#She went from a cute stylish girl

[gottencents]

Like Real People Do - Winter

pairing. popular girl!winter x nerdy!reader

synopsis. a quiet, nerdy student’s life turns upside down when Kim Minjeong—popular, confident, and completely out of their league—confesses she likes them.

High school was a hierarchy, and you were at the bottom of it.

You weren’t bullied, but no one really noticed you either. You spent your time in the library, buried in books and solving equations that others found impossible. You weren’t particularly stylish, and socializing wasn’t your strong suit. That was fine. You were okay with being invisible.

That was until your math teacher decided to ruin your peaceful existence by pairing you up with Kim Minjeong—better known as Winter, the most popular girl in school—for tutoring.

It didn’t make sense. She had a group of friends who could help her, people who would trip over themselves to do anything for her. She was the type of girl who walked down the hallways like she owned them, while you stuck to the edges, hoping to avoid attention. You didn’t belong in the same world.

Yet, here you were.

Sitting across from her at the farthest table in the library, your heart thudding as you tried to ignore the fact that Winter—Winter—was twirling her pen absentmindedly, her elbow propped on the table, staring at you like you were some kind of puzzle she wanted to solve.

“You’re staring,” she finally said, her voice light but amused.

Your face heated up instantly. “I-I was just… focusing!” you stammered, looking down at the numbers on the page as if they could save you.

Winter chuckled. “Right. Because math is so fascinating.”

“For me, it is,” you muttered under your breath, gripping your pencil tighter.

She hummed, tapping her pen against her notebook. “You’re cute when you’re flustered, you know that?”

Your brain completely short-circuited.

You looked up at her, wide-eyed. “I—what?”

Winter smirked, resting her chin on her palm. “You always look like you’re trying to disappear. But when you’re embarrassed like this, it’s kinda nice. Makes you feel… real.”

Your throat went dry. She was messing with you. She had to be.

“You don’t have to pretend to flirt with me,” you mumbled, turning your attention back to the equation in front of you. “I know how this works. Popular girl, loser nerd—classic set-up for a joke.”

Winter’s playful expression faltered slightly. “Is that what you think?”

You didn’t respond. What else were you supposed to think? People like her didn’t go for people like you.

She sighed, sitting back in her chair. “Wow. You really don’t get it, do you?”

You hesitated, gripping your pencil tighter. “Get what?”

She tapped the eraser of her pencil against your notebook, forcing you to look at her. “I asked for you, Y/n.”

Your breath hitched. “What?”

Winter tilted her head slightly, her eyes scanning your face like she was debating how much to say. “When Mr. Park said I needed tutoring, he was gonna assign me someone else. But I asked for you.”

Your heart stuttered. That didn’t make sense. “Why would you do that?”

Winter hesitated for a second before shrugging. “Because you’re smart. And you don’t treat me like I’m… untouchable or something. You don’t try to impress me, and you’re not fake.” She paused, then added softer, “And I like that.”

You swallowed hard. “You… like that?”

She gave you a look. “Yes. And I like you.”

Your world tilted. That—that—was impossible.

“But I’m just—”

“A genius?” she interrupted. “Funny, even when you don’t mean to be? Kind of adorable when you get all defensive?”

Your ears burned. “Winter—”

She leaned forward slightly, her voice softer now. “I get why you don’t believe me. But let me ask you something—have I ever been anything but honest with you?”

You thought about it. Winter was playful, flirty even, but she never lied. If anything, she was refreshingly direct, something that had always caught you off guard.

Slowly, you shook your head. “No… you haven’t.”

Winter smiled, reaching across the table and lightly flicking your forehead.

“Then stop overthinking,” she murmured. “And let me like you.”

Your heart was beating so fast you thought it might explode. Winter—this cool, confident, completely out-of-your-league girl—liked you.

“Unless,” she teased, a smirk tugging at her lips, “you don’t like me back?”

You shook your head so fast it was embarrassing. “No! I mean—yes! I mean—I do! Like you!”

Winter laughed, and you were struck by how beautiful she looked when she was genuinely happy. “Good. Then maybe after this, we can go on a date?”

You swallowed hard, still feeling like this was some kind of dream. “Y-Yeah… I’d like that.”

Winter smirked, picking up her pen again. “Cool. Now, let’s get through this math so I can take my cute tutor out for coffee.”

You were pretty sure you just fell in love.

The tutoring session ended in a blur. Not because the math problems were particularly hard, but because your brain refused to process anything other than the fact that Winter—Kim Minjeong—had just asked you out on a date.

By the time you both packed up your things and stepped outside, the sun had started setting, casting the sky in shades of pink and orange. The air was crisp, the first hints of winter creeping in, but you could barely feel the cold with how warm your face was.

Winter walked beside you, her hands tucked into the pockets of her jacket. “You good, nerd?” she teased, bumping her shoulder against yours.

You blinked. “Huh?”

She chuckled. “You’ve been quiet since we left. Regretting saying yes to a date with me?”

Your eyes widened. “No! Of course not! I just… still don’t understand why you even want to.”

Winter groaned, stopping in her tracks. You barely had time to react before she grabbed your wrist and turned you to face her.

“Y/n,” she said, her voice laced with exasperation, “are you seriously going to question everything I say?”

You opened your mouth, but she cut you off.

“I like you. I want to go on a date with you. Why is that so hard for you to believe?”

You hesitated, shifting on your feet. “Because you’re you,” you admitted. “And I’m just—”

Winter sighed, rolling her eyes. “Stop saying that.”

“But—”

“No buts!” She poked your forehead lightly, her gaze holding yours. “I don’t care if you think I’m ‘out of your league’ or whatever. I chose you, Y/n. Not because of some bet, not because I’m messing with you, but because I actually like you. So stop overthinking it.”

Your heart pounded. Winter’s words felt too good to be true, but the sincerity in her eyes told you she meant every single one.

“Okay,” you mumbled, feeling your face heat up again.

Winter grinned, satisfied. “Good. Now, let’s get coffee before I freeze to death.”

She grabbed your hand like it was the most natural thing in the world, lacing her fingers through yours as she started walking toward the nearest café. You, on the other hand, felt like your soul had just left your body.

Winter was holding your hand.

Kim Minjeong was holding your hand.

And she didn’t let go.

The café was small and cozy, the scent of roasted coffee beans and cinnamon filling the air. Winter pulled you inside, guiding you toward a table by the window. The warmth from inside the shop quickly melted away the evening chill, but nothing compared to the heat radiating off your face.

Winter ordered for both of you without hesitation, as if she had already memorized your usual drink. When she came back with two steaming cups, she slid yours across the table with a smirk.

“You drink way too much of this, by the way,” she teased, nodding at your cup.

You raised an eyebrow. “How do you know?”

Winter shrugged, taking a sip of her own drink. “I notice things about you.”

That sent your heart into a tailspin.

She noticed things about you?

You fidgeted with the sleeve of your sweater. “You do?”

Winter rested her chin on her hand, watching you with amusement. “Mhm. Like how you always push your glasses up when you’re thinking. Or how you chew on your pen when you’re stuck on a problem. Oh, and how you get this tiny little crease between your eyebrows when you’re annoyed.”

Your face was on fire. “You… notice all that?”

Winter laughed, her expression softening. “Of course, dummy. I like you, remember?”

You were certain you were seconds away from malfunctioning.

Winter reached across the table, her fingers lightly brushing against yours. “You don’t have to be so nervous around me, you know.”

You swallowed hard. “That’s kinda impossible.”

She grinned. “Why? Because I’m so popular and intimidating?”

You nodded, refusing to meet her eyes.

Winter sighed dramatically. “You’re such a nerd.”

You peeked up at her. “And you like that?”

Her smirk softened into something more genuine. “Yeah. I do.”

Silence settled between you, but it wasn’t awkward. If anything, it was… warm. Comfortable.

For the first time, you let yourself believe that maybe—just maybe—Winter really did like you.

And that was the scariest, most exhilarating realization of all.

Monday morning came faster than you wanted. The school hallways buzzed with their usual energy—students gossiping by lockers, couples holding hands, and teachers trying to corral everyone into class. You walked in quietly, head down, hoping to blend into the background like you always did.

That had been the plan.

But you didn’t account for Winter.

You spotted her almost immediately, standing at her locker with a group of friends. Her hair caught the light, her confident smile effortlessly charming everyone around her. This was her world. She belonged here, surrounded by people who adored her.

And you? You were just hoping to survive the day unnoticed.

You turned on your heel, ready to make a beeline for your homeroom before she could see you.

“Y/n!”

Too late.

You froze, your heart leaping into your throat as Winter jogged toward you, her signature grin lighting up her face. A few people nearby glanced over, whispering among themselves.

“Hey, nerd,” she said casually, falling into step beside you.

You glanced at her nervously. “Hey…”

Winter tilted her head. “What’s with the quiet act? Trying to avoid me?”

“N-No! I just—” You faltered, your eyes darting around to the curious stares. “People are… watching.”

Winter looked around, then shrugged. “Let them.”

“Doesn’t that… bother you?”

“Not really,” she said, smirking. “Let them wonder. Maybe I like keeping them on their toes.”

You were about to respond when Winter reached out and tugged at the strap of your backpack, leaning in closer.

“Relax,” she whispered, her voice barely audible over the hallway noise. “You’re with me. They’ll get used to it.”

Your heart skipped a beat.

Her words were simple, but they carried a weight you weren’t ready for. You’re with me.

It sounded so… natural.

And completely terrifying.

Winter must have noticed your nervousness because she chuckled softly, looping her arm through yours before you could protest. “Come on, let’s get to class.”

The classroom fell into stunned silence the moment you walked in—well, more like the moment Winter walked in with you, still holding onto your arm like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Every head turned in your direction, eyes widening, whispers starting up instantly.

“Are they… together?”

“When did that happen?”

“Is Winter seriously dating them?”

You could feel your palms start to sweat, panic bubbling in your chest. But Winter seemed completely unbothered, casually guiding you to your desk before finally letting go of your arm.

“I’ll see you at lunch,” she said with a wink.

And just like that, she was gone, leaving you to sit there and face the sea of curious stares on your own.

You slumped into your seat, covering your face with your hands. “This is a nightmare,” you muttered.

“Is it?” a voice beside you asked.

You peeked through your fingers to find your best friend, Yves, smirking at you. “You just walked in with Winter, arm in arm, like some kind of power couple. You’re living a dream, not a nightmare.”

You groaned. “Everyone’s staring.”

“Of course they are! You’re suddenly part of Winter’s world. Do you know how many people would kill to be in your position right now?”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t ask for this much attention,” you muttered. “I just… don’t know what to do.”

Yves leaned in, her smirk softening into something more sincere. “Look, I know this is new and scary, but… maybe you should trust her. She’s not the type to fake something like this.”

You bit your lip, her words sinking in. Trust her.

It seemed so simple, but trusting someone like Winter—someone who lived in a world so different from yours—felt like stepping off a cliff, not knowing if you’d land safely.

But then you remembered the way she held your hand, the way she smiled at you like you were the only person who mattered, and something in your chest shifted.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to take that leap.

Lunch couldn’t have come any slower.

You spent the entire morning avoiding eye contact with half the school. Whispers followed you everywhere, and you were certain people were inventing wild theories about why Winter, the Kim Minjeong, had suddenly taken an interest in you. By the time lunch finally rolled around, your nerves were shot.

Yves caught up with you in the hallway. “So, what’s the plan? You sitting with her?”

You hesitated, gripping the strap of your backpack. “I don’t know… Should I?”

Yves raised an eyebrow. “Uh, yeah. You’re practically dating now. You can’t just not show up. She’ll think you’re bailing on her.”

“Right…” You swallowed hard, anxiety bubbling up.

You had barely stepped into the cafeteria when you spotted Winter, sitting at her usual table in the middle of the room. A couple of her friends sat with her, laughing at something she said. She was relaxed, completely in her element.

And then she saw you.

Winter’s face lit up, her eyes locking on yours. She waved you over without hesitation.

“Oh my God,” you whispered to Yves. “She’s really doing this.”

“Yep. Go on.” Yves nudged you forward with a grin. “I’ll be right here if you need rescuing.”

Your legs felt like lead as you made your way across the cafeteria. Every step felt heavier with the weight of all the stares that followed you. You could practically hear the gossip spreading like wildfire.

Winter scooted over to make room for you, patting the seat next to her. “Hey, you made it.”

“Yeah,” you managed, sitting down stiffly.

One of Winter’s friends, a short girl with sharp features, raised an eyebrow. “So, this is the famous Y/n?”

Winter shot her a look. “Be nice, Yeji.”

Yeji smirked but backed off, giving you an appraising glance. “Relax, I’m just messing around. You’re cute.”

You weren’t sure how to respond to that, so you just smiled awkwardly and prayed the ground would swallow you whole.

Winter leaned in, her shoulder brushing yours. “Ignore her. She’s always like that.”

You nodded, trying to focus on anything other than how close she was sitting. “So, uh… what do you usually do at lunch?”

“Talk, eat… sometimes make fun of people,” Winter said with a mischievous grin. “But today, I’m just hanging out with you.”

Your stomach flipped at her words, but you forced yourself to play it cool. “That’s… nice.”

Winter chuckled at your awkwardness, then reached for her drink. “You’re cute when you’re nervous, you know that?”

You blinked at her, heat rushing to your face. “I—uh—thanks?”

Before you could say anything else, someone across the cafeteria called out, “Hey, Winter! Didn’t know you were into nerds now!”

Laughter erupted from a nearby table.

Your heart sank, your worst fears bubbling to the surface. The room suddenly felt too hot, your pulse thundering in your ears. You were about to mumble an excuse and leave when Winter stood up.

“Yeah, I am,” she called back, her voice clear and confident. “Got a problem with that?”

The laughter died down immediately.

Winter sat back down, completely unfazed, and turned her attention back to you. “Anyway, as I was saying… you free this weekend?”

You stared at her in shock, barely able to process what had just happened. “I… think so?”

“Good. We’re going out,” she said, a satisfied smile playing on her lips. “I’ll text you the details later.”

The rest of lunch passed in a blur. Winter chatted with her friends like nothing had happened, while you sat there, stunned and overwhelmed.

By the time the bell rang, you felt like you had just survived some kind of social battlefield.

“You okay?” Winter asked as you walked out of the cafeteria together.

“I think so,” you said, still processing everything. “You really didn’t have to do that… with the whole standing up for me thing.”

Winter shrugged, slipping her hands into her pockets. “I wanted to. People should know you’re with me, and I’m not ashamed of it.”

Her words hit you harder than you expected. You’re with me.

Again, so simple. So certain.

“Thanks,” you said softly.

Winter smiled. “Get used to it, Y/n. I’m not going anywhere.”

The weekend felt like it took forever to arrive. You had spent the entire week replaying Winter’s words over and over in your head. “We’re going out.” Was this really happening? You’d always imagined something like this, but never in a million years did you think it would be with her.

The day before the date, you had stared at your closet for what felt like hours, unsure of what to wear. It wasn’t like you were used to going on dates. In fact, you’d probably never even been on one before. Winter, on the other hand, was practically a pro.

When Winter texted you the details—dinner at a cute café followed by a walk around the park—you almost thought she had sent the message to the wrong person. It all sounded so… normal. Like this was just something she did every weekend.

But for you? This was uncharted territory.

You spent the afternoon getting ready, trying on different outfits until you finally settled on something simple but comfortable—jeans, a nice top, and your favorite sneakers. You didn’t want to seem like you were trying too hard, but you also didn’t want to look like you’d just rolled out of bed.

Winter had insisted she’d pick you up, so you were left pacing by your door, waiting for her to arrive. You kept checking your phone every few minutes, your anxiety climbing higher.

Finally, the sound of a car pulling up outside caught your attention. You rushed to the window, your heart doing a little flip when you saw Winter’s sleek black car parked in front of your house.

You grabbed your bag and rushed outside, barely giving yourself time to breathe.

Winter was leaning against the car when you stepped out, looking effortlessly cool in a leather jacket and dark jeans. She smiled when she saw you, her eyes lighting up in a way that made your chest tighten.

“You ready?” she asked, pushing off the car and walking over to you.

You nodded, trying to ignore the nerves crawling up your spine. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Good.” She opened the passenger door for you, her smile warm and genuine. “Let’s go.”

The café was cozy, dimly lit, with soft music playing in the background. The atmosphere was perfect for a date—intimate without being overwhelming. As soon as you walked in, Winter led you to a small table by the window, where the two of you could watch the world go by.

You sat down, trying to fight off the nervousness that had settled in your stomach. Winter, however, seemed completely at ease, scrolling through the menu with one hand while casually resting the other on the table.

“So, what’s your favorite food?” Winter asked, glancing up at you.

You blinked, surprised by the question. “Uh… I don’t know. I guess I like pasta.”

“Pasta, huh?” Winter smirked. “I can work with that.”

The waitress came over to take your orders, and Winter made a joke about her usual “adventurous” choices when it came to food. You laughed at her antics, grateful for the way she made everything seem so easy.

But the more the conversation flowed, the more you realized how much you were enjoying yourself. Winter wasn’t just the popular girl everyone admired from afar—she was kind, funny, and somehow, she seemed to be really interested in you.

At one point, she leaned across the table, her face inches from yours as she asked, “So, what’s something I don’t know about you?”

Your heart skipped a beat.

You weren’t used to this kind of attention—people usually didn’t ask you these kinds of personal questions. You thought for a moment, then smiled. “I’ve always wanted to travel. Never really had the chance to go anywhere.”

Winter’s eyes softened. “Where would you go first?”

You thought about it for a moment. “Maybe Japan? Or Italy. I’ve always wanted to see the sights and try the food.”

“I’ll take you,” Winter said, the words slipping out effortlessly. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Your breath caught in your throat, your face flushing at her sudden promise.

“Seriously?” you managed to ask, your voice barely above a whisper.

Winter smiled, leaning back in her chair. “Yeah, why not? We’ll get there eventually. It’s a plan.”

You didn’t know what to say to that, so you simply nodded, your heart doing an excited little flip.

Dinner passed by in a comfortable blur, and before you knew it, Winter was paying for the meal, insisting that it was “her treat.”

“Thanks for tonight,” you said as she drove you home. The conversation had been easy, flowing naturally, and you couldn’t remember the last time you had enjoyed yourself this much.

Winter glanced at you, her expression softening. “It was nothing, really. I had fun. And I’m glad you came.”

When she pulled up in front of your house, she parked the car and turned to face you.

“So,” she began, her voice a little more serious now, “this was a good first date, right?”

You nodded quickly, your heart pounding in your chest. “Definitely. I had a great time.”

Winter leaned forward slightly, her gaze intense but gentle. “Good.”

Without warning, she reached out and brushed a strand of hair from your face, her touch lingering just a moment longer than necessary.

“See you tomorrow, Y/n?” she asked softly.

Your heart fluttered, your stomach flipping with nerves and excitement. “Definitely.”

Winter smiled, her eyes sparkling in the dim light of the car. “Good night, nerd.”

“Good night,” you whispered back, watching her drive away, your heart still racing in your chest.

You couldn’t help but smile to yourself as you headed inside. You were in for something more than you had ever imagined.

[dorabellingham]

Baby in the stadium

warning: none

characters: jude x mom!reader

summary: when to surprise Jude you take your little daughter for the first time in a game

may contain spelling and translation errors!

It was an important game at Santiago Bernabeu, with Real Madrid facing one of its biggest rivals. Jude Bellingham was focussed, as always, but he didn't imagine that that night had a surprise he would never forget.

You had planned everything in secret. With Nala already completing seven months, you decided it was time to take her to the stadium for the first time. In addition, did you know that Jude would be thrilled to see the little one wearing the team's official shirt, personalised with the name "Bellingham" and the number 5 - the same as her father.

You arrived at the stadium with Nala in your arms, wearing a warm coat over the mini shirt. You went straight to the area reserved for the players' families, being welcomed by the WAGs, who were already looking forward to meeting the Bellingham's' daughter up close.

-You finally brought her, Y/n! -Joked one of the players' wives. -Jude will go crazy when he sees you here.

You smiled, adjusting your daughter's cute hat, which matched perfectly with the baby's look.

-He has no idea. I thought it was time to give dad a boost on the field.

Nala, unaware of the commotion around him, looked curiously at everything. The loud sounds, the lights and the energy of the stadium left her enchanted.

While the players were warming up on the lawn, you decided to go down a little to the area closest to the field, still in the reserved part, so that Jude could see it. Some teammates realised it first.

-Wait a minute... is it Nala?

Said Camavinga, pointing to the side.

Rodrygo, who was next to him, laughed.

-I can't believe it! Jude will have an attack when he realises.

And it didn't take long for your fiancé to look in the direction in which the companions were pointing. He stopped in the middle of the field, his eyes wide, and a gigantic smile took over his face. He waved excitedly, as if he wanted to make sure it was real.

You answered with a small nod, lifting Nala on your lap. The baby, as if understanding what was happening, gave an adorable giggle and babbled something indecipherable, making Jude smile even more.

-My daughter is here!

Jude exclaimed to his colleagues, visibly moved.

At halftime from the game, the boy went straight to where you were. He didn't even bother to take his eyes off his daughter, who was now more desperate and kept watching everything around her.

-You two killed me from the heart today. -He said, taking the baby in his arms. -Look at this shirt! 'Bellingham 5'... My girl is all stylish."

Nala grabbed her father's face with her little hands, making everyone around her sigh with tenderness.

-It's getting strong, huh?

Jude commented, kissing his daughter's cheek.

Some teammates approached, curious to meet the famous little girl. Vinícius was the first to joke.

-She already looks like a player, huh, Jude? It will be faster than you.

Rodrygo laughed, watching Nala grab Jude's finger tightly.

-Look at this! She's already practising the grip to hold the ball.

You laughed while watching the scene.

-Be careful, guys. Nala may end up becoming the team's official mascot.

After a few minutes, Jude had to go back to the field, but not without first kissing you and the little girl again. He was visibly more excited and inspired. Commentators and fans didn't take long to realise that something special was happening - Bellingham seemed more focussed and determined than ever.

The camera even captured a moment when he looked at the stands and smiled, discreetly waving to you. This, of course, left fans emotional on social networks, with many commenting: Baby Bellingham is already officially Real Madrid's biggest lucky amulet!

When the game ended with a spectacular victory, Jude ran straight to you again. He held his daughter in his arms and lifted him up, as if introducing the little one to the crowd, who went crazy.

Already in the car, Nala fell asleep on his lap, exhausted after so much news. You looked at Jude through the rearview mirror and smiled.

-Today was the best game of my life, you know?

He said, intertwining his fingers with yours.

-Of course it was. You had our amulet there with you.

You answered with a smile.

Jude laughed softly.

-Now that she came once, she will always have to come.

You pretended to sigh.

-It's good, Bellingham. I think we can turn Nala into Madrid's number one fan.

And so, your little daughter's first trip to the stadium went down in history as one of the most special days for Jude - and, of course, for the fans who couldn't stand so much cuteness anymore.

[maretinelli]

A NON-SEPARATION²

DadLewis Hamilton X Mom!fem!reader

Summary: When Lewis and the girls return from their trip, and things with Y/n start to improve. And then, he confesses something that was on his mind during the days they were apart.

Words: 5.8K+

Warnings: Mentions of the past fight, Lewis being a loving husband, Pietra being very funny, Marie's cuteness and a happy ending.

Author: English is not my first language, so apologies for any spelling, grammar and slang mistakes that may be in the story. You can request stories on my profile, in questions. By the way, I loved writing for these four, if you want, I can make a parallel world and write more stories about this family!!!!! (Comment if you want, so I know) Universe of A NON-SEPARATION

Part 1

MASTERLIST

The weekend passed more quickly than Y/n expected. With Anne in town, she had a chance to take her mind off things, even though the silence in the house still bothered her. They went out to lunch, watched movies, and talked about everything but Lewis—at least until the last day, when Y/n finally admitted that she missed him. Anne wasn’t surprised, but she didn’t press her either.

Meanwhile, Lewis and the girls had an emotional weekend. The race was intense, and the girls cheered in the Ferrari garage alongside grandma Carmen, cheering for their father.

Pietra, always spontaneous, made a point of shouting "Go, daddy!" right in the middle of the post-race interview, making the journalists laugh. Marie, more reserved, just covered her face with her hands, pretending she didn't know her sister.

Now it was Tuesday, and Y/n had already returned to her routine—or at least she tried to. She was on vacation from the office, Anne had already left, and the big house was silent again. Too silent.

She had never spent so much time away from her daughters, and every corner of the house felt empty without them. Roscoe was her only company, but not even the dog could fill the void left by Marie and Pietra. And, of course, by Lewis.

Y/n sighed, sitting on the couch, fiddling with her phone without really paying attention. But suddenly, a loud horn echoed through the condominium, and she practically jumped off the couch, running to the door. Roscoe ran after her, knowing exactly who had arrived.

Opening the door, Y/n saw the two girls getting out of the car, their faces lit up with huge smiles.

Marie wore the denim jacket she had asked her mother to pack, paired with her black pants and white sneakers. Always stylish and authentic. Pietra, on the other hand, well, she looked different. Very different.

The sparkly dress was expected. But braids in her hair?

Yes. The same braids Lewis wore.

Y/n's eyes widened, holding back a laugh as Pietra and Marie ran to hug her. She bent down, wrapping her arms around her daughters, feeling their familiar scent.

"I missed you guys so much" She murmured, closing her eyes.

"We miss you too, Mommy!" Marie replied, squeezing her tighter.

In the middle of the hug, Y/n looked up and found Lewis. He was leaning against the car, watching the scene with a smile. And God, how handsome he was. How handsome he IS.

His eyes lit up when he saw his wife looking at him like that, and he smiled even wider when she whispered a brief "Hi."

Lewis returned the greeting with a loving look, but then Y/n looked at Pietra's braids again. She arched an eyebrow and pointed at her youngest daughter's hair, exchanging an amused look with Lewis.

He just laughed and gestured with his hand, signaling that he would explain later.

Marie pulled out of the hug and looked at her sister. "Grandma took Pietra to the salon and she wanted to do the same as daddy."

"Exactly the same!" Pietra said excitedly, bending down to pet Roscoe.

Y/n smiled, running her fingers through Marie's straight hair. "And you, my love? You look beautiful in that jacket." Marie smiled shyly and pulled her mother into another hug.

Y/n melted. Since the girls were born, it was like this: Marie was her shadow, and Pietra was her father's copy. Even though physically the two had inherited more of Lewis's features, their personalities balanced everything out.

Suddenly, Pietra looked up at her mother, excited. "Daddy bought you flowers, Mommy!"

Lewis rolled his eyes near the car, while Yin looked at her daughter and then at him, holding back a laugh.

"Oh, really?"

"Yes! And they're red flowers and they have a pretty bow and..."

"PIETRA!" Marie and Lewis said together. The girl's tone was one of authority, her father's was one of amusement.

Lewis chuckled, shaking his head. "That little girl needs to learn how to keep secrets."

Y/n laughed, standing up, but still keeping one hand in Marie's hair. Pietra, oblivious to the small chaos she caused, ran with Roscoe into the house.

Marie looked up at her mother. "I'll go in too."

Y/n kissed the top of her head. "It's okay, love."

As Marie entered, Y/n looked at her eldest daughter and then, Lewis finally approached. He was holding a beautiful bouquet of red roses. Y/n's favorites.

He handed it to her, his gaze soft. "I know a bouquet can't fix everything...but I want you to remember that I still love you very much."

Y/n's heart sank. She held the flowers tenderly, inhaling their scent and blinking back a few tears. "Thank you, Lew. They're beautiful." There was a brief silence between the two, just the soft wind blowing through the garden. "Do you want to come in and talk about it?"

He hesitated for a moment, as if choosing the right words. His gaze softened, and the way he held his car keys indicated he was more nervous than he wanted to show.

"I don't want to talk about this here, with the girls around," he said, his voice filled with genuine regret. "I want to do this right, without rushing, without distractions. I want to take you out to dinner, like before. So we can have some time alone."

There was something vulnerable in his expression, a mixture of guilt and a sincere desire to make amends for whatever harm he had caused. As much as they had both said hurtful words, he clearly carried the weight of it in a deeper way.

Y/n felt her chest warm, gripping the bouquet tighter. Lewis had never been good with words when it came to deep feelings, but she knew that when he tried like that, it was because it really meant something.

He didn't just want to settle the fight. He wanted to reaffirm that, despite everything, the love between them was still unshakable.

Y/n took a deep breath and nodded, her voice as soft as his. "I'd also rather we not talk about this in front of the girls."

Lewis nodded silently, and Y/n stepped aside, making room in the doorway for him to enter.

But he smiled and shook his head. "Actually, I just came to drop off the girls and the bags. My dad is in town with Linda, we planned to meet up."

Y/n smiled slightly, knowing that Lewis didn't see his father that often and that those moments were important.

However, he sighed and ran his hand over the back of his neck, suddenly looking uneasy. "But I promised that nothing would be more important than you. That I would pay more attention to you and the girls." He began to stumble over his words nervously. "If you want, I'll cancel. It's no problem, really. I-"

Y/n's eyes widened, smiling at his sudden rambling. She gently reached up and touched Lewis's face, calming him down. "Lew, it's okay," She said, looking deep into his eyes. "Your father and Linda are your family too. They deserve priority sometimes."

Lewis blinked, absorbing her words, before letting out a small sigh of relief. A grateful smile appeared on his face.

"Thank you, love."

The nickname came out so natural and full of affection that Y/n felt her heart beat faster.

It was as if he were truly giving himself over, breaking the distance that had formed between them over the past few days. The way he called her, with the softness and vulnerability that touched her so much, made her feel reconnected to him, as if everything that had happened up until that moment was something temporary, a storm that would soon pass.

Before they could say anything else, Pietra shouted something inside, making them both laugh.

Y/n laughed and shook her head, calling out, "Marie, help your sister with whatever she's asking for, please!"

Lewis smiled and went to the car to get the girls' bags, placing them in the entrance hall. When he returned, he approached his wife and placed a light kiss on her cheek.

“You’re free tomorrow night” He said, a twinkle in his eye. “I already have some restaurant ideas for us.”

Y/n smiled. "I'll stay."

Lewis gave one last smile before leaving, and Y/n closed the door, now surrounded by the sound of her daughters' cute laughter echoing through the house. But even so, she felt like something was still missing. And she knew exactly what it was.

Holding the bouquet, she walked to the kitchen to put the flowers in water. The girls followed her, excited.

She smiled at the two of them, leaning slightly over the counter. "Now, girls... tell us all the cool things you did on your trip!"

••••••••••••••••••••••••

The day dawned softly, with the first rays of sunlight crossing the bedroom curtains. The house, previously silent, was filled with lively laughter and small, hurried footsteps down the hallway.

Marie and Pietra, full of energy, ran to their mother's room and, without hesitation, jumped on the bed. Roscoe, excited by the excitement, climbed right behind, wagging his tail and settling down next to Y/n.

The daughters' laughter mixed with the dog's low, happy barks, while Y/n, still sleepy, received the girls' excited hugs. She felt the warmth and love in the contact, enjoying that moment of purity before finally promising to get up.

At the mention of breakfast, the girls rushed down the hallway, eagerly leaving the room in an instant. As Y/n turned to get out of bed, her gaze fell on the empty side of the mattress. Still empty.

She knew what she wanted. And no matter what conversation they would have later, one thing was certain: she wanted Lewis back there. With her. With her daughters.

And before she could get out of bed, her cell phone beeped and a message from her husband appeared.

'Linda and my dad are excited to see the girls. They want to hang out with them tonight, and that's a good thing because we have plans later too. I'll pick you up at 7pm. Love you, babe!'

Night fell quickly and the house was silent, except for the distant sound of water running in the girls' bathroom. In the bedroom, Y/n looked at the clothing options spread out on the armchair: an elegant long dress and a more casual combination consisting of a black satin shirt, jeans and heels.

She ran her fingers through the fabric of his shirt, a soft smile playing on her lips. She felt as if she were preparing for a first date. Her heart was pounding with anticipation, something she hadn’t felt in a while. She closed her eyes for a moment, remembering the first time she had gone out with Lewis, all those years ago. She remembered the way he had looked at her that night, as if she were the most precious thing in the world.

The sound of footsteps interrupted her thoughts. Before she could react, a voice came from behind her. “Satin shirt and heels, Mommy.”

Y/n turned around and found Marie standing in the doorway, wrapped in a fluffy robe, with a towel too big for her head. The sight made Y/n laugh softly. Marie looked so small in the midst of so much fabric.

The girl shrugged, a shy smile on her lips. "You look beautiful in both, but I like it better when you wear a shirt. It makes you look... powerful."

Y/n let out a laugh and walked over to Marie, placing a loving hand on her shoulder. Her chest hurt a little from seeing her first baby girl grow up so fast.

"Thank you for the compliment, little one. Then I'll choose that one." She led her daughter out of the room and toward the girls' room. "Now it's your turn, Marie. Choose something just as powerful." Marie laughed and nodded, following her mother.

In the girls' room, Pietra was already wearing her going out clothes and Y/n just needed to help her put on her shoes, since she had her braids done.

As she tied her shoelaces, Y/n couldn't help but smile. The braids were still flawless, and she made a mental note to ask Lewis whose idea it had been in the first place.

She always made sure to respect her daughters’ personalities, helping them get ready with care and patience. As she adjusted Pietra’s clothes and fixed Marie’s hair, she felt grateful for those simple but loving moments.

Suddenly, the sound of a horn echoed outside. Marie and Pietra looked at each other and then looked at their mother.

"Daddy can't come yet!" Pietra exclaimed, starting to leave the room. "Mommy hasn't gotten ready yet!"

Y/n and Marie exchanged an amused look before laughing together. "It's Grandpa and Grandma Linda," Y/n said loudly, so that Pietra could hear her.

Marie smiled and left the room with her mother, she went downstairs excitedly too, happy to see Grandpa and Grandma Linda. When Y/n got to the door, Pietra was already anxious, jumping up and down.

"Open up, Mommy! Open up, Mommy!"

On the other side of the door, she heard the familiar laughter, they probably heard P's excited screams. As soon as she opened it, Pietra let out an excited little scream and threw herself into her grandfather and grandmother's arms.

Linda and Anthony laughed, hugging the little girl.

"You were really excited to see us, huh?" Linda joked.

Y/n laughs. "When Lew said you guys were coming to get them she wouldn't stop talking about you guys!"

Anthony and Linda give Y/n a warm smile as they hug their youngest granddaughter.

Marie soon joined in the group hug. "Miss you, Grandpa and Grandma Linda!"

"I miss you too, little one." Linda hugs her eldest and Anthony strokes his eldest granddaughter's straight hair.

Y/n smiled as she saw the scene.

Linda stepped back a little, studying Pietra and smiling. "I love the braids."

The little girl smiled proudly. "Right? Just like daddy's!" Everyone laughed.

Anthony then bent down and asked, "So, are you guys excited to go out?" The girls smiled and nodded excitedly.

Y/n bent down to their level, fixing Marie's hair and caressing Pietra's cheek, while giving some instructions to her daughters. "Behave yourselves and have fun, okay?"

Linda smiled. "They always behave, don't they, girls?"

They both nodded with shy smiles.

Anthony smiled and they walked towards the car, while Y/n watched the scene with a sweet smile on her face. Linda helps Marie and Pietra put on their seatbelts. Lewis's father waves to Y/n as he starts the car.

Y/n smiles friendly and when they leave the condominium, she closes the door behind her and runs to the stairs, climbing quickly, as now it was her turn to get ready.

When he arrived at his room, he stopped for a moment, looking at the clothes he had laid out earlier. The long dress was still there, but her eyes returned to the black satin shirt and jeans, already deciding what to wear. Marie was right—there was something powerful about that combination, something that made her feel confident and beautiful.

Calmly, Y/n took off the comfortable clothes she was wearing and put on the shirt, feeling the soft fabric slide over her skin. She continued to change her clothes and think about what awaited her tonight.

Y/n went to the large vanity she had and began to put on some light makeup, but something that matched the night and the outfit she was wearing.

As she finished applying mascara to her eyes, her cell phone beeped next to the products on the table, when she picked up the device and smiled when she saw Lewis's name on the screen, along with a message.

'Honey, coming in 10 minutes. Can't wait to see you.'

Her heart warmed, and the smile on her lips became even bigger, feeling a good shiver at the thought that, in a few minutes, she would be with her husband.

And exactly ten minutes later, when she finished arranging her hair in loose waves, a horn echoed outside her house. Y/n smiles and stands up, grabbing her bag and walking down the stairs excitedly, because Lewis had arrived.

When she opened it, she found Lewis standing a few feet from the door and a smile from someone who knew exactly the effect he was having on her. He wore an elegant formal outfit, but what caught her attention most were his loose braids, giving him a charming and relaxed look.

Y/n raised an eyebrow and smiled, tilting her head slightly. "Look at you... You look handsome, huh? Are you going out with someone special today?" She closed the door behind her and approached her husband.

Lewis chuckled softly, leaning in to kiss her on the cheek. "Only with the love of my life and mother of our children." The touch was brief, but full of affection. "You look beautiful in that outfit!" He grabbed his wife's hand and twirled around. Making Y/n laugh and her heels make a satisfying click as she twirled around.

"Your eldest daughter chose the outfit" He said, shaking the shirt slightly, with an amused look.

Lewis smiled even wider, his eyes shining. "Marie has good taste." He leaned close to her ear. "But honestly? You'd look beautiful in anything. Even without."

Y/n laughed, feeling completely melted and hit by Lewis's teasing comment. He noticed and smiled. Satisfied that he had that effect on her for so many years.

Arriving near the car, Lewis opens the passenger door for Y/n and she gets in, smiling in gratitude and resting her bag on her lap, as she watches her husband walk around the Ferrari they had and get in on the driver's side.

Automatically placing one hand on Y/n's thigh, while with the other he put on his seatbelt and started the car.

The night was calm and illuminated by the silver lights of the streetlights and the luxurious facades of the buildings. The city glowed with a sophisticated charm, reflecting in the city's lakes.

Y/n, leaning comfortably on the bench, looked away at her husband and smiled. "Okay, now tell me... Whose idea was it for P's braids?"

Lewis laughed, shaking his head as he remembered the scene in the paddock. "Oh, that's a good story! I don't know if the girls told you," he began, still laughing. "While I was in the pit, Charles came out of nowhere saying that I had a "mini-me" walking around the paddock with my mother. I didn't understand until I looked to the side and saw Pietra with a Ferrari cap, sunglasses and her hair tied back, with defined curls." Y/n laughed out loud, already imagining the scene. "And it doesn't stop there! Pietra looked at me and said: "Daddy, I need to have braids like yours! So everyone knows that I'm your real daughter!"

Y/n covered her mouth, trying to contain her laughter. "Oh my God, Pietra!"

"And of course my mother was thrilled and the next day took her to get her braids done. You should have seen her happiness when she came back to the paddock showing off her hair."

"And what was Marie's reaction?" Y/n asked, amused. As she looked at her husband, with the tattoos of the girls' names tattooed on his neck, made on the day they were born.

"Ah, Marie rolled her eyes and said, "You don't need to have braids to look like Daddy, everyone already knows you look just like him!" Lewis imitated his eldest daughter's intonation, drawing more laughter from Y/n.

"Our daughter has an old soul, Lew!"

He chuckled, nodding. "I know, she talks like she's had 40 years of life experience." Lewis looks at his wife with amusement.

As the laughter faded, Y/n leaned over to fiddle with the car's dashboard, putting on some low music that matched the lightness of the moment.

Her eyes wandered around the brightly lit city, and suddenly she recognized the road. Her lips parted in surprise, and she turned her gaze to Lewis, who was driving with a smirk on the corner of her eye, clearly expecting this reaction.

"Lew..." Y/n began, suspicious. He just kept driving, keeping the suspense.

When they finally approached the restaurant, Y/n's eyes widened and she turned completely to him. "The restaurant where we first met!"

Lewis parked and looked at her with a warm glow in his eyes. "If you're going to work things out, let's go back a little bit." The comforting answer made Y/n's heart warm.

Lewis gently cupped her face and placed a kiss on her cheek before getting out of the car and walking around to open the door for his wife.

"Always the gentleman, Sir Hamilton." Y/n joked as she left.

"For you? Always."

He handed the keys to the valet and took Y/n's hand, intertwining his fingers with hers. The feeling of home, of belonging, of everything returning to its rightful place, took over Y/n.

As soon as they entered, Lewis approached the front desk. "I have a reservation for tonight. In the name of Lewis Hamilton and Y/n Hamilton."

The receptionist checked the list and smiled, nodding. "Of course, Mr. Hamilton. This way, please."

They followed the man through the restaurant, which had a welcoming yet elegant ambiance. The space combined warm wood tones with modern touches of glass and soft lighting. The tables were arranged to provide couples with some privacy, without losing the vibrant atmosphere of the place.

The receptionist led them to an outdoor area, a secluded balcony, where a few tables were set up. The lighting was perfect: fairy lights entwined in the trees around the large lake, which reflected the soft glow of the city. The setting was magical and captivating.

"I hope you enjoy the atmosphere. The waiter will be here to serve you soon." The receptionist said politely before walking away.

Lewis pulled out a chair for Y/n, who sat across from him. Seconds later, the waiter arrived with menus and a bottle of wine, serving them both before leaving.

"Thank you!" Lewis smiles gently.

When they were alone, a comfortable silence hung in the air, until, at the same time, they both opened their mouths to speak.

"I'm sorry!" They stopped and looked at each other, surprised that they had spoken at the same time, and then laughed.

"I guess that means we feel the same way." Y/n smiled, holding the wine glass.

"I guess so." Lewis agreed, leaning his elbows on the table and looking at her fondly.

Y/n lightly swirled the wine glass between her fingers, watching the red liquid move. She took a deep breath before looking up at Lewis.

"I'm... I'm so sorry it got to this point. Spending days apart and putting the girls through it too." Her voice was soft, but full of sincerity. "I hate fighting with you, I hate when things get like this between us." Lewis didn't answer right away, just watched her, allowing her to continue. "I didn't mean to turn our conversation into an argument. I just... I was just tired and frustrated, work was taking its toll on me and I ended up taking it out on you. It wasn't fair."

Lewis sighed, running his hand over his face before finally answering.

"I'm sorry too, love." Her voice sounded full of regret. "When you asked me to leave home... that was a shock. But thinking back now, I understand." Y/n he fell silent, allowing him to continue. “You were right.” He let out a weak, humorless laugh. “I was spending too much time in Maranello. I was so focused on work, on the team, on training… that I didn’t even realize what I was leaving behind.”

He looked away for a moment, staring at the reflection of the light on the wine glasses on the table.

"Three weeks away from you made me realize how much I was wrong. How much I was missing. I only really realized this when Pietra called me crying because I wasn't home to tell her the story before bed."

Y/n felt her chest tighten. She remembered that night. Pietra had clung to her, sobbing softly and asking if Daddy still liked them.

"Lewis..."

He shook his head, his eyes shining with restrained emotion.

"It destroyed me. Knowing that my daughter thought I didn't like her because I wasn't there. And it wasn't just her... Marie too. I realized how distant I was, how much I was letting you carry everything on your own."

Y/n took a deep breath, squeezing the glass a little between her fingers. "But you were also right..." She admitted, her voice lower. "I also buried myself in work. I was frustrated because I felt like you were distant, but the truth is, sometimes I was too."

Lewis reached across the table, waiting for her to take it. "I don't want this anymore, Y/n. I don't want to fight with you anymore, or put our daughters through this. I want to be a present father, I want to be a better husband."

Y/n's eyes filled with tears, but she smiled, holding his hand tightly. "I want to be a better mother and wife too."

Lewis squeezed her fingers between his, as if afraid that if he let go, everything would fall apart again. "Shall we fix this together?"

Y/n nodded, her heart pounding. "Sure. Of course." She smiled.

Lewis smiled, bringing her hand to his lips and placing a soft kiss on her fingers.

"I love you, Y/n."

"I love you, Lewis"

In that moment, they knew they were on the right path to finding each other again, to rebuilding what they had almost lost. Because, at the end of the day, they were still a team. They always had been.

"Now, let's enjoy our evening." Lewis smiled and looked at the menu. "So, do you want the same order as the first time?"

Y/n laughs at the memory and shakes her head. "No! You know, I didn't know you were allergic to shrimp and you had to spend two days with me in the hospital. And we were only on our first date, how embarrassing." She puts her hand over her face.

Lewis laughs out loud. "But that was a reminder, wasn't it? That no matter what, I'd be by your side."

Y/n smiles lovingly. "It was, and I love it."

Dinner was lighthearted, the weight of the argument that had kept them apart for weeks seemed to have been lifted, giving way to smiles and natural conversations. They talked about past moments, laughed at old stories and shared knowing glances, as if they had rediscovered the comfort of each other's company.

Between a glass of wine and another, they also discussed ways to better balance their routine so that the family could spend more time together. It was a sincere dialogue, without demands, just with the mutual desire to do better.

As they left the restaurant, Lewis linked his fingers with Y/n's, walking with her to where the car was parked. The valet handed over the keys, and Lewis nodded in thanks before opening the car door for his wife.

"I had an idea on how we can spend more time together, especially with the girls." He says as he walks in too.

Y/n turned her face to him, curious. "Oh yeah? What did you think?"

"Well... I realized that I need to organize my schedule better so that I don't spend so much time away from home. So, I want to reduce the number of days in Maranello and make up for that time by being here more. Also, I thought about taking Pietra and Marie to see the Ferrari factory. They always ask what it's like there, and I think it would be an incredible experience for them."

"They'll love it. They'll want to touch everything and ask every detail about the cars." Y/n smiled at the idea. "Marie especially, she loves taking part in the races"

Lewis laughed.

"Yes, I'm already preparing to answer a thousand questions about engines and front wings. He starts driving around the city.

Y/n leaned her head back against the bench, thoughtful. "I can also adjust my office routine better so I can spend more time at home. We can arrange a few days to do something just the four of us."

Lewis nodded, satisfied. "That sounds perfect."

They talked a little more about the details of the plan, and when the topic came to an end, Lewis asked, "Do you want to go anywhere else before we go home?"

Y/n smiled and shook her head. "No, we're too old to stay out all night."

Lewis laughed, shaking his head. "Speak for yourself. I could hold out for a few more hours."

"Oh, sure, Lew. As if. Another half hour and you'd be asleep in the middle of the conversation."

He laughed and, without arguing, turned around and headed home.

The journey was peaceful and surrounded by a pleasant atmosphere, the feeling between them was light, filled with genuine joy, as if the storm of the last few weeks had finally dissipated.

When they arrived home, Lewis parked the car in the garage and got out, accompanying Y/n to the door. Even on the short journey, he kept one of his hands on her waist, a natural and instinctive gesture.

"Anne brought some great wine back from France when she traveled. I saved it for us to open together. Would you like to try it?"

"Sure" Lewis replied, following his wife into the kitchen.

Before they could do anything, Roscoe came running up to Lewis, barking and wagging his tail excitedly.

"Hey, buddy" Lewis smiled, bending down to pet the dog, who soon settled down next to him.

"He missed you too, you know? You're the oldest son in the house, Roscoe."

"Good to know at least he wasn't mad at me." Lewis laughed.

As Y/n opened the wine, Lewis approached from behind, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his head on her shoulder. She smiled, enjoying that affection, and handed him a glass before turning around, facing her husband.

It was then that she realized he was deep in thought. His expression changed subtly, his eyebrows slightly furrowed.

"What it was?"

"There's something I've been thinking about since our fight..." Y/n waited, curious, until he finally revealed: "I want to retire from racing."

Y/n's world seemed to stop for a second. "WHAT?!" She exclaimed, looking at him in surprise. And almost dropping the glass she was holding.

Lewis remained calm and repeated: "I want to retire."

Y/n blinked, processing that, and stepped back a little, starting to pace around the kitchen. "Lewis, you can't do this!" Her voice came out fast, almost nervous. "You're only in your second season with Ferrari! You can still win so many titles! And, my God, I never wanted you to give up on your dream because of a silly fight we had. We've worked this out! You can't give up on your dreams!"

Her words came out in a rush, her mind wandering, and she felt her eyes fill with tears.

Lewis smiled and walked closer to her, cupping her face gently. "Y/n, I'm not letting go of a dream," he said softly. "Because everything I've ever dreamed of is right here, right in front of me."

Her eyes filled even more, and a tear fell silently.

"But..." She whispered, not knowing exactly what to say. Without the strength to argue any further, she let herself be wrapped in Lewis's arms, resting her head on his shoulder. "You've always dreamed of this..." Her voice was muffled against his chest.

Lewis stroked her hair and smiled against the side of her head. "My dream has always been to have a family. To have you guys. Racing has been a big part of my life, but it's not my whole life. I want to be here for every moment of the girls, for every phase of our life together. That...that's what really matters to me."

Y/n closed her eyes, absorbing those words, feeling herself overcome by an intense wave of emotion.

"Do you really want this?"

"I do. With all my heart." She pulled back a little, looking into his eyes, and Lewis smiled, touching her face tenderly. "I love you" he said softly.

Y/n smiled, still with tears in her eyes, and shook her head. "I love you too, Lewis."

Lewis slid his fingers down Y/n's face before finally sealing his lips on hers. The kiss was slow, full of feelings, as if it sealed everything they had just said. Their lips moved in perfect sync, and a small smile formed in the middle of the kiss, as if they were celebrating that moment. It was a kiss of love, of understanding, of silent promises.

Suddenly, a horn honked loudly from outside, breaking the moment. Y/n smiled against Lewis's lips and pulled away, chuckling softly.

"The girls are here" she said, giving him one last peck before walking away completely. "I'll go get them."

Lewis smiled, watching her rush towards the door. As soon as she opened it, the girls practically threw themselves into her arms, laughing and hugging their mother tightly.

"Mommy!" Pietra exclaimed excitedly, while Marie held tightly onto Y/n's waist.

Y/n laughed and bent down, planting kisses on them before saying in a mysterious voice, "I think there's something waiting for you in the kitchen."

Pietra's eyes widened, always the most excited, and suddenly screamed: "OH MY GOD, IS THERE STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM?"

She ran into the house with her sister, running towards the kitchen without even confirming if what she said was true. Linda, Anthony and Y/n burst out laughing, infected by the girl's naive excitement.

"Thank you for keeping them" Y/n said, smiling at them.

"Imagine, dear" Linda replied. "We are the ones who appreciate you spending time with our granddaughters."

Y/n smiles. "We can arrange dinner here tomorrow. Are you up for it?"

"Sure!" Linda says smiling.

"We'd love it!"

"Great then" Y/n smiles. With that, they say their goodbyes, exchanging hugs before Linda and Anthony leave.

Y/n closed the door and began walking to the kitchen, hearing the mix of her daughters' and Lewis' voices echoing through the room. The sound filled her chest with a cozy warmth, and an involuntary smile appeared on her face.

When he entered the kitchen, he saw a scene that made his heart warm even more: Marie was on Lewis' lap, along with Pietra, while the two laughed and chatted excitedly.

Suddenly, Marie turned to Y/n with a bright smile and asked, "Did Daddy come home?"

Y/n looked at Lewis, who was already watching her with a tender smile. Her heart clenched with love.

"Yes, my dear. Daddy's back!" She said softly.

The girls squealed excitedly and wrapped their father in a tight hug, making Lewis laugh. He then looked at Y/n and extended one of his arms to her.

"Come here, love"

Y/n smiled and walked over to them, joining the family's embrace. Between laughter, kisses and hugs, she knew, in that moment, that they were exactly where they were supposed to be.

Author: So, my initial idea was to have the ending with Y/n saying she was pregnant with her third child, but I didn't know if you guys would like it, so I changed it to the idea of Lewis retiring. I don't know, which one would you like more? (By the way, whoever read the introduction above, could you answer the question I left? About continuing with a parallel universe of this family?)

[flippinpancakes64]

Day at the pool with the Cullens

I love pools and I love swimming so here we are

All additional photos I found on Pinterest

Edward:

Volleyball expert

Loves having competitions to see who can "hold" their breath the longest

(There's never an actual winner, it's just who gets bored first)

Loves to tackle you in the water

Can and will sneak up on you to pull you under

Roughhousing x100

Will think you're boring if you just sit on the side of the pool

He wants to play, dammit

Wears a nose plug unfortunately

He doesn't like the feel of the water in his nose

Can and will stay there all day

He doesn't go out of his way to go to the pool, but when he does he never wants to leave

I imagine he'd like swim shorts with a pattern

He doesn't want to wear something boring

Alice:

Diving board queen

She could go to the Olympic level if she wanted to

Definitely an attacker

Will sneak up behind people just to scare them

Does that freaky thing where they go underwater to swim through people's legs when they don't expect it

Loves seeing how fast she can lap the pool

Loves getting on Emmett's shoulders and wrestling people

Splashes people

Not too fond of the beach balls or volleyballs but she will play

She wears something intricate and definitely uncomfortable looking

Stylish tho

Jasper:

Not really interested

He came along because everyone else went

He prefers baseball

He's in the water though

He might join in on volleyball or diving, but I think he'd prefer to just chill out on a raft or a tube

He just wants to enjoy all of the positive emotions around him

He might swim around with you though if you ask him

He's not opposed to doing anything

Would really enjoy a lazy river though

He just wants to veg out and I love that for him

Just lets Alice choose whatever she wants him to wear

Has absolutely no preference at all

Rosalie:

You're lucky if she touches the water at all

Prefers to lay by the poolside and "tan"

She really just enjoys the heat from the sun

Like a lizard under a heat lamp

Might dip her toes in

If you beg her to get in she might go to the shallow end and stand there for a little bit

If you splash her it's over for you

So best just to leave her alone :')

Will throw the diving toys though

Like those girls on tiktok who are tanning and throwing the toys for their boyfriends like they're dogs

That's her

She thinks it's funny

MIGHT get up to retrieve the ball if you guys throw it out on accident

Heavy on the might tho

She'd wear something cute with a pretty pattern

Emmett:

King of the Pool

Roughhousing final boss

Will start actually wrestling with people

He brought the water guns

Shows absolutely no mercy

His favorite game is water chicken

Always the base guy

Even though he's not supposed to be fighting, he still does

Is the one mostly diving for the toys Rosalie throws

Wears goggles just because they look funny

Has broken the bottom of the pool before

Would do it again too

Likes to pick people up and throw them as far as he can

Jumped off the diving board and did a cannonball once

That's how he broke the pool floor

Wears the most idiotic trunks he can find

Since it's only their family at the pool, Alice can't use the whole "keeping good appearances" thing as a reason why he should wear what she picks

Carlisle:

Likes to let loose a little bit

He has to act old to keep appearances, so everyone forgets he's physically only about 25

Like Alice I think he'd enjoy the diving board

Would love to unwind on an inner tube as well

He likes to swim to the bottom of the deep end and just sit there

He finds it peaceful

Won't join in with the fighting though

He's here to relax and have a good time

Keeps it simple and classy as far as suits go

For the longest time he wore a speedo though...

Alice quickly put an end to that

Esme:

A less grouchy Rosalie

She's here to enjoy the sun and the warmth

She would also enjoy sitting on a raft and floating though

Lazy. River.

She would enjoy watching more than anything

Would keep score and help be a referee

Would also throw the diving toys

I feel like she would enjoy just wading around though

Making laps or just floating slowly

This is her big relaxation day

I think she would enjoy suits with a bit more coverage

And she would love flowy skirts or shawls

It makes her feel elegant <3

Vampire! Bella:

Another roughhouser here folks

She went her whole human life being a walking accident, of course she's going to make the most of actually having reflexes

Loves to do just about anything

Volleyball, basketball, diving, chicken, wrestling, water gun fight

Literally anything

Is usually Edward's partner for chicken

Loves to do things that humans absolutely cannot do

She's still getting used to it and everything

One time she stayed underwater for a full 5 hours

Just to see if she could

Will ask you to time her laps around the pool

She goes for a more practical suit

Something similar to what she had when she was human

[mvltisstuff]

can you do a conrad x reader and he meets yn at one of his moms chemo sessions- yn being a cancer patient- always sitting with susannah because she’s always wanted a mother figure so she starts spending time at the beach house and conrad falls for her pls!!

electric touch - c.f

summary: request

conrad fisher x reader

a/n: wanted to get this right for you, hope you enjoy <3

when susannah was first diagnosed, she went through extensive amounts of treatment to try and beat the cruel disease. luckily, it eventually faded and left her alone. she was able to get more time with her boys, feeling strong in her ability to fight it off. only until it returned, but she fought through one more summer with her boys.

while she was in chemotherapy, she met a girl. her name was y/n and she had been diagnosed with her own cancer. susannah’s heart broke every single time she saw y/n. she was so young, and no one ever deserves to be put through that hell. when y/n was sat next to susannah for a treatment, they connected. she felt something with the girl, maybe her being so close in age to her boys. she can’t imagine not being there for them.

“i’m susannah,” she smiles gracefully at y/n who returned her own grin.

“i’m y/n,” she told. “it’s nice to meet you.”

susannah admired her positivity. it’s hard to be so optimistic in this situation and the room, surrounded by people who are held down by a vicious force of nature.

“you have a beautiful smile,” y/n said to susannah, causing her to awe at her and completely adore her. every time treatments came around again, y/n sat with susannah. they always wanted to sit with each other, sharing funny stories and eating the hospital popsicles.

“are you from massachusetts?” susannah asked.

“yeah, i’ve been here my whole life,” y/n said, taking a lick of her popsicle. “i’m here with my dad, my mom moved away. she’s not really a part of anything anymore.”

“does she know you’re sick?”

“yeah, she knows,” y/n’s expression changed so sadness. “there’s nothing she can do, you know?”

“i’m sorry, sweetie.”

“it’s ok,” y/n replied. “i’m glad you’re here, though.”

susannah beamed back at her, almost forgetting the situation they were in. y/n’s personality completely shined when she was with susannah. she was almost like her own mother, supporting her and being there for the good and bad news. y/n was there for susannah every day, doing random activities and just gossiping about. they eventually discovered that both of them usually spent summers in cousins beach, and they hoped they would see each other there.

susannah had finally been cleared, her cancer going away as she continued to live her wonderful life. she saw her boys every day, something to never take for granted. she thought about y/n a lot, messaging her on facebook to see her condition. soon after, y/n had pushed through her own battle, and she was cancer free. that summer, she swore would be the best of her life.

cousins was a great place. it was relaxing, it was an escape from all the chaos and haunting memories of her sickness. she felt like a kid again in cousins, she was happier than ever there. susannah was basically her mother at this point, talking to her more than her biological mother does. she was kind of like her best friend, the only one who truly understands how it is sometimes.

susannah had wanted to take conrad and jeremiah shopping, and she had laurel and her kids come too. they were all messing around in little gift shops, finding cute outfits for each other and susannah spoiling all of them. when she walked into a little boutique with stylish items for everyone, she could tell by the back of y/n that it was her. she was browsing around the comfortable cousins merchandise, feeling the soft fabrics and letters on the hoodies. y/n eventually turned around, locking eyes with susannah.

“y/n!” susannah shouted. “you look so beautiful!”

y/n reached in for a hug, holding susannah in her arms as susannah almost cried in happiness. “you look so pretty, susannah.”

“i’m so happy to see you! i was hoping we would bump into each other, but you look like you’re doing really well!” susannah placed a hand on her cheek.

“i feel good!” y/n added, holding onto her hand as she ran her fingers through her growing hair, just touching her shoulders now. “how are you, though, it’s been so long since i’ve seen you in person.”

“i know, it’s been a crazy year, but- oh!” she turns around to her boys, pulling them to her side. “these are my sons, conrad and jeremiah.”

she looks at jeremiah who has the same, bright smile on his face as his mother. he waves lightly, making y/n feel comfortable in him, like an old friend. when she looks at conrad, he’s slightly more smirky than jeremiah. he’s fully admiring y/n, hearing so much about her and finally meeting her. he never knew she was so gorgeous, wondering why his mom never told him.

when she held eye contact with conrad, y/n could sense herself getting more and more nervous. the back of her neck got hot and she wanted to make sure she looked good. conrad was really cute, and there was no denying that.

“this is my best friend, laurel and her kids,” y/n waved hello to belly and steven, who looked kind and lovely. belly was thrilled, hopefully being able to make a new friend who has the graciousness of susannah. “oh! you should come to our house tonight! connie and jere can set up the grill!”

y/n looked at the accepting smiles of her new friends. “i’d love to, susannah!”

that night at her own beach house, y/n picked out her best outfit, hoping to secretly impress the boys. she’s been so used to hospitals and staying home that being able to dress up for people felt like a relief. she formed two small braids on the top of her head, letting the rest of her hair down. she picked a pair of shorts and white corset top with small peach-colored flowers. she felt good when she looked in the mirror, confident and pretty. she added a few final pieces of jewelry and walked downstairs with her purse.

“hi, dad,” she said, walking up to her father who was in the kitchen. “i’m going to meet susannah and her family.”

“that’s great!” he replied, voice full of excitement. “i’m meeting up with some friends at the pub, but hey, have a good time, ok? if you need anything at all call me and i’ll bring you anything-“

“dad,” y/n giggles. “i’m fine, you need to have fun tonight, let loose a little?”

“alright, kid. i’ll see you later,” y/n then scurried out the door and into her car, driving anxiously to the fisher house. she was excited to spend some time with her outside of the white, dull walls of the chemo rooms. she hoped that belly and steven would want to be her friend, someone to confide in. the fisher boys looked sweeter than anyone, jeremiah’s bright smile illuminating whatever room he was in and conrad’s personality lightly shining through.

when she walked up to the door, she barely had to knock before susannah pulled the door open. “you’re here! we’re hanging out in the back, come!”

y/n walked through the house, admiring the organized furniture and the aroma of the beach. she glanced at the photos of the families, posing softly with their kids, past and present. she reached the doors to the back patio, seeing everyone all about. “hey, y/n!” jeremiah said, the first to notice that she had walked in.

“y/n!” belly exclaimed. “i’m so glad someone is here to save me from them.”

y/n laughed at her little jokes, noticing the faint stare from conrad as he continued to set up the food for dinner. y/n made her rounds to everyone, chatting up with them before noticing conrad by himself. the rest of them were talking, so y/n stood and walked over to conrad.

“i didn’t realize you were so passionate about cheeseburgers,” y/n grins lightly, getting the same from conrad.

“my mom told me that they better be good,” he said. “she’s very particular about her burgers.”

“ah, i see,” y/n looks back at him, his eyes still on her.

“hey, congrats on being cleared. that’s really awesome,” conrad tells her, making her smile.

“thank you, conrad.”

“you know, we’ve heard a lot about you,” he said. “my mom loves you like a daughter. i’m glad we could finally meet in person, though.”

“i’m really glad i’m here,” conrad can’t seem to pull his eyes away from hers. each detail in her eyes is admired by him, looking at her pretty features and her perfect outfit. her cheeks, her eyes, her lips-

he was pulled directly out of his thoughts when he saw the harsh smoking of one of the burgers, completely burnt. “shit,” he looks, picking the patty up and tossing it out. his eyes are directed to y/n’s face again, holding back a little chuckle. he starts laughing himself, “i hope my mom doesn’t notice.”

once everyones stomachs are full, and they savored the delicious meals from conrad and his mother, laurel gets up and starts a fire in the pit. the warmth of the flames reaches y/n, making her body feel tingly and comforted as she looks at conrad.

he’s sitting back in his chair, hair swooped perfectly out of his face. he has a faint smirk on his mouth, looking at his brother and steven argue about god knows what.

“hold on,” jere speaks. “we should go swimming, what are we doing?”

“i’ll go change!” steven yells, running inside the house to find his swim shorts.

“wanna swim?” conrad asks y/n.

“oh, i didn’t bring a bathing suit,” she informs, her smile dropping slightly.

“you can borrow one of mine!” belly tells her, excitement creeping into her words. “here, come with me.”

y/n takes her hand and jogs up the stairs, going into her room as belly holds up different options. she ends up going for the blue striped one, fitting her perfectly and easy to swim in. she walks out with a towel that she also borrowed, standing next to belly looking into the pool.

“i’m just gonna jump,” y/n says, not bothering to dip her toes in first.

“me too,” belly says, taking a step back as they both jump into the water. the cool pool engulfs y/n’s body, seeing the tiny bubbles around her as she opens her eyes underwater. the quick impact with the water sends a few chills up her spine, feeling the tingling on her skin. the previously calm water was splashing all around her when she came back to the surface. y/n brusher her hair out of her face, looking at the three boys jumping in next to them. she and belly let out playful screams, as steven scooped up his sister and threw her back in.

“volleyball tournament!” belly shouts. “me and y/n vs the guys.”

the boys groan sarcastically, as y/n swims over to one side with belly as the ball is blown up. she starts out hitting it perfectly, belly being surprised. “do you play, y/n?”

“i did a few years ago, but got sick and had to quit,” y/n tells her. sadly having to miss the next few years of her sport.

“oh, y/n, i’m sorry,” belly begins.

“don’t be, really,” y/n says, a polite smile on her face, making belly feel better. “i’m ready now to kick their ass, so c’mon!”

belly grins back at her, serving the ball over to the guys and hitting it back to y/n. when she hits it over to belly, conrad looks at her sweet smile on her face again, blessing conrad’s eyes. he’s so focused on how beautiful she is, and he wants to just worship her. he was so fixated on her that he completely missed the ball coming his way, letting it fall into the pool.

“ah! conrad-“ jeremiah says through gritted teeth, shaking his hands at him. y/n laughs softly before moving to the edge of the pool. the slight fatigue and dizziness made her want to get out to just sit for a few minutes. of course, it didn’t take conrad to notice her absence and her walking out of the pool with a clear grimace.

“y/n, you ok?” he asks, voice full of concern.

“yeah, i’m good,” she says, locking eyes with susannah and laurel. susannah gets up, ready to offer y/n anything she might need. conrad swims to the edge of the pool, pulling himself out and walking toward y/n. susannah brings over a cold bottle of water for y/n.

she sits for a few minutes, consuming the drink susannah gave her and feeling better. she must have been dehydrated, forgetting to drink more water while she was hanging out with everyone. “how are you feeling?” conrad asks.

“i’m fine, now,” y/n smiles up at him. “i just hadn’t drank enough water, that’s all.” conrad pulls up a chair next to her, watching the rest of them play around in the pool.

“does it get scary sometimes? sorry, i know that’s a weird question but-“

“no such thing as a weird question. but, i mean it’s all scary. any small symptom could be related to the cancer i had. it gets easier though, it gets less and less scary the more time goes on.”

“it sucks you had to go through that.”

“yeah, it does. i wouldn’t wish it on anyone, but i can’t change it. i just don’t want the rest of my life being dictated by it.”

it’s almost difficult for conrad to comprehend how someone can be so bright about things. he’s infatuated by the way she views the world around her. he wishes he could be more like her, wanting to see things in a different light like she was forced to at such a young age. conrad knows she’s someone to be loved, and he knows she needs it. he knows he could be the one to do it.

“you’re a really great person, y/n,” he mumbles out, y/n being able to catch every word.

“you’re a great person, too,” she tells him. “you didn’t have to come over here and waste time with me, but you made sure i was ok.”

“times never wasted with you,” he smirks, looking back at y/n who takes another sip of her water. “what are you doing tomorrow?”

“nothing, that i know of.”

“we should go do something, we can go to the boardwalk if you want.”

“i’d really like that,” y/n beams, giving conrad just more satisfaction. when susannah walks by, she taps conrad on the shoulder and kisses him on the cheek.

“you’re a good boy, connie,” she says, fully proud and praising her kind-hearted son.

[laughhardrunfastbekindsblog]

Okay, I want to know HOW Omega, the preteen/teenage girl who spent all her time with her 4 dads/brothers (if not hanging around a Trandoshan, a Weequay, and an Ithorian), managed to end up with SUCH a cute and stylish haircut between seasons 1 and 2.

Because let's be real, Clone Force 99 never went to a hairdresser/barber for the duration of the Clone Wars (who has time for that?) and they don't bother to do so now. Hunter knows how to cut a straight line and that's good enough for him. Echo vaguely remembers how to do a regulation haircut but obviously doesn't have the right hairdressing tools now. Tech's hair grows maybe one millimeter per year, so... And then there's Wrecker.

I'm just picturing Hunter noticing Omega constantly brushing her overlong bangs out of her eyes (she insists it's fine because she doesn't want to cause a fuss but Hunter knows better). A bandana doesn't work as well for Omega's oddly grown out uneven layers as it does for Hunter. Good luck with any of those brothers figuring out how to help Omega with a ponytail or a braid (Omega certainly doesn't know how, Nala Se always made sure her hair stayed short).

Tech finally suggests the barbershop he knows is located two blocks away from Cid's (Echo rolls his eyes that Tech didn't bring this up four hours ago, before they all had started trying to figure out what a ponytail even is). The barber has some suggestions but has to spend over two hours getting Hunter, Echo, and Tech to agree to a style (Tech is primarily concerned about Omega having a haircut that strikes a balance between functionality and chic [look at that man's style in season 2 and try to tell me he isn't the most fashion-conscious of the bunch]; Hunter wants to be able to help Omega with upkeep so he wants a lesson on how to cut her hair; Echo is dead set against a long hair style because he already tried braiding hair with one hand + his teeth and it didn't go well). After an hour, Wrecker jokes with Omega that she should just go bald. Omega just shakes her head and shrugs; all she wants is to keep her bangs out of her eyes without using Tech's hair gel.

[cinnabells]

BITTERSWEET TRADEGY || N.R

episode two. adventures in seoul.

" dating a kpop idol was not on my 2024 bingo card "

OR

In which leilani choi is dragged to a fan sign and nishimura riki finds the love of his life.

When Kiyoko and Bella got an email stating that they had won an entry to an in-person Enhypen fan sign event, they screamed at the top of their lungs. Leilani also got an entry, but she wasn't as excited as her friends. To be fair, she didn't think they'd get the chance to win when they entered the raffle for the event a month ago; they were drunk off their asses; it was an impressive display; a lot of people joined and, most likely, bought more albums, but they got the chance to go, but lucky for them, the event was held in Seoul; they didn't have to drive too far.

Bella and Kiyoko have been fans of Enhypen since their I-land days; Leilani, on the other hand, recently got into the group, so she was a little nervous. When they entered the raffle, she didn't know too much about the seven-boy group but joined in to support her friends, and now seeing the email, this was real, and it made her a little guilty. Sure, this was a great opportunity for her friends, but she was a new fan, and she won the chance over people who had supported them since debut. 

"This is like the first time I'm going to anything for Enhypen. Do you know how lucky we are to get these tickets? I don't even remember signing up and buying anything. But like, yay!"Bella was walking in circles around her living room in excitement. The other two girls sat on the couch; Kiyoko smiled as she held her MacBook in her lap, adoring how Bella was so happy she couldn't help but walk around, too excited to sit in one place, and Leilani with her legs spread on top of Kiyoko's like the raven-haired girl was her personal footrest.

"Yeah, we can tell how excited you are, but stop pacing and breathe." Leilani looked up from her phone, Kiyoko humming in agreement.

The curly-haired girl shook her head, continuing to walk around the room. 

"This is real, and you won't be alone, so come sit before you make holes in the floor." Kiyoko patted the armchair a few inches away from her. 

"Everything will be fine; you got it. Now seriously, it's down; you're making me nauseous." Leilani grabbed the girl's hand, stopping her from her cycle around the couch. 

Bella glared at the girl but decided to sit down anyway to appease the older.

"When is this thing anyway?" As much as Leilani loved a good excuse to leave the house, she also had those days where she planned to do anything, and she wouldn't let some boy group ruin her day off from society.

Kiyoko checked the email. "Next Saturday. No school, so you can't give an excuse." 

The freckled girl hummed in response; Saturday was good. She had the day off from work and no assignments to worry her head about; she would have a short stream in the morning and vlog on the way there. 

Bella nodded. "Wait! Can we match? We never go out; this would be the perfect time for us to color coordinate. Please, it's going to be cold since it's in the afternoon, but that shouldn't be an issue; it's the perfect time to showcase our stylish trio." The curly-haired girl practically begged her two friends. 

The girls shared a look. Bella was right; they never really go out or match; their styles were somewhat different, but they also wanted to make the girl happy. They couldn't ruin her special day, and it's not like they could make something work, so ultimately they agreed. 

Realizing they had little to nothing in their closets, the girls went shopping. Truthfully, they could find clothes that they never wore, but what's the point of going through shelves and drawers for something they bought and threw to the side when they can just buy something entirely new? 

The trio went shopping at the mall, and just their luck, they found some cute pieces they could make into great outfits. They only went into about four stores and were out within two hours, a new record if you asked them. 

Fast forward, It was the day of the event, dressed in their best outfits, the girls left Bella's house and made their way through the city of Seoul to the KSPO Dome, Kiyoko had been there before, she used to practice as a gymnast when she first moved to Korea but eventually gave up on it as it was taking a toll on her body, although she still goes there from time to time an vists her old friends when olympic season comes around, the drive was a about thirty minutes so while Kiyoko drove, they  sung along to the music from Leilani's Spotify playlist which consisted of American white girls, some R&B and a few Kpop songs, although Leilani was more focused on her fashion designs for her college assignment then singing along, it was the weekend, and it was due the next night so naturally she shouldn't finished it by now but as she says she works best under pressure. It's not like the girl had meant to put the work off for so long; she just simply forgot and remembered as soon as they went out to enjoy the day off. The arena coming into view, the girls groaned at how long the line was; they would be there for hours. They quickly found a parking spot and got out of the car, heading towards their destination.��

The girls were now standing in line, waiting to enter the building. Bella and Kiyoko's nerves were all over the place, but surprisingly Leilani was calm; she was a little excited, but looking behind her, she could see other people who were also in the line; some looked nervous while others had the biggest grins on their faces; she was definitely standing out. It was cold in Seoul, and although she was dressed up nicely for the semi winter weather, she desperately wanted the doors to open so she could feel warm and stop freezing her butt off. 

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the line moves as the staff starts letting people in; the girls all take deep breaths as they make their way inside the venue. Inside, it was nice and toasty. Leilani could feel her heart getting less cold by the minute; the girls went through security and bag checks, Bella and Leilani getting weird looks from guards; one of them even went as far as checking Leilani's bag again. She wanted to say something, tell him there was no reason to because her bag was practically empty, but she kept her mouth closed, not wanting to start something and ruin her friend's day. 

Leilani made her way to the seat after the blonde girl moved; as her time was up, the chair was one of those foldable lawn chairs people use for cookouts—not comfortable at all, but what was she supposed to do? Sim Jaeyun sat in front of her; she smiled at him, opening her mouth. Jake looked at her starstruck, cutting her greeting off.

"You're Leilani; I watch your streams and videos on Twitch. You are funny, and you don't even try, and your cosplays are amazing. I know that you think that you don't suit some, but you rock all of them. I started playing one of those Mihoyo games because of you, although I don't have a lot of time because of work. It's a really good game to play when we have days off, and I want to be alone." Jake rambled on; the freckled girl was shocked. She knew some people out in the world watched her and found comfort in her videos, but Jake wanted just anybody; he was a celebrity, and Leilani was just a normal college student, although she found comfort in knowing that even someone like him enjoyed the content she put out.

Although it was a small conversation, it felt like Leilani was the star and Jake was a fan. How the tables have turned! But the conversation focus did turn to him; at some point, they talked about his hobbies and how his life had been impacted since I-land. They talked about his relationships in the groups as well as other idols, but if we're being honest, the fluffy-haired boy spent the whole time fangirling about BTS and Ateez. 

She moved on after the timer was up; she thought it was dumb, a timer? Timing people's conversation is such a stupid move; what if the conversation wasn't over? What if the other party had more to add? This was a form of speed dating, and Leilani wasn't a fan. Jungwon was next; Leilani went on telling him how much she adored him, how he was one of the first members that caught her eye in i-land, and how she appreciated all his hard work as a leader. Taking on such a big role at such a young age must be stressful; the latter talked about how he destresses by playing games, and thus the topic of Genshin Impact arose, and Leilani was more than happy to talk about her favorite game. 

Then it was Jay, the boy who complimented her outfit and asked her if she was fashionable because of how detailed the pieces of her clothing were and that they delved into a conversation about her hobbies and her assignment that she's been putting off and only started today. Finally, after speaking to a third of the members, you then made it to the tall emo boy called Ni-ki. Leilani didn't know much about Enhypen as she was getting into the group, but Nishimura Riki was known as the boy who was better than her 'because I would've kicked everyone's ass' when she watched I-land.

Nishimura Riki thought a lot of people he came across were pretty, but the girl in front of him was absolutely gorgeous, her brown skin that complemented the freckles that scattered across her cheeks and light brown eyes that looked hazel under the overhead spotlight; she smelled like strawberries; warm strawberries were Ni-ki's favorite; he wondered if she liked her fruit like that too. her bohemian braids that had a perfect shade of brown with blonde streaks, the little butterfly jewelry that hung on some strands, and how they sat perfectly in a high ponytail with four single braids in front and some in the back. Niki had crushes before, but this was different.

"Hi." Even her voice was beautiful, a Korean accent with perfect English; the boy wondered if she was American. Maybe they could talk about their favorite places, but if she was American, then she would be leaving at some point; maybe she was here on vacation? He had heard about some students taking a gap semester and traveling, or maybe she was an exchange student, here for the school year? Niki wanted to know everything about her, calling her an overly fixated crush, but the young boy was intrigued, and she only said a word. 

Opening his mouth to speak, he stumbled over his words, "H-Hi, I'm Nishimura R-, I'm Ni-ki." 

Leilani laughed a little; his stutters were cute, but she didn't want to make it seem like she was laughing at him; she quickly apologized, introducing herself. 

Leilani and Ni-ki eventually started talking about musicals, and Leilani might have talked about how she answered her friends, who were theater students, Ni-ki then asked about school and any performances they've done; Ni-ki learned that she went to SNU and she lived in Korea. The boy talked about how he wished he could go back to school and joked about how he could live vicariously through her when she went to what she called her eight hours of hell. 

After that, it was Sunoo, The honey blond girl expressed how much she enjoyed his many vlogs and his vocals; the blonde boy complimented her on her outfit and makeup. Eventually, they got to talking about skincare products, and the girl with the boho braids noticed, out of the corner of her eye, a certain siren-eyed boy staring at her, but alas, when she looked back, his eyes were averted. The conversation with the blonde-haired boy ran a little long, which most likely annoyed the people behind her; she was thankful the staff let them finish up. 

Talking with the last two members was like a breeze. Sunghoon was proactive with his English, so he would often try to answer or ask a question in the language. Leilani found it cute when he got frustrated about a word, but the girl was quick to help him through his endeavors. With Heeseung, it was smooth sailing. They started to talk about shows and movies, to which the girl gave some American recommendations, but somehow the conversation went towards home decor, but Leilani wasn't complaining; she enjoyed talking about how she decorated her room and her friends rooms. 

prev | masterlist | next

authors note: Hii!! Im lee and welcome to the secondchapter, how did you guys like it? Whats your impressions on everyone so far?? I hope you guys can stay for the ride and thank you for stopping by.

divders by @dollywons and @anitalenia.

ׂׂૢ TAGLIST: @rikidaze @momoch1s @regalfox @irikhrts

(comment or dm to be added!!)

[misseviehyde]

PARALLEL BODY

Your boyfriend was fat, unfit and overweight.

The spell you cast was supposed to open an interdimensional rift and replace his current physical form with a fitter parallel version of himself. He would be given a copy of this parallel body as if he had always been that way. You imagined him with ripped muscles, a perfect toned physique and a big cock...

Something went badly wrong.

When the pink light faded you saw he'd been replaced by a female version of himself instead of a male one. She was certainly fit. A hot busty blonde version with a toned body and perfect ass. She had big tits and a bitchy face with sexy brown eyes. Every inch of her screamed hot, high-maintenance bimbo.

Now calling himself Amber - your boyfriend rapidly adapted to life as a girl. His new body seemed to have inspired a few life style changes, or maybe the spell was also affecting his personality. He seemed to be enjoying being a hot woman and learning all about feminity. At first it was cute, but as he began to surpass you in every way, it began to become strangely intimidating.

Amber became an early riser and a gymaholic. She seemed to have boundless energy and a desire to try all the experiences of being a woman. She moved with natural feminine grace and had the balance and strength of an athlete.

Amber was soon a more stylish dresser than you. She made friends quickly and started hanging out with the hyper competitive gym-bunnies she now effortlessly belonged with. They went out shopping together and her wardrobe began to incorporate lingerie, short skirts, bodystockings and blouses.

Amber got her nails done - three inch pink acyrlic claws on each finger. She got her tongue and belly button pierced and a tattoo of a heart on her perfect ass. She began to shop at sex shops... soon she had her own collection of butt plugs and dildos.

She'd fuck her pussy - lying on your bed as she squirted and screamed in pleasure. It was only a matter of time before she begged you to join her.

The lesbian sex was fun at first - only you didn't see why you shouldn't get to use the strap-on as well. Being dominated by Amber did feel good though.

"Fucking take it you fat bitch, your cunt belongs to Mommy now," she'd hiss as she smacked your ass and pounded you deep with the strap on.

"Yessss Mommy, I'm your slut," you'd whimper thinking it was just role-play but cumming harder than you ever had when he'd fucked you as a man.

Amber had insisted you try the nine inch strap on. You'd objected at first, but soon you were addicted as you bottomed out for her time and time again. She made you feel so weak and needy.

Being Amber's subby girlfriend was starting to feel so good. She was taking control of more and more of your life and becoming meaner and bitchier by the day.

She picked up mannersims and expressions from the mean girls she was hanging around with. 'OMG, totes, like and bitch' were soon part of her regular vocabularly.

Amber then talked you into a threesome with a hot black guy from the gym she had been flirting with.

She made you rim him whilst she sucked his cock and then spreading her pussy wide you watched him fuck her. It was supposed to be a threesome, but the only role you played was to eat the cum out of her sticky pussy when they were done.

"OMG - from now on you don't mind if I like bring more guys back from the gym do you bitch?"

She didn't even wait for your response.

Amber got a new tattoo to go with her heart. A black QoS mark on her ankle. Now she got even more attention and she was soon bringing home black guys every night. Wet slaps, screams of pleasure and the scent of pussy filled the house as she fucked and sucked every guy she brought home.

Listening to her bouncing up and down on big dick made you so wet. Your former boyfriend was now a snowbunny whore and it was hot.

Then one day Amber came into the room wearing boots and dressed in latex carrying the spellbook you'd used to give her a parallel body. She laughed as she read the words and you groaned as you felt the dimensional shift envelope you and give you a new body.

When the pink light faded you looked down in horror to see you were now a cute femboy. You no longer had tits and a tiny little cock hung between your legs, but you were still dressed like a girl in slutty lingerie and every inch of your body was shaven.

"Like... you look soooo much better than this," she hissed stroking your hair and making you whimper. "You're my little fuck-slut forever now. Mine and my lovers."

Looking down you saw your body was covered in tattoos like hers. Black spades and BBC only tattoos. Your little cock was caged in blue plastic, a princess butt plug was deep in your ass.

Amber snapped her fingers and three black guys walked into the room. Ripped black muscles gleamed as they grinned down.

"Now suck off these boys and make them nice and hard for me. You're my new fluffer. Ohhhh and lets burn this page of the spellbook. There's no going back now bitch. Enjoy your new parallel body as it's the only one you're ever going to need."

[the-fiction-witch]

That's Y/n!

Media - The Queens Gambit Character - Benny Watts Couple - Benny X Reader (Age GAP) Reader - Y/n Rating - 17 Word Count - 696

Benny pulled up to his old friend Daniel’s house, a familiar mix of excitement and nostalgia washing over him. Having been on the road for the chess season, he had unfortunately missed several of their cherished poker nights, so he was eager to reconnect, even if just for a few fleeting moments before his upcoming trip to Paris.

He made his way into the dining room, which Daniel had transformed into a permanent poker room. The soft glow of a Tiffany lampshade cast a warm light across the large plush poker table.

He stepped into the lively gathering, his warm smile lighting up the room as he greeted each person with a friendly nod and a few words. After making his rounds, he made his way to the cooler, where he selected a cold beer, the condensation glistening on the bottle as he popped it open. With the satisfying crack of the cap echoing in the background, he took a moment to savour the refreshing drink.

Benny perked up as he heard footsteps, and peeked into the kitchen to see a very interesting sight, that immediately made Benny bite his bottom lip.

A woman gracefully descended the staircase, her bare feet making soft sounds against the polished wood. She wore a playful, short mod mini dress adorned in vibrant shades of green and white, featuring a neat row of buttons running down one side. Delicate bracelets jingled on her wrists, catching the light as she moved. Her hair fell in soft, bouncy curls, framing her face beautifully, while a stylish white headband perched atop her head, keeping her locks effortlessly in place. With a carefree demeanour, she wandered toward the refrigerator, her thoughts drifting, as she reached for a cold soda can,

Benny felt an instant connection when he laid eyes on her, a spark of intrigue igniting within him. He took a slow, appreciative sip of his cold beer, letting the crisp flavour linger on his tongue. As he brushed his fingers thoughtfully through his thick facial hair, he gathered his confidence. With a playful swagger in his step, he approached her from behind, the vibrant sounds of the bar fading into the background. In one bold, decisive movement, he planted a firm smack on her backside, his grin widening, “Well hello Baby,” He growled,

“Ahh-” She squealed as she flipped around to face him, almost dropping her soda,

“Are you the pretty little thing who’s gonna be bringing me beer while we play tonight?” he smirked, “Or are you just one of the prizes?”

She quickly and sheepishly shook her head,

“No?” he smiled wickedly, “what is your pretty little ass here for then, baby?”

“Benny,” Daniel warned from the doorframe,

“What?” Benny complained, “You can’t have this walking about and not expect us to want to get a little taste too.” he smirked, “Come on Dan, share your pretty girly,”

She quickly took her soda and scampered away up the stairwell again, Benny of course taking a moment to lean on the counter as she went doing his best to get a view up her dress as she climbed the stairs,

“Not my girlfriend. Benny.” Daniel sighed,

“Oh? You just got cute girls running around your house now?” Benny laughed, “Should have told me, I’d been over way sooner.”

Daniel gave up trying to make Benny catch on, very quickly realizing that Benny wasn’t thinking with his brain right now, so he smirked, “That’s Y/n.”

“That’s Y/n-” Benny began but his eyes went wide and he gulped, “That’s Y/n!”

“Yep, she just got back from college.”

“…Well how the hell was I supposed to know!” Benny complained,

“The fact you’ve literally known her, for her whole life?”

“Yeah but I don’t see her alot, I don’t think I’ve even seen her since like… she was… in high school… maybe…”

“Benny you are literally one of her godparents.”

“I am?” Benny asked, “That seems like a terrible idea.”

“Yeah well, Alice said I was allowed one friend as a godparent and you're the only one she ever remotely liked.”

“Damn… What a bitch,”

“Yeah,” he shrugged, “but come on we’re starting the game, and please do try not to hit on my daughter.”

“No promises.”

[peacefulharu]

Ok now that i have time to write a bit, i kinda wanna share my thoughts on this pic coz they are 💯💯💯🤭🤭🤭

Honestly, i LOL-ed the first time i saw this pic. The fashion sense for most of them kinda be liek all over the places but i love itt.

Eren honestly is wearing sucha terrible combo of clothes loll. the black shirt + tracksuit/ loose pants?? or whatever that is reminds me of construction workers/hard labor workers in japan. my hc is he ends up as one after trying many times to fit in in corporate world (rmbr isym's recent QA?? he said Eren probably be changing jobs a lot so yeahhh)

And that teal coat is probably last min addition given by Mikasa before they all started their journey to Nagoya. My shippy jeanmika heart is of coz saying that she grab it from Jean's closet coz she knew Eren wont have any decent clothes ready (hence the super mismatched clothes) while Jean went to Reiner's to wake him up so they wont miss the train.

Mikasa's clothes is just A+++. Girl knows shes cute and know what to wear to look cuter. The maroon jacket + pink one-piece is 💯💯💯💯. And of coz, since shes the most prepared of them all, she's the one with the tour guidebook, checking the attractions/ food outlets that they gotta try.

My boi Jean is of cozzz the most stylish of them boys! grey jacket with white pants + the sunglasses suits him. am obviously biased but he deserves the best dressed boi award here lol. I just wish he drop that chain wallet thingy coz thats just too extra (i just hate it welp🫣🫣🫣). Loves his dark brown loafers though!

Jean tries to imparts his fashion style to his buddy Reiner but it kinda fall short a bit. The blue shirts + blue pants are ok though but that dark brown coat gotta go! it doesnt match, Rainaaa 😫😫😫

Love that they be matchy matchy with the sunglasses though 🤭🤭🤭 but again, chain wallets should be a thing in the past alreadyy, let it gooo 🥲🥲🥲

Armin though, hmmm. honestly his clothes are kinda ok but somehow dark color doesnt suit him?? is it just me feelin this?? sorry bby

I kinda love Annie's clothes thoughh. the blue skirt is pretty and match with the white tops. My issue is only that her clothes do not look warm enough like the rest of the gang???? Liek yoo, everyone be wearing many layers but there she is, dressing in one piece of tops and a skirt onlyy. (ok sure, she has a sweater drape on her shoulders but welp it still doesnt look warm enough to me 🥶🥶🥶)

Levi... hmm is also wearing a kind of disaster combo there??? that blue shirt (he probably stole from Erwin) + off white sweater + green jacket + ugly cap are just too much for me lol. also most of them is having a small bag / no bag at all but there he is with that huge bag. Either he's gonna be staying in Nagoya for a while or he's a heavy traveller (which is what i alwys hc him to be)

Hanji is honestly me lol. this is what i always wear coz comfy > lookin pretty for me so yepp. also am usually too lazy to dressed up so its cool 🤭🤭🤭

[simpforchuchu]

Me again!! Since your requests are open I thought I’d request for high & low like we talked about before. In my dream I dreamt that I was a foreign transfer student to whatever city SWORD takes place in. I can’t remember if it was a boarding school or not but there was a lot of foreign girls with me. Anyway I’m pretty sure the school was having a back to school dance and I got to meet the oya boys while I was there!! I’ll admit my dream was very fujio focused but what do you think would happen if our main oya boys met their dream girl at that mixer everyone was so excited for at the end of high & low cross? It was so fun and romantic the dj was playing all these great hits from when I was in high school so we were dancing and they were asking all these great questions like what was it like back home and all that and I might’ve been watching Romeo + Juliet before I went to bed so it was very romantic at times 😅😅😊😊 sorry this got long it was just such a good dream

How would Oya Boys be at a School Prom ? Hcs

a/n: Hi! It’s been a while, sorry 🙏🏻It is really a cute dream, I’m jealous :D Thank you for your request andI hope you like it 🌸💕

Sorry for the grammer or spelling mistakes.English is not my main language so...

Thank you and love you 🥰

Warnings: none

Fujio

* We all know that Fujio is quite cheerful and very lively.

* And too talkative…

* Even though he doesn't give off a Casanova vibe, I think he's good at talking to girls and is flirty.

* He'll probably have his eye on one of the most beautiful girls in school and approach her with an expression that he thinks is sweet but cool.

* Small talk, a few jokes and giggles

* I think he is a romantic and quite sweet person, I feel that he will care about the girl he is dancing with, will pay attention to his steps and will continue to make little jokes without taking his eyes off her so that she does not get bored.

* I think he is also good at energetic ones after the romantic dance, he will hold her hand and drag her to the middle of the dance floor with excitement and make sure she has a wonderful evening.

* I'm sure he’ll walk home with him after prom

Todoroki

* I don't think he was ever interested in prom, he was forced here and he's nervous.

* As much as Tsuji and Shibaman want him to have fun like them, they know that loud music and this activity is not for him.

* Still, here he is with a pretty stylish suit and a good look.

* Even though there are girls who want to approach him, he will feel uncomfortable and go out to the garden for a while. A very beautiful girl who comes out to get fresh air in the garden like him will greet him with a smile when she sees him and this will be the beginning of everything.

* The two are quite similar. A young girl with good grades, the student council president, and a very smart delinquent... There couldn't be a better couple, right?

* They didn't like being here for a while and after small talk they realized they weren't bothered by each other's presence.

* They chatted in the garden until the end of the night. When the weather got cooler, Todoroki took off his jacket and placed it on the young girl's shoulders.

* When it was time to go, he asked hesitantly. “You still don't want to leave without dancing, do you?”

* They danced silently in the garden, smiling at each other with a sweet murmur. Todoroki couldn't remember his heart being filled with such a sweet feeling in a long time.

* And he certainly didn't know about the stupid grins of Tsuji and Shibaman watching from afar…

Yasushi

* He's neither a Casanova nor a flirty, he's just Yasushi.

* He didn't look forward to being here, but he doesn't regret coming.

* When he got tired of Kiyoshi's efforts to talk to the girls, he walked to the counter to get some more drinks and started pouring them into his glass.

* Another person was standing next to the counter, bored with the atmosphere. After watching Yasushi for a while, she approached him with a smile.

* “Do you want to get on people's nerves a little bit?”

* When Yasushi turned to the girl standing next to him in surprise, he smiled at her mischievous grin and walked with her to the booth where the music was playing.

* Although everyone was surprised when the romantic music suddenly turned into lively music, the duo laughed, high-fived and watched the surprised faces of the people on the dance floor.

* Yasushi didn't expect this girl full of surprises to suddenly hold his hand and lead him from the room to the dance floor, but he didn't complain.

* He was starting to have a lot of fun now :)

* He loved the young girl's energy, her smile and her cunning.

* When everyone saw them dancing madly and having fun in the middle of the dance floor, Yasushi only thought that this evening was not the last time he would see her...

HnL taglist : @straysugzhpe @tiddly-winx @ninamarie1994 @thatpoindexterpixy @koala-yuna @star2fishmeg

[dawnslight-aegis]

glamour progression! some canonical Looks that Kaede has had over the years, lore and reasonings and whatnot under the cut~

early ARR: just some basic, comfortable traveling clothes. she didn't have a ton of money here, and her fighting style was offensively-focused, rather than defensive. she didn't even use a shield yet.

mid ARR: finally scrounged up some basic armor, but she still prefers the flexibility and mobility afforded by leather over chain or plate.

end of ARR: for the Praetorium assault, she joins as an officer of the Immortal Flames, and wears their uniform. even though it's heavy and bulky and uncomfortable.

post ARR: newly dubbed the Warrior of Light, she still favors Immortal Flame colors, but make it stylish. also helps Gerolt reforge Curtana and the Holy Shield.

early HW: after the Bloody Banquet, but before being admitted to Ishgard, she comes across the corpse of a dark knight dumped outside the city gates and takes up his sword. it's no longer safe to wear anything that associates her with the Flames, so she reverts back to her more gladiator-like style, but with light plate

mid HW: can't very well be walking around Ishgard as a heretic, so it's back to paladin for a while. she finds a full set of really nice (and warm) armor and weapons in The Aery and uses them for a bit, but swaps the sword/shield for a greatsword again in the aftermath of the Vault

end of HW: Sid gave her some armor. please imagine Zephirin's face under where her sword is planted in the ground.

post HW: had a new set of armor made to match the style of the set she found in the Aery, carries the Fortemps shield in Haurchefant's honor

early SB: when Tataru Taru makes you an outfit, you damn well wear it. also this is her RDM training arc, Marz is the main character doing WAR stuff here, Kaede is just here to vibe and help out

mid SB: Kaede doesn't care for Doman fashion in Eorzea, she has a hard enough time convincing people she's not foreign. but when in Othard, do as the Othardians do. oh this is also where she got her horn and tail decor! turns out when you go somewhere with lots of au ra, you can find cute auri accessories. who knew.

end of SB: we liberating Ala Mhigo in full red mage regalia my friends

post SB: it's just a cute witchy look, Kaede didn't do the Mhach raids so idk how she even got this one. I just like it. she spent most of the SB patches in Ishgard so maybe she bought it from Leofard or something. for REALLY late post-SB (aka Ghimlyt Dark) please see "early ShB"

early ShB: puts her rapier away when her friends start dropping and she has to go to actual legit war. opts for some heavier actual plate mail, but you can't fight evil if you ain't cute. also she got that top from the bowels of Orbonne Monastery, and it's reminiscent of her childhood hero, Agrias Oaks, so it's important to her

mid ShB: Kaede has Feelings about Voeburt and how it's basically Ishgard but with au ra, ask her about them some time. anyway she tries to PLD for a while on the First but it starts exacerbating her light poisoning, so it's back to dark knight time

end of ShB: yikes, girl. yikes. anyway Voeburtite+Crystarium gear is a nice cross-section of the places in the First that really spoke to her

post ShB: neo-Ishgardian top, Halonic gauntlets, I think it's safe to say she is homesick, someone let her go home and see her man already

early EW: Sharlayan is...not Kaede's favorite place. she went there straight from Ishgard so she's just wearing some of her normal civilian clothes tbh. if you see her out and about in Ishgard this is probably the kind of thing she's wearing

mid EW: Garlemald is fucking cold and depressing, even when you have a nice heavy coat. while she's here she gets her arm broken and her shoulder dislocated, so she has to do red mage stuff until it heals. I didn't include it here but it's the heirloom casting top+ravel keeper gloves+virtu duelist boots.

end of EW: a return to the iconic look after getting her shield arm fixed by Haurchefant in the Aitiascope. also all her friends died. it's a bad time. Tataru made her some boots though.

post EW: holy shit baby girl finally learned how to heal, it only took almost dying to make her stubborn tank main ass learn. she changed her hair because she's On Vacation rn. also she's engaged! idk where the yorha top came from, I don't consider the nier raids canon lmao. her staff has a chunk of the mothercrystal on it though

[thornswoggled]

ive been sick since the 31st but i cant be stopped from new chapter goofin. first chapter of the year, lets go

oh noooo this first page is already so embarrassing. PLEEEASE dont tell me zoey assumed he and lucy are a thing because of the snake thing. PLEEEEEASE tell me his dad is teasing. im so embarrassed

PHYLLIS MOMENT? yamazaki loves biddies we knew this old broad was gonna come back

so nostalgic to see the witchs coven like this for the first time in.... many many chapters

wasnt the coven isaac supposed to have his name spelled differently than chises isaac? i thought that was mentioned on twitter at some point, but the wiki spells it like that too (NOT THAT NOTABLE - WIKI IS CHEEKS)

very nice panel of him and marielle with their wrists intersecting. idk it just looks pretty. i like symmetry

this chapter is a little longer? i think the most recent ghost+witch was just as long. why is yamazaki unstoppable. is she sleeping

more and more "things are about to get waaaacky!" okay yeah we know that but when will anything happen. i dont mind the lack of action in tamb. at all, actually. but the leadup is a little silly

"i wonder if she saw it, too." she did not <3

THIS IS A MONTH AND A HALF FROM THE LAST CHAPTER????????????

theyre all sitting in the courtyard like they did when they agreed to keep zoeys secret. nice callback, and its cute that this is their little hangout spot

whats in that box between chise and rian

oh no zoeys dad responded and lucy is here. oh no. i cant handle this i cant handle embarrassment

wait lucy helped him write it because she says she revised it. so either they actually are dating or his dad was teasing. im soooo...

waaait zoey has a little ponytail its so cuties

weeeh chises smile is so sweeties and cuties

"you could've warned us you were there" WHAT DID I JUUUST SAY EARLIER ABOUT LUCY. SHE IS NOT GOING TO LIKE HIM TRAILING CHISE AROUND

wait did chise even know he was there. she can usually sense his comings and goings so i think shes just surprised he decided to butt into the convo

shut uuuuup they dont need a chaperone you just want to follow your wife around

wait if a month and a half has passed whatever happened with alices xmas gift for chise

weeeeh philomela is being so cuties

i like that yamazaki kinda teases these het pairings among the friend group without ever insinuating that theyll go anywhere. like in every direction almost. feels like straightbaiting... unbelievably funny. which, egg on my face if zoey and lucy ends up being real

philomela is being an early-story chise right now. "everyone does things for me even though i dont deserve it and i dont want to lose anyone even though i dont contribute anything." no wonder chise latched onto her as Guy I Need To Fix

love how varied and stylish yet simple their outerwear is

"he wanted to accompany chise" SEEEE WHAT I MEEEEEAN HE JUST WANTS TO FOLLOW HIS WIFE AROUND

HEEEEEEEY GIRLLL I MEAN THEY. I MEAN THEY. I MEAN THE

selkie nathan here too whatever. i didnt want the friend to be alice what makes you say that

i love how no one who meets elias in the white girl glamor ever says "why do you have a boy name." yamazaki is above such trifles

elias looks so sullen hunched behind chise oh my god. following his damn wife around. i love the human glamors because his facial expressions are sooooooo funny hes just -____-

elias coming in hot with the "that dont got nothing to do with me im smoking my cigarette"

the bolo tie strings lovingly rendered across his chest im. going to eat plywood. hey girl. i mean th

"whoa they got wrapped in fog is this related to rahab" <= idiot who glossed over nathan LITERALLY explaining that meg was surrounded by fog before she was attacked. can you PAY ATTENTION. FOR /ONCE/

man theyll be okay they got two teachers with them

oh no your girlfriend

that zoey panel kinda went crazy stupid whoag

"the blood run strong in him" okay jesus christ who is this. it better be someone we already know because this is a little silly

speaking of. i mean we know zoey isnt going to go home because hes on the arc 3 spread. he has to dress as a fancy boy and swing his lil weapon with the st georges. no time for dat goku

these are just like the witches in madoka ☝🤓

so this is the chapter where we are actually starting to see a little follow-through on yamazakis "WATCH OUT!!" hyping. all of these monsters attacking people have the same eyeball motif. im trying to think about where we have seen it before. i want to blame the new mage, but their apprentice (i dont remember her name nor can i be fucked to check) talks about them like theyre unrelated. maybe the person on the last page created them? they dont share immense similarity with lil fella either, so perhaps not dragon related either. did someone like joseph create them as chimeras? trying to trigger the red dragon appearing again? maaaan idk

any chapter where i get to see babygirl elias is a good one. swinging my legs teeheeing n shit

[shiraki-yurara]

An Assistant's Capriccio Story Event - Hitaki - Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Morganatic Idol belongs to CYBIRD & ABC Frontier, Inc.

My Notes: Translation is for entertainment purpose only. Translation may or may not be correct. Please ignore any grammar mistakes.

Rina: Hitaki-san’s assistant……?

Sakura: Yeah, he has been cast in an audition show that's been getting a lot of attention lately.

Sakura: He will serve as a guest judge and evaluate the candidates' performances.

The name of the program he told me was an audition program for a girl idol group.

(! This program was in the news because it recruited participants from overseas.)

(It is said that if they could debut here, they would definitely become a world-famous artist.)

(The judges are all famous artists who come as guests every time, so it gets a lot of attention from the public.)

Sakura: Now that Gem is becoming more popular, Hitaki's appearance will be a hot topic.

Sakura: I think it would be a learning experience for Kawanaga-chan if she could accompany him to such a location.

(There is certainly a lot to be learned about the entertainment industry and idols……)

Rina: Understood. I look forward to it!

Sakura: Good, that's great. Then, discuss the details together with him.

Sakura-san left, saying, "I have another meeting."

(First I need to talk to Hitaki-san……)

Just as I was thinking that, Hitaki-san showed up.

Rina: ! Hitaki-san, good work. Can I talk to you for a moment?

Hitaki: I don’t mind. What can I do for you?

Hitaki-san smiled slightly as I told him the conversation from earlier.

Hitaki: Ah, it's about my upcoming TV appearance. I got the materials from Sakura-san in advance.

Rina: I understand. I'm not very familiar with this, but I look forward to working with you.

When I bowed slightly, Hitaki-san nodded slowly and said, “My pleasure.”

(Hitaki-san, even when you're off work, you're so stylish…… You have such elegance and sexiness.)

(I get nervous just by being stared at.)

As I was thinking that, Hitaki-san's face suddenly came close to mine.

Hitaki: Are you feeling nervous already? If you have any questions, please let me know right away.

Rina: Errr.

I am taken aback by the soft scent of Hitaki-san's perfume and the handsome face before me.

Hitaki: Oh, I guess you’ve become even more tense. I was only trying to ease the tension.

Hitaki: Since you’re usually around exe, we don’t really get to talk much, right?

Hitaki: It seems like fun to have you as my assistant like this, and I'd like to be friends with you.

As he said this, he lightly pushed my bangs up so that we could meet each other's gazes.

(! ……Hitaki-san’s hand.)

Rina: I, I understand, so could you please step away for a bit?

When I asked him timidly, Hitaki-san chuckled.

Hitaki: Oh, sorry. Did you hate it?

Rina: No! ……I was just a little surprised.

Hitaki: Is that so? Then……., I wonder if you will allow me to do this.

Hitaki-san gently stroked my head. At that moment, his fingertips lightly touched my ear, causing me to flinch.

Hitaki: So cute. When I see a reaction like that, I just want to keep petting you.

Hitaki: Your face…… Show me more.

Rina: I, I'm sorry. No more than this……!

Unable to bear the embarrassment, I took a step back and distanced myself.

Hitaki: Fufu, I went a bit too far. I'll be more careful from now on.

(I’m surprised. I wonder if Hitaki-san was teasing me……)

I regained my composure and straightened up.

Rina: So, um…… is there anything I should be careful of or prepare for?

Hitaki: Hmm, nothing in particular. I've already checked the documents here.

Hitaki: All you have to do on that day is be by my side and you'll be fine.

He responded kindly, but it made it seem like there was no point in me accompanying him as his assistant.

(I have to try my best to help Hitaki-san.)

Rina: I know that I lack the skills and experience. But I can't just sit back and do nothing.

Rina: It can be something simple. Can I help you?

After I continued to press him, Hitaki-san seemed to think for a moment.

Hitaki: Okay…… Then, just one thing.

Hitaki: Can you arrange for a gift to be given on the day of the event?

Hitaki: There's a restaurant I often order from. If you mention my name, they will prepare everything for you.

When I looked up the restaurant Hitaki-san had recommended on my smartphone, the website of a Michelin-starred luxury restaurant came up.

Rina: Eh, this restaurant!?

Hitaki: Since I was introduced to him by an acquaintance, I've been on friendly terms with the chef there.

Hitaki: I give roll cakes as the gifts, and people always love them.

Hitaki-san's refreshing smile left me speechless.

(It's like we live in different worlds……)

As Hitaki-san had instructed, I would prepare the gift and head to the event on the day.

---

And finally, the day of filming------

---

Producer: Hey, Hitaki-kun! I've been waiting for you!

Hitaki: I am honored to be invited. I look forward to working with you today.

As soon as we entered the studio, the program producer greeted us with a big smile.

(This guy is a famous producer who has nurtured many popular idols.)

(He's also serving as the main judge for this audition, so I'm sure he's putting a lot of effort into it.)

Producer: I'm also happy that Hitaki from Gem is coming as a guest!

As the producer said this and lightly tapped Hitaki-san on the shoulder, cheers were heard from afar.

Candidate 1: Ah, just as I thought! It’s Hitaki-san!

A dozen or so girls ran up happily, and the producer lined them up.

Producer: Hitaki-kun, let me introduce you. These are the candidates for this idol audition.

Producer: There are still many areas where they need improvement, but they are all very talented.

Candidate 1: Nice to meet you. I look forward to working with you today!

The candidates all bowed their heads, but their faces were filled with joy at meeting Hitaki-san.

Hitaki: You are all looking so fresh. Just by talking to you seems to cheer me up.

Hitaki: I know you're nervous, but I'm looking forward to it.

Every time he made eye contact with each of the girls and spoke to them, they cheered.

His gentlemanly and elegant manners made him truly the "Prince of Gem."

Producer: Hahaha, as expected of a top idol. Just a greeting gets the crowd excited.

Producer: If they could actually see your singing and dancing, it would be a learning experience for them too.

Producer: Anyway, I look forward to the filming.

Hitaki: Yes, I understand.

After finishing his greeting, the producer left, taking with him the candidates who looked reluctant to leave.

(Okay, I should also start working.)

Rina: Hitaki-san, you have some preparations to do as well. In the meantime, I'll go and say hello to the staff.

Hitaki: Ah, wait a moment.

Just as I was about to start walking, Hitaki-san grabbed my hand and called me to stop.

(Eh?)

[tipsyjaehyun]

Prisma Season 2 Episode 8 NERO

is it me or did they dye Mattia's hair a little or this episode is dark in terms of lighting - i feel like dark blonde/light brown (yes he has darkblonde but I'm including light brown) is very interesting in terms of lighting because sometimes it can look really dark and sometimes very light.

Love that Daniele is wearing glasses for driving

Mattia has Andrea's sadness down to a T this episode, I can feel the sadness radiating from the computer (this sounds so weird to say lol)

Okay I was busy looking at somethig else but what were they doing with the whale? But also she shouldn't be hanging out with the 13 year old....

aww huggie hug with marco and Vitto? I forgot his name

ohh Andrea hates that the coach came, I bet he didn't know that Marco invited her and that he thinks Daniele invited her lol

sad boi Andrea....

wait is Andrea wearing a skirt?

Look I know it's just a look and him exploring himself but I quite think he looks stylish without the pony tail but I do love how the glasses sit on there - like maybe clips/bobby pins to to make it look like an updo, but anyway this is a fictional character and he can do whatever he likes - I am just a stranger on the internet lol

I do like the pearl earing though.

HIS OLD TEACHER, I wonder if she knew - okay I play piano anyway but this show has made me motivated to practice more and almost take up swimming again lol (although I have been thinking about that aspect for a few months now)

also ngl love how google translate does this thing where you can screenshot the text messages

So Nina knows she did a bad thing yet she did it.....girl what are you thinking.

girl no why are you texting her

I don't really get why they did this Nina storyline honestly....to give her something? They could have just cut her out of the plot or be a background character maybe?

okay the rain is really adding to the atmosphere about to get on.

okay after looking at the spoilers yes they probably should have done foreplay and fade to black or maybe one of them going down on each other idk - I'm just going to pretend it's just frottage.

I love how Andrea is like on one hand badass but he's also like he has a soft side, my favourite kind of character.

Andrea don't let your brother down!

honestly micole having a ciggy, same girl.

why is andrea and marco's mum crying at the piano?

MARCO NO WHERE'D THEY TAKE HIM, ANDREA SHOULDN'T HAVE LIED, WHAT WAS ANDREA SAYING TO MARCO, WHAT WERE THEY DISCUSSING

where do I go from here...

Hello hello! Welcome back!

First of all, the way I felt as if I'm rewatching the entire episode through your thoughts, I LOVE IT!!!

Daniele in glasses, umm yes! He looked so good. The way the drug dealer boss looked at all three of them and pointed out Daniele to be the most innocent looking among them had me cackling!

I think the whale had died and washed up ashore. So, Nina and that girl (I don't remember her name, I'm sorry) wanted to hold a funeral for it. And yes I agree, that whole plotline with her and the girl was a bit too weird for me to watch.

GOOD FOR YOU! The show actually inspiring you go back to your piano and swimming roots is amazing! Well done! And yes, the piano teacher knew or at least suspected and she was very supportive. That's why she gave young Andrea her ring during the lesson. It was so heartwarming. I felt so bad for her when Andrea's mother fired her.

I would assume, for the sake of my sanity, that Daniele had brought lube with him along with the condoms. And the scene post that when Daniele's friends found out about their relationship was so cute! They were so supportive and welcoming of Andrea. It was really nice to watch before shit went down.

I KNOW!!! That was the worst cliffhanger and the fact that we'll never know what happened to Marco really bugs me. What were him and Andrea talking about? What did those drug dealers do to him? OH I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS.

Honey, that's what I have been asking myself for the past six months. The show is so good and everytime I rewatch it I grieve for the things we could have had if they got to make a season 3. 😭😭

[yanderefairyangel]

Ranting about Go away Romeo

So, i have already been ranting a bit about Rosaline tellings of RomiJuri but I didn't went into great details (at least to me) about what makes them specifically not work and this one webtoon called Go Away Romeo has been renting free in my mind so I kinda want to rant about it

Warning : spoilers, potential mention of triggering subjects and in general pretty negative about this adaptation

So Go Away Romeo is a webtoon putting a twist on Shakespeare's play and focusing on a universe where RomiJuri didn't die while Rosie serves as a protag

In this timeline, Rosie feels invisible in her family and falls for Romeo, the two of them have a secret relationship but Romeo becomes cold as time goes on. Her life is shaken by the death of her cousin Juliet and that of Romeo, however she discover that she is pregnant with his child, so a child born of wedlock called Mino. Problem is that the lovers weren't dead, they succefussly faked their death and run away into Mantua while Rosaline (somehow) discovers all of this and 3 years later, she is focused on trying to make her son accepted by the aristocracy, catching the eye of Prince Escalus and Count Paris, howvever Romeo and Juliet ends up comming back and potentially threaten her now peaceful life : what's a poor girl to do ?? Willl Rosaline manage to protect what she holds dear from big bad Romeo ?

As you can tell from my tone this premise had me mixed... Conceptually speaking, antagonistic Romeo is hot and Romeo and Juliet being a villain couple sound very stylish however in this day and age, Romeo Montague is a character who suffers from villanization on all side for reasoning that are kinda dumb which makes me on the fence about such portrayal....

That being said, I was still willing to give the webtoon a try, hoping that maybe, MAYBE, they would be able to live up to the conceptual promises of this story...

Oh boi.... oh was it not it.... it was sooooooooooooooo disappointing

And before you all go in and go "well a retelling doesn't have to stick perfectly faithfully to the original" and look, I am at no point saying that a retelling straying from it's source material is a problem.

Again, Shakespeare himself went to adapt this story from a poem by Arthur brooke, whom also took liberties from the faithful translation made by William Painter of Bandello's version, which also deviates slightly from Da porto's version who completely changed anything comming from Masuccio Salernitano's version safe for a few plot beats (and don't worry Lope de Vega I ain't forgetting about you)

These are fine but it's also fine to question whether or not these changes are meaningful and it the concepts were well executed

Moreover, to ensure that it wasn't my Shakespeare biais that wasn't blinding my judgement, I forced an innocent bystander who NEVER read the play and only knew the outline of the story (my mutual) to read through it and we both came to similar conclusions before I told him about how much the webtoon broke away from it's inspiration which got him to ask "... then what was the point of using Romeo and Juliet as a source ?"

So what can I say about it... maybe let's start by the art and designs because I am very mixed about it

For the record I actually like a lot of designs, Rosaline looks very pretty, Mino is cute, Escalus and Paris are pretty by the books when it comes other characters tho.... well

Benovolio is eh honestly, not a big fan. I actually like Tybalt's design but god... this design doesn't suit him at all !!! (but so does his webtoon personality)

As for Mercutio... move on. I. freaking. hate. this. design. I.can't.stand.it.....

I mean look at him

UGGGGH

Regarding Romeo and Juliet, I am glad the webtoon had the deceny to keep the "contrast" motif that can be found in adaptations

Let me explain. I have read my fair share of adaptations and I have noticed a pattern : 1) The Capulets are in red and the Montague are in blue (as seen here, the webtoon also does that) 2) Romeo and Juliet's design is made to contrast each other, if Romeo has dark hair Juliet has lighter hair, if Romeo has lighter hair then Juliet will have darker hair

In this iteration Romeo has darker hair (brown) and Juliet ligther hair (blonde) and I think they look kinda nice when the webtoon isn't doing something that kinda annoyed me

(my fav art of them they look so good there)

Regarding the fashion sense I like a lot of them but also sometimes I have qualms about it

See webtoons like to have their female lead have thousands of different outfit and different hairstyle but Rosaline often reuses the same clothing and the problem is that it can serves as time check for readers so it happens that having Rosaline wear the same clothing makes the timeline more confused + makes it difficult to remember in which chapter she wore something and thus to remember in which specific chapter X or Y event happened

Moreover... I have other qualms but more on that later

And yeah it's time to dwell into the artstyle and I am... mixed... I think it's pretty but also sometimes I am a bit taken off by it notably the change of weight in the lineart and sometimes it made me wonder if the artist was the same due to the way it evolved

Also my qualm, the lips. The artist draws lips by using a soft pink glow which is mostly used for female characters or male characters supposed to be hot (implying this version of Tybalt isn't somehow) which was fine at first, Miss not so Sidekick had that and it wasn't that jarring to me but hum...

As time went on, it became bigger and more troublesome, especially for male characters

That's just a nitcpick tho, others complains i have is the very clear overreliance on CSP assets and... look normally I don't judge because they are meant for that but sometimes they use 3D ressources and don't even draw them !!! like I get having a webtoon means shorter delays but come on !!

(I will come back to talk about this please wait bear with me) this scene is clearly meant to hightlight the fish yet said fish is just in 3D... like it could have been very easy to just translate it in 2D (speaking as someone who use CSP... and ends up drawing everything by hand because I am too used to it) this just feels jarring to have everything 2D and the random 3D elements....

Other issue would be that it creates accidental anachronism. See the thing with most webtoon is that they take place in a fictional western historical period that isn't really specific where they can basically do whatever they want, especially as a lot of them tend to have rather soft worldbuilding even if based on clothing alone, 17th, 18th and 19th century aesthetic are the most used and often mixed together but you know, because it's a lalala land we can excuse it

But when you choose RomiJuri, a play set in Verona, you are kinda stuck to real life Italy and granted, you can try to pull some stuff to get back liberty as a writer such as placing them in a modern setting (Romeo + Juliet) or some sci fi cosmic twist for the setting (like Romeo x Juliet did) but Go Away Romeo doesn't do any of this, we are lead to believe we are in Verona, the same Verona Shakespeare set his plot in, so 14th century Verona.

Thing is that historical accurency doesn't really offer the possibility to be as stylish as one desires so I am usually very lenient on that and don't really care that the characters are more dressed with 16 century fashion than 14th, doesn't really matter but... I draw the line at some stuff such as the settings

The inn don't feel like inns but restaurants which are overly used in webtoon and what made me lose it was ... well this

There are more of this and look, I get it, CSP's mob brushes and image material are helpful when it comes to save times but... we have established the clothing is supposed to follow 16th century fashion... why is there suddendly 19th century clothing appearing ???? What is going on ??

Again I generally don't mind much anachronism and God knows Shakespeare didn't really care about being faithful to history either (in Shakespeare's voice :" What do you mean Danemark was the one to conquer Norway ? Nah, you read wrong")

These type of moments really breaks immersion and you know what else does ? The fanservice...

Yeah see, despite it's apparently innocent premise the webtoon still aims at being serious and all but there are wayyy too many moments aimed purely for fanservice to the point of making a lot of moments feel strange.....

Yeah here it's more of a fashion problem than anything but Romeo's open cleavage doesn't work for the type of clothing he is wearing, it makes it look like someone ripped off Romeo's shirt to show off his abs and he tried to fix it by adding lace .... and... aaaa...you know who pulled it off good ? Mabinogi Hamlet

Now weird fanservice moment 2, Paris is being a lot, and i mean a LOT shirtless, like when he paints (yes he paints) we see his abs through his shirts, we see him wearing naught but a very revealing dressing gown a lot of times etc.

And the winner is Escalus as he fishes a fish naked (entirely naked) and proposes to Rosaline (yes it's a real scene)

Look I get it, fanservice for the ladies and anime does it too but you know that fanservice can be distracting right ? Well, here it is, especially this Escalus scene like who thought it would be a good idea seriously it just feels so strange.... ahhh anyway now let's more on to the actual story criticism and as a stand alone

This is... so by the book. Like a lot of webtoons have a very by the book scenarios but this one doesn't even try to exploit it's interesting premise, no it's just your average webtoon, literaly everything in it, every plot beat is something you'd find in any other webtoon

Also the plot is ... nonsensical but this mainly comes from how the characters are written for sure, like there are so many plot points that are just randomly thrown away and never expanded

For example, there is a girl called Claudia who appears at first to be a minor antagonist who will play the role of the mean girl as we see in many webtoons... well no, because she doesn't, despite seeming like she will she just appears a few times and never again.... I wish I could be kidding, I even forgot she existed !!! Like what was the point of pretending to have a mean girl and then not using it ??? Why ??

Then we have Rosaline's rivalry with her own father and her uncle, Bernardo Capulet, Juliet's dad (this time it's Bernardo and not Giovanni, no one will ever name him his Da Porto name and Bandello name, Antonio, except Lope de Vega, I see how it is) which is exploited only once, during Escalus's art contest and then never again.... like why ? Why set up something you won't pursue ? What about this whole convo where Bernardo rallies his brother against his own daughter ? This makes even less sense with Rosaline eventually becomes the matriarch of the Capulet house (I promise you we will get to that) because she managed to get this role with seemingly no effort ? Like they didn't even tried to pin on her the responsability for the previous matriarch's death in order to prevent her from getting the title ?... o-ok...

Then we have this plan with Friar Lawrence... ok so quickly Lawrence is made into a big bad priest who works with Romeo because no one escaped anything... basically Friar helps Romeo in his plan to become the ruler of Verona instead of Escalus however it's made clear that the Friar had his own plans and seemed to view Romeo has a pawn for his own objectives as he tried to use Mino and his relationship with Rosaline against Romeo... problem is that he gets arrested and betrayed by Romeo before this even goes further... I wish I was joking

Literaly. every. Single. Minor antagonist or ally to Romeo is sideline so that he can be the main big bad meaning we are left with at least 3 unfinished side plot that had been previously introduced, just nothing more about them...

That's not the only time tho, see when Romeo and Juliet reveals to the grand public they are still alive and make their story about being poor unfortunate lovers whose love got threaten by jealous politicians greed and jealous people (the worst part is that it's technically not false) and guess how the webtoon frames this

As we can see clearly the jealous one are supposed to be Paris and Rosaline, the love rivals of Romeo and Juliet respectively, so it might make it seem like the webtoon is gonna develop on this to make our new couple seem like responsible for what happened to Romeo and Juliet and -- No... No, no no.... it only hints at that with having some people gossip that Rosaline might have something to do with it just because she is dancing with Paris... nothing substential even though later on the webtoon involves Romeo and Rosaline dancing so perfectly that their past as lover seemed obvious to anyone

So it just uses it to make people seem petty and win pity points for Rosaline and not to create actual tension

Shakespeare would have screamed at this because he was the king of introducing his side plot and Romeo and Juliet is a good example of that in how he set every elements for his tragedy to make sense (one of them being introducing the wedding with Paris much earlier than the traditional version which usually brings this point only after Romeo was exiled and Juliet heartbroken - for context in Da Porto/Bandello/Brooke's version Juliet's sadness is taken by her mom as depression cause she isn't married yet unlike all her others friends so she and her husband go find one for Juliet.... yes I know it's dumb, so we can all thank Shakespeare for turning into Paris wanting to marry Juliet and Lord Capulet being initially reluctant due to her age and ultimately agreeing to it for the big climax moment)

Also gotta love how the webtoon strayed so much from it's intial premise. Basically, it was supposed to be about the struggles of Rosaline as a single mother with her child while we were meant to hate Romeo and Juliet for causing her pain and all... but that completely went downhills, we ended up being more focused on Rosaline acting as a political woman near Escalus and Paris with Romeo being bad for several others reason among which his desire to become king of Verona... yes, you heard that right KING. Not prince, but KING. And yes before you ask Escalus was a prince in the webtoon before Romeo overthrew him and became king....king of Verona you can't make this up... (this remind me of Romeo vs Juliet's weird thing with Verona having a grand duke instead of a prince like... searching the history of Italy before the 19th century unification isn't that hard)

So normally I don't take issue with something seemingly more slice of life going into a darker turn but the problem is that it makes Mino completely useless and he ends up being used for cheap drama instead... like i kid you not we don't even know why Romeo would have any use of this kid because his goal is to be king and he is kind, maybe he wants him to be his heir but he could have just made a child with Juliet whom at some point as to pretend being pregnant because of him and even made me think that maybe he would try to kidnapp Mino to claim him as his and Juliet's child (no it didn't happened) but that doesn't work either because Rosaline makes his plan foil by admitting he is the father of Mino and telling of her story to a whole crowd (and Romeo let her do this mind you, even thought it can destroy his reputation) and it goes nowhere... actually no it does goes somewhere but it's so stupid I wanna band my head against a wall whenever I remember this...

Point being that Mino doesn't work for the story anymore yet the webtoon try to shoehorn him non stop in a plot that no longer revolves around what it was supposed to and thus it doesn't work, it just feels like the writers remembered what was the initial premise and didn't wanted to make it sound like it strayed as much as it actually did

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Speaking off, this might sound picky but Juliette, and above all Paris not noticing sooner that Mino looks identical to Romeo makes it even less believable, seriously....

And the characters....oh the characters

1- Rosaline

She is our Mc, and while seemingly interesing in concept she is incredibly boring

She is just your average webtoon heroine who is perfect in every way, she is supposed to be hated by everyone because she had a child out of wedlock but putting aside the gag of Mino being described as so cute he easily wins the heart of the ladies gossiping Rosaline, she is also portrayed as succeding in everything with little to no effort.

I usually don't like calling characters Mary sue especially when the webtoon clearly struggles to make her struggles but there is limits

For instance, when she has to participate to represent the Capulet along with her father and uncle at Escalus's art contest, she decides to ask help from Paris because he is the most renown painter (despite the fact she somehow didn't recognized him at Escalus's birthday party) but Paris gives her an impossible task in hope she will back off, she doesn't because this is supposed to show how determinated she is, she gets injuried, faint, Paris takes her in they discuss, Paris remarks that while she did get one of what he asked, she failed to provide the rest, he argues that he can't rely one some nobody unable to use her connections to her advantage... and she replies that he send her to do an errand that none could fufill anyway and that given what she accomplished he could acknowledge her with Paris arguing he is doing this for her good, she should give up, she says she won't and eventually Paris just accepts

Now that might make it seems like she failed but no because the point wasn't to get the ingredients, it was to convince Paris to join her when he clearly didn't wanted to, and in that aspects she clearly succeded despite not fufilling his tasks even tho... PARIS HAD A POINT HERE !!

It could have been a good occasion for self reflection on Rosaline's part, she is literaly said at the begining to have no allies because she is invisible in her own family, that is why Romeo approached her and that is why she wants to fight back now and teach that to her son. And that being established, this means that she indeed has 0 political input, in fact her taking part in the contest is literaly meant to help her have the bare minimum of attention from her family, her first steps, this SHOULD have been used as an opportunity for her to reflect about all the way she has to go and how she believed that she could rely on her strengh alone when in reality she is gonna need to play the dirty game of politics but no, no, Rosaline ends up having the last word by making Paris looks like an hypocrite for sending her on a quest she couldn't fufill anyway

So instead of acknoweldging that what she does is go "but you send me on a fool's errand" which makes everything fundamentally void because this just gives her an easy win... whether Rosaline managed to gather the material or not is ultimately useless when she can just show how stubborn she is by insisting and boom, Paris is in her pocket

Like really wow... and obviously this means Rosaline's ascension is incredibly easy, she doesn't have to work to get more recognition from her family and the whole of Verona, gaining noble trust etc. Nope, would have been more interesting but nope.

Also this motif of "Rosie lost but in reality she wins" is gonna happen again

Escalus is hosting a art constest to please the nobles, and Rosaline participates in hope of gaining her grandma's favor, her grandma the Matriach of the Capulet house (yes this is going where you think it will) but her dad and uncle are at a point where they are presented as rival to her, and she can't present the painting Paris had been working on because someone sabotaged it... you know ? To make sure that we understand that in normal times people who aren't named Rosaline don't stand a chance because she can't have genuine rivalry with anyone

So she improvise and makes Paris sketch portraits of Escalus and destribute them to the commoner which is meant to show that Rosaline is very clever because she isn't relying on just presenting something to show her power and wealth but because she care about the people, because we had seen her worried about the security of the town unlike the others nobles who are all selfish entitles brat, because she even tell Paris she apologized for having treated his art like just something to win a contest when it deserves more respect, because of stuff like that....

I get what the webtoon is trying to do but it forgets that Rosaline was originally going to present something like any of the others nobles and that at no point we have a Ann Nakahara moment where she goes "wait I have an idea" getting her epiphany from looking at the people

Because when Ann Nakahara does it for her own manga (and God knows she loves this type of plot) she has her heroines comes to a realization throught X or Y element she ends up noticing, often trapped in her own throughts for example, Kirarin realizes that she is doing her marketing wrong because she heard people talk about their personal tastes and tried to come with an idea to solve this issue (yes this very old manga did a better job with this plot than the webtoon) but NOTHING, NOTHING in this episode could allow her to have such an idea.... which mainly comes from the fact that technically it was Paris's idea so... like how does any of this makes her special ? This isn't something she came up with herself because she had a realization moment, no, it just happens for the sake of our FL seeming special and nothing else

And thus, despite losing the contest, she still wins Escalus heart and thus her granny's approval... I swear to God, and not even an episode later we see a fully naked bathing Escalus offering her to marry him while naked..... now to be fair, he wasn't serious... because Rosaline's reaction was to be like "do you think I am so easy"

And this type of reaction is especially annoying when it's with Tybalt and Romeo... with Tybalt he is clearly meant to be some type of double agent so whenever he and Rosie have a verbal joust of some sorts the real reason why Rosie is winning.... is because Tybalt is on her side and that's just a way to show how strong willed she is by having her talk about it out loud while Tybalt congratulate her for being so strong willed and telling her to stay that way...

As for Romeo, whenver this happens it just feels like some petty girl roasting her ex "hmph I am so much better than you" type of stick

Worst part is that despite trying to push this idea of girlboss strong independant Rosaline, she still need men to defend her and by men i mean Tybalt, Escalus and most of the time Paris because love interest

As a matter of fact this begin very quickly with Paris going from telling her that bringing Mino in this party is exposing him to danger when he is so young to defend the kid and her mother when he accidentally bumps into a rude nobleman

I swear, Rosaline is this type of Mary Sue who has eveyr characteristics but because the author made sure everyone hated her for no reasons, they are all so cartoonishly evil towards her it's diffcult to believe any of them to be humans made of layers, they are just cartoon board meant to make us root for Rosie by using our pity and angers points... in short, cheap

What makes it worse is that the webtoon does try to make Rosaline struggles and give her vulnerable moments but these moments don't really make sense because we are given a Rosie that is constantly in the right (Someone is telling me that I might put my son in danger ? How dare they think of me as a bad mother ! They are telling me that I have no power ? How dare they when they literaly send me on a fool's erand) and that when she does self reflect it's not about any of these, it's a simple "Am I doing enough ?" to give the impression she does self reflect and has doubts.

Other example which is honestly the funniest bit of all times is how the webtoon describes her a having being invisble, meek, timid, easy to manipulate... all that

Meanwhile Episode 47 :

They said " SCREW THAT" and gave us a flashback where Romeo remembers about her and I kid you not that's how he describes her

This is a joke... we are told that in the story she behaved differently from the main webtoon only to have this flashback where she behaves EXACTLY LIKE HOW SHE DOES IN THE WHOLE COMIC WHAT ON EARTH ?! So if i understand she is supposed to easily fall for his words but at the same time acts like she can't be fooled, she is both a niave timid meek woman and someone with a tongue and wits as sharp as a dagger despite Romeo remarking on her changing - CONSISENCY ??? WHAT IS CONSISTENCY ???

They can't even respect the own flaws they gave her this is not possible, this is so gigantic and we are supposed to get along when the story is contradicting itself non stop to make Rosaline looks good... the problem is that it does the opposite of course because it just makes her flat and everything

And not I am not gonna comment on this flashback contradicting the begining of the story because it was clearly meant to just be a wink at the famous balcony scene but with Rosaline instead...

And yes I know she is shown to be trembling in front of Romeo and Juliet but here is the thing, the thing is that at some point she looks at Paris and think to herself "unlike me he didn't overcame his past" but she clearly didn't move on either and does the webtoon uses this as an opportunity to show Rosaline realize in reality she is still stuck in the pas-no, of course not, everything unfolds and despite trembling and need to support herself she still tries to resist because she has to be strong no matter what...

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I can't....oh wait, right there is more

So I mentionned the existence of a Matriarch of the Capulet's family who is supposed to be the grandmother of Rosaline, Juliet and Tybalt. Yes she doesn't exist in the play, yes she exists solely for Rosaline to end up being the Matriarch herself because girlboss. To the webtoon's credits at least it wasn't as predictable as I thought but still bad : basically Romeo manipulates Juliet to have the Martriach dead because... hum... ahh anyway she dies, she tells Rosaline she wants her to become the new Matriarch and of course this happens...

This is the finale of season 1, Romeo is supposed to have won but because this dunce decided to make a deal with Rosaline, literaly everyone survives and thus she lost nothing... except her grandmother. But this is mainly an excuse for her and Paris relationship to have an obstacle in it. Once she is in this position, she can easily plot behind Romeo's back because again, the idiot didn't killed her allies, heck, she even manages to manipulate Benvolio, who is in Romeo's camp, by exploiting the fact he is starting to fall for Juliet (more on that later)

So yeah basically a perfect Mary sue...

2-Paris

Paris doesn't fare much better, he is the most basic a love interest can get. At first he is introduced as the typical broody man who tries to protect Rosaline by acting cold and all that... it's how he is in the first couples of chapter which are essentially dedicated to slow pace action in the time Romeo and Juliet reveals themselves and Romeo just goes on full evil, as times goes on he drops the facade to basically becomes more and more obvious about his feelings for Rosaline including in a fanservice scene where her reaction made me go "you are a mother... you literaly had a child with someone... why are you reacting like this when you are more experienced than him"

So basically he comes off as protective very early and thus unoriginal, he is portrayed as the perfect man like every single webtoon male leads... actually that does give him one common point with his Shakespearian counterpart in that they are both very shallow just in different ways and it wasn't intentended because Paris is supposed to be caring, having trouble expressing his feelings and haunted by his failing of saving Juliet to the point he lost interest in painting

And I promise you that if you think it sound interesting it's only because it SOUND interesting, the webtoon doesn't do anything interesting with it, worse, this flasback of Juliet and Paris's relationship was meant to show how tormented and deep and complex he is... when in reality it only soldified my opinion Juliet was going to be the only good character in this webtoon... and no joke, my friend throught the same and when I told him that this was in reality meant to show that Paris is a deep character, his jaw dropped

It is that bad. Now as to why the writers choose to pair Rosaline with Paris, I think that's because of their very obvious roles as foils for the main couple which is still more to them than Rosavolio (Rosaline and Benvolio being such a popular ship will never not weird me out)

3- Escalus

Also very unoriginal, he is basically your typical "ha ha you are interesting" king with weird hobbies like fishing naked and kinda arrogant and hedonistic and all that

Rosaline catches his eyes because she isn't like others girls and is pretty much a major character whose dealing with noble shenaningans and has something against the Friar because we will see later and he loses his throne because Romeo made a coup and just lives desisted while Rosaline is plotting to make him come back to the throne... and I have nothing more to say, again, every character is just a blanket archetype played straight with nothing more to them

4- Tybalt, Mercutio and Benvolio

Yes I am putting all of them together for a specific reason we will see later

So Benvolio... basically a tsundere, he is portrayed as one of Romeo's man (and cousin) who helps him and is more calm than Mercutio but when Juliet breaks up with Romeo it's Benvolio who comes to find her and he starts to fall in love with her because... well Benvolio is doomed to be a replacement for his cousin and nothing more, needless to say I sighed seeing this

As for Mercutio and Tybalt, they basically switched personality

Tybalt is portrayed as an ADOPTIVE cousin of Juliet and Rosaline (and look, it was also dumb when Goodbye my Juliet did it ok, literaly what is the reason) and a trickster archetype where he acts like a double agent for the matriarch because he wants to make amends for the fact he let Romeo into the Capulet house hold do as he pleased with Rosaline and then Juliet... yeah so basically he acts shady and all that and pretends to work with Romeo and co to then reports to the Matriarch

Ok so this might seem like a tangent but there is this manga called Bloody cross that I read and find myself finishing just for the sake of finishing it because it was overdoing the "double agent" trope to the point I couldn't find myself invested with the characters or their relationship

Tybalt follows the same logic where he acts shady and constantly does 180 to make us wonder what's his deal but it's so poorely done that it just makes you feel lose interest in him... I saw people calling him deep and complex like Shakespaeare's Tybalt and please, please, I beg of you to raise your standards... having your characters act like this isn't deep or complex it's just lazy try to make them look complex

As for Mercutio, to take my friend's words, he just act like a mafioso, he is violent, rash, extreme and described as Romeo's lap-dog to make him a fuel to the Prince of cat (I swear none of these retelling understand the nickname and it shows)

I am also gonna mention how Friar Lawrence is also turned into a villain and the nurse is reduced to a background characetr for Juliet's traumatic backstory we still didn't go more info about

These characters have so little flesh on their bone that I have nothing else to say

5 - Romeo

Oh Romeo, Romeo, wherefore are you this evil and stupid Romeo ?

Not gonna waste any more time on this, Romeo is just Sovieshu from Remarried empress but hotter.

Like really, every man in this webtoon's personality can be summed up to evil, or hot and Romeo is meant to be both

He is supposed to be a calculating, clever, ruthless individual but he really isn't

Ok so you remember how he said that he had a lot of fun with Rosaline and wanted to use her because he thought she was uselful, do you wanna know why he went for Juliet instead ?

... yup, he went for her because he had too much fun for Rosaline, so he had to settle for the least good options....

See how stupid he is ? The supposedly seductive guy couldn't simply use his sweet words to put Rosaline against her family because else he wouldn't be the villain, no, instead he has to break her heart by choosing his cousin whom, by his own admission, is less useful to him than Rosaline was

Not only does this read as yet another attempt to glaze Rosaline while putting down another female character because god forbid that the antagonist who dumped her for her doesn't believe Juliet to be superior to Rosaline, no, even then he has to think of Rosaline as the best thing and thus he appears stupid

This doesn't go any better as we see him being an arrogant self centered jerk whose so callous that he doesn't even act with some guile... as seen per how he freely goes to the Capulet estate to woo the ladies and even admits to Tybalt to have had a blast which made the man's jaw dropped... basically he is cartoonisly evil with no nuance, nothing, nothing

And again, I cannot stress how stupid he is. He does manage to get the throne as he wanted but he makes a deal with Rosaline and indeed... accepts to spare the people who mattered to her... like really... even the original prince and no, it's not even because he is just portrayed as someone who believes ends justify the means with some limits, no, he is EVIL, it's just that like this it gives the story an excuse to spare everyone else so that Rosaline doesn't lose anyone else because I assure you that despite having lost her grandmother and Romeo gaining a throne, her situation in season 2 doesn't feel different at all, nor does she no character developpement in this skull of hers

And yet, yet we have the most stupid moments ever linked to his relationship with Rosaline because when she uses the same tricks of seduction he is supposed to have used on many ladies, he reacts by being flustered

And this culminates by Rosaline making whatever he planned to do with Mino fail by publicaly admitting he was the dad but they wouldn't get married by him exclaiming... he loves her...

(you and I we want to punch him for completely different reasons)

as for his relationship with Juliet, well he is supposed to be manipulating her, given she is wearing the same clothing on the masquerade as the one she wears when they are shown in bed I am assuming he managed to seduce her in one night and basically she is his puppet, except it's less because he is a good manipulator and more because of Juliet's situationship but ... his plan makes no sense ?

He accepted to fake his death for her just... so he could solidify his grasp on her ??? Why did he do it other than Juliet begging him for it when what he wants is becoming king of Verona (because the writers believe that being king in Italy at this time was possible idk) like what kind of sense does it make to have a random break of 3 years in his becoming king plan and just getting back at it because Juliet is fine with his plan now I--my --my head

Ahh also it seems that he didn't married Juliet in this timeline despite the two of them having being in a relationship for 3 years because of several dialogues implying as such

He also doesn't really try to mask the fact he believes Juliet to not be that good because he is terrible at manipulation, much like how when he actively pretends to not have anything to do with Mino when it's obvious as day it's kid, you'd think for a manipulator he would be better at lying but no

Just talking about this version of Romeo makes me angry but wait till I tell we compare everyonee to their counterpart

Rosaline is originally a character in absententia in Shakespeare's play, Romeo is in love with her before he meets with Juliet and all mopey over the fact she rejected him. Yup, you have heard me, this Rosaline rejected Romeo, as a matter of fact, she rejected love in general. Few is known about her, she is described as beautiful, intelligent (wise), like Diane (so a fierce chaste beauty). Rosaline matters less as a character and more a foil for Romeo's love for Juliet

So first departure, Rosaline falling very easily for Romeo instead of rejecting him and love in general and can I say it ? Juliet in the play was way more clever because she outright told Romeo that she didn't wanted to have anything to do with him if he just wanted to have fun and leave, either he marries her before they do anything, either he can leave... Rosaline didn't do that despite the fact that the narrative decide to contradict itself about her meek personality that would have justified her falling so easily

Moreovern this Romeo seemed more infatuated with Rosaline than Juliet whom he belittles whenever she isn't there but still want to keep somehow and believes she is gonna come back to him and- ok stop this isn't what happened in the play... like at all

Ok so in Da Porto's version, Romeo got rejected by a lady he courted, got sad and his friends forced him to go to parties to find new love, despite going to these parties he can't find any other ladies no matter how beautiful they are until he meets Juliet at the bal hosted by the Capulets. Bandello took this and decided to go further by presenting Romeo has having being in love for Rosaline for 2 years and trying to court her without success, and being so love sick he wanted to leave the country so he could forget about her, his friends dissuade him from doing this and insist he stays, they will go with him on parties to help him find someone else, that doesn't work until they go the Capulet party and he meets Juliet. Brooke makes some changes by making Romeus's infatuation shorter for a few month, but that aside he keeps the lovesickness, the Romeo trying to find a new love by going to parties and still not managing to heal his broken heart until he sees Juliet.

Shakespeare sticks closer to the Brooke version in how he handles Romeo's infatuation but because he cannot afford to make the play's plot 9 month long (unlike Brooke) it seems that his infatuation was a lot less serious which, compared to the love he shows Juliet is meant to showcase character growth on his part for realizing what it feels to be truly in love and understanding that he wasn't really in love with Rosaline

The webtoon doesn't do that, it plays both relationship as being a fake out and his love for Rosaline feels more like an obsession (and is so stupid it's literaly because everyone has to fall in love with her because love triangle guhhu)

Having Rosaline falls for Romeo and even have a kid with him completely break the premise of the play because every version necessitated Romeo to go to the party to heal a heartbreak to make his meeting with Juliet seems like the work of chance which enhances the fatality : he went to many parties, and yet it's in that specific party that he found the love of his life who oh so happen to be the daughter of the rival family. The fact it's even shorter with Shakespeare enhance the fatality, it's really happening by chance but no in reality it's the work of destiny, all that.

The worst part is that the webtoon tries to use the idea of destiny and fatality, nomely in Paris and Juliet's relationship but that doesn't work...

So yeah Rosaline is both defined but still blank enough to leave liberties to writers and it seems that the webtoons tries to make her seems similar to her Shakespearian counterpart without fleshing her out (by the way, Rosie being a cousin to Juliet is purely shakesperian, in the previous version she is just some woman rejecting Romeo, sometimes not even given the dignity of a name)

Many insist that it would be good for her to have a voice in a story in which she has no horse in, like Rosaline rejecting not just Romeo but love as whole means she has nothing to do in a love story, and people constantly trying to shoehorn her into it are missing a lot, especially by having Romeo being portrayed as a play boy

Rosaline's lack of presence is meant to enhance her role as a Petrachan muse, I need to get to Romeo to talk more about it, but her lack of presence and the ficklness of Romeo's love for her all makes perfect sense so when you break this premise you really need to justify it and like many adaptations, the webtoon fail

Now regarding others characters such as Escalus... this guy had like a total of 3 apparations in the play why is he such an important character in the play is beyond me, but his characterization from a severe austere ruler incapable of handling the feud (seriously it's only at the begining of the play he had enough and banned duel, Mercutio and Paris death are his punishement as well fight me on this) into an archetype of character who is in hight position in webtoons doing weird stuff like fishin naked, hedonistic etc. I think I already mentionned this but it's even funnier when you know he wasn't being portrayed like this in any version which makes sense Escalus is just the anglicized name of Bartholomeo della Scala who wasn't exactly a light hearted person

Friar Lawrence went full evil here and it's because the webtoon had to keep his connection with Romeo while making Romeo evil so he became a minor villain because of Romeo. In all versions Friar Lawrence was Juliet's confessor and a friend of Romeo, hence his role as a supporter of the couple. In the play tho, he is only Romeo's confessor, Juliet doesn't trust him as much as seen per her overthinking, but he still supports them thinking their marriage might stop the feud. His reason to help Romeo and Juliet are always given but not here, no no, we don't know why he helps Romeo when he clearly has his own goal, we don't know how they met, what where their relationship, nothing

Also instead of being a simple monk loved by many he became an evil hight priest nicknamed devil blood by Escalus because evuuuullll...

As for the Nurse, she was a pretty important character. It was Bandello who came up with her and in all versions, she also supports the lover's mainly because of Juliet. Given how Juliet cannot really move as she pleases due to her status of daughter, she has to rely on the Nurse. In the play, she is mostly comic relief and is a grotesque character in the original sense, she also serves as the mother figure Juliet doesn't have (because Lady Capulet isn't exactly very supportive of her daughter) but she is biased in Paris favor rather than Romeo and eventually, this ends up cutting her from Juliet in the moment Juliet needs her most.

The webtoons does something interesting because while they cut her off (yeah a pretty important characetr got cut off and became a backstory character... help me) this helps making this Juliet into a more interesting character than the whole vast of this webtoon combined : while she eats, Juliet has a PTSD moment where she recalls her nurse being worried over the fact she doesn't eat enough and she is fired because Juliet's parents deemed her to be a bad infleunce and to spoil her, so we have implications of the Capulet being abusive and of the nurse to have been one of the few people caring for Juliet putting her in an environement where she received little love (and yes this is interesting) but so far, the webtoon didn't go further with that

Ok so now Benvolio... Benvolio is, along with Romeo the only Montague that has real relevance. I mean Lord Montague has as much screentime as Escalus while Lady Montague has a total of like 2 lines and dies of grief that her son was banished and she won't see him ever again.

Benvolio is presented as being Romeo's friend who, upon hearing about the Rosaline thing, weeps to see him in this state and offer to help him recover, notably encouraging him to go to Capulet's party. Mercutio describes him as easy to poke but in reality, that's not the case. Benvolio is shown on his first appearance to try to stop the servants from fighting and offer a prime contrast to Tybalt who actually tries to add fuel on the fire and even attacks him. He goes along with Mercutio's jokes but he isn't really this passive character who is ready to supports more feud so him eventually turning away from Romeo makes sorta sense in that respect but again, it's just to make him a replacement for Romeo and he doesn't have much personality... like at all

Now it time to explain what I mean by Mercutio and Tybalt switched personality huh ?

Trickster Tybalt is a lie you tell yourself. In every version including Shakespeare, Tybalt is a violent and arrogant man who revels in fighting and hates the Montague more than hell. His italian name, Tebaldo, apparently means audacious, but Shakespeare plays a pun to link it to the name of Tibert, king of cats from Reynard le fox. This nicknames is supposed to indicated Tybalt's violence in an humourous way with some commenting that it would also be a reference to an italian profanity, meaning "prince of the prick"... obviously, from Mercutio's mouth this nickname makes sense but the webtoon makes it seems like it's a nickname Tybalt actually claims by having characters call him that way. According to Lady Capulet, he is the son of her brother so not an adopted kid and while the webtoon as him playing on both side, Tybalth is way too implusive and rash to go along, we are talking about someone who constantly picks fights with the Montague and even tried to attack a guest during the party, going against hospitality customs (leading to the notorious you are a saucy boy line). While the webtoon has Tybalt poke fun of the loyalist for being like a stock of beasts, play Tybalt IS a loyalist, a fierce loyalist of the Capulet side. The play counterbalance his violence by also showcasing that his obsession for duel is linked to an ideal of heroism perputuated by the feud culture he lives in which he fully embrace and where boys become men by fighting for their factions, but the comic doesn't do anything with that giving him a completely different personality, transfering this one to Mercutio who has 0 nuance in there.

And yes this Tybalt should have been Mercutio because Mercutio was the closest character to work as a trickster personality wise. And to show what I mean about execution being the end and all of everything.

In the previous versions, Mercutio is a minor character. He is one of Juliet's courter, a overpowering man who lacks sense of respect, a "audacious among maidens as a lion among lambs” (so a womanizer) whose cold hands makes Juliet appreciate Romeo's warms hands in contrast. His participation stops as a minor romantic rival of Romeo. Shakespeare on the other hands develop him into a fully fleshed out character. Relative of Escalus and best friend of Romeo and Benvolio, he is a free spirited youth that plays comic relief with a rather dark and cynical sense of humour. His grotesque foils with Romeo's sublime and he is pretty sexist when you look at his cues, that are very on the nose when it comes to the innuendos. He very often mocks Romeo's current state viewing it as a lack of virilty, his vision of love is pretty cynical and pragmatic, he does care about his friend tho given how he rejoice to see Romeo have returned to his usual self. That being said, the portrayal of Mercutio has a being a loyalist member of the house doesn't make sense because Mercutio is a neutral force, the reasons he battle Tybalt is more linked to his character being quick to provoke and the fact that like Tybalt he also upholds the feud culture as the idea that makes a man a man. That's why he wished to see Romeo defeat Tybalt, he views it as a coming of age and he gets mad when Romeo refuses to fight his new in law so he does it himself after calling him a coward.

I guess the webtoon sorta respects the rivalry between Tybalt and Mercutio but it misses that Tybalt is mean to foil the whole trio, not just one of them, and instead he is being made into a double agent that joins said trio that isn't the trio of young friends anymore

See the mess or ????

Now let's talk about Paris (booo tomato tomato boooo) Yes I know

As I mentionned the only common point Paris has with Shakespeare's Paris is that he is shallow but not in the good sense because while Go away Romeo's Paris isn't supposed to be shallow but ends up feeling that way because he stole all of Romeo's qualities with none of his flaws, Paris is purposefully meant to feel shallow.

In all previous versions, he is a guy that Juliet's parents want her to marry because they thought her sadness over losing Romeo was due to doing a depression that she wasn't married unlike others girls her age. It's Brooke who named him Paris (additionally, he described Juliet as being so pretty that Paris of Troy would have kidnapped her which speaks enough about how this man is supposed to feel). He wants to marry an already married woman, like Paris of Troy, and this didn't ended well in the Illiad. Thanks to Shakespeare solving this stupid plot by introducing it earlier, Paris also has a more proeminent character and thus serves as a foil to Romeo, notably in how they treat Juliet;

Like Paris of Troy he is beautiful, but we are never told anything anymore about him than his beauty. The Nurse calls him a "man of wax" to comment on his beauty, however this metaphor implies he is as shallow as a wax figure. Lady Capulet is using Petrachan sonnets to describe him, however these sonnets implies an exageration so an innacurate representation of reality. Combined with the fact that they only focus on selling his beauty, it's very obvious Paris doesn't have anything else to sell hence why Juliet isn't exactly convinced by her mother and nurse (she does agree to give him a chance but it's more to please her parents than anything else). If we compare it to how the Nurse describes Romeo, she claims Juliet doesn't have good standards to choose her man, barely talks about his physical beauty (she does it in "well I mean sure he is hotter than most man but really ? That guy ?") and even comments he isn't the flower of courtesy (possibly implying that Paris is given how he was called the flower of Verona) but she assures Romeo is as gentle as lamb. So here the main selling quality of Romeo isn't his beauty (which is mainly something Juliet praises him for) but rather his gentleness and that's a quality that made him being respected by Lord Capulet himself (calling him a well governed youth with a good reputation despite being his enemy !!)

Paris's shallowness is also shown through how he intereacts with Juliet... they have only ONE dialogue, one, their first proper conversation is when Juliet goes to seek for Friar Lawrence's help and Paris happens to be there. Juliet usually uses monosyllabes to talk with Romeo and uses "thou" to refer to him = formal language. Meanwhile with Paris, she uses formal language and refers to him using "you". For the record, Romeo didn't ask for the Capulet's permission but rather Juliet's permission to court her, this is something also to be found in Lope de Vega's comedy where he meets her in less iconic balcony scene and begs her to give him permission to court her. And Romeo didn't had to rely on anythign than his own charms to win Juliet's hearts (and this worked). Paris on the other hand made no effort to win her heart despite being given by the Capulet permission to woo her as seen per how the play never shows him properly trying to woo her. Yet, when he meets her he immediately starts to call her his wife, basically, having obtain the yes from the dad was all it took for him to just assume Juliet would love him. Despite the fact that Juliet is being very cold to him and sending him hints, he doesn't catch any.

This is very different from how Paris and Juliet intereact in the webtoon where Paris tries to understand her sensing something is off with this young woman only to feel like he failed her when she died and caring... about her feelings... like he tells her if she doesn't want to go through she can just tell him

That is completely different from Mr "Younger than she are happy mother made. Thy face is mine and thou slandered it". I can't stress it enough he told her that in their first proper convo, using casual language and objectifiying her. Also, the images of the flowers that he uses to describe her are classical images yet Romeo never called Juliet a flower which contributes to this foiling in how they treat Juliet even as a poetic subject. We can also contrast their reaction to their death.

Paris is affliected by her death, he goes to mourn her and when he dies killed by Romeo, he begs to be placed near Juliet so her does care about her but the problem is that Paris vanity and the way he objetifies Juliet goes in the way of his love and just highlight how you can love someone and still treat them badly. That being said it doesn't compare to Romeo deciding his reason to live died and returning to Verona only to see her one last time before he takes his own life. And if we look at Hamlet for a moment, Laertes, despite being Ophelia's brother, is still so afflicted by her death he ends up jumping on his sister grave to be burried with her and his affection for his sister is meant to foil Hamlet's love as seen per how the prince openly claims his love to be superior to 40's times of Laertes deep love for his sister. Meanwhile Paris, whose supposed to love Juliet as one who wants to take her as his wife to the point he didn't even wanted to wait for her to be older so she wouldn't be an age where she would be in danger (like Capulet literaly has a a whole discourse about unfortunate young girl married to early) would also feel like live is meaningless and say something about wanting to die (I stress it before he eventually dies at Romeo's hands) but no ? He doesnt ? And even in the webtoon Paris's feelings for Juliet feels less like love and just meeting someone you wanna help so like... paris has the right to mistake his feelings for Juliet for love but heaven forbid young teenager Romeo mistakes his infatuation for Rosaline for love and then moves on...

speaking off...

Look I have said it and said over and over, but antagonistic Romeo can be interesting but the problem is that Romeo Montague doesn't work as an antagonist, he was never written to be one.

When Shakespeare write his hero, he has to deal with material showcasing Romeo as a beautiful virtuous young man of Verona (20 in Bandello's version, 16 in Brooke) whose rejection lead to a state of melancholia until he fell for Juliet Capulet. In these version, Romeo is still pretty flat due to the fact this tale is mainly archetypal but Shakespeare develops him into a fully flesh out character, a complex and layered one at that. He keeps Romeo's reputation as being virtuous and sociable, well respected around Verona. He lessen the focus on his appearance by character outside of Juliet, Mercutio and Benvolio focus on mentioning how Romeo is habitually (when he isn't crying under sycomore trees, I see what you did Shakespeare) and the nurse arguing that while he does have beauty, that's not what she consider his prime assets, praising his gentleness instead. Shakespeare might have made his love for Rosaline a lot less intense than previous versions, but this allows him to introduce what previous Romeo's were lacking : flaws and the complexity they create within his character, notably the fact that Romeo can let himself driven by emotions especially when he is pushed emotionally and lacks maturity and experience about love.

His love for Rosaline, as I have mentionned is often compared to be a love of youth and nothing more, a step that helped him grow as a person and prepare himself for the relationship with Juliet. Scholars have noticed that Romeo uses Petrachan sonnets to describe both Rosaline and later Juliet, however there is a huge change in quality. The attempts at sonnets by Romeo are poor, forced, weak, amateurish, reflecting a lack of experience. When he talks about Juliet tho, his skills have improved a lot. This lead to speculation about it being potentially a reflection of Shakespeare's own skills, arguing that Shakespeare wrote the sonnets for Rosaline when he was less experienced as a poet but that when he talks about Juliet, he is more mature and skilled.

In short : either Romeo talking about Rosaline is reflecting a young inexpereinced Shakespeare as opposed to Romeo talking about Juliet meant to reflect a more experienced and mature Shakespeare, either Shakespeare is so talented at writing inexperienced character that it seems authentic enough to fool scholars.

Anyway, textually, this means that Romeo's love for Rosaline express through unexperienced way and thus reflecting a lack of maturity in this love as opposed to Juliet's. Moreover, Romeo uses Petrachan imagery that he doesn't use when talking about Juliet, notably the way he describes Rosaline being alike a goddess as opposed to Juliet (he never calls her a goddess, not once instead he calls her a saint and an angel, we could even argue that the more religious christian image for Juliet as opposed to pagan image for Rosaline is meant to further than his love is no longer blind idolatry). He also focuses a lot less on her and more about his feelings while is described as a sort of abstract being with a few key characteristics and mainly focusing on her beauty. Finally, by Shakespeare's time, Petrachan sonnets where considered to be out of fashion.

So all of this combined paints Romeo as a Petrachan poets who forgot the time he is supposed to live in, a walking anachronism of sorts which contributes to make his love sounds clumsy, like it's the first time he is dealing with these feelings and misattribute them to love when it's more of a crush.

Again, in all versions Romeo only loved 2 women : Rosaline and then Juliet, with these previous versions mentionning he had the occassions to meet many ladies yet he didn't fall for any of them until he meet Juliet. His love life starts with Rosaline and ends with Juliet. 2 people. This is enough to showcase he didn't experienced a lot of relationship, especially when his first love was unrequired, meaning he had only one relationship in his whole life. When you work with a character like that, it's becoming incresingly obvious that his lack of experience is what causes him to not understand his feelings, to the point he claims that it's only when meeting Juliet he actually felt what it truly feels to be in love. His dialogue with Friar Lawrence act 2 scene 3 also showcases this when he doesn't understand why the Friar is surprised that he moved on from Rosaline when he blamed him for loving her to which the friar answered "doting not loving" implying Romeo doesn't get the difference between the two.

This is the precise reason why Rosaline isn't given a proper character nor appearance, it's because she needs to stay a foggy abstract concept. As Scholars pointed, Rosaline feels like the perfect petrachan muse, Romeo is presented to be enamoured with the state he is of loving her when she is out of reach despite crying over the fact she wont love him back (more specifically won't sleep with him but hey). While the characters do feel pity for him it's hard to not look at this moment with a bit of cynical eye cause in my view this further highlight the fact that unlike Bandello and Brooke who mentionned the failed courtship, it's dubious whethere Romeo even tried to woo Rosaline in the first place. Some of the Friar lines seems to imply so, but Romeo himself doesn't really say anything about it and it just makes me think of Dante in Vita Nova describing him as being very in love with his childhood friend Beatrice but incapable of even saying 2 words to her... like he got sick because he was so happy she waved at him and is so moved to see her he trembles and faint and stuff like that...in short, he is so impressed by her he can barely talk to her and can only describe her as unreachable and all that while he himself hasn't made any real effort to seduce her, weeping on how he can't win her heart

In short a mocking image and frankly, as much as I dislike these types of readings, given Shakespeare wrote anti petrarchan sonnets I think this can be substantified. Basically, Rosaline represents the Petrachan muse but the poet must forget about her and instead embrace the mordern muse symbolized by Juliet from a meta pov, with possibly and even bigger dig with Romeo's love for Rosaline being mere desire that the lad is too young to be aware of, implying that the Petrachan poets cry for these women they worship when in reality it's barely an actual love since there was no intereaction.

Note that it's mainly my reading but this is important to undersand why Rosaline not being part of the story outside of being a character in absentia matters and why her rejection of Romeo with the possibility the dude didn't even try (like come on he is literaly forced to go to a ball help by her family by his friends, even when he says "meh ok but just to see her" he backs up a few scenes later) and this contrast to how he actually approaches Juliet and is even showing excitement at the prospect of talking to her (balcony scene, he see her say something and he wonder if he should talk to her, he then hear her confess her love and debates on whether or not to talk now and he eventually does the 3rd time)

Needless to say how vastly different everything is but the worst part is that I could have been ok with Romeo having a slightly different personality because this can makes different iterations interesting and unique but the webtoon makes him as deep as a piece of paper, a character whose level of complexity is soooo hight that his name itself would be worth a whole commentary and spuns a motif in the play itself

You can write a character so flat as this Romeo when the Romeo of the play is such a complex character and expect people to not be mad

Ok but you might think what about Juliet because I havent talked about her a lot

Well... mark my words, she is the only good character in this webtoon

She isn't faithful to her counterpart but that's still better than the rest of the cast and the webtoon does try to built on elements she shares with her play counterpart

In the play, Juliet is first portrayed as being passive and obedient, accepting to let Paris court her only to please her parents when she doesn't really care about marriage. The webtoons takes this further by making Juliet into the star of Verona where is she only loved for her social persona and what she can brings to people and not for whom she truly is. Much like in the play, we are shown that her dad cares about his daughter but his ambitions gets in the way. Lord and Lady Capulet do love their child but they wouldn't hesistate to sell her if it meant fufilling their ambitions (kinda like Polonius huh). While Lord Capulet is happy to see his daughter alive and moved to tears, he quickly shows how abusive he can be by reacting negatively to the her (fake) pregnancy, the implications of why Juliet's nurse was fired or the fact he tries to push her once more into a relationship with Paris.

In that sense, Juliet is a compelling character because she is pushed in a society determined to robb her of her agency and has to still pretend to be smiling to hide it all, this made her an easy prey for Romeo who took advtange of her desire of freedom and her lack of love for being who she is (saddely this Romeo is not convincing so this hurts her character a bit), she craves to find agency in their relationship only to be used even more and it takes her doing a lot of harms including the murder of her grandmother for which she feels intense guilt for her to break up with Fakemeo (her slap was more satisfying than Rosaline's mark my words) and ends up living a quiet life as a waitress far from him, plus she has har funny side and all that

So she is mainly build off Juliet's lack of agency which is present in the play, she has to marry whoever her parents choose rather than someone she choose for herself, has to ask persmission to get out and needs to rely on her nurse to intereact with Romeo as she can't do it herself. Juliet's relationship with Romeo in the play, however, isn't something where she craves to find agency because it's something that gaves her the agency she lacked. This article mainly covers this in greater detail but I don't really agree with everything in it, starting by the taming of Romeo being considered to start at the balcony.

In reality, I think it starts from the moment Romeo talks with her. Romeo is using metaphors to talk with her so he can assure of his feelings in a non threatening way (compares that to how Paris immediately starts assuming her feelings for him) but this modern form of courtship relies on the lady to respond to the metaphors. If she pretends to not understand, then the man is rejected but Juliet goes along and even expands on this metaphor. This means that Romeo willingly accepts to let Juliet be the one to lead the relationship, he subjects himself to her decision in that moment. This happens again when Juliet tells him "deny thy father and refuse thy name" and he answers that he will accept to be new baptized. He is fine with renoncing his name and everything it represents. This is where we assist to a scene where Juliet is essentially teaching Romeo how to court her as seen per how they intereact. In that scene, she is anxious and tells him that to keep his affection for her she would accept to play hard to get and so on but she wants honest vows, however when Romeo is about to swear upon the moon, she cuts him off because of 1) the image of the moon 2) the fact he was about to start a petrachan sonnet. She does that other time as well because this is a form that she distrust due to the dishonnesty within it coming from its exageration whereas she expects from Romeo a direct answer. Romeo on his part asks her what he should swear by implying that 1) he doesn't know because lack of experience his kicking again 2) he wants Juliet to tell him so he knows what to tell her to appease her. This didn't existed in their previous intereactions because he wasn't speaking in sonnets, rather the two of them were because their replies were forming together a perfect sonnets to show the harmony.

You see, unlike the previous writers, Shakespeare can't affort months of courtship so to make their love feel convincing he has to rely on shape and imagery. And this first convo that forms a sonnets also establishes how Romeo and Juliet are going to be expanding on each other's metaphor (relgious metaphors, bird imagery etc) and the motif of Romeo's name, it's also a clever usage of the hands (in Brooke's poem, it was about the warmth of Romeo's hand meant to convey his benevolent and loving nature, Shakespeare used it to spin a pun of the meaning of Romeo's name).

Again, Juliet being the lead of their relationship and setting the pace (she is the one who comes up with the marriage and Romeo depends on her consent for his courtship) is because Romeo is ok with it since he love her as seen per how he reuses the faulcon imagery to call Juliet his nyas when she compared herself to a faulconer and calling him a tassle gentle and later on when he tells her he'd gladly be her bird that she can keep near her. (in short Juliet could be telling Romeo "jump" and he'd ask "how hight")

Obviously the webtoon doesn't really follow that by making Romeo the lead and also making him a manipulator whereas in the play this relationship is where Juliet can enacts some agency and it's overall a balanced relationship, and that even tho Juliet is presented as physically above him so supposedely out of reach (the balcony scene)

Granted, for the sake of Romeo to work it had to be done but he didn't work in the webtoon so ... yeah

Moreover Romeo being unconvicing as a controlling partner isn't the only thing that harms her character, do we talk about this nonsense of matriarch ?

The reason why Romeo and Juliet works so well to paint both Romeo and Juliet as lacking agency is because it's a partriarcal world. Romeo's virility is constantly being belittled by other characters and even himself for the fact he doesn't behave in the same way as other men do by engaging with the feud and being more occupied with love life (as seen per Mercutio's remarks or when he blames himself for having let Juliet made him effeminate for refusing to fight Tybalt and even trying to bring peace), Mercutio and Tybalt can been seen through their adhesion to feud culture as being part of these youth pushed into toxic masculinty and don't get me started on these 2 weirdos of servants in scene 1 acte 1. The 2 families are entertaning a dangerous environement where many innocents are hurts and where young men are likely to die at any moment because they were encouraged to kill one another.

The webtoon doesn't really exploit well this feud and focus on amking Romeo the mastermind of everything so yeah, screw that

As for Juliet, while her love for Romeo made her fuels her determination and is what pushes her to refuse the wedding in front of her parents, it's not like she goes full girlboss either, what she does is beg and get on her knees in hope of mercy but gets none from her parents, not even her Nurse later on. This further shows how dependant she is because of how she has been raised, can only hope help from someone and when she loses her last ally she goes to Frair Lawrence rather than do anything by herself.

Now, tell me how much would it made sense in a word where the leader of the Capulet house is a WOMAN ?? because Matriarch implies only a woman can do the job, which goes against the idea of a partriarchal society !! this makes no sense !! What's worse is that Rosaline was actually striving to make her son accepted as an heir of the Capulet yet at no point did she ever shown interest in becoming a Matriarch like her granny, it just falls on her head after she dies... so even at presumaly feminist elements this webtoon fails huh ?

Anyway, I am still hpong Romeo's motivations will be reveleaed soon because he better need a good excuse to want to be king of Verona this is literaly the only reason I am still reading this I will not give up until we get an explanation for all of this

But I gotta ask, what is the point of using Romeo and Juliet ? again, the only interest was the premise but the rest is soooo vastly different from the play it could have been it's own original thing and no difference at all

Also here is what my friend had to say