#I'm sure ai's always meant good for them but boy
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yuseirra · 4 months ago
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I'm so????
?????
No but Fatale really must be Kamiki and Aqua's song, I need the full song
There are two singers singing this op, what if that implies that it's the two boys that were the closest to Ai expressing their feelings towards her? Oh boy..; she really IS a fatale. She's got these boys hopelessly(in a literal sense) attached to her. I think there could be a reason why the op is a duet.
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Are You Sure?! - Episode 7 Observations
9.5/10 ☆
Something clicked for me in the latest AYS?! episode. After years of following these two people and getting excited for any interaction or information regarding them, it was now perhaps the first time when watching them felt like not witnessing something special. Oh, I know how this sounds, but it's not what you think and I will explain.
When I say it didn't feel special I meant that nothing felt like a novelty. You know how shocked and excited we all became when Jimin called Jungkook during a birthday wlive? Or the collective metaphorical screaming on social media every time one would get close into the other one's space in some behind the scenes clip? That reaction for me was also a result of having to see that in a larger context in which jikook were not always the main focus.
Now with AYS?! and seven episodes in, I'm used to basically everything. The evening and morning routine, the soft talking, the flirting, the playfighting, the way they eat together. The nakedness and all the tattoos on display. I've developed a tolerance to it. And episode 7 really helped in cementing that. Yeah, they're half naked in a hot spring. Of course they are. They're brushing their teeth and do their morning skincare routine together. Of course they are. Jungkook buys the snacks and Jimin is in charge of feeding him. Of course. They laugh at the same things and everything is funny when they're together. Of course they do. They're playfighting again? Why would anyone be surprised at this point?
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And I love that we got here. It's everything I wanted without ever thinking that it could be possible. It is extremely satisfying and fun to watch them. It has always been, but AYS?! was an open window into their lives together in a way that it hadn't happened before.
Sapporo is a special segment for many reasons. And as much as it's fun to see them have a good time, the impending military enlistment looms like a shadow over their trip. Jungkook is the one who seems intentional in talking about it in a way that makes light of the situation, while Jimin is more on the silent side.
But all this inevitably made me think of a downside. Because how am I suppose to go back to waiting for an aknowledged look while Jimin and Jungkook would sit at opposite ends in an interview setting? Or not doing a wlive together? Getting minimal interactions because there's 5 other people there? It would feel like something is not right. Jimin and Jungkook come in a package and they do everything together. They laugh and never get bored together. Jungkook cooks for Jimin while Jimin fills the exact needed space and purpose in that kitchen. Jimin can talk about learning to snowboard with Jungkook's friends and that conversation to remain between them and no one else. They can take showers together and then act like stupid boys in some endurance contest in the freezing water and it's their own thing and theirs only.
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AYS?! Sapporo is bittersweet. For Jimin and Jungkook because as much fun they have, they know that their remaining time of freedom is getting to a close. Snow is beautiful there and they are together, but in a few weeks whatever sentiment that might evoke will be in the back of their minds when their reality will be completely different. That's why making those last minute memories together was so important. And they knew that and Jungkook felt the need to say it out loud. Like a constant reminder of how special those few days were.
And it's bittersweet for me too. While there's always the option of rewatching, who knows when such an opportunity (and privilege) will arise once again? Maybe never. Maybe AYS?! will be the first and last time to be able to take a peak through that window at their life...
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lia404 · 1 month ago
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I'll give you Yusaku for "Send me a Yugioh character" owo
AH. Ahaha. Oh my god, okay. So for context, your ask landed in my inbox exactly when I was struggling with formatting my "Yusaku birthday post." Which means it caught me at a point when I had even MORE feelings than I usually do for this boy. I apologise in advance: the answer about Kaiba may have been a wall of text, but I'm afraid this one will become a full skyscraper of text. So go grab some tea, coffee, biscuits, whatever makes you feel good for a break, then sit back and relax while I scream at you about how much I CARE for Yusaku Fujiki.
(Whatever happens remember that you asked for it.) (Thank you so much for this, too, even if I've spent a good part of my afternoon and all my evening and part of my night on it.) (By the way at this point I really won't feel insulted if no one reads it to the end, I think I mostly need to get it all out of my system.)
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD, in the form of headcanons and personal analyses of Yusaku's character and his relationships, along with multiple screenshots, gif, videos, all hidden behind the excuse of an ask meme (so it's still superficial in many parts, but I feel like it's a good overview.) I'm putting it all behind a cut since I know how to use them now. (Or do I? It's the 4th time I edit to put the cut back to the place it's meant to be at.)
----------- Also, keeping track so I stop getting lost in my own blog: The original Ask meme Seto Kaiba Spectre Aoi Zaizen I still answer for other characters so long as they're from DM or Vrains!
Why I like him/why I don’t
I think it's Yusaku's resilience that I like the most. He can be no-nonsense and harsh, but he's always honest, and he always stands up. It's striking, actually, how he always manages to keep standing.
He's thrown to the ground by life, by his enemies (interestingly, many declare they are his enemies when he's not even TRYING to alienate them, and just doesn't really care.) Even his allies are the reason why he ends up beaten up sometimes. And yet, he always get back up. It's very rare to see him fully crash, which makes it even more impactful when he does.
I'm just fascinated at how even at his lowest, at the biggest blows he receives, he stands up. His strive for life is remarkable, so much so that it sometimes almost feels like a curse. Just the same way he keeps winning and winning, because he's good, of course, but also because losing is not an option. He has to stand up and he keeps doing it for himself, for others, and still manages to feel guilty for not doing enough.
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(I'm afraid you'll have to do with my French subtitles, I am NOT trying to find other streams just to make screencaps, these ones were hard enough to find.)
"Sorry, Kusanagi, your brother Jin has been taken and Lightning is menacing humanity and all of this is because I'm not strong enough."
Yusaku, FFS.
This is all heavily linked to the other aspect of his character I love most: Yusaku is so human. He's filled with hope. In one of the episodes of season 3, Revolver tells him to "stop thinking with his naive optimism".
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And Playmaker clearly doesn't like it, look at this face.
But he still holds onto it until the end. He's not giving up until he's forced to (and even when it's done, he takes off and tries to find solutions.)
And Yusaku cares, he cares so much. He may seem heinous and gratuitously savage with the way he shuns Shima or Ai, but you have to go beyond the words. When Shima is captured, he literally runs to his rescue, barely waiting for the van to stop before he jumps out of it to check on his classmate. Shima and other people around, no matter how annoying, will also give occasional encouragements (often hidden behind a layer of backhanded compliments, because that's how Yusaku rolls.)
Yusaku makes sure that people around him are feeling alright. He comforts them. He may not use the nicest words, he has the sensitivity of an elephant let loose in a fine china shop, but his words usually strike right where they should. He helps. He gives a lot of himself for this, apparently not caring what other people think of it.
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Goddamnit, Yusaku. Why are you trying to make me cry.
And this, actually, paradoxically, might be the only thing I dislike for him. It's not even about HIM per se (he may not be perfect but I am able to admit I'm too biased to not have a hard time finding him any flaws.) It's the way he gives so much of himself for everyone leads not only to people relying on him a lot, they also tend to take him for granted. And it pisses me off. Yusaku doesn't really fight against it, which, understandable considering his character, his backstory, everything. But sometimes I wish he could stop being the hero of Link VRAINS, because he's spreading himself too thin, and he had to break at some point. Or multiple times.
What I like about his appearance
I am trying SO hard to stop myself from waxing all kinds of poetics on him, so for this once I'll go with the most obvious: his EYES.
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(Yes this was all a shameless excuse to flood you with close-ups of Yusaku and Playmaker's beautiful, vibrant eyes.)
The colour is striking, of course, especially in contrast with his or Playmaker's hair. But also, for someone meant to be aloof and stoic, Yusaku's eyes are hella expressive. His eyebrows only emphasise it, and actually, this is another trait I really like: Playmaker's eyebrows are orange. Playmaker is a real red-head! It makes me irrationally happy. It's the little details, folks, and Yusaku definitely pays more attention to them than most would expect.
And the second aspect of his appearance I just can't omiss...
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...Well, that's his smile, of course! If only he had reasons to smile more often. Look at him; no matter how terrible the situation, he manages to smile.
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This one is from when he says goodbye to Kusanagi before the final duel agains Ai. It's honestly quite tragic, but here he is. Smiling. Why is no one in this series protecting this smile. What are they all DOING.
Anyway, I've been writing for way too long already and I still have TOO MUCH to say so that's it for the appearance. He's adorable, he's beautiful, he's gorgeous.
Do I prefer his dub names or original names?
You'd think the question is not relevant since his name is the same in both, BUT. There's actually a massive difference. I can't take the dub version's stressed Yu'SAku seriously when in Japanese it's very clearly 'YUUsaku. Also, watching parts of the dub has been very amusing once I accepted that it was a parody, but there's not much to keep. Not even the pronunciation of a name. So I'm going with original, no hesitation.
OTP
Okay, another obvious one. If you've been following me you have noticed the ridiculous amount of Datastormshipping I put in your feed.
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Evil smile besties ftw.
And YET.
It's so hard to ship them seriously. There's so much to repair. I can't see them all lovey-dovey, they have to work for it, and work HARD. Because Playmaker is just... so completely defanged when he's in front of Revolver. And Revolver, while actually acting in the shadow to support Playmaker so many times in the course of 120 episodes, never spares him a kind word, a nice face, except when he thinks he's dying.
I suspect he's not doing it consciously, but the way Revolver behaves makes me feel like he takes Playmaker for granted. It makes sense, considering their backstory: Revolver has obsessed over Playmaker and endangered people he cared about because of it. He has also proved multiple times that he is very intent to shoulder the full blame for an incident he had not much to do about, so he'd rather keep Playmaker and his "stupid faith in him" at a distance. But Revolver is also Playmaker's saviour, which makes it so Playmaker trusts him and can follow him blindly no matter what.
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Eloquent: everyone is wary to follow, but Playmaker is first in line, not a hint of hesitation in spite of having no idea of what lies behind the portal.
For this reason, I'm actually happy with the Revolver event in Duel Links, in spite of all its writing flaws.
In the event, Playmaker feels Revolver with his Link Sense even before he arrives, which shows that he's still VERY attuned to Revolver. And in spite of this clear bond, Playmaker really stands against Revolver and asserts his beliefs with no room for negociation, something he hasn't done since the Tower of Hanoi (...and even then, arguably, he was trying to negociate.) He is not yielding no matter how important Revolver might be for him. And, at the end of the event, Revolver seems to be relieved to have met such resistance. He even sounds sort of supportive? It's open to interpretation, but my feeling was that he actually approved of Playmaker's doing and encouraged him. The Ghost Gal and Spectre events that followed emphasised it for me. They're clearly not fighting anymore, but they also don't have this weird blind spot for each other anymore.
With this approach, I feel like they'd have better roots for a relationship that would not lean towards codependence or other unhealthy bases.
Don't get me wrong, I adore the fluff, and Datastormshipping really is the obvious end goal for me, but for this ship what I love most is them having to work for it. Because even if they clearly trust each other, Yusaku will have to learn to NOT give all of himself blindly, and Ryoken will need to learn to actively LISTEN to Yusaku, and even make him speak.
(As a quick parenthesis, because I'll get back to this topic later and I'd rather not leave any ambiguity: as much as I resent him for his treatment of Yusaku, I absolutely adore Revolver, in this terrible love/hate dynamic that makes me hate to love him and love to hate him. In spite of everything, or maybe DUE to all of this, I really like his character. I'm not sure I'll ever write deep meta about him, though, because he's already had a lot written about him and I doubt I have much more to bring to discussions that happened years ago. But who know what time will bring? Anyway, Datastormshipping FTW.)
NOTP
BEWARE: unpopular opinion ahead. I actually can't see Aiballshipping.
Again, don't get me wrong: I see where the shippers come from, and I really don't hate the ship! I've read multiple doujin and fanfictions, I enjoy the content, I enjoy the art, I love the analyses of the ship... But I can't see it, because for me, it goes beyond a romantic relationship. Ai is literally a part of Yusaku. Him and Yusaku are a package, in a way: if someone wants to be with Yusaku, they'll also have to be with Ai. If someone says Yusaku "It's Ai or me", they'd better not expect to be chosen. I understand Aiballshipping. I like reading takes on it, I like reading stories about it. But to me, what Ai and Yusaku have is not romantic. It's something obvious, a given, almost fusional. They don't kiss; they can communicate without saying a word. (Even if they spend their time throwing jabs at each other out loud.) Any other romantic relationship will come in addition to it, without being replaced by it. So I don't "ship" it. It's very much not an OTP. I have no idea which verb I could use for it, though, because I'm not really sure it can be considered queerplatonic either.
OT3
Di-sas-ter-ship-ping! It's actually my main ship, even if there's not a lot of content. Sure, if we want to make it work in a nice healthy way, it's going to be quite the challenge. BUT not everything has to be serious and reasonable or even believable (I have datastormshipping for this) and seriously, the dynamic between these three has so much potential for wholesomeness, stupid arguments and general chaos. It's called disastershipping for a reason. (Not only this, I know, but still.)
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Look at them, their smug poses and their stupidly form-fitting costumes. What could go wrong, right? <3
Favourite card he uses
Contrary to my answer re: Kaiba's deck, this time I am familiar with Playmaker's deck, because I play it AND I actually watched his duels multiple times to understand how he uses it. The fact is that even if there's the usual "I magically draw the exact card I need and use if without even looking at it" effect that is characteristic to Yu-Gi-Oh animes, his deck is solid and it really allows different kind of combos to always find workaround. (Doesn't mean I don't brick often, but not everyone can be Playmaker.)
So I actually have TWO favourite cards. The first one is my little love, usually one of the first to join the field: Backup Secretary.
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She's beauty, she's grace, she's always here to help me link summon my ace. She's easy to use. She may not be the best one, but I'm so happy to have her in my deck—three times. I have multiple other cards that allow me to bring her in my hand. She never stays long on the field, since her specialty is to help summoning various types of Code Talkers, but she's a life saver. And seriously her design is awesome.
And the second one is, in my amateur point of view (I need to write the disclaimer that while I'm not BAD at duelling, I'm not exactly GOOD either and I miss a lot, lot, lot of subtleties) one of the best cards in Playmaker's deck: Recoded Alive.
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This card is a lifesaver. It has multiple effects for different situations. It helps me avoid having an empty field when my opponent's field is filled with monsters. It's a trap, and allows me to switch monsters when attacked if I use it during the opponent's turn. It allows me to bring another monster to the field and have another attacking monster if I play it during my own battle phase.
And even if we want to remain focused on Playmaker's storyline, it's one of the most important ones Yusaku plays in the anime. It's always here for him since the beginning, and it has allowed him to bring back so many monsters. I mean, it basically wins him a duel against Revolver. It saves him against Ai. It's just... I love this card. It took me forever to understand how it works, but now it's hard to imagine a Playmaker deck without it.
Favourite moment(s) he was in
And here I thought I had already written enough. Well, we're here for a few more hours. I hope your tea has not gone cold.
I dare hope that you KNEW you shouldn't expect me to choose only ONE moment. There are so many. I can't satisfy myself with only one, I must bring up a few more, but not too many because this post is overwhelming enough as it is.
1. Season 1, when Playmaker goes against Akira to recover files in SOL's massive datbase. I can't begin to express how angry I was with the way Akira treats Yusaku. I know it was done in good faith, but having Akira tell Yusaku "go have a normal life, go out with your friends, enjoy your life as a teenager and prepare for your future, it's important" is just horribly condescending. It's SO satisfying to see Playmaker put the Zaizen, who always seem to think they know what he feels, or what is best for him, in their place. There's something incredibly satisfying in having Yusaku say "It is MY story and it is MINE to tell".
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"I don't want the story of my past to be told by someone else."
Having Playmaker defend his story like this, and not let others take it or misinterpret it (especially when they feel like they "understand"), is, to me, a very powerful moment. And as if this wasn't enough, Yusaku adds a power move to it, adding a step in his final turn that he didn't have to do to win the duel: returning the two Tindangle cards representing Akira and Aoi to the hand rather than winning by leaving them both in the graveyard. When confronted about it, he answers that he doesn't want the siblings to be in the darkness of the graveyard, that his revenge should not implicate them and that they should walk towards the light. It is incredibly heartful, AND an amazing way to show Zaizen that he will never manage to "understand" Yusaku considering the mindset he keeps displaying. That was so badass, seriously. I wish the Zaizen had learnt more from it.
2. Season 2, after the duel against Kusanagi. Playmaker won and collapsed, not waking up. The second moment I like most is there, in Yusaku's head. It's intimidating... and slightly tragic.
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"I have done enough. I'm tired."
Oh. It's been building up for so many episodes, they've been straining him so much, and finally, it happens. The quietest mental breakdown, the hint of depression. It makes him so human, so relatable suddenly, and yet it's so painful. I love this moment because it really brought me back to who he is: a 16 year old kid with a trauma bigger than himself and the expectations of a whole city (world?) on his shoulders. I'm glad he gets up again, but I'm also really glad that we get to see this part of him, so tragically realistic. Now let's wrap him in a blanket and hug him, okay?
3. Season 3: The "last nice moments in the real world". I wish we had had more of those in the whole course of the series, there was SO MUCH potential for it! Look at them being teenagers. Yusaku, so happy, confident and carefree as he is working for Kusanagi (and this apron makes him look so cute.) Yusaku, being pestered by Shima who wants to know where Playmaker is (WHY would Yusaku know? Shima has weird leaps of logic.) And Aoi and Yusaku having the most AWKWARD handshake, that instantly relieved me from the fear that Aoi might be a love interest.
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"This is what high schoolers do I guess. Okay, we tried, we're done, completely uninteresting, let's move on now. When's our next trauma-session already?"
That's three moments I love, but I can't resist adding a last Painful Bonus: another moment of "let's make Playmaker suffer". I'm so sorry, Yusaku.
4. Season 3: Roboppi's death; the flashback to a younger Yusaku who has just built his cleaning robot and is SO proud, so happy and welcoming, and then Playmaker, broken, begging Soulburner to strike one last time and finish Roboppi.
I feel like his eyes, at that moment, are another reminder of his age. It's one of the most terrible scenes of the whole anime (I'd say ex-aequo with Ai's final words), it's masterfully executed, the pacing is amazing, the work on the expressions is amazing, the voice acting is incredible. But really, these eyes.
Least favourite moment
Two moments come to mind, and both are in the third season. You'll see there's a recurring theme, and more importantly, the fact that I really don't like these moments barely comes from Yusaku's role in them. Even if his personality encourages it.
1. The scene at the pier. It's REALLY, REALLY not Yusaku's fault, but he's still one of the two major protagonists so it counts as a "least favourite moment." Yusaku is going for the final fight, and Ryoken catches him, sends him and almost kills him with the card that will help him win the duel against Ai. I know this scene is considered one of the cornerstones of Datastormshipping, but all I can see is... Yusaku getting rejected, again, after saying goodbye to Kusanagi with a brave and grateful smile on his face, and just before having to destroy someone that is essentially a part of him. He calls Ryoken's name, and Ryoken keeps the most distance possible. I think it may have been one of the worst things Ryoken could have done, and even the fact that the Borrel dragon is actually a symbol of how much Ryoken believes in Yusaku,.. well, it would still be not enough to recover from the blatant, cold rejection Yusaku received at that moment. Ryoken, I know you couldn't find it in you to encourage him, but you only had to say his first name. Acknowledge him more than by coldly stating his complete name. And maybe NOT use the word "farewell" this time, because twice in the few first minutes of an episode is way too much. GOD FORBID Yusaku has any sort of support from Ryoken, that would encourage him to feel like they have a bond, the horreur. (Ugh.) With Playmaker knowing that Takeru would leave, Aoi would have Miyu, Kusanagi would have his brother, having Ryoken just... coldly ignoring all tentative of closeness, and leaving without looking back, WELL. It's no wonder Yusaku disappeared solo at the end. From his perspective, he had no one left.
2. Mission begin: everyone is ready to try and stop Ai, the plan is set and Playmaker is not part of any team since he's not even here. Except...
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"We can't begin without Playmaker."
It annoys me so much, because the thing is, yes, yes you really can begin without Playmaker. And you should, Heaven's sake!
Many characters at this point have told him that they would understand if he didn't want to take part in this fight, that they would shoulder some of his burden and that he could rest and stay away for his health and sanity.
The thing is, Yusaku is not this kind of person. He will take responsbility and let no one else do the job in his stead. And he comes back, in a rather flashy way, EXACTLY when they're all expecting him. And barely anyone is surprised, they all look so relieved. They were waiting for this.
This moment leaves such a bitter taste in my mouth, because here is the problem with Playmaker: he's so good and reliable that people just... lean on him and wait for him to do the hard work. No matter how traumatising. I took screenshots of the many, many times people said "I leave it into your hands, Playmaker". "I know you"ll complete the job well, Playmaker." "I'm counting on you, Playmaker." I am not putting all of them here, but I have an album of these.
In doing so, they only enable his rather destructive hero-complex.
Destructive because, consider: he had a huge trauma when he was a kid and never fully recovered. When he finally learns and fights the truth behind this trauma, he feels like his revenge is over, but the person he'd spent years and years looking for is gone after treating him quite awfully. Additionally, he releases his new "hostage/friend" and goes back to being alone. He's been a hero, and all he got was: being alone again. Come Takeru, and somehow he acquires a sort of social circle. He's not really good at it, but it exists, and he even looks quite comfortable with it, if a bit awkward. Then he's forced to watch, powerless, as all his newfound friends/trusted persons get erased one after another, all of them with parting words expressing how much they trusted him to fix this. Way to make him feel like it's great to have friends and allies, uh. Then the humans come back, but the Ignis are dead, and he feels like he has failed his self-imposed mission to find a way to coexist. Ai is gone, Ryoken sort of gloats (I understand it's probably not what he intended, but it still feels awfully like it.) He's been a hero, and all he got was: more trauma about losing people, more responsibilities he shouldn't have to shoulder, and likely no one who understands the pain he's in because the world is safe now.
And then Ai comes back and everything goes upside down, and Yusaku lives in denial all beginning of season 3.
That's what makes it a self-destructive complex, for me. Every time he plays hero, Yusaku exposes himself to the things that hurt him most. He's never rewarded. And yet, he keeps doing it, and giving people what they want from him/taking responsibility for things that should NEVER be considered his responsibility. It drives me crazy.
Note: I have a similar beef with the "epilogue", in which they all have something nice to say about Playmaker, and they're all so certain that he's amazing, that he'll be back... And yet. No one is looking. Not even Revolver, who should have it easy since he's working from the inside. Arguably, Kusanagi keeps the foodtruck parked in the same place so he has a home to go back to if he wishes
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"He would be sad if he didn't have a place to come back to sometimes": I am convinced that Kusanagi is aware of how fragile the notion of "home" is for Yusaku.
So there's this at least. Arguably #2, I guess we could say they all know he doesn't want to communicate and they respect it. But the way they talk about him, it doesn't feel like its the case.
And this is why I keep saying that they don't deserve him; are they friends, or are they fans? Is any of them even really trying to do something for him, beyond "understanding his feelings" (Aoi, sigh), or rooting for him in the typical "Good old Playmaker, always knows what to do!" way (Takeru, sigh.)
Oh, Yusaku. The way they treat you upsets me so much. It's absolutely not what they're aiming for, but it's like they're encouraging you to develop new traumas instead of really helping you, and it makes me so angry.
So, yeah. I hate these moments, and these dynamics.
Would I fuck, marry or kill him
WHY IS THERE NO "ADOPT" OPTION. Well, the choice is quite easy by elimination. I would NOT kill him (in case you had not gathered already) I would very much NOT fuck him (I really doubt he'd be interested in it either, so that works well for both of us.) Soooo... marry, I guess? That would be hella awkward, but eh, if I can't adopt him, might as well use the option that would vaguely allow to, you know, protect and cherish. Even so, it's hard imagining Yusaku settling like this.
Aaaaand I'm done and off to bed, three hours later than planned. Honestly, kudos if you've read until here. Before I sign off, please receive the cutest gif of Yusaku to thank you for bearing with me for the past 2k+ words of crying over this incredible boy who deserves better.
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You know, maybe my OTP is actually Yusaku/hotdog. They do deserve each other.
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daily-ron-fnf · 6 months ago
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ron as a mobian
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Day 103
(I geek out about this below if you care to read)
OKAY SO IF YOU ASSUMED I DIDNT HAVE A DESIGN FOR THIS? THINK AGAIN!!! Mobian Ron is one of the stepping stones to my human Ron design(s). Although. He wasn't always a deer (yea the designs supposed to be a deer if it wasn't clear lol)
The very first instance of me trying to make a mobain Ron design (as someone who's prevuous fixation was on an au combining sonic with thsc), I had gotten an idea from a good friend of mine (hi azzie if you read this!!) He suggested some kind of lizard, since Ron's head could sort of resemble a dinosaurs head (I think that's what he said at least)
Then over time I looked at another friend of mine's interpretation on a furry Ron design (not quite mobian, but if you squint hard enough it probably could pass for a mobian design), which was a deer. Tried redesigning mine to have deer features, and over time that evolved into this.
Tbh the designs only ever used in a private rp server that the very same friend who first helped me with figuring out a mobian Ron is also in (and he's the one who muses him. He rocks at it btw. Shoutout to Azzie's Ron portrayal fr fr)
Now as for the lore of this version of ron bc I'm not sure if my handwriting in the art is clear enough...
This ron began as a folder-headed ai thing. An AI created by a couple of college students meant to be a sort of file manager bonzi-buddy thing. Over time the students began ignoring ron (right as he was gaining sentience too! The nerve.) And Ron decided he wasn't having it and just fled into the internet.
Along the way he encountered the AU's bob, accidentally got dragged into the real world with them, got a change of face, and now he lives with little man and doesn't even know if he's considered a real boy or an ai boy. But does he think about it that much? Probably not.
He also tends to spout out wiki articles thanks to leftover programming, but he's working on stopping that.
I will not summarize the lore of every Ron I post here, this is a special case because of how much history I have with the concept and how little I ever post about it.
If you have more questions about the au itself, go ask on my main blog!! Ask here and they will be ignored due to being off topic. (Main blog: @zimisnotdrifting )
Also I finished drawing this at 5 am how am I alive
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niffala · 1 year ago
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Regrets
Pairing: Eddie Munson / Steve Harrington
Summary: Steve overhears something he was never meant to. 
Warnings: all angst, asshole Eddie
A/N: No stealing, no reposts, no translations, no feeding to AIs. Comments, reblogs and likes are always welcome and appreciated. 
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Steve giddily parked his BMW in front of the school. Looking next to him, he ran his hand over the engraved EMSH on the guitar case, imagining the smile it would cause. It almost felt like a dream, finding someone that loved him as much as he loved them. No more lonely movie nights where the only warm thing to hold was the popcorn. His boyfriend looked after him, accepted him, kissed and held him. He wasn’t alone anymore.
Inside the case held all the stuff Eddie would need to take the best care of his sweetheart; new strings, tools, conditioner, polishing oil and cloths. He couldn't wait til Eddie got home, so Steve decided to surprise him by showing up to Hellfire club. He bounced out of his car, practically shaking with excitement because he knew his Eddiebear would love the gift.
He greeted the kids as they came out, mounting their bikes to ride home.
Dustin huffed, "You coulda told us you'd be here. A ride would be appreciated now and then."
"Quit whining. I haul your ungrateful behinds around all the time."
The boy pointed his chin at the item in Steve's arms, "What ya got there?"
Steve protectively held the case tighter, "Just something for Eddie. He still inside?"
"Yep, he's cleaning up the drama room."
Grinning ear to ear, he continued his path to the building. Lifting his arm to wave goodbye to the kids, “Have a good night guys.”
“You too, loverboy.” A chorus of laughter and kissing noises followed as they rode off.
Under different circumstances, Steve would have playfully chased after them for that, but tonight he was on a mission.
Approaching the drama room, he could see Eddie and his friends through the small window. Putting away the game, tucking away the chairs and turning off the stage lighting. Preparing to push the door open, he pauses when he hears his name.
“...No can do. I'm meeting Steve right after this. I can get beers with you guys another time.”
Steve was touched that Eddie made him a priority in his life. His heart began to soar, only to immediately fall at the next words spoken.
Gareth tsked, “Never thought I'd see you and Harrington together. I mean he's such an asshole. Mr high and mighty always thinking he's better than everyone else.”
“He's always been a judgmental douche. Looked down on all of us in high school. Him and his buddies made our lives hell. Don't know how you put up with that arrogant jerk all these months.” Jeff was equally displeased with Eddie’s choice.
Steve’s brows furrowed while listening to Eddie's friends bad mouth him and mock their relationship. He held his breath, waiting for his boyfriend to come to his defense. Instead, Eddie played into it.
The metalhead rolled his eyes dramatically. “I told you guys a hundred times, we aren’t dating, it's just a hookup. I got Harrington wrapped around my finger.”
Emboldened by his friends’ chuckles, Eddie hopped onto the table, sitting with his legs criss crossed and continued. “Seriously the guy is putty in my hands, will do whatever I say. I'm getting what I can out of our arrangement. No feelings involved. Not sure his majesty has feelings anyway.”
“Why put up with him then?”
Eddie shrugged, “Cause he spoils me. Takes me out and buys me things. And you have NO IDEA the POWER I feel having King Steve on his knees just for me. It's addicting.” He scrunched up his face and bit his knuckle suggestively. Feeding off the attention and approval he received. “But not to worry, I'll be ending it soon. I'm starting to get bored. And I'll rip my ears off if I have to listen to his shitty music one more time.”
“Ughhh,” Eddie fell back, staring at the ceiling, “I need it to be over. Been letting it go on for too long. The gifts and the sex are nice and all, but I need something more with someone with a lot more going on upstairs.” He tapped his head to uproarious laughter.
The air around him was too hot. Steve clutched his chest, feeling something breaking deep within him. Unable to swallow the lump in his throat, he couldn’t hear anymore. He ran back to his car, his vision blurry from the hot tears spilling down his face.
‘He doesn't love me, doesn't give a shit about me at all. He'd been using me this whole time. It was all just to humiliate me. Make me fall in love with him so he could break me and have a good laugh with his friends. How could I be so stupid?'
Steve threw the useless present into the backseat, starting the vehicle and pulling out of the lot as fast as he could. The severe pain in his chest made him wish he could rip out his heart and throw it out the car window, watching in his rearview mirror as it exploded on the roadside.
He couldn't recall a single moment of the drive until arriving at Robin's door. By the time she sat him down, he was sobbing so hard, he could barely get a word out. Robin made him tea, wiped his face with a cool washcloth and rubbed his back until he calmed down. He confessed to her what he heard. She was suspiciously quiet as she listened. 
Before he went to bed, Steve left a message on Eddie's machine saying he wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t make it tonight. He hung up before an ‘I'm sorry and I love you’ slipped out. He didn't want to embarrass himself further. It's not like Eddie would notice or care. It never meant a thing to him anyway.
'I was such a fool to think anyone would actually love me back.’
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The next day, Eddie stopped over to check on Steve. It wasn’t like him to miss a date, he must really have been sick. Not to worry though because he was fully prepared to nurse his man back to health.
To Eddie’s surprise, Robin answered the door instead… and punched him square in the face.
“What the fuck, Buckley?!” Holding his throbbing nose, he stepped away from the angry woman in case she decided to take another swing.
“Fuck you, Munson! You stay the hell away from Steve.”
“I'll see my boyfriend if I want to.” This was absurd, he tried to move around her to go inside. “What is your problem?”
Robin used all her might to shove him away. “Oh, he's your boyfriend now? Thought it wasn't a relationship and you were just getting what you could out of it.”
“Look I don't know what you think you heard...”
“I didn't. Steve did.”
Eddie froze, his heartbeat skyrocketing. All color drained from his face, his bloody nose slowly dripping onto his shirt in sharp contrast.
“Yeah, he was bringing you a gift and heard everything you and your nasty friends said about him.” Robin shook her head at him, sneering, “He's changed so much, you should know that more than anyone. And he loves you. He doesn't deserve to be treated this way, especially from you.”
“Shit. Shit! It's not what you think. God, I’ve got to talk to him. I...”
“I don't think so.” She wasn’t going to budge.
“But you don't understand, I can explain.”
“No buts, Munson. Because it can only be one of two things.” She held up one finger, “Either you meant what you said last night, which makes you the Grand Poobah of assholes.” 
She held up a second finger, “Or you are too embarrassed to claim Steve as yours and admit you love him back. I honestly don't care which because it still makes you a cowardly piece of shit that broke my best friend's heart and I'm not letting you near him again. Got it!”
Eddie just hung his head and nodded. Wincing as Robin slammed the door in his face.
He remained rooted to the spot, the guilt eating at him. He wished he could go back in time and rip those horrible words out of his lying mouth. He felt sick.
'I ruined everything. How could I be so fucking stupid, why did I say those things?'
Eddie imagined kicking down the door, running to Steve, screaming ‘I love you! I love you! I love you! I'm sorry, please forgive me. I swear I didn't mean a word of it. Not a fucking word. And I'm so fucking sorry. Please don't leave me.’ He'd get on his knees and beg until his beloved took him back.
He's not sure how long he stood there staring at his Reeboks. No sign of movement from inside the house. Finally accepting defeat, Eddie turned tail, fleeing back to his van. He knew he wouldn't get another chance. Why stick around.
Sniffing and wiping at his stinging eyes, he fumbled the keys, dropping them into the dirt. “Fuck!” He rammed his fist into the driver's side door, before bending over to grab the keys.
Unlocking the door and getting in, Eddie sat there staring at his swollen and swiftly bruising knuckles. Something was definitely broken. Wouldn't be able to play for a while. He knew he should be more upset about that, but right now he couldn't care less. He lost his Stevie, his Sunshine.
Eddie gripped the steering wheel as hard as he could, screaming at top of his lungs “FUCKKKKKKKKK!” Out of breath, he leaned his head on the wheel, allowing himself to cry. He was alone, living his worst nightmare.
It was over.
The End
A/N: A special thank you to everyone that has read this. I appreciate you all and I’d love to know your thoughts.
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whyisstarkidfollowingmeshoo · 7 months ago
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I'm reading a lot of things about Hidge's sexuality canon wise. So taking account on what Nick and Matt Lang said (as much as I remember it without rewatching the video proof lol) my argument on why the canon sexuality of Prof. Henry Hidgens is that he is bisexual and Objectumsexual.
Well I think canon wise he is not polyamorous. I can accept that (i have no problem with him being poly canon wise. I am not anti-poly, just faithful with canon) but I remember Nick Lang or even Matt did not specify it. They said, within along the lines/paraphrasing: Henry loves his six boy friends, they are special to him, but Chad IS the apple of his eye. The last sentence they meant romantically.
So why bisexual and not gay? To make it clear, I have no problem with him being gay. I'm willing to be corrected. But since I'm arguing that he's bisexual, well let me start. Of course we haven't seen Hidge talk about or falling in love with specific women characters in the saga so far, however he did say in TGWDLM " Alexa, I love you like every woman flesh and bone", so there ya go. If he can find a woman that is subordinate to him like Alexa and Siri, then he can have a relationship with a woman. Come to think of it, i think he loves Chad the most because I hypothesize Chad always goes along with his plans/ideas. Yes I believe if I were to analyze his relationship personality, he wants to be the dominant in the relationship. He's very controlling and spirals when he doesn't get his way. Which why this is a good segway to...
And with the mention of two famous AI virtual assistants, I think it's enough to say that Hidge has objectophilia. More so in NMT episode Time Bastard where he shared his sexual rendezvous with either one of them to Ted and implied how he did it (some imagination and a little elbow grease or any lube lol). Not to mention that he talks to Alexa and Siri like they're humans. Fun fact, I read somewhere that people who have this sexual orientation cant handle keeping a relationship with another human because they're too controlling hence having a relationship with an object is easier because it has no thoughts, no opinions to consider. Also, this can also be a result of a trauma. Him losing his friends, especially Chad, during a lightning strike attack did not just lead him to isolation and practicing survival instincts, but also drove him to loving objects instead cause at least they won't experience terrible human deaths. Here is the source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/sex-and-relationships/decoding-objectophilia-5-reasons-why-people-fall-in-love-with-objects/story-LMvWWzhs257dD47yxNGC9H.html UPDATE: these facts are more connected to the character that is Prof Henry Hidgens whose personality reflects the generalizing views of the orientation better. Real life Objectums are a lot more complicated than that and can act against stereotypes/generalization. Thanks @fork-bork for reminding me.
Also further explanation:  ur friends can be ur life partners (hence there are old people living with friends in their twilight years) and some people like calling their friends as boyfriends or girlfriends. Hidge is just comfortable with his sexuality and closeness with his friends that he can call his male friends as his boyfriends. I think that's just Jeff's word play and humor going on as he wrote the song. And according to the song "it takes balls": Steve was a priest, Leighton was in a relationship with a person named Gary, and Greg was seeing/dating Steve's mom. Plus all of the boys, sans Chad and Henry, were attracted to females while at college based on their locker room talk acted by the Workin Girls cast.
I'm not like Unhidge Hidge, so tell me about ur thoughts/opinions/rebuttals as long as ur taking account of what I wrote here. Especially proof from the Langs with ur rebuttal. Of course in head canon or fan fic world, anything is free reins and you can experiment with Hidge's sexuality there. Just make sure to specify if it's canon or head canon so to avoid confusion and arguments.
Update:
I have the urge to check my HHP Working Boys screen recordings where Nick and Matt discussed Henry's relationship with the boys if it's poly or not. Update 2: Okay I watched it and Nick just says that Chad is his favorite so get out of that as you wish. But since the boys did their locker room talk about girls without Henry and Chad, I don't think the boys were making out with each other unless maybe just Henry and Chad if it's not unreciprocated from Henry's side.
I can understand if most fans think Henry is gay and not bi since Nick and Matt have not given more concrete proof of his attraction to human females. My only arguments with him being bi is that he loves and has done sexual acts with Alexa and Siri, AI virtual assistants with female names and voices. (NMT episode: Time Bastard).
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neonscandal · 11 months ago
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So, if you asked to write your top 5 fav characters each from JJK & BNHA, what genre will you put them (or you agree that they should be in shounen)....
My asks are getting funnier. 🥰 As always, thanks for asking, lets dig in.
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Look at these knuckleheads.
JJK Top 5
I've seen people make really funny observations about how every character in JJK belongs in a different universe but was shoehorned into a horror battle shonen and it delights me to no end. I'm not sure if Gege Akutami actually penned characters that are typical of other anime genres, in a sense, but do believe we all collectively just want our faves to have better odds of survival. At this point, Gege looks at fan polls like a dead pool. I think a story where characters are so obviously not meant to be there would be hilarious if done intentionally, camp even.
Satoru Gojo - The duality of a man who is "The Strongest" in universe while maintaining a girly pop facade to circumvent feeling othered by his strength? Two of my favorite things about Gojo are that he is 1) traumatized 🤪✨ and 2) down astronomically for the days he spent with Suguru Geto. Put this man in a shonen ai, stat.
Nobara Kugisaki and Maki Zenin - Yuri. I feel like I don't need to explain myself here except to say that I put them as one item on the list because I didn't want a list of 6 (I have so many faves). Both iconic, both bad ass. No notes. On the other hand, I would never want to rob Maki of her revenge story so... grain of salt if she stays in universe.
Kento Nanami - I was going to say "this man wants to be in an office sitcom so bad" but, truthfully, would not find the overdone gags and antics palatable. Nanami deserves to rest at an even, dulcet tempo. Traumatized in his youth, he really only returns to jujutsu because office work is unfulfilling but imagine if he were in an office shojo with a found family that he had to provide for? I'm not saying this anime is particularly good but plop him in something cozy like "The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague" but with the home life of "Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid". He'll work for the money because it provides for someone else, you know? Let him suffer fools in peace.
Yuji Itadori - Sweet baby angel. Yuji follows the "best of both worlds" phenomenon that we see in other horror anime like Chainsaw Man, Tokyo Ghoul and Attack on Titan wherein he is both human and curse (avoiding further spoilers). But his disposition, his resilience, his pure physical prowess before he ever ate Sukuna's finger? Put this boy in a sports anime and let him thrive. While he'd absolutely body in a fighting sport, what if he was plopped into "Blue Lock"? Sports anime with a dash of horror aesthetic. He'd crush while being as upbeat and hilariously chaotic as Bachira.
Suguru Geto - Baby Girl is one of the most compelling villains we have. I'd say across multiple anime, honestly. He's what happens when a good person, someone who aims to be so morally upright, is faced with the reality that being good actually guarantees you nothing. With someone so unwavering, someone who can't live in shades of grey like Gojo, he can't bend. So he breaks. Honestly, it adds a layer of complexity to the overall story where... can we really, as the viewer, fault him? I feel like he wouldn't have this evolution anywhere else and that there's something to be said as to whether Geto was always doomed by the narrative.
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There's never not been a good time to celebrate this frame, honestly.
BNHA Top 5
What's cool about BNHA is, it is authentically a shonen manga/anime while subverting a lot of it's tropes. BUT, we see this really interesting progression in the art that drifts into horror. Not aiming to spoil anything that's to come in season 7 (body horror, it's body horror. Bones better come through) but you see the beginning of it with the change in vigilante Deku's appearance. If Horikoshi felt inclined to do a horror anime post-BNHA, I'd definitely read.
Katsuki Bakugo - Hilariously, Bakugo wants to shonen so bad but is actually so damsel in distress/love interest coded that it almost undermines his role as Midoriya's rival. Almost. Shonen, shonen ai, I don't think he's out of place in either.
Shoto Todoroki - Todoroki's entire personality and character arc being so intrinsically linked to his family is honestly so amusing given the universe. Like, people have real life superhero powers but awful parents are very much still a thing. So it's interesting to expose the complexity of their family dynamics in tandem with the overarching story because, in every way, the Todoroki family are very much members of the Have's of BNHA society but they are still hopelessly miserable. TBH he could be in a slice of life just experiencing and resolving family trauma. "Kotaro Lives Alone" comes to mind.
Shouta Aizawa - I would cast Aizawa in "Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan" but he wouldn't have the decency to show up to work without a sleeping bag. I'm not saying it wouldn't look out of place in universe but do better for the kids. Joking. He's honestly both the perfect teacher but also a big ole hypocrite. He condemns Midoriya for his recklessness and self-sacrificing (re: breaking bones to use his quirk) but didn't think twice about hacking off his own leg, logical though it may have been. I know All Might is cast as the quintessential mentor in the shonen dynamic but Aizawa is the real MVP when it comes to mentoring and guiding the Class 1A competently. Shonen all the way.
Izuku Midoriya - I can't say Magical Girl Anime, I can't say Magical Girl anime. I appreciate Midoriya's similarity to eponymous crybaby hero Sailor Moon, tbh. She too was OP and with the fate of the world on her shoulders, just saying. He falls in line with the shonen trope of eating something and powering up (re: JJK, One Piece, Attack on Titan) but has emotional range that is not typically seen in shonen which, honestly I love. He is masculine while still being aggressively expressive (even if he struggles to articulate his feelings). His character and subsequent development is another way that Horikoshi subverts shonen tropes and I can't wait to see how his story wraps up.
Dabi - This crispy piece of bacon is a walking, talking and dancing personification of resolute rage. He is quite literally a vendetta held together by staples. Later chapters especially, he just gets unrelentingly grosser and more unhinged and it's both disgusting and emotional. To be honest, between him and Shigaraki, they are undeniably horror fodder by design. In fact, the reveal that he was a little misogynistic extremist radical was particularly wild of Horikoshi. Like, basically if he hadn't self destructed on that mountain he'd have been some incel plotting violence on the deep dark web? I'm trying to think of what to plop him into (maybe not his charred body but just his general... maliciousness, conviction and extremism). I feel like something horror, psychological with a sprinkle of thriller? What comes to mind is a dark series on my TBR but the name escapes me about a kid getting revenge one by one against sadistic bullies though its unclear where Dabi falls on that spectrum.
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haisayonaraa · 3 months ago
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Taking care of Lord Dio
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(justt a small heads up,  I'm still watching part three so if I  find out I've written these characters wrong in the future, I'll definitely  rewrite it)
[story below]
It seems everyone who's sworn loyalty to Dio has also sworn to never tell anyone about his regression.  Sure they all knew it happened, but no one was to ever mention it. On top of that, no one has ever been in the same room as the small lord. He's always secured himself in his room, only leaving for a few necessities. Due to this secluded nature, it would be a great honor to serve as Dio's caregiver.  A title that wouldn't be used by anyone until this particular night.
The halls where quite empty, aside from the two walking there depths. Both Mariah and Vanilla ice where called to Dio's room, which would be normal for any other time except now. Dio was regressed. "Oooh I bet lord dio will be absolutely adorable!" Mariah awed over the thought of their lord being a small little boy, a hard contrast to the man who they usually see. "Don't get overly excited,  we should be honored that he chose us to see him in such a vulnerable state." Vanilla ice doesn't really have good experience taking care of children, but he would do anything,  ANYTHING for Dio. Even if that's being there for him a mentally young child? Infant? He's not sure what to expect. 
When they finally got to Dio's room, the little vampire was already waiting for them at the door with a pouty expression. "I apologize for us being so late lord dio, Mariah insisted we picked up a few things before arriving.." Vanilla ice looked to Mariah with a bit of a glare before looking back at Dio, "but how can we assist you?" Dio thinks for awhile, "ai joo." ai joo? whatever could that be? neither Mariah or Vanilla ice knew what their lord meant, but he wanted it. "ai joo.. what do you think that is?" "I don't know, dio could you please explain-" Dio runs to his closet and pulls out a box, once the box is opened, he pulls out a green sippy cup, "ai joo!" finally, a clue. "oh he wants something to drink! I bet joo is juice!" Vanilla ice sighs, of course that's what that meant, it made so much sense now. "but what kind of juice? apple? orange? grape??" Dio claps his hands, "gape! gape!" So Dio wanted grape juice, it kind of made sense since it had the closest resemblance to blood. 
Once Dio was served his grape juice, Mariah rummages through the bag she brought and gives Dio the item she got him. a blanket that resembles the night sky with little bats on it. "I saw this yesterday and I thought you would li-" Dio makes happy lil baby noises. "I think he likes it." Vanilla ice is a little upset that he didn't get anything for Dio now. Dio insisted on being wrapped in the blanket, so know the baby is in a blanket cocoon. "hm.. something's missing.." Mariah looks through Dio's little box before finding a pacifier for him. "there, isn't he sweet?" Vanilla ice looks down at Dio, who's now drifting to sleep "Yes.. he's very sweet.. are all babies this sweet, or does lord Dio just have that charm?" Mariah chuckles, "I think it's just Dio." Vanilla ice looks away, "I should have got him something.." Mariah puts a hand on Vanilla ice's arm, "Hey, we're both learning, and for all I know he could have hated it.. but you know, I think we're doing really good for our first time." Vanilla ice looks back at Dio, "yeah, me too."
said blanket: 
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(Dio has two caregivers who are going to spoil him with as many goodies as he wants, and Vanilla ice gets a better understanding on how to care for a child.)
[thanks for reading this! as I said, I don't know much about Vanilla ice or Mariah yet, so I hope I didn't make them sound off character or anything- I do look forward to seeing them in part three though :3]
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lancrewizzard · 1 year ago
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@wromwood was playing about with AI and the algorithm ended up creating its own OC Twind from their prompt of Rincewind and Twoflower's son. The whole thing had me in stitches and I wanted to write a ficlet but it accidentally ended up sad. Trans Twoflower, mentions of transmasc pregnancy, crack treated far too seriously, no editing or beta, we drop the fic and run like Rincewind
*
The underaged cadre had left to spread fear and doubt behind enemy lines. Rincewind picked distractedly at a lump of beef. He swallowed.
"I can't help thinking that lad looks familiar. Silly really, he can't be more than ten."
"Well he should be familiar," Twoflower said. "He's your son."
"Wha- I- gnhh?"
Rincewind didn't so much sit down as collapse with a chair conveniently beneath him. He stared blankly up at Twoflower. All his usual instincts had failed along with his legs. Eventually one word managed to escape from the knot of panic and confusion that was Rincewind's psyche. "How?"
"Surely you must remember? Those cold nights near the Hub when we-"
Rincewind waved a hand frantically. "I remember that. What I mean is that we're both men! A woman has to be involved somewhere in the babies thing, I read it in a book."
Now it was Twoflower's turn to look uncomfortable. "You didn't think there was anything unusual about me when. When we...? I know it was dark, but you must have known that I'm not the same as other men."
"Huh, you're not that unique. One of the boys I shared a dorm with was the same. Nice lad, Kate. I think he has a shop with Edmund in Quirm now. Yeah, his niece lives... with... them. Oh," he said.
"Yes."
They sat in silence for a little while.
"When did you find out?"
"I was looking up the tide times as we came to Trob and saw Offle was over already and I never was that good at counting and my monthlies always were pretty light and I bled a little in the early stages with both of the girls. I didn't know how far along I was or how you'd react or if I could even get back to Ankh Morpork before the baby was due. So I went home. And Twind was born that spring."
That was far more than Rincewind was capable of processing. He latched onto a single word in the flood of information and clung on in the hopes of not drowning in another run-on sentence. "Twind?"
"We named him Blessings of the Trade Wind, but that's a lot to pronounce for a two year old. The closest he could manage was Twind and it sort of stuck."
"Okay."
More silence.
"I always meant to come back. But the baby had to come first and then there was a crackdown on trade by sea and we couldn't pull the girls out of school anyway. And then. Then. They'd already lost their mother. I couldn't ask them to leave everything else they knew for Ankh Morpork and a stranger who might not even be there. I'm sorry."
There wasn't any lifeline this time. Rincewind did the only thing he could and pulled the little man into a hug, holding him even tighter as the sobs began.
"I'm not angry." It was a worthless sentence, but it was the only one Rincewind could think to say. He wanted to say that it was okay, but it wasn't and maybe it never could be. He'd missed so much and it hurt more than anything he'd faced in the Dungeon Dimensions. But he could try to make things better. "I'm here now." He paused again, but there was a losing war on the horizon and Twoflower was in his arms and there was a limit to how much worse his pre-emptive karma could get. "I love you. And I'm not going anywhere."
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the-firebird69 · 2 days ago
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My Rainbow Bent Out Of Shape Vinyl
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My husband and I are haunted by this song when we used to listen to it and we think of each other and I knew what it meant and he gets it now they're going to allow us to have all this stuff close it off and then we're supposed to come out as an attractive female that's what they say and it's extremely rude and obtuse and stupid and we're not females and we don't behave like them I mean you know the men don't and we're wondering what kind of screw you have loose and we know about it you're old and you've been doing it for a long time and you think you're invincible which is great you saw how Trump is going to die permanently and yeah he is not being kept in a pyramid and he is going to die he's not valuable he's a mooch and a parasite and a Mac proper kills him because he was harassing him as governor non stuff and Non-Stop he did not stop harassing him he would not shut up and he would not leave him alone he would not go somewhere else and he was not governor before he's he's being a huge complete loser and Schwarzenegger doesn't really have a vendetta but he's going to because this guy is incessant about bothering people and it's just non-stop you would not believe how much harassment will we have been putting up with as young people and we need people to tell people anybody about this guy we need the stocks and we need it really quick he can't go back to the house yet I don't think it's not dry enough 70 because there's no mold and but he'd have to leave and he'd have to dry the house out while he's in it and it's really difficult you really have to keep the windows and door shut and let it dry and let it steam or it doesn't work right and they kind of know that but if he has to come back he has to come back and that's what it's like and it's always been kind of moist and in there and smelly but this is terrible and it's going on for quite a while and we're talking about Trump and his attitude and we have an update but yeah he was thinking about this and me for a long time and now he sees what it is and it's horrifying and the Mac proper planted too but boy these guys won't shut up and their leaks and yeah you really have to pay attention but we don't think they're going to which is good and they're going to start fighting each other and it's this death Star stuff and a couple other reasons will you remember me on the street of dreams and he's singing it to me
Hera
She's My Lady and my girl and my wife but really she's my girlfriend and she plays different ones and she likes messing around with me and we're playing but she's playing for real and it is very difficult and it's not a game and these people made it so hard that our lives are very very strange and very difficult and people figure out what it is I'm sure that they are slightly horrified
Zues
He's living in a horrid nightmare and his wife is in trouble and he's got a huge army and it still can't stop what's happening sometimes to himself and she gets bothered all the time because of it and these people don't listen to reason they all die and it's become a nightmare and it's getting worse and they're going to leave and that leads us to the announcement but yeah his life is extremely bizarre even compared to ours and hours are very strange we've been through experiences that no one else has and we want our people to know about it and to talk to us and ask us more than they do there are people that ask yes and they find it to be massively cool and they want to be involved an interesting yes...
--there are probably about 2.9% trumpsters off Island left and they are deteriorating rapidly. Cuba is one of the places where they are being eradicated and it's by clones and it's Puerto Rico and Haiti Dominican Republic and minority warlock too are being forced out where is the trumpsters stay and they fight and they lose. It's starting a war between them and Trump the ill prepared and too small and thinks he can get the AI but I kidnapping our son and taking off with him and he refuses to listen to reason and wants to put him in a homeless shelter and we are not going to allow it everybody is against him and it's getting more and more predominant as a theme and you can see his death he is going to die by the hands of a Mac which means the mac and proper are going to take care of him as well and it's really needed it's gone way too far and the guys way out there doing dumb things all the time yeah he's done. Those people are dying and he doesn't care and they're his people and they evacuated today about 0.7% are out 0.5% are readying and half of them are ready and they're going to leave momentarily. That is a big number that's 1.2% out of the 2.9% is not true we said 1.5% are running the cities and that leaves 1.4%. therefore 0.2% are in populated areas which is hardly anything and they're being sought out and they're at the finance centers and businesses business districts in towns and cities finance districts in cities and banks in towns and food and food distribution and water filtration and water bottling and medical in there in the hospitals and people will have to go there and they're in factories screwing around with things and people are going there now and they're starting to try and do terrorist activities domestic terrorist activities and computer systems and government facilities that run things and they're going there now tons of people and it will take care of that 0.2% rather quickly and you're going to see them trying to fight the empire actually pseudo Empire and they're not going to get the empire and they're going to lose.. he plays a very despicable character in death race he is practically everybody there fighting each other and he is an abnormally stupid person because his people are really the only ones defending him and he for some reason thinks he has a program when he's sticking his brain and he's machines and he knows about it it's very bizarre his attitude and is Billy Hicks he was exhibiting what he's like he's a strange person and he's a wimp and his passive aggressive but our son is correct is Billy Hicks he was not as bad as he is now and he was a rebel and he was serious about it and he's kind of this guy who's melodramatic and just really emotional and people are not around him because they're tired of his antics but now he is an injured person and he's mean and his people are dying at 0.2% in the general population is extremely small that's the actual number but he's getting his power from money and screwing with people's accounts and thanks all over the world he's in billions of banks and 02% is enough to be in each one of them practically and that's going to change pretty soon
Thor Freya
Olympus
My husband says what I'm doing is to protect my credit cards and my bank accounts from you and it works and it has to be done the slow steady pressure is working now it has to be large and heavy and take them out so they can't do it and you're ridiculous Trump you are willing to die for your cause to harass one boy who has value I guess it's because you don't and you're a jealous fag
Zues Hera
It is probably true it's a big part of it this guy is a huge f**** and he's a moron and he runs around the facility bothering people and he's going to get in fights now and he's going to get his ass kicked
Hulk Hogan
Olympus
0 notes
lastknownstatus-alive · 2 years ago
Note
Hi, just wanna say that i really like Baki and her design so much, and i’d love to know more about her if you’re willing to share lol (but if you don’t want to then i don’t mind tho, hope you have a good day btw)
aw i'm glad you like her! she makes me very happy lol
i imagine baki as a little bot the boys stumble upon during a mission to some abandoned laboratory or facility - my original concept for her was that she was created to explore the ocean floor in place of a submersible and work for (human) marine researchers. i always thought of her having been mainly created by one person, but thinking more i feel a small team of engineers and scientists were responsible for making her. i think she would have felt very close to the team who made her since they were the ones teaching her and developing her AI. but they never got the chance to finish developing baki, which is why she acts like/is more like a child instead of what is probably supposed to be a very independent, self-sufficient AI (also they probably just messed up along the way too, and unfortunately grew attached to her as a child/growing person than as a tool)
but back to the boys - i think baki spots them first, breaking and entering into what is essentially her home (so, not a great first impression). when the boys find her, i think something happens at the facility and she gets injured/damaged and shuts down - they see that she's probably an AI and not just a machine, and ultimately decide to take her back to the lair to fix her up (they don't know if she's evil or not, but they're hoping she won't kill them). donnie's the one who goes to fix her of course, decides he'll call his bros if he needs anything - probably gets attacked when baki wakes up strapped to a table and sees she's being operated on. after understanding that neither party meant to hurt the other, things calm down and that's basically the meet-cute!
after that...it's kind of up in the air lol. i see her living with them for now, and they're all figuring out what to do with this kid, noting that she seems very young and the idea of leaving her alone or sending her back to an empty research facility doesn't feel right for them. for baki, she eventually warms up to the brothers and considers them her friends - but she sure misses her old family.
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oh, and while i think she'd love all of the brothers and april, i see her becoming closest with donnie - just a matter of spending the most time with him for repairs and regular checkups (and uh donnie subsequently taking another robot child under his care (shelldon i'm sorry i dont draw you))
-BOY this turned out long, uh TLDR baki's a bot and a kid and she got 'adopted' by the turtles (and got even more adopted by donnie)
idk if this was coherent - a lot of it felt like it wasn't - but i'm up to answer any more questions about her if ppl were interested :)
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Vacation Part 2 ~ Prague [P.P]
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Series Masterlist || Main Masterlist
A/n: Chapter 2 is here! I'm still working on 3 and I'll hopefully have it done in time for next week. I'm so grateful for the response from this small series and I'm excited that you all like it! This chapter has more angst in it and yes I was slightly inspired by To all the boys I've loved before haha.
Thank you to @eeyore101247 for beta reading this chapter for me at the last minute! I love you Lolo!
WC: 5.8k
Warnings: Angst, mentions of slut-shaming and bullying, high school sucks, mentions of Tony and grief but also cute romantic fluff cause we love to see it.
The end of the class’ time in Italy arrived too soon in Peter’s opinion. He’d had so much fun with you, he’d almost forgotten entirely about his plan. Almost. There was still a part of him drawn to MJ and still felt jealous when she was with Brad which started to happen more often.
And yet he always felt himself drawn back to you.
Peter sighed as he finished packing his bags, his head reeling from everything until he heard a knock on the door. Mostly everyone had left the hotel in a hurry but Ned had stayed with Peter.
“You got a package.” He handed Peter the wrapped package and looked at him with a furrowed brow. “Do you think it’s a bomb or something?”
Peter looked at his best friend in bewilderment. “Well I do now!”
“I’m sure it��s not.” Ned shook his head, eying the package carefully. Peter cautiously looked at Ned and back at the parcel in his hands. He knew this vacation had been too good to be true. He carefully looked at the writing and noticed a shield logo in the corner.
“It’s from SHIELD.” Peter spoke carefully as he opened the wrapping, he was hoping maybe for a cool badge or something but instead there was only a glasses case. Ned and him exchanged a look before opening the case.
There inside of the wooden casing was a pair of glasses, they looked mostly ordinary with a blue shaded tint to the lenses like the kind Tony would wear. Peter felt a strange kind of feeling as he looked at them, it was a mix of grief and disappointment, are these old glasses really the only thing Tony had left for him?
“Awesome!” Ned looked over Peter’s shoulder at the glasses. “Try them on!”
Peter thought about it before quickly closing the case and putting it in his backpack, shaking his head. “We’ll be late for the flight.”
“Oh you didn’t hear?” Ned gave Peter a look who shrugged in return. “We’re going by coach now. Mr Harrington said we got an upgrade to Prague.”
“What about Paris?!” Peter exclaimed, looking at Ned with wide eyes.
“Well Mr Harrington and Mr Dell kind of got into an argument about whether it was Prague or Paris we were meant to be going to. Turns out Mr Harrington was supposed to book Paris but he booked Prague instead.” Ned explained, shaking his head.
Peter sighed and furrowed his brow, a coach didn’t sound much fun but at least Peter didn’t have to worry about flying. He wasn’t sure if there were any romantic spots in Prague but it was nothing a quick internet search couldn’t fix. It’s not like his plan was going according anyway.
He grabbed his bags and walked down to where the rest of the class were already boarding a large coach.
Everyone was already seated by the time Peter got on. MJ was with Brad, Ned was with Betty and you were with one of your friends. The only free seat was next to Flash and Peter preferred the option of sitting by himself at the back, he could do with the peace and quiet anyway.
You gave him a smile as he walked past and he returned it before taking his seat, almost falling into it as the driver started down the road. Peter rested his head against the window and took out his earphones, noticing the case next to them. He played his music as he took out the case and looked at the glasses again.
He picked them up and tried them on, waiting for something to happen but nothing did. He laughed dryly and shook his head, going to take them off before he noticed a Stark industries business card at the bottom of the case.
For the next Tony Stark, I trust you. Say EDITH.
Peter read the message aloud and jumped as the glasses flashed blue, a female voice talking to him much like the one he had in his suit. An interface loaded in front of him, showing a scan of his face.
“Retinal and biometric scan completed.”
“Hello?”
“Hello Peter. I am EDITH, Tony Stark’s augmented reality security and defence system.”
Peter adjusted the glasses and smiled, Tony had given him an AI with access to all of his protocols. He almost couldn’t believe that he had trusted him with that kind of access.
“EDITH stands for even dead I’m the hero. Tony loved his acronyms.”
“Yeah he did.” Peter smiled fondly, remembering the time he had tried to make up some of his own but had never quite hit the mark.
“I have access to the entire Stark global security network including multiple defence satellites and backdoors to all major telecommunication networks.”
Peter looked around as screens loaded before him of what his classmates and teachers were up to on their phones including Mr Dell researching the history of witchcraft. Ned and Betty were texting each other even though they were sat together.
“Woah.” Peter couldn’t get over how cool this was to have all of this access at his fingertips. He looked over at MJ wondering if she was texting before changing his mind, knowing it would be wrong. His eyes landed on where you sat and your texts showed before him. Ned wasn’t the only one Betty was texting.
Y/n: I really like him.
Betty: I know but I’m pretty sure he likes MJ :/
Peter could feel his heart racing. He wanted so badly to tell you Betty was wrong but the truth was he didn’t know anymore.
You looked over at MJ and Brad, biting your lip before glancing at Peter. He quickly looked away from you, his eyes looking over towards MJ on accident. He didn’t see the way your face fell but he did see the last text you sent to Betty.
Y/n: Yeah, you’re right.
Peter sighed and put his head in his hands, wanting to scream into oblivion.
“Pete, everything okay?”
He quickly looked up at the sound of your voice and nodded, worrying that somehow you knew he had been spying. He tried to quickly think of something to say as you sat next to him, looking worried and saddened.
A moment’s silence passed between the both of you, neither sure of what to say. The only sound came from the chatters of the bus and the passing scenery outside.
“I like your glasses. Are they new?” You smiled, breaking the silence as you admired the new frames and the eyes underneath them. Peter slowly nodded and took them off.
“Y-yeah, they were a gift.” He gave you a small smile and put them back in the case. You noticed the Stark industries logo but didn’t say anything more on the topic. You knew how much Tony had meant to Peter.
After the blip when everyone returned to their old lives, you noticed Peter wasn’t the same person. He seemed sadder and lost, struggling to pay attention even in lessons he loved and sometimes he’d have to excuse himself quickly from the classroom. You had followed him once and found him on the floor, sobbing into his hands. He didn’t even register it was you that had hugged him until he looked up and mumbled an apology.
Seeing him that way broke your heart and the last thing you wanted to cause was more sadness for him when he was meant to be enjoying himself.
“I think they look good on you.”
Peter blushed and smiled, bowing his head shyly. “Thank you.”
You smiled back and nodded, deciding to listen to your music and handing Peter an earphone. He looked surprised at the gesture but took it anyway and listened to your music, a wide smile gracing his lips as you both shared the sweet moment together.
It stayed like that for the rest of the journey, both of you enjoying each other's company just as you had done in Venice. Peter couldn't get rid of the smile from his face until they stopped for a restroom break and he saw Brad and MJ holding hands as they got off the bus. His whole face fell which didn't go unnoticed by you.
Peter gave you a quick goodbye before going after Ned, in need of his best friend’s advice. You meekly said a goodbye before sighing and grabbing your things. Your eyes landed on a small journal on Peter’s seat that he must have left behind.
You know you shouldn’t have looked but the temptation was biting away at you. It was only just a peek, you told yourself. You smiled as you saw some doodles scribbled on the pages, chemical equations for something called web fluid (probably some cool science thing he was working on) and a section dedicated to The plan.
Intrigued of what the plan entailed you read ahead and with each written word the jealousy in your heart grew and the sadness broke your heart. Peter was planning to romance MJ with gifts and a whole speech he had written out in detail. Everything was planned and you were nothing more than a distraction. You even noticed that in one of Peter’s doodles he had written MJ or Y/n???
*~*~*~*
“I swear it was in here.” Peter sighed as he searched his bag for his journal, the one that held all his personal thoughts and feelings. Ned had tried to help him look but the mission was futile.
“It will turn up. Maybe you just left it on the bus.”
Peter nodded and sighed heavily, zipping his backpack up and throwing it back on his shoulders. He spotted a nice little souvenir for Morgan and paid for it before leaving the small store. He took a moment to look around where they had stopped since the rest of the group were taking their time and as he got closer to a small empty bathroom he could hear the sound of someone crying.
He gently knocked on the door to make sure that whoever it was was okay before being sharply told to go away. Peter felt even worse as he recognised your voice. He wondered what had happened since she’d been fine when he last saw her.
“y/n?”
“Peter just leave me alone, please.” Your voice cracked as you spoke, small sniffles escaping you as you sat on the edge of the closed toilet seat.
“You know I can’t do that.” He rested his head against the door and sighed softly, willing to wait for you until you came out.
“I’m trying to make things easier for you!”
Peter hummed in confusion before something slid out from underneath the door, his journal.
“Go be with MJ.”
“Y/n no..” He sighed and resisted the urge to bang his head against the door. “I-” He didn’t even know how to explain but he did know one thing. “It doesn’t matter what it says in there. I’ve had so much fun with you on this trip and I know now that you can’t plan everything, you can’t plan falling in love because it just happens.”
As Peter spoke he realised that his words were truer than they had ever been, he was falling for you and he couldn’t stop himself. He didn’t want to stop. He didn’t care about his plan anymore and yes it still hurt when MJ was with Brad but it was nothing compared to the happiness he felt when he was with you.
The world felt silent around the both of you as Peter’s words processed. You felt even more confused than before but you could also feel something else, hope. Peter listened to your breathing and the small sniffles that still came from behind the door.
“I’m gonna head back onto the bus. I got cookies if you wanna share.”
You held back a giggle and rolled your eyes fondly before opening the bathroom door and wiping your eyes free of tears.
“They better be chocolate chip.”
“Is there any other kind?”
You and Peter both laughed as you got back on the bus, already heading to the back together to find your seats. Peter put his journal away out of sight and smiled at you, taking out the cookies he had brought and offering one to you. It did nothing to ease the ache still in your heart but it did fill your stomach and no matter what you still liked being in Peter’s company.
*~*~*~*
The hotel for Prague turned out to be a lot better than the one they had stayed in during their time in Venice. Mr Harrington said that an anonymous someone had given them an upgrade which made Peter’s Spidey senses tingle. Maybe he was just being paranoid but he also knew that things like this were usually too good to be true.
Everyone was shown to their room, all except for Peter who got held back at reception by the lady at the desk.
“He said to leave this here for you when you arrived Mr Parker.”
Peter looked at her with confusion as he took the envelope, a familiar handwriting scrawled on top. His heart suddenly felt heavy but he pushed the resurfacing feelings of grief aside and nodded, making his way up to his room.
He could hear through the door that Ned and Betty were already inside making cutesy talk while soft music played. Whilst Peter loved his friends, he wanted to go somewhere quiet and open the letter. His mind had already decided where to go as he made his way towards the room number he needed and knocked.
The door opened to reveal your beautiful smile which already made Peter feel a sense of calm. He looked around for your suit buddy and sighed in relief as the room was empty.
“Can I come in?”
You nodded without hesitation, seeing the slight pain on Peter’s face and brought him to sit down on one of the comfy twin beds. He held the letter in slightly shaky hands and kept his eyes on it. You spotted the familiar logo on the envelope, the same that was on Peter’s glasses case and realised.
“Is that from-?”
“Mhm.” Peter nodded, keeping his lips in a tight thin line as he contemplated opening it. His mind was running a mile a minute with so many thoughts. He’d gotten the glasses from Tony and that was enough for him even if the card had been a bit of a riddle. He wasn’t sure if he could handle a letter too.
“Can you open it?” Peter looked at you pleadingly as he handed you the letter, his hands still visibly shaking. You hesitated before nodding and carefully opened the envelope, reading the letter aloud.
Dear Peter,
I’m writing this in case all goes well and we manage to restore normality, at least what once was. I know you’re going to do great things and maybe you’ll make mistakes along the way but that’s part of being human kid. God knows I made more than I can count.
I wanted to make your senior year as awesome as it should be so if you’re reading this then you made it kid. I don’t remember much of my last year of high school but I wanted to make sure you did so make the most of it and don’t worry about any extracurriculars on your trip.
I know you’ll make me proud Peter cause you already do. Now go have fun and don’t do anything I would do or anything I wouldn’t do. Remember the little grey area is where you operate.
Anonymous someone.
Peter laughed and sniffled as you finished, wiping his eyes as tears had started to fall. You quickly put the letter down and wrapped your arms around him, hugging him close.
“It’s okay.”
He nodded against your shoulder as a few more tears fell, his fingers clinging onto your sweater. Peter wasn’t sure whether to smile or cry more at the words from his mentor so he did both. He reread the letter again and again that night, feeling the weight on his heart ease. Tony had upgraded his class trip for him probably through Happy to make sure Peter had a nice time and he had also said he was proud of him. That hit Peter the most and it was what he needed to hear in that moment.
You both stayed like that for a few minutes as Peter’s breathing calmed, his tears reducing to sniffles. You rubbed his back comfortingly and played with his curls which seemed to relax Peter more as he stayed in your arms.
When you both pulled away neither was sure of what to say. Peter focused on clearing his face of tears and running a hand through his messy curls whilst you played with the sleeves of your sweater. You wished you could ask Peter to stay the night, after all your roommate for the trip had gone home with food poisoning.
Little did you know Peter was thinking the same thoughts, knowing Ned and Betty would probably still be in his room or go to hers. Sometimes they spooned and stayed up till late hours of the night talking, he wasn’t sure he could deal with that right now and he liked being in your company.
“Do you want to-?”
“Can I-?”
You both laughed as you spoke over each other, exchanging a back and forth argument of who should speak first. Peter insisted you speak and gave you a small smile.
You nodded and took a deep breath before looking into those familiar warm, honey coloured eyes. “Do you want to stay here tonight? There’s two beds and I heard there’s a Star Wars Marathon on tv.”
Peter’s smile widened, his eyes crinkling with happiness as he nodded. “I’d love to.”
The night passed by in a blur as you and Peter stayed up to watch his favourite movies, even having ordered some food from room service which had apparently also been covered by Stark industries. Just like in Venice, you laughed and joked and enjoyed each other’s company, smiling as you saw Peter enjoying himself.
There was still a hurt from earlier knowing how much he had wanted to be with MJ and you knew they would work together as a couple, you’d seen them in decathlon together but MJ seemed to be enjoying time with Brad and Peter was here with you. A warm flutter of butterflies exploded in your stomach as you met his gaze, he offered his warm smile and offered you some of his popcorn to which you nodded.
Maybe your chance wasn’t so dead after all.
Just as you were about to wind down for the night, it being way past midnight, Peter looked at you with a hesitant smile.
“Hey Y/n?”
You looked up at him in response, picking up some popcorn from your competition to see who could throw and catch the most in their mouths (Peter had won).
“I- um would you-” Peter stuttered over his words as they got caught on his tongue. He cleared his throat and you bit back a smile at how utterly cute he was. “There’s this big carnival tomorrow and I was hoping maybe w-we could go together?”
His cheeks flushed pink as he finally asked the question he’d been dying to ask all night, his eyes too scared to look at your reaction.
“Peter,” You walked over and cupped his cheeks, forcing him to look at you. He relaxed at seeing the wide smile on your face. “I would love to go with you.”
His smile widened to match yours and a wave of relief washed over him. “That’s great.” He gave a chuckle and blushed as you delicately kissed his cheek before getting into your bed for the night.
“Just to make sure I meant like a date.” Peter clarified, worried about getting put into the friendzone.
You giggled and smiled at him from your bed. “I know Pete. It’s a date.” You winked at him before turning off the light and laying back, ready to fall asleep with a wide smile on your face.
Peter smiled wide as he laid in bed, the sheets and mattress softer than the last one he had slept on. Everything finally seemed to be falling into place, it wasn’t as Peter had imagined but it was far better.
*~*~*~*~*~*
The next morning Peter woke up feeling more refreshed than he had felt in a long time. The sun was shining over Prague and even Peter felt brighter in himself. He looked over at your bed and smiled as he found you still asleep, snoring softly.
Peter’s whole heart leapt at the sight and he let out a happy sigh as he thought about last night. You had comforted him and held him and had even agreed to go on a date with him tonight. He felt like the luckiest human alive which made him want to do a little dance in his bed as he thought about it.
“What are you doing?”
Peter blushed and looked over to see that you were now awake and looking at him with an amused smile.
“Uh nothing.” He laughed and got out of bed, gathering the letter and his shoes. You giggled as you watched him accidentally grab your sneakers before switching them for his own. “I better get going. Don’t want Mr Harrington to call an emergency buddy meeting again.”
You laughed and agreed with a nod, remembering the last one at the airport when Mr Harrington had panicked the whole group when he thought Ned had gone missing only to see he was right behind him.
Peter smiled at you as he opened the door, “I’ll see you later?”
You nodded and smiled wide, “Don’t be late Parker.”
He shook his head and laughed as he left, an unwavering smile on his face as he headed back to his room. Peter didn’t notice Flash see him leave your room with a smile and his shoes in hand nor the phone recording him.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Peter took a deep breath as he stood in front of the mirror, brushing down his shirt as he bit his lip. “I’m not sure.”
Ned sighed and flopped back onto his bed. “Peter, this is the 7th shirt you’ve tried on! You look fine!” He knew as soon as he uttered the last word that Peter would rummage through his suitcase yet again for the perfect shirt.
10 minutes later, Peter was finally ready for his date, much to Ned’s relief. He watched as Peter gave himself a pep talk in the mirror, mumbling in the hopes Ned couldn’t hear him.
“Okay here’s the plan-”
Ned was just about to tell Peter enough with his plans before the door opened and MJ walked in.
“Hey losers.”
“Have you ever heard of knocking?” Ned looked at her and raised his brow. MJ shrugged in response and sat down on Peter’s vacant bed. She looked at him as he turned back to the mirror and tried to tame his messy curls.
“So you and Y/n huh?” MJ noted with a smirk, stealing some of the gummy worms that Peter had brought for the trip. He turned around so quickly, he almost got whiplash.
“What?! I-” Peter was at a loss for words, he knew news spread quickly at Midtown but how had anyone found out in one night. “We’re not really a thing yet.” He blushed and avoided his friends’ gazes.
“Oh really? Then why did Flash see you leave her room last night in the same clothes as yesterday.” MJ smirked again and threw a gummy worm at Peter who looked at her with wide eyes.
“I just- I stayed in her room last night.” He admitted, his cheeks burning red as Ned and MJ didn’t look convinced. “But nothing happened!”
Ned and MJ shared a sympathetic look as they saw Peter’s distress grow at the rumor. He picked up his phone and panicked as he saw the midtown gossip website showing a video of him leaving your room. Before he could panic anymore Peter quickly made his way to the other side of the hotel floor and banged on Flash’s door.
“Woah penis what-?”
“Take it down.” Peter didn’t disguise his anger as Flash opened the door.
“What?”
“The video you took last night Flash. Please take it down.” Peter lowered his voice and pleaded. He knew this would affect you as soon as you saw it and the last thing he wanted was for you to get hurt because of him. Not again.
“Why? Don’t want everyone to know you’re not a virgin anymore?” Flash smirked and laughed before noticing the anger grow once more on Peter’s face. “The video’s out of my control. Sorry dude.”
Flash closed the door, not sounding sorry at all. Peter sighed and leaned against the wall, resting his head back. Everywhere around him classmates were getting ready for the carnival, whispering behind his back and giving him looks, he wasn’t sure if they were impressed looks or disgusted ones but either way he didn’t like them.
Peter usually lied low so he could avoid things like this and stay out of the rumor mill. He hated rumors and he hated being a part of them even more. Just as he was contemplating messaging Happy to see if he could do something, he heard a door open and looked up.
You walked out of your room, looking as beautiful as ever and Peter swear his heart almost dropped out of his stomach at the sight as the butterflies ran rampant in his stomach. You looked around before catching his gaze and smiling.
“Hey Pete.”
For a moment, Peter forgot how to form words, too focused on how beautiful you looked as you smiled. His throat felt dry and his hands felt clammy to the touch.
“H-hi.” He finally managed to say, his heart racing as you smiled wider and giggled.
“I was just coming to meet you. Are you ready to go?”
Peter thought back to the video circulating his classmates phones and he assumed you hadn’t seen it. He knew he should’ve told you there and then but he didn’t want to ruin your date or hurt you so he kept his lips sealed.
He nodded and gave you a small smile, heading out of the hotel with you. Your hands touched briefly as you walked and Peter almost took your hand in his before pulling away as he chickened out. You tried not to show your disappointment and offered Peter a smile.
The streets of Prague were full of life and celebration, everyone wearing bright colours and dancing along the streets as loud music played. Peter allowed himself to be distracted at the joy of the city before your hand slipped into his, catching him by surprise.
You gave his hand a squeeze and smiled, “So we don’t lose each other.” It was partially the truth but you mostly just wanted to hold his hand. Peter smiled and nodded but you could tell something was wrong.
It wasn’t just the rumour mill that was getting to Peter, the loud noises and brightness was causing his heightened senses to overload. He began to feel on edge and his palms grew even sweatier than before.
“Peter are you okay?”
He looked at you and bit his lip, shaking his head slowly. You squeezed his hand comfortingly and nodded, seemingly understanding what needed to be done as you led him over to the Ferris wheel.
Peter sighed in relief as you and him both got seated, your hands still interlinked as the door shut to the cart you were in.
“I hate crowds too.” You admitted with a soft blush and met his gaze. Peter smiled softly and squeezed your hand like you had done to his.
The wheel moved slowly allowing you both to enjoy the moment and the sights of the city. Peter knew that he didn’t need to fill the silence or try to talk, you were just there for each other as you had been last night and the whole trip.
Music from the streets filled the silence of the night as you and Peter looked out at the stars glittering in the night sky. It was right as you reached the peak of the wheel that Peter finally broke the silence.
“I really like you Y/n.”
You blushed and turned to Peter, noticing the redness of his cheeks and the staggered breaths escaping his lips. He looked straight ahead for a few moments before he felt your hand grip tighter onto his and saw your smile from the corner of his eye.
“I really like you too Peter.”
He smiled wide, mirroring yours before noticing your face fall just as fast.
“But I don’t want to be second best.”
Peter’s heart broke at her words, knowing she was thinking back to his journal. He shook his head and quickly cupped your cheeks in his hands, meeting your gaze lovingly.
“You’re not second best Y/n. You never were and you never will be. The truth is I’ve always liked you but I just- I never thought I would be lucky enough to have a chance with you.”
You smiled at the genuinity in Peter’s voice and his warm brown eyes that pulled you in ever closer until your lips were almost touching. “Always liked me huh?”
Peter nodded and smiled wide, the blush on his cheeks becoming brighter as he looked down at your lips.
“C-can I kiss you?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
You smiled as Peter’s lips finally met your own, after years of pining and wondering what if. Peter’s lips were soft and tasted like the cotton candy you had shared earlier. Your lips were sweeter than Peter had ever imagined, if that was possible.
Neither of you wanted the kiss to end but you could feel the need for air increasing in your lungs. You were the first one to pull back, catching your breath as you leaned your forehead against Peter’s. He chuckled softly and smiled so wide that his eyes crinkled.
“Woah.”
You nodded and pecked his lips once more with a giggle. The blush on your cheeks was rivalling Peter’s now as you noticed the ride was soon coming to an end. Peter looked disappointed before quickly paying for another ride.
“I hope you did that so you can kiss me again.” You smiled coyly and looped your arms around Peter’s neck.
“Maybe.” He shrugged and laughed before leaning in to kiss you again but this time he hesitated as he saw the looks from some of his classmates. The reminder hitting him like a train.
“Pete? What’s wrong?” Your fingers played with the curls at the nape of his neck as the wheel started to move again. Peter visibly gulped and his mood fell as he looked back at you.
“There’s something I have to tell you.”
You bit your lip in worry and nodded, having a feeling you knew what Peter was going to say.
“Pete I know.”
“You do?”
You giggled and nodded again, kissing his cheek and leaning in close. Peter blushed and looked guilty, his eyes avoiding yours.
“You being Spider-Man doesn’t bother me.”
Peter’s blood ran cold and he quickly shifted away, laughing in pretend disbelief. “I-What?! No. I-I’m not Spider-Man!”
You looked knowingly at him and rubbed his arm, taking his hand back in yours. “Peter it’s okay, i think it’s cool.” You smiled but Peter still sat in denial, shaking his head.
“I-” He gulped and sighed, biting his lip. “Is it that obvious?”
“No but I’ve had a crush on your for a while now and I’m not dumb Peter. The glasses and the letter from Iron Man. And then there was Washington. I just know you Peter.” You blushed and fidgeted with your hands, feeling embarrassed to admit your crush even though you had only kissed him 5 seconds ago.
Peter smiled, finding it endearing that you knew him and had paid attention to him all this time. He leaned back in close to you and rested his hand on yours.
“Oh my god!” You gasped, laughing as Peter was taken aback at your exclamation. “I’m dating a freaking superhero!” You giggled with Peter before kissing him again. The kiss was even more perfect than the last as your lips began to learn and memorise each other.
*~*~*~*~*
The carnival livened up even more as the night went on. The music became louder and the people got more drunk, something that might have made Peter annoyed but nothing could ruin his mood right now. He could still taste the sweetness of your lips on his and he just couldn’t get enough.
You giggled as Peter kissed your lips again after winning you a gigantic teddy bear. He smiled wide and giggled with you, the sound like music to your ears. You hugged the bear tight to your chest after choosing to name it Spidey which made Peter blush.
“This is so amazing.” You remarked as you took a moment to enjoy the scenery surrounding you. Peter sat with you on a nearby bench and nodded, hesitantly wrapping his arm around you. He smiled as you leaned into his side with a happy sigh. The moment was perfect and Peter was sure nothing could ruin it.
You jumped a little as your phone buzzed before pulling it from your pocket. Peter smiled to himself as he saw Spider-Man was the wallpaper on your phone. You blushed and tried to quickly hide it as you opened the message from Betty.
Peter turned his eyes towards the street to give you some privacy, the last thing he wanted you to think was that he was reading your texts (again).
He only looked back at you as you slowly pulled away from his arms, clutching your phone in your hands and only then did Peter notice that Betty had sent you the video of him leaving your room last night. You were scrolling through the comments and Peter saw that amongst the nice or gossiping comments that were hurtful ones calling you names.
“Y/n I-”
You shook your head and bit your lip, quickly locking your phone. You noticed a group of girls from your class staring at you and giggling, whispering in each other's ears.
“I have to go.” You sniffled as you grabbed your bag and quickly walked back to the hotel, ignoring Peter’s calls of your name. He sighed and tried to chase after you but within seconds he had lost you in the crowd and maybe for good this time.
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seoloquent · 3 years ago
Text
project: dance, dance, revolution
Tumblr media
summary - you hate that ai robots are beginning to take over the entertainment industry, but you have no choice than to help them. but what if it all didn't turn out to be what you thought it was?
pairing - johnny and fem!reader
genre - strangers-to-lovers!au, robot!au, comedy, fluff
word count - 10.101
warnings - cw! food, there might be some grammatical errors... i'm depending on grammarly on this one
author's note - this is for @pastelsicheng's ai project #14320 collab! this was honestly such a challenge for me since i have been in a writing slump for over two years i believe, but i'm glad it gave me the push i need. i am still super rusty, but i think the dialogue is cute, so i'm happy with it! thank you so much emmy for sharing your great idea with everyone, and i hope you all like it!
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Johnny AI AU - seoloquent
Kun was terrified.
Despite experiencing your various emotions throughout the five years of being your manager, he has never seen you this angry before. But, honestly speaking, he couldn’t blame you. He’d be just as mad if he found out his boss went behind his back and signed a contract with a company he hated. As much as he could sympathize with you though, Kun just couldn’t get himself to understand why you were so upset about working with LSM Incorporated. If he were in your shoes, he’d be doing backflips off the wall! The amount of exposure, and revenue you are potentially going to be receiving… Kun just does not understand what the problem is.
Although your strides were long and strong, Kun was able to keep up with you while making sure he kept his distance, as if a dark cloud followed behind you. As cautious as he was to not have you blow up at him, he still tried to convince you to not make a scene within the conference room by his desperate protests; in which you kindly ignored. Every single word that left his mouth went through one ear and straight out the other as you paid him no mind. You were in a tunnel vision; the only person you wanted to talk to right now was your boss.
Pushing the door open with much force (that Kun had to catch before it slammed onto the wall behind it), you caught the attention of the CEO of your company, as well as Lee Soo Man of LSM Inc. They flashed pleasant smiles your way, completely oblivious of your angry state.
“Y/N, just the person we wanted to se-”
“Are you serious?!” You slammed the contract papers down on the table, your eyes wide and fierce as they stared into your boss’s eyes.
Your emotions were still fresh from when you first received the signed contract papers from Kun about an hour prior. The feelings of betrayal and violation lingered within you, and the uneasiness it caused made you sick. How could someone lack so much human decency that they justified going behind their employee’s back, an employee that has their trust in them at that, and force them into labor; which they have already voiced that they did not want to do? It baffled you, and you were hurt, as you believed that you and your CEO had a great business relationship. But he took that open communication for granted and took advantage of you.
After realizing that you stormed in with anger rather than excitement, he pursed his lips and looked down at the papers, chuckling to himself. “Oh. So you’re still opposed to the idea.”
You couldn’t believe your ears. “Of course I am!” Your voice rose as your eyes grew bigger. “You never talked to me about it again after the first time; what made you think that I changed my mind?”
“Y/N, I have to get you to notice that you are not the only one signed to this company. This will not only be good exposure for you, but for us as well.” He justified. He kept his voice calm, not only to calm you down but also to keep a professional demeanor in front of his newly established business partner.
“Oh, so you’re doing this for yourself?”
“Of course not! This is for the benefit of not only you, not only me, but for the company as a whole.” Your CEO reasoned. Before you could respond, he cleared his throat and turned to Lee Soo Man. “I’m sorry, but will you excuse us for a moment? I don’t feel comfortable having this conversation in front of you as our partner.”
Normally, you would be embarrassed that you presented this side of yourself in front of a potential partner, but embarrassed in front of Lee Soo Man? You care more about a monkey’s opinion about yourself more than his opinion. Besides, it doesn’t seem like he’s phased by your reaction at all. Strangely enough, when you turned toward the founder of LSM Inc., you realized that his arrogant smile had never left his face since the moment you stormed into the conference room. It gave you chills. He seems so artificial that you wouldn’t be surprised if he turned out to be a robot himself.
After Lee Soo Man gave his, “No problem,” your boss stood up from his seat and escorted you both outside the conference room. The moment the door closed, your boss’s true emotion started to show. His eyes grew wide and his fingers grabbed onto his freshly trimmed strands as he breathed out a heavy breath of frustration. Equally as frustrated, if not more, you crossed your arms and made sure your gaze was unwavering; something you needed to learn after being manipulated many times from past experiences with people who work within the entertainment industry. You stepped your metaphoric foot down. Even if your boss had signed a contract without your acknowledgment, you were not going to do the job. That’s not your signature on the papers.
“Are you crazy Y/N?!” He yelled in a hushed tone, careful to not have anyone overhear your conversation. “How could you act like that in front of him?”
“Do I not have a right to be angry? You sold me away to a robot company Jack, a robot company!” You slapped the back of your hand on your other palm, now physically unable to withhold your emotions.
“I didn’t sell you away, you’re getting paid to do this job.” He spat. Now self-aware of how uncivil and unprofessional he was being, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath to ease his nerves. You are going to get nowhere if you bickered like this, and if you keep it up, he knows he is going to say something he regrets.
Now keeping his tone soft, he revealed, “I chose you because you’re the best for this job.”
“Aren’t there other artists under this label who could do this? I’m sure they’re more willing to work with LSM than I am.” You matched his tone, hoping that this time you could get through to him.
“Those other artists can’t produce the same product as you can.” Jack shook his head disapprovingly. “Listen Y/N, I don’t want to waste any more of Mr. Lee’s time, so I’m going to make this short. I apologize in advance if you find any offense in this, but business is business.” You stared intently into his eyes, in hopes to understand where he was going with his next sentence, but his expression could not be read.
“If you can’t do this job, then I’m afraid that I’ll have to drop you from this label.”
You never knew what people meant by having their hearts drop down to their stomachs until now. You felt as if the wind was knocked out of you, your breath short and shaky and your knees weak. All these years… all this work you put in to make a name not only for yourself but for this company… it baffled you that all that effort could be thrown away so easily, just because of some AI company.
As much as you wanted to keep standing up for yourself and your role in the company, you knew there was no use. Your boss didn’t seem to give you a choice either, seeing that he walked back into the conference room shortly after his bombshell. The only thing you could find yourself doing is laughing bitterly to yourself while shaking your head. What in the world are you going to do now?
***
Maybe it isn’t such a good idea to go to a bar when you’re in a bad mood. The constant noise of chatter and the clinking of glasses did not soothe your nerves one bit. Rather, it made you even more annoyed, and on the brink of yelling out at everyone to just be quiet. Instead of making a fool of yourself in public though, you sat with your head under your arms, forehead resting on the cool surface of the bar. Kun, your designated moral support, sat next to you, tapping his glass of whiskey as he thought of what to say to you.
“So, what are you gonna do?”
That simple yet oh so effective sentence had you throwing your head back and releasing a loud groan. Your reaction had your manager shrugging, his face reading, ‘What did I do?’ You rested your cheeks on the palms of your hands as you thought: ‘What can I do?’
Gazing off into a space of nothing, you replied: “I dunno.” You shook your head, your hands still on either side of your face as you deadpanned. “I have no idea what I’m gonna do.” After a moment, something clicked in your head, and you set your arms down and turned to Kun. “Do you want to bail on them and start a company with me?”
He snorted at the inquiry. “You know we can’t do that! At least not right now. It’s way too last minute.”
You looked down at your arms with a sad expression and sighed. “You’re right.” Not only would it be an impulsive decision, but you had no motivation in you to own a whole entertainment company. “What am I gonna do?!” You cried out, your hands covering your face to hide your shame.
“Hey, hey, hey! Stop the whining!” Kun took your hands away from your face, revealing the pout on your face. “Everything is going to be fine! I’m sure of it.”
Kun, a big pep-talk kind of man, was always ready to reassure you when you were in doubt. And boy was he good at it. You still remember when you were growing anxious before your first big concert at an arena. The staff ran around the whole place frantically trying to find where you ran off to. Thankfully, your trustee manager was able to find your hiding spot, which was beside a vending machine in an empty hallway. His comforting words found a way to ease your speedy heart rate, and clear up your clogged mind. After that day, you knew you could always go to him when you were feeling down or unsure of yourself. He’s a friend you could always lean on.
“How are you so sure?” You asked, your voice so small that he almost missed the question.
“Think about it,” he set his glass to the side and folded his hands together, “this contract is only valid for six months. It’s not like you’re going to be working there forever.”
You couldn’t help but roll your eyes. “I know that; but still! I don’t want to do it at all!”
“You never know what will happen until you try though! You might end up liking it.” He nudged your elbow as he flashed a convincing smile.
“Me? Liking it?” You scoffed. “Kun, do you even know me?”
He pursed his lips and sighed. This situation was foreign to him since he always knew what to say. But now, it seemed like everything he was saying was making the situation worse. He wanted nothing more than for you to feel comfortable, but that mission is basically impossible knowing how much you oppose the AI industry. But still, Kun is a persistent man. He wasn’t going to back down just yet.
Finally, something clicked.
“Actually, your idea doesn’t sound half bad.” You cocked a curious eyebrow, surprised that he brought up something you spurted out carelessly. “Think about it: you’re still your own person. Even though you’re technically bound by a contract doesn’t mean that you can’t make a decision on your own. He did give you the choice to leave.”
You furrowed your eyebrows. “So you’re saying that I should just leave the company?”
He shook his head. “No. What I’m doing is offering a deal. I want you to try to work with LSM for at least three months. If you try it, you might like it! If not, I will quit with you, and we can try to start a company on our own; which I know we both don’t want. But hey, that might be fun too.”
You thought about the proposal for a moment. It wasn’t too much of a bad idea. It was actually quite reasonable. Yeah, you aren’t looking forward to being surrounded by robots and their arrogant creators, but you guess that it’s worth a try. Just for the experience at least.
“I think we have a deal.” You held your hand out.
He took your hand in his and gave it a firm shake.
“Pleasure doing business with you, partner.”
***
You shivered upon entering the entertainment wing of LSM Inc. You were told that the lab would be a bit chilly, which is why you brought a jacket with you, but the cool air still found a way to nip at your skin through the material. You have to say, the lab was not what you expected it to be. Rather than it being some cold, plain science lab, it was made out to be much more casual. Your eyes settled on what looked like a lounge area for the employees, and you watched carefully as they conversed with one another with soft smiles on their faces. Scanning the place even further, you came across capsule areas, in which you assume where the AI robots stayed. As cool as the dome building seemed, you still couldn’t shake off the grudge you had against the company.
“Oh, you’re here!” A man holding a clipboard exclaimed. He ran over to you and Kun, flashing a bright smile. “Mr. Lee told me that we were to be expecting you both. I was hoping to greet you at the main lobby entrance, but I got caught up in another situation, so I apologize. My name is Kim Doyoung, I’ll be your guide for the day.” He politely held his hand out, and you shook it while replying with a small, “Hello.”
“We’re pleased to have you here with us Ms. Y/N. Please, follow me.” He motioned both of you to follow him. “I must say, I’m a huge fan of your music. I’m really happy that you decided to work with us for the next comeback.”
“Oh. Don’t mention it.” You shook your head while smiling slightly.
As Doyoung lead you to wherever he was leading you, he pointed out different areas to help you grow familiar with the lab. You learned that they have many recording and dance studios like regular companies do. You couldn’t help but wonder why, since they could just be programmed to sing the songs, but you didn’t bother to ask.
Finally, Doyoung stopped at a station, but his bright expression was replaced by a puzzled one. He looked around as if he were looking for someone. You, on the other hand, couldn’t help but stare at what stood before you. The tall human-like… thing, stared right back at you with a neutral expression. It gave you chills how real he seemed; like he could walk past you on the street and you wouldn’t bat an eye. Despite how anxious it made you feel, your curiosity outweighed that emotion, and you inched closer to get a better look.
Your tour guide caught you eyeing the bot, and that smile found its way back onto his face. He heard that you might be a bit opposed to working with the AI’s, so he was glad to find you expressing some sort of interest in their prized possession.
“He’s so human-” As if in a trance, you reached out a hand to touch the robot, but it suddenly stepped back just before you got to it.
“I’m sorry, but physical touch is not allowed unless permitted.” The robot announced before flashing a commercial smile.
Doyoung’s chuckled beside you. “For the safety of our bots, we have prohibited anyone from touching them.” He leaned in to add, “Too many fans at fansigns got touchy-feely.” He shook his head disapprovingly.
“Eager to get a feel of my bot already?” You heard a voice from behind you.
When you turned around, you felt as though you got whiplash. The man standing behind you looked identical to the robot standing before you. The only difference was that the robot had blonde short hair and was styled in fancy clothing whilst the man had long brown hair and didn’t seem to care much about what he had on. He had his hands in the pockets of his gray sweatpants, a sly smirk plastered on his face.
“You’re late.” Doyoung deadpanned.
“I’m not late, I was taking a nap in the Pod, and nobody cared enough to wake me up!” The mystery man shrugged.
Finally, you snapped back into reality, but you still had to verify that what you were seeing was real. When you finally accepted what was going on, you couldn’t help but laugh.
“How cute.” You snickered to yourself.
A puzzled expression masked the mystery man’s face. “What’s cute?”
“What is this? The Man and the Muppet?” Your comment had Kun nudging your arm and shooting you a warning look to which you responded with an apologetic gaze.
Not giving the mystery man any time to respond (merely because he does not have the patience), Doyoung spoke up. “This is Suh Youngho, he’s the head AI Developer of our department. He’s the creator of #S127.” Youngho put his hands behind his back and bowed as his greeting.
“I’m guessing his name is Youngho as well?” You pointed to the robot, still standing expressionless.
“He wishes, but no, we call him Johnny!” Youngho swung an arm over his identical twin of a robot, smiling brightly. “After a long and hard fight for it, he will be releasing his first solo album this year.” He wiped a fake tear from under his eye. “Johnny here is my firstborn, so this is going to be really special.”
“And you’re going to help us make it very special!” Doyoung cheered.
“Actually, speaking of that, what exactly am I supposed to be doing? Wouldn’t it just be easier for me to give you guys a demo and you program him to sing it or something?” You asked.
Doyoung was quick to answer. “That would defeat the purpose of AI robots actually! The thing is, they’re supposed to learn to adapt to certain environments, like we do! So they learn how to sing songs and how to dance complex choreography just like we do.”
This time, Kun was the one to ask a question. “Aren’t you guys just putting more work upon yourself?”
“Yes, and no,” Youngho started, “It’s like a domino effect. The more work we give our bots means more research that needs to be done. The more research that is done, means there’s more data we get. The more data we get means a more refined bot, and then it loops.” Kun opened his mouth in an ‘ah’ shape and nodded his head after the explanation. “Hopefully we can get this bad boy to the point where we don’t have to do any more research and he can be a successful artist on his own.”
Even though this was all very interesting, you still couldn’t help but still be opposed to the thought of helping a robot making it in the entertainment industry. You caught a glimpse of the future as you fell into a daydream: AI’s getting a full sweep in wins at big music award shows, discrediting those who actually put their heart and soul into their work. Robots don’t have a heart, nor do they have a soul. Even if they do seem to “work hard,” they will never be on the same level as a human artist. It just won’t be fair, but what even is fair these days?
“So, to answer your question, we need Johnny to learn what it’s like to be a true singer-slash-songwriter. And to achieve that, he’ll be staying with you for the duration of the six months before his solo debut.” Doyoung’s words snapped you out of your daydream and you turned to him with furrowed brows.
“Oh, so this is going to be like ‘Take your robot to work day’ or something? But just for six months instead?” You questioned.
Doyoung looked up as he thought, nodding and shrugging seconds afterward. “Well, yes, but we were hoping that Johnny could get the full package. We planned for him to stay with you 24/7 so that he could really get a feel of your creative process.”
You did a double-take, eyes wide and mouth agape showcasing your shock.
“E-Excuse me? You mean to say that he will be… living with me?” You spoke low and slow, scared of the obvious answer.
You didn’t see anything about this in the contract papers; not that you read it anyway since you weren’t the one who signed them; but still! You could feel your heart race as you thought of him living in your apartment, those brown soulless eyes studying every move you made. The vision made you shudder.
“Affirmative.” Youngho nodded firmly.
Your heart wanted to burst out of your chest. “I’m sorry, but can you guys excuse us for a moment? I need to speak with my manager in private.” You said just before taking Kun’s hand and dragging him somewhere where the two scientists wouldn’t be able to hear your conversation.
“I’m living with the robot?!” You whisper yelled, careful to not have anyone nearby hear your anguish.
“In my defense, I had no idea about this.” Kun shook his head with his hands up.
You paced back and forth as you panicked. You lifted your hands, but not knowing what to do with them, you just clenched them into a fist. It seemed like your life was spiraling out of your control. Nothing is going your way, and it is driving you insane. You need to get your life back in order fast. If not, who knows what will happen?
“I swear, if he wasn’t the one paying me, I would kill Jack right now.” You grumbled.
“Hey, it’s not like Johnny is a real guy. I doubt he would try to do anything to hurt you.” Kun tried his best to reassure you, but it was not doing much to help.
“You don’t know that! We don’t know what those guys are capable of!” You pointed toward Doyoung and Youngho. “That Doyoung guy is nice, but I don’t know if I can trust him. And Youngho seems like he’s gonna be a handful.” You stared at the said man as he and Doyoung bickered, probably about him being late again.
Kun turned his head to see the two men bickering, and the only thing he could do was chuckle. “I think they should be the least of your worries.” His comment made you sigh deeply. “You’ll be fine, I promise you!” He put his hands on your arms to steady you, but you avoided his gaze as you stared down at your feet with a pout on your face. “You know I’m always on speed dial if you need me.”
You nodded your head, still avoiding his gaze.
“Hey,” his call made your eyes meet his. “If all goes wrong, we can always dump a bucket of water over ‘em.”
You couldn’t help but laugh at the comment. “Yeah, and then we’ll get sued and possibly go to jail.”
Kun smacked his lips and said, “Eh, I’m sure they’ll be able to fix the guy. A little water can’t do that much damage.” He stepped back and shoved his hands into his pockets. After a small moment of silence, he kicked your shoe gently. “So what do you say? You’re still gonna do it, or no?”
A groan erupted from your chest, and you brought your hands down your face out of frustration. You really don’t want to do this, but a deal is a deal.
“Three months. I’m giving three months.”
“That’s my girl!”
***
You found yourself pacing around your apartment in the early morning. It has been about a week since you first spoke with LSM Inc. From this day forward for the next six months (or three months you hoped), Johnny would be shadowing you at all times. You were a nervous wreck since you didn’t know what to expect from living with a robot. What if he suddenly malfunctioned and they blamed it on you? You can’t handle this type of responsibility. Or what if he malfunctioned and started acting violently toward you?
“Snap out of it!” You whisper yelled at yourself, hitting your temple with your knuckles. You always tend to scare yourself when you’re nervous. Everyone you have spoken to about this matter has told you that you had nothing to worry about, so you made it your goal to not worry. But why is it so hard?
DING!
You swore your heart jumped out of your chest when your doorbell suddenly sounded throughout your home. As much as you wanted your heart rate to calm down, it only began to race faster the closer you got to your door. When your hand touched the gold knob, you closed your eyes and took a deep breath, then you finally opened the door.
Two identical men stood before you, flashing the same bright smile.
“Good morning to you!” Youngho greeted you cheerfully, to which you replied with a dazed “Morning,” before allowing them inside.
You eyed the two men as they entered your living room, confused as to why they were the only ones here. “Where is Mr. Kim?”
Youngho cocked an eyebrow before turning around to face you. “Who?”
“Your coworker. Doyoung, I believe his name is?” You answered.
“Oh!” He let out a hearty laugh. “You don’t have to call him that, it makes him sound old. And I’m older than him, so that kind of hurts my feelings.” He joked, but the only thing you could find yourself doing was nodding your head and looking away.
Sensing your discomfort, he cleared his throat before answering your question. “He’s busy back at the lab. I’m here to make sure John is all set before I leave him in your care.” You winced at his words. It only added to the overwhelming weight on your shoulders.
“Why do you ask? Did you grow fond of him already?” He slung his backpack from around his shoulder onto the floor. You peeked inside when he zipped it open, finding wires bunched inside.
“Uh, no, I wouldn’t say that.” You let out a nervous laugh. “I just find it a bit overwhelming with only you two here.”
A smirk grew on his face. “So, you’re overwhelmed by my great looks huh?” He flipped his hair and shrugged as if it was inevitable to be starstruck by him.
“I look exactly like you,” Johnny spoke for the first time since entering your home.
You had to hold back a laugh at the sudden comment, and Youngho’s reaction didn’t make it any easier.
“So? You’re inspired by me, so therefore I take the credit of our looks!” He stuck his nose up in Johnny’s face. When the scientist turned back toward you, he realized you were holding back a laugh as your pursed your lips and looked away. “What? You find this funny?”
You put your hand up and shook your head. “No, no.”
Youngho was happy to find you in a better mood than when you first met. Sure, you’re still on the shy side, but at least you’re laughing instead of frowning like the first time. He heard that you weren’t exactly on board with working with LSM, so he made it his goal to have this be an enjoyable experience for you. He hopes that one day your negative opinions about AI’s would change. They’re as special to him as music is to you.
“I need to set up Johnny’s things. Is it okay if you tell me where he’s allowed to sleep?” Youngho asked.
You tilted your head to the side, a puzzled expression finding its way on your face. “He sleeps?”
“Yeah!” Youngho nodded simply. “It’s like setting your computer on sleep mode. Machines need rest as much as we do. Johnny here is a hardworking man, he deserves to sleep.”
You supposed he was right. He might break easier if his gears were running constantly. Plus, he was made to function as a human, but you didn’t know that it was to this extent. To say the least, you were impressed at the attention to detail.
You motioned the two to your guest bedroom, and immediately Youngho got to work. Johnny stood next to you as the both of you spectated Youngho’s work, but you were shortly distracted by the robot.
You peered up at the tall machine with a curious gaze, and he turned to you with a kind smile.
“So, I’m not sure if this is an inappropriate question or not, but I’m curious.” Johnny nodded for you to go on. “Should I, like… talk to you like Siri? Or can I talk to you like a normal person?”
You were startled to hear Youngho’s loud snort in the corner of the room, but instead of him being the one to answer, Johnny did.
“You can talk to me like a normal person, don’t worry.” Johnny shook his head. “If it makes you comfortable, you can view me as a human if you’d like. I’m not that much different than you actually. We’re just wired differently.”
“Hey,” Youngho’s stern voice caught both of your attention. “Be proud of who you are, whether you are a human or robot. We’ve been through this John.”
Johnny nodded. “Right, right. My apologies.”
Youngho hated it when Johnny tried to tell others to view him as a human. Not because he believed that Johnny was trying to fool people, but because being a robot is his identity, and he should be proud of that. Sure, it’s not likely that Johnny could feel the feeling of pride, but Youngho could tell that Johnny was insecure. It worried him, but he didn’t want to tap into his database to change anything since he wants Johnny to be as authentic as possible. So for now, Youngho is keeping track of Johnny’s growth as an AI person.
Soon, Youngho was finished with setting up Johnny’s station. In the corner of the guestroom stood a white podium with a screen built in the middle of it. He let out a deep breath of satisfaction as he stepped back and dusted his hands off.
Before you could ask what it was, Youngho was already answering your unspoken question. “This is Johnny’s Communication Center. Every night he’ll have to transfer data from his system so that we’ll know what he’s been up to and see if he’s made any improvements. That’s if he’s not with me at the lab.” Suddenly, his face grew serious. “For legal reasons, I have to let you know that this station is strictly off-limits. There’s confidential information in here that belongs to LSM Inc.”
Even though you were curious, the last thing you wanted to do was get involved with the law, so you took note of his warning. Hopefully, it isn’t something regarding the invasion of privacy.
You shook your head before you could scare yourself even further. Positive thoughts. Think positive thoughts.
“Alright, on that note, I think my work here is done!” Youngho announced. “Can I talk with you in private?” He asked suddenly, pointing a finger at you.
“Me?” You had to double-check whether he was really talking to you or not. He chuckled as he nodded his head, confirming your wonders. “Oh, okay.”
You followed the man out of the room, leaving Johnny to check out the place he’ll be living in for the next few months.
After the two of you reached your living room, Youngho began to speak. “Hey, so, I really want to thank you for working with us on this project. I heard that you’re not the biggest fan of AI’s, so I was surprised to hear you signed the contract.”
You held back from rolling your eyes as the memories of your boss came up. “It’s not like I really had a choice.” You smiled softly and shook your head.
He tilted his head in confusion. “What do you mean by that?”
You tensed up when you realized what you just said. As much as you did not want to do this job, you made it your goal to remain as professional as possible for the sake of your reputation. After working in the entertainment industry for some years, you learned to keep your personal feelings apart from your job. If- no, when you do end up quitting the job after three months, at least LSM won’t be able to say anything negative about you.
Refraining from explaining yourself, you shook your head once more. “Nevermind what I said. Johnny will be safe in my care!”
Youngho pouted, his eyes scanning your face. He wanted you to elaborate, but he had no time to talk further. He needed to get back to the lab.
“Well, I hope so. Call me if you need anything. I need to get going.”
Nodding, you waved goodbye to him before seeing him off. Your feet ended up taking you back to your guest bedroom, where you found Johnny sitting at the end of the bed, staring at the wall in front of him. You caught his attention after you cleared your throat, and instead of staring at you with that lifeless gaze, he smiled brightly.
You mustered up the courage to walk up to him, still stopping some feet away though. Crossing your arms, you tried to think of what to say. While you thought, he examined your face, trying his best to read your expression so he to could come up with something to talk about. The silence was awkward for you, but Johnny never sensed the discomfort. He was happy to be here with you. You are the gold coin on his road to success, so he decided to cherish you.
“So… it’s quite early and I usually don’t head to the studio until the evening. Is there anything you wanted to do?” You asked.
“There isn’t anything I can think of…” he shrugged his shoulders.
Suddenly, your stomach grumbled and your hand covered it as a reflex. You were so nervous this morning that you didn’t have much of an appetite, but hunger was catching up to you now.
“I didn’t have breakfast yet.” You laughed nervously. “Are you… able to eat anything?” You felt weird asking such a question since he’s a robot after all, but who knows what he can and cannot do? Technology is so advanced these days. Besides, isn’t he made to live like a human anyway?
In all truthfulness though, Johnny isn’t allowed to eat-- sometimes. In special cases, he can nibble on a snack, but eating a full course meal was a no-go. But Johnny was aware of your discomfort of being with him, and he was determined to make you feel the opposite. As long as he doesn’t clog his gears, taking the risk should be okay.
“I know of this breakfast house Youngho likes to go to every now and then. Do you want to go there?”
Your face lit up at the suggestion. You were more excited at the thought of being around others rather than eating. Being in the house alone with Johnny was really starting to suffocate you, and you needed out immediately. Maybe some fresh air and being surrounded by humans will make you feel somewhat better.
The two of you were quick to leave the apartment after you accepted the offer. Johnny led the way to the restaurant, and on your way, he let you know that it was not far from your home. Come to find out, it was within walking distance. You wondered how you never noticed the humble breakfast house, but after thinking about it for a while, you realized that you are always on the go. Ever since you moved to your apartment, you never took the time to stop and get to know your surroundings.
“What’s wrong?” Johnny’s question snapped you out of your thoughts.
“Huh? Oh… nothing, just thinking.” Finally, you noticed that you were standing in front of the restaurant. “Let’s head inside.”
Surprisingly, Johnny was easy to talk to. Even though he had somewhat awkward responses to your questions, it was never boring or dry. You got to know about his life in the lab, and even how Youngho decided to grow his hair out because people mistook him for Johnny so many times. His story was so interesting, and it kept you on your toes, itching to hear more. It was beyond what you could ever imagine.
“So what is your goal?” You suddenly asked.
He tilted his head in curiosity. “Can you elaborate for me please?”
“You know, like what’s your goal as a singer? Or even just as a living being?”
He sat back in his seat as he pondered on the simple, yet deep question. It’s something he’s never had time to think about. Actually, it’s something he never considered thinking about. Ever since he was first powered up, he has always been working. But working towards what, is the question he began to ask himself.
“I… honestly don’t know.” He shook his head after moments of thinking.
“Really?” Your eyes grew wide at his response. “If that’s the case, then why do you expect to learn how to write music? You need to have some desire or passion to do so.”
He crossed his arm over his chest and rested his chin on his other hand. “I guess you’re right… But how do I find out what my goal is?”
You shrugged your shoulders. “What are you living for? What’s your purpose? You have to ask yourself these types of questions.”
It worried Johnny that he didn’t have a passion despite calling himself a music artist. But he knew he needed to figure it out fast because he really does want to be successful in this field. But is there anything really to work for being the person he is?
***
The next day, you were back at the lab for Johnny’s first checkup. The first night at the studio was not a success, which wasn’t surprising considering that he had nothing to write about. This was exactly what you were afraid of. No matter how busy he might be, he hasn’t gotten the real human experience, so what really can he write about? Hard drives and wires?
“Hey Babysitter!” Youngho greeted you cheerfully after spotting you and Johnny some feet away.
You furrowed your eyebrows. “Babysitter?”
“Yeah, you are taking care of my kid after all.” He laughed, ruffling Johnny’s hair, to which Johnny slapped his hand away. “How was the first day?”
You sighed deeply, thinking about yesterday’s events. “It went okay, but we made no progress in the studio.”
Youngho smacked his lips. “Well, that’s alright. We still have six months ahead of us. There’s still time left.”
“That’s true.” You nodded your head. “But on the bright side, Johnny treated me to the best breakfast I had in a while! So brownie points for that.”
Your words came out too fast for Johnny to stop you. He froze, his hand slapping his mouth in shock. He is dead meat.
“He didn’t eat with you, did he?” Youngho blinked at you. Sensing the tension in the air, you nodded slowly, but kept your mouth shut. “Oh my-” Youngho stepped back as if he was about to faint.
He clenched his fist against his forehead and squeezed his eyes shut. You felt like you did something wrong, but you just couldn’t figure out what. You were sure Johnny would tell you if you did.
“Johnny, just head to the back, okay?” Youngho said, his eyes still closed.
“Yes sir.” Johnny rushed away without another word.
“Did I do something wrong...?” You asked shyly.
“No you didn’t, don’t worry.” Youngho sighed. “He knows better. If he eats too much he could clog his gears. But mostly, I just hate cleaning him out, it’s so tedious!” He groaned at the thought of all the clumps of food he has to take out.
“Oh my gosh! I wouldn’t have let him if I have known!” You exclaimed.
Youngho shook his head. “It’s okay, you didn’t know. He seems to be functioning well, so he should be fine.”
You were worried at the thought of Johnny breaking while under your supervision. Imagine getting sued by a company that handles AI’s? Your life would be over! You can’t let that happen, you won’t allow it to happen.
“Is there any way for me to know if he’s okay or not? Like does he feel pain or no?” You asked. You needed to know just in case you had to rush back to the lab if anything happens. You’re not going to be the blame for anything.
“Yes, and no.” Youngho went on to explain. “He can feel you if you tap him on the shoulder, but if you punch him, it’ll still feel like a mere tap. But the only time he does feel pain is when something in his system malfunctions.” You tilted your head, still not catching on. He found your expression cute, and he couldn’t hold back a smile. “Just think about it: when you’re using your phone, it can feel your taps as you scroll. But if you drop it on the ground, you don’t hear it screaming out in pain.”
“Ah, I think I get it now!” You nodded your head fervently.
“Right! But we did program him to feel some type of pain just so we will know if something wrong is happening to the important parts.”
“That makes a lot of sense… Man, you guys really have it all laid out huh?” You couldn’t help but be impressed at the amount of thought that went into creating Johnny.
“Yeah, well, it’s nothing much.” Johnny shoved his hands in his pockets as he shrugged nonchalantly. As laid back as he was acting, nothing could hide the blush that crept onto his face. He’s a sucker for people acknowledging his work.
“Well, as much as I want to argue with you about that, I have to get to my schedule! Kun is waiting for me outside and I can’t keep him waiting. I’ll be back soon!” You waved as you began to walk away.
Youngho waved back to you as he watched you exit the lab. He sighed to himself, not knowing what he was going to do with Johnny. But knowing that it is best to get the job done now rather than later, Youngho dragged his feet to the operation room where Johnny would be waiting.
Johnny tensed up once Youngho entered the room, and he avoided eye contact in hopes he wouldn’t blow up at him. Thankfully, Youngho didn’t have the energy to yell.
“Why did you do that?” The scientist asked simply.
“She was uncomfortable and hungry, so it was the only thing I could think of.” Johnny justified his past actions, but Youngho wasn’t having any of it.
“Let’s just get this over with, and then we’ll check your data.” Youngho sighed as he started to prep for the cleanup.
“Wait, wait! I have a question.” Johnny stopped him. “Do you have a goal?”
Youngho was taken aback by the sudden question. “Yes… I think so? I guess it depends on what the goal is for.” He wasn’t very sure if he had a set goal, but he did know that he is satisfied where he is right at this moment. The only thing he is concerned about is making sure #S127 remains on the rise.
“Do you think… I’m able to have a goal?”
“You can have the goal of winning a Grammy!” Youngho suggested.
Johnny scoffed. “Well, yeah, but I’m talking about for myself. Am I able to find a goal or a passion at least for myself?”
Youngho blinked at his robot. He was at a loss for words. It seems like a simple yes or no question, but there are levels to it. The right answer to this question was up in the air somewhere, and Youngho was finding a hard time finding it. What in the world did you do to his bot?
“I’m sure you can if you put your mind to it,” Youngho answered. He grabbed his phone and began texting you, suggesting that the two of you grab coffee when you get back to the lab. He needed to talk to you to figure out the meaning behind Johnny’s words.
Some hours later, you were at a Starbucks near the lab sitting across from Youngho. You were nervous you did something bad after all, but you couldn’t get yourself to figure out what you’ve done. But thankfully, Johnny was the first to speak.
“So, Johnny asked me a question that kind of shocked me. I’m supposing you asked him the same question yesterday.” He began.
“What question are you talking about?” You asked.
“If he has a goal. He’s been thinking about it really hard.”
You felt as if a huge weight was lifted off your shoulders. You thought of something way worse, even though you talked to Johnny a handful of times yesterday, and the conversations the two of you had were never bad or questionable. Your nervousness always found a way to get to you still.
“Well yeah! He needs to have a passion in order to be a real artist. And to have a passion, he needs to have a goal.” You nodded.
“Are you sure he can have a passion? He’s a robot.”
You were surprised at his response. “Aren’t you the one who created him? I thought you would know this! Writing songs isn’t just jotting down words on a piece of paper you know. It’s much more to it than that.”
Youngho sighed. You’re right, and it bothered him. It’s not you that he’s bothered by, but the fact that he really doesn’t have everything figured out. He’s so used to being a genius and having questions answered before people could even ask them, but the fact that he doesn’t have an answer prepared for something as simple as this messed with his head. How did he expect to make a successful idol group if his idols can’t even write music on their own?
“I could always just give you a song to use.” You suggested.
“No, I don’t want that,” Youngho answered quickly. “We do that every comeback. We need to actually make some improvements.”
You took a sip of your coffee as you watched Youngho try to figure out what to do. You knew Johnny writing his own song was too good to be true, but you have to admit, there is a part of you that believes in him. If he can read and understand human emotion, there are chances for him to be able to write a decent song.
“What was your purpose in making Johnny and the other guys in the group?” You asked suddenly.
Youngho frowned at the memories that came up in his mind. “I actually didn’t create Johnny and the others to be idol singers.” You furrowed your eyebrows at the bombshell. “I actually intended for them to be soldiers.”
Your jaw dropped. You would have never thought of #S127 fighting in a war. It’s a complete 180 from what they are doing right now.
“What made you change your mind?!” To say you were shocked would be an understatement.
“I didn’t change my mind.” He laughed. “The government rejected my offer, but they told me about LSM Inc. and now here I am. Lee Soo Man suggested that I use my bots to make an idol group, and I wanted nothing to do with it. But it was either I make a group, or be broke with robots that have no purpose.”
So he was in a similar situation that you’re in right now. It made you feel happy to see that he seems to enjoy his current circumstances, but still, you can’t get yourself to accept that you have to share competition with AIs who can’t even figure out how to write a song on their own. Despite that, you were growing fond of Johnny, and you wanted him to be able to find his passion. He’s the only AI you would allow to win.
“I would have never thought of Johnny being a soldier.” You laughed, shaking your head. “Considering that this is your current circumstance, you need to figure out if they’re able to create their own goals for themselves. I understand the base goal is to win awards at big music shows and hit the charts, but there needs to be a better foundation.”
Youngho couldn’t help but admire you as you gave your advice. Not only are you beautiful, but you’re thoughtful, and the more you spoke, the more it attracted him to you. Where were you when he needed you the most? The company has worked with so many different artists before you, but you’re the only one that is actually helping. He just wanted to take you into his arms and thank you repeatedly at this moment.
From here on out, Youngho was determined to find out what Johnny’s goal is. Whether it is impossible or not, he is going to make sure Johnny becomes the best songwriter there is.
***
The three months had gone by before you knew it, and in all honesty, you didn’t want to quit the job. Johnny and you had grown closer the more you worked together, and you enjoyed seeing his progress as he worked to become a better and more authentic writer. And Youngho and you also hit it off very well, becoming closer friends the more you talked. You also realized that you were catching feelings for the scientist, but you ignored it, believing that it was nothing but a simple crush. ‘It will pass overtime,’ you would tell yourself.
Kun on the other hand did nothing to remind you of the deal that you made with him since he knew you forgot about it. He enjoyed seeing you have fun made him happy, he never liked seeing you in a sour mood. He too has gotten close with Youngho as well after going out drinking with him and Doyoung several times. Just like tonight.
This time, you decided to join the guys tonight for drinks at the bar. Once you found out Kun was hanging out with the two scientists, you felt left out and invited yourself to the next outing. It wasn’t like they minded though since they love your company.
“So, I heard that you don’t really like AI’s Y/N. Can I ask you why that is?” Doyoung asked.
You poked your lip out as you thought. “Well, it’s mainly because nothing they do feels true to me. It’s all programmed. Not only that, but they’re slowly taking over our jobs. I’m not exactly comfortable with that.”
Youngho shook his head. “I get what you’re saying, but that’s not necessarily true. AI’s, at least the ones we make at LSM, is made to function like humans. So everything they do is learned after we establish a little bit of a foundation we put in their program. And there are still significantly more humans who have jobs than AI’s, but I do get your concern.”
What he said had you thinking. You supposed he was right, but you still felt so odd about it. But you figured it’s just something that you’re going to have to learn to accept as time goes on. The only AI you trust is Johnny, and that’s all that matters to you right now.
“You might be right, but it’s going to take me some time to get used to them. I like Johnny at least.” You shrugged.
“And that’s all I need to hear.” Youngho smiled widely.
You giggled at his antics. “Excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom really quickly. I’ll be back. Don’t buy any more drinks without me!”
“No promises!” Kun called after you, laughing afterward.
Youngho tapped his glass, trying to decide whether the question he has is worth asking or not. But he needed to muster up the courage since it’s an important question. For him at least.
“Hey, Kun, I have a question.” Youngho started.
“Hit me.” Kun nodded.
“Do you… like Y/N?”
Kun threw his head back in laughter. “What?! Where did that come from?”
Youngho could only scratch the back of his neck and let out a small laugh. He was embarrassed, but it’s something he has been wondering about forever now.
“He’s been waiting to ask that question for ages!” Doyoung exclaimed. “He wouldn’t stop bugging me about it.”
“Well, to answer your question, no I don’t. She’s like a sister to me.” Kun shook his head simply. “You should ask her out on a date. I’m sure she’d like that.”
Youngho shook his head fervently. “I don’t know if I can do that. Not right now at least.”
“You never know until you do it.” Doyoung sing-songed. Kun couldn’t help but laugh.
“Shut up, she’s coming back!” Youngho whisper yelled.
For the rest of the night, Youngho thought about you as the four of you enjoyed more drinks. He knew he had feelings for you, but he wasn’t sure if you felt the same as he did. For now, he just wanted to take more time to read your actions before he let you know of his feelings. He needs time to muster up the courage.
The four of you decided to end the night after realizing how tipsy you have gotten. Kun realized that you had a packed schedule the next day, so they needed to get you home immediately. He already knew you were going to regret it later on.
Kun had made sure you got up to your apartment safely. You stopped him at the door, saying that you could get in the house yourself, and just go home. He at least opened the door for you before leaving, hoping that you’ll get to bed right away rather than finding things to do around the house.
When you entered your home, you began to drag your feet toward your room, that was until Johnny stopped you in the hallway.
He leaned forward and sniffed. “Were you drinking?”
You giggled. “Yeah, I was.”
“You might want to get to bed. We have a long day tomorrow.” Johnny pouted at your condition. Looking at how you were, you for sure were going to experience a hand hangover in the morning.
“Yeah, yeah, I will.” You waved him off. You stepped forward to start going to your room, but you paused and stepped back. You looked up at Johnny and sucked in a sharp breath as you thought. “You look a lot like Youngho.”
Johnny blinked, confused at the sudden revelation. “I am aware of that.”
You narrowed your eyes at him. “Are you just saying that because you are Youngho? Are you trying to fool me?” You poked your finger into his chest.
“No…” Johnny wasn’t sure how to respond to your absurd words. He’s never been in this situation before.
“Well, Youngho, goodnight. I will see you tomorrow.” You smiled at him. Rather than leaving, you stood there, staring up at who you believed to be Youngho through your heavy eyelids. Suddenly you got on your toes and pecked his lips softly. “Rest well Youngho.”
Johnny stood in shock after you left to your room. What was he going to tell Youngho? He has never allowed this to happen before. The kiss was so unexpected that he couldn’t dodge it! He hoped he wouldn't get in trouble.
The next day, Johnny was at the lab for the daily check-in.
“How was the night at the Babysitter’s?” Youngho asked as he plugged Johnny’s chip into his computer to retrieve yesterday’s data.
“She kissed me.” Johnny found himself blurting.
“She what?!” Youngho squeaked.
“She kissed me.” He repeated.
Youngho couldn’t believe his ears. He shook his head, slapping his hand on his forehead. “Huh?!”
“She kissed me—“
“I heard you the first two times!” Youngho yelled.
Youngho suddenly turned around to his computer and rushed to retrieve any video data if there were any. And there was. The camera hidden behind Johnny’s eyes wasn’t always on, but they only started recording if Johnny felt that he needed to. Youngho played the video, nervous about what he’s about to see. But all that worry washed away after seeing your drunken smile. Seeing you kiss his robot amused him more than he thought, as he couldn’t help but snort and laugh hysterically at what he just watched. It was something he never thought he would see or even hear about.
“She thought I was you,” Johnny revealed, which shut Youngho’s laughter up.
“W-Wait, really?” He was shocked.
“Yeah. She kept calling me Youngho.” Johnny nodded. “I think she likes you.”
A blush crept up Youngho’s neck, and he couldn’t hold back the grin on his face. Knowing that you had the same feelings he currently has sent him over the moon. He just wished you kissed him rather than his lookalike.
Youngho waited until the evening to talk to you so that you were free from all your schedules. The two of you spoke at the convenience store near your apartment, enjoying a canned beverage.
“So… Johnny found out what his goal is,” Youngho revealed.
You gasped, clapping your hand over your mouth. “For real? What is it?” You were slightly disappointed that you didn’t know what it was first since you’re the one that is with him most of the time, but you could care less since the whole point is that he knows what he’s working for now.
“Well, his goal is to gain more of a human understanding. He wants to be able to truly write a song. And he found a passion in… people, to simply put it.” Youngho chuckled. “He talks more and asks more questions than he has ever had before.”
“That’s great! I’m so glad, I was really rooting for him.” You cooed.
“I just want to thank you so much. He has been making so much improvement since he started working with you. You really helped us out. You helped him out.” Youngho smiled softly.
“Oh it’s no biggie. I’m glad I was of some help.” You laughed. “He’s the one who did most of the work, so the credit should go to him.”
“I’m supposing that’s why you kissed him then? Because you’re proud of him?” Youngho asked suddenly, a playful smirk on his face.
“What?” Your eyes grew wide in shock. “I kissed him?”
Youngho’s cackles filled the air. “You don’t remember? Ah, I suppose you wouldn’t since you were so drunk last night. Johnny told me you thought he was I, and you kissed him.”
Your fingertips touched your lips after the memories started coming back to you. “Oh my gosh!” You groaned, dragging your hands down your face. “This is so embarrassing!”
“Don’t be embarrassed! Actually, I’m quite flattered.” Youngho reassured you. “Just be sure to kiss me next time.”
You brought your hands down from your face so you could get a good look at his expression. You had to figure out whether he was joking or not.
And to answer your unspoken question, he cupped your cheek with his hand and placed a soft kiss on your lips.
“Please tell me this feeling is mutual.” You whispered.
Youngho chuckled, poking your nose as he sat back in his seat.
“Don’t worry. I want you to be mine as much as you want me to be yours. You have me baby.”
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spookyc · 4 years ago
Note
i'm kind of interesting in your cryptid au - what type of monster is each character?
Glad you asked and I'll be happy to answer! I'll also try to explain why I chose each cryptid for each character.
Alright let's start with our protagonist, Hajime, this one is pretty simple, he is a shapeshifter. This is one is pretty self explanatory, as it's meant to represent Izuru possessing every talent where as here Izuru has the ability to possess the forms of his fellow freakshows. He is one of the most anticipated acts in the freakshow, but constantly transforming his body everyday for the audience does a number on his psyche, eventually bringing Izuru out.
Nagito: As I revealed in an earlier post, was a vampire. I chose this due to his general appearance and also his condition of being sickly. I also chose it to form an interesting dynamic for Nagito. See, as a vampire, Nagito needs to drink blood but a vampire's powers increase when they are hungry, so hope's peak intentionally starves him for his shows. So, nagito grows more unhinged from starvation, and starts thinking of feeding off the freakshows. But he still has his hope complex and worships the freakshows. So he's caught in a struggle of his body and his will.
Chiaki: Now she isn't exactly a cryptid but I like what I decided for her. So she's a TV head, which I chose due to her gaming fixation but also because she was an AI, which is sort of the same here, albeit more of a kiibo situation where she is an AI in a physical body. Her shows aren't as elaborate as the others, mostly consisting of her showing emotions through the swapping of channels and playing videos games in her mind which is portrayed on her TV screen. She doesn't have as severe issues as some of the others but she faces her own problems as an AI among humans.
Ultimate Imposter: Simple enough, he's a doppelganger. This is of course referring to him being the ultimate imposter, the only real change being that his true form is that of a gray amorphous blob. His shows consist of him copying the other freakshows, though it differs from Hajime tho, as UI can only morph into people and is restricted to morphing into those he knows whereas Hajime can shapeshift into anything, even things he has not seen.
Teruteru: So, quite an odd choice, but one I'm quite pleased with. So Teruteru is a basan, or a japanese fire-breathing chicken. As for a human form, he doesn't have one, he's just a fire-breathing chicken who's a great cook, the jokes make themselves. He's still a perve but less so simply due to most of the forms the freakshows take, only really having his eye on Peko and Sonia who are both very capable of killing him with a single strike so he keeps his cards to his chest as it were. His acts of course consist of feats of fire breathing and dual acts with akane.
Peko, my beloved: So Peko is a gorgon, in the sense that she has the bottom half of a snake. I chose this because Peko reminds of a snake in the best way possible. She's fierce and mysterious with piercing eyes that cut through your soul. As for abilities, she does possess the stone vision of gorgons, but she can control when she uses it, and she doesn't like having to use it. Just because she doesn't use her stone vision doesn't mean she should be underestimated tho, she still is a pro swordswoman and is arguably more adept than she would have been with legs. She has a dual act with Fuyuhiko, more specifically an arena type duel. Of course they don't fight to the death but any injury they sustain is fair game. Peko of course always objects to this but pushing hope's peaks buttons risks detainment for a freakshow, ultimately, she doesn't have a choice.
Mahiru: Okay so, she was really hard but I decided on making her a nymph. This is because I imagined that being able to blend with nature would be able to help capture people in their most natural state, in regards to her photography of course. Her acts are also not the most eventful, just her blending with different natural surroundings. That's honestly about it, wish I had more but Mahiru has always been a blank slate for me.
Ibuki: Ibuki! So, ibuki is a Siren, this is pretty obvious, as I chose this due to her being the ultimate musician. However, I do have an interesting dynamic with her and her ability. So, since sirens usually have melodious voices and show their victims what they desire most, I wanted to flip that on its head. So, since Ibuki doesn't exactly have a melodious voice, (a great voice, yes but not melodious nonetheless) her power doesn't show those what they desire but instead their deepest fears. This causes Ibuki to hide her singing, excluding her acts, and to grow self-conscious of her aspiration for music. Her acts consist mostly of water tricks and of course her singing, which audience members say they get a thrill and a since of comfort being able to face their deepest fear. Ibuki thinks differently, wanting her music to encourage and inspire people rather than send fear through them. And that is her central conflict throughout this au, which I'll end off here for sake of brevity.
Hiyoko: Pretty pleased with what I decided for her. So Hiyoko is a kitsune, I chose this because of her noble lineage and I think the kitsune is a pretty noble animal, despite having some cursed elements. She was still forced into the whole dancing thing, which she mixes between her human and fox form. But, her mischievous nature fits that of the kitsune as she's still her normal abrasive self. She tries staying out of her fox form as much as possible as it reminds her of her lineage that she hates but she of course has to transform into it for her acts. These consist of fire tricks as well as a showcase of mastery swapping between forms.
Mikan: Alright so Mikan's is kinda wild but stay with me. So Mikan is a lich and here's why. So I chose this for her because I know I wanted her to be undead, because she would constantly have to patch herself up. Decided on a lich to give an air to her that something isn't quite right, that she holds more power that she let's on and simply doesn't express it. Also I have some extremely dark reasons as to how she became a lich but I won't get into that here for brevity's sake.
Nekomaru: So Nekomaru's pretty fun, he's a minotaur mainly just because I think it fits him, and he definitely gives off jovial bull vibes. Despite his appearance he still has his joyful personality and still takes pride in his talent of team leader. His acts consist of feats of strength primarily, nothing much besides that.
Gundham: So Gundman is an imp, because he definitely deserves to be a demon but he's gonna be the lowest demon there is. Cause I still want to emphasize his whole "overlord complex" despite him just being an imp. He does still have his hamsters and he takes very good care of them, the four dark devas live a fulfilling life even if their master doesn't. Gundham can perform some lesser demon abilities like changing his appearance, in terms of pigment, small fire control, and flight. Of which he showcases in his acts. Even tho he's just an mere imp he is the Supreme Overlord of Ice and he will not accept any other titles.
Fuyuhiko: Finally! We have arrived at the boy, Fuyuhiko. So, Fuyuhiko is a werewolf, because he's an angsty boy and because I like werewolves. The story plays out much the same way as before, though Peko was assigned not just to protect Fuyuhiko but also to protect him from himself. His acts consist of arena battles with Peko, of which he always intentionally loses. He's able to transform each day to a drug they inject in him before every match that forces a transformation. These drugs make him agitated and irritable, more so than usual and also causes him extreme mood swings. Even if sometimes he wishes he could be detained, he stays for Peko. He knows she wouldn't forgive herself if he was taken away, regardless of her involvement, so he stays in this condition. It isn't all bad tho, spending time with Peko outside of the area isn't so bad. He also is often found hanging out with Kazuichi, who Fuyuhiko refers to as a "fucking moron" and yet still hangs out with him most days. They've formed an unlikely friendship that the two cherish even if Fuyuhiko won't admit it. He also has a pretty good relationship with Ibuki, her being Peko's girlfriend and all.
Kazuichi: Okay, Kazuichi, so Kazuichi is a gargoyle and man how I got there is a story. So I wanted Kazuichi to be something constructed, something manmade in a way so that he could rebuild himself as well as other things. So orginally he was a golem but I just couldn't vibe with that so I ended up settling with a gargoyle. I do think it fits him in a way, not sure how, but it suits him imo. So he's got the standard gargoyle abilities, he's got wings and can fly and can also change into his stone form at will. He prefers to sleep in this form, and he often turns into this form when scared which is often. His acts consist flying around the stage and testing the endurance of his stone skin. He also has a close relationship with Fuyuhiko and of course Sonia, though he doesn't see her as often as he would like.
Sonia: So, Sonia's is very different but I really like it. So she is a basilisk, not the serpent one but the more giant chicken with a serpent tail. Her cryptid form is one that affects her in and out of her form, and both are just as deadly. So since she's a basilisk, she has lethal vision and this is active in and out of her form. So she walks around with a blindfold on, and she has yet to see any of the her fellow freakshow's faces. She also is kept within her enclosure at almost all times, she's only let out about twice a day and these outings don't last long. In her basilisk form she easily stands 20-feet tall, with a wingspan of 25 feet, her feets are huge and equipped with deadly talons. From her beak she leaks venom that is capable of causing a limb to be amputated with a single drop. Not as lethal as her vision, but enough would easily be able to cause death. She doesn't perform, merely has visitors come and visit her in her basilisk form. She's very lonely, wishing with every part of her that she wasn't cursed with her form, but she does appreciate the visitors she gets. Chiaki and Akane often come to visit her, Kazuichi also comes by often, Fuyuhiko having to drag him off when he's overstayed his welcome. She holds on to her friendships, as it's all she really has.
Lastly we have Akane, so I decided on making Akane a dragon. For one dragons are known to have a voracious appetite, and two, Nekomaru in the main story talks about Akane having untapped potential, which I think would fit her as a dragon. Yeah, so contrary to Hiyoko, Akane primarily stays in her dragon form, even when just walking around the freakshow traveling caravan. She's not a huge dragon as she still isn't fully grown, so she's only slightly bigger than the average person. This is partially her just preferring her dragon form, (doesn't have to wear clothes, can fly, can eat more), but it's also because if she's a dragon no one can objectify her. She doesn't have to deal with the male gaze if she's a dragon and she quite likes it that way. Her acts consist of typical dragon shit, flying, feats of strength and a dual act with teruteru for fire breathing, (she can't breathe fire herself so she places teruteru in her mouth like a mama croc does with her babies and he does all the work. Before you say anything, teruteru actually doesn't get any perseve enjoyment out of this, or at least he doesn't anymore, just gets an excuse to take a bath).
And that's about it! Had a lot of fun coming up with these guys and I do have a story in mind for them if you'd like to hear. I also will answer that ask about the talentswap, I know it's been a while and I apologize for that but I have an excuse to work on it now so I'll get to that. Thanks for the ask!
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softjaehyvn · 4 years ago
Text
strangers | l.ty
— angst ; 5k
— mentions of cancer
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He loved to work anywhere. It did not matter if it's at home, in a café, or just outside on a bench close to the ocean, if there was one.
Since he traveled a lot, he always had new places to go and continue what he was doing at that moment. But that also meant he had no one who could appreciate his hard work.
No one, until he saw her in that restaurant.
She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He wanted to talk to her, as soon as he heard her sweet voice talking to a man in front of her, softly asking if he was the man she wanted to meet.
As soon as the other man nodded, she smiled so brightly and in Lee Taeyong's eyes, it was the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. And it hurt that this smile was not for him.
He was ripped from his thoughts as someone placed a plate with delicious food in front of him. "I hope you enjoy your meal", the woman said, smiling friendly as Taeyong looked up at her. "Thank you", he answered and started eating.
But he could not stop thinking about her beautiful smile.
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Lee Taeyong was back in South Korea. After spending a weekend in Venice and a whole week in Stockholm, he was finally back. writing in other countries always made him feel better because he never got out of his apartment or the studio.
"Hyung, are you back?", Jaemin, one of his best friends asked. the younger male had a spare key just to check-in, just like the rest of his group. Whenever they wanted they could go inside and get something from Taeyong's fridge or whatever they wanted. It was kind of a shared apartment, but the other boys slept at their parent's house since Taeyong's apartment was pretty small for all those people.
"Yeah, finally got back. And I’m so tired", Taeyong whined and got up to greet his friend.
"Then stop working and go to sleep", Jaemin scoffed and let go of Taeyong, just to see the filled pages Taeyong had written in the last week.
"You wrote all of this in just a week? Hyung, I guess I’ve always underestimated you", Jaemin said while reading a bit through the lyrics.
Taeyong started to laugh. "Jaemin, you know I’m always like this", he said. "I can't stop writing when I’m somewhere else. Stockholm and Venice did something to me."
"Venice? You didn't tell me you wanted to travel there! Hyung, I’ve always wanted to go there", Jaemin exclaimed as he continued reading.
"One day we'll go there together, yeah? We all together. It's really beautiful there", Taeyong said and chuckled, he found it adorable how mad Jaemin seemed to be simply because Taeyong had not told him, he would be going to Venice.
"I'm sure you're going to love it there. There were so many places to visit, but I only spent the weekend there. The rest of the week I was in Stockholm as planned", Taeyong explained. "I think of going to Berlin soon. You wanna come, too?", Taeyong asked the younger.
Jaemin nodded. "Yes, of course, hyung. I'll tell Mark, too, then we can go together", he answered.
"That'd be amazing. I missed traveling with you guys", Taeyong smiled, then he yawned. "I think I’m going to bed. If you want to, you can try to work on the lyrics I wrote. We need to hand something to pd-nim soon."
"Yeah, I'll get to it right now. Do you want me to call mark, too? I thought I wouldn't invite him since you're really tired and you know how he can be sometimes “, Jaemin chuckled. "Yeah... thanks for that", Taeyong grinned. "Get to work, Jaemin-ah."
"I. will, hyung", he promised, but then he seemed like he got an idea. "Did you eat something?", he asked. Taeyong just shook his head. "I thought I'll order something when I wake up again", the elder answered. "Forget that, I'm ordering pizza now. You can sleep after you ate", the younger protested and took out his phone, laughing at the elder groaning. "Are you serious? I just want to sleep", he whined.
"Stop being a baby and wait for half an hour. It's not going to kill you. At that time, we could read over your texts", Jaemin said and took out his phone to order something to eat.
"Yeah, okay. that's a good idea, too", Taeyong said and sat down on his couch. They worked on Taeyong's lyrics, Jaemin was impressed by how much Taeyong had written in just a week. Taeyong loved his work. he loved being able to travel around.
Suddenly he remembered you. He remembered your soft smile at that one man and started smiling. he could not stop thinking about you. He remembered your sweet voice, asking the man if he was the one she wanted to meet.
"You okay, hyung? Why are you suddenly smiling?", Jaemin asked. "I'm fine, just thought about someone I saw in Venice", Taeyong answered. "Was it some girl?", his best friend grinned and laughed at Taeyong's panicked look. "Tell me about her. How did you meet her?"
So, he started talking. He told him everything about you, telling his best friend about how much you inspired him to write more love songs. That was something Taeyong always wanted to do but he could not do it since it did not fit the style of songs he usually wrote.
"You're cute, hyung", Jaemin said grinning. "You have a crush on a girl you couldn't even talk to. Who knows, if you're ever going to meet her again."
"I don't care. she inspired me a lot without even knowing", Taeyong chuckled and pointed at his lyrics. "That's the proof."
"I know, hyung... I know", Jaemin only said before he got up to get the pizzas and enjoyed his time with his closest friend.
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They just had booked their flight tickets to Berlin and smiled brightly. It had been a long time since Taeyong, Jaemin and Mark had traveled somewhere together and Taeyong had to admit that he missed traveling with his two best friends. He had wanted to do that again and finally, they would do it. 
"We got the tickets and booked our hotel. I hope there will not happen anything bad", Taeyong said. "Don't be such a pessimist. Nothing will happen, okay? We'll fly to Berlin and enjoy our time together. We needed that", Jaemin said smiling and opened a new page on Taeyong's laptop. He looked for something to eat. Taeyong stopped him right away. "No, don't. I went grocery shopping today just to be able to cook something for us", he said. 
Well... Taeyong tried. but as Mark was able to distract him, the food burned and they couldn't eat it. So, they had to order take out. But no one cared. They liked to have their free time and spend them together as best friends. And finally, they were able to spend more time together. Taeyong was excited. In a few days, they would be on the plane to Istanbul, then Berlin. 
"Guys? What do you think about this?", Jaemin asked. he showed the other boys a few lines he just had written. 
The lyrics Jaemin showed them were emotional, full of love. It was completely different from what he would write usually.
"That sounds good", Taeyong commented and smiled.
"Since when are you so emotional?", Mark giggled. He groaned as Jaemin hit him.
"I don't know... probably since I'm dating Seoyeon", Jaemin laughed. The other two boys widened their eyes. They didn't know about Jaemin dating one of the producers of SME, the entertainment they all were working in. 
"Since when are you two dating?!", Taeyong blurted out.
"Oh... I didn't tell you, right? Seoyeon and I are dating for almost two months now. I kind of forgot to tell you about it", Jaemin laughed a bit and his cheeks reddened as always when he got shy.
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Long flights were always a little problem for Taeyong. But if he took his medication, it wouldn't be a problem at all. Him having cancer had been a reason to even fire him from his job since there always was the risk of something happening to him. But SME loved him. They loved his lyrics. That's why they would keep him in the company.
Taeyong was truly a genius when talking about song lyrics. Not only the company loved them but the fans of the artists he wrote for and his fans did as well. He enjoyed the reactions and speculations as they were trying to figure out what deeper meaning the lyrics had.
As usual, he had his notebook open and ready to write something down if he would get something in mind that he could work on. But it seemed like his mind was empty. He couldn’t even get one line together that sounded good to him.
“Sorry, you’re sitting on my seat!”, someone said and Taeyong looked up. His eyes widened as he saw you standing there.
“O-oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t notice it”, he hurriedly got up and tried to make space for you. You smiled and stepped back a little so he can get out of the tight spot. When you tried to get to your seat, you tripped and he put his hands on your waist, stopping you from falling.
“Careful”, he said and held your hand until you sat down.
“Thank you”, you answered and tightened your belt as Taeyong sat down next to you.
“You’re welcome. I’m Taeyong by the way. Nice to meet you”, he smiled as he also tightened his belt. His heart started beating faster as you also smiled when you told him your name. He couldn’t believe that you were there, in the same plane as him, and seated right next to you. Was it luck? He honestly didn’t know.
“You kind of seem familiar to me? Is it possible that I saw you somewhere before?”, you then asked him. He nodded.
“I saw you in Venice. It was at that restaurant, what was it called?”, he murmured as he tried to remember the name. “Right! Ai Mercanti was the name.”
„Right! It was such a great place though!”, you said and the moment he saw your smile again, his heart stopped a beat before starting to pound in his chest. He was in love with your smile.
“Where are you traveling?”, Taeyong asked you. He sort of was disappointed when you told him that you would stay in Istanbul for a while before heading back to Seoul for your work. During the flight, Taeyong didn’t even write a little bit into his notebook. He was either sleeping or talking to you.
You thought Taeyong was cute, a passionate person who loved his work over everything. He had shown you a few of his lyrics and surprised you by telling you that he wrote a few of the songs you loved to listen to.
“I didn’t think that I would meet the person who wrote my favorite songs”, you giggled and read over a few drafts he had written down in his notebook.
“Well, you did”, Taeyong answered smiling before he yawned. He checked the time, noticed that you both had been talking for over an hour and he noticed that it was late.
“I think, I will try to sleep. You should, too”, he said and put the blanket he had brought with him over his body. You only nodded, also trying to cuddle yourself into your blanket. Eventually, both of you fell asleep.
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“Hyung”, someone was shaking his body softly but it was enough to wake Taeyong eventually up. He looked around confused and noticed that the plane already landed. “We’re in Istanbul. We have to get out and go to our next plane”, Mark said and Taeyong looked to the seat next to him. It was empty. But there was a small piece of paper which he picked up and read it. There was a small text saying that you loved talking to him during the flight and you wrote down your number.
“Who was that?”, Mark asked him curiously, trying to peek on the note. But Taeyong folded it and hid it in his pocket. He only brushed it off with a small “No one” and grabbed his bag where he had put his notebook and other things in. He hurried to get out of the plane and breathed in as soon as he finally was able to get fresh air.
“Now I kind of regret that we didn’t stay here for like a day or something. We could’ve eaten that thing Yuta had recommended us”, Taeyong pouted. 
“Are you sure that it isn’t because of the girl?”, Mark asked him, causing Taeyong to widen his eyes but also shook his head immediately.
“Of course not! She has nothing to do with this. I only spoke to her today. It was the first time I ever talked to her. And I probably won’t ever see her again, so it doesn’t matter”, Taeyong answered. It was a big lie, but he didn’t want to tell the other two boys that he would be meeting up with her as soon as they were back in South Korea.
“Yeah, yeah. Keep on lying to yourself, Taeyongie”, Jaemin laughed and they both finally entered the huge airport. At first, it seemed like the three boys were lost but they were lucky to find someone who spoke fluent English so Mark and Jaemin could ask them for help. It took them around half an hour to finally arrive at their next gate where they would be going to their next plane to Berlin.
All of them were already exhausted. It would take around three more hours on a plane until they would finally in Berlin and would go to their hotel. Taeyong decided to work on his notes for a few songs his manager asked him to write. Soon, there would be a new group debuting and they needed good songs.
While he was thinking about you, possible lines for songs (to be exact, they mostly were love songs) were written in his notebook and he was proud of all the paragraphs he managed to write in only two hours. For the last hour, he decided on sleeping and was woken up by Jaemin as they landed.
His medication was really heavy so he always slept over. One of the boys always had to come over to his place to wake him up so he could at least show up at the company for once. Sometimes, the boys even thought he was dead because he didn’t move at all or even woke up, no matter how hard they tried to wake him.
That usually had been in the beginning after the doctor diagnosed him with his tumor. Now his body got used to the heavy medication and he didn’t pass out a lot anymore. It still happened that he just fell asleep somewhere or even just lose his consciousness when they were on their way home from a long day at the company.
“We landed. We’re in Berlin”, he was all smiley and happy and Taeyong was grateful that he still could see his best friends who were like a family for him happy.
Taeyong got up and took his bag, going to the exit with Jaemin. Mark already was out, waiting for them. The youngest of the three was impatient, wanting to go to their hotel and just sleep. Taeyong put his arm around Mark and smiled. “Don’t worry, we’ll be at the hotel soon and you can sleep as much as you want to. We all need it”, Taeyong said and Mark nodded.
“I’m just exhausted because of the flight. But anyway, how are you feeling? Are you too exhausted?”, Mark asked him worriedly. Taeyong shook his head.
“I’m good. The medicine wasn’t as heavy as I thought it would be. I’m doing okay. I will be able to make it to the hotel without passing out”, he joked but he knew his illness was a sensitive topic to his friends. Taeyong always took his illness way too easy than he actually should.
“If you tried to be funny about your illness, you know I hate that. I’m sorry Taeyong Hyung”, Jaemin said and sighed.
“I know. I shouldn’t take it as easy as I do but I… I try to make the best of it. I’m here with you guys now, I’m living the life of my dreams. I just try to enjoy it. And I know exactly that this whole thing is super sensitive. I get that. But I just try to forget it for a while…”, Taeyong said while they were walking into the airport.
“I also get that. Let’s have a great vacation here, okay? Don’t think about work, don’t think a bit about lyrics. I want you to have your time with us, yeah?”, Jaemin said and Taeyong only smiled when he nodded.
Jaemin might be two years younger than him, but he was truly more mature than someone would expect. He was a dork, yes, he always managed to make the others laugh, but he knew whenever there was a serious moment, he should back off and try to help.
“We should go. I’m getting tired”, Taeyong then said and both Mark and Jaemin kind of panicked as they rushed a little to get out of the airport as soon as possible. Soon, they were in a cab, the driver was luckily speaking a little English, so Mark and Jaemin were able to communicate with him.
No matter how tired he was, Taeyong couldn’t go to sleep without checking the paper you had given him. He smiled as he noticed the small heart next to your number and he immediately took out his phone to save your number. Before he actually texted you, he decided to get ready to sleep.
When he finally was ready to sleep, he took his phone again and opened the still empty chat with you.
“Hey it’s Taeyong ^^”
It didn’t take long until you answered.
“I thought you’d never text me. Was your flight okay?”
“Yes… We just arrived at the hotel. I’m really tired and I will go to sleep now. How is Istanbul?”
“I didn’t go around much yet but the place I’m staying in is so beautiful”
You and Taeyong texted for almost an hour. It didn’t take long until he finally noticed that he actually should sleep. That is what he texted you. You only answered that you were sorry for keeping him up for so long. He smiled at your answer.
“It’s okay, I’ll sleep now, yeah?”
“good night, yongie”
His heart fluttered at the nickname and he couldn’t stop smiling. Taeyong put his phone away and eventually, he fell asleep while he was thinking about you.
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“did you sleep well?”
Taeyong looked on his phone as the message arrived. He smiled a little which didn’t go unnoticed by Jaemin and Mark. The boys currently were at a “Who was it?”, Jaemin asked grinning. “Is it the sweet girl you were seated next to?”
“Yes, it’s her”, Taeyong admitted. “Also… do you remember the girl I saw in Venice?” As both of them nodded, Taeyong continued talking. “It’s her.”
Jaemin widened his eyes, he couldn’t believe the luck Taeyong had. He was happy for his best friend and smiled. “I’m so happy for you, Hyung. Seriously, it actually so unbelievable but I’m so glad that you found her and even talk to her now. If it makes you happy, I am happy, too”, Jaemin spoke and Taeyong couldn’t help but smile even more.
“Thank you so much, Jaeminie.”
That evening, you and Taeyong talked on the phone. Neither you nor him were tired since you slept over the whole afternoon to evening and now had time to just talk. He told you about how much you had inspired him to write love songs which weren’t his strength, no matter how often his company asked him to write a few.
“That’s so sweet, god I can’t with this”, you whined and he grinned. “Can you read them out for me again?”
And he did. He just read them, smiling as he imagined your beautiful smile. He truly fell for you before even knowing you and he was sure as soon as he finally got to know you better, he’d be highs over heels in love with you.
“The texts are so beautiful. Which group do you think they will let them record them?”, you asked him. “Only… tell me if you’re actually allowed to. I don’t want to get you in trouble or something.”
“No, it’s okay. I just write too much and sometimes they don’t even use the texts. Then I’m just uploading them on SoundCloud with Jaemin and Mark, my two best friends”, he explained. “I feel like this song might not fit to any group so it might end up being recorded by a few other friends.”
“You sing, too? God, is there anything you can’t do?”, you asked him and giggled. Everything you did made him smile like an idiot. He never thought he could ever fall for someone like this.
“Well, Mark and I are usually doing the rap but some people say I should sing more”, he laughed.
“Could you maybe sing something for me?”, you asked him shyly, not sure if he would do it.
“I’m not so confident with my singing, actually”, he said. “But one day, I will sing for you, promise.”
“You don’t have to, Yongie. It’s okay if you’re not comfortable with it”, you said. “Hey, umm, I need to sleep now, if that’s okay for you? I got an appointment with a salesman early tomorrow and need to rest properly.”
“Of course, angel, I need to sleep now, too”, he said. “Sleep well, Y/N”.”
“You, too, Yongie”, you called him by the nickname again and again, his heart was pounding in his chest. As you hung up, he couldn’t stop thinking about how it would be to see you again. It made him happy that he was able to talk to you, to get to know you. In the moments you two were talking, he seemed to forget about his illness. He seemed to feel healthy and strong while he was actually weak and sick.
It didn’t take him much time to fall asleep again. He slept peaceful and well, better than he had before, ever since his doctor had diagnosed him with cancer. Taeyong didn’t know what made him feel happier when he woke up the next day.
During the small vacation, Taeyong enjoyed his time with his two best friends and… he was happy. He was satisfied with how his life was at the moment.
On the flight back, they were also stopping once in Istanbul, making him question if you already had returned to Seoul since you didn’t have your return tickets yet when Taeyong had called you for the last time two days ago. He didn’t want to bother you as you were there for work and not for vacation.
If he only knew that you were waiting for him to call. You had already finished all your work there and had a few free days which he didn’t know. Also, you were shy, that was enough not to call him.
After the long flight, they were picked up by Johnny; the young Korean-American male was the only one who had a driver’s license and had agreed to pick the three men up as soon as they were back in Seoul. First, he dropped off Mark and Jaemin. When they arrived at Taeyong’s apartment, he smiled and got out of the car, Johnny following him to carry his luggage.
“Thanks, John. I appreciate that”, he said as they were in the elevator.
“Of course, Yongie. If you need help with something else, just ask. I’ll try to help you as much as I can”, Johnny answered and got out of the elevator as it stopped.
Johnny let the bag fall on the ground as he noticed that Taeyong was still in the elevator, held his hand at the door, and stopped it from closing. Taeyong was holding his head and his eyes were closed.
“Did you take your medication?”, Johnny asked him which Taeyong only answered by shaking his head as a no. He forgot to take the pills, causing him not to sleep enough on the flight. “Where are they?”
Johnny helped Taeyong to get out of the elevator and escorted the weak male to his apartment. He helped Taeyong with taking his medication, all of the boys knew about how many pills he had to take so they were able to help when Taeyong wasn’t in the state to help himself.
It took him a little until he felt better and was able to change his clothes on his own. As he looked at his pale body, he noticed a few bruises. At this point, he was used to getting random bruises on his body, they were everywhere now.
“Do you want me to call someone?”, Johnny asked. “I need to go to the studio, PD-nim said there was an emergency with one of the trainees and they need me.”
“No… I’m fine. Wait, no, call Y/N”, Taeyong then said. “I really hope she’s back here...”, he then murmured to himself. Taeyong told him not to say anything about his illness before he handed his phone to Johnny who pressed on the ‘call’ button as soon as he found your contact.
“Yongie?”, you yawned, making Johnny smile.
“It’s Johnny. I’m a friend of Taeyong. He isn’t feeling well after the flight and I would stay at his place but I have to work. Could you come over and maybe stay here until I’m back?”
“Of course. Would you text me the address? I’ll be there as soon as possible”, you answered without even thinking.
“I will. Thanks for doing this, Y/N. I’m looking forward to meet you soon”, Johnny spoke before he hung up and looked to Taeyong who was still scrunching his face in pain and was lying in his bed. “She will be here in around ten minutes. Do you think you would be able to stay awake?”
“Mhm, I think I’ll make it. You should go. The company is also important”, Taeyong said. As soon as Johnny was out, he started to let out all the coughing he was trying to hold in the whole time. He didn’t want to let Johnny see in what kind of a bad situation he was.
He was coughing with no pause, couldn’t breathe properly and he looked up in a panic as someone knocked at the door after a few minutes. Taeyong tried to get up from his bed and walked to the door, he was coughing badly and was weak.
He opened the door and… collapsed.
It was such a surprise for you to see him collapse right in front of you. You panicked and didn’t know what to do for a moment. You tried to pull him up and did everything you learned in a first-aid course, your whole body was shaking because you were scared. What was going on with him?
Meanwhile, you were talking to the emergency.
While you were waiting, you looked through his apartment, walked around but still stayed close so you can watch him. You found his phone and unlocked it by using his fingerprint. As you went through his contacts, you saw the names Jaemin and Mark, remembering how he told you that he’s going on his vacation with them.
Immediately, you called Jaemin.
“Hyung? What’s up?”, he said with a groggy voice. Probably the man was already sleeping.
“It’s Y/N. I…”, before you were able to continue speaking, you burst into crying. “H-he coll-apsed”, you stuttered out. You finally got yourself together and spoke with a much more stable voice. “I don’t know what’s going on.”
While you were talking to Jaemin and tried to calm down, you were walking around the small apartment. And then, you gasped in shock as you saw a little bit of blood. Maybe he coughed out blood as he was trying to open the door.
“I’ll be right over. Or wait, did you call the emergency? If yes, just text me which hospital you’re going to, I’ll go there directly”, Jaemin then said and you only answered him with a ‘yes’ before you hung up.
Soon, the paramedics arrived and after questioning you about who you are and what you were doing in his apartment and all that, they finally brought him to the ambulance and you got into the car as well, driving to the hospital as fast as possible and you were crying, still didn’t know what was going on in there.
“You didn’t know about this?”, Mark asked you. You looked up and shook your head as a no. “I thought he might’ve told you already. You were talking a lot when we were in Berlin.”
“No. He never mentioned it. I was so surprised when he suddenly collapsed after opening the door. At least, he was able to open the door”, you told him then.
“It surprised me. Seriously. He always talked about you when he was back from Venezia. Talked about how beautiful you were for him. If we didn’t stop him, he even might talk for hours about you even though he only saw you for a second. He truly lo-“
“Where is he?!”, Johnny interrupted Mark in his small speech, not allowing the younger male to tell him that Taeyong loved you.
Before Mark could answer him, the doctor arrived. He seemed sad, disappointed in himself. You felt the fear of hearing bad news about Taeyong’s current state.
“I’m sorry”, the medic said, making your heart beat faster.
“He is currently in a coma.”
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taglist ;; @wownajaemin​ @n8dlesoupguk​ 
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all i'm thinking about rn is cottage core slow burn with jack in afterdark au when goes to apologize and helps mc recover 😩
This can be an ending for the recovery route!
So, Jack's character is hard to impairment into the AI because he really is a good boy. He holds a strong sense of justice and really does try his best, and the Afterdark AU is meant to amplify the worst parts of the characters.
Even then, Jack doesn't have the trait where he would abandon someone in need, but for the sake of the AU I felt like it was the only type that could fit him. He wouldn't be abusive or manipulative, and yandere was a stretch, and he wouldn't fit blissful ignorance for long ;-;
But, I can see him trying to make amends with MC somewhere near the end. Maybe Jack gets into cahoots with Sam, and goes to MCs world to watch over them, even if they have to leave Grim behind.
He would probably enchant his necklace to keep him in human form, kind of like the glamours in Wolf Among Us, still able to use his abilities while everything is hidden.
Since MC would be far away, somewhere more remote, Jack could get something settled for MC to come back to after they are able to live out of a hospital.
He would help keep them on a steady schedule, make sure they are taken care of and protected, and could make a good income with being a personal trainer of sorts.
With Jack taking direct care of MC and Grim, their fear of abandonment and communication skills would be handled first, Jack reassuring he wouldn't leave them again and that they could always share their needs with him.
Jack wouldn't allow anything to happen to MC.
Nothing.
Even if they were found.
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