#You can totally see where everyone is asking themselves hey why don’t I have an adorable little nugget who will gun down Mr. Burns for me

[allieinarden]

Immigrant Simpsons character introduced in 1990: I have many flaws but I’m working on them, my “weird” religion is widely-practiced and I ask that you respect it, I have an advanced degree and own a convenience store by choice because I like the freedom of running my own business, the struggle to embrace what I love about my new country without abandoning my roots is ever-present and real to me.

Immigrant Simpsons character introduced in 2014: Waifu sushi Studio Ghibli anime manga seppuku.

[physalian]

On Hyper Independent Characters (and how not to make them the bad guy)

So many characters with “trust issues” are painted out to be cynical little gremlins who just need to ~open their hearts~ and ~let the love in~ like doing so, repeatedly, has only proven them right every single time, but this one love interest will swoop in and save the day.

The people who write these characters tend to do so in bad faith, as if their fears and trust issues are unfounded nonsense, like they’re wrong and Negative Nellys for being wary.

So!

From experience (thus this is hella biased), here’s some thoughts on writing an independent character with trust issues that isn’t belittling.

1. It’s likely not that kind of trust they have issues with

I said this before a while ago, but “trust issues” paired with an extreme sense of self-reliance isn’t “I think everyone is a liar,” but rather “I think everyone is unreliable”. It might stem from a place of constantly being let down, of constantly having the people in their life drop the ball on major events, but also little things, even something as simple as “hey yeah I’ll totally do the dishes” and then they continue to sit there, forcing the person to be a nag about it, or just do it themselves.

These kinds of personalities tend to grow up surrounded by unkept and empty promises, where, while it might not be every single occasion, it happens one too many times for them to keep giving the benefit of the doubt. Even when people have the best of intentions and mean it when they say they’ll do XYZ in the moment, and they really just forgot, the person they made the promise to is impatiently waiting for them to remember 12-day-old dishes.

2. Why don’t they just remind people to keep their promises?

If you’re in my boat, many people with commitment issues are also narcissists or just mean, who, if you even gently remind them, make you out to be a nagging, impatient brat. And to avoid hearing that again, you just don’t speak up. Too many times where ‘forgetting’ has been from a source of a weird power fantasy, intentionally screwing you over, leaves people sitting in a state of unknowing whether it’s benign neglect or very much on purpose, and afraid to voice their concerns to be proven right.

If you’re not in my boat, chronic “forgetters” aren’t going to change without intervention. So if I ask you to do the dishes once, and you forget, that’s one thing. If I ask you twice, three times, four times, nagging over and over again, then the benefit of the doubt is shredded, and I can’t help but assume that the “forgetting” is on purpose. Either weaponized incompetence or something more benign, doesn’t matter. Even if you have some executive dysfunction, that's an explanation, not an excuse, and the people you live with aren't your maids.

Either way, these personalities might grow up with a whole slew of self-worth issues, and be reluctant to make plans with people, invite friends to important events, or get excited about big milestones, because they’re so used to people they care about “forgetting” or canceling last minute that the only one they can trust to reliably show up is themselves.

3. Why don’t they just communicate these fears?

See the “narcissists” in point 2

4. Isn’t it lonely never letting people in?

Fuck yeah, it is. The thing is, though, that if you spend your whole life learning how to do everything alone—pay your bills, do ‘couple’ or ‘friend’ activities, run errands, take yourself out to places—the idea of having to squeeze in the wants and needs of someone else might start to sound incredibly inconvenient.

If you’re so used to being on your own schedule and reaping the benefits of being a party of 1 in crowded spaces (I just took myself to dinner at a place with an hour long wait, able to be seated immediately at the last remaining barstool), of not having to wait for someone else to confirm plans, negotiate who’s driving, negotiate a time to meet up, food to order, a movie to see, a roller coaster to ride, a game or streaming service to buy—everything is entirely under your control, sacrificing convenience for the chance that the person you invite actually shows up on time and is invested as you are isn’t really worth the risk.

That's not to say I don't enjoy when I get to do things with friends, but I can equally enjoy doing things alone as opposed to whining about it.

Personally, while I can daydream about having a romantic partner, that thought is always immediately followed up by the understanding that they’ll be an inconvenience to my independence. But I’m someone who’s always had to do the emotional labor in a relationship, who’s always the most organized, the most mature, the most level-headed in tough situations. Always been the person in groupwork who does all the work. The idea of being “a team” is a fantasy meant for other people. “Team” to me is “me and this deadweight that I have to drag around”.

5. How I’d like to see this represented in characters

Dropping “the one” into their lives and having this person swept up, broken out of their little pessimistic shell, in some epic romance, as if they only needed to find the right person and nothing at all goes wrong… is bad faith.

It’s bad faith because it minimizes this kind of independence as just a little mood problem that can be fixed right quick, that it’s inherently wrong—what was all the fuss about?

What I’d like to see is examples that prove they’re not crazy. Big and little things. Dishes, and big events. Then, they can meet “the one,” but not without some trial and error. A lifetime of “people suck and are unreliable” isn’t going to be snapped away bibbidi bobbidi boo after one good date. This magical person will have to show up, and keep showing up, and keep showing up, and the one time they don’t, because they won’t, then A and B can hash it out like adults.

6. How this person might act

I’ve never actually met somebody like me and we’d either be best friends or loathe each other. But this person might be the most reliable friend you’ve ever had, because they’re so afraid of becoming like everyone in their life who let them down before. If you ask a favor of them, it gets done with supernatural haste.

This person might also have their own commitment issues, where instead of failing to keep their promises, they punish themselves by keeping promises they hate, showing up out of spite and resentment because they said they would, lest they be called a hypocrite.

They might under-share or not speak up about accomplishments in their life until the time for hype and anticipation has passed, lest they share expecting the same level of excitement only to be met with apathy. They might not show visible excitement about objectively exciting things, because they’re so used to plans falling through that they won’t believe something is happening until they are physically in the location and it’s staring them in the face.

Thus, they might look frequently bored or unhappy and unmoved by something important to you, or something you thought they’d like (especially if you’ve let them down before, trust is a privilege, not a right).

7. What I’d like people to understand most of all

First, that some of us tend to live by the “if you want something done right do it yourself” mantra, so actually asking somebody for help with something is admitting that X cannot be done alone, which makes failure to keep a promise even worse. As in, if A goes out of their way to admit they can’t do F alone and risk being let down to ask B to do this one little thing for them, and B still drops the ball, A is going to sit there and think “this is why I have trust issues”.

Can’t speak for everyone, but yes I do acknowledge that the suffering in silence isn’t helping anyone and am working on it. Counterpoint: Weaponized incompetence is very real and an adult should not have to remind another adult to keep their living space clean, at the bare minimum. Agreeing to do a thing is at least equal responsibility on the inviter and invitee and "you didn't remind me" isn't a valid excuse.

But most importantly, if you have a friend or relative who is fiercely independent, I’d implore you to learn one thing: Do not make promises that you can’t keep. And if shit happens and you have to cancel even when you had the best of intentions, have the decency to tell them and make the best effort you can to reschedule ASAP, instead of putting the impetus on them to do the rescheduling. Make it absolutely clear that you do, in fact, care, and weren’t going out of some apathetic sense of obligation.

I cannot count the amount of times I have asked a friend to do something for me, they eagerly agreed, and then my very real deadlines come and go and they say absolutely nothing, so I have to nag them, and nag them, and then they turn it back on me with a “obviously you can see that I’m busy and you’re not paying me for this” when all they had to do was say “no I can’t help you” (two whole humans; we are not friends anymore).

The ability to be approached with a request for a favor, step back and think about it, and go “No, I don’t think I can do that in that time frame/at this moment I’m going through a lot/with the skill the task requires” is apparently ridiculously rare. I’d infinitely prefer a no upfront than a yes, bank on that yes, and then wait around hoping someone follows through.

Not saying anything is really rude. If you agree to X, the person who asked you is fully expecting you to do X. They shouldn’t have to be lining up backup plans and last minute helpers scrambling to do the job you promised would get done.

—

Not exaggerating when I say it happens in so many areas. I’ve needed very important things like recommendation letters, or actual paid beta readers on a very hard deadline and still scrambled at the last minute to find replacements that sometimes cost real money for rush fees. I’ve been left waiting at an event for an hour minimum only to finally receive a ‘hey I can’t come’ text and then go home. I’ve told people multiple times, “hey, if you’re going to do X, please do it like this and have some consideration for my things that you’re borrowing” and just… be ignored.

As somebody who gets whatever’s asked of me done immediately, no matter how busy I am, man is it hard to keep accepting “sorry I forgot” as an excuse, from multiple people, multiple times.

The nice thing, though, the big benefit of hyper-independence is that I have learned so many skills out of a compulsion to just do it myself instead of gambling with the accountability of another flighty human. Handyman things for my home and my car, but artistic things, too. So there’s that.

[in1-nutshell]

Hi I was wondering if I could request g1 optimus adopting sparkling buddy and the autobots reaction to sparkling buddy And the decepticons reaction to sparkling buddy

I just realized how many different tabs for Transformers I haven't given more care for... hopefully this will make up for some of that empty space! I did originally get the ask with just the Autobots reaction first before getting this one with the Decepticon's added into the mix which is totally fine!

I will be posting the Con's part right after this.

Since you did not specify which Bots or Cons you wanted i chosen them at random.

Hope you enjoy!

Optimus Prime adopting a sparkling with reactions from the Autobots

SFW, Platonic, Familial, Cybertronian reader

G1

Part 2: Optimus Prime adopting a sparkling reaction from Decepticons

It was a peaceful evening at the Ark. There had been low Decepticon activity, and the patrols had become uneventful. Optimus was the last one to return from patrol.

The Prime was carrying something close to his chassis. Ratchet and Ironhide were the first to approach the Prime.

“You okay there Prime? You usually don’t come back this late?”--Ironhide

“What are you carrying?”--Ratchet

“Old friends I am fine. I simply got a little… sidetracked.”--Optimus

“What could have possibly—by the Allspark…”--Ironhide

“What! What is—Is that what I think it is?!”--Ratchet

“Meet Buddy!”--Optimus

Sparkling noises intensify.

Ratchet ordered the two of them to get to the med bay immediately. Ironhide tried getting the sparkling, but Buddy was making too much of a fuss for him to get a good hold on them. So, it ended up with Prime sitting on the med slab with Buddy peacefully sitting on his lap.

Of course, the news of a sparkling on the Ark spread like wildfire. Everyone wanted to see the little one as soon as they heard about them. Bots soon started trickling into the med bay, much to Ratchet’s disappointment. Lucky for them, Ratchet had just finished checking Buddy, they were in near perfect health with all things considered.

“Where did you find Tiny, here?”--Bumblebee

“They were sitting on a boulder a couple miles away from here.”—Optimus

“Just sitting there all by themselves?”—Jazz

“Yes.”--Optimus

“Was there a pod or any sign of their carrier’s?--Prowl

“Nothing. It was almost like they were waiting for me on that boulder.”—Optimus

“You’re a brave little bot for being alone for so long huh?”—Jazz

Giggling Sparkling noises.

The sparkling quickly became a favorite amongst the ranks. There was never a shortage of babysitters when Prime had to go out. Even their human friends, Spike, Sparkplug, Carly, and Chip, helped babysitting. It was a challenge considering the size differences and species differences, but they were glad to help out.

Buddy loves hanging out with Auntie Carly, Uncle Chip, and Grampa Sparkplug, but can’t stand being near Spike. No one knows why, it’s been like that since the day they met.

Optimus and the Autobots can’t count the number of times they have caught Buddy gently petting Chip’s hair in the control room; finding Buddy having Carly in their lap gently hugging her; Sparkplug playing peek-a-boo with Buddy; and Buddy crawling furiously away from a confused Spike.

“Buddy? Buddy? Chip have you seen Buddy?”--Optimus

“I think I have Optimus.”—Chip

“Really? Where—Oh.”--Optimus

Buddy gently petting Chip’s hair, who was reading some data pads.

“Oh dear, sorry about that Chip. I’ll just take Buddy now.”--Optimus

“There’s no need for that Prime. They haven’t done anything bad. I’m just reading them some semantics.”--Chip

“Well then I’ll leave you two alone them. Bye Chip! Bye Buddy!”--Optimus

“See ya Prime!”--Chip

Cooing Sparkling noises as they wave bye.

A little while later…

“Hey! Can anyone come help for a second?”--Carly

“Carly? Carly what’s—”--Wheeljack

Carly sitting in Buddy’s lap while their servos are wrapped around her gently while burying their faceplate in her hair.

“I guess someone really likes the new shampoo I got the other day.”--Carly

“I guess they do! Which reminds me, look what I found!”--Wheeljack

“Wheeljack…Wheeljack put down the camera—”--Carly

Click!

“Wheeljack!”--Carly

“What? It’s for the scrapbook!”--Wheeljack

“We have a scrapbook?”--Carly

Another while later…

“How’s babysitting duty Sparkplug?”--Ratchet

“A bit nostalgic really, but we’re having fun aren’t we Buddy?”--Sparkplug

Sparkling giggling noises intensifies.

“Nostalgic how?”--Ratchet

“It takes me back when Spike was a baby. But back then he used to cry when I did this.”--Sparkplug

“Did he now?”--Ratchet

“Yep. Man, these sure grow up fast don’t they Ratchet?”--Sparkplug

Ratchet looking at Sideswipe and Sunstreaker trying to wake up Grimlock with a feather.

“Sometimes not fast enough…”--Ratchet

Another, other while later…

“Hey Spike, how’s Buddy doing?”--Sunstreaker

“Oh, they’re sitting right there.”—Spike

Buddy sitting in the corner.

“Oh wow, they actually stayed this time.”--Sideswipe

“What?”--Spike

“We honestly thought that they’d escape by now.”--Sunstreaker

“Well, they haven’t, and they aren’t going to. I’ve got my eyes peeled.”--Spike

“That sounds painful.”--Sunstreaker

“No, it’s a metaphor.”--Spike

“Spike—”--Sideswipe

“You see a metaphor—”--Spike

“Spike—”--Sunstreaker

“Hang on I’m trying to explain to you guys—”--Spike

“Buddy’s escaped.”—Sideswipe

Buddy is no longer in the corner.

“…”—Spike, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe

“How did they even get out of the room? We’re right in front of the door?”—Sideswipe

Sparkling giggling from the vents.

“How—Never mind.”--Sunstreaker

“If you help me find them, I’ll buy the expensive wax you guys like.”--Spike

“Deal.”—Sideswipe and Sunstreaker

Meanwhile…

“I swear Inferno, I heard Buddy’s giggling from above!”—Red Alert

“Red maybe you should get some more sleep.”--Inferno

Fun fact about Buddy’s size. They are smaller than the average sparkling. Buddy loves playing Hide and Seek with whoever is babysitting them.

Good news for Buddy: playing is good for their health as a growing sparkling.

Bad news for the babysitter: Buddy is an excellent hider. As in scarily good at it. The longest they have gone so far hiding was 5 hours while Spike was babysitting them.

Somewhere on the Ark…

Optimus suddenly stood up from his chair.

“Prime, you okay?”--Ironhide

“…I’m not sure…”--Optimus

“Well then—”--Ironhide

“It’s Buddy!”--Optimus

“Buddy? Aren’t you being a little bit paranoid Prime? That’s Red Alert’s job, no offense Red.”--Bumblebee

“None taken.”—Red Alert

“No, something happened… I can’t explain it, but I can feel it. I think Chip said it was my ‘Buddy sense tingling’.”—Optimus

“A what?”—Ratchet

“I’ll explain later.”--Bumblebee

“Relax Prime, Isn’t Cliff watching them.”--Ironhide

“Cliff went on patrol with Mirage.”--Prowl

“Then who did he give Buddy to?”—Optimus

“I thought I saw Buddy with Perceptor.”--Jazz

“Perceptor was called in to help Chip and Carly with something at the lab.”--Sunstreaker

“Then who—”--Ironhide

“I think Spike and Sparkplug were the last one’s with Buddy.”--Wheeljack

“Who’s calling for Spike?”--Sparkplug

“Sparkplug! Where’s Buddy?”--Optimus

“Oh, Spike insisted on looking after Buddy while I went to the hardware store for some new parts.”--Sparkplug

“…”--Autobots

“Buddy was left alone with Spike!?”--Prowl

“Yeah? Was that a bad idea?”--Sparkplug

“Guys! I can’t find Buddy!”--Spike

“…Maybe it was…”—Sparkplug

“Quick! Everyone check the vents!”--Sideswipe

“Hey Prime, you okay?”--Ironhide

Concern Truck noises intensify.

‘Concern Dad mode’ engaged.

There was a base wide search for Buddy, all servos were on deck. Bots split into search parties in order to cover more ground. Some searched inside the Ark; others searched outside the Ark’s grounds; and others searched in the city. Thankfully, before Optimus could have another spark attack, they found Buddy.

Turns out they had been hiding with the Dinobots, who were in the mountain section of the base, a place that no one decided to go check out.

Grimlock was training the newest member of the Dinobot’s.

“Buddy!”--Ironhide

“Oh, thank the Allspark! They’re okay!”--Optimus

“Of course, Tiny Buddy okay. Tiny Buddy with Dinobots.”--Grimlock

“Grimlock, we have been looking for Buddy for 5 hours. How come you didn’t tell us?”--Optimus

“Me Grimlock didn’t want to.”--Grimlock

“Why?!”—Wheeljack

“Tiny Buddy no need to go yet. Tiny Buddy training to be next Dinobot!”--Grimlock

“Grimlock, Buddy is still a sparkling. They can’t—”--Optimus

“Tiny Buddy is Dinobot champion!”—Swoop

“Yes, Tiny champion!”—Slag

“Tiny Buddy doing lots of training!”—Sludge

“Tiny Buddy get better.”—Snarl

“Soon Tiny Buddy be one of us!”—Swoop

“And Dinobot’s better babysitter!”—Grimlock

“Spike don’t do job very good.”—Swoop

“He’s got a point.”—Tracks

“Shh!”--Bumblebee

“…Well Buddy was safe with them. Grimlock, you wouldn’t let anything bad happen to Buddy right?”--Wheeljack

“Never! Grimlock protect Tiny Buddy!”—Grimlock

“Prime, I think we may have solved your babysitting problem!”--Wheeljack

[tgmsunmontue]

Second time lucky...

College AU featuring Bradshaw!Twins Bradford and Bradley, a Jake Seresin with a crush, and a long-suffering Javy Machado.

                “He’s so fucking hot,” Jake whines and Javy rolls his eyes, clearly sick of hearing about it but Jake just can’t help himself.

                They’re watching a group play ultimate frisbee, a sport they’ve both learnt to come to appreciate watching when the teams differentiate themselves by shirts and no-shirts, the women stripping to tanks and everyone wearing the shortest-shorts they apparently seem to own. Jake approves, even if he doesn’t really understand how the game itself works. But the guy is playing, and Jake has dedicated a lot of time to watching him.

               He’s been seeing the guy everywhere on campus, can’t seem to walk anywhere without seeing him and it’s really fucking distracting. He goes to the pool, and the guy is there. He goes to the gym, the guy is there. He goes to the library, the guy is fucking there. He’s not in any of Jake’s classes thankfully, he does get some reprieve, however if the guy was in a class he’d have an actual chance of learning his name.

                “Where’s your infamous charm now? Why don’t you just go and ask him out?” Javy asks. While there are a lot of names being thrown around, it’s impossible to tell which one belongs to the guy in question.

                “I… I can’t.”

                “Seriously? You can’t? You’re actually… oh my god. You actually care about getting rejected by this guy.”

                Part of Jake wants to snap that he doesn’t care. And that he doesn’t get rejected. However he has to admit that he usually doesn’t get rejected because he generally only asks people who are a sure thing. People who have made their interest known. With this guy, he just doesn’t know. Sometimes he thinks that maybe yeah, he’d totally be down to going out with Jake. Maybe. And other times there’s definitely zero interest. So it’s not like the guy is blowing hot and cold. More like… barely lukewarm and cold. Maybe once or twice he thinks there was something, but it had been gone so fast he’s pretty sure he imagined it.

…            …            …

                “I think I’ve found you an in. The guy is a member of the Delta Frat. And he’s a senior. That’s why he’s not in any of our classes.”

                “He’s in a frat?” Jake asks, pulling a face.

                “Yeah, and I am totally judging your taste. Because not only is he in a frat, but his name is Bradford Bradshaw.”

                “Oh god…” Jake groans, because that is one hell of a name. But he has a name now, and he recognizes it as being one yelled out while watching ultimate frisbee, so it sounds like it is probably the same person.

                “And, because they’re a frat, they’re having a party on Friday night to celebrate… the end of the week probably. I don’t remember. Anyway, I got the details. You owe me.”

                Jake feels like he might throw up.

                Javy has gone to all this effort for him, he can’t just not use it.

…            …            …

                They stand in front of the house and it doesn’t seem like there’s a party and they look at each other hesitantly before Javy shoves him into motion with a push to his shoulder.

                “Just walk up and knock. Come on.”

                He huffs out a breath and squares his shoulders. He can do this. He raises his hand to knock and then the door is opening away from him and there’s a guy standing there looking at them, wide smile on his face, and at least he looks welcoming rather than asking them who the fuck they are.

                “Oh, hey man, just go straight in. Mickey’s out the back heating the grill, think Bradshaw’s in the kitchen. You’re a bit early, game doesn’t start for another hour.”

                He exchanges a look with Javy, because that would have been useful information to have, and he also feels empty handed, like maybe some chips and dip wouldn’t have gone astray, because it seems far too settled, too quiet, considering they’re having a party, and Bradshaw is in the kitchen. Chips and dip would give his hands something to do, something to hold onto. Reaching out to grasp hold of Javy just doesn’t elicit the image he’s at least trying to portray here.

                There’s posters and scarves for different teams. A pair of silicon boobs is sitting on a shelf beside what Jake is pretty sure is a bong. Beside which is a dildo. Okay then. They walk further into the house, and there he is. Bradford Bradshaw, in the kitchen as promised, poking at an assortment of Jello shots in the fridge. They’re arranged like a rainbow, and it gives Jake a little flare of hope, because so far, the house had been very… frat bro aesthetic.

                “Uh. Hi. I’m Jake.”

                “Hey man. Bradford. I think I’ve seen you around. Swim team right?”

                “Uh, yeah,” Jake manages to croak, because that also bodes well for him, that the guy has at least noticed him enough to know that. “I’m actually here to see if you’d be interested in going out sometime,” Jake says, surprised his voice sounds fairly level given how badly he feels like his insides are shaking.

                The guy has looked up sharply at that, his eyes have gone wide and he’s suddenly looking supremely fucking awkward and Jake shrinks inside. God. He’s about to get rejected. At least he can just leave. And maybe transfer to another college. Or country.

                “Oh… dude. I’m flattered. Seriously. Uh. Look. You want the good news or the bad news first?”

                Jake isn’t quite sure how there is any good news to come out of being rejected and he just shakes his head, is already stepping back, heading toward the door. But the guy is quick, slaps his hand against it and looks at Jake likes he’s an idiot. Sue him, maybe he is.

                “So, bad news, I’m mostly pretty straight. And I know that without any shadow of a doubt,” Bradford says, like he’s trying to somehow let Jake down gently, but he seems happy or eager about something, like crushing Jake is somehow making his night. “So, while I don’t really bat for your team I did say I have some good news. I have an identical twin brother who is very not straight, so… lets go find him!”

                “Uh, what?”

                “An identical twin. Well, identical enough. So if it’s all this you want to get up in on, then I have another model that I think would be very, uh, interested,” Bradford says, gesturing at himself and Jake despairs of himself, because unfortunately he is very much interested in getting all up in that. He looks to Javy, who has followed them, and he’s glad, because they’re walking down the street past other houses. He’s pretty sure he’s not getting pranked or anything, most people don’t invent something like an identical twin out of thin air as a joke…

                “How do you know? That he’d be interested?” Javy asks, and Jake blinks, looks between them, because he hadn’t caught that, his mind too busy processing the idea that there are two guys that look like this and that he wasn’t going mad thinking he was seeing them everywhere.

                “What?”

                “Would you believe twin telepathy?”

                Jake raises an eyebrow disbelievingly and scoffs.

                “No.”

                “That’s a good thing, he doesn’t buy into any of that bullshit either. What he has been doing though is whine about this guy…” he says, turns to give Jake a quick up and down glance which makes him flush a little, because this is still the guy Jake has been sort of drooling over the last few weeks. “You happen to have a toothpick on you?” Bradford suddenly asks, apropos of nothing and Jake glares at Javy when he snorts.

                “Yeah, I have a couple. Why?”

                “Oh yeah, you’ll do. He’s been mooning over this guy with an oral fixation that won’t stop flicking a toothpick with his tongue. And buddy, I don’t know how many guys are walking around with a supply of toothpicks to fellate, but I’m pretty sure I’m about to fucking play cupid.”

                Javy is outright laughing now and Jake punches him in the arm, wrestles away from the noogie Javy tries to give him in retaliation.

                “What’s his name?” Jake asks, trying to straighten his hair, no idea how close they might be getting, but they’ve been walking pretty fast for about five minutes now.

                “Bradley.”

                “Your parents named you Bradley and Bradford?”

                “Our parents think they’re hilarious. Last name Bradshaw remember.”

                “Yikes.”

                “It’s fine, means we’ve got thick skin and a decent sense of humor. Although, while I can commend you on your taste, he is definitely the more boring twin. See if you can make him come to the party, I made the Jello shots especially for him.”

                Oh. That’s kind of sweet Jake realizes, showing support through no-doubt alcoholic Jello shots arranged in rainbow colors.

                “I’ll ask him.”

                “Good thing you’ve got balls and are doing the asking, because he’d never get around to it. Anyway, this is him,” Bradford says, and he’s just pushing the door open and kicking his shoes off and Jake exchanges a look with Javy and just follows after him, scrambling a little to keep up as Bradford just calls out a general welcome to the house, telling anyone who can hear him that it’s only him, and not someone here to steal their shit. From somewhere there’s an answering yell about them having nothing worth stealing and Jake blinks, because he’s in the dorms, and this isn’t a frat house, but it’s still a shared house of some sort, smaller for sure. Then Bradford is banging on a door, and Jake sucks in a deep breath, because this must be Bradley’s door. His bedroom. Oh shit, suddenly this feels far too personal and he feels like he’s shaking.

                “Bradley!” Bang bang bang. “Bradley stop jerking off and answer your door man.” Bang bang bang. “Dude, come on, I will open this door on you…”

                Then the door swings open and there is another man standing there, the spitting image of Bradford, but he looks furious, eyes flashing, knuckles white where they’re gripping the door and Jake swallows nervously, but also a little turned on. That anger isn’t directed at him after all.

                “For fucks sake Bradford, I’m trying to study!”

                “Yeah, not anymore you’re not. Here. I come bearing gifts. You can thank me later.”

                Then Jake is being grabbed and hauled in front of Bradford like a human shield and the change in expression from anger to surprise on Bradley’s face is immediate.

                “Uh, hi.”

                “You’re the guy from the library,” Bradley says and Jake nods.

                “Yeah. I didn’t realize you had a twin brother.”

                “Yeah, my whole life.”

                “Um. Did you want to… um. Get a drink sometime?” Jake asks, and the way Bradley is looking at him is still surprised, like he can’t believe Jake is there. And Jake hadn’t ever planned to do this in front of Javy and somehow, the identical twin of the guy he’s got a crush on. Well, he was told going to college would give him new life experiences.

                “What?”

                “A date. Or something. Or just studying together if you don’t have much time. Just, uh, I wanted to ask you out.”

                “And my work here is done,” Bradford says, taking a step back and making a bow. “I’ll see you round. You want to come back with me?” Bradford says, turning to Javy with the last question, and Javy’s giving Jake a little salute, slap to the arm and he’s leaving with Bradford; leaving Jake there alone.

                They stand there awkwardly looking at each other and Jake’s wondering if he should maybe just leave, because Bradley hasn’t said anything else, not even yes to Jake’s jumbled date asking.

                “I think I’m just going to go. Leave you to it.”

                “No! Sorry… I’m just. You want to go out with me?”

                “Yeah. I’d like to… get to know you.”

                “Yeah, okay. That would be nice. What’s your name?”

                “Oh shit. Jake. My name’s Jake Seresin. It’s nice to meet you.”

                The smile Bradley gives him is breathtaking and Jake can’t help but smile back, his stomach feeling like a kaleidoscope of butterflies has made itself at home, but he feels a lot less nervous now.

                “It’s nice to meet you too.”

                They kind of stand there and just grin at each other for a few moments, and Jake feels so relieved that Bradley seems to be into him.

                “Oh. Did you want a drink, or to… go out somewhere? Now?” Bradley asks.

                “Well, we could go to the party. Just walk there, say hi, then walk back…”

                “You don’t want to actually spend time at the party?”

                “No, not really. I was only going to meet you, so… Think your brother might like to see you there though.”

                “I think the last thing Bradford wants is me there killing his vibe, but sure, a walk sounds nice.”

…            …            …

                As they walk their arms brush and bump occasionally and Jake finds himself unable to stop smiling. He’s also pretty sure he’s blushing, but Bradley is definitely blushing, so Jake doesn’t care. They’re walking slowly, ambling really, neither in a rush. They’ve talked about what they’re studying, their families, friends and now…

                “I need to teach you how to tell Bradford and I apart. For a start, he’s left handed. He’s also taller and heavier. I’m the oldest though, but you can’t tell that from looking.”

                “Hopefully I get to know you well enough I’ll just be able to look and easily tell you apart. Your parents can tell you apart, right?”

                “Yeah. Mostly. As long as they’re actually paying attention. Our voices changed when we went through puberty. We sound pretty much the same now, except for the part where he sounds like a typical frat-boy jock.”

                “You do seem to have very different personalities,” Jake concedes, and part of him is glad that Bradley seems more chilled out than Bradford.

                They’re back in front of the Delta Frat and Bradley is pulling a face and rolling his eyes, and Jake laughs, reaches for his hand to tug him inside.

                “Five minutes. Ten max and then we can leave. Okay?”

                “Okay. I’m holding you to that.”

                Jake grins and then pushes the door open. There are a lot more people here now, there’s music and a football game being projected onto a white wall in the living room. There’s a keg and the smell of cooking meat. It’s still early, no-one appears drunk, although he’s sure that’s a certainty considering someone is setting up beer pong. Bradley is rolling his eyes and Jake pokes him for good measure, it’s not his scene either, but he’s not going to judge his peers if they want to take part.

                “Bro! You made it! Oh my god, you’re a miracle worker already!” Bradford says to Jake, slapping him on the back and reaching out to give Bradley a fist bump. “I made you Jello shots! Rainbow Jello shots!”

                “Of course you did…” Bradley sighs.

                “It’s sweet of him,” Jake murmurs in Bradley’s ear, because he doesn’t know either of them well, not yet, but he imagines one of his siblings trying to be supportive by making him rainbow colored drinks at a party and it is sweet.

                “They’re Redbull and vodka, caffeine and alcohol, avoid at all costs.”

                “One won’t hurt…”

                He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a paper-wrapped toothpick, strips the paper off and runs it around the inside of the shot glass, loosening the Jello so he can better suck the entire thing into his mouth. His tongue is running over the bottom of the shot when he realizes exactly what it might look like, because Bradley is watching him with hooded eyes and he swallows, nervous again.

                “You and your fucking toothpicks.”

                Jello now gone Jake sticks the toothpick in his mouth and rotates it 360, raises an eyebrow.

                “I think you have a thing for my toothpick…”

                “I have a thing for a guy who might have an oral fixation. It’s been five minutes; can we go now?”

                “Lead the way.”

                “You guys leaving already?” Bradford asks.

                “I have better things to do,” Bradley states and Jake snorts.

                “Yeah you do! Go. Have fun.”

                “Oh my god…”

                “I’ve only known him like an hour, you walked right into that one,” Jake says, grinning, letting Bradley pull him out of the house.

                “He’s the worst.”

                Jake isn’t going to agree or disagree, because he’s pretty sure Bradford would die for Bradley, but also if anyone pointed out to him how much his siblings loved him, he’d also deny it until his dying breath. He does laugh along with Bradley though, as they walk back to his place, and he doesn’t miss Bradley’s eyes flicking to his lips, where the toothpick is still being worried at between his teeth. They’re almost back to Bradley’s when he slows to a stop and turns toward him, and the street is quiet and empty.

                “Can I kiss you?”

                Jake quickly takes the toothpick from his mouth and throws it into the nearest bush.

                “Yes, yes you definitely can.”

(FYI - all photos (and children) are my own. I haven't gone and posted pictures of someone else's kids without their consent etc.)

This fic fills the "Frat Party" square on my Top Gun AU Bingo card, as well as the "Free Space" which can be either a College AU, or Bradshaw Twins AU.

[cal-daisies-and-briars]

Make Me Write ask answered

162 📖 for @inell!

---

When they arrive at the fire station, Eddie is indeed in rough shape. Scratched, damp, and wearing a heating blanket. 

“Buck, why is my dad dressed like a baked potato?” Chris asks nervously when he sees him. 

Eddie is sitting in the back of an ambulance, looking a little sleepy. The other paramedic - the one that isn’t Chimney - is talking to him. 

“It’s keeping him warm,” Buck explains. “Why don’t you go see him? That’ll make him even warmer.”

“DAD!” Chris calls out, heeding Buck’s advice. He picks up his pace a little in Eddie’s direction. 

“CHRISTOPHER!” Eddie calls back once he sees him. He hops out of the ambulance, dropping the warming blanket, and runs across the engine bay floor towards his son. When he reaches him, he scoops him up into the biggest, tightest, most loving hug Buck has ever seen. Buck honestly feels a little choked up, watching it. 

He doesn’t want to intrude on their moment, so he hangs back, holding onto Christopher’s backpack. After a minute of this hug, of Eddie speaking quietly to his son, he finally looks in Buck’s direction. He sets Christopher down, strides over to where Buck is, and hugs him too. Just quick, with a clap on the back, but it’s still a hug. It catches Buck off-guard a little.

“Thank you,” Eddie says emphatically. “Thank you so much for taking care of him.”

“No problem, really,” Buck says when Eddie pulls away. “Chris kept me in line. Made sure I knew the right answers to American history. Really he did me a favor.”

Eddie’s smile in response is practically glowing. “I owe you one, man.”

“Hey, don’t mention it. Just glad you’re okay.” Buck says. “Is Carla good? I couldn’t reach her either.”

Eddie nods. “Her dad isn’t well. She was visiting him today.”

“Oh,” Buck replies. “That’s… That’s too bad.”

Eddie takes a deep breath. “Listen, man, can I buy you a beer sometime? As a thank you?”

Buck… Well, for some reason, even though it’s totally not necessary, Buck really likes the sound of that.

“Yeah,” Buck nods. “Yeah, that’d be great. My number should be in your phone from when I tried to call you.”

“Perfect,” Eddie smiles. 

x.

It’s way too much fun. 

Buck meets Eddie at a sports bar. They grab beers. Watch a game. It’s probably the most fun Buck’s had in a while. Without work or a kid in between them, they connect as just people. And it turns out, they connect pretty well. They have a similar sense or humor and like a lot of the same things. Eddie listens when Buck goes on accidental tangents about subjects he finds interesting. Buck is genuinely delighted with stories about Christopher. They just sort of… Mesh?

By the end of the night, they’re making plans to hang out again, and Buck’s stomach can’t quite shake a fluttery, swooping feeling. Something that he’s only really felt before… Well, on dates. 

Which is strange for Buck because, well… Eddie is a man? And Buck didn’t know that another man could make him feel that way. 

Which probably means… Something. 

xi.

Buck and Eddie manage to hang out two more times by themselves, and once with Christopher, even, before the world shuts down. And Buck goes from the exciting thrill of a new friend/maybe crush to working alone in an empty library, filling online orders, and putting them in sterile pickup areas, with nothing at all to look forward to. 

It’s awful. It’s depressing. Buck genuinely struggles to get out of bed in the morning for the entire month of April. 

His sister is pregnant, and she can’t even stay with Chimney because of the risk. She’s alone. Buck’s alone. Everyone is boxed off from each other. 

They keep in contact. Eddie and Buck. Text. Social media. Buck does a few virtual homework help sessions with Chris out of working hours. But it’s weird. It’s like they almost had a friendship or something, and it just kind of gets stalled. 

All the nothingness means Buck has time. On and off work. He has nothing but time. It reminds him of the early years of his undergrad, where the coursework wasn’t challenging or interesting enough to keep his mind busy. He’d had to find ways to fill the time. Partying. Drinking. Sex. Working out. Those had been his options, then. Apart from working out, he doesn’t want to replicate the rest in a global pandemic. Which means Buck is left with way more hours to fill than even in undergrad. 

And he’s a librarian. So… One of the things he does to avoid going crazy? He reads. He researches. He learns. And one of the things he starts going all in on learning about? Human sexuality and attraction. Because the distance from Eddie doesn’t make Buck stop thinking about him. Doesn’t quell the curiosity, the thinking. The excitement each time a notification from Eddie lights up his phone. So Buck researches, and he tries to figure himself out. 

So, in the middle of a pandemic, where everyone is quarantined, and Buck is completely alone, he discovers he’s bisexual. Stellar timing. Really great work. Had he uncovered this little tidbit of identity earlier in his life? Maybe he’d be quarantining with a boyfriend or a husband or something cool like that. Since he’s historically fumbled all the women in his life. Who is he kidding? He’ll probably be the same with dudes. But until proven otherwise, he imagines he’ll be very smooth.

So. Bisexual. Alone in his studio apartment. Living through an unprecedented global emergency. Kind of thirsting over a man he won’t be able to see for months, and who he doesn’t even know is queer, so probably has no chance with. 

Buck is frustrated. 

He learns to cook. He buys a variety of plants. Tries and fails to learn to draw. Impulse adopts a cat; a Burmese he renames Begonia. Her previous name was Princess and to be honest she is way too relaxed for that designation. 

Nothing makes the sense of restlessness building in his chest go away. 

xii.

It’s late summer by the time he and Eddie can hang out again. At a distance. Outside, on a hike. Masks on if they get any closer. Eddie has a higher chance of infection on his job, and Buck wants to be safe. 

They fall back into their easy pattern of conversation and humor. It’s like whatever paused between them at the beginning of the year picks right back up without any issue. And Buck is relieved. Relieved and excited. Like they’re pointed towards a direction he hasn’t seen before, but is desperate to discover.

Buck tells Eddie all about the ever-changing library policies regarding the virus. Eddie tells Buck about childcare struggles. 

“With Carla caring for her dad full time, and my Abuela back in Texas, it’s been insane,” he admits. 

“And no aftercare programs at the library,” Buck says. 

“Or anywhere,” Eddie says. 

“Man, that’s rough. I’m sorry.”

“It’s… Well, single parenting is never easy. But global catastrophe certainly adds to it.”

“Hey, if-if I can help…” Buck offers, a little aimlessly. 

Eddie raises an eyebrow. “Is the library open to visitors yet?”

“Well, no,” Buck admits. “Soon, hopefully? But I mean, I can ask the head librarian - Janine - if he can, uh, sneak in. Masked up, of course.” “I mean, if he could. That’d be really helpful. He could do class from there, right?” Eddie asks. ”Only if it wouldn’t put you out!”

[wifegideonnav]

I'm new to Tumblr. How do Tumblr users usually engage with each other?

well first of all welcome haha. the main ways to engage with people are:

liking and reblogging. platforms like instagram and tiktok run on likes and an algorithm, but on tumblr, people almost exclusively use their dashboard and turn off suggested content, so they’re only seeing what people actually reblog onto their dash. that’s why people on this site are so adamant about reblogs, because likes basically do nothing. i saw someone say once that anything you would like on a different social media, you should reblog on here, and i totally agree. and don’t worry about how old a post is, or about reblogging something you’ve previously reblogged. there are posts from 2014 that i regularly see on my dash a decade later, so literally don’t feel awkward, it’s 100% normal to engage with old posts.

tags. there are three main ways tags are used: labeling original content so people find it in searches, internal organization systems when reblogging or posting (for instance, many people have a tag for their original posts, and will tag reblogs by fandom or character or whatever - important note that reblogs do not show up in search results), and to make sotto voce comments on a post. it’s normal for people to make jokes, add their own commentary, ramble about something semi relevant, or say something to op in the tags on posts they reblog.

reblog additions. every time you reblog, you have the chance to add something to the post, which unlike tags will be retained when someone reblogs from you. a good rule of thumb is to comment instead of tagging when it’s something you actually want other people to engage with, as opposed to tags where you’re just kind of expressing yourself lol. don’t be surprised however if you see people’s tags getting screenshotted and added to a reblog. if this happens because the screenshotter likes what the tag writer said, it’s jokingly referred to as “passing peer review.” (and of course people screenshot tags to criticize or mock them as well.) essentially, tags are like being at a big group dinner and saying something to the person next to you as an aside, and then sometimes that person goes “hey everyone listen to this”

post comments. there’s also an option on every post (unless op has turned it off) for people to comment on the post itself, not on a specific reblog. mostly this is useful for talking to people on personal posts or posts with reblogs turned off. on a bigger post, just reblog it and put your thoughts in an addition or tag.

asks. seems like you figured this one out! lmao. asks are used for a wide variety of things, but essentially it can either be a prompt for someone to make a post or a way of having an interaction/conversation with someone without dming them.

dms. these work like dms everywhere else, except the functionality is limited and it kinda sucks.

games. there are also many varieties of games that people play with each other, ranging from ask games (things like “rec me some music” or a post with prompts and people send you some from that list), tag games (typically there are questions you answer then you tag other people to fill them out for themselves) handwriting tags, follow chains, giveaways, name/url playlists, and more. with the addition of polls, brackets have gotten popular too (eg the tumblr sexyman bracket). there also used to be a lot of in-character ask blogs, where a user would set up a blog and roleplay as a specific character that people could send questions to (there still are some but way fewer and way less popular than there used to be)

to be honest i feel like i have to put “discourse” and “drama” on this list too. people on this site loveeee having the most insane arguments of all time and then everyone else memes the hell out of it. google “sonic for real justice” for an example lmao. (of course there’s also very unfunny political and fandom discourse that goes on as well. i would advise you to avoid discourse blogs as a general rule regardless of whether you agree with their position or not)

tagging people. you can also @ people in posts you think they’d like or if you feel like they have relevant input. typically this is something you would do either to people you’ve spoken to before, or a big blog with an established persona and rapport with their followers (eg if you follow a blog about snakes and you see a random post with snake info that seems wrong but you’re not sure, so you tag them to ask for their expertise).

and this isn’t a specific “mode” of communication but it’s also a thing to “interpret” (for lack of a better word) other people’s posts. for instance, people drawing a photo from the original post (i cant find it but there was a post going around recently where op posted an aesthetic photo of an egg cooking and then several people painted it), or people trying/recreating something a post was about (example). it was also a thing for a minute there where people would rewrite funny exchanges as shakespearean dialogue

those are all the ways i can think of, although im sure i’ve missed some (if other people think of any pls add on!). good luck, and i hope you’re able to meet some cool people!

[krash-and-co]

hey krash, i wanted to reach out and say that i'm so sorry that you got such a hurtful reaction from one of the l&co servers for speaking up about something that genuinely needed to be addressed. i won't badmouth anyone in particular but this is not the first time this fandom has dogpiled someone over a misunderstanding, and when it happened to me i had severe anxiety over it for about a week even after it was resolved, and eventually left because of it. it left a pretty bad taste in my mouth for the fandom in general, so i mostly just stick to my small group of mutuals now lol. i wish this fandom truly was different from other fandoms, but this kind of thing is unfortunately inevitable once something reaches a certain level of popularity. but that certainly doesn't make it okay, and you didn't do anything to deserve the reaction you got. i hope you can feel peace about it soon, and i'm sorry again that it happened at all. 🫂

(please don't feel pressured to answer this if you'd rather the matter be left alone, i totally understand. i just wanted to send you an ask because i didn't know if you're comfortable with dms.)

hi im so sorry i forgot to answer!!! thank you so much this means so much to me. 💙💙💙 i read this for the first time when i was feeling pretty attacked and it really cheered me up <3

hmm other people have been telling me about how they got attacked in this fandom too. and maybe this shouldn't have surprised me as much as it did. but it's something fans never talk about and claim doesn’t exist, so i thought it didn’t. i was horribly fooled lol. as, uh, i am about to rant about; do you mind? u don’t have to read it, i won’t be offended, but halfway thru answering this ask it turned into a rant i wanted to release into the world lol, so sorry about that 😭😭😭

very important disclaimer!!! this is NOT about everyone. ABSOLUTELY NOT. most of you are absolutely amazing people, and i assure you if ur worried this is about you, it’s prob not lol

ANYWAYS!!!

im kind of feeling i was betrayed?? ig? i rlly believed everyone was so kind, and look what i know now. it genuinely seems like people are gaslighting themselves. how else do they only see our ‘harm?’ yeah, our fandom is known for being passionate, but saying we’re known for kindness is starting to make me sick. maybe we were, i know a lot of us still are, but throwing that out there in the middle of your hypocritical hate post seems like justification for the shit things people have been saying. you can say no wrong so long as you’re here. only people who don’t agree with you. so yeah, fuck krash and ljc and anyone else who doesn't agree!!! that totally shows how kind you are and how much you loved the fandom before we messed it up. nobodys visibly mad, cuz we're too scared to say shit!!!

i’ve seen too many examples of the contrary from the “victims,” wailing about how cruel we are the second they disagree with someone. (in a highly hypocritical manner, at that.) “everyone was so happy before this!” no, they weren’t, that’s why i brought it up. “stop bringing hate to this fandom! now let me fucking berate you!” do you even hear yourself? “nobody even cared before, we were all content!” we weren’t all content, we were just silent. it sometimes looks the same.

someone even declared they were leaving the fandom because ‘one person wanted to stop show saving efforts entirely because it traumatized them, and this is no longer a safe place.’ like, what? where did you even get that? for one, there were at least two of us posting together, and that’s just barely knowing anything about what’s happening. thats not even touching on how one of us (idk who the op of that post was talking about, it’s a 50/50 lol) made the fandom an unsafe place for our personal gain. what?

hella kind. hella safe on their part.

another said they saw only old fans agreeing about this so it’s just us being pissed about change. it’s us hating the show. me and ljc being upset about not being the only “big blogs” any more. our fandom is only for the elite, etc. fuck us. yet ljc is getting blackmailed. we’re getting hate replies. friends that try and help get attacked. misinformation spread. how did that even happen? we never once tried to hurt anyone; thank you to those who understand.

but to some, WE’RE the ones in the wrong.

do they SEE themselves? how hypocritical all of this is? or are their heads that far up in the ass of their petition and beloved fake idea of this fandom that they care about more than all of us?

now, this is where i add another “not everyone” message. not everyone is like this, this is not me saying i hate the petition or people who support it. hell, i signed the petition. twice. and once more from my mothers email.

i don’t regret the i love you posts i made, because i still do love this fandom, i am still absolutely here for the rest of yall. but DAMN if we weren’t hiding something under happy Save The Show, I Love Locknation! messages. perfectly smiling faces until they bite. i was surprised to see how many people did.

as if our previous problems weren’t enough, now it turned into this lol. no, that’s a lie, it didn’t. it already was, and i HATE THAT.

ig im kinda spoiled, i never really experienced hate like this from this fandom before. but now i know it happened BEFORE too, and that just pisses me off. it hurts coming from a group who says they love us. genuinely wacko (not the fun kind) behavior :[

i know this isn’t everyone’s experience, but it is mine, and enough others to make me wanna say this. and this is ofc me and @lucy-j-carlyle 's brand of hate, not yours. but it does happen and the constant chant that IT DOESN'T IT DOESNT IT DOESN'T isn't helping anyone. and now I know.

idk what im even saying anymore lol, sorry for ranting. what i mean to say is, thank you, and i wish things were better. and i love you kind people. im happy it’s most of you.

[dearestaussiechannie]

Hey, I just read through your masterlist and loved it, could I request a fluff where like you come home to visit your parents but you bring your Korean boyfriend to meet them and stay with them for a few days? I'm thinking like a BangChan or Minho one? I feel like this could totally be a cute series too if you're up for it!

OOO!! Thank you for reading through it! I would love to write this sweet idea for you! I meant to get this out sooner but I really wanted to take my time with this!

♡ They meet your parents and family for the first time ♡

Chan- I think he’d be super nervous at first since it would be his first time meeting your parents. Since he grew up in Australia, he wouldn't have a hard time talking to them or understanding their habits. While staying with them, he’d try his best to help them with absolutely anything.

“Chris, you don't need to be nervous. They’re excited to meet you.” You say to him in a soft voice as you squeeze his hand, looking around and waiting for your parents to come get the two of you from the airport. 

The small breath he lets out is super shaky, squeezing your hand tighter. As he goes to speak, he hears a man yelling your name before you're suddenly pulling him in that direction. He can’t help but smile when he sees the excitement across your face, watching the way your hair bounces as you run to your mother and basically tackle her into a hug.

He hears the voice from before that called out your name now directed at him. “And you must be Christopher?” the man says to him, looking him up and down. Chan suddenly realises how he looks just standing there instead of speaking, making him panic a bit. “Ah yes. You can just call me Chris if you’d like. I assume you're Y/n's father.”

You hear him talking, making you look over to your father, hugging him tightly before gently patting the man's shoulder. “Be nice dad. Don’t try to scare him, we just got here and you know the flight was super long. Let’s go home!”

Fast forward to you all being at your family home and Chan can’t stop looking around at all of the photos of you and your siblings hanging up on the walls. He meets your younger siblings that are at first super iffy about him being there as they keep asking you who he is. Your older siblings introduce themselves to him before moving on. To say they're all thrown off by his accent is a complete understatement. 

He seems to get close to your mom quite quickly as he helps her with anything she needs and even goes grocery shopping with her since she doesn’t know what he likes to eat. They both come back full of smiles.

Easy to say that your family enjoys his presence and can’t wait for him to come back next time!

Minho- Just like Chan, I think he’d be pretty nervous. He’d try his best to talk to them but if he gets overwhelmed or needs your help, he’ll look at you since you know him best. I think he’d be super excited to meet your siblings since he's an only child. Meeting your pets would be his favourite part though and if you have CATS… good luck getting him away from them.

“Minho. Leave the cats alone, it’s time for dinner!” You’d have to say to him multiple times, just getting a mean glare every time. This would catch your parents off guard at first. Having them ask you why he looks at you like that. You’d have to explain that he means nothing by it, it’s just how he acts with his friends where he's from.

Watching him in the kitchen with your mother is the best part of the whole trip. Him learning how to cook your favourite meals but also teaching her how to make some of your favourite dishes that you eat in Korea. While eating, he’d watch the way you talked to everyone about how the two of you met. Seeing the way your eyes sparkle while simply talking about him makes his heart flutter.

When he's with your younger siblings, he’ll participate in their games but when he beats them, he’ll brag about it to you which just makes you laugh. But if he loses, he’s gonna be all grumpy and he may bully them a little bit, “No no I let you guys beat me since it's the first time we’ve met.”

If you have older siblings, he’ll be super respectful to them by trying to stay out of their way. It’ll take them telling him that they like him for him to interact with them. He’ll get excited if they invite him to go out with them to the store since it’ll give him a chance to get to them well.

When it’s time for you guys to leave, he’ll leave recipes for your mother and tell her to call him if she has any questions. He’s a bit shocked when she hugs him but he'll quickly hug her back.

I think he’d have lots of fun.

Changbin- He’s nothing but excited! The idea of spending an entire week with the people who raised the wonderful human he’s dating… he’s head over heels!

“Binnie! Slow down, if you charge at them you might scare my mom!” You say to him through laughs as he pulls you quickly behind him. When he finally sees them, he’ll stop running before walking over to them and bowing before saying very loudly, “Hello. My name is Changbin but you can just call me Bin! I love your child very much!”

Your parents stare at you with very puzzled looks before he stands up straight again. “Oh, bowing is a respectful way to greet people in Korea.” This makes your face turn red before placing your hand onto his back, looking between your parents. “Let’s go home.” You say before signalling towards the doors.

He’d be super happy to see that your parents prepared slippers for him to wear at their house after you told them that you don’t wear shoes inside of your shared apartment in Korea. It literally takes everything in you to get him to take them off when the two of you are going to bed.

“Changbin? Can I have your help with taking the trash out?” Your mother would ask but before the sentence was completely finished, he'd already taken the trash from her and took it outside to the bin.

Watching him interact with your father was honestly a bit alarming. Since he knows the history you and your father have, you didn’t expect him to be so talkative with him. When you ask him about it though all he can say is, “I only have to be this nice until I’ve secured your hand in marriage THEN I can say what I really wanna say to him. Your mom however, let's take her back home with us. I'm pretty sure she could fit in one of your suitcases.” All he gets back from you is a blush and a pillow chunked at him.

When it's time for the two of you to go back, he would immediately ingulf your mother into a tight hug, shake your fathers hand, say bye to everyone else before hurrying away to catch your flight. Once you’re both back home, he’s trying his best to plan another trip back to your parents. Specifically your mother.

He honestly had the best time he’s had in quite some time.

Hyunjin- I think he might be slightly overwhelmed at first but he would very much pull through. He’s excited overall though, getting super excited when your family asks him about growing up in a different country.

“Hello, I’m Hyunjin.” Is all he can say at first, too overwhelmed from the flight and having to change his sleep schedule to be able to do anything all week. 

The two of you would probably spend lots of time walking around and taking photos of him in the local popular spots. But once you and your family go out, suddenly he’s the one behind the camera. Capturing the way you look at your family, the big beautiful smile across your face making your eyes squint shut. 

In different places, he’d pose you and take multiple different photos of you. Taking some of you with the rest of your family and even trying his best to set up the camera so that you can all take a photo together since this is the first time you’ve been home since you moved away and it’s his first time meeting your family. 

He’d definitely go get them printed out before you guys have to leave. But not until the day before since he knows he’s gonna be taking more of literally everything. Watching the way he runs around with your siblings, doing silly little dances with them, even getting your mother involved by taking her hand and pulling her to slow dance with him. Seeing the way that it makes her smile and laugh makes him so happy. This makes your father take over Hyuns spot, making him walk over and take your hand. “May I have this dance, wonderful?”

Once it’s time to go home, the two of you go get the pictures printed out that he wants to give to your family, buying frames and putting little notes with each of them addressed to everyone. As you both say your goodbyes, he pulls everyone into a tight hug. He laughs while walking away backwards, waving like a mad man and yelling. “I’ll miss you all! I can’t wait to come back next time and take more pictures! Please enjoy them!”

After you guys are home safely, you look at your phone and see that your mother has hung up all the picture frames which makes him smile before taking your phone and taking her like crazy. 

I think once he gets to know them, he’d miss them so much more than you do.

Han- oh my sweet boy.. he’d have to keep his headphones on the first couple of days just so he can get used to all the loud noises of your family but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t enjoy their company. Give him some time and he’s an open book with them.

“This is Jisung everyone, but please be patient with him.” You say as you look between him and your family, offering him a smile as he holds onto your thumb as tight as he can. His whole body shakes as he bows to them before getting too self conscious and starts to wave but keeps his head down. 

When the two of you are alone in your room at your parents house, he’s curled up to you too afraid to go interact with any of your family if you’re not right there with him. It’s not that he’s afraid of them, he just doesn’t know how to talk to them. He really really wants to but he’s nervous.

Around the third day, he started talking to your family but very softly. When he has something important to say, he’ll hold your hand as tight as you’ll let him or you’d rub his back in soft circles. It really seemed to make him happy when your family would go quiet when he spoke so that they could all hear him. The support they gave him also made you really happy since you know Jisung struggles. 

When he couldn’t find you, he oddly went to your father. He said he somehow reminded him of Chan since he could be loud when he wanted to but also quiet and gentle when Jisung needed him to be. Watching Ji talk to your father full of excitement, that big toothy heart smile so bright making your father also smile. This meant the world to you since the main person he was so nervous about seeing was your father and watching the two of them bond and the way he spoke so softly to Ji.. very heartwarming. 

Watching him running around with your family after a few more days of him getting used to them, being super loud with them like he would at home with his friends, even your father was proud of him. He’s running and goofing off with them while you just sit there and watch. Some things you’ll record him to show to everyone back in Korea. 

Once it's time for the two of you to leave, he’s quite sad to go. He’ll give everyone goodbye hugs, some longer than others. Specifically his hug with your father, hugging him tighter than the others. He’ll thank him quietly for helping him open up and getting comfortable. You’ll have to basically pull him away from everyone when it's time for your plane to board.

Once back to your shared home, he’ll ask when the two of you can go back.

I feel like he’d really like to spend time with your family, making sure that he gets to know them well for next time.

Felix- He’d be nervous BUT also really excited. He’s probably been talking about meeting them for quite some time before this comes up. Spending a week with them is the PERFECT opportunity to get to know them individually. When the two of you are completely settled, he’ll be with them constantly.

“Y/n, you did tell them when we landed right?” He asks, holding your hand tightly while waiting for your bags to come around the carousel. You laugh as you look at your phone, texting your mother about waiting for your bags while she tells you where everyone is waiting.

“Lixie, have you seen-” You go to ask him only to see he's completely invested into whatever story your mother is telling him. He’s nodding his head while looking at her or whatever pictures she's showing him in the book on the table. You slowly walk over and lean against the back of his chair.

“Oh! Hi babe, whats up?” he’ll ask you like you weren’t just talking to him to help you with something. You shake your head slowly while looking at what pictures she’s showing him. “Oh I remember that day, we went to the zoo and I was more interested in squirrels than tigers!” You say while pointing at the picture, laughing softly as you look up at him.

His smile only grows bigger when he sees yours and hears your side of the story. Felix listens to your mother finish telling the story but he's really only paying attention to you now. How you look while listening to her and how you’ll chime in and your laugh. Gosh how he loves that laugh.

Since he has siblings, he’s pretty good with yours, playing games with them even when he makes him the seeker every single time. If you have older siblings, he’ll go with them to do things like go to the store when your parents send them, insisting that you stay there while he goes so that they can get to know him when you're not also around.

When it’s time to leave, like Hyunjin, he has gifts for everyone. Buying your siblings whatever they’re into, he gets your mother a new photobook since he could tell that the other one is pretty full and almost full. He gets your father the new wallet that he looked at on your family trip to the mall. You both wave goodbyes, walking away holding hands as he yells, “We’ll come back soon, I promise!”

Once you’ve made it back home, you both text your family to let them know you’ve made it back safely. Little do you know, they respond to Felix before they respond to you.

I feel like he would probably have the most fun with your family.

Seungmin- He’d be nervous and wouldn’t really know what to say since he doesn’t really know what to say. He’d depend on you like Minho, maybe a bit more though. When he needs you, I think he’d text you instead of speaking so that your family doesn’t think much of it.

“Everyone, this is my boyfriend Seungmin!” You say, jestering towards him causing him to wave very slowly as he looks at everyone. “Hi, it’s nice to meet all of you.. I’ll be in your care.” He says, glancing over at you before squeezing your hand tighter. After everyone says hello, they hurry to the car.

Your first night back home, you all go out to eat. This causes group conversations that try to include Min but he doesn’t know when to join in. Since the two of you are sitting beside each other, he looks over to you for help but sees that you're having a conversation with your mother. This suddenly makes him feel nervous, causing him to quickly grab your hand under the table and give it a few tight squeezes to get your attention. 

You look over at him, seeing that he's just staring at his lap so you now turn to face him. “Baby? What’s wrong?” You whisper before squeezing his hand back. “Just… overwhelmed.. And don’t know what to say to everyone.” He responds, voice barely making a whisper. You lean down a little further, looking into his eyes and you notice they’re red. This makes you really worried, listening into the conversation your siblings are having. 

They were talking about sports, making you light up a bit as you now see why he wanted to join them. “Oh! Seungie here used to really wanna be a professional baseball player!” you say making him look up at you before over to them. After this, they start talking to each other, letting you go back to your conversation with your mom where she tells you that you did good helping him.

As the days go by, Seungmin gets used to everyone and he starts acting like himself again. This makes you happy when you see it happening, since you know he wants to be close with them so that they’ll like him for when you guys end up coming back at later dates.

While leaving, he’ll thank them for their hospitality and for including him in the things that they did. Once you’re back home, he’ll tell you all about the conversations he had with them even if you were present for them.

SWEET! BABY! SEUNGMIN! HE’S! PRECIOUS! 

Jeongin- If you look up the definition of the word nervous, it’ll show you a picture of I.n. Sweet little guy can’t help but be nervous after you tell him he’s the first boyfriend you’ve brought home that you’ve been serious about. 

“Innie, you have nothing to worry about I swear. They already know some things about you and are really excited to meet you!” You tell him as the two of you walk out of the airport. “I get that but I’ll still be nervous. I’ve never met them before. What do I even say to them?” But before you can respond, you can hear people yelling your names.

“Y/n! Jeongin! We’re over here!” A male voice yells, making you both look around, I.n can only tell who he’s looking at by the excitement that spreads across your face. “Mom! Dad!” You yell while hurrying to them, pulling him behind you. “This is Jeongin! He’s excited to meet you guys!” you say while he waves. 

He likes to stay close to you so that he can easily chime into the conversations you’re having with them instead of starting them. You see, this is a good idea until you leave to go to the store, insisting that he stays there while you’re gone so that he can get to know them. But, he just kinda sits in silence for a while until your mother asks him what he’d like for dinner.

By the time you get back, He’s helping her cook while having a conversation with your father about what it was like when the two of you met, what your first date was like, when the two of you started dating, when you the two of you decided that you wanted to become serious so the two of you moved in together. You sneak up, kissing his cheek before walking over to the table by your father to sit and wait for the food.

After he’s spent time with your family, he’s quite sad to leave but he knows that the two of you will be back quite soon since holidays are right around the corner and he really wants to come back… maybe more than you do.

I really think he’d enjoy being with your family more than any of the other members.

[13ghostlytitties]

The Heart of a Hero is returning once more!

Today marks the 5-year anniversary of the premiere of HoaH, and is fairly close to the 3.5 year anniversary of its last official upload. Well, the wait is over. It’s time for me to resurrect this series and eventually bring it to its end (not that it left off anywhere close to ending 😉).

Since it’s been a while, I’ve put together a recap of the story so far that I’ll post at some point here. It’s not complete, I had to cut out some of the newer chapters since it just became a play-by-play synopsis that doubled the total word count, but hey, having to reread 5-10 chapters is better than rereading 150.

The tentative return date will be this time next month as I work on creating a backlog of chapters. If I need to push it back, I’ll let you know. As for other questions I’m sure some of you have, check below the cut. For those who don’t care, see you in a month, hopefully.

So, some questions I’m sure some of you are asking:

1: where have you been? And why did you stop?

I’m not gonna go into details since I’m not that kinda person, but overall, just been living life, dude. I originally began my unexpected hiatus when college was kicking my ass and expected to get right back to things, but some stuff happened, and by the time I had dealt with it, it was Spring of 2020. You can guess what stopped me up then lol. But yeah, things just got away from me and eventually, I didn’t have the time or energy to dedicate to diving headfirst back into this outside of unconnected one-off stuff like those Bang fics. There’s other facets too, of course, the biggest one being a general disinterest in the source material. I stopped reading MHA around the villains arc (though I’ve kept up a bit in terms of big stuff like the traitor reveal), so I lacked that interest to pull me back into this world. Where I left off in the story, in the middle of a complicated arc full of OCs and big fights and stuff, was also a hurdle to getting back into things. But I’m here now, I’m working on my backlog, and I’m gonna commit. If you guys are excited about my return, spread the word and lemme hear it so I can keep this motivation 🤟

2: Is A New Era coming back too?

And now for the other shoe to drop. It is not. Im very sorry, especially to those whose OCs I included, but it’s just not feasible. Every time I considered it or tried it, the whole return to the main story was stopped up with it. Anyone who’s interested in continuing it themselves in some way shape or form, you have my permission in terms of the general idea, the OC kids I came up with, the places that canon characters are in it, etc. As for other people’s OCs, I’d check with their creators. One again, very sorry, but it’s just not doable.

3: What will this return look like? How often are chapters gonna drop?

Still working out the specifics, but my idea for now is to drop 2 chapters a week. If I need to go on hiatus, I’ll announce as much and plan the placement of it much better so that I don’t stop in the middle of an arc. That way, the hiatus will only be a month instead of years lol. The schedule may change over time, but I’ll keep everyone informed as I move ahead with it

4: a lot has happened in the manga and anime and movies since you stopped. Will these things be worked into the series?

Nope. I stopped reading and probably won’t start again until it’s over and done with. More than that, I’ve been sitting on these plans for a couple years now and don’t feel like changing them much. Besides, this story has had a long, rich history of shitting in the soup of the canon story, so I’ll just continue doing my own thing

5: are you still as epic and cool and funny as in the past?

Don’t ask questions you already know the answers to. I never was 😎

[angeygirl]

Dave Miller X reader: In which Dave and the author both embarrass themselves (Bad Ending [for you, at least. Dave's having a great time])

I promised I would write the Bad Ending to This One-shot Here if anyone asked me about it. Well, I got the request from @pudimbot to finish it like 3 weeks ago and I'm sorry it took so long I kept forgetting about it :(

Anyway, here you go, have fun walking right into danger :P

(Context is in the original fic since this is just a change to the ending)

 As you pack up your things to leave, Dave slides a note over to you and shuffles off. He hangs by the doorway a moment, watching to see if you’ll read it and then scurries away.

You unfold the piece of paper.

‘meet me outside freddy’s at 7’

Wait... what? Was that why he’d been so awkward the last few days? There’s no way this guy had feelings for you, right? Ok, maybe that was a bit presumptuous. Asking to meet up could really mean anything.

You feel a gaze on the back of your neck and realize Dave is still behind you. You shove the note in your pocket and head home. Once there you do some chores, make yourself dinner and settle down to watch TV. It’s almost seven when you remember the note in your pocket. You take it out and reread it.

“Maybe I’m overthinking...” Dave did seem pretty harmless. It was kinda hard to be intimidated by a guy who has days where he’s scared of his own shadow. Against your better judgment, you head back to the pizzeria.

It’s getting dark out by the time you arrive. As you pull into the parking space you spot a tall, skinny someone sneaking around the side.

“Hey Dave.” You call.

The figure perks up and scuttles over to you. “You came.” He says, stepping into the light of a street lamp. He peeks at the inside of your car. “And alone. Good.” He chuckles nervously and his voice rises in pitch. “I was, well, I was gonna tell you to come alone but uh... glad to see you already were doing that.”

“Yeah.” That wasn’t weird or anything. “So, what did you want to talk about?”

“Hmm? Oh, I don’t know. I haven't been on a date in...” He counts on his fingers and quickly hides them behind his back. “A while... heh, a bit of a long while.”

“A...a date?”

“Well, yes? I mean clearly you have feelings for me, saying I rescued you, sharing your lunch, you know.”

“That was just being nice.”

Dave’s eyes go wide with disappointment. “What?” He shakes himself. “Never mind that. Where do you work? Or, um, what do you do for a living? That’s less creepy, right?”

“I work at Freddy’s, Dave. Same as you.”

“Woah, uh... really?” He tugs at his collar. “Th-that’s crazy me too.”

“We only know each other because we’re co-workers.”

Dave gives another nervous chuckle. “Yeah... yeah I know. Uh I used to be a mechanic, actually and before that I slept under a bridge.”

“You what?”

“Yeah everyone assumes I’m either crazy or on drugs, well, I don’t have money for drugs or a psychologist so, you know!” He throws his hands up in an anxious shrug.

You nod unsteadily. “Right...”

He scuffs the ground with his shoe and stares at the sidewalk. His eyes dart around, as if he's intensely studying the cracks in the pavement. “You, uhh, want to come inside?”

You shrug. “Ok.”

Dave leads you in via the side door and closes it behind you. It’s too dark to see anything back here. You can hear Dave tripping on himself. “Sorry, sorry. Just looking for the light switch.”

He hums nervously to himself while you stand in total darkness. Your eyes slowly adjust, but it’s so cluttered backstage that you still can’t make much out. Your nose wrinkles as a nasty smell comes up behind you. You don’t need to feel the breath on your neck to figure out who it is. But before you can scoot out of Dave’s way, a pair of bony hands clap over your face.

It’s hard to tell what happened the next few minutes, but by the time your head clears, you’ve been tied to a chair with duct tape on your wrists. Dave leans on a nearby table, grinning at you. It’s not an evil grin, more of a shy, dorky pride. What?

“Sorry about that.” He says sheepishly. “I just got nervous, you know? Not really used to this. Anyway, where were we?”

“Wh-wha?”

“Hmm? Oh I just need to feel like I’m in total control of a situation in order to feel safe.” He giggles shyly before he hops up on the table and gently kicks his legs over the edge. “So, tell me a little about yourself.”

“Is... is this an interrogation?”

He tilts his head. “What? No! It’s a date! I mean, here we are, alone together, talking, spending time together. There’s probably leftover food here if that would be better for you.”

“Wait... did you kidnap me?!”

He waves his hands defensively. “Oh no, no, no! Trust me, I know a thing or two about kidnapping and I can tell you this is not that. Well, ok, this is kinda like that I can see why you’d think that, but I’ll let you go once the date is over!”

You're in disbelief.

"Trust me, trust me. You're not in any danger, not as long as we're both having a good time. You, uhh... want some pizza? There's leftovers in he kitchen." He hops down from the table and scurries off like an anxious host trying to make you happy and not like you're tied to a chair, stuck with him whether you want to be or not.

A few minuets later, Dave comes back with a leftover pizza and some lemonade. He cuts one of your hands free and tapes the other to the leg of the chair. "See? This is a proper date. I mean, that's what teenagers do, right? Oh! That's it. We're just a pair of silly teenage hoodlums trespassing and stealing and not treading on work time. Isn't that more fun?"

"You think teenagers trespass and steal as a fun date idea?"

"I mean... yeah? I did it as a kid... ok I was actually thirteen when I committed my first arson, but no one ever caught me!"

You blink slowly. "You committed arson while on a date?"

"Huh?" He tilts his head at you. "Oh, no I never went on any dates as a teenager. All the girls at my school thought I was too ugly. Which, well," He glances at his dishevelled uniform that he's probably been sleeping in for a week. "I don't blame them. Cleaned up a bit in uni but then I had a... well, a workplace accident and lost my job and then I started sleeping under a bridge for a few months and then became a mechanic and then got hired here." He grins like just told an embarrassing secret.

He roughly clears his throat and sits on the table again. "So, uh, eat your pizza and why don't you tell me a little about yourself?"

So, you’ve just gotta survive ‘date night’ and you’ll be fine. Hopefully.

[pokeexehasstoppedworking]

A Champion Time For The Heart Ch5 Sponsorship

(this story will contain my own headcannons about the backstories of some of the characters and info on the league cards)

The trainers had arrived.

Professor Magnolia hummed in the middle of her trip to the kitchen as you and Leon watched from the couch. You both had a pretty good idea of who it was as the excited knocking continued when an answer didn't come from anyone instead. Eventually the professor answered.

"The door's open!," she shouted towards the door and you were impressed when she didn't flinch with how fast it flew open and in came the two children you both were waiting for. Hop and Gloria with excited smiles on their faces.

"PROFESSOR!," Hop greeted as he came right in and you blinked when Leon stood up from the couch and walked on over to stand next to the professor.

"Why, Hop dear," Ms. Magnolia greeted as he came up to her, "So these must be the new trainers Leon requested the starters for." She then turned to Gloria. "And this must be your friend, Gloria."

"And rival!" Gloria stood proudly which made the Professor chuckle.

"I see." Her eyes looked over to the bag on Hop's back, a few Pokeballs visible in a pocket on the side. "Oh? I see Wooloo has made some new friends. I trust you two received the pokedex from Sonia. I'm sure you'll have it complete in no time."

"Hey, Professor, do us a favor, would you?," Hop asked with a nervous face and the older woman turned back to him with a hum. OH BOY! You knew exactly where this would go. The professor would convince Leon into sponsoring the two for the Gym Challenge but not before he had them give a battle to convince him otherwise. "Help me convince Lee he should endorse us for the Gym Challenge!"

By now Leon had stood next to the professor as she hummed and turned her head to the Champion. "Oh Leon, why wouldn't you endorse them?"

Here it comes.

"Ehh." he sighed. Reaching a hand up to take off his hat and running his other through his long purple locks. "Hop and Gloria only just started out as pokemon trainers..." Both teens smiles dropped and they looked at one another. "There's still loads they don't know yet! Plus after today's little incident...Maybe they're not ready to take on something like this."

"BUT LEE!," Gloria interjected catching his attention. "You were younger than us when you first started out on your journey!"

"Yeah! And Sonia had to help you how many times?," Hop gestured to him like it was obvious.

Leon hummed with a frown. "Yeah, but I'm always hopeless with directions. I never went into Slumbering Wield at all, except to get you two out, but that's totally different then walking in intentionally."

"Now Lee," Ms. Magnolia looked at him. "It's in every young child's nature to make mistakes. It's all a part of growing up and becoming stronger. Dearie, I thought your dream was to have everyone in the Galar Region become strong trainers. Isn't that right?"

He hummed returning the hat back to his head. "Well...yeah. You're not wrong. That goal's precisely the reason I gave them both pokemon, in fact."

"Well then why don't you give them a chance to make mistakes and grow," she suggested as he still had that Skeptical frown. Leon hummed and looked back to the two. "You made plenty of mistakes too, Lee. Don't forget. You said so yourself."

"I know, I know." A hand came up to rub his chin. "And it does look like they caught a few pokemon by themselves." A small silence passed over them as you watched with a smile knowingly, and the two teens looked almost scared of his anwer....Before he sighed again. "Right then...In that case, how about this?" He held up a finger pointing. "Let's see if the two of you can show me such a brilliant battle that I'm left no choice but to endorse you. If I think you two have a good enough fighting chance then the endorsement's all yours."

"YES!!," both teens cheered with Hop doing an arm pump but it was enough for Leon to smile at them.

"And don't worry. I'll make sure both your teams are in good shape before the battle starts." He paused and looked out the window for a moment. "....It's been almost the entire day...We better go outside and get started if you two are going to be back home before dark too."

"RIGHT! I'll be waiting outside, Glory!" And again Hop dashed away

"HEY WAIT!! NO FAIR!!" She frowned and ran after him with Leon chuckling.

"Hurry it up, Glor! You've gotta battle me so I can get myself that endorsement!," his voice echoed back outside.

"Ah those two. I don't think I had that much energy even when I was their age." You got up Sobble chittering as the professor chuckled and started towards the door, cane thumping against the floor. As you two followed her out.

Leon sighed. "Yeah. Well I better get out there. If something goes wrong they'll need some help and someone needs to watch the battle they put on."

The three of you piled outside, you two slowly going out after the professor and finding the two teens already at the battle court a lil ways from the purple house pokemon already out and ready to go and you blinked. Oh. Looks like they did get some new pokemon.

"ALRIGHT!," Leon called side stepping past the professor fast and quickly walking towards the two, catching their attention. "Listen you two! The reason I'm unbeatable is because I learn from every battle I see or take part in. That's how I've gotten to where I am today. So show me something good in this battle!" He finally made it to the middle of the court and looked between the two for a moment. "Ok! The same rules of your first battle will apply to here as well. The first one to become unconscious or knocked out of bounds loses!"

"I'm interested in seeing how you two young trainers battle, too." Leon looked over as the you and the Professor stepped beside him and she finally made it to watch with a smile. "Now remember to give it everything you got. That's the best thing you can do for your pokemon and for yourselves, too."

"Good luck you two!," you added with a wave Sobble chirping in agreement.

"I'm going to become the greatest pokemon trainer there is!," Hop declared, Wooloo baaing in total agreement with him on the field, "And to do that I need that endorsement to take part in the Gym Challenge!" He pointed straight to Gloria. "Come at me with everything you have so we can prove to Lee that we've got what it takes!"

Gloria huffed hands on her hips. You figured by now that would probably be her default pose like Hop's was that couched fist pumped one. Not that you judged. "HA! If you want a show you've come to the right person then!" She pointed back. "Guess you'll be tasting my victory again!"

"We'll see about that, Glory! IT'S TIME FOR MY LEGEND TO BEGIN!," he shouted pointed out to the field challenging, "LET'S GO, WOOLOO!!" The sheep pokemon baaed out challenging to Gloria's...bird pokemon?? You didn't recognize it. "Have you gotten a bit stronger?"

Gloria hummed. "I'd say so. I wouldn't have this new pal here if I hadn't! What do you think?!"

"I think me and my test will put you to the test and see!"

"OH YEAH! WELL IN THAT CASE! ROOKIDEE USE HONE CLAWS!!," Gloria barked an order to the small bird pokemon and you guessed that the pokemon was a Rookidee. The small pokemon gave a tweeting noise and jumped in air, and you had to blinked when all of a sudden there was a dazzle of bright white light in the shape of slash marks. You blinked and....nothing happened. The wooloo was still in the standing position. What was all that about?

"You're confused?" You snapped to the professor as she smiled seeing your confused expression. "Hone Claws is a move that allows Rookidee's accuracy and attack to rise for their next attack. A smart or dumb move depends on what Hop does."

"WOOLOO USE TACKLE!!" The wooloo followed it's master's orders and quickly rolled into a ball and headed straight for them. You were surprised when Gloria made no move to stop it as her Rookidee remained standing as the wooloo was about to hit- The Rookidee was knocked back a few feet from the Wooloos tackle with a chirp and Gloria still did nothing.

"USE HONE CLAWS AGAIN!!," she ordered and this time you turned your head from the bright white attack reflecting the sun's light.

"HA! Didn't you see the first time that Hone Claws didn't work, Glory? USE TACKLE AGAIN!!" Hop taunted before ordering another assault. Again the same thing repeated with Gloria doing absolutely nothing and letting the rookidee be hit away a few more feet. Two or three more hits and Gloria would be ove-

Your eyes widened, Hop's question replaying in your mind. Head snapping to Gloria who remained unmoved. 'Didn't you see the first time that Hone Claws didn't work, Glory?'....Hop had no idea what Hone Claws really did did he!? You looked at Gloria who still did nothing as her pokemon shook it's head. That sneaky gal! She knew exactly what she was doing and so did you! Gloria was buying time for Rookidee's power to rise enough before delivering a powerful attack raised from the two hone claws attacks! Hop had no idea what was about to come his way!

"USE TACKLE TO YOUR MAX STRENGTH!! KNOCK'EM OUT!!," Hop ordered and the wooloo obeyed. Rolling fiercely towards Gloria's Rookidee as she did nothing to stop the upcoming hit-

"PECK!" It all happened so fast you could barely register it, didn't help it happened at such close range too. As soon as the wooloo was just barely a foot away from it, Gloria quickly ordered a ..Peck, and a direct power hit was delivered right to the wooloo's front in a grey cone shaped blur. Which resulted in a loud baa from the wooloo and it was knocked backwards. Rolling head over heels over and over again until it landed on it's side and slide the rest of the way before Hop's feet.

"WOOLOO!!" He cried almost horrified and dropped to his knees before the pokemon and reaching his hands out towards the spiraled eyed pokemon.

"Wooloo's unable to battle!," Leon shouted pointing to Gloria, "Gloria wins the first round!"

You felt sorry for Hop as he looked really down as he stood back up and took out a pokeball to you assume to put his wooloo in, but you had to wonder...Wasn't wooloo already still tired from their first battle earlier that day?? And from running around to try and catch some wild pokemon before they got here? Gloria probably would've beaten Hop anyways if he had no idea about Hone Claws but this world was a bit different from your game play or any game you could remember. This was a live battle you were witnessing, so of course it'd be more intense. Hop eventually did return the wooloo and pulled out another ball soon after.

"Alright then! Time to shine!," he shouted throwing out the next pokeball. What you weren't expecting was his Grookey to pop out in a flash of bright light. ...Wouldn't grookey be tired as well? Since Hop only had two pokemon he used, it made since he could only use the two he had for the previous battle and pokemon catching, so both might've been more exhausted.

"Are you going to switch your Rookidee, Gloria?," Leon asked looking to her but she shook her head.

"Nah! I'll stick with the one I got, Lee."

He nodded. "Alright! ROUND TWO GO!!"

"YOU WON'T GET THE BEST OF ME THIS TIME!! NOW THAT I KNOW YOUR TRICK!!," Hop shouted at Gloria frowning and pointing towards the rookidee, "GROOKEY USE SCRATCH-"

"PECK!!", Gloria ordered back quickly and..Well you guessed your suspicions were right dead on...because the Grookey wasn't fast enough to dodge the upcoming fast flying attack. You weren't sure if it was a factor of Hop's pokemon being tired or Gloria's rookidee being still hyped up from Hone Claws (or maybe a lil bit of both who knows?), but the grookey was struck in mid air midscratch and tumbled to the ground in a one hit K.O., Hop letting out a startled cry as his grookey was taken down.

The tention was cut by a flutter of Leon's cape and his hand pointing out to Gloria. "MATCH! Grookey's unable to battle! Victory goes to Gloria again!"

You knew it was probably in the gameplay for Gloria to win, so technically you shouldn't intervene or really feel bad about this, because if everything went according to the game, that meant you could go home or wake up from this weird dream you having but-...Hop returned his grookey back into the pokeball with a frown and disappointed look and you frowned too. You couldn't help but feel bad for him losing like this. Dream or not Hop seemed to show real emotion and you felt bad for knowing what was going to happen.

Hop looked glumly to the pokeball in his hand for a moment, before closing his eyes and you supposed, took a breath. Before snapping back up with a smile. "Well, Look at you! Seems you've really learned your type matchups!" He suddenly held up a pokeball. "How's about best two outta three rounds?"

"Sure! Why not!? After all I already won two outta 'em!"

"Yeah? Well I bet you weren't expecting THIS!" He tossed out another pokeball, or you assumed another, they all looked the same to you, and out with a flash of light came a ...Rookidee. Just like Gloria's. "It'll be a close one, but that's exactly my sort of match!"

Your eyes widened a bit. Oh wow. You weren't expecting that for sure. Leon also seemed to be interested as he looked back to Gloria. "Do you want to switch out your pokemon before the final match, Glory?"

After a moment of staring she shook her head. "Nah. I think I'll stick with rookidee and battle it out."

Leon nodded. "Alright! Final match! Ready you two!? BEGIN!!"

"ALRIGHT! TIME TO START THIS OFF WITH HONE CLAWS SINCE THAT WORKED SO GOOD FOR YOU GLOR!!" Hop pointed and in another flash of bright white light that made you blink as the rookidee flew up and gave the same slice attack to the air Gloria's rookidee did from earlier.

"ALRIGHT THEN! LET'S DO THE SAME SHALL WE?! ROOKIDEE HONE CLAWS!," Gloria ordered smiling and the bird pokemon did the same attack from before.

"USE PECK!!" And you all watched as Hop's rookidee honed it's peck ability and with a flap through the air they dove right towards the other rookidee before them.

"DODGE IT!!" You guessed Hop wasn't expecting Gloria to actually dodge the attack and instead use another move based off the Hone Claws attack she ordered from earlier. But with a quick blur, Gloria's Rookidee barely dodged out of the way, but somehow completely missing the attack and then it happened. You had guessed that Hop's rookidee was going too fast to pull up in time as it flew down at gloria's at a downwards strike. Because with a crash and sound that made you and your sobble cringe, the poor rookidee smashed into the pavement battle field as Gloria's rookidee flapped it's wings and fell over, from there the lot of you watched as the poor pokemon continued to roll head over heels unable to stop itself as it rolled towards Gloria who quickly lifted up her leg as to avoid the pokemon who rolled off the field and onto the grassy area behind her. Everyone stood there in silence watching the now still pokemon as it laid there for a moment before it let out a small chirp and managed to lift it's head up just a bit. Not knocked out but probably not able to battle.

"ROOKIDEE!!," Hop shouted in worry leaving his place and running over from his spot startling Gloria's pokemon and as soon as he got close enough, dropped to his knees in front of the tweeting pokemon. Hands hovering over the pokemon. "IM SO SORRY! ARE YOU OK?!" He jumped and looked up as Gloria grabbed his shoulder and gave an apologetic look.

"Match over!," Leon called jogging his way over to them, humming at the sight of the rookidee, "Well...Wasn't certainly expecting that of all things. Hop, put your pokemon back in it's ball. We'll have Nurse Joy at the center take a look at your pokemon on the way home."

Hop immediately did as Leon suggested and quickly returned the rookidee back into it's pokeball before standing up as you and Professor Magnolia slowly walked towards them. Hop sighed and reached a hand up to rub his head letting his other arm flop to his side. "Man, oof. Gutted that I lost..." He turned to Gloria with a sad smile. "But I'd expect nothing less from my rival! And I even got my pokeball throw perfect, too."

"I'm sorry, Hop," Gloria apologized gently grabbing his arm as he blinked, "I didn't think that'd happen to your poor rookidee. I promise next time I'll try not to let that happen."

Hop quickly looked away clearing his throat and shrugging. "I-It's fine. That's how it is in the real world. The sting of defeat and joy of victory. I guess going through both is the key to the two of us getting stronger, r-right?"

"Gloria. Hop." Both looked back up as Leon smiled down proud at them. "I'm really glad you see it that way. I'm proud you learnt a good lesson from all this. And that being said...Well." He crossed his arms proudly. "After seeing you learn, and after seeing a match like that I suppose I've little choice but to give you both an endorsement as Champion!"

By the way their faces went from smiling to shocked, with their mouths literally dropped open, you would've thought they'd seen a ghost or something, and you couldn't help but giggle at that. Especially when they gasped upon seeing Leon reach behind him and pull out two small envelopes from behind his cape, each one having a small red wax seal on them. Leon proudly held them out to the children and you could see Gloria do her best as to not freak out.

"SHUT. UP. REALLY!? OMG!!" She yelled starry eyed and grabbing the letter from him like it was a teenage girl's first phone. "BEST! DAY! EVER!!"

"YES!" Hop jumped holding the letter up. "Thanks, Lee! I swear I'm going to win my way through the Gym Challenge to reach you!," Hop promised.

Leon laughed happily in return looking proud, and it was a smile which was contagious as you smiled. "You may both still be young, and plenty rough around the edges, but it was a proper battle. Charizard and I were both feeling the excitement in every last cell in our bodies!"...His smile wavered just a bit as he hummed. "But if I can offer some advice after seeing you two duke it out there." He turned to Hop. "You seem to panic a little bit there and your pokemon were tired. My suggestion would be to find the good and bad line between the phrase 'pushing your limits'." Hop paused for a moment..before frow- "Hop, you've always tended to get caught up in things like how you throw your poke ball out..Things that have nothing to do with real strength." He explained softly, "Honestly, I'd been worried about you still obsessing over that sort of nonsense, but it seems you really have grown a bit, Little Brother!" His smile came back and Hop blinked wide eyed before Leon turned to Gloria who froze under Leon's stare. "And I'd like to see more thrilling pokemon battles out of you too, Gloria...But a word of caution. It's obvious where Hop lacks in battle strategics you have impressive moves, but don't get too over confident. There's a fine line between confident and cocky. You two will be going head to head with other FAR MORE EXPERIENCED pokemon trainers and Gym Leaders who's going to have more tricks, more know how, and more success. But always remember practice makes perfect. You two practice and work on your weaknesses and soon you'll be heading towards battling me in no time!"

The smiles came back to both teens once again and you sighed. Well that could've gone much worse, but you were glad that at least things were starting to go as it was supposed to of course, but you had to wrack your brain and try to remember as much of this game as you could! If not for your sake, then the two kids here. The last thing you wanted was something like Gloria sneaking into Slumbering Wield again.

"Alright, Glory!" Hop flashed his friend a confident smile thrusting the letter at her. "You and me are going to train up against one another to aim for that Champion title!! It's like Lee said! The more we keep battling against one another the more our pokemon will grow!"

"You're on, Hoppity! Can't wait for our rematch then!"

Both kids laughed and you smiled even mor- You winced when your sobble suddenly chirped in your ear and turned around on your shoulder suddenly. "Ow! Hey! What's wrong?" You asked as you turned to the pokemon on your shoulder but it's body was half blocking your view as it looked up towards the sky. So you could only see his blue body, but it caught the attention of every other person there as they looked up and saw the shining light with a red trail leading behind it.

"Huh?! HEY! Look there!," Hop shouted pointing a hand towards the sky at it, "What's that!?"

"I don't know but it's coming right for us!"

Everyone watched and you eventually got Sobble's tail off your face just in time to see three sparkles land on the ground a little ways from the Professor's lake. The two teens already making a dash for the shiny objects and of course you fo-...You paused....Wait. Something was coming back to you now...OF COURSE!! THE WISHING STONES!...THINGS! In the game the player used those stones to make their pokemon gigantic! Or dynamax as everyone in this world called it. Looks like you were starting to remember a bit more about all this. In the meantime, Hop had picked up the shiny stones into his hands and gave them a wide eyed look upon realizing what it was.

"Gloria! Would you look at this!?" He smiled widely and turned with excitement plastered all over his face. Gemstones shining brightly in the sunlight. "They're wishing stars!"

"NO WAY!!" Her blue eyes widened looking at them like she had never seen something more beautiful in her life. "THAT'S SO COOL!!"

"Since there's three of them, you should take one yourself!" Hop held one hand out to her and she squealed in excitement instantly.

"Wishing stones?," you repeated under your breath and apparently the professor heard you because you jumped as she spoke.

"A Wishing Stone is a stone found in the Galar Region with a mysterious power to dynamax a trainer's pokemon. It's said that your dreams will come true if you find one." She smiled at the two exited teens. "And it looks like you two are about to have a lot of luck indeed."

"With one of these, my pokemon can dynamax! They're gonna be massive!" He thrusted the stone into the air as Gloria was still cooing over the shiny stone in her hands, turning it this way and that, inspecting it as carefully as a detective would a case. "YES!!''

Which made Leon give a good natured laugh and put his hands to his hips as his little brother looked to him excitedly. "It's a lucky day for everyone here then! Trust you to pull something like this." He nodded towards the stone in his hand. "They say wishing stars fall down for those who have a true wish in their heart, you know." Which made Hop's eyes widen even more.

"REALLY!? Well if that's the case!" He thrusted the gem towards the three adults(you being one of them), "I will be the greatest trainer ever! I will be the greatest trainer EVER!! I WILL BE THE GREATEST TRAINER EVER!!" He shouted out and it made you giggle along with Leon and the sobble on your shoulder giving Hop a scowl from the loud volume. "There! I've said it three times, so surely my wish will come true now, right?" He asked glancing to Leon for confirmation.

"Hop! The three wish things are genies with the lamps. Not wishing on stars," Gloria said raising a brow at him.

Beside you the professor chuckled, sighed, and shook her head in that order. "Don't be silly, Hop." The boy looked to her as she explained and pointed to the stones in their hands. "Those Wishing Stars are composed of a curious sort of soft containing unknown power. They are one of the most precious resources we have here in the Galar Region." She hummed. "But they won't do a thing for you in that state. Give them to me now, and I'll have you sorted." She gently held out her hand to the kids and Gloria didn't hesitate to give the professor her shiny stone-

"Ah, right. You've done heaps of research on the Dynamax Phenomenon, haven't you, Professor?," Hop asked excitedly but continued before she could even answer. "Then please! Give Gloria and me the power to dynamax our pokemon!"

Gloria held up a hand. "Hop. You didn't even give-"

"First we got to battle the mad pokemon in the Slumering Weild, and now this!" No one noticed the bright orange haired woman walking over from up the dirt pathway. "It really feels like we're getting caught up in the adventure of a lifetime-

"HOP!!" Gloria shouted at him with a scowl startling the boy with a jump as he blinked to her. "You can't dynamax anything if you don't give the Professor the Wishing Star."

.......He blinked. "O-OH! RIGHT! SORRY!"

The professor still smiled kindly as Hop dropped his own stone into her hand beside Gloria's and she pulled her hand back having them. "I do understand your excitement, young man, but don't get carried away. You want to save your energy for the day after tomorrow's journey."

"Seems I came back home in time for all the excitement!," a lady's voice cut through the air and everyone turned to see Sonia just a little ways from the battle court smiling at them. Yapper at her heels panting and barking in agreement to whatever she said. Before she shook her head and started to walk over towards you lot.

"HEY! Sonia! You just missed all the fun!" Leon smiled and jabbed a finger behind him towards the children. "I just got the honors of not only being the Champion Referee, but being the sponsor for two amazing young Gym Challenge Trainers!" He then gestured towards the Professor. "And then even got some Wishing Stars the Professor's gonna make into Dynamax Bands."

"Wishing Stars? You don't say," She smiled glancing to her Grandmother for a moment and shook her head before crossing her arms, "Well I'm sorry if I missed all the action, but if you forget someone had to resecure the gate leading to the Slumbering Wield."

Both children instantly froze...before Hop cleared his throat and looked away with a hand rubbing his neck, and Gloria whistled while also looking away. Riiiight. Totally not suspicious looking in the slightest. And it made you chuckle again at the childish behavior before shaking your head and looking up towards the sky. This world's sun was setting and you had to reach a hand up to block out the harsh light to your eyes. The sky was starting to fade a pinkish purple color and you knew for a fact it would soon give away to the dark black of night. Leon seemed to have noticed you looking to the horizon and so turned his head to to look at the slowly setting sun. You glanced at him from the corner of your eye. The taller man smiling, and the light reflecting in his eyes enhancing the gold coloring and for a lil bit making it look like he had cold coins for eyes. And you couldn't help but watch-

"Hm..Getting kinda late...Hey, you lot, why not have some dinner?," Sonia suggested pointing a finger, "You must be hungry, right? I've been totally obsessed with making the latest trendy curries."

At the promise of food your stomach grumbled a bit and you were thankful for the hopeful gasping of the teens at the promise of Sonia's famous food Leon always talked about..but the Champion shook his head before turning back to Sonia. "Sorry, Sonia. As much as I would ADORE to have your curry, I promised Ma and Mrs. G I'd get the kids back home safely. And it's getting pretty late. If we want to get back by dark we'll have to leave now."

Sonia frowned a bit but nodded in understanding. "I can understand that. Want me to walk back with you guys." She smirked playfully. "Wouldn't want you somehow ending on top of a barn again."

"OH COME ON! It was one time!"

Sonia giggled and you decided to speak up. "It's alright. I can make sure he doesn't wonder off anywhere."

"Oh come on, Y/N! Not you too!"

Everyone shared a chuckle and it was decided you lot would head home for the night, bidding good bye to the Professor and starting on your way as the sun had set for the night. But not before the Professor told Hop and Gloria to come back tomorrow morning and get their new dynamax bands for them to use on their journeys very soon. The walk back to their homes was pretty uneventful, the sky got slowly darker and the two children were excitedly pointing out pokemon you could make out in the darkness with their glowing eyes. It was when you four were passing by the town's Pokemon Center is when he and Hop turned to go towards it, but not before Leon turned towards you.

"This is where I'll leave you two for the night," he explained while gesturing towards the center and Hop waiting for him, "I promised Hop we'd fix his team up before we got home."

"Are you sure you won't get lost going home? No offense," you asked him raising a brow and he nodded,

"Yeah. Hop can make sure I get there good enough, and if not I can always have Charizard fly us back home. What about you? Do you and Gloria wanna wait so I can walk you guys back?"

You thought for a moment tempted by the offer but seeing Gloria yawn and how dark it was, you held up a hand. "I think we'll be fine the rest of the way. I don't think I'd want Gloria's Mum to worry about her when it's gettin' dark. And I think I'm pretty tired too."

"I can understand that. You two have a safe trip back."

You nodded Gloria and you bidding the two brothers fair well, before walking the rest of the way home in setting light, Gloria excitedly telling you her captures of a wild Rookidee and Yamper earlier. By the time you both got to her house and inside it was dark, and Gloria's mother was already waiting for you two with dinner. Salads but you weren't surprised with her being a farmer and all in a farming community like Postwick, and you were hungry anyways so you gladly accepted the food offered to you and let Gloria ramble on about her day to her mother fishing out and flashing the official letter to her mother and on and on. She was real excited wasn't she? It was like a blur as you did the nightly routine of taking another shower and later curling back up on the couch with your Sobble curled up against you like a cat would, and you wondered briefly is Sobble was cold blooded and that's why it did it before dozing off for the night.....You know. You think you'd wake up from whatever dream this world was by now and just be on your way to college late in the morning....But no. Again you woke up but this time it was because of the smell of food in the air and your stomach grumbled for you to get up and eat. The sobble groggily chirping in surprise from you accidentally knocking him off the bed as you rose up rubbing at your eyes and your f/c hair all a mess in a bedhead. It smelt like more eggs. You were just blinking around tiredly, sighing at the sight of Gloria's living room when the smell became stronger. Whelp. Looks like you were still stuck here for the time being.

"Good Morning. I was wondering when you were going to wake up." You blinked your sluggish body over and standing there was Gloria's Mum, a plate with an omelet on it. Oh. Well that explained the egg smell at least. She put it down on the coffee table in front of you as you began to fully wake up. "I trust you had a good sleep last night."

"Y-Yeah. *YYAAAWWWNN* Thanks," you mumbled reaching for the food. "What time is it?"

"It's about ten in the morning. Gloria left with Hop a while ago. They said they wanted to try and catch some more pokemon and battle some of the neighborhood kids before they leave tomorrow for the Opening Ceremony, but after all you did yesterday for them I told her to let you rest further."

....OH! That's right! In the game your journey truly begins when the player and Hop leave for the opening ceremony in ..Motostoke you think?? To officially register into the Gym Challenge. So you nodded. "Oh. Yeah. Thanks."

You sat there and ate the omelet for a bit, your Sobble climbing back up onto the couch with a small frown from being tossed over and gave you a chirp to let you know about it. Oops. You should probably remember to not knock him off again. After eating you did what you usually did around here and grabbed your things to go change in the bathroom. During the time you were in there, you didn't here the doorbell ring or see Gloria's Mum happily let in the two people on the other side, and all of a sudden there was a loud commotion which caught your attention

You blinked surprised at the Champion waiting for you. "Leon. What are you doing here?" Your eyes then blinked down towards the boy next to him. He looked awfully familiar. Your hand pointed at him. "And who's this?"

The boy seemed to blink at you too confused but Leon only smiled widely. "Oh this? Y/n, this is Vic-"

"IT'S VICTOR!!" The boy blinked and barely had time to react before a brown haired blur tackled him.

"UGH!?" Victor waved his arms around to try and keep balance as his sister tackled him into a hug, but gravity won out and the two eventually fell to the ground. "OOF!!"

You stared at the young boy smiling at you. ...THIS WAS VICTOR?! The name of the male avatar that you could pick in the game if you didn't chose Gloria to play instead. Looking at the young boy he still looked the same age as Gloria and Hop even if he was a little taller than his twin. How did you not recognize it sooner? He had the same dark brown hair and light brown eyes as his sister and if they had the same haircut they would've looked the exact same (other than Victor's slightly taller height). He wore a grey beanie like hat, a red shirt with some logo on it, jeans, brown shoes, and carried what might as well been a giant suit case on his back. And a polaroid camera was slung in a similar fashion around his neck as he smiled at you. Gloria seemed very happy to see him as she excitedly gestured to him.

"Can you believe it!? After a whole year the mysterious photographer finally appeared after disappearing without a trace," she teased making her twin roll his eyes.

"It's nice to know you nah changed," he grunted in an Scottish accent similar to hers before pushing her off him and getting back up, hands dusting himself off, "I wanted to surprise you before the gym challenge started, but I wasn't expectin' ta come back to so much." He turned back to you with a smile. "Greetings! Ye must be the new friend Lee told me about. Thanks for saving her sorry butt from the Slumbering Wield. I always knew she'd get into trouble sooner or later without me."

"HEY!" A frown came over her face as she pouted. "I don't get into THAT much trouble! Besides I got out without a problem didn't I?"

He chose to ignore that and you took the chance to talk. "Nice to meet you too. Are you here for the Gym Challenge?"

He opened his mouth to answer before another new voice answered for him, "Of course he is!" All five of you turned and weren't surprised to find Hop standing there also smiling at Victor. "Hey, Mate! Long time no see! You're in luck! Lee was gonna leave soon!"

"Really?," Victor asked blinking.

Hop nodded. "Yep! But you got here just in time! Lee agreed to endorse us all for the challenge!"

"Say wot?"

"Yeah! Don't worry! You caught us in the middle of heading out to get our dynamax bands from Professor Magnolia! There's an extra Wishing Star so I'm sure she'd be happy to make you one no problem!"

Victor continued to stare at him for a moment before giving a nervous chuckle and forced smile which made you blink. "Oh...Really now? How..n-nice."

Leon also nodded. "That's right!" Before he paused blinking and hummed. You watched as the Champion reached a hand up to rub his neck looking at the three teenagers in front of him before looking back to you (or more specifically the sobble on your shoulder who chirped and tilted his head at Leon-) before his brows creased in a worried way. "But..that may be a problem?"

"What is it, Lee?"

"Well I can certainly make sure Victor has that endorsement letter and his dynamax band, but it's the lack of a starter pokemon that concerns me." He gave a worried grimace. "It's customary to give a new trainer their own beginner pokemon before they go off on their first adventure. Usually that wouldn't be a problem since I did bring three pokemon for all of you but-..." His golden eyes flickered back to the sobble who again chirped. "I can't just ask for a pokemon back after I just gave it to someone. ..*sigh* This is a sure problem."

"Doesn't Sonia have more?," Hop asked raising a brow, "I thought Professors always made sure to have extra starter pokemon in case they run into the problem of too many trainers."

"They do, but the problem is getting them in time for the trainers especially if something like the Gym Challenge is around the corner."

"So what you're saying is that.." Victor spoke slowly looking towards Leon, "That I can't compete in the challenge because I don't have a starter pokemon."

"Not at all!," Leon smiled once again much to Victor's surprise before jabbing his thumb behind him back towards the road. "I'm pretty sure Sonia's got at least one more extra pokemon ready for you to take along with you. We can stop by the lab and pick 'em up on the way to Professor Magnolia."

"Yeah!," Gloria added grabbing her twin by the arm and tugging on him, "Then we can do a lil trainin' an' ye can tell us all about your wee trip over lunch!"

"Oh...how wonderful," Victor mumbled but allowed his sister to pull him away towards the road back up towards Wedgehurst station.

"Why don't you children go ahead and I'll fix up lunch before you come back?" You blinked as Mrs. G turned and gestured back towards the kitchen. "If I want to have enough for everyone I'd better start now."

"Would you like some help?," you offered as everyone was more interested in Victor's return than you at the moment. "Can't say I'm the best at cooking but it'd be rude if I didn't lend a hand."

''Well thank you, Y/n. Thanks really nice of you to offer." She gestured for you to follow her inside. "Come with me and I'll show you were everything's set up."

[izabesworld]

Hi, your articles are very informative!

I would like to clarify about the ethical aspect. In my language, the word "Roma" is practically not used, everyone uses the țigan/cigan. My romani friends are fine with this (I asked after reading your articles), it doesn't offend them because it's common usage. They just don't take it as an insult. And in general, it’s enough for them that I don’t believe in these terrible and stupid stereotypes. But still, I'm interested to know how unacceptable the use of the word țigan/cigan is for you and your family. I mean, it's so weird that it's common usage in my language, and you wrote that it's a taboo word for you. I have mixed feelings, as if I did something bad and found out about it only recently.

Hey! Thank you so much for this as I was hoping someone would ask, being aware that it is a word used in a few countries.

I grew up in a total of 5 countries and only one that I was in used this word as a word of normality.

For us, that word is actually one that causes a lot of distress for the older members. The word was used against one of my grandads, Joseph, while he was a prison of war in WW2 and used against my grandmother and great grandad who are both still living after surviving through the Holocaust after being in both concentration camps and ghettos.

It’s something we deem unacceptable, and there has been instances in some countries that it has been used against us and both my mother and aunt ended up in tears as if they’d been shot and found themselves unable to stand.

The words meaning is slave, and comes from the slavery we as a group endured, which I think is why it affects the older members of our family circle the most. Before she died, my great grandmother would tell stories about how her great grandmother was sold to a nasty man and would only ever refer to her as the word cigan.

If one of my friends was to call me that word, it would be a scenario of I’d never speak to them again, zero second chances. They’re all educated enough to know better, having actually been the only non-Roma individuals in our family to be invited to spend a few days with us in the summer.

In Serbian society it is used often, as for them it can mean untouchable, however, that also is an insult as it is used in the context of us being dirty and infection riddled. Nobody would want to touch us or be around us. It holds the same meaning as the word stupid and fraud, also insinuating that we are scammers, which is another stereotype used against us.

Ţiganii is a word I’ve only heard in Romania is in relation to the years of slavery and is used in context of how they want it to go back to that way.

Many countries have statues and plaques that you can go and see that use this word in “revenge” of Roma, deliberately trying to dehumanise us and keep us limited to jobs no non-Roma would dream of doing.

I know of a Roma family, though, who use the word as people towards each-other. They use it in the same nature a black person would use the n word. They say it to each other, but if you aren’t that identity, you don’t say it.

Obviously, in comparison to the people I know I’ve lived such a short time and have experienced such little, and the words I said don’t hold nearly as much weight to me and it does to them.

In Slovenia, I know it is an alternative word for gypsy, where there saying gypsy is also seen as normal. I guess it all just depends where you come from.

Again though, I was really hopeful someone would ask this, and I thank you so much for the question. If you want to know anything further from this post, don’t worry about commenting, you can send another anonymous post it you desire! <3

[sad-brunnettee]

Heyy I was thinking with my big adhd brain if you write a story with Eddie and Latina reader ; who has her own band and Eddie goes to see her sing and fall in love.

I love the way you think

Eddie Munson x latina! singer! reader

—

Eddie had just finished getting dressed and was about to grab the keys to his van when the phone rang. He was debating on letting it ring but reluctantly walked over to it. Just as he did, the ringing stopped. He was glad because it meant he won’t be late for the practice before the show starts.

The hideout is the place where they perform on Tuesdays and aside from them having roughly five drunks hearing them play. It is something they enjoy doing. It makes them feel free and for once not total outcasts. Even if it sounds absurd, they really hope that one day a music producer will hear about them and give them the opportunity to perform to an actual audience.

Just as he was heading for the door, the phone ringed again. This time he didn’t bother hiding his frustration even if he was alone. Stomping over to the phone he picked it up.

“Hello?” He answered while rolling his eyes.

“Hey Eddie, it’s me Gareth… I-I uh, have bad news.” Gareth spoke from the other side of the phone.

“What’s goin on?” He lifted up his left arm and placed it on the wall next to the phone.

Gareth was debating over telling the ugly truth over the phone or waiting for him to arrive.

“It’s about our gig, just head down when you can.” Was all he said as he hung up, but before he did he heard the voices of Jeff and the other band member. They almost sounded, mad, but Eddie couldn’t think of a reason for their bickering.

Rushing over to the door he walked out and ran to the van. His door wasn’t fully closed when he turned on the engine and began to drive. He attempted to stay on the speed limit but there were times where he would glance down and notice that he was going a little bit over the 40 mark.

Once he arrived he saw how Gareth, Jeff and their other band member were putting their instruments back in the truck. Still, Eddie got out with his guitar and headed over to them with an agitated look on his face.

“Whoa whoa, what’s going on?” He asked as he extended his arms while still clutching onto his guitar.

At hearing his voice, the three standing in front of him turned to face him. They all shared an exchange of look before ultimately Jeff took a step forward.

“Our gig got canceled, the owner decided to let another band play.” As he said that everyone prepared themselves for some screaming from Eddie. He has always voiced his thoughts and wasn’t afraid to raise his voice either.

After a few seconds of silence he began to yell questions “what band?” “Why were we not informed about this?” “What are we supposed to do now?”.

Once he let out all of his anger he sat on the curb and got out a cigarette that may or may not had fallen a couple of times.

“Well gentleman…” he started as he flicked his cigarette on the ground and stepped on it, “I don’t know about you three but I’m checking them out.” With that he walked in, guitar now placed on his back.

He held a look of determination as he walked over to a booth and placed his guitar on the table and then sat down. As he drummed his fingers on the table in anxious he looked around to try and decipher who the band was. The instruments were already placed on the stage, all that was missing were the members.

No sooner later did the owner appear on stage and walked over to the microphone. “Today we have a new band playing for us, they still don’t have a stage name…” Eddie scoffed. “Please welcome y/n and her band.” He finished off with a small smile and stepped away in order to give them room to walk on the small stage.

“Hi everyone, we hope you enjoy this cover of ‘a quién le importa’.” As you said that, you positioned yourself and heard your guitarist count softly enough for the four of you to hear before starting to play.

As much as Eddie hated to admit it, the music was starting to get to him aside from not hearing the lyrics yet.

While you waited for your cue, you let your body move to the rhythm. Aside from there not being many people in the audience, you were too afraid to look up.

As you started to sing Eddie felt his mouth agape, he never thought you would sound that good. His eyes were wide and filled with adoration, he couldn’t help but look at your every step. Just taking everything in, whatever thoughts he had before hearing you sing went out the window.

He didn’t think his own members would show up, with a clear of his throat. He attempted to keep his face neutral, yet his eyes never left you. The way your body moved based on what you sang it all fit perfectly.

It wasn’t until the instrumental bridge that you got the courage to face your audience. It made you feel better to know that aside from having a live audience, they were all too drunk to even know what was going on. Or do you thought, as you looked to your left you saw four guys around your age aware of your performance. Three of them seemed almost annoyed and it made you wonder if they were the band that was supposed to play.

As your eyes met those of a long curly headed who blushed as he realized he got caught staring. You offered him a smile that showed your dimples and you saw him give you a shy smile.

Once the song came to an end you received scattered applauses but you could hear the long curly headed guy clap the loudest. He turned to his friends and gave them all a pointed look and move of his head signaling towards you, to which they responded with short claps.

“Thank you.” Your soft voice sounded from the microphone. You were the first to walk away from the stage and head over to a table nearby and grab your water bottle. As you did that, you couldn’t but feel some sadness. You thought that maybe the group of guys won’t talk to you aside from sharing a moment with one of them. Yet you were wrong, you heard someone clear their throat in order to get your attention.

“Uh hi.” Said the guy from earlier and offered you a toothy grin while waving his arm.

“Hi” you said as you set down your bottle and turned to face him.

“I just, wanted to come over and say you were awesome…you have a lovely voice.” He said the last part quiet but you were able to hear it.

Trying to hide your blush you avoided his gaze “thanks.” You tried to not sound awkward but you couldn’t help it. “Correct me if I’m wrong but…are you, part of the band that was supposed to play?” You asked timidly, afraid of what his response would be.

“Yeah, my band and I…” he pointed over his shoulder to the other three guys that were still sitting on the booth. “We always play here.” No matter how mad he tried to be, he felt himself getting lost in your eyes.

“I’m so sorry, I-we, didn’t kno-.” You began to apologize.

“No, no it’s fine really. Today the audience seemed more alive than when we play.” He half-joked.

You couldn’t help but let out a laugh. “What kind of music do you guys play?”

“Anything metal or rock, something to make Hawkins hate us.” He said.

“Oh, like Café Tacvda?” You asked.

He only offered you a confused look on his face as he furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to think of who you were talking about.

“Los Prisioneros…hombres g…?” You tried once more naming popular bands but upon seeing his confused look you couldn’t help but feel your face go red. “Sorry it’s just…you said you play metal and rock and, well. They play that music too and, gosh sorry. You have no idea who I’m talking about.”

He chuckled softly “I don’t but if they’re anything like Iron Maiden, or AC/DC… then yeah, we play that music.”

There was a brief silence between the two of you. Not knowing what to say and not sound too straightforward. The words kept on getting stuck in your throat and you could do was fidget with your fingers.

“You know, we should hang out sometime…if you want of course.” He attempted to make it sound as something casual when in reality he felt butterflies in his stomach.

“Yeah, that sounds great.” You responded.

With a snap of his fingers he patted down the pockets of his jeans, in search of a pen. Once he found one he grabbed a napkin and wrote his phone number as well as his name.

Handing it to you he said, “my name is Eddie by the way.”

You grabbed it and felt a smile growing on your face. “Okay, Eddie, I’ll call you later.” You folded it neatly and placed it in your pocket. As much as you wanted to keep talking with him, you had to help your band members.

With a small wave of your hand you walked away but you could still feel Eddie’s eyes on you. Causing a small blush to form on your face again, you couldn’t wait to get home and call him.

🏷: @hellomyweirdos @lubsana @satsuri3su @n39ro-chann @kenzi-woycehoski

[timbertumbr]

Zoo Date (LMK X Reader)

Redson-

You had finally convinced Redson to go to the zoo with you. He was somewhat amused when looking at the various animals, that was until you got to the reptile house where they were holding a special event.

They brought out lots of safe reptiles of all kinds, from turtles to lizards to snakes, all being carefully monitored by the loving staff since some people tend to handle the reptiles not so kindly. They even had a place to wash your hands with soap and water so if you wanted to pet a snake after a bit, you could without hurting the bab!

"Awww, Redson! Look at all the boop noodles!" You coo as you extend a hand towards a snake. It flicks its tongue a few times before headbutting your hand which makes you so happy. 

Redson smiled, happy to see you were having fun while he looked at the various other reptiles within their enclosures that weren't so safe to people, like snapping turtles, poisonous snakes and a komodo dragon. (He low key wanted to pet the komodo dragon.)

While you were distracted by the reptiles along with everyone else, a few reptiles saw Redson and saw that he produced the most heat in the entire room. They not so sneakily moved to him, a snake and lizard climbing his legs while a turtle slowly made their way over to him.

He looked down at the animals in confusion, why were they climbing on him? A staff member soon noticed the sneaky reptiles and informed everyone to watch their step as they made their way towards Redson while holding a tiny snake.

"I'm so sorry about them, I have no idea why-" The tiny snake extends itself from the staff's hand and flicks its tongue at him before moving toward him. He extends a hand and lets the snake curl around his hand. 

"Its fine. Besides, I think I know why they like me so much," Redson responds, turning his hand as the snake slithered along it. The staff blinks and realizes how warm the room is when standing by Redson. Oooooooh-

"Say, do you think you can help with the reptiles today? We'll make sure they don't hurt you and you'll be compensated for your help," Redson thinks it over while the snake made eye contact with him and flicked its tounge. 

"Fine, but I don't need compensation," They blink surprised.

"A-Are you sure? I mean-" 

"I'm positive, besides, I have something else in mind," The staff slowly blinks before leading him back to the table, Redson scooping up the turtle that made it halfway towards him along the way. 

_________________

You had gotten distracted that you could buy food and feed the reptiles so you bought a bunch of food so the majorty of the reptiles could be fed. 

On your way back to the reptiles, you saw a small crowd gather and heard a familiar laugh. When you got closer, you saw Redson covered in snakes with a few lizards, he was still holding the turtle in his arms while several staff stood nearby just in case, it's not everyday they find someone willing to hold this many reptiles at once. 

"FEAR ME, REDSON, THE SON OF THE DEMON BULL KING AND NOW KING OF THE REPTILES! HAHAHAHA!" You blink before laughing your butt off. You approach Redson still giggling. 

"Hey, walking heater, or should I call you king of the reptiles?" You ask with a little bow, placing the food on the table next to you. Redson chuckles. 

"Both apply I suppose, considering they like me so much," He grabs a cup of turtle food after making sure it was food for that reptile and starts feeding the reptile. 

Kids of various ages approached you two, asking if they could feed the reptiles. You happily agreed, asking what reptile they wanted to feed and giving them the appropriate container to the kids while Redson gently moved his body so the reptiles could eat from the containers and so the kids could see the reptiles more clearly. 

A staff nearby grabbed a clipboard and started writing which reptile got fed and which one's didn't. You and Redson glanced at one another and smiled lovingly. This was a day to remember.

Macaque-

He was actually the one to bring you to the zoo after you mentioned how much you loved animals. So he asked for you to wear a blindfold while he brought you to your surprise, you agreed. 

"Are we there yet?" You ask teasingly, Macaque chuckles. 

"Almost," He brings you to the gate of the zoo and stands in front of you, gently taking the blindfold off. 

"Tada~" He makes jazz hands while your eyes adjusted to the sudden light. You gasped lightly when you saw the entrance to the zoo. Macaque smirked slyly, leaning over to you.

"So…? Do you like your surprise?" 

"Like it? I adore it!" You squeal, giving Macaque a hug as a thank you. He smiles and gently pats your head. 

"I knew you would, now come on! The animals aren't going to look at themselves. Well, maybe they are, depends on if they have a mirror or not," You laugh and follow the silly monkey into the zoo. 

You looked at various enclosures, especially your favorite animals while Macaque followed with a soft smile, glad to see you were having fun. 

You eventually make it to the giftshop where you both goofed around. Macaque approached you with a T-rex grabby hand and talked with a silly voice while moving the T-rex mouth.

"Well, well! If it isn't Y/N! I can't believe I'm meeting such a huge celebrity!" You laugh and shake your head amused. 

"Mac, I'm not a celebrity," He smirks and uses his real voice, putting the grabby hand back.

"I know, but in my eyes, you're the star to my world," You flush and giggle.

"You mean the sun?" Macaque shrugs.

"Eh, potato, potahto," He says before looking around the giftshop once again. You smile and do the same, gasping lightly when you saw a monkey plushie that looked just like Macaque. You gently pick it up and examine it, its really soft. 

With a goofy grin on your face, you approach the cash register to pay for it. Macaque noticed this and quickly grabbed some candy before approaching you and giving the cashier the right amount of cash before it even popped up on the screen. You look to Macaque and pout.

"What? This day is for you, starlight, so I'm paying," You huff.

"Fine, but next time I'm paying!" Macaque chuckles.

"Of course," The cashier hands you your bag of stuff, thanking them you leave the gift shop and out of the zoo. Macaque gently takes the bag with his tail.

"Yoink," You laugh as he moves the bag to his side so he can find the candy he got for you (and some for him but shh) when he feels the fuzzy plushie, how didn't he notice this? He gently pulls out the plush and looks at it in confusion.

"Uh, starlight, you do realize you have the real deal right?" You smile gently.

"I know, but I wanted something that reminded me of you just in case you get busy," Macaque blushes lightly before chuckling.

"You realize I can just give you a shadow clone right?" You flush from embarrassment.

"I uh… totally forgot you could do that," Macaque laughs. 

"How could you forget? Shadows are literally my whole thing!" He says amused, you pout, gently taking the plushie and hugging it. You weren't mad, you just wanted to hug the plushie. His laughter dies down and he gives you a gentle smile before patting your head.

"But hey, I appreciate the thought," You smile at him.

"Can we cuddle when we get home?" 

"Of course! Anything for you, starlight."

Want to Request? Please read this before doing so!

[tarosin]

the great adventures of y/n tommy tubbo jack and ranboo - how y/n made friends with everyone

this is an extra to the great adventures series

requested: yes/no

warnings: cursing

tommy

you were actually friends with tommy when he was streaming to a few viewers, and you even watched as his channel grew. eventually he asked you to mod for him, as he knew he could trust you and because had experience being a twitch mod. he was also the reason you began streaming. as for how you met, you were in the same classes as him in highschool, and since you were the ‘quiet’ person in the class, they sat tommy next to you. honestly, you hated him when you first met him and the feeling was mutual. you didn’t want to sit next to the rather loud teenager and he had no one to talk to anymore as his friends were on the other side of the room.

“do you ever talk?”

“heh?”

“i said do you ever talk...do you always do that”

“do what”

“that fucking HeH.”

“are you mocking me simons?”

“noooo why would i do that...”

“it’s y/n.”

“right, yeah, yeah, i totally knew that.”

“great now please leave me alone i’m trying to work.”

“loser.”

“the fuck did you just say?”

“nothing.”

it was that moment tommy decided he was going to make you just like him, and a few years later that’s exactly what he did. by year 11 you and tommy had grown extremely close. the last day of school arrived a lot earlier than expected, everyone was extremely stressed, no one knew what to expect or what was going to happen. you found yourself hanging around with tommy a lot more as you had no idea if you would both be going to the same college, in september you received a text message that made your night:

tommy: college sent out emails telling you if you were accepted go check

*2 minutes later*

tommy: well?

y/n: i got accepted

tommy: me too

y/n: call me right now

tommy: i’m about to stream..have you ever considered streaming?

y/n: absolutely not

tommy: make an account and stream after me i’ll raid you..make me mod you know how people can be

once college started up, you were slightly nervous the two of you would drift away from each other. however this was far from the case, although you both did different subjects and he was only in on wednesdays, the pair of you would hang out together a lot more. he would be in your streams and vice versa, you would either be in his tiktoks, or you would be the one filming them.

“y/n make a tiktok we can be mutuals.”

“please god no.”

you spent so much time at his house either talking about random things, playing whatever game you could find, or streaming. he dragged you to every meet up he went on, allowing you to meet people such as niki, phil, and, wilbur. you didn’t know this, but he would constantly bring you up in conversations with dream, which eventually lead to you joining the smp in october where you would later be able to meet the likes of jack, technoblade and jschlatt. the only person you didn’t seem to see on the server was his other friend tubbo.

ranboo

you had become friends with scott after being his first twitch mod and when he noticed you started streaming, he was extremely supportive, always raiding your stream once he ended his. today you found yourself bickering with scott because he wouldn’t let you in mcc despite the fact you were ‘the best minecraft player.’

“y/n, i watched you die in minecraft 7 times last night within 5 minutes.”

“oh i’m sorry mr perfect, let me in mcc.”

“no.”

“fine i’ll make my own.”

and that’s exactly what you did..well you tried your best.

you started your stream as soon as scott ended and had him call you on discord after explaining to your chat what you were about to do.

“scott final chance let me in mcc, i’ll settle for access to the practice server.”

“fine.”

“REALLY?!”

“absolutely not!”

“fuck you, ill be in it one day!”

you left the call telling chat you didn’t need that negative energy in your life.

you really have scott to thank for you making friends with ranboo, scott made a tweet explaining what you were doing on stream which caught ranboos eye.

Smajor1995: after not making it into mcc again my good friend @y/n has decided to take it upon themselves to make their own on stream!! ill also be in the stream (if they answer my calls) *twitch link*

ranboo joined your stream and was instantly met with you yelling at scott (again) to let you in mcc.

“IM YOUR TWITCH MOD!”

“i will ban you from mcc!”

“you don’t have the nerve... so he left the call this is bullshit watch me land this water bucket clutch down this ravine so we can find axolotls and build an army.”

*you died*

you pulled your hood over your face before sinking down your chair taking a deep breath.

“FUCK!”

you calmly got back up and looked into your camera.

“i was so close, so very close.. HEY CHAT SCOTT SENT ME A LINK TO THE SERVER!”

a few minutes later you were able to get onto the server, only to be kicked less than a minute later. the reason you were banned being ‘i watched you fail the water bucket clutch down a ravine.’

you continued your build on your server and just spent the rest of the stream talking about anything that crossed your mind, that was until you decided to copy ace race. once finished, you looked into your camera and pulled your microphone closer to you.

“so this is race ace, so scott doesn’t sue me, and basically it’s going to be this course, but i’m going to change a random section practice it every day, not tell anyone it changed. of course i’m going to tell my team we have to win, oh fuck i forgot scott was watching my stream..it’s okay he didn’t hear me he’s too busy planning how he can rig the next mcc.”

ranboo found himself enjoying your content and even noticed you in his chat multiple times.

“just a minute chat i’m just sending an important dm to my mods.”

that’s when you noticed chat paused for a minute after you sent a message, it confused you for a minute before realising ranboo made you a vip on his channel and you decided to do the same for him on your channel, from there you added each other on discord. the pair of you made friends extremely quickly, you were constantly part of his streams as you would call him on discord not realising that he was streaming.

“hi y/n, by the way i’m streaming”

“i just wanted to ask if you knew how to break into a house?”

“....why”

“i locked myself out by accident and my parents are asleep come help me.”

“you are in the uk.”

“okay? catch a flight.”

chat honestly loved you and your friendship with ranboo. the pair of you only met a few weeks ago and you were already acting as though you had known each other for years.

jack

you and jack met for the first time on the smp, which would have been fine, however you met during lore and your characters weren’t exactly the best of friends. once lore had ended, everyone said their goodbyes and left the call. a few moments later you received a discord message from jack asking if you were available to call any time soon. since you were back in lockdown, you had plenty of free time. you arranged a time and date a few days later you called jack, where you had your first proper interaction out of character.

“hello jack!!”

“oh hi y/n i just thought it may be a good idea to get to know each other, well you know considering we’re both on the dream smp.”

“yeah, yeah, i understand what you mean.”

the pair of you ended up getting along with each other, it was slightly awkward for the first 5 minutes of the call, but that was expected since you hadn’t really met jack before and were anxious to call him. however, after that the conversation started to flow and you found out the pair of you had a lot in common making it easy to come up with things to talk about. it ended up feeling as though you were catching up with a friend you hadn’t spoken to for a while.

“has anyone told you your accent is really strong.”

“so is yours, y/n, what the fuck is that supposed to mean.”

“it means your accent is strong, duh.”

jack asked if you’d like to stay in call and join him on the smp whilst he streamed, and you gladly accepted the offer as you really didn’t want to do your college work, and you were enjoying your time with him. a few minutes into the stream jack had killed you several times.

“JACK STOP KILLING ME!”

rather than answering you he just sat laughing. he then went on to attempt to mute him microphone, he failed. however he didn’t realise this, so you sat listening to his plan on how he was going to kill you again. this time you were prepared, you sent a message to tommy telling him to log on along with your location. few minutes later tommy was by your side and helped you kill jack several times for revenge.

“Y/N...TOMMY!!”

“you didn’t mute your mic, so i told tommy you were bullying me.”

“im gonna go...BYE JACK, BYE Y/N, ILL SEE YOU SOON!”

“i can’t believe you.”

“hey you’re the one who didn’t turn your mic off.”

“how did you know?”

“i had your stream on my other monitor.”

“ayeee you watch my streams?”

“...i’ve been a sub for 4 months.”

the two of you stayed chatting and playing for another hour. the pair of you were already so close and you had only met each other the other day. this was just the start of your friendship, soon enough you were in a laugh and the stream ends challenge on his stream, however due to lockdown rules this was done over discord leading to you accidentally leaving the call several times.

“and they’re gone again!”

*4 minutes later*

“SORRY JACK IM BACK!”

“stop leaving y/n!”

“oh i’m sorry, let me just go yell at my wifi to stop cutting out!”

a few seconds later you could be heard faintly in the background screaming at your wifi as it would continue to buffer. as soon as restrictions were over one of the first things you decided to do was go to jacks and stream a laugh you lose where there was a punishment if you were responsible for losing the last heart. however everything was apparently hilarious in person as you would constantly laugh, meaning you were responsible for losing the last heart.

“y/n give me your phone.”

“no.”

“you lost let me tweet from your account”

“fine..”

soon enough your fans and friends with your notifications on received this twitter notification

“y/n: jack is so cool and funny he is also really tall i am not”

tubbo

tubbo was actually the last person you met and made friends with, your community were convinced for some reason that you both didn’t like each other and that’s why the pair of you didn’t talk to each other. this was far from the case you were both waiting for the right time, tubbo was an extremely busy teenager and you didn’t want to interrupt him, and tubbo knew you were currently in a stressful position since you had recently joined the dream smp, also you were still meeting people so he didn’t want to stress you out. this doesn’t mean he didn’t want to be your friend, he actually asked tommy since he had been your friend for at least 4 years what would be the best way of getting to know you.

“mate they hated me when we first met, just talk to them or something. you could have met them the last time i went up to visit you, but they ended up not feeling too good and went back to the hotel room.”

“when are you next coming up?”

“how about next week, and i’ll bring y/n, i really don’t understand why you’re nervous tubbo, it’s y/n they wouldn’t hurt a fly..well hmm.”

“see you next week then!”

a week later tommy dragged you to the train station.

“uh tommy where are we going?”

“...on a train.”

“no way, really? oh my god!”

a few hours later you finally got off the train.

“ill go with my dad to check into the hotel room, do you want to come with us or?”

“i think i’ll go for a walk and stretch my legs.”

“right okay, meet you at the beach later”

you spent a few minutes walking around the beach picking up any rocks and shells that caught your eye, little did you know it would result in you meeting tubbo. once you finished putting your new collection in your pockets you noticed a small crowd of people walk up to someone asking for pictures assuming it was tommy you walked over to the boy, it wasn’t tommy it was in fact tubbo. at first you stayed silent not wanting to really cause attention to yourself. you only spoke up when some people started to make inappropriate comments towards him.

“oh sorry to be a pain guys me and tubbo have plans with tommy in a few minutes, we should go so we’re not late. bye guys.”

you smiled and waved as they walked away. you looked over to tubbo, you could tell he was still pretty anxious about what just happened and honestly if you was in his position, you would react the same way.

“we should probably move from here incase they come back and see you’re still here, are you okay?”

“im feeling better now it’s over..thank you”

“oh it’s no problem i’m, y/n btw.”

“wait you and tommy were still meant to be on the train.”

“the train was actually on time, tommy went to check into the hotel i wanted to stretch my legs, i also wanted to collect some rocks.”

“did you collect enough or did you want more?”

“im not going to say no if you wanna go collect some with me.”

the pair of you walked around keeping each other close incase the people from before returned. half an hour later, the pair of you sat on a bench close to the beach so you could show tubbo everything you decided to pick up, he ended up keeping a rock he liked to have as a memory. tubbo wrapped an arm around you as it was getting cold whilst you watched the sunset.

“tubbo i think tommy forgot about me.”

“you can spend the night at mine, i’ll send him a message to let him know.”

“are you sure?”

“of course!”

“this has to be the most unsafe thing either of us will ever do, we hardly know each other and now i’m staying at yours.”

tommy sent you a message explaining that he didn’t forget, there was a problem at the other hotel and they had to go find another one, but you’ll be fine to stay at tubbos for the night. the pair of you spent the entire night learning as much as you can about the other person. it had only been an evening but you already knew the pair of you would be great friends.

taglist:

@dumb-chaotic-bi-energy @uselesssapphickitten @l0ver0fj0y @etheriaaly @xx-smiley-xx @hawarun @kylobensgirl @cawcaw-pretty-thing @reverse-iak @renleicrashed @c1loudee

[you-are-my-joy]

The Return of an Empress | 07

Title: The Return of an Empress

Pairing: OT7 x Reader

Genre: Isekai, Angst, Romance, Fluff, Smut (Later on), Slow burn

Characters: Empress!Reader, Advisor!Jin, Advisor!Yoongi, General!Hoseok, Advisor!Namjoon, Assassin!Jimin, Knight!Taehyung, Knight!Jungkook

Word count: ~9k

Summary: After one fateful night, you find yourself transmigrated into your favorite novel as the Empress that shares the same name as you. As a bookworm, most would think you’d be happy, but how could you be happy when the Empress you’ve become is expected to be killed in three months. The only thing on your mind now is to learn how to survive.

Warning: May contain depictions of violence and mentions of abuse throughout the story.

Masterlist 

<< previous chapter  | ♡ |  next chapter >>

In the 380th imperial year, on June 9th, two days after the nobles were caught red-handed and thus apprehended, was the day of the largest massacre of high nobility in the history of the empire. 

At 8 am in the morning, a total of 18 of some of the most well-known and influential nobles of the empire were executed by the city plaza.

With tired steps, you trudge inside your bedroom, immediately falling onto the comfort of your bed. You let out an exasperated sigh, tossing your head back until it rests on a nearby pillow. Despite getting rid of the duke and the rest of the nobles, you can’t help but still feel a sense of unease and tension. Would the original empress make the same decision? You don’t know the answer, but what you do know, is that you’ll most likely be haunted by the cries and screams of those who lost their lives today for the rest of your life.

It’s one thing to actually read of the graphic murders and deaths that occurred in the novel, it’s a whole different story when you actually experience and see first hand how gruesome the public executions truly were. Back in your world, you’ve never witnessed anyone’s death before, as it was the 21st century, public executions were prohibited decades ago. But suddenly you had to endure an entire morning witnessing the horrifying deaths of 18 people as their heads detached from their body, a large pool of blood staining the once clean pavement. 

You weren’t keen on torturing people, so you were merciful in the sense that you chose to execute them through a beheading, with a fresh and sharpened axe to be exact. In this world, beheadings, although gruesome and bloody, were seen as the most ‘humane’ form of execution as the deed would be done in one swift motion, a painless execution to some extent. 

You remember hearing many of the nobles and commoners who attended the public executions express their disappointment at your choice, thinking you were being much too kind considering the heinous crime they committed. Despite their disappointment, they were slightly relieved over your choice, many were still skeptical over the empress’s supposed changed behavior, but seeing you wince and grimace at each beheading finally convinced them otherwise. 

News spread like wildfire around the empire about what had occurred at the party, news articles being published nearly a day later. The most popular topic of course being the Grand Duke himself drugging the empress, and so countless of nobles all around the empire scurried to watch the spectacle. Thus, the grand finale of the execution came when former Grand Duke, Lee Joong-Gu finally stepped forward. 

Many people had looked at him in disgust, throwing rotten fruits and vegetables his way and cursed out his name. The entire time, he wore a solemn expression as he kneels down without complaint unlike the rest of the criminals who wailed pathetically until their last breath. 

You remember that in the midst of it all, he had looked up at you, your eyes instantly locking with one another, and you swear from where you stood, you saw a hint of remorse and guilt in his face. Your mind reeling as he tearfully mouths ‘I’m sorry’ to you, but before you could even react any further, the axe gets raised in the air and in the next second is swung down with much force. His head rolling down the pavement as the cheers of the crowd rang out excitedly at the gruesome sight. 

However, the cheers seem to fade from your ears as all you can focus on is the dukes rolling head. And somehow it stops, facing in your direction, empty eyes that were once so full of life, ingraining themselves in your memory forever. You blink away the tears forming in your eyes, confused as to why your body was reacting like this. You flinch as you stare at his body slumped over, but your view gets blocked when Jungkook steps in front of you.

The entire morning, Jungkook and Taehyung have been right beside you, acting as your escorts as you had requested. Always attempting to block your view when they noticed your grim and disgusted expressions at each beheading. Jin and Namjoon were also present, but they stood a few meters away from you, ensuring that the executions ran as quickly and smoothly as possible. Hoseok was present as well, but as the general, he was in charge of security and surveying the city plaza, prioritizing your safety over everything else.

The only ones who hadn’t shown up were Yoongi and Jimin. Yoongi, you had expected, though you had a glimmer of hope that he would make an appearance, but Jimin? You thought he would come to greet you after the party, but you haven’t seen him since he left you by the ballroom doors. You were extremely worried, thinking something bad had happened to him, but Namjoon reassured you that he was fine as he had ran into him the other day. He further informs you that Jimin wasn’t feeling good, which explains his sudden absence. Though you remained unconvinced, you choose to give Jimin his needed space, thinking it would be better for him to come to you when he was ready.

When the executions were over you stood up from your seat, ready to leave the area in a hurry as the overwhelming stench of blood nearly made you puke on the spot. But suddenly you heard loud cheers as everyone directed their attention to you, “All Hail Empress Y/n!” many of them yelled out, grinning at you as they praised your actions. 

You hadn’t expected to be well received so quickly, since less than a week ago, some of these same people trembled in fear over your presence. You send them a charming smile to express your gratitude, but this only seemed to ignite something in them as they seemingly cheered your name even more.

Despite the cheering, all you wanted to do was go back to the palace and rest. So here you are, groaning as you lay flat on the spacious bed. You feel the bed dip slightly to your left, prompting you to open your eyes to see Jungkook looking down at you with a small smile. “How are you feeling?” he reaches his hand out to gently brush a strand of hair in front of your face. 

“Absolutely exhausted,” you let out a groan, closing your eyes once more. And you weren’t only talking about the past few days. It seemed that you were never truly able to catch a break the moment you arrived in this world. You can’t even imagine the amount of work the past empress had to endure. 

Taehyung, having found comfort in your couch situated in the middle of your grand bedroom, hums at that, “Mentally or physically exhausted?”

You scoff before letting out a yawn, “Both.” 

Jungkook nods as he moves his hand away from your face to lazily trace shapes on the palm of your hand, “I'm sorry to hear that your majesty,” he replies, sending you a pitiful look, as he notices traces of stress and exhaustion written on your face.

Still with your eyes closed, you rest for a moment, “It’s fine. This is my duty as the empress.”

Jungkook nods, “I understand, but before you’re an empress, you’re a human. You need to rest, your majesty,” he says, concern laced in his voice as he continues tracing odd shapes on your palm. 

Though after a while, you’ve come to the realization that rather than shapes, he was actually tracing your name on your skin.

You open your eyes to stare at Jungkook who was too distracted writing your name to pay attention to your gaze. You just stare when a sudden thought crosses your mind, “Hey Jungkook, can you try calling me by my name?”

Jungkook seems to freeze in his spot, his hand stopping right above yours as he stares at you with wide eyes, “Pardon?” this seems to gain Taehyung's attention as well when you see him from the corner of your eye snap his head instantly in your direction.

You shrug, sitting straight up now facing him. Both your faces nearly inches apart that Jungkook instantly blushes and shifts a bit further away from you to calm his racing heart, though you take that gesture as discomfort instead, “What’s wrong? You don’t want to?”

Jungkook stutters as he waves his arms in front of his face in an ‘X’ shape motion, “N-No, It’s not that I don't want to… but why are you suddenly asking that of me?” Both Jungkook and Taehyung stare at you in a mixture of confusion and interest since they haven’t addressed the empress by her name in nearly 3 years. Not after she had scolded the both of them until they complied to her wishes. 

“I figured we might as well go back to our old ways you know?” you suggest, but after taking in their shocked reactions you quickly add, “Of course if you’re uncomfortable with my request then I don’t want to force you to do anything. But I do give you permission to call me by my name when it’s just us.”

Jungkook turns his head to Taehyung as they look at each other wearily, as if doubting your words and thinking this was all just one big test. He hesitantly turns back to you, “Is that truly alright?” he asks while fidgeting nervously with his hand. 

“Of course it is,” you smile reassuringly, your eyes staring at him in anticipation, “will you?” You ask, you try to hide your excitement in order to not pressure him, but who were you kidding, it’s practically written on your face.

Jungkook’s lips curve upward slightly as he couldn’t deny your request, especially when your golden eyes shined brightly at him, “Yes…. Y/n…” though he had said it in a shy whisper, you still heard him loud and clear. You didn’t think hearing your name come out of his mouth would affect you so much but you couldn’t stop yourself from smiling widely. It’s times like these that you’re extremely grateful for sharing the same name as the old empress. 

“Woah that’s not fair,” you turn your head to find Taehyung with his arms crossed, playfully glaring at you both, “why does he get special treatment and I don't?” 

You chuckle as Taehyung's pout reminds you of a child who got their toy taken away and wants it back. Your amusement grows even more as you sit back and watch Jungkook be equally as childish when he sticks his tongue out at the older knight. And Taehyung, the ever mature knight, mimics his actions in return. 

You grin at the older knight, wanting nothing more than to ruffle his hair, “this applies to you as well Taehyung.” 

Taehyung finally turns to you after seemingly having a contest with Jungkook on who can contort their face in a mocking way better, “thank you… Y/n,” he replies softly with a gentle smile now on his face. 

They’ll admit, addressing you by your name sounded strange coming out their mouth, but they couldn’t deny the nostalgic and warm feeling in their chest when they finally did. And your smile definitely brightened their day even more.

“Y/n.” you hear Jungkook call out softly, though he flinches when he gains your attention. 

You furrow your eyes in confusion at his odd reaction, “Yes?”

You notice his cheeks glow with a tint of red, “Sorry, it’s nothing. I just wanted to say your name in front of you,” the ending of his sentence becoming a soft whisper as he was embarrassed to have been caught by you. But he should’ve known better than to believe your ears wouldn’t catch him. 

You have to mentally slap yourself to stay calm and composed as to not squeal in delight to embarrass him further. So to spare him, you fight back a giggle as you beam back at him, “you’re more than welcome to call me by my name anytime you want Jungkook.” Gaining a wide smile from him in return.

“Y/n?” Taehyung suddenly calls out, causing you to face him now. Though he chuckles at your raised brow, “I’m not just calling out your name, I genuinely have a question.” You chuckle right back, nodding your head, gesturing to him to ask his question. “Are you still feeling sick?” You understand he wasn’t referring to earlier, rather he was talking about your symptoms from withdrawal. 

Thankfully after properly taking medication daily or as suggested by the royal physician, you’ve been experiencing a lot less symptoms as the days go by. Joy reminding and ensuring that you actually took them definitely helped with the process. 

You nod sending him a soft smile, “no, I’ve been feeling a lot better nowadays. Though, I’ll admit I kind of want to throw up. But I’m pretty sure the main perpetrator to that is the blood.” Despite having left the plaza awhile ago, you seemingly couldn’t get rid of the stench of blood in your nose. Even just the thought of it makes you involuntarily gag. 

Jungkook softly chuckles, “from being in countless battles, you’d think you’d get used to the sight of blood,” he jokes with a teasing glint in his eyes as he grew bold enough to hold your hand after tracing on it for so long.

You stare down at your joined hands, his large ones nearly covering yours completely. You feel him squeeze your hand lightly prompting you to look up at his mischievous grin as he caught you staring. You playfully roll your eyes, “it’s been awhile, alright, I forgot,” you grumble.

Though Taehyung hums at that as leans his head back on the soft cushions of the couch, “you seem to be using that excuse quite often,” he mutters, not looking you in the eye, but instead choosing to stare out your window.

At his statement, you gulp nervously. You immediately take note from the corner of your eyes the prying look of Jungkook as his hold on your hand seems to tighten. 

But before you could come up with yet another excuse, you hear a knock at your door. Someone was definitely looking out for you as you had no idea how to respond without you being even more suspicious than before. 

You sit up straight, briefly glancing at your knights who refuse to look you in the eye before calling out, “come in.” You quickly let go of Jungkook’s hand causing the boy to snap his head in your direction before his shoulders seemingly drop. Though he doesn’t say anything more as the doors to your bedroom open wide.

Soon enough, the double doors reveal Hoseok, Namjoon and Jin. They bow out of respect before briefly making eye contact with Jungkook and Taehyung, to which they send a curt nod, acknowledging each other’s presence.  

For some reason, you felt a shift in the air as the three men stepped into the room. As if they were... hostile? But that doesn’t make sense, you question. Shouldn't they be on good terms with each other? You thought, but you were so wrong when you could feel the tension around you. Something unspoken between the five males. 

You understand that you haven’t known these men for long, but even you could tell that there was a sudden shift in their relationship. You saw it in the ballroom and now your suspicions are confirmed when you observe their body language in front of you.

After many moments of silence, Namjoon finally turns his attention to you, “more of those journalists keep requesting for your time your majesty,” he reports, only now do you notice his tired eyes. He must’ve been dealing with those journalists since he got back, and from what you know, they’re almost as ruthless as those in high society. 

But before you could respond, you hear Taehyung let out an annoyed groan from where he sat, “They bombarded her all throughout the morning, can’t they give her a break?” he scowls when turning his head out the window as he caught a glimpse of those pesky reporters from the border of the palace walls. Their cameras steadily aimed at the palace, hoping to capture a lucky shot of the empress. 

“It’s alright, I can handle them,” you reply, having already mentally and physically prepared yourself for this since you knew this would be a hot topic in the empire. A topic that the reporters wouldn’t let go of until they were satisfied. But just as you were about to stand from the comfort of your bed, you feel a hand gently rest on your shoulder, prompting you to turn and find Jungkook staring at you in concern. 

“Y/n, you need to rest,” Jungkook says softly, “you truly did look sick early, maybe it's from withdrawals or maybe it's from the blood, who knows, but I think it’s best you rest for the day.” You knew it would be hard to go against Jungkook, especially when he had that determined look in his eyes. Though that wasn’t what everyone else was thinking as his statement piqued their interest. 

“Y/n?” Jin questions loudly. He had thought he was hearing things, but by the looks on Namjoons and Hoseok's faces, he indeed did hear correctly. Jungkook had addressed you by your name. 

The boy blushes, not having realized he had blurted out your name in front of them. But before he could explain himself, Taehyung beat him to it.

“Y/n gave us permission to call her by her name,” he boasts with his head held high as if he was bragging about some great achievement he got. Which in a way, it kind of was. 

Hoseok raises his brow as he turns to look at you now, “may I know why?”

You clear your throat, “well, when I got rid of the alcohol and drugs in my system, I wanted to make things right and go back to how they were before. So I gave them permission to address me by my name like old times,” you reply confidently, having already prepared an answer for this question long ago. 

Though after some time, Hoseok’s blank face shifts, “I see,” he replies with a smile, but you knew better than to trust that, you knew hidden in that expression was a man that still had doubts despite witnessing the downfall of the nobles before his own eyes. You had thought Namjoon would be the one you needed to be careful of, but it seems you were wrong in that sense as you become anxious at Hoseok’s judging stare. 

Jin clears his throat, an attempt to get rid of the growing tension in the room, “we also came to discuss plans regarding the property of the nobles as well as what's to come with their families and who would be the ones to take their positions,” he pauses before nodding his head in Hoseok’s direction, “we brought along Hoseok in case military services were needed.”

You nod, though you couldn’t help but wonder, “Where’s Yoongi?” 

Jin stills for a moment before tilting his head, visibly confused from your question, “why are you suddenly asking for him?”

Now it’s your turn to be confused as you furrow your eyebrows, “Because he’s also one of my advisors,” you answer as if it was obvious. 

As if sensing your confusion, Namjoon responds, “pardon our rudeness, your majesty. You just don’t normally call on him for these types of things.”

Now you’re even more confused than before, “I don’t?”

Namjoon nods his head in confirmation, “I believe it’s because he’s not from nobility, that it may hinder and influence his judgment on these types of cases,” he explains in the nicest way possible. 

Dumbfounded, you remain seated on your bed, “I see,” is all you could utter. You knew that out of the 8 of you, the only ones who came from nobility were Namjoon, Jin, and Hoseok. Their families were one of the few nobles who secretly opposed the former emperor, which made it easy for the main character to gain their support in the rebellion. There’s no doubt that Hoseok’s military family, Namjoon’s intelligence, and Jin’s abundant wealth, had an immense influence on the success of the rebellion. 

Of course that’s not to say that the others are any less important. Jungkook and Taehyung were among the best of the best in terms of strength and fighting, not to mention Jimin being an ace when it came to agility and swiftness. They had the skills to go against opponents 10 times their size, and yet somehow win. The three were known to be the best fighters in the empire, after the empress herself of course. Afterall, they learned everything they knew from her. 

Yoongi on the other hand, proved himself to be worthy to stand by the empress’s side as an advisor due to the fact that when it came to forming tactics, he always had the perfect plan to go along with every scenario. Much of the rebellion's success was derived from the various attack plans that Yoongi came up with.

He also knows how to handle her the best out of them all. He knows how to approach her when she gets mad or upset. And he is one of the few people who isn’t afraid to go against her if he needs to, only with her and the empire’s best intentions in his mind. 

But when it came to politics, Yoongi had a harder time due to the fact that he was just a village boy who didn’t receive the same amount of education as Namjoon or Jin. Granted neither did Y/n, having been born from the same village, but she was so determined to become the empress that she worked strenuously day in and day out in order to fit the role. Having Namjoon as her teacher definitely helped the process run smoothly. 

Sure Yoongi isn’t as book smart as Namjoon, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t smart at all. You know that despite things being said about him, his words and inputs at national council meetings have proven to be of great help to the empress and the empire in the past. 

And so without another word, you stand up from your bed with a newfound determination. 

Jungkook and Taehyung eye you in concern. “Y/n?” Jungkook asks, reaching out to hold your hand, causing you to stop in your tracks. 

“I’m going to go and personally find Yoongi. Regardless of our differences, he’s still my advisor, and his presence is just as important as every single one of you.” You feel Jungkook loosen his grip on you, allowing you to slip away from his grasp. 

“Shall we escort you there?” Jungkook asks tentatively, while Taehyung had already stood up, prepared to follow you on your command. 

But instead, you shake your head, “Considering what transpired last time, I don’t think it’d be wise to bring either one of you two along,” Jungkook rubs the back of his neck while Taehyung turns away as they’re both suddenly reminded of the way they had behaved towards Yoongi. Although they were opposed to the idea of you going alone, they couldn’t argue with your statement, since even they don’t know how they would react if they were in each other's presence again. 

“I’ll accompany her majesty,” Hoseok suddenly speaks up with a raised hand, resulting in everyone turning their heads in his direction, “I think it should only be fair after all,” he pouts, lowering his hand to cross both his arms across his chest. 

Namjoon raises a brow at his claim, “Fair?”

Hoseok nods as he accusingly points at every man in the room other than himself, “Every single one of you have spent more time with her than me, that's why I think it’s only fair if I escort her,” he declares with a puff of his chest. 

Taehyung scoffs at him, “Can you blame us? We’re her escorts, of course we’re going to spend more time with her,” he fights back a roll of his eyes due to Hoseok being of a higher rank than him. 

“Exactly, so I hope you don’t mind me stealing your ‘Y/n’ for the time being,” and before you could even utter a word, Hoseok strides towards you, reaching for your arm and practically begins dragging you out the room, “see you boys later!” 

Jin shakes his head disapprovingly as he watches Hoseok roughly pull you, “would you be more careful with her majesty!” 

Hoseok scoffs, “She’s not weak,” he responds as he turns around abruptly, your chest nearly colliding with his if it weren’t for his arms steadying you. 

“I agree, but she’s also not a ragdoll that you could just push around as you please,” Jin snaps back at him, eyes narrowing at the grip on your arm.

Namjoon nods his head at this, “Indeed. Be more gentle Hoseok,” he warns sternly as he shifts his body towards the both of you intimidatingly. 

And you don’t even need to turn around to know Jungkook and Taehyung were both shooting daggers at the general. 

Hoseok sighs and finally lets go of you with his arms raised above his head in defeat, “alright alright I get it. I’ll keep my hands to myself.” Though the men in the room only stare at him with unconvinced expressions as he smiles innocently right back.

You stifle a laugh at their reactions and begin to turn to leave, “we’ll be leaving then,” at this you turn to stare at each one of them, “while I’m gone. Behave.”

Taehyung scoffs, crossing his arms as he plops back down on your couch, “We’re not children Y/n.” But his pout tells you otherwise.

The corners of your lips quirk upward in amusement, “could’ve fooled me.”

He turns to you with an offended expression, mouth wide open and before he could give you a piece of his mind, you scurry out the door with Hoseok tailing right behind you. 

“Y/n!” You hear Taehyung’s voice yells out as he appears by the doorway in a matter of seconds. 

You turn around and almost laugh at his dumbfounded expression. Though, you nearly trip over your own two feet if it weren’t for Hoseok skillfully reaching out and steadying you. You quickly thank him before looking back towards your door to now find the rest of the men staring back at you. 

“We’ll set up a proper meeting tomorrow! See you boys then!” You call out before you’re reaching for Hoseok’s hand. He widens his eyes for a moment staring down at your joined hands before he feels you pull on him in the direction you were running to. 

You could still hear their protests coming from your bedroom as both you and Hoseok run away. But Hoseok can’t help but be more focused on your angelic laughter over everything else. 

“So what did the general want to talk to me about so badly that he wanted us to be alone?” you say finally after creating a fair enough distance from your bedroom.

From the corner of your eye, you see him smirk, “What makes her majesty think I had ulterior motives?” he asks innocently, his pace matching with yours as you both walk down the quiet halls.

You shake your head with a smile, “because you’re Hoseok,” you reply with a teasing glint in your eye. 

Hoseok lets out an offended noise as he dramatically brings his hand to his chest, “That hurts your majesty,” he pouts, “couldn’t I have just wanted to spend some time with you?”

You laugh at this, “Sure, but you and I both know that that’s not the case,” your mouth forming a smile, an attempt to show him you meant no harm. 

Hoseok finally lets the innocent facade fall as a smirk begins to form on his face, “Our empress sure has a sharp mind,” you hum in reply, prompting him to continue speaking,  “you’re right, I did want to talk to you.”

Though after some time walking in silence, he speaks up again, “But I had nothing in particular to talk to you about, I just wanted to see for myself whether you had truly changed or not,” he responds bluntly. 

“Your verdict?” you question with your arms behind your back, a carefree aura surrounding you. 

“Hard to tell for now,” he teases with a wink in your direction, “however, something tells me it won’t be long before I give you my answer your majesty.”

“Well let’s hope it’s an answer we both will like,” a wide optimistic grin now on your face.

Hoseok stares down at you, giving you a small smile in return, “Yes, let’s hope.” 

You two don’t speak for a while, though you can’t say it was awkward. There was a comfortable air between the two of you that you actually didn’t mind walking together in silence. You took this moment to look around the scenery, admiring the window view as you don’t really have much time to do that since Taehyung, Jungkook and even Jimin would often preoccupy your attention, not that you were complaining about their company, you rather enjoyed talking to them. But you can’t help but be grateful for this moment to yourself. So for the time being, you just look out the window, little did you know, Hoseok was staring right at you. 

Hoseok couldn’t help but admire the way the sunlight glows on your skin as if you were an ethereal being. Even the slight quirk of your lips mesmerizes him as he watches you bask in the sunlight. A picture perfect moment that he desperately tries to ingrain in his mind. 

“You know, you’re more than welcome to address me by my name as well Hoseok,” you suddenly speak out, turning your head causing the male to widen his eyes momentarily at your abrupt attention. 

But Hoseok’s eyes soften, giving you a small smile before turning his head straight in front of him yet again, “I’ll keep that in mind... thank you.” 

Neither of you speak again after that, just enjoying each other's company in silence. And after everything that you’ve been through, you didn’t realize that this was exactly what you needed. 

“Hey Yoongs”

The man hums, his eyes closed as he lays comfortably against the grass right beside Y/n.

“You’ll be with me forever right?” the young girl speaks up after some time.

At this, Yoongi opens his eyes as he stares at the far away look in her eyes, “Of course Y/n, where else would I go?” he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, “why do you ask?”

She shrugs looking straight up at the passing clouds, “just making sure,” the wind softly breezing against her hair.

Yoongi nervously laughs as he turns away from her, “Sorry, but it’s gonna take a lot more for you to get rid of me,” Y/n chuckles at this causing the corners of his lips to curve upward at the sound. “Unless I got it all wrong. You’re not trying to run away from me once you become empress are you?” he questions with a teasing tone. Though he had a smile on his face, he couldn’t deny the feeling of anxiety at the possibility of her leaving him.

She scoffs before turning away, “Of course not, what would I do without you nagging me all the time, you’re practically my brother at this point.”

Yoongi feels a pang go across his heart as he faces away from her, “... right… you just see me as a brother huh,” he mumbles, more so to himself but she could still slightly hear him.

She tilts her head in his direction, “hm?”

Though he just shakes his head, “Nevermind,” now sporting a more cheerful expression as he nudges her shoulder playfully, “so suddenly I’m your brother huh?”

She nods her head, turning away from him, focusing her attention back to the sky, “Of course you are, what else would you be?” she genuinely asks.

Yoongi stills for a moment before responding with a long sigh, “Nothing,” he pauses, watching the clouds pass by both him and her as they lay on the grass in peace, “absolutely nothing.”

“Her majesty told me about it and left the job to me,” Jin responds in a tired voice as he lets out a sigh. If he had known accepting the empress’s orders would lead to this, he would’ve never done so in the first place. Because not only does he need to deal with a pile of work, but also a very pissed off Yoongi. 

“Why would she give you all the work and not me?” Yoongi asks, tone slightly offended and irritated. 

“I don’t know Yoongi, why don’t you just ask her yourself,” Jin replies tiredly as he massages his temple at his growing headache. It’s not that he wanted to get rid of Yoongi, but because he himself couldn’t provide him an answer to his question. He too couldn't understand why Y/n would give him all the work instead of him, frankly he wishes she would divide up the work evenly but alas, that doesn’t seem to be the case as every inch of his desk is nearly covered in piles of documents. 

Yoongi lets out a huff of air before standing abruptly. Jin stares at him and widens his eyes when he notices that he’s about to leave. Nervously he stands from his seat as well, “Where are you going?”

“I’m going to ask her myself,” Yoongi replies as if it was the most obvious answer, his hand reaching for the door handle.

Jin gasps, “I wasn’t being serious!” he moves around his desk to grab hold of the advisor.

But Yoongi shakes his head, stepping back from his reach, “I know you weren’t, but you’re right. If I want change to happen, I need to go to her myself,” he watches concern wash over the older male before placing a hand on his shoulder, “don’t worry, I won’t lose my cool,” he says in an attempt to reassure him.

Though both Yoongi and Jin knew he was lying. He was just telling him what he wanted to hear. Jin wanted to stop him, but in the end, he lets it go since he knows that once Yoongi’s got his mind set on something, it was nearly impossible to get him out of it, ”fine, but I don’t want to hear about you getting sent to the dungeons again Yoongi.”

Though Yoongi only chuckles, “I won’t get angry, don’t stress about.”

And boy was he wrong, because it hasn’t even been 10 minutes that he walked into her office until hell broke loose. 

“Just let them handle it Yoongi, why are you so upset, I’ve given you plenty of work before,” she barks angrily.

“I’m upset, because you never give me the same amount of work as them!” He snaps back at her, tone equally as harsh. 

She nearly growls at his attitude, “Would you relax Yoongi, it’s just pieces of paper! If I had known you’d get so fucking irritated over it I would’ve sent the entire pile to you if that’s what you really wanted!”

That’s not what he wanted. He wanted her attention, her trust, he wanted to be the first person she sought out when she needed help.

He wanted her. 

“Y/n-” he gets interrupted when Y/n grabs a pile of documents and throws it in the air in front of him. He watches as the pieces of paper float down everywhere in the room, making it look as if a tornado wrecked havoc in the area. 

“Here! Just do it all for all I care, they’re just damn pieces of papers anyway,” Y/n growls tiredly. Yoongi could not have come at the worst time. Not only did she have to deal with a raging headache, but now her own advisor was yelling in her face far too early in the morning for it to be tolerable. 

She could feel her head ringing at the volume of his voice, but when she told him to leave as she wasn’t in the best mood to argue, he kept refusing stubbornly, insisting she listen to his complaints because apparently what he needed to say was so important to go against her orders. And so when she realized his important reasoning was because he was upset over his workload, her anger only rose from there. 

With her already sour mood, him snapping back at her surely didn’t help his case either.

“I have way too much shit to deal with right now, don’t add onto it Yoongi,” she spats loudly, the piles of paper covering nearly the entirety of the floor around them. 

His shoulder drops, finally coming to terms with everything as he stared into the once cheerful eyes narrow dangerously into tiny slits.

The girl before him, was never and will never be his. 

For the past few days, Yoongi had been actively avoiding not only you, but everyone else. No matter how hard they tried, neither Namjoon or Jin could reach out to him. It was almost as if Yoongi somehow knew just when and where everyone would be to successfully avoid them. 

In the beginning of the empresses reign, no one took him seriously because he wasn’t from noble descent like Namjoon and Jin. when they would attend national council meetings, no one spoke directly to him as if his previous status of a commoner was still intact. And so he had to put on this whole ruthless persona for people to show an ounce of respect for him. He had to exert more effort to prove to everyone that he was equally as worthy as the other two advisors. That he was capable of doing the same amount of work, even if he didn't receive the same strenuous education as them.

And because of the comparison between him and the other two advisors, insecurities were born and shattered his mind. 

So seeing you put your trust in Jin and Namjoon hurt him a lot more than he would like to admit. The fact that they both knew and yet you hadn’t brought it up with him once was like a shot to his heart. 

And yet throughout his time spent alone, Taehyung's voice echoes in his mind.

“When was the last time you ever treated her as one of her advisors? When have you ever truly cared for her majesty?”

He groans out of frustration at the entire situation. Because as much as he hated to admit it, he was right. When was the last time he treated her with respect. Even though the rest of the boys joined the rebellion with him, never once did they blatantly disrespect the empress the way he did. 

And with the current situation, he doesn’t even think he deserves his position of advisor anymore. Never in his life did he imagine that someone was drugging the empress. All this time, he’s been bitterly blaming the empress about the current condition of the empire when in reality, it wasn’t even her fault. He pushed her away when she needed him the most. When she was suffering he unknowingly made things worse. And because of that, he doesn’t even know if he has the courage to face the empress ever again. 

Yoongi freezes when he hears a tentative knock at his door. Slowly, he raises his head from his hands before responding in a loud tired voice, “who is it?” ready to curse out the person on the other side of the door.

“It’s me hyung.” 

Yoongi widens his eyes at the familiar voice that he can’t help but rise from his seat. He carefully walks over and finally opens the door to reveal Jimin’s figure standing before him. For a moment, the two men stand opposite of each other in silence. 

“I need to talk to you,” Jimin finally says. Yoongi nods and steps aside for him to enter, still in complete disbelief that he wanted to speak to him after everything that’s been said between the two in the past month.

As if reading his mind, Jimin turns to him with an uncertain smile, “You’re probably wondering why I'm here,” Yoongi only nods, unable to produce words at this point. Jimin stops at the center of his office before continuing, “I know we’re going through a rough patch right now, but at the end of the day, you’re still someone that I deeply care about. You’re my brother and I’m just worried about how you’re taking the situation,” he explains with a nervous expression. 

Yoongi’s eyes soften, of course they weren’t on good terms at the moment, but Jimin was right, at the end of the day, they’re brothers. He could never truly hate or get mad at him, or any of them for that matter unless they truly betrayed him. 

Jimin wasn’t certain this would be a good idea, unsure how the older male would react to his presence. And so when he hears Yoongi let out a chuckle, although not so enthusiastically, that alone causes Jimin to visibly relax.

Just then, Yoongi lets out a long sigh, “I’ll be honest, I feel like shit. But I know she’s probably going through it way harder than I am,” he finally replies as he rolls his neck.

Jimin nods, “I’m sure she is,” he mutters looking away.

Though Yoongi raises a brow, Jimim’s tone almost hinting at the fact that he doesn’t know about your feelings which was surprising to Yoongi since he knows how close he is to you. At that realization he furrowed his brows, “you haven’t spoken to her, have you?”

Jimin seems to stiffen at his claim, he contemplated lying but knew the older male would see right through him anyway, and so he just shakes his head, “no I haven’t.”

“Why not?”

Jimin lets out a low chuckle, “I wasn’t able to keep a promise with her,” he answers softly, running his fingers through his hair.

Now Yoongi was even more confused than before, he wanted to ask more questions but felt like now wouldn’t be the right time based on the downcasted look on the younger man's face. And so he only nods in return. Though Jimin’s lips quirk up, grateful that he doesn’t push the topic further.

Jimin leans against the back of his couch, crossing his arms, “I saw you that day,” he added, wanting to change the subject. “The day at the ball,” he clarifies when he saw the puzzled look on Yoongi’s face. 

“You attended the ball?”

Jimin shakes his head, “no I was watching from above, her majesty wanted me to be her ‘eyes in the sky’, or something like that,” he pauses before chuckling, “she’s been saying some strange things recently.”

Rather than laughing along with him, Yoongi can’t help but feel annoyed, “Of course you fucking knew about it, too,” he mutters furiously under his breath.

Jimin widens his eyes at his sudden harsh tone, “Pardon?” 

Yoongi scoffs, now stomping his way to his desk, “The empress told you of her plans,” Yoongi uttered with resentment, “everyone but me.” 

And as if the world wanted to continue mocking him, here you appear through the open door, with Hoseok right beside you. You freeze in your spot, when you realize Jimin, who was now staring at you like a deer in headlights, was also present in the room. Despite his surprise, he bows out of respect. Though you can’t say the same about Yoongi.

“What are you doing here,” Yoongi curses at himself, he didn’t mean to take his anger out on you. You just happened to arrive at a bad time. 

Though his cold icy tone doesn’t deter you in the slightest, “I came to inform you that we’ll be holding a meeting tomorrow,” you explain hesitantly, careful not to say the wrong thing to aggravate him even more.

He raises a brow in doubt, “you came here to personally tell me?”

You nod, “the rest of the men wanted to have a meeting regarding the situation, but I didn’t want to attend if you weren’t present.”

Yoongi scoffs, “I'm not some charity case.” Although, Yoongi can’t deny the warm feeling in his chest from what you said.

You stop, taken aback from his words, “Is that what you think you are?” you pause before continuing, “Why do you think you became one of the empress’s advisors?”

Yoongi rolls his eyes at this, “Because you think of me as a brother,” he spats bitterly. 

“No, it’s because you’re one of the few people I trust most in this world, I know we had a bumpy road getting here, but you have to believe me when I say that I trust you,” you insist as you take a step closer into the room.

Though your statement seemed to have ignited a fire in him as he snaps his head to you with narrowed eyes, “If you trust me so much then why didn’t you let me know about this entire situation?!” You jump back at his tone, surprised by how angry he got.

Hoseok steps forward in an instant, “Hyung I had no idea about the drugs either,” he blurts out, trying to dissipate the tension in the room as he moves to stand in between you and Yoongi. 

Jimin nods in confirmation, shifting his body to stand protectively in front of you as well, “he’s right hyung, Hoseok also had no idea what was going on.”

“That may be true, but she still sought your help, no? She needed military strength, she needed someone to hide in the shadows and she went to you two,” he snaps at them. Hoseok shuts his mouth, unable to form words to counter his claim. 

Though it’s not like Yoongi was going to let anyone else speak, not until he was finished, “Where do I come into play? Jin hyung and Namjoon helped with the plan, Jimin looked out for you from above, Hoseok provided the military strength, Jungkook and Taehyung came as your escorts. But what about me?” At this point, Yoongi paces around the room frantically, you try to reach out to him but he jumps back as if your touch would burn him. 

“Why am I always in last place!” He yells at the top of his lungs, “Is it because I wasn’t born into high nobility like Jin hyung? Is it cause I’m not some fucking genius like Namjoon? Or as handsome as Jungkook and Taehyung. Or as confident as Jimin. Or as reliable as Hoseok?” He continues his rant when everyone is too stunned to react.

“Yoon-”

“Why am I never good enough for you!” He shouts, slamming his fist hard on his desk. The room becomes silenced in an instant. The only sounds coming from the broken advisor standing before you. 

“Am I not enough?” He sniffles, his voice cracking as he stumbles, grabbing hold of the corner of the table to stabilize himself. He bows his head low, an attempt to hide the tears forming in his eyes.

You turn to look at Jimin and Hoseok, giving them a solemn look as you nod your head in the direction of the door, wanting to speak to him privately. 

They seem to understand your gesture as they begin to silently make their way out of the room. Although Jimin hesitates for a moment standing by the doorway. He takes one last look at Yoongi and back to you, his expression unreadable before finally closing the door behind him. 

At the click of the door, you turn your head back to Yoongi, your eyes focused solely on him. Carefully, you take slow steps towards him, you don't know if he notices but if he did he didn’t take any further steps away from you. “Yoongi, you are more than enough for me, you have to believe me,” you urge as you stop a few feet away from him. Careful to not overwhelm and crowd around his space. 

His silence urges you to continue, “I just felt like you didn’t want anything to do with me so I gave you your space,” you explain softly, “But you’re still one of my advisors, I should’ve communicated with you better on the situation. I'm sorry.” 

You take a few experimental steps towards him, assessing his reaction carefully because if you saw any indication that he was uncomfortable by the distance, you would step away immediately. But he gave you none. Even when you were now standing in front of him, he didn’t make an effort to move away. Instead, he finally lifts his head, holding your stare as his tears now running down his face. 

You don’t know what got over you, but at the sight of his tears, you find yourself reaching your hand out until they cup his face gingerly. His breath hitches when your hand caresses his cheek, your fingers wiping away the seemingly never-ending tears.

“Yoongi, you’re more than enough for me,” you repeat softly as you stare into his eyes. Almost mesmerized as his glossy eyes shined back at you making it look as though you were staring at the night sky.

You lean your body forward until your arms wrap around his shoulders, bringing him into a tight hug, “I’ll always need you,” you say in a soft whisper. But no matter how quiet you were, he heard you loud and clear.

He sucks in a breath as a sob escapes his mouth. He doesn’t try to fight you, instead, he wraps his arms around your waist instantly, tightening his grip around your body.

But instead of calming down, his sobs grow louder at the feel of your body against his.

Concerned, you try to pull away but Yoongi only tightens his grip around you as he shakes his head. 

“Don’t,” he whimpers softly, clutching onto you tighter as if you would slip away forever, “please don’t leave me. Not yet,” he cries out. Your heart nearly shattering at the sound of his voice cracking. 

Your eyes soften as you once again relax in his arm, your hands rubbing his back reassuringly as he continues to cry, his tears falling onto the nape of your neck. “I won’t,” you soothe gently, “I won’t leave you Yoongi.”

He sniffles once more, “You’re really back?”

You don’t have it in you to respond with a straight answer. You just couldn’t bring yourself to lie to him like that, especially in his current state. Lying to his face knowing that the empress he knew was no longer the owner of this body. That you were a completely different person, but who in their right mind would believe you. 

So instead, you nod softly, reaching a hand to run through his hair. His tears stream down his face as he chokes back a cry at the feel of your nod. 

You smile bitterly, as you have to keep reminding yourself, the girl he loves isn’t you, it’s the empress. He’s not crying for you, he’s crying for her. 

You had seen this coming, but it still hurt a lot more than you had expected. The world for some reason just wouldn’t stop being cruel to you. 

A young man approaches the darkly lit room slowly, the only source of light being the fireplace that’s barely holding onto life as it seems as though it’s about to die out at any moment.

“Master, I’ve come with urgent news,” the boy announced, news so important he fidgets in his spot nervously as he anticipates his reaction. It’s silent in the room, the only sound coming from the crackling of the fire as the wood burns. 

There, sat in front of a large window was the boy’s master, he had not turned around to face him, instead, opting to stare up at the moon as it shines brightly down on him, “Speak,” he commands in a dominating voice.

The boy nods his head, “We received a report confirming the death of Grand Duke Lee Joong-gu as well as Sir Taehyung, Sir Jungkook, and Sir Jimin stepping down from the rebellion.”

The man hums, immensely intrigued by the sudden news, “and the others?”

The boy shakes his head, “there have been no reports being made of the others stepping down as of this moment master, though many speculate it’s just a matter of time at this point.”

The man bellows loudly at that, as he leans back comfortably in his chair, his eyes shining with mirth, “I told that damn duke not to get too greedy and look what happened. He got caught,” he scoffs as he turns fully around, hands crossed on his desk as he traces the letter he had received from the late grand duke a mere few weeks ago in a bored manner, “Seems what that fool said was of concern after all, her majesty has truly changed.”

The boy nods, “What do you suggest we do now?”

He turns back around, admiring the night sky, “tell my men to continue keeping an eye on her majesty. And report everything to me.”

The boy bows, “yes master,” he responds before turning away, ready to inform those of the new orders. 

“Well I’ll be damned,” the man whistles as he leans back on his chair, “so you truly did succeed in changing the story,” he chuckles and with a dangerous glint he stares up at the moon, “I can’t wait to meet you, new empress.”

A/N: Hey guys!! I’m so sorry for taking so long to upload this chapter, I had to focus on my final exams and all the assignments my professors piled on me at the end of the semester. So I tried to finish this chapter as fast as I could!

I hope you’re all happy with how things went in this chapter. Also sorry for all the drama, I just felt like it would be better for the reader and Yoongi to make up instead of making more chapters of them avoiding each other when they could just communicate about their feelings. 

Thank you everyone for supporting and reading my story! I also love receiving all your kind messages so thank you so much for that!

And as always, I hope you have a wonderful day!!

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