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the-conversation-pod · 9 months

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OM NOM NOM: The What Did You Eat Yesterday? Episode

And we're back! Ben and NiNi finally sit down to talk about their favorite food BL, and unpack all the ways that What Did You Eat Yesterday? made them grapple with queer mortality and long-term commitment. Grab a snack and a drink, and join us for the discussion about our favorite Comfort BL.

Timestamps

The timestamps will now correspond with chapters on Spotify for easier navigation.

00:00:00 - Introduction 00:01:15 - What Did You Eat Yesterday?: The Granddaddy 00:12:08 - Favorite Episodes 00:19:22 - The Show that Keeps Coming Back 00:24:57 - Season 2: Mortality, Family, and Hets 00:43:10 - WDYEY is So Gay and Found Family 00:50:54 - Let’s Talk About The Food 00:56:36 - Final Thoughts (And A Moment to Drag Nobu)

The Conversation Transcripts!

Thanks to the continued efforts of @ginnymoonbeam as transcriber, and @lurkingshan as an editor and proofreader, we are able to bring you transcripts of the episodes.

We will endeavor to make the transcripts available when the episodes launch, and it is our goal to make them available for past episodes (Coming soon thanks to @wen-kexing-apologist). When transcripts are available, we will attach them to the episode post (like this one) and put the transcript behind a Read More cut to cut down on scrolling.

Please send our volunteers your thanks!

00:00:00 - Introduction

NiNi

Welcome to The Conversation About BL, aka The Brown Liquor Podcast.

Ben

And there it is. I’m Ben.

NiNi

I’m NiNi.

Ben

And we’re you’re drunk Caribbean uncle and auntie here sitting on the porch in the rocking chairs.

NiNi

Four times a year we pop in to talk about what’s going on in the BL world.

Ben

We shoot the shit about stories and all the drama going into them. I review from a queer media lens.

NiNi

And I review from a romance and drama lens.

Ben

So if you like cracked-out takes and really intense emotional analysis…

NiNi

If you like talking about artistry, industry, and the discourse…

Ben

And if you generally just love simping…

NiNi

There is a lot of simping on this podcast…

Ben

We are the show for you!

01:15 - What Did You Eat Yesterday?: The Granddaddy

Ben

And we're back. Finally, my time has come. [NiNi laughs] NiNi has finally set down some time for us to talk about my favorite show after they embarrassed me in the Clip Show.

We are finally talking about What Did You Eat Yesterday?

NiNi

We are. You must know by now, dear listeners, that this is the granddaddy. This is the show of all time for us, this is the yardstick by which things are measured. What Did You Eat Yesterday? is an article of faith for Ben and I.

Ben, why don't you tell the people what What Did You Eat Yesterday? is about?

Ben

What Did You Eat Yesterday? is a slice of life food drama from Japan that is about two gay men in their forties-approaching-50, and it's about the daily challenges of their life as they try to maintain a long-term relationship with each other, and grounded around the meals they share at their dinner table.

NiNi

So simple a description. So, somehow, deep and devastating a show.

Ben

NiNi, how about you try describing our leads in this show?

NiNi

Hoo! Okay, let's see! So our two main leads are Kakei Shiro, played by Nishijima Hidetoshi; and Yabuki Kenji, played by Uchino Seiyo. These two are legends of the stage and screen, and it shows in the show. There's a cast of fun characters that surrounds Shiro and Kenji.

At Shiro’s job—Shiro’s a lawyer—there is Mom-sensei, Mom-sensei’s son, and various other lawyers in the office. At Kenji's job at the hair salon, there is his boss, who is a serial philanderer; his wife who he runs the salon with; and a cast of other hairdressers and assorted hangers on. And then you've got their friends who steadily become more and more important to the show as they go along. Shiro's friend Kohinata and his partner Wataru, otherwise known as Gilbert. There are a lot of other characters around. There’s Shiro and Kenji's families, there's their neighbor, Koyama. There's so many, so many fantastic characters in this little show. Each of them so distinct, each of them so fully fleshed out and human in a lot of ways.

I don't know how to talk about this show. I love it so much. It goes so deep for me. Like I said, it's an article of faith, almost, and I just get a warm feeling when I think about it. When I watch it, when I see all the characters on it interact, from the intensely important characters like Shiro's parents, all the way down to the lady at the supermarket where Shiro and Kenji buy their groceries—who is Shiro's partner in keeping his food bills down by pointing to the sales without speaking to him. Ever.

[both laugh]

Ben

I love their dynamic. It's so funny.

To talk about What Did You Eat Yesterday?, let's talk about BL, and why What Did You Eat Yesterday? feels unique in relation to BL. In BL, you're in traditional romance. You got two pretty people. They looked at each other. They liked what they saw. And they gotta figure out if they can be together. In What Did You Eat Yesterday? we're past the figuring it out portion. They decided they want to be together and now they're navigating what that means. Unlike in a traditional BL, where your ongoing arc is, “Are these two going to finally kiss?” this show is structured episodically, where each episode is about something going on in their lives that they have to contend with, and then we move beyond that particular issue.

There is an ongoing throughline about these two coming to a greater understanding of each other, learning to love themselves better, building more intimate relationships with the people around them, and building their relationship. But that's so different from the rest of BL. What Did You Eat Yesterday? episodes, in a lot of ways, can stand on their own. You can go back for What Did You Eat Yesterday? and watch some of your favorite episodes individually in a way that I don't think is as accessible with a traditional romance.

NiNi

I think what it is is that it's a traditional situation comedy. So it's not necessarily a serialized story, although there are elements that you keep up with—runners that go through the story—it is more of a “There's a situation. They deal with the situation. Sometimes there are hijinks, sometimes it's more serious. There's always some kind of a heartwarming moment, and they always cook something because food is the center of their home.”

It's lovely and predictable in that way that you know what you're going to get in a What Did You Eat Yesterday? episode, but also, you never know how things are gonna turn for Shiro and Kenji. Not in the sense of, “Oh, are they gonna break up over this?” Not something like that. But you never know if this is the moment that one of them is going to have a revelation, or there's going to be a moving forward in their dynamic. You just never know if that's gonna happen. So there's parts of the show, particularly around Shiro’s very complicated relationship with the closet, that sometimes you think it's gonna zig and then actually it zags and you're like, “Oh, my God, Shiro is growing.”

It's so fun to watch, especially at my age, to know that you can still grow, and learn, and change, and learn to adjust and compromise for other people if you care enough to do so. You ain't dead yet. [laughs]

Ben

I think what makes this show special for me is it doesn't exist in the bubble, and the issues that they have are specific to gay men.

The very first issue that we encounter for them is how closeted Shiro is compared to Kenji, who is a flamboyant hairdresser. Kenji and Shiro's first fight that we experienced, Kenji brags to one of his clients about his boyfriend, and he gets a little racy about it. And then later, when Kenji and Shiro are walking down the street together, they encounter that client, who comments on the details of their relationship that she gleaned from Kenji and embarrasses Shiro, who is deeply-closeted and doesn't want people walking around talking about his business. Kenji gets really upset about this and begins to cry and asks, “Everyone else gets to talk about their families and everyone they love that's important to them. Why am I not allowed to?” And Shiro doesn't really have a great response to that, because he knows he's in the wrong, and so instead he just makes some of Kenji's favorite food. [laughs] Which is one of the ongoing ways they solve their issues.

So much of this show is about the long term impacts of the closet and homophobia on gay men, and the ways it informs how we make bonds with each other. We mentioned Kohinata and Wataru earlier. They only meet Kohinata because Shiro has an encounter at the grocery store with a woman who also wants to take advantage of a sale on watermelon, but the watermelon is too big for their refrigerators, and so they decide to split it. They become friends. And, in time, they introduced Shiro to one of their other gay friends. And they do that thing that's kind of annoying from straight people. They're like, “You're both gay! Go, you know, mingle with each other.” And like, that's super awkward as hell, but it ends up being genuinely helpful. They do actually become friends. They start hanging out as couples together.

There's a really good examination about the fact that Kenji is not exactly Shiro's type per se, but Kohinata is, and Kenji gets worried that if he leaves Shiro alone with Kohinata, something might happen. And they have a really sort of ugly breakdown where Kenji admits this jealousy is in him, but he feels like he's wrong in that regard because he once cheated on a partner, so he doesn't have the moral high ground here. But it's still something he's deathly terrified of because he loves Shiro so much and doesn't want to lose him.

What's so special about this show is when they introduce something interesting in an episode, they're able to use that later, where you benefit from having seen that interaction earlier, but it doesn't matter if you don't remember all of it. You don't have to remember all those details about how he and Kayoko met to appreciate that they are grocery friends now, who take advantage of sales together and like to cook things together when there's a way to benefit. There's a beautiful examination of the mundane in this show that is really heartwarming.

12:08 - Favorite Episodes

NiNi

I wanna get a little bit into this idea that you had about the episodic nature of this and maybe do a little fun thing. Do you have a favorite episode of What Did You Eat Yesterday?

Ben

Depends on my mood at the time.

NiNi

What are some of your tops?

Ben

I think, in the first season, I really like the Christmas episode, they host Kohinata and Wataru. We had already seen Shiro make that meal for Kenji as the first thing he cooked for him. He tried to make the best dishes he could make the first night Kenji moved in with him, and that just sort of became their Christmas tradition because it just happened to be the holiday season. And I liked him sharing that with other gay people. That's also the episode where Shiro says plainly that he wants to take Kenji home so that his parents can see that he's not a sad person because Kenji's at his side. And that gets me.

We've seen the Christmas moments three times in this show now, because we have Kenji first moving in, their dinner with Wataru and them, and then we had Christmas again in the second season. But in the second season, they end up changing their menu because of their changing health needs. That was really well earned because we, the audience, were primed for another Christmas meal and we're excited to see it, but it was really lovely to see them unpack that their Christmas traditions are something that they have control over. This is really significant for me as a queer person, because we have to create our own traditions.

We don't get to have all of the same ones that straight people do. Some of us are not necessarily welcome with our partners around our families. We don't necessarily go home to see them. We often do events with other people at the holiday season. One of mine is getting other local homos together to watch the seminal classic by Rob Williams, Make the Yuletide Gay, a not great film from 2009, but one of my favorite films.

The other episode I really like is from the first season, the episode where Kenji invites his friends to meet Shiro to talk about adult adoption, particularly because we had follow up on that episode in the second season. Adult adoption was the right choice for Kenji's friends, but Kenji later in the second season refuses to be adopted by Shiro, because he wants to hold out for marriage. Once Shiro adopts him, marriage is not possible, and that is what he wants. For pragmatic reasons, older couples have to choose adult adoption to protect the younger partner from family members that the older partner does not like. But adult adoption is not marriage. Gay people want to partner with the people that are most important to them, like other people do, and it is kind of shitty that we have to do all this roundabout stuff just to protect the people we care about.

What about you? Do you have any favorite episodes of this show?

NiNi

I always like the episodes where Kenji cooks. Because Shiro is the one who does the majority of the cooking for the two of them. It's how he shows he cares, and he enjoys it, and he's good at it. And Kenji is always incredibly appreciative of the meals that Shiro makes.

But I always like when Kenji cooks for Shiro. Sometimes he cooks for himself because Shiro was not there, and those will be times he indulges himself and makes something that he knows that Shiro wouldn't necessarily approve of because it's unhealthy. But I always like when Kenji cooks specifically for Shiro, because he's so deliberate and thoughtful about it. There's one episode in particular when he makes some kind of soup for Shiro when he's sick.

Ben

Okay, that one is so funny because Shiro’s so independent, Kenji never gets the chance to take care of Shiro. So the way we will run around excited about BL tropes, like, “Oh, someone's sick. Oh, let's get some lukewarm water. It's time to fucking get this boy a sponge bath!”

[both laugh]

That's the moment that Kenji is having. Shiro is really sick and so has to be cared for. And so he's really excited to make a simple meal for Shiro and take care of him. But he's such a nervous wreck about it. We get to watch Shiro listening in the whole time. Like, “What the hell is happening up there?”

NiNi

[laughs] Shiro is so particular about everything and Kenji knows it, and so it's going a little bit badly. It's a little bit of a disaster. He pulls it together in the end.

Ben

Kenji actually did a good job.

NiNi

Kenji always feels like Shiro does so much for him, and Shiro doesn't let him do things for Shiro, and so he will always grab the opportunity to do something. He's always like, “Oh, we need something? I'll run, I'll go get it. I'll do this. I'll do that.”

Ben

Kenji cares about Shiro, so he takes care of their home.

NiNi

There is a situation where the washing machine overflows and part of the apartment gets flooded. Kenji notices that this is a thing that is continuously happening, and he goes out and buys a hose and says, “Well, you know, next time this happens, you can just drain it into the sink rather than it flooding the thing.” And that's when Shiro stops and he looks around at all the things that Kenji does to keep their home running, and he starts to cry. It's a very heartwarming moment, because you don't get the sense that Shiro takes Kenji for granted at all. That's not what this is about.

But it's just one of those moments where you really stop and take stock of how loved you are and it just overwhelms you. And that's the moment that he was having. But that moment was so earned by all the moments that had come before, where you see all the small ways that Kenji tries to take care of Shiro, and how Shiro feels like it's his responsibility to take care of himself and Kenji. And he doesn't like it when he doesn't feel like he's taking care of them. Well, he's realized at this point that, “Yeah, Kenji can take care of me, too in some big and small ways, and I knew he loved me, but I really feel like he loves me.” It's just a really lovely moment.

19:22 - The Show that Keeps Coming Back

Ben

This is our fourth outing with What Did You Eat Yesterday? I've been pretty close to this show the whole time it's been airing. What's it been like for you seeing the show come back three times now?

NiNi

I could watch this show forever. That's honestly how I feel about it. And the way that the show is set up, as long as Nishijima and Uchino want to keep doing it, I think we could get this show basically forever. It feels like meeting up with old friends every time you see a new bit of it, whether it's the special or the movie or new episodes.

It always feels like you have these friends, Shiro and Kenji. They've been living their lives. You haven't seen them for a while and then, boom. They’re here, and you're so happy to see them and you just want to know everything that's been going on with them. You wanna sit up at night and chat and catch up with their lives. Every time the show comes back, that's how I feel about it. I can't wait to sit down and catch up with Shiro and Kenji, and see what's going on with them now.

I feel like there's more stuff that maybe you're more aware of regarding the cultural significance of the show and what it means for Japan to be doing a show like this. So why don't you get into some of that stuff?

Ben

So the first show airs, and it's decently popular. Like it performs well in its time slot, which is one of the late night time slots. “Here's a quiet, easy to watch show. Now go to bed. You have to work in the morning.”

Uchino and Nishijima are veteran actors. Both of them have well over 100 credits. They are very successful actors who are sought out and are busy. And it was really surprising that they agreed to be part of this. I cannot overstate how significant it is for queer TV… talented, veteran actors are willing to play gay characters in a gay way, and are really proud of that work, and want to keep coming back and doing it. Uchino and Nishijima say plainly all the time: They are longtime fans of the manga and were very determined to bring it to air. They worked to rearrange their schedules to make sure that this show could keep coming back.

[Nishijima] is an Oscar winning actor now. He's becoming more internationally famous because of Drive My Car. So it's not like these guys are getting less busy. Both of these guys are so good.

If you've only seen Uchino play Kenji, you owe it to yourself to see Uchino play a veteran Japanese historical military leader or a fucking yakuza. He is so good. You get a small flash of that when he wears the suit in the movie, and in I think episode 3 of Season 2 where he flashes the macho thing. That's Uchino teasing the rest of us about the rest of the work he's done. He's played some intensely macho characters in his career, so it's really fun seeing him in particular playing someone as flamboyant as Kenji.

What's so surprising is the show keeps coming back. Like season one, we go from the fight in episode one, where Shiro yells at Kenji for even telling someone else that he's in a relationship with him, to them meeting Shiro's parents in episode 12, and Shiro reassuring Kenji that he doesn't want either of them to die, that they're gonna eat well and live a long, happy life together. I would have been okay. It would have still been one of my favorite shows if we just ended at episode 12.

The arc of season one is so strong of Shiro letting go a little bit and not being so stiff. He can't give Kenji all the things he maybe wants, but he can be a little less stiff about some of these things. And then they announced the fucking New Year special and I'm like, what the fuck is going on? And they're like, “Oh, yes. We’re going to a whole new year special.” What's it about? “Well, Shiro's really busy at work, so he's not gonna be home a lot.” And I'm like, oh my God. [laughs] This is so much fun.

We got to see Kenji and Shiro dealing with separation anxiety and missing each other. That was so much fun. We got to see Kenji trying to play the role of brave housewife for a while. We got to see Kohinata and Wataru's internal dynamic for a bit. That was a really fascinating thing for us to get to experience. We got to see Kenji tell Wataru straight up, “Stop testing your partner. They're going to fail eventually. And then what? Stop holding back. You ain't brave. You ain't doing nothing.” Great stuff.

And then we get the movie! And I was not expecting the movie either, and the movie ended up being heavier than I expected. The movie ends up having Shiro's parents regress and say they don't actually want Kenji to come over anymore. And that was a huge pain point that played out in season 2. I was not expecting them to hold on to that as long as they did. The delivery from Nishijima when he tells Kenji, “I know you're hurting over this,” was so good.

24:57 - Season 2: Mortality, Family, and Hets

Ben

Let's talk about Season 2, NiNI. What were the big things for season 2 that stuck out to you as sort of the big ideas?

NiNi

There was a definite throughline about mortality. There's a lot of death, and discussions around death, and inheritance, and family, and the next generation, and what happens when you are gone. That really sort of permeated the second season. But not in a melancholy way, more in like a contemplative way, a way that makes you think about who are the people who are important to you? What do they need? What do you want to share with them? What do you want them to have of you when you're gone? What matters about your relationship with them now? Those are the kinds of themes that the show used that runner to explore.

Themes of moving forward and growing up in certain ways, because one of the things about Shiro that comes to the fore at work, Shiro is the kind of person who has avoided too much responsibility at work. He's avoided being promoted. He took the job that he took because he would be able to leave work on time and go home and have dinner.

This is culturally related as well, because he's seen as a little feckless at work because he's not married, because Shiro’s not out at work, at all. He is becoming more out in other aspects of his life, but he is completely not out at work. So as far as anybody at work is concerned, Shiro’s a single man, and the idea of a single man of Shiro's age in Japanese society and culture. It's seen as him being sort of flighty and irresponsible, which is the opposite of Shiro, which is just so funny to me.

One of the things that he does this season, because of the nature of what they're trying to explore through this idea of mortality, is that he starts taking on more responsibility at work. His boss tells him that she wants to retire and she wants him to run the law firm. This is something he would have never agreed to, never even considered before now, but because he's in a place where he feels stable and secure in his life, things are good with him and Kenji, he is coming to an accord about things with his parents. He feels stable, he feels like his life is good, and so he's more willing to take on that additional responsibility at work.

I found that to be a really interesting part of this season, how the discussions of mortality threaded its way through the season and manifested in different ways. What about you? What are some of the things that you took away from this season?

Ben

Before I get into that, I really want to follow up on one of the things you mentioned about Shiro taking on this responsibility at work. This was a runner because it comes up about four times this season. I like that the thing that finally pushes Shiro over the edge is Kenji taking on more responsibility at work. Once he realized that Kenji was going to be a manager, and wasn't going to be home at normal times anymore, and was embracing this new responsibility in his life, that inspired Shiro to also do that as well. I really like that it was Kenji just accepting this sort of thing and being brave about it, that pushed Shiro. And I like how Shiro did it because he wanted to also help Osamu.

You get the sense that Shiro intentionally took a job in this law firm because he wanted to work in a small law firm where there wasn't a lot of room for growth and promotion, where they wouldn’t be constantly expecting him to take on more responsibility and deal with juniors coming up underneath him. He wanted to work in a small family law firm where the mom had a son who was intended to inherit and take charge of the firm so he wouldn't be expected to. You get the sense that he was surprised that he was asked to take on partnership in this, but it ends up being something that's positive for all of them because he likes and respects Osamu. But Osamu's passion is criminal defense law, which is not very lucrative for their firm, but it's what Osamu's passionate about.

We got to see Shiro and Osamu work together this season, and that this is not something that Osamu is being, sort of half-assed about. He got super worked up for one of their clients. I think in the first season, I thought of him as maybe a little lazy, being able to take it easy because it's his mom’s firm and Shiro’s really determined, but it was really nice to see that Osamu had his own backbone as a lawyer about things that were really important to him, that he wanted to do professionally. And some of that involves him not necessarily being hands on with the firm as he's not as good about these things.

I really liked that Shiro is able to extend his tendency to want to help people in a more accessible way this season. He gets so scared about the gay thing that he just ends up hiding from so many people. I really enjoyed seeing Shiro be more flexible this season. He took the fact that his vision is getting worse almost completely in stride. [laughs] Even though he was so grumpy about having to spend a bunch of money on lenses.

I actually liked the through line about how they're getting older and things are changing. I liked that the first episode this season was about them having to change grocery stores because Nakamuraya closed, and that was devastating for Shiro. That was the grocery store that he liked and trusted the most, and he had to go and find a new grocery. Thankfully, we find the same clerk at that one who is still helping them out. Speaking of her, we mentioned her earlier. I love that she has a completely distinct relationship with Kenji and Shiro, where Kenji’s like, “She talks to me all the time! She's great!” and Shiro’s just like, “What? She only ever glares at me.”

[both laugh]

NiNi

She speaks to him one time in the entire show.

Ben

I love it.

NiNi

That's when he goes to the grocery store and she sees him in his glasses for the first time and he's self-conscious about them. And when she sees him, he takes them off really quickly and she goes, “I think they really suit you,” and that was it.

Ben

I love it. [laughs] I almost cried! I was like, yes!

NiNi

I was like that's your friend! She cares about you! [laughs]

Ben

I think she also commented once this season that the fish is actually good at the new store. She actually protected Shiro once. She was being told to go around and mark a bunch of sketchy food off that needed to go, and she saw Shiro eyeing her with the sale button, and she didn't put it on the food that she didn't think was gonna be safe for them to eat because she knew Shiro wouldn't take it if it wasn't on sale. [laughs]

I really liked in this season how Shiro was really trying to accept that things were changing in their lives. I love Shiro accepting that Kenji was going to take on this role of manager after the whole thing with the philanderer friend of Kenji's, whose wife, now that their daughter has graduated, was like, “I'm leaving this man. I can't be with him anymore.” And then he decides to fuck off to Vietnam, and so Kenji's left running the store.

I like that Shiro accepted that they're getting older and that their food needs and eating habits are changing. That Shiro, despite his determination to save up as much as possible for their futures by being really pragmatic about their food budget, and probably other things in their lives as well, because he and Kenji never seemed to buy a lot of new things or go shopping a lot. Shiro increased their food budget in response to inflation and in response to the fact that Kenji’s cholesterol was maybe a little high, and wanting to make sure that Kenji ate the right food so that he would stay healthy.

I really liked the final conversation with Shiro's parents where they talk about how they want to make sure that Kenji is in their will, that they accept him as Shiro’s other half. That they chided him not to fuck things up with Kenji.

NiNi

That they found a columbarium that would have enough space so that Kenji could be with them.

Ben

Right, and Kenji took this as the peace offering it was from Shiro's mom and started thinking about himself as the beloathed daughter-in-law. [laughs]

NiNi

It's so funny because this is basically Shiro's mom saying literally over my dead body, but in a nice way, like.

[both laugh]

“Over my dead body,” but that's the acceptance? It was just so funny because all the things she's talking about, the columbarium, the inheritance, it's all well after I'm dead. But she's fine with it? Basically? This is the way that she's chosen to accept him. And he immediately understands that and he takes it absolutely in the spirit in which it's meant.

Ben

I love the way that they do it is the only way that Shiro and his family could. “Well, it's very cost effective for us to buy into this together right now. They're having a sale, so.”

I really like that his parents were very stern with him about it, but they're like, “We're not going to move to the nursing home that's closer to you because it's more expensive. “We will deal with the hassle of being further from you because you're 50 now. We don't know how much longer we're going to be around, but if we're here for a long time, we want to make sure that there's something for you to have to make sure that you're okay as well.” And I liked how Shiro had to learn to accept that from his parents, not as a knock against him for being a bad son, but as for them trying to do right by him as his parents. I thought that was a really significant move from the show, considering how much the idea is that the kids are supposed to put everything they can into taking care of their parents as they get older. I thought it was really inspired for aging parents to be like, “No, we wanna make sure that we are not a burden to you in our final twilight years.”

NiNi

The relationship between Shiro and his parents is so fascinating from the very beginning of the show up until this bit that we've seen so far. Not just in terms of the way that they are learning and growing, and finding ways to accept who their son is, and he in his own way, finding his ways to accept who they are without losing himself.

The structure of their relationship is also so culturally interesting to me. It just feels very Japanese. I don't know how else to explain it, the way that they deal with each other, the way that his dad never lets Shiro pay for anything for them, just things like that. His parents are so traditional. For a long part of the show, his mother would only wear kimono. It's only later on in the show that she stops wearing kimono all the time.

Ben

It's a really subtle thing with the costuming choice, but every time that she takes a step forward, she's not wearing traditional clothes.

NiNi

The dynamic is also interesting because Kenji's relationship with his family is so different than Shiro's relationship with his family.

Ben

Oh, let's talk about that episode, since you brought up Kenji's mom and sisters.

NiNi

So Kenji is the only son of a single mother, and he has two younger sisters. His family is very comfortable with Kenji being gay, with everything around that. He is very open with his family, he talks to them about Shiro all the time, but still his family have never met Shiro. With all the death-flagging that was going on around this season, his mom was just like. “Oh well, I, I want to meet your Shiro,” and he immediately starts panicking. He's like, “Are you dying?”

So they have the meet up. Shiro picks this really nice restaurant for them to meet up. He's very considerate and thoughtful about how he chooses the restaurant in terms of what distance they'll have to go, and he wants it to be a nice experience.

Ben

It’s also the restaurant that Oo-sensei took him to the first time when he started working at the firm.

NiNi

Yep, he picks the restaurant with a lot of things in mind, basically. And so they have this lovely meal, and then Kenji's mom explains why she wanted to meet him. A friend of hers, her son died, and she started thinking about what would happen if Kenji died and Kenji's like, “What the hell?” and she's like, “No, no, no. Just listen to me.” But basically, she didn't want it to be a situation where, if anything happened to Kenji, that Shiro would not be able to stand with them as Kenji's family. So she figured at the very least if they met once, then they're not strangers and Shiro has the right, then, to stand with them if anything happens to Kenji, and mourn him as part of the family, basically.

Ben

That was so touching. I legit sobbed after that episode ended. [laughs] I'm getting hot right now thinking about it. That was such an incredible episode. Oh my God.

NiNi

It was so much. Kenji's family is so the opposite of Shiro’s family. They're teasing and they're chattering a mile a minute.

Ben

They're leaving the restaurant and his sisters and trying to take the receipt from Kenji so that they can pay part of their share and he's like, “Go away. Stop it. I'm the oldest. Let me do this.”

NiNi

It's a very different dynamic than Shiro’s family, and it's not one that Shiro’s necessarily entirely comfortable with yet, because he's so much more stoic than Kenji is. But he is starting to lean into it a little bit. He's still kind of on the outside of things in that regard, but they're teasing him and he's doing his little shy smile thing. He's not entirely comfortable with them yet, but you can see how he will possibly get there. I don't think he'll ever be the one who's teasing back, but he will become comfortable with them. You can see it. And that's what Kenji's mom wanted. That's the ball whe wanted to start rolling. She wants Shiro to feel like family with them.

There's so much of that in this season. This season is just emotional hits after emotional hits in that regard. There's so much about family, and caring for people. Like, thoughtfully caring for people, not just absentmindedly caring for people, which is a big thing for me. Putting thought into how you care about somebody, and how you show that care for somebody, it's a big, big thing for me and something I enjoy seeing.

Ben

I really like how this season made me get super invested in a bunch of heterosexual characters. Like I ended up super invested in Osamu and his desire to become a prosecutorial educator for criminal defense attorneys. That was a big deal for him that he really wanted to take on this educator role, even if it didn't pay well, because it was really important to.

I got weirdly invested in the sort of flaky hairdresser. The other guy who works at Kenji's shop, and his relationship with his girlfriend who can't cook.

NiNi

Incredible. So incredible. I love that so much.

Ben

There are so many layers to this whole thing.

NiNi

And the fact that you thought it was just a one-off thing, but then later in the season it comes back.

Ben

Oh my God. So, Kenji is invited to hang out with one of his coworkers, and Kenji at first is nervous. Like, “Is this hot young guy trying to get me into his house? I'm a married woman, sir!” and he's super nervous about what the hell is going on? But it's—like his colleague’s really intent on him coming over, and he talks about his girlfriend, about how they didn't work out because she couldn't really cook that well. He didn't like her food, and then one night he just got tired of it and made a really nice pasta, and she got super upset about this because she tries so hard to fill this role that she feels like she's supposed to, but she's just not a good cook. And she's never gotten the experience of someone enjoying her food, and they just didn't work out.

I'm like, okay, well, that was a really cool story, but it’s a little bit sad. And then five episodes later in episode 9, we get the reveal that he missed her and they tried to work it out. And he tried to teach her how to cook more effectively. And then he decided to settle on baking. Somebody who’s such a stickler for details as her, “salt to taste” as an instruction does not work for her. So she picks up baking and ends up being really good at it, and then she has this moment where she gets to react to the first time of seeing someone smile and enjoy the food she made. And, besties, I ugly cried.

NiNi

It was a Capital M Moment.

Ben and Nini [in unison]

It was so good! [both laugh]

NiNi

I wept. I wept! It was so beautiful. And you now see that they figured it out. They figured it out through food!

Ben

The biggest thing about What Did You Eat Yesterday? is it is the kindest show.

43:10 - WDYEY is So Gay and Found Family

Ben

What Did You Eat Yesterday? is so explicitly gay. Everything about this show is gay. The fact that Shiro doesn't want to be a super successful, high-powered lawyer is unusual. He does not fit the mold of a traditional Japanese man, despite all of the other things about him. He's just so unusual as a Japanese man that despite all of his attempts to closet himself, he ends up looking weirder to people the longer this goes on. It's so awful for guys like Shiro.

For Kenji, everybody's gonna clock his ass right away, but Shiro’s not going to get clocked right away. And so often the fact that he doesn't get clocked makes him seem creepy to people. Like, there's that whole moment in the first season with the apprentice lawyer that gets assigned to him for a while, where that interaction ends up kind of a mess because Shiro's misreading signals from her, doesn't want her glomming onto him too much, and ends up accidentally really upsetting the girl by making her think he was trying to hit on her.

Oo-sensei is like, “Shiro, what are you doing? You've been a bachelor the 20 years I've known you. What the hell is going on? Please do better.” [laughs] And it sucks because he's doing so good, but he won't tell her exactly that.

Oh my God. Speaking of her. I love her so much. She got Shiro a portable induction burner.

NiNi

I want one. I absolutely want one of those.

Ben

They are so fucking useful. You can cook stuff on your dinner table without worrying that the whole fucking table’s gonna burst into flames.

She lies to Shiro that she got it as a gift from someone else, and she's just trying to downsize some of her stuff, cause she's realized she's getting old and has too much shit in her house. And so she's like, “Yeah, Shiro, I need you to take care of this for me so that I can get rid of it.” “Well, I guess if I have to do a favor, it would be rude not to accept the gift under these conditions.” I love her so much. She can do no wrong. She is my favorite.

NiNi

She knows him so well. I wouldn't be surprised if she has already dialed in to what's going on.

Ben

She absolutely knows.

NiNi

I think she knows he's gay.

Ben

She also knows that he eats with someone. She asked very politely in the first season if he has someone to share meals with, and Shiro said yes, and she just said very good. That was very tactful, ma'am. I approve.

Let’s talk about Kyoko a little bit, because we haven't talked about Kayoko much.

NiNi

I was just about to say all the women around Shiro are so great and Kayoko is definitely one of the greatest. Sorry, before we get into her, I just love the way that she ran into Kenji at the grocery store and acted like she was meeting BTS or something. [laughs]

Ben

She was so excited to meet Kenji, and Kenji's like, “Huh? What do you want?” I also like that Kenji was low-key kind of bitchy [laughs] at the grocery store with this weird woman rolling up on him. We see the version of Kenji where he is home with the man he loves and is loud about it all the time, or we see him at work where he is ON for his clientele. It was so refreshing to see Kenji as just another dude in a grocery store being like, “Why the fuck is this woman looking at me like that?”

NiNi

[Laughs] It was so delightful. I love Kayoko as a character. She doesn't pop up a whole lot, but every time she does, it's truly a delight.

Her main story in this season is she and her husband finally, finally getting to meet Kenji, and they're both so excited about it. And it's this whole event. When Shiro and Kenji go over there, Kayoko’s husband is talking Kenji's ear off and wants to know everything. Everything! He wants to know how they met. He wants to know everything about them. They're just so enthused about their friend's partner, because they know that this is somebody that Shiro loves, and they love Shiro. So they want to love whoever Shiro loves.

Ben

It's really fascinating with the way some of these dynamics play out. Kohinata and Shiro have been friends with Kayoko and her husband for years. Kohinata even longer. But they've never met either of their partners. Shiro has talked so much about Kenji that they feel they know him. But it's notable that it seems like there's this sort of line they can't cross and say, “I would like to meet him.” There appears to be some sort of etiquette line that everyone's toeing here, where they want to meet Kenji. It's impolite to ask. It means that there's some sort of gap in their closeness.

But they are just so happy that Kenji's finally showing up. They have this little dinner party together. And what is his name? Let me pull up his name real quick. Tominaga-san. He is so enamored with Kenji. He is resting his hand on his chin. He is batting his eyelashes at Kenji, he is like, “Please tell us. Tell us the story of how you met Shiro.”

It was fun for us as the audience because Kenji immediately begins retelling the story we heard Kenji say to Wataru and Kohinata in season one, and so we know the story, and so we can roll our eyes with Shiro when he says he looks like Kaiba Ryu again. And Shiro’s like, “Okay, whatever, bro.”

[both laugh]

City Hunter. It was so much fun.

One of the things I really like this season: we got a sense of the relationship between Wataru and Kohinata, that Wataru had a crush on Kohinata when Wataru was still very much a minor, and Kohinata basically refused to acknowledge it for like five to eight years because he thought it was inappropriate. That Wataru was so gay that he was basically disowned by his own family. That's a really painful thing for the two of them. I was really glad that we got some insight into those details. I also like that Shiro and Kenji were doing the math on their relationship and they were like, “Wait, hold the fuck up, bro.”

NiNi

They were like, “Hold the phone. What did you? What?” He's like, “No, no, no. Nothing happened until he was old enough.” And they're all like, “But still!”

[both laugh]

That is something that felt very gay to me.

Ben

That was very real. I was like, “Ohh, gurl.”

NiNi

I have friends who are with people that they met when they were in high school, who were much older and they're still with them now. Now that they're in their late 30s and 40s it’s not so scandalous, but they've been together a long time.

Ben

Yeah, absolutely.

NiNi

That felt very gay to me.

50:54 - Let’s Talk About The Food

NiNi

This show is so good! It's so enjoyable, and we haven't even started talking about the food yet. Oh my God. The food on this show.

Ben

What are some of the favorite things you've seen made on the show?

NiNi

Mmmm…Shiro did something. He made, I think it was a version of khao man gai with chicken thighs in the rice cooker. I looked at that and I immediately thought, “I have got to try that.” That and the sushi pizza.

Ben

I have made Shiro's lasagna.

NiNi

How was it?

Ben

It's very good. His steps are really traditional. I think that's the big thing I learned when I've been copying some of his stuff. Shiro’s cooking food that you would find in like a basic recipe you would find somewhere else. What Shiro’s really good at is balancing his time for all the dishes he needs to make so that you have all of the four or five side dishes he wants to have every time you sit down, which I don't like to do. That's too many dishes. [laughs]

NiNi

That's very much Japanese cooking, though.

Ben

Five different bowls per person. Hell to the no. I am a Creole food home cook. It's all going in one fucking pot.

NiNi

[laughs] They do some one pot stuff sometimes, though. It's really good.

Ben

They do! Like, they have curry.

NiNi

They have curry and the same thing, the same khao man gai that I was just talking about as well. That was all done in the rice cooker, basically.

Ben

I liked that pasta that Kayoko made. I haven't made it yet, but I think about that one every time it's hot. I really liked that slapped together sushi that Shiro put together when Kenji's friends were coming over.

NiNi

That was good. I am also, like Shiro, not good at hot oil, so I paid very close attention to the tempura recipe to see if maybe I would have the wherewithal and the bravery to try it at some point.

Ben

I like that Shiro, despite being really determined about his own skills, how easily he collaborates with other people in the kitchen. I thought Shiro would be the kind of cook who was difficult to cook around, but he shares space in his kitchen so easily with Kayoko and Kohinata and Kenji when they help him out. Shiro admits that he's not very comfortable cooking with oil. Like, he's not very good at doing tempura, and he let Kayoko teach him when they hung out again. I like that he's willing to learn from other people.

I liked in the movie when Kohinata and Wataru's fridge went out, and they brought a bunch of food over to them, they had like a mini feast and brought some stuff for them to save. They invited Kayoko over to help them make some stuff. In this season, they were like, we really want to get these special type of cheesy pancakes and Kohinata and he are just working through the recipe together, which let us have a really cool moment where Wataru seems like he's also starting to mellow out a little bit. He's just vibing with Kenji and they're gossiping about their boyfriends with each other.

NiNi

I love that demon twink.

Ben

[Laughs] He is a demon twink. He's like, “Is Shiro turning 50?” He convinces his well meaning rich boyfriend to send like a whole party package to them with a big ass balloon saying congratulations on 50.

NiNi

I don't know how well meaning Kohinata was? Because in that same episode, where they're making the pancakes, he says, “I'm so sorry about the 50 balloon,” and he looks Shiro dead in the eye in this kind of way. [laughs]

Ben

But that's not Kohinata being aggressive. That's Kohinata being alarmingly earnest. He very much needs to see you forgive him in that moment. It's the same thing that happened when Wataru kicked him out with the clams thing.

NiNi

The way that I read it, because Kohinata is very into his fitness, right? He looks good. He's very toned and muscular. He exercises a lot. He's got a great body. He doesn't look anything like whatever age he is. And while Shiro looks good for his age, Shiro does not look like Kohinata. And Kohinata’s very proud of his body. He shows it off, like the things that he wears, and all those kinds of things. So I just thought there was just him being a little bitchy as well, but in a nice way because he's Kohinata.

Ben

I’m gonna think about that. I’m gonna rewatch it and see how I feel about it with that in mind. I don't think that's what he's doing. I don't think that's who he is, but I’m gonna think about it.

NiNi

But yeah, it's not just the food. The food always looks good and I'm always like, “I gotta try that. I gotta try that. I gotta try that.” But just the process of watching them cook in this show, the way that it's filmed, it feels very comfortable. It feels like you could actually make these meals. It doesn't feel over complicated. It doesn't feel stressful. It feels like just this calm time in the kitchen and it makes you feel like you could do it, too.

Ben

We've talked to Japanese friends of ours that mention that the food Shiro makes is actually very simple and normal for Japanese people. He's not doing anything spectacular with the food, but that's also, I think, part of the charm. He's doing something really normal really earnestly every day as a way to let his partner know that he still matters to him.

56:36 - Final Thoughts (And A Moment to Drag Nobu)

Ben

This is my favorite show, and it will probably always end up being my favorite show. I say a lot that as much as I like BL, I like the silly little stories about gay boys falling in love with each other. I really do appreciate stories about gay boys staying together. That's why I'm really glad that we're seeing more sequels. We talked about this in an earlier episode this year, I believe, how we feel about sequels, and I do want them to keep trying to tell stories about gay people trying to make their lives work. I really like that this show keeps coming back and has more things to say—that it feels like everyone grew between both shows.

By the end of season 2, we know that Shiro and Kenji have been together for at least eight years. I really like how they feel older. It's been almost five years since the first show released, and Nishijima and Uchino have changed in that time, and it was really cool to see the two of them exploring what it means to get older through these characters as well. There is room in this genre to tell stories about beloved couples growing together, and I am so glad that we have such a high bar of a show to refer to when we tell people we want that.

NiNi

You're talking about having this show to refer to, and refer to it you do, sir.

Ben

I do.

[both laugh]

NiNi

One of the things that I really enjoyed about this show is watching other shows come behind it in the same spirit, but not trying to do the exact same thing. Two in particular that really have felt like they came off the spirit of this show were Our Dining Table and She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat. I want to see more shows in this general vein.

Ben

We called episode 6 of Tokyo in April Is… the What Did You Eat Yesterday? homage episode. There's a moment in I Became the Main Role of a BL Drama that we called the What Did You Eat Yesterday? moment where we thought that one actor was channeling Uchino's performance as Kenji when he was enjoying the curry that he was eating.

NiNi

As you said that, watching Kenji eat the food is almost as much fun as watching Shiro prepare the food.

Ben

We got some manga insights from our friend, Turtles. We were hoping to bring her on for this episode, but she's so busy. I love you, girl, but we gotta find a better time to work with you. She talked about how when they first moved in together—they didn't capture this in the show—Kenji was not as animated about enjoying Shiro's food, and Shiro got a little bit stressed about that, because Shiro's trying to communicate that he cares about Kenji through the food and he wasn't receiving a lot of feedback for that. Kenji picks up on this and starts being more animated and more forthright about enjoying the food because he knows it's important to Shiro.

Speaking of partners recognizing what's important to Shiro, let's talk about that motherfucker that Shiro used to live with.

NiNi

Oh my God. Nobu. Oh my God, what the hell?

Ben

I hate that man so much.

NiNi

He's so cruel. It is shitty behavior—absolutely shitty behavior—to not acknowledge and be grateful for somebody cooking for you. I don't care if you like the food or not. If somebody puts effort into cooking for you, you at the very least say thank you.

Ben

And when you use a shared kitchen, you clean up after yourself, goddamn.

NiNi

Cannot stand that character. The actor that they got to play him was so good, though, I really hated his face. Like—

[both laugh]

Ben

It’s the same episode we talked about earlier with the washing machine continually getting clogged and not draining properly. This happened years ago when Nobu was still living with Shiro. Nobu didn't offer to help at all. He was just like, “Clean this up right away before you cause problems for the people underneath us and they want us to pay for it.” And it's like, bro, this is his fucking house. And then he's like, “Whatever, I'm leaving. I'm gonna get me some chicken.” And I'm like, brah, you going to Popeyes right now? Come on now.

NiNi

And you're not even going to the Popeyes for the two of us.

Ben

That's the thing, too! It's not like he realized that Shiro was gonna be dealing with a pretty serious headache, and he's like, “Well, I'm gonna go get some cleaning supplies, and I'm gonna pick up some chicken on the way back.” He comes back like, like, “Oh, so you're still dealing with this. I'm hungry. You need to make some food, too.” I hate that man, so much.

NiNi

It really gives you an understanding, though, of how much Shiro has grown, because part of Shiro’s growing has been learning to love and accept himself. And you could tell in that flashback that Shiro did not love himself, and how much Kenji becoming a part of his life has encouraged him to love himself.

One of the things that I noticed about the flashback with Nobu is how he shrank. He didn't argue with him. He was thinking things in his head, but he didn't argue with Nobu. He just kind of shrank away, and he would never do that with Kenji. He will always fight it out with Kenji, and I really appreciate that. Not only does he feel comfortable in this relationship, but he is also becoming more comfortable with himself. I thought that was a really neat sort of juxtaposition to see how Shiro used to be and how far he's come.

Ben

What I want to reiterate, after musing on it so much, is how genuinely special it is to have an episodic show about the lives of gay people in our list of shows to recommend to people.

NiNi

You know I'm not so much on the recommends as you are, but I will sit and watch this show anytime, any day, anywhere, starting at any point. I will watch one episode. I will watch seven episodes. I will skip around in time. I'll watch the movie. Because for me it's about just sitting and having that moment with these characters that I love. It's like a warm hug. I like this show, I love this show. Long may it reign. Hopefully they come back again. Not too far away.

If I'm talking about a thesis statement of how I feel about this show, it is that What Did You Eat Yesterday? is a show about just going along through life with the person that you love. And that's all it is. There's nothing more to it. It's very simple, but in that simplicity there is so much.

Ben

I really hope we get to talk about this show again. I really hope that Uchino and Nishijima and friends are able to come back together for this show again. I will totally understand and respect if they can't, or don't. But I really hope they do! [laughs]

NiNi

I hope that we get What Did You Eat Yesterday? episodes every other year for the next decade.

Ben

If you have not yet watched What Did You Eat Yesterday? It is available on GagaOOlala. Please go watch it. I hope you enjoy it. If you are a member of our pod team and you are reading this transcript—[NiNi laughs]—and you've still not watched this show, I am begging you, please watch this show.

NiNi

She's gonna get a kick out of that.

[both laugh]

Right, so that is going to wrap us up on Om-nom-nom, our What Did You Eat Yesterday? episode. We out. Say bye to the people, Ben.

Ben

Peace.

#podcast #lgbtq #what did you eat yesterday #kinou nani tabeta #what did you eat yesterday?#kinou nani tabeta?#japanese bl #ben and nini's conversations #the conversation #on art #season 5 #winter series

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myhusbandsasemni · 4 months

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Celaou

Masterlist

pd3690

(sē-LĀ-ō) Element: Sky Species: Doppler - Protean type (AKA Shrinky dopplers) Species created by Dragonfang. Link to her PD page below Age: 273 Height: Maximum height 7' 2" though he can become much smaller Physical Traits: Celaou has the typical doppler body shape; lizardlike, long torso, digitigrade legs (three fingers and one thumb on hands and three toes on each foot), white hair running down his neck and upper back in a mane. He has white feathers sprouting where his tail begins. His main body is blue with teal stripes down his chest, on his throat and towards the end of his tail. His sclera are black with white pupils. White claws and teal protrusions on his head that appear to help with hearing. He does not wear clothing, though he will occasionally wear necklaces and hair decorations. Personality: Celaou is rather brash, filled with swagger, if you will. He is sure of himself and intrigued by what the world has to offer him beyond emotions he can feed off of from other creatures. He is, perhaps, not as careful as he should be. Attack notes: Celaou is just starting to get into fighting. Most dopplers of his classification tend to stay out of it, shrinking down and laughing as they avoid an enemy, but he has found himself fascinated by battle, discovering how he can utilize his ability to shrink down and regrow to his full height in battle. Celaou learned quickly that his control over breezes allow him to fling himself around when he shrinks, giving him a sort of flying ability and allowing him to get to more advantageous positions quickly. Background: Celaou was born in the fae realm as one of the lesser fae creatures. A parasite, by most considerations. He took life in stride, aging to adulthood as quickly as other dopplers and was eager to get to exploring. He got a hang of his abilities with shrinking and growing very quickly, as well as elemental powers he soon developed, and grew to be very proud, feeling himself to be somewhat invulnerable. He has spent a long time messing around in places that considered Dopplers to be profane creatures just to mess with them for a while before going to explore other worlds, looking for the next adventure and learn more about fighting. Bits and Bobs -Dopplers are rather immortal. After being born, if they are killed they are sent back to the fae realm where they regenerate before they can go about causing problems again. Sometimes this happens over a couple days, sometimes a few months. Celaou has only been killed once and it was a complete accident involving an anvil and unstable floorboards. -Celaou enjoys massages and getting his hair done. Much of the money he gathers from the things he gets up to goes towards pampering himself in these ways. In turn, he is also an incredible hairdresser. -Celaou enjoys learning martial arts mostly, though he is not one to turn down learning any sort of fighting style to combine the things he learns together to be a lean mean fighting machine.

Thanks to Dragonfang for letting me make a Doppler character :) https://www.paperdemon.com/app/u/Dragonfang

Artlist

I got it! Hair Washing Time A Hairdresser's Heart Antman style The search for ingredients Sour Celaou Bag Nap Salon Stall

#paperdemon #arpg #celaou #character sheet #I loooove him #he's such a cool character.

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maaarine · 1 year

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every time I book an appointment at the hair salon, I select for a different hairdresser

I've been desperate to find one who doesn't chitchat, aka make me tell them my life story for no reason

before I last moved, I used to get my hair cut by a (gay) guy who was an angel from god: he never said a word to me

having to part from this silent man broke my heart, I miss him dearly

anyway at that one hair salon I go to now, I'd already gone through three of the women there, and today was time for a fourth one

and reader.... I'm very happy to announce..... that I've found The One

we didn't talk about a fucking thing

I was out of there in 15 minutes

never settle!

#mytxt

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imdoingwhateverisnext · 2 years

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Hair Day! (A modified essay)

Going to the hair salon is a treat I use once or twice per year. I love my hairdresser. She has been my only hairdresser for 20 years. She has been employed at several different salons, and I just follow her wherever she goes. She knows my quirks, weirdness, and she is a great conversationalist. Not to mention she does a great hair. She's honest and teaches me techniques and products to use, so I will know how to fix it myself when I am at home. I know I sound like I am possibly singing her praises too much. This girl was subpoenaed by my ex to testify during our divorce, and she showed up reluctantly and sat with me the entire time. She lost an entire day of work, but she still had my back. I am forever loyal for this reason in addition to her skills as a hairdresser.

Having said all of that, I have a couple of gripes. She knows what they are because I don't like to say something behind someones back if I am not willing to say it to his or her face. It is a policy of mine. My first complaint has nothing to do with her really, but the lighting in this place is extremely unflattering compared to some of the other places I have been to. I am not a fan of mirrors in general except for utilitarian purposes (fixing makeup or hair). I am not a fan of staring at myself in harsh lighting while she colors or cuts my hair. I either look down or have her turn the chair so I don't have to look. It is one of my quirks and she understands it.

The last time she colored, cut and styled my hair for me, it was perfect, and looked really nice, even in the bad lighting. I usually have to adjust my bangs, move my part over or something. It usually is just a little bit off from how I like it to fall around my face. This time I didn't have to make any changes to what she had done. I smiled and she could see how happy I was. My response is normally underwhelming, even though I always like the end result. This could be a personality thing or a spectrum thing, I am not sure. She grabbed the hand held mirror and said, "Here, you have to look at the back of your hair, it looks so pretty!"

I was initially skeptical, but it looked so good in the front. I took the mirror and turned around to see my hair in the other mirror. I glanced at the pretty colors and layers, then and my eyes immediately moved down to my ass. "Oh no!" I shook my head and tilted the mirror different angles so I could be sure of what I was actually seeing.

It was obvious to me at this moment that this day was not going to end well.

"What is it? You don't like the back?" Her big eyes showed the concern on her face. She is very transparent, a quality I like.

"No, the hair is nice. It is my ass! I thought it looked better than this. Oh my God. Why did you make me look at my ass? I could have gone all day believing my ass looked decent. I could have gone the rest of my life really. Now I have a problem. Thanks Sheila!" This is not great for my self esteem; which has taken many hits over the past few years.

"I didn't tell you to look at your ass."

"No but you should have known I would! Now I have to intensify my workouts and start fasting again, or just accept having a shitty ass. It's just too much!" I pouted a few minutes then took out my money. She laughed at me. I gave her the usual hug, paid her and thanked her. I probably won't see her for another 6 months.

When I left the salon, it was lightly misting outside. I popped into the salon supply store to get the product she had used on my hair, then I drove home. By the time I got there, I looked like a lightly rained on long-haired dachshund. My hair was somehow both frizzy AND flat! I don't know how it continues to defy hair physics, but it does. It looked really bad.

For the nostalgia of the "good old days" of high school essay writing, I shall summarize with the lamest possible closing paragraph, AKA- 'Saying what you have already said'. I have done this more often than I shall admit.

In conclusion, my hair dresser is great, the salon lighting sucks, the top of my ass looks weird, and I now have upper ass issues. The day started out good. There was great hair, bonding time with my friend, and it somehow quickly deteriorated into me standing in front of my mirror saying, "fuck this day. I look like a wet dog, and I have a terrible ass".

Maybe tomorrow will be better.

It could happen.

#Hair day #my hairdresser rules #I am weird and I acknowledge that #Frizzy AND Flat #Modified high school essay format with cussing

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kominum · 3 years

Text

semoto (corpse x fem!reader)

4 times you think tuxedo mask!corpse could be yours + 1 time you learn to stop feeding your own delusions

pt. 1 + background info can be found here! please read for context.

basic rundown of classic!sailor moon (anime) lore ‘creatively’ used in this two-part:

sailor moon and tuxedo mask are star-crossed lovers/soulmates that faced tragedy in a previous life.

sailor mars (aka you/reader) had a crush on tuxedo mask’s non-hero persona, darien/mamoru, for a while

sailor moon is the moon princess and tuxedo mask is the earth prince.

sailor moon’s non-hero persona, usagi/serena, bickered a lot with darien/mamoru.

fem!reader // tw: death mentions, bodily injury, unrequited love to the very end, some unresolved tension.

1. “Whaddup, baby?”

Without much reason, you and Corpse trade off calling each other whenever a new monster is defeated. You’re figuring out all of this as much as he is, but he doesn’t have much guidance besides some supernatural force within him. He’s not taking instructions from a black cat and white cat like you and the other girls are who can help fill you in on the gaps -- all he knows is that he’s pivotal to maintaining Earth’s existence, and he’s not exactly thrilled about it.

But the calls are never about the fights, never about your secret identities. In fact, you’d be willing to bet half your grocery funds that he still hasn’t made the connection between you and your Sailor Mars persona and part of you wants to keep it that way. Sometimes you’re mentally exhausted and just want to forget about the events for the day or night, which is why you usually end up calling him soon after everyone disperses or vice versa. It’s almost instinctual these days, and you wonder how long it’ll be before you accidentally crack.

Right now, the rule of thumb seems to be, “Never trust new flashy shops that open with no warning and have too-good-to-be-true grand opening offers.” This time, some luxurious salon opened up by a famous local hairdresser had been the said attraction. All of you weren’t ignorant enough to believe the sham, but the star of the show had taken the chance to say, “Let’s go scope it out!” when really, she wanted that free haircut. You had called her out on it, but she argued that if anything happened, then perfect, you all could take care of it right then and there. Needless to say, you do not want to be attacked by a monstrous version of Edward Scissorhands ever again. Corpse had made a dark, humorous entrance, a style he’s really adapted to because he knows it pisses Sailor Moon off,

About an hour later, you’re home and bandaging up some cuts and rubbing salve on bruises, phone on speaker and dial tone blaring through the bathroom. You’re addressing the scrape on your knee when he picks up, a low drawl of, “Whaddup, baby?” comes through and your heart stutters.

The girls call you a number of terms of endearment: sweetie, honey, love, dear, babe, queen, but the last person to address you as ‘baby’ with any amount of affection was your ex-boyfriend.

You scoff to hide how flustered you actually are, quietly hissing as you attempt to put some Neosporin on the scrape and catch onto some stray skin. “Are you drunk?” You ask jokingly, knowing full well he wasn’t.

“Drunk? Nah. Tired? Yeah. But that’s always.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

“It’s old news. But uh, what’s up? Been a while since we last talked.”

“We talked like...three days ago. You called me, remember?”

“Feels like forever. I like talking to you.”

You wonder if it’s irony or plain, cruel fate that this man will probably be the death of you.

2. “Don’t lay a fucking hand on her.”

It’d been a bad day overall. Lack of sleep compiled on by a growing pile of assignments in addition to having to get your tires checked out for an air leak because your car said, “Not today, honey,” -- everything came together in torrential hurricane and the last thing you needed was to be caught fighting another force of evil.

You’re so tired.

Sailor Moon seems to have all the energy in the world as she dodges attacks left and right, but your muscles are screaming in agony. You’re constantly hunched over and panting, but looking for the right openings to weaken the monster. Luckily, the creature has its back towards you when it dashes over to Venus and you muster everything you have to summon a bow and arrow made of fire, pulling back and making sure your arms don’t quiver.

But at the last second, your lack of oxygen gets the best of you and your flame sniper barely manages to graze the monster’s side and narrowly avoid Jupiter. It’s enough to cause a distraction, but the anger in its glare as it’s directed at you elicits surrender in your heart. There’s nothing left in your bones to help you run or hide, and your knees buckle painfully onto the concrete. Everything else hurts so bad that you’re not bothered by the sediments digging through your skin. Venus is running towards you but she’s not quick enough, and you feel your eyes begin to slip. If this is what death feels like, then so be it. You hope that the girls’ mourning will be short, that they can still complete the ultimate mission, and--

“Don’t lay a fucking hand on her,” an angered, frustrated baritone spits out and you’re torn between laughing or crying. In a separate romantic context, you’d like the idea of wholeheartedly leaving your life in his hands. But in this reality when either of you could die at any moment and the world be consumed in darkness, it’s something you would never wish upon anyone. It’s a different situation than your bonds with the girls.

The pain is enough to send you in and out of consciousness for the next few minutes. But strong, warm arms sit you up, though they’re slightly trembling and keeping you awake. “Hey, you okay? What happened to you? You’re stronger than this.”

“G-great way of telling me, fuckthathurts, that I was...shit today,” you joke, but hiss when you try to move your legs and the deep scrapes scream in agony.

“Take it easy, ‘kay? Or your princess is gonna have my head--”

“Thanks man, but we got it from here,” said princess interjects, hoisting you up with the help of the other girls. “You can go.”

“Speak of the devil,” Corpse chuckles and helps make the transfer less painful, a lot less awkward jostling around. “Look, I saved her--”

“And I said thank you. We’ll see you around,” your stubborn friend dismisses.

“You’re welcome, baby.”

“Not your baby, piss off!”

3. “I’m always gonna be there for you, no matter what.”

It’s soft yet sonorous, deep yet light. Twilight hours are cast high above you both, separated by walls and buildings connected over wires and unseen forces. Technology is the sharpest, double-edged sword you’ve seen and used on this planet, because Corpse has never felt so close yet so far than in this moment. Your mind deludes you further by indulging in believing he’s right there next to you, strong arms holding you much like he did when you were on the brink of unconsciousness just two weeks ago.

Wishing, hoping, wanting. Dangerous, dangerous, dangerous.

The one year anniversary of your ex-lover’s death looms over you on another sleepless, caffeine-fueled night. It’s no surprise when his custom ringtone chimes softly throughout your room during these graveyard hours, but it certainly raises your eyebrows when after a minute or two, he asks tentatively, “Are you gonna go visit him?”

There’s no question as to who or where “him” is. You haven’t been since the funeral, if you’re honest, swept up by work, classes, and your new side job. But Corpse doesn’t know that, and you know it’d be the right thing to do. Maybe it’d help settle the storm of anxiety (or guilt?) that swirls in your gut on a daily basis.

“I think so,” you reply quietly after a moment of silent contemplation, already thinking ahead to what the drive might be like. “He deserves better.”

“Do you want me to come with you?”

Charming, compassionate, thoughtful, absolutely too good for this world -- the three-letter affirmation nearly slips off your tongue without a second thought. You can’t risk him seeing you, putting two and two together, and potentially forever losing him to his long-lost princess. Selfish delusion creeps through your veins and you fight back the shiver of guilt that runs down your spine.

“I think I’ll be okay. Might be a visit made best alone, but I really appreciate you even asking.”

“Let me know if you change your mind. You know I’m always gonna be there for you, no matter what. Right?”

Warmth. Strength. Oblivion.

“I know. Thank you.”

4. “I don’t have anyone else but you.”

“Why are we doing this again?”

“Because we can’t sleep and have nothing better to do.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it,” you chuckle into your phone, free hand swirling a pot of instant ramen. “I have better things to do at 3 in the morning than watch The Poltergeist with you.”

“Then go fucking do it,” Corpse laughs teasingly.

“And leave you high and dry? I don’t have the heart.”

“I mean, you really don’t have to--”

“Seriously, I was awake anyways. Just giving you shit.”

“One of these days, you’re gonna fucking regret it.”

Ramen done and lamp on, you snuggle beneath your blanket and start the traditional countdown to pressing ‘play’ on the movie. Neither of you really had the technology to screen share on this Discord call (your laptop is almost on its last leg and your apartment WiFi can be spotty at times), so it seemed better this way.

The next roughly 2 hours are filled with laughter, small jump scare yelps, and quiet yelling at the ignorance and twisted logic of horror movie characters. But towards the end of the movie (and arguably the climax), your eyelids start to droop, body succumbing to the warmth of your bed. The screaming and cheesy, orchestrated music are all background noise as your breathing evens out, shifting in and out of consciousness. Ending credits roll on screen before you know it, and the only think that rips you awake is Corpse’s gentle calling of your name.

“Sorry, fell asleep,” you murmur tiredly and squint at your screen, languidly closing out the window and letting the Discord window take precedence. “Tells you how riveting I found this movie.”

“Should’ve just let you sleep, my bad,” he chuckles. “Thanks for staying up with me.”

“Yeah of course -- I wanted to, just got a little sleepy. Wanna watch another one?”

“ ‘m actually gonna try to sleep. Don’t wanna bother you too much. You got work tomorrow?”

“Not ‘til noon so it’s okay. You sure?”

“Yeah...yeah. I’ve only had like...3 hours of sleep lately. Fucking awful.”

“Anything I can do to help?”

“You do enough by just letting me call at the fucking crack of dawn, seriously.”

“I’m your only option, let’s be real,” and your voice is a mix of fatigue, humor, and some bitter sardonicism. There’s no malice intended, and you really hope it’s conveyed accurately.

“...I don’t have anyone else but you,” he all but murmurs. Your heart clenches painfully, anxiety and fear and love surging through your lungs. Those words don’t hold the connotation you desperately wish for, but what matters most is that he knows he’s not alone and you’re not the only one he’s got. You verbalize as such and he only hums back in a façade of agreement before wishing you a good night.

And sometimes, while you do know that your girls have your back and that you love them to death and would take a bullet for them any day, there are nights where you really do feel the same.

That you have no one else but Corpse.

5. “He was never yours.”

There’s nothing you hate more than psychological monsters. You’d probably take physical pain over mind games any day because at least, it’d heal faster to some degree, or there would be a more surefire way of minimizing symptoms. But sometimes, there are days when the egotistical chess players of hell come to wreck havoc on the world, and you get lost in their trap. It’s annoying, a pain in the ass, and affects you a lot more than it should at times.

This particular instance makes you want to quit. It makes you, Sailor fucking Mars, guardian of the planet of fire and passion and perseverance, leave all of this behind right here and now. You’ve never hated yourself more for feeling so weak.

You’re not sure what to call it -- altered dimension, distorted reality -- but all you know is that you and the princess are kept in separate cages hanging from an endless ceiling, labelled as baits for tuxedo mask/Corpse to come. The enemy lets you both stew in the confines of the metal, watching with glee as your partner attempts to cut through the rails with her tiara and ultimately fail. It seems they’ve thought of everything because you’re not their #1 enemy today. Or maybe you are. You’re not sure anymore, even as they launch into villainous speech.

“Nothing brings me more joy than watching you lose all your energy to fight, both physically and mentally. I’ve seen all your dreams and wishes. Nothing’s more fickle and double-edged than love, no? We shall see who the prince really belongs to.”

Mention of the prince has you snapping your head to meet the enemy’s eyes, slowing squinting as they catch yours and begin cackling like your demise is racing at the speed of an oncoming train. Your princess looks confused, but dread is heavy mercury filling your veins because you know, you know, your best held secret is coming to fruition.

“What the fuck are they talking about?” She hisses across the void.

“I don’t know,” you lie through your teeth, eyes flicking toward every corner of the cage now to find a way out. This isn’t how you wanted it to happen, much less happen at all.

“Are they talking about Corpse?”

“Is there any other prince they’re referring to?”

“Do you always have to be a smartass with me?”

“Somebody’s got to,” you allow yourself a slight reprieve of laughter. It’d be dumb to try to set fire to this thing, knowing you’d only burn yourself in the process. Your exorcism tags also have no use and you can hear the clock ticking down in your mind.

“Think it’s pretty fucking rude to keep a couple of girls in cages, not gonna lie,” a baritone voice cuts through. It sends temporary sparks of relieve down your spine. Perhaps you’ll have a fighting chance to get out of here.

“Welcome, welcome! I’d like to get straight to the point, but maybe we’ll up the stakes a little bit before you answer my question,” they tease cartoonishly and you want to roll your eyes.

“Is this a fucking test--”

Both you and sailor moon yelp as the cages drop into a miraculously (or not) appearing large body of water, but still hanging just above the surface so you have enough air to breathe. You look out and down to see how deep this pit is, and though it might be some elaborate illusion seemingly defying all laws of physics, you see nothing but descending darkness. You don’t even have to hear the question to know what the enemy is going for, to know that they’re trying to hit you where it hurts the most, and you loathe how cliché and goddamn unfair this whole situation has turned out to be.

“So, dear prince. Pretend that the fate of the world depends on the princess. Before you are just two girls you know and care for, stuck, captured, and on the brink of drowning. You may only save one. Who would it be?”

It’s fucked up. Corpse seems stunned, perplexed by the question. “What the absolute fuck is this? Just let them go if you had an issue with me.”

“Quite frankly, I have an issue with allof you, so this is only fair. Now, what’s your answer?”

Corpse catches your eyes first. Is it from the water that your eyes seem to be brimming with unshed tears? Is it stubbornness or defeat in the way your hands clench around the cage bars?

And this is why, once again, you hate enemies who strictly play mind games. Confirmation that Corpse would never love you the way you do him, knowledge to the princess that she’s the source of your deepest unhappiness despite the bickering friendship, realization to Corpse that the girl he’s treasured so dearly and maybe unknowingly kept as a bit of a placeholder was doomed to love him -- pain on all of you, lashes and scars on what was once believed to be unbreakable bonds, as soon as the villain explains it all with sick glee.

“Do I have to give you an answer?”

“If you don’t, I’ll really consider drowning them since I honestly wasn’t before.”

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

“Ah, just to make things a little more interesting -- I’m aware you and the princess speak regularly outside of all this.”

They what? This was certainly news to you.

“And?” Corpse asks somewhat defensively.

Don’t say it. Don’t tell him. Please don’t--

“Say Mars, don’t you enjoy those late night calls with him, too? Though I must say, meeting in a hospital while your ex-boyfriend is having life-altering emergency surgery seems rather morbid in its own respect.”

You don’t have to look at him to know and hear the gears turning in his brain, the villain allowing this brief silence to let everything sink in. There’s a disbelieving whisper of your name, your real name, but he’s cut off from saying anything more.

“You have 10 seconds.”

You know the stories. You know the couple’s tragic end in their previous lifetime. You know that as much as the princess denies feeling anything but annoyance towards Corpse, she looks forward to seeing him. There’s a certain softness that he treats her with, different from the platonic affection that he showers you in. You’ve lied to yourself for too long.

The countdown has no chance to finish when Corpse spits out a name that’s not yours, your eyes squeezing shut to fight back the tears that threaten to flood over. Everything disappears and you land on your butt -- a quick sweep of your surroundings registers two things: Corpse running over to your princess and the villain standing proudly at the chaos they’ve created. It’s instinct that has brings your powers to surface, arms and fingers quickly notching a fiery arrow with pinpoint aim at the imaginary target on their head. “Move!” You yell at the two and they scramble to gather their bearings and avoid your rage.

They don’t run or cower. The maniacal grin only grows wider and more sinister and you’re this close to screaming expletives.

“Hurts, doesn’t it, to know that he was never yours?”

It’s the last thing they say before you release the arrow, watching with no remorse as they burn and disintegrate. When the dust disappears and the dimension shifts back to some abandoned building with an exit, you run.

You run until your lungs burst, until they scream over the aching of your heart, until your costume dissolves and you’re finally buried under the blankets. You turn on ‘Do Not Disturb’ and only allow notifications from a select few important numbers.

And maybe you’ll keep running. Maybe you’ll go off the grid. Maybe you’ll let your voicemail inbox fill up with unheard messages, apologies that you don’t and never will deserve.

But the love you feel and cherish will never fade. It’ll run alongside you; a bright, burning star, forever bittersweet--

Forever out of reach.

#corpse x reader #corpse husband x reader #corpse x y/n #corpse husband x y/n #corpse x fem reader #corpse husband angst #corpse husband imagine #corpse husband

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kookiesjoonies · 4 years

Text

risk it — jjk | nine.

risk it | nine: one more chance.

a/n: i know this update is kinda late, pls forgive me. xo

↠ main pairing: tattoo artist!jungkook x salon owner!reader

↠ side ships: namjin, vmin (fwb), hoseok x makeup artist!oc

↠ word count: 2.1k

↠ warnings: angst (duh lol), language

SERIES SUMMARY:

✧ a drunken text ends with you wrapped up in the arms of your ex-boyfriend. aka the man that you dumped two years prior, after he refused to marry you. suddenly, all of the feelings that you’d seemingly had buried come rushing back up to the surface, and you’re not sure how long you can ignore them.

Jungkook’s hands were gripped onto the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles had begun to turn white. His lips were pursed, brows narrowed, and chest heaving with angry breaths as he drove toward your salon.

He had half a mind to turn around and drive in the opposite direction— to your apartment, where Yoongi was, and pummel him into the ground until he was bruised and bloody from head to toe.

But he wanted to see you more. He wanted to tell you exactly what he thought about you having sex with his ex best friend, and he wanted to know exactly what the two of you had done together.

Ever since Taehyung had sent that fucking picture in the group chat, it was all he could think about. He kept imagining Yoongi’s hands traveling up and down your body, Yoongi’s mouth trailing down your stomach, and every time he’d envision Yoongi fucking you into your mattress all he saw was red.

When he finally pulled into a parking spot outside of the front door, he took a deep breath and ran the palms of his hands down his face in an attempt to mentally prepare himself for what was to come.

The sign above the door read Kookie Cutters, and he couldn’t help but to shake his head as memories of the two of you together flooded back in.

He was lying next to you on your shared bed, one hand mindlessly on your breast (as it always seemed to be), while his other hand held the television remote.

You’d been trying to come up with a name for your business all afternoon, and at first, he was eager to help. But after you shot down all fifty of his suggestions, he’d resorted to just nodding and grunting as he let you ramble on.

“I want the name to be something unique, yet personal. Something that nobody else has thought of.”

He nodded his head in agreement, attention more focused on the soccer game in front of him than on your words.

You rolled your eyes, plucking a pillow from behind his head and swatting him with it.

“Hey! I was listening!” He insisted, swatting your attack away with his hands.

“Uh huh, so what did I say?” You lifted a brow, hands on your hips.

He smirked at your newfound attitude, always finding it so adorable and endearing.

“Alright, alright. You caught me.” He admitted, to which you let out an annoyed sounding huff.

“Kook! This is important!” your eyes lit up then, a theoretical lightbulb switching on above your head, “Wait, that’s it! I’ve got the name!”

“Care to share with the rest of the class?” Jungkook teased, and you playfully punched his shoulder.

“Kookie Cutters, but… spelled like your name.” You visibly blushed as you told him your suggestion, and he was sure you were the cutest person he’d ever laid eyes on.

“Sounds good to me.”

Jungkook inhaled one final deep breath before wrapping his hand around the door handle and opening it up, stepping inside of the decently sized building.

He was immediately greeted with the smell of bleach and hairspray, the sound of gossiping hairdressers and clients buzzing through his ears.

The place had grown impressively since the last time he’d been. You’d obviously hired more help, as well as made several renovations to the store’s overall aesthetic. The walls that used to be the ugliest shade of puke green were now a stylish cool toned grey, and the once tile floors had been replaced with dark rustic hardwood. You’d replaced the cheap light fixtures with spectacular chandeliers, and the waiting area that used to have a sofa and a small tv now housed several chairs and two wall mounted flat screens.

It suited the place, he thought. It suited you.

“You look lost.” A feminine voice pulled him out of his trance, and he turned to face none other than Lee Mina.

He offered her a small shrug, his eyes still looking the place over and attempting to catch sight of anything he might’ve missed.

“Just impressed, is all. Looks a lot different than it did two years ago. Well, I mean, other than the name.”

“You’re a cocky son of a bitch, you know that?” The brunette crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her toes on the floor below, exuding annoyance from every single one of her pores.

“I’ve been told that a time or two, yeah.” He confessed, looking past her and scanning the other women in the salon— looking for you.

“She’s in her office,” Mina informed, “but I highly doubt she wants to see you.”

“I told her I was on my way here.”

“Awfully bold of you to come into a place filled to the brim with scissors and bleach, don’t you think?” Mina held a bite to her voice that damn near sent shivers down the man’s spine.

Luckily, you finally made an appearance and stood beside your hard headed friend.

“Down, girl,” you placed a hand on her shoulder, nodding toward the waiting area, “you’ve got a client, no time for poisoning my ex boyfriend.”

“Trust me,” she started, shooting a death glare in Jungkook’s direction as she began to walk away, “I can make time.”

Jungkook was sure that if looks could kill, he’d be six feet under right now.

“She doesn’t like me, does she?”

You scoffed, hands on your hips.

“Can you blame her?”

No, he couldn’t.

He sighed, rubbing nervously at the back of his neck, “Can we go somewhere and talk?”

You nodded, “Yeah, we can go into my office. Follow me.”

He did as he was told, keeping a safe distance between the two of you as he walked behind you.

“I like what you’ve done with the place, by the way.”

You mumbled a thank you as you opened up your wooden office door, stepping aside and gesturing him to go in before you.

Your office was just as impressive as the main space, but Jungkook could tell that you’d taken the time to make this room more personal. Pictures of you and your friends hung on the wall behind where your glass desk was sat, and he’d be lying if he said it didn’t upset him to see that there weren’t any pictures of you two. Not that he’d expected there to be.

Apparently, you could see the way that his face seemed to fall at that realization, and you were quickly bumping his hip to turn his attention to the picture frame beside your laptop.

It was a photo of you and Jungkook, around seventeen years old, he guessed. His hair was much shorter, and his skin had a lot less ink— as in, had no ink. Yours was the same way, bare and tattooless. Jungkook was kissing your cheek in the photo, and you were grinning from ear to ear with your metal braces on full display.

He couldn’t help but to reach out and touch it, allowing his fingers to ghost over the picture as he reminisced about the past. You’d become his everything when the two of you were just sixteen, the typical high school sweethearts cliché.

He shared his first kiss with you, and you shared yours with him. It was so bad— teeth clacking and tongues unsure of what to do. But eventually, the two of you figured it out. Together.

Your first time having sex was even worse, because neither of you even managed to cum. Maybe you would’ve, if Jungkook’s mom hadn’t walked in in the middle of it and proceeded to give you the world’s longest speech about how she was too young for grandchildren.

“Did you really think I’d have pictures of everyone else, but leave you out?” You asked, taking a step forward and leaning your back against the desk beside him.

“Guess it shouldn’t shock me,” he shrugged, straightening his posture as he sat on the edge of the desk and allowed one leg to dangle down, “seeing as how I still have a picture of you on my station at the shop.”

“You know,” he laughed, shaking his head, “I was so mad before I came here. Really, my blood was boiling. But as soon as I laid eyes on you—“

“Don’t,” you cut him off with a wave of your hand, “just say what you came here to say, Jungkook.

You weren’t looking at him, your eyes were staring straight forward at the frames hanging on the wall in front of you. He could see the way they were glossed over, tears threatening to spill out at any moment.

He’d made you cry so many times before, and every single time he did he felt like he was dying— like all of the air was being slowly sucked from his lungs.

“Bug, don’t cry,” he stood in front of you instantly, his hands instinctively finding their way onto the sides of your face, “I just wanted to apologize, to tell you that I’m sorry for hurting you.”

You closed your eyes, and to his surprise, leaned into his touch. He swiped his thumb across your cheekbone as a single tear fell down, tucking a loose strand of hair behind your ear.

“You keep saying that,” you choked out, fully allowing the sobs to take over your body now, “but you don’t ever make any effort to stop doing it!”

Your body began to shake, and you could no longer hold yourself up. The weight of everything that had happened recently, and in the past, was clearly getting to you. You fell against Jungkook’s chest as you continued to choke out pitiful sobs, and he used his strong arms to hold your body up to keep you from slipping to the ground.

“I c-can’t do this anymore, Kook! I’m so in love with you that I feel it in every inch of my body, but all you seem to want to do is h-hurt me,” you continued to ramble, using the back of your hand to wipe at your nose, “and I know you don’t mean to sometimes. But sometimes y-you do! And I just— I miss you, I miss who you used to be. I miss the guy that loved me and treated me right when we were teenagers! I know he’s in there somewhere, so either dig deep and f-find him or stay the f-fuck out of my life because I—“

The sound of Jungkook’s own sobbing cut you off. He’d begun stroking your hair with his hand as he let you get everything out, but it wrecked him to know he was making you feel this way.

“I’ll try and be better, I swear to God I will. You’re all I’ve ever fucking wanted, and I am so sorry for all the hurt and pain I’ve caused you. You deserve so much better than me,” he lifted your chin with his fingers so that his sad eyes could meet your own, “but if you’ll give me one more chance… I swear I’ll be the man that you need me to be.”

He could tell that the gears of your mind were working in overdrive, weighing out the pros and cons of putting your trust in him again. He hoped with every fiber of his being that you would, because come hell or high water, he was going to prove to you that he was worth your love again.

You lifted your hands up to meet his face, wiping his tears from his cheeks and tucking his long strands of hair behind his ears.

“Okay. One more chance.”

The sigh of relief that Jungkook breathed out could no doubt be heard from the other side of the world. He nodded once, taking in the fact that you’d actually agreed to have him in your life full time again, even on a trial basis.

His forehead leaned against your own as he pulled you tighter against him, giving your body with the tightest embrace— scared that at any moment, you’d change your mind and run in the opposite direction.

“I promise you won’t regret this, bug. I mean it, I—“

Jungkook was cut off by Mina swinging open the door to your office and announcing your presence with her seemingly always excited, high pitched voice.

“Oh, my God! I’m sorry, I-I didn’t mean to interrupt, it’s just— uhm,” she was stammering awkwardly, and speaking way too quickly, “Yn, you uhm… have a client. She’s waiting for you.”

You gave her a quick nod, letting her know that you’d be out in just a minute as you wiped at the mascara running under your eyes.

“Call me later?” you asked, finally breaking away from your ex lover’s hold, “We have a lot more to talk about.”

“Sure thing.”

As you turned to exit the room, you stood up on the tips of your toes and placed a hand on Jungkook’s shoulder before allowing your lips to peck a kiss to his cheek.

“Get home safe, Kook.”

⇠ masterlist ⇢

a/n: if you’d like to be added to the tag list, send me an ask! thanks for reading!

tag list: @ppersonna @taetaewonderland @preciouschimine @agaassi @honeyoongles @jinhitwhore @alterlovess @dontaskshhhhh @bonobonoya2001 @fan-ati–c @diorhobii @athenakyle @nerdycookiemonster-1222 @ashleyjoyx @sadgalsadpal @shaktibhardwaj @jeonsbananamilk @bat-shark-repellant @jkhey97 @sterynlis @aizuwusho @krystle1990 @crazylittlemay @betysotelo18 @cypheruby @deadleaves278 @awesomekpoptrashblogposts @styxdagger @kookoo-kachoo @jungkooksseuphoria @imluckybitches @ayasanuwu @sugaminh @kisskoos @tae165 @themyscirarey @janetgordyx3 @mini-coop25 @out-of-jams @sugalarity @yoongissugarmommy @missseoulite @amoreguk @meesheru @namugguk @guksweet @55west81st @barbikatherine @ilyeuphoria @jeon-joker

if you aren’t tagged, it’s because tumblr won’t let me tag certain people for some reason. so sorry! :(

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marvelsimp · 3 years

Text

A Good Day

Genre: fluff,

Pairing: Chris Hemsworth x Reader

Warnings: none

Summary/Request(yes) @maximeevansblog : The reader is the daughter of Mark Ruffalo and it's her birthday. He takes the reader to a hair salon. They return home to a surprise party for her. The whole Avengers cast is there, they have cake, presents, and sing her happy birthday. Chris Hemsworth asks the reader to be his girlfriend. Aka a lot of fluff and fun!

Word Count: 930

“Dad, come on, you don’t remember that?” You were practically snorting at this point but at least you could breathe. Your dad took you to the mall as a treat for your birthday. You didn’t get to see him much and they were having a week break from filming the upcoming Avengers movie due to some scheduling errors.

You were currently telling the hairdresser, who was busy putting highlights in your hair, about the day you went on set for The Avengers. “He was so nervous the whole time. I totally get why he was, the higher-ups at Marvel are practically crazy but it didn’t excuse the fact that he kept yanking me around. He made one of the crew members my “babysitter.” Poor guy, he was probably bored out of his mind… or at least annoyed.”

Mark, your dad, was sitting across from you, awkwardly smiling every few sentences. He’s always a little off in public but this was different… he was hiding something. Once she finished your hair your dad paid and you made your way back into the mall.

“Sooo, what’s the plan for tonight?” You questioned hoping to get an honest answer but you knew that he probably would lie… or try to.

“Um,” he always started out that way if he was lying. For such a well-known actor you would think he would be able to lie but he’s more known for his ability to not be able to keep a secret. “Well I was hoping you would like a night in, we can order some food and watch a movie or “

“That sounds great,” you interrupted. You knew something was going to happen but you didn’t feel like pushing this time… maybe it would be more fun to find out when he wanted you to. “Let’s just go to a few more stores and then we can head back.”

He nodded and followed your lead.

“Chris just couldn’t stop the faucet from running and he was yelling for my help! It was hilarious!” You and your dad were walking up to your apartment. He seemed to be nervous so you started to tell him a story to calm him but it didn’t seem to be helping. “The sink somehow got stopped up so I grabbed some cups from the kitchen and we were trying to scoop the water into the bathtub to keep it from overflowing but nothing seemed to be working. The water was replenishing faster than we could dump it.” You and Chris (Hemsworth) had been dating for a little while now but nothing was really official quite yet. You had known each other since the first Avengers film but you didn’t start dating until the filming of this one. “Dad, do you want me to open the door? You have all of my bags from today.”

“No, I’ve got it!” he did in fact not have it. He successfully pulled the key out of his pocket but just couldn’t get the key in the lock.

“Dad.”

He lowered his head down in defeat and handed you the key.

“Don’t be dramatic! I think I can do one thing on my birthday!” You laughed. He always made a big deal about your birthday and wanted to do everything for you.

You unlocked the door and opened it, revealing your dark apartment. You flipped on the light… “SURPRISE!” People jumped out from behind your furniture and a pair of arms wrapped around your waist. Your heart skipped a beat but went back to normal once you realized it was Chris H holding you and that it was the Avengers cast and your friends who surprised you.

You giggled turning around to hug Chris H. He was a good bit taller than you so he bent down to give you a kiss on your cheek. “Hi,” you smiled.

“Happy Birthday!” He exclaimed with his Australian accent. He was grinning from ear to ear.

Scarlett, Chris E, and RDJ were the first of the cast to greet you and wish you a happy birthday. A few other cast members came up to you but the majority just yelled from afar.

After half an hour or so Chris H got up “Hey!” He yelled, getting everyone’s attention. “Let’s sing Happy Birthday to my girlfriend!”

You grinned turning to him saying “I like the sound of that.”

There were a few cheers, especially from the men.

“Before my boyfriend gets ahead of himself let me just say thank you guys for coming and celebrating my birthday! I’m so happy that this happened and that I get to spend some time with all of you!”

With that the night started, they sang you happy birthday then had your favorite cake with your favorite ice cream. Then they directed you to start opening presents. They as always were luxurious. Expensive perfumes, clothes, and various items each with sweet notes attached and a few of them caused a speech or a story to be told. Chris H had his arm around you the whole time whispering sweet nothings in your ear. After you finished with presents you had champagne, which your dad toasted to you.

The rest of the night was amazing. Your boyfriend was at your side most of the night. You played your favorite board and card games while everyone laughed, told jokes, and stories.

It was amazing it ended with you telling everyone goodnight and goodbye except for Chris H who stayed the night. You went to sleep happy, exhausted, and excited for the future.

#marvel #avengers #marvel cast #chris hemsworth #chris x reader #Chris Hemsworth x reader #mcu cast & reader

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arthur-rex · 3 years

Text

nobilitydefined + thelegendofemrys + modern!arthur aka COURAGE, STRENGTH & MAGIC

@nobilitydefined @thelegendofemrys

Touchdown in Madrid, capital city of Spain. Arthur and the Knights of Albion have reached the second leg of their European tour. Much has happened in the cities east of Paris. The band have played record-selling concerts in Rome, Prague and Amsterdam, amongst others. Their path ahead lay now towards the west. After the European tour has ended, the band has been reliably informed that they would conquer the States next.

Arthur pulls on a pair of Ray-Ban aviators as the door of the small plane specially chartered for him and his bandmates, is opened. Outside and already waiting on the airport platform to greet them are dozens of fans and reporters. The affinity with which the newspapers, TV stations and internet coverage reported on every movement of the band is truly remarkable. Unfortunately, such attention to detail was allowing a host of more unfriendly eyes watching Arthur and his knights in the shadows to plan their attack.

All they needed was the perfect moment to strike...

Of course, such brewing trouble is hardly something that concerns the young rock star. As Arthur gazes out to observe the layout of the land, a new country to explore and conquer, he stiffens only slightly as his drummer joins his side.

“You finally stopped being sick from the re-entry turbulence, Gwaine?”

The feckless knight really is a sight for sore eyes. But Arthur won’t forget how the drummer had been teasing him with the others for joining Morgana in the private cabin up front for most of the flight. The guitarist hums dryly under his breath.

“I’m sure the fresh air will perk you up. Here, hold my luggage. After me.”

Pushing his bags into Gwaine’s chest and enjoying the slight ‘oof’ that the action elicits, the rock star proceeds to walk down the steps from the plane door onto asphalt. The crowds roar at his approach, and Arthur grins and waves a hand to greet them in return.

The rock group are escorted by limousine to their waiting hotel. Having arrived with barely enough time to prepare a stage for a concert, the Madrid gig has been scheduled for the following evening. Which meant the band have time to relax and chill in the grand suite of one of the largest rooms in the Westin Palace. The large and expensive hotel is set out over six floors, with a stunning open lobby under a large glass dome.

Leaving the tour crew to check in their bags, Arthur and his bandmates take a wander around their luxury accommodation for the night; taking in the game room, the sparkling swimming pools, the saunas, the gym, the restaurants, the bars, the little cinema and even an onsite beauty salon and hairdresser.

Merlin isn’t with them.

The wandering roadie has had competing priorities. Conversations with Arthur after he’d revealed his magic to the rock star in Amsterdam, swiftly led to the warlock striking out to learn and study more. So the mysterious recluse had left on his quest to find the right books, the right knowledge to finally treat Arthur’s soul problem.

In reality, he is being played for time. Forces more malevolent than before were afoot. The warlock had been observed in Paris and schemes were unfolding to ensure his extended removal from the situation about to unfold. In order for Arthur and his knights to be eliminated, it had been determined that distancing the wizard from the mortal musicians in his care provided a window of opportunity to carry out their foul purpose. Arthur sending out his warlock to find a cure had been an opportunity almost too good to be true; since it became the perfect distraction to occupy the time of Emrys.

That book chase was going to be strung out.

And now, with the wizard out of the picture, efforts to subdue and capture Arthur and his Knights could go ahead. The goddess was still left waiting for the blood of the Pendragon. Mixed with that of his knightly brotherhood, the resultant elixir would only make the gruesome enchantments to raise beasts that heralded the end-times that much more powerful.

***

“Where’s Adrien?” Elyan eventually asks of Arthur, as the group settle down and prepare to head off into separate rooms to sleep.

Arthur shrugs. “Oh, I don’t know. He said he had to go and catch up with ‘his studies’ whatever that means. I’m sure he’ll be back with us sometime tomorrow.”

Clapping the shoulder of his backing vocalist, Arthur smiles warmly at Gwen’s brother. “It was nice, by the way, for you to invite your sister to meet us in Amsterdam. We spent a wonderful afternoon together in the café she always favoured.”

Saying ‘thank you’ directly still appears to be a tricky thing for the modern Arthur to say, but he says it nevertheless, in a roundabout way. Elyan smiles warmly in response and tells his band leader to think little of it: all of them were willing to die to make this tour a success for Arthur and his music. The guitarist finds himself strangely touched.

For it has been hard, continually having to hold himself together - the splintering of his mind seemed to be kept in check only by Merlin’s comforting presence and up until recently; that strange, yet treasured little bracelet he gave the rock star while on tour.

Unfortunately, Morgana had destroyed the carnelian amulet in a fit of jealous rage in an altercation right before the flight to Spain.

Arthur sighs. Conversations with both his publicist and his roadie over the last few days have led to some disturbing revelations; ones that make the guitarist truly question his place in this world. Could he really be the famous Arthur Pendragon from legend? But how? It still seemed faintly ludicrous. Arthur had not shared any of this with the rest of his bandmates, of course -- knowing that they would only think he is completely off his rocker.

Merlin’s magic remains a secret too. That would be the roadie’s choice when to reveal his powers to the others.

Arthur will not break confidence in a friend. Not ever.

As midnight approaches, the bandmates eventually appear to settle down for the night. Percival and Elyan take one room, while Arthur, Gwaine and Leon take another. Snoring inevitably fills the air. Arthur scowls.

For some reason, he is unable to sleep.

Rolling his eyes, the brunet tries turning over in his single bed. Leon and Gwaine are fast asleep in their own beds, tucked under the heavy satin quilts, nearby. Gwaine appears to have his mouth open, drooling slightly. The rock star sighs.

Tonight is going to be a long night.

#thelegendofemrys #nobilitydefined #//aaand off we go!#//posting order: arthur - gwaine - merlin #//I'll have the sorcerers begin their attack in my next post ;)#Courage Strength and Magic

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ria030lama · 4 years

Note

Hi! Once you get this you have to say five things you like about yourself, publicly, then send this to ten of your favorite followers (nonnegotiable) SPREAD POSITIVITY! 💌😘

Hi!

Oh no that's a tough one 😅 but I guess I can find 5 things I like about myself (I hope personality counts)

Okay so!

I like my eyes. They are big and honey brown color and I have natural big lashes so that's good

My sense of humor. People say I'm pretty dang funny and I can agree with them lmao

I would have said my hair but right now they are so badly cut (quarantine + a bad hairdresser) because I did bangs and I didn't go to a hair salon but we called a friend that's a "hairdresser" and did me bangs. And also ruin the rest of my hair. but other than their today state I would say my hair bcs they are naturally curled in the bottom and light brown. When they're long they are pretty nice! (Also! Rn my hair are almost exactly like Della's! They are in her length, I have bangs that sometimes (like every end of the day) they go to one side and bcs they are short they do a small curl like hers do.)

Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I'm stuck ._. what else? Does my fashion sense work? Not that I'm always looking for what the fashion pros said but I can dress myself pretty good and in my own style. I'm art hoe, soft girl and e girl and I dress pretty good at all these styles

Oh my god I have nothing else 😂😂 can I do four? Wait lemme think, lemme think 🤔 my art skillsssss???? I don't know if it counts (I've said that quite a lot) but it's not on me but it's inside me aka my brain and it's also my passion sooooo yee! My art skills. It's not only what I post in here and I don't think I post quality stuff that actually represent my skills but with 2021 that came around I've gotten better! Luke idk way better than before! And I'm happy :D

K THAT'S ALL 😂 thank God it's over I stopped having a stock of "I like this about me" after the second one 😂 but for real now having stuff you like about yourself is important to remind yourself when you're blue that you have a lot of good things on you and inside you! And if you don't still then that's okay, you will find 5 things in the way! Like look at me I wanted to give up after I wrote the second one but I found 3 more in the way! You can do this too

#SPREAD POSITIVITY #5 good things you like about yourself #i wasn't joking for the della hair part #dude I literally went out and said why i like this and this 😂#school's fault! they made me explain everything I sayyyy

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winryofresembool · 4 years

Text

Things We Lost in the Fire, ch 6

aka Caleo uni au

Fic summary: Calypso starts studying at a new university, but to her annoyance her new flatmate is a loud mouthed mechanic who also likes to sneak his dog in whenever. But as she learns to know him better, she realizes they might have more in common than what she first thought. Eventually, even the darkest secrets come out…

Chapter summary: Calypso gets a makeover.

Characters in this ch: Calypso, Annabeth, Piper, Leo

Words: 3233 (a long one :O)

Genre: romance & hurt/comfort

Warnings: none

previous chapter / next chapter / AO3

...

“So, Greek is your native language? That’s so cool!” Annabeth exclaimed as she and Calypso were on their way to a nearby mall to purchase new things for the new semester. “I’ve been trying to learn Ancient Greek just for fun but it’s harder than you’d think, I’m not very good yet.”

“Yeah,” Calypso nodded understandingly. “I’ve been living here since I was about 10 so I’d like to think that my English is fine now – apart from the accent – but it took me half a year to actually start speaking English in the class when I started school here… And I was homeschooled during my high school years so it was hard to maintain the language skills. It’s nice to be able to communicate with other students face to face now,” Calypso said with a sad undertone that Annabeth didn’t miss.

“You were homeschooled?” she asked with surprise. “Any special reason for that?”

Calypso didn’t know what to answer to that. The truth was very hurtful and she hadn’t ever told anyone about it, much less someone she had known less than a week. That’s why she tried to smooth it out as much as she could when she answered: “Um… My father seemed to think it was a safer option than going to a public school.” She shrugged. Annabeth didn’t ask more questions, probably thinking that her answer seemed acceptable.

“Makes sense. I’ve done a lot of studying at home too, mostly because I have ADHD and dyslexia so learning isn’t as easy to me as it is to some.” That information surprised Calypso.

“But… Sorry for the assumption but to me you seem like the type who always wants to be on the top of her class.”

“You guessed right.” Annabeth smiled. “But it hasn’t been an easy road. I have had to try a lot of learning methods before I finally found some that worked for me and made it easier for me to focus. Luckily these days there are a lot of audiobooks and other options for dyslexic learners so… it’s not so bad.”

“Right,” Calypso said. The conversation ended because they had finally arrived at their destination. Calypso had brought very little with her into her new home - just the most essential clothes and other everyday items - so there was plenty she needed. However, she also needed to figure out where to get more money once she was done with the shopping. She had some savings on her bank account thanks to helping her dad with his business (mainly stuff like paying bills and writing emails on his behalf) and because a dead relative had left her some money in her will, but those would only last for a couple of months. She had considered her options and one of them was opening an online shop where she’d sell things she’d herself made, from clothes (she was pretty handy with both knitting and sewing) to decorative objects such as jewellery and ceramic pots. The issue with the latter option was that she had no place to make them; the room she currently had was too small and Leo probably wouldn’t be thrilled if she turned their common area into a workshop.

“So,” she turned to Annabeth as they were checking a display at a bookstore. “This might be a bit of a random question, but do you have to work to pay for your studies?”

“Oh, yeah, I do!” Annabeth answered. “My dad would have helped but we’ve never been that close and I don’t feel it’s fair so I give children art classes and sometimes tutor them in various subjects. It also helps that I live together with my boyfriend so we can split our bills…”

“You said earlier that he’s a swimmer, right?” Calypso remembered from their earlier conversation. “I used to know one who I think is pretty good these days. But I haven’t kept in touch with him for a couple of years.”

“Oh? What’s his name?” Annabeth inquired. “I might know him?”

Calypso was about to answer when she suddenly spotted a couple of people she knew in the crowd outside the bookstore. She inhaled sharply and pulled Annabeth farther from that direction, hiding behind her.

“No, no… that can’t be… how would they know…” she muttered to herself.

“What’s wrong?” Annabeth asked, trying to see what had caused Calypso’s reaction.

“I… just saw some people I don’t want to find me. It’s a long story. But we should go.” Calypso said as quietly as she could, nodding towards the entrance of the mall.

“But we just came here…”

“I’m sorry!” Calypso bit her lip. “I really don’t want him to see me. We can go to some other place.”

“Fine,” Annabeth agreed, still glancing to the direction where the mysterious person had been. “There’s another shopping center nearby.”

Once they were safely outside, she asked: “What was that about?”

“I wish I could tell you but I don’t want you to get involved in this mess…” Calypso said, wrapping her arms around herself protectively. “But this is bad, they might have a clue I’m here… I don’t know what they’d do if…”

“You don’t make any sense now,” Annabeth noted bluntly. “But OK, someone is looking for you and you don’t want them to find you. I know we haven’t known each other long, but you can trust me. I’ll help you out if you need it.”

“Thanks,” Calypso said gratefully. “Right now, the farther I am from those people, the better.”

“What are we waiting for, then?” the blonde girl tugged on her sleeve and started running like a little child. “Let’s go!” she said, smiling as she ran farther from Calypso, and she couldn’t help but follow her.

…

In another shopping center Calypso spotted a hair salon, which gave her an idea. She figured that if she looked different than before escaping her childhood home, the men who worked for her father would have a harder time recognizing her. That meant a new haircut, new clothes, and possibly different kinds of make-up too. She didn’t usually use a lot of products on her face – mascara and lipgloss were her go-to make-up items – but maybe Annabeth would be able to help her with that.

“I… should probably use my money on more important things, but do you happen to know anyone who’d be willing to give me a haircut? And maybe even help with dyeing it?” Calypso asked while looking at the ads on the wall of the hair salon.

“You want to cut it?” Annabeth eyed her long, caramel colored hair that had been braided. “I thought it looks so pretty now.”

Calypso mumbled something about wanting to start kind of from a clean slate in a new place, not wanting to go too deep into her reasons.

“I understand.” The other girl nodded. “As for your question, yes, I happen to know just the person! My friend Piper McLean is quite experienced in that field because one of her sisters is a hairdresser and she taught Piper to cut her hair. She’s helped me sometimes too!”

“Piper?” The name reminded Calypso of something. Then she realized that she had heard Leo mention a girl named Piper the other day. “That is not a very common name here, is it? I mean, I think my flatmate knows someone called Piper too…”

“Now that you mention it, I think it might indeed be the same Piper,” Annabeth realized. “She does talk about Leo sometimes; apparently they are good friends. Somehow I’ve yet to meet him, though.” Calypso from a couple of days ago might have said that Annabeth really hasn’t missed much, but something had changed after the conversation with him the other day. She no longer felt annoyed simply by the mention of his name, and even though she didn’t really want to admit it, there was a part of her that wanted to know more about him. Something bad, apparently related to fire, had happened in his past that he kept inside him, and when Calypso thought about it, she couldn’t help but feel for him… She too had lost a lot. But then she shook her head because now was not the time to get stuck in her past.

“Maybe you will meet him if you come to our flat at some point; he’s home working a lot,” she answered instead.

“Maybe!” Annabeth said enthusiastically. “I’d like to know what all the fuss is about because somehow I seem to have a lot of connections towards him. First my boyfriend, then Piper, and now you too.”

“Small world, huh?” Calypso smiled. Annabeth agreed and after they paid for their purchases she proceeded to call Piper to ask if she’d be willing to help a friend out. Piper had nothing against that. They decided to meet up at Leo and Calypso’s flat in a few hours because it was closer to their current whereabouts than Annabeth and Piper’s homes.

...

About two hours later, Calypso’s wallet was notably lighter, but she had gotten herself a new, pink everyday dress, a jacket, shoes that matched the dress, a light blue shirt, some make-up products (for which she had had to ask the shop assistant’s help) and henna hair dye. She had debated on her color options for a good while, but ended up on the orange-ish because it wasn’t too far from her own hair color (she didn’t want too radical changes when she was dying her hair for the first time) and she also liked using natural, organic products when possible.

“Thanks for coming with me!” Calypso told Annabeth happily when they were finally back at her flat. “You were a big help.”

“No big deal,” Annabeth said back. “I’m always happy to help a friend. Not that you needed it a lot.”

“I meant more than just shopping wise,” Calypso said, looking down at her feet. “I don’t know how I would have reacted if I had been alone when…”

Annabeth understood she was referring to the strangers who had frightened her.

“You still don’t want to talk about that?” she asked carefully.

“I’d rather not,” Calypso shook her head. “It’s… a part of my life that I’m trying to leave behind me.”

Annabeth narrowed her eyes. “Can I ask you one question, though? You know those guys and they know you? And they’re searching for you?”

“I… I don’t know what they were really doing here. It could have been a total coincidence. I mean, only you knew we were going to be at that mall so it feels impossible that they would have known…” Calypso rubbed her forehead tiredly.

“You’re not trying to run away from the police or anything? Sorry, I just had to ask.”

“No, no!” Calypso lifted her hands in front of her defensively. “They are from my dad’s company… it’s complicated.”

That was Annabeth’s cue to stop asking more questions. She figured that Calypso would tell her with time if she let it be. The atmosphere started getting a bit awkward so both of the girls were relieved when Annabeth’s phone rang and Piper announced she was waiting at the front door. Calypso let her in.

“So you’re the famous Calypso!” she exclaimed the moment she saw her.

“Famous?” Calypso asked, her eyebrows raising.

“I just meant that Leo has talked quite a lot about you,” she grinned cheekily. Calypso couldn’t help but notice that the girl was very pretty, with mysterious multicolored eyes and brown hair that suited her even though it was cut unevenly. She secretly hoped that she had made it look like that on purpose and it didn’t show her real hair cutting skills.

“He has?” Calypso asked. “I bet he’s said nothing good about me…”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Piper replied, “he may seem a bit rude on the surface but I promise that he’s actually much nicer than what he looks like. Just awkward around new people. So, no, he hasn’t said anything that would make me hate you.”

“That’s a relief, especially since you’re supposed to use the scissors near me soon,” Calypso attempted to joke and to her relief Piper laughed at it.

“Anyways, as I’m sure you already know, I’m Piper.” She shook Calypso’s hand. “I hope you don’t mind me coming into your flat even though we are just meeting right now.”

“Oh, no problem!” Calypso reassured her. “I trust Annabeth’s judgement on friends.”

“Not Leo’s, though?” The corner of Piper’s mouth raised with amusement.

“Uh…” Calypso rubbed her neck. “We’ve had a slightly weird start but I think we have made a bit of progress in the past few days, though.”

“So he has talked to you like he promised?” Piper asked.

“Well, however you take it. The fire alarm started acting up yesterday and he fixed it. And I did learn some new things about him meanwhile,” Calypso confessed.

“Such as?”

“Either he’s really afraid of the voice of the fire alarm… or then the thing that causes it,” Calypso said vaguely, trying to see from Piper’s reaction if she knew something she didn’t.

“His home burned when he was a child,” Piper revealed. “He was only 8. It was pretty traumatizing for him so you’d probably do well if you didn’t ask about it. He’ll tell you more when he’s ready.”

Calypso could relate to that feeling because she had literally only moments before told Annabeth that she wasn’t ready to talk about her background.

“He mentioned something about a fire the other day but he was pretty vague about it… But anyway, that explains why he wasn’t thrilled when I was going to use the matches…” Calypso noted and the other two hummed in agreement. To lighten the mood, Piper decided to change the subject:

“Anyway, I believe I came here for a makeover, so maybe we should get started!” she said happily, gesturing towards the items she brought.

…

A couple of hours later, Piper had performed her magic and Calypso looked almost like a different person. Her hair, which used to reach her bottom, was now shoulder length and orange-ish instead of caramel blonde. Piper would have agreed to cut a fringe as well, but Calypso refused. The brunette was also a rather skilled make-up artist (she didn’t wear a lot of make-up herself, but her mother was extremely enthusiastic about all things beauty related and had taught her from a young age. Piper claimed she’d be proud if she saw her now) and she taught Calypso some simple tricks to do her everyday make-up. Turned out she didn’t need much: her skin was naturally smooth and her eyelashes long and dark. To complete the look, Calypso put on her new dress, and the other two girls cheered when she showed them it.

“I’d say mission successful!” Piper exclaimed, clapping her hands. “Even my mom would approve.”

“You think so?” Calypso asked shyly, still trying to get used to her new look.

“Definitely,” Annabeth agreed as well.

“Can I offer you something as a thanks?” Calypso suggested. “Coffee? Tea? Juice? I think I have some pie left from the other day as well unless Leo has stolen it…”

“Tea sounds good,” Piper nodded approvingly and the girls moved into the common area.

“Leo doesn’t seem to be home?” she asked Calypso when she started boiling the tea water. “And here I thought he’s always here building something.”

“I think he mentioned something about a sparring session…” Calypso shrugged. “I didn’t ask more about that.”

“Oh yeah, sometimes he and Jason and a couple of other friends do that but I know Jason wasn’t going to go anywhere today, he has a deadline for an assignment…”

The girls were still wondering the mystery of Leo’s whereabouts when keys started clinging by the front door and soon it opened. A smile spread on Leo’s face when he recognized Piper who sat on the kitchen counter.

“Speaking of the devil, there he is,” the brunette stated before Leo had time to say anything, making the boy confused.

“Pipes, what are you doing here? How did you get in?”

“I was with Calypso and Annabeth, duh,” she answered, gesturing at the two girls that Leo hadn’t noticed until that moment.

“I didn’t know you knew Calypso,” Leo stated before turning his attention properly to the two other girls. First he nodded at Annabeth who was sitting by the dining table and started introducing himself: “Hi, I’m Le...wow”

“What?” Annabeth snorted but didn’t get a reply because Leo had finally noticed that his flatmate looked very different from before. In a good way.

Calypso was frozen in her spot with a teapot in her hand, blushing when she felt Leo’s stare at her. But Leo didn’t notice that. He noticed how the make-up brought out her almond shaped eyes (Leo wondered how he had never noticed before that they were so dark brown that they almost looked black), how the dress she was wearing reminded him of one his mom had worn often during the holidays, and how the short hair curled cutely from the ends, tickling her jaw a bit. If he was honest with himself (which he tried hard not to be), he had previously thought she couldn’t possibly be prettier than she already was, but clearly he had been proven wrong. He had to bite his lip to not curse out loud (because he would NOT have a crush on his flatmate).

“Well? What do you think?” Piper asked when the silence that had fallen into the room was about to get awkward. “We had a small makeover here.”

“I… uh… she looks… good?” Leo stammered, feeling the heat rise all the way to his ears. In reality, he had to gather all his willpower to stop himself from using all the extravagant words he often used to describe his work (usually as a joke). Because he did like what he saw, he couldn’t deny that no matter what.

“Good? Calypso, his ears say otherwise. I’ve never seen them that red.” Piper teased.

“Shut it, Beauty Queen. “ Leo mustered the most burning expression he was capable of making.

Piper didn’t care. “Just so you know, Calypso, he’s used that name as a joke since we learned to know each other, so don’t think that he thinks of me that way. I have a boyfriend.” Calypso smiled at her awkwardly.

“Yeah, and sometimes I don’t get why Jason stands you. Estas loca.” Leo shook his head before withdrawing into his own room.

“Aww, he goes for Spanish when he’s nervous, Cal. I think you really made quite an impression,” Piper laughed, not caring about Leo’s reaction.

“Was that necessary, though?” Calypso asked, feeling almost as flustered as Leo a moment before.

“Don’t worry about it. We just like to make fun of him.” Piper shrugged. “He won’t be mad long.”

“But…” Calypso started, not knowing what to make of Leo’s reaction. Had he really liked her new look? Why had he gotten so flustered? Finally, she decided she must have been overthinking it. “Uh, never mind. Anyway, thanks for the help, Piper. What do I owe you for this?”

“Nothing. But please invite me over more often. I think we are gonna have fun together!”

#caleo #leo valdez #calypso #heroes of olympus #percy jackson and the olympians #trials of apollo #my fics #caleo uni au #let me know what you think!

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itslilliansnow · 5 years

Text

The Five Steps to a Perfect Marriage

Hello folks! I hope you enjoyed the first part (you can find it here) and will like this second one! This is for my beloved Mars @iwillgiveyoumyhappiness, I hope I did you justice and write something that you can read and say “I’m happy”. I love you dude, you know it! To anyone else, if you wanna request something, my inbox is open! Love ya! Pairing: Yuchan x Reader Genre: FLUFF. A LOT OF FLUFF. Words count: 4.3k+

“The five steps to a perfect marriage.“

Staring at the magazine into your hands, you tried to memorize as many words as possible, the delicate hands of the hairdresser who worked wonders on your hair. Always too many that every time you visited the salon, you left enough for a wig.

Yet, in your heart, you felt that those five steps wouldn’t help in your case. The conventional had never been to your liking or to your future husband.

Biting your lip and trying to hold a smile, you started to list your five steps for a perfect wedding in your mind. A wedding that you didn’t know when would happen, but that promise made more than 3 years earlier by the sea was worth as much as the first day.

Step One: Let Yuchan participate.

The problem was only one: Your tastes were diametrically opposed. If you liked vanilla, he was a lover of chocolate. If you wanted to go to the mountains to ski, he wanted to enjoy a few days basking in the sun. Then you’ll think: how is it possible that you were friends for years and then start a relationship?

By paying the bill for your treatment, you left the store, thanking that it was a sunny day without the constant humidity that you hated so much. The hairdresser allowed you to take the wedding magazine, noting the dreamy look with which you had read it from top to bottom in less than an hour. -Marshmallow, Marshmallow- Xiumin’s voice made you smile, and you immediately picked up the phone from your jeans pocket, a message from your boyfriend. - Beautiful, how about we lock ourselves in your apartment tonight, eat some junk food and watch Letters to Juliet? -

This was how it was possible to be together, talking about friendship slowly turned into the love that flew in your veins. You knew each other’s tastes, and compromises were the base of your relationship. Yet neither of you complained about it, perhaps because the result was to live fully every moment together. By quickly pressing your fingertips on the screen, you sent your answer - how could you say no to your favorite movie? - which was immediately greeted with a selfie where he sent you a kiss.

"You’re unbelievable Yuchan,” you murmured in a whisper, finally arriving home and about to get rid of your shoes and clothes, welcoming the cuddles of a nice relaxing bath. On entering the apartment, you noticed a bunch of flowers - your favorites - on the table with a card resting next to it.

-To the most important woman of my life - after mom, you know - there is a relaxing bath waiting for you, see you later. I love you. Y.-

“Never fight moms.. they’re invincible,” giggling you started to slip off the various layers of clothes and let them fall on the floor, you would have tidied up later, smelling the scent of lavender and marigold coming out of the crack under the bathroom door.

Yes, by now, you were convinced that Yuchan would pout his whole life if you excluded him from the preparations for your wedding.

Step Two: Convince Yuchan’s parents that your marriage would be something intimate.

“WHY CAN’T YOU SAY TO THEM THAT WE WON’T DO ANYTHING EXTREME, BUT SOMETHING INTIMATE? IT’S ABOUT US, THE TWO OF US, YUCHAN!”

It’s been an hour, your screams kept booming between the walls in the dorm, while Yuchan was sitting on the couch exhausted by that quarrel that seemed not to want to end. He was aware that his parents could be oppressive, but they were the main reason he was the man he was, how could he say no to something they always wanted for their son? You, on the other hand, were as tired as he was, but you wouldn’t have accepted anything but “you’re right, I’ll talk to them.”

Two months had passed since the day he asked you to officially become his wife, a day you would never forget because of the sweetness that accompanied every single moment. You were busy and had already made many compromises, including opting for a restaurant for the after party because your house wasn’t big enough to host such an event but just the ceremony.

“Don’t you have anything to say?” You asked coldly, standing across the room as you could hear the whispers of Donghun and Sehyoon coming from the too-thin walls of the dorm. “Yuch–”

“What do you want me to say? They’re my parents!” He interrupted you by getting up from the couch, and with long strikes, he was in front of you, making you go back until the wall was your only support. “What can I do? I can’t choose between you, no–”

“I’m not asking you to choose,” the tears, held back until then, began to run silently on your cheeks and at that sight, Yuchan felt his heart sunk into the pit of his stomach, almost pierced by a thousand blades. “I just wish that… I want our marriage to be about us, not the ceremony.”

Yuchan remained silent, looking into your eyes and with his thumb caressed your cheek collecting the tears that continued to run on your soft skin.

He knew that you didn’t usually cry in front of others, you often closed yourself in silence without answering, so your heart was aching pretty bad to get to that point. He sighed and went to rest his forehead against your shoulder, knowing - in his heart - that you were right and that day was YOURS, not of others.

Your arms, instinctively, went to surround his waist tightening firmly in the hope of clinging to him because at that moment you felt - despite your natural strength - that something inside you was crashing.

“You know what I thought when I asked you to marry me?” His question was soft, muffled by the fabric of your shirt, his hands caressing your back while your silence was his answer. “I thought I would never upset you enough to shed tears. You are such an independent and strong person, knowing that… I hurt you at this point makes me think I’m a bad boyfriend.”

“Yu–”

He sighed again and lifted his head and leaned his forehead against yours, losing himself in the beauty of your eyes even though they were red and slightly swollen. His tapered fingers began to caress that face he loved so much, trying to let go of what he thought. Sometimes during the most stressful moments, his mind closed completely. Anything inside it couldn’t get out, resulting in a passive and dull Yuchan. He wanted it to be different with you, he had always worked on it. His words choked on his throat, his lips moved, but not a single sound came out. You knew what was going on, and no matter how much you hated the reason why you were arguing, you hated seeing him in those conditions more.

Your hands clasped his face tightly, gently squeezing it until you felt his soft lips on yours. At first, you caressed them slowly, almost fearfully, letting the salty taste be swept away by the chocolate that still lingered on his bottom lip. It was he, feeling something snap and the desperate need for you, who deepened that chaste and innocent kiss. His body clung to yours, with strength, as he rested a hand on your neck and the other on your hip. Fingers pressed into the flesh as your lips began to bite, the desire for each other too strong. A little moan, his teeth were slowly biting on your upper lip, left from your mouth and forced him to stop having to catch his breath. “If I continue… We won’t solve the problem.”

“No…” you agreed, having to clear your voice and calm your accelerated breathing, “not at all…”

“I’m going to my parents to talk to them, but later I swear…” he grunted, touching your lips with the tip of his tongue, languidly drawing the outline, “we lock ourselves in the bedroom for the whole weekend.”

“Not bad as an idea, not bad.”

Third step: Don’t worry too much about the details (aka let the boys help you choose the cake, give them the honor of being the first to inaugurate the karaoke, don’t expect them not to make some disaster.)

“KIM BYEONGKWAN AND KIM SEHYOON, I SWEAR I’M GOING TO KILL YOU.”

You yelled from the living room discovering how they had ruined the sketch on which you had assigned to each guest (not many, but still enough not to remember by heart every single one) a place in the tables. The boys’ laughter was heard from the leader’s room but suddenly stopped, almost as if someone had shut them up with a piece of duct tape. Which you would have liked at that moment since you hadn’t slept for three nights - it wasn’t unusual, but the stress was so much - in a row.

After a few moments of silence, Junhee went out with dumb and dumber, pulling them both by the left ear and letting them fall at your feet. Commonly, the leader used to join the gang, but he was aware of how much you and Yuchan were engaging in, between work and preparation, so a little help wouldn’t be denied.

“They’re all yours, kill them as well. We can easily replace these two.” He winked at you, followed by his signature smile that managed to completely dissipate the black shadow that hovered over your mood.

“No, if they promise me that now as good children they’ll get here and do again what they destroyed.”

“Yes, yes, of course!” They screamed in a chorus, almost falling from their kneeling position when they moved in unison to retrieve sheets and pens. You and Junhee held back the laughter by watching them run away, arms full of material, including the guest list, in Gkwan’s room. Those were the little moments when you really breathed since the pressure didn’t crush you. You weren’t nervous in itself, you just had a little doubt that your dress wouldn’t have been ready in time for the wedding.

“Hey.” Junhee sat down next to you, taking from your hands everything that wasn’t necessary at the time, “I think you need a break.”

“Please, yes,” you smiled as you leaned your head against his shoulder, slightly edgy than Yuchan’s but still comfortable. Junhee let you do it, he’d known you for years now, and he loved to be occasionally cuddled by someone other than his members. “I thought of something.”

“What, leader?”

“We tasted the cake samples you had sent us, the problem is one……”

“You like them all.” You finished the sentence for him, feeling his body vibrate because of the laughter that immediately filled the air and snatched a little amused smile to you. “Unfortunately yes… so why don’t you make a normal cake of every type instead of just a big one, and on each one of them, there’s a decoration that remembers something of you two? Your sister also agrees with me.”

“Did you call my sister for this?”

“Of course! She and I are in charge of a lot of things that you don’t know.” His words were full of pride and raising your head, you could see that his smile, as well as that sweet and charismatic look that distinguished him from others, were full of happiness. Yuchan was his brother, you were his sister, how could he not be happy seeing your dream come true?

“You are incredible. I find this idea amazing. What will Yuchan say??”

“Oh, he’ll settle for it! The important thing is that the bride likes it!” he winked and lift from the couch, letting you fall with your face down, running to his room - perhaps just to warn your sister of the news. Breathing in the clean scent of the sofa cushions, you lay down and crossed your arms under your face, closing your eyes to relax for a few moments.

“Can I sing something for you two at the wedding?” Moving your gaze to the side, Donghun was kneeling next to the sofa, his smile was so dazzling that how could you say no to him? Then at such a sweet gesture, so much so that you felt your heart be filled with joy, you could only thank him. “Obviously, you dumb. You can sing anything at my wedding.” He kissed your forehead, when the maknae wasn’t around the boys were more touchy than usual, but it didn’t bother you at all because they always respected the limits imposed by Yuchan, then running out of the living room in a direction unknown to you.

Smiling, you turned around, looking at the ceiling that you had the chance to paint again, trying not to let yourself be overwhelmed by emotion.

Who would have thought that becoming friends with Yuchan would have brought you in the future to have four brothers to whom you had given a piece of your heart?

Step Four: Take a break from time to time with your future husband.

“What?”

Yuchan was deciding whether to tell the truth and die or to lie and die anyway because you could find his lies by looking him in the eye. Yet you were funny, with a mask to cover your face, the towel perfectly wrapped around your head and a cocktail - he didn’t know who had prepared it - in your hand. Lying on the couch watching one of your favorite anime, slightly annoyed that Yuchan had interrupted you on the best moment. “You look beautiful today.”

“I’m always beautiful, and I know you’re laughing mentally, but there’s a face mask waiting for you in our room along with your cocktail.”

“What are we celebrating?” He asked, starting to undress as he reached the room, relieved not to see you too tired again after the endless hours of work and practice hours spent for your next competition. On your shared king-sized bed he found the box with a card next to it that said: -to the future best husband in the world, you have some pimples to fight on that pretty face so wear the mask and join me in this “free stress day.” I love you.-

“PIMPLES? WHERE? DONGHUN HYUNG DIDN’T TELL ME ANYTHING BEFORE!” He screamed, looking in the mirror, your amused laughter bursting out of the living room, and he immediately sensed that you had only chosen to make fun of him.

To tell the truth, he wasn’t even so offended, it was a common thing between the two of you to make little pranks from time to time. It cheered up the moments, made them unique, marked them as “yours.” It was also one of the many reasons why he loved you with all his heart. You could lift his spirit at the right times, giving him the peace he could only find in your presence.

He took the mask and following the steps to perfection found himself with a strange drawing of a panda on his face, which made him smile and come back to you after a few minutes.

“You didn’t answer me, love. What are we celebrating?” He asked again, jumping on the couch at your side and slipping his arm behind your neck. The tiredness of the day began to slide away from his body, at that moment covered only by the shorts of a suit, leaving him more with the desire to do something crazy with you than sleep - as he had planned before returning home.

“Nothing.” You sipped your fantastic cocktail - the recipe found on the internet that fortunately turned out well - making a little “pop” when you popped your lips and let the straw slip away. “We’re so busy and stressed out that if we keep going down this path, we risk not getting to the wedding.”

“Sometimes I’m surprised by your intelligence,” joked your boyfriend, while you pinched him on his side as a “little” revenge without being able - however - to hide the enormous smile that hovered over your face. “Seriously, we’re only a month away. Are you still sure you want to get married to me?”

Bringing two fingers to your chin, you pretended to take the time to think by muttering a few incomprehensible words. He waited in silence, acting -in the same way you did- to be more and more on the verge of a life crisis.

You forcefully shook his hand, bringing it to your chest. “Yuchan… I waited so long to tell you that maybe I had totally fucked up,” the drama in your tone was so fake that it made you almost laugh than being sorry, “I think I understood a long time ago–” you forcefully turned your head sideways, bending it backward and carrying the other hand - the one with the cocktail in your hand - to your forehead in a desperate manner. “THAT I CAN’T – AH– MARRY YOU. I’M IN LOVE WITH ANOTHER – AH – PERSON.” you finished your sentence by choking the words, holding back the laughter that was ready to fill the room for the umpteenth time.

The blond-haired guy - you preferred his natural color, but you knew he would do some crazy thing before the wedding - jumped off the couch, spilling a few drops of his cocktail before putting it on the table.

“HOW COULD YOU? I PROMISED BYEONGKWAN HE’D ORGANIZE MY BACHELOR PARTY. AND NOW… TELL ME– OH MY GOD, I’M DEVASTED!!” he jumped to his knees, holding his head in his hands and screaming his “regret” in the most falsely way. “YOU… YOU BROKE MY HEART!!!!!!” He screamed again, raising his head and on his knees he approached you, clutching your legs in a secure but not excessive grip.

“You broke my heart,” he whispered, looking at you, letting the mask slip from his face the moment you took yours off. He put his head on your thighs, wrapped in the soft bathrobe that he loved so much to see you wear, staring at you with the bright eyes of those who know.

Of those who know that they have found their soul mate.

Of those who know that despite the difficulties of the past and those that still have to face, has the right person at his side.

“You broke it and stitched it up, adding those pieces that were missing. Those pieces that have your essence.” He whispered, his lips touching the hands that had taken his face between them, trying not to let the emotion overwhelm him. It was difficult at that time, despite having learned over the years to keep them under control. You watched him, your heart impatiently beating at an abnormal rate as if it wanted to jump from your chest, caressing his cheeks and melting, feeling the softness of his lips against your fingers. “Yuchan, keep your beautiful words for our promises.”

“You still haven’t understood, have you?”

With your head, you made a small nod of denial, curious about what he meant by that answer.

“You haven’t understood it,” his voice a whisper and a delicate kiss on the finger where the engagement ring shone with its own light, “that I could spend a lifetime talking about how special you are and not having finished yet when I take my last breath.”

Step Five: Accept that there may be problems but that Yuchan is there, everything else doesn’t matter.

Sehyoon was by your side, in your old bedroom. His hand caressed your shoulder, trying to calm your tense nerves. It was the big day, and everything seemed to be going wrong. “Just deep breath, okay?” he said gently, looking at your figure in the mirror.

Your dress was ready, the back part more extended than the front but short enough to touch your ankles. The red ornaments intertwined on the waist, which climbed slightly up to the chest, stood out and made the whole something explosive but delicate at the same time. The collar of the top wrapped around your neck, on which red lace had been used to create a pendant similar to the details on your waist. You felt perfect, a feeling that was strange, exciting, and frightening at the same time.

The day had started badly, but what was the problem?

You were going to marry the love of your life, everything else was as necessary? No.

The weather prediction that foretold rain? It didn’t matter.

Your beautiful dog - aka best friend - Xander who had almost lost the wedding rings? It didn’t matter.

Your dress arrived late? It didn’t matter, you were wearing it.

Donghun who accidentally dropped some of the photos of you and Yuchan and then had to fix it? It didn’t matter.

Your future husband was waiting for you, and you were about to say yes. You were about to become his wife, even though you already were in your heart.

A gentle knock made you snap back and his voice, that voice so sweet that every morning was used to wake you up singing something, resounded from behind the wooden door making you smile. The agitation totally vanished your only desire to be able to hide in his arms.

“Hyung, are you there?”

“Yes, is something wrong?”

“I just wanted to know if my beautiful bride is okay.”

Sehyoon looked at you and went to the door, just opening it and going out so he could give you some privacy without the groom seeing the dress. You also approached the door, resting your hand against it, almost sensing that he was doing the same.

“How did your promises come out?” The emotion evident in your voice, a detail that made the smile on Yuchan’s face even wider. He could feel his cheeks starting to hurt, but it was an endurable pain compared to the happiness he was feeling. “Do you want to hear them?”

“Doesn’t it bring bad luck?”

“Love, that’s the dress. But if you want, I’ll just tell you the beginning, so we can make things a little spicy and challenge fate.”

“You’re mean, you know that now my curiosity is eating me…”

He cleared his voice, stroking his lower lip with the tip of his tongue.

“Today I am here, in front of my best friend, to make promises to her. First of all, I promise to continue to allow her to be herself at all times. You see, this woman is the strongest, independent but at the same time fragile person you will ever know. She hardly trusts people - don’t blame her - but when she does, she gives you the world.” He stopped as your hands began to tremble, feeling the love he was instilling in those words. Love you had felt on your skin for almost four years, and that was as intense as the first day. “When she then trusts you, you will see that she never stops showing you her true essence. Behold, I promise to protect that precious and special essence that makes you the woman you are. Because your scars, your falls, your victories, every single moment carved into your heart have made you who you are. The woman I desire by my side in this long, exhausting but beautiful journey called life.”

“Yuchan…”

“Tell me, love.”

“I know I don’t tell you this often,” you bowed your head backward, fanning your hand on your face trying to push back the tears and don’t ruin the makeup, “but I will never stop thanking you for exchanging our phones that day.”

“And why would you do that, love of my life?”

“Because it led me here. It led me to you.”

Step Six: There was no sixth step, but you are unique so screw that magazine article.

“To all the guests at our wedding. I want to thank you for making that day extraordinary for my husband and me. I’m sorry for the sudden storm, but I’m sure some of you had fun dancing in the rain with me!

I just want to say a few words. Never stop dreaming.

I’m not just talking about love. Never stop trying to achieve what you dream of. It can be a person who loves you, your personal accomplishment, an adoptive child, anything.

It’s because of my strength and that I never stopped dreaming that I have a beautiful life - albeit with ups and downs -, an incredible husband and a very extended family, including four idiots who are reading this thanksgiving.

Thanks to you all, our day has been unforgettable. I wish all of you to have one of your own. You deserve it.”

“Do you like it?” You asked your sleepy husband as the taxi continued to travel the nightly streets of Verona, Yuchan’s wedding present. He had spent days recreating a honeymoon in perfect Letters to Juliet style just to make you happy. He grunted, trying to open his eyes but giving up shortly after and hiding his face against your shoulder, clutching at you like a little koala.

“I’ll take that as a yes, husband.”

“I like you, wife. I like you so much that I decided to spend my life with you,” he whispered against the light fabric of your blouse, knowing that he had made you smile.

A smile that told a story.

Of two switched mobile phones.

Of a friendship born out of nothing.

Of two people who had decided to give themselves to each other.

Of a love full of happiness.

Now and forever.

#kang yuchan #kang chan #yuchan #chan #a.c.e #a.c.e yuchan #a.c.e chan #a.c.e maknae #yuchan scenario #yuchan imagine #yuchan fluff #chan scenario #chan imagine #a.c.e scenarios #a.c.e imagines #kpop yuchan #kpop scenario #kpop imagines #kpop fluff

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purplesurveys · 5 years

Text

568

Have you ever had a really bad haircut? I haven’t had any truly awful ones. The only time I felt ‘meh’ about a haircut was when I went to the salon on my own and told the hairdresser what I wanted myself. I was never good at that kind of stuff, and always prefer being with someone so they can tell me if I’m headed somewhere good or otherwise. Did you ever order any clothes from the Alloy catalogue? I’ve never heard of that. What brand, color, and type is your favorite eyeliner? I’ve only ever used eyeliner at one point in my life and I’ve forgotten every detail about it. It was black, though. Do you wear eyeliner? I used to. I wanted to look nice post-breakup, so I learned how to do makeup to feel good about myself. Was there ever a time in your life when you couldn't cry? I guess when I have HAD to cry in the past, as in for a skit, I couldn’t. But I can be triggered and cry very easily otherwise.

What's your favorite type of yogurt? I hate yogurt, I hate everything that’s sour (except for sour tapes, but even those I can only handle at a certain level of sourness haha). What posters did you have on your wall as a teenager? Wrestling. My mom took them down for no reason eventually, even though I loved having them up on my wall. What are your favorite type of calendars? I mean I don’t obsess over calendars enough to have a favorite type? so a digital one on my phone and laptop is fine with me. I do sometimes wish I was rich enough just to be able to spend on those novelty calendars with Audrey Hepburn photos and Monet paintings in every month, though. Do you have a full-length mirror? I used to but it got transferred to my sister’s room. I don’t mind it though; I don’t use mirrors all that much. When was the last time you bought stamps? Elementary school, probably. Do you have any overdue library books right now? HAH, yes I do actually. It was a book I needed to do a Powerpoint on, and I completely forgot that its due date was on the 4th. The fee is like ₱2/day so I’ll have to pay around ₱8 to ₱10 by next week, depending on when I’ll feel like returning the book. How often do you do laundry? I don’t; my mom prefers to do it herself. Do you have a piggy bank? Maybe as a kid, but I never took it seriously because I didn’t sit well with the fact that I couldn’t see the money I’ve been saving. I’ve stuck with a good old wallet ever since, just so I can know my progress. Do you remember your locker combinations from high school? I don’t, actually. I wonder what numbers I used to secure my locks :o What's your favorite DIY crafts youtube channel? Aren’t a lot of those misleading and downright fake? Could you spend hours on pinterest? I’ve never spent more than five minutes at one time on that website/app. Do you own plaid pants? Nah, it’s not really my style. Have you ever had to wear a school uniform? I had to wear my school’s uniform for 14 straight years. All I ever wore Monday through Friday for that span of time. What was your high school's mascot? We don’t have a mascot; we just have school colors. What were your high school's team colors? Gold, white, blue. Who were your best friends in high school? Angela, Gabie, Athenna, and Sofie. Others I was close with were Chelsea, Kaira, and Fern. Who was your first boyfriend or girlfriend? Gab. Have you ever been to Chicago? Nope but it’s a dream. If yes, what do you like best about it? The FOOD, the culture, the museums. Have you ever stayed in a hostel? Nope, never been. Would you rather sleep on the top bunk or bottom bunk? Bottom. I wouldn’t like sleeping somewhere that felt unnatural, and lying down way high from the floor is definitely one of those things. Do you love camping? I’ve never tried, so I don’t know. Would you rather sleep in a tent or under the stars? Lie under the stars for as long as I can, then pass out in a tent. What insects are you afraid of? Cockroaches. Have you ever had a secret admirer that left you notes? I haven’t. Are you close with your cousins? I have a good relationship with most of my cousins, mom’s side; but I’m especially close with my eldest cousin, who I essentially view as my older brother. I’m so-so with cousins on my dad’s side - we were very close as kids, but they moved further to the south and I never really get to see them anymore, so we grew more shy as the years passed. Are you close to any aunts or uncles? I love my mom’s cousins; they’re all younger than her and they’re mostly late Gen X-ers so they’re more hip and cool hahaha. I wouldn’t say we’re close but they are definitely much easier to talk to than other older relatives. Are you close to your grandparents? I seldom get to see my paternal grandparents because they live with the ^ same cousins I’ve since grown quite distant from, so I wouldn’t say I’m close to them but of course I love them all the same. I was very close with my maternal grandfather when he was still alive as I always knew what to do to make him laugh; and I am also crazy for my maternal grandmother, although in the last few years she’s been all about Jesus so sometimes it gets a little draining hearing about how I should always pray and that “God can answer all [my] problems.” Still love her loads, though. Who betrayed your trust? A friend did, many years ago. Who was your first best friend (apart from a sibling)? Bold of you to assume a sibling was my first best friend, because you’re wrong lol. I’d consider this girl we calle Kaye the first one; we were class number buddies in Kinder 1 (I was 4, she was 5) so we got close quickly. She changed schools by Grade 1 and I haven’t talked to her since, but I still remember her fondly. What was your favorite thing to do at sleepovers when you were younger? I was never allowed at sleepovers when I was a kid. What kind of popcorn is your favorite? Sweet-flavored ones. I could never take dry-ass plain/salted popcorn. It has to be something like salted caramel or parmesan. Does your town have a big fountain in it? If we do have one, I’ve never seen it. But I’m pretty sure we don’t. What is your town known for? For being on a mountain and being ridiculously hard to get to because 1) of its winding, accident-prone roads, and 2) IT’S ON A MOUNTAIN. I live in the area of Antipolo just before you start to go up, so I don’t get offended much by the complaints of everyone else; but I’m in solidarity nonetheless with the ~mountain-dwellers~ just because I used to go to school in upper Antipolo. Do you currently live in the city you grew up in? I mostly grew up in Antipolo, so yes I still live here. I did live in Manila in my early childhood but that time was much shorter than the time I’ve spent in my current city. What's one way in which you're behind the times? I hate Minecraft and I hate Fortnite even more. What's one way in which you're still a child? I love coloring books :) What's one way in which you're old? I have a bad back. Do you feel old or young? Or do you feel both at different times? Definitely feel a bit of both, depending on my mood. The perfect example could be that I can be annoyed seeing younger kids make so much noise, but the next day I can be exactly like those kids making a bunch of noise with my friends. How old are you? I am 21. Do you know what you want to do for your next birthday? No, not yet. Quite early to think about at this point, really. If yes, what is it? A private dinner would already sound perfect. What is the last new thing you discovered that was really good? Vaping. I mean don’t try it if you haven’t already, but yeah. What would be the best surprise you could receive right now? Tbh if my mom came home carrying a box of Yellow Cab pizza. AKA something that would NEVER happen; she snobs Yellow Cab cos she thinks they’re too expensive for pizza. Do you usually forgive when someone hurts your or try to get revenge? I get my revenge, subtly. Were there any subjects in school that were really easy for you? Our subject Language, which was mandatory back in elementary school, was literally basic English grammar. Not everyone in my former school spoke fluent English so a lot of them weren’t all that good at the subject; but for people like me who had a solid grasp of English and read a lot to begin with, the class was basically a breather from the other more difficult classes. If so, what? ^ I already told ya all about it. Did you ever skip a grade or get held back a grade? Skipping grades isn’t a thing in my former school which is honestly a good thing for me cos it would have bred a lot of competition. But students would have to repeat a level if their grades showed that they had to; I wasn’t one of them. What time of day were you born? 9:11 in the evening. What is the best hairstyle you've ever had? I loved my layered hair like 10 years ago. It was probably the only time I did something to my hair that wasn’t just a trim, so I enjoyed that experience. I also liked cutting my hair way, way too short last year; it was a bold move but I liked how it look, as did everyone else. Do you think you look better with dyed hair or natural hair? I’ve never tried dyeing my hair so I wouldn’t know. Do you think your look better with curly hair or straight hair? Curly, I think. Do you have bangs? I have baby bangs but they’re just stubborn hair standing around my head lmao but no I don’t have actual bangs. Do you think you look better with bangs or without? I haven’t tried getting bangs as an adult. I did look cute with them as a toddler though :( Do you think you look better with long hair or short? Long. What's your favorite rock band? Paramore, if they still count. Who's your favorite country singer? None. Do you ever listen to Celtic music? No. Do you listen to Hillsong? No. Did you try the unicorn frappuccino, and if yes, were you a fan? No I never tried it. Have you ever won a contest? I won a school quiz bee and an essay writing contest before, but I wouldn’t call the latter legitimate. It was just a writing contest about wrestling held by a local TV station and the three best entries got to win WWE t-shirts haha. Have you ever wanted to be a model, actress, singer, or dancer? I wanted to be a model when I was like 12. No fucking clue what was going through my head at the time. When you look at your baby pictures, do you recognize yourself? Sure. Has your hair color changed since you were a toddler? Nope. Do you wear matching socks? Yes. How many drawers does your dresser have? Three. Do you own an American flag shirt? No thanks. Do you own a British flag shirt? I don’t. The Union Jack got overused by 2011 Tumblr, honestly. Do you have a seashell collection? I don’t. Aren’t we prohibited from getting those from beaches? That’s the case in the Philippines, anyway. Do you have a rock collection? I do not. Do you decorate for Halloween? We didn’t decorate the house but I celebrated it with friends this year. What is your favorite thing to do in the pool? Float around and relax. Flamingos or pineapples? ??? Flamingos, I guess? Cacti or seashells? Seashells. Maple tree or palm tree? Palm tree. Dreamcatcher or wind chimes? Dreamcatchers! Have you ever taken a picture at the perfect moment? I probably have at few points. Do you have a crush right now? Yes. What color was your first car? My first and current car is white. Was your first car used or new? I’m actually not sure. It was my dad who purchased it. Do you have a car now? Yep. What color(s) eyeshadow do you wear the most? I never wear any.

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