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sylvies-chen · 3 years ago

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Since Chicago Fire is airing its 200th episode (whoop! whoop!) tomorrow, I was wondering if you could share some of your favorite episodes and/or moments over the last 9/10 seasons! There's a lot of discord now around the fandom but personally, I think we should all be celebrating regardless of how tomorrow night turns out. Not a lot of shows can say they'll be airing their 200th episode!!

OMG YES, could I ever! I’d love to! Also, truer words have never been spoken, nonny: we should be CELEBRATING right now and not worrying. Save your tears for the worst case scenario and until then, you’ll get nothing but smiles from me! ☺️ Anyway, I actually have a list of my favourite/top tier episodes for every season so I’ll definitely post that along with some notes for certain episodes on my favourite particular moments!

This list is very long though so you know the drill folks: the good stuff is under the cut!

Season 1:

1x03 “Professional Courtesy” all the way to 1x06 “Rear View Mirror” (and even further)

* Specifically, the Casey v. Voight storyline!! It where we first see Casey’s shining moral code and just how good and decent he can be. He’s stubborn when it comes to those things which ends up costing him but watching him stick by what he believes so vehemently made me fall in love with his character <3

1x19 “A Coffin That Small”

* Genuinely such a beautiful episode! This was such a rare and beautiful episode of television to watch

1x22 “Leaders Lead” (CRY TIME)

* #Halliedeservedbetter

Season 2:

2x02 “Prove It”

* This is the beginning of Casey’s original journey with the Darden boys and going back to watch it now makes my heart full. They might have been tough at first but Matt was adorable with them

2x10 “Not Like This”

* As a Matt Casey stan, this episode gives me anxiety. BUT. I love it (the episode, not the anxiety).

2x20 “A Dark Day”

* Because duh, it’s the first major crossover event between PD and Fire! Everything about it is *chefs kiss*

2x22 “Real Never Waits”

Season 3:

3x01 “Always” (CRY TIME)

* Probably the episode of Fire that is ALWAYS guaranteed to make me cry. Shayveride is the friendship that I will forever miss and watching this episode is like a punch to the heart but is so well-done

3x08 when they do Cruz’s zumba class!

3x11 “Let Him Die”

* My girl Sylvie Brett absolutely SHINES in this episode— so intense but so great! It’s not just her and Mills’ storyline that pulls me in either, it’s everything about it. The Jay appearance, the stinging but warranted Dawsey split, baby Terrance Bode being a-okay after his messy birth in the Squad truck. This episode delivered on all fronts!

3x19 “I Am The Apocalypse”

* Backdoor Med pilot! Super interesting concept and I love going back to see the very beginning of this fictional universe’s expansion

Season 4:

4x04 “Your Day Is Coming” (CRY TIME)

* I was debating whether or not to put this one on the list because this is when you first start seeing the troubling pattern of One Chicago pregnancy and/or adoption complications but honestly, I had to put it on there anyway. Monica’s acting was phenomenal and the scene with Herrmann on the phone was so gut-wrenchingly beautiful.

4x10 “The Beating Heart”

* Christopher Herrmann is amazing and I love this grumpy ol’ optimist. That is all ❤️

4x16 “Two Ts”

* Again, another time for Sylvie Brett to shine! Her “Two Ts” moment was so satisfying and her and it was here you see how well she and Jimmy worked together as ambo partners

4x17 “What Happened To Courtney”

* Two words: PLOUCH. WEDDING. The story of Severide and Stella when they were in the academy, Trudy being hilarious and a mood, Kim and Gabby taking her comments on their guy troubles, all of it is so beautiful!

Season 5:

5x01 “The Hose or the Animal”

* Seeing Severide beat the shit out of Grant and defend himself and Stella was 10/10, and watching Stella cut Grant off made me so proud for her <3

5x03 “Scorched Earth”

* “… or I will lay you to waste and leave nothing behind but scorched earth. Don’t think for a second that I’m not serious” MATT MF CASEY! It’s just that moment that I love so much

5x06 “That Day”

* Such an important episode for so many reasons. A beautiful tribute to the fallen heroes in 9/11!

5x08 “One Hundred”

* Listen. I’m not a Dawsey fan but this episode in general was great and I have to admit: they had a really cute wedding! I mean it got a little fucked up there at the end with Louie’s dad coming to their doorstep but this episode was a huge milestone for them! 100! To think we’ve doubled that is insane!

5x15 “Deathtrap”

* I love these kinds of super conceptually creative episodes! It reminded me of when Hodgins and Brennan got buried alive in Bones. We see Matt clawing his way out of a tough situation with two civilian lives in his hands. Impressive AF.

5x16 “Carry Me” (CRY TIME)

* I mark all the saddest episodes “cry time” for a reason and it’s because they genuinely make me cry. I love Stellaride so much but watching Kelly lose someone still hurt like a bitch 😭 But Taylor Kinney’s acting came in clutch her and he absolutely nailed it!

Season 6:

6x08 “The Whole Point of Being Roommates”

* THE ROOMDOGS. THE MF ROOMDOGS.

6x10 “Slamigan”

* The birth of the Slamigan! Also, welding!Sylvie is a goddess. She could step on me and I’d say thank you

6x15 “The Chance to Forgive”

* Literally just the Stellaride of it all. Like Kelly breaking protocol to save her, “I can’t go through this again”, Casey’s pep talk, THE SEX SCENE. Soulmate shit!

6x23 “The Grand Gesture”

* I know this was the Dawsey split episode (even though they didn’t finalize it until 7x01) but honestly, it was still a great episode. I really liked what they did with it

* Seeing Sylvie crying alone in a car made me sad though :(

Season 7:

7x02 “Going To War”

* The Infection crossover is everyone’s favourite crossover event but I’ll be honest, this one’s a close second! Stella’s lung storyline, Jay with his dad, Otis struggling after seeing the dead mother and child in the elevator, RITTER’S INTRO. And the Brettsey ambo talk!

7x07 “What Will Define You” Benny’s funeral

7x13 “The Plunge”

* Everyone standing by Foster and helping her

* The actual plunge!! The ladies snuggled together in their swimsuits! Casey holding Herrmann back!

7x19 “Until The Weather Breaks”

* EVERYTHING about this episode is great. Conceptually really creative and sweet, a perfect balance of cute but suspenseful, and the beginning of Brettsey’s journey (Yes, there will be a lot of Brettsey episodes and moments in this list. And what about it?)

7x22 “I’m Not Leaving You”

Season 8:

8x01 “Sacred Ground” (CRY TIME)

* BROTHER I WILL BE WITH YOU ALWAYS. I think that is arguably one of the best scenes on the show. Beautifully shot and so emotional.

8x03 “Badlands”

* Sylvie Brett storyline!! I love her being back and everyone welcoming her home

8x04 “Infection, Part 1”

* BEST crossover event! No explanation needed!

8x13 “A Chicago Welcome”

* Sylvie and Matt REALLY shine in this episode— together and as individuals— and it’s so refreshing. You can definitely see the compassion in that episode. One of my favourites.

Season 9:

9x02 “That Kind of Heat”

* Sylvie Brett the stone cold slayer who casually gets out of a crashed ambo and saves the life of the man who tried to kill her

* Brettsey kiss! Minus the last minute of course because that did not happen)

9x05 “My Lucky Day”

* Literally one of the best episodes of cable television to ever air. Conceptually BRILLIANT, amazing directing, Joe and David act their asses off. You’re left feeling satisfied but also very aware of the idea that their troubles were only a small fraction of the whole picture which makes it even more astounding

9x06 “Blow This Up Somehow”

* Gallo and Casey father/son episode? Yes please, sign me up!

* THE STELLARIDE CONVO. So. So. SO. Important. And beautiful!

9x16 “No Survivors”

* “My fiancée” *the firehouse proceeds to flip the fuck out*

* We belong together

* We do

* We’re right for each other

* We are

* When you know, you know

* You do

* THE SEX SCENE

* The end scene because wow that was intense!

Season 10 (so far):

10x01 “Mayday”

* Severide goes above and beyond for his Squad boys. This is just a fact… and it’s beautiful <3

* Brettsey & Stellaride moments back to back

* The millenials starting their business! I haven’t been thid excited for a lighter storyline like this since the Slamigan!

10x03 “Counting Breaths”

* The loft scene with the fantastic four + Griffin! The return of the Darden boys in general is so great, I’m excited to see how they deal with this storyline

#abby.answers #chicago fire #200th episode

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ashxketchum · 3 years ago

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Writer’s Month - 2

Wow, not me writing something for two days in a row? This one is a stand-alone oneshot for now, but I think there is a lot of potential for a sequel, I even have some part of it clearly planned out so if time allows me to sit down with my laptop sooner than later, I’ll work on that!

Fandom/Pairing: Digimon/Mimato (friendship, yes I am capable of writing something other than romance between these two hahahaaa)

Prompt: Coffee shop setting, cold (Yamato is very cold here, it’s actually kinda angsty)

Setting: Post Tri but pre Kizuna. Yamato is in his first year of college and Mimi is in her last year of high school. The basis for this fic is solely the dialogue in To Sora, I wanted to explore the idea of Mimi and Yamato growing closer and having important conversations with each other, but it had to have a rocky start and this is that rocky start!

“I’ll have a venti matcha berry frappe, nonfat, refrigerated chilled milk, absolutely no ice, extra whipped cream, which, make sure, is layered perfectly, with three pumps of caramel syrup and two of vanilla.”

He could feel his manager’s eyes boring into his back, so Yamato did what any other good employee in his place would, he kept a straight face and diligently noted down the customer’s request before moving on to ringing it up without once bothering to look at the girl standing behind the counter or ask for her name. He wondered if his manager would find it strange, that he hadn’t taken the customer’s name, but seeing as Yamato was already putting all his effort into concentrating well on his job and not explode on the brunette who seemed to take some pleasure out of his misery, he decided that he was allowed this one slip and he’d deal with his manager later, since the bigger problem was in front of him, eyeing him with a teasing glint in her caramel eyes as he picked up the paper cup and moved over to the work station to begin working on her order. He did however, kept a track of what his manager was doing from the corner of his eye, and the minute the older man was out of sight, Yamato breathed a sigh of relief and spun on his feet.

“Please Mimi, by all means, go ahead and make my job more difficult.” Yamato seethed, managing to keep his voice low so as to not attract any attention to them.

“Well, if you’re going to ask that nicely.” Mimi smirked, as always she had the upper hand in the conversation due to the safety guaranteed by being a customer at the shop.

“Just take the drink and go, let me work in peace.” Yamato attempted to maintain a superior tone as he begged her to leave, turning again to add the finishing touches to her order as quickly as he could, before his superior caught whiff of his not so welcoming attitude towards their customers.

“Now where’s the fun in that?” Mimi beamed at him, as she accepted the finished product from his hand, her fingers brushed against his for a brief moment, suddenly making Yamato hyper aware of the spot at the back of his hand.

“Don’t you have anything better to do? Entrance exams to worry about?” He asked exasperatedly, she seemed too carefree for someone who was in the last year of their high school, remembering his own experience of it from the previous year.

Mimi scoffed in reply, waving a hand in the air to brush aside his concern for her education, instead of turning to make her way out of the store now that she had received her order, she settled on the empty bar stool on the other side of the pick-up counter, resting one elbow on the counter top as she took careful sips of her drink from the other hand. He watched her like a hawk, Yamato wouldn’t put it past the brunette to make fake claims about the taste of the drink just to get him into trouble.

This had been going on for a few months now, every time he had a shift during her after school hours, Mimi would make it her life’s purpose to show up and annoy him to no extent. He’d attempted to explain to her, that he really needed to keep this job to maintain his life expenses, but apparently the pleasure she took from watching him stumble around while making coffee seemed to take precedent over his livelihood.

Of course, Mimi wasn’t the only one to blame here, if only his roommate at the college dorm wasn’t a bigger pain in the ass, Yamato would never had have to take up this part-time job in the first place. When he had complained to his father about not being able to get along well with his roomie, instead of agreeing to raise his monthly allowance so that Yamato could move out and rent a place of his own, his father had promptly told him that as an adult, he should learn to solve his own problems from now on. Yamato had half a mind to remind his father that him and his friends had not only solved the Digital World’s problems on multiple occasions, but also saved their own world by doing so, but he had stayed quiet and accepted his fate. On Takeru’s recommendation he had taken up a part-time job at this popular coffee joint, the pay was decent and the hours weren’t too bad and well Yamato always had had a knack for being good in the kitchen, so it had been suiting his purposes of saving up to move out of the college dorm as soon as possible just well.

Until Mimi happened to walk in one day and decided to take matters into her own hands.

She had been surprised to see him behind the counter, and at first she had just been curious, about what he was doing here or what he had been up to since the graduation ceremony. Yamato had to admit, that ever since he had graduated high school, he’d finally understood what Jou had been struggling with for the longest time, it wasn’t easy to maintain friendships when one was thrust with the responsibility of taking care of every single aspect of their lives and somehow pursue studies on which one’s future life depended at the same time. He considered himself lucky, if he was able to have a phone conversation with Takeru that lasted more than 5 minutes in a day. So he hadn’t been wary of Mimi popping up every now and them, updating him about her and Koushiro’s school life, and sometimes Jou’s and Sora’s too. It gave him a way to stay connected with everyone without having to make time for them, and while he did feel guilty about this on multiple occasions, he was grateful for it too.

That was before Mimi got bored with just talking about their lives, and decided to spice up their encounters by getting him to light trouble with his manager. It was usually just silly little things like claiming he got her order wrong or giving extremely complicated and hard to follow requests, and she had never pulled something huge that would seriously get Yamato in trouble, but it was still frustrating and it ruined his mojo for the rest of his shift.

There was also the question of why Mimi had suddenly taken such a liking to spending time with him, of all people, since they had never been close enough for a relationship like this. They’d spent time together before sure, and they’d had their fair share of agreements and disagreements when it came to matters related to the Digital World, but apart from that Yamato could barely remember any interactions with her that didn’t circle back to the Digital World or their Digimon Partners. So the thought always nagged at him, at the back of his head, when she would appear with a skip in her step and fix him with one of the brightest smiles he knew.

But then she would go on to do something diabolical, and he’d be reminded of how similar she was to his little brother, which led to him missing Takeru and left him irritated and wishing for her to leave.

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Yamato turned his attention towards the brunette sitting in front of him, she had set down the drink on the counter top and was currently surveying the store with her bright eyes, the mischievous glint in them indicating that she was just looking for something that could serve as prop of the day in interfering with his work. Relieved that he had caught her while she was still in her planning phase, Yamato decided to take control of the situation before his manager returned and reprimanded him for being rude to their customers.

“You really don’t have anything better to do?” Yamato began icily, making Mimi turn her gaze towards him, the challenging look on her face seemed to put the last nail to his patience’s coffin as he snapped at her, “Don’t you have any friends?”

He regretted it the minute those words left his mouth, biting his tongue in an attempt to stop himself from groaning outwardly.

The effect on Mimi was immediate, all colour drained from her face and her eyes shone with a blanket of tears just waiting to fall, but with a single blink she managed to keep them at bay and faced him with a hardened look as she replied quietly, “I thought that’s what we were.”

And before Yamato could make any attempts to take back his statements or even begin to apologize for his behaviour, Mimi was out of the door, leaving behind her drink on the counter and without sparing a single glance in his direction.

Yamato allowed himself to groan out loud when he picked up her cup to clear the counter and found that it was still heavy, she had barely begun to drink it. He couldn’t help but chide himself internally, for missing on something that was so obvious, for even deliberating on an answer that was right in front of his eyes this entire time.

Yamato couldn’t believe that he, of all people, had missed out on the signs of their budding friendship, had pushed it aside as nothing but an occasional nuisance within his routine.

His optimistic side hoped that he would just explain himself to her when she’d show up tomorrow, even offer her her favourite drink for free as a token of his apology, but a tiny voice at the back of his head reminded him, that there was no way Mimi would come back to spend time with him after this.

Unfortunately, it was the tiny voice that prevailed in its prediction, as Mimi didn’t show the next day or the one after that, or after that.

At first Yamato consoled himself by devoting himself to the tasks at hand, happy to finally be able concentrate on his work, he managed to win praises from his manager on multiple occasions which pushed Mimi’s absence from his surroundings out of his head, and for a while it worked.

But then there were slow days, when he didn’t have much to do but stand behind the counter and look at all the people sitting around in groups of twos and threes, laughing and chatting loudly as they sipped their coffees and munched on their food. The sight would tug on an invisible string in his heart, make him long for Mimi’s teasing smile as she rattled off with an order comprising of the most incompatible ingredients, laughing loudly at the look of horror that would take over his face as he wrote down her instructions. There were days when the shop would be eerily silent, and he’d hear her voice in his head, telling him about something that had happened at school. There were days when someone would walk by with a pet, cuddling it and showering it with affection, making him miss Gabumon’s soft fur and he’d instinctively turn towards the pick-up counter, hoping to tell Mimi about it but was met with emptiness instead.

He hadn’t realised, just how much he had managed to share with her during their encounters, and how he had begun to depend on her company to get him through his mundane work life. And in true Yamato fashion, he had gone ahead and messed it all up by thinking about things from only his perspective.

His father’s words echoed in his mind once again, he had to learn to solve his own problems, and what better time to start than now?

#writersmonth2021 #mimato #digimon fanfiction #yamato ishida #mimi tachikawa #digimon #writealot #unfinished excerpt #I wanna write the apology scene for sure #coming up with Mimi's frappe order was hella fun tho #otp : purely friendly

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sly-merlin · 4 years ago

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KILLING ME - 4

(minor friendly chapter)

pairing : law student! Reader + yuta

Genre : angst, mafia au/arranged marriage au

Warnings : none.

Words : 5k

Summary:

"life's never fair y/n. Realise it as soon as you can. It is the only secret for living a regretless life."

"curiosity got the cat hitched"

K.m masterlist

A/n : this series is totally minor friendly now. ✨

Previous morning in Taeyong’s office

“What was that for!” taeyong questioned jaehyun, clearly annoyed by his previous hostile mannerisms towards you. Jaehyun was on the receiving end of taeyong’s infuriation immediately after you departed from his office with doyoung.

“What!?” Jaehyun tried to act oblivious to Taeyong's accusations.

“Why were you trying to scare her? Escort ring! For fucks sake Jae, I expected better from you.”

“But it wasn’t a dead loss. And even you went along in the same wagon, so don’t put everything on me alone.” Jaehyun justified himself by shrugging his shoulders lightly. “And admit it! She was giving you a hard time. That bitch was not buying anything!

Taeyong knew jaehyun was right. Your unsatisfied replies and never ending enquiries were exasperating him, but he would rather preserve his precious ego than admitting that to jaehyun.

He ruffled his well-made hair before replying to Jaehyun, who was expecting some gratitude with a smug face.

“I-- just be careful and refrain from doing and saying anything that might put a dent in my plan. It’s a chance Neo would never get again. So be patient and don’t go around opening your mouth about this to anyone.” jaehyun reluctantly nodded,not hearing what he wanted but his affirmation calmed taeyong’s nerves. He couldn’t trust jaehyun entirely but his options were limited.

All the pieces were in the right place, for now. Nothing could go south right!

But jaehyun couldn’t completely understand the rationale behind Taeyong’s design.

and nor could the figure standing outside, completely hidden from the insiders.

The dread of the forthcoming finals substantiated the shortage of vacant seats in the kwanjeong library. You tried your best to arrive as expeditiously as possible for a person who partied, got abducted, arranged her own marriage, and again partied in grief, all in spam of about 34 hours. Finding no available seat, you decided to settle down on the floor. You gulped your cup of Americano in one go and began with the donut. As per a wise saying, Caffeine and sugar were the best combination as a breakfast for someone trying to get through their day with only 4 hours of sleep, the intellect being none other than your own self!

Yesterday was a pretty long day. Though you were worn out from the adventures with wonwoo last night, your brain wasn’t exhausted enough to shut down properly when you tried to close your eyes.The flashes of the events had shrouded you with a mixture of regrets and worries. What was the guarantee that you won’t end up dead tomorrow! What if taeyong was lying! But the fact regarding moon industries was absolutely legible. Maybe you should get a restraining order or something! But the existence of a person is necessary for that and yuta was a fucking corporate in the public eye and you were sure taeyong held some powerful position in the rich hierarchy as well, otherwise, covering the shits without revealing their true identities was not the job of some measly gang leader. There was more to taeyong than what someone could perceive just by looking. Will you be considered one of them now! After the little stunt that landed you straight into yuta’s life, you weren’t sure that he’d not strangle you in sleep. And What were you going to say to them? Chelin, yeom, guk, yeong.

and your thoughts spiralled from taeyong,yuta towards chelin and your friends and didn’t rest anytime before 4a.m. Waking up at 8 sharp , you took a shower and made your way towards the library.

And now you were here. 2 students passed your figure indicating that there were 2 vacant seats. Finally, after 15 minutes. They might have been the overnight students, you thought and walked inside before anyone else could claim the treasure. You had to find a new topic of thesis and do some research for an international paper your professor was writing, and you being his designated so-called subordinate had to help him, involuntarily of course. But in this world, the student who could refuse their professor’s demands was yet to be born! Marking the place by placing your bag, you started the search for last month’ law journals and digests. One and a half hours passed, but you couldn’t find anything on the international court of justice i.e. what your professor hadn’t already included. The urge to go out was profusely weighed down by your own sentiment of avoiding your friends. So you decided in favour of swallowing the bitter pill.

5 hours passed. The vibration of the timer in your phone prompted you to run off and get some food. It was already 2:30 and the lack of real food was making the tasks harder than they already were. Stepping outside into fresh air, instant regret of not bringing an umbrella washed over you. The sun was too bright unlike your mood and walking all the way to your favourite canteen would end up in you getting another headache. But you silently wished that every being from yesterday’s party was suffering from the same treatment of the over-the-top optimistic planet. why to suffer alone!

“Shortie” you lifted your head, spotting the combo of buy 1 get 1 free, heading your way.

“Where were you the whole day? And if you aren’t going to pick calls then please do that poor thing a favour and sell it!” yugyeom barked while running his hand through his hair.

You shrugged jungkook’s elbow from your shoulder and replied “I was busy with prof. Joong’s work. And I have to be somewhere after 4 so I was a bit-

“Joong should adopt you already man!” Jungkook interrupted, nudging your sides with his fingers.

“ but I thought he wanted to be her sugar daddy!” At that gyeom gave a serious and stern look to kook, pretending to ponder over his statement for a second and then suddenly they both started laughing, hands hitting you everywhere to support their doubling figures.

“Get away from me, idiots!” you shouted, trying to get away from them. Once they were done with showing their exaggerated emotions, you all giggled together in unison. they were wearing their fundraiser t-shirts, you noticed.

“When is the fundraiser?”

“At 5. But you won’t be there to support us cause you are busy with your daddy!” kook exclaimed while bumping your shoulder with his arm.

“I didn’t say I’m going for Joong’s work and no, he’s not my sugar daddy, doofus. I’m busy with tutoring. I missed someone’s Saturday class so—

“Okay, chill tiger. You need to breathe. It’s a boring event anyway.” gyeom said in a comforting tone, interjecting your rapid fire speech.

“I’m gonna have lunch, are you two going?” you suggested.

“Yeah, it’s our break and Yeong and Minjun have eaten already, so that leaves you!” kook pouted when gyeom mentioned his boyfriend’s name.

“Let’s go! I want my sugar” your dramatic pout made yugyeom pet your hair lovingly and the three of you started walking on a stone pathway on the way to the canteen.

“Where’s your umbrella?” jungkook asked you. He knew how much you hated walking under the sun after the drinking escapades.

“I forgot but let’s not talk about it. it’s making me grumpy.”

“Okay! but why don’t you cover your head with that scarf instead.” he said pointing towards the silky material around your neck.

“Naahh, it ruins my fashion” they gave each other a puzzled look, shrugging their shoulders for they both couldn’t gather the reason for your weird behaviour.

At lunch, you talked to them about the fundraiser and gave your own contribution for the noble cause. The conversation with them progressed too easily and for about an hour you forgot about the turmoil in your life, which was still unknown to them.

After parting away, you went straight to your professor to show him your progress. He took note of the materials you found on recent cases and dismissed you without showing any gratitude. Not even a word of appreciation.

A ping!

Jaemin: noona, doyoung hyung is picking you up at 4 but he won’t enter the campus. Be out at 4!

You let out a frustrated groan at his text. You had only met him once, when he conferred upon you the honour of connecting your phone to his server but that was not the only favour you received! He also saved his contact number with various hearts that you obviously removed after reaching home. you could only pray to heavens that he won’t be there today as well!

You made your way to the library again, this time to work on your thesis. The time passed faster than you thought. The alarm you placed earlier vibrated, indicating it was 4 already! You hastily made your bag and ran out of the library. It took 10 minutes to reach the gates of the campus. When you passed your dorms building, the idea of ditching doyoung and going to bed sounded tempting but as usual, nothing was going your way these days. You felt like the old catch 22 was in action.

You passed through the gates and looked around the road to find doyoung's car but he was nowhere to be seen. While you were scanning the whole area, a low voice called your attention.

“What are you finding, I’m right here under your nose” a voice said through gritted teeth.

Yes, he was indeed sitting in the car right in front of you and the only one you missed apparently. You walked around the car to sit on the passenger seat, the tinted windows hiding you from the outside funfair.

“What took you so long? It's 4:15 already.”

“I don’t have a car like you so I walked myself here and it’s not like I did it purposely anyway.” You contended, the annoyance in your voice matching his own.

“Whatever, we are already late so turn around. Taeyong would be mad.”

“No I’m not turning around. First that cloth bag, then the handkerchief you tied on my eyes yesterday, its painful man. I’ll lose my eyesight this way. And I can navigate the whole city from this place, you can’t hide your dungeon from me now” you reasoned. He didn’t tie your hands yesterday but your eyes were still covered.

“Then give me your scarf. I’ll cover your eyes with your own choice of article. It’s not painful or else you won’t be wearing it right! he said mockingly, pointing towards your neck.

“Umm, this scarf is act-

“Give me that already. I have some other things to handle as well.” assessing your options, you hesitantly removed the scarf, turning around to face the window immediately. Doyoung tied it across your eyes, checking the knot twice and tapped your shoulder. As you turned around, doyoung’s doe eyes widened, if that was even possible. Your collarbone and neck, which was visible through your v neck top, was covered with pretty purplish bruises. You fidgeted with your hands, flustered, feeling his eyes on you. But he remained quiet, focusing on the task at hand.

The whole drive was quiet and though your hands were not tied, you kept them on your backpack, hesitant to start any conversation. The car stopped finally, the mixed feelings coming back. The same process followed. He guided you inside but this time you passed only one door and the walk was quite shorter as well.

As doyoung was about to remove your scarf, a hand stopped him, or that was what you understood from the movements at that time.

“Silky scarf, blindfold and hickies haan! Being kinky doyoungie. She’s your sister-in-law. Show some respect boy!” a voice remarked, the air around your face suddenly filled with chocolate and coffee. You hiccupped all of a sudden, earning a chuckle from the unknown presence.

You tried to reach for the blindfold, but your hands were caught mid-air, the said hands removing it. You blinked your eyes a few times to make out the figure’s face. He was standing, mostly bending to match your stature, face smiling to show all of his teeth.

Yuta.

You, surprised, took a step back but instead bumped into the one behind you.

“I’ll take over from here, doyoung.” but fortunately, he didn’t budge. Your hold on the backpack tightened, your eyes lowered to avoid his gaze. The only thing in your view were his baggy pants and white sports shoes.

But yuta could see only you and nothing else. Taeyong wasn’t the only one awaiting your arrival. Yuta was equally anticipating you. His night was just as sleepless and anxious as you. He was afterall at the other end of the rope.

He raised your head, fingertips lightly grazing your chin. His hooded eyes roamed around your face like he was expecting you to show some contempt , hatred,nervousness! He straightened up abruptly and started tying the silk around your neck. You flinched at his touch but he remained void of any reaction. His half denim jacket and white t-shirt hid you from the surroundings, his arms almost engulfing you. He repositioned himself to match your height again, arms crossing against his chest.

“Looks like someone had a fun night.” and in a second, his honey smile changed into a smirk, letting go of any trace of earlier softer expressions. And the look on his face was enough to scare the shit out of anyone.

“Stop yuta” a taller man you recognised from yesterday as Johnny, pushed yuta aside from your view. It was then you saw that everyone was there. Including the one you were yet to encounter.

Your eyes wandered from one side to the other. Johnny let you inspect.

“Doyoung, what was the need to cover her eyes?” Johnny whispered to doyoung, breaking your trance.

“Why is everyone nagging me so much” he whined in a screeching voice.

“Karma bitch” Johnny pointed his forefinger towards him before giving his attention to you.

“Hey, how are you y/n.” he asked, his cheerful voice totally in contrast with the weather of the room.

“I’m- ummm.” you cleared your throat before continuing. “I’m fine Johnny. As fine I can be.” you mumbled the last part but he surely heard you.

“You remembered my name!” he clapped, his eyes turning into crescents. You gave him a tight lipped smile in return, waiting for some instructions. As if on cue, taeyong’s loud voice graced your ears.

“Come y/n. make yourself comfortable” he indicated towards the couches that were almost already occupied. Johnny gestured to you to proceed, walking with you. You passed yuta who was still smirking and sat on the single seat available next to taeyong. You placed your backpack on the large table in the middle of the room. It looked like a normal living room for guests, just with too many couches to accommodate the gang. You felt like an uninvited because apparently everybody was watching you like a hawk. Their stares changed sight only when yuta came to take a seat on one of the couches, exactly opposite to yours. You met his eyes briefly before turning your face towards your bag again.

Who knew the rusty zips of your bag were so interesting!

“So y/n I thought you should meet everyone. You are going to be part of this family soon. Better get acquainted with all.” taeyong addressed you while he sat on his couch majestically like a king. You heard a dry laugh and if you had to guess it had to be from jaehyun or yuta.

You didn’t understand why he wanted that. You were just a risk till yesterday and now means to discipline yuta.

And why all the formalities if you were gonna leave anyway.

“I’m going to leave anyway, taeyong. So I don’t see a need to do it!

You were too consumed to notice how your sentence turned all the heads around you. Some started giving side eyes to each other. There was something they were all missing.

“I said you could leave. But not without my permission. So, you’d be stuck for now, maybe till months or years.”

You gulped at his words. Taeyong turned your only hope into a distant dream. Maybe you were too foolish to gauge the situation.

“You want something to eat or drink before we continue” he asked in a sincere voice. Shaking your head, you rubbed your eyes with the palms of your hands to stop them from moistening. There was nothing more embarrassing than to cry in front of a bunch of strangers who didn’t give a shit about you.

“No, please continue.” you emphasised again to not draw any more attention to yourself than already was. And you internally thanked Taeyong who continued as if you weren’t just gonna cry!

“You will move in with yuta on Saturday,” it was Monday. “The wedding ceremony would be held in the morning. So you have a few days to prepare, everything from your dress to every other thing you need shall be arranged. Just name it and you’ll have it!”

Wedding ceremony! That was not on the plate!

“I don’t want a cerem-

“Leave the bullshit ta-

You and yuta both cut off each other simultaneously. You glanced at his side, finding him already piercing his gaze into yours.

“There’s no need for it. The paper signing is enough. It’s not like we are in-

You knew taeyong understood what you were trying to say, so you didn’t continue. But you were already having a feeling of superiority over yuta for being the first to offer your opinion. It felt like a payback for flustering you earlier. You refrained from facing him again, your body turned towards taeyong only, but you felt satisfied with the thought of him being riled up.

“Oh, but I want a ceremony taeyong and mark is going to be the best man. He’s so excited. You can’t do that to him!” yuta emphasised through the variation in his voice. You knew he changed his argument purposely , but you maintain your cool, opting to ignore him . bear and forbear.

Taeyong raised his eyebrow at you but you shook your head again.

“I don’t think it’d be a good idea. It’s not a normal one anyway so why pretend!” you held your ground.

“You aren’t getting married to a mannequin.” yuta retracted. “I’m getting married as well and don’t anyone dare say that I made a mistake and blah blah. At last I’ll be hitching so I want a ceremony and Japanese at that!”

Oh yeah, he was Japanese. You have missed that as well.

All the other men in the room, 9 to be exact, were nodding at everything that was being said. They were unable to decide whose argument was worth taking side for. Finally Johnny spoke-

“I think y/n is right” looking at nowhere in particular, he continued. “What’s with pomp and show when it’s nothing more than an agreement”

“But if yuta hyung wants it, then why not. They are going to live together, he should have his say as well.” It was Mark who took yuta’s side. He didn’t know why but watching yuta losing ground urged him to support his brother.

You looked briefly at the boy who just argued with Johnny.

“He’s mark y/n.” taeyong said the answer you were looking for. “And he’s Jungwoo, jeno, doyoung, you have already met him, then jaehyun, johnny, renjunie, hendery. Others are busy so you’ll meet them some other day probably.”

A few waved towards you, including Mark, who shyly withdrew his hand quickly. They all probably hated you as there was no other reaction towards a person who almost put your life in danger!

“Can we get to a middle ground now? I’m already getting tired of this” jaehyun grumbled, leaning into the couch.

“Ok so, he wants a celebration of a lie! What about me then? You are all here but I have no one. I’m alone and probably will be. Because taeyong, you haven’t told me how am I going to reveal this to my friends? I may not have a family, but still there are people close to me. They are my best friends, roommate, and many others who need to know! How am I going to explain to them that their friend who didn’t even have a boyfriend, is getting married suddenly? I don’t even have parents to cover it with an arranged marriage. How to convince them? Give me a way and I’ll agree” you pointed out the very important detail that they were missing. But they needed to know that there was other side of the paper as well and your reasons were not just a cry in the wilderness.

Nobody made a sound. Everything went quite like a dark night until-

“I hope this is not the calm before a storm!” you looked over to see the person who broke the silence. It was another young man coming with a food trolley, probably from the kitchen.

“I thought we have a guest so I prepared some coffee and donuts. I hope you like sweets y/n” the man was smiling ear to ear, seeming too happy with your visit.

“I-

“I’m kun.” he introduced himself and you shook his hand. He seemed too polite for a criminal. “Have this and tell me how it is” he forcibly handed you a dessert plate with a chocolate glazed donut. You took it out of politeness but felt a bit weird to be the only one eating it. You watched him with quizzical eyes as he took one for himself and sat on the arm of your couch. Everyone was now staring at your movements.

“Eat it, eat it. These are for you and me only.” he cajoled.

You decided to take a bite and then place it back just to stop the awkwardness.

As you bit it from one side, your brain short circuited. “Holy shit, bro. What is this sorcery.” your genuine and innocent reaction made Kun laugh loudly, some of the others joined in as well.

“Thank god, you like it! I’m so glad you aren’t one of weight conscious ones, otherwise it’d have been weird.” he started munching on his own piece.

“I’m a sugar bear. I can’t live without sugar. I just had a donut in the morning but it was bleh compared to this. You are a master chef bro.” and for a minute you forgot the previous tense environment. Everyone was glad that Kun came to save the situation and except to you, it was known that obviously he heard everything from the kitchen.

“You ate one in the morning! Then it’s the last one you’re getting. Everyone help yourself. She’s not having any more!” as if they were waiting, everyone except mark and yuta picked them up.

“Mark” Kun motioned towards the tray and he grabbed one as well.

“What if I was allergic to chocolate, kun” you asked him while finishing your treat.

“Oh please! Even ten eats it.” he laughed to himself at his reference, which went over your head.

“Now coming to the point.” Everyone looked at taeyong who was already done with eating. “Y/n doesn’t want anything special so it’ll happen like that. No!yuta, lemma speak. And you y/n, it’s upon you to make your friends believe. Make up a story or do whatever you want. You don’t want to tell them about the wedding. Fine with me but do let them know at least that you have a boyfriend that you are moving in with! It’s on you both to make this arrangement believable.

“okay , sho now I shuggenly hab a voyfiend” you started speaking without even finishing the bite in your mouth. you continued once you chewed it.

“won't they be suspicious. They know exactly what I do and what I don’t. It’s almost impossible to put a façade in front of them.”

“Oh please, don’t tell me they even know from where you got those hickies” jaehyun’s curt statement was a hit below the belt. Kun was about to scold him when you elaborated his statement further to prove that he was doing nothing but burning his own fingers.

“Yes, actually they happen to know. When, where and from whom I got these. Anything else you want to ask?.” he rolled his eyes on your reply, busing himself with the delicacy instead.

“They don’t know yuta. So if you want you can introduce him to your people. He won’t be posing any problem, take my word for it.”

“I’ll go with you if you also accompany me,that I guess would be a problem for you. You don’t want to be seen with a criminal, or do you!” yuta jabbered. He was trying to push your buttons to measure your limit. But little did he know that you were far from being that easy.

“I just said I don’t want a wedding. I’ll agree to anything that is reasonable and is not degrading to me.”

“Ok then, nobody would force you to do what you don’t want.” Taeyong decided to take matters into his own hands now. “And we’ll organise a small, very intimate gathering at taeil’s office to celebrate as yuta wants. And you’ll be introduced as Mrs. Nakamoto to our corporate world.” taeyong finished gauging both of your reactions. The surname was foreign and cringing to you. But it was going to be yours, so there was nothing you could do, for now.

“What do you mean ‘our’ corporate world.” you got puzzled at his choice of words.

“You’ll find out soon and it's nothing scary, don’t worry.” Kun responded on behalf of taeyong this time, handing you your cup of coffee. “Tell me if it’s cold, I’ll-

“No it’s totally fine.” you assured him, without even taking a sip. He was being nice enough already.

“If my opinion has no value, then what am I even doing here!” yuta shouted, getting up from the seat.

“yut-

Before Kun could say anything, he stormed off. Mark tried to follow but taeyong stopped him from doing that.

“Don’t mind him. He’s a hot head.” Johnny laughed in between his bites.

You only nodded, sipping your coffee. You were glad he was gone. Sugar has always done wonders for you and it was having the same effects now as well. You were able to think more rationally now.

“One more thing” you furrowed your brows at taeyong. What was left now! “Do you want any specifications in the house? It’s my responsibility. A wedding gift you can say. If you need anything like extra closet, a more spacious kitchen-

“Kitchen?” you let out a brief chuckle at that. Everyone’s eyes were on you now. “It’ll be totally fine if I don’t even get a kitchen. I can’t cook anything besides ramyeon and salads. So I won’t even need that.”

“You are a student. Don’t you know anything basic.” It was Jungwoo who spoke in the sweeter voice than Kun's.

“No. I grew up in an orphanage and they provided us everything. I left when I started law. So all in all, I never had anyone to teach me. That’s why if you want to know best food trucks and restaurants in the city, I’m your best option.but, if that yuta knows how to cook, ask him about the kitchen.” you spoke nonchalantly .But you didn’t realise how uncomfortable the air had become. a heavy silence took over the light atmosphere.

“I’m sorry noona” Jungwoo apologised sheepishly.

“It’s fine. After all there are some things that your hacker can’t find out. only I can tell you those.” saying that, you faced taeyong again. “But if you insist, I can always use a study room.” you tried to enlighten the mood again.,ppp

“Ok. I’ll find something suitable for you both.” you hummed, not knowing what to say anymore.

“Can I go back now?”

“Yes, doyoung will drop you.”

“No, I’ll go with her.” Johnny said, grabbing your attention. He didn’t look sulky like doyoung so, it’d be fine, you guess.

They said you goodbyes. Mark seemed hesitant to even look at you, but you couldn’t care less. He was just a stranger after all.

Yuta couldn’t realise why everyone was trying to be so nice to you. Till yesterday, he was allowed to put a gun on her head but now every being was against him. He didn’t know why he was so furious at Taeyong, to force him to marry you or for dragging Mark into this mess. Taeyong knew how to play dirty, but yuta never thought he’d use his own brother. There was no option for him as well, as taeyong has said. He showed interest in a fucking celebration to contradict you, but you were not backing down and that felt like a punch to his gut.

He drove towards his stress reliever. The infamous Japanese club, the only place where he could drown his sorrows.

The club was packed despite it being Monday. That was one thing he liked about it, you’ll never be disappointed in this place.

“ゆた!” The hostess chimed seeing yuta. “久しぶり” [ long time, no see!]

He signed her to give him 2 shots. She did as told but her gaze was following yuta’s, which rested on her cleavage. He came here only for 2 things after all.

He gulped the drink in a second without blinking an eye.

“バックルーム” [ back room]

She wasn’t someone to be told twice. She handed her hand towel to her co-worker and followed the path. Who was she to reject him after all?

He drove back silently again. The relief he felt was all dissipated now. Instead his mind was already wandering towards you. Your headstrong attitude was troubling him. his plans were all down and out. He hated you , from the moment he laid his eyes on you. You acted like you were invincible but he knew it was just a mask to protect yourself.

He had noticed how you rubbed your eyes to hide your disappointment for you didn’t want to appear weak. All he had to do now was to find a vulnerable part of you, to hit you where it’d hurt the most. It’d be last time he lost to you.

Afterall, beginning is always easy, it is continuing that’s hard!

#nct scenarios #nct imagines #nct drabbles #nct mafia #nct series #nct fluff #nct angst #nct x reader #nct arrange marriage #yuta scenarios #yuta imagines #yuta x reader #yuta mafia #yuta arrange marriage #yuta angst #yuta fluff #nct fanfics

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crystalelemental · 3 years ago

Text

And now, my ranking of the Pokemon Evolutions episodes from worst to best. I’ll just be naming them by region, I can’t remember the actual titles.

8) Alola. Honest to god, all this did was remind me what a trainwreck USUM was. Like okay, you’re showing us the evil Lusamine, and then whoops she’s all worried after being spit back out. Lillie has her big moment with Nebby evolving, but oh whoops we’re gonna completely reverse that and just make Necrozma absorb them, remove Lillie from this narrative entirely, and have Selene 2.0 take care of it. It does nothing particularly interesting and is the worst story to adapt, so yeah, this one did nothing for me.

7) Sinnoh. It’s relatively inoffensive, but it left me super disappointed, because a story concept around Barry sounds great. Like we get to explore a bit more of what he’s doing between events maybe, and see some more of that struggle over not being able to protect Uxie, and the purpose of his search for strength. But they don’t...do that. Instead it’s just...here’s his turnaround from a defeat to his victory, and leading up to him confronting his dad to beat him. It just doesn’t add anything all that interesting or engaging for anyone involved, and kinda focuses on the wrong thing.

6) Kanto. Inoffensive enough, but man, I hate Let’s Go. I don’t want to look at the Let’s Go protagonists, they bug me. Green’s engaging, but that’s just Leaf, and if I have to hear one more person insist that Generations canonized Green so Green is now able to show up in Masters I’m gonna scream. The story itself isn’t really doing much either, but Green is at least more engaging here than Barry was in his episode.

5) Hoenn. It’s okay, but again not my favorite. Probably because I don’t especially like Zinnia either. But it is fairly interesting that they set her up in this kind of light. It’s been ages since I played the Delta Episode, but I don’t remember her handing off responsibility to May being as emotional as this, so points there. I just also feel like it’s...not the most powerful of stories? It didn’t make me feel too much overall.

4) Unova. The Unova episode was super good. It’s basically the recap of N’s life, but told through Ghetsis’ perspective, up to the leadup for the final confrontation. It’s...really good. Ghetsis’ VA does some fantastic work. And the portrayal of N and his expressions really does a lot to sell that this is something he’s worked toward, but he’s not happy about it, all while Ghetsis is monologuing about what this does for him. It hits all the right notes and is just a really solid episode portraying what we essentially already know in a pretty unique way.

3) Kalos. Lysandre remains as confusing as ever, but if there’s one thing I’ll seriously give this episode, it’s making me feel an awful lot of things with that conclusion. After he’s defeated and the announcement goes out, they play that clip of Lysandre as he used to be, and his speech is great and you can definitely see how people are interpreting it as a positive and how optimistic he’s being, but knowing the guy it also kinda rings like...this wasn’t new or a surprise. He’s always had this kind of mentality. And seeing the reactions of some of the others, like Sycamore, was great. I appreciated that we got a little bit of Sycamore actually pushing back on Lysandre’s ideals, and expressing the thematic idea Masters did more playing with that the future isn’t guaranteed and you have to be willing to adapt. It wasn’t the most intense or engaging, but goddamn did I leave feeling some stuff.

2) Johto. Man I would never have guessed Johto would be this high up, but goddamn do I love this episode. I think this is the first one where my praise is the visuals, but moreover the concept of this being a theatrical production. Zinnia’s episode didn’t really make sense in why things would seem to pop to life and have a visible effect on the world, but here it’s clearly set up that these are visual effects produced by the Pokemon involved in the production, and it’s so cool! It’s great to see the Kimono Girls with all their Eeveelutions, giving the Eeveelutions a role that really sells the story they’re trying to convey. And there’s a moment that is legitimately hilarious, and really cute. This one just feels great to watch. It feels organic and natural, like a thing that happens in day to day life. It looks fantastic and is really interesting to me in terms of what it sets up about this fairly minor detail of the Kimono Girls as actors, which is what I think these episodes should aspire to. The basic recaps don’t really do it for me, they’re fairly boring. But the ones that went in a new direction with something small, or dug a little deeper, felt really strong, because it’s new and engaging.

1) Galar. Which is how Galar, somehow, won this. Despite my general dislike of Galar as a region, this episode was really good. Like it’s kind of a shame this one went first, considering how lackluster the very next episode was, and how almost none of the others really compete with it in terms of impact. While Johto was about exploring a different aspect of things than we’d previously seen, Galar digs deep into Leon as a character, and what it presents is the best I’ve seen of the guy. The episode focuses on the leadup to his match with the protagonist (Victor, in this case), and the impact that the Eternatus fight had on him. We get to see a Leon who’s visibly shaken, his confidence wavering, as he grapples with the fact that when things got serious, he wasn’t able to stop it. The unbeatable champion got beat, and it’s weighing on him before his biggest showdown with the person who did save the region. And it’s these kinds of things I wish were explored more with Leon. The idea that he’s been doing this for years, built up as this idol as the unbeatable champion, and is constantly aspiring to be that kind of symbol for the region. So when he can’t uphold that expectation, it’s a big blow, and his usually cheerful demeanor fades. We get this heavy emotion from a character who...barely speaks. The entire story is told through memory, interspersed with the announcer describing the upcoming match and what happened the day before, and as a result, there’s not a clear cut explanation on exactly what Leon may be thinking or feeling, only the visual presentation that it’s something heavy that he’s grappling with. And I fucking love it. It’s so effective at portraying depth to the character, while leaving it open enough to individual interpretation as to what specifically eats at him that makes it work so well. Honestly, if this episode wasn’t as strong as it was, I don’t know if I would’ve even kept up with these. I usually don’t. But goddamn it hit so hard that I had to see what the rest of it produced. And...it did not hold to this quality, but we at least had a few that had some impact.

#pokemon evolutions

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theoriginalladya · 4 years ago

Note

Intimacy Prompts #20: a hand written note for rydenko.

from this list

on AO3 here

Thank you so much for this one! Sorry it took so long - I had an idea, but I got side tracked by other things! :) Enjoy, my friend! And thank you for asking about them!

Setting: Andromeda Galaxy

~~~

It all begins as a joke.

Once his status as Pathfinder is officially recognized, the Initiative administrators cannot act fast enough to guarantee they have Kaidan Alenko on their side. As the Nexus slowly opens, finally coming out of hibernation, the administrators agree they need to do something. So, they give him an apartment.

Scott has his father’s quarters back on the Hyperion, most of the others have their own quarters or stay on the Tempest, but all Kaidan has available to him is a cryo-pod, one that’s no longer useful now that he’s awake. He doesn’t ask for anything, doesn’t even drop a hint. Tann reminds him of others back in the Milky Way, even acts similarly, but he’s a crafty one, too. In a move that is supposed to look as if the Initiative cares about their Pathfinders, they assign their lone Pathfinder an apartment. Whether or not they actually do care about him and the role is beside the point.

Kaidan, who detests being used as a political pawn but recognizes he can do nothing about it, hates it on sight.

Okay, so maybe hate is too strong of a word. It isn’t the orchard back in the BC Interior, that’s for damned sure, and it’s a far cry from shared barracks during his Alliance years. He has a room on the Tempest, so it he has some choice about where he can stay. But this… this tiny cubicle that they are calling an apartment? Four walls, open spacing, barely any room to turn around without bumping into something? There is absolutely nothing homey about it. Home, is something he’s still searching for.

That lasts about three weeks, until the day Scott drops by when Kaidan isn’t there and instead of messaging him to meet up elsewhere, leaves a handwritten note slipped beneath his door. Kaidan almost misses it when he gets back after his meeting with Tann, Addison, and Kesh. Just a small slip of paper – where had Scott found actual paper? – written in black ink. A hint of white on an otherwise light-colored floor which is barely discernable. Something about it catches the corner of his eye, though.

K – Stopped by to see you. Catch you later. Scott

Kaidan reads it twice, just in case he’s having hallucinations thanks to the burgeoning migraine before setting it on the corner of his desk, thinking to send a reply via omni-tool. But the meetings with Tann and the others are taking their toll, and even with SAM’s assistance, the pain is such he forgets until the next morning, at which point he decides to just head on over to the Hyperion instead.

Of course, Scott isn’t there.

Scott – Was in the area and thought I’d save you a trip. Better luck next time, right? Catch you on the Tempest. K

The Tempest is scheduled out the next morning and, as typically happens aboard the ship with last minute things to do and distractions of all kinds, neither he nor Scott thinks to mention the messages to the other; almost an ‘out of sight, out of mind,’ sort of thing. End of story.

Except, it isn’t.

The weeks pass, more notes appear at the apartment and on the Tempest or Hyperion. Small ones. Silly ones. Eventually, Scott starts leaving small sketches of different people on them – quick things, some cute, some ridiculous, but always they leave Kaidan smiling.

A caricature of Tann speaking with Addison and Kesh mimicking him behind his back even as Tann’s head is blown up twice the size of the others.

A small cartoon of Suvi in the galley, laser focused as she points to different Heleus rocks and explains their different tastes to a very confused looking Drack while Lexi stands in the doorway scolding her.

A stick figure sketch of Kallo and the several of the Tempest at various stages of the ship’s development.

Kaidan cannot hide his amusement at a more realistic looking sketch of Cora and Liam as they lean against one another in the back seat of the Nomad, fast asleep. He remembers the incident clearly, from their last visit to Elaaden. Even as he stares at the sketch, he swears he can hear their soft snores echoing in his ears as he tacks it to the wall over his desk next to the others.

Not to be outdone, Kaidan starts leaving quotes in his messages to Scott; from books, movies, and other inspirational sources he’s come across. He’s been collecting them for years, long before he ever left for BAaT. Most are saved on his omni-tool, but he has two small, leatherbound journals filled with the most meaningful ones he’s come across. They are about the only thing he was able to bring with him from home when he joined the Initiative.

Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. (1)

The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty. (2)

We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated. (3)

Fear profits a man nothing.(4)

With each successive note between them, Kaidan learns a little bit more about Scott. But the whole situation changes drastically after their adventures on the archon’s ship. On the way back to the Nexus and after Lexi has cleared him, Kaidan does something he hasn’t done in centuries, if ever…

~~~~

The buzzer to his Nexus apartment sounds, but Kaidan doesn’t bother to answer it. It’s Scott, and the man has his own key. The buzzer, he supposes, is Scott’s polite way to warn him that he’s arrived. The fact that Scott uses does it now of all times tells Kaidan something more; Scott is pissed.

Well, I probably deserve it after what happened.

He’s tempted to not answer, to see if Scott leaves a note, but decides not to risk it. Opening the door, he steps to the side to allow the younger man in. Scott remains silent, though his body language screams in a way that Kaidan easily recognizes. Taut, tense, his lips tightened in a thin line, the way he won’t look directly at Kaidan… It’s one side of a conversation Kaidan’s been on many times, albeit hundreds of years before and in a different galaxy.

“Do you have any idea what you just did?” Scott demands, blue eyes sharp and snapping with anger. “Any idea what could have happened back on the archon’s ship if SAM hadn’t been able to resuscitate you? You-you could have died back there!”

Opting to let the younger man get it out in one fell swoop, Kaidan bides his time. Well, except for one point of clarification. “I did die.”

Scott growls in the back of his throat. An honest to goodness growl. Kaidan can’t help the small smirk that twists at his lips as a result. When Scott steps forward, invading his personal space, Kaidan does something he usually doesn’t do; he goads him. “What? It’s the truth, isn’t it?”

“Not helping the situation!”

Kaidan isn’t certain if he should be worried that SAM is, so far, remaining silent in his head. “I needed to get us out of there,” he argues instead. “How else was I going to –?”

“You? Why did it have to be you? Why is it always you?” Scott tosses his hands in the air and turns away, frustration building until his biotic corona flickers around him. Still grumbling to himself, he turns back, glaring at Kaidan. “What the hell am I going to do if I lose you like that?”

Kaidan sucks in a breath, recognizing the pain. Sure, things between them have improved since their arrival in Andromeda – no place to go but up, right? – but this…? This is a reinforcement of what he’s hoped for ever since accepting Alec Ryder’s offer.

Or am I reading too much into this?

On their private channel, SAM replies, “You are not, Kaidan.”

Scott still prowls around the room as Kaidan asks, “Can you come over here for a minute?”

“Why? So you can die on me a third time?”

Petulance is not a good look for Scott, and Kaidan has to bite back a laugh; as much as he wants to set it free, it would do more harm than good just now. “I want to show you something.”

Scott grumbles some more, even as Kaidan heads on over, but eventually he follows. When he arrives, Kaidan hands him the letter. “Read this.”

The blue-eyed glare returns, heavy with suspicion. “What is it?”

“Just read. Please.”

Scott waits another moment, two, then drops his gaze and starts reading. For several minutes, Kaidan waits patiently, watching. The letter isn’t long, but Scott is taking his time reading it, but Kaidan knows when Scott reaches the end because the younger man’s spine stiffens, his shoulders roll back, and his head snaps up as he darts a quick look up at Kaidan. “Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.(5)”

When Scott says nothing else, Kaidan prods, “So, what do you think?”

Scott is quiet for a minute. It’s difficult to read his reaction because he keeps his back to Kaidan the entire time, slightly hunched in the shoulders, utterly quiet. “Do you mean it?” he asks, voice soft as if having trouble pushing it out.

“I always try to say what I mean, Scott.”

The younger man turns around, his face a surprisingly neutral mask. Considering how difficult that has been for him in the past, Kaidan is impressed. “So, you’re saying you consider yourself the luckiest man on Earth or, in this case I guess, the Nexus, because you survived?”

Ah, so that’s the problem. Reaching over, Kaidan settles a hand on Scott’s cheek. Scott leans into it, then apparently thinks better of it or at the very least realizes what he’s doing and pulls back. But that’s okay. Kaidan now has a far better sense of what he is working with. Running his thumb along the corner of Scott’s lips, he says quietly, “I am the luckiest man in Andromeda because you are here with me.”

Tension immediately flows out of Scott and he visibly sags a bit. “And you really mean that? Because look, I get that my Dad talked you into all of this without checking with me first, and –”

Kaidan slides his thumb over the top of Scott’s lips to silence him. “I really mean that. This has nothing to do with your dad, but everything to do with you….”

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

(1) The Godfather, part II

(2) Winston Churchill

(3) Maya Angelou

(4) 13th Warrior

(5) The Pride of the Yankees

#intimacy prompts #ladya writes #rydenko #scott ryder #kaidan alenko #straight on til morning #mass effect #mass effect andromeda #mallaidhsomo

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stardustryewriting · 4 years ago

Text

A Learning Process (5)

AO3: here

Part 1 2 3 4

Solitary Learning

The first thing on Bakugou’s agenda should be to find out if Kirishima even liked guys. And since he didn’t have an agenda, he wouldn’t bother to find out. Even if did catch some stupid, warm, fuzzy, cozy feelings, that didn’t mean he would indulge them. They were only in the way, in his way, to become the number one hero. And he didn’t need any more path blockers.

And even if he thought about indulging them - which he didn’t, never, not even for a split second - that wouldn’t mean it led him to anything. Because the one thing no one could guarantee was if Kirishima even liked guys like that.

Bakugou had been friends with Kirishima since the sports festival, when that stupid, optimistic, sunshine-smile idiot insisted on forming a team with him, and Kirishima never said anything about liking anyone. Maybe he, like Bakugou himself, was determined to not get sidetracked by something as trivial as feelings. Or maybe, none of the girls were interesting to him. Or maybe, even if he was into guys, he was into another type of guys.

The possibilities were near endless. Bakugou decided not to dwell on it.

So, he did the logical thing and avoided Kirishima at all costs. Not because he didn’t know how to deal with his feelings (he didn’t, but that wasn’t the point), but because every time he saw Kirishima, the idiot was trying to get him to talk about what bothers him. And that was the one thing Bakugou was currently trying to forget.

He wasn’t even really avoiding Kirishima, he was just avoiding being alone with Kirishima, because as soon as at least one other friend of theirs was present, Kirishima suddenly didn’t have an urge to talk about feelings anymore. So Bakugou had been more social in the past week, than he ever had been in his life.

Unfortunately, it led him to where he was now. Which was the common room, on a Friday night, sitting around the TV with what Kaminari had called the Bakusquad. He immediately took the name back, when Bakugou glared daggers at him, but the others had heard, so the damage was done. Also, since when was Jirou a part of their squad? (Bakugou would deny to his dying day, that there was a ‘squad’).

Even worse, Mina had picked out the movie, because apparently it was her turn - and he couldn’t help but silently agree with Kaminari and Sero that there never had been ‘turns’ - so they were stuck watching some romance movie. Which proved that life was just a joke at his expense, really. Also, Mina ignored most of the movie in favor of making ‘girls talk’ (read: talking about boys) with Jirou, which didn’t even really work because Jirou was a lesbian.

The only thing keeping Bakugou from running away was the certainty that Kirishima would be on his heels. And then, he’d have to talk.

“If Aizawa were our age, I’d go for it”, Mina said, completely unprompted to an entirely disinterested Jirou and Bakugou was about to tell her how much he doesn’t care, but Kirishima was faster. Bakugou almost suffered a heart attack.

“Yeah, me too.”

That was a whole lot of information Bakugou had to unpack. So much information, in fact, that he completely forgot to snap at Mina for starting that conversation. Me too? What did he mean Me too? Did he find a guy objectively attractive? Would he have phrased it like that, if it were objective? Who even found Aizawa of all people attractive?

He felt his head swimming, the gears turning and his thoughts going into overdrive. No matter how you looked at it, Kirishima just admitted to liking guys. He just turned Bakugou’s entire assessment about his feelings not mattering on its head by saying three simple words. Yeah, me too never felt like such a slap to his face. He loathed how easy it was to catch him off-guard these days.

“Dude what?”, Kaminari exclaimed, sounding like he was caught off guard, too. To be fair, he probably was. Bakugou certainly wasn’t expecting any of them to come out of the closet that night and neither were the others, if their shocked expressions and silent stares at Kirishima were anything to go by.

“Yeah”, Kirishima said, raising one hand to the back of his head and started rubbing, a gesture Bakugou knew meant he was nervous, “I always liked guys. I was a bit nervous to tell you, but since Midoriya and Todoroki came out and all of you took it so well, I guess it doesn’t matter. So yeah, I’m gay.”

“Congrats”, Jirou said, without a moment's hesitation and then raised her glass as if she wanted to toast. That broke the ice quite well, as both Mina and Kaminari also quickly assured Kirishima that being gay changed nothing but Mina’s plans of shipping. Which wasn’t anything of value.

“Great bro, just don’t hit on me”, Sero joked, obviously surprised and at a loss for words. Not as much as Bakugou tho.

“He’s gay, not desperate”, Jirou shot back immediately, before Kirishima even had the chance to open his mouth. If Bakugou were in a better state of mind, he would have officially accepted her as part of his non-existent squad, just for that comment. But he wasn’t.

Because Kirishima was gay. He liked guys. Suddenly what could happen if Bakugou revealed his feelings wasn’t so hypothetical anymore. He could stand a chance at having something real with Kirishima. Something that would feel warm, and safe and welcoming, if he were to believe Todoroki. He could hold hands, and kiss Kirishima. They could share a bed, so Kirishima would be the last one he saw at night and the first one he saw in the morning. Scary thought.

Scary, because Bakugou could feel it growing on him. Like some tumor he never asked for, and that his body mistook for something pleasant instead of something to cut off. Extra dead weight, that could get very dangerous, very quickly. He needed to get rid of it. Get rid of it soon.

Before it became his undoing.

“Bakugou?” Kaminari called from his side, but it sounded like a question. Only then did Bakugou realize that he spaced out, and he was the only one who hasn’t yet said anything about Kirishima’s recent reveal. Because he was too busy thinking about it, which none of the idiots was allowed to find out.

“Yeah, congrats”, he mumbled absentmindedly, trying to figure out the fastest way to get out of this situation. He didn’t trust himself staying there any longer than needed. “Gotta go, this whole thing is stupid.”

Definitely not the smartest thing he could have said, not by a landslide. He saw hurt flicker across Kirishima’s eyes for barely a second and he felt himself internally cringing, at his absolute inability to choose words wisely. He stopped himself from physically cringing and hoped he hadn’t done irreparable damage.

“Yeah, this kind of movie isn't your thing”, Kirishima said distractedly and Bakugou quickly agreed if only to save face. Better blame the movie than let them think he was rushing away because he was uncomfortable with gay people. Or worse, let them find out what really was so uncomfortable about Kirishima’s specific coming out.

So he walked away, after Kirishima offered him an out. And if he walked a bit faster than usual, that was no one’s business.

__________________

“That was weird”, Kaminari commented after Bakugou’s too swift retreat. Kirishima brushed him off, not wanting to talk about it. He never stood a chance anyway, so it shouldn’t matter what Bakugou thought of him being gay. He purposefully ignored the look Jirou was sending him, in favor of concentrating on the movie. Even though it was a bad movie.

“Yeah”, Jirou agreed loudly, possibly to force a reaction out of Kirishima, “I thought we got rid of the last homophobe when Mineta was expelled.” Kirishima knew for a fact that Jirou prolonged her coming out until after Mineta was gone. He couldn’t help being relieved himself.

“He isn’t homophobic. He probably just needs time to process”, he heard himself defending Bakugou, though his heart wasn’t in it. Maybe that was his actual problem with spending time with Midoriya and Todoroki. Maybe Bakugou knew about Midoriya’s preferred gender long before any of them did, and that was his reason for his violent behaviour.

Kirishima hated the thought, but it was a possibility.

“Process what? There isn’t anything to process. He’s making a big deal out of nothing”, Jirou protested immediately and Mina agreed with her via a firm nod. Kirishima didn’t know how long he could still defend Bakugou. He wasn’t even sure there was something to defend anymore.

“Cut him some slack! His best friend coming out so unexpectedly might have caught him off guard. We all know how much he hates that”, Kaminari joined in and Jirou grumbled in disgruntled agreement. Normal conversation rules barely applied to Bakugou, even under normal circumstances.

Still, when the ruckus calmed down somewhat and Kirishima was alone with his thoughts again - movie fading into a background noise no matter how much he tried to concentrate on it - he couldn’t help but think. What if he really ruined his friendship with Bakugou by coming out? What if Bakugou did hate the thought of him with another guy?

He shot Bakugou a text before he could think better of it. He really wished he would have thought about it before.

hey i hope my confession hasn’t changed anything you know, you’re not disgusted or anything

He wanted to hit himself. How stupid could he possibly be? Who sent that kind of text to someone who just fled the scene? An idiot, only an idiot could do something like that. Kirishima put the phone face-down under his thigh on the couch and deliberately ignored it, even when it vibrated two times. No one even said it was Bakugou’s answer, but Kirishima wouldn’t look at it.

Because if Bakugou confirmed that, yes, in fact he was disgusted by Kirishima, he wouldn’t know what he’d do. Probably break down right there, on a couch in the middle of the common room, surrounded by his friends. He refused to stoop that low.

So, after the movie was over, he made a show of not hurrying to his room. Instead he helped clear away their snacks, cleaned the dishes they were served in and even listened to Kaminari’s dumb take on the ending. Only after all this did he excuse himself, to make his way upstairs. He tip-toed past Bakugou’s room, to not upset him any further, should his response actually be negative.

In his room, he took his time changing into his pyjamas and sorting his clothes of the day into the dirty clothes pile or onto the chair, if they were good for one more day. Then, he decided, he would get out his homework for the next week and sort it into a pile in a way that the most urgent ones were the first ones he would grab the next morning. He intentionally ignored his sweaty palms and his steadily louder beating heart throughout it all.

Only when there was nothing else to do - and he double-checked that there was nothing else he could possibly do - did he get his phone from his nightstand. He saw his hands shaking more than he felt them and in any other situation, he would have laughed. Who got this worked up over a text? But currently he felt more like throwing up than laughing, so he didn’t.

Of course not. Do I look like Mineta to you Shitty Hair? It was unexpected is all

Kirishima couldn’t help the light feeling washing over him. Like a weight dropping off his shoulders. He did actually laugh a little at that. So what if he still didn’t stand a chance with Bakugou? At least he wasn’t hated.

__________________

Bakugou was looking over the city, which was far below him at this point. He took a deep breath of the fresh mountain air and closed his eyes for a second to bask in the early spring sun. He heard the ground scrunch beneath his feet with every little movement he made. What a satisfying sound. It was barely lunch, but he was already near the top and it made a sense of accomplishment wash over him.

Mountain climbing has always been his best stress relief.

Even now, it proved worthy of the time he spent arguing with All Might about a last minute permission slip to go out that morning. All Might was just too curious for his own good. But Bakugou got his permission and he’d wasted no time in getting out of the school and onto the first bus driving in the right direction.

He missed mountain climbing. There was no better way to clear your head and get your shit in order than climbing the highest mountain in vicinity and worrying about nothing but arriving on the top. The top, where he could scream about his problems from the top of his lungs and no one would hear him. Finally a good way to get rid of his pent-up aggression. Reaching the top was also like a mini-training session, which was never a bad thing.

It was also the perfect way to think about stuff, without being interrupted. ‘Stuff’ was of course referring to his feelings for Kirishima. Feelings, which might just amount to anything, now that Bakugou knew Kirishima liked guys. He tried not to linger on that for too long. Even if Kirishima liked guys, and Bakugou did fit his description of a manly guy, there was still a problem.

He wasn’t the kind of guy you wanted to introduce to your parents. He was loud and explosive - both figuratively and literally. He had a too thin patience and virtually no people skills. Those were the reasons he had failed his provisional licence exam, the first time around. All in all, Bakugou wasn’t the kind of guy someone would proudly call their boyfriend. Or anything beyond that, really. He wasn’t even sure people proudly called him a friend.

He never cared before, he shouldn’t care now. Except he did. And he didn’t. Because thinking about whether or not Kirishima would call him his boyfriend, proudly or not, was obsolete anyways. He would never even let it get that far.

If Kirishima actually returned his feelings - and that was the unlikely version - he still wouldn’t do anything, because there wasn’t a point in doing anything. If it went well and they started dating, Kirishima would stop at Bakugou’s boundaries for physical touch. Or at his absolute inability to voice anything but anger in the feelings departement. Or at the fact that apparently it takes two business weeks for Bakugou to figure out what the weird feeling in his chest is. Eventually, Bakugou’s shortcomings would be the death of any potential relationship he could have with Kirishima.

On the other hand, if his feelings weren’t returned - which was more likely, considering his previous reasons not to date him - the only thing he would accomplish by confessing would be absolutely wrecking one of the best friendships he’s had in years. He wasn’t about to do that. So it was doing nothing and waiting out his feelings. They couldn’t last forever, could they?

Bakugou hated the waiting out tactic. He wasn’t patient enough for it, not by a mile. But Aizawa always told him to work on his weaknesses and he was nothing, if not a good student. Not necessarily in the traditional sense, but still. He was third place in the mid-term exams and always high-ranking - if not first - in the hero exams. Which he wouldn’t be, if he couldn’t apply criticism to his training routine. He would just view this as a big training exercise. He could do that.

When he finally reached the top, he let his back-pack fall to the ground. He took a second to gather his thoughts and refocus on the main reason he went there. Screaming out his anger and frustration until nothing was left. Then he walked to the edge slowly, looking over what lay beneath him once again.

It wasn’t a very big mountain, so he could still see the city and everything else fairly well. Still, he was sure no one would hear him, because he was alone and sound didn’t travel that well into the city. Even if it did, U.A. lay at the completely opposite side that he was currently facing. Bakugou took a deep breath, gathered his thoughts and then screamed out what had been plaguing him for two weeks:

“Stupid fucking hair, stupid fucking smile! Stupid Shitty Hair worrying about me, like a damn saint. IDIOT always staring at me and being so fucking considerate and saying stuff so flirtingly. I FUCKING HATE LIKING MY BEST FRIEND!”

He felt lighter somehow. He let himself fall flat on his back after he was done, staring up at the sky like he hadn’t in a while. The position of the sun let him assume it was around lunch time and a quick glance at his phone confirmed that. It also showed him a missed call from Kirishima, undoubtedly to ask if he felt alright.

He got up, screamed some more unintelligible things at the void and ignored the call. Then, he went to his backpack and took out the lunch he made himself.

__________________

Kirishima didn’t even try to resist the urge to check his phone again. He had taken the entire night to work up the courage to finally confront Bakugou about all of his weird behaviour, only for his plans to be blown off again. When he had eventually encouraged himself enough to go knock at Bakugou’s door that morning, determined not to leave until he got his answers, he got nothing instead.

Nothing but freezing feet, because he stood in front of that door for a while, thinking that Bakugou willingly ignored him. If Midoriya hadn’t come by to tell him that Bakugou got permission from All Might to go out, he’d probably still stand there. Like the idiot he was.

So, he tried calling and reached deaf ears. He only called once to not appear too desperate. He didn’t want Bakugou to think he was dependent on him or something along those lines. He figured Bakugou would call back, eventually, at least to yell at him to not annoy him, when he deliberately wanted to spend time on his own. He got nothing instead.

No call, no text, no sign that Bakugou still wanted something to do with him.

“You’re looking awfully down”, Kaminari said, sliding in the chair next to him, propping his head on one hand and his hand on the table to look at him, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing big”, Kirishima sighed, truthfully, because Bakugou wasn’t ignoring him for the first time. It wasn’t even really a rare occurrence. Bakugou wasn’t a people-person, not by a long shot, he usually prefered his quiet and spending time away from people. He actually sought out alone-time, like Kirishima sought out time to spend with other people. They were polar opposites in that regard.

Normally, it didn’t bother Kirishima. He found it weird at first, but Todoroki - who shared Bakugou’s fondness of alone-time - tried to explain once that it was like the battery of a phone. His ability to be around people charged when he was alone and it depleted when he spent time with people. Once it was fully depleted it would need to charge again. Kirishima never got confirmation, but he always assumed it worked similarly for Bakugou. But usually, Bakugou wasn’t mad at him, when he kept away.

“Bakugou’s gone out without telling anybody”, Kaminari guessed, even though it wasn’t phrased as a question and Kirishima could only nod in response. Kaminari raised one of his eyebrows at him, but whatever he wanted to say was rudely interrupted by Jirou, who yelled over the back of the couch.

“Fuck him!” She was immediately chided by Iida for her choice of words, but Mina enthusiastically agreed with her anyway. Iida tried to make a compromise - they could be mad at Bakugou, but they should still use appropriate language - and Yaoyorozu backed him. Jirou agreed that her choice of words was harsh after that - Kaminari waggled his eyebrows at Kirishima and he couldn’t help but snicker, because of course Jirou would agree with Yaoyorozu. Still, Mina was onto him now.

“Is it about Bakugou?”, she inquired in a sickly-sweet voice, that made Kaminari fake-gag. He got a slap on the back of his head for that, at which Jirou chuckled in the background. Good to know she was still paying attention. As was probably everyone else in the common room, Kirishima was aware. This could end bad.

“Not really, I just wanted to know whether he was okay. But he seems to be”, ignoring me was the way this sentence would end, if he were realistic and honest, “distracted.” Which wasn’t a lie, not really, because if Bakugou wanted to ignore him, he would distract himself. He still felt slightly bad about saying it like that.

“Is there something we can do about that?”, Mina asked, now sounding like she honestly wanted to help him. That was worse, way worse, because Kirishima wasn’t even a hundred percent honest with her.

“Fuck him?”, Kaminari suggested playfully, big idiotic-smile across his face, waggling his eyebrows first at Kirishima, suggestively and then at Jirou mockingly. Kirishima tried not to choke on his spit, while trying to come up with a good comeback. Jirou flipped him the bird behind Yaoyorozu’s head. Iida saw it anyway and turned it into a completely new lecture. A very loud lecture. At least the others couldn’t overhear them easily anymore.

“I was thinking about comfort ice-cream!”, Mina declared and Kirishima had never been happier about a change of topics before, “With strawberries and chocolate sauce.”

With that she marched right into the kitchen, closely followed by Kaminari, who wouldn’t say no to ice-cream, even if he were laying on his deathbed. Kirishima had half the mind to go with them, but he trusted Mina with making big ice-cream bowls for all of them. Instead he checked his phone again. He didn’t count how often he’d been doing it, ever since he first called, but the result remained the same. No new messages from Bakugou.

Mina and Kaminari came back a few minutes later with delicious looking ice-cream bowls in hand and deep in a discussion about whether the Avengers or the Justice League would win a fight. Kirishima took the ice-cream gratefully and joined effortlessly into the discussion, making a case for Tony Stark’s superior intellect, which Kaminari immediately countered (“Superman is literally ‘Out of this World’, no way some brain cells counter that.”). The discussion went on for longer than it had any right to, but it served its purpose. While arguing passionately in favor of Iron Man, he forgot to check his phone.

__________________

In hindsight, ignoring the call might have not been the best thing he could have done. Bakugou knew this, the moment he stepped through the front door, because Jirou - who was braiding Yaoyorozu’s hair on the common room couch, for some reason - immediately regarded him with a stink eye. So, she still thought he was homophobic, which was great. (Not really.)

Yaoyorozu, at least, was more civil and instead of sending him weird looks, that he couldn’t properly interpret anyways, she just informed him that Kirishima had been looking for him. Something Bakugou already knew, by virtue of the still unanswered call his phone showed him everytime he checked the time that day. But he didn’t feel like arguing, so he just went past them, to the elevator to get to his room.

Bakugou felt all of his irritation - that he spent the majority of the day working off - rushing back, when the elevator doors opened and he came face to face with Kirishima. Someone must have been playing a joke at his expense. Kirishima, for his part, looked as surprised as Bakugou was about their encounter, so at least he hadn’t been stalking him. It was only a small consolation.

As soon as Bakugou side-stepped to let Kirishima out, the other shook his head firmly and Bakugou knew, there was no way out of this. Kirishima finally had him cornered. He played briefly with the thought of getting off at another level and acting like he wanted something from one of their classmates, but he knew it was futile. The only two he was certain weren’t in the common room right that moment were Deku and Todoroki. He certainly wasn’t about to interrupt Deku and Todoroki.

“I think we should talk”, Kirishima said, seriously, after Bakugou had stepped in and the elevator doors had closed. Smart, he knew very well Bakugou wouldn’t have taken the elevator with him, if he had said so before. It really added to feeling trapped, too. He wouldn’t tell Kirishima that.

“You think?”, Bakugou questioned, deciding that since avoidance was out of question - Kirishima smartly made sure of that - he would power through instead. How long could he play dumb, before Kirishima became frustrated with him? He was willing to find out.

“Yes, I think”, Kirishima replied firmly, straightening his back, while he was watching the numbers tick by. They were almost at their level, Bakugou knew, because he too watched the numbers, to avoid having to look at Kirishima for just a moment longer. It was futile, he knew, eventually they would arrive and then he’d have to justify himself, for all of his weird behaviour. He tried not to think about it too much.

When they arrived too soon, Kirishima made sure Bakugou got out of the elevator first and then he was hot on his heels, until Bakugou opened his door and let Kirishima in. They fell back into their old pattern, Bakugou sitting on his back and Kirishima in his desk chair, idly swinging himself from side to side with one foot. Bakugou felt the deja-vu and he’d bask in it, except last time they were in his room like that, it didn’t end well.

He doubted it would work out better this time.

Kirishima hummed, looking around Bakugou’s room, over the All Might poster that had been hanging on his walls since the day he moved in. He remembered how Kirishima had teased him for them, briefly, before admitting to having a secret Crimson Riot poster in his dorm, when Bakugou became irritated with him. He briefly wondered if Kirishima remembered that day, too, whenever he looked at Bakugou’s posters. It was an easier time.

“You know”, Kirishima said, slowly and quietly, like he didn’t want to disturb their current peace, “I always thought it was cool that you strived so high. Wanting to be like All Might is something, really. You remember how embarrassed you’d been when I first saw that?” He pointed at the very same poster Bakugou had been thinking about, a vague smile on his lips, like it wasn’t sure it belonged there.

“You almost raised hell”, Kirishima continued, without offering Bakugou a chance to answer, “But when I told you, your secret was safe with me, you trusted me. Just like when I offered you my hand to escape Kamino or when I checked your back for injuries after rough training sessions. You’ve always trusted me.”

He lowered his head, silence heavy in the air and Bakugou was convinced there was something else. He could feel it lingering in the air between them, he saw it in the way his chair speed up, because Kirishima put more pressure on the leg that was swinging him. Something big was coming and it agitated Kirishima. It agitated Bakugou, too, but he wouldn’t show it. He refused.

“Why don’t you trust me anymore?”, Kirishima breathed, barely loud enough for Bakugou to hear, in a terrible broken voice, that was nothing like Kirishima. That wasn’t the loud, happy, sunshine-smile guy he fell in love with. That was after the sports festival Kirishima, who feared his quirk wasn’t flashy enough and that he wasn’t good enough. That wasn’t the unwavering, unbreakable best friend that Bakugou respected. And it was his fault.

“I do trust you”, he argued, ignoring his pride, while admitting what he’d never thought he needed to admit. But he’d be damned if Kirishima was falling apart because of him.

“No, you don’t”, Kirishima shot back, a sniffing sound accompanying his statement, but he still didn’t look at Bakugou.

“Yes, I do”, he replied firmly, not knowing what else to say. Not, without giving too much away.

“If you did”, Kirishima declared, head snapping up and Bakugou could see his red-rimmed eyes, “You would tell me what’s bothering you!”

“Nothing bothers me”, he snapped, not even regretting his tone, when Kirishima’s expression visibly hardened, “I’m just fine!”

“I know for a fact that you’re not ‘fine’”, Kirishima argued, heavy tone in his voice but refusing to budge. Bakugou hated how hard-headed his best friend could be sometimes. And people thought Bakugou was the stubborn one out of the two. Kirishima was just as bad.

“You know ‘for a fact’”, Bakugou mocked, seeing Kirishima deflate at his statement, but still not stopping. He wasn’t even sure he could go back anymore.

Kirishima sagged into himself again, the hardened look on his face vanished as fast as it had appeared and he just looked tired. In a way that let Bakugou know he had been thinking about something too heavily for too long. Bakugou would have wondered if he had that same look on his face, if he was any more rational. Unfortunately, he wasn’t.

“You know shit about me!”, he declared, hoping to solve this matter once and for all, but Kirishima had other plans. Which obviously included a change of tactics.

"Do you ever want to talk about your feelings, Bakugou?", Kirishima inquired gently, as if he feared scaring Bakugou away. Bakugou couldn’t help but feel belittled. Him, being scared away by some words. Kirishima must have been delusional. (There was a voice inside his head, that was, in fact, scared by the sudden change of topics, but his pride and his anger roared louder.)

"FUCK NO!"

“Well, I think you should”, Kirishima said, not budging from his position and Bakugou noted duly, that he stopped swinging some time ago. He paid it no mind. Instead he tried to argue again, but Kirishima was faster.

“You fleeing from the mall, the talk with Todoroki, your almost clash with Monoma and then fleeing again when I came out yesterday”, Kirishima listed, effortlessly and Bakugou started to feel like Kirishima had thought this conversation out before, “They are all related, aren’t they?”

“And if they were”, Bakugou said even though he felt more like he was admitting something, because he really didn’t see a way out, “it still wouldn’t be your business.”

“You’re right. Technically it’s not”, Kirishima agreed easily, voice still so damn quiet and heavy with something unspoken, that Bakugou just couldn’t point out. It irritated him almost as much as the rest of the conversation did. “But I feel like it’s related to me.”

That was the most efficient thing to shut Bakugou up in a while. Even his brain provided no more words or thoughts for him, it was just empty. A state of mind, which he failed to achieve for days brought forth by one sentence from Kirishima. He’d laugh at the irony, but he wasn’t sure he had that capacity right now. He wasn’t sure he had any capacity for anything.

“What makes you think that?”, he mumbled, still feeling like he was out of his body and out of the conversation.

“You’re looking at me like”, Kirishima hesitated, probably to look for the right word and Bakugou realised somewhere in the corner of his mind that this might be the end. He felt strangely calm for that. “Like you’re disgusted. What did I do? Just tell me what I did, please!”

The pleading tone in Kirishima’s voice almost broke his heart, he felt disgusted with himself for letting it get that far. All because of some stupid feelings that ultimately wouldn’t even amount to anything.

“Nothing has changed!”, he argued, weakly, his brain still rebooting and he really hoped it wouldn’t take much longer. He didn’t know how much more of this conversation he could get through on auto-pilot. He didn’t even know how dependable his auto-pilot was.

“Yes it has, and you know it.”

"Well, you STUPID FUCKING ASSHOLE! maybe I don't wanna be your damn friend!", he exploded, because obviously his brain couldn’t reboot fast enough and his anger decided to take over. Kirishima looked like Bakugou had actually physically hit him. Was there a worse way to phrase that particular sentiment? Bakugou highly doubted it.

Slowly, carefully, as if he feared upsetting Bakugou anymore, Kirishima cradled his hand against his chest, eyes still blown wide and his mouth stood open, without anything coming out. Bakugou didn’t even have to concentrate to see the tears forming in Kirishima’s eyes. He distantly felt pressure burning behind his own as well.

“You don’t mean that”, Kirishima whispered, but it sounded like a plea and Bakugou wished he could take it back, but his brain was still out of order and his anger still reigned.

“Yes, I meant that”, he barked back, voice more aggressive than he ever remembered it being, despite feeling numb. He saw a few tears slip down Kirishima’s cheeks and for the first time since his brain went out, he heard something other than his anger giving orders in his head. He wanted, so desperately, to wipe away that tear and hold Kirishima close.

“Well”, Kirishima breathed, tonelessly, before Bakugou had properly finished his last thought, “That’s an answer.”

He didn’t run. He got up slowly, moved past Bakugou’s furniture and to his door with care, but purpose and didn’t say another word, didn’t even look at him, until he was about to close the door. While standing in his doorway, Kirishima gave him one last look, so devoid of emotion apart from the tear trays on his cheeks, that Bakugou felt like crying. Maybe he was, he wasn’t sure. Kirishima closed the door slowly, it only made a low sound, when it fell shut, but it still echoed loudly and Bakugou’s mind.

A few minutes later, when his brain had finally started working again, the only thought it provided for him was: Well, you might as well have told him. Now it’s all shit anyways.

#kiribaku #angst #fanfic #mina #mina ashido #jirou #kirishima eijirou #kirishima #bakugou katsuki #bakugou

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ivyjlopez · 4 years ago

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October 9, 2020, 8:19pm Q&A 101

Eight days before my birthday as of this writing. I’m actually having second thoughts if I should do a blog or a vlog. But, I do like writing and releasing my thoughts through words rather than speaking up. So, as I’m about to enter another year and continue to be an adult I’d like to start doing things I’ve wished I’ve done earlier. I do not intend to have plenty of followers in any social media platforms, the only goal is to write, encourage and lead people closer to Christ through my writings and to release the thoughts I have in my head for quite some time. Yes, I’ve always been telling people that I am an introverted gal and even so, that doesn’t mean I cannot share the gospel having this personality. Introversion is not a disease and if you know you’re one of the “introverted peeps” and is frightened to share the word by speaking up or encouraging people then share it the introverted way. You go, gal! The Lord got your back. ;)

To begin this blogging journey, I’ve let some of my friends ask me certain questions about anything that they’d like to ask. Disclaimer, those that you’re about to read below are just based on my thoughts and opinions, and I’ve used some verses from the scriptures and will be using ‘em in my future blogs, if you’re actually opposed or you want to correct anything, feel free. So, here you go…

Question #1

Who are you?

I chose to answer this one first as a way of introducing myself a lil’ bit. So, most of my colleagues knew me as someone who’s meek, timid and quiet. But for those who are actually close to me would somehow oppose (lols). People would usually talk to me and seek advice as if I am a pro (lols kidding aside). I think it’s just that they consider me as someone worthy enough to be trusted sharing their deepest darkest secrets since I usually prefer to listen to someone’s rants and let the person do the talking cause sometimes that’s only what a person needs. Someone who’s willing to listen. I am literally not the type who does the first approach and most of the time would tag as “snobbish”. (Maybe I wasn’t really snobbish, I just didn’t see you due to my 300/400 vision. Haha.). I would definitely describe myself as someone who loves and values solitude, spends my spare time resting, reflecting, reading either at home or outdoors. I prefer to be in a small group of friends than being surrounded by the crowd. I am someone who doesn’t like the spotlight, I’d prefer to stay lowkey and not let everyone know what my next steps are.

P.S. I might be one of the most picky person you’ll ever meet. Lols.

Question #2

Where do you want to go?

If this question pertains to travelling, I prefer land over water activities (just to add the fact that I don’t know how to swim that’s the main reason I dislike water activities). Nothing specific, it could be both local or international, I’d like to roam around places just to pass by a well-known spot and attractions, watch and appreciate the beauty of nature and sceneries, read books if possible (sort of boring to some but I’m just simply happy with this kind of thing).

Just to add up though, one of the unforgettable trips I did a year ago was at Puerto Princesa. To cut the story short it was supposedly for a two person trip turned to trio friends down to the first ever solo trip (sighs). It was my first time to be at the airport, first time to ride a plane, first time to go somewhere I’ve never been, first time to plan my own itinerary Onset (lols). Am I lonely during my whole stay? Definitely not (remember solitude is my forte) I was kinda nervous at first but it was suddenly replaced by excitement. I’ve met new people along the trip, my eyes were able to capture beautiful sceneries, I was able to eat and enjoy my breakfast without rushing. I didn’t do much activities on those days but my heart and soul was truly grateful and joyful. And it made me even realized, I am indeed capable of doing things on my own, going to a certain place on my own and just being on my own. Do not equate being alone to being lonely. I was planning to go back this year however, this isn’t the best time yet. Looking forward to visiting that place again and to more other places and countries soon.

But at the end of the day, as some would say, “there’s no place like home” - I will always end up with my comfort place which is, home. (But more than the home I have here on earth, I’m also one of those people who looks forward to coming home with the One who created humanity.)

Question #3

Is it really painful to be left behind?

Without a single thought - Yes.

If it is for someone who passed away, the grief that anyone feels couldn’t be covered up by any comforting words even by the wisest person you knew. Just let the person grieve for now and do its work then healing will follow. Pray for that person too.

If it is for those who left in order to move out or pursue a career it would also be painful for those family members and close friends to see you go. But as for me, if you are in faith and I see you brave enough to explore the unknown, you will always have my support. It’ll be sad for a while. But we have to remember that sometimes letting a person go is also a way of showing our love and support. Let the person grow on his/her own.

Breakup - unquestionably painful. Why? Imagine not talking to the person you thought you’d end up marrying? Those plans you guys made will now be redirected to a different person. Same thing with losing a loved one because of death, this too needs a grieving phase. Cry as much as you want then stand up again. At the end of the day, you’ll just laugh it off (swear) forgiveness and acceptance will be your last destination.

Question #4

Lessons after the breakup

A lot actually (this might consume the entire space lols).

First, your happiness shouldn’t be dependent on a certain person.

Second, never allow yourself to be an option, you deserve to be a priority too.

Third, having the same personality doesn’t guarantee long-term commitment.

Fourth, never let a day pass by without fixing your arguments.

Fifth, communicate and choose to understand.

Sixth, shares the same faith and beliefs (it should always be a Christ-centered relationship).

Seventh, be consistent while both of you are still a work in-progress.

Eight, be honest. I’d prefer someone who tells the truth and does not sugar-coat.

Ninth, choose the people you’re hanging out with and/or seeking help or advise. Not everyone you call a friend is indeed a genuine friend. (It is written in 1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals”)

Tenth, choose to forgive always, everybody deserves to be forgiven. Acceptance will always be around the corner once you’ve gone through the right stages of moving on.

(I’ll be cutting it off right here cause there’s quite a lot that I’d like to write. Haha. I might write a separate blog for this. Stay tuned. Lols)

Question #5

How to stay positive in life?

We can’t stay positive all the time. Even the strongest and the most optimistic person that you know will have his/her own downcasted moments and that is okay. Coming from someone who actually thinks negatively this question is kinda tough to answer (haha) but as for me, do not let negative thoughts overwhelm you to the point that it is already consuming you. Sometimes those thoughts are all in the mind and you’re just giving yourself a reason to create a problem that does not even exist. Surround yourself with people who will inspire and motivate you to do better, unfollow pages in social media that will trigger your anxiety, disconnect from people that are not helping you grow, stop looking up to idols and conforming to the pattern of this world, break the bad habits that you always knew you needed to stop doing. Keep it a habit to continually pray, always look up to God’s word prior seeking advice to your closest friends or bursting it all out in social media. If you are to seek counselling, ensure that it is from someone who will not tolerate you doing evil deeds. Read self-help books, open your bible, don't let the dust embrace it. Listen to calm music, it’ll help. Remember that you are loved and blessed. (Philippians 4: 6-7)

(Thank you for your questions Jonnabae, Angge, Dani and Adreng) I’ll be posting the rest of the other questions and my response of course next week. :)

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alyssa-explains-it-all · 4 years ago

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15 More Things I Learned About People

When I turned 25, I did a Tumblr post about 25 Things I Learned About People and honestly, while it was pretty pedantically written, it holds up. So in honor of finishing my 20s soon, I wanted to add 15 more things I learned.

The second half of my 20s had much healthier relationships, more career stability but also my first two serious relationships, my first big heartbreak, the Trump administration, and a pandemic. So you know, highs and lows, but still a pretty fine time. Here’s what I want to add:

1. Be nice to yourself. Sometimes that’s way harder than being nice to other people. But the world is hard enough. You have to prioritize your mental health and self care.

2. Making an effort to be optimistic and thankful can be hard at times, but makes the day to day and your life generally a lot happier. Gratitude is the best attitude. Being in quarantine during COVID has isolated everyone from everyone. But it’s been life line crucial to me to try to find and focus on bright spots.

3. Don’t rush your timeline. The societal timeline for women is bullshit. You don’t have to be engaged, married, etc by a certain age. Wait for the right person. Don’t try to make something work that doesn’t because you think your time is running out. A lot of people, including yourself, your partner, and any future family (if you have kids, them especially, but also your friends and loved ones) suffer when your marriage/relationship isn’t happy or healthy.

4. One healthy person isn’t enough to make a relationship healthy. Childhood trauma doesn’t have to define people as adults; they can always get help. That said, you can’t make someone get help. I dated someone with parents who were absent and who had a lot of darkness in his past. But while he was functional, he held onto his pain like his cynicism was some kind of shield or superpower. In reality, it was a poison on our relationship. I tried to encourage him to get help. I’m not sure he ever did. It’s never hopeless to get out of stuff like that, I’d like to think. It just takes a desire to try and do the hard work to; I’ve seen friends go to therapy and it really changed their lives for the better.

5. Be aware, do your best to help, but do not let societal wrongs eat at you completely. The Trump administration did a lot of hurtful things to many groups of people. These past four years have put into perspective how broken and divided American society is. But it’s overwhelming to obsess about, in part because you feel your powerlessness. Help in your community, vote, donate to organizations you believe in. And then put the agony aside. Do not let it destroy you because you cannot keep fighting to make things better if you let the wrongs drain you now.

6. A lot of people don’t agree with you. Don’t completely dehumanize them. A lot of my relatives disagree with me politically. Half the country does, seemingly. I’m not going to say let’s all be friends, but you do have to try to maintain a level of respect and empathy because we all have to coexist still. When we are completely divided, we are weaker. And I like to think fundamentally, we all want the same things: to provide for our families, to work, and to be able to take care of ourselves aka the things that let us survive in this world. Try to preserve some level of kindness. I know it can be hard sometimes though.

7. Just be nice to people. Like honestly, the world is hard enough. Also wear a mask during a pandemic when it is advised. It isn’t that hard.

8. Try to be present rooted. It is the healthiest, least overwhelming way to live. Don’t stress over longterm future stuff. You don’t have to make decisions about big life things until they are closer to happening. Enjoy the ride, enjoy the growth, enjoy the journey. Be in this moment, because it is the only one guaranteed.

9. Heartbreak really sucks, but it gets better with time. Don’t try to date other people while still talking to your ex. It’s unfair to them; finish your business then take some time apart. If what you have with your ex is very, very broken, let it go so you can heal and open yourself up to dating people who are a better fit for you. I know people have to go on their own journey, especially with that first big heartbreak. Write out your feelings. Cry. Talk to people who aren’t your ex. Mend yourself and then get back out there and be open to finding something happier, healthier and better. It’ll happen with time.

10. Having a work-life balance is crucial. Take your time when you aren’t on the clock. Take a vacation if you can, even if it’s a staycation. You need to have balance in your life, especially to prevent burnout.

11. Material goods don’t matter as much as people. I’ve been on the periphery of elite New York society, going to the same ritzy fashion industry events. It’s interesting to people watch there, but this year in quarantine, being without all that glamour, I’ve really realized that the best way to find happiness isn’t to clout chase or money chase. It’s to invest in healthy relationships. Getting to be there for people is the greatest, most meaningful gift that keeps giving in life.

12. You’re doing better than you think you are. Sometimes life is just hard. This year has been for most people. But hey, you’re surviving. So give yourself credit, practice self care rather than self loathing. Sometimes it isn’t you handling thing badly; it’s just things are really tough and we’re all human.

13. Eat healthy. Exercise. Just take care of your body and mind. You function a lot better when you do. It makes life a little easier. And again, life is hard enough.

14. Sex is not the most important thing in a relationship. It’s nice, but what’s more sustaining is your emotional bond. It’s ok not to have sex if you aren’t feeling it. It’s ok not to be horny during a pandemic. It’s ok to prioritize and vocalize how you’re feeling to your partner. He or she should want to know. And if your partner doesn’t care? That says a lot about them, how selfish they are, and how undeserving they are of a future with you.

15. Don’t date people who don’t treat you well and add to your life. Don’t date people who take away your light and give you nothing back. Relationships should be reciprocal; otherwise they’re longterm draining and a breeding ground for resentment and burnout. You deserve an equal partner, not someone who uses you as just a support system or security blanket and then gives little back to restore you.

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facepalming-since-chernobyl · 5 years ago

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State of the pilots, ABC, TSE, etc.

I didn’t even realize today was the day of you know who and you know what till just now. I’d imagine everyone in both “camps” is going to be severely on edge today so we could all use a distraction. The discussion about the TSE pilot is brewing so I thought this is a good time to talk about a few things.

Disclaimer: First off, I want to say like all of us here, I wish nothing but amazing things for Chris in his career. Anything I say here is not because I want him or his show to fail or wish he were back for karamel endgame or to play Kai or anything like that. Everything I’m going to discuss is just the facts and how things go.

Like I said before, ABC has a few pilots in contention this season and a few guaranteed vacated timeslots and the possibility of more. Here’s a list of all its shows in a table to look at just for reference:

https://www.spoilertv.com/2019/09/spoilertv-broadcast-cancellation.html

To address these comments from Peggy and chelsea before I continue:

“TSE is a drama script, it will fight against other dramas not comedies” - not true, ABC doesn’t have two different networks, one for comedies, one for dramas, it is all one network and regardless of the type of shows it picks up, there are limited timeslots so all the pilots are in the same boat and competing against each other. Whether it’s drama or comedy doesn’t necessarily matter except to affect what time length of timeslot it’ll take up.

“I know revivals are hit or miss but this has so much going for it, it’s hard to imagine it not being successful.” - right now, the first stage of this show, or any new show, isn’t ratings or performance success, it’s getting beyond the pilot stage and making it on the air. That’s where TSE actually is at the moment.

Some background on how the process works because I think people got caught up reading the news about Chris and thought the show is all ready to go. It may be and we don’t know it yet, but formally, this is not the case. Here’s how the process works behind the scenes the few months up to a show actually getting or not getting on the air:

1. Each network buys hundreds of pilot scripts a year. They go through as many as possible, and the ones that look most promising are pared down to only a handful.

2. Of those handful, the network tells the people behind those properties to make a pilot episode (the stage TSE is in). They’re told to make an actual episode of what the show would be like. It’s like seeing recipes on a menu for a start-up restaurant and one of them is made into the actual dish. If they like what they get, they can order more, if not, they can pass on it.

3. Of the pilots that are made into actual episodes, the networks go through them. They watch them and sometimes have them shown to test audiences and gauge their feedback which is necessary to see how the people actually watching will react. Do the audiences hate/love a particular actor/character? Storyline, something else? All this is good to know if the reviews are mixed and the network really likes the idea/creators/etc. and want to keep the show but need to make changes to get people to like it or like it more. Sometimes this means casting changes too - the original Charmed series recast Lori Rom with Alyssa Milano for the character of Phoebe.

4. Depending on the availability of timeslots due to ending/cancelled shows, they’ll order the necessary number of shows to series. One thing about this: if they love something enough from the get-go for a particular reason, they’ll forego the pilot process above and order it straight to series. Example: the Walker pilot (Jared Padalecki) and Superman one, easy to see why CW didn’t bother with the pilot for those and just gave a series order to both. ABC also has one of these this season which is guaranteed a timeslot and chance to air, a thriller based on a book series starring respected producer David E. Kelley who was behind The Practice.

So here’s my concern. There are many shows on ABC already, ones that have been there for years with varying guarantees of renewal. There are only so many scheduling hours on a broadcast network so it can’t pick up everything. Here are the current guaranteed shows ending this season:

1. How to Get Away With Murder

2. Fresh off the Boat

3. Modern Family

4. Agents of Shield

I don’t know about the comedies, but Emergence (*SOB*) is also definitely cancelled and Stumptown could be too according to the TV Grim Reaper is also reporting the ratings have been dropping of late: https://www.tvgrimreaper.com/2020/02/10/predictions-week-21-stumptown-is-likely-to-be-canceled/5226/

Okay, so let’s say they’re both cancelled. That vacates I would say about close to 6 hours of vacant scheduling time ABC must account for in the fall/spring season. I’m not going to include other shows that could also be cancelled and other shows not on the list because that makes it too complicated for now. I’ll be generous and say ABC has 5-6 hours to fill.

Here are ABC’s pilots in contention so far according to Deadline, one of them is already ordered to series and guaranteed a timeslot this fall:

https://deadline.com/pilot/2020-abc-pilots-series-orders/

Thus far, it’s 6 shows in contention to make it to air though I’ve read stories in other places saying ABC has also picked up two more comedies. If my math is correct or at least reasonably close, I would say at most ABC can order maybe 3 of the drama pilots and 1-2 of the comedies or something else depending on the drama/comedy ratio.

Here’s my wild guess of what will happen/hope happens based on the loglines only: ABC orders Rebel, TSE, and The Brides and whatever comedies it wants and the rest of them get a pass. Here’s why I think so:

Rebel - based on the life of Erin Brockovich and has cast Katey Segal as the lead character, I’m sure they’re clamoring to bring in fans of the movie/Julia Roberts and Katey Segal is probably in demand too

The Brides - premise sounds completely ill-fitting for an ABC show to me but everyone wants to work with Berlanti nowadays, he’s the new Shonda on steroids and produces like ½ the shows on tv now and he has a history with ABC, produced the very successful Brothers and Sisters which coincidentally the Olins worked on as did several Arrowverse actors including Calista Flockhart

TSE - I’ve said enough about it of late, Karey Burke was a fan of the original, supposedly they’ve been given the green light to set up a writers’ room though no official overtures of it being ordered to series - I am optimistic, I think the only real concerns I have other than the lack of space is how good not only this pilot is but the others are

So here’s what going to happen now and in the near future. The TSE pilot is shooting next month. From news I’m seeing on Deadline and the trades, the others have been casting and are probably getting ready to shoot too or shooting already. Sometime between the time the pilot is finished and network upfronts in May, ABC will screen all of them and make decisions on each: which to order to series as is, which to order on the contingency they make changes (like recasting if needed) and which to just pass on. These made a pilot episode but they will most likely never see the light of day though it can be shopped to other networks/outlets.

Once the cast is done shooting, they’ll be placed on holds for another 2 months in case the show goes to series, they’re not committed to other projects and the network doesn’t have to go through the time/expense of recasting that role. Once the decision is made - whatever is picked up to series will be presented at upfronts - they all gather in early fall to begin shooting the show.

Basically, we’re in a waiting game now for the next few months to hope the show is picked up and sending good thoughts that once it is, it’ll do well in the ratings, a whole other topic entirely I think is too soon to comment on. I know the news we’ve gotten so far is very promising that it could be successful, sure, but it is a waiting game till it’s announced at May upfronts, if it is. Bottom line being? Everyone keep your fingers crossed still. And if you don’t mind reading through all the scripts, let me know how good/bad they are. I know I made my predictions for what I think will be picked up and passed on but the reality is no one will know for sure till the dust settles. For all we know, the pilots I think get chosen are terrible and the ones I think will get passes are fantastic. You can just never know.

EVERYONE send out plenty of good thoughts for Chris and Odette!!!! Thanks for coming to another overly long TED talk. ;)

***

Wow, thanks for submitting it :)

#submission #chris nation

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rkpjy · 5 years ago

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⭐️MGA 5 EPISODE 3 ↪ perfoming romanticism by leo with @rkjeonghxn outfit inspiration: x x line distribution & times: x

it’s always easier to move on to the next round when there are a lot of contestant. the fewer they become and the harder the choices will be for the five ceos. there’s undoubtedly a lot of raw talent in this room, some maybe more polished than others, some mostly relying on their popularity and star factor. the latter can’t be downplayed of course, as there’s no reason to have skill in the first place if people aren’t interested in you or want to follow you. still, it’s always a little annoying to see such people get by with minimal talent.

soon after jinyoung returned to his seat following his interview, the entire set falls silent. everyone’s eyes are glued to the judging panel, waiting for the dreaded moment when they will announce the results. his newly found acquaintance changbin is nominated as the top rapper, which comes to no surprise to jinyoung, but it’s choi minho who takes the win. unlike a lot of people here, jinyoung doesn’t feel any type of way for that guy. despite his best friend being in convex, he knows very little about the group and what kind of drama happened that led to the rapper’s departure. he’s not a hater nor is he a fan, and although he didn’t dislike his performance, he wouldn’t have gave him the win either.

he keeps a straight face throughout the eliminations, just quietly wishing not to be on that list when the singer’s turn comes. the top 3 dancers are called to the stage, and he recognizes hwang yeji from that one day at the hospital. they haven’t spoken since and he wishes her well. she’s a pretty good dancer despite her young age, but so is lee chaeryeong. as for suwoong, well, it’s not a question of talent really, but more his personality that jinyoung can’t quite figure out. he’s satisfied with yeji’s win, just as he is satisfied with heejin’s win later on. there was a slight disappointment about not making the top 3 but then again, he still believes he performed the best he could. for someone as obsessed with perfect as he is, it’s hard to accept average results, but he’s a good sport. heejin, as he’s noted multiple times already, is a very good singer. he wonders if she can dance well too, because if she does then she’s almost guaranteed to go to the end. her looks are very idol-like, not to mention she’s young.

joohyun was probably the most surprising elimination for jinyoung. he knew she made a mistake, they all did, and it’s unexpectedly fair that they wouldn’t favor her due to her past participations and already established level of popularity. she’s one of the known contestants here that everyone talks about to the point where jinyoung also knows about it, and even if don’t want to show bias, maybe he thought they would show more leniency towards someone they know, and he now stands corrected. there is no second chance in this competition, and no room for weakness.

he applauds heejin’s win with a proud smile, and it’s probably the first time anyone will have caught him looking so pleased since the very first audition. he’s also happy for sihyeon who’s finally been recognized for her talent. it’s kind of funny how some of those who changed categories managed to survive unlike those who truly wanted to show their best skill. in hindsight, it was pretty clever of them to do so and jinyoung wonders if this was calculated on their part. he doubts so for daniel, who probably just innocently wanted to show another side of himself. but that’s if he’s still the same person he knew all those years ago in busan. maybe he’s changed, like jinyoung did.

he doesn’t care much for the following eliminations, as nobody he knows has been sent home. instead, he pays close attention to what is said next. they are to be paired off in duos and present a neat performance showing not only talent but also teamwork. and it’s probably what he dreads most as of now. it’s not as easy for him to get along with people as much as he’d like, and depending on who he ends up with, this assignment might be his first real challenge. he doesn’t necessarily want to be with a friend, however, because it doesn’t always mean it will lead to a good performance. he ends up with yoon jeonghan.

they’re not friends per say, but they do know of each other and have worked together in the past on musical productions. jinyoung is very enthusiastic at the idea of performing with someone who has talents and tastes similar to his, but it can also be an obstacle in the end. they can’t put up something too expected. it’ll be boring to watch for everyone.

that’s the subject they talk about when they first meet up for practice. “since they know we’re both passionate about musicals, i don’t think we should choose that type of song. what do you think?” he asks jeonghan who promptly agrees. they’re both aware they need to showcase something different, more creative and challenging. something that will throw the judges off, hopefully in a good way. they spend a while just searching online, or scrolling down their playlists in order to find the perfect fit. and after going through several choices, they finally decide on romanticism by leo. the key is to make all the right changes to the choreography and harmonies so it looks and sounds as if it was meant for two people instead of just one. they need to be in complete unison, and not just seem like two individuals performing the same song at the same time.

their first practice consists of making these arrangements and going through them a couple times to see if they fit well, and deciding on the parts they’ll each sing. they both agree to practice on their own whenever they have free time, then meet together every day for several hours so they can put it all together. it just won’t work if they both work separately.

while jinyoung criticizes a lot, he’s also very open to criticism himself. as long as it’s nothing insulting, he believes this is the only way one will grow, and not with fake praises. if he sucked, he wants to know. if he does one movement wrong, he wants to know so he can fix it. if jeonghan feels it would be better if they switched one part because it sounds off, he’ll be open to the idea. what he finds exhausting is those who are too scared to make any kind of negative comment, or who take everything too personal. they’re impossible to work it, not to mention annoying. it’s all meant to enhance the performance. the judges won’t chose the best out of the two of them. so either they win together, or fail together. it doesn’t matter if one sings five seconds more, as long as it makes the whole thing better.

it’s surprisingly easy to work with jeonghan, and jinyoung comes home at night almost with a spring in his step, telling mina about how practice is going with a lot more details than usual. he’s optimistic, hopeful. if it were to suddenly come crashing down....

the two men sit next to each other, and jinyoung can’t help but notice there’s so few of them compared to the first episode. sixty chairs have disappeared since then. he remains exactly like the second episode, face stoic as he watched the first few duos perform on stage. the only moments he stops being a statue is in-between performances, as he leans over to jeonghan and whispers things inaudible to cameras, about what he liked and didn’t like.

yugyeom goes before with him, with a contestant called do kyungsoo, and he honestly has no idea what to expect when they first start. it seems like they managed to use each other’s strength and make up for the other’s weakness quite well, and jinyoung hopes it’s enough for them to make it through. some of the duos make unexpected yet good pairs, and some match so well it’s almost boring. he wonders if this will be the case for jeonghan and him, although they didn’t go for a musical number. are their skills too similar? but it’s not like they can suddenly pretend one of them can rap either, so there’s nothing they can do about it if they were put together.

they go near the end, with only three duos left after them. they both bring a chair to the center of the stage and sit on them after introducing themselves. the original artist has a very specific way of dancing, that makes every movement look smooth but not sloppy, and sensual but not sexual. there’s a fine line they can’t cross, and jinyoung does feel like they got in down after hours and hours of practice. jeonghan starts off the song with his first lines.

In my mind you’re my lord, the reality is not close enough You’re my one You’re my one

jinyoung parts his legs in a swift motion as the dance obliges, and because there are no backdancers, instead of gesturing to his empty side, he briefly cups jeonghan’s chin instead, making it one of a several modifications to the original choreography. it’s not hard to imagine he’s singing to his girlfriend right now, and wishing she was the one dancing with him. jeonghan and him aren’t exactly flirting together, their actions more inclined to the audience, but there still needs to be a connection between them, a sensuality that can be felt all the way to the very back of the studio. I see through your body, The sign that gets my sensitivity wet Your eyes are chasing after my movement As if saying come after you

in the middle of this verse they both stand up, leaving their chairs behind for the time being. the way they arranged this part suits the lyrics well. it’s as if they’re also chasing each other, delivering their lines back and forth like one echoes the other, and as jeonghan finishes it, jinyoung prepares for the chorus. two minutes isn’t long at all, and after this they’re jumping straight to the bridge so the transition isn’t too cut and dry. Dive-in for me at this moment, make me shiver one time Romanticism in our world together now Let’s feel it romantically, together now

the dance gets more intense and demanding, but they’ve arranged for them to sing half of it together, harmonizing each other. jinyoung’s gaze is piercing, and he has fun flirting with the crowd. there are a lot of parts in this song where they rub their chest, their face or roll their hips, and there’s a risk to make it look cheap and very cringe-worthy if they’re not careful, so they made sure to tell the other whenever it was too much, or not enough. they want to mesmerize the audience, not turn it off. Piece of you for just one moment Feel me from now on

Let’s feel it sensually, together now Girl you know I’m watching you together now

they had to cut the last chorus in half to fit in the time requirement, but in the end it doesn’t really matter since they jump next into the other half which is kind of a nice follow-up and uses the same lyrics. they sing most of it together, dancing in sync.

together now.

#rkmga5 #rkmga5duos #.solo #rkjeonghxn #rkkmn #rkkyg #rksihyeon #rkheejin #the times in the doc match with the mv i linked there #not the live one #but we wanted to show the choreo #hair is the same but different outfit #rkxbin #rkmason #rksuwoong #rkchaeryeong #rkyeji #joohyunrk #rkkyungsoo

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scanlonblogs · 6 years ago

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Five Lessons I Learned after Graduating College

College was a great experience, and I would do it again if I could, but it blinded me to reality. The truth is, the real world is nothing like college. I was nervous having to adapt to all the changes after graduation. Since then, I have learned a lot about the real world, and I am comfortable where I currently am. If you are in college, about to graduate, or even out of college, heed my words. You may learn something. Here are five lessons I learned after graduating college.

1. Life Begins After College

Life does not begin in college, it begins after graduation. The real world is different than college, having many positives and negatives. Positively, you are more independent than ever. Having the ability to find a well-paying job, live wherever you please, and spend extra cash however you want is life changing. Negatively, there are bills to pay, you only have a vague idea of how to move forward, and there are a multitude of other responsibilities requiring time, money, and mental fortitude. While in college, you do not necessarily think about real world responsibilities. We are caught up in the same routine; going to class, doing homework, and spending the rest of our time relaxing. I enjoyed the free time myself, but I should have spent some time thinking about my future. We are only in college for four years. We have another 80 plus to live. If you are in college, spend some free time thinking about the future and what goals you want to accomplish. Experience new things and educate yourself as much as possible. College may not be the reality, but it can definitely be used as a catalyst for real world success, both personally and professionally. Spend your time wisely.

2. There Are No Guarantees

Everybody has a shot at success, but there are no guarantees. Becoming successful requires hard work, dedication, and time. However, people seem to forget this, and when they realize the amount of effort it takes, they become discouraged. For example, some people have this impression college will guarantee a well-paying job after graduation. Many are dissatisfied when they end up working in an entry level position. They expected too much, and when their expectations were not met, they were disappointed. Most people need to work their way up the corporate ladder to obtain their dream job. Because there are no guarantees, it is best not to raise expectations. That way, there will be less disappointment, and when you do accomplish a goal, find your dream job, or succeed in any way, it will be more meaningful.

3. The Importance of Self Education

Self-education is the key to becoming successful. A trait among those who are successful is their outlook on learning. Most people end their educational career when they graduate college. Others take it a step further, reading books and gaining experience on their own time to further their learning. These types of people are the ones who become successful, because they understand the value of knowledge. They use this knowledge to push forward and accomplish goals. Some of these people, like Steve Jobs, never finished college or did not attend, but their perseverance, as well as their willingness to learn, took them farther than those with degrees. A college degree will help you find a job to pay the bills, but self-education can make you rich, both in your personal life and professional life. Never stop learning.

4. Positivity is the Key to Happiness

It is easy to succumb to the negativity in the world, especially after graduating college. As a graduate, you now have numerous responsibilities with little guidance. People soon realize how different college is to the real world, and having to face new terrain can be daunting. Unfortunately, this negativity can be overwhelming, and often consumes the person, which can lead to depression, anger, and frustration. It is important to remain positive, or at least optimistic, as much as possible. Life is unpredictable, but how we handle it does not have to be. Remaining positive, even in the worst situations, can make a huge difference in stress levels and overall happiness. Negativity does nothing but worsen the situation. It is easy to give into negativity, most people do, but anyone can turn a negative situation into a positive one with the right mindset.

5. Expect the Unexpected

No matter how much we may plan, life is unpredictable. What we expect can be much different than what actually happens. When I first graduated, I planned to pay off my loans within two years, was single, and wanted to move to Florida and do some soul searching. A year and a half later, I am about a year away from paying off my loans, have a girlfriend whom I love very much, and am rethinking my soul searching idea. Nobody knows where they are going to be a year from now. Look at yourself in the mirror and think about how different you were a year ago. Now, think about how different you will be in one year. Expect the unexpected and go with the flow. Life will throw curve balls, but it is how we handle these curve balls which determines our level of happiness.

What are your thoughts? What are your college experiences? Be sure to let me know in the comments!

Song of the Blog:

Today's Song of the Blog is "High School Never Ends," by Bowling For Soup!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrxI_euTX4A

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Special Thanks:

Thank you @sunnycosmology for continuously supporting what I do. Your kind words are part of the reason why I keep moving forward. Also, YOU, SCROLLING THROUGH THIS BLOG, thank you for reading. I thoroughly enjoy talking with my readers, so shoot me a message if you want to chat! Thank you!

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sly-merlin · 4 years ago

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Killing Me - 4 | n.y

pairing : law student!reader + yuta

genre : angst , mafia au/ arranged marriage au , smut

warnings : curse words, mention of murder, guns, knives, smut!

words : 5.4k

summary : “life’s never fair y/n. realise it as soon as you can . it is the only secret for living a regretless life.”

“ curiousity got the cat hitched”

taglist :: (not tagging the old ones because they have read it already bt if u want , lemme know! ) @yiyi4657 @sorrywonwoo @sillywinnergladiator @suhweo @exfolitae @minejungwoo

K.M masterlist

k.m 3 k.m 5

Previous morning in Taeyong’s office

“What!?” jaehyun tried to act oblivious at taeyong’s accusations.

“Why were you trying to scare her? Escort ring! For fucks sake Jae, I expected better from you.”

“But it wasn’t a dead loss. And even you went along in the same wagon, so don’t put everything on me alone.” jaehyun justified himself shrugging his shoulders lightly. “And admit it! She was giving you a hard time. That bitch was not buying anything!

Taeyong knew jaehyun was right. Your unsatisfied replies and never ending enquiries were exasperating him, but he would rather preserve his precious ego than admitting that to jaehyun.

He ruffled his well-made hair before replying to jaehyun, who was expecting some gratitude with a smug face.

“I-- just be careful and refrain from doing and saying anything that might put a dent in my plan. It’s a chance neo would never get again. So be patient and don’t go around opening your mouth about this to anyone.” jaehyun reluctantly nodded,not hearing what he wanted but his affirmation calmed taeyong’s nerves. He couldn’t trust jaehyun entirely but his options were limited.

All the pieces were in right place, for now. Nothing could go south right!

But jaehyun couldn’t completely understand the rationale behind Taeyong’s design.

and nor could the figure standing outside, completely hidden from the insiders.

Yesterday was pretty long day. Though you were worn out from the adventures with wonwoo last night, your brain wasn’t exhausted enough to shut down properly when you tried to close your eyes.The flashes of the events had shrouded you with mixture of regrets and worries. What was the guarantee that you won’t end up dead tomorrow! What if taeyong was lying! But the fact regarding moon industries was absolutely legible. Maybe you should get a restraining order or something! But the existence of a person is necessary for that and yuta was a fucking corporate in the public eye and you were sure taeyong held some powerful position in the rich hierarchy as well, otherwise, covering the shits without revealing their true identities was not the job of some measly gang leader. There was more to taeyong than what someone could perceive just by looking. Will you be considered one of them now! After the little stunt that landed you straight into yuta’s life, you weren’t sure that he’d not strangle you in sleep. And What were you going to say to them? Chelin, yeom, guk, yeong.

and your thoughts spiralled from taeyong,yuta towards chelin and your friends and didn’t rest anytime before 4a.m. Waking up at 8 sharp , you took a shower and made your way towards the library.

And now you were here. 2 students passed your figure indicating that there were 2 vacant seats. Finally, after 15 minutes. They might have been the overnight students, you thought and walked inside before anyone else could claim the treasure. You had to find a new topic of thesis and do some research for international paper your professor was writing, and you being his designated so-called subordinate had to help him, involuntarily of course. But in this world, the student who could refuse their professor’s demands was yet to be born! Marking the place by placing your bag, you started the search for last month’ law journals and digests. One and a half hour passed, but you couldn’t find anything on international court of justice i.e. what your professor hadn’t already included. The urge to go out was profusely weighed down by your own sentiment of avoiding your friends. So you decided in favour of swallowing the bitter pill.

“Shortie” you lifted your head, spotting the combo of buy 1 get 1 free, heading your way.

“Where were you whole day? And if you aren’t going to pick calls then please do that poor thing a favour and sell it!” yugyeom barked while running his hand through his hair.

You shrugged jungkook’s elbow from your shoulder and replied “I was busy with prof. Joong’s work. And I have to be somewhere after 4 so I was a bit-

“Joong should adopt you already man!” Jungkook interrupted, nudging your sides with his fingers.

“ but I thought he wanted to be her sugar daddy!” at that gyeom gave a serious and stern look to kook, pretending to ponder over his statement for a second and then suddenly they both starting laughing, hands hitting you everywhere to support their doubling figures.

“When is the fundraiser?”

“At 5. But you won’t be there to support us cause you are busy with your daddy!” kook exclaimed while bumping your shoulder with his arm.

“I didn’t say I’m going for Joong’s work and no, he’s not my sugar daddy, doofus. I’m busy with tutoring. I missed someone’s Saturday class so—

“Okay, chill tiger. You need to breathe. It’s a boring event anyway.” gyeom said in a comforting tone, interjecting your rapid fire speech.

“I’m gonna have lunch, are you two going?” you suggested.

“Yeah, it’s our break and yeong and minjun have eaten already, so that left you!” kook pouted when gyeom mentioned his boyfriend’s name.

“Let’s go! I want my sugar” your dramatic pout made yugyeom pet your hair lovingly and the three of you started walking on stone pathway on the way to the canteen.

“Where’s your umbrella?” jungkook asked you. He knew how much you hated walking under sun after the drinking escapades.

“I forgot but let’s not talk about it. it’s making me grumpy.”

“Okay! but why don’t you cover your head with that scarf instead.” he said pointing towards the silky material around your neck.

“Naahh, it ruins my fashion” they gave each other a puzzled look, shrugging their shoulders for they both couldn’t gather the reason of your weird behaviour.

A ping!

Jaemin: noona, doyoung hyung is picking you up at 4 but he won’t enter the campus. Be out at 4!

You made your way to the library again, this time to work on your thesis. The time passed quickly than you thought. The alarm you placed earlier vibrated, indicating it was 4 already! You hastily made your bag and ran out of the library. It took 10 minutes to reach the gates of the campus. When you passed your dorms building, the idea of ditching doyoung and going to bed sounded tempting but as usual, nothing was going your way these days. You felt like the old catch 22 was in action.

You passed through the gates and looked around the road to find doyoung’s car but he was nowhere to be seen. While you were scanning the whole area, a low voice called your attention.

“What are you finding, I’m right here under your nose” a voice said through gritted teeth.

“What took you so long? Its 4:15 already.”

“I don’t have a car like you so I walked myself here and it’s not like I did it purposely anyway.” You contended, the annoyance in your voice matching his own.

“Whatever, we are already late so turn around. Taeyong would be mad.”

“No I’m not turning around. First that cloth bag, then the handkerchief you tied on my eyes yesterday, its painful man. I’ll lose my eyesight this way. And I can navigate whole city from this place, you can’t hide your dungeon from me now” you reasoned. He didn’t tie your hands yesterday but your eyes were still covered.

“Then give me your scarf. I’ll cover your eyes with your own choice of article. It’s not painful or else you won’t be wearing it right! he said mockingly, pointing towards your neck.

“Umm, this scarf is act-

As doyoung was about to remove your scarf, a hand stopped him, or that was what you understood from the movements at that time.

“Silky scarf, blindfold and hickies hmm! Being kinky doyoungie. She’s your sister-in-law. Show some respect boy!” a voice remarked, the air around your face suddenly filled with chocolate and coffee. You hiccupped all of a sudden, earning a chuckle from the unknown presence.

Yuta.

You, surprised, took a step back but instead bumped into the one behind you.

“I’ll take over from here, doyoung.” but fortunately, he didn’t budge, fortunately. Your hold on backpack tightened, your eyes lowered to avoid his gaze. The only thing in your view were his baggy pants and white sports shoes.

He raised your head, fingertips lightly grazing your chin. His hooded eyes roamed around your face like he was expecting you show some contempt , hatred,nervousness! He straightened up abruptly and started tying the silk around your neck. You flinched at his touch but he remained void of any reaction. His half denim jacket and white t-shirt hid you from the surroundings, his arms almost engulfing you. He repositioned himself to match you height again, arms crossing against his chest.

“Stop yuta” a taller man you recognised from yesterday as Johnny, pushed yuta aside from your view. It was then you saw that everyone was there. Including the one you were yet to encounter.

Your eyes wandered from one side to other of the room. Johnny let you inspect.

“Doyoung, what was the need to cover her eyes?” Johnny whispered to doyoung, breaking your trance.

“Why is everyone nagging me so much” he whined in a screeching voice.

“Karma bitch” Johnny pointed his forefinger towards him before giving his attention to you.

“Hey, how are you y/n.” he asked, his cheerful voice totally in contrast with the weather of the room.

“I’m- ummm.” you cleared your throat before continuing. “I’m fine Johnny. As fine I can be.” you mumbled the last part but he surely heard you.

“Come y/n. make yourself comfortable” he indicated towards the couches that were almost already occupied. Johnny gestured you to proceed, walking with you. You passed yuta who was still smirking and sat on the single seat available next to taeyong. You placed your backpack on the large table in the middle of the room. It looked like a normal living room for guests, just with too many couches to accommodate the gang. You felt like an uninvited because apparently everybody was watching you like a hawk. Their stares changed sight only when yuta came to take a seat on one of the couch, exactly opposite to yours. You met his eyes briefly before turning your face towards your bag again.

Who knew the rusty zips of your bag were so interesting!

You didn’t understand why he wanted that. You were just a risk till yesterday and now means to discipline yuta.

And why all the formalities if you were gonna leave anyway.

“I’m going to leave anyway, taeyong. So I don’t see a need to do it!”

You were too consumed to notice how your sentence turned all the heads around you. Some started giving side eyes to each other. There was something they were all missing.

“I said you could leave. But not without my permission. So, you’d be stuck for now, maybe till months or years.”

You gulped at his words. Taeyong turned your only hope into a distant dream. Maybe you were too foolish to gauge the situation.

“No, please continue.” you emphasised again to not draw any more attention to yourself than already was. And you internally thanked to taeyong who continued as if you weren’t just gonna cry!

“You will move in with yuta on Saturday,” it was Monday. “The wedding ceremony would be held in the morning. So you have few days to prepare, everything from your dress to every other thing you need shall be arranged. Just name it and you’ll have it!”

Wedding ceremony! That was not on the plate!

“I don’t want a cerem-

“Leave the bullshit ta-

You and yuta both cut off each other simultaneously. You glanced at his side, finding him already piercing his gaze into yours.

“There’s no need for it. The paper signing is enough. It’s not like we are in-

“Oh, but I want a ceremony taeyong and mark is going to be the best man. He’s so excited. You can’t do that to him!” yuta emphasised through the variation in his voice. You knew he changed his argument purposely , but you maintained your cool, opting to ignore him . bear and forbear.

Taeyong raised his eyebrow at you but you shook your head again.

“I don’t think it’d be a good idea. It’s not a normal one anyway so why pretend!” you held your ground.

Oh yeah, he was Japanese. You has missed that as well.

All the other men in the room, 9 to be exact, were nodding at everything that was being said. They were unable to decide whose argument was worth taking side for. Finally Johnny spoke-

“I think y/n is right” looking at nowhere particular, he continued. “What’s with pomp and show when it’s nothing more than an agreement”

“But if yuta hyung wants it, then why not. They are going to live together, he should have his say as well.” it was mark who took yuta’s side. He didn’t know why but watching yuta losing ground urged him to support his brother.

You looked briefly at the boy who just argued with Johnny.

A few waved towards you, including mark, who shyly withdrew his hand quickly. They all probably hated you as there was no other reaction towards a person who almost put your life in danger!

“Can we get to a middle ground now? I’m already getting tired of this” jaehyun grumbled, leaning into the couch.

“Ok so, he wants a celebration of a lie! What about me then. You are all here but I have no one. I’m alone and probably will be. Because taeyong, you haven’t told me how am I going to reveal this to my friends? I may not have a family, but still there are people close to me. they are my best friends, roommate, and many others who need to know! How am I going to explain them that their friend who didn’t even have a boyfriend, is getting married suddenly? I don’t even have parents to cover it with an arranged marriage. How to convince them? give me a way and I’ll agree” you pointed out the very important detail that they were missing. But they needed to know that there was other side of the paper as well and your reasons were not just a cry in the wilderness.

Nobody made a sound. Everything went quite like a dark night until-

“I hope this is not the calm before a storm!” you looked over to see the person who broke the silence. It was another young man coming with a food trolley, probably from the kitchen.

“I thought we have a guest so I prepared some coffee and donuts. I hope you like sweets y/n” the man was smiling ear to ear, seeming too happy with your visit.

“I-

“I’m kun.” he introduced himself and you shook his hand. He seemed too polite for a criminal. “Have this and tell me how it is” he forcibly handed you a dessert plate with a chocolate glanced donut. You took it out of politeness but felt a bit weird to be the only one eating it. You watched him with quizzical eyes as he took one for himself and sat on the arm of your couch. Everyone was now staring at your movements.

“Eat it, eat it. These are for you and me only.” he cajoled.

You decided to take a bite and then place it back just to stop the awkwardness.

As you bit it from one side, your brain short circuited. “Holy shit, bro. what is this sorcery.” your genuine and innocent reaction made Kun laugh loudly, some of the others joined in as well.

“Thank god, you like it! I’m so glad you aren’t one of weight conscious ones, otherwise it’d have been weird.” he starting munching on his own piece.

“I’m a sugar bear. I can’t live without sugar. I just had a donut in the morning but it was bleh comparing to this. You are a master chef bro.” and for a minute you forgot the previous tense environment. Everyone was glad that Kun came to save the situation and except to you, it was known that obviously he heard everything from the kitchen.

“You ate one in the morning! Then it’s the last one you’re getting. Everyone help yourself. She’s not having anymore!” as if they were waiting, everyone except mark and yuta picked them up.

“Mark” Kun motioned towards the tray and he grabbed one as well.

“What if I was allergic to chocolate, kun” you asked him while finishing your treat.

“Oh please! Even ten eats it.” he laughed to himself at his reference, which went over your head.

“okay , sho now I shuggenly hab a voyfiend” you started speaking without even finishing the bite in your mouth. you continued once you chewed it.

“wont they be suspicious. They know exactly what I do and what I don’t. It’s almost impossible to put a façade in front of them.”

“Yes, actually they happen to know. When, where and from whom I got these. Anything else you want to ask?.” he rolled his eyes on your reply, busing himself with the delicacy instead.

“They don’t know yuta. So if you want you can introduce him to your people. He won’t be posing any problem, take my word for it.”

“I just said I don’t want a wedding. I’ll agree to anything that is reasonable and is not degrading to me.”

“Ok then, nobody would force you to do what you don’t want.” taeyong decided to took matter in his own hands now. “And we’ll organise a small, very intimate gathering at taeil’s office to celebrate as yuta wants. And you’ll be introduced as Mrs. Nakamoto to our corporate world.” taeyong finished gauging both of your reactions. The surname was foreign and cringing to you. But it was going to be yours, so there was nothing you could do, for now.

“What do you mean ‘our’ corporate world.” you got puzzled at his choice of words.

“You’ll find out soon and its nothing scary, don’t worry.” Kun responded on behalf of taeyong this time, handing you your cup of coffee. “Tell me if it’s cold, I’ll-

“No it’s totally fine.” you assured him, without even taking a sip. He was being nice enough already.

“If my opinion has no value, then what am I even doing here!” yuta shouted, getting up from the seat.

“yut-

Before Kun could say anything, he stormed off. Mark tried to follow but taeyong stopped him from doing that.

“Don’t mind him. He’s a hot head.” Johnny laughed in between his bites.

You only nodded, sipping your coffee. You were glad he was gone. Sugar has always done wonders for you and it was having same effects now as well. You were able to think more rationally now.

“You are a student. Don’t you know anything basic.” it was Jungwoo who spoke in the voice sweeter than even Kun’s.

“No. I grew up in an orphanage and they provided us everything. I left when I started law. So all in all, I never had anyone to teach me. That’s why if you want to know best food trucks and restaurants in the city, I’m your best option.but, if that yuta knows how to cook, ask him about the kitchen.” you spoke non chalantly .But you didn’t realise how uncomfortable the air had become. a heavy silence took over the light atmosphere.

“I’m sorry noona” Jungwoo apologised sheepishly.

“Ok. I’ll find something suitable for you both.” you hummed, not knowing what to say anymore.

“Can I go back now?”

“Yes, doyoung will drop you.”

“No, I’ll go with her.” Johnny said, grabbing your attention. He didn’t look sulky like doyoung so, it’d be fine, you guess.

They said you goodbyes. Mark seemed hesitant to even look at you, but you couldn’t care less. He was just a stranger after all.

Yuta couldn’t realise why everyone was trying to be so nice to you. Till yesterday, he was allowed to put a gun on her head but now every being was against him. He didn’t know why he was so furious at taeyong, to forcing him to marry you or from dragging mark into this mess. Taeyong knew how to play dirty, but yuta never thought he’d use his own brother. There was no option for him as well, as taeyong has said. He showed interest in a fucking celebration to contradict you, but you were not backing down and that felt like a punch to his gut.

He drove towards his stress reliever. The infamous Japanese club. Only place where he could drown his sorrows.

The club was packed despite it being Monday. That was one thing he liked about it, you’ll never be disappointed in this place.

“ゆた!” The hostess chimed seeing yuta. “久しぶり” [ long time, no see!]

He signed her to give him 2 shots. She did as told but her gaze was following yuta’s, which rested on her cleavage. He came here only for 2 things after all.

He gulped the drink in a second without blinking an eye.

“バックルーム” [ back room]

She wasn’t someone to be told twice. She handed her hand towel to her co-worker and followed the path. Who was she to reject him after all?

As she opened the door, yuta pressed her against the door, shutting it with a thud, His tongue directly fighting with hers. Sinful sounds escaped her throat as yuta’s hand started working on the skimpy fabric she wore to cover herself. She moaned loudly as yuta pinched her nipples hard, his groans matching her loud ones. His eagerness always started a fire in her body, with intensity too much to handle. Her hands undid his pants, dropping them on the floor. They have done it so many times that the whole process imprinted in their minds by now.

without breaking the kiss,she changed their positions making yuta’s back hitting the door . With a loud smooch, his lips parted hers, to let her function pn her own.

She got to her knees while he got rid of his shoes to remove the boxers. She gave a few pumps before giving kitten licks to the tip while her gaze was fixed on his face.

“Hisoka, I’m in a hurry” he warned her. Smirking, she took him in her mouth, going up and down as head bobbed with the motion. Yuta fisted her hair, roughly stroking himself inside of her. She whimpered on the action and hit his balls with her other hand, earning a chuckle from him. Yuta knew how much she hated when he took charge. Yuta’s head hit the door as she sped up, the grip on her hair tightening and with a few deep throats, he was done. Yuta looked at her fucked up eyes, chin dripping with his seed. He picked her up with her elbow, his mouth latching towards her breast as soon as her back hit the same spot again. she moaned in pleasure as her shorts were removed hastily by him. Yuta merely smirked at her lack of panties.

“You knew I was coming hmm!” he growled sensually in her ear. Her body almost crumbled on the floor at his voice. “Let’s do it then!” he exclaimed, slipping himself into her. Her one leg that was wrapped around his waist provided him a perfect angle to stroke while his hand perfectly trapped her against the door. his mindless thrusts made her breasts to bounce with the same pace. “Faster” her moans were muffled from the outside world due to the high bass music that was playing in the club , providing them the coverage from any

“もっと”[ more!] Yuta asked her while giving a final hit to her insides, her body losing all the strength as she released her love juices. She slumped towards his chest as yuta let himself undone. As they rode their highs, yuta kissed her neck from behind, leaving her body in shivers for the next few minutes.

He drove back silently again. The relieve he felt was all dissipated now. Instead his mind was already wandering towards you. Your headstrong attitude was troubling him more than he anticipated! his plans were all down and out. He hated you , from the moment he laid his eyes on you. You acted like you were invincible but he knew it was just a mask to protect yourself.

He had noticed how you had rubbed your eyes to hide your disappointment for you didn’t want to appear weak. All he had to do now was to find a vulnerable part of you, to hit you where it’d hurt the most. It’d be last time he lost to you. from now on, you won’t be able to keep up with him.

Afterall, beginning is always easy, it is continuing that’s hard!

#tags still do't work #why me!!#only ct tags are acting up!#nct #nct scenarios #nct imagines #nct fluff #nct mafia #nct arrange marriage #yuta fluff #nct angst #yuta angst #killing me yuta #yuta scenarios #yuta imagines #yuta smut #nct smut #yuta arrange marriage #yuta mafia au

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komorebirei · 5 years ago

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The Water Was Never Afraid - Chapter 5: Era

Adrien cracked open the door to the dining room. “Father?”

There was movement in the room, and he spied his father in one of the steel blue armchairs across from the dining table.

“Adrien. Good morning. Or is it afternoon?” His platinum-blond head rose slightly, but he didn’t turn around. His tone sounded distracted, colored with a dangerous note that made Adrien shudder.

“Still morning,” Adrien replied. He hurried across the room to his father’s side. Gabriel was bowed over a photo album, and there were at least half a dozen other albums stacked on the small round table beside him.

“Father, what are you doing?”

Gabriel closed the album as if trying to hide what he was looking at, but Adrien pried it back open.

“You’re looking at pictures of Mom?”

“I had a rough morning,” Gabriel growled defensively. “I was just taking a break.”

Adrien took the large album off his father’s lap and set it on top of the others. “What happened?”

“The manufacturers sent over the first round of samples for the mass market, and they used the wrong fabric. Everything is ruined. I argued with them for an hour before I lost my patience and made Nathalie deal with them. She’s on the phone with them now.”

Poor Nathalie, Adrien thought, sighing. Normally, manufacturing issues shouldn’t be enough to throw his father into such a funk, but his delicate mental state lately meant any small problem could be like a match to the tinder. Out loud, he tried to be optimistic for Gabriel’s sake. “Nothing that can’t be fixed, right, Father?”

“By the time they sent the samples, they had already started mass producing the pieces, even after I expressly demanded that they get my approval before proceeding. Reordering the fabric and starting over will set production back by two weeks. Two weeks! I can’t afford to wait two weeks, Adrien.”

“No, we can’t,” Adrien sighed, dropping a subtle hint that his father was not alone. “But, what can we do? We’ll just have to tell our vendors that the release will be delayed.”

“I’ve had enough of dealing with these incompetent factories,” Gabriel grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose, elbows resting on his knees. “God, I miss Emilie. She was so good at handling these people.”

“Why don’t you let me handle them, Father?” Adrien said with a weary smile as he began to mentally calculate how much this offer would increase his workload. “What else am I going to do with my twelve years of Chinese?”

Gabriel let out an irritated grunt, which wasn’t exactly an approval or a denial. “We’ll talk about it later.”

Adrien tried a different tack. “Why are you looking at Mom’s old pictures?”

“Seeing her alive and active calms me down,” Gabriel muttered, but his pained, bitter expression said otherwise. “I missed her, but I couldn’t bear to visit her in the basement today and see her looking like a corpse.”

Adrien’s heart twisted at the ugly reminder of their dark family secret. He had pleaded with his father to just let her go. From everything they had been told, her condition was irreversible, but his father was adamant on keeping her alive, even if there was no hope to restore her. “Do you actually feel better, Father?” He doubted it. Anything to do with Emilie was guaranteed to send Gabriel down a spiral of depression. He was shamelessly wallowing in his pain.

“Yes I do.” Gabriel’s hand stirred on something small and black beside his leg. Adrien’s eyes narrowed on it—a small box.

“Father, what is that?” he asked in a warning tone. He knew what it was—the butterfly miraculous.

“Nothing.” Gabriel shoved the box under his leg.

“Father.” Adrien stepped in front of Gabriel and put his hands on his hips. “You promised those days were behind you.”

“I wasn’t going to put it on.”

“Then stop toying with the idea.”

Gabriel squeezed his eyes shut and held out the box silently. Adrien took it from him and pocketed it.

“Put it in the safe for me,” Gabriel ordered him, eyes still screwed shut and face downcast.

“Yes, Father, I will.” Adrien contemplated ‘forgetting’ to do so and simply returning the miraculous to Master Fu, safe from his father’s unstable hands. However, doing so would break the fragile threads of trust that were beginning to form between father and son. Gabriel wasn’t ready to let go of the miraculous yet, so Adrien took the slow route—helping him heal until he could make the responsible choice. He hoped they would make it that far, at least.

Adrien watched his father hurting, wishing he could help. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to step forward and put a hand on his father’s shoulder. He really didn’t know what he was doing—he didn’t have many supportive role models in his life—but he had to try something.

The man was like a statue under his palm, showing no indication that the warm touch had gotten through to him.

“The meeting went well this morning. I can go over everything in detail with you, if you’re feeling up to it.” When Gabriel still didn’t move or speak, he hastily added, “Later, maybe. I just wanted you to know that the fall line is moving forward according to schedule, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

“Good.”

Adrien removed his hand from his father’s shoulder and gathered up half of the albums on the table. “The meeting with the senior designers is tomorrow. Do you think you can be there?”

“‘Be there?’” Gabriel’s head shot up. He worked in his home atelier. He made phone calls and held video conferences. He signed papers. Nathalie and Adrien reported to him. He didn’t go to the office. “I can call in.”

“The team is working hard, Father. I think they would really appreciate if you could be there… in person. Everyone looks up to you, you know.”

“I should hope so,” Gabriel grumbled. “I’m the one signing their paychecks.”

Adrien turned his face away to roll his eyes surreptitiously. “Please, Father. Attend the meeting. For me?”

“All right.”

Inwardly, Adrien was rejoicing over this answer, but outwardly, he maintained a stoic face so his visible excitement couldn’t change his father’s mind. He was just desperate to get his father out of the house and distract him from his consuming thoughts. “Thank you. Would you like to have dinner with the Tsurugis tonight?”

“Ah… here? Have Gustave whip up whatever Tsurugi-san likes. He should know.”

“Why don’t we go out for a change?” Adrien pressed. “I think it would do you good to get out of the house, don’t you think?”

Gabriel let out a long-suffering sigh. “If you wish.”

“Kagami said her mother really liked a restaurant that they visited last week and wanted to invite you. She said to just pick the day and let her know.”

“All right.” Gabriel sounded reluctant, yet resigned. “Only because I trust her taste.”

“I’m sure you won’t be disappointed, Father,” Adrien said wryly. “I’ll let Kagami know.”

“By the way,” Gabriel rose from his seat, “I never congratulated you on your relationship with Mademoiselle Tsurugi. She’s a fine young woman. Excellent choice.”

“Thank you.” Adrien felt a mixture of discomfort at Gabriel’s word choice and pleasure at his approval. “… Shall we put these back?” He nodded at the remainder of the albums that were still on the table.

Sighing again, Gabriel took them into his arms, and he and Adrien silently walked to the study to return them to the shelf. Their footsteps echoed through the house that seemed too large for a family of two.

The era of akuma fights had ended, but the emotional war wasn’t over yet. Instead of on the streets of Paris, it was raging in the hearts of the Agreste men, hidden behind closed doors and under designer clothing.

#MiraculousLadybug #Miraculous Ladybug #MiraculousLadybugFanfiction #Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction #Adrigami #Marichat #Hawkmoth #Gabriel Agreste

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ravenqueensspecialboi · 6 years ago

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Write Your Letters in the Sand

A gift for @cinnamon-freckles as a part of @dailyhaikyuu‘s Secret Santa! I hope you enjoy!

Ship: DaiSuga Rating: T Word Count: 6,089 Summary: Sawamura Daichi and the crew of the Fukurokuju left Earth on December 29th, 2039. They came back 87 years later to a planet they no longer recognize, but with inhabitants who recognize them. Tags: Time Travel AU, Space AU, Somewhat Scientifically Accurate Time Travel, Fluff, Comfort, Light Angst with a Happy Ending Read on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17238368

Fic under the cut!

Operation: Fukurokuju. Mission Description: Deep Space Exploration to Proxima Centauri b. Launch Date: December 29th, 2039. Launch Time: 14:35. Mission Director: Ukai Ikkei. Mission Commander: Sawamura Daichi.

It was a cold, gray morning when Sawamura Daichi awoke early on December 29th. His alarm gently beeped on the night stand as he cracked open one eye and then the other. He sat up, rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and reached over to silence his alarm. The last one he'd been turning off for a while. Well, on Earth any way. Today was the day. Days before his birthday, Sawamura Daichi was going to deep space.

It was an honor to be chosen for this mission. Operation: Fukurokuju was JAXA's first manned deep space exploration mission, and he was one of eight astronauts to be selected for the team. In fact, he had been selected for mission commander for this trip. It wouldn't be Daichi's first trip into space; he had been on three trips to the International Space Station for a total of 90 days in space. But this time, he'd be on a deep space exploration mission, traveling at light speed to an exoplanet trillions of miles from Earth all in the name of data collection and research. He shivered with excitement as he pulled himself out of bed. He also shivered with nervous anticipation.

The previous night, Daichi had spent the last night he would ever have with his family. Trillions of miles of travel meant travelling at light speed in order to reach the planet within the astronaut's lifetime. Travelling at light speed meant that there was a very real possibility of something going very, very wrong. He didn't want to dwell on it too much, but as he prepared breakfast for one last time, he couldn't help but reflect on the first mission brief all those months ago.

"Our technology should be advanced enough that your ship should stay intact as you travel through light speed," Mission Director Ukai had told the crew on the first day of training, "and the cryogenic pods will help you maintain your body's regular functions."

Ukai had paused then, taking an unsteady breath before he added, "And because of time dilation, we can't guarantee you'll ever see your families again."

Ukai had held up a hand when the cries of shock and protest filled the room. Once the assembled crew had quieted down, Ukai had continued, "We know that this will come as a surprise to some of you, especially those who may not have as strong of a background in physics. However, this is a risk anyone who wants to participate in this mission must be willing to take."

"How much time would pass here on Earth?" an astronaut who would later drop the mission asked.

"Proxima b is 4.2 light years away, and you'll be spending three years in orbit around the planet collecting data," Ukai explained. "It'll then be another 4.2 light years to return to Earth. Not accounting for the two years in orbit, it might be about 80 years of time on Earth."

Another murmur had rippled through the assembled group.

"I know that the uncertainty of all of this is daunting," Ukai said, "but this is—quite literally—a once in a lifetime opportunity. You get to work not only with your current generation of scientists, but future generations as well, exploring a planet that we know so little about. This is a phenomenal opportunity for you all. If you need to withdraw from the mission, I understand. But I hope you'll all stay on."

In the end, they had to replace all but four crew members. Daichi remained on as mission commander, as did his fellow astronauts and lifelong friends Azumane Asahi, Michimiya Yui, and Tanaka Ryuunosuke, the crew's physician, resident geologist and the crew's pilot respectively. Added to the crew were Hinata Shouyou, Kageyama Tobio, Shimizu Kiyoko, and Ennoshita Chikara. Hinata would act as their navigator and communications technician, Kiyoko their chief engineer, Ennoshita was an astrophysics researcher who specialized in exoplanets, and Kageyama was the systems operator for the journey. They each had their specializations, and they knew the risks involved. Still, they were all prepared to undertake the journey. Daichi had nothing but respect and admiration for their dedication to space exploration.

After breakfast, Daichi took a quick lap around his apartment. The place was bare; most of his furniture either left with his family or sold off. He had been allowed one crate of personal effects, and those had been with JAXA for weeks now. There was really nothing left for him there, but Daichi couldn't help but felt a twinge in his chest as he stepped into his bedroom for the last time. His room was the only place with furnishings. His parents would be by later to pick up his bed and dresser, taking the last of his clothes for donations and selling his remaining furniture off. Daichi spun in a slow circle, taking in his bedroom, and his eyes fell on a lone picture frame on his dresser.

He picked it up, turning it over to examine the picture. It was a picture of his family during a birthday several years ago. It must have been his sister Miko's birthday, as she was in the center of the photo. Her wide smile had a missing tooth, placing this photo at her seventh birthday. Akane was seated to her left, his small hand reaching towards the cake, most likely in an effort to steal some frosting while Miko distracted. Daichi in the picture had his hands resting on Miko's shoulders, eyes closed and head thrown back in laughter. Neither of his parents were in the picture. Daichi blinked back the tears that were welling in his eyes. He knew that he was going to cry, but now wasn't the time. He had other things to do. Daichi took the picture out of the frame and folded it gently. He tucked it into his pants pocket with a gentle pat; JAXA wouldn't mind if he brought along one more thing.

Daichi made his way back to the front room, stopping at the genkan to put on his shoes and his jacket. With one final look at his apartment, Daichi gave it a little wave, then left. He locked the door, and dropped the key in the mailbox for his parents to find later. Stepping out of the building into the early morning sun, Daichi checked his watch; 5:30am, just in time to watch the sunrise on the river bank.

It took Daichi about twenty minutes to make it his favorite spot on the river bank. It was cold, but it wasn't snowing. It rarely did in the city. It was cold enough that he'd wished he'd brought a scarf, but he had donated his scarves a while ago. He picked his way along the river bank, his hands shoved in his pockets as he made his way to a small alcove just behind a large boulder. It was his favorite spot on the river bank, secluded, peaceful, empty.

Daichi sat on a large rock that sat on the edge of the water. A gentle breeze ruffled through his short, dark hair as the sky steadily grew lighter and lighter.

"I knew I'd find you here," a familiar voice called.

Daichi turned to watch Azumane Asahi pick his way down the bank towards Daichi. Daichi moved over to make space for Asahi to sit down. With a quiet grunt, Asahi sat on the rock, his gaze turned towards the sunrise. They sat in silence for a few minutes, content to watch the clouds turn pink and orange as the sun finally rose over the horizon.

"Whatever you're about to say, keep it to yourself," Daichi said after a moment, reaching down to run a finger through the freezing sand.

Asahi blinked twice, his mouth dropping in shock.

"How did you-?"

"You do it every mission, Azumane," Daichi teased. "You always make some speech about us blasting off to explore the vast unknown for the betterment of humanity like a sentimental senpai in a manga."

"Pot, meet kettle," Asahi scoffed, giving Daichi a playful shove. "If anyone in the organization overhypes missions with sentimental speeches, it's you."

"Fair, fair," Daichi said, letting the conversation lapse back into silence. After a few minutes, he gestured for Asahi to speak.

"Oh, so now you want my sentimentality."

"Get on with it, Azumane."

Asahi sighed, pulling his knees up to his chest. "We're going to be leaving Earth for who knows how long."

Daichi hummed in agreement.

"There's no way we're making it back to Earth while our families are still alive, and who knows what Earth will be like when we get back."

"If we get back."

"I'm trying to be optimistic here," Asahi said, glaring at Daichi.

"Sorry, go ahead."

Asahi nodded, "Thank you. As I was saying, who knows what Earth will be like when we get back. And frankly, that scares me. That absolutely terrifies me. And I'm scared about what will happen to my parents when I'm gone. The future is uncertain, and that scares the shit out of me."

Asahi stopped, tears welling up in his eyes. Daichi reached out and pat Asahi's hand, waiting for him to continue. After a minute, Asahi wiped his eyes and took a shuddering breath.

"But, I know that things are going to be okay. I'm going on this mission surrounded by people I've known for years, people that are my friends and that I love. We're going to be gone for a long time, but I'm not going alone. I'll be with people who have my back, and I'll have theirs. We're going to be okay."

Daichi pulled his friend into a tight hug. Asahi wrapped his arms around Daichi without hesitation. Daichi knew he was crying, and he knew Asahi was crying, but neither of them addressed it. It would ruin the moment otherwise.

"Come on," Daichi said after a minute, his voice heavy with emotion, "let's go to space."

Daichi helped Asahi off of the rock. Asahi went first, picking his way back up the bank to the road. Daichi's gaze dropped to the sand next to the rock. He had traced his name in the sand, just out of reach of the waves. One last piece of himself left on Earth. ��Daichi turned away and climbed the bank after Asahi. He had a ship to catch.

***

The mission had been a success, in Daichi's mind, but at the same time, three years in orbit hadn't nearly been enough time to fully study the planet. Chikara and Yui had found some interesting data on the planet, but they could have found so much more if they were allowed to stay. The Fukurokuju had very little problems thanks to Kiyoko and Tobio's teamwork, any problem the ship may have had was fixed under their careful scrutiny. Ryuu, finding that his own job wasn't as important during the orbiting stage, learned how to navigate drones to and from the planet's surface. Daichi, needing something to pass the time, assisted Shouyou in creating star charts and relaying communications back to JAXA.

It wasn't all work onboard the Fukurokuju. The crew made it a point to send an over-the-top Christmas photo back to Earth once a year along with pictures of birthday parties and zero gravity antics. As it turned out, Chikara was an excellent filmmaker and spent plenty of time documenting the day to day life of the crew. The crew also set a record for the most amount of weddings held on a space ship outside of the Milky Way, with Kiyoko and Yui, and Shouyou and Tobio all marrying within one rotation of one another. Daichi had officiated both weddings, and the crew held a joint reception between the two couples. The ship's interior had been filled with makeshift decorations that hadn't come down for weeks.

But the three years were up, and the Fukurokuju hurtled back towards Earth at the speed of light. The ship dropped out of light speed somewhere around Mars and had been on a steady course for Earth for months. Soon enough, they were approaching Earth.

Shouyou was the first to spot Earth, dragging Tobio over to one of the ship's windows with a loud, "Tobio, you need to see this!" Tobio tried to resist at first—citing cryopod maintenance as a top priority—but once he caught a glimpse of Earth he froze. He wrapped an arm around his husband's shoulder and pulled him close, marveling at the blue speck that grew closer and closer. The rest of the crew was alerted soon after and preparations for atmospheric entry began. Within a week, the crew was strapping into place and preparing for their descent back to the planet's surface.

"Hey Daichi," Ryuu called from the pilot's chair, "I think you should let Chōfu know we're coming. Don't want them to think we're aliens or anything."

Daichi rolled his eyes as he pressed a button on the coms board and said, "Chōfu, this is Mission Commander Sawamura Daichi of the Fukurokuju. We're beginning our descent through Earth's atmosphere. We'll transmit you our coordinates for pickup once we land. Over."

Silence. Ryuu looked over at Daichi with an eyebrow raised. The rest of the crew looked on with mild concern.

"Do our coms not work anymore?" Yui asked.

Daichi pressed the button again, speaking louder this time, "Chōfu, do you copy? This is Mission Commander Sawamura Daichi of the Fukurokuju. We're beginning our descent and we're requesting pickup on impact. Over."

More silence. Then came a crackle from the coms.

"Fukurokuju, we copy," said a calm voice. "We have someone tracking your shuttle now and we'll have someone meet you at your landing point."

The crew let out a cheer of relief. Daichi sighed as he pressed the button again, "Roger that."

"Oh, and Commander?" the voice said.

"Yes?"

"Welcome home."

Daichi smiled. Satisfied, he sat back in his seat and nodded at Ryuu.

"Alright Ryuu, bring us home," Daichi said.

Ryuu gave Daichi a small salute. "Yes, sir."

As Ryuu piloted the ship down through the Kármán Line, a well of emotions bubbled up inside Daichi. They had made it, they were home.

***

Touchdown was rockier—or rather, wetter—than the crew anticipated. The ship overshot land by a few miles and landed in the Pacific Ocean. They'd been lucky that the ship's landing gears included floatation mechanisms, but they still had to wait for several hours for a ship large enough to pick them up from the ocean. Daichi had radioed Chōfu again, and the person on the other end had laughed hysterically before telling Daichi that a ship was on the way. The ship that came to get them, however, was something they weren't prepared for. For starters, it skimmed just above the water. No, it wasn't skimming. It was hovering.

The crew gaped as the large gray vessel slowed to a halt in front of them. It certainly looked like a carrier, but carriers didn't hover like that. They also didn't rise into the air high enough to open the bottom of the hull and pull the Fukurokuju inside using a tractor beam. It was like something out of a sci-fi novel.

"I'm starting to think that Ukai was onto something with the whole 'time dilation equals time travel' thing," Asahi muttered to Daichi as they stepped off of the Fukurokuju and onto the floor of the now closed hull.

"Well, if you're thinking that it's 2044, then you're right. Welcome to Earth, circa 2127."

The crew turned to see a group approaching their own. They were led by a blond man with—surprisingly—piercings and his hair held back by an athletic headband. Daichi noted that the group following him was all dressed in what appeared to be JAXA uniforms, but one in particular caught his eye. Standing near the front of the group was the most gorgeous man Daichi had ever seen. He was Daichi's height with the fluffiest silver hair Daichi had ever seen. He was toned, Daichi could tell that much from the uniform. His amber eyes seemed locked on Daichi, and Daichi felt a blush creep across his face. The silver haired man flashed him a quick smirk and Daichi groaned internally. That was entirely unfair of this stranger; he been in space with people he considered family that he'd forgotten how to cope with attractive people.

Thankfully, the blond haired man stepped in between Daichi and the source of his torment, snapping Daichi out of his stupor. The man held a hand out to Daichi, "Ukai Keishin. You worked with my grandfather."

Daichi looked between the man's hand and his face before grasping it. "Sawamura Daichi. You look an awful lot like him," Daichi remarked. "Wait, did you say 2127?"

Ukai shrugged, "We're going to wait to debrief you all until we're back in Chōfu. We've set up some temporary quarters for you here on the carrier so you can freshen up and all that. I can't imagine you've had an easy return journey."

There was a murmur of agreement amongst the crew. Daichi knew he was probably exhausted, but he had questions.

Ukai seemed to sense this as he gave Daichi a weary smile, "Rest up, you'll find out everything you need to know later. Tsukishima, Yachi, Yamaguchi. Please escort the crew of the Fukurokuju to their quarters. Takeda, with me. The rest of you, back to work."

Two men and a woman stepped away from the group. The girl, Yachi, pointed out a room for Kiyoko and Yui to while Tsukishima and Yamaguchi led the others to their own rooms. The doors were opened by handprint, again, something Daichi had only seen in sci-fi. It was a little unnerving, but then again, he had apparently spent the last 84 years living a sci-fi story, so he really he had no leg to stand on. Tsukishima—the taller of the two—gave Daichi a solemn nod before turning to let Asahi and the others into their rooms. As Daichi entered his room, he could hear a voice call down the hallway, "Are these the missing astronauts?"

'Missing?' Daichi thought as the door closed behind him. 'Were we missing?'

Daichi shook his head and surveyed the room before him. It was the same gray as the rest of the ship, with a tiny window overlooking the ocean. There was a bed, a side bathroom, and a dresser up against one wall. A single change of clothes had been placed on top of the dresser. Otherwise, the room was bare. Daichi crossed to the dresser and picked up the clothes – a T-shirt and a pair of jeans.

"How did they know our sizes?" Daichi wondered aloud. "Maybe they were still on file or something."

Daichi shrugged his shoulders; one more question to add to the list. He set the clothes down and stripped off the top of his flight suit. He peeled off the undershirt and dropped it to the floor.

"Excuse me," said a voice from behind him.

Daichi nearly jumped out of his skin, spinning on his heel to glare at the newcomer. The silver-haired man from before stood in the doorway. He held up his hands in a placating manner, a wide but sheepish grin plastered on his face.

"Hi, sorry, didn't mean to scare you," he said. "Can I come in?"

Daichi blinked twice, then nodded, "It's, uh… it's okay. Come in."

The other man lowered his hands as he stepped over the threshold. He gave the room a once over before returning his attention to Daichi. "My name's Sugawara Koushi," he told Daichi. "I was the one who gave you contacted when you started your reentry and when you landed in the ocean."

"Nice to meet you, Sugawara. I'm Sawamura Daichi, but I guess you already knew that."

"Call me Suga, all my friends do."

"Alright then. Suga it is."

Suga's face suddenly turned a bright red and he gave a quick cough. Daichi quirked an eyebrow, then looked down. His own face flushed as he realized he was still shirtless. Suga picked up the shirt from the nearby desk and tossed it at Daichi. Daichi snatched it out of the air and pulled it over his head. Suga was staring at him and it was making Daichi a little uneasy.

"Thank you for your help by the way," Daichi said as he tugged the shirt into place.

"What?" Suga asked, snapping out of whatever little world he had been in. "Oh, it’s nothing, really. I imagine it'd be kind of scary to crash land in the middle of the ocean and have no one come pick you up."

"Yeah, it was a little concerning," Daichi agreed. "Especially since we weren't expecting a helicarrier to come get us."

"A helicarrier?"

"It's from an American superhero movie, don't worry about it," Daichi said.

Suga nodded. He opened his mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by a sudden commotion out in the hallway. Suga poked his head out of the door and groaned.

"I gotta get going," he said. "It looks like Nishinoya's trying to make friends in the most destructive way possible."

Suga left before Daichi could say anything, but Daichi figured out what he meant when he looked out into the hallway. Shouyou, Tobio, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi watched as Ryuu picked up a short man—Nishinoya, maybe?—in a JAXA uniform and lifted him over his head, much to the delight of the man. Asahi, Chikara, Kiyoko, and Yui were suspiciously absent.

"Wow, 21st Century humans are a lot stronger than I thought they'd be," Daichi could hear him say.

"It's either that, or you're really small," Tsukishima said.

"You got something to say to me, bean pole?" Nishinoya snapped.

"I bet I could pick you up too," Ryuu said, setting Nishinoya down.

Shouyou chanted in response, "Do it, do it, do it!"

"Don't you dare," Tsukishima hissed as he took a step back.

Suga stepped forward at that point, a stern look on his face. For the briefest of moments, Daichi thought that he was going to put an end to the shenanigans.

"You're gonna hurt your back if you try lifting him. Let me help you."

Tsukishima gaped at Suga before turning tail and booking it out of the corridor. Daichi smacked his head against the doorframe; it was going to be a long trip back to land.

***

The following week was a blur of debriefings and press conferences that left Daichi's head spinning. They'd been given rooms at a JAXA owned dormitory—a new feature as of 2115, according to Suga—and then they'd immediately been swept up in debriefings: what happened in the 87 years they were gone, what they experienced in space, general mission debriefs. But then everyone at JAXA wanted to meet with the "missing astronauts" as they were come to be known. Then every other space program wanted a meeting with the crew as well. As did every news corporation and world politician. It was a week of press junket after press junket after meeting after press junket. None of the crew seemed to be handling that part well, but least of all Daichi. As mission commander, he was the star of almost every interview. Everyone in the 22nd Century wanted to get to know the man in charge of the Fukurokuju crew. It was exhausting.

One good thing that came out of all of this was Suga. Within the span of a week, the man had become a close friend and guide for Daichi and the rest of the crew. Daichi wasn't sure how, but it felt like he'd known Suga forever, given how seamlessly he blended in with the group. The century's difference between him and the crew was nonexistent. He was funny, supportive, informative, and charming. He took the crew out on a tour of Chōfu their first morning back, receiving only a mild reprimand from Ukai once they got back. He'd bring food for the crew in between press conferences and answer questions about 22nd Century life. He always had a quip or a joke whenever someone was feeling down. Daichi had to admit it, he was falling hard and fast. Really, it was hard not to when he made it a point to see Daichi and the crew at least three times a day, including dropping by Daichi's quarters once a day. Aside from the blossoming feelings of infatuation, Daichi recognized something in Suga. He was a source of comfort.

This was especially nice after a particularly brutal interview that involved way too many questions about his family and whether or not he'd been in contact with any potential relatives. Daichi was embarrassed to say that he had stormed out of that interview, but really, who could blame him? He may have been slowly adjusting to life on Earth almost a century after he'd left it, but his family was still a sensitive spot. If either of his siblings had had kids, or grandkids, none of them had reached out to him. Or maybe they had and JAXA hadn't passed on the messages. Regardless, it wasn't something he wanted to talk about.

Suga had been waiting for him when he left the press room, his smile fading at the look on Daichi's face. He followed Daichi back to his quarters in silence. He waited patiently while Daichi opened the door, and then followed him inside. Daichi flopped down onto the bed with a sigh. Suga remained by the door, tense and silent.

"I don't know how you feel about hugs," Suga began after a minute, "but you sure look like you need one."

Daichi sat up. He studied Suga for a moment, his eyes roving over Suga's worried expression, his amber eyes flashed with empathy. Daichi gave Suga a curt nod. The tension seemed to drop from Suga's shoulders as he approached Daichi. He pulled Daichi to his feet, then pulled him into a tight embrace that knocked some of the wind out of Daichi's lungs. Suga, Daichi was pleased to discover, gave fantastic hugs. Daichi relaxed as he wrapped his arms around Suga's waist and tucked his face into the crook of Suga's neck, the tension of a long week seeping away into nothingness as he just stood there and let himself be held.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Suga whispered. "But if you need to, I'm here for you."

Daichi took one long, shuddering breath, then exhaled. "They asked about my family."

"Someone asked Kiyoko and Yui about it in their joint interview the other day," Suga remarked. "You'd think that would be on the 'Don't ask' list, but reporters are nosy."

Daichi snorted, "At least that much hasn't changed since the 21st Century."

They fell back into silence. Suga brought a hand up to run his fingers through Daichi's hair, the other rubbing small circles across his back. Daichi closed his eyes and let himself relax further into Suga's touch. He could feel himself drifting off in Suga's arms, but he didn't care. This felt right. It felt like home.

"Do you wish you hadn't gone?" Suga asked. "To space, I mean."

Well, wasn't that the question?

"I… don't know," Daichi admitted. "Part of me wishes that I could have grown with my family, but then again, if I hadn't…"

Daichi trailed off, letting the unspoken then I wouldn't have met you hang in the air.

Suga pulled away from Daichi enough to look him in the eye. There was a fire there as he said, "Wait here."

"Suga?"

"I'll be right back," Suga told him, pulling away and leaving the room.

Daichi immediately missed Suga's warmth. With a snap, Daichi realized just how much he craved Suga's company. He was something familiar in unfamiliar territory, a piece of driftwood in the unknown sea of the 22nd Century. In less poetic terms, Daichi was fucked. With a groan, he collapsed back on his bed. Falling for a guy he had met a week ago was the exact icing on top of the cake of weirdness Daichi had to deal with.

Suga's voice came from the doorway a few seconds later, "Don't fall asleep on me now. I violated several archival rules to bring you this surprise."

Daichi sat back up as Suga crossed the room to sit next to him. In his hands was a small JAXA tablet. Daichi glanced between the tablet and Suga's face. Suga beamed with excitement as he held the tablet out to Daichi.

"Since your mission was one of the most famous space exploration missions in the last century, everything about your lives was documented," Suga explained as he tapped the screen and held it out to Daichi. "That included interviews with your families."

Daichi froze, his hand inches from the tablet. "They interviewed our families?"

"That they did," Suga replied. "Do you want to see yours?"

Daichi swallowed, tears rolling down his face as he whispered, "Please."

Suga brushed the tears from Daichi's face, the gentle touch more than Daichi could handle at the moment. Suga moved his hand from Daichi's face to his shoulder, then pressed the screen of the tablet. On the screen were his parents, significantly older than they had been when he had left Earth.

"It's been hard for us, without Daichi," his mother said with tears in her eyes. "But we know that what he's doing is important. His work has meant so much to him, I'm glad that of all of the people working with JAXA, our Daichi was the one who got to go."

"We're so proud of him, we really are," his father chimed in. "We like to tell his nieces and nephews that if they look closely, they can track his ship across the night sky."

Daichi's heart skipped a beat; he'd had nieces and nephews.

"If you could tell Mission Commander Sawamura one thing, what would it be?" a voice off-screen asked.

His parents exchanged a loving, but pained look. Then his mother turned back to the screen and spoke, "We love you, Daichi. Please come back to Earth safe and sound."

"Name a crater after me if there are any on Proxima b," his father added with a chuckle.

The video ended there. Daichi didn't mind too much that it was a short clip; the tears falling from his eyes obscured the screen anyway. Suga set the tablet to the side and pulled Daichi in for another hug.

"They loved you so much," Suga whispered. "They were so proud of you, and they loved you so much."

Daichi pressed his face into the crook of Suga's neck. He took a deep breath and said, "Thank you, Koushi. I… This means a lot to me."

Suga tensed for a moment, clearly caught off guard by the use of his given name. For a moment, Daichi worried that he'd crossed a line. After a moment, however, Suga squeezed him tight.

"You're welcome, Daichi."

***

It took six months for the press conferences to finally stop. By that time, the crew of the Fukurokuju had officially settled into life in the 22 Century. Yui and Kiyoko had moved out of the dormitory and back to the small town in Miyagi they had grown up in. They found jobs at the local university, with Yui working in the geology department and Kiyoko taking on a job in the Engineering department. Shouyou, Tobio and Ryuu stayed on with JAXA, training future astronauts in flight, systems operations and navigation. Chikara got a job as a science consultant for movies, as well as a teaching position at a local university in Tokyo. Asahi found work at a local hospital near Chōfu. Daichi also stayed on with JAXA as a mission director, but moved back into his old apartment. It was bittersweet to come back to it, but it had been his home almost one hundred years ago. He needed the familiarity.

To his delight, Koushi continued to drop by unannounced almost every single day. Usually he brought food, but sometimes, he just brought himself. Whenever he'd show up, they would hang around Daichi's apartment and talk until sunset, then Daichi would take Koushi out for walks around town, showing him all of his old haunts and comparing them to how they were 87 years previous. Koushi usually had a remark about Daichi being ancient when Daichi would complain about "new fangled technology" and Daichi would easily counter with an exasperated "kids these days".

It was in moments like that where Daichi discovered little things about Koushi that made him fall even deeper in love. The bridge of Koushi's nose scrunched when he laughed. Koushi's eyes would flash a little just before the delivery of a swift jab to Daichi's ribs after a terrible joke. Koushi played with strands of his hair when he was nervous, or lost in thought. Koushi's smile was brightest whenever Daichi used his given name. Koushi's eyes flickered between Daichi's and Daichi's lips whenever Daichi spoke. Koushi always hugged Daichi tightest whenever the group would split for the night. Koushi flushed a light pink whenever Daichi caught him staring. It was all of the little things that made Daichi love Koushi more and more with each passing day. And it was about time he did something about it.

On Koushi's birthday, Daichi and Koushi went for one of their usual sunset walks. They stopped by Koushi's favorite ice cream shop before Daichi led him to the river bank he'd frequent 87 years ago. They made their way across the river bank, their hands brushing against each other. Feeling brave, Daichi laced his fingers with Koushi's. Koushi gave Daichi's hand a squeeze. Warmth spread across Daichi's cheeks as he grinned.

"So, where are you taking me, Sawamura?" Koushi asked. "You've been awfully secretive about this whole birthday adventure."

"I bought you ice cream, didn't I?" Daichi teased.

"Don't dodge the question."

"It's one of my favorite places in Chōfu." Daichi said.

He led Koushi to the alcove. To his delight, the area remained unchanged. He sat on the rock closest to the water's edge. Koushi sat next to him, pulling his knees to his chest and resting his head on Daichi's shoulder. The sun set behind them, leaving the pair to admire the twilight sky. Daichi reached down to the sand below and traced his and Koushi's names into the sand.

"Anytime I left Earth, I'd come here to watch either the sunrise first," Daichi explained. "It was always so tranquil here. No one would find me; it was just me and the world around me. Knowing that I would be coming back to this was what made me want to go to space in the first place. I always had something to come back to."

"Thank you for sharing this with me," Koushi whispered, lacing his fingers with Daichi's again.

Daichi sat back a little, turning to look at Koushi. He studied the other man's face for a moment before he asked, "Can I kiss you?"

Koushi blinked at Daichi, then punched him in the shoulder. "I've been waiting for you to ask for six months, Sawamura!"

Daichi laughed as he rubbed his arm, "You know, you could have taken the initiative."

"Shut up and kiss me, asshole."

All too happy to comply, Daichi cupped Koushi's chin and pulled him into the kiss. It was a simple thing, as far as kisses went. It was a gentle kiss, but it had just the right amount of passion behind it to send shivers down Daichi's back. Koushi brought his hands up to rest on Daichi's shoulders. He tilted his head to deepen the kiss, and it was like the final piece of a jigsaw puzzle falling into place. It felt right, being there with Koushi. Koushi was comfort, Koushi was home.

"I love you," Daichi whispered against Koushi's lips.

Koushi pulled back to press a kiss to Daichi's forehead. "I love you too," he replied.

They stayed that way for a while, trading gentle kisses as they watched the sky turn black. It was exactly where Daichi wanted to be.

#hqss2018 #dailyhaikyuu #daisuga #haikyuufanfics

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