#and every so often we just gather to share the Horrors (

[palangsaeya]

Seonghwa x reader - Lego love

Group: Ateez Members: Seonghwa, little bit of Mingi and San Warnings: none

A university student with a secret love for building LEGO unexpectedly crosses paths with Seonghwa, a mysterious yet familiar-looking man who shares her passion, leading to an unforgettable connection built one brick at a time.

You tap your fingers against the surface of your laptop, pretending to listen as your group members continue discussing the final details of your business project. It’s not that you don’t care—you do. You’ve worked too hard for your grades to let things fall apart at the last second. But right now, your mind is somewhere else.

Or rather, at one specific place.

A LEGO store.

You try not to glance at the time on your phone too often, but every second feels like an eternity. There’s a limited-edition LEGO set being released today—the massive, intricate, stunning new build that you’ve been dreaming about ever since rumors started circulating online. You marked the release date on your calendar. You saved money for it. You checked the store’s stock online.

And now, you just need to get there before it sells out.

"Alright, I think that covers everything," one of your classmates finally says, and you resist the urge to sigh in relief.

"Perfect," you say, closing your laptop a little too quickly. "I'll put everything together tonight and send it to the professor before the deadline."

Your friends exchange glances. "Are you sure you don’t need help?"

"Nope, I got it," you say, already standing up and gathering your things. "Thanks, everyone! See you in class!"

And with that, you’re gone.

-----

The city streets are buzzing with the usual rush of people finishing work, heading home, or meeting up with friends. You weave through the crowd with a singular focus, your heart racing.

You need to get there.

As you approach the LEGO store, the large glass windows display all kinds of incredible builds—classic sets, pop culture collaborations, and rows upon rows of colorful bricks waiting to be assembled. But your eyes are locked on the section near the back, where the most coveted sets are usually placed.

You step inside, the bell ringing above the door, and your gaze immediately scans the shelves.

And there it is.

The last box.

Your heart leaps in triumph as you reach for it, fingers brushing against the smooth packaging. It’s heavier than you expected, but it’s yours. You smile, gripping the edges—

Until you realize another hand is holding the box, too.

You blink, following the fingers up to the wrist, the arm, the shoulder, and then the face of the person standing next to you.

A tall guy with long black hair.

His eyes are fixed on the box, his lips slightly parted in excitement—until he notices your hand. His head turns toward you, and for a brief moment, neither of you speaks. You just stare at each other, processing the situation.

Then, at the exact same time:

"I got it first."

The man raises an eyebrow, tilting his head slightly. "I think we reached for it at the same time."

You tighten your grip. "Maybe. But I was looking for it before I got here."

"So was I."

You narrow your eyes at him. "I think I deserve it more."

The corner of his mouth twitches upward, like he’s amused. "Oh? And why’s that?"

"Because—" You pause, scrambling for a reason. "Because I—I build LEGO sets on livestreams! My followers have been waiting for me to build this one!"

He blinks at you, a flicker of surprise in his dark eyes. Then, to your horror, his expression shifts into something almost playful.

"You stream LEGO builds?"

"...Yes."

"How much is it showing you?” 

You look at him and wonder where this is going. Did he know you? Well, you were pretty popular with your livestreams so maybe he was your follower? 

“Well, only my hands. I like to keep my personal life private.” 

“Only your hands?"

"Yes, why?"

His grip on the box doesn’t loosen. Instead, he seems even more determined. "That’s impressive. But," he says, eyes glinting with amusement, "I’ve been collecting LEGO since I was a kid. And I don’t just build them—I display them. Properly. With lighting and everything."

You gasp dramatically. "So do I!"

"Then we have a problem," he says, glancing down at the box still caught between both of your hands.

You scowl. "You’re not giving up, are you?"

His lips curl slightly at the edges, a small smirk forming. "Nope."

And neither are you.

The tension between you and the stranger is thick as you continue your silent battle over the LEGO box, neither of you willing to let go. The weight of it is starting to strain your arms, but you refuse to back down.

Before either of you can come up with a new argument, a store employee suddenly walks up to you with an apologetic smile.

"Excuse me," she says, "but someone else is asking about that set. If you’re not buying it, I’ll have to give it to them."

Your heart stops.

You don’t think—you just speak.

"We’re buying it together!"

The words come out so fast that both the employee and the man beside you blink in surprise. You feel his gaze on you, but you keep your eyes locked on the employee, silently begging her to accept your answer.

She hesitates for a moment before nodding. "Alright, if you’re both purchasing it, that’s fine."

When she finally walks away, you let out a breath of relief—only to realize that the guy is staring at you.

You clear your throat. "Well... that was the only way to keep it from getting taken, right?"

He blinks at you, then slowly, to your shock, nods. "True."

You didn’t expect him to agree so easily. But you’re not about to question your victory.

The two of you silently carry the box to the counter, and without even discussing it, you each pull out your wallets and split the cost in half.

Neither of you says a word as the cashier bags the box and hands it over. Even as you step out of the store, standing awkwardly on the sidewalk together, the situation finally dawns on you.

What are you even supposed to do now?

You glance at the tall man beside you, clutching the LEGO bag just as tightly as you. He looks at you, then at the bag, then back at you. You can tell he’s thinking the same thing.

"...So," you start, shifting on your feet. "What now?"

He exhales through his nose, tilting his head slightly. "Guess we have to decide what to do with it."

You bite your lip. Technically, one of you could just take it and pay the other back, but you both want it. And you’re not ready to give up your claim.

Then, suddenly, an idea pops into your head.

You straighten your posture. "I have a proposal."

The guy raises an eyebrow. "Go on."

You ignore the teasing tone in his voice. "We do a livestream together tonight. We build it together. And after that, we decide who keeps it."

He tilts his head, clearly thinking it over. His fingers tap against the LEGO bag, and after a long pause, he finally speaks.

"Where do you stream?"

A rush of excitement floods through you. "At my place. It’s not far from here."

For a brief moment, he hesitates. You hold your breath, waiting for his answer.

Then—

"Lead the way."

-----

Your apartment is not prepared for guests.

It’s a simple student apartment, not exactly messy, but not as clean as it should be either. The second you open the door, you suddenly feel self-conscious. Your textbooks are stacked haphazardly on the small desk, a few empty cups are scattered around, and the only proper furniture you have is your bed and a low table in the middle of the room.

When you step inside, the man follows, glancing around. You quickly clear your throat.

"It’s small, I know."

He shrugs. "It’s cozy."

You blink at him. He sounds genuine.

You shake off the surprise and gesture to the floor. "You can sit wherever. I don’t have a couch, though..."

He looks at the bed, then at the floor, then at the bed again. Then he immediately sits on the floor.

You blink again. "You really don’t want to sit on the bed?"

He shakes his head. "I’ll sit here."

You stifle a laugh, finding his reaction strangely amusing.

Finally, you set down the LEGO bag and turn to him. "We should probably introduce ourselves properly."

He nods. "Yeah. You go first."

You tell him your name, watching as he listens carefully. Then, he shifts slightly and speaks.

"I’m Seonghwa."

Seonghwa. The name suits him. You repeat it in your head a few times before nodding.

"Alright, Seonghwa," you say, rolling up your sleeves. "Let’s get ready for this stream."

Seonghwa watches as you pull out your setup—your phone stand, your extra lighting, and the tools you use to make sure everything looks neat. As you work, he leans forward slightly, eyes filled with curiosity. You give him some information on how you usually shoot this kind of livestreams and where the camera is pointing at. You also tell him that the microphone is on so the watchers can hear the sound of the pieces. 

"You really do this often," he muses.

You glance at him. "Of course. You thought I was lying?"

He shakes his head. "No. It’s just interesting. I don’t meet many people who do this."

You pause for a moment, then smirk. "Are you getting nervous?"

Seonghwa scoffs. "Not at all." 

“Have you done something like this before?” 

Seonghwa looks at you and you can see he is thinking about something before he nods a little, but he isn’t going to give you an answer. 

You narrow your eyes at him, suspicious. But instead of pressing further, you finish setting up, take a deep breath, and finally press Start Live.

-----

The live stream is on.

Your hands move instinctively, separating the plastic bags into two equal halves and pushing one pile toward Seonghwa. Neither of you speaks a word—this is how your streams always go. Quiet, focused, with only the sound of rustling plastic and pieces clicking into place.

Seonghwa doesn’t complain. He simply picks up his portion, examines the instruction booklet for a moment, and starts building.

For the next hour, the only sounds filling your small apartment are the occasional shifting of LEGO bricks and the soft, repetitive clicks as each piece is locked in.

You can’t help but steal glances at Seonghwa.

At first, you’re just watching how he builds—his technique, the way his fingers move so carefully yet efficiently. But the more you observe, the more you notice.

His hands are... fascinating.

His long fingers are almost mesmerizing as they pick up each tiny brick with precision. The way his knuckles shift as he presses pieces together. The veins on the back of his hands, faint but visible.

You swallow and quickly turn back to your own section.

Focus.

But it’s hard. Because every so often, Seonghwa shifts slightly and reaches for his phone.

You try not to pry, but it’s impossible to ignore. You catch glimpses of him unlocking the screen, typing something quickly, then setting it aside. It happens a few times. You’re curious, but it’s none of your business, so you don’t ask.

Still, the question lingers in your mind.

Who is he texting?

And then there’s another thing you notice—

Seonghwa is checking you out.

You catch him in your peripheral vision, sneaking small glances in your direction when he thinks you’re too focused to notice. His dark eyes shift between you and the LEGO pieces in your hands, lingering for just a second too long before he looks away.

At first, you think you’re imagining it.

But it keeps happening. Each time you glance up, there’s a moment—a flicker of eye contact—before he quickly averts his gaze. Your heart beats a little faster. You don’t say anything. You just keep building, pretending not to notice.

And so the hours pass like that—wordless, yet filled with unspoken thoughts.

-----

Six hours.

That’s how long it takes.

The moment you snap the final piece into place, you take a deep breath and finally, finally sit back.

You glance at Seonghwa, who is also leaning back slightly, stretching his arms after sitting hunched over for so long. His long hair falls away from his face, and for the first time, you fully take in his features.

He’s really, really handsome.

You knew that already, but now that the LEGO set is done and there’s nothing to distract you, it’s painfully obvious. Your brain tries to process where you’ve seen him before. There’s something familiar about him, but you can’t quite place it.

Before you can think too much about it, you turn your attention back to the completed LEGO build. Carefully, you lift the entire structure and move it to a safer spot near the wall. You adjust your phone’s camera so the viewers can see the final product in all its glory.

You gesture toward the set, letting the audience admire the result of your six-hour effort. You can already see the chat going crazy, messages flying by too fast for you to read properly.

Seonghwa watches quietly beside you, his gaze flickering to the screen for a moment before he exhales softly.

Then, with a single movement, you reach over— 

And end the live stream.

The silence that follows is... unexpected.

For the past six hours, there’s been the quiet background noise of the stream, the clicking of LEGO bricks, the faint sounds of your breathing. Now, there’s nothing. Just you. And Seonghwa. In a tiny student apartment.

You turn to look at him and, without thinking, you smile.

"Thanks for helping."

Seonghwa meets your gaze, his own lips curving up slightly. "You too. That was fun."

You nod. "It really was."

A small pause. Then—

"Six hours, though," he murmurs, shaking his head slightly. "That flew by."

You let out a soft laugh. "Yeah. It didn’t feel that long, did it?"

Seonghwa tilts his head, considering your words. Then, he shakes his head again.

"No. It didn’t."

His voice is quiet, almost thoughtful. You feel something warm settle in your chest.

You don’t know what to say next. And for some reason, you don’t want to say anything. You just want to sit in this strange, comfortable silence for a little longer.

So you do.

-----

The silence stretches for a moment after your last words, but it’s not uncomfortable. Seonghwa sits on the floor, leaning back on his hands, glancing around your small student apartment. You feel a little self-conscious about the space—it’s not messy, but it’s not exactly spotless either. A few textbooks are stacked on your desk, a blanket is crumpled on your bed, and empty coffee cups sit on a small table near the window.

But Seonghwa doesn’t seem to mind. He doesn’t comment on anything, doesn’t look around with judgment. He just exists in the space naturally, like he’s always meant to be here.

You clear your throat and shift your weight. "Are you hungry?"

Seonghwa looks down at his phone, checking the time. His long fingers hover over the screen for a second before he nods. "Yeah, actually. I didn’t realize how late it was."

You pull out your own phone and quickly open your favorite food delivery app. You scroll for a moment before turning the screen toward him. "This place is really good. You should pick something."

Seonghwa leans forward slightly, his long hair falling over his shoulder as he studies the menu. His expression is calm, focused—like he’s making a very important decision. After a moment, he points at an item. "This looks good."

You take the phone back, glance at his choice, and nod approvingly. "Nice choice."

You place your own order right after his and pay for both meals before Seonghwa can protest. He notices and frowns slightly, shifting as if he’s about to say something, but you shake your head.

"It’s my treat," you say simply.

Seonghwa exhales through his nose, amused but not arguing. "I’ll pay next time."

The words slip out so naturally that neither of you reacts at first. But then your brain catches up—next time? Your heart does a small, unexpected flip, but you keep your face neutral. You don’t want to overthink it. Not right now.

Instead, you push yourself up from the floor. "I’m gonna go wash my face. You can use the bathroom too if you want."

Seonghwa nods, and you point him toward the small bathroom before heading in yourself.

You splash cold water on your face, trying to wake yourself up a little. The six-hour LEGO session drained you more than you realized. But at the same time, your heart is still lightly racing from the fact that Seonghwa is here.

You have a professional, mature reputation at university. No one there knows about your love for LEGO, and no one there has ever seen you this comfortable in your own space. Yet here you are, sitting on the floor of your apartment with a guy you just met, waiting for food like it’s the most normal thing in the world.

And the strangest part?

It doesn’t feel weird at all.

After freshening up, you step out and find Seonghwa sitting exactly where you left him, scrolling through his phone. He glances up when he hears you and gestures toward the bathroom. "I’ll go, then."

You nod, and the moment the door closes behind him, you take a deep breath.

What is happening?

You don’t have time to think about it too much because a few minutes later, Seonghwa returns and sits back down like nothing has changed.

You clear your throat. "So… do you build LEGO sets often?"

Seonghwa’s face lights up, and just like that, an easy conversation begins.

For the next twenty minutes, you talk about all the different sets you’ve built. You tell him about the ones you’ve streamed, the ones you keep on display, and even the ones you wish you had. Seonghwa listens intently, nodding along, his own enthusiasm peeking through.

"I have a whole shelf of them," he admits after a while. "I try to keep them organized, but sometimes I just want to rebuild everything."

You smile. "That sounds amazing. Do you have a favorite set?"

Seonghwa hums, thinking. "Probably the Millennium Falcon. It took me forever, but it was worth it."

Your eyes widen. "Wait, the huge one? The collector’s edition?"

He grins, and for the first time tonight, you see a small, excited sparkle in his eyes. "Yeah."

You let out a dramatic gasp. "I’ve always wanted to build that!"

Before Seonghwa can respond, the sound of a knock on your door interrupts the conversation.

Your food is here.

You quickly get up to grab it, thanking the delivery person before bringing the bags back inside. The smell is amazing, and your stomach grumbles in response. You set everything out on the floor, passing Seonghwa his order before taking yours.

For the first few minutes, you both eat in silence, enjoying the food. But soon enough, the conversation resumes naturally.

You talk about LEGO sets, favorite designs, dream builds—things that make both of you light up in different ways. At some point, Seonghwa starts telling you about his job. He doesn’t go into too much detail, but he mentions that he’s always busy, always moving from one project to another.

"You seem really dedicated," you comment between bites.

Seonghwa nods, chewing thoughtfully before replying. "I have to be. It’s not just about me. I have people I don’t want to let down."

His tone is soft but firm, and you can tell that he truly means it. There’s something about the way he talks about his work—something deeply passionate yet careful. Like he carries a lot more than he lets on.

You don’t press for more details, but something in your chest warms at the thought.

The conversation flows easily for the rest of the meal.

By the time you’re both done eating, the plates are empty, and the apartment feels cozier than before. Seonghwa leans back slightly, stretching his arms before glancing at you.

"This was nice," he says simply.

You nod, smiling. "Yeah. It was."

A small pause.

Then—

"What do we do about the LEGO set?"

You blink, caught off guard by the sudden return to the original problem.

Right. The set. The one you both paid for.

You glance at the completed build near the wall and bite your lip. "Well… what do you think?"

Seonghwa tilts his head, considering. Then, after a moment, he smirks.

"How about we do this again sometime?"

Your heart stutters.

"Like… another stream?" you ask carefully.

Seonghwa nods, a hint of amusement in his expression. "Yeah. We still have to figure out what to do with it, right?"

You don’t know why, but your face feels warmer than before. You weren’t expecting this. You thought maybe you’d part ways tonight and never see him again. But now, here he is, suggesting another meeting.

And you realize—

You want to see him again.

You want to keep talking, to keep building, to keep discovering all these little things about him.

So you meet his gaze, and with a small smile, you nod.

"Okay. Let’s do it again."

Seonghwa’s smirk softens into something gentler. He nods back.

"Good."

And just like that, something shifts between you.

Something new. Something exciting. Something you can’t quite name yet. But whatever it is…

You’re looking forward to it.

----- 

Three weeks pass in a blur.

You don’t talk to Seonghwa after the livestream—not because you don’t want to, but because neither of you makes the first move. You exchanged numbers that night, a simple, quiet exchange with no promises attached. You thought about texting him once or twice, maybe to ask how he was doing or if he had built any new LEGO sets since then. But every time, you hesitated.

What if he was just being polite that night? What if he didn’t actually mean to meet again?

So, life went on.

University kept you busy with classes, assignments, and group projects. Your livestreams continued, your hands assembling bricks on camera, but there was something missing. Some nights, when you sat on the floor of your apartment, scrolling through your phone, you found yourself staring at Seonghwa’s contact.

Should I text him first?

You never did.

And then suddenly—

Bzzz.

A notification pops up on your phone in the middle of your lecture. You glance down, expecting it to be from a friend or a reminder about an upcoming deadline.

Instead, it’s from Seonghwa.

Your heart skips a beat. It’s a picture. A LEGO Millennium Falcon box.

Seonghwa: "Wanna build it together?"

Your fingers tighten around your phone. You blink, rereading the message at least three times before your brain fully processes it. Seonghwa is texting you. And not just texting—you can practically hear his voice in the message. Calm. Casual. Like it hasn’t been three weeks since you last spoke.

You type back, trying to keep your hands steady.

You: "When?"

Seonghwa: "I’m free this evening."

You: "I’m down. Ready for this."

As soon as you send it, you slap a hand over your mouth. You probably sound too excited. Too eager. But before you can regret it, another message comes in.

Seonghwa: "Okay. I’ll send you my address."

And then, a moment later, a location appears on your screen.

You smile the rest of the lecture.

-----

The moment your lecture ends, you practically bolt out of the building. You catch the metro, tapping your foot impatiently as the train moves through the city. You check your phone more times than necessary, making sure you have the address right.

Eventually, you reach the correct stop and step out into a part of the city you don’t visit often. The streets are clean, lined with tall buildings that gleam under the evening sky. It’s quiet. Modern. The kind of place that feels expensive without being flashy.

Seonghwa lives here?

You follow the directions, weaving through the streets until you find the right building. It’s tall, sleek, and way too nice compared to your student apartment. The lobby alone looks like something out of a high-end hotel, with polished floors and a massive chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

You swallow.

Just how successful is he?

Shaking off your nerves, you make your way to the elevator and press the button for the floor Seonghwa mentioned. Your heart pounds a little faster with every passing second.

When the elevator doors open, you step into a quiet hallway. You glance around, searching for the right door number. Finally, after a few steps, you find it.

Taking a deep breath, you raise your hand and press the doorbell.

A few moments pass.

Then—

The door swings open.

And standing there, dressed in casual black sweats, hair slightly tousled, looking effortlessly cool and handsome, is Seonghwa. He meets your gaze. His lips twitch slightly, like he’s fighting back a small smile.

"Hey," he says, stepping aside. "Come in."

You swallow. This is real.

And as you step inside, the door clicking shut behind you, you realize—

You’re about to spend the evening building LEGO with Seonghwa.

Again.

And for some reason… that makes your chest feel lighter than it has in weeks.

As you step into Seonghwa’s apartment, the first thing you do is take in your surroundings. It’s nothing like your small student apartment—it’s spacious, with large windows letting in the soft evening glow. The furniture is modern but cozy, with a few personal touches scattered around the living space.

Seonghwa notices you looking and tilts his head slightly. “I live with two friends,” he says casually, walking further inside. “But they’re both away right now.”

You nod, feeling a little relieved. You don’t know why, but the thought of meeting his roommates right away makes you feel a little nervous. It’s easier like this—just the two of you, without any extra eyes.

Seonghwa gestures for you to follow him down the hall, and you do, curious about where he’s leading you. After a moment, he stops in front of a door, pushing it open and stepping aside so you can enter first.

It takes you less than a second to realize where you are.

His room.

But more importantly—

Your eyes widen as you take in the massive collection of LEGO sets displayed on the shelves and along the walls.

Some are familiar, ones you’ve dreamed of owning but could never justify spending money on. Others you’ve never even seen in real life before. You step closer, carefully scanning the shelves, recognizing Star Wars ships, intricate buildings, and massive structures that must have taken hours—no, days—to complete.

“This is amazing,” you breathe, eyes darting from one set to another. “I’ve only ever seen some of these online.”

Seonghwa chuckles behind you, the sound soft. “Yeah? I’ve been collecting for a while now.”

You glance at him over your shoulder. “Some of these are insanely expensive. You must really love building.”

His expression turns a little sheepish. “I do,” he admits. “Whenever I have time, I like to just sit down and work on something new. It helps me relax.”

You smile. “I get that.”

For a few moments, you admire his collection in comfortable silence. There’s something about standing here, in a space so personal to him, that makes your chest feel warm. You’re used to building alone, sharing your love for LEGO through a screen, never really sharing the experience with someone else in person. But Seonghwa—he gets it.

Eventually, Seonghwa leads you back to the living room, where a massive box sits waiting for you. You recognize it immediately—the Millennium Falcon set.

He gestures for you to sit, and you do, still buzzing with excitement. But as you scan the room, you can’t help but feel like something is missing. Your eyes flicker to the corners of the room, searching for something specific.

A camera.

You hesitate for a moment before asking, “Are we streaming this?”

Seonghwa shakes his head. “No. Not this time.”

You blink at him, a little surprised. “Oh.”

“I just… prefer to build without a record sometimes,” he explains, rubbing the back of his neck. “Feels more personal that way.”

You nod, understanding. In a way, you agree. Livestreaming is fun, but there’s something special about building just for the sake of it—without an audience, without distractions.

With that settled, you reach for the box, unable to hold back your excitement. “Should we start, then?”

Seonghwa smiles, and just like that, the evening truly begins. The moment you unbox the set, your heart skips a beat.

The sound of rustling plastic, the sight of neatly packed LEGO pieces, the smell of fresh bricks—it’s all so familiar, so comforting. You run your fingers over the instruction booklet, already eager to begin.

Seonghwa watches you with amusement. “You really love this, don’t you?”

You glance up at him, grinning. “You don’t?”

“I do,” he admits. “But I think I may like seeing you get excited more.”

Your cheeks warm at his words, but before you can react, Seonghwa reaches into the box and starts sorting the plastic packages. He hands you the first set of pieces, letting you take the lead.

“You can build most of it,” he says. “I already did one before.”

Your head snaps up. “Wait—you already built this?”

Seonghwa nods. “Yeah, a while ago.”

You remember that you just saw one finished in his room. Why did he have two of these? “Then why did you buy another one?”

He shrugs, looking away for a second. “Felt like a good excuse to build with you.”

Your breath catches in your throat.

For a moment, you don’t know what to say. Your fingers tighten around the plastic package, and you will yourself to stay calm.

Maybe he doesn’t mean anything by it. Maybe he just wanted company. Still, the warmth in your chest lingers. Shaking off the feeling, you focus on the build.

The two of you fall into an easy rhythm. You concentrate on the small details, carefully assembling each section while Seonghwa helps with sorting pieces. Occasionally, he reaches over to connect a part you’re struggling with, his long fingers brushing yours in the process. Each time, your heart stutters just a little.

Between the quiet clicking of bricks, you talk.

You tell him about your studies, the stress of group projects, the pressure of balancing work and university. He listens attentively, nodding along and occasionally asking questions. Then he shares his own experiences—his rehearsals, his schedules, the ups and downs of his work. Still he doesn’t say clearly what he does for a living so you have to guess what it could be. He looks good so maybe he is a model? 

The conversation is surprisingly comfortable.

You weren’t expecting this, weren’t expecting to feel so at ease in his presence. You had assumed the silence would be awkward, but it’s not. It’s natural.

Somewhere in the middle of the building, Seonghwa’s phone vibrates. He checks it quickly, typing out a short reply before setting it down again.

You glance at him curiously. “Busy?”

He shakes his head. “Not really.”

“Who was it?”

“A friend,” he says simply. Then, after a beat, he adds, “Wooyoung.”

You raise an eyebrow. That name… Why did it also sound so familiar? 

“Should I be worried?” you ask just in case. 

Seonghwa lets out a soft laugh. “Probably.”

You grin but don’t press further. Instead, you return to the build, feeling lighter than you have in weeks.

As the hours pass, you lose track of time.

Eventually, as you place the last piece, you lean back, stretching your arms.

“We did it,” you say, staring at the completed Falcon. “Again.”

Seonghwa exhales, admiring the build. “Looks good.”

You glance at him, smiling. “Thanks for inviting me.”

His gaze flickers to yours. “Thanks for coming.”

The room falls into a comfortable silence, and for a moment, neither of you move. Then, Seonghwa speaks again, voice softer this time.

“Do you want to stay for dinner?”

Your heart skips a beat. You glance at the time—it’s late, but not too late. You could go home. But instead, you find yourself nodding.

“Yeah,” you say. “I’d like that.”

And just like that, the night isn’t over yet.

-----

Seonghwa moves toward the kitchen with an easy grace, his long fingers swiftly opening the fridge. He leans in, scanning the shelves before pulling out a few containers. “Are you okay with yesterday’s leftovers?” he asks, glancing at you.

You nod without hesitation. “Yeah, that’s fine.”

Seonghwa starts gathering utensils, and after a moment, you step forward to join him, standing beside the counter as he prepares the meal. The kitchen is cozy, the soft hum of the refrigerator filling the silence. You find yourself watching him as he moves, the way his hands handle everything with precision. There’s something comforting about it, something oddly domestic.

Just as you’re about to ask if he needs help, the sound of the front door opening interrupts the quiet atmosphere.

Your eyebrows lift slightly.

Seonghwa stills for a fraction of a second before exhaling, his shoulders subtly tensing. He turns to you, an unreadable expression in his eyes. “So… my roommates just got home.”

You blink. “Oh.”

He hesitates before asking, “Would you rather not meet them? I can… I don’t know, send them to their rooms or something.”

You let out a small laugh, shaking your head. “It’s their home. I should introduce myself.”

Seonghwa studies your face for a moment, then nods. “Alright. Just… don’t be too surprised.”

You narrow your eyes slightly. “Why would I be surprised?”

Before he can answer, a loud voice cuts through the apartment.

“YAH, PARK SEONGHWA! WHY DID YOU SKIP PRACTICE TODAY?”

You jump slightly at the sudden outburst, and before you can even process what’s happening, two tall figures stride into the kitchen. The moment you see their faces, everything clicks.

San. Mingi.

Park Seonghwa. 

Your breath catches. The pieces fall into place so quickly that you can’t believe you didn’t realize it sooner.

Seonghwa. Wooyoung. San. Mingi.

Ateez.

The names that had felt so familiar. The way Seonghwa had looked like someone you had seen before. Now, standing in the kitchen with two more members in front of you, the realization hits you like a truck.

San, the one who had yelled, stops mid-step when he sees you, his eyebrows raising slightly. Mingi, standing beside him, takes one look at you, then at Seonghwa, and his lips curl into a sly smile.

Seonghwa sighs, rubbing his temple. “I knew this would be awkward.”

San’s eyes dart back and forth between you and Seonghwa. “Uh… are we interrupting something?”

You open your mouth, but no words come out.

Mingi nudges San’s arm, smirking. “Dude, I think we just walked into something interesting.”

Seonghwa lets out a frustrated sigh. “No, you didn’t. We were just—” He gestures toward the counter where the food is. “—getting something to eat.”

San crosses his arms, clearly intrigued. “And who’s this?”

Seonghwa glances at you, waiting to see if you want to introduce yourself.

You swallow, trying to ignore the way your heart is racing. “Uh… I’m y/n.”

Mingi tilts his head. “And how exactly do you know Seonghwa?”

You hesitate, unsure how much to say. You glance at Seonghwa, silently asking if he wants to explain.

He exhales before answering. “We met at a LEGO store.”

San and Mingi blink.

Mingi bursts into laughter first, his deep chuckles filling the kitchen. “Wait, wait. You met at a LEGO store?”

San looks between the two of you, amusement dancing in his eyes. “You mean to tell me… Seonghwa finally found someone to build LEGO with in real life?”

Seonghwa groans. “Why do you make it sound like a miracle?”

“Because it is,” Mingi quips. “You never let us help you. And now, suddenly, there’s a girl here, and you’re making dinner together?”

You cough, feeling warmth rise to your cheeks. “I mean, it’s just leftovers…”

Mingi wiggles his eyebrows. “Leftovers together.”

Seonghwa scowls at him. “Go away, Mingi.”

San, still watching you carefully, suddenly narrows his eyes. “Wait a second…”

You tense.

He takes a step closer, studying you as if trying to piece something together. “Have we seen you before?”

Your heartbeat picks up.

“I don’t think so”, you answer honestly. “I mean, I wouldn’t think so at least?” 

“I think I have heard your voice somewhere?” San says. 

Mingi, catching onto San’s train of thought, snaps his fingers. “Wait. Your voice—” His eyes widen. “Do you do LEGO live streams?”

Your stomach drops and you look at Seonghwa. Seonghwa mutters something under his breath and crosses his arms, looking mildly annoyed that the conversation has turned in this direction.

You force yourself to nod slowly. “Uh… yeah.”

San gasps dramatically. “I KNEW IT.”

Mingi grins. “Oh, this is great. We’ve heard your streams before. We went to look at Seonghwa’s room and he was looking-.”

Your cheeks feel a little warm when you keep looking at Seonghwa. The last streams you had done with a voice was over a few years ago. Did Seonghwa search your channel after your stream together? 

Seonghwa glares at his members and speaks before Mingi manages to finish his sentence. “You guys are embarrassing her.”

San laughs. “Oh, we’re embarrassing her? You’re the one who brought her home and skipped practice and watched her old videos!”

Seonghwa sighs heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I told Hongjoong I was taking the day off.”

Mingi winks. “To build LEGO with a pretty girl?”

Seonghwa smacks Mingi’s arm.

You bite your lip, torn between embarrassment and amusement. You hadn’t expected this night to turn into a full interrogation session by two of Ateez’s most chaotic members.

San leans against the counter, eyes twinkling with curiosity. “So, are you guys just LEGO buddies, or…?”

Seonghwa groans. “San.”

“What?” San shrugs. “I’m just saying. This is the first time you’ve brought a girl home that wasn’t one of our staff or friends we already know.”

You clear your throat, trying to salvage whatever dignity you have left. “We’re just friends.”

Mingi hums. “For now.”

Seonghwa looks done. “Both of you, out.”

San grins. “Alright, alright. We’ll leave you lovebirds alone.”

Seonghwa grabs the nearest kitchen towel and throws it at San, who dodges with a laugh. Mingi chuckles, grabbing a water bottle before nudging San toward the hallway.

“Have fun, you two. Don’t go wild with your LEGOs,” Mingi teases as they exit.

When they’re finally gone, you exhale, feeling like you just survived a storm.

Seonghwa shakes his head. “I am so sorry about them.”

You laugh, the tension finally easing. “It’s okay. They’re funny.”

Seonghwa sighs, rubbing his temple. “Too funny.”

You smile, glancing at him. “So… they really think this is a date, huh?”

Seonghwa meets your gaze, something unreadable in his expression. Then, after a moment, he simply says,

“Would it be so bad if it was?”

Your breath catches. You weren’t expecting that. Your heart starts pounding again, but this time, for an entirely different reason.

You look at Seonghwa, his dark eyes watching you with patience, a hint of nervousness hidden beneath his composed expression. You take a breath, letting the weight of his words settle.

“Is it okay if I think about it?” you ask softly.

Seonghwa doesn’t hesitate. “Of course,” he says, his voice steady but gentle. “I don’t want to pressure you.”

You nod, glancing at the half-prepared food on the counter before looking back at him. “What would your manager say about you dating?”

Seonghwa lets out a quiet chuckle, leaning against the counter. “You’d have to find out.”

You tilt your head. “Meaning?”

He smirks slightly, crossing his arms. “Meaning there’s no strict no-dating rule. It’s not forbidden or anything. As long as it doesn’t interfere with work and I’m responsible about it, it’s my choice.”

Your fingers drum against the counter absentmindedly. “That makes sense.”

He watches you, waiting. You can tell he’s not the type to push—he’s letting you come to your own conclusion.

You exhale, shaking your head with a soft laugh. “You know, I saw Mingi’s picture on some magazine a while ago, and then I’d see him on social media sometimes. Seeing him was  when I finally connected the dots.”

Seonghwa raises an eyebrow. “And what do you think now that you’ve figured it out?”

You give him a thoughtful look. “I think… it’s part of who you are. And if I were to try this out, I’d have to accept that.”

He nods, a small smile forming on his lips. “That’s true.”

You bite your lip, the idea of dating Seonghwa swirling in your mind. You think back to the way you’ve laughed with him, how natural it’s been to build LEGO sets together, how easy it is to talk to him.

And you think—if building LEGO is this much fun, what would happen if you could take trips to LEGO Land together? Or visit big LEGO stores? Would he get as excited as you over new sets? Would he drag you into limited edition events?

Your mind starts painting all these little possibilities, and before you can stop yourself, you’re already smiling at the thought.

From the other room, you suddenly hear a loud voice yell:

“JUST SAY YES!”

Your eyes widen as you snap your head toward the hallway. A second voice follows from another room:

“PLEASE SAY YES, HE’LL BE SAD OTHERWISE!”

You slap a hand over your mouth, muffling your laugh as Seonghwa groans beside you, dragging a hand down his face. “Oh my god.”

“They were eavesdropping?” you ask between laughs.

“They’re always eavesdropping,” Seonghwa mutters.

You shake your head, the warmth in your chest growing. Looking at Seonghwa, you see the faintest tint of red on his ears, and for some reason, that makes your heart race.

You glance toward the food still waiting to be finished, then back at Seonghwa.

“Well,” you say, tilting your head playfully. “We could start by eating this and… see where it goes?”

Seonghwa’s expression shifts—surprise flickers in his eyes before it softens into something warmer. A slow smile tugs at his lips, and he nods.

“I’d like that,” he says.

And as the two of you turn back to the meal, the voices of his noisy roommates still snickering in the background, you realize that maybe—just maybe—this is the start of something really, really fun.

The End. 

[sulphuricgrin]

Miraak's chapter, I know's a big one, since he's being introduced. How's it going in Libraryland.

"Libraryland" lmfao

Okay, so I'm actually hoping that for his introductory chapter, it won't be that long. But I'm probably so fucking wrong given the chapter spans technically 5 years. (not that Miraak knows that since you can't really gauge time in Apocrypha)

minor spoilers

I'll be kinda dipping into some existential horror, naturally; especially with what I've written in that Miraak HC post I did. Life tends to feel the same after thousands of years of being alive, all blending together. Ciphers and cultists come and go (die/become hushed sometimes). The daedra are well, daedra. Every so often some Daedric Prince is messing with the other. Memories fade, bleed together, or get scrambled in this monotony.

In truth, there's not much to do in Libraryland besides, well, read/gather knowledge.

The chapter starts just a little after where Lilli's chapter ends, as she's now gained access to Apocrypha and now is a member of the Sodality of the Eye cult that can be found in Ondil, Auridon (she's rising very quickly through the ranks).

It starts slow. Whispers among the ciphers.

When he first spies her, he thinks she's just a Summerset socialite, who likely thought she was too pretty to die in Apocrypha, playing as a merchant to the Ciphers. What with the way she interacts with them, giving them supplies. But no, she's trading with them, hiring them, telling them she's looking for information on this and that, and she'll pay handsomely. Well, okay, then she thinks she's above the work of finding things herself, and has more money than sense.

Oh, but of course, he's judging a book by its cover. You'd think he'd known better.

And of course there's this scene that I've already shared with you and Eve before:

After Lilli and Miraak meet for the first time, Lilli begins to almost stalk Miraak at times. She feels a deep interest in him, a potential of knowledge, a curiosity, especially since she’s been warned time and again to keep her distance from the first servant. Miraak, at first, doesn’t realise it, she’s actually quite good with cloaking illusion work by now. But the more he sees her in public, the more he begins to recognize her magicka signature; she practically leaks magicka. So at some point, he begins to realize she’s stalking him. And eventually catches her in her own invisibility spell. Holding her by the neck, with a dagger to her abdomen, he threatens her. He doesn’t catch it at first, but finds her reaction to his threat almost odd. It’s not until later, afterwards, that he realises she was turned on by it, by him holding her down and a dagger close enough to cut. He’s unsure what to think of that. (picks it up late cause when’s the last time someone )

The chapter ends with: The Summerset socialite had been given the title of champion and access to the tower - meaning Mora expected his toys to cooperate. Miraak planned on doing the opposite. He would run her out of here in no time.

But we know how this ends xD

[cool-fancier]

More Than Just Friends

Synopsis: Two friends, brought together by dance, discover a deeper connection, facing challenges, success, and an enduring love story.

Tatter and you had been incredibly close from the beginning. There was no denying that connection, that spark. It's true, you two were "just friends" when you first met, but things took an unexpected and surprising turn after that.

Your journey started in a simple dance studio where you both ended up as students. What drew you together was your passion for dance. You two practised together for many hours, improving your skills and challenging one another to do better.

"Ready to go over the choreography again?" Tatter would often ask with her trademark enthusiasm. She had this way of lighting up the room, her energy infectious. She had the greatest passion for dancing of anyone you've ever met.

You two put in endless practise, and with every routine, you got closer and closer. Your friendship grew, and it was clear to everyone around you that you had something special. "You two are so close, it's like you're soulmates," people would say, and you two would shrug it off as just friendship.

But it went outside the dance studio. You two interacted outside of the dance floor. You would talk about your aspirations, worries, and dreams. You would check out new restaurants, go to to movies, and have late-night talks.  Those were all just "friends" spending time together and having fun.

However, there were hints—tiny glimpses of something more. Similar to how Tatter would secretly glance at you, her eyes glimmering with a warmth that surpassed mere friendship or maybe when she was talking about someone else and you would become a little jealous. It was hard to ignore those tiny butterflies in your stomachs and the lingering touches that gave you chills.

Something changed one evening when you were working on a particularly difficult workout. You two were both breathing heavily, sweat dripping off your bodies, and Tatter fell on the ground laughing hysterically. Her laughter was the most wonderful sound in the world, and you couldn't help but laugh with her.

She glanced at you while you two sat there, gathering your breath. Her eyes were different—intense, almost searching. Your mind raced to try and figure out what was going on, and you began to feel your heart race. That is when it took place. She leaned in and gave you the most natural, unexpected kiss.

The world stopped for you. As your lips connected, it felt as though time had stopped. Now, there was no going back. The truth was out—there was more between you than "just friends."

Tatter pulled away, her eyes searching yours for a reaction. You could see the fear, the uncertainty, and the vulnerability in her gaze. You realised then that you couldn't ignore what had been there the entire time.

You cupped her cheek with trembling hands and said, "We were never 'just friends,' Tatter."

Her brilliant smile reappeared as her eyes brightened. "I'm glad you said that because 'just friends' don't feel like this."

In your dance studio, "just friends" blossomed into something greater and exquisite. It was a place of change.  From a friendship, your relationship grew into an everlasting love.

You both agreed to keep things under wraps. It started off as your tiny world, a love tale that you kept from the outside world. You'd steal moments together in the dance studio, share secret glances during practice, and lock lips when no one was watching.

For a while, everything went well. However, secrets tend to find their way to get exposed and yours was no different. One day, when friends Bada, Lusher, Minah, Kyma, Cheche, and Sowoen happened to walk in on the two of you having a private moment, the truth came out. It was impossible to miss the horror on their expressions, but what followed was unexpected.

They showed no signs of surprise, anger, or judgement. Rather, they smiled at you both with understanding.  With her sharp eyes, Bada laughed and said, "Well, it's about time you two."

Everybody nodded, including Lusher, Minah, Kyma, Cheche, and Sowoen. Minah said, "You two are meant to be together."

You shared a look with Tatter and couldn't help but smile. Your friends knew all along about the stolen looks, the unsaid feelings, and the hidden love you shared.

It was no longer a secret about your love story. It was praised, welcomed, and treasured. Tatter and you discovered that love, regardless of how it starts, is a beautiful and unstoppable force that overcomes all odds as you held each other in the company of friends who understood and supported our journey from "just friends" to so much more.

————————————————————————

Over time, the hidden love story you shared with Tatter became into your most valued possession. You two had a true, strong connection, and here was a place where you could find peace, comfort, and an unbreakable love. There was more between you than "just friends," and you both knew it.

But it wasn't meant to be a story of endless joy for you. Despite how much you valued your love, life had other plans for you, and there were challenges.

When Tatter got an offer from an influential dance group in a different city, that was the first sign that anything was wrong. It was her once-in-a-lifetime chance to perform on an immense stage and showcase her ability to a global audience. It fulfilled every desire she had ever had.

You understood that you couldn't get in the way of her. Even though accepting the offer would mean asking her to move away, you encouraged her to do so. Even though it hurt, you wanted to see her succeed and felt that she should be allowed to pursue her goals in life.

You promised that even though you were far apart, you would continue to communicate, see each other whenever you could, and love each other.

Being far away was a hard companion. While video calls and messages made up the distance, nothing could ever fully replace her presence. As the months passed, you missed her more than you could have ever imagined.

"It's unbelievable—I got the offer!" Tatter says.  "My dream has come true."

"Tatter, this is incredible!" you exclaim. "I'm happy for you. You have to accept it.

Then something unexpected occurred.  Tatter's company decided to send her on an international tour, taking her to places you could only dream of visiting. She was achieving her dreams, but it meant your time together became even scarcer.

Tatter: "I'm leaving for an international tour and won't be back for a while. It's a huge opportunity, but it also means we'll be apart Lovey."

You: "I want you to take this risk, Tatter. I'll be right here waiting for you."

One fateful night, while Tatter was in a different country, you talked about the future.

Tatter: "I miss you so much. This distance is killing me."

You: "I also miss you." We knew it wouldn't be easy, but we'll get through it sweetheart, I promise."

You two made the most agonising choice while crying and exhaling deeply.

Tatter: "Maybe we need to focus on our careers and take a break. We can find our way back to one another when the moment is just right."

You:"I can understand, I don't want to lose you Tatter but we'll find a way."

It was a decision that broke your heart and left you with an everlasting pain. Tatter started on a global tour, and you gave your own job your all. Practises, performances, and a void that only she could fill occupied your days.

There was the hope and the promise that you will cross paths again at the right time.  However, the pain of being "just friends" without her was difficult to bear.

As months went by, your careers took off together. Tatter rose to fame as a dancer throughout the world, and you were well-known in the field of music.  Though it couldn't bring back the things you had lost, success offered you purpose.

And then your paths crossed again one fatal night. You couldn't help but want to watch her dance again when she returned to town for a show.

You realised that your love for her had never faded, even if you had came back to being "just friends" as you watched her perform. The memories suddenly came flooding back. It was a reminder of the love you once shared, a sadness that had been deeply ingrained in your heart.

You smiled at her as the show came to a the end, knowing that the road back to love would not be simple but would definitely be worthwhile. Though the outside world may have viewed you as "just friends," your hearts revealed a different, longer-lasting tale.

[academicfever]

Books I Read in January 2025 feat. Feb TBR list

I often think I resemble a fish—probably a goldfish—because of my inability to retain useful information. However, this year, I’m making a conscious effort to change that. What’s the point of reading and unlocking new worlds if the experience slips away too quickly?

Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business – Neil Postman, Andrew Postman (Introduction) This book made me uncomfortable in the best way possible. It’s a dissection of how entertainment-driven media has eroded our ability to engage in serious discourse. The comparisons between Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave New World hit hard—turns out, we didn’t need totalitarianism when we had mindless amusement.

Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI – Ethan Mollick A book that made me rethink AI—not as some sci-fi horror, but as a tool that could shape our work and lives. Mollick makes it clear that AI isn't replacing us (yet?), but those who understand it will have a serious advantage. It left me oscillating between excitement and existential dread.

Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection – Charles Duhigg A book about talking—but in a way that actually makes people listen. Duhigg explores what makes certain conversations powerful, and it had me thinking about every interaction I’ve ever had. It’s one of those books that make you want to overhaul your entire communication style immediately.

Madonna in a Fur Coat – Sabahattin Ali A quiet, melancholic novel that sneaks up on you. It’s about a man, a woman, and a love that was both everything and nothing. The prose is simple but cuts deep, and by the end, I felt like I had lost something too. A book that lingers long after you close it.

Why Machines Learn: The Elegant Math Behind Modern AI – Anil Ananthaswamy Math and I have a complicated relationship, but this book made it a little less painful. It breaks down how AI actually works—no fluff, no hype, just the logic behind the algorithms. Did I grasp all of it? Probably not. But it made me appreciate machine learning in a way I didn’t before.

Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury I had read this before, but rereading it now—when attention spans are at an all-time low—was a completely different experience. The idea of a world where books are banned and people willingly give up thinking? Hits too close to home. If you haven’t read it, you should. If you have, read it again.

The Beggar Student – Osamu Dazai A book I didn’t expect to love as much as I did. It follows a student struggling to survive in an unforgiving society, and I saw pieces of myself in his resilience and quiet despair. It’s one of those stories that make you feel something profound, even if you can’t quite put it into words.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind – Yuval Noah Harari A book that zooms out so far on humanity that you start questioning everything. Harari takes you from ancient hunter-gatherers to the tech-driven chaos we live in now, and he does it with wit and insight. It made me feel both small and incredibly significant at the same time.

My TBR List for February:

Dostoevsky in Love: An Intimate Life – Alex Christofi

The Western Intellectual Tradition: From Leonardo to Hegel – Jacob Bronowski, Bruce Mazlish

The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture – Gabor Maté, Daniel Maté

Politics On the Edge: A Memoir From Within – Rory Stewart

Dead Souls – Nikolai Gogol, Robert A. Maguire (Translator)

The Abundance – Annie Dillard

We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I: A Palestinian Memoir – Raja Shehadeh

I hope to reclaim a deeper connection with books this year—to challenge myself to focus, absorb, and, most importantly, reflect. What are you reading this month? Let’s share recs and thoughts in the comments.

[jarondont]

Chapter 1!!!

So I finally finished Ch. 1 of my book Smoke from the Fire- the first installment in The Reign of the Revolution series :DDDDD

Remember that NOTHING is final (but this is what I'm likely going to stick with), and also due to personal reasons this is the only full chapter I'll be sharing. I'll share snippets of certain scenes, certain lines of dialogue I like, or anything else like character-related stuff, but I won't be sharing any more full chapters :(

Word count: 2,056

Anyways, I hope you like it!

Let's begin, shall we?

--------------------

In my life, I’d made a lot of mistakes.

But none quite as bad as this.

All I could do now was close my eyes, clench my fists, and hope that they wouldn’t find me.

Because if they did, I was as good as dead.

---

In case you haven’t seen the overabundance of wanted posters with my name on them, let’s begin with an introduction.

My name is Silas Crow. Guilty until proven innocent; wanted dead or alive.

It’s not that I’ve led a life of crime. Quite the opposite, actually. Up until a few years ago, my parents and I had been living a simple life on the island of Cartris—a territory of Losca, just a little south of the mainland. Popí was a fisherman, although he liked to call himself a sailor. Mimá would sell the fish he caught. She was also well-educated, so she’d reserve some time every day to teach me. When I didn’t have lessons, I’d often go on fishing trips with Popí or help Mimá at the Cartris fish market. Sometimes, Popí would even take us to mainland Losca for a week. We’d sell fish there—at the larger market, so that we’d get more money.

It was a peaceful life. But that was before Endox came around.

Emperor Endox II had been a horrible ruler since about three years ago—shortly after his twenty-eighth birthday, when he killed his father to get the throne for himself, and with him, his mother, since she tried to protect him. Everyone put up with him at first, since we knew how dangerous he was. But then things started getting out of hand.

A few months ago, news spread throughout Losca that Endox’s wife, Meralina, had been brutally murdered by him after they had an argument about matters regarding their son, Prince Faelen. What matters, no one knew. In fact, rumor had it that the man who told this story in the first place was never seen nor heard from again.

Endox only grew more unfair and selfish since then. Taxes had always been high for us peasants, but Endox wasn’t satisfied. A few weeks ago, he raised them impossibly high, and for what? So that he could benefit off of the people’s hard-earned money. He raised them so high that many peasants started dying of starvation.

By then, we’d had more than enough, so we protested. A simple, bloodless protest. But since so many peasants had gathered for the protest, we had Estraham Castle surrounded, and the emperor’s troops panicked.

So they attacked.

The March on Estraham marked the beginning of the Loscan Revolution. Hundreds of lives were lost that day: the emperor’s troops—twenty-seven; the peasants—over three hundred.

My parents included.

It had been one of those weeks where Popí took us to the mainland. But this time, instead of selling fish, we were there for the protest.

If only we had realized beforehand what a mistake that had been.

I could still hear the gunshots; the screams of innocent protestors. Later, I’d find out that only about thirty of them made it out alive. I could still see the horror on my mother’s face as my father was shot square in the chest, blood spewing violently from the wound. I still felt her fingers digging into my arm as she begged me to leave, to save myself.

Then she, too, was shot. The bullet lodged itself in her leg, causing her to cry out in pain and collapse to her knees.

“Mimá!” I screamed, an agonizing mixture of fear and sorrow building up in my chest.

Mimá grasped her calf where she had been shot, but she gathered up her strength to look at me one last time. “Go, Silas, please!” She cried. “Find the Nemesis. Find Hunt. He’ll help you.”

“No!” I yelled, tears streaming down my face. “Come with me, please—I can’t lose you, too.”

“Go,” she whispered, her voice cracking from the pain.

Then she was shot again. As the second bullet struck her in the back, I heard myself screaming, crying, begging for her not to leave me.

Yet she did.

The last words Mimá said to me were, “Vei livé, Silas.”

Live free.

Those words were since etched into my mind.

I vaguely remembered running away, ignoring the pain in my shoulder as a bullet ripped through my flesh, and pushing through the crowd that was rapidly falling around me. I ran, and I didn’t look back.

After what seemed like hours, I found myself in a small alley. I touched my injured shoulder with my other hand, and it came back soaked in blood. Ripping off a strip of cloth from the bottom of my trousers, I wrapped it tight around the wound and knotted it. That took up the last of my energy and willpower. Leaning my head against the stone wall, I slid to the ground and closed my eyes.

Vei livé, Silas. Vei livé…

And it all came flooding back.

That was it. I couldn’t hold it in any longer. Tears streamed down my cheeks as great sobs shook my body. They were gone. My parents were gone, along with far too many others.

And I was alone.

I wasn’t sure how long I sat there, nor did I care. I remembered hearing voices outside the alley and the stomping of boots. The emperor's troops, no doubt searching for anyone who escaped. They never found me, but if they had, I wouldn’t have fought back. What was the point?

Then I remembered what Mimá had told me to do—to find the Nemesis. I wasn’t sure what that was, but one thing was certain: I couldn’t let any of their deaths be in vain.

So I stood and brushed away my tears, hearing my mother’s voice in my head once again.

Vei livé.

“I will, Mimá,” I whispered. “I promise.”

---

Days passed, then weeks, but it felt as if the March on Estraham had happened only yesterday. The streets were plagued with the emperor’s soldiers, or the Dekhrinn, as they had come to be known—Loscan for people of terror.

They accepted this name—in fact, causing terror was their main goal. Whenever they saw the Dekhrinn coming, people hid away in their homes, shut the curtains, and locked their doors. And yet, every day, someone would disappear, usually in the dead of night. But no one dared to fight against them. They were too terrified.

As for me … I lived off of whatever I could find. And I had come to discover just how many alleys Losca’s capital city, Cyvalos, had.

Alleys that were perfect for hiding.

As the stomping of boots drew closer, the only thing I could focus on was the racing of my heart in my ears. The voices became more and more defined until they stopped right outside the alley.

“Have you found anyone?” a deep voice asked.

“No, sir,” a second man said.

“Names.”

“What?”

“Tell me their names,” the first one demanded, irritated.

I heard the crinkling of paper, and I took that opportunity to slightly peek my head out from the shadows. Four Dekhrinn were positioned just outside the alley, their armor shining red and gold. Loscan colors. Two of the men stood off to the side, one twirling his fingers nervously and the other rocking back and forth on his heels. Another Dekhrinn stood with his back to me—the one who had fished the piece of paper out of his pocket. The last man stood in front of him, a badge on his shoulder making it clear that he was the one in charge.

“We were assigned four revolutionaries, sir,” said the man with the paper. “Fenerias Hunt, Annwyl Cadarius, Eraka Orelein, and—” he hesitated. “And Silas Crow.”

So they were looking for me.

“You still haven’t caught Crow?” growled the man in charge. A pause, then he mumbled, “The next time I ask for a report, that Silas boy should have been brought to the emperor, alive or dead. Is that clear?”

“Y-yes, sir.”

“Good.” With that, I heard his boots stomp away.

The other three Dekhrinn let out a long exhale as soon as he was out of earshot. For a few seconds, all was silent. Then the man with the list of names yelled, “Well? Don’t just stand around! Find them!” and he, too, stomped away.

The two other Dekhrinn shuffled closer to the alleyway entrance. I ducked into the shadows, my heart pounding.

“How do they expect us to find them?” one wondered aloud. “Losca is huge. They could be anywhere.” Silence, then he prompted, “Henrik?”

“What?” The other man—Henrik—asked.

“Do you ever wondered what would happen if we … you know, ran away?”

Henrik was silent for a beat. “Don’t say that. You never know who’s listening.”

“Yes, but …” There was a shuffling of feet. “Endox—”

“The emperor, Keflas,” Henrik corrected. “Show some respect if you want your head to stay attached to your neck.”

“If the emperor hears what I have to say about him, he’d behead me anyway,” the man named Keflas mumbled. “I think … well, don’t you think he’s a bit unfair?”

I had half a mind to run up to his face and yell, you think? but I forced myself to take a steadying breath.

Keflas continued, “I’m scared, Henrik. Just the other day, Sigourney’s husband disappeared.”

Henrik grunted, finally opening up to conversation although he still sounded a bit uncomfortable. “I heard about that,” he said. “Rumor has it that he was turned in by his own brother. They say you could hear his screams from the other side of the castle.”

Keflas shuddered. “Whatever he said, he probably didn’t deserve and end like that.”

“Exactly, which is why you should shut up before someone hears you!” retorted Henrik.

Keflas mumbled an apology. “Maybe we should start searching.”

Henrik muttered his agreement, and I heard their feet stomp away.

I slowly peeked my head out again, checking to make sure they were gone. Once I was sure that the alley was empty, I tiptoed out of my hiding place. This was my chance.

I ran as fast as I dared out of the alley—or tried to. Halfway out, I tripped on a root and fell on my face with a thud.

“Did you hear that?” came Henrik’s voice from the other side of the alley. 

“Dakhas,” I cursed quietly. How could I be so stupid?

“Someone’s in there,” said Keflas.

I cursed again, then stood and quickly brushed myself off. Maybe I could still make it out without them finding me.

“There he is!” Henrik yelled.

I glanced behind me. Henrik and the other Dekhrinn from earlier—the one with the list of names—were running towards me while Keflas called for more soldiers.

That settles it, I thought. Time to go.

I sprinted out the alley.

Blood rushing in my ears and the Dekhrinn only a few paces behind me, I turned a corner just as a gunshot rang out. A bullet whizzed past me, just missing my ear.

I paused only for a second. Almost there, I thought to myself.

I kept running, pushing past confused passersby whose eyes widened when they saw who were behind me. I just had to get to the docks.

To the Nemesis.

As it came into view, I paused for a second to catch my breath, resting my hands on my knees. After weeks of searching, I had finally found what Mimá had told me to find. The Nemesis was what seemed like a large trading vessel. Why she asked me to find it, I didn’t know. All I knew was that I had to get aboard, or else I was dead meat.

“Hey!”

Oh no.

I glanced behind me and saw not two, but eight Dekhrinn running after me, pistols drawn. I eyed the docks again, but it was too far of a run. They’d shoot me down before I even got close.

To my left was a bustling fish market that seemed to go on for miles. If I mixed in with that crowd, they’d never find me.

I whispered a request for the Nemesis to stay at the docks for a little longer, then raced toward the fish market with eight Dekhrinn hot on my heels.

--------------------

So, what'd you think?

Also, keep in mind the names of the three revolutionaries (excluding Silas) they're searching for. These characters are important later 😉

(So is the prince but he comes in in book 3)

[charlie-grusin]

Alien Resurrection (1997) : Movietalk # 13

[ANTILIFE]

For years now I have heard it from the grapevine to the puddle how much a travesty Sir Ridley Scott supposedly committed with those dastardly Alien prequels of his. Ohhh how vile, how scandalous! what a way to disrespect your legacy and fans with one stone you heretical Brit!... all the psychobabble of the great white schmucks as you’d expect... and not to throw anyone a bone here yet but let’s suppose that Prometheus and Alien: Covenant were, shall we say, sub-par after all? I have yet seen either of the two as I write this, but if I have to eat these words later then I will gulp em down as gracefully as Herzog’s garlic-stuffed boiled sneakers because if I have to eat some ass over Alien Resurrection then consider this project compromised and nuke it from orbit (Oh Ariana we’re really in it now!)

As a result of partaking this journey across the Alien franchise I have come to recognize how much the original films were massively influential to genre and cinema alike – on top of making every other sci-fi film feel a million bucks cheaper Alien had launched a horror genre that had barely gathered back its wits from Jaws, The Rats and the humble beginnings of Stephen King’s reign of terror into a whole new dimension of grotesquerie flayed from the inside-out – as did Aliens with its strong firm redefining pulse on the sci-fi actioner – and Alien3, though often not reckoned for much at our own peril, did in fact play a part in influencing much of the darker psychological thrillers we would later come to see at the turn of the millennium if only for the fact that its director David Fincher would single-handedly lead much of the charge himself. Up to that point I would’ve claimed this as the quadrilogy’s major charm – a testament to the durability of the series to withstand any and all extreme biological alterations taken at it with ease (much in a way I suppose as our beloved Godzilla) – but now I can’t see this case as anything else but a blessing and a curse. It’s almost exquisitely brilliant how this film shares the very nature as its newly born-and-bred test-tube babe Ripley 8: here’s this saga, this chronicle which has found not a perfect course but a glorious somber resolution nonetheless (even if that end entailed its own death)… and then here come the execs, poking microscopically at these spilled wet cellular forms, thinking to themselves how they could salvage some bank from this and take one, take two, and before you know it here’s a fully grown brand-new-and-improved saga fresh from the Petri dishes, a mere living incubator of tormented flesh for a new and improved monstrosity to be born – a devil spawn demon seed of the New American Blockbuster (call it the Crowdnuller) bursting with quips and filled with contempt, salivating at the lips to be an unadjusted-for-inflation chartkiller. Almost.

I was just young enough to catch early morning reruns of Angel on TNT but not old enough to catch an inkling as to why this Joss Whedon guy was made helmsman for this new sparkle-pretty “Avengers” project, but I’m not gonna waddle round this puddle to try to make everyone who’s ever loved Buffy or Firefly or whatever other questionable acts of storytelling he has concocted over the years feel guilty about it (for one not even I (not even you) have any proper authority to wage that kind of trivial pop culture tribal-war shit, and there’s so much better things to fixate your futile time on anyway (that is unless you still possess the mental capabilities of a frustrated five-year-old worm-packed-paddy gobbler who gets upset over anyone defiling the piss-weathered Luke Skywanker w/ retractable yellow fleshlight)). Not that I’m willing to binge-burn every morsel of Whedonian crude to further get the point, but at least with this I was able to gather a few likelihoods as to why the man became so goddamn well-laden with praise as he was in the heyday (and likewise how he became so imbued with power to torment anyone with the misfortune of being trapped in his orbit) because if Resurrection could be said to be beholden to some amount of good, it’s that there’s some neat ideas still left in the marble cut: the play to (re)make Ripley anew into an Xeno-human crossling was a nifty trick on both the studios’ and filmmakers’ behalf – not only does it lean a more gray duality to the character without sacrificing the weightiness of OG Ripley’s sacrifice at the end of Alien3 but it now has the added bonus of allowing Sigourney Weaver to do whatever crazy stupid sexy shit the audiences (might) crave for! – and the idea of her forming an unlikely romance with the infiltrator android Call would’ve granted a chance for the series to heft some more brighter themes to the usual doom and gloom – what else could cast a brighter light in this world of forsaken identities and primordial sexual violence than the love of two women who are indeed more human than human?

Maybe it works best in longform television (again, not going there) but given how its predecessor managed to deal with the demented machinations of the prison-justice system and religious fellowship in the face of terminal grief all the while making an abortion parallel equal to Alien ‘79’s portrayal of rape within a nifty span of 110 minutes, Resurrection’s five-minute difference makes no excuses for its reckless squandering – even when it’s the shortest of the four it still feels like eternal damnation. At best its best intentions all amount to Weaver sharing some top-n-bottom tension with Winona Ryder but most of the time she’s too busy being a super sexy superhuman superhero with acidic blood and basketball one-liners… and I get it, I get that this makes me read like one of those prudes or some jerk-off bozo bitch too stuck-up for fun but goddammit fuckers this reeks: I hate the way Whedon jokes, the way he exposits, I hate the way how he uses superpower tropes and space pirates and makes it all his own cavalcade of obnoxious jackassery, I hate his Feminist™ sexist quips (“’Must be a chick thing’, ‘who do I have to fuck’” how about can I get a doctor in here or do I have to operate this boltgun myself?) I even don’t like that cheeky Doctor Who reference if only just because that line came from him alone and nowhere else; lord god king freak-out Brad Dourif is in this as an Xenomorph-kink apologist and even then that feels left for the birds here. If this had merely been the work of someone who co-wrote Toy Story and got to hit the big leagues with his one major studio feature project before fading back to his uncredited script doctorate then maybe (maybe) some of this vitriola could’ve been toned off a notch.

I wish. In my dreams, buckaroo.

I pirated The Electric State shortly after it came out; lasted about twenty minutes before shutting the thing off and falling into a pitiful non-sleep, pecking through all the reviews on Letterboxd til the last vestiges of willful wake gave way and even then, when I got up the next morning I was still thinking not about the movie (as if there was anything of its barren lifeless husk to invest in any credible thought) but its overall reception, this scatter-shot of well-deserved repulsion that sought to question the Why of its fraudulence in place of even engaging a single facade of its stolen existence – many cried money laundry (as if the history of cinema wasn’t paved as such!) others cried the inherent vapidness of the useful idiot talking heads behind its accursed cameras, and though I don’t often see eye-to-eye with fellow movietalker comrade_yui I couldn’t pretend not to feel their frightening harbingery deep in my bones: Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether run the roadhouse now, leading all our hopes and dreams by floating carrots and sugar cubes towards a mass mutilation encased in concreted oil drums. Yet the question still persisted even as the thing that ought not be defined passed its expiration date by the end of its first and last week, and even yet I couldn’t find the proper words let alone a reason; having read Will Tavlin’s eye-opener on the predatory Netflix beast sometime after having written about a few of its past assembly-line residuals such as Damsel and Atlas, it didn’t sit right with me to even try to cobble anything of negative substance towards Electric State in the slight concerning terror of enabling that beast with any kind of pseudo-magic power through mere algorithmic attention (even a single “click” counts as a whole view, which is very likely the reason they’ve phased away the option of choice whenever you try to watch a single TV episode separately or even try to click for more info or audio settings on anything long ago – there’s the fucking social engineering, you paranoidiacs!); the best I figured it’d make for is covert review fodder like the sort I did reviewing Godzilla fan films through the advantage of The Exorcist: Believer and War of the Rohirrim but maybe not even that – maybe I should make the next one a Paint Drying entry like everybody else!

That would’ve been all she wrote… until Alien Resurrection... and it all came running back like loose synapses snapping back to its originating demented source of a frying brain cauldron.

Maybe Jean-Pierre Jeunet did indeed make something outstanding with that City of Lost Children and Amélie before and after this, but I’d lie if I said I sensed it anywhere in the slightest. The special effects and massive practical set-pieces look as impressive as you’d expect from something going Alien3 and on, and yet all I really get of its filmic identity is a few gonzo Raimi-esque pastiches and a graver attempt to emulate every other action flick to ever set foot on the late-90s American movieplatter – it looks and feels like Battlefield Earth (just switch out the pus with the window cleaner tint) but at least Battlefield Earth had some thread-thin resemblance to its pulp-tastic source material and was actually pretty funny by the misfires – and as the tail-ending youngster to the Alien quadrilogy set it only stands a pathetic imitator amongst its family of astounding feat-makers… the perfect groundwork for our current vinegar-culture syndrome if any.

Lacking any purpose but a thirst for efficiency, the studios comprising the higher echelons of Tinseltown Babylon found the perfect money-maker in the self-deprecating stakes-devoiding non-humor of Joss Whedon’s pen, who with Whedon’s own flat and placid eye-for-non-image as sharpened and redefined in the realms of TV Land would implant within the mainstream body and mind an expectation of high mediocrity to brilliantly reflect (and make great expense) upon the grand American living standard: an individual without a form and a form without thought (a thought without vision) a form that never absorbs anything past aesthetics and the surface level unless it adheres to a function that is direct and inoffensive to the grueling grinding ecosystem in which all things continue to endure because no one (and no thing) can afford to believe in anything else because to do otherwise would be to disturb the hive with the existential nightmare ego-death of absolute meaningless, that every one and every thing has been jerking off and cracking jokes at each other’s expense hoping for the next big moment to kill time on without confronting the great Why behind our Great Degradation Towards Homogeny without confronting our own fatal continuing complicity towards it (the wounded and weary can’t help but be scared of admittance even if it may not be inherently their fault, even when it’s still indeed possible to rehabilitate one’s self towards humility and grace to themselves and others). Many have decried Michael Bay’s Transformers films for being major detriments towards society as long as those films were making stacks, and perhaps in some aspects those accusations still hold firm (something-something objectification of women, something-something Skids ‘n’ Mudflap) but as with much the rest of Bay’s oeuvre at least their abrasive commercialized “American-exception” maximalism is a style – even if half the cast of those films look like junkyard calamities every time they swung a million-shrapnel punch at least they took the time and effort to film their destructive backdrops live with sparks and debris and fiery dynamic delight rather than plugging them into boxed-off CGI arenas like a Colorforms set. What style is there really in any of those Avengers episodes, or in the whole MCU strangle-strain for that matter? what approach is there in any of the pitcher-plant nostalgia traps of Ready Player One or No Way Home or Deadpool 3? in any and every envious conglomeratus that has tried to emulate the success of their competitors with their own revitalized franchises other than Expensive Barrel-Bottom Prowess and Incestuous Cloak-and-Dagger Intellectual Property Interspersing (why else has every near damn thing been a do-nothing soft reboot or a fuck-all “cinematic universe”?)? All this and The Electric State and more – the introduction of streaming and the deprioritization of art, the diminishment of physical media and concern for media preservation, etc. – are symptoms that can be traced in part to this, to the film that ends with collateral nuclear Armageddon descending upon the Earth as a gag. Other films could’ve pulled that sort of thing off (I’m sure a couple have) but at that point I wasn’t going to grant any further merit to this proto-patient-zero-“gee-dontcha-know-it’s-meant-to-be-bad!” Katamari dung-heap of cinematic necrosis. Shit sucks.

This review is brought to you by the public libraries of America, one of which made this viewing experience and others possible.

[t1meslayer]

We're so back.

Please ignore the five Pokemon stories that I posted before "Neurocysticercosis" to celebrate leftover sales for PokéPocket. I probably won't be doing a Debrief for them since the collective is kind of its own thing.

But actually, don't ignore them. Go check out PokéPocket! Leftover sales run until July 31, 2024!!!

... That's not what I've gathered you all for today, though. No. If you haven't read my latest JJK fanfic, "Neurocysticercosis," what are you waiting for? Jump on that, and then jump into my little-a Read More below!

===

I made this joke in the opening Notes. However, I do once again have to point out:

What can I say?

It's very funny to me.

I'm also a big fan of Jujutsu Kaisen (don't mind the fact I misspelled it "Jujitsu" in the original AO3 summary), there's just too many things occupying my brain at a given time to write about it often.

My first SatoSugu fic "Infinitesimal Distance" came together soon after I learned my good friend and beta reader (you know who you are) also rotates those boys around in their brain. I had just gone to a Kura (revolving sushi bar) JJK crossover event. I won myself a Megumi figure and a felt hat.

Though I can't recall the exact impetus for that story idea, I do love the way it turned out. There's fun bits of horror storytelling, some of the dialogue is pretty sharp, and I leaned on the knowledge of a friend who lived in Japan to set the stage around Tokyo's Shinagawa city. The story wound up being pretty popular on AO3 too, garnering over 460 Hits and exactly 38 Kudos (as of this writing).

More importantly, it was a big hit for the birthday coalition of spiders.

Furthermore, it was a big hit for my friend who lived in Japan — surprise, she's the other birthday haver! To this day she considers "My fingers glide over you like a redacted passage" to be the greatest piece of prose I've ever written. I don't disagree, but you should've been there the night she beta read the piece, interrupting every other event going on in our friend group's VC just to hype me up.

So naturally... I didn't write any more JJK for seven months. This doesn't mean further ideas weren't festering in the back of my mind.

My original idea for "Neurocysticercosis" was pretty simple: Geto and Gojo are in some kind of art exhibit, Geto gets existential about humanity, and then it's revealed they've been fucking around while Shoko gets her ass beat by the Cursed Spirit of the week.

Shoko's brief beat-to-shit cameo was planned from the beginning. Sorry about that, Shoko fans.

That being said, a lot of my original idea didn't pan out as expected.

Late into the story, Geto makes this comment:

"Ask the average human what they think a 'living wall' is, and they'll talk up woven ferns and grass climbing up the side of their high-class mart. Pedestrian. Laughable. Imaginations stretched so thin within their walnut-sized brains that they couldn't begin to fathom what you and I see every day. Real living walls of scar tissue and rotting tendons and bloodshot, oozing eyes."

I originally wanted Geto to be observing a Living Wall, akin to San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art (I visited the museum with birthday friend and one other member of our group a few years ago).

However, I couldn't necessarily plop Jujutsu High students in the middle of San Francisco without over-scoping my vision through explanatory storytelling. And I was having some trouble finding good examples of Living Wall installations in Japan.

Then my fate turned on a dime one legendary night this February, in which I attended a Lord of the Rings watch party for another birthday. At that party I met an excellent cosplayer who, naturally, also happens to love Jujutsu Kaisen. We shared "Infinitesimal Distance" live, and I told them about the idea I was gestating on for a future SatoSugu piece. The current gift fic recipient recommended using the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art as a setting that would make sense for Gojo and Geto to canonically visit.

The rest, as they say, was history.

Once we started approaching her birthday, I knew what I had to do. We haven't finished the 2014 series Black Sails (her current obsession) together, so Plan A was not viable. Plan B was a go.

Having decided to go with an entire art gallery, this meant I needed to pick actual art. Now... I enjoy an art. I appreciate a good drawing. Sometimes I create my own art, especially ceramics. However, I am not a well-versed scholar in art history. This is an especially big roadblock when I have to try and come up with an artist whom folks might see in Japan circa-2008 — around the time when Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto are in Jujutsu High, as I understand. Not to mention the fact I can't ask my friend since she's the one this fic will be a present for.

My solution?

I kind of just looked up lists of the most influential modern Japanese artists and scrolled a couple of listicles, digging deeper into a few people whose work stood out. Much of that Googling took place over the course of a big family dinner for Father's Day this year.

I sorted through a number of names, including — but not limited to:

Tsuguharu Foujita

Tetsuya Ishida

Tadanori Yokoo

Makoto Aida

Yasumasa Morimura

However, as you all have read this fic (you better have!), you'll know I focused on the work of Chiho Aoshima. The compositions and color in her pieces really struck me, and the surrealist, often beautifully monstrous subject matter felt like a perfect match for the JJK universe.

In particular, this story revolves around A Contented Skull (2003):

Originally I chose this piece as a striking work that would be fun to describe. However, as I began to describe it (during a car ride across the Washington countryside), patterns began to emerge. I realized very quickly that A Contented Skull slots perfectly into foreshadowing the ultimate fate of Suguru Geto.

That's right, it's no longer just an opportunity to have Geto wax poetic about his feelings on humanity, and to reflect all the fucked-up shit he and Gojo experience. We've also got themes in this bitch. Themes of fate and autonomy and death, not to mention parasitic brain worms.

The fic's title is even a reference to a parasitic brain worm. If you had no idea what "Neurocysticercosis" was before now, don't worry. I didn't either. It was 99% big, fancy word to sound interesting, and 1% thematic brain worms.

As far as elements of the writing craft are concerned...

It took a few stabs, but I like the way I formatted painting titles to look like actual minimalist gallery plaques.

Shoko's injured, dying words do a lot of fuckery with text formatting, which I pulled almost directly from the nightmare sequence in my Pokemon ScarVi fic "Paradiso." The Cursed Spirit they're fighting is also notable. I always planned on making a centipede-esque monster, but it wasn't until I actually started writing that I realized the main image in my head was the "Charge Beam Beast" from Metroid: Zero Mission.

Anybody remember this dude? I used to play the beginning of Zero Mission over and over, so he's seared into my brain.

I'm also a fan of the experimental formatting with regards to breaking up dialogue. I finished "Neurocysticercosis" during a long train ride, only one day after I finished reading John Scalzi's The Kaiju Preservation Society. It's a fun little read by an author whose work I tend to enjoy, though given it was his COVID "mindless fun" book, I do think it leans a bit too hard into sounding like a quippy Marvel film.

That being said, he does invoke a fun mid-sentence verb through em dashes that I think creates a great flow. Tried it out here, and will mostly likely use the idea again going forward!

===

Now that I'm done with this piece, I don't know when my next JJK fic will come down the pipeline. There aren't a ton of concrete ideas in my head for the series. However, I do know it'll be time to return to some of my bigger projects...

I'm been dying to write more "Fallout" sooner rather than later.

[shimmersmuts]

My father had always been a unique man but before either of us had knowledge of the war, he was the kindest man I knew.

The day I met team avatar was a life changer. Long Fang had always drove a wedge between me and my father, saying so often how 'unfit' I was as a princess. In truth I was never unfit nor unproper nor a problem.. unlike my father I hated not knowing of my own kingdom.

This incredible world is my birth right. It wpuld be one day my rule and I had every Right to know what was happening in it but this made Long Fang believe I was noisy. I should focus on the newest fashions, the latest music and poetry. Don't get me wrong, nothing I adore more than a evening reading a good poet novel, by the fire place and a hot cup of camimeel tea.

But I wasn't an ditsy girl, I was not a ornament! Nor did I want to be treated as such. I could remember when I barely reached womanhood and the horror of a maybe marriage to Long Fang was mentioned to me.

My father never knew my wrath wnd will up until that day. The tea table was flipped over, my voice so load pour (bear) was running away. More than 3 ways I said never.. one of them threatening to take Long Fang's life.

Luckily 3 years later, reaching now marriage age, team avatar came to Ba sing se. My might or might not marriage to Long Fang and Long Fang himself was thrown away in one go. How happy I was to be free of that man.. but than Sokka and Katara told me about the war and the devastation it took on their village and the rest of the world.

I believed marriage problems was the end of the world for me but how foolish and little my problems really were. Our Kingdom was almost almost took and my people almost enslaved. Soldiers that had been dying before my death and my small reality more silly than I could imagine.

When the Aiko took place and the earth Kingdom fell I experienced the world for the first time. My father was traveling with our bear and to say it was undeel would be a lie. I couldn't leave my Kingdom, and how my father did need my care, the people needed a form of hope.

For the first time I was expose to my people, the common folk, and when I saw the horror I must admit it broke my soul. The starvation, the pain, the lack of basic humanity. The fire nation was ruthless and one night they did capture me. If it wasn't for Smullerbee and Long shot.. I would've experienced the fear of all woman.

Smullerbee convinced me of joining the rebellion, becoming a beacon of hope for the people. It took much to convince the people that I was truly THEE princess especially since Long Shot actively tried to keep me a secret but sharing stories of Aang, Katara, Sokka and Toph. They slowly started to believe me and slowly we all helped each other.

I leaded the people to the catacombs and there for most we lived in secret. Little by little we started to gather the young children and woman, led them to safety as we left the men to lead the rebel. For the first time I was a care giver. To feed and takecare of my people were my duty, a duty I accepted with great honor and tried my very best to serve.

The plan was for a few months successful up until the fire nation princess caught us and led us back to land. I confronted the Dui Lee for turning their backs on me, their kingdom, and this amused the child princess who's heart was pure black. "Oh dear, are you surely one of those ladies." She stated with boredom. "I'm no lady, I'm THEE princess of the earth Kingdom. The next in line for my father." With pride those words came but with regret they were followed.

Azula wanted to have my head and murder me on sighg when she discovered my identity, and would've done it but just when blue lightning could been struct, she changed her mind.

The Dui Lee saw this as hesitation and offered tk do the ugly deed but Azula warned her against it. "The earth Kingdom will advances her. She's the princess and shall be the next true ruler. To murder her will start a monarch. We are spreaded thin already with the war. The troops we have are enough to monitor the City, big as it is, but not enough to keep a uprising when other City choose to strike." The wicked girl smiled down at me.. a oval smile that was the beginning of my downfall. "Let's keep her alive but only to use her as a tool."

From there I was ledt back to the Fire nation. The furthest anyone of my royal bloodline had gone over 150 years. I was beaten, starved and torture by the wicked princess all the way till I met her father. When I finally met the face of the worse war in history.. I was scared.

Fire lord Ozai had this coldness to him, a glee for pain just like his daughter. But as Azula would hurt for a reason and purpose he did it out of enjoyment. I remember seeing him out of my only good eye. He made comments of my bad oder, broken teeth and bruise face. "I heard rumors of your beauty but under such peasant clothes I can't see the appeal." With that I was send off to a cell, to heal.

I was there for a month by myself, only a doctor allowed to visit me. He mever spoke, never did much, only checked my broken ribs and jaw from time to time. "I'm sorry of your hurt and I'm sorry what your going throw but if I don't fo my job, I shall be killed and done worse to then what you had experience." Hearing the words for the first time I remembered how disjointed I felt.

The fire lord's own citizens feared him. It made me realise the root of fear wasn't spared for his own people. Fire lord Ozai loved power, hurt and pain. He loved belittling people and breaking them to nothing. The doctor told me stories of how his wife was treated before she disappeared. Mental diseases she left with, in fear she lived in and her only strength her children. To love a beast like Azula you must be insane. It's a miracle to love such a heartless c×nt.

For most I couldn't say much of my stay in the fire nation accept for the awkward dinners I had to share with Ozai. Be would let me have private dinners with him every night when I had healed good enough from the outside. My bones were still broken but my skin.. peach and warm again, had healed enough.

Ozai would say how much he loved my porcelain face. "A small little doll." He than started calling me Porcelain and he had an act to take my clothes off with his eyes. He never did, to which I'm glad to say. He never went pass making me uncomfortable but never touched me under my clothes.. my neck, breast and back was another thing.

His cold finger always traveling down it.. and in truth each day I lived in fear when he will rape me. But now a bit older I realise that was his game. He bad no intend to hurt me but to mentally break me. Around midnight he would always summon me, when the palace was at his quietest. I remember being led by the gaurds every night.. they never said what he wanted.. they left that for my imagination.

Some nights I had to bathe him. Other nights I had to read to him. Hos favorite was singing him a lullaby his mother use to when he was a child. He made me lay in the bed, his head on my lap, and I had to stroke his head up until he fell asleep. Sometimes his hands would roam my legs but never between my tighs but I knew he toughg about it. Never understood what was his restraint but he never went that far to touch me between my legs.

The night I thought he would rape me was the night he gave me a bath. Now that was now fear.

"Don't worry little doll, I just want to give you the treatment you had all those years in your own palace." Hjs dark tone whispered. His eyes seemed so dark, his face unamused as he said it. I was fool of chills. I tried to lie and say I was on my period but he dared me to open my legs and allow his hand up to feel. The horror, the fear I felt. Never touched by a man all my lifebut now a man old enough to bemy father i was at his beg and call.

I didn't say a word but instead undress. Got in the bathe and allowed those horrible hands to touch me. It was a experience I try so hard to forget. How he washed my hair, told me how beautiful I was, how I could see his erecation and wondered the whole time when he would just force himself on me. I knew in strength I could never beat Ozai. I wasn't a bender, a warrior or had any form of combat. I was a princess, to learn those things were forbidden. If he chose he could've had his way with me and I was helpless to do nothing at all.

Luckily the horrow show was cut short when a emergency meeting was called. They bad to prepare for the day of black sun. Hearing this made me glad. This was a day I could try to escape.. The previous eclipse, that took too many years prior, the fire nation was horribly attack by warriors from the in land and was driven out of the land up to where they stand today. None benders took their kingdom away and send them to the furthers of all the states. If those none benders could drive fire nation out of their lands, me as a none bender could escape.

The plan worked and I did have an opportunity to steal a knife, pick the lock and in time when Azula was baiting Aang and the gang, they found me. They saved me and we all escaped together when the other people, who had evaded the fire nation, had been captured and taken away.

We flew away on Appa to a long lost Air Temple. To had been around people my age was a miracle and a blessing. Sokka was an angel and took so well care of me especially when the horror show Zuko join. In my captivity I never met the prince but I met his father and sister, I knew what horros his family had to offer.

In the time when Zuko was allowed to join the gang I was terrified and wanted to run away but once again Sokka found me and told me I would be okay. Many nights when I would have terros he would hold me, soothe me to sleep, promising to protect me. Sokka had a handful with me but he never lost his patience with me.

He helped me threw my worse and was a stability in my life like none other. Everytime Zuko came around he saw my visible fear, as did the rest of the gang, and took me or him out of the room. Aang thought me meditation to cope and deal with my pain. Aang was the first person to make me laugh after weeks. Every moment with Aang was like being with my better half, like seeing a small part of the old me.

Cause of my up bring I learned a lot of Air monk's culture and he and I could speak hours about it. I could tell to be with someone that felt like home meant a lot, and in truth so did it for me. I may not bea bender but I did practice Monk philosophy and culture everyday, evening being a vegetarian.

Aang would late nightsgo with me on Appa and we fly far and wide. He spoke of how he felt he failed again and that he did not know where to go from his shame. In truth, cause of how much time we spend and how much we could relate, me loosing my kingdom and unable to keep them save, we grew closer and Aang without trying became like a brother figure.

Katara and Toph had a very complicated relationship but Katara helped me physically heal and when I had to speak of what I went threw with Ozai, she was always there to hear. Toph and I knew each other for years and she saw me as stuck up but regardless this she did show great respect for me. "Your the princess of mg nation. My loyalty lies with you more than to my family." The Beifongs was a Huge name in my world and we all knew who they were. Theg did not have the title to rule but they had the money to do so, aswell as the connections. Unlike my father and I, they always had control over their lives and staff.

I had grew close with everyone but one, Zuko. Aang had tried to bring us close but I never got over my trauma to the extend I could get along with the fire nation prince. When he and Sokka left for their tour, Sokka told me the truth and asked I kept it a secret. I did not truth Zuko but I saw them off and it broke mg heart dearly to see Sokka leave. I knew Sokka would give his life for me and now my protection, my save place, was leaving with the face of my trauma. "Please, I need you to come back to me." Were my final words before kissing his hand.

Sokka smiled fondly at this and said he return in a week's time. He didn't keep his word but when he came back he was different. Sokka had regained some of his honor and had brought his father, Suki and another friend with from their travels. When I saw Suki and Sokka I knew they were madly in love. In truth I had a small crush on Sokka but he loved Suki, and getting to know her.. I could understand why. She was a honorable warrior, a good hearted person and so extremely beautiful. I stood no chance against her and I just wanted them to be happy.

Sokka asked Suki to give me fighting lessons and this is were she and I became a little more close. Suki knew of the close relationship Sokka and I shared and did know of my feelings. She made it clear she would not back off of hom though regardless how much she respected my title as a princess. "Koishy isn't part of the earth kingdom." I pointed out. "No, but that is what my warriors and island were defending and fighting for." Suki took a breathe, letring down her fans. "I almost lost him to a princess once before, I won't loose him again." Seeing the passion ane seriousness of her words, i couldn't bare to see a woman in pain.

I gave Suki my word that I had no more feeli g for Sokka but saw him now only as a brother. "From a crush to a brother?" "I rather take Aang before I go for Sokka." "Your aware Katara will have your head." We laughed at this. Seems like no one on the team was available. I then told Suki that I actually meant someone in my servitude in Bei sing sang. "He was apart of the rebel but he died protecting me. When i lost him.. it hurt so much. He was too good to be lost." A tear left my eye.

Suki surprised me and actually console my sadden state. "He died for his princess and for what he believed, he should be remembered as a hero not a lost." She encouraged me. For some reason I just hugged Suki in this second and she gave it back to me. "Priya, your kind and wholesome. I'm sorry for what you went threw but I promise that you will find love again. True love this time." "I rather die than open my heart, lr my legs." We chuckled.

We than continued the lessons but the grunts and the fumes of Zuko not so far giving Aang a lesson could be heard. Suki and I had grew respect for one another woman to woman. I did not havethe physical strength or warrior attitude of her but I had endured heartache and lost so frequently and was still standing. That was something no one could take away.

That evening I offered Aang and Zuko some tea but to both's, and myself, dismay. When Zuko took his cup it fell from my hands and I was in a small ball of nerves and fear.

Zuko and I had been around another for weeks and when Sokka is not there I barely speak in a group when Zuko is around. I could tell some way Zuko wasn't his family but at the same time.. his family had taken my kingdom, had tortured me and my people and had kept me captive and mentallh abused. I feared him and I did not care how much it hurt him.

When nighg came Katara and I spoke of the matter and she hated Zuko as much as mebut they too went of a adventure, and when they returned tat hate she had was also gone. Katara was the strongest woman I knew. She forgave Zuko and I hated him for it. I was the only one now left that did not like him.

Zuko tried to fix the relationship but it never worked. Somehow his presence always trigged my trauma. In the end Sokka and Aang told him to keep his distance from me before I have a nervous breakdown.

The final night ne gang and I had fun was when we left to see a play. The night was full of laughs, hurt and insults. The play of us was a joke and completely a insult of our journey. My role was played my a small child, depicted to be naive, dumb and completely unfunctional.. to my surprise this made me a bit laugh.. with Zuko of all people.

He told me how the play made him mad for he saw all his past mistakes and felt shame especially for his uncle and his relationship. "The dragon of the west? Did he not attack the wall?" "My uncle is a good man, the best man. He left his nation behind when my father gave me a planned doom mission to capture the avatar. In that raid he lost his son and he had never recovered after that. He's a good man, the kindest you would ever meet. He's the best of my nation and of my people." He defended nail and bone.

I saw Zuko for the first time as a human and it was refreshing. I even consoled him and said his uncle would be proud he was with the avatar and was trying tk fix his mistakes. "Anyone can make mistakes but only a man would try to fix them. Your a wonder to me Zuko, you really are." I slightly touched his hand.

The intend was good but Ozai flashed in my brain and the night of the bathe came back. I had to leave him and apologized to him at least. "Is okay Priya, your at least trying." He gave a sweet smile. This was the only time Zuko and I ever had a conversation and how small and silly it was.. it had meaning for both out journeys.

My part in the play was silly and I was glad when it ended with me being beheaded when Azula captured us in the catacombs. I was glad when I saw this, for in truth I wish that was the case.

The next few days were insane with Zuko revealing that his father was to burn down my kingdom like he had done with the air nomads. The gang had decided to get me to safety for even if my kingdom dies the people would live and will need a leader. "But I can't leace you!" "You have to Priya, I'm sorry but it's for the best." Sokka had decided to take me to the white lotus.

I met Iroh and he was as honorable as Zuko had said. Meeting the white lotus was a honor and the gang was going to kill Ozai, something I blessed them for. "Kill him barely, I want the final stab.. for my kingdom." No one believed those words but all feared the bloodthirstiness of myself. Suki had thought me little sword fighting but I was cable. With Iroh, on Sozin's commit, I took back my kingdom. Paindo was with me at all times to protect me and in the end we had prevailed, and so did Aang.

The next week we had tk travel back to the fire nation tk crown Zuko as the new fire lord and declare the war over. Aang,Zuko and I stood in front of the people and gave our speechess. It was the most emotional but joyous moment in all my life. The people celebrated us, the people celebrated the peace and for a long time we had that.

My father came back to rule the kingdom and we try to fix as much as we could from our City, till it was back to normal. I couldn't see Aang and the gang as much as I once did but I do remember the day Aang and Katara kissed. We were at Iroh's tea shop. Sokka was painting, Iroh playing music and new and old faces all together that ended the war. Instead of heroes we were family and I loved it greatly.

Sokka doscovering Aang and Katara was a big surprise especially when all believed Aang and I would marry. "WHAT!" Katara, Aang and I screamed loudly. We all were confuse for how could they think, me a 17 year old girl could marry a 12 year old boy.

The white lotus pushed the idea a bit longer but Aang and I saw one another as siblings. "He's like a little brother to me Iroh. How could I marry someone who I did not love?" It was Long Fang all over again.

Iroh explained it would show union in the world. The avatar and the earth princess, what a better match to show war had past. Since Katara was a waterbender and Aang needed his line to be airbenders, to preserve the air nation, a none bender like me would make more sense.

The logic and the reason I could see but neither of us three could stand this. "Aang loves Katara, and she him. I have no desire to get in between my friend's relationship." I killed the story before it could grow to much.

To Aang's and my dismay, how organically we got along, was noticed by everyone where we went. The stories of our may or may not romance was like wild fire to the world. Aang, too kind for words, did not know how to approach the people on the matter, so instead I had to deal with it. How many times I had to hear Aang and I would have beautiful children together.

At some point I did sever, he was like a brother to me. The best way to deal with the rumor was to spend less time with Aang which had to happen. Aang, Sokka and Katara went to fix the long lasting damage that the war had left as I went back to Ba sing Se. My father and I had a kingdom to rebuild and in a different way helped Aang.

For two years there was peace. Aang and the gang went to rebuild the places of the war that took long term damage. The first sever problem was when they came to the earth kingdom colonies.

For almost a 100 years fire nation and earth kingdom citizens were living together in the colonies. The problem was when Zuko asked his people to return to the fire nation and they refused, claiming the colony was their home. The fire nation did not want to leave and the earth kingdom did not want them there.

Myfather wanted Zuko's people out of his land but Zuko later decided to support his people. They had made a home there and should rightfully live there. Many of the citizens had become of mix raise and felt that way, and this me or my father couldn't see.

I had for 2 years been well until Zuko was ready for war and my trauma of the past cane back.

[vee-thebee]

oh and since ive decided i'm done depression posting for the night my bf has recently gotten super into magic the gathering. which like is fine already, but he's also been buying me decks as well when new decks get released so that way we can play magic against each other. which again is fine, but what he doesn't understand is how much this is healing my little nerd heart. i was that dorky ass kid in class (think elementary school, i started playing when New Phyrexia had just dropped and i was literally nine years old) who was bringing my mtg cards into class because i thought they were just so cool!! but unfortunately nobody else really did since mtg wasn't really that popular in my area so i never got to play against anybody but my sister. and even then my sister was a really bad sport and would throw fits every time she lost (which wasn't often because she was 12 and had better reading comprehension than me)

so seeing him get so excited every week when he comes over and he's so ready to show off new cards he got or he's excited to build new decks with the random cards we both have lying around or even he gets really excited because new decks got dropped and we're gonna play them against each other!! when wilds of eldraine dropped he bought the two decks so fast and gave me my first precon (virtue and valor if you care lmao) and every week when we go to my friend's house we all sit down and play and he got so excited for me when my jank deck finally worked that one time last week! and he takes wins like an asshole (expected especially since i do as well lmao) but he takes losses really gracefully and he's always so excited to play with me because we both have decks that are really well suited to one another and idk it's just really nice to finally get to indulge in this geeky little passion that i've harbored for literally 12 years but never got to share with anybody else

and another quick thing is that he keeps an eye out for secret lair drops that i'd enjoy!! like a few weeks ago he was telling me about how there's gonna be some reprints of a few cards that are gonna be Evil Dead themed (and i've never talked about it here but i fucking LOVE evil dead like LOVE it's a hyperfixation i know everything about it I FUCKING LOVE EVIL DEAD) and when he was showing me the cards i talked about how i was gonna proxy the puresteel paladin reprint because it's ash and like i already have a first edition puresteel paladin i'd just be doing it for the art and he literally said "oh honey they're already in my basket ready for the drop you don't have to proxy it i'm just gonna buy it for you" and i nearly cried. like you're not only giving cards to the card goblin but you're giving me cards that are based on my favorite horror franchise? and you were just going to do that without me having to ask? you just saw that they were printing magic the gathering cards with art based on my favorite horror franchise and you thought of me immediately? i will literally kiss you. fucking marry me right now.

[ikuharaisabitch]

.

[fishfishiee]

shatter.

summary: In which you're an adeptus made of Noctilucous Jade. How would your companion react when they saw you shatter during a fight?

characters: Traveler, Zhongli

warning(s): body horror(?), gender-neutral reader, reader is a gem person, their relationship can be viewed as platonic or romantic

a/n: my first time writing characters! I was going to add more characters, but I can't think of anyone else. It's… quite alright, I guess. Hm. Writing characters is hard.

You were one of Liyue's best jewel smith. While you usually worked with whatever precious stone that caught your eye on the market, there were times when none of them were up to your standard. In times like this, you had no choice but to mine them yourself. The problem was mineral nodes are often teeming with enemies. While your body can easily withstand a few blows, you will eventually shatter, and be left defenseless against those who want to collect your precious shards. This was the reason you avoid fighting alone. So, you asked one of your friend to accompany you to mine the gems you need.

Like you suspected, you and your companion were attacked when you began mining. Battle was inevitable, so you and your companion brandished your weapons and attacked back. In the heat of the battle, you lost count of how many times you were hit, and one of the enemies slammed you with their hammer. One hit was all it takes to shatter your torso. Welp, at least your head was still intact…

Traveler The moment they heard the shattering noise and Paimon's horrified shriek, they knew something happened to you. They didn't expect to see you literally broke to pieces, each of them glittered a familiar luster. They were horrified to see some hoarders start putting your body parts into a bag despite your head's protest. After all the hoarders were knocked out cold, Traveler quickly took your head out of the bag.

“Phew, thanks for that. Being shoved into a bag is not nice at all!”

"Y-You-- How are you-- Are you okay!?"

"It's fine! Happens all the time when I fight. Can you please gather my pieces? Madame Ping should be able to put me back together, so don't worry about it!"

As Madame Ping put you back together, you explained that you were essentially a living gem made out of noctilucous jade. You apologized that you didn't tell them before, since you really thought you're not going to shatter with them fighting with you. Traveler marveled as Madame Ping put some powder that made your 'skin' looked human.

"Ooh, so that's why you always decline when we asked you to eat together! You can't eat since you're literally a living rock! Wait, then can Paimon have a piece of you? Just a piece--ouch!"

"Paimon, don't be rude!"

Zhongli He was the one that commissioned the jewelry in the first place. When you asked him to accompany you, he agreed without hesitation. That way, he can also assure the quality of the stone himself. During the fight, Zhongli knew you were fighting quite recklessly due to his shield tanking most of the damage done to you. Once his shield went down and you didn't seem to notice, he quickly took care of his share of enemies and went to your side. It was still too late. You were shattered, and Zhongli can only sigh as he put you back together.

"You were careless."

"… Yes. I'm sorry. It's just… It's really nice to go hard on them without worrying about my body sometimes! Your shield is really dependable, Zhongli."

"I am glad you find my assistance reassuring, but please pay more attention the next time you fight. After all, I won't be here every time you put yourself to pieces, lustrous one."

[so-long-soldier28]

very random warbler headcanons

✨ sebastian smythe ✨

- played lacrosse in france and was liked by his teammates, but wasn’t necessarily popular in school

- scandals bar habits came directly from nights in paris

- neither of his parents are homophobic, but he’s heard the horror stories and fears losing his relationship with them

- his maman knows about his late night habits, but doesn’t question him about them. she’s always known he was gay, but he never directly told her. she fears if she brings it up, he’ll clam up 

- still, she looks out for him in ways she can. teaches him how to be safe outside at night, shows him ways to defend himself if he ever has to. sneaks extra condoms in his nightstand drawer

- takes him a while, but eventually realizes his mom knows, but isn’t trying to stop or control him. awkward about it at first - doesn’t go out for some time and definitely doesn’t bring anyone home. but when their relationship doesn’t change, he goes back into his old ways. does make an effort to be safer (and even a bit more open about it), though, for his maman’s sake

- something about the smythes: love preparing for social gatherings; hate social gatherings. their house is always the place to be during the holidays bc it’s huge and gorgeous. mrs. smythe loves decorating for christmas, and all three of them love to cook and bake for it. but then throughout the night, they all just want their company to go home so they can sleep

- both parents taught sebastian to cook and bake, and he has a book of their favorite recipes that he pulls out during late nights at dalton

- charcuterie board connoisseur 🧀🍷

✨ nick duval ✨

- from michigan but at dalton on a scholarship (i read a fic where it was a soccer scholarship, and my brain adopted it)

- childhood best friends with jeff

- not good with directions. can’t really tell left and right apart. on road trips, he’s not the driver, nor the navigator, but a secret third thing (in the backseat, wondering where the nearest rest stop is)

✨ jeff sterling ✨

- second child of four siblings + has a twin sister

- also from michigan, but siblings are scattered all around states (has an older brother in florida, too)

- loves his family, but they have their issues. grateful for nick’s support throughout his life, otherwise he’d be pretty lost

- when nick got accepted to dalton, he begged his parents to go, since most of his siblings were separated anyway. they let him go mostly to have one less child to monitor 

✨ hunter clarington ✨

- doesn’t believe he can be liked, so he settles for being feared

- this works for coaching the warblers, but he quickly learns he’s not accepted nor respected by them

- left out on lima bean study dates and movie nights and other warbler group activities. hurts him, but he doesn’t show it

- canonically: acts out with steroids until the boys plant enough evidence that blaine and sam find out to get him expelled

- noncanonically: after one strenuous practice, he loses his cool and shares his insecurities. very slowly, the boys open up and forgive him, like the did to sebastian after the slushie. eventually, he’s brought into the group as a friend, instead of just being on the outside as a leader

✨ thad hardwood ✨

- always first to forgive

- giant goof that makes everyone smile, even on the worst days

- has a theory that kurt killed pavarotti for blaine’s attention. wes thinks he’s crazy for it

✨ trent nixon ✨

- public school bullying brought him to dalton

- lives closer to cincinnati, ohio. wishes he was in westerville, though. doesn’t feel safe in his hometown

- parents aren’t divorced, but they don’t love each other. very close with his mom, not at all with his dad. has to talk to his dad once a year, though, bc he pays for his schooling. this usually happens around christmas-time. unless his dad drinks too much the night before and forgets

- queer. every so often wonders if he’s bi, but has never been in a relationship with anyone so he doesn’t know. curious about girls, but at the same time, can’t imagine dating one. doesn’t feel a need to figure it out ~ he likes who he likes

- has the biggest crush on blaine. relates to him, wants to protect him, and thinks he’s absolutely adorable

- was the one to kick sebastian out of the group after the slushie. all were mad, but he shouted at him for almost an hour, and even pushed him once

- last to forgive sebastian, but did eventually. also apologized for pushing him. he’d never physically touched anyone like that before and he felt bad since it happened, but not bad enough to apologize right away

✨ david thompson ✨

- aroace

- best friends with wes. they went on a date once, but both decided they were better as friends

- the warblers call them their dads (no one knows about the secret date, but their parent-like protectiveness over the group brought on the gag)

✨ dalton academy ✨

- students are allowed to use the kitchen as long as they keep it clean and know basic safety rules

- there are three fire drills a year. one is during classes, one is at night, and the last is unannounced and random

- lots of begging resulted in the warblers all being put on the same floor. all freshman students and transfers are randomly placed, but going into their sophomore year (or next year up), they can request roommates

- the school’s no-bullying policy extends to having emergency buttons in all of the dorm rooms and hallways, in case anyone ever feels unsafe

[bubbleteaimagines]

He cheats and gets someone else pregnant

Haikyuu Boys Drabbles

The one where you finally realize your worth and don’t forgive a cheater

SUNA RINTARO

It was inevitable, he supposed. You weren’t a dumb person- you’d figure it out soon enough. You’d pick up on the signs- notice how much he’s been going out lately and staring at his phone. Laughing at things you hadn’t sent him, becoming distant, slowly but surely.

Suna knew you’d find out.

He just wasn’t expecting it to be soon.

He had come home one evening and took a shower like normal. While he washed up, he made the terrible mistake of leaving his phone in the kitchen, thinking that there was no way she’d text him. Their relationship was dwindling, after all. Suna was beginning to let the guilt get to him.

After 3 long months, he finally realized what he had wanted. He wanted you, forever and always. He wanted to marry you and spend the rest of his days traveling and experiencing new things with you.

Unfortunately though, he figured it out too late. A boys mistake, thinking that the grass was greener on the other side. And he’d soon pay the price for that wishful thinking.

While you were cooking dinner, you couldn’t help but notice how often his phone was going off. It kept dinging every few seconds, quickly causing you to become irritated.

Suna’s phone never went off that much, and so you thought surely it must be the boys. They probably added him into a group chat, you figured.

Oh how wrong you were.

The minute you walked over to the device and picked it up, you could truly feel your heart break. Searing pain burst through you like a rocket, a gasp leaving your lips as you scrolled through the messages.

8:53 PM

Unknown: Suna? Do you think we could talk?

Unknown: I know you said that you were going back to Y/N, but I...I’m pregnant. And it’s yours

Undeniably, you were shocked and confused. Pregnant? Who was this that was texting his phone? And why the hell did she think she was pregnant by your boyfriend?

A sickening feeling began to bubble in your stomach. Putting the phone down, you clenched your fists and took deep breaths.

In and out, Y/N. In and out.

Surely there was an explanation for this, right? You’d ask Suna as soon as he got done showering, and he’d laugh and tell you how this was all a misunderstanding. Some prank by Atsumu, wanting to get him back in his own cruel way.

But...

One look at his face, though, and you knew everything.

“Tell me you didn’t,” Your bottom lip trembled as you stared at Suna, his eyes widened as he looked at the phone in your trembling hands. Once again, it pinged, but you didn’t even have the energy to look. The only thing you were focused on was your heavy breathing, and the fact that you were becoming light-headed as Suna stepped forward.

“Y/N, baby, I can explain.”

As soon as those words left this lips, your entire world shattered. Letting out a sob, you dropped the phone and used your hands to cover your mouth in horror.

“So you did.”

Suna became panicked as soon as you started crying, holding onto the kitchen table to keep yourself from falling over. The pain that you felt was indescribable, not to mention the absolute betrayal. You had given everything up for Suna- and he repayed you like this?

“Y/N/N, please,” Suna was begging as he moved closer, trying to embrace your crying figure in his arms but you pushed him away, sudden anger taking over you.

“Don’t touch me!” Suna flinched as your damn near threw him off, backing up so far from him. The look in your eyes nearly killed him as you made eye contract, “I don’t want your filthy hands on me now that I know where they’ve been!”

“Y/N...-”

“Shut the fuck up Suna!”

You could no longer control yourself as rage began taking over your body, slowly but surely replacing the tears. The more you processed it - the more you looked at that bastards face and realized that he had went and knocked someone up while you were at home, cooking his dinner - the more infuriated you became.

“I cannot fucking believe you. Like are you serious right now?! I spend all day, all fucking day waiting for you Suna. I cook your food, I run you baths, I do everything I can to make your life less stressful and then you go and do this shit?”

“Baby just listen me, it’s not like that, okay?Whatever you saw- it’s in the past! Me and her- it meant nothing. I realize that now. It’s me and you baby- just us. That’s all I want,” Suna felt tears trailing down his cheeks as he desperately pleaded his case. Desperately grabbing at you, trying to hold you as if that would make everything okay. As if a simple “I’m sorry,” could fix what he broke.

Instead, you found yourself laughing bitterly and fought the urge to smack him in the face. No, you decided you’d have more dignity than that. You’d pack your stuff, peacefully, and leave this asshole here to rot.

“Whatever.”

That was quickly decided in your mind and within seconds, you were shaking your head, scoffing as you pushed passed him and practically ran to your shared bedroom.

“Wait-! Y/N, what are you doing? No, no, no, no!” Suna panicked even more when he followed you and saw that you were hurriedly packing your stuff in a suitcase. It was messy, and you barely had half of your shit but you decided that it’d do. At least until right now. At least until...well, you didn’t really know anymore.

You and Suna, you guys were supposed to be each other’s forever. You were supposed to be endgame, but as it turned out, Suna ruined that before you could even get a ring.

You scoffed again at the prospect of ever marrying him. Now, you began to think about why you even wanted him in the first place. How did you not notice the signs? The lack of effort for weeks until Suna suddenly warmed up again and began treating you like you were his world.

How did you not catch on? How did it completely slip your mind that you were dating a cheater, until the facts suddenly smacked you right in the face?

“What does it look like I’m doing, Rintaro,” You rolled your eyes, zipping the suitcase and then booking it to the bathroom. You quickly grabbed your body wash, all your hair products and then your toothbrush. You lazily threw them in a another bag and then stood up, glaring at Suna who tried to block you from exiting the door.

“Move,” You stared him down, venom lacing your words. “I don’t fucking have time for this.”

“Baby, please,” You flinched as he reached out to touch you, to stroke your cheek with the same hands that had touched her. They were slightly wet, presumably from wiping his tears away, but all you could think about was that you weren’t the only one he had been coming home to. You weren’t the only one he had been fucking and touching.

The thought made you absolutely sick. You were sure that if you didn’t get out now, then you’d puke all over your- his expensive furniture.

“You have to listen to me,” Suna silently cried, his body shaking as he stood there, begging for the one person he needed in his life to stay. “I told you- she means nothing. I don’t want anything to do with her, I only want you, Y/N.”

“And the baby?” Dammit. You couldn’t help yourself. Once again, your anger began to fade as tears gathered in your eyes.

Suna had a child. He had a fucking child with some stranger he’d known less than six months. She was carrying his blood, something that was supposed to be your moment. You were supposed to give him his first child. You were supposed to be the one he shared that part of life with, not her.

“I- what?”

From the looks of it, you’d almost think that Suna didn’t know. His eyes were wide, his whole body stopping as he stared at you incredulously.

And then it hit you.

He didn’t know.

He didn’t even know that she was carrying his baby. He was completely clueless. Both of you were blindsided.

At this, you couldn’t help it. You did laugh, a bitter sound that sounded almost like you were mocking him.

“Wow Rintaro. How fucking stupid could you get?” You let out a watery chuckle, shaking your head as a tear ran down your face. “If you’re gonna cheat and fuck someone else, then at least be smart enough to wear a condom.”

“But I...that’s impossible,” Suna whispered, mostly to himself. “I don’t...I mean she can’t possibly...how did you...?”

“She was blowing up your phone while you were in the shower. How did you think I found out?” You gave him a fake smile. “For someone that doesn’t like putting in a lot of effort, you sure did put a lot into making sure you fucked this relationship up. And then your own life too.”

You hated to say it, but you silently enjoyed the way Suna was going to suffer. At the very least, it was absolutely what he deserved for cheating in the first place. Now, his life was probably going to be ruined. His career, his dreams, everything he had planned...

It was gonna go down the drain.

And you for one were grateful he wasn’t dragging you down with him.

“I...” Suna was at an absolute loss for his words. His whole body slumped, seemingly going numb as he just stayed in the doorway, looking shocked. It gave you the perfect opportunity to push past him, a small smirk on your face despite the searing pain in your heart.

You knew it was serious when he didn’t even try to stop you when you opened the front door.

“I left your phone on kitchen floor. Maybe you should call her. I’m sure you’d like to know more, seeing as it is yours. For your sake, I hope it’s a bouncing baby boy. That’s what you always wanted, right?”

You spoke one last time, making sure to rub salt in the wound before taking a final glance at the man you loved.

He looked broken, a sheer sobbing mess as he still stood in your bedroom door. A part of you couldn’t help but feel bad. You couldn’t help but want to go over and embrace him, dropping everything and tell him that things were gonna work out.

That was the part of you that still loved him.

But the other part...

The other part of you told you that it’s what he deserved. He cheated, and now he has to live with the consequences. Loosing you, and becoming a father at the age of 20.

That was the part of you that gave you the extra push. That was the part of you that gave you the strength to close the door, forever walking away from the man that broke you and the empty house that held all of your dead dreams.

——————————— ☁️ ——————————

BOKUTO KOUTARO

You didn’t believe it. Or more like, you didn’t want to believe it. You didn’t wanna shatter your fantasy world, one that you had been living in for four years.

You didn’t want it to break, because if it did...

You didn’t know what you were going to do.

For the last four years Bokuto had been your world. Your absolute rock, your sunshine on a cloudy day. He made you laugh, he made you feel welcome and special like nobody else had before.

Surely...your Bokuto wasn’t capable of this. Surely didn’t...he couldn’t have...

You didn’t even wanna think about it. Bile rose up in your throat every time you thought about it...his lips on hers. Caressing her and holding her the way he was supposed to only hold you.

You didn’t wanna think about it, but yet-

You had no choice as you stared at the pregnant woman before you.

“I’m sorry,” She had tears in her eyes as she sat on your couch, sobbing while simultaneously holding her belly. While holding his baby.

She had come to you only a few hours before, taking you by complete surprise. Never in your life did you ever think you’d come face to face with your boyfriend’s baby momma.

But that’s exactly what had happened.

Apparently, she and Bokuto had both had a one stand a few months ago. It was when he had traveled to Tokyo for a game and you stayed behind because you had school.

It was the one weekend you weren’t there to support him. One weekend...and you had lost him forever.

“It’s not...it’s not your fault,” You told her somewhat awkwardly, although you didn’t really mean it. She had slept with your boyfriend, after all. And now she was pregnant, claiming the baby was 100% his.

That wasn’t even the worst part though.

The worst part was that you couldn’t even be mad at her, because she didn’t know. It was a one night thing. She had told you Bokuto had left in tears the next morning, rambling on about how she meant nothing and that he had you to come home to.

She claimed that he regretted it the minute he realized what happened. Crying out about how he was going to propose and then rushing out without so much as a goodbye.

Oh how stupid he was to name drop you.

You almost wished he hadn’t, because that was how she had found you. After finding out that she was pregnant, she tried to reach out to Bokuto only to realize that he was telling the truth. He’d been with you for four years.

But did that really even mean anything anymore?

“It’s just- I just-” The girl shook her head. “I just want you to know that I never meant to hurt you. If I had known...if I had any other choice...”

“Actually, I’m sort of glad you reached out to me. Thank you for that. That was good on your part, seeing as I doubt he would have told me,” You smiled numbly, not capable of feeling anything at the moment.

It was like...your entire body was on shut down mode. It had become numb, desperately trying to block out the pain you were sure that was coming. And you, for one, were absolutely grateful. You didn’t wanna think... you didn’t even wanna fathom how broken you were gonna be.

So you didn’t. Instead you kept your thoughts quiet and relished in the numbness.

“You know...” You laughed bitterly, sadly shaking your head as you sighed, “Bokuto’s always wanted a kid. He kept begging me a few weeks ago to have one, but I said no. We’re both so young, you know? We had our whole lives together.”

You hadn’t meant to make her cry even more, but that’s exactly what your words did. They cut a knife through this random girl’s heart, causing her pain that she had stolen that from you. Bokuto, he had taken that from you as well.

“I’m sorry,” Once again, she apologized, but you weren’t much focused on that. Instead, your attention snapped towards the front door as you heard keys jingling outside. With a sharp push, your stomach dropped.

Bokuto was home.

“Hey hey hey! Babe whose car is that-”

Bokuto’s smile suddenly dropped as he walked into the scene, your dull eyes and the girl’s tearful ones ones trained on him. Immediately, his whole demeanor began to crumble down and he nervously looked between the two of you, his shoulders dropping.

“...outside. What’s this?”

“Bokuto, I believe you know her,” You were eerily calm as you pointed towards her, showing no emotion as Bokuto’s eyes flickered to her stomach. “This is Kayla. From Tokyo, right? I think you guys have much to discuss.”

Bokuto was at a loss for words as you rose from the couch, gesturing for him to take your seat. But instead of listening, he decided to make things difficult and run after you like a lost puppy as you made your way to the bedroom.

“Babe, babe wait! Y/N, please baby I can explain. I can explain, I can explain, I swear! Just let me, just please let me-”

“Bokuto,” You stopped him, holding up your hand and shaking your head. “I’m not in the mood, really. Just go talk with her alright? She came all this way to find me, so it’s rude not to.”

“But baby-”

“Go,” You suddenly became firm, gritting your teeth as you stared him. For a second, you took a small pause, and then Bokuto heard the words he never wished to hear his in life. “And don’t you ever call me that ever again, Koutaro.”

“K-Koutaro...?” Bokuto stuttered slightly, reeling back at the use of his first name. “But baby...y-you never call me that. Ever.”

“Oh yeah?” You couldn’t help but laugh on how clueless he was. I mean honestly, you never thought that Bokuto was stupid but now...“Well what the hell else am I supposed to call you? Read the fucking room Bokuto. Your pregnant fucking mistress is sitting on my couch, crying her eyes out and you’re worried about me calling you by your first fucking name? Get a god damn grip.”

For the first time that day, emotion began peaking out from your eyes. Pure anger bubbled up inside of your body, finally manifesting after holding it in for so long.

It felt good, in your opinion, to finally feel something. A delayed reaction, sure, but late was better than never.

“B-But-”

“Shut up,” You rolled your eyes at his trembling form. “I don’t wanna hear anything else from you. So go talk to her. Figure your shit out while I pack mine.”

“No!” Panic was evident in his voice as he suddenly grabbed your arms, preventing you from entering your bedroom. Shocked, you siteuggled in his embrace but Bokuto was extremely strong.

“What the hell? Let me go!”

“Y-Y/N! Baby y-you can’t leave me! You can’t! What about our plans? What about forever and always, you and me?”

“Did you think about that before you got drunk and fucked her?” You snapped harshly, causing him to whimper. “Exactly. So don’t come pulling that bullshit out on me, Bokuto. You’re the one that ruined that.”

“But-” At this point, he was searching for something, anything to make you stay as you shoved him off and then stormed in your shared room. “But baby I- we had this whole plan...I was gonna propose! Please, I...I even got the ring! Here I’ll prove it to you!”

While you were busy running around the room throwing all your stuff together, Bokuto suddenly dashed to the kitchen and retrieved a box he had been storing for a special occasion. He completely ignored the girl that was sitting on his couch, not even sparing her a second glance as he rushed back to you and dropped to his knees.

“See?” He hurriedly opened the box and desperately grabbed your hand, slipping the shiny diamond on before you could even protest. “I had it made for you, Y/N! Pure diamond, princess cut. It’s even engraved with your name baby! Please...”

You had to admit, you wanted to break down as Bokuto began to cry, looking awfully small as he kneeled by your feet. To make matters worse, he kept kissing your hand and mumbling tearful apologizes that yanked at your heartstrings.

By now, your initial exterior had began to crumble. Pain began to surround your heart, squeezing it so bad it almost felt like you were burning. A swell of tears gathered in your eyes, and you almost, almost gave in.

You almost sank to your knees and cried with him, almost pulled him into your arms because you didn’t wanna let go. You loved Bokuto, you truly did, and you wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of your life with him.

He was a good man, that probably made an honest mistake. He was everything you had ever wanted. And you were so tempted...so tempted to give in. Until you realized that you deserved better.

“I’m sorry,” Sniffling slightly, you yanked your hand out of his grasp and shook your head. “But I need to go. I can’t stay here anymore Bokuto...you ruined this. You ruined us, and now you have a woman in there carrying your child. You have the family you’ve always wanted. Don’t ruin that too.”

Hastily, you leaned down to press a bitter kiss on his forehead and then stood back up. Bokuto sobbed as he watched your figure retreat, standing high despite the heartbreak.

It was then that he realized that even though you were letting him go, you’d be just fine. You’d pull yourself together eventually, you were strong like that. You didn’t need him, but god, what about him?

He wasn’t sure if he could survive without you. He could barely even breathe and you hadn’t even walked out yet.

Was this what it was going to feel like from now on? Empty, hollow...meaningless?

“Please.”

One last time, he cried out of you. He begged you to stay.

But you knew you deserved better than that.

“I’m sorry.”

And with that, you left him behind. Forever.

[spinningwebsandtales]

Angel Of Death

A Stranger Things AU

Vampire Eddie Munson X FemReader

Rating: T+

Warnings: Blood, horror, bullying, name calling, Vecna is a jerk

Word Count: 8.2k words

(A/N:) Hello sweet readers and Happy Halloween season! It’s finally here and I am ready to share all the spooky horrors and sweet fall season fluffs! I’m starting out with a doozy of a fanfic that I worked awhile on! I’m obsessed with the thought of vampire Eddie I just had to write something and so this fic is the product of that thought. I can’t wait to share my other imagines but this one is quite special as I hardly have time to write really long fanfics. So I am very happy to be able to kick of this Halloween season with a bang! So keep an eye peeled for my other stories as I had several ideas this year! Until next time happy reading! ~Countess

The earthquake that had rocked Hawkins had left a wound that festered amongst the residents. Many had abandoned the place they knew as home and some stayed. Your family were among the few that stayed and life had become quite the living nightmare. School had been canceled for the year as strange happenings had begun in the town of Hawkins. You weren’t allowed to leave the house, but you snuck out most nights to visit your friends but to mostly look for Eddie Munson. He had been missing for so long now that even his uncle had given up trying to find him. Everyone believed him dead, but you weren’t willing to give up just yet. Most people didn’t know about the close friendship you had with the metalhead outcast of Hawkins. Childhood friends just didn’t stop being friends so easily, though Eddie made you stay away in public for your image alone. It had been an argument that you and him had had quite often and he won out every time. But that never stopped you from going to see him in the evening to hang out.

 Before he disappeared you never told him that your friendship with him had become something more to you, but now that he was gone you were never going to be able to tell him how you felt. Now as you sat around your family’s dinner table mainly pushing the remaining food around you thought more of where you could search for Eddie.

“(Y/N),” your mother spoke gaining your attention. “Your father and I think you better stay in tonight. Hawkins PD have given an earlier curfew and we don’t want you getting caught out.”

You nodded pasting a smile on your face, “Sure mom I’ll stay home.”

You hated lying to them, despite the other young adults your age you still got along just fine with your parents. But you had, no needed, to find Eddie. You were going crazy without him, surely if he was here everything would be so much better. You excused yourself from the table taking your dishes into the kitchen.

. You had a few more hours until your parents would be occupied with their regular nightly television so you took the time to gather everything you needed to go out and look. Sitting cross legged on your bed while watching the sun dip down behind the trees through your bedroom window you remembered all the times you and Eddie would watch the sun go down at his place. You would cook him something to eat and then you two would just hang out and joke around. He was the easiest person to be around, the one who knew you the most. He also helped you more than anyone as well, so now you felt like it was your turn. The sun was finally set and you heard the TV come on. Now was your chance. Luckily your room was on the backside of the house and led straight into the woods so there was no chance of your parents spotting you leaving. Leaving the light on and some music playing in the background you made your escape.

  “I’m going to my room to study,” you announced. Though school was canceled you did try to do a few things to keep everything fresh in your mind. You still had college to think about after the nightmare ended

 Slipping into the depths of the trees you powered on your flashlight to open the map you bought several months ago. X’s were scattered all across the paper where you had already searched and found no traces, tonight you were going to start somewhere else. Skull Rock was the next place on your list according to your search pattern. It was going to be quite the trek, but you knew deep down if it was you who was missing Eddie would go to the very depths of the Underworld to find you. So you would do the same for him. There was no bugs this late in the year as the nights were beginning to grow colder. Walking through the trees you were able to spot some of the neighborhood houses, Halloween decorations twinkling further out in the night. 

Used to you would be so excited to dress up and spend another Hallows Eve with Eddie, this year like last year was no different. You couldn’t get excited for any holiday, even Christmas made you feel hallow and numb. Eddie was your constant in life your reason to continue, now that reason was snatched away. You wiped the tears that made their way past the barrier you had created. No tears. You had made a promise you would cry when you finally found him. Safe, whole, and perfectly Eddie.

Further into the woods, the more anxious you became. Would you finally find something? Would Hawkins PD finally find out what you were doing and tell your parents? Man you just knew you would be grounded for eternity. You stepped across a groundhog hole sucking in a breath when chills went up your spin. Your clammy skin erupting into goosebumps. You had the uncanny feeling of being watched. You shut off the flashlight for a moment letting the moon shine brightly where you stood. Without making a noise you looked around the surrounding bushes and bare trees. A twig snapped causing you to jump and turn your flashlight back on. Shining it in the direction of the noise you spotted the owner of the hole you just stepped over not too long ago.

“Ugh,” you sighed in relief. “Give me a heart attack why don’t you?!”

Laughter filled the woods suddenly stopping your heart before you rushed to hide behind a tree. You barely breathed when a group of teenagers passed your hiding spot by. They had just left Skull Rock and once again you found yourself sighing in relief. Despite seeing other people out you couldn’t shake the feeling you weren’t alone and it wasn’t the teenagers that just passed you or the furry critter you saw earlier. An overwhelming sense of darkness was squeezing at you, but you couldn’t stop. You needed to keep going. 

Unexplainable terror squeezed your heart and lungs the closer you got to Skull Rock. Your body screamed for you to turn around and just forget the whole thing, though your stubborn mind was made up. You compromised to yourself that once you looked over Skull Rock really well you would go straight home where it was safe. The large rocks greeted your vision but the hollowed out eyes and gaping maw of the skull shaped boulder made you shiver. You could have sworn that the stupid thing was grinning at you, getting a great kick out of your wild imagination. Brushing the light against the ground you looked for any sign of your best friend. You searched for a ring, an extra pick he always kept, a scrap of fabric, you’d even settle for a lock of hair. Anything that pointed to the sign that he had been there at all. But all that littered the ground was empty beer bottles, discarded cigarette butts, and other unmentionable items. You shivered in disgust before feelings of despair settled in. This always happened after every time you checked a place and wound up empty handed.

“Eddie where are you,” you whispered choking back sobs. Another twig snapped and you glared in the direction. “Stop following me you stupid groundhog! It wasn’t funny the first time and it’s not funny now!”

Another snap and a hiss followed. Your blood froze and you dropped the light when your fingers went numb. Out of the shadows something stepped forward behind you it’s breath brushing against your sweaty neck. You shivered violently frozen in place, you could have sworn something said your name. Before a screeching noise pierced the blackened sky. You were knocked to the ground by a large bat like shadow. It sent you sprawling before you quickly crawled towards your flashlight. Grabbing it you took off through the woods, trying to escape whatever creature that had found you.

 Branches reached out and grabbed at your face, roots tangled up your feet sending you stumbling through the pitch black darkness. Even the moon had abandoned you. Your name was whispered through the gnarled trees. How did it know your name? Why did it sound so familiar? And why could you not seem to outrun this pursuing nightmare? You would scream for help but your terror sealed your throat shut. It was hard enough to gain enough air to keep you going forward at your pace. Those moments of pure horror continued when you fell out of the woods but you couldn’t stop you had to keep going. You could hear the maniacal laughter echoing where you once stood. That chilling voice sounding so familiar. It wasn’t until you hauled yourself through your window scratched, bleeding, and still shaking uncontrollably did you finally feel safe. That’s when you cried. Frustration and fear mixing into a feeling you never wanted to endure again.

It was really late now and your parents had gone to bed so you rushed to your bathroom to clean yourself up. You looked like crap with sticks stuck in your ponytail and face all scratched up. If you didn’t get yourself cleaned up enough you were going to have to come up with an alibi for your parents. Telling them you went to Skull Rock by yourself in the dark when they specifically told you that you couldn’t go out wasn’t going to fly with them. If you wanted to keep searching for Eddie you had to keep your home from becoming Alcatraz. 

You started the shower with trembling hands, despite being home and calming down some you couldn’t make the shakes stop completely. You stepped into the hot spray letting the water clean all the grime from your body until you were satisfied and content. Wrapping yourself up into a towel you dug through your cabinets for wound disinfectant and some bandages. Maybe you could tell your parents that you were attacked by a rogue pencil. Or your paper attacked you while you were taking notes. You snorted to yourself at the silly excuses, while cleaning a pretty nasty scratch on your leg. You tossed the cotton ball in the trash when the lights of your bathroom started to flicker. You tried the switch a couple times but it didn’t turn the lights off nor on, they just continued to flicker causing an eerie light show like a demented disco.

 You were about to call for your dad when the lights finally flickered once more before staying on. You sighed in relief deciding that you needed sleep. When you turned back to the mirror you saw a dark shadow in the glass. You stumbled back hitting the bathroom door in panic before looking back and seeing the shadow gone. You quickly got dressed and raced back to your room, sock feet muffled against the floor. You shut your door as quietly as possible and jumped into bed. Your body started trembling again and this time for the first time you didn’t feel safe at home. You hid yourself under your thick blankets wishing everything to go away and leave you alone. Nothing was heard through the house, everything staying eerily quiet. You felt safe enough to peek out of your covers when the radio clicked on. It surfed through the local stations on it’s own. Static and small pieces of different songs flowed through your room when it landed on the local station that played mostly metal music. Metallica’s Disposable Heroes filled the air the heavy guitars driving deep into your brain.

“Stop,” you shouted at the radio. It ignored you continuing to play before a shadow loomed over you in the darkness of your room. Clawed hands reached for you and you shrank back watching it in horror.

“Leave me alone,” you whimpered. The creature cackled evilly a glowing red eye piercing the depths of it’s form. Suddenly the radio shut off and the shadow left leaving you alone. You jumped again when a knock sounded from your bedroom door.

“(Y/N) is everything alright,” your father asked. “Do you have any idea what time it is?”

“Dad,” you cried and he was at your bedside immediately.

“It’s okay,” he comforted you.

“The radio started playing and I swear I saw something.”

“I’m sure it’s just a short,” he replied stroking your hair soothingly. “We’ll get you a new one tomorrow that way it won’t just switch on again.”

You highly doubted that was the case since between the lights and then the monster that seemed to haunt you now. You began to wonder if Skull Rock was cursed now and you somehow brought the curse back home with you. Eddie wasn’t there anyway so you really didn’t know what to do. But you couldn’t give up you couldn’t let yourself lose him forever.

The next morning your mom made your favorite for breakfast while your father planned a shopping trip. He had explained to your mom about the night that you had and they both decided you needed to get out of the house. You mentally snorted to yourself. If they only knew. Halloween was on the horizon and they were planning something fun apparently to get you out of your mopey attitude. Honestly though you didn’t care about Halloween if Eddie wasn’t around to join the fun. Never in a million years did you think that you were going to have to go through any part of your life without him and here you were dragging through every day hoping and praying for his return. Downtown Hawkins tried to put on a cheery and brave face, but the busted up roads and destroyed buildings made you feel otherwise. You had drowned out your parents talking to watch the scenery go by. On the outskirts where some of the most severe damaged occurred you sat up abruptly.

“Stop the car,” you screamed. The brakes of the car screeched in protest and before your dad shifted into park you were out of the car. You caught a glimpse of a familiar figure standing on a dilapidated porch of a destroyed home.

“Eddie,” you called racing towards the young man calling his name. It was him definitely. You definitely saw that familiar denim jacket and head of long curly hair. Your parents called your name telling you to come back but you had to see Eddie. This was the moment you waited for. You stumbled over an abandoned bike catching yourself you looked back up, standing right at the porch where Eddie had stood. But now you didn’t see anyone. You spun around trying to spot him, it was him. You saw him there was no mistaking him.

“Eddie,” you screamed, “this isn’t funny! I know it’s you stop hiding! Eddie!” You spun around searching anxiously your heart shattering in your chest. Falling to the ground you wrapped your arms around yourself before releasing a deafening scream of despair. Your mom was there seconds later holding you tightly while you had your meltdown.

“He was right there,” you whimpered. “Eddie was just there I saw him. He’s playing a trick thinking it’s funny. Well it’s not!”

“Shh,” your mom said looking toward your dad in concern.

“Eddie’s not there sweetie,” your dad tried to say it tenderly but you shook your head harshly.

“He. Was. There.”

That was the very beginning of the nightmare that would become your life. Buying a new radio didn’t stop the suddenly turning on problem and whenever the lights flickered it only happened where you were. Your parents were beginning to think you were losing your mind, so they decided to enroll you in therapy to deal with your sudden bouts of insanity. Now that you talked more about Eddie the more you started to see him. The shadow that had been haunting you taking the form of your absent friend. You cried yourself to sleep most nights thinking about him. You walked past mirrors there was Eddie with a deranged smile. You would run back to see him gone. The dark chair by your closet Eddie sat in it a couple times but every time you did a double take he was never there but for a split second. You called for him, screamed his name.

“Come on,” your mom lifted you up. “You’ll see him again. Just give it time.”

Your father shook his head as they lead you back to the car that was still running. Your head was beginning to throb and the tears just kept coming. Why would Eddie do something like that? Maybe you were going crazy. That could only be the explanation. You wanted to see him so bad that you were beginning to hallucinate Eddie and crazy shadows trying to kill you.

 Sometimes laughter was heard in reply. Bags started forming under your eyes. The radio would play at strange intervals waiting until everything was deathly quiet and it was the same song over and over. Disposable Heroes by Metallica. Surely some form of evil creature was haunting you but using Eddie’s face and favorite band to cause you to suffer more and more. You just wanted to find him, that’s all you ever wanted in life but now you just wanted the horror to go away, to stop torturing you on a daily basis. Now you were standing before your bathroom mirror not recognizing the gaunt pale face that looked back at you. Your features began to morph and swirl as the lights above began their flickering dance for the umpteenth time in the past two weeks.

“Please,” you moaned. “I can’t take this anymore.”

Eddie’s friendly face now stared back before melting. His skin ran in rivulets down his features before becoming a terrifying creature in itself. It was his face but more pale and his eyes were a reddish bloody brown like a pool of blood in the process of drying and his smile the one that once held warmth and joy held pointed fangs and only spoke of misery and death. He looked insane and malicious.

“Found me,” he hissed. His voice deeper and it rattled around in your skull. “You wanted to find me so bad. Are you happy with what you see (Y/N)?”

“You’re not Eddie,” you screeched slamming a hand against the glass.

The impostor chuckled malevolently, “I assure you I am.”

“Shut up!” You shattered the glass cutting up your hand. Bursting out of the bathroom the flickering lights followed you swiftly down the hall and into your bedroom. Slamming the door closed you hid your head under the pillows while your hand bleed profusely on the bed. You heard your door open while you willed the nightmare to end.

“Go away!!”

“It’s me,” your mom rushed over taking the pillows from you and cradling your wounded hand. Your spells were getting worse and she was growing more concerned. She carefully picked you up from your bed and lead you to the living room. Your father grabbed the car keys after seeing your sliced hand. Glass shards glimmered in the light and now that you calmed down a little and adrenaline wasn’t in your system you were beginning to feel the pain.

You cried and whimpered all the way to the hospital cradling your hand to your chest. You were drenched in blood and despite the haze you still caught glimpses of Eddie in the window. But instead of seeing the sweet metalhead you remembered it was the beastly image of this new Eddie. He mocked you, tortured you, took glee in the pain you were feeling. He told you the Eddie you loved was never going to come back, that he was dead and he was better off without you. You covered your ears trying to block out the harmful words. All that did was smear your blood over your head and face. The voice stayed in your mind digging into the very depths to strike where it hurt the most. You’d been losing sleep and now you were injuring yourself, you were kind of wondering how much more your parents were going to take before you were shipped off to the asylum. You couldn’t really blame them though. They didn’t see the flickering lights, the possessed radio that turned on whenever it wanted, or a Eddie that matched the Hawkins’ residents description to a T.

The doctor was really nice once you were in a room. They numbed your hand a little and cleaned all the glass punctured in your skin before sewing up the cuts. Now that your hand was taken care of and wrapped your parents were talking to the doctor about your spells. You ignored them and tried not to look at anything reflective. You weren’t positive how much more evil Eddie you were going to be able to take before you snapped for real. Despite ignoring the shadow trailing you, you could still hear the Eddie of your nightmares echoing through the room trying to get you to look. He called your name making your heart hammer in your chest. With a newly patched up hand and some pain medication to help with any discomfort you would experience with healing in tow you were on your way back home. You laid curled up in the backseat trying to block out the snarling timber of evil Eddie. You shivered despite the heater in the car blasting. Back home you ran inside refusing to look through windows or in the dark corners of every room. He was lurking you could sense it, his gaze brushing against your form sending tremors through you. You slammed the door to your room burrowing into the blankets.

“He’s not real. Eddie has to be dead,” you choked finally breaking. “This thing isn’t Eddie. My Eddie would never do something like this to me. Eddie!” You released all the emotions you had been holding back. The guilt and shame of not looking for him the moment he was accused of murder tearing you apart. You had felt that if you could find him you could finally make it right to him. You were the worst friend to him while he had been everything to you. You wailed in sorrow losing all hope as it all spiraled into remorse. This was the first time that evil Eddie had been silent in hours and you were finally able to fall asleep after crying yourself into oblivion.

You knew nothing only the dark abyss of sleep when a hand clamped on your shoulder. Your eyes shot open, sleep causing your vision to be bleary. It wasn’t your mother or your father. This shadow was familiar but also strange. Blinking several times rapidly everything began to clear up and the moon slipped through the curtains to outline the person who woke you. Long brown hair, denim vest, and leather jacket made your heart drop. This Eddie that had been your constant tormentor had finally got you and now your time had come to pay for mistreating your friend. You breathed deeply to scream when he latched a hand on your mouth. You squirmed and screamed behind his hand. He gripped harder making your jaw pop from the pressure. Tears welled up and you knew that it was the end.

“Shhhh,” Eddie hissed. His normal chocolate brown eyes had a reddish tint in the dark and they seemed to glow. “Shut up! You’ll get your parents down on me!”

You glared menacingly before kicking this impostor with all your might causing him to fall off the bed.

“Son of a… What’s your deal.”

“You’re not going to kill me that easily you monster,” you whispered shouted. Grabbing the nearest weapon available you kept your back pressed against the wall not daring to look away from him.

“It’s me,” Eddie whisper shouted back.

“It is not! You’ve been a constant nightmare in my life. The real Eddie is dead and I’ve been left with a evil ghost to torture me for being so pathetic and abandoning the only friend that mattered!”

This Eddie rolled his eyes and huffed. “Well good news I’m definitely dead but I’m also not in a way.”

You wielded the lamp pointing it at the thing in your room. “That definitely sounds like Eddie. But I don’t trust you.”

“You probably shouldn’t,” he nodded scratching the back of his head. “You should probably sit down (Y/N). You probably won’t believe me though.”

“Try me.”

You sat down still gripping the lamp tightly and impostor Eddie sat down too to make you feel more comfortable. He explained a different dimension that you could enter through a few places in Hawkins. How monster creatures have been the cause of all the bad that had and has happened to Hawkins. Then he talked about a great evil known as Vecna and his demobats.

“Vampire Eddie huh? I’m not buying it.”

  “I think that’s why I’m alive or undead,” Eddie rubbed his forehead like he had a headache settling in. “I think I was infected and now I’m like a…a vampire.” He scooted closer and you held up the lamp. “It’s okay I just want to show you. Look at my crazy eyes. They’re red like a vamps and and look,” he raised his lips, “fangs! This is crazy man!”

“C’mon (Y/N),” his voice raised an octave like Eddie’s used to when upset.

“Tell me something only my Eddie would know,” you threatened menacingly with your lamp.

He hung his head, “Putting me on the spot huh?”

“It’s the only way,” you whispered.

“Fine,” he smirked showing one needle like fang. “Remember in 6th grade when we ditched class to go to the arcade and that boy you always crushed on… crap what was his name?” He snapped his fingers causing the rings he always wore to clink together.

“Daniel?”

“Yeah that one! Ditched too and you tried to act all cool and flirt with him and you wound up spilling the drink I bought you all over him and the game he’d been playing. He was going to get the high score too but you screwed him out of it!” Eddie laughed and you shushed him. “I never let you live that down and still won’t now.”

He thought that you would be excited and laugh at the memory but you just sat there. Your lamp landing between your outstretched legs as your body started to shake intensely and your bottom lip quivered. You grabbed a pillow that had fallen off your mattress and stuffed your face into the soft material. Your muffled wails filled his ears as your shoulders shook. Eddie was at your side in seconds rubbing soothing circles on your tense back. Feeling his touch so familiar despite being a little colder than you remembered. You launched yourself tackling him to the floor.

“It’s is you,” you soaked his shirt with your tears. “It really is you. You’re here Eddie.”

“Yeah sweetheart,” Eddie hugged you back ignoring your sweet scent for a moment, “it’s me.”

All he could do was hold you tightly until you calmed down some. It felt like a lifetime since he’d gotten to be this close to you. The separation had been difficult, more difficult than knowing that he had died. His body left in the Upside Down had reanimated and now he was here with you. He had a few different urges but those were easily ignored while he got to be here; finally, with you. You both laughed and talked for a little while just catching up but Eddie suddenly turned serious.

“Listen,” he cupped your face, “Vecna is the one torturing you with me. It’s not me and I had to fight really hard just to get here and see you. He’s pulling my strings and I don’t know if I’ll be able to ever see you again. But the way to keep him at bay is music. Your favorite song to be exact. You have to stay safe (Y/N). I can’t imagine losing you too after all that I’ve been through. So please if I don’t ever get to see you again,” he paused clearing his throat, “take care of yourself and know that I never cared for someone more than you.”

He sat back down red eyes searching yours in curiosity.

He kissed your forehead before starting to rise. You grabbed his arm pulling him back down from leaving.

“Wait Eddie.”

“I looked for you every night for a long time,” you started.

“Yeah. I know I heard you.”

“I was so desperate to find you, cause I kept it secret for so long. I was so afraid of making you leave me but I have to tell you now. I’ll regret it for the rest of my life if I let you leave with the possibility of never seeing you again. I like you more than a friend Eddie. I’ve loved you since we entered  Junior High together, but I am such a coward I never told you.”

Eddie pulled you into him kissing you deeply. “I felt the same way for so long. Now I have to come back to you. Vecna or no Vecna. Whenever I come around the song I’ve been playing for you on the radio will play.”

“That was you?”

“Yeah,” he smiled showing the new sharp teeth. That was definitely something that was going to take you awhile to get used to. “The flickering lights was kinda me and Vecna but it was all him scaring you. I was trying to tell you I was here by playing Metallica for you. But I can see why that wouldn’t help.”

You snorted touching his face trying to get your fill before he left you, “I’ll make myself a mixtape to battle against him attacking me. I think I may have to add that particular song on there too. Cause it reminds me of you Eddie.”

“Hopefully I won’t be gone too long. I can still hear you in the Upside Down too so if you want to talk to me just talk okay.”

“Okay. Hey Eddie?”

“Yeah sweetheart?”

“Can we spend Halloween together like we used to?”

He nodded eagerly, “I’ll try my best!”

Before knowing Eddie was as alive as a vampire can be, Halloween was something you were not looking forward to, but now with the thought of seeing him again and spending Halloween together like old times you were now counting down the days. Your parents were happy to see you doing better though there was still moments where Vecna attacked. You had taken to keeping your cassette player going at all times, wearing it no matter the time. Now as you planned your costume and getting permission to stay out late in the safe neighborhoods the days went by quicker. Now the night of Hallows Eve was drawing nearer you laid sprawled out on your bed. Your costume draped over your desk chair and the only light on in your room was the lamp at your bedside you focused on the ceiling.

The music grew louder and the lamp flickered faster. You laughed more, he had always been a spazz when he was human too.

“Hey Eddie,” you whispered afraid your parents would overhear. Your answer was his song playing on the radio and a couple of flickers from the bulb in the lamp. You giggled the giddiness of knowing that he was so close taking over.

“I’m excited about Halloween now.”

“Are you sure you’ll be able to escape Vecna? Will it put you in extreme danger to leave him?”

The music slowed and the lamp flickered dully. Your heart sank at the thought of not getting to see him. If you knew Eddie though he was feeling guilty about not being able to give you a yes or no answer.

“That’s okay,” you cooed wiping at the tears that slipped by you. “If you can’t we’ll talk like this and I’ll describe my costume to you. My parents already think I’m a little insane, talking to a lamp won’t make any difference.”

The lamp glowed brighter constantly. Eddie was displeased that you were labeled crazy now. All because of your relationship with him. He couldn’t see you, but to hear you was more than he could ever ask for. After becoming Vecna’s he missed you the most. On the run he didn’t get to see you and then he was in the Upside Down and he tried to remember the last time he had seen you as his old self and found it hard to remember. You continued to chat with him as he spiraled into feelings that he had thought he had purged from himself a long time ago. You were everything he could ever want and now that just having you so out of reach because of the danger Vecna imposed was crushing him into pieces. Night drawn on and you were getting sleepy. Eddie flickered your lamp gently letting you know you needed to sleep before he completely shut the lamp off in the Upside Down.

“You’re right,” you relented laying back down as Metallica continued to play in a quieter volume. Eddie didn’t leave until you were breathing softly and smoothly.

Halloween drew closer and closer. You were preparing everything for any possibility, it made your parents happy that you were actually excited for something and that you seemed to have stopped thinking about Eddie so much. Well that’s what you let them see anyway. Despite the situation in Hawkins you couldn’t just blurt out that Eddie; who is now a vampire, is still alive under the control of an evil psychokinetic being who is plotting all of Hawkins demise, and that Eddie is basically undead, and he’s going to try to escape said evil being to come back to this side to be with you on Halloween. You snorted to yourself thinking about how ridiculous it did sound but stranger things could happen. Honestly nothing could surprise you anymore just seeing Eddie alive, maybe not well, but alive shocked your system enough that maybe you could take any shocking news to come.

 After finishing up your costume you started to think on what you could do for Eddie. He couldn’t just go around walking around town, so dressing up would be a vital part of his appearance. But you didn’t want him just be anything, despite the situation you wanted Eddie to enjoy himself. It had been so long since the two of you got to hang out or do anything fun in so long. Eddie had worried so much for your reputation that he kind of held you at a distance though you told him several times that you didn’t care what the ‘fine upstanding’ citizens of Hawkins thought of you. All you cared about was Eddie. So it didn’t take you long to decide on Eddie’s costume and it would be really easy to get the stuff too. You laid everything out on your bed and patted yourself on the back at your job well done. Now all you had to do was survive the last few days until Halloween came.

Despite the overwhelming excitement, Halloween did come really fast. All day you had been so anxious your parents were happy and a little nervous by the way you were acting. You did dash their fears quickly before going upstairs to get ready. This year you had decided to do a genderswap of Indiana Jones since that had been one of you and Eddie’s most favorite movies you both watched together and for Eddie you chose Michael Myers. It was perfect because of the mask that would hide his face and the one piece overalls. You snickered to yourself as you turned in the mirror taking a look at your handy work. Not bad at all for a homemade costume. Eddie would probably have too much fun as his favorite slasher, but this was going to be both of your’s night to have fun. The sun was beginning to set painting everything outside your bedroom window in a gorgeous pumpkin orange, even the leaves seemed to glow underneath the waning rays.

“Eddie,” you whispered to the radio. Eddie’s song hummed back softly and the lamp darkened and brightened. “I’m ready whenever you are.”

The lamp glowed brighter, so bright you thought the bulb would blow but before it got too hot it went back to normal.

“Are you sure you can make it?” Your heart raced and tears were already pricking at the corners of your eyes. You promised not to be disappointed if he couldn’t but the thought of him not getting to come was already shattering your heart.

“You tell me,” Eddie’s voice whispered against your neck sending chills down your spine. Was it just a fantasy? Something your mind in a fog of desperation conjured up. Shivering you turned to see that familiar mop of hair and crooked grin. Before you could even decide what you wanted to do first your body acted launching yourself at him. Despite the fear that you would knock him down, like you did one time at school a few years ago, Eddie stood firm catching you and holding you tightly against his chest.

“I’ve missed you too (Y/N),” he cooed before stroking your hair with gentle caresses.

“You came,” you cried despite not wanting to.

“Of course! Now let’s get this Halloween night started!”

“Shh,” you laughed, “my parents are still downstairs! Plus you can’t go out looking like Eddie the Banished, soooo I took the liberty and you can go as Michael Myers tonight.”

“Right,” Eddie grinned sheepishly, “I kinda forgot that the whole town is out looking for me. All my problems disappeared when I saw you.”

You blushed shoving him towards the overalls and mask. “Get ready doofus.”

“A little privacy please,” he teased despite just having to put everything on over his clothes. But you turned around anyway. Eddie finished up before embracing you from behind, his arms snaking around your waist despite the belt, homemade whip, and pouch at your side.

“Indiana Jones would have been a lot more interesting if you played the lead.”

“Shut up Eddie,” you snorted still blushing up a storm. “Harrison Ford is a gift to all womankind.”

“Sure sure. You gonna stand here and gush over Harrison Ford or are you going to show me a good night on the town?”

“Just you wait Munson you’ll be begging to go back to the Upside Down before this night is over,” you grinned mischievously.

“I’d like to see you try.”

Life couldn’t be better now as you walked hand in hand with Eddie down the streets of several Hawkins neighborhoods. So far nobody had questioned the person beside you nor did a lot of people stop and talk to you. After the majority of people found out your friendship with Eddie you were another one of the outcasts. Bullying became the norm at school and everything got worse after Chrissy’s death. You refused to let Eddie know about it, it would just make him feel unnecessary guilt and this was the time he needed to enjoy himself. Too much had happened and he had Vecna to be concerned about, it didn’t matter what people said about you. But now you were afraid that Eddie was going to find out what you had hid from him as soon as you saw the group who always gave you grief heading straight towards you both.

“Well well if it ain’t Eddie the Freak’s side chick.”

“What’s wrong (Y/N) you finally come to your senses and let The Freak stop controlling your mind with his demonic powers?”

Eddie stiffened at the sound of his name and the way you were being spoke to.

“Let’s not do this tonight,” you glared unwilling to back down.

“Eddie was never a Devil worshiper and you know it,” you argued back. “If you had half a brain you wouldn’t believe the nonsense people spout about others. You never knew Eddie and you never took the time to get to know who he was.”

They laughed at you surrounding you and Eddie. Eddie squeezed your hand but the frustration he felt inside of not being able to protect you was tearing him up from the inside out.

“Sounds like she’s in love with The Freak,” he got into your face before ripping your hand from Eddie’s grip. Eddie let him afraid his new strength would hurt you or cause more problems than help.

“He’s my best friend,” you whimpered as your emotions overwhelmed you, “of course I love him.”

They laughed mockingly while their leader turned your hand around and deposited an apple into your open palm. He shoved your fingers harshly around the fruit and you fought a whimper at the pain slicing through your body. Blood began to drip between your fingers and dripping onto the ground.

“Happy Halloween Freak,” they snarled and dispersed leaving you and Eddie alone.

You trembled violently and dropped the apple with a painful gasp. Razor blades stuck through the skin on the apple had sliced your hand open horribly in several spots. Eddie was on the verge of panicking and throwing the apple back at the bully’s head but his need to take care of you drowned out the violent need before a new need started to emerge. Your blood smelled delicious. It overloaded Eddie’s senses threatening his control. This new desire had been hard to tame when he saw you again for the first time and now that your blood was flowing freely it was a beast that refused to be tamed. Eddie had you pinned down on the ground and mask off before you both realized what was happening. His eyes glowed a bright red as deep and bright as the blood that oozed from your wounds. Elongated fangs protruded from his mouth threatening to take from you his very desire.

“Eddie,” you hiccuped.

Too far away but still fighting Eddie ignored your quiet pleas as you remained pinned under his body. The irredeemable part of him wouldn’t be satiated until he got a taste. That’s when he picked your hand back up, blood now trailing down your pale arm. Licking his lips he trailed his tongue up your arm scooping up the blood and swallowed. Up and up he lapped causing a fire to light in your gut and fear to shake you when he stopped at the pulse in your wrist, the beating of your blood underneath your soft skin intoxicating him before he closed his mouth upon the cuts. Slurping and licking, you hid your eyes embarrassment and fear taking over as Eddie drank from your open wounds. Becoming dizzy you tried to get him to stop again.

“Eddie please.”

“No,” you sobbed finally breaking down. You were sick of trying to stay strong. Eddie was always the one who would accept you for who you wanted to be. Nobody else could understand you like he could. “I never wanted to be one of those that couldn’t be around you. Eddie you’re my friend.”

This time Eddie bolted back licking at his blood stained lips. Whatever had gripped him in his thrall released leaving him battered and ashamed before you.

“You should have given me up,” he said. “I’m a monster now and I can’t be trusted. Now they call you a freak. I should have given up our friendship years ago.”

“Some friend I am drinking your blood,” he scoffed bitterly. His guilt made him unable to even look at you.

You held your hand trying to stop the rest of the bleeding. Looking at the cuts you noticed they healed just a little bit under Eddie’s frenzy. You steeled yourself deciding that what Eddie is now wouldn’t matter. You held out your hand, tears drying, and a fierceness coming over you.

“You can have my blood. I don’t care. If it’s what you want and that lets you stay my friend you can have as much as you want and whenever you want.”

“Don’t do that,” he shouted backing away. “Don’t offer me that I can’t control it!”

“Eddie!”

“I won’t kill you (Y/N) and if I get another taste I will kill you.”

“I trust you,” you stepped forward carefully not wanting to spook him further.

He chuckled a bitter look in his brownish-red eyes, “I don’t trust me.”

Silence seemed to squeeze the life out of the once cheerful atmosphere as Eddie ended the night early. His mood was one part of wanting to go back to your house, but the biggest reason was you still had yet to stop bleeding. He tried talking you into going to the hospital but you refused immediately. There was plenty of medical supplies under the bathroom sink back at your house and despite wanting to argue with you and get you some actual medical care Eddie didn’t want to fight. So begrudgingly he started leading you home. His mask was back in place to where nobody could see him and he was grateful that the plastic was blocking some of the smell of your blood as it continued to flow from your palm. Piercing his bottom lip with one of his fangs, that refused to retract due to his food source still bleeding out, Eddie focused on the sharp pain until it healed up.

Eddie sighed bringing you into a comforting embrace, “It wasn’t my intention to make things awkward between us. I’m different now.”

  “Eddie,” you spoke softly afraid of causing another scene. He turned around causing you to flinch at the tenseness of his body. “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. That wasn’t my intention.”

“No kidding,” you giggled, interrupting him. Eddie chuckled back.

“And I have to be careful or I could wind up causing more harm than I ever intend to. So please keep your blood inside you when I’m around.”

“You mean you’ll come back,” you blinked back tears.

“Of course dummy,” he scoffed ruffling your hair. “I don’t want you to be shunned like I was…am. But something tells me that you are not going to let me go without a fight.”

“You got that right Munson,” you glared. “I don’t care what others think of me. They never truly knew who you are anyway. Vampire or not you’re my best friend Eddie and I am not giving up that friendship without a fight.”

“I had a feeling you’d be saying that. I won’t fight with you,” Eddie relented.

 “You’re too important to me.”

“You’re important to me too Eddie.”

He grasped onto you tightly refusing to let go until the smell of your blood became too much. He needed to get you patched up and soon.

“C’mon we need to get you fixed up before I can’t fight off the need to take another drink.”

“Okay Eddie,” you nodded once again following him. While many things had changed and everything seemed dour, you couldn’t help but feel some semblance of hope that everything would turn out okay anyway. Mostly because you had Eddie once more. While life had been a nightmare without him now that you had him back, despite the fact that he now went through a transformation no person should have to go through, you couldn’t find any disappointment. Eddie made life better, worth living. It didn’t matter what people called him or you once they find out your relationship with him. Nothing mattered except for the young man before you with his messy curly hair, ripped bloodstained D&D shirt, boots, and chocolate brown eyes now with a red tint. He was everything and then some, you could face anything with him. Vecna had to disappear, then maybe once in the first time in his life Eddie could finally be free from everything.

Back home he carefully patched you back up before licking his hands clean of any traces of your delicious essence. He hummed at the taste before looking back to you sitting on the edge of your bed. Faster than you could blink Eddie hovered above you his eyes boring into yours. He smoothed your hair from your face before bending down to leave a warm kiss on your forehead.

“Happy Halloween (Y/N),” he mumbled blushing slightly from the unexpected burst of affection that possessed him.

You leaned into the kiss holding onto his tattered shirt, “Happy Halloween Eddie.”

Then in a blink Eddie was gone leaving you alone once more. You looked at your bandaged hand turning a light pink from the bandages doing their job. You almost gave into despair when the radio came on and the lamp flickered gently.

“Thank you Eddie,” you sniffed. Your answer was the radio volume increasing and a brighter glow of the lamp beside your bed. You weren’t ever really alone and now that you had Eddie back in some manner, life would really turn out to be okay.

[milkytheholy1]

Anytime

hi hope your having a wonderful day and I hope you had a wonderful presidents day yesterday, I was wondering if I could request a Rise Leo x male reader who’s a yokai that looks kinda like male naga (a half human half snake being) but the reader is disguising as a human (kind of like how samanita was disguising), and one day as a joke Leo takes the amulet from the reader, and reveals what they truly look like and everyone just stares at them making the reader scared and nervous making him slither out of the lair. and Leo feeling bad follows him, and eventually corners him, first asking why he hid what he really looked like, then comforts the reader telling him that he likes how the reader actually looks like? 

A/N: Fresh off the grill!

Tmnt masterlist. Ultimate masterlist. _______________________________________________

It was just another day in the lair, another movie night spent under the soft twinkling of the fairy lights hanging from the ceiling and the projector flickering on and off. It was a horror movie, specifically chosen by April and Casey, the two had formed an incredibly close bond since they were the only two girls.

The movie, from what you could gather, was about a monster terrorising a village, stealing crops and one day capturing a woman who dared to explore it's cave. Horror didn't really do anything for you, sure sometimes it could be scary but when the 1940s monster costume looked like Playdoh and sellotape combined, it lost the scary effect.

You could feel Leo push up further against you, the two of you were sharing the recliner, there wasn't much room to separately have space. Though your behaviour was a little odd, Leo made no mention of it, in fact, he continued on as normal. Being his goofy self, this week alone he had flirted and joked with you like never before; maybe he was on to you.

You had reluctantly told Sanita that you had a small crush on Leo, who then told April, she then told Donnie who told Raph, who told Mikey and everyone knows Mikey can't keep a secret so Leo was bound to know by now.

Your fingers fiddled with the badge pinned to your jacket, you never took it off, not anymore at least. Your friends hadn't seen your scaley form before, you never liked to advertise that side of yourself that much. You had always found peace and acceptance in your human form than any reptilian.

A few hours later and movie night was over, though you could still feel the low buzz of sugar in your system, refusing to let you sleep or sit idle. Leo shifted beside you, he must have felt the same way, "Ugh, can we do something else, I'm not ready to sleep yet."

"What do you guys wanna do? We could watch another movie?" April asked, stretching her muscles in the beanbag she laid dormant in for the entirety of the movie. Leo shrugged then turned to you with a smile, "Tag, you're it!" he poked you in the nose then sprung from the chair. You stared at him for a few moments, adjusting to your new role before you sprang to life and chased after him.

It only took a few more minutes before the whole room was involved, all chasing each other with furious pants and wheezing. Leo was thrusted into the corner of the room, everyone kept their eyes on him, watching his every movement. Mikey had been tagged but quickly pushed his palm flat against Leo's shell last minute, now Leo was It.

He stayed still, calculating his chances of tagging someone else, but with his sick moves the odds were in his favour. His eyes scanned around the room, taking in everybody's faces until he stopped on you, he had found his target. You swallowed a gulp, getting your stance just right before you could bolt away from his grasp.

Leo chased after you, every so often just missing a bit of fabric from your jack. You could hear April call "Last round!" this meant sudden death, if Leo tagged you it would all be over. So you kept up your pace, using Raph and Casey to dodge his attacks; and it looked like you were going to win.

That was until Leo jumped over the recliner and slapped a hand against your back before you could get further away. With a cry of defeat from you and a massive cheer from Leo, the game was over. Leo sauntered over to you, wrapping an arm around your shoulder and pulling you closer into him, "As the winner, I should think a prize is in order. Perhaps something from the loser, hm?" he turned to you with a smile, brows furrowed in that way you loved to hate.

You pouted at him, folding your arms over your chest "I have nothing to give you, sorry." it was a mock sorry at that, you didn't really mean it. Leo hummed in delight, pointing down to the badge on your jacket, "That'll do nicely, don't cha think?" his grubby little fingers went to reach for the badge, you slapped his hand away but he was deterred by it.

Leo kept swiping for the badge no matter how much you struggled, "Leo I do-don't think thi-this is a good i-ide-" it was too late, Leo stepped back with the badge in his hands and a toothy grin covering his face. But that grin soon faded into a frown when a shining light encased your body and revealed your true form, scales and all.

Everyone in the room stared at you, their eyes burning holes into your flesh. You leant forward and snatched the badge out of his hands, tears rushing down your cheeks "I told you to leave it alone, Leo! Now look what you've done!" you cried out. With those final words said, you left the lair, entering the darkness of the sewers, not looking back.

It had felt like a whole week had gone by in the sewers, though a quick look at your phone told you it had only been thirty minutes. You don't even know how far away from the lair you are, but you could no longer see the lights, hear chatting, feel the warmth the lair provided. You were on your own.

You leaned against the sewer wall, tears pushing at your eyes, a few escaping and running down the structure of your face. You slowly fell to the ground, the badge that protected you for so long held in a tight fist. You couldn't bear to look at it, now that everything had been revealed was there any point in keeping it, what was stopping you from throwing it into the gushing waters?

Too busy within your own head, you failed to feel the chill that ran up your arm. Too busy to feel the hand that laid against your shoulder or the pleas that fell into the air.

"(Y/N), I-I'm sorry, okay? I should've listened to you and stopped, it's just- I was having so much fun, I thought we were having so much fun and I didn't want it to end." there was silence from you, you couldn't bear to look up at him let alone answer him.

"I just- why would you hide yourself from us? Were you embarrassed or ashamed? Maybe I'll never know, but-" he paused, looking over to you, his eyes then following the expanse of your tail. He squeezed your shoulder tighter "I wish you hadn't hidden yourself like this, I wish you had talked to us, talked to me. I thought- I thought we were close, like we could tell each other anything."

You shunned away from him, a few more tears tumbling down. But this time Leo caught them, he wiped them away and forced you to look at him, "(Y/N), with or without that dumb badge you're still the hottest guy I've ever met. I mean, c'mon, ya kidding me? That snake tail is awesome! I can't believe you've been holding out on us."

His positivity was starting to rub off on you, a small smile shining through the darkness. You embraced him, pulling him closer into your arms "Thanks, Leo."

He patted you on the back, "Anytime."

[asha-mage]

WoT Meta: Power, Men and Self Hatered

It's fascinating to me how deeply Robert Jordan mistrusts those who seek power for themselves (be it political, magical, martial, or monetary, or some other form). The vast majority of his villains are in part, motivated by the pursuit of power, and most of the antagonists, even when they can't be said to be truly evil, such as Elaida, Padron Naill, or Arymilla Marne, are also motivated by the pursuit of power. Meanwhile the vast majority of Jordan's heroes have power thrust upon them, either by destiny, by accident of birth, or by simple chance demonstrating they have the qualities needed to be trusted. Almost none of his heroes sought power for themselves (it's no mistake for example, that none of our main channeler crew where in the 'could be taught' camp- all where spakers who had no choice) or for it's own sake, and those that do have it treated as a grievous sin by the narrative (such as Logain).

This blends particularly sharply into what happens with the Black Tower. In the prologue for Crossroads of Twilight, Gabrielle in a particularly depressing moment, reflects that Logain has less suspicion for her and the other captive sisters that had been sent to destroy him, then he does for his fellow Asha'man, which is very much NOT how it should be. Not that I think Jordan's depiction of the Asha'man as fractured and consumed by infighting is inaccurate necessarily, but rather, I think it's a direct result of Rand's failure to bind the Asha'man together into a broterhood.

There should be NO ONE an Asha'man can trust more than another Asha'man. Living in a world that rejects them, a world that sees them as tainted monsters that must be destroyed, the only person who understands what it is to be a man who can channel, is another man who can channel, who shares the burdens and the fears, who understands doubting your own sanity, wondering when you'll die, but like you either chose or had this path thrust upon him.

Faced with such intense opposition from a world that rejects their very existence, the bonds between Asha'man should be damn near unbreakable, the hope and ideal represented by the Black Tower, the one that makes every Aes Sedai who thinks of it sick to her stomach, of a place where men are free from persecution for wielding the Power, where they can train with others, learn with others, where they don't have to hide and run to survive, should be something every Asha'man knows in his bones, should be willing to fight for, to die for. But it's not, because Rand, who made the Asha'man, who made the Black Tower, couldn't view them that way. Rand, who has deep down never stopped hating himself for being able to channel, never stopped believing that he deserves to be alone, deserves to die, can not offer hope and solace to other men who can channel, he can only reject and fear them the way he rejects and fears himself. And so the Asha'man are gathered and then left to flounder, made easy prey for the Shadow.

And I wonder how much of that was Jordan's own biases. In all of WoT, there is maybe one character who desired power and could be called a hero: long dead Artur Hawkwing, and even then, his legacy is divisive, used to explore the complicated feelings the conquerers of the past inspire in us, both the awe we fold for their deeds and the stability and justice they often brought, and the horror we feel for their brutal methods. Hawkwing's empire was great, and just and good, but it crumbled at his death as so many have throughout history, and the legacy it left behind in the Seanchan is neither great nor good nor just.

The worst thing you can be in the Wheel of Time, both from a narrative perspective and a in universe one, is a man that desires power. And I wonder much that colors the Asha'man, and their lack of compassion, of altruism, and of brotherhood.