#I'm betting well see wither 3 or 4

[overworkedunderwhelmed]

The classmates premise in Protection reminds me a lot of something (below the cut for those holding off for chronological order):

The “Kiss will fix everything” theory sure sounds a lot like DARK CUPID, doesn’t it? I mean, kisses never fix everything, but they can sure help sometimes.

Especially when true love’s kiss works, even when you are Ladybug and in full S1 denial about feelings for your adorkable partner.

Sincerely, as someone who literally wrote a Darker Cupid spec fic within the last month because of what canon seemed to be doing.

If Dark Cupid was step 1, Elation gave us a step 2 echo of that same type of moment in frightening chaos of Marinette’s potential Akumatization, and Chat Noir’s hasty version of said kiss to distract her. Was there love there, sure. But he felt unworthy of it because of his own duty.

3. They’ve now established a new pattern of turning a prior, but early Akumatization idea upside down when the villains have been upcycled (Darker Owl, Riposte Prime, etc.) The exact how and the why can vary to however the writer’s have wanted to bridge piece together.

But Darker Cupid would require some Kim backstory...and presumably heartbreak of some sort.

Interestingly, Kim was the only other holder that neither Marinette or Adrien knew about. Master Fu handed him the colors.

Hawkmoth knew about him, though at the end of...S3? They’ve never really played that hand.

Ondine has...not really been present.

Kim had a crush on Chloe, which doesn’t exactly show the best judgment...just vanity.

He tried to throw shade at Alix and she curb stomped him.

Max is his best friend but they’ve never been shown to be very close.

If I was Chloe or Lila, Kim would be the class’s weakest link...and one of the strongest Akuma in terms of mass confusion and damage.

We need Chat Noir to come to the realization that Ladybug does love him. One that he cannot possibly deny. Maybe a Darker Cupid isn’t the mode, but this realization must happen and happen sometime soon.

4. Lastly, if Monarch has shown he can try to Akumatize one, it is very possible for Monarch to try to Akumatize them both simultaneously... especially if he feels that he has no other option left to him.

Especially if Nathalie is actively working against him and Lila has managed to turn the manipulation tables on him...

Fighting off their inner demons would make for a rather terrifying visual.  

The resurgence of Ladybug’s trauma and fears at the sight of Chat Blanc and his hauntingly distant blue eyes...that hadn’t quite lost who he was.

Maybe a Dark Sandboy version of Ladybug shouting to his fears that she would never love him...maybe with mirrored echoes of Marinette fearing that their love could never come.  That she couldn't love him, especially in his form that could so easily destroy everything in this world.

Making him terrified again that he would be constantly alone, just as he has lost or is losing everyone else in his life.

Where Ladybug and Chat Noir are fighting off their darkest left with no other choice but to save each other...to save the one they love the most at their darkest moment.

The power of love always so strong, perhaps?

[shiningdesignersreflections]

Chapter 4: Betraying Promise

Narrated by Yuntan.

Narrator: Not only did I not bloom that year because of the chilly rain, I was also sick all through spring. I had never been happier, though.

Narrator: Because for the first time in forever, I didn't need to be jealous of those flowers that blossom in spring, and fall didn't feel as bone-chilling anymore.

Narrator: I keep count of when I will be able to see the tiger again. With each day going by, I am one day closer to the next New Year's Eve.

Narrator: I've had one year's worth of nutrients and energy saved up... all just so I would be able to put on a grand finale on New Year's Eve.

Narrator: Then comes New Year's Eve. One really couldn't have asked for better weather.

Narrator: The sky is deep blue and free of clouds. The stars are shining brighter than fireflies on a summer night. The dew on my leaves sparkle like the stars in the sky.

Narrator: As I bloom, I clean my face with the dew and let my fragrance disperse with the breeze.

Flower: I've always been the most beautiful of flowers in this valley... but this year, people will find me even more so!

Narrator: But I wait and wait, and I go from feeling happy to feeling anxious.

Narrator: Until patches of faint white smudge the sky in the east; until the rays of the morning sun sear my cheeks...

Narrator: Until my delicate petal curls under the heat of the sunlight, do I gaze across the valley, beyond the mountains.

Flower: I waited for one whole night... But the tiger does not come.

Choose either "It probably forgot" or "Maybe something is holding it up."

If "forgot," ...

You: Well, a year is pretty long, so the tiger might have forgotten about it already.

Narrator: How come? I still remember, though!

If "something," ...

You: Maybe something is holding it up on the way?

Narrator: I bet that's the case. I bet something is holding it up.

--

Narrator: New Year's Eve never feels so long. The tiger never comes, and my beautiful petals wither away as the night goes by.

Narrator: But it didn't bring me down. When New Year comes again, I open up again in a most beautiful bloom and wait for the tiger to come.

Narrator: I don't want it to see me all sad and upset when it shows up.

Narrator: But still, it doesn't show up.

Flower: Did it get hurt on the way? There are snakes everywhere here, and apparently there is a miasma around, too. It would be terrible if it ever gets hurt.

Choose "Maybe."

You: Well, that explains.

Narrator: Another year gone, and the tiger still doesn't show up.

Flower: The road is too slippery, isn't it? It's soaking wet all over because of the rain a few days ago, and I haven't seen people coming up here this year. Too bad...

Choose "Maybe."

You: That's possible. You wouldn't really want to come up here when the weather isn't in your favor.

Narrator: And year after year, I bloom and wither. I have been waiting.

Flower: Well...

Choose "Maybe."

You: I don't think... he's coming.

Narrator: I was about to say the same. It's time to accept the reality, right?

Narrator: We really were just two strangers crossing each other's paths anyway. It only makes sense that he already forgot about me.

Flower: There is no point counting on a lost cause, and I'm just going to live my life the way I always have.

Narrator: Except I never feel the same anymore.

Narrator: I prepared myself for a glorious bloom every year and looked forward to being seen. When no one came, it was my little promise with the tiger that kept me strong.

Narrator: But even a promise so insignificant has slipped my only friend's mind.

Narrator: I grow used to the deep slumbers in the darkness of earth, letting time slip quietly through the mundane days.

Narrator: Only on the last day of each year, when the cold night wind blows, and under the dim crescent moonlight do I awaken.

Narrator: I still bloom the night before New Year as promised, even though no one is ever around to see me.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 5

[princekunge]

Betting on Boredom Chapter 3: Lucky One

Taeyong x OC | Story Masterlist | Chapter 4

By the next day the cold had arrived and Na Ri found herself bundled up in her warmest jacket with scarf and gloves standing next to her best friend on the bleachers of the school. The large group of people jostled one another and laughter and cheers were heard traded among the crowd. The school colors could be found in many forms on all the students and an air of excitement permeated the air. Even Na Ri wasn't immune to the atmosphere as she laughed and chatted with Seulgi, keeping her arms close to her body in an attempt to stay warm. Ten was somewhere among the crowd, probably with Johnny drinking and flirting with girls, his laughter was easy for Na Ri to pick out above everyone else. 

The big game was here, and as promised Na Ri and Seulgi had come to cheer Yuta on. The two teams were out on the field warming up. Na Ri could see Yuta's number from across the field as a dribbled the black and white ball around a few of his teammates before kicking it towards the goal. "So are we expected to win this?" Na Ri asked leaning over to Seulgi. 

"It's supposed to be close. The other school is pretty good, but we've got something they don't." Seulgi said looking excited.

"And what is that?" Na Ri questioned turning to face her friend. 

Seulgi turned to Na Ri a big smile on her face. "Yuta." She answered a slight blush rising to her cheeks. 

Na Ri made at a face at her friend. "Seriously Seulgi?" 

"What? He's the best player on the team, everybody knows it." Seulgi defended biting her bottom lip.

"Then why is your face turning the same shade as the blush I bought last week?" Na Ri countered raising an eyebrow at her friend. She would have put her hands on her hips as well, but didn't want to lose any of the heat she was trying to build up by keeping her arms to her chest. 

"Oh shut up..." Seulgi muttered turning back to face the field. "It's because it's so cold out here." 

Na Ri decided it was better to just let it go and give her friend a break, she could antagonize her more later when they weren't slowly freezing. Turning back to the field as well she saw Yuta looking up towards the crowd. When he spotted Na Ri and Seulgi he began to wave, a big smile blooming on his face. "Well would you look at that, looks like someone is excited to see you." Na Ri said smuggly as she waved back at him. 

Seulgi was closer to the shade of a tomato now. "He's waving to the both of us, now shut up before I push you off these bleachers." 

"Is that a promise?" Na Ri quipped which earned her a withering look from her best friend. "How soon is this supposed to start?" She asked changing the subject. 

"You see the scoreboard over there?" Seulgi said pointing to a board on the other side of the field. 

"Yes." Na Ri answered. 

"You see the clock counting down?" 

"Yes."

"What do you think it's counting down too?" Seulgi asked.

"Uhhh.." 

"I'm literally going to end your life." Seulgi muttered throwing up her hands. "When the countdown ends the game begins. We have 15 minutes left." 

Na Ri pouted. "Oh my god that's forever." She bemoaned dramatically. "I'm going to go get a big pretzel or something from concessions. Want anything?" 

"I'm too nervous to eat." Seulgi answered back, her eyes glued on Yuta who was back to warming up on the field. 

"You're not even the one playing." Na Ri rolled her eyes. "I'll get you a pretzel too." She said stepping down from the bleacher and heading towards the stairs. 

"Don't forget the cheese!" Seulgi called out after her which Na Ri threw a thumbs up in response without even turning around. 

Bouncing down the steps she made her way behind the bleachers to the concessions stand where a large crowd was standing. A few people stood in line, but it seemed most everyone else was standing around talking waiting for the game to start. Joining the line for concessions Na Ri looked over the menu to make sure she had enough money with her. She was calculating if she could add on a packet of M&M's when something slammed into the back of her almost knocking her off her feet and into the person in front of her. 

"What the hell?" Na Ri exclaimed turning around to see what had happened. 

Behind her someone was picking themselves off the ground and brushing off any dirt. She could tell it was a guy from her school because they were wearing the same colors, but she couldn't see who it was. She was beginning to get incensed that they weren't turning around to apologize to her when she spotted why. Facing towards her and the man who had practically knocked her over were a group of four boys from the opposing school who all had sneers and pompous looks on their faces. 

"Oh sorry did I do that?" The one in the front asked sarcastically. 

"What the hell is your problem man?" The guy in front of Na Ri barked back. Na Ri groaned recognizing the voice, of course it would be Taeyong. She turned back to the line deciding to ignore whatever was going on behind her. Easier said than done. She felt a body, Taeyong she guessed, get pushed back into her, again almost knocking her on her face. 

That was all it took. "Hey asshole!" Na Ri snarled turning around catching the attention of the four boys and Taeyong. "Could you take your petty little macho game somewhere else. No one here gives a damn." 

The boys looked taken a back for a moment before schooling their features. "Stay the hell out of this bitch." One of them barked back. 

"Hey! Don't call her a-" Taeyong started stepping forward. 

"Oh I'M the bitch?!  Come here you little punk asses" Na Ri interrupted jumping in front of Taeyong as she made her way towards the group of boys. It was almost hilarious how their faces changed from cool confidence to confused terror as they watched Na Ri approached them balling her fists ready to start swinging. She had almost reached the first boy when a hand grabbed her arm and stopped her. "Let me go! They deserve it!" Na Ri shouted trying to pull her arm out of the grip. Unfortunately Taeyong was stronger than he looked. 

"Please Na Ri, as much as I would love to see you try to beat these guys up I'm pretty sure you don't want to go to jail for assault." Taeyong reasoned raising his eyebrow at her. Na Ri frowned as the four boys quickly scattered running off to their section of the bleachers. She was looking forward to punching one of them, but now she lost her chance. She wondered if she could get away with taking a swing at Taeyong. He must have seen the look in her eyes as he quickly let go of her arm and took a few steps back. "Uh, thanks for that though. I appreciate it." 

Na Ri frowned some more. "I didn't do that for you. I was just sick of getting almost pushed to the ground." She bit back crossing her arms. "Now if you'll excuse me I have food to buy and plenty of more important people to be talking too." She brushed past him and went up to the counter, the line having gone during the exchange. She ordered the pretzels and cheese and threw in the M&M's to make up for the shitty encounter. When she turned around again Taeyong was gone and Na Ri was able to make her way back to Seulgi in peace. 

"Hey what happened, you were gone a while" Seulgi asked taking her pretzel out of Na Ri's hands. "And why do you look like someone just insulted your entire livelihood?" 

"I'll tell you later." was all Na Ri said. "Yuta better kick this school's ass."

After the game Na Ri, Seulgi, Ten and Johnny waited around for Yuta to come out of the locker room. "Congratulations!!!" They yelled upon seeing him. "What's it feel like to be the best football player ever?" Na Ri joked. 

"Oh come on guys, we were just lucky. We played a great game and they played a terrible one." Yuta shrugged. 

"Still you were awesome out there." Seulgi insisted making Yuta's face flush slightly. 

"Only because I had my good luck charms here to cheer me on." He insisted. 

"Want to grab some pizza with us tonight?" Johnny asked tightening the strap on the bag he had brought with him. Na Ri wondered why he had brought it with him since she couldn't imagine that he was doing homework.

"Sorry can't, Taeyong and me are getting dinner with the rest of our dance crew tonight." Yuta apologized, "but next time definitely count me in." 

"You dance with Taeyong?" Na Ri asked furrowing her brow at the information.

Yuta laughed. "If you had started writing that article you would know that now wouldn't you." He joked elbowing her. 

"I hope you lose every single pair of shoes you own." Na Ri muttered back, clearly not amused.

"Well if I wake up tomorrow with no shoes I'll let you know that your witchy powers are finally starting to manifest." Yuta chuckled before waving bye to everyone and heading of to find Taeyong.

Na Ri watched him go. "Ten, I'll give you twenty bucks to steal all his shoes tonight." 

"Oh you're on."  Ten smiled devilishly.

The four of them left the stadium and headed to Johnny's car where they all piled in and made their way into the city to get pizza. On the way there Na Ri shared what had happened before the game and almost punched Seulgi in the face while reenacting it. When they arrived at the pizza place they sat at a table towards the back, ordering their usual favorites and some drinks. 

"Hey Johnny where did you disappear too during the game?" Ten asked turning to his roommate, who was absentmindedly checking his phone. 

Johnny looked up surprised at the question "Oh uh, I know someone who goes to the other school..." He answered vaguely before looking back at his phone again

"Well next time you see them, make sure you rub it in their face we beat them." Na Ri added. 

"Oh my god, you're going to hold a grudge against that school forever now because of those guys aren't you?" Seulgi said dropping her head in her hand, looking defeated. A smile tugged at Ten's lips.  

"They pushed Taeyong on top of me..TWICE!" Na Ri cried holding up two fingers to make sure they understood how horrible it was. Johnny stayed silent, only raising his eyebrows in response, while Seulgi could only shake her head before turning back to her phone.  

"Oh god! The horror! The HORROR!" Ten exclaimed grabbing onto Johnny's shoulder and shaking him like a ragdoll. Johnny quickly pushed him off.

"I'm writing you all out of my will." Na Ri grumbled. "Except you Johnny, you were never in my will." Na Ri continued thoughtfully after a moment. 

Johnny snorted while accepting his drink from the waiter who had arrived. "Oh thank god. I don't want to end up in possession of hundreds of half finished stories and a lifetime subscription to Cryptid Culture Magazine." 

"This callout was both unnecessary and completely true, you can find me crying in the bathroom at 2 am tomorrow." Na Ri sighed leaning back in her chair, pretending to cry.

"Hey Na Ri, you're favorite person updated like a couple minutes ago." Seulgi said showing her friend her phone. 

"What!" Na Ri exclaimed snatching the phone out of her hand. Scrolling through she could see that NCT 127 had updated and they were all photos from the game that night. "Oh my god he was at the game!" Na Ri proclaimed excitedly. 

"You don't even know it is a 'he'" Ten pointed out taking a sip from his drink.

Na Ri ignored him continuing to cycle through all the photos, until she reached one towards the beginning of the album that made her stop. "Oh my god."

"What, what is it?" Seulgi asked trying to see what Na Ri was looking at. 

All Na Ri could do was show them the photo, her voice having been knocked out of her body. It was a picture taken in front of the concessions stand before the game and it showed Taeyong with a grip on Na Ri's arm looking at her exasperated while Na Ri faced him, angered. If it was anyone else Na Ri would have thought it was a beautiful shot, but it wasn't. 

"Damn Na Ri why didn't you tell me you we're having hate sex with Taeyong." Seulgi hooted, laughing at the ever changing expression on Na Ri's face. "Cause you two look like that's exactly where this was headed. 

Na Ri slammed her head against the table and flipped them all off. "Go die." 

YutatheCuta: Na Ri where are my shoes

NaReally: What are you talking about

YutatheCuta: My shoes. 

YutatheCuta: They're all gone. And so are all my underwear

NaReally: Holy Shit

NaReally: My power is greater than I imagined. 

YutatheCuta: Please, I have practice in 30 minutes

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NaReally: Shoes and his underwear? What will this cost me?

Tenoutof10: The promised twenty bucks and you help me practice for an upcoming audition

NaReally: Deal

NaReally: Now make sure Yuta finds them before his practice

NaReally: which is in 30 minutes

Tenoutof10: Gosh darn it do you have any idea how hard it was to get on the roof the first time?