killian’s foolishness, but that didn’t mean that I didn’t care for him.

“The boy that Liam and I ran into last time we were here ambushed us.” He replied.

“And I warned you, didn’t I?” I crossed my arms, giving him an I told you so voice.

“Aye, and I’m going to admit that I was wrong. Do you have a plan?” I could hear the urgency in his voice as we headed into his and my shared cabin.

“What age would you say those boys are?” I gave him a side glance.

“I don’t really know, but I’d say around 15-19.” He replied very uneasily.

“And surprisingly I still look around 18, even though I’m roughly 35,” I say as I give him a smirk.

“No, I know what your thinking, and No. I don’t want to loose another sibling.” He said. Hitting the table that him and I usually gathered at when we needed to thinking a plan.

“I’m not asking for your permission bubba, I am saying that It is probably an only option so we can get what we need.” I used his nickname that I, And only I could call him.

“Why do you always have to be so careless.” He said, Bringing me into his chest his arms wrapped around my body, as my head was rested into his chest.

Coming up for air, I made my way to the sandy beach in front of me, I then laid down, facing to the sky and closing my eyes.

“Well, what do we have here,” I sat up and turned around to see one of the most handsome boys I have ever laid eyes on. Blonde shagged hair, striking blue eyes, a scar that doesn’t make him less attractive, tall, and this wonderful aroma coming off of him. It was a mix of black cardamom, smoky vanilla, and a hint of musk.

“W-who are you.” I stuttered not realizing that aroma was making me flustered.

“I, beautiful am Felix second in command from pan, the leader here in neverland, which by the way is where you have just stepped foot. Follow me I’ll take you to him.”

“Why would I follow a person I just met?” I said regaining my composure.

“Because you’ll probably die without our help, this Island is a very dangerous place, especially for a girl like yourself.” Knowing my job I agreed.

We made our way through the forest, him leading the way. Doing my best to make sure the aroma wasn’t distracting me from my mission, but it was overwhelming my senses.

“Ah Felix, glad you could bring our guest safely into my hands,” I heard a stern voice, it wasn’t to deep, but it was still a heavenly sound that sent shivers down my spine. Turning around I found myself staring at another boy that was equally as handsome as the first boy Felix, this one was dressed in green, green eyes that could do anything to me and I would still be lost in them, he wasn’t as tall as Felix, but he was still a little taller than me, and then another amazing aroma hit me, aromatic sage, dark tonka bean, rich sandalwood, and a hint of musk again. Both scents caused me to get overwhelmed and I blacked out.

“The map is working, we know were Henry is.” Emma shouted taking me out of my flashback, the scents that I remembered still lingering in my mind.

With a little conversation between the group, We made our way to the south end of the island, where we were shown. On the way there I could smell those scents, but only subtly. It was hard, smelling it again made me a little light headed and Killian had noticed, so he slowed his pace matching mine and putting an arm around me so if it did make a Me stumble I wouldn’t fall.

“We should be getting close to Pan’s lair.” Emma said catching up to her parents, Mary Margaret and David. “Going in a straight line of course,” Looking at the map she frowned, “Son of a bitch! How is it now behind us?”

“How can that be?” Mary Margaret said.

“You got us lost.” Regina said clearly annoyed.

“No, she didn’t,” Killian spoke up, “It’s the camp, Pan’s moving it.” He finally unwrapped his arm that was holding me stable off my shoulders.

“He’s playing tricks with us.” David said.

“if Pan’s camp keeps moving how are we ever gonna find Henry?” Emma said.

“We keep our hope and find another way.” I said speaking up, I had felt all their sorrow, confusion, and anger. “if he keeps moving the camp that’s his way of keeping Henry away from us. We need to find another way.”

“She’s right, we need another plan.” David spoke up.

“So this whole trek has been for nothing?” Emma states, leaning against a tree close to her.

“I told you walking was idiotic. If I can just use some magic, we can materialize in the camp and grab Henry.” Regina says.

“Gina, arguing with that won’t help get Henry back.” I said making my way to her. “and what exactly happened when you did it earlier? We were ambushed.”

“Plus Pan will have shields against magic. He’s smart enough to do that.” Killian spoke up.

“Well any bright ideas on how we get Henry back.” Regina said, crossing her arms.

“We can use someone he trusts, a fairy who lives here, or at least I think she’s still here. She’d be an inside source, knows all about the camp and could get us in. Most importantly she might have some pixie dust left, we could probably fly in.”

“Don’t you mean fairy dust?” Emma questions.

“No, Pixie dust. It’s stronger. Like nuclear fairy dust.” David chimed in.

“Tinkerbell?” Emma suddenly said.

“Do you know her?” Killian said.

“Every kid in the world knows of her.” Emma said brushing him away as she made her way back to our camp.

“That’s a bad Idea Tinkerbell is not going to save us.” Regina said as all of us followed Emma, shortly then following us.

Regina soon made her way to next to Emma, having a conversation with her. I stayed behind with Killian somewhat dizzy. I didn’t realize that coming back to this Island this overwhelming aroma would make me feel this way, it was probably from how long it’s been since I had stepped foot here.

“Hey guys, you find Tinkerbell, I need to rest at the camp. I think I need more water, I keep getting light headed.”

“Are you sure your okay.” Mary Margaret said.

“Yeah I just need to rest for a little bit and drink water.” With that they let me go by myself. I made my way through the forest, dodging the dreamshade and eventually making my way back to the camp. Taking a deep breath I went to my hammock and laid down.

[talesofstyles]

Drs Styles

paediatric heart surgeon harry, husband harry and dad harry. honestly the holy trinity.

warning: they did it in the car. bloody animals.

Harry

“Move your car, please!”

“What are you going to do? Write me a ticket?”

“This is in the interests of safety for the children!”

I look at the time in the car. I’ve still got about twenty to twenty-five minutes to watch this drama unfold at the school gate. I just wish we had popcorn because drop-off and parking situations at the school gates are always more entertaining than Good Morning Britain. 

The school gate is a strange social scene, and honestly, I don’t blame my wife for trying to avoid it like a plague. Sometimes, you don’t even have to talk to these people to know everything about their lives and more. I swear there are more gossips in the class WhatsApp group and daily playground chattering than in the copies of The Sun and Daily Mail combined. You know who’s married, who’s getting a divorce, whose husband shagged the au pair again, whose party you haven’t been invited to, even who’s looking for a builder. 

I see the school caretaker chuckling to himself as he sweeps the autumn leaves off the pathway, no doubt also enjoying our morning entertainment. 

“Why is Mrs Chambers screaming like that?” Alma, our eldest daughter, asks from the back of the car. 

“Because that man parks his car in a drop-off zone,” I reply, still watching him as he removes a child from his car seat. “Do you know who that is?”

“I think the boy is your classmate,” Alma turns to her sister.

Fiona, our youngest, peers over to inspect. “Oh yeah, that’s Rufus and his dad.”

“Do we like Rufus?”

“Not unless we like boys who pee down the slides,” Fiona scrunches her nose up. “He stood at the top and peed down like a waterfall. I haven’t gone down the slide ever since.”

I shake my head and let out a chuckle. “M’sure they’ve cleaned it up since, button.” 

Did you know that choosing a school for your child after nursery can be a head-throbbing, stomach-twisting, heart-pounding experience? Well, it can. How is one supposed to choose a school anyway? According to the proximity? Leavers Results? Adorable uniforms? Parents’ agendas?

After many, many discussions and visits through more schools than I can count, we ended up with Thomas’s Kensington. It’s a great school, and only ten minutes away from our home, making school runs easier. The downside of this school is the fact that it costs us an arm and a leg and that they’re always trying to rip us off any chance they get. Also, they only take the kids until 11, so after that, we’ll have to look for other schools again. But since our girls are only seven and five, we can worry about that later. 

There’s a strange mix of parents at this place. I went to school up in the North and the school gate scene is nothing like this. Here there are more au pairs, fancy cars, nicer clothes and people coming with impressive tans from their last weekend break in Antibes. The kids here are suited up too: the PE kit is the size of a small weekender bag, and we put them in uniforms that make them look smart, hoping that will increase the size of their brains. A child walks past our car with a cello case, another with a hockey stick. It’s a different land here. One that my socialist in-laws constantly tease us about and one which my mum was hysterical about because she was scared her grandbabies would be little Tories. I promised her I’d keep them grounded by only giving them plain hobnobs. None of those luxury chocolate covered ones.

Jokes aside, my girls are happy here. They’re thriving. They learn French and Spanish and Mandarin, even if they share a class with kids who have ridiculous names like Kitty and Archibald. 

A knock at my window calls me to attention. I wind it down.

“Are you Fiona’s dad?” A mum asks me.

“I am.”

“It’s about Ophelia’s riding party this Saturday at the riding stables.” 

Like I said, it’s a different land here.

“I thought we RSVPed to that?” I look at her in confusion.

“Yes, you did, but we have to change the food options as one of the partygoers is allergic to nuts. I’m making everyone aware and we need to let the guests know that they can’t bring any nuts on the day.”

A dirty joke is right there on the tip of my tongue and I’m trying my hardest to keep it in. My wife would definitely find it funny though, I’ve got to remember this and tell her later. 

“Noted,” I mean, I wasn’t going to send my daughter to a party with a packet of cashews anyway but I nod politely.

“And just gift vouchers for gifts please. Smiggle, if you can.”

Again, I nod, biting my tongue at the presumptuousness. But then I suddenly panic, because we haven’t entered the realms of pony riding just yet. Do I have to buy jods and boots? If I don’t, will my daughter be the odd one out? But Ophelia’s mum saunters off before I’ve got the chance to ask.

“Do I have to go to that party, daddy?” Fiona asks. 

“Well, we’ve already replied, poppet,” I tell her. “Did you not want to go?”

“I’ll go if I have to.”

I don’t answer because I get distracted by a vacant space. I edge the car forward so my girls can hop off. 

“I love you both. Have a good day, make good choices.” 

“Bye daddy! We’ll see you after work!”

***

Evelina London Children’s Hospital is our second home. Of course, as a children’s hospital, we try to make the place as fun as possible as not to freak those little patients out at being ill. It is bright and primary coloured, and each ward is decorated according to its own theme with different colours and lovely artworks. There are televisions and toys almost in every corner. We have a giant slide on the ground floor, and even the bins are shaped like red London buses. The aim was to help the children to forget that they’re in a hospital and take their minds off their sickness.

Since my wife and I are in the same department, our offices are next to each other, both overlooking the Thames. It’s nice up here. Would’ve been nicer if we could sneak in a quickie, but that’s practically impossible with our shared secretary’s desk sitting literally in front of our doors. 

Speak of the devil.

“Good morning. Here’s your tea,” my secretary follows me into my office with a cup of tea and a tiny plate with a couple of rich tea fingers. “Clinic until 3 pm, scheduled PDA ligation in the laboratory for 4 pm and then evening rounds on the wards.”

“Mornin’ Rhonda, you look lovely today,” I greet her cheerily. She’s a stern-looking woman who definitely likes her tea as strong as tits and who has probably never cried in her life. With such severity, she runs a tight ship, but she secretly has this affectionate side in her too. Not only is she a great secretary, but she also takes care of us in a way as a grandma does. She makes us tea, feeds us in between surgeries with biscuits or nice baby cheeses and crackers just so we wouldn’t starve. 

See that sofa over there in the corner of my office? Rhonda got me that. It was around the time when I had just become a new father with the sweetest, most gorgeous little baby who did not sleep. Alma wasn’t a fussy baby though. For some reason, she just wouldn’t go back to sleep after her midnight feed for months. Believe me, I tried everything. I changed her nappy, I swayed and jiggled and rocked and sung her to sleep. Odd nonsensical songs like, ‘Alma darling go to sleeep. Sleepy sleep sleep. Pleeeeease. I’m so tirrrred. My eyeballs may actually exploooode. I don’t want you to see thaaat.’ And she would just look at me all wide-eyed like I’d lost the plot. Those were song lyrics? That was rubbish. Please don’t give up your day job. Also, it’s not sleeping time. I’m awake. I’m ready for life. Come on, entertain me, old man. Isn’t this nice, just you and me? Tell me everything you know. EVERYTHING. 

Except of course she didn’t say all that. She would just stare at me and I had no idea what was going on in her little head. 

I took over my wife’s patients at the hospital during her maternity leave, so I had longer hours at the hospital. One day Rhonda found me napping on the floor between surgeries, so she sweet-talked some porters into looking for any old sofas on the go and paid to have this one reupholstered. She even bought me a fleece throw for it too. We really don’t deserve her.

“You hittin’ on me?” She deadpans. “Yer wife not doing it for you these days?”

“It’s the blazer. I’m a sucker for a blazer.”

“If I’d known, I would’ve worn it more often,” she replies. “Did my nice dress yesterday not give you the fanny flutters?”

“It’s schlong shiver for me,” I roar with laughter. “And it’s the tartan, makes you look well old.”

“YN, yer husband’s a bloody git, did I ever tell you that?” Rhonda says loud enough for my wife to hear, and I can hear my wife’s laughter from her office next door. “Drink your tea. Your first clinic appointment is in twenty.”

“Yes ma’am,” I salute her. 

***

The Arctic ward in the Evelina is home to many of our imaging, heart and kidney services. The name is probably giving it away, but everything is decorated in blue and white to go with the theme. We have several zones, and since paediatric cardiology clinics are held in the Walrus zone, I spend a great deal of time each day looking at walrus and snowflake decals. 

“Doctor Styles!” I hear a little voice shouts in excitement as I walk towards the waiting room in the outpatient ward. I smile, because I recognise that voice even before I see the little person.

The waiting room is very open here compared to other hospitals. There’s a sea of noise, snacks, tiny juice boxes and colouring pages. There’s also always a look of expectation, judgement on the faces of parents and guardians every time I walk in. They want to see if their doctor is old or qualified enough to see their children. There’s always one child who has the whole gang with them; parents, two sets of grandparents and even several aunts and uncles, and there’s also at least one child running around in circles out of boredom. 

This little lad bounces off his chair and hurls himself at me in a way like a little puppy would when its owner comes home from work. I put an arm out, hoping that he’ll apply the brakes but no such luck and he bundles himself into my arms. “Nice to see you, mate.”

His parents smile as they watch their son’s antics, who then runs off as I shake their hands. I turn around to see what caught his attention, and I can’t help but chuckle when I realise it’s my wife. 

“Doctor pretty Styles!” He exclaims excitedly as he bundles himself into her arms. She gets a mouthful of curls in the process. 

“Hi Rory,” she greets him as she runs her fingers through his curly mop. 

“Oi,” I pout as I walk towards them. “You don’t think I’m pretty?”

“Your wife is prettier,” he says with a shrug, his tone matter-of-fact.

She laughs and gives him a high-five. “Rory, you are officially my favourite patient.”

She is right. Rory is one of our special patients for sure. We’ve both known him for about six years now, ever since Rory’s mum gave birth to this tiny human next door at St Thomas and his heart was literally broken. I remember watching proudly from the theatre when my wife replaced two of his valves when he was born. It was in our early years of training. Long time patients like Rory almost always feel like family. We’ve seen all their parents’ tears and watched over their children throughout the years. They send us cards and wine every Christmas and despite all attempts to keep a professional distance, their kids do feel like our own.

Rory shrugs off his dinosaur rucksack and unzips it, pulling out a drawing of a blue whale and an opened packet of KitKat. I like that the whale wears a top hat and appears to also don a moustache. 

“I drew you both a picture. Only one though, because I figure you can share,” he says with a big toothy grin and hands the packet of KitKat to my wife. “And I’ve got half a KitKat here. Do you want it?”

“I’m good for now. Keep that KitKat for later on the tube,” she smiles and waves at Rory as she begins to walk away towards the fetal cardiology ward just down the hall. “Bye Rory, thanks for the picture.”

“Bye doctor pretty Styles,” Rory replies, making my wife laugh as she walks away. I give her a wave and a wink. 

“Hey Rory, did you know a blue whale has a heart the size of a small car?” I ask him and his eyes widen.

“No way! That’s mega!” He exclaims. “Do you think you could operate on a whale heart?”

“I would need a very big ladder,” I tell him. “And a wetsuit. I’d give it a go though.”

A senior nurse from the outpatient ward, Florence approaches us with a junior nurse trailing behind her. “Dr Styles, always a pleasure.”

I smile at her. “Florence. How are we today?”

“Busy as usual,” she replies. “We’re about twenty minutes behind I’m afraid. We had Dr Goodridge in this morning and you know he likes to talk.”

“He always runs over,” I chuckle. “Well, don’t worry. I’ll skip lunch and get us back up to speed.”

“I’ll make sure to send some snacks for you. Here’s your chart, your files are already in your office. And this is Alice, your nurse today. She’s newly qualified so might need some instructions.”

The new nurse looks terrified so I smile at her to try and calm her fears. I totally get that. When you work in medicine, unfortunately, you’ll realise that there are a lot of rude self-important wankers. 

I look down at my chart and find Rory’s name on the top of the list. “Well, look who’s coming with me to the exam room.”

Rory reaches out to hold my hand and we walk towards the examination room. His parents follow us closely, carrying the usual coats and devices that people do when they know they’re bound for a hospital waiting room. I see them inside and sit behind the desk.

“So, young man, I hear we’ve had a touch of drama with you. Can you tell me what happened?”

I’ve actually already got the information in the file, but I like the way this kid tells a story. He reminds me of my youngest. 

“So… I was at school and we were doing PE and I wasn’t really feeling it because it was cold and really we should have been inside but Mr Witter makes us go outside because he used to be in the Army apparently and he says we should get used to the cold but that’s what they do in prisons.”

I smile. “Go on.”

“And then my heart started running.”

“You mean racing?”

He nods firmly. Racing isn’t even the word. It sprinted to the finish like Bolt at 252 beats per minute, three times the speed it should.

“It felt like bubbles in my chest and then the school went crazy panicky and they called the ambulance and they brought me to the hospital but not this one, it was another one and it wasn’t as good because you weren’t there and they had really bad biscuit.”

His mum adds. “And they gave him some drugs to bring it back to a steady rhythm; they were close to shocking him.” Her voice trails off and both parents’ faces look drawn and pale remembering the incident.

Rory looks absolutely unbothered by this. To be fair, we have put this little man through everything. We’ve cut his chest open more times than is necessary for someone so small, we hook him up to machines and put him on treadmills. His resilience and character amaze me, and I really can’t imagine what it feels like to see your child so vulnerable and helpless, to be paralysed and weighed down with such worry.

“Alright then, little man, we need to make sure that your heart is working as it should. This is Alice, and she is going to take you over for an ECG and we just need to make sure your tick-tock is in good shape.”

Rory nods and jumps off the chair. His dad offers him a piggyback, and his mum smiles at them. I can hear Rory offering that half KitKat to Alice as they leave the room. 

His mother turns to me as the door is closed, her shoulders relaxing, allowing herself to breathe. “And how are you?” I ask her.

“You just think it’s done and then something like that comes along to scare you,” she says with a sigh.

“Let’s have these tests and then see if it’s anything major to worry about,” I try to calm her. “Episodes of rapid heartbeat is quite common in Rory’s case, and we can look into drugs to remedy that if necessary.”

She smiles, nodding.

“Did you have any other questions for me?”

She studies my face for a moment too long. “I… well, it will show up in Rory’s records soon, but my husband I are… I mean we’re getting a divorce.”

I pause for a moment. Of course, I know these things happen in life, but I’ve known this couple for years. I’ve seen them at their lowest ebb, bound by friendship and their love for that boy. I really do feel sorry for them.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I mumble.

“We just… we’re terrified about telling Rory.”

“He doesn’t know?” I ask.

She shakes her head. “We’re scared of breaking him. I mean, look at him. All of this stuff he’s been through and he carries on like nothing has happened. We don’t want to upset him.”

“It took a team of us the best part of six years to build Rory’s heart. There's a warranty on that workmanship,” I reassure her. “Have that chat with him. He’ll be fine.”

***

“Have we got time for dinner first?” I turn to my wife as we walk out of the hospital. We don’t normally have the luxury of ending our shift at the same time, but today is exceptional. We have parents’ evening at the girls’ school so Rhonda made sure to clear up our schedule after our evening rounds at the ward. 

“No, but we can raid M&S and eat in the car?”

I’m starving and I almost cry with relief at the suggestion. “Always knew I married the right woman.”

She chuckles. “Damn right you did.”

We leave the car at the hospital and she drags me along the walkways to Waterloo, the breeze biting at our cheeks. I pull her into M&S, dodging the marching commuters and grab a basket. 

“I’ll look for some wine,” she says before she saunters off. “Oh and I want sushi. None of that crap with the mayonnaise please.”

“Alright.”

I skipped lunch today so the whole place calls to me. I start taking very random things off the shelves: a packet of raspberry iced buns. That’ll do. I also take some hummus for my wife because she bloody loves hummus. I’m not even joking, I’ve seen her down a whole pot of it. Then I take some sushi as requested, some coleslaw, a family bag of mature cheddar and red onion crisps and a trifle. I hope I don’t bump into Rhonda. Next are cheese twists, noodle salad and cocktail sausages. 

It takes me a while to notice that there is a man right next to me with a roll of yellow stickers in their back pocket. Hello there, you are one of my favourite people tonight. Have I managed to find that sacred hour when all the food is being marked down? He labels some prawns with dip and even though I get a little squeamish about eating fish near its expiry date, I put it in my basket. I then follow him around the corner. Now, this is dinner. I put all sorts of random food in my basket and smile at the thought.

Ooh, knockdown pizzas. I should get a pizza. That’s tomorrow’s tea sorted, the girls will love it. Although I can’t help but wonder, what’s the limit for us to feed our daughters frozen pizza in a week before they get taken away from us? But eh, we might be able to get away with it if we give them frozen peas on the side. 

“Look at you,” says my wife, depositing two bottles of red in the basket. 

“Yes, it’s me. I’m the yellow sticker bitch.”

She snickers as we turn to head for the tills. “Excellent work.”

***

“Mr and Mrs Styles, welcome.”

“Mrs Ebner, always a pleasure,” I shake the headmistress’ hand who’s standing at the door. 

“Busy evening?” My wife asks her as she shakes her hand next.

“Always,” the headmistress replies with a smile, then proceeds to speak like she’s reading out of brochures. “But such a wonderful opportunity to connect with our parents and build on the special relationships we have with our school community.” 

Two uniformed minions appear.

“Lewis, Maggie, could you please show Mr and Mrs Styles through to the drinks reception?”

They both nod in unison. The boy holds his arms out like a waiter showing us to our table. We follow them through the school’s grand corridors to the main hall. It’s the one thing I like about this place. It’s very Hogwarts-like with hefty engraved name boards and sepia photos of successful sports teams. In the hall, a throng of parents mill around waiting to see respective teachers. It’s the same every year. We all dodge the people from the PTA trying to sell us quiz tickets, and the bowls of crisps out of hygiene concerns.

“Red or white?” Asks a lady in an apron.

This right here is the very reason we get through parents’ evening. From the look of the bottle, it’s decent wine too. I think that’s where a good proportion of our fees is going. 

“Red, please.”

We both take our glasses and walk to the corner of the hall. It’s essentially a holding area without the background music. The idea is that all the parents will get on and create a party vibe but it just becomes a strange family gathering. As terrible as it sounds, it’s sorted into cliques: parents who know each other via NCT groups, the international expat brigades who keep to themselves, the parents who’ve ostracised themselves by gossip, the ones who you know regularly brunch and ski together.

The boy from earlier suddenly appears in front of us. “Mrs Hughes is ready for you.”

I put my hand on the small of my wife’s back as we walk towards the classroom. Fiona’s teacher first and then Alma’s straight after. Right, we can do this.

“Mrs Hughes, we meet again,” I shake her hand. I’ve got no qualms about Mrs Hughes. She’s a seasoned teacher who likes a slack and sensible moccasin and we’re familiar with her since she taught Alma two years previously. When we enter the classroom, Lewis bows in reverence, taking his leave and I wonder whether to tip him. 

“It’s always lovely to have another Styles girl in my classroom. Fiona is a particular delight.”

My wife and I smile proudly. I’m sure Mrs Hughes says this to every parent here about their child, but that’s always nice to hear. 

“She talks a lot about you,” my wife says. “She seems to have settled in well.”

Mrs Hughes opens up a couple of books and it’s classic Fiona. Alma is ordered and neat—if she makes a mistake then she erases it completely and she underlines things with a ruler and listens to instruction carefully. She gets that from her mum. Fiona though, on the other hand, she’s all me. She has more wild abandon about her; no rulers, no rubbers. She puts giant crosses through things that don’t work and likes her bubble writing decorated with doodles of many, many cats.

I glance around the classroom as Mrs Hughes talks to us about standardised scores. The theme of the school is to show you how smart and educated these children are. Look at the copperplate handwriting, their reproductions of Van Gogh and our languages corner where they’ve all had a go at telling us what they like in French. I spy a contribution from my girl. J’adore les chats et le gâteau au chocolat. 

I’ve lost track of the conversation so I try to catch up.

“So to push Fiona into those top scores, perhaps we can look into tutoring? For maths, in particular, so she can grasp some of the concepts a little more tightly,” says Mrs Hughes. 

My wife and I look at each other confused. “Uh, I don’t think there’s a need, right? She’s only five.”

“It’s never too early,” replies Mrs Hughes. “We run an after-school tutoring club on Tuesdays that would help.”

Back when I was a youngster, clubs were fun endeavours that involved matching baseballs caps or were a chocolate biscuit that you had in your lunchbox. Maths tutoring session was not a club.

I ask her. “Is it free?”

“It’s fifteen pounds per session.”

See? My point being this should be a parents’ evening, not a sales session.

“Well, then it’s something to think about,” says my wife. “It could be that Fiona catches up with people throughout the year.”

“Possibly,” Mrs Hughes nods. Still, though, she proceeds to go into her folder and passes me a form. Sneaky. “Fiona has also shown great interest in languages and art. Her pictures have been a joy.”

Mrs Hughes goes to a file and pulls one of Fiona’s drawings. I glance down at it. It’s a standard child piece of art. The grass and sky are strips of colour to the top and bottom. It’s a family portrait, and we are as tall as the broccoli style trees. Wait, hang on a second. I count the number of people in the picture again. Is that-

“And Mrs Styles, I gather congratulations are in order,” she says with a smile. “Such lovely news.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Fiona told me it’s a boy,” she adds, and the sheer terror on my wife’s face at the realisation is priceless. “You must be very thrilled.”

I study the picture. There’s a house in the middle, and standing in a line in front of the house is our family. The one slightly taller than the broccoli tree is me. I’ve got my white lab coat, and I look like a serial killer because I’m holding a scalpel with the size of a butcher’s knife. Next to me is my wife, also with a white lab coat, but instead of a scalpel, she’s holding a very chunky baby who rather looks like a basketball with a head.

“Oh dear,” I chuckle. “Guess now we know what she’ll ask for Christmas.”

“Yeah,” my wife shakes her head. “We’re not expecting.”

“Oh, I apologise,” Mrs Hughes says with a sheepish smile.

“No worries, Mrs Hughes,” I tell her. “So, what else has our girl been up to here? Besides gossiping of course.”

Mrs Hughes laughs under her breath. “Well, in class, Fiona is attentive, bright and very helpful. She is a credit to you both.”

***

“I swear your daughter, Styles.”

We’re sitting in the car now. Finally done with parents’ evening, still laughing at the slightly creepy, chunky basketball baby in Fiona’s picture and the fact that three people, including Mrs Hughes, have congratulated us for the ‘baby’.

“You haven’t called me Styles in years,“ I turn to her with a grin. “Not since medical school.”

I can’t help but flashback to the good ol’ days when we had matching university hoodies and we’d test each other on the parts of a kidney whilst walking into lectures, sitting next to each other, sharing pens and cans of Lilt. 

“Well, after that I became a Styles too,” she chuckles. “Would be confusing then, wouldn’t it?”

“True,” I laugh under my breath, then I grab her hand and pull it to my mouth so I can kiss her knuckles. “Thank you.”

“What for?”

“For being a Styles.”

“Aw, aren’t we soppy tonight?” She smirks. “Alright, stop the car.”

“What?”

“There,” she points to a dark empty spot and I oblige. 

Then, before I can even ask her why, she reaches over and grabs me by the collar. Pulling me close to her and gives me a kiss. I kiss her back, and I smile when she bites gently on my bottom lip.

“Oi, oi. Something’s got you randy.”

The next thing I know, she undoes her seatbelt and then rolls her trousers down her legs along with her knickers, fumbling and giggling at the awkward movement. I push my seat back and pull my trousers down. 

“Don’t fall on gearstick now,” I joke as she climbs over to straddle me. “Well, unless you want to, of course…”

She laughs as she lowers herself over my lap. I really can’t believe what’s happening here.

“Mrs Styles, we’re about to have sex in a car. Around the corner from our daughters’ school.” 

“I know,” she says with a smile before she runs her tongue along my neck. “Not our first rodeo though.”

“Oh right, we did it in our Volvo years ago, didn’t we? Thought the suspension couldn’t take it.”

“And it turned out fine. Told you that you needed to have more faith in the Swedes, they’re a reliable breed.”

“I love it when you talk about Sweden.”

“Ikea.”

“Fuck.”

“Meatballs.”

“Billy Bookcase.”

She throws her head back in laughter and I take this as an opportunity to run my tongue along her collar bone. She gasps. I reach down to lift her before I slowly lower her over my cock. We both sigh as I enter her, a long exhalation with our lips barely touching. 

“Viggo Mortensen.”

“Isn’t he Danish?”

“Tomato, Tomahto.”

I smile at my wife and push my hips up, silently telling her that we don’t need to talk about Swedish people anymore. She grabs onto the car seat and levers herself up and down. I look at her in the eye, a goofy smile still plastered across my face.

But then I squint. Light. Bollocks, what’s that? Where’s that light coming from? Crap, that’s bright. Shit. I see the flash of a hi-vis jacket, a knock at the window and someone shaking their head.

Oh sodding fucking bollocking shit wank.

[delirious-donna]

To be honest, I can't quite believe I've hit this milestone already and actually I achieved it two days ago (this is so unreal to me)!

I would love to personally thank every single one of you, but y'know, I do have a life and I'm definitely not rich enough to be visiting you all, but just know that I would!

Anyway, this is to allow me an opportunity to give back! Please have a look at the rules and pick something you'd like from me!

Event Close Date: CLOSED 29th August 2022 (or if I get snowed under, but I'll update) Rules and options are below the cut ^^

The Rules

must be following me

over 18 blogs only, yes I'm offering SFW options but my blog is primarily NSFW so yeah... NO MINORS!

can be for any of my fandoms: Naruto, Jujutsu Kaisen, My Hero Academia, Black Clover, Fairy Tail, Edens Zero & Bleach

requests need to be off anon so I can check the top two rules are being followed but if you want to stay anon when I post, just tell me, it's no problem

at this time I'm not going to limit requests per person except ones that are first come first served - but be mindful of others

please be patient, all requests will be fulfilled but I do have to work and live so yeah...gimme a chance to rock your world

all drabbles/scenarios will be around 500 words, although I am not known for brevity so it could be more

I will assume female reader in scenarios unless gender neutral is specified, male reader needs to be assessed on a case by case basis but is not a straight no

I'll be using the tag delirious500 for all posts for this event

Option One - Can I take you out? (SFW)

Self-ships are amazing and need more coverage so this option is for anyone that wants that true experience with your favourite beau. Send me a description of yourself, as much detail as you are comfortable with (physical attributes, hobbies, maybe a little of your dress sense and if you consider yourself an introvert or extrovert) or you could send a photo – which will be deleted, of course. Choose a pet name or nickname and tell me your favoured character. I will write up a date for you cute little sweethearts. I am asking for this to come in off anon, but you can tell me you would prefer to be anon when it posts. No one needs to know it’s you if you don’t want!

Option Two - Sin with me... (SFW or NSFW)

Sinning never felt better than when it’s done with your beloved. Choose one of the seven deadly sins and your character of choice. I will write up a drabble based on your choices, this can be either SFW or NSFW, just let me know what you want. If I find I get too many requests for the same sin, I might take it off the menu. Just remember, lust isn’t the only fun one… promise.

Pride, Greed, Lust, Envy, Gluttony, Wrath & Sloth

Option Three - I wanna do bad things with you (NSFW)

Pick a prompt from below and give me your character of choice. I will write a short drabble around the theme of the quote. Let me know if there is anything you specifically do NOT want to be included. Only one request for each prompt – I will cross them out as they go. If I get two for the same then it will be first come first served but I will offer another option to the person who misses out, cause I’m a motherfucking sweetheart! ^^

“Your face would look better between my legs.”

“Roses are red, Violets are blue, I’m using my hand but I’m thinking of you.”

“I give you permission to wake me up if you get horny.”

“A gentleman holds my hand. A man pulls my hair. A soulmate will do both.”

“I wanna be the reason you slightly tilt your phone away from others when you read it.”

“I swear to you I won’t stop until your legs are shaking and the neighbors know my name.”

“Respect me. Adore me. Dominate me.”

“I want to taste me on your fingers.”

“The key to a great marriage — keep the fights clean and the sex dirty.”

“Now spread your legs and try to tell me about your day.”

“Spank me. It’s the only way I learn.”

[murdereraisuha]

Navigating Twisted Wonderland Pixiv

Disclaimer: I am not Japanese, I am far from being fluent in Japanese, and I am not very involved in the Japanese TWST fanbase. If you’re good at Japanese PLEASE add on to this or correct me if there are mistakes.

I haven’t seen anything like this around here, so I thought I would try to make a little thing to help people who also aren’t good at Japanese.

Resources

deepL : a translator created by a deep learning ai company. Extremely good (though not perfect of course), dump google translate right now and switch to this to make your life so much better.

jisho : An online dictionary. You can input english, japanese, and romaji japanese. There’s options to input kanji by drawing it or selecting radicals (the parts that make up a kanji) and there’s voice input. Great for translating single words/phrases. You can also use it to figure out the parts of a sentence since it tries to separate out and translate each part, though it’s not 100% reliable.

kanji . sljfaw . org : Another resource for finding kanji. I usually use its multiradical by type option, which separates the radical options into enclosure, left, upper, middle, and less common elements.

hougen . hirosakicity . com : An example of dictionary for Tsugaru dialect, the dialect Epel uses. This doesn’t cover every single Tsugaru dialect word though. When I was trying to understand Epel in the December update I had to use like 3 different dictionaries.

Any search engine : “Meaning” in Japanese is 意味. Put that after whatever word/phrase you need help with and search it, hopefully you’ll find something.

kamigame . jp/ツイステ : Japanese TWST wiki

If you’re learning Japanese like me, I recommend using quizlet or something so you can make a collection of words you’ve had to look up and then test yourself on them occasionally to increase the chances of remembering it.

Finally, if you can’t read hiragana/katakana, please learn it it will probably help you a lot. It’s not scary alright, just read the learning hiragana and katakana guides on tofugu then find a quizlet set and keep testing yourself on them until you’ve got those mnemonics down well. You’ll be slower than a snail at reading it at first but just keep getting practice and it’ll gradually get faster and feel more natural to you.

Ship names

The Japanese spellings for stuff like the character names can all be found on the english wiki, so I’m not putting them all here.

I’ll teach you how to form TWST ship names though, based on my observations. Ship names are generally formed using the first 2 katakana of each person’s name. First 3 if there’s small katakana. If there’s a dash in the way, it’ll stop before it like Deuce (デュース) becoming Deu (デュ), it will delete the dash to keep going like Ace (エース) becoming エス, or leave the dash like Ace becoming エー. Also Jack (ジャック) becomes ジャク. Idk, use common sense to try and reason out what is short yet still identifiable as the character. If you can’t figure it out just search for the character, scroll until you see an obviously shippy image, then check its tags.

Edit: included Ace becoming エー. The shortening that is used depends on the ship.

Anyway, those shortened names are then smashed together with the “seme” going first to form the ship name. If you search a ship and you don’t find much, try switching around the names.

Examples: 

Floyd (フロイド) + Riddle (リドル) = FuroRido (フロリド)

Jade (ジェイド) + Silver (シルバー) = JeiShiru (ジェイシル)

You notice something about Floyd and Jade’s names? Yes, they both end in ido (イド). This is why ships involving the two of them with someone else are named things like IdoAzu (イドアズ) and IdoKali (イドカリ). Be careful not to mix up イドアズ with イデアズ, which is Idia and Azul.

A thing to note about names in general in the Japanese fan base is that they often use emojis for characters (ex. Jade is 🐬). Search ツイステの絵文字 in google images and you’ll find multiple guides on what characters are what emoji.

Random Pixiv tags and vocabulary in no particular order:

注意 = warning

ログ = log

まとめ = compilation

稚魚 = fry.   As a Pixiv tag, baby Octavinelle

化 = -ification (ex. うさぎ化 = bunnyification, TWST charas as bunnies)

_章 = chapter _    (ex. 5章 = chapter 5)

寮長／副寮長 = dorm leader / vice dorm leader

オクタ = Octa, shortened version of Octavinelle

ツイポケ = TuiPoke, TWST x Pokemon crossover. A Pixiv tag.

オバブロ / 闇落ち = Overblot, 2nd one is literally something like “fallen into darkness”

落書き = doodle

監督生 = Prefect/Yuu/MC. Shortened to 監 for ship names.

ツイ腐テ = Twisted Wonderland Yaoi

ネタバレ = spoilers

Alright, that’s all I have for now. If I think of more useful info I’ll add it in a reblog.