#I'm still trying to think of ways to include her without spoiling too much

[anathemafiction]

so now when vallen is also a ro, will you include her in patreon side stories/snippets as well?

Not yet! She will only have small teasers and snippets until a certain scene in the chapter I'm writing right now. After that, I can be a little bit more open, but since she, as a character, is a walking spoiler, I can't be as detailed for her as I am to the others until the apex of her arc in this book.

I always avoided talking too much about Vallen in the past, and I'll continue to do so for a little while. 'Tis the price to pay for being… well, for being her.

[yoongihan]

You Left A Mark - LYB - OneShot

pairing: felix x female reader

genre: smut, angst, fluff

romantic trope: soulmates (inspiration from this reel)

word count: 10k

rating: M for smut, a little language

warnings: cursing, penetrative sex (unprotected), kissing, cuddling, so much touching but it's FELIX, an excessive amount of felix admiration, mc is a reporter and i make up all of that because i know nothing, ages are never mentioned but felix is a few years younger than mc, mc is shorter than felix, silly use of skz song titles for the names of venues. i can't think of anything else that might need a headsup, please let me know if i've missed something.

a/n: fic #2 in skz as romantic tropes collab with @jl-micasea-fics. the soulmate trope i use is one i encountered here (it's a great fic and i'd highly recommend it) and i have no idea if it originated anywhere else. don't click if you don't want to be spoiled, my fic explains how it works about half way through.

--

It was, in appearance, just another work day like any other. 

In truth, just another work day tended to be not like any other work day as your job entailed reporting the news, which means you could be anywhere in the city in any kind of situation. Your job probably seems exciting to the regular person, but more often than not, it’s dealing with the news anchors’ larger than life egos and your producer not allowing you to cover much more than fluff pieces. 

You like fluff pieces, you do. The world is a big hot mess of negativity and darkness and reporting on a child who saved a hamster is definitely a small bright light in that void. But you also care about the dark things, the horrors big and small that need to be announced so that maybe someone can do something about them. 

But you aren’t there yet. According to your boss and her boss. You are still growing as a reporter, as a television personality (wtf?), and the latest showdown at the courthouse is to be covered by seasoned professionals.

Not little you and your four years of effort and hard work (not even counting the internship). 

But you digress. 

You’re in front of the newest coffeehouse in one of the smaller neighborhoods. Taste is the simple name and it looks more like a sleek, modern cocktail bar than a cozy coffee shop. Austere and intimidating if you aren’t someone who can look put together (which you often aren’t).

“So for those interested in a new type of caffeine experience,” You start to close your segment after speaking with the owner and manager. “This place is definitely for you. The coffee mocktails themselves would require multiple visits before you try them all. So come by and have a ‘Taste.’” You smile as brightly as you can despite the cringe-worthy pun, but before your cameraman (one of your favorite humans on the planet, Chan) can call cut, you are bowled into by someone running past. 

Part of your professional attire sometimes includes heels and as it is a particularly nice day that doesn’t require too much traversing, you wear heels. Which give no stability when being bumped by someone careening down the street. 

“Hey!” you hear Chan say but you can only concentrate on trying to keep upright (a losing battle) and you hold onto the microphone because compared to your body, the mic will cost more to replace.

But you don’t fall. You don’t feel the hard smack of the concrete against your skin. 

Hands are wrapped around your upper arms, grip firm and steady.

“You okay?” 

You try to regain your balance, find your footing in these insensible but pretty heels. “I’m okay, I'm fine.” You turn your head to see your would-be rescuer and have to blink a few times. 

Okay, freckles.

He smiles. This guy of probably mid-twenties, warm russet eyes, with black hair is smiling at you once you’re standing on your own merit. He releases you, but not without a quick pat as though to say ‘there you go, you got it’. 

“Thank you.”

His cheeks redden. “Oh, um, you’re welcome.” There’s an accent to his words, but you’re still rather gobsmacked by the entire exchange to place it.

“You alright?” Chan has moved to the both of you, eyes quickly inspecting you as though you might hide any injuries even though you didn’t fall. “It was some kid.”

There’s a deep sigh from your rescuer. “Yeah, he stole some of the chocolates we keep by the POS.” He runs a hand through his hair. “I…well, it’s just chocolate.” His smile is less brilliant and more sheepish. “He probably needed it.”

“Chocolate is not a necessity,” you reply immediately, but then pause and rethink your words.

“It might be.” He smiles again. “It’s pretty good chocolate.”

You shrug. “That’s fair…wait, we caught a crime on camera?” you ask Chan. “Amazing.” You brush yourself off even though you really aren’t covered in debris because again, you didn’t actually fall. But this guy’s attention is throwing you off just a bit.  

“I caught you nearly falling on your face,” Chan says before laughing at your glare. “I’ll edit it out.”

“Whatever,” You aren’t really annoyed because it’s Chan and you did nearly fall on your face. “Thank you, again, Mr….”

“I’m Felix,” your rescuer says. “I work here.” He reaches out to move a wayward piece of your hair out of your eyes, his finger brushing along your cheekbone. It makes you pause in your attempt at gratitude because you’re not really bothered. Like he’s a stranger and is touching you and you don’t mind? Because he has a nice, sweet face? “Sorry, you had some hair…”

You can sense Chan moving away, packing up the camera, leaving you relatively alone with this person. 

“It’s okay, it’s fine,” You stutter a little because you’re off your game. “Felix. At some point, I owe you a drink.” 

“Oh no, it’s not a–”

“I owe you a drink.” You smile, though it’s your television smile because you need to be professional even if you feel the least professional. “Even if it’s just a coffee.” You gesture to Taste. “If you want.”

The smile returns in full. “Yeah, okay. I’m here most days.” His lips part like he might say more, but he doesn’t. Nor do you. 

It’s nice just looking at him. The sun-warmed skin that contrasts with the inky black of his hair and eyebrows. He’s taller than you, but there’s no intimidation factor in the difference. He feels like someone you could meet anywhere and approach without worry.

You bet he gets great tips as a barista. Imagine walking in to get a coffee and that luminescent smile. 

You hear Chan call your name in an attempt to get you to head back to the studio. It shakes you out of the strange reverie this stunning, deep-voiced person has you in. 

“Well, I guess I’ll see you.”

He waves as you walk away before tucking his hands into his back pockets, rocking on the balls of his feet. It’s now that you notice that he wears the half-apron other employees were wearing, black pants and emerald shirt (a t-shirt, but like a really nice one). You glance back once you’re in the news van with Chan who chuckles.

“Isn’t he a bit young for you?”

You look back at the road and huff. “Aren’t you a little too interested?” You grab a granola bar out of your bag and take a bite, sighing happily. 

“Not at all. I haven’t seen you look at anyone like that though.”

“God, he’s cute, alright. And saved my job because I doubt I could keep reporting with a broken face.” 

“Methinks the lady doth protest too–”

“I can murder you, you know,” you interrupt. “No one would suspect because I know things. I’ve watched a lot of Criminal Minds.”

He presses his lips together, but is grinning. “Ooooo, scary.”

“Exactly.” You roll your eyes, your mind briefly leaving the cute barista and returning to all that is work. 

–

When you get home that night, he pops into your brain again. The pretty, voice as deep as the ocean, Felix. 

But not for the normal reasons one would ponder a good-looking acquaintance. 

He pops into your brain when you undress in your bathroom in order to take a much desired shower. In the corner of your eye, you see your reflection when you remove your shirt. There, in marked contrast to your skin, is the beginnings of the darkest bruise you’ve ever seen. 

“What the–” You turn to examine it better, spooked by it when you had no memory of bumping into anything that hard. Your other arm shows a similar discoloration, in a similar area. 

In fact, it almost looks like something left by a tight hand grip.

You roll your eyes at your own reflection. It hadn’t felt like he’d held you that hard, but you could bruise pretty easily, so of course, Felix, the fae-looking barista, grabbing you to keep from planting into the sidewalk would leave a mark. No big deal.

You pull your hair back as it is not hair-washing day, and then quickly use make-up remover on your face. You are stopped again by your reflection.

On your cheek, not as dark or as prominent, there is the slight darkening of another bruise.

You push a piece of your hair out of the way as you move closer to the mirror to see it clearer. As you do, it sparks the memory of Felix moving your hair and how you’d felt the brush of his finger keenly.

“But…like, a bruise?” Talking to your reflection isn’t a thing you do, but today really has been a weird day. You press it and wince. It does pinch a bit. Nothing worse than the time you ran into the sliding glass doors at your family’s home as a child. Nothing topped that fiasco and subsequent pain. 

Dismissing it as your body being more sensitive than usual, you hopped in the shower and soon went to bed after that. Your dreams are filled with a strange scenario of chasing after croissants and them being sucked into a hole in the sky. 

–

It’s two days later when you find yourself at Taste again. You aren’t sure if it’s just Felix who’s stuck in your brain, or the fact that the bruises you see when you wipe off your makeup and undress at night makes you remember meeting him; therefore, he’s just there, hanging around in your memory which is distracting. 

You tell yourself you just need some coffee that isn’t out of the ancient coffeemaker at the station. 

You can’t really buy him a drink unless you have his number or something after all.

The list of excuses and rationalizations you’re coming up with is concerning. 

You walk in and smile at the person behind the counter, trying to look for your rescuer without looking like you’re looking. The barista smiles at you as you place your order for a Fiery Redhead (salted caramel breve latte with a hint of cayenne) and you go to sit at an empty table by the window. You know you should ask if he’s working or coming in later, but you also just sort of want to not do much of anything for a few minutes. Work is very intense even on days you aren’t recording. News never stops whether it’s life-changing or just a cat stuck in a tree (life-changing for the cat), and you spend most of your off-work time catching up on stuff around your apartment or sleeping. 

You’re staring out the window, watching the cars pass, people drift by, and you aren’t sure where you go, but when you hear a slight noise, you jump and see a mug topped with curlicues of latte art. You look up the arm attached to see Felix smiling apologetically. 

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”

You feel your skin heat at his attention on you. You’ve thought about him quite a bit in the last forty-eight hours, assuming that maybe your fascination is due to that imagination of yours. But no…he’s really that lovely to look at. 

The freckles are particularly still eye-catching. 

“I just zoned out.” 

He’s wearing the uniform, though no apron. 

“Are you on break?”

“Haven’t quite clocked in yet,” he swallows. “Saw you…kinda thought you might be here because of me.”

On anyone else that could sound arrogant, but his voice is incredibly gentle and the lilt up at the end of his words frames it hopeful; a tiny question. 

“I am. You thought right.” You gesture to the chair across from you. “Hard to buy you a drink when I don’t know how to get a hold of you, except show up creepily at your job.”

As he sits, he’s chuckling, tugging on the foodsafe opaque plastic gloves encasing his hands. You notice them and it triggers something in your brain, but before you can follow that path, he speaks:

“I figured with your connections being a reporter, you could find out everything about me in mere minutes.”

You smile. “I’m so flattered you think that I have really good connections.”

“You don’t?”

“I’m still kinda low in the newsroom hierarchy.” You rest your chin in your hand. “How long do you have before your shift?”

He glances up behind you, presumably at a clock. “Ten minutes.”

“Early.”

“I hate rushing if I can avoid it.” He looks back at you and you take a second to marvel at the rich brown of his eyes. 

He is stupid pretty. 

“So…” you begin, trying not to be too direct (hazards of the job). “Is barista-ing something you’ve done before here?”

He nods. “Yeah, though this is a lot fancier than where I was before.” He shrugs. “I'm in school, so it helps pay the bills. And I like serving people.”

“School? For what?” You thought he might be young, but how young?

“Culinary. Baking specifically.” He smiles, the warmth just lighting him up. 

“That’s so cool.” You lean closer. “I am a passable cook, like enough to follow a basic recipe and feed myself, maybe buy cookie batter on days I need a sweet, but that’s the extent. If a recipe says to fold in something, I run away in fear.” His answering chuckle warms you more than the latte (though it is very good), all the way to your toes. “Do you love it? Even though it’s school?”

The skin between his freckles turns pink. “Yeah…I enjoy it. Both learning the traditional rules, and getting to experiment.”

“Do you get to experiment here?” You point toward the shelves of pastries. You’d been tempted by at least three. Maybe you’ll give in before you leave. 

“A little. When he’s feeling generous and doesn’t think I’ll screw it up.”

That’s a story you want to hear, but you file it away for later. Maybe when you get him that drink. 

“What about you?” he asks, derailing your thoughts. “Always wanted to do the news?”

You straighten up and gesticulate aimlessly. “Kinda. I think I wanted to do more print journalism in the beginning. But you have to do both in school and I was good at speaking clearly and on the fly, so I stuck with broadcasting.”

“What do you like about it?” Now he rests his chin in his hand, winces before then straightening. The pained expression makes you want to reach out and check on him. You aren’t uncompassionate or anything, but the immediate concern for this near-stranger is unusual.

Maybe it’s because he looks like taking care of him would be nice. Like to curl up with him on the couch someday and watch a movie together. You bet his hair is soft and playing with it would be so nice. Maybe he’d look up at you with those big eyes and ask you for a kiss, his voice all rumbly and–

Uhhhh, maybe you should not fantasize like that. 

“It feels important. Even when perhaps it’s not. I get to meet people and learn things I wouldn’t in a ‘normal’ job or ‘normal’ life.” 

“Makes sense.” 

You watch him look back at the clock and then sigh.

“Work?”

“Work.” He opens his hand. “I’ll give you my number? If you still want to–”

“I do.” Maybe a little too eager. “I mean, you are under no obligation if you don’t want to.” You pull out your phone and unlock it before handing it over.

“I do.” He says it simply and you wonder if he’s mildly as fascinated by you as you are by him. “I do, too.” His nose scrunches up as he types in his number, and it’s adorable.

“Okay.” 

He hands you your phone back and smiles at you. “Okay then.” He starts to stand, pressing his hands on the table to aid him and he grimaces. “Ow.”

“You okay?” The concern, again, you feel is bigger than it should be, but that’s another thing you file away for the time being. “Did you hit your knee?”

“No, I…” He is looking at his hands then at you, and you feel like he’s searching for something as he gazes at you. “It’s nothing.”

You must come up short. 

“I better…” He jerks a thumb toward the coffee bar. “I’ll hear from you?”

“Yeah.” You are still intrigued and concerned and a whole lot of other things, so you just force a smile to your lips. “Have a good shift, Felix.”

“Thanks.” He walks over to the bar, grabbing an apron to tie around his hips (why does that emphasize his narrow frame so much and why does that affect you?) and greets the other barista. You look back out the window, taking another sip of your drink (it’s really very good, especially with the heat of the cayenne) and try not to look back at him. 

But you do. You watch him as he greets each customer, that smile bright like stars. You watch as he moves around with the other barista in the small space, like a choreographed dance for two; opening a cabinet for something, closing it with his hip or foot as he moves to the espresso machine, spinning the knob to steam the milk. 

He speaks with a customer as he makes their drink, laughing without slowing down his work. He sets the paper cup in front of them, showing off the latte art you think, before covering it with the plastic lid. The customer takes it, with a smile almost as brilliant as Felix’s. He waves goodbye before glancing over at you.

You smile, embarrassed at being caught staring, but his tiny grin is shy and cute, and he gets back to making the next drink. 

There’s a quick rush in the thirty minutes that you spend there. A queue of ten people, several who are in a hurry and speak with sharp, short words. 

One even berating the other barista for not inputting her order quickly enough.

Felix comes to the side of his coworker, speaking calmly to the customer; not smiling, but not frowning. 

You wish you could hear what he says, but the lowness of his voice makes that difficult. The perturbed customer doesn’t look too pleased, but does seem to back off. Felix makes her drink and sends her on her way. 

He walks back over to his colleague, eyes searching and you know, you just know that he’s checking in. Making sure. 

Caring.

You glance at the dregs of your latte, surprised at how much you feel you know this person. You don’t. You know you don’t, but there are things about him that feel familiar. That feel safe, like maybe instead you could curl up in his arms, he could play with your hair, you could ask to kiss him, taste those curved, pink lips and–

You stand up rather abruptly, taking your mug and setting it on the marked table for dishes.

“Bye!”

You turn to see him looking bewildered but bidding you a farewell. You think you smile, but you just nod and hurry away. 

Good thing there’s a bit of traffic on the way back to the station. You need a moment or ten to calm down. 

–

It’s a few days before you actually message Felix and make plans. Work is relentless as the local election is days away and both candidates for commissioner seem to believe that character attacks on the other is the best way to convince people to vote for you. 

There was almost a fist fight yesterday. You also forgot to eat, which you didn’t realize until breakfast the next day. Perhaps your stomach shrunk because you could only do a small yoghurt in wake of not eating for a day. Despite the printed expiration date, you think it might have been spoiling already. It tasted tangy.

As you get ready for your…you’re just gonna call it a date and not overthink about it…, you see the bruises and they seem darker which makes little sense to you. You’ve bumped them a few times and it hurt, but no more or less than a normal bruise.

The bruise on your face is darker too, but your foundation and concealer does a good job of lessening the contrast so most of the time it looks like an oddly placed shadow. 

But you feel like it’s a thing. Something you can’t quite figure out. And you will, once the election and campaign stuff is over and perhaps you’ll have a bit more free time. 

But tonight is a date. A something with Felix. Who you have texted a couple times beyond the mere matching of your schedules. His schooling is at night four times a week. You imagine working a shift then going to class must be exhausting. You spent your undergrad years in class and in the library for work study. Not on your feet for eight hours or more, serving person after person. 

Wow, you are creating a traumatic story for him. He might really love both. 

He is excessively positive in his messages. He diatribes one night about nailing baumkuchen (you have to google that to understand what it is and why it’s hard) finally in class. 

He’s really proud of that grade. And though you had nothing to do with it, you’re really proud of him too. 

Something about him is just inviting, the opening of a door and a wave to come in. 

You arrive at Back Door, a relatively less popular bar than Up All Night, which is where you would normally grab a drink after work with your colleagues if you were feeling social (which is about 50% of the time post-work). You’ve not been to Back Door yet, but just walking in makes you smile. Everything looks like a hotel lobby with big couches and large tables to stand at. The art on the walls is a mixture of traditional and modern. The red and black color scheme is daring.

Not a place to get cozy, but a place to make an impression. 

Do you want to make an impression on Felix? Maybe.

You walk to the bar, finding a spot in between well-dressed people. You wait your turn for one of the two bartenders to find you and as you often do, you watch people and imagine what their lives might be like. 

“Hey.”

You jump at his voice (how do you forget how freakin’ deep it is every time?) and then you get his laugh.

“I keep scaring you. Sorry.” He squeezes in next to you and you get a new image of him. Dressed in ripped black jeans and a pale pink button-down shirt with black tie loosened. 

He is…delectable.

You shake your head to his comment as well as the path your thoughts are going. 

“I just zone out a lot.”

He moves closer, his ear toward you so he can hear better. You repeat yourself and he nods before turning back so his eyes can look into yours. 

Damn, that’s powerful. 

“Where do you go?” he asks. “When you zone out?” 

Do you admit that you regularly think about people you don’t know and make up backstories for them? You think that maybe he won’t judge you too harshly.

“I–” You cut yourself off when he lifts his hand to try and get the bartender’s attention. He’d had on gloves the last time you saw him, but he doesn’t now.

And the insides of his hand is dark. Like a bruise covering the length of his index finger across the palm to his thumb. 

As though he’d grabbed something (someone) and bruised himself. 

You don’t think to check for consent, but grab his hand, peering at the marks then you take his other. It doesn’t register that he just lets you, not even saying a word about your impoliteness. 

“Felix,” you say slowly. “You…” You look up and he’s looking at your arms which are covered by three-quarter length sleeves. You’ve been intentional about not highlighting that you look like you’ve gone through a round with a MMA fighter. You nod at the question in his eyes. 

What’s the point of lying? And to lie to Felix feels beyond wrong.

“Let’s get that drink and talk, huh?” he offers, tugging away from your hold to wave down the bartender. Your brain feels like it’s frozen, like a computer that has glitched so badly no matter what key you press, it’s unresponsive.

“What do you like?” Felix asks you softly, which helps your brain function just a bit. The bartender is there as well, waiting.

“Whatever you’re having.”

He nods, seeming to know that you are processing intensely at the moment. A few seconds pass, you trying to logic why bruises on him and you mean something, but you’ve got nothing when he nudges you with his elbow and lifts his chin to indicate you both should find somewhere to sit. 

You follow him, blindly, as he weaves through the weekend crowd, finding a small table in a far corner where the music and talk is muted. He sits, laying the two wine glasses on the table. You scoot in across from him, staring at the wine wine ripple in the glass before settling. 

“Can I see?”

You meet his gaze and shrug a yes, knowing what he’s asking. You shove up one of your sleeves, inadvertently pressing the bruise which makes you inhale sharply. He leans forward, hand reaching out to hold your arm carefully. 

“Fuck. That’s dark.” He lightly rubs his thumb over it, gentle. “I’m sorry.”

“I wouldn’t have thought much about it,” you begin, feeling content with him touching you, even though he’s the one who left bruises. He’s warm, not just in temperature, but it’s like he emits a toasty energy that flows into you. It’s odd, but you like it. “Because I bruise pretty easily, and you did keep me from busting my face. But…” You touch the bruise on your cheek. “You barely touched me here.” 

He follows your motion and peers closer. You actually stare back into his eyes, sparkly as they are with the bar’s array of lights. 

“Fuck.”

His second cursing makes you smile even if you don’t understand why. Maybe it’s because his freckles and generally soft demeanor make him seem innocent; i.e. not someone going around using the f-word so easily. 

You’re also really enjoying the skin to skin contact. You weren’t even cold, but his touch feels secure, sheltering. Like you’re in an oversized armchair with a cup of tea, reading on a thunderstorm night. 

“Do you know what it is?” His demeanor makes you think that he knows more than you, and you have to admit, you’re bothered that you’re so clueless right now. You’re used to being the smarter person on a date. 

Which explains why you don’t date much and have been single for nearly two years now. 

“I…no. I didn’t realize you had them too.” You sigh, and trace the marks on his hand that isn’t holding you. You don’t question the intimacy as you’re pretty sure whatever is going on is not a normal interaction with a man you only barely know, even if he is pretty. “Work has been slammed…I was going to go to the doctor if they didn’t fade soon.”

“They won’t. I mean, not on their own.” He stares at the mark on your arm. “Not without me.”

It’s like he’s talking in riddles. “Felix. What do you know?”

He lets go and you shiver as though a cold front blew through the bar, at you specifically. He takes the wine glass and sips it, closing his eyes as though he’s savoring it. 

He must like wine because it seems like minutes upon minutes that he keeps his eyes closed.

“Look…” He opens his eyes and you are floored by how much pain echoes there. The same eyes that sparkled seconds ago. “You have questions and I think, think, I know the answers, but…fuck…this means–” He breaks off, dropping his head. 

Is he crying?

“Felix….” You reach out, burdened, and place your hand over his. He jolts at your touch, but doesn’t pull away. He slots his fingers in between yours. “Please tell me what’s wrong? Can I help?” 

“I need to go. I knew what it was. I just wanted it not to be true.” His voice cracks and he looks up, eyes welling. There’s a quiver in his lips, like maybe he wants to smile or maybe he wants to cry, or maybe it’s both. “I just need some time?” He stands up, leaving his glass and leaving your touch. 

“But…?” What the fuck is going on?

He’s next to you, leaning down so your faces are close. You catch your breath. 

“Soulmates. Look up soulmates.” He presses his mouth to your cheek before tearing away and disappearing in the ever-growing crowd. You stand up, to do something; call him back, chase after him…something. But he’s gone and you sit down again, staring at the two wine glasses. You take a sip of yours and grimace.

It just doesn’t taste quite right.

–

You take a cab home because you drink your wine, his, and order two cocktails (they all taste odd, but honestly it doesn’t matter by the time you get the first cocktail, you are such a lightweight). It’s dumb but you spend two hours at a bar, using Google on your phone. 

At a bar. On a Friday night.

You get approached at least three times by someone either intent on chatting you up, or getting your coveted spot at the table. You basically ignore these approaches because you are intent. 

Soulmates.

That’s what he’d said and though normally you would laugh derisively at the mere use of that term in anything other than some cliched romantic film, you find that the moment he said it, your heart felt like it was being squeezed in a tight grip.

So you search ‘soulmates’ which yields more links and pieces of information than you are willing to wade through. 

You type in ‘bruises soulmates’ and that narrows it way down.

When you touch the first time, it leaves a mark; something similar to a bruise, but far more distinct. This is your soulmate. 

“I met mine, because we ran into each other on the train. Literally. My hip is black and blue. How do I find them?”

The marks take hours to show up, so you have to retrace your steps to find them. Chances are they’re looking for you too. 

“I can’t eat any more. It tastes like licking the inside of a dumpster.”

Food and drink will lose its pleasurable taste. It’ll become disgusting, revolting. 

“I’ve sent out messages on all SNS. It’s been a week. The hospital keeps pumping fluids, but it’s not working. Someone please help me!”

The only way to survive is to be with your soulmate. Skin to skin contact for hours if you are sick or hurting. Not as long if it’s just daily need. You will no longer need food or drink. Water will be the only thing palatable.

You stumble out of the bar, Uber app open on your phone. The air outside is heavy from late summer humidity and it’s like you can’t catch your breath.

If you don’t find your soulmate, you will starve to death.

You can starve to death. You’re not even thirty years old yet, and death is now something more likely than ever.

You look at your arm, the sleeve still pushed up from earlier. 

He doesn’t have very big hands, you muse. The mark is actually lighter and you realize that the little amount of contact you had with him has already started to heal. 

Holy fuck.

Your Uber shows up and you practically throw yourself into the backseat as though someone nefarious is chasing you. 

“You alright?” the driver asks, glancing back. “You run here?”

You are panting, your breath short from the magnitude of what you’ve just found out. Part of your brain denies it all. Surely this is bullshit. Soulmates, touch, inevitable death for those who lose their person.

It can’t be true. 

But what you thought was just hormones when he touched you tonight; the warmth, the comfort, the irresistible draw…

You’ve dated. You’ve fucked. You’ve had men who looked great and those who looked less so. No one affects you the way the quiet-eyed, deep-voiced barista has in three encounters. 

You give the driver your address and force yourself to stop looking at your phone before you get more nauseated, and look out the window. 

You need to sleep before you can tackle whatever the fuck this is. 

– 

It strikes you two days later. You go through the weekend researching everything you can, or pointedly turning off your phone and your laptop in order to clean your apartment and reorganize your kitchen. 

You look at the set of pots that you got two years ago because you wanted nicer, matching ones and now, you aren’t going to need them.

You’d been able to stomach one egg this morning, the desire for food already waning. You wonder if going to get your favorite donuts would be good, if life-changing information warranted donuts.

It hits you then. 

Felix wants to be a baker. 

And he’s going to lose his sense of taste. 

You sink down to the floor of your kitchen with the weight of that revelation. You lean back against the lower cabinets and let that take hold.

By meeting you, Felix can’t pursue his dream. 

You barely know him, but you know enough to understand perhaps a tenth of the loss he must be feeling knowing that he’s going to lose what he wanted to do with his life. 

You did this. By nearly falling over, you have changed the direction of his life. 

You enjoy food, and the loss of it isn’t something you’re looking forward to, but it doesn’t change your job or your life. 

You cover your face when you realize that you’re crying. 

It’s your fault. 

You cry for longer than one would for a near-stranger before you force yourself back to your feet. You trudge toward your bedroom, seeking your phone that you’ve put on silent and plugged in. There are notifications for work, for social platforms, from your mom. 

You don’t check them, but you search out the chat between you and your…

Soulmate. 

<<I am so sorry. 

What else can you say? There is nothing you can do because unless every source you’ve found online about this phenomenon is wrong and lying, the ball is rolling and nothing can stop it. 

You set your phone back down, sitting on the edge of your bed. There’s a window across from you and the view is simply the brick building next to your apartment complex. There is nothing to really look at, but the simplicity of the brick, the gradient of burgundies and reds with beige caulk between is a lot easier to make sense of than anything else right now.

Your phone vibrates. 

>>It’s not your fault.

There’s hardly anything you can say. You can state that it is. It is your fault. Without touching you, he’d go on with his life, pursuing his dreams like everyone should get to.

&lt;<Regardless. I am. Very very sorry.

You don’t expect to hear from him. You set your phone aside, noticing that your hands are shaking. You feel exhausted, like the crying you’ve indulged in has drained you. Maybe you’re coming down with something. 

Or maybe it’s something else. Something soulmate.

>>Can I come by?

You type out yes before you think through it fully. You send him your address and close your phone before getting back up to go to the bathroom and look at yourself.

Maybe it’s silly to make sure you don’t look like someone who has fought dust bunnies and lost, but you think that showering wouldn’t be amiss. 

It’s a half hour later when there's a knock on your door. You’ve already buzzed him in, so it’s not that you’re unprepared to see him, but really, how would anyone be able to prepare for the groveling you want to do when you see him. 

He stands in your doorway, eyes wide and you chastise yourself for changing because he obviously had no qualms, dressed in sweatpants, and a creased t-shirt. He looks terribly soft with rumpled hair, light wrinkles on his cheek from sleeping. 

There are dark smudges of weariness under his eyes. 

“I’m so–” you begin because surely apologizing profusely will relieve a little of the guilt you feel. He doesn’t let you finish, but strides in and wraps his arms around you. He’s got several inches of height on you (lack of heels) and rests his chin on top of your head. He closes the door with his foot, falling back on it, his hold on you firm. 

“You don’t need to say you’re sorry,” he whispers. “It’s not your fault.”

“Kind of is. If we’d never touched…” The heat of him warms you through, as though you were icy but didn’t know it until touching him. 

It’s uncanny, how much better you feel just by being in his arms. Soulmate or not, you think that anyone would be better receiving a hug from him.

“I could have let you fall. So I’m just as responsible.”

You feel your eyes well up, your throat constrict with grief. “But you were just being nice. That’s all. And this is your reward.” You bury your face into his shoulder, noting how bony he is and how nice he smells, like cookies. “I’m so so fucking sorry.”

You’re crying into his shirt and it’s embarrassing, but you can’t seem to stop. You feel his hand stroke your back, soothing. 

“It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not.”

There’s a rumble against you, he’s chuckling. You lift your head to look up at him. He smiles sadly, releasing his hold to wipe under your eyes. 

“You’re stubborn.”

“And you’re too nice. I would fix it, if I could. I would give you back–” He kisses you. 

Oh. My. God.

If touching him casually or even being in his arms is comforting, kissing him is that feeling amped up to eleven. You actually feel light-headed and dizzy like you’re back at the bar drinking too much wine. 

He presses one small kiss to the corner of your lips before drawing away. You whimper to lose that caress, but he keeps his arms around you like he knows you need it. He rests his head on the door, eyes fixed on you. 

“Wow,” you breathe. 

There’s a slight quirk of his lips, like he wants to laugh, but won’t at the moment. 

You realize both of you are still standing in your little foyer so you draw away, but his hands tighten. 

“I was just…just gonna invite you in.”

“That’s okay. I just…” He takes a deep breath. “Don’t let go?” You peer at him, seeing that the dark under his eyes has already lessened.

You nod, adjusting so your hand encloses around his. You lead him into your apartment, watch him as he looks around, eyes still wide, but seemingly less panicked now. You sit on your two person couch that is opposite your television. He sits next to you, looking at your bookshelves, covered in photo frames, books, knick-knacks from places you’ve gotten to go for work. 

“I have to ask,” you say, making him look over at you. “What are you thinking? Right now?”

“I…I feel a little out of place,” he replies, glancing down at your clasped hands. “You have a real job and a nice place and I’m just a barista, trying to get a certificate.” The mention of his schooling makes you tighten your grip and he squeezes back, still not looking at you. “Makes me wonder if the universe screwed up.”

“I don’t think that’s fair.”

He looks up then. 

“You are this beautiful, ridiculously kind human who smiles like the sun and because of me, lost your dream and you’re still here. You should hate me.”

He covers your mouth with his untethered hand. “I don’t. I couldn’t.” His hand drifts to cup your cheek. “I’m not mad at you.” He takes another deep breath. “I’m mad at the fallout. Like…it sucks.” He nods. “It really does. That’s why I just needed some time.”

“I’m sorry. I only gave you like two days.”

His thumb runs over your lower lip and you feel like you’re melting. 

“I wanted to see you. I can already tell that I need to…” He blushes. “I need to touch you.”

“You look less drained.” You touched his heated cheek. “I felt out of it, too.”

“Me too.” He leans in, face close, watching you. “I didn’t ask. About kissing you. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Weird circumstances.” You hope your smile does half of what his smile does for you. “You’re stuck with me unless you want to starve to death.”

He half-grins, his hand still on your face, tracing along your nose. “It’s pretty dramatic, right?”

“It really is.” 

“You don’t mind?” 

“What?”

“Being stuck with me?”

“No.” You’re louder than you meant to be. He blinks at the emphasis. “I mean, I don’t know you all that well, but what I do know…” You take his hand from your face, holding it as tight as the other hand. “I like.”

He nods. “Can we…” He takes a breath. “Can we touch more?”

It is weird and you both laugh at the awkward and latent innuendo. 

“Like nothing…” He stops talking, expression helpless. You just nod.

He watches as you let go of his hand to get close. His dark eyes seem darker when you pause to figure out how exactly you plan to touch him. 

“Here.” He pulls you in, aligning you to his chest, your back resting against him, his arms around you, his chin coming to sit on your shoulder. “The longer we touch, those bruises will fade.”

You lift his hands so you can see that his marks are lighter since you saw them Friday night. He presses his face where your shoulder meets your neck. It tickles, but you don’t shy away.

“I feel like we’ve gone from acquaintances to whatever this is really quick.” It’s an obvious statement, a pointless one, but things are progressing at an exponential speed that you need to voice it, if only to remind yourself and him that it’s real. 

“It’s okay, though?” he asks softly. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, but even beyond the need to touch you, I want to.” His chin rests on your shoulder again.

“You do?”

You can hear the smile in his voice, “I thought you were pretty when you came in for the interview. I think I would have tried to talk to you if you ever came back, even without the rest of it.” 

You’re still playing with his hands, absorbing his words. 

“This whole thing is weird.” 

“Yeah.”

“Did you know about soulmates before?”

You feel his chin as he nods. “My grandmother’s second husband and her. My grandfather died and at age sixty-three or something, my grandmother bumped into this man at her favorite bakery. Bruises and everything. She told me the story when I was about ten, when they decided to get married. No one believed her, but I did. It just made sense when you saw them together. But it’s rare. Like…there are accounts of it all over the world, but not a high percentage.” He noses your ear. “What did you find out? You researched, didn’t you?”

“If you call googling for too many hours, proper research.” Being in his arms is slowly making you feel less weary and calmer. You’re still sad and worried, but your body feels less like debilitated frozen tundra. “I guess we’re lucky that it wasn’t hard to know who it was. There are stories…of people…” You stop talking, overwhelmed by the fact that this could have gone so badly. “I’m glad I knew it was you immediately. Like I meet so many random people and I–”  

“Shhh, it’s okay.”

You’re both quiet for several minutes. You’ve stopped playing with his hands and he’s just wrapped around you even more snugly. 

“How do we do this?”

“Well, I’m going to quit school tomorrow. The semester is nearly over and I haven’t paid for next semester yet, so that’s money saved.”

“It sucks.”

“Yeah, it does.” His hand slips under your shirt and you tremble at the energy pulse that such a slight touch does to you. “Wow.”

“Yeah.” You ponder for a second. “Do we need to do this every day?”

“I think it’s encouraged, and necessary. Like to go too long not in contact is…well, I felt like a zombie until I held you.”

“I hope you don’t need alone time.”

He chuckles. “Not too much. You?”

“Some.” That’ll be an adjustment. Someone wanting to spend hours with you. More than just the occasional meet-up with a friend. “Do…you…god, this is gets more and more bizarre…should you move in with me?”

The gentle motion of his hand stills. “Would you…would that be okay?”

“I mean, we should probably find a place together, but I still have a few months left on my lease. You?”

He sits up and you move away, though you notice his hand stays on your skin, following as you adjust to face him. 

“I’m rooming with some guys. Month to month.” His eyes are wide. “Really?”

“I mean…will it make it easier?”

He chuckles. “I have a twin bed.”

“Mine’s a queen.”

“You really are so much more of an adult than me.”

You bat at his arm. “Stop saying that. You aren’t any less. You work and go…went to school.”

“Yeah.” He stares at you for a few seconds. “You’re willing to just let me move in?”

“I mean, we can have sleepovers if that’s easier.”

He laughs, covering his face with his hands for a second before making sure he’s still touching you with a hand on your knee. “I don’t have a lot of stuff. My baking stuff…that I guess I need to sell.” 

You lace your fingers with his. “I’m–”

“You don’t need to say it.” He shrugs. “It just is what it is. Anyway, clothes, not a lot. I have my computer and that’s kinda…” He looks around. “Do you have another bedroom?”

“Yeah. It’s kind of a makeshift office/storage unit right now.” You make a face. “I should probably get rid of some of it. Do you have a big computer?”

He shrugs again. “I built it. I game and fiddle with computers in my free time.”

You move closer. “How are you that interesting? It’s not fair. You’re ridiculously pretty, you bake, and you do computery things?”

His ears, cheeks and neck all flush. “It’s not that interesting…”

“It is to me,” You point at him with your connected hands. “I just do the news stuff.”

“And zone out.”

You laugh. “And zone out. Regularly.”

He brings you back to rest against his chest, a deep sigh releasing. “So…I guess…we’re moving in together?”

You aren’t horribly impulsive usually. In big things you try to think logically and rationally. But that seems to have been tossed aside currently. 

“Yeah. Let’s do it.”

You feel his lips on your cheek. 

–

It’s a month later, after you’ve emptied out the second bedroom with as much as you can let go off, Felix moves in with his stuff (the computer set-up reminds you of like the command bridge in Star Trek or something), and you’ve learned how to sleep in bed with a person you aren’t actually sleeping with (despite the touch thing, both of you seem to avoid talking about anything past necessary touch).

The progression the soulmate-ness has had is different for both of you. You lost your taste for food and drink well before he did. It’s nearly three weeks to the day you two met that he can’t eat one of his galettes because it tastes like the way wet dog smells.

He cries in your arms. 

You handled working over eight hours a day as well as you always have, but if it moved to twelve hours, you found Felix at the apartment, on the couch or bed, looking more fragile and delicate than normal. The toll your separation took on his body was far worse than the toll on your body. 

It took some adapting and adjusting; trial and error to see what worked for the both of you. If it was going to be a long day, Felix would leave work and come find you at the station, or you’d come to him just to sit and hold hands for a half hour before one of you had to go. It helped. 

For the first time since being on your own, you have to worry about someone else and yes, at times, it can be frustrating; overall, it’s nice. It’s nice to come home to someone. 

“I can’t do it,” Felix comes in late from the coffeehouse. You came home early and are spending your time trying to figure out what one does with a kitchen and all that cabinet space if one no longer eats. 

“Can’t do it?”

He doesn’t stop in his path, dropping his bag on the ground as he toes off his shoes. You barely can say much else before he’s wrapped around you in what has become a regular habit of his. In your arms the moment you’re both home. 

You can’t complain even if it thwarts your thought process about the kitchen. 

“The coffee smell is awful,” he mutters into your hair. “Like, I thought not tasting it would be okay, but the smell is just as bad. All day, every day…” he sighs. “I almost quit.”

“Maybe you should. I make enough for you to take a break for a little bit.”

“I’m not…” He sighs again. “I don’t like that. It’s your money.”

“And therefore I can help you out.” You rub up and down his back, soothing him. “You haven’t had much time to figure out a new plan.”

He moves so his face is in the crook of your neck, nuzzling. Normally you giggle because it tickles, but lately when his lips are anywhere near you, it’s like every nerve you have is on high alert. 

“I think I’m avoiding it.”

“That’s okay too.” You hurry to continue when you feel his body stiffen as though he wants to argue with you. “For now. It’s a lot.”

He lifts his head, but not before brushing a soft kiss on your neck which sends you down a path that you’ve tried to avoid thinking about with Felix in mind. A path that includes not only sleeping in your bed. 

“I…” He watches you for a few seconds and you can feel your face heating with his scrutiny. “I’m gonna game for a bit.” He then sees that you have all the plates and cups and paraphernalia on the counters. “Unless you need a hand?”

“Go shoot something digitally. I’m good.”

He smiles that soft smile of his. The one that makes you want to cozy up with him on the couch, his head in your lap and mindlessly watch a movie. 

“Sure?”

You nod, and start to move back to the kitchen problem when he drops another kiss, this time on your cheek. You should be getting used to this, and perhaps you are, but it still floors you. The feel of him, the subsequent burst of soulmate voltage that it emits. 

He doesn’t seem to notice that every time he kisses you, your brain pauses like a video buffering. Maybe he doesn’t. Maybe kissing you doesn’t do much more than just heal in the soulmate way. 

He hasn’t kissed you on the lips since that first time. You want him too. You’ve thought about it way too much, even when you’re supposed to be working. 

You should say something. You should kiss him, and often. But you hold back. You don’t know why. 

He’s had so much of his life uprooted because of you, you don’t want to add the burden of your sexual wants onto his plate. 

He shuffles off to the second bedroom and you eventually go back to working on the kitchen. 

He calls your name about an hour later, after you have given up on the dusting because it’s too much, and have ended up on the couch, looking through your SNS feed to find that there isn’t much new in the world.

“Hmm?”

“I think…I think I had an idea.”

You get up and wander over to that room, more Felix’s than yours now. You stand in the doorway, eyes adjusting to the darkness because there’s only a lamp that he keeps on by his set-up. 

He wheels around in his ergonomic chair. 

“What’s your idea?”

“One of my friends,” He waves toward his screen, “Asked me a question about what to add to his computer to boost its…” He chuckles immediately when you furrow your brow. “You don’t care about that.”

“I will attempt to understand it?”

“Nevermind.” He reaches out his hands toward you and you walk in, suspicious. He latches on and pulls you into his lap, which just makes you freeze even more than the nightly cuddles. “I gave him about three different options and he asked if I’d do it for him. He’d pay me.” He cradles your face in his hands. “He’d pay me.”

“Well, that’s nice.”

“I mean…maybe that’s it. I could fix or enhance, I guess, computers. I know too much about it for just fiddling with my own.” He trails his fingers down to your neck and you tremble. “Maybe this is what I should do.”

Even in the dim light, you can see how bright his eyes are. It reminds you of when you met him, before everything changed.

“If you want. I imagine you probably do know more than the average person. I’ve heard you ramble enough to your friends on that thing.” You smile even if the heat of his legs is burning you in the best way. “Will it make you happy?”

His infectious joy fades a little. “It might.” With his finger, he draws an amorphous shape on your skin. “I think it might.”

“Then you should do it.” You pat his shoulders, getting ready to remove yourself from him because being on his lap, facing him, being so close is making you want more than you think either of you are ready for. 

His hands slip to your waist to keep you from leaving. 

“Felix, what are you–?”

“You make me happy, you know that, right? Being here with you, coming home to you or vice versa makes me happy.” His gaze is zeroed in on you, and it’s a lot. Having his focus.

“You don’t have to say stuff like that.”

He adjusts you so you’re nearer, his hands clasped at the small of your back. “I’m not just saying that. I mean it.” His lips turn down in concern. “Aren’t you? Happy?”

“With you? God, yes.” Sometimes with him, you do this. You say things before thinking it through. “Even when you hog the covers.”

He looks a bit sheepish, but doesn’t apologize. 

“But my life didn’t derail because you entered it.”

He touches his nose to yours. “Mine didn’t either. It just changed direction. Maybe a little more dramatically than yours.” He purses his lips in thought. “I only worry about the job stuff because well…I want to work in something I like.”

“Of course you do.” You comb back his hair, longer than when you met him; shaggy and probably needs a cut, but you really like it. “If you want to do this, I think you should.”

“It might take a while for me to make much.”

You point at yourself. “Do I look worried?”

He smiles, teeth flashing, eye crinkles, and your heart flutters. 

“You’re so pretty,” you whisper, tracing the curves of his smile and cheeks. His lips part at the compliment, and your finger slides to his teeth. “I…uh, sorry.”

He kisses the tip of your finger to reassure you. You swallow your more lustful feelings and smile. 

“You better get back to your friends.” You try to stand up, but his arms tighten. “I should…go.”

“Why?” he asks softly. “Why can’t you stay right here? I want you to.”

“You do?”

He says your name in the same whisper and kisses you reverently. You dissolve into him, scooting closer so you can embrace him. There’s a soft groan, and it’s not from you.

“Am I too heavy?” you ask, breaking the kiss. He pouts at you and shakes his head. 

“It’s…it’s not that.” 

It takes you a second and your eyes widen before you look down. 

“Oh.”

He chuckles. “You haven’t noticed?”

“Well, I mean, in the morning, but that’s like…all guys.” His cheeks turn pink as you continue. “I…I wasn’t assuming that it had to do with me.”

“You can assume.”

You stare breathlessly at him. 

“If you want, I mean.” His eyes dart away from yours. “If I’m the only one turned on here, you can pretend I didn’t say anything.”

“Just because it’s not as obvious doesn’t mean I’m not.” 

You feel him raise his head and meet your gaze. If he can tell your face is hot in the shadowy room, he makes no mention of it.

“Yeah?”

You nod before hearing some tinny voices coming from his headset. “Your friends.” You nod again toward his computer screen. “Your game.” You don’t even try to move out of his hold, but his arm wraps around you so you’re nearly chest to chest.

“Don’t move.” He grabs his headset from around his neck and slips it on, pressing a button on the side. “Guys…something’s come up. Min…I’ll come by tomorrow with a better graphics card and install it for you.” He presses the same button amid all the protests you hear, and takes the headset off. He tosses it on his computer desk before returning to hold you, with one minor adjustment. 

One hand slides up the back of your top, searing. He watches your face, intent. You tug at the collar of his shirt, and he stands up gingerly, letting you slide down until your feet touch the floor. He pulls off his shirt before taking your hands in his to bring them to his chest and arms. 

“I didn’t know,” he says as you outline the planes and facets with your fingers. 

“Didn’t know?”

He dips his head so you have to look up into his eyes, away from his beautiful skin. “Didn’t know you thought about me like that.”

“How could I not?” You let your hands trail up his sides to his neck and then to his face. “You are beautiful, both inside and out, Lee Felix.”

He doesn’t answer but kisses you with none of the former softness or gentleness. His hands are gripping your arms, directing you backwards out of the room and toward the bedroom. All of your kisses have been chaste, as though the crossing into using tongue would mean something else.

Perhaps it did. Perhaps it’s not just about a mutual need to live, a mutual admiration, though that’s all true. Perhaps being soulmates is just the beginning of having a partner. In everything.

You feel the bed at the back of your legs, unaware that you’ve traveled that much of the apartment because Felix might be good at gaming, but he’s exceptionally good at kissing. It’s all you can do to hold on as he consumes you, tongue stroking yours, teeth nibbling. You fall back on the bed, and he follows, climbing on top of you, mouth still seeking yours. His hands have slid under your top, mapping out your shape with fervor. 

The calm and quiet of him has broken. 

He draws away to look down at you, panting. “Okay?”

“Yes, so much,” you answer breathlessly. He smirks and peels off your shirt before sitting and undoing his pants. “Hey.” 

He pauses and glances at you. You can see his hands trembling. 

“We don’t have to rush.”

“I know. I know, but I…” He leans to kiss your jaw. “I want you so much.” He slips a finger under your bra strap and slides it down your shoulder. “Sleeping next to you is both wonderful and fuckin’ torture.” 

His grin when you laugh only lasts a second before he pulls you close and on top of him. You work his pants off, trying not to get sidetracked by his undoing of your bra and ensuing caresses. It takes a few minutes, both of you distracting the other in the process, but eventually, gloriously, the clothing is gone and you’re both looking at each other in awe. 

Beautiful. Inside and out. 

“C’mere,” his voice drops to a decibel you aren’t sure anyone else can hear (you don’t want them too because he’s your soulmate and you are so damn grateful). He places soft kisses all over your face, making you giggle as he props up pillows at your back. “We’ve never talked about past relationships.”

“Oh. I mean…” You twist your lips thinking about your last date let alone last relationship. “I haven’t…work kinda replaced everything else, you know? I’m clean…it’s been at least a year.”

“Six months. Had to move away.” He eases in between your legs, hands rubbing your thighs almost carelessly. “Clean too.” He leans down, face inches away and those perfect freckles blurring together. 

“Was it serious?”

“I think it could have been,” he says honestly. “You?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever been serious about someone till you. Even before I saw the bruises,” You run your hands up his arms, his muscles taut from holding himself up. “You stuck in my mind. Chan teased me about it.” 

He grins before slipping one hand down your chest, your stomach and farther down… ���You weren’t kidding about being turned on, were you?”

You half-heartedly slap his shoulder because one, it’s more than obvious and two, his tender exploration of you is dizzying. The soulmate energy, with no clothing to bar skin to skin contact, feels like you’ve laid down in a meadow on a warm day; not too hot, no bugs, no pollen, nothing but heat and light and tranquility. 

Then his fingers lightly touch your clit and the tranquility liquifies into heat and lust and want. 

“There, huh?” The teasing, soft but dark, makes you want to say something snarky, but he’s kissing you, his fingers circling until you're gasping against his mouth. 

“Lix, please,” you whine. His lips leave yours before he pushes in. “Oh god.”

As with everything, the soulmate need for touch just amplifies everything; how he feels sliding in, each thrust, the grazing of your g-spot. It’s a million times more and when you break, and feel him break; it’s not surprising that for a few seconds you aren’t sure where you are. 

Then the puffs of his shortened breath on your skin, the length of his body covering yours, one hand trailing up and down your arm. 

“You back?” he asks, voice gruff. 

“I think so.”

He lifts his head, eyes at half-mast, smile sleepy and well-contented. “We should do that again…often.”

You roll your eyes, a grin twitching at the corner of your lips. He kisses you, open-mouthed, but delicate. 

“I am really really glad you caught me that day.”

He stares down at you, eyes fond. “I’m glad you caught me too.”

--

a/n #2 - the coffee drink, fiery redhead, is not mine, but created by a coffeehouse in my parents' town. i love it, and make it at home now.

--

(c) yoongihan 2024. please do not steal, translate, repost, or whatever. stray kids belong to themselves and all idols used in this piece are just the inspiration for characters and do not in any way reflect the actual humans.

[imagineredwood]

Would it be possible to get an HC or would include of Yandere Juice who's readers best friend and he (somehow) convinces reader to have sex with him and he pokes holes into the condom without her knowing? Thank you for giving us all the dark boys lately ☺️

**As you can tell from the request, this is not gonna be everyone’s cup of tea ***

This is obviously triggering content to some people so please please please don't read it if the subject is off-limits or triggering to you. It's yandere Juice who like anyone in that realm is crazy, obsessed, and unhinged and is not by any means a healthy depiction of a relationship. If anyone were to display these behaviors, RUN. That being said, the sex in the HC is consensual, it's the pregnancy that the reader hasn't agreed to obviously because the reader doesn't know. And one could say she was slightly coerced by being horny. (I did tag it for a TW for the R word since she didn't consent to unprotected sex but PLEASE tell me if there are any other tags for triggers I need to put in this post.) If you're on the dark fiction taglist and there are specific topics you don't want to be tagged for please also let me know. I also tagged it for categorization purposes on my page, but if anyone thinks I should remove them so they don't show up in the shows/characters tags please let me know. I'm still new to this type of content and want to make sure I don't do anything wrong.

He’s wanted you for so long

Wanted to marry you and spoil you and show you off as his

He loves you so much and has for so long

But you're just friends

Something you always made sure to remind him of whenever the joke flirting got to be a little too serious

You loved him, no doubt

But you were always hesitant, not knowing if he could be faithful when surrounded by so many other beautiful women so often

You didn't want to risk a broken heart

And he would rather have you only as a friend over not at all

So he never pushed

Only making half asses offers, hoping that one day you'd bite

It was one night when the conversation turned to sex again that he saw a golden opportunity

You admitted that you had never tried one of his favorite positions

Never saw the appeal

And he knows this is his chance

"You'd love it. I know you would. Once you try it, you'll understand. "

He'd go into detail more and more, slowly

Explaining exactly how he does it

How he'd touch you

How he'd position you

How good you would sound

How he would make you see stars

And he can see the way your eyes glaze over ever so slightly

It's the narrative as he explains and the way your mind plays it out that has your thighs squeezing

You think it's subtle enough that he'd never notice

But he notices everything

And he needs you to see how good he could be for you

"Come on. Just trust me. We'll go right back like nothing ever happened right after if you want. Think of it as a learning experience."

And before long, he's got you agreeing

"Just so I can try it out."

He nods and agrees, going into the nightstand and grabbing the one single loose condom that's out of the box

The one he kept for just this very moment

A baby is like an eternal link

Even if you decide eventually that you wanted to leave him, he'd always have access to a part of you

A bond that would be unbreakable

The mother of his child

He'd be a wonderful protector and provider

You'll see that soon enough

Dark fiction taglist 

@whitetxilwxlf @kikijackson-blog @ben-c-group-therapy @ravennaortiz @mama-mischief @pekusofixus @shellofashadow @flowercrowns-goodvibes

[luimagines]

Leg

Pinky wanted Legend fic, so Pinky gets Legend fic. tw mentions of hunting, cages, and blood. Also I got a little lazy at the end — I ran out of ideas.

And uhhhhh…. this is a very long ask.

Your smile was contagious as you ran off with Wild and Hyrule on some silly side-quest the three of you had come up with. Legend, after sharing a quick word with Time, followed you silently as the three of you left camp.

This had become routine, although you didn’t know it. You would run off with the two resident troublemakers and Legend would follow from a distance. He told himself, and the Old Man, that he was going along to keep the three of you out of trouble. That it was safer to wander about aimlessly with one of the more responsible heroes present. The Veteran forcibly ignored the strange desire that watching the three of you giggle and run about dragged up within him.

He’d lost the childish urge to play about, run off the beaten path, and turn over stones just to see what might be there years ago. He’d lost that sense of imagination and wonder to the cruelties of his world. He sought only to make sure you weren’t burned by your innocence as he had been. He would be there if something went wrong and he would fix it before you could get upset. But he didn’t want to join you. Definitely not.

You climbed a tree and swung around on some vines with your two comrades. Your bubbling laughter sounded like music in the Vet’s ears. The three of you were clearly having fun. You seemed to have no concept of the passage of time as you played about, swiping teasingly at the two boys and pretending to have been knocked over instead of ducking a similarly lighthearted punch from Wild.

Okay. Maybe Legend wanted to join you a little bit. But he wasn’t going to. He didn’t want to ruin your fun. And he wasn’t ready to admit that the reason he wanted to join you had something to do with the way his heart skipped a beat whenever you smiled or the unbidden desire to hug you close as you laughed. He cared for you as a friend. That was the only reason he never wanted you to lose your smile. The only one. It had to be.

He’s already had one love, and he lost her. He doesn’t expect another. He doesn’t deserve another.

——

Legend’s lost count of the number of times he’s done this. He’s having a harder time justifying it to himself. Not because he still won’t admit that he’s got a crush on you that’s growing by the day — he’s already come to terms with that. Instead it’s because watching your games from afar has started to make him feel really lonely. Literally everything he wants in the world is right there; it’s so close he could almost taste it.

But it’s as if it’s been locked behind a glass wall. He can look, but he may not touch. He won’t get closer. He can’t. He’s convinced the illusion would shatter if he tried to pass the oh-so-fragile barrier. You’d think he was creepy. A stalker. You’d never speak to him again. Or his presence would utterly spoil the magic. Your secret games wouldn’t be secret anymore. You would never be able to sneak off again without looking over your shoulder and wondering if he was there. Or if — by some grace of the goddesses — you weren’t upset and chose to include him, he might not be able to keep up. He might be too broken to loosen up and be silly with you. Maybe he’d just spoil everything.

As much as he can’t risk joining you three in your games, he finds he can’t resist following either. Despite what he tells Time, it’s no longer purely because he’s trying to make sure you’re able to have your fun and avoid the lecture about safety; it’s because he’s gotten addicted to that which he cannot have. That’s always the case with him. That’s just his lot in life. Always on the outside, looking in, and yearning for more than he deserves.

——

He’s startled out of his thoughts by Wild and the traveller discreetly whispering while looking in the direction of the skulking veteran. Hyrule then slips away to go talk to Legend as the latter begins to panic.

“Vet? What’s wrong?” The traveller approaches cautiously.

Legend shakes his head, “nothing, nothing. I’m fine. Really.” He forces a smile but the other boy doesn’t buy it for a second and it’s apparent on his face.

“Wild and I know you’ve been following us for a while now, not just today.” The traveller quirks one eyebrow slightly, “you didn’t actually think we wouldn’t notice, did you?“

The veteran sighs. Of course they both knew he was there. As good at hiding as he is, those two come from arguably the most dangerous eras in Hyrule’s history. Of course they would know they were being followed.

“No, I’m not surprised you noticed. I just—“ the veteran sighs again and trails off.

“You just what? C’mon, Vet, you know you can tell me anything.”

Legend hesitates and Hyrule decides to push harder, “look — I hate to do this to you, Vet — but they’re gonna notice I’m gone in another couple minutes. Then you’ll have all three of us ganging up on you and everybody, except them, can tell you’ve got a crush on them. As I see it you have two choices. Tell me now, quickly, or they’ll force it out of you since you’ve lost the ability to tell them ‘no.’”

Legend sighs, cursing the goddesses’ eternal cruelty toward him, “alright. Fine. It started because I just wanted to let them have fun without getting an earful. Time let y’all off easy because I was here to ‘supervise’ from a distance. But….” He takes a deep breath and does his best to avoid shrinking into a ball as he forces himself to admit it, “but now I just want to join you guys. But I’m scared I’ll ruin the fun somehow or that they’ll think I’m lame. Or worse: creepy for have been watching.”

Hyrule eyes him with… not pity, never pity, but sympathy. He knows Legend (and the legends of his predecessor) well enough to understand. However, this is clearly a situation that calls for some tough love. The traveller has let this hopeless pining go on for long enough. He grins and grabs his predecessor by the wrist, “Just trust me. I promise none of that will happen.” Without another word, he tugs Legend out into the clearing before the veteran has a chance to refuse.

“Look what I found!” Hyrule calls out to you as you notice Legend’s presence, “he was out for a walk. Wars won one of their verbal sparring matches and he didn’t wanna listen to the gloating and Four’s amused teasing.”

You raise an eyebrow, also amused, but you don’t comment on it. Wild, demonstrating an impressive mixture of situational awareness and utter lack of tact, runs up and lightly slaps the veteran on the shoulder. The champion shouts “Legend’s it!” and runs away at top speed. The traveller follows suit. Both you and Legend stand where you are for a few seconds.

You’re just surprised and confused, but Legend’s brain is running at a million miles a minute as he tries to decide what he should do. As soon as you process what’s happened though, your stance changes. You’re ready to run, but you aren’t scared. You lock eyes with him for a spit second, clearly expecting him to play. So he does. Five seconds after he’d been declared “it,” he runs toward you. He’s not going his top speed, but it gets his intentions across. You shriek in delight and sprint away from him, laughing as you go.

——

The veteran then spends the next hour or so running around and playing tag with you, the traveller, and the champion. The vet doesn’t laugh as freely as the three of you do, but he’s smiling the whole time and very clearly having fun. The four of you walk back to camp together in time for Wild to make dinner, tired and happy.

Wars willingly covers Legend’s alibi, and any Links who might be inclined to accidentally spill that particular can of worms (wind) are promptly distracted with Wild asking for help making dinner. Much to Legend’s relief, and the amusement of every other Link present, you remain blissfully unaware of the real reason Legend was in the woods that day.

——

The next time you try to sneak off with Wild and Hyrule, your trio becomes a quartet as Legend leaves as part of your group rather than a shadow. Sky and Time catch Legend’s eye separately as he leaves. The former is beaming, eyes twinkling with pride and amusement. The eyes of the latter are knowing, with a glint that promises teasing and somewhat-helpful, cryptic half-advice later.

——

Legend joining you becomes routine. He still doesn’t loosen up entirely. He can’t help it, he’s worried about you rejecting him if you get too close. However, you don’t seem to mind if he wants to keep his secrets. Although you’re very clearly toning up your silliness now that he’s around. You’re trying to make him laugh and he’s touched, if hesitant.

——

One day the veteran goes to collect firewood shortly before y’all leave. He says he’ll catch up and not to wait on him. So you don’t. After an hour and a half, you’re really worried: Legend still hasn’t shown. You, Hyrule, and Wild decide to split up and look for him. You’re walking through the woods and calling for him when you stop in your tracks suddenly as you hear him call back to you weakly.

“I hear you! I’m coming!” You take off running in the direction of the sound.

——

You find a large, pink rabbit dressed in Legend’s tunic stuck in a hunting trap. It’s in a position that looks really uncomfortable, and you’re a little worried the blood might be slowly rushing to its head based on the slight tilt he was caught at — rabbits are fragile.

“Vet?” You ask as you cautiously approach the cage.

Internally, Legend is panicking. He never wanted you to see this helpless form. Never wanted you to know this side to him. Never wanted to have to worry about if you’d accept him — of if you’d cause him harm if you didn’t. But he has no choice. He needs your help. The rabbit swallows, “…Yeah, it’s me.”

You don’t even know why you’re surprised anymore as you finish making your way over to the trap and start fiddling with the locks. “Okay. Im gonna get you out of there. Are you hurt?”

You’re speaking quickly, obviously worried, but you aren’t screaming. You aren’t running in terror or looking at him like he’s an abomination. You’re looking at him with concern and affection, but not pity. You didn’t even ask how or why he’s a rabbit, you’re too worried about his well-being. It’s almost too much for him to take. He very nearly starts to cry. He never expected this, but he should have. That’s just the kind of person you are. It’s part of why he loves you so much.

“Not really?” He replies, he doesn’t sound like he’s okay and he knows it. “I’ve been here a while so there’s too much blood in my head and I think I sprained my ankle when I got caught.” You hiss and work more quickly, grabbing your weapon and — after giving the bunny hero a verbal warning — break open the cage. You catch the roof of it before it can fall on him and cut the ropes inside that are holding him in that unsafe position.

The next thing Legend knows, you’ve scooped him up ever-so-gently in your arms. You hold him over your shoulder like a baby, careful to support his spine. “Just let me know when your blood goes back where it’s supposed to be.” He manages a half-nod as you carefully pour one of your topical-application potions over his injured foot, dissipating the pain instantly.

And then you’re petting him. Oh goddesses, you’re petting him. A few minutes ago he’d been convinced he’d die in that cage, but then you came. You broke him free, you’re holding him as he feels the blood slowly drain back into the rest of his body, and you’re stroking him from the tip of his head all the way down his back. He can scarcely remember the last time he felt so safe and cared for. He wants to be embarrassed but he just doesn’t have the strength. Instead, he allows a couple grateful, relieved tears to escape. It’s not like you’ll notice, anyway: they’ll just get caught in his fur.

“You know, my cat did this to himself once.” You start talking as you pet him. Are you trying to distract him? If so, it’s working. He always listens when you talk.

“He’s so silly. He laid down on a pillow but his head fell off and onto the floor. He looked unhappy but didn’t know what to do about it. I picked him up just like this and held him until he started to feel better. Then he was purring.” You chuckle to yourself, “poor baby probably had all the blood in his head, too.” You proceed to tell him a couple other silly stories until he feels better.

He purposefully waits until you finish the story you’re telling to let you know that he feels better. It might have been selfish, but he wanted another minute in your arms, feeling the gentle rise and fall of your chest as you spoke and your hands in his fur.

——

The veteran was a lot more open with you after the incident. It’s almost like he realized he didn’t have to hide from you as much as he thought. He laughs more and taken to slinging an arm around you whenever you walk within arm’s reach on the trail. He elbows you playfully while he teases and sits near you at meals as often as you’ll let him get away with.

What strikes you as interesting, though, is the way he seems to be constantly checking if you’re watching him. Whenever he spars with one of the others or does something particularly impressive in a monster fight, he glances toward you for approval. Even more interesting is that he seems to be showing off a little more when he knows you’re watching.

You’re oblivious, but you’re far from a fool. You’ve known for a while that he’s got a soft spot for you, but now you’re wondering if that might be because he’s into you. You decide to test the boundaries of what he’ll let you get away with and find out.

——

He’s shockingly lenient with you. He pretty much just lets you do as you please. Case in point: you’ve just finished dinner, but instead of getting up and going to your bedroll you’ve inched closer and laid your head on his shoulder. His response? A lot of blushing and he won’t look at you, but he’s also he‘s wrapped an arm securely around your shoulders and pulled you closer. You decide to confront him and make your own feelings known. You have a plan, but it’s dependent on your internal clock so you’re not sure if it’ll work.

——

You stir and blink awake in the middle of the night. The veteran is on watch. You mentally congratulate yourself as he carefully picks his way over to you to check on you.

“I’m okay.” You reassure him when you notice the concern on his face, “just… awake now, I guess. Can I sit with you?”

Legend nods, “you can always sit with me, you know that.” He speaks softly to avoid waking the others, but there’s something about the sound of it that makes your heart go all fluttery. You can’t help but wonder if he did that on purpose. You sit beside him on the log and lean on him like you had earlier. Just like earlier, he gets flustered, but he wraps an arm around you. Although it’s hard to tell between the dark and the way he’s turned away from you, you can see his entire face light up in a small — but genuine — smile.

After a long moment, you break the silence. “Have I ever told you that I love your laugh? Or that your smile reminds me of sunshine?” Much to your amusement, he immediately begins spluttering. You can’t see his face from your position and his stubborn refusal to look at you, but you can hear the bright smile in his voice when he replies, “no, but it’s nice to know. I appreciate the compliment.” You choose not to comment on the way his voice cracks. You’ve got bigger fish to fry.

“Oh really? I haven’t? Well, I’ve always thought so. But that makes me wonder what else you don’t know I’ve been thinking.”

He raises an eyebrow in response to that, “well I suppose I wouldn’t know the answer to that.”

You chuckle, “no, I suppose not. But let’s find out. Do you know that I’m in love with you?”

He freezes up. For once in his life, his brain goes silent — there’s not a single thought in his head. He’s grown up in a world that requires constant quick-thinking; he prides himself on his reaction time because it’s frequently the only thing that keeps him alive. But now his ambient subconscious thoughts — surroundings awareness, awareness of your body language, the passage of time, that sort of thing — is all gone. The silence is unnerving.

“What?” He manages dumbly after six seconds (you were counting, not him).

You smile, patient but nervous, “I love you, Link.”

And now you’ve used the name. His name. The one nobody’s called him in months. It should have made the problem worse. It really should have. But, somehow, the use of his proper name kicks him back into high gear. An unfortunate, for him, side effect of that is the rapid formation of a deep blush as his brain demands more oxygen and nutrients to start up again.

“I- I. Shit.” He starts to tear up, “are-are- are you serious? Me?”

You nod once, speaking in a cautious and almost sad tone, “is that so hard to believe?”

He swallows, “yes.” He moves his hands to your shoulders and pulls you to his chest abruptly in a hug that’s somehow both desperately tight and carefully gentle at the same time.

“Yes it is. Because I didn’t think I could ever get so lucky.” You can feel his tears beginning to soak through the sleeve of your shirt, but you don’t care.

“I think we’re both lucky.” You start to gently caress his hair, prompting him to haphazardly toss his hat onto the ground in order to encourage you.

You two spend the rest of his watch like that, just holding each other and relishing the closeness. Eventually you wake Wild for the next watch, and he may or may not have photos of the two of you cuddling together as you fall asleep — neither ready nor willing to let go of the other.

- glitter ✨

I KNEW YOU SAID IT WOULD BE LONG BUT I'M SURPRISED THE BOX WAS ABLE TO FIT ALL OF THIS IN. OH MY GOD

I had to think about the way he trapped for a second because it was a little vague but I assumed he was upside down in a cage... somehow... and a little bloody.

I realized that I should have been probably typing as I go because there's so much right around the point that Reader had woken up in the middle of the night.

Also- love that Legend is even more obvious afterwards. He's not even trying to be subtle.... if he was anyway. Because now Reader's caught on- Nevermind, Reader (like Wild (loved that line)) is just as tactless. XD

YOU WERE COUNTING NOT HIM

GLITTER YOU'RE KILLING ME!

ok, that was a cute ending. I know you said you got lazy but it was very sweet and soft.

[fndmfrenzy]

Since I'm still obsessed with Death Note, and never got over my obsession with Kaiji I've thought of a little thing for fun: a crossover AU! It takes place in Kaiji universe but all characters are replaced by Death Note characters. The plot is also mostly taken from Kaiji. I just love to imagine DN characters in those gambles :^)

Spoilers for Death Note and Kaiji (part 3-6 included) under the cut. I suspect most Kaiji fans have seen DN but I don't want to spoil Kaiji for the DN fans :^) (watch and read it it's soo goooood)

First things first: the world is not supernatural so both the Death Notes and shinigami don't exist. Teiai company still exists and serves as the main "antagonist". Sometimes a DN character replaces multiple Kaiji characters, or multiple DN characters replace one Kaiji chara.

Light (unlike Kaiji who is forced to gamble because of his debt) starts gambling because he's bored. He also has the second motive of taking down Teiai, because he's anti capitalist and that's his idea of justice. The Teiai CEO is a mysterious person named L, and nobody has ever seen their face.

Also: I didn't want Teiai to be TOO evil in this AU, since L is the one in charge of it, so they don't do death gambles. That's not saying much since the debtors and the underground mines still exist... Just bear with me, Light is the good guy here (Kaiji) so L HAS to be the bad guy (Hyodo).

Light's first gamble happens on Espoir. He sneaks on the ship, unlike debtors who got invited. Tonegawa's speech is given by Naomi Misora, who in this AU replaces both Tonegawa and Lind L Tailor (I wanted to use him, but he's such a non character that his role can be done by Naomi). Naomi introduces herself as L and Light really wants to gamble against her but he needs to make a name for himself first.

Light plays restricted rock paper scissors against his first victims. Nobody dies in this AU but they go into even bigger debt.

Light gets invited to another gamble, brave men road. This probably needs to be reworked in the AU because it's too deadly originally. I think it's still a more physical game, but without the risk of death. His opponents are FBI members (here they just belong to Teiai). Light wins and they get fired.

Naomi wants revenge for her fiance that Light defeated and Light wants to gamble with L so they agree to play E-card. I think, unlike in Kaiji, here only Light is cheating (somehow). Light wins and meets the actual Teiai CEO, L Lawliet/Ryuzaki. They gamble with the tissue box raffle and L outcheats Light and wins.

L admits that he's watched Light's previous gambles and wants him on the team, because if left unatended Light might bring Teiai a lot of harm.

L is very anti cheating in this AU, despite always cheating in his gambles. The rest of Teiai doesn't cheat though, and L hunts down people that do. He suspects that Light is cheating as well, but he can't prove it. He wants Light close to him so he can see him cheating.

Light's first task and "test" before joining Teiai is to inspect a casino subservient to Teiai and its owner, Misa Amane. L thinks that she's rigging the machines. At first Misa is trying to prevent Light from winning, but somewhere along the way she falls for him and rigs the pachinko in his favor. (I thought of a background for this: her parents were Teiai debtors and when the debt got too big they killed themselves. Misa was hired by Teiai to work off their debt. Somewhere during Light playing the pachinko machine he gives a speech how he hates Teiai and wants to destroy them and Misa starts to support his cause). Light fights with the bog (BTW the bog is designed after Rem. Shinigami don't exist in this AU, but it's a nice nod. Maybe instead of man eating bog it's called god of death or something.) and wins the jackpot. L suspects that Light only won because of Misa's rigging, so they must be conspiring together. Light's winnings are seized and Misa is fired.

Both Light and Misa are thrown into Teiai's underground mines, where debtors have to work off their debt. Soichiro learns that his son was a gambler behind his back, but he thinks he doesn't deserve the mines. He pleads to L and L gives Light another chance to prove himself (he was planning to anyway, because he doesn't have concrete evidence of Light cheating), by playing chinchiro against his closest employees (Soichiro, Aizawa, Matsuda). Light wins by cheating and officially becomes a member of Teiai. Misa is also freed from the mines.

Misa moves in with Light and his parents. The atmosphere is tense, Soichiro (replacing Sakazaki) is very dissapointed by Light for being a dirty gambler (but... Soichiro works for the gambling company too? maybe he didn't want Light to follow into his footsteps) and Misa is very clingy despite the lack of interest from Light (the park date scene with Mikoko and Kaiji plays exactly the same).

Some time passes and L approaches Light with a job. He wants Light to gamble against the president of a rival company, Yotsuba. Their profits have been rising and L suspects foul play is involved. With Higuchi as Muraoka and L as Kazuya, Light plays minefield mahjong. Turns out Higuchi is cheating, so Light has to outcheat him to win. Namikawa fills Miyoshi's role in giving hints to Light, but unlike Miyoshi he's not on president's side. He knows he used dirty tricks to get his position and he wants to bring him down. Helping Higuchi (as Maeda) can be any of the Yotsuba men who aren't too antagonistic towards him in canon. Maybe Ooi? Or all of them. Maybe he has some dirt on them and they're all forced to help him. Anyway, Light wins and bankrupts Higuchi.

After the gamble L wants to spend time with Light. I don't think the whole Kazuya hen happens, but they talk about their ideologies and agree to gamble together.

ONE POKER. A special gamble where the loser dies. Well, can die. This time Light outcheats L and the Teiai CEO dies. Light now has in his posession over 2 billion yen he won in this gamble.

Teiai doesn't believe he owns the money legitemately so the chase begins. Light runs with the money. He allies himself with Mikami and Takada (as Chang and Mario), who support his goal of bringing down Teiai. The new Teiai CEO is selected and it's Near. Near also replaces Endo, leading the chase after Light (along with Mello, who is unafiliated with Teiai. Maybe he was next in line and he wants to prove he's better than Near).

And that's the plot for now :^) I swapped the underground arc and pachinko arc to fit Death Note plot better, and skipped some events.

[chewyjellycable]

Pssst you should info dump on Langue

Anon wants me to talk about Langue??? 🥺🥺🥺 I must give credit to my dear friend Almond who put most of these thoughts in my brain since I'm gonna say a lot of things similar to what he'd say.

For once this post will focus on Langue and won't include things with Bredele since I think I've made enough posts about those two and their dynamic before.

Langue uses they/them and is okay with she/her being used on them- but use he, it, or any other type of pronouns and they're NOT going to be happy. (They prefer being called Ms. or Mx. in honorifics.)

They have incredibly low empathy. Despite being babied and doted on by their parents, it's very hard for them to show anything towards others even if they do like someone else. Their parents thankfully understand and do their best to raise them to their fullest potential.

Unfortunately this "full potential", "always try your best", and compliments on how smart Langue received growing up led to them having a bit of a gifted kid syndrome where they have to be the best or they're not worth anything at all. (Their parents weren't aware of this until it was far too late.) They go into things hoping to be the best, and if they're not, then there's no point in continuing that endeavor.

Making friends or companions is incredibly difficult due to all of their time being dedicated to bettering their skills- which their skills have led them to be great at arguing... a bit too good since they'll incidentally instigate those with the people they're trying to make friends with. Then again, why have friends that will distract you from your work?

Due to not knowing how to speak words that aren't combative or abrasive in some way, Langue is not at all good with kids. They're not good at family gatherings, either- often winding up wanting to control the conversation with the other adults or just take in the praise from family members.

They played Ace Attorney as a child and their parents watched court shows, which influenced Langue towards wanting to be one of those cool people they've seen in their games and shows. They succeeded!!

Though there's nothing wrong with the substances, any Cookie who winds up using anything that isn't a doctor's prescription medically or recreationally is judged very harshly by Langue. Then again, Langue judges everyone harshly for literally everything (this also includes Langue themself). The only exception to this is coffee, but only with cappuccinos since Langue drinks those on rare occasions. God forbid they become a hypocrite.

The amount of sensory issues they have is so bad that practically everything they need has to be prepared or made in a specific way. It's one of the reasons why they still live with their parents- since if they were to live on their own there'd be things that would be impossible for them to do- not that they'd dare admit that. They need specific fabric to wear, specific foods prepared in specific ways, and so on and so forth. Some think of this as them being snobby and spoiled, but in actuality, they wouldn't be able to function without those specifics.

Speaking of physical issues, Langue is very much blind without their glasses. They can only see vague blobs of what's around them without their glasses, not to mention the nausea and headaches that come from not wearing their glasses for long enough. Speaking of nausea- Langue has a VERY sensitive stomach.

They have very little control over their emotions. Even in court, it's very hard for them to remain in check. Thankfully their glasses help absorb some of that by taking in some of those emotions through enchantment (though it also winds up breaking a lot of the time from the abundance, it is capable of mending its own glass).

They used to eat paper as an incredibly young kid (their parents still have some of the books Langue ate out of and make jokes about how smart they became because of it).

The only food they'll eat without hesitation is from their parents or (on rare occasions) from Sandwich's shop. Sandwich is familiar with Langue and enjoys their company, though Langue does find her annoying and "too happy for working such a dreadful job".

Langue didn't believe in Ginger Claus/Eggnog until they literally had to defend him in court. They thought the offer was ridiculous until Eggnog himself walked into their office. (They're still conflicted on if the whole thing was Real or if their client was just one of those Mall Clauses seen around the holidays).

[accirax]

Disventure Camp All Stars Power Ranking (Round 14)

With last episode's elimination weighing heavy upon us, I'm at a bit of a loss as to what will happen next. Still, I have to stick to it, and hope I'll be luckier with this week's upcoming ranking.

In case you haven't seen my previous power rankings, the Power Ranking Format is essentially a way of ranking how well each player is doing in the game. So, in essence, this is a long form way of predicting who I think will be eliminated from the competition in the next episode. There will be spoilers for last week's episode (obviously) and its power ranking, so make sure to read that first if you don't want to be spoiled on how I ranked our last boot. If you want more clarification on the rules, that first post will help you out as well. Furthermore, I'm going to be spoiling the preview for next episode, so if you want to go in TOTALLY blind, save this for later. Let's go!

Recap - Gabby's Elimination

Current Score: 61 acquired/90 total

(Points versus @venus-is-thinking: 12 acquired/17 total)

Oh boy.

Look, I already rambled about how weird it is that Gabby was eliminated in this manner in my initial thoughts, so I won't waste my time writing the whole thing out again. It is true that Gabby already had a pretty complete character arc (going from insecurely relying on Ellie 100% to being afraid of what would happen when she was alone to overcoming her intrusive thoughts), so I can understand why the writers thought it would be okay to get rid of her now. I-- and I think a lot of others-- aren't so much upset with Gabby being eliminated as with the fashion in which it was done. Certainly for these power rankings, throwing in an elimination without voting was not something that I'd accounted for.

Thankfully I did well enough on Yul's elimination that how poorly I did with Gabby kinda got canceled out. Although, it also means that I wasn't able to reap the benefits of getting a 9/9 last week, and am now back in the 70% accuracy zone, though. Sigh. I fear that it won't get any better from here.

Let's just hope that there's an ACTUAL VOTE THIS WEEK HAHAHAHAHAHA (/lh)

Trailer Analysis

Ally pulling herself up into this tree and then Grett seeing a leaf falling from above makes me think that Ally might hide in a tree to spy on people, and Grett might spot her doing it. Embrace that Spy Nest, Ally.

EMILY???? MAYBE?????? Idk, I just miss her so much and I want her to come back.

Idol hunting, maybe? Or trying to spook people into thinking there's an idol to be found?

I assume this is actually Derek trying to check up on Trevor/see if he's okay, he's just doing it in his own Derek way.

It even seems like Trevor and Derek might both be serving as challenge tester interns for this challenge, which would add to the reading that Derek wants to make amends with Trevor.

Friendship! :D Death flag? D:

I hope that this is Jake telling Connor to get his head in the game instead of just yelling at him for no reason. If you're angry at him for being mopey, you're being a bit of a hypocrite, Jake.

Okay yeah, more treevidence.

This is a pretty standard strength-based Survivor challenge. Although, much like the balls challenge, this was also one that was discontinued for injuring the real life contestants too much. It's interesting to note that, for some reason, Connor's light turns red instead of being blue at some point in the challenge. It could just be an indicator that he makes it farther into the challenge (he's shown with eight bags instead of four). However, it could also be some sort of penalty, including one that starts at the beginning of the challenge.

To quote Venus, "IT'S THE BREAK CONNOR'S LEGS CHALLENGE???"

"I'm starting to feel like myself again~!"

This is presumably about Grett returning to her more villainous ways. Ironic, considering that she's just left the villains alliance, or at the very least it's less powerful now than it's ever been. I guess Yul and Gabby were both keeping Grett in check, in their own ways. Still, I missed s1 Grett, so hopefully we can get a bit of that flavor back in this end stretch. Also, this is the only scene we see with sunset lighting. That means that this scene is definitely the last chronological scene to appear in the trailer, and probably from after the challenge is over.

Power Ranking

#1: Grett

Speaking of Grett, let's keep talking about her.

Although I think Grett is in a much less safe position than she was before Yul or Gabby's elimination, I would still be surprised if she was the next to go. Obviously, I said that about Gabby too, but Gabby's elimination also strengthens Grett's position. Would they really eliminate Yul and Gabby AND Grett back to back to back? I sincerely hope not.

There also seems to be a lot of foreshadowing that Grett will be in a position of power/decision making in this episode. Last time, she said that she wouldn't forget that Alec and Riya continued to stand by Yul, and this time, she's clearly getting up to some sort of scheming. Obviously, it's possible for a character's own meddling to wind up taking them out in the end. However, I don't think that's what they'd want to do with Grett right now. She doesn't need to have what power she's finally managed to accrue swept out from underneath her again.

Oh, and she just told Gabby that she'd kick ass in the competition for her. That's not something you say right before getting cancelled yourself. Grett really should be okay.

#2: Jake

And, sure, why don't we put my other best winner candidate in the #2 position as well? If I think these guys could make the finale (together, even), then surely they have to make it past this episode, right?

I am a little bit worried for Jake, as there is definitely potential for Ally to shoot some votes his way. I'm almost expecting him to get some votes this episode, I just don't think it'll be enough to have any effect on him. Given his growing relationships with Aiden and Connor, I don't think that either of them would really ever vote for Jake at this point. That means, that, assuming all three of them vote together, Jake would need literally every single person in the game-- Alec, Riya, Grett, and Ally-- to vote for him in order to have a majority. Like I said, I am a little worried that that could happen, but overall, I don't think it will.

Despite the level of focus Jake has gotten this season, I still feel like there's more to come with him. I think the writers might want to expand more on his relationship with Connor, with both of them feeling like screw-ups, and Aiden and Jake's newly friendly dynamic is super fun to watch. In either case, as is probably evident by the fact that we haven't seen Connor or Aiden on this list yet, I think that Jake is the least narratively expendable of the true heroes. If you removed him, Aiden and Connor don't have much tying them together. Jake is the lynchpin of that alliance from a storytelling standpoint, and I think they'll want to keep him around for that reason.

#3: Connor

Okay, potentially a bold choice, given how many death flags Connor was throwing up at the end of last episode. You can't just spill your entire backstory in a heartfelt conversation, dude, you're gonna die. And now he's in the #3 spot that's been cursed by Gabby?! Now I'm really second guessing myself...

I do think that Connor's clock might not have ticked its final tock yet, though. Despite the fact that I honestly think it's more likely that he's been impaired (probably by Riya) in this challenge than that they spoiled that he makes it to some sort of second round, I still think Connor might win. Sure, in the superhero challenge, he wanted super strength; it's not that he had it already. But, who else is supposed to win this challenge? Twink 1 or 2? The gamer girl, or the depressed bookworm? Riya's snappable-looking arms?

My money's on Grett if not Connor, but I think that Connor winning immunity this episode would be an appropriate level of win for him after the rough time he went through last episode. It would prove to him that he can be strong and have good things happen for him, even if the circumstances are actively stacked against him. Jake's supposed pep talk could also help get him in the proper mood, which could bring the two of them closer together.

It's also still true that I think that Aiden, Jake, and Connor is still the voting block that's most likely to work together in the upcoming vote, making it harder for the villains to get enough numbers to eliminate Connor. I could definitely see Riya and possibly Alec wanting to continue targeting him, and if Ally has become Riya's lackey, she could go along with it too. Grett, I don't really see, but... I can't deny it's a possibility.

Still, I find it unlikely enough that Connor will be immediately eliminated that he's at #3. Ugh, now I totally feel like I've jinxed it, and it will just be that Connor goes home again. C'est la vie, I guess. Use that old man strength to prosper, Connor!

#4: Aiden

Blah blah blah, Jake, Connor, and Aiden working together means that they're all less likely to be eliminated in this episode, you've heard it twice before immediately prior to this. I do think that Aiden is probably the most likely of the trio to be eliminated this episode, though, even if I can't exactly put my finger on why.

Part of it is probably that Aiden was a finalist before, which makes me less likely to think that he will be again. Aiden also already beat Riya via James in s2, so there isn't as much of a need to have him outlive/triumph over her again this time. Also, while we've debatably concluded Connor's character arc with that conversation at the end of last episode, it definitely feels like we're winding down on Aiden's content for the season. He's certainly made it far enough to appease James and Lake at this point, and that fist bump with Jake may be a signal that they are truly and undeniably friends at this point. If that's the case, why is Aiden still here?

To be honest, a big part of why I've put all of the heroes pretty high up this week is because of Grett's quote from the end of the trailer, the one about feeling like herself again. If Grett has started stirring up trouble, how is that supposed to result in Aiden going home? Or Jake or Connor, for that matter. Given that Ally has seemingly flipped over to the villains' side, Grett voting with them to take out a hero is, like, the default. What's so spicy about that? I mean, it's spicy that Ally is now voting with the villains, but that has nothing to do with Grett!

It is definitely possible that I'm overthinking things, and that continuing to work with the villains (but of her own volition instead of Yul's) is making Grett excited to be a bad guy again. If that's the case, I'll surely regret putting all of Jake, Connor, and Aiden in the upper echelons of the list. However, I feel like Grett is planning to scheme something beyond what's more obvious, and that it's more likely that she will turn on Alec and Riya to work with the hero boys instead. If that's true, then all of them really should be safe.

#5: Alec

Welcome back from the brink of death, Alec. Don't make me regret moving you back up.

Alec was taking an unprecedented number of Ls last episode, and I fear they may keep coming for him. But, if that's the case, it may actually make him less likely to go home. No longer having any power, Alec at least appears like much less of a threat. He is still a worry when it comes to physical challenges, but there's much more of an appearance, at least, that he could now be taken out whenever.

I also feel like taking him out right now would be a little random. Like, if you were gonna have him go out as a direct result of the kiss, it probably should have been last episode. The current timeline of events would be Alec kisses Riya, then the truth is revealed and there's a strain on their relationship, then Alec just waffles around for an episode or so before being eliminated. Why have that period of waffling around in? The same felt true of Ally, and then they picked her up for a new plotline and some continued relevance!

Everybody keeps reiterating to me in the comments that there desperately needs to be a true villain in the final three, and they'd never eliminate Alec before that point because they need him there to be a losing finalist. And, you know what? Fair. I don't know as much about how Total Drama works as I do about how Danganronpa works, so if that really is a rule that's written in stone, maybe I should start listening to the wise words of the more informed fans. I'm always a fan of messing with the rules to catch people off guard, and I personally would probably prefer a finale where I'm not already certain that one of the three finalists isn't going to win. (Like, let's be real, ONC knew to cut off the s2 finale part 1 at whether or not Aiden would be saved instead of whether James or Riya would win, because once James jumped off that cliff it was basically a foregone conclusion that he'd be the winner.) However, it's nice to have some villain representation in the finale as well, and maybe that still can be Alec.

#6: Riya

I don't have much specific to say about Riya, just, like... bad vibes.

I could completely see Grett's scheming be in an effort to get Riya out of the game. Currently, I think Riya reads as the biggest dog on campus, so if Grett is looking for her "game defining move" (to whatever extent that actually matters), it could totally make sense to target Riya. Now that Connor is moving towards moving on, all she has to do is say the word to Jake, Connor, and Aiden, and I'm sure they'd comply. The scheming would be to the extent that it's a blindside, and Riya doesn't realize that she lost hold on Grett to an extent that Grett would be looking to target her.

There's also the fact that Riya was a finalist before, and therefore may not be again. I maintain that if they're going to have a repeat finalist, it's more likely to be Riya than Aiden, but there's always the possibility that it's just neither of them and Aiden could be taken out later.

I really don't have much else to add. I think Riya could very easily be in danger this episode, and there isn't much depth to it. Leaving Alec to fend for himself could be an interesting turn of events as well, as he never competed in s1 without Fiore by his side, and his plan going into the season of focusing more on his social game would have totally backfired. I'm not fully convinced on Riya going home, but it seems like a likely enough outcome.

#7: Ally

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. To be clear, I'm talking about Ally's placement in the power rankings-- from first place to last place-- as opposed to the decline of her character. Even if she's choosing to act a bit more villainously, I haven't started to dislike her more, or particularly think that she's being written worse. I merely think that she's put herself in a pretty precarious position.

As I said earlier in this power ranking, I think that Grett is going to be a major player in this episode, and as such I think that those scenes depicting her and Ally in the tree will be Relevant. Basically, I wonder if Grett will stir up trouble by throwing Ally under the bus this episode. It won't be hard for Grett to convince Jake and Co. to take her out, and if she can convince Riya that Ally has been spying on her (while still pretending to be under Riya's wing), Riya and Alec might turn on her, too. The scheming, therefore, can be a plot to humiliate Riya by tricking her into voting out someone who genuinely wanted to work with her. And, with Grett now joining the heroes, Riya and Alec's days are totally numbered. It's a brilliant plan to pin all six votes on one person in a move that secretly swaps your major alliance and gives you lots of power... just like what I predicted Riya would do to Alec last episode. Mannnnn...

Anyways, if you're like me, you might be wondering what an Ally elimination would do in terms of Ally's character arc this episode. It is possible that there would be some issues with Ally's heart simply being broken by an elimination in ways the writers don't want. However, there are a few ways around it. The first is that Ally, already having learned that it's better to play as herself instead of who she thinks the audience will like, will be satisfied by her elimination as a result of her trying to play the game as she thought best. That's like, super unlikely to have happen, but it's not totally impossible.

The other is that Ally will be upset, freaking out over whether flipping to being a villain and then immediately being eliminated as one will have totally ruined her rapport with literally everyone. But, she'll be comforted either in this episode or in the eventual Loser's Motel episode. In the case of being comforted this episode, I could honestly see Grett being the one to do it. In season 1, Grett was eliminated after the villains turned on her, and then faced a lot of public backlash for her actions. It was tough, but she made it through. Ally should be proud of the game she's played, having made it this far, and not take it too harshly that she got outplayed.

The Loser's Motel option would probably include Hunter and/or Tess trying to cheer her up, with the added bonus that Ally could see what people really thought of her this season. If they actually thought that she was more funny/engaging/interesting this season, that could lift her spirits. It could also be a combination of both, where Grett gives her word of confidence now and social media finishes it out later.

The other point of conflict is Ally's relationship with Jake, which... uhhhh, I don't know. If Ally does go out here by Jake's hand, I don't think that their relationship will be at all salvaged. However, I also don't know if that's one of the goals of this season? They might just hate each other, and that's the end. I think the biggest issue with that is, if Jake wins, it might be a bit of a weird look to have your winner have a lot of animosity towards another fairly rootable character.

Should that convince me out of putting Ally down here? I don't know, maybe. But on these trajectories, how would Ally and Jake ever make up, even if they had the entire rest of the season to do it? Both of them being losing finalists? I don't know! So, Ally stays here for now.

Well, that's the power ranking for this week. Unlike either of the past two weeks-- despite how different their outcomes were-- I'm not confident at what I've put here at all. I'd put, like, everyone here other than Grett at like 5 or 6 if I could. Will that lack of confidence be unfounded in a brilliant result, or will I have swung for the fences and missed wildly again? Honestly, as long as there's a genuine vote out this episode, I'll be happy. I look forward to seeing what happens on Saturday.

[wintergrew]

Actually i will say on KAYF...

The basic premise of KAYF was an idea I first got roughly ten years ago after watching various vampire media. (Let the Right One In, Shiki, etc.) Not the whole plot, but the basic premise of a (queer) couple broken up by one becoming a vampire while their town is being destroyed by...well, vampires. Originally with my friend's and my Star Wars ocs from the MMO swtor we were obsessed with and made a billion AUs for, but very quickly it became its own thing in my head with new OCs.

But at that point in my life i was not writing fiction. I was always too self conscious of my writing because someone flamed my cringeybwriting on Neopets when I was, like...8 or something. So I literally went a full ass decade without writing fiction (with the exception of a couple attempts i immediately abandoned because I hated them) until I decided to try again with South Park fanfiction because i don't even know. Which includes The Thief, which I was shocked people liked. It was a TERRIBLE point in my life, I should say, so having people enjoy what I wrote and saying nice things about it was quite literally one of the only good things I had.

But anyway I still had that vampire idea in the back of my head, but just as random scenes that played in my head of the two main charades + the person who ended up being Estella. (Though originally her and Scott's role was combined.) The plot wasn't really defined or anything, but the basic ending was in my head from the very very beginning.

Anyway...2020. i was supposed to see MCR. Then COVID postponed it. I was very sad about this. So I extra emo-ly listened to a shit ton of MCR. And listening to MCR, suddenly I was thinking about that vampire story and their music pretty much helped me put the plot into place. The terminal illness plotline. The vampire of the pairing being obsessed to save his love and the cruelty from the other vampires regarding that. And ofc the song Kill All Your Friends itself gave me the set up of an IT-like time skip where someone died and they all go back.

They were all still 100% OCs in my head at this point. I didn't really have much confidence anyone would like these idea but, I was actively writing South Park fanfiction people liked well enough. I'd only ever written fanfiction. So I was like "huh I guess I can make this idea Creek".

So I did. And then wrote three chapters and didn't update for a full year.

But then in 2021 it became my ADHD obsession. I stopped caring about The Thief Trilogy. All I could think of was KAYF and wrote the rest of it in three or so months... Over 100k words. Pretty sure the update schedule was longer than that, but I spaced out chapters by a week long after I was finished.

And people seemed to like it. It was too dark to be as popular as the Thief Trilogy, but I knew that. It was a much more personal story, though, especially with how emotional it was, so it meant SO MUCH to me that anyone liked it. Also because The Thief Trilogy feels basically just like a bloated fanfiction adaptation of the SOT game to me, while KAYF feels like mine, so the kind words for it meant even more in a way.

Until someone I thought was a friend trashed it relentlessly. Like, I'm fine with constructive criticism but they were just horrible. Spoiled the plot for people who wanted to read it directly after i asked them not to, went on condescending rants about how there was too much filler, how Tweek in it was an awful character who deserved to die, claimed characters were all too unsympathetic, joked about parts I meant in earnest, etc. And they got really mad at me that my feelings were hurt by this. It was a whole thing.

Anyway, I'm still to this day years later obsessed with this story year. I think about it every day, which is probably more unhealthy ADHD shit. And I always think about how to make it better. I hate how I wrote it so fast and didn't think about certain details or pacing or what have you. Like, once I finished writing it, I was sad because I wanted to keep writing it. I still do.

I hate that I disappoint people by not having it out there. I want it out there, just not the version I rushed in three months.

So, for now, the fic is hidden. Indefinitely.

Anyway if you read all this tl;dr rambling congratulations I guess.

[chongoblog]

Valentine's Day OC Ship Gushing: Dancefloor

So my poll has been up for about 20 minutes, and (despite where I placed my vote, it was mostly there as a placeholder), I'm incredibly happy to see that both of the top spots are from The Red Kraken, which is the story I've been excited to write about for the last, like, five years.

Now maybe it's because you all loved the names or maybe you guys just love pirates (which mood to both), so I'm just gonna get it going because I want to talk about Dancefloor. The cute ship between the two furries, because I've been thinking about them a lot. Continuing under the readmore

So first things first, this is for a series that I've been meaning to write, and unlike the other Red Kraken ship, this is a relationship that develops over the course of the story, so for both of the RK ships I'll have to be brief with some of the details, seeing how I'd hate to spoil too much of the story. Also, everything is still technically a work in progress, so even though I'm speaking pretty broadly, some things may change somewhat. That said, let's talk about Them.

(art being post is by @stoatunquote who has created some Good RK Content and they are very awesome and swag)

So first we have Disco

Disco is a new recruit to the crew of the Red Kraken, a pirate crew that, in the story, is exploring a newly revealed world full of mystery and adventure. Specifically, she convinced a newly made friend to help her stow away at the last second before they set off. Having lived most of her life on the streets, she's always hungry for adventure, jumping into new experiences without a second thought. She's incredibly confident, believing herself to have a silver tongue, able to convince anyone of anything with her charisma (despite the fact that she usually cannot), and she is also something of a kleptomaniac, enjoying theft as if it were a craft in and of itself, sometimes preferring stealing something than having it be given to her.

And then the other half, Tap

Tap is a woman of few words. She prides herself on her skills with the bow and arrow and her abilities in stealth and scouting. She had joined the crew a few years ago, and even now, there are a few members who have yet to fully earn her trust. Granted, earning her trust is incredibly difficult to do. Without going too deep into it, her backstory, which includes losing an enormous portion of her large family after being betrayed by someone she had trusted, lends herself to being not trusting in the slightest. Her reason for joining at first centered around getting revenge, and while she still thinks about getting that revenge, she's come to adjust to life on the crew, willing to wait for the moment she can get that revenge. She also attempts to keep a cold and serious demeanor, although she is not very good at hiding when she is legitimately excited about something, usually outwardly denying said excitement.

Tap is the first member of the crew that Disco meets, being held at bowpoint by the bunny with an icy glare. Disco falls in love almost instantly, at first mostly as just attraction. Because there's something about being held at bowpoint. As Disco and Mac (the other guy) are brought on as new recruits with Tap assigned to watch over them. Over time, that attraction turns into a more genuine and more heartfelt caring. Tap finds herself constantly annoyed by Disco at first, slowly also growing to care for the other.

So why do I love this ship so much? First of all, the dynamic in the way they act with one another is very playful one, with Disco constantly trying to sweet-talk Tap, only for her to be completely immune to her "silver tongue" or attempting to steal little trinkets from her only to be stopped by Tap's incredibly acute senses. On the other hand, Disco also enjoys the challenge of trying to get her to show excitement past the cold demeanor, and she can tell that deep down Tap enjoys these little challenges, sometimes giving equally playful retorts (each one driving Disco absolutely crazy)

But on a bit of a deeper level, they have a lot of similarities and differences that really serve to help each other as they grow closer. In terms of similarities, both of them have experienced a level of betrayal in their past. Also they're both Beastials (which is the in-universe way of saying they're furries), and while I'm not sure how much I plan to dive into the Societal Implications of that (because that sort of thing can get allegorically complicated very fast, oh hi Zootopia), being a Beastial definitely has an effect on their backstory. They also both hold a lot of passion and excitement for the little things in life (no matter how much Tap tries to hide it).

But the most important part about them is that they act as a foil for one another in a very important way. The best way I can describe this is they differ in the idea of the journey vs the destination. Due to Disco's past, she believes herself to be powerless against the sheer scale and power of the rest of the world. So her approach to that is to live out the rest of her life simply enjoying the journey with no thoughts to where it will lead her. After all, her actions won't have an effect on much, so why have any sense purpose behind her actions outside of "here for a good time, not a long time"?

Tap, on the other hand, believes that the ends justify the means, completely unfocused on how things get done, moreso focusing on what the result will be. After all, she joined the crew first and foremost to get revenge. And for the first few months on the crew, she likely had that solely occupying her mind. There's no time to smell flowers when there's work to be done.

And I'm hoping that as I write the story of these two growing closer that they can learn to grow from one another. I've known for a long time that Disco's arc is going to mostly include her learning to have a purpose behind what she does and slowly learning what that purpose is. Tap's arc I'm still trying to get a firm grasp of, but I imagine in large part it will be learning to let herself enjoy the little things through life and learning to not deny herself that pleasure.

Anyway, I think out of all of my ships, this one is actually my favorite. I really hope that I can make it a reality, and writing about it has only fueled my passion to write about the Red Kraken a little bit more. I really really REALLY hope that I can use this energy to do this. MY New Years Resolution this year was to make them real to some extent, so here's hoping I can focus on doing exactly that.

And as a final touch, even though I cannot draw, here They are

[oceancamp]

🌌, 🤍, 🖥️, 🍺, 🥊, 🎉 and 🎧 for the halo ask game :D

thank you so much for the ask!!

🌌 - what made you interested in halo?

So because of Wolf 359 I became obsessed with the character dynamic where there's a person and their AI bestie and from what i could gather from gifsets with Chief and Cortana I thought they'll likely fuck me up as much as Eiffel and Hera in Wolf 359. AND THEN THEY DID. 10000000/10

🤍 - favourite halo character?

Hell there's so many of them but to name a few in no particular order:

Arbiter cause it still fucks me up how great his story is + when i first played Halo 2 i was sort of freshly ex catholic and well. And I love to see his dedication to making things better and the way he approaches that.

Kurt cause *gesturing to all of Ghosts of Onyx* yeah. I can't think about it too much without crying

Rtas Vadum (here's my recommendation for Shadow of Intent)

Chief cause *gesturing to all of Halo* but what really cemented it was Fall of Reach showing how much he blamed himself for stuff outside of his control like the fucking augmentation deaths and how reading his convo with Mendez about that made me wanna tear my hair out. Like holy fuck what was done to him was so fucked up and he doesn't even realize the full extent of itttt.

Cortana - beside her realtionship to Chief I loved seeing her work on all those ships in First Strike including the whole capture of the flagship and then all that stuff with the slipspace crystal

Six - there's the tragedy of them signing up to get revenge against the covenant and then being used by ONI against other humans that makes them live rent free in my head, plus there's so much unexplored by canon potential - the Assembly datapads, their interactions with Kat as another Beta company Spartan, what would their thoughts on Spartans and ONI be given what he was used for compared to what he wanted? Also I wished he had a chance to talk to Cortana too, it would maybe make him happy to hear about her hacking Ackerson's bank account, even if for obvious reasons he wouldn't be able to talk about their previous work freely and Cortana wouldn't probably be able to share that freely too.

Jacob Keyes - I'm really fond of all his stunts with ships plus the terminal about him trying to resist the flood fucks me up.

🖥️ - favourite AI?

Beside Cortana for reasons mentioned above, I love Mac from Contact Harvest a lot (idk if you've read the book yet so I'm not gonna spoil much, just that he starts off as kinda endearing and then stuff gets revealed that makes him fascinating and then finally the epilogue makes me cry). I also think that the more ONI-affiliated AIs are interesting too, like Black Box or even Araqiel cause of how they rationalize their participation in all the fucked up shit compared to, for example, Deep Winter trying to prevent the gammas from getting augmented the way they were. Plus even here it's interesting to look at how they interacted with or saw others like BB joking with Osman in Rossbach's World or Araqiel calling Ackerson good/honorable in First Strike (can't remember the precise word used but still it's so funny like bro you probably killed people together).

🍺 - who would you have a drink with?

Hmm maybe the Grey Team? Like even with my decent alcohol tolerance I probably wouldn't keep up with Spartans for long but still. A small price to pay for hanging out with Adriana.

🥊 - who are you beating the shit out of?

I know Ackerson did get wrecked by those brutes but it wasn't enough for me and every time I remember that the whole thing got framed as heroic I feel like adding on another hit. I'd say I hope every single S III + Kurt lined up to punch him in the afterlife but really it would be cruel to force them to have to put up with him in any way again lmao.

(And while we're here I'll respond to your answer to my ask and say I feel similar to you about Jun lmao. Like Jun bro why are you helping make the torture labirynth of Spartan projects even worse.)

🎉 - share your favourite character headcanon

I think the headcannon that Six loves flying is kinda popular from what I saw in some fics (which makes me damn happy) and my own take on that is that it started from a suggestion from Kurt, like a nudge for Six to get some advanced pilot training, after he noticed that Six didn't really like being compared with Chief by ONI people who were hyped to create another hyper-lethal vector. I like to imagine Kurt saying something like "You know, John always hated flying" and maybe the interest was there before but now it really kicked off cause they got encouraged to pursue something that they as a person Liked and something that set them apart yknow?

(btw i got so many Six headcannons, here i went with probably the least sad one jhgfdjhg)

🎧 - song you associate a halo character with

Foreign Skies by The Dreadnoughts is such a Noble Six song to me, fits both the theme of the tragedy of Reach and of the happiness of being with the team even for that short time.

thanks again for the ask, and for your reply to mine, I especially like your thoughts about Dot, gonna listen to those firefight voicelines later, and I absolutely agree on Six being a cat person

[thelordofgifs]

luthien being like "'you only ever had to ask' is meant for all of you, you know" SMASH CUT TO maglor "i cannot POSSIBLY ask luthien to bargain with her father on our behalf" i am LOSING MY MIND i am going to SHAKE HIM

OKAY this is actually very hard to answer without spoiling both plot points and Big Overall Themes. In fact I just typed some stuff up and then deleted it, several times. So! Here are some random musings that do in fact very obliquely relate to your point:

what do the sons of Feanor want? And what should they want - and are they the same thing? Maglor asks Maedhros this, explicitly. Maedhros has no idea how to answer and changes the subject instead.

I love messing around with unreliable narrators. With tfs, this is slightly harder than it would otherwise be because the overall narrator is me and I am reliable (in tfs. not in life in general. I miss far too many trains to be called reliable). But I still try to delve into different characters' POVs and to try to show how their experiences might colour their view of events.

That being said, there are characters in tfs who are almost always right about The Moral of the Story. These include Luthien, Huan, and Finrod; if any of them start making proclamations on what certain events mean or how to interpret particular lines of dialogue, you should pay attention to them because they're usually onto something.

Then there are characters who are genre-aware, but haven't got all the way to figuring out the Themes and Concepts of the particular story they're stuck in. In this category are both Fingon and Maglor, who I think are becoming narrative foils for each other which. good for them. Anyway, these two are allowed to be right sometimes, but sometimes they are very wrong.

(The third category, for completeness' sake, are characters who literally failed their classes on narrative symbolism and are so so so stupid and their word should be trusted on literally nothing - "It turns you into the worst version of yourself, and strips away the best thing you have left" and "But it is written on my flesh" and "I will never see him again" and "Clearly I'm evil. That's it".)

All of this is to say... Maglor isn't necessarily wrong here! But I can't actually explain why without spoiling way too much.

Thank you for the ask!! Hopefully this makes some sense :)

[an-abyss-of-stars]

✨Fic Updates!!✨

✵It's Visceral And It's Cruel✵

I'M SORRY!! Writer's block is a bitch and she has me by the throat!!! I've been stuck on this chapter for agessssss and I can't seem to move past the blockage!!

I've got like 2k words done for it and I'm struggling, I have all the plot points in my notes, I just can't seem to verbalize themmm, UGH frustrating 😭😭 I'm going to keep trying this weekend though!! It's an Aemond focused chapter, and I am excited for it, I just need to find an angle on it and then I'll be good!

I might've shot myself in the foot by not including him in the flashback/prologue parts 🤣🤣 Because now I kind of need to catch up with the feelings of his childhood that lead up into the character/man he's become...or I might just skip to his feelings that immediately occurred after his first interaction with Rhaena and deal with the rest later 🤔 we'll see.

-

☾ He Saw Her At Daybreak ☾

I'M doing a whole lot better with updating this fic! Idk what it is about smut/fluff that's just so much easier to write...well I do know...it's because there's no stress with this one 🤣🤣

Anywaysssss, I've started ch.6, there will be a couple of time jumps in this one. Without spoiling too much, this chapter is definitely the start of the preggo Rhaena arc! She's going to start *showing* in this chapter, cravings might also start!! Overprotective husband Aemond is coming into play, as well as is the horny-preggo Rhaena arc!! I'm actually VERY excited! 😌💖

-

⚜️One Shots!⚜️

I'm going to blame this on my IVAIC writers block! But I've got a few Rhaemond plots that I really do want to write and I think they could definitely work as One Shots. They're ideas that either don't really work in either of my main fics, or they're not fully fledged ideas that could last for a multi-part series. So maybe I'll drop some! I figure most of them will have at least a little smut to them, knowing me they probably will 😂😂

-

🔷Sequel Series!🔷

BUT FINALLY SPEAKING OF MULTI-PART FICS! If anyone remembers when I posted that little character bio for Vaella Targaryen from my Her Saw Her At Daybreak universe (Rhaemond's firstborn child...which by the way, I have another one ready to post in my drafts! Coming soon!) Anyways while I've been creating character art and personalities for all of their babies (6 in total at the moment) I started feeling SUPER attached to this next gen of Targ babies! And talking with a friend of mine who's been reading this HSHAD, I brought up the idea of possibly doing a Part #3 to this series!

So Rhaemond would still be the heart and soul of that fic. Except they'd be older and in a more Daemyra era position, like all 6 kids would be in their late teens/early 20s with their own shenanigans and drama, the chaos and wild love stories! We'd also have Jace and Baela's grown kids, Luke and Daenaera's (this ship will be hinted and shown during HSHAD) grown kids. We'd have grown Jaehaera, Jaehaerys, Aegon III and Viserys II too! Like I'm thinking a Bridgerton-type large family chaos mixed with GOT's general wildness, of course Targaryen incest is still a thing so expect some of those ships within this new gen 🤣🤣 but some of the kids will definitely fall for and make matches with other houses, Cregan will definitely make a return with his own son (and maybe more, if I have him marry someone and have more kids).

LIKE I can just see the potential!! 😂😂 Aemond's a very tired dad, his sons are wild, he's very overprotective of his daughters especially now that they're all of age and it's courting season 😂 Rhaena is the sweetest mom ever and she's handling courting season with their kids a whole lot better than her grumpy husband 😂😂 Daemyra stays ruling the kingdom and being the best grandparents 😂 Rhaenys and Corlys (Corlys might not be too present... I think Luke might be Lord of The Tides by this point ) will make appearances too!

So in a way it'd be like a trilogy! And I'm kinda super excited about it because it would all feel so complete if it was 💖✨💖

Idk if anyone would read this, but I hope y'all would! 😂😂

[its-a-swift-kloss]

I'm sorry but Kaylor Tumblr is an echo chamber right now, and dumb echo chamber at that.

Everyone including Swifties have been bored of the pap walks Taylor has been doing with her friends since after the first two or three she's done after dumping Toe, nobody wants to see Taylor do the same boring pap walks with the same boring people at the same boring restraunts while the vast majority of people think that her current street style looks like complete crap.

Swifties were so bored of all this boring shit that Taylor's doing for the 1989 TV rollout that a lot of them were coming up with wild theories about how there is going to be a secret B-side to 1989 TV that has vault tracks with titles that don't sound boring as shit and collabs with actually cool and interesting celebrities. The excitement Taylor drummed up for Swifties with the Google vault puzzle didn't even last that long, the excitement all died off within two hours of Taylor announcing the vault track names and Swifties went back to coming up with "theories" to try and make 1989 TV and everything around it less boring.

Taylor bearding with this football dude was actually a good move for her to make because now Swifties aren't bored to death over how lackluster the rollout for 1989 TV is anymore and now she's got the attention of people who wouldn't be interested in her without this dude as potential new consumers of her products and the only downside of her doing this was pissing off a miniscule section of her fandom, Gaylors, who have a major issue with too many of them acting like awful over-entitled brats because she's her own person who handles her closet exactly the way she wants to instead of coming out of the closest for the benefits of others even thought Taylor's indicated in her most recent album Midnights that coming out of the closet just so others can benefit is something she has zero interest or intention of doing.

Hello, anon. So, let me see if I got it right. You think everyone was bored and that's why Taylor had to get a beard? That he'll solve all the problems by keeping swifties occupied and boosting her sales? I don't even- lol first, if your fanbase is so thirsty for news or entertainment that they can't sit still for a few weeks, something is wrong in the way you handle them. She's either sending the wrong signals, spoiling them with too much content to the point that when one thing happens (like the vault to solve), they're already antsy for the next thing. Did they forget about the year she spent away?? Maybe they need reminding. If you kept up with her during 2014-2015, you'll remember what it was like the 1989 era - she did promote that album a lot. It worked and she didn't need a guy for it, how crazy. What I think most ppl around me are saying, is that she's the Taylor Swift. She doesn't need a man to boost her numbers. Sure, she's reaching a new territory and a new audience with this stunt, but she doesn't need it to make big bucks. She's at the top of her game, she's reaching a new high every day. Just check the charts or how her concerts are sold out. Not to mention that 1989 is an era based on her being single and happy, her preaching all around about having fun with her friends and enjoying life without a relationship. That seems to have been thrown out of the window now. She could do better promo if she wanted to, bc we've seen it before. Now it seems like even if she just dumped her last beard in the first semester, she can't go more than a few months without a guy. What message does it send, anon? Ppl have every right to be annoyed, even if we do understand she's doing it for even bigger numbers and to have a wider audience. Most of us have been here for years keeping up with her story. As far as I've seen, no one is being an asshole demanding her to come out or whatever. They're just wondering why this same old story again. You're allowed your feelings and opinions, anon, but remember, so are we.

[yukikorogashi]

(shhh this is anon) BECKYYYYY TwT prances on in here with some tea and cookies for the sweetest bestie and the gal who deserves the world! ;3; I know I tell you this so much, but I will never tire of it, so I'm here again to remind you that you're hands-down one of the nicest, most talented, most INSPIRATIONAL people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting ;u; You never cease to amaze me with your exceptional skills in graphic design, art, writing... legit, basically ANYTHING you put your hands in, your efforts and the results are so phenomenal, and I will never not admire how you maintain modesty and continue to be SUCH a friendly sunflower of a person all the while! <3 You should be so proud of how far you've come and how hard you work always, Becky! But please remember to be kind to yourself and take those breaks that you desperately need, okay? <3 <3 Sending you all the love, always!

ANONYMOUSLY TELL ME YOUR HONEST OPINION ABOUT ME. I CAN’T REPLY, JUST PUBLISH.

POINTS @ YOU... 🥺❤️ IT'S THE BESTIE... IT'S BEST GORL SAMMY... THE BESTEST BESTIE BOO TO EVER BEST-- aaeuhaauwhae yeah I'm starting not to make anymore sense so just... rests my head against you like I always do now while I enjoy these lovely tea and cookies that you have also come to spoil me with!!! 😭❤️💕

But Lord help me because I keep switching between thanking you for once more spoiling me with all this support, kindness and love-- and apologising to you for the fact that I'm likely just going to repeat myself by loving you back awuehauwe! After all, it's just a never ending cycle of love between us, huh? With us both always being so ready to scream at one another like AAAAAAAAA ❤️💕❤️!!! No matter what the reason might be, no matter how we are feeling about something else... I just love that we both will always ALWAYS get to express how much we love each other, no matter auehawuhe. OTL ... S-So yeah, I will inevitably love on you again, the next time we get to chat, so I will TRY to keep this response short-- even though that just feels like a crime to me because GDI this amazing girl here needs to be told each and every time just how wonderful and loved she herself is! 🥺 ❤️💕

BUT ANYWAY--

I don't know what I did to deserve a bestie as amazing as you. To know someone as incredible as you. and for her to think this highly of me like AAAAAAA??? I still sometimes can't help but look back over my shoulder, to check and see if there's someone behind me. WHICH DOESN'T MAKE SENSE IN THIS CASE BUT Y'KNOW AWUehwauH!!! Honestly, you-- without fail-- will always inspire and leave me in awe-- just from your existence alone.

You are not just a crazy talented writer and artist (As I mentioned many times before you, you are in my top 3 favourite writers, and if Danganronpa is real, you would totally be enrolled as one of the Ultimate Writers for the academy AEHAW!!! And gaaaah your art, your art will forever be one of the cutest, prettiest things- and honestly I cannot get enough of see your drawings too!!! So I count my blessings when I actually get the chance to see any of it!)... but also one of the strongest human beings I know. You always put others before yourself, and it blows me away just how much you do for others... including me. ;;

I can't thank you enough, for all that you do, truly. You have done, so, so much for me, when honestly-- I also just kinda... wanna gently sit you down and make sure you get a much needed rest and break auehawuhe (EVEN THOUGH I know you will be like "I'm fine! uwu" Like-- SHHHHH AWEHAWH!!!) !!! To see you happy, to see you excited, always makes my day. And I can't tell you how much joy it brings me just to see that from you. To just see you. 💕 To just see a joyous hello from you, and better yet-- share absolutely anything with me. Be it about anything RP related, or just what's going on in your own life!

I'm sending you so, so much love back your way, m'darling. Always and forever, okay? Me pretty much flinging every bit of love I can at you, even before some are able to fully form into ripe apple hearts AUEHAUWHE!!!

@falsiliar ❤️💕

[traumasurvivorshelpingsurvivors]

TW : difficult relationship with food?, mentionned eating disorder, child neglect, child abuse, ableism

Can you help me understand my relationship with food better? I don't think I have and eating disorder, but I've become concerned when piecing together my childhood trauma and current relationship with food. I don't really know what to think of it.

I've been forced to stay hungry for long periods as a kid because my parents very rarely allowed snacks between meals, and the meal times were very strict. When they offered snacks, it was often nuts, "organic" cookies with poppy seets and vague lemon flavor - not great when it's your only option. They'd even withhold food when we were hiking for a long time because we "hadn't found a good spot yet"...

My dad also has some very unhealthy ideas about food, I suspect that he might fit the criteria for anorexia. He rose me with these ideas, obviously. He believes that forcing yourself endure pain is honorable, in general - he already got himself sick at some point from working out constantly and eating very little. That being said he also pressures me and my sibling to eat less just because he wants to spend less money.

As a child I would sneak anything edible in my room. I hid chunks of salt in tissues, raisins in some box I had in my room... My dad even found the bowl of noodles i hid in my nightstand as a teen (glad I didn't eat that honestly). I even had a bottle that ended up spoiling which resulted in a lot of guilt.

I only had free access to food at one of my grandma's, when I stayed at her place I could eat anything anytime and it felt good. She had snack / candy drawers and I'd pick what I wanted, but I know I also probably ate too much of it at once. It felt like I was rushing to eat because I finally could. This was when I was a teen, I wasn't a toddler or a child anymore.

I also always ate lunch at school from primary to end of highschool and since I'm autistic it was traumatizing. I would be hungry most of the time because my body pretty much refuses any food that doesn't feel right.

My parents also pressured me into eating foods that felt horrible (I was not "scared", I knew what it tasted like and I just couldn't). So I'd end up not always eating enough at family meals, too, when I had the chance. My parents never accomodated my disability and this includes food sensitivity. I'm 20 now, and I eat what I want around the house and I've learned to cook. I pack my own meal when I commute to uni, and I finally eat foods that feel safe. Still a lot of depressing ingredients but I make it work.

However I have a hard time handling hunger, I am always drawn to fat and especially sugary foods. I got my first cavities ever in the past 2-3 years, basically when I started this new way of life.

I also have quite a bit of gut problems, I will see a doctor soon I think but basically I rely on butter, pasta, bread and rice to fill me up. I can't pack meat/eggs because it would spoil, and I try eating vegetables often but it doesn't always help (and the fresh veggies are like... carrots, carrots again, carrots... carrots again with some carrots on the side - these are not a safe food so.. yeah). I do eat more nuts lately because I need to chew on something when studying, and it does help with the hunger.

I feel like I don't understand how to feed myself healthily (without being restrictive like my parents were bc it's all they taught me).

I have ways to deal with the material signs of this relationship with food, so I'm more interested in the core problem. Could you help me with this? Also if you have resources I'd be happy to see them. Thanks a lot :)

Hi anon,

I would ultimately recommend asking an ED-informed therapist or nutritionist about this. I know that maintaining a healthy diet after experiences like those is not an easy thing to do, and I don't want to give potentially counterintuitive advice.

I think a therapist could help in getting to the core problem of your complicated relationship with food, especially as a professional who will know what they're doing much better than an inexperienced volunteer. A nutritionist or dietician may help in the actual application of a healthier plate.

I hope I could help at least a little bit. Best of luck with everything and please know that you're welcome here if you need anything.

-Bun

[limitlessscion]

Taking on Shoko in the drinking game the first time could have been excused as naivety. Taking her on a second time, however, was blatant stubborness. Suguru was already one tripping accident, a burp contest and three heated philosophical debates in, and in the meantime she had barely gotten a little bubbly.

By that point it was too late for him anyway, as the red diffusing in his cheekbones would attest. He was all effervescent giggles and hugs, even dragging an equally enthusiastic Haibara to dance along when music was suddenly playing from one of his classmates' phones.

And it all went downhill from there. Before he'd even realized it, Suguru was performing a duet of 'Stay with me' with Haibara; and what a performance it was! It included everything from them waltzing each other, to getting dipped and lead into turns, handstands, eleven backflips in a row orchestrated by the crowd's cheering. At some point he'd taken off his shirt to toss into the crowd ( Nanami's face ) and even picked a 'flying' Haibara up to run around with for the grand finale.

The night ended with him passing out on Satoru's shoulder in the midnight train. But for all the flustered exertion and the forecast of a nasty hangover, there was a content smile on his face.

Satoru's jacket was currently folded on his shoulder as a makeshift pillow for Suguru's sleeping form (no longer shirtless,) crammed into the space between his head and neck for support, and the older boy was quite careful with his movements as to not disturb his sleep.

Their section of the train was entirely empty save for themselves. The first years rested across from the second-years, Yu half-asleep and curled up on the bench, his head resting in Kento's lap while the older of the two stared curiously at his seniors who had dropped their conversation to a hush beneath the background noise.

With the constant hum of the trains as backdrop, Satoru and Shoko were leaned conspiratorially over the former's flip phone, the two giggling in unison as he showed off his spoils for the day. He'd unfortunately only taken one video (he simply did not have the storage space for more,) a blurry mess that he wasn't sure if could be salvaged, but he'd hit a goldmine of photos.

"That worked way better than I expected," Shoko smirked as Satoru closed his phone, carefully leaning back against the bench without letting Suguru slip. Idly he tucked a loose strand of his friend's hair back behind his ear. "Too well. It kinda takes all the fun out of drinking."

Satoru shot a glance at Suguru, making sure that he was still asleep. The rise and fall of his chest was still steady, his cursed energy swirling at ease; the chances of being overheard wasn't high.

"I do have some ideas on how to regulate it instead of eliminating the effects," Satoru grinned, his mind already racing with the next iteration of the formula he'd been working on with Shoko's input, something that could target and block the effects of poisons. Specifically, alcohol— though as a proof of concept it could be expanded to cover a lot more. As Shoko demonstrated tonight, it had worked perfectly, her mind still sharp, her eyes clear.

"That requires much greater specificity— and danger. Not worth it for a cheap party trick don't you think?" Shoko shook her head, thoughtful, placing her face in her hands. "You know, your theoretical grasp of Reversed Cursed energy is incredibly complete. You sure you can't do it yourself?"

"I'm working on it," Satoru flushed with embarrassment. He'd been studying the nature of cursed energy, and thus reversed cursed energy, for most of his life, and clearly he was more than capable of understanding how to use it. But the production of reversed cursed energy still frustrated his practical capabilities. It was a point of failure in his skillset, gating him from much of his potential; it was why he hadn't been able to try out the formula himself.

"Hmmm, should we tell Suguru? I almost feel kinda bad for him."

Satoru considered it for a moment and then sighed, "Yeah, I'll do it." He had plenty of blackmail to soften the blow of retaliation now, after all.

The trip back to campus was much less of an ordeal for Satoru than when their positions had been reversed not so long ago. For one, Satoru was perfectly sober and comfortable. For another, his technique wasn't banned on school grounds, and he didn't care much for covering his residual trail. Suguru was almost weightless upon his back as he and the others made their way back to the dorms at a brisk pace, Yu stumbling along with Kento supporting him.

Finally they parted ways, until it was just Satoru and Suguru in front of the younger's room door. He nudged the door handle with an elbow and pushed into the room, then gently laid his friend down on the bed, shaking his shoulder to rouse him.

"Hey Suguru, right now it's like what, 2am? You wanna go straight to bed, or you want to take a shower first?" He turned around, leaving Suguru to wake up as slowly as he needed as he began to root through the closet for towels and sleeping clothes to lay out.