#and six months seems much more legit and respectful

[la-pheacienne]

I dont ship Daemyra but I hate that the show made them get married on the same day as Laena's funeral (that was so disrespectful i couldn't appreciate their wedding because of that) when in the book they got married 6 months after hers death.

Ignoring the importance of Laena in Daemon's life was a mistake, the show did Laena so dirty .

Guys wait a minute because I must be dumb. Did Rhaenyra and Daemon marry in the same day as Laena's funeral in the show? I didn't realise that. I thought it was afterwards???? The same day (night) they had sex but they didn't marry?? It's the same episode but not the same exact day I mean they had to plan Laenor's fake death and escape first and then marry how could this be? Help?

[deconstructthesoup]

Okay, I had thoughts on forming a legit DBD Hadestown AU, and seeing as they kept me up literally all last night, it seemed only fitting that I actually write them down. So:

Charles and Edwin are, obviously, Orpheus and Eurydice respectively. However, rather than having just met and falling into a whirlwind romance, I decided that they're childhood friends who've met again and rediscovered feelings that they'd both been ignoring for a long time. Edwin is dedicated soley to figuring out why the world is dying and if he can help people while he can, and he hasn't really let himself rest, or even feel happy, in years---to the point where he feels that any good thing is too good to be true, even falling in love. Charles, on the other hand, has long since made the decision that someone has to be happy and keep spirits up in the trying times, and it might as well be him... even at the cost of his own health, as he works tirelessly on a song that he knows, despite all logic and understanding, will bring back spring again.

Crystal is Hermes, but she is also Hecate---she is the goddess of the in-between, magic, trickery, the crossroads, and restless souls... and that last part refers not only to the dead that she guides to Hadestown, but to anyone who chooses a life of wandering the road, from the honest messenger to the thieving highwayman. And yet, since the world has begun to die, she's been slowly slipping away from her role, choosing to spend her time among the mortals. This decision, of course, is helped by the fact that not only is Crystal one of the few gods who thinks there's more to the world dying than it just being "a reflection of mortal hubris," but that she's managed to make a friend in Charles. She's seen the way that music can change the world, after all, and knowing that there's at least one mortal who still has hope means that she can still believe.

Niko is a combination of Aphrodite and Dionysus---she's the goddess of love, revelries, happiness, and abundance, yes, but she's also the goddess of the mania that comes when all of those things are taken too far, and she's been dipping more and more into that side of herself as the world gets worse and worse. She wants to forget all the pain and suffering, and she gives herself and others the means to do so, even if it's all temporary. And while Niko does care for the mortals, and wishes that things could get better... deep down, she's lost a lot of her old hope, and even she can't disguise the fact that she's living with a broken heart.

Monty is Persephone, but he's also Apollo---he's the god of rebirth, prophecies, the stars and the earth, and new beginnings... and for what should be half of the year, he rules over the dead. He used to find just as much joy in watching over the souls as he did creating spring with Niko and charting the stars to bring prophecies to the mortals, but as Hadestown gets more punishing, more people die up above, and the world just gets worse, Monty grows even more bitter and closed off. He's unable to even properly enjoy his time on the surface, knowing full well that he won't stay for six months like he should... and the man he loves is wearing his patience thin.

The Cat King is Hades---and yes, somebody did make a very compelling argument for him being the Fates, but it works for the story, so just hang on. Once upon a time, he was happy just ruling over souls and managing the afterlife, and he cherished the time he spent with Monty as much as he could. But over time, wealth became added to his already vast domain, and his fascination for making and collecting things became an obsession... in no small part due to the fact that those six months spent away from Monty started to weigh incredibly heavy on him, and he eventually loses himself in his effort to replicate everything his husband loves about the upper world as it dies along with the way they used to feel about each other. Not to mention, his old empathy and compassion for the souls has hardened into cold indifference at best and a sick enjoyment of their suffering at worst. And all this change is making one person in particular very happy...

Esther is the Fates, but she's also a version of Demeter---the goddess of nature and all of its love and cruelties, and the one who spins everyone's path on her loom, punishing those who dare to stray from what she has determined for them. She's despised the Cat King for years, ever since he whisked Monty away to Hadestown, and she wholeheartedly believes that the reason the world is dying is only because he's been keeping Monty down there for too long, not because they've begun to fall out of love. So, when Esther spins a tale of a pair of lovers who are destined to end tragically, she sees it as an opportunity to finally push the Cat King and Monty to the breaking point---to save her son and the world, she tells herself, but mostly for revenge.

[paladin-of-nerd-fandom65]

Glad you like it lol

1: I know you said in a much earlier post that Jake develop his powers from fending off a bully but what did he do to the bully? (Unless you already answer this & im blind lol ) did he threw the bully, punch the side of a wall or locker and it cracked, accidentally shot a starbolt burning the bully, etc…

2: how did mar’i develop her powers?

3: what type of crime does the duo face on most days? I can see thieves & gangs of bullies being the main bad guys.

4: how often does the duo fight crimes? Everyday, once or twice a week?

5: what’s their phone Lock Screen & Home Screen background?

6: I know gross out humor ain’t their thing but does the duo use their butt as a weapon? like a flying hip attack, like kitana from mortal kombat or R. Mika from street fighter five. For humor: I can see either of the duo, most likely Jake, squatting over a goons face & striking two piece signs while making a silly face while Chris takes a picture XD

1) Based on this post by the ever excellent @/dar draws, Jake accidentally fired a starbolt at that bully, sending flying into a wall. Thankfully said bully at most some bruises and his shirt burnt off but not so thankfully Jake was distraught as he had no experience in doing that but moreso out of rightful fear of legit hurting someone with his powers kicking in so suddenly. The bully was the one suspended for invoking the situation in the first place while Jake had a lengthy conversation with his parents and sister afterwards over what they can do about this turn of events. Jake had to take at least two days off school before coming back with some light power dampers at his insistence so he can blend in better.

2) Mar’i in contrast to her brother develops her powers pretty much at birth due to her Tamaranean DNA being stronger than her human half. Upon a mere few minutes after first coming outside Kory’s womb, Mar’i was so joyful upon first ever seeing her parents, she began lightly floating in the air before Kory gently had her back in her arms. From there over the course of next two years, more of her powers began flowing in. For instance, Mar’i fired her first starbolt at two months, exhibited super strength at four months, and began to have some enhanced senses of smell and taste by the time she’s one year old. By the time Jake was born, Mar’i pretty much developed the near full power set

3) Chris and Jake, when not facing against legit supervillains, full blown alien invasions or psychopathic rouges including Zsasz, often find themselves taking down more petty criminals and gangsters within both Bludhaven and the slums of Metropolis. They also contend with corrupt business owners, predatory loan sharks, and even guiding drivers to safely traverse insufficient and dangerous roads until said roads are cleared for much needed renovations. Most interestingly, a lot of their patrols and capers take place within the neighborhoods and boroughs of both cities which have notable alien and other dimensional sentient populations, for instance ‘Little Tamaran’ back at Bludhaven.

4) Usually about four days out of the week during school quarters and just about six out of seven days of the week during summer vacation, spring break and winter vacation. On the days when they don’t patrol, it’s spent either catching on catching to whatever homework they would’ve missed before or likely spending time with their respective families.

5) Chris

- Lock Screen: A Superman Logo

- Home Screen: A Family Picture fearing Martha, Pa, Clark, Lois, Kara, Conner, Jon and himself during the Smallville County Fair when he was nine years old.

Jake

- Lock Screen: A Classic Flying Graysons Poster, much like one of the few hanging on the walls back home

- Home Screen: A Selfie of Chris and Himself during a break on patrol together

6) Okay now that seems a lot more plausible for the two of them to such poses for photos during particularly easier nights on patrols or even more commonly after taking down a rampaging big monster. You can expect that happening to Cinderblock quite a often after he’s taken down. The fact he sees that very often when looking up his files only furthers his drive to challenge the Duo

Edit:

Hmmm…..I say for the first part (of Question #6), maybe they do those moves if they feel especially energetic and excited during a supervillain battle @gothicghost2000

[blazehedgehog]

I know this isn't a question, and idk if you get this a lot, buuuut... you're honestly one of my idols. <3 I don't mean that in a creepy way, I just think you're really awesome. Keep doing what you do.

I'm always appreciative of posts like this. I don't get tons, but I do get some.

It's weird, actually. For years I've had a number of friends and family try to uplift me about how they think I'm smart and talented and this and that, and while the gesture is always welcome, it... Never felt like it manifested in much?

Like, on Youtube, right. There are people that blow past 100,000 subs in under a year. There are people that do that with a million subs! And I'm over here, channel registered since 2006 or even 2005, and just passed 25k subscribers last year. 18 months later I am inching ever closer to 30k.

Or writing, right. Something I hung my hat on for a long time was writing this article for TSSZ where I was told "hey write something simple for this thing that just happened" but that would have meant an article with a couple sentences summarizing a press release. And this was kind of an ongoing story type deal, but it was the first time we had posted about it.

So I decided to describe everything that had happened so far. I did research, cited sources, and by the end of it I had two or three paragraphs of text that summarized everything that was going on. And I had a friend tell me, "Good work. You did more research than Kotaku."

Or, like, YouTube comments. I've gotten enough YouTube comments from people who are legit impressed with my editing skills but are amazed I'm not a bigger name. I remember a comment on my Sonic 3 video where somebody literally said "every time I think I'm starting to get bored, you pull another twist. I can't stop watching."

So confidence in my abilities has been steadily improving.

But my actual growth has always been slow. I've remained this unknown. And that gets to you, y'know? To have friends and family and fans uplift you, but to be stuck in this no-man's-land of "almost somebody."

You even start to get paranoid: do I have a reputation I'm not aware of? What are people saying behind my back? Maybe everybody just hates me, and this is what I deserve. I've definitely had interactions feed those fears, where it seems like I'm getting punished for reasons beyond my understanding. You can make yourself insane worrying about something that is, ultimately, nothing.

That's the result of many things. I won't go over it yet again, but I spent a long time after dropping out of high school depressed to a hazardous degree. My mom put the fear of "people who commit suicide go to hell with no remorse" in to me, so I was never suicidal, but I had fully given up in a way that may as well been a type of suicide. I did not end my life, but I did stop living.

And it's been a long, slow, painful process to understand that and start digging myself back out. To come back from a loneliness so encompassing you've grown numb to it.

It's a difficult process that has lead to a lot of awkward interactions. Spend long enough being antisocial and you forget how to be social. But rather that stress about it, and how weird I must seem to everyone else, I'm learning to be patient with myself. There are certain things about me where I have a lot of catching up to do, but I can't rush things.

Something also changed in me this last year. As my mom was getting sick and I was taking care of her, we had a very long, emotional talk about the future. I explained a lot of things I had figured out about myself but never told her, because I had a feeling. I knew our dynamic was going to change and I'd have to step up more at the very least. That I had squandered what I was building on YouTube and wasn't treating it with respect. And I wanted to try doing it for real. And she said to me, "I always knew you were going to be famous some day."

So... I'm trying to live up to that while I still can. And in particular, these last six or eight months, it really feels like I'm at a turning point. Things are starting to change for me. The way people treat me is starting to change. A lot of the things I was getting paranoid about turned out to be nothing. I'm starting to feel like somebody. Like the kind of person everyone always said I was.

And it's always nice to be reminded of that.

[sock-to-the-third]

Off Rock [pg147]

By Kieran Shea

I’ve previously read Koko Takes a Holiday and Koko the Mighty. I never got around to Koko Unchained but I thoroughly enjoyed the first 2 books. I had Off Rock in my read later list at the library for so long I forgot why I had it there in the first place.

If I had known, I would’ve been ecstatic. As it is, that’s probably for the best that I didn’t so I could judge the book on its own merit.

Let’s start with the good stuff.

The opening

*chef’s kiss* hooked my ass line and sinker. A nice action packed intro to make you wonder how the hell this regular jo miner, Jimmy, got into this mess. I especially love how the landing space ship shifts the fight. Also there’s something so satisfying about watching Jimmy get his ass handed to him.

Setting

As much as I enjoy a complex setting with unfamiliar culture and vocabulary, sometimes I just want to see “random dude gets into trouble.” Let the writing speak for itself and have minimal thinking like you’d have watching a Hollywood blockbuster.

Ignoring the weird gendery stuff, I like the criminal underground built up, how the mining operations works, the tech. It seems like Shea put some legit effort into thinking through some of the mechanics and how it’d mesh with the story.

Jock

He has such a fun introduction ripping off a couple of new hires. I love how Jimmy’s perspective brings up how nobody initially comes to Jock’s defense but when a new hire calls him on “cheating” and then makes a move that the very atmosphere shifts since Jock is your go to guy for contraband. Ironically, contraband literally could be something as basic as a plant for a terrarium since the company takes years to acqusition things from off station.

Another point, I love how Jock illustrates the gaps that come from companies being jackasses.

When there’s a market, somebody’s gotta fill it.

Leela

Leela Leela Leela. Where do I start? She’s a staunch company manager who’s got asperations of moving up in the food chain. Previously dated Jimmy and I got to say I do like their banter. Jimmy has this suave way about him that Shea excells at writing good back and forth that excels the story.

Thing is that Leela doesn’t have like any life outside of Jimmy. Literally when the only other character whose interesting who interacts with her— part of the conversation is about her ex.

If she doesn’t have much to do with Jimmy outside of being a pawn, I wish that Shea gave her less screen time.

Piper

I love her. Hard core fella who knows how to scare a bartender shitless into getting her peaches. Then there’s also scenes with her having this cute pendant from her future hubby who she’s doing this job for.

The more I think about it, the more I’m confused why she had so little time on the page. She’s super fun to read about and I love how she shook up things.

Zaafer Daavi

The only non-white person with page time and man do I love him. Loves the fuck out of sweets, polite, thoughtful and makes me really wish he had a friend to beat the shit out of Jock because omfg, that asshole.

Also he made a little storyline out of candy before eating them. Very endearing.

.

Basically, this has alot of good bones but it didn’t really pull together in a way that maintained my focus.

Still, dialogue was fun and I like how Jock’s background informs how he acts. Idk. I really like how his charactsr comes together. I feel like too often we get bogged down in the bad. I do the same thing in my own write- come reading it six months later I fall in love with the story again.

This story might not be my cup of tea but for a light heist flick, it took a shot and I can respect that.

[theshelbyclan]

Swords and Daggers

Summary: When a family meeting is interrupted by your sudden menstrual cramps, your brothers do everything in their power to take care of you

(gif by @nofckingfighting​) A/N: Anon requested: can you do a shelby!sister imagine where she’s gets these awful cramps and in the middle of a family meeting she just bursts into tears because it hurts so bad and omg the boys would be so soft As I’m currently dying of cramps, it made sense to write this. It’s short, but I hope you like it. Words: 1585 *** “This Saturday,” Tommy started, “We’re going legit. John, you and Johnny Dogs are gathering the men at the Charlie’s yard. Arthur, I need you on the tracks, keep the Lee men off. You can take Finn. I will create a distraction and… Y/N, are you okay?” “Fine,” you ground out, not really wanting to attract attention to yourself, “Tell me where I’ll be.” 

“At home,” your brother said shortly. “Like hell I am,” you said, “If we’re going legit, I want in. Why the fuck else am I even here?” “Fuck if I know,” Polly sighed, “being decorative, I suppose.” Tommy shot daggers at his aunt and then turned back to you, “If you ladies have any problems with how I run…” “If we have any problems, we know to shut out mouths and get on with it,” Ada commented from the other side of the round table. “Remember we used to run this entire organisation, Thomas,” Polly scolded, “While you boys were off to France.” “Yes,” Thomas sighed, downing his drink, “I am aware, Pol,” Her look still had some effect on him, much to her satisfaction, “You remember that when you no longer care for our input.” “Fine!” he caved, “Y/N, what role do you want to play?” But you had stopped listening already. In all honesty, you didn’t feel well at all and so Tommy’s words seem to come from very far away. Still, you’d fought years and years to feel like you were a part of the Shelby Company Limited. Women were respected in this family, but never quite on the same level as the men. Sure, it’d been fine for you to take care of business while your brothers were away, and you and Aunt Polly had happily taken on the entire enterprise. With her head for strategy and your head for numbers, sharing the iron Shelby backbone, it’d been quite the dream team. But the boys came back and without many words of thanks, it’d been taken from you as well. There were so many mixed emotions that came with their return from France, but a day didn’t go by that you didn’t curse those men up top who decided to send boys into the mud to die for them. Tommy still stared at you, impatient and a little annoyed, so you said, “I’ll go to Epsom early. I still have the dress. I’ll let Arthur know where the Lee men are and what they’re planning.” Arthur grumbled something inaudibly and when you fixed him with one of your glares, he said, “You want to waltz in there, all dolled up and ready for the taking by any Lee bastard?” “Think I can’t do it, Arthur?” you said coldly. “We know you can do it,” Tommy interrupted, “Doesn’t mean we have to like it.” “I’m not fucking seven, Thomas,” you spat. Another sharp pain went through you and you found yourself physically doubling over in your chair. John immediately turned towards you, “What’s the matter?” “I’m good,” you tried to smile. “Doesn’t look like it…” “Maybe it’s food poisoning,” Arthur ventured. “It’s not.” “What is it then?” Both brothers said in unison. “Just…” you gritted your teeth as another wave of pain came over you, “leave me alone!” “Can’t do that, little sister,” Arthur moved to touch your arm, but you angrily pushed him away.

“She’s not doing good, Tommy,” John’s voice was full of alarm.

Arthur even stood up, “And she’s not fighting any bloody Lee men like that!”

“Calm down,” Aunt Polly said, “Women have been doing it for ages, every month, come hell or high water.”

“That may be so,” Tommy put down his drink, “but this is our sister.”

“I’m fine…” you croaked again, but you weren’t, at all.

“You’re not,” another unhelpful brother said, “you need to be in bed.”

“WILL YOU ALL FUCKING STOP TELLING ME WHAT TO FUCKING DO!” you suddenly burst out, and before you knew it, you had started sobbing.

��Oh no…” John said softly.

“Tom,” Arthur said unsurely, not knowing what to do with himself, “What do we do?”

He quickly took charge and picked you up from your seat. Held bridal style, he walked around the table and you could feel your brothers’ gaze on you, “She needs to be in bed.”

You still protested weakly, “Tommy…”

“Shhh,” he said softly, “We can talk about your plan to seduce the Lees in the morning, eh?”

As he walked with you up the stairs, you suddenly felt yourself lean into him. It felt safe, right there in his arms.

“Water bottles?” you heard one panicky brother shout downstairs.

“Boil the water!” the other replied, “I’ll get the blankets!”

“Ada! Where the bloody hell did you hide that chocolate?!”

You had to smile a little, “You’d think I’m dying…”

“Well, the truth is, sweetheart,” Tommy said in that soft voice he reserved only for you, “We have no idea what you’re going through. We spend half our lives talking to women, flirting with women, being with women…”

“Yeah, alright, I get the point,” you cut him off jokingly.

He pretended like he hadn’t heard you, but a small smile was tugging at his lips, “But we have no idea what it feels like, to lose all that blood…”

“What about France?” you asked.

“That was different, love,” he gently placed you on your bed, “That was a one-time thing and not a monthly struggle. Besides, we weren’t expected to just ignore it and get on with work.”

“I want to work,” you pouted.

Tommy sighed, “Y/N. Listen to me. I know you want to work for the company. I know you. You’re a Shelby and you don’t like being idle. I know. But for tonight, work is done. Get some sleep, eh?”

Suddenly, Arthur came rushing in. It was clear he felt incredibly awkward, but the fact that his arms were filled with hot-water bottles, blankets and chocolate showed he cared, deeply. There were times that you loved your awkward brother more than anyone in the world, and this was one of those moments. You smiled at him full of gratitude and he left quickly after, knowing he’d be back every few hours to check on you. He was the oldest brother after all.

You tried to find a comfortable position for a few moments and the occasional grunt of pain escaped your lips. Tommy looked at you with worry written all over his face, “Don’t know how you fucking do it every month…” he whispered.

“Careful,” you feigned shock, “people might think you’re a feminist.”

He slowly lit a cigarette, “And what if I am, eh?”

You scoffed and reached out, “Give me the cigarette. It helps.”

Another few minutes passed and John stuck his head around the door, “Y/N? Esme tells me it helps when I rub her back. Do you need me to do that?”

“I’ll be fine, John, thanks,” you smiled at him. Where you and Arthur had a bond that required no words, with John it was all words, but they were always good and open and honest. If you needed to talk, you turned to John.

He paused for a second, “What about a doctor, do you need a doctor?”

This made you laugh out loud, “John, sweetheart, this is perfectly normal and it does happen every month. We’d be wasting the doctor’s time!”

“Esme told me to tell you that it’s perfectly normal and there’s nothing wrong with you…”

“I know, John. I’m sixteen: I’ve been doing this for a while now.”

“Right,” he mumbled, “I knew that…”

“John?” you eventually asked and when he looked at you again, you said, “Thank you. I’ll manage.”

“Will you let me know?” John said with a serious look on his face, “If you do need something?”

“How? You’re four houses away. I’m not screaming loud enough for you to hear it, waking up the whole bloody street!”

“Just knock,” he replied, “Sleeping in my old bed tonight, just down the hall,” and before you could protest, he was gone and called from the hall, “Goodnight, babe!”

Tommy still sat in the corner, smoking quietly. You weren’t quite sure why he was there, but his presence was comforting. With Arthur it was protection, with John it was words, but with Tommy it was just his presence. When you two locked eyes, he gave you a warm smile, and it was just like you were six again. Before that god-awful war, he’d always been there. Tommy was the brother who couldn’t be dragged away from his little sister, always trying to get you to ride his pony. He followed you wherever you went and he gave you everything you ever wanted. But after the war, his head was filled with smoke, mud and ambition. But this, this felt like before, and it was good. Maybe it was even worth the swords and daggers attacking your uterus at the moment.

You started feeling yourself drifting off to sleep, with the warm bottle pressed against your abdomen. But before you slept, you mumbled, “I love you, Tommy…”

“Is this another hormonal thing?” a deep voice said in reply, with some sarcasm echoing through.

“Probably,” you smirked, “I’ll hate you again tomorrow, alright?”

“Good. You can take out that anger on the Lees, eh?”

“I will,” you heard your own voice was getting muffled. Still, you felt a small triumph of being allowed to go in the morning.

“Sleep, Y/N,” he almost sung, from a great distance it seemed, “And I love you too.”

***

Masterlist

[corelliaxdreaming]

Messy HOTD 1x03 Thoughts

(Fair warning, this is mostly disorganized and unproofread bitching about the time jump/pacing.)

~The pacing of this show is absolutely maddening. A six month time jump between the first two episodes and now nearly three years between two and three? And after two ended on such a cliffhanger of a scene?? We deserved getting to see Rhaenyra actually speaking to Alicent and her father after that – actually seeing her reaction! I happened to mention my issues with the pacing in a YouTube comment and got a pair of replies that were basically “pacing is fine, we’re still in the prologue, the Dance of Dragons hasn’t even started yet!” And here’s the thing. Not everyone has read the book, and this is not longer a history text – it’s a damn TV show telling a narrative story. You can’t just skip over huge chunks of emotional plotline. If they wanted to skip a bunch of “prologue” they could’ve started the story at later point in time and worked in the necessities as backstory, but they didn’t, so this part of the story deserves the same amount of respect as what comes later.

~I stand by all of the above as legit criticism, but yeah, it’s absolutely also because I love the relationship between these two girls and feel completely robbed of the actual development. (De-development?)

~Also there’s so much missing character development on Alicent. We clearly saw that she didn’t want this marriage, but she seems a-okay with everything now. (Also can’t wait to see more extreme character dissonance when the actors change after seeing an article saying the director wouldn’t allow the two playing Rhaenyra to talk to each other!)

~Also also there’s just no reason to rush through things when there was every cause to think this show was going to be a major success and run for multiple seasons. I mean, it’s already confirmed for a second.

~I actually love that, despite it being an understandably bad look in-universe, that Rhaenyra is actually getting to be a butthurt, angsty teen.

~I respect Robert more for literally being killed by the thing he was hunting than big man Viserys stabbing an animal that’s all tied up after other people tracked it hunted it down. Christ, he even had to be shown where to stab and take two goes at it!

~I don’t quite know how to word it, because it’s not like we’re gonna ban certain things from storytelling, but the constant “she can’t do it because she’s a woman” thing just...doesn’t feel like a story we need in 2022, regardless of whether it’s a semi-historical story.

~Nice war crime, Daemon.

~I know it comes down personal preference, and this is a GOT show after all, but it’s just so frustrating to see long, drawn-out, pointless battle scenes included when major character stuff is glaringly missing.

~ “This is the first one with a substantial timejump” GODAMMIT. Like, yeah, I know there’s a major one midseason that’s gonna give us new actors, but at this point, I expect months to years to pass between every episode.

~I can’t comment further on the behind the scenes segment. It’s too enraging. They double down on what I’m already annoyed about and make it worse every single time.

[thatsallotadamage]

I don't have any specific characters in mind, but this bit of dialogue has been stuck in my head for a while "You didn't spend all that time getting me to respect myself just for me to forget it the second you fuck up." so like... idk here's this if you want to use it??

Shoji knocked on the door to his friends room. It had been a long day around UA after some training incident and Tokoyami had been locked in his room since classes ended. He usually spent some time out in the common area with him and Hagakure or even hanging out with Todoroki in his room, but he checked there and the boy hadn't been nesting in that room. "Tokoyami, are you in there?" He asked, knowing damn well the answer, but as he waited there wasn't a sound.

He took a deep breath and knocked again "Dark Shadow, are you in there?" He asked it.

"Yeah we're in here" they replied and quickly unlocked the door before Tokoyami could protest.

Shoji walked into the stereotypically emo looking bedroom with the occassional pride flag or poster strung up on the wall. In the corner of the room he saw Tokoyami curled up in his "nest" as he called it with Dark Shadow coiled around him like a security blanket, it seemed to be in low spirits aswell. He shut the door behind him and walked over, holding three protien bars and sat down. "I figured we could have dinner together since you guys don't feel like coming downstairs" he suggested. Dark shadow was the first to bend, they quickly snatched the protien bar from him and started munching on it.

"Well, Fumi you need to eat" he said. The other groaned and took the protien bar, munching on it "Thank you Shoji".

The three sat in silence for awhile before Shoji spoke once more "You know he isn't mad at you, infact I overheard him talking to Bakugou about how he hoped you were alright" he said and glanced at the door to make sure it was shut. For once he let his speaking nub turn back into a nub and pulled down his mask to eat with his normal mouth. He felt comfortable with doing it around Tokoyami since the other had encouraged him so much about his appearance.

"Why? Why is he worried about me when I'm the one who- who-" he threw the wrapper in frustration and Dark shadow hurried to pick it up "Fumi dont throw things!" They scolded. He just glared at his quirk and took a deep breath "I'm the one who should worry about him, I bit him! I bit him like a fucking- like an animal!".

Shoji was no stranger to insults but he knew calling someone with an animal mutation quirk an animal was heinous and derogatory. Tokoyami had worked so hard to help him with his own issues, specifically about his face and arm webbing. He wasn't just going to let this slide.

"Dont say that about yourself" he said sternly "You reacted how any person in a panick would react by being forced into a headlock by mr- it's all in the forearms of all people" he pointed out.

Tokoyami looked up from his lap "I bit him Shoji! I bit Sero the nicest guy in our class and then my stress grip kicked in and I couldn't let go" he said, his voice quivering as he gripped some of his head feathers "Even Aizawa's cancel didn't work on me because it's not my quirk that's the problem it's my stupid stupid biology!" He cried out. "Do you know how terrible I felt? I couldn't let go and he was screaming his head off trying to pull away? I'm terrible Shoji, with some freaky biology like mine Dark shadow and I will never be heroes" he said.

"Well I dont know about you but I am getting a herk license" Dark Shadow said sternly.

"Not the time DS" Shoji said.

"Sorry" it said and shrunk back.

"You can still be a hero Fumikage" Shoji said, hesitantly putting two hands on his back. "Wheres your self respect?" He asked.

"Wherever the hell all the socks in the dryer go" he said with an eye roll and wiped away a stray tear from his eye. He wasnt crying, it was just a feather in his eye.

Shoji sat up straight "You really spent all this time, these past six months getting me to respect myself to the point I am taking to you right now without a mask on, only to think I'd forget it the second you fuck up?" He asked. Tokoyami looked at him as this was very out of character for him to even say the word fuck. But he had to admit Shoji was right and he was a big fat hypocrite to think himself any less a person because of his certain instincts.

"You have a way with words Mezo, tones that make me question my own understandings of things" he said, leaning against him "I'm sorry" he apologized.

"You don't have to apologize, just look at it from another angle next time" the other said and dusted the crumbs off "Should we go get some real food bow?" He asked. Tokoyami looked to be in a better mood and nodded.

___

Tokoyami and Shoji were standing in the comons kitchen eating cereal while leaned against the cupboards "And then she said-" Shoji's words were cut short when someone walked in.

"Hey guys! C'mon we're doing a campaign tonight and Uraraka's the DM!" Sero said, grinning ear to ear with excitement. Who wouldn't? Uraraka was known for the more, chaotic campaigns.

Tokoyami couldn't help but glance down at Sero's left arm which was gauged up but the sight of a black and blue bruise could be seen creeping out from under the large would.

"Are you sure you'd like Us to join?" Tokoyami asked.

Sero nodded in excitement "Course! We need a tank and a poet bard- or you could bring that character you rolled up last oneshot! The drough!" His eyes practically sparkled.

Tokoyami giggled at the memory "I'll gi grab Edward scissorhand's character sheet from my room and meet you guys in the commons" he said and headed off to find the sheet he was sure was pinned somewhere in his room. Maybe this could be fun.

____

This was legit really fun to write. It's been awhile since I wrote a drabble like this

[lochrannn]

Warnings: Sexual Content (M Rating)

Characters: Lila Pitts; Diego Hargreeves; Allison Hargreeves; Klaus Hargreeves; Hargreeves Siblings (background)

Relationship: Lila Pitts/Diego Hargreeves

Roommates AU; Fake Marriage; Slow Burn; Mutual Pining; Emotional H/C

Chapter 3/?

-

They end up avoiding each other for days. From what she can tell, Diego spends barely any time in the flat at all. She suspects he’s not even sleeping in his own bed most nights. And so she’s effectively all alone, except for the couple of days she goes to work in a small café, a job she basically does to keep busy, not because she actually needs the money.

On the first day she thinks she might find somewhere else to live, half out of wounded pride and half because she feels a bit guilty for apparently making Diego practically move out. But who is she kidding, money isn’t the obstacle in this city, the fucking housing market is. There’s no way she’d find a place like this, with a roommate who does his part to keep the place clean, has, so far, never brought people over, and in fact spends most of his time at work and out of the house, anyway.

And Lila liked– no, likes Diego.

In hindsight, the worst she can accuse him of is that he put his foot in it when he had ultimately been trying to do the right thing… if very badly. Apart from that he’s generally easy going, if a bit stressed out about work, from what she can tell, and… well… a lot of fun in some respects. He also really seems to care about people. He mentioned a brother one time, who he seems to look out for a lot, though he didn’t say it in so many words.

And the other night when she left her room after their argument, and the flat was completely empty, she found her abandoned sandwiches covered by an upturned bowl, and the considerate gesture made her feel even more foolish about how she’d blown up at him.

So yeah, she won’t be moving, but she does hope that things can just go back to normal between them, that she can at least feel relaxed at home, living with someone who she casually gets along with, who doesn’t hate her, and if that’s what it takes, she’ll even do her best to stop remembering what his lips feel like all over her body.

-

Lila’s a bit at sea in her life. She’s recently given up halfway through a post grad history programme and she doesn’t quite know what she wants to do now. And the long days doing very little, only broken up by the occasional hours working in the café and getting to deal with the full force of the public make for a very effective insomnia cocktail.

So Lila gets up in the middle of the night to make herself some chamomile tea.

The kettle has just boiled and she’s pouring the hot water over the tea bag in her mug when she hears Diego quietly come in through the front door and only making it to the couch before sitting down with a near silent sigh.

She really hopes, for all the trouble it ended up causing them last time that he’s not going to whip out his dick again.

She takes a cautious look out into the living room and spots Diego sat on the couch, leaning forward with his hands buried in his hair, shoulders hunched over and looking tense.

On a whim, Lila grabs another mug and tea bag, fills it with more of the hot water from the kettle and then picks up the two mugs and carries them out into the sitting room.

She’s not actually being particularly stealthy, but it seems Diego’s wrapped up in his own head, because he doesn’t notice her until she sits down on the edge of the sofa, leaving a respectful bit of distance between them, and he startles out of his hunched position and looks up at her warily.

Lila does him the favour of ignoring the brightness of his eyes and the way the corners of his mouth are drawn downwards, and instead holds out one of the mugs towards him and asks, with true sincerity, because this could be her chance at things going back to normal, “Tough day?”

Diego stares at her for a very long moment, not even studying her, just staring straight into her eyes, and in the end Lila sighs and is just about to put the mug on the coffee table in front of them, when Diego’s hand shoots out and he takes it off her.

“Yeah…” he says quietly while holding the steaming hot tea in both hands, elbows resting on his knees. He doesn’t take a sip though, he just stares into the gently swirling tendrils of steam.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Lila asks carefully.

Diego gives her a sideways look, almost as if to gage her sincerity and then stares back at his mug.

“D’you think it would help?” he asks back. It seems like he’s both resigned to the idea that it wouldn’t, but almost hopeful she’ll say it will.

“Only one way to find out,” Lila offers with a shrug.

It’s ridiculous, really, how the tiny upwards quirk of the corner of his mouth affects her.

Diego pauses nevertheless and Lila waits him out. It’s not like she has anything better to do.

Then he sighs heavily and says in a low voice, “Had to tell a mom who hired me to find her runaway daughter that her kid got killed in a car crash six months ago…”

Lila watches Diego rub his thumb over the droplets of condensation on the outside rim of the mug and doesn’t really know what to say to that, so she goes with the first thing she can think of.

“That fucking sucks!”

Diego makes a noise that’s halfway between a harsh laugh and a sniff and just says, “yeah.”

They sit like this for a while, neither speaking, just sipping their slowly cooling drinks until Lila breaks the silence.

“What would you have done if you’d found the girl and she hadn’t been dead?” It’s an odd question, she knows, so she does understand why he turns to look at her quizzically, but it makes her almost squirm under his scrutiny nevertheless, so she starts explaining, “I ran away from home once…” but she doesn’t know how to finish the thought.

Lila ran away from home when she was sixteen and she hated everything about her life with her adoptive mother. Absolutely every single one of her material needs had been met and yet she had felt so lonely and so unloved that she had thought then, she’d rather live in squalor with just a scrap of affection from anybody than spend another day in that big empty house of her mother’s.

Diego stops staring at her and instead turns his attention back to his mug again, slowly moving it around in between his hands.

“I’d have asked the kid what she wanted to do next, that was the deal her mom and I had.” He turns to look back at Lila and holds her gaze. “She came to me, telling me her daughter ran away when they were living in a bad situation with the kid’s stepdad, but that she’d managed to get away from him now. I checked up on that info and it seemed legit, so if I’d found her daughter alive, I would have told her that her mom was looking for her and where she could find her… Shit didn’t work out that way though.”

He casts his eyes down to where Lila is fiddling with her own mug. She wonders for a moment how her life would have gone if someone like Diego had come looking for her instead of one of her mother’s semi-legal contacts.

Diego looks back up at her and something changes in his expression and Lila only notices that some of the tears that she could feel brimming in her eyes must have slipped out, because he lifts his hand up to her face and brushes over one cheek and then the other.

Lila makes a tiny noise that’s a bit of a gasp and a bit of a sob and she doesn’t know if it’s because of her own sadness or his gentle touch.

Diego’s hand lingers for a short moment on the side of her face and then he pulls it away abruptly, turns away from her, and facing forwards again he says tensely, “Uh, sorry for ruining your night with my sob-stories.”

The shift in the mood is too rapid for Lila to react and Diego must take her lack of a response as tacit agreement because he goes on, suddenly not able to look at her, “Yeah, uh, it’s pretty late anyway… are you done with that? I can take it to the kitchen with mine,” he asks carefully taking her empty mug out of her hands and then getting up off the couch at the carefully calculated speed that doesn’t quite look like he’s fleeing, but it’s also very clear that he’s trying to get away as quickly as possible, and heads back towards the kitchen.

Lila has no idea what just happened.

-

Diego’s lying awake in his bed.

The apartment is completely quiet, he’s had a whole mug of fucking herbal tea, and when he walked in through the door he felt like the only thing he could do at that point was sleep, but of course now he’s wide awake.

He doesn’t allow his thoughts to drift to Julie Brown and her mom because that’s just too devastating. He was only the messenger, he barely knows Ms. Brown, it’sjust one of those small tragedies that happen all the time all over world, and yet he feels like if he thinks about the lost opportunities and the terrible fucking timing of it all, he might just shatter.

But where his thoughts do drift isn’t actually that much better.

He did it again. Somehow he upset Lila again, even though all she’d tried to do was be a decent roommate, maybe even a friend to him. And if he could only keep his hands off her for five minutes, respect her fucking boundaries, maybe they still have a chance at some kind of cordial relationship.

Diego moves angrily about, trying to find a comfortable position. He punches his pillow to get it to co-operate but when he settles down he still doesn’t find sleep.

Consequently he is still as tired as last night when he drags himself out of his room and into the kitchen in the morning, and absolutely nothing could have prepared him for what he walks in on.

Lila is there.

As is Allison… as is Klaus.

His two siblings are currently arguing over something that Diego is too stunned to tune in to and he quickly glances at Lila to see that she’s watching their back and forth with amused bewilderment.

For a second he has to quell the urge to pinch himself to check he’s not wondering around a very strange dream, but then Klaus spots him in the door and claps his hands once and then says in that never quite sincere tone of his, “Oh Diego, wonderful to see you and how nice of you to join us! Want some coffee? I made some coffee!”

His brother swivels around in the small kitchen as if looking for something, and apparently Lila catches on because she turns to a cabinet above her head, pulls out a coffee mug, and as she moves back around to hand it to Klaus, their eyes meet. Traitor, Diego think and almost as if she can hear his thoughts, she gives him a half smile and a tiny shrug, and suddenly Diego’s stomach swoops and can feel heat creep up his neck. He hopes his siblings don’t embarrass him in front of Lila. Which is ironic, seeing as he’s been doing a damn good job of that himself.

Of course he has no such luck.

“Ok, I’m in a hurry,” Allison says tersely, looking at her wrist watch and then crossing her arms.

“Diego, we’re here because this is unbearable to watch. Clearly you are in debt, when you absolutely do not need to be. So once again, I’m asking you as nicely as possible: Would you please for the love of god, accept your fucking inheritence?” Her volume gets increasingly louder and by the end she’s thrown her hands up in exasperation. “I mean, you’re a thirty year old man with a failing business and you’ve had to resort to taking a roommate!” She adds a bit more calmly, “No offense, Lila!”

“None taken,” Lila says. But Diego notes that there’s a tiny edge to her voice that indicates she may have taken some offense. Diego can’t blame her.

“Jesus, Allison, it’s not the fucking nineties. Loads of people, in their thirties, live in shared accommodation, don’t be such a snob!” Diego is absolutely not in the mood for this ambush and he almost doesn’t care at this point if they end up having their weekly family argument in front of LIla. “Anyway, I renounced my inheritance!”

“Yes, and it was all very dramatic!” Allison adds, sarcasm in her voice. “But then your share reverted to us and we all agreed we’d hold onto it until you come to your senses, so just take the damn money, Diego!”

“I’ve told you before, but I’ll happily tell you again, if I have to, I do not want the old man’s money! Give it to Klaus, if it’s burning a hole in your pocket, I’m sure he can think of more fun ways to spend it than on loan interest payments!” Diego stares down his sister, but out of his entire family, she is probably the one who has never once been cowed by his quick anger.

“Oh I absolutely would,” Klaus says chirpily into the tense stand off.

“Urgh, whatever!” Allison says with an eyeroll and then pulls her arms apart and turns to Lila to say politely, if not particularly warmly, “Lila, it was nice meeting you,” but Allison doesn’t let her answer before she starts making her way out of the kitchen.

She stops right by Diego and the genuinely gentle hand she lays on his arm is quite the contrast to what she says next.

“Do feel free to come crawling to me when you can’t stand the taste of instant noodles anymore.”

She then leans up and kisses his cheek before disappearing around the corner and before he can decide to call a snide comment after her, Klaus is in front of him, handing him the forgotten cup of coffee and then also leans in to give him a delicate kiss on the cheek and he says, “Don’t be a stranger, Diego!”

“What are you talking about, Klaus, you basically never get in touch with me!” Diego responds with some genuine indignance, and a slightly dumb and puzzled expression passes over Klaus’s face and he says contemplatively, “Oh is that the case? Well, I’ll try and do better.” He pats Diego’s cheek, but in true brotherly fashion, it’s just a tiny bit too close to a slap, before following Allison out of the apartment.

When he hears the door shut, Diego suddenly remembers Lila and he turns back into the kitchen and for a second the words die on his tongue just from the way she’s watching him intently and with bright eyes.

“Uhm,” he clears his throat, “Sorry about that! Siblings,” he shrugs uncertainly, “you know how that can be.

“I really don’t!” says Lila, her tone remarkably even, and Diego only realizes belatedly that there’s a tiny twitch to the corners of her mouth and it strikes him then that she’s trying not to laugh, “but that sure was educational!”

[missfluffywriter]

Purple Irises I Mafia Park Jimin x Reader

Author’s note: Hello everyone!! I am so sorry for the late update. I know it’s not really a long chapter but the editing was a beast. I tried to make things flow but I still had trouble with it. I am so sorry if it’s a little slow. I tried not to make it. But uh yeah. I had did a lot of research for this chapter so most of the stuff should be legit. But then again... I’m not a doctor. Again I am so sorry for the late update. But anyway that’s it for me.  Happy readings!

Word count: 12.3k

Genre: Mafia au, doctor au (kind of), ooo there’s fluff in this chapter

Pairing: Park Jimin x reader

(Series) Summary: You were supposed to be delivering flowers, so how did you end up in an operation room digging a bullet out of a mafia boss’ shoulder?

Purple Irises: Royalty and wisdom

Warnings: Gun, violence, language, minor character death

Previous chapter I Next chapter I Masterlist

“Ji-Young, I have an offer for you. An offer I’m sure you’ll like very much,” You crossed your right leg over your left as you sat before the beaten prisoner. Chained to a splotchy rust-colored cement wall, black iron shackles on his wrists and ankles. The room was cramped and dark with dim yellow lights on each corner of the room. The space was unkempt dirt and grime dusted every corner of the cell. Could this really even be called a prison cell, it was more of a torture chamber. The blots of rust like color must have been dried blood from previous prisoners.

The doctor within you itched to clean and bandage the dirtied wounds, but another part of you, a side you didn’t recognize, commanded you to continue with your mission. The part of you that demanded the completion of the task was stronger, louder. And you did not attempt to silence it.

Leaning forward, legs still crossed, you state your proposal, “Work for us, and you’ll be forgiven for that stunt you pulled the day before,”

“And just who fuck are you? What in the name of bloody fucking hell makes you think I care about any of this? Just kill me be done with it,” The restrained man sneers, poison in his voice as the iron chains binding him to the wall behind him, clink with his movements.

“Now, now, is that the kind of language you use in front of your daughter?” And he visibly shrinks back, fear and confusion flooding his expression. Humming thoughtfully, you lean back to rest against the chair. Your gaze moves behind you, to where Namjoon stood alongside Jeongguk. You reach out a flat palm asking for the thing that kept Ji Young so very loyal.  

“Alright then, let me sweeten the deal,” You begin, returning your gaze to the man before you. “You help us and we help you,” You unlock the sleek, black smartphone Namjoon had given you, then dial a number on the phone.

“How the fuck do you know about her?!” His voice thunders, face contorted with rage, but his expression held both anger and anxiousness as the phone rang.

“Dear!? Are you there? Ji-Young?” A woman's voice resounds in the room and the shackled man scrambled towards you, his hands reaching for the object in your hand. And You hand him the phone. He held the object delicately almost as though it would break with the slightest pressure, he spoke.  

“Heiran! Heiran-ah is that you?! I’m here!” He exclaims, his eyes glossy as tears pool within them. The voice on the opposite end was no better as she fumbled her words from speaking impossibly fast. “Heiran-ah, are you okay? where are you? Is Min-Cha with you? How did you get a phone?” he bombards the woman with questions, his voice getting shakier as he speaks.

“Yes! Min-Cha’s with me, we’re both fine. We’re still in that mansion, but一but yesterday a man came into our room. An一and he gave me this phone, he told me you would call us. I just, I thought I would never get to hear your voice again,” Unable to finish her sentence she breaks into sobs.

“It’s okay, it’s gonna be okay. Heiran-ah, you two sit tight okay? I’m coming to get you, okay?” Ji Young whispers, reassuring the woman as tears spill from his eyes, he hangs up the call, holding the phone to his forehead, he scowls. “So that’s it, huh? I work for you and you save my family.”

Your calm gaze meets his fiery one. “Ji Young, or rather Kim Jiyoung, I’m gonna admit you did a good job covering your tracks, we had plenty of trouble digging up any reliable information,” Your lips curve into a playful smile, watching his face twist from anger to something similar to fear. “Kim Heiran, thirty-nine years old, at the moment no known profession, but she used to work a nine to five office job. Kim Min-Cha five years old turning six in three months, Kim Jiyoung thirty-nine years old, a big-time hacker before suddenly disappearing five years ago. Did I miss anything?”  

“How… How do you know all that?” His contempt melted from his visage as he broke into a cold sweat. The glint in your eyes, sharp, almost deadly yet they held a mischievous playfulness, your voice steady but spirited, it sent a shiver down his spine. Though he may have been absent from this world of blood and carnage, his senses remained sharp. And he knew it, the woman sitting on that chair was dangerous.

“Well, Bangtan may not exactly be known for it, but they happen to have the most extensive and reliable intel network. So there isn’t really much that we don’t know,” He gulped, now unsure of how he should proceed. Should he take a gamble, work with you, and risk the wrath of the Yeongs? Or should he refuse and complete the task that he was originally given? “Now, here's my question, why would somebody send a hacker to a battlefield? You have no real fighting skill, so why did they send you out? Why not an actual fighter? Why not, I don’t know a brawler? That would have given them a much better chance at success. Sending you in just doesn’t make sense, unless, a successful attack wasn't the goal to begin with,” Jiyoung’s eyes widened, you knew.

“So you were sent to hack into our systems. But how would you go about doing that? You’re here, trapped, chained to a wall. And even if you were to escape, the house is guarded, if someone saw you they would shoot you on sight. So tell me, how did you plan to hack into anything if you can’t even move from that spot?” You eyed his reactions carefully, analyzing each one. “The only way I can see how is if there were a traitor, a mole amongst us. Tell me, who is it? You must know, you were supposed to meet them weren’t you? Who were you supposed to meet with once you were captured?” You ask, but no response comes. He hung his head as he weighed all his options. And his path seemed clear. This best was to get Heiran and Min-cha out of all this.

“I don’t know. I don’t know who was supposed to come. They never told me. All they said was that someone was going to come in here. That person would bring everything needed to hack into your database. That’s all I know, that’s all they said,” Jiyoung voice quivers as he speaks, right now cooperating with you was the best option he had. Honestly the only option he truly had, had he refused he doubted they’d allow him to live and he’d lose an opportunity to get Heiran and Min-Cha out of Yeongs grasp. Hearing his wife’s cries had made him ever the more desperate to get both her and their daughter out of that place. If offering to save his family was the ice cream then letting him hear her voice was the cherry on top. ‘She sure knows how to make a man desperate,’

“I assume that means you’ve picked your side,” You uncross your legs, looking him in the eyes.

“It’s not like I had much of a choice. If I want to get my family out of this, I at least need to be alive. So yes, I have picked my side, I’ll work for you. But you have to promise me that Heiran and Min-Cha both get out of this unharmed.” His eyes are firm as he speaks. You nod at his requirement, the safety of his family was reasonable, regardless his requirement wouldn’t be much of a problem.

“Alright then, from here on out you work for us, in exchange we make sure your family stays safe. Your job and all that will be explained to you once you’ve cleaned up, of course you won’t be around any of our devices just quite yet, but you can keep the phone. You can call your wife whenever you want with that,” You stand from the chair, Jeongguk coming from behind you and placing a hand on your shoulder letting you know he would take it from there.

You nod you head in understanding as you turn towards the heavy doors to exit, the door opens. Revealing Jimin with Shelty by his side. Jiyoung jumps as they enter, most likely assuming Shelty was a wolf. An understandable assumption, and an expected reaction.  

Jimin comes to a stand beside you, Shelty leaning against your thigh affectionately before trotting over to greet Jeongguk and Namjoon. Who welcomes the nuzzles and kisses.

“Kim Jiyoung, you’ve been in this world long enough to know when a storm is brewing. I’m sure you can sense it, but a storm is coming. And we’re gonna need your skills to get through it. But the arrangement we have here is temporary, once the situation has settled you and your family are free to return to your lives in normal society. And I give you my word, Bangtan will do everything in its power to erase you from the underworld,” Jimin affirms, standing tall.

If hearing Heiran’s voice was the cherry on top, then this must have been the gold dust sprinkled on the sundae.

“I一uh, thank you, Park Jimin-ssi. Thank you so much. You have my utmost gratitude. I swear I will work to the best of my abilities” Jiyoung lowers his head in respect. You smiled at Jimin’s words, was he really a mafia boss? He seemed too kind. He not only offered him passage back into normal life but also the use of all of Bangtan’s resources when he did. Now whether he would receive any of what was promised would solely depend on Jiyoung.

“(Y/n)?” Jimin’s soft voice snaps you back to the moment as he calls your name from the door. When had he moved? “You coming?” He asks as he turns to leave, and you scramble after him with a ‘wait up’.

Jiyoung blinked, what just happened? The dangerous, the sly, the cunning woman that had sat before him just minutes ago had all but disappeared. The woman that scampered out of the room and the woman who was seated beofre him had two completely different airs to them. Was that all just an act? What had caused such a shift in demeanor?

“Hey, um I hope you don’t mind me asking, but who the hell was that?” He asks, gently rubbing the irritated skin around wrists.  

“Oh her? I like to call her the unknown,” Jeongguk answers with a grin. “From the minute she’s stepped foot into this house, she’s just been one surprise after another,”

“But, officially she’s our doctor,”

“And what’s the deal with that wolf?”

“Oh I’m glad you asked,” Jeongguk grin widens. Storytime bitches

~

“So that went well,” Stretching your arms above your head, sighing. You waddle into the meeting room, sitting on the armchair next to Jimin’s just like you had during your first meeting. You hadn’t expected that kind reluctance from Jiyoung, seeing as he was the lone prisoner out of the three, who had been given orders to deliberately get captured. And working for Bangtan would give him much easier access to their database, so why had he almost refused before you coaxed him into the job. You had gone over the data Namjoon had gathered on each man the day before, after returning from rescuing Taehyung. Aside from Jiyoung the other two had no real skills to offer.

“With everything Jiyoung has said, it proves that (Y/n) was on to something. And we’re missing pieces to something bigger. But that is for later. Tell me, what do you think of him? Of Jiyoung?” Jimin questions with an upward tilt of his head.

“For one I expected a lot more questions from him. I mean he’d never seen me before, in the mafia world or otherwise. But I guess he was a little occupied,” You answer, pulling your knees to your chest as you leaned onto the velvet armchair. “And, I don’t think he’ll be the one, unlike Haewon who apparently has a personal vendetta against you guys. He’s just worried about his family.”  

Jimin hummed, taking in your reasoning not yet convinced. When Jin quips in, “But it still doesn't fully rule him out,”

“We can’t rule anyone out, they’re all candidates. Although, we were actually able to reach Jiyoung’s wife. And he should know that if we were able to get to them once, we would certainly be able to do it again. He knows that we can actually deliver what we promised. Besides hearing his wife cry over the phone must have made him ever the more desperate to get her out. But that doesn’t mean I trust him in anyway shape or form, and I definitely would not trust him around any computer just yet,” You explain, stretching your sweater sleeves into sweater paws.

At that Jimin gives a satisfied nod. “So, now we have Rim Haewon, the most likely candidate and Gu Joon, who’s another case entirely,” Jin tries to massage away his growing headache.

“And I thought phase one was a bitch,” Taehyung exhales deeply.

“What are you bitching about? You didn’t do shit. While we went through all their info you just sat on the couch eating and doing nothing,” Jeongguk scowls at his elder.

“I was moral support! Thank you very much. And I remember our doctor saying I needed rest,” Taehyung defends himself, appalled by Jeongguk's words. To which the younger of the two immediately refutes, and their banter continues before Jimin interjects sternly, quieting them efficiently.

A soft chuckle leaves your lips as you watch the exchange. “You guys are adorable,”

There was silence after you had spoken words as all eyes turned to you. The amusement in Jimin’s honey-brown orbs seemed to drip into the grin that had formed on his lips. “Not something you’d usually to describe a mafia gang,”

“Did I say that out loud?” You squeak, covering your face with your sweater paws. Joyous laughs resound throughout the meeting room. Though you had covered your face out of embarrassment, you didn’t want them to see the stupid blush that bloomed on your cheeks every time Jimin gave you the look. When his eyes closed ever so slightly paired with a smile that was more of a smirk had heat rushing straight to your face

“Alright, alright, back on topic,” You cleared your throat, “So, Gu Joon, his case is similar to Jiyoung. Though he was a lot less hesitant and agreed to work for us almost immediately. He’s young and I guess desperate so it didn’t matter where the money came from or what consequences followed as long as his sister got the medical attention she needed. I’m not gonna lie, I kinda wish I could take a look at his sister. I may be able to help in some way. With all that said and done, yes I feel bad for him, but that doesn’t mean I trust him,”

“And lastly, Rim Haewon, well, he’s just a special kind of stupid. By the way, he acts it people would assume that you killed his parents or something? But he’s just reflecting Yeong Cheol Meong’s hatred towards you guys. For all it’s worth, you guys haven’t even crossed paths before this. But that makes him a devoted follower, so of course, he is considered the main candidate. And the way he jumped at the offer of working for us, his intentions couldn’t be more obvious. But again, all three of them have to be approached with caution.”  

Noises of agreement echoed through the room. The men had to be regarded with extreme caution, their behavior from this point to the next few days would need to be studied carefully. The next phase would be critical to the success of the plan.

“With the completion of phases one and two, our net had been weaved. All that’s left is to cast it out and wait for the fish to come to us. So, when do we begin phase three?” You ask, setting your legs back onto the floor. Preparing to leave the meeting, it was getting late, you were exhausted and by the looks of the sleepy puddle of black fur on the floor, Shelty was too.

“Tomorrow we assign someone for each of the men to shadow. Who they will be shadowing will be announced tomorrow in my office, 10:00 AM sharp. And I expect all of you to be present. As for phase three, that will begin tomorrow evening, at the meeting warehouse.” Jimin announced as he uncrossed his legs and stood. The six seated men rise just as he does, nodding their heads understanding Jimin’s instructions.

“Alright then, if that’s all, to bed everyone. It’s late, we all have an early start tomorrow, Taehyung you need to put ointment on your bruises, and I need to change Jimin’s bandages. So off you go,” A tired yawn interrupts your words as you stretch your torso and legs before making your way to the elevator door. You had gotten oddly comfortable with the seven men. So comfortable that you were able to speak to them as though they were your friends. Over the days you had spent with them, you had a chance to get to know at least a little about each man. And, it just got harder to believe any of these men were part of a gang, let alone high ranking members of one of the biggest gangs in South Korea.

“Welp, doctor’s orders,” Yoongi shrugs as he waltzes beside you, more than happy to oblige you. Who was he to refuse an order given by the doctor herself, she was a professional after all. The fact that he was exhausted and on the verge of passing out and this was exactly what he wanted was just an added perk.

Though the five seated men agreed with Yoongi, they still looked to Jimin for permission. Who huffed a laugh before gesturing to you, “You heard the doctor,” And that is the permission they needed to bolt after you to the door.

~

“Good morning,” You greet as you enter Jimin’s room. Shelty immediately bounds towards Jimin to give him his share of good morning kisses.

“Go一Good morning, okay, okay, ” Jimin barely returns the greeting as he is attacked with slobbery kisses.

Routinely walking to the, now officially dubbed the first-aid box. You chuckle as you watch the infamous mafia boss Park Jimin laugh as he drowns in wolf breath and puppy slobber. You command Shelty off the bed and into a quiet sit on the floor, albeit right next to Jimin. She’d grown awfully attached to the silver-headed male. Whenever in his presence she would automatically lope over to Jimin, of course, she would return to you, but still, she was really fond of Jimin. You weren’t jealous of their friendship, as a matter of fact you were happy to see your puppy bond with other people, and Jimin’s face as he gushes over your puppy was just an added bonus.

“So when did you two become best friends?” You inquire with an amused smile as you undo Jimin’s bandages.

“We had a chance to bond while you were talking to the prisoners,” He mused, petting the wolf-dog’s head. But winces when you clean the wound with a little too much pressure than deemed comfortable, and you mutter apologies as your touch becomes gentler. Shelty whines seeing her other favorite human in pain, she licks the palm that was petting her as she struggles to get closer to Jimin without getting on the bed. “It's okay, girl. I’m okay,” Jimin reassures the nearly two feet tall wolf-dog.

You were clipping on the bandage clip as a knock is heard from the other side of the door. You turn your head from the conversation, which was more of a lecture of Jimin teaching you the ways to distinguish good wine, to the opening door.

You recognized the girl wheeling in the food trolley, it was Eui, she was the maid you met in the living room before the whole Taehyung incident. You smiled as you took a few steps away from where Jimin was seated on his bed, calling Shelty to heel beside you. Eui timidly placed a bed tray over Jimin’s lap then carefully transferred a bowl of Samgyetang and a high-ball glass with a drink that had hues of deep orange to a light yellow, onto the tray. She gave you a weary look before bowing then turning to leave but was stopped by Jimin’s voice.

“Eui, could you have (Y/n) and Shelty’s breakfast sent to my room, please? And as quickly as possible, we have a meeting in an hour,” He sipped at the orange to yellow ombre drink. The girl bows again, giving a soft ‘right away’ before speedily exiting the room.

You stare at Jimin as he continues to sip at his drink. “What? You said I needed vitamin-C didn’t you?” He meets your gaze challengingly.

“Well, that certainly doesn't look like orange juice, or any juice for that matter,” Shifting your weight on your left leg you give him a blank look.

“It is, well, part of it is,” He answers. “It’s a tequila sunrise, so it does have orange juice in it.”

“I guess I didn’t really specify how you should be getting your vitamin- C,” You chuckle as you sit next to him on the bed.

“No, no you didn’t” He gives a laugh of his own. “Have you ever tried one of these?” You shook your head no. Between studying, attending university, and jobs you never had the time to do much to anything.

“Here, have a sip.” He passes you the high-ball glass, and you shake your head refusing the offer. “Just try it.” Sighing you comply, one sip couldn’t hurt, besides you couldn’t deny you were curious about the flavor.  

You bring the glass to your lips, taking a small sip. You blink as you process the flavors, your head snaps to Jimin, he’s just wearing a knowing dumb grin. The drink was… it was good, the burn of alcohol was there but it was on the milder side, and the tartness of the orange juice was very refreshing but it wasn’t too sour, something sweet was balancing out the orange juice.  

“Do you like it?” He asks, resting his head on his palm. He gives you a knowing smile, and it has your chest fluttering.

“Yeah, it’s good. I liked it,” A smile curves on your lips as your head tilts without your notice. You feel a lock of hair slip from behind your ears, and just as you raise your hand tuck away the strands, another hand beats you to it.

You watch, stunned as Jimin pushes your hair behind your ears. You watch him owlishly as his face shows the same surprise yours held. Until a knock broke you from your stare. Eui had returned with breakfast. And again she pushes the trolley next to you before quickly bowing and leaving.

You had expected breakfast to be awkward but Jimin simply returned to giving you tips and tricks to identifying quality wine. You smiled as he spoke, and unlike times before you sat on the bed with Jimin as you ate. With Shelty busy with her own meal, breakfast passed without much notice.

“You ready?” You ask Jimin as you placed all the used dishes on the trolleys.

“Yeah, let's go,” He opens the door and Shelty is the first out the door. Jimin chuckles as he waits for you before following after the too-excited-for-her-own-good wolf-dog. The walk to Jimin’s office was shorter than you had originally expected, actually, it was a door down from his room.

Jimin, like the gentleman he was, held the door open for you, and you dramatically thanked him with a soft bow before entering the room with a chuckle.

The room wasn’t as large as his bedroom, however, compared to what you were used to, this was big. Two brown leather sofas sat in the center of the room, an abstract designed gray rug with gold blobs and lines running across the rug. A rosewood coffee table between the two sofas. Two large windows that pushed outwards behind the sofa that faced the door. A glossy mahogany desk with a plush office chair accompanying it. Bookshelves were built into nearly all four walls of the room, and each shelf was lined with books, an upper shelf behind the desk even held the globe. A marble chimney at the right end of the room. A beautiful painting above the chimney and a rocking chair beside it.

“Hey! Shelty girl,” Jeongguk excitedly greets the jet black wolf-dog. Namjoon was by Jimin’s side the minute he had entered. With Jimin’s appearance all seven men including the three ex-prisoners now, employees? Were the employees? They did technically get paid to work. Nonetheless everyone was present and the job assignment could begin.

“Getting straight to business, each of you will be shadowing one of the members standing before you. You may know who business works but will learn the rules of Bangtan with your assigned mentors,” Jimin began the meeting as he sat on the chair behind the desk. “Rim Haewon, you will be with Namjoon. Gu Joon, you’re with Jeongguk. As for you Kim Jiyoung, you’re with (Y/n),” He concludes casually looking over the papers on his desk. What? Jiyoung would be with you? Your eyes flutter in confusion. However, everyone else had just as casually accepted Jimin’s words. You supposed it was because Jimin was the one who issued the command. It wasn’t as though they could go against his words, but still.  

“I’m sorry, what?” You ask incredulously.

“Jiyoung will be shadowing you,” He repeats himself, looking up from his papers.

“Yeah, I heard you, but why? I myself am new here. What could I possibly teach him?” Jimin eyebrow raises at your question.

“Are you defying me?” His gaze makes you shiver and lower your head.

“N一no, it's... I’m the doctor, I don’t know any mafia stuff,” You toy with the hem of your shirt as you quietly answer him.

“That is why Jin will be with you,” He concludes and the discussion was over. But you did feel better knowing someone familiar would be with you. Someone who knows what they are doing.

“Well, then go on,” He shoos the group out of his office.

“So, what are we doing?” Jiyoung asks as he trails behind you and Jin. You had known what you wanted to do as soon as you had a free day. Or just a day without chaos, though, now that may be rarer than a blue moon.

“I am the Well, I’m the doctor for uh… the seven people you saw in the room,’’ You explain to the best of your abilities.

“She’s the doctor for the core,” Jin clarifies. ‘Is that what they were called? The core?’  

“Ah, I see, but where are we going?” Still not quite sure what you were doing, Jiyoung asks again.

“Inventory, we’re gonna be going through what we have and see if we’re missing anything. And after we’ve gone through everything I’ll see if we need to add anything else. For one, we absolutely need local anesthesia,” You lay out your plan for the day. “I guess Shelty’ll need to go for a run. If Jeongguk’s around I might just ask him to take her out,”

When you turned to look at Jiyoung, he was staring at you with wide incredulous eyes. Had you said something weird?

“What?” Your head tilts involuntarily.

“Nothing, it’s just… you talk so casually about making one of the core members walk your dog. I’ve never seen this side of them, it takes a little getting used to. Besides, I thought you said you were new, the way you talk about each other I thought you were old friends.” He answers as you turn the corner of the main building. You had gotten so comfortable with the guys, you had forgotten that beyond your friendships they were fearsome mafiosos.

“We are friends, aren’t we (Y/n)?” You hear Jin snickering over your shoulder as you enter the OR. You answer the question with a semi-sarcastic ‘yeah yeah’.

You had the operating table and lights pushed to the sides of the room. And a white bed sheet, big enough to cover the whole floor was spread across the floor. You put both men to work as you had Jin taking out and arranging the medicine from the cupboards onto the floor and Jiyoung pulling anything and everything from the drawers.

As Jin organized the many medicine bottles you recorded what they were and how much of it they had, or if they needed a replacement. You noticed they had quite the collection of drugs.

‘‘Beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, Thrombolytics we’re well prepared if someone has a heart attack,’’ You mumble as you note down each drug. So far, aside from the ibuprofen and other general medication, all the medicine bottles were full, almost unused. They probably didn’t know how to use all the other medicines. Well, that’s what you were here for.

“Hm, I’m realizing this now but we don’t have any kind of IV fluids. We're gonna be needing those and a refrigerator to keep them in. And I didn’t find any EpiPens either, how do you guys have Thrombolytics but no EpiPen?” Think out loud, you scribble down IV fluids and EpiPens on the shopping list, as strange as it sounded. Did they have any equipment for IV administration? If they didn’t have IV fluids then would they have the equipment for the fluids?

“Do we have any uh, skinny tubes with weird ports and stuff along the tube?” You ask Jiyoung, who was currently transferring equipment from the drawers to the equipment section on the floor.

“I haven’t seen anything like that, but I haven’t gone through everything yet,” He answers with a huff as he places a large box down. Adding IV tubing to the list, ‘will they know what I’m talking about… better specify,’You write down the types of tubing needed.

“Hey (Y/n), I was wondering, what exactly is an IV fluid?” Jin paused from his work.

“Oh, that’s a good question. Well, water is one of the essential things we need to survive. It’s necessary for cellular metabolism and building materials, regulation of internal body temperature through respiration and sweating, transportation of protein and carbohydrates, elimination of waste through urine and feces, shock absorber for the brain and spinal cord, Joint lubrication. The list kinda goes on but, basically, it’s really important. And when fluid is lost for any reason, electrolytes become imbalanced, body systems are stressed, and cognitive function in the brain is impaired blood becomes concentrated, signaling the kidneys to retain water. As a result, urine output is decreased. And when blood is “thicker,” the heart has to work harder, causing the pulse to increase in order to maintain blood pressure. All of these compensatory actions by the body put an already-compromised patient at risk,” You answer, enthusiastically continuing your ramble.

“Wow… I… didn’t know that” Jin listened to you in fascination, Jiyoung who was now on the floor organizing the equipment also listened in, equally interested. “Can you tell me more?”

“Of course,” You smile at his curiosity.

And as the day progressed you had wanted to send Shelty out of a supervised run, but unfortunately Jeongguk was out. So you did the reasonable thing anyone would do and sent her to Jimin. You had tied a note around her neck, asking Jimin to take her out on a walk, then set her on her way to his office. Indeed, you had asked a mafia boss to walk your dog. Which he did, happily. Jiyoung blanched at your casualness with the notorious gang leader. And you weren’t particularly worried about Shelty losing her way, over the past few days the wolf-dog had started recognizing her other favorite human with the word Jimin, and associated his office with getting to see him. So all you really had to do was utter ‘go’ and ‘Jimin’ in the same sentence and she would all-out gallop to his office.

The rest of the day was spent with you teaching the two men about IV fluid, their equipment, and how they are administer. Though you did throw in fun facts as you answered their questions. By the end of the day they learned what a sphygmomanometer was and how doctors measured blood pressure. Although Jin was still having trouble understanding why they measured it in “millimeters of mercury”.

“Alright it’s about that time,” Jin stretches as he puts away the last of the medicines, which were now all alphabetically organized. “Let’s head outside. Everyone should be there by now,” You let out a long yawn as you stretch your hands above your head before staggering to the door, legs numb from sitting all day long.

“Where are we going, now?” Jiyoung asks unaware there was more to do, he had assumed the day was done as the moon had risen. His thoughts drifted back to the day's events, and it was as though the woman he had met the day before were nothing more than a figment of his imagination. Or at least that’s what it seemed like in the beginning, but as time passed, he realized what made you truly terrifying. He had paid no mind to your words when you had said you were new here. He just assumed you had worked freelance before joining Bangtan, how wrong he was. Apparently, you had only joined this gang only two days prior, that would mean you were a total stranger to the mafia world, but the woman he had met in that cell did not seem like someone who had just entered the mafia community less than two days ago. The woman he met knew exactly what she was doing and what she wanted. Through his eyes you fit right in amongst the core of Bangtan, if someone had said you were a new core member, he would’ve believed it.

But that natural air wasn’t the only aspect of your nature that terrified him. It was the fact that you were smart enough to know when to play dumb. You knew much more than you let on and you knew exactly how to use that to your advantage. An understanding of the power of knowledge. But perhaps the most terrifying part was that no one would realize any of this until it’s too late.

“Yeah, we have a gang meeting today, so you’re coming too,” Answering his question as Jin nudges the lost in thought Jiyoung out the door.

“(Y/n), can I talk to you for a moment?” Jiyoung pats your shoulder and you nod, gesturing him to go ahead. “I… I’ve weighed out my options. I played out a bunch of scenarios, working with Bangtan is by far my safest choice. And I think I know the best way I can help,”

“Hmm, is that right? Well, I’m glad to hear that. We can discuss the details of your job with everyone else once we return, for now, let’s go, the other must be waiting for us,” And there it was, the lady from the day before had returned. He thought as he followed you down the stairs and out the main door.

“Hiya, girl. Did you miss me? Probably not, now that you have your new favorite human, huh?” You coo at the jet black wolf-dog as she right about tackled you when she saw you at the front gates. “Did you have fun with Jimin? Was he boring?” You asked your puppy as she pawed at you.

Jimin scoffs at your question, but a smile is ever prevalent on his face, “I’ll have you know. I am anything but boring,” He pets Shelty when she bounds back to where Jimin stood beside a limousine. Only this wasn’t the same vehicle as you had ridden before. This had the long body of a full-length limousine. The inky-black body had the shine of a well-polished vehicle. You would have admired the luxurious car you had only seen in passing or in movies, but you were distracted with a certain silver-haired mafia boss.

“Yeah like annoying,” You retort with the widest grin as you strode to him and without a second thought you walked into the embrace Jimin had been silently inviting you into. Of the seven men you had grown closest to Jimin, having spent nearly every breakfast and dinner you’ve had since coming here with him, seeing as you had to change his bandages. As days passed it felt as though you could speak freely with him, although you weren’t quite ready to truly push your luck with him.

“Watch it,” He warns you with a grin of his own, as he pushes you into the limousine, and you yelp in surprise let out a chuckle as he enters after you and Shelty follows after.

The embrace was short and you parted from him a moment after, but the events that followed had Jiyoung eyes bulging from its sockets. Had you truly just called Park Jimin annoying? And had he truly let you get away with it? “Are you一are you sure that’s Park Jimin?”  

Namjoon chuckles at Jiyoung's disbelief, which in his defense was well placed. The Park Jimin he had known was a ruthless, unforgiving mafia boss, a cold-blooded killer that killed without hesitation or discrimination, who clawed his way up the social ladder at the age of twenty-two. And the man standing before him was completely different from the man he had seen five years ago.

“To my knowledge he is.” Namjoon laughs as he makes his way into the limousine. “Oh, you’re with Jeongguk and Gu Joon by the way. And Haewon, you’re with Yoongi.

The interior of the limousine was just as luxurious as the exterior. There was a glass cabinet space lined with many bottles of liquor of all shades, from mahogany to dark hickory. A plush, white sofa-like seat spanned from nearly the front quarter of the limousine to the back, coming to a curve at the back. Though as the drive continued no one partook in any of the liquor.

You sat between Namjoon and Jin, Jimin was seated at the end of the sofa-like seat, as Jin told them of all the things you had taught him. He animatedly spoke as the three of you quietly listened. You were watching the lights as you drove until you heard your name being called.

“(Y/n) randomly spits out weird facts about a human body, and it’s just so interesting. Can you give us one now?” Jin asks you with expectant eyes, so how could you say no to that.

“Did you know that water makes up 73% of the brain and heart; 83% of the lungs; 79% of the muscles and kidneys; and 64% of the skin?” You recite a fact you had learned during your years in medical school. And their expressions reflected their interest.

But their curiosity was cut short as the limousine slowed to a halt. Just as it did, any hint of interest or positive emotion at all had been wiped from their faces. This was their expressions when they worked, you realized as you exited the limo.

The ginormous warehouse was filled with people, and you knew this wasn’t even close to the size of the whole gang. There was an elevated platform at the end of the space, which was most likely where you were headed. As you walked past the crowd, you could feel their intent gaze on you. You trailed closer to Jimin and Namjoon, uncomfortable as you felt their eyes on you, they weren’t a perverted stare. It was more as though they were appraising you.

Sensing your discomfort, a deep snarl rips from beside you. The men closest to you jump when they see where the growl had come from. Refracting amber eyes watch them as a jet-black wolf steps into the lit area. Now in clear view, Shelty stands between you and the men as she snaps her teeth at their movements as they pull out their gun. You gasp as they did, immediately you call Shelty back to you.

“Lower your guns,” Jimin commands as he strides past Shelty to where the men stood. Hesitantly they obey Jimin’s order. Seeing that as your chance as the wolf-dog had somewhat calmed when she saw her other favorite human step up to protect her favorite human.

“Shelty, heel,” You call from where you stood, and she whines before reluctantly coming to a stand beside you. Exhaling a relieved sigh you pet her fluffy head as a thank you. The men in the crowd blanch when they see, to them, a wolf obediently comply with your commands.

Jimin doesn’t even spare another glance as he continues towards the platform. You, with Shelty on your heels follow after him onto the stage. Though you stand behind Yoongi and Hoseok. Jimin sits on a leather armchair that was placed near the back of the platform. The whole incident seemed forgotten within the next few moments as Namjoon began the meeting.

“As you know, our deal with the Seoungs, one of the largest gangs in Korea, goes through tomorrow. And using the usual procedure, we will have the drugs placed in the deal house, and they pick it up. While that happens no one, and I mean no one is to be seen around the deal house’s location. This is a formal warning if anything happens during the exchange if anything goes wrong. We risk a gang war against the biggest gang in Korea. So don’t do anything stupid. That is all.” He concludes, stepping back.

The warehouse begins to clear out once Namjoon declares the announcement was done. Haewon shuffled to Namjoon, “Was that really the only reason for the meeting?” He asks not fully believing that was all there was to such a large scale meeting.

“Is avoiding a gang war not a good enough reason?” Namjoon raised a questioning brow. Seemed like Haewon was a tad bit more perceptive than you had originally given him credit for. Though Namjoon effortlessly dodged that bullet, you wondered if he handled most of Bangtan's business transactions.

“Oh, no, no of course. I didn’t mean it like that.” He waves his hands defensively, before he asks another question, “But, um where is the deal house location?” Namjoon looks at him almost suspiciously before an expression of realization takes over him. ‘Man he deserves an oscar’ You thought as you watched with interest.

“Ah right, you three haven’t been given the location have you? I suppose you would need to know the location of the place you’re supposed to avoid,” he says thoughtfully.

“Yeah, exactly!” Haewon exclaims. ‘He did not just believe that,’ Your mouth hung open at his idiocy. ‘He cannot be that dense.’  

“There, that should be it,” Namjoon looks up from his phone. Jiyoung’s face lights up as he hears the bing of his notifications going off.

“Thank you, Namjoon-ssi. I’ll make sure to keep clear of that area,” He salutes his superior. ‘Nope, he’s that dense’  You thought as Haewon continues, “But, ah, if there is nothing else, may I leave? Or am I going back with you?”

“I suppose there is nothing else for you to do. Just make sure to be at the mansion by 9:00 AM tomorrow,” Namjoon admitted as he pockets his phone.

“I won’t be late! See you tomorrow, Namjoon-ssi,” Haewon waved as he jetted out the warehouse.  

As you watch the scene before you with disbelief in your eyes you catch a soft laugh coming from beside you. You turn your gaze to be met with a chuckling Jimin and a trying to contain his laugh but failing Jin beside you.  

“We should get going,” Jin comes up behind you as he bends down to massage Shelty’s neck and head.

“Before we go, Jiyoung wanted to talk about how he could help,” A smile curves into your lips as your eyes meet the mafia boss’.

“Well then, we shouldn’t keep him waiting,” He stands as he pockets one of his hands, he eyes each member as though giving them a silent command. The six men nod as they make their way to the large exit. “Come on,” Your gaze flickers to Jimin as he gestures for you to follow.

‘What?’ You didn’t have much time to process the situation as all seven men, including Jiyoung, piled into the limousine. “What about your cars?” You ask Jeongguk before entering the vehicle.

“Oh, don’t worry about that. Someone else had already taken care of that,” Jeongguk reassures you as he steps into the driver's seat. ‘I guess he’s driving,’ You thought, entering the limo.

You were seated between Jin and Yoongi, Taehuyng sat with Hoseok to his right and Yoongi to his left. Jimin was at the same spot as he had been before with Namjoon at his side, and Jeongguk had taken the wheel. Jiyoung was sitting at the seat behind the driver’s space that overlooked the limousine.

“You wanted to talk to us?” Jimin begins the conversation.

“I did, so I looked over all my options, and working with you is my safest bet. I’ll need a computer for this, but I ca一”

“I’m glad you realized that. Namjoon will get you what you need and you’ll begin your work as soon as your equipment is set. We have a deadline to meet, don’t we?” The silver-blonde mafia boss cuts off Jiyoung as he gives the hacker his new instructions.

“Wait, did yo一”

“We’re here,” Jiyoung was cut off by Jeongguk's voice. And just as the youngest had said, the limousine was parked before the front door.

Hoseok, who was closest to the door, exits first as the rest follow. As all eight men now stood outside, Jiyoung contemplated the series of events that had passed. And his eyes shift to your form as you interact with the core of Bangtan while petting a sleepy wolf-dog. Seeing the hacker's gaze drift to you, Jimin answers Jiyoung’s unfinished question. “Well, for now let’s just say the winds are changing. And so is the storm’s course,” He says, striding past Jiyoung.

“Hey (Y/n), I was wondering, can I make a few… improvements to the plan?” Taehyung pulled your attention as he asked a question he knew the answer to.

“What are you asking me for? Ask Jimin,” You tilt your head as you answer his question with a question. It wasn’t as though you could deny any changes, you didn’t have that level of authority, you didn’t have the power to influnse such decisions. Those sorts of questions were for Jimin to answer.

“Ah, I guess you’re right. It was just this was technically your plan. So I just thought ah haha,” He chuckles sheepishly, rubbing the nape of his neck.

“Did someone call my name?” Jimin appears behind you, as he looks to Taehuyng then to you.

“I was wondering if I could make some improvements to the plan. I’ll just run it by you tomorrow,” Taehuyng pockets his hands as he saunters into the house.

“Alright, well then, we should head in too?” Jimin too steps towards the house and you nod, quickly hurrying after him, Shelty on your tail.

“With that the net has been cast, now all we do is wait.” You muse as you replaced the bandage clip on the fresh new bandages.

“Hmm, I’m not gonna lie, I’m interested in how they’ll react,” Jimin hums, slipping his loose cotton shirt, then going back to sipping on the alcoholic drink you couldn’t name.

“I agree,” You chuckle softly, you’d be lying if you said you weren’t curious about what the future held in store for you. Closing the first-aid box, putting it away. “Goodnight,” You call as you leave his room.

“Goodnight (Y/n),”  

~

“Hello? Hello boss, Cheol Meong-ssi?” A voice stressed into the payphone. Haewon eye’s sweep across his surroundings as he carefully talks.

“Who the fuck is this?” A flat voice comes through the speaker. A flush of relief flooded through Haewon as he wanted to get the information to his true boss as quickly as possible as to not be caught.

“This is Rim Haewon Cheol Meong-ssi” Haewon answers eagerly.

“Oh? It seems like our little friend’s plan has worked well? Did you find anything?”

“I did, I have information I think Cheol Meong-ssi would like,” Haewon speaks excitedly as he presents his findings like a proud puppy. He had swallowed his pride and bent to the wills of that wretched Park Jimin to get his hands on this information.

“Go on,”  

“I have sent all the details to your phone, but tomorrow a deal with the Seoung group goes through. And it sounded like a big deal. They even called a gang meeting telling them to stay clear of the area,”

“Well done! I didn’t expect we’d have something so soon. Keep your ears open and inform us of everything that happens,” Meong’s russet-brown eyes scrunch in glee, exalted by the news as he ends the call with the male on the other line.  

“Yes boss!” Haewon manages before the line is cut.  

“A deal between Park and Seong, huh?” Meong’s face twisted in triumph as he dreamed of Bangtan’s end. He could imagine their pained expressions as each one of those fools, along with their wretched gang perished.

“If we play our cards they might just destroy each other for us,” A honeyed voice pipes from across the room the mafia boss. Meong eyed the man who had suggested the idea of mole placement disguised by a failed attack. A pleased smile stretched across his lips as he gestures to the man before him to sit on his expensive leather couch. The diamond-blonde man happily obliged the russet eyes mafia boss.

“Well then, it seems like tomorrow will be a day of celebration, doesn’t the shipment for the Japan deal arrive tomorrow?” The man asks as he sits across from Meong. “So not only does it mark the beginning of Bangtan’s end but also the expansion of your reaches into another country.”

“Fuck, you’re right! Well shit, your plan sure worked like a charm,” Meong laughs as he brings his glass of whiskey to his lips.

“I suppose,” The man’s amused voice resounds throughout the luxurious room. “It worked well, perhaps a bit too well”

“Bullshit, a plan can’t work too well. Your plan worked near fuckin flawlessly. And, once Kim Jiyoung and Gu Joon report back with the same kind of good news. I’ll bring Park Jimin to his knees, but for now, I’ll have our strongest men on the scene tomorrow. Hell, I’ll personally be there to watch the beginning of Bangtan’s end,” Yeong Cheol Meong growls as his grip on the glass tightens.

~

The day had passed without a single notice as you busied yourself with completing reorganizing the OR. You had spent the majority of the day inside the operating room, though this time Jiyoung was not with you. You still had an enjoyable company. Apparently, the day before as you spewed fun facts all day, your vast medical knowledge had gained the interest of the eldest of the seven core men.  

“Wait so you mean birth control does more than just, well, control birth?” Jin questions as you add birth control to the ever-growing shopping list.

You weren’t entirely sure whether the gang had any female operatives. But considering the gang was quite large, you surmised that there must have been some female members. And though you were specifically only the core’s doctor didn’t mean you couldn’t treat regular members if the gang.

And so you had been playing out different scenarios in your head and jotting down anything that you would need in each situation that you already did not have. You had wanted to be prepared for as many situations as possible and Jin was a huge help in that aspect as he would tell you stories of his past experiences. Though the birth control pills were more for any of the female gang members who might have come to you for advice or even with any issues or questions regarding their gynecological health.

“Yeah, they do much more than just prevent pregnancies. They help regulate menstruation and reduce menstrual pain, it helps clear hormonal acne, and can even help stabilize mood. As a matter of fact, many women take birth control for non-contraceptive

reasons,”

“Interesting, there's just so much I don’t know,” Jin notes, holding his chin with his thumb and index fingers.

“Hey, it’s okay. Not many people know that” You assure him. It was true not many knew the other benefits of birth control. But of course, every coin has two sides. There were also risks involved in birth control just as with any drug.

“No it’s just, amongst the seven of us. I’m the one with any kind of medical know-how,” He thoughtfully stared at his palms that had fallen onto his lap.

“Hey (Y/n), do you think… Do you think you could teach me this stuff? I want to know more. I want to be able to do more,” Jin asks “Back when Jimin got shot, I felt so helpless like I couldn’t do anything. And then I saw your work, and you were so efficient at what you did. And I’m glad that we have you as our doctor. But what if一what if there's a time where you aren’t with us and something happens? I just...” Jin trails off unable to find the words to continue.

A smile curved into your lips as you understood what he was saying. You too hated the feeling of helplessness, not being able to do anything but pace around a hallway and pray. “Well then, l guess it’s lucky for you that I kept all of my textbooks, now isn’t it?”

“Really! You’ll teach me?!” Jin’s eyes light up at your words.

“I would be happy to, we can study whenever you’re free,” You chuckle as you make a mental note for yourself to bring you old textbooks to the OR next time you come.

“Thank you,”

“Shouldn’t you guys be on your way?” Taehyung quips and you pivot on your foot to see the door now ajar and three men in black combat gear, standing at the door.

“The hyungs are already there, you guys should head over too. And give Shelty lots of kisses for me,” Jeongguk says with a soft smile as he tightens his fingerless gloves.

“Are you three heading out?” You question as you move towards the door, heeding their time warning.

The moon had risen hours ago, it was almost time. The third phase would be coming to an end soon enough. You were anxious to see how your plan would play out. And with that anxiousness also came excitement, you had to admit, though the day had passed quickly, your heart hadn’t stopped racing for a moment.  

“Jiyoung completed his half of the mission, now it’s time for ours,” Hoseok answers as he looks to his brothers, his eyes signaling them it was time to leave. ‘So phase four has begun’

“Be careful out there,” You call to the men as they disappear to the first floor.

“Well then, shall we?” The eldest of the seven invited you.

You nodded with a smile, walking beside him.

~

“Boss Yeong, we’ve surrounded the warehouse,” A gruff voice whispers, gently pressing onto the earpiece.

“Good, open that door and let them know you’re from Bangtan, then fill ‘em with holes, but make sure to let at least one of them escape,” Meong commands from the back seat of his navy blue Bently.

“Yes, boss,”

“Hey! Listen u一” The tall man dressed in an all-black outfit, an M16 rifle in his grasp, announced as the large, warehouse roll-up door rises, but he cuts himself off at the sight before him, or more of a lack of sight before him. The room was dark and still, there was no movement. The room may have been dark but as someone with experience, he would’ve felt it if there had been any sort of movement. “Uh, boss… there’s nothing here.”

“What?!” Meong growls as he steps out of his car which had been parked a short distance as not to be seen. Meong stomped his way to where his operative was standing.

“See! I told you it would be Haewon,” Your voice cuts the silence that had fallen as Meong impatiently made his way to the open warehouse.  

“Wha一” The armed man strains his sight to see where the voice had come from. It was a woman, but who was that? He had never heard this voice. His gaze scans the room and nothing. He did not feel any sort of movement or anything. The warehouse was empty but it sounded as though the voice came from the center of the seemingly vacant space.  

“I don’t remember ever saying he wasn’t,” Another voice resounds. Meong would recognize this voice anywhere.

“Park Jimin,” The russet-eyed man growled, hearing Jimin’s voice echo through the warehouse.

“Yeah well, you know what I mean,” A pout formed on your lips as you playfully nudged Jimin.  

“Are they in there? I can’t tell” One of Meong’s men called as he took a step towards the room, but was stopped by Meong, who was intently glaring into the dark space.

“Tell me is Yeong Cheol Meong there?” Jimin asks, amusement laced in his voice. “Are you there Yeong?”

“So you knew,” Yeong Cheol Meong snarled at the voice. Even as he spoke those words, the only thought echoing in his head was ‘impossible’. They couldn’t have known, there was no way. Meong knew there wasn’t a mole amongst his men as he held a tight leash on all of his strongest or any that had sensitive information. Unless it was the honey-voiced man that suggested this whole thing in the first place, but it couldn’t have been him. As that man too had a hatred for Park Jimin that was even stronger than his won  

“ Well, I didn’t know anything, but someone else did,” Confusion swamped Meong’s mind at Jimin’s words. He hadn’t known? What was that supposed to mean? If he hadn’t known then who did? No, was he saying that someone else entirely actually predicted this? Predicted the moves of one of if not the most cunning man he had ever met. Not only had they predicted the moves accurately but they also used the diamond-blond motherfucker’s plan against him. Who could it have been? Could it have been one of the core members? Or someone else completely?

“Who?” Meong let out a single word as he attempted to learn the true meaning behind Park Jimin’s words.

“Oh and just a heads up, you’ll be getting a call soon, and I don’t think you’ll like it very much,” Jimin ignores Meong’s question as he warns the russet-brown eyed male of the unfortunate news to come.  

“What the fuck are yo一” A loud ringing interrupts Meong’s questioning. It was the mafia boss’ phone. As anxiousness makes itself known in Meong’s system, he answers the phone.“What d一”

“Boss! The shipment! The entire route! They took it!” The voice on the other line urgently exclaims, his words incomplete as his mouth moved faster than his brain.

“Stop screaming! What the fuck are you talking about?!” Cheol Meong speaks over the voice.

“Bangtan took over the ship that was supposed to arrive today and the route it was on. They have control over our shipment route from Thailand!” The man on the other line explains rapidly, nervousness bleeding from his voice.

“THE FUCK!? HOW?!” Moeng thunders as his men look at each other with worried expressions.

“I’m not sure, boss! One minute everything was fine and the next all communication and video feed were down. When we got it back on, none of our men responded and three of Bangtan’s core members were on the controls,”

“No! There were over fifty men on that ship! They couldn’t have taken them all down. And the security cameras should have picked up any intruders! Unless… but that’s impossible!” Meong eyes fly in his sockets as he reason how three could take on and take out fifty, on top of that bypass all the security measures. Though he did not know how Bantgan’s members took out all of his men, he realized how they walked right onto his ship. Kim Jiyoung, he was the only man capable of hacking into his systems. “Kim Jiyoung! You’ll pay for this! Call the mansion guards! I want that bitch and her brat dead!”

One of the men behind Meong scrambled to pull out his phone and dial the capture house. The phone rang but no one picked up.“Boss, no ones picking up!”

“What?!”

“Oh? No one told you? Bangtan has been in control of that place for a few days now. And you wouldn’t believe the people we found there,” You piped in sensing the confusion of the group.

“DAMN YOU PARK! SEARCH THE WAREHOUSE!” Meong bellowed as his arms flailed in anger.

All thirty or so men flew into the room, flashlights in hand; they lit the area inside of the warehouse, specifically the area the voices had been coming from. There were no humans, a single chair sat in the middle of the room with a speaker on it.

“Boss, there’s only a spea一”

BOOM

Before the operative could finish his report, crimson flames touched the skies as a thundering boom was heard. Fiery oranges and reds swayed and danced as they burst outwards with incredible force. The pressure of the explosion pushed Meong yards away.

For minutes Meong could only hear a sharp ringing as he fumbled along the ground, trying to gather his bearings. The searing flames had licked the side that had been facing the explosion. He cured as the men that hadn’t been caught up in the explosion rushed towards him. And as gently as possible that helped the burned man sit up.

“FUCK FUCK! DAMN IT! DAMN IT ALL! YOU’LL PAY FOR THIS PARK JIMIN!” The russet-brown orbed mafia boss cursed the ones responsible for his pain.

~

“A bomb!?” You yelp after hearing the explosion through the sound bug, more surprised than angry or upset. “You planted a bomb?” Eyes wide as you asked the chestnut-haired male sitting on the sofa across from you in Jimin’s room.

“What? It was tit for tat,” Taehyung shrugged as he shoved his hands into his white hoodie pocket. The trio that had left earlier that night had returned a few minutes ago. They had changed into more comfortable clothes.

“All four phases are now complete, with the take over of the shipment route, we monopolize the weapons export and import from Thailand. I think that was a total victory for us. Your plan worked well and we gained much from this, good job (Y/n),” Namjoon praises you as he comes to sit beside Taehyung after having stood beside Jimin as he sat on the armchair by the built-in liquor shelf. You muttered a soft ‘thank you’ at his praise.

“Okay, I’m not gonna lie. I wasn’t really sure about you but that was pretty good… for a florist,” Yoongi admits as he sluggishly sips his glass of whiskey.

“Yeah! That was totally amazing! Your plan worked like a well-oiled machine! Everything happened almost exactly as you predicted!” Jeongguk raved but did so carefully to not wake the jet-black wolf-dog asleep on his lap. You smile at his gentleness with your puppy. Though you had to admit yourself, a question had been bothering you. If they were here then what of the shipment? If they were here then did that mean it had already been taken care of? But that wasn’t possible, in the time they had left and returned they couldn’t have possibly managed to unload the whole cargo ship. So you ask Hoseok who had been sitting right next to you.

“Hey Hoseok, if you guys are here, what about the cargo ship?”

“Our people are taking care of that as we speak,” The crimson-red haired male answers with a tired smile. It was almost 2:00 AM, and everyone had an early start too, so of course, they would be tired.

And so you decided it was bedtime for the core of Bangtan. “Well, we can talk more about this tomorrow, but right now it’s almost two in the morning, I’m tired, Shelty’s tired, you’re tired, everyone is tired. So everybody off to bed you go,” The minute those words leave you lips, Yoongi is up in an instant, more than ready to follow doctor's orders.

“(Y/n)’s right, we’ll talk more at tomorrow's meeting, for now, everyone off to bed,” Jimin echos as he stands from the armchair.

“You know she's dangerous when she bosses around the highest-ranking members of a mafia gang,” Taehyung mumbles as he lazily stands, stretching his tired limbs. To which the youngest of the bunch giggles along.

“Oh, don’t make me mix laxatives in the milk,” You warn hearing his mumbled words.

“We’re going! We’re going!” Taehyung fumbled as both he and Jeongguk scampered out of the room, surprisingly Yoongi on their tail.

“Dummies,” You chuckle as you watch them leave.

You wished Namjoon, Hoseok, and Jin goodnight as they left the room. Shuffling your feet, too tired to bother with lifting your feet and walking properly you reached for the first-aid box as Jimin made his way to his bed.

Unlike the usual bandage replacements, this one was a lot quieter. Maybe it was because it was now officially two AM in the morning. Or maybe it was the melancholy feeling of nothingness that had settled itself in your stomach.

And Jimin was quick to notice your unusual silence. Normally you would have been the one to strike a conversation, whether it be the weather or Shelty or flowers. You always start the conversion, but right then you hadn’t spoken a word as you finished bandaging his wound.  

“What’s wrong? This was your victory you should be happy,” Jimin asks as you put away the ointment and extra gauze.

You remained silent as you paused what you had been doing and instead taken to staring holes into your palm.

Then it dawned on him, quite a few people must have died in that explosion. And considering this was your plan, you must have felt responsible for their deaths.

Jimin’s eyes softened as he watched your face scrunch ever so slightly. Even though you had shown great promise as to becoming a part of this dark world, even though you had handled yourself well in many situations others would have fainted in. You were still new to this, you weren’t used to the death and carnage that comes with being part of the mafia world. However, you would have to get used to this, to death, to killing. Or so he thought

Though you were thinking almost the same thing as Jimin, you weren’t. The thing that was responsible for your silence was not guilt or sadness or self-loathing or fear. It was the lack of those feelings. You had just helped someone kill, most likely over twenty people, and you felt nothing, you had felt a tinge of guilt in the beginning but that also faded. Though you were scared, you weren’t scared of what had happened or what could happen, you were scared of yourself. It terrified you that you could help kill someone, end someone's life, and feel nothing.

‘What kind of monster am I?’ Tears of frustration welled up in your eyes as you bit your lip and tried to push them away.  

Jimin sighs as he takes your hands in his, but his words of comfort die on his tongue when he notices your glossy orbs. On instinct he pulls you close cupping your cheeks and tilting your head to meet so his eyes met yours.

“You didn’t kill them, Taehyung was the one who planted the bomb. You didn’t know about it, okay?” Jimin says sternly as if chiding you. And the tears you had been holding back come cascading down. Before your brain processed what your body was doing you had thrown yourself into Jimin’s arms, tucking your head underneath his.

Jimin stiffened at the contact before relaxing in the hold. He felt wetness against his neck as he relaxed. His eyes widened as he realized you were crying. Immediately he tightens his hold around you rubbing small circles with his thumb, trying to comfort you.  

“Jimin, help,” Your voice was muffled as your face was buried in his neck. But the silver-blonde had heard your words clear as day. And an unexpected tightness rose in his chest, it was akin to anger but it wasn’t, it was deeper than that. And it wasn’t directed towards you, he didn’t know what it was directed at but he grits his teeth as images of your tear-stained face he had caught a glimpse of before you had thrown yourself into his hold. He did not like it, he didn’t like those tears in your beautiful light-filled orbs.

“What’s wrong?” He whispers afraid he would scare you had he spoken any louder.

“I’m a monster Jimin. A monster,” You mutter, “An absolute utter monster. I’m the worst there is,” More words of negativety spill from your lips, and Jimin was having none of that.

“I told you! It was Taehyung that planted the bomb not you!” He ripped you from the embrace, looking you in the eyes. The sight of your bloodshot eye and the tears pooling within them had his chest tightening only this time he felt pain instead of anger. Might as well rip his heart out too. As he moved to pull you back into his embrace, you speak up.

“No, no, no, you don’t get it,” Your voice breaks and so does Jimin’s heart, whatever is left of it. “I一I, Jimin, I helped kill people, and not just one person but many people… and I felt nothing.’’

Jimin’s eyes blow up at your words. You felt nothing? What was that supposed to mean?

“Jimin, all those people, I一I helped kill them, I helped end people's lives and I felt nothing after that. No pain, no guilt, no fear, no nothing. What kind of person feels nothing after killing someone?” Jimin opens his mouth to speak but you cut him off. “And no you don’t count. You were made numb to the pain, to killing. You don’t count.”

“Did you know that when I first came here and Namjoon told me I couldn’t leave. That I was… that I was excited. I was looking forward to what would happen next. Did you know that? And一and when you invited me to the meeting my heart was beating out of my chest, not in nervousenss. Not becaise I was scared, it was becuase it was thrilling… and even through the whole plan, I was excited,” At this point you were sobbing into Jimin’s arms. “Jimin, help. Fix me, please,”

Said man was perplexed, he wasn’t sure what to do. For one he had never comforted a crying woman before. And second he didn’t know how to respond to your words. At some point the awkward position of the hug had become a bit of a chore and so, he had thoughtlessly pulled you onto his lap.

As he thought about your words he rubbed soft circles on your back. And what you had said was technically true, after years of killing, he had desensitized to the bloodshed, but you weren’t. He was afraid the carnage and blood you had seen had broken you, but  You were quite a special case. He wondered if being a doctor had acclimated you to death. Made you numb to the pain without you even realizing it. Yet still he didn’t know the words to say to you. But it seems like you were fitter for this world then he had originally thought. A smile curled onto his lips as an image of you by his side came to mind.

“You know, I can’t exactly fix what’s not broken,” Jimin whispers into your ear as your sobs had reduced to sniffles.

“Jimin,” A whine leaves your lips as that was not what you had meant.

“Honestly, I kind of don’t know what to say to you, maybe you’re just a thrill seeker?”

“Thrill-seeking and killing people are two different things,” You mumble softly, the crying had taken its toll on you, now limply cuddled into Jimin’s chest.   

“Well, I guess you’re more of a fit to the mafia life than any one of us expected. You’re smart, pragmatic, you handle tense situations like a boss. I think it was more of your brain rationalizing you. Their death couldn’t have been helped. And maybe most parts of your brain realized that. Maybe that’s why you didn’t feel anything,”

“Are you saying I’m heartless?” You question in a single breath, eyelids growing heavier by the second.

“No, I know you’re not heartless. But I think… I think you just fit in with us,”

“Is that a good thing?” You ask as sleep finally takes you under its hold.

“Yes, it is,” Jimin mutters against your forehead before gently placing you beside him pulling the cover over the both of you. Then he turns the now awake wolf-dog, with a gentle smile he calls her onto the bed. And she happily jumps on, finding herself a spot on your other side.

“Goodnight (Y/n),”

“Goonigh, Jiminie,”

[plus-size-reader]

Newlyweds

Sam Winchester x Plus size!reader

Word Count: 1665 words

Warnings: none 

Summary: Sam and the reader play a couple for a case, but it ends up being more serious than they thought. 

———————————————————————————————————

It was supposed to be an easy case.

You and the Winchesters had been tracking what was either someone on LSD or a rogue werewolf. Until you found out which, you and Sam decided to do some recon, talking to people and getting the lay of the land.

It was always better to know what you were dealing with before going out in the woods...guns blazing.

However, as soon as you arrived at the local bar-you realized that the typical way of getting answers wasn’t going to suffice. Instead of dressing up like feds and trying to pry answers out of people, this small town would take a different approach.

People around here were more focused on the two of you than they could ever be on the case or the questions you were asking them.

If a couple federal agents walked into a town of six hundred people, it would bring too much attention.

“Here’s the plan...you two, have to play a couple” Dean grumbled, setting a few beers down on the table. The three of you were all sitting around, figuring out a plan of attack and so far, this was as much as you’d come up with.

This just wasn’t a normal case.

It would take a little bit of effort but in some ways, it was a good plan. People were more likely to agree to talk to a cute couple just asking around than they were a couple of cops. Sometimes, in order to get the answers you need, you had to get a little creative.

Plus, it didn’t hurt that Dean had been dealing with you and Sam flirting with each other for months with neither of you making a move.

....Maybe this would be the push that you needed to finally confess the obvious attraction you had for each other. Dean hoped so, because if he had to watch you and Sam eye-fuck each other across the table anymore, he was going to lose his mind.

“So that’s it? That’s all you’ve got?” you wondered, shocked that after all this time, Dean hadn’t come up with something more covert and sneaky. He had always been a fan of more elaborate plans.

In fact, as far as Dean schemes went, this one was kind of dull.

Though-that didn’t mean it was a bad plan. Sometimes the more simple it is, the more likely it is to work. “That’s it...trust me, it will work” he nodded, popping one of the caps off the beer bottle before bringing it to his lips.

It was decided, at least as far as Dean was concerned. However, you wanted to make sure that Sam was okay with it. If he wasn’t, you would just switch it out and go with Dean.

....As long as he was comfortable.

You waited until the two of you were alone to ask.

Dean would make a huge deal of it if you asked in front of him, not to mention how awkward it would be if he said no.

“Hey Sammy, are you okay with this whole couple thing?” you checked, knocking on the doorframe of his bedroom. He was trying to figure out what he wanted to wear to the bar tonight but as soon as you made yourself known, he dropped everything.

He would drop anything for you.

“Sure. why? Are you?” he asked, worried that Dean was trying to force you into something that you didn’t want to do. That wouldn’t be cool, even if it was the best way for everything to go down.

It wasn’t worth it if you weren’t comfortable with it.

You smiled, finding it so charming that he cared about your comfort level. After everything you’d been through together, there was no limit to his care for you.

Granted, you shouldn’t have been surprised.

Sam always took care of you...no matter what.

“Of course I am. I just wanted to make sure that you were” you shrugged, rubbing the back of your neck lightly as the nerves overcame you. You always felt so self-conscious around Sam and he made you so nervous.

You just didn’t know why.

You were calm, cool, and collected most of the time, even in the face of actual danger but something about the man in front of you made your heart skip a beat. He made you feel like your legs were made of jello...even when you knew it wasn’t true.

“Yeah, I’m good. I think it will be fun” he allowed, finally settling on the shirt he wanted to wear. He just wanted to sell the idea of a young newlywed couple as best he could, not that a shirt would do that.

Instead, he was going to have to really play into the feelings he had for you. He just hoped that he’d be good enough at it that you wouldn’t be able to tell that it wasn’t an act at all.

~ The bar in the center of town was teeming with people when you arrived, choosing a little later in the day to check it out. You figured the more busy it was, the more likely you were to get the answers you needed.

After all, at the very least, liquor made people talk. You just had to hope they knew what they were talking about.

“You ready for this?” he asked, reaching down to take your hand in his own. After a gentle squeeze and a deep breath, you nodded.

You had no idea how this was going to go down but if you had Sam by your side, you knew that it was going to be fine.

The bar was just as loud and bustling as any other bar you’d been in but as soon as you and Sam made your entrance, that all stopped. Instead, they just stared, taking in the sight in front of them.

“What can I get you two?” the bartender asked, a cheery smile on her face as she pulled glasses from underneath the counter. You usually didn’t drink until after a case was done but this was a special one.

If nothing else, it would take the edge off.

“Couple beers” Sam interjected, his normal demeanor a little more cheery and soft than usual. He was putting on a front, making himself seem like a young guy without a care in the world like he had been in college.

It was odd to see him like that but you also found it kind of sweet. You wished that he could be like that all the time, that the world would let him be like that.

She nodded, retrieving them from the fridge before setting them down in front of you.

“So, I’ve never seen you two around these parts? Just passing through?” she asked, making conversation. It wasn’t something you were super used to, but it was the whole reason you were here.

Drunk people talked, so there was a good chance that someone heading a bar would have some information about what was going on in this town.

This time, you took over.

“We’re on a cross country road trip for our honeymoon” You smiled, holding up both you and Sam’s hands clasped together to show her. You had a huge grin on your face, that Sam copied after hearing you.

He knew that it was a lie, of course he did, but it still seemed so real. He just wanted it to be real...more than anything in the world.

“We just got married,” he added, flashing the jewelry he wore on his left hand. It was nothing more than costume jewelry but it sparkled in the light and looked legit. Anyone looking in would think that it was all official, and that was good enough.

The bartender clapped her hands together happily, eyeing both you and Sam together. “I knew it, you two are such a darling couple” she cooed, shocking you both. It was all an act, of course, but it was clear that she couldn’t tell.

In fact, she was adamant about the fact that you two were the most perfect couple she had ever seen in her life. ...which was a little awkward in all respects.

Still, with as excited as she was, she told you everything she knew about the werewolves, or whatever they were. So excited in fact that she filled in all the blanks and gave you enough information to at least figure out what you were dealing with.

…

“That was crazy huh? She really believed that we were married” Sam laughed, his head falling back against the headrest of the driver's seat, his eyes locked on you.

You nodded, smiling at him as you thought over the whole conversation the two of you’d had with the bartender. She had gushed over you so hard that you were actually excited about it as well.

Which wasn’t going to end well, considering that you were desperately in love with the man to your left.

“I know, she was definitely a fan” you shrugged, absentmindedly reaching over to take his hand in your own before you even thought about what you were doing. “She wasn’t wrong” he allowed, shocking you both.

He hadn’t meant to say that out loud but he couldn’t help it. When he was with you, Sam felt like he was free and passing that up would be a terrible idea. It wasn’t exactly a huge secret that he cared about you but admitting it was a whole other ballgame.

“Are you serious?” you whispered, unsure if he had really thought through the consequences of what he was saying. Once those feelings were out in the open, the two of you couldn’t exactly put the lid back on the cookie jar.

It would all be out there, for real.

...and you weren’t sure you were ready for it.

“I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life”

[beetlefursuits]

Why Your First Fursuit Commission Was a Disaster! (or How to Prevent it)

Being approached by a stranger asking you to be THE fursuit artist they have chosen can make you feel AMAZING and eager to say YES!

Out of all the artists out there, they picked you!

The immediate assumption is that you can knock that project out and get some money in your pocket, while filling out your portfolio, gaining some experience, and having some fun!

But pause a moment, step back and think “Am I ready for this? Is this the right client for me? Do I even WANT to do commissions?”

Before you jump into business with someone, consider the following list of reasons that this project (or this client) might not be the correct fit for you.

Six Tips For Success in Choosing Which Fursuit Commissions to Accept (and which to avoid!)

#1. Will I ENJOY Doing This Project? 

Is this REALLY something you want to make? 

When a new project crosses your eyeballs and you get that excited glow, you can immediately imagine how great it will be to show off the finished product in your portfolio.

But stop and REALLY think about the project you are considering, break it down into every aspect, every small detail that you will have to source and buy materials for, that you will have to construct and sew and cut and sculpt and paint, and then decide how jazzed you really feel about building it.

300 rosettes (you realize only after counting each one) will look amazing but consider sewing each one and how does that make you feel. Sew a test spot just so you can time yourself and feel it out.

Those cool markings? How will you do that? By machine? By hand? Do you have the fur for it in stock? Does it even exist and do you know where to find it?

How will you do the long hair to get that particular shape? Does it have Spikes? Horns? Both? What will they be made from? Have you done it before? Does that prospect of making something new excite you? Or do you feel dread?

If you are not starting it immediately, consider how interested you will still be in a few weeks or months once that initial glow has faded, the deposit has been spent, and what’s left is a pile of materials and the prospect of a lot of hard work.

If there is an aspect of the project that you do not like, consider that future clients will see this work and assume it’s the type of project you wish to do again.

#2. Am I CAPABLE of Completing this Project?

Building a commission is NOT like building a personal fursuit.

With a personal project, you do not need to discuss your ideas with others, you do not need to stick to a reference or plan, you can cut corners with sewing or final finishing, etc.

A commission requires a lot of back-and-forth discussion between the artist and the client. You have to consider the opinion of someone else. You need to accurately size it to a person you have never met and who cannot try it on during the process. Everything has to be finished and durable and clean.

Following are 4 quick tips to consider if you’re ready to accept client work:

Do you know how long it takes (roughly) to build a (non personal) fursuit?

Have you already made and sold artistic liberty/artist-designed/premade projects? When you are starting out, this is how you decide on your pricing and deadlines. It’s not good to enter into an agreement with no idea what to charge or how long it will take you!

Do you have a dedicated work space/guaranteed amount of time available?

Fursuit making takes a lot of space (Huge awkward foam rolls to store and fur to spread out while you pattern/cut. Duct tape dummies awkwardly starfish out their arms and legs all the time and don’t help at all with the sewing) and it’s much easier to work on commissions when you separate life and work areas.

If you currently have other major obligations besides fursuit making (such as work, family, health, and school) which already take (or have the potential of taking) most (or all) of your available time, then it might not be the right time to take full suit commissions. Artist-designed projects and smaller projects will offer more flexibility for unpredictable and limited time—and energy.

Are there a lot of new elements to the project that you have not done before?

Some things may look easy and then when you start building it you realize that it’s much more involved than you expected. This can be a huge drain on your time, your money, and your motivation (which just compounds those first two issues).

An example could be a character with 3 tails. It’s just 1 tail(X3) right? But will they all fit correctly together? Do you make and attach them as one tail or leave them separate? Will they bounce or sit weirdly? Do you now need to make a new ‘side tail’ pattern so they splay out in an appealing manner?

Or say you take on a particularly tall client and you suddenly have to research and develop all new larger hand and foot designs as your current ones do not fit them or the padding you normally make looks too small now and needs to be remade larger.

These are all aspects worth considering. To prevent taking on more than you can handle, my suggestion is to take on no more than one new aspect (that is preferably no more than 10-15% of the project) on each commission that you’ll need to research and develop. You will probably go over time and over budget on these new processes at first (as you gain experience you naturally find ways to craft things quicker and easier) so it’s best to not knowingly take projects that you do not yet have the skills and/or experience to fulfill.

Can you take criticism?

Paid artistic work invites criticism. Sometimes something you make does not work out. You loved it and the client hates it. Or it doesn’t fit. Or it fell apart. That is all part of learning and growing and trying new things. Can you take the corrections, make it right, and move on?

If you feel that you currently cannot emotionally/mentally/physically handle potential setbacks/obstructions/times where things just don’t go your way; stick with non-client projects that are easier to control and fit to your schedule (premade suits. ears and tails. fursuit props.) and revisit commissions further down the road.

#3. Is the Client Displaying Red Flags?

Knowing which clients to turn away is a valuable skill.

As your business grows, it pays in your time, resources, and sanity to know when to refuse a commission (or when to cancel a commission) and to do so as early and gracefully as possible.

If you watch for situations like these, you can focus on cultivating happy, excited, and RESPECTFUL clients who love your work and your preferred artistic style. Not those who try to cut corners or denigrate or manipulate you for their own goals.

Here are 6 ‘red flags’ to consider when picking or accepting client projects.

The client complains (a lot) about their previous artist(s)

Simple, constructive, and legit complaints are one thing (the client says “Artists tend to get this marking wrong so here is how I really want it.” or “My last artist used these materials but it broke so can we try something else.”)

If instead the client immediately gossips about/trash-talks previous artists to you, it shows a lack of social boundaries and the high potential that they will then trash-talk about you/your work in the future.

Poor Quality Reference art.

This one is not a deal-breaker as long as it is not paired with an uncommunicative and/or demanding client.

If the client wants a “sly grey wolf” then we may proceed as long as we both understand that it will be my personal version of that idea and might not match what’s in the clients head.

If the very specifically-desired concept involves complex unclear markings, specific tattoos that are not consistent across the reference, the client’s desired fursuit and the reference do not match, a blurred photograph of a scratchy OC reference, etc; IE ANYTHING you cannot make heads nor tails of.. then ask them to clear this up with a favorite reference artist first and get back to you.

(And If YOU are your favorite reference artist, make sure to charge appropriately for the extra service!)

The client is a child or cannot/will not prove their age.

Children cannot be held to a contract in the USA and most fursuit artists require their clients to be over 18 (many are starting to ask for proof such as a photograph of a legal ID). You may choose to proceed with the project but the contract, payment, and all discussion needs to go through the child’s legal adult caretaker.

A client who micro-manages you and/or your work through constant criticism, proposed changes, or ‘redlines’ of your work.

These clients (though generally well-meaning) are honestly hell on the self-esteem. The occasional suggestion or constructive criticism (as mentioned earlier!) can be very helpful in determining the angle to take on a project or future projects.

But CONSTANT red lines and complaints and ‘suggested changes’ to your work (that they keep suggesting because they don’t even KNOW what they really want from you) means that NEITHER of you is going to come out of it feeling very happy about the art. Cancel and refund them and move on. I promise that it’s worth it.

The client disagrees with the quoted price/requests a discount/attempts to change the commission parameters.

“No” is a complete sentence.

To elaborate on that further; not everyone who asks for a discount is like this but be warned that there ARE potential clients who look for bright new fursuit makers, with the intent to jump on them early and obtain a new commission at a low price by (knowingly or unknowingly) taking advantage of the artist’s inexperience.

I am going to give a fictional example of this situation to show how insidious it can be:

You are still unsure about fullsuit commissions but you say on social media that you’re thinking you could try a head? An acquaintance says yes! Me! PLeeeeese. They seem excited so you agree for an introductory price. This new client chats a lot and seems friendly.

Could they get feet?? Feeling on-the-spot you agree since they’re ‘friends’. You’ve not made feet on commission yet so you underestimate the difficulty and under-charge. The client seems happy tho. They discuss a few changes they want to the head (that they’re sure they mentioned in the initial quote). Maybe you forgot??

This all takes some time and meanwhile they show you some reference art they just got done of a different character and ask to move the commission to this since you don’t have THAT much done yet. Also how much for hands?? They find you at a con and offer to buy you a drink. You restart the work.

A few more rounds of these (or similar) behaviours. The client starts to complain how long it’s taking. Maybe they drive other potential clients away with their actions or threaten an artist beware on you. And eventually you realize you’ve been manipulated and bullied into taking on a complicated fursuit that you had no intentions of making and have very severely undercharged for. Not fun!!

Instead of this situation coming to pass, hold your ground in the beginning and refuse to ‘add’ to a commission or to change a commission after it’s been paid for and/or started. This muddles what you’re working on and allows the client an opportunity to keep changing things forever. (instead treat the add-on as a brand new commission to be started only after the current part is finished and paid for)

Do not entertain those who think you’re not worth the price you’re asking for. Do not give ‘friends discounts’. Friends want to see you succeed!

Other artists warn against working with them.

Get to know other fursuit artists! We are usually happy to vouch for good clients and warn about any particular issues you may experience with others. Sometimes there are issues that prevent one artist-client relationship but can be managed within another and eventually other artists might recognize which clients to refer to you (and you to them).

If you are wondering how to start this type of discourse, there are public groups on Facebook or considering joining a fursuit artist’s Patreon and/or Telegram chat! Many fursuit makers have one (or both) of these with various mentoring tiers.

As an example, all of my patrons are given a link to join my Telegram chat where you can share your work and receive critique from a like-minded audience. At higher tiers you can join my Discord to share and chat in real time.

If there is a fursuit artist that you admire, ask them and see what they offer!

#4. Do I Need The Money?

Fursuits are maybe NOT quite the jackpot they might first appear to be

Fursuits are deceptive. It sounds like a great deal to gain several thousand dollars in one simple cheque, but, if you are not careful with budgeting, if you undercharge, or under-estimate how long it will take; you can find yourself falling into a state of using future projects to pay your current project materials, shipping, taxes, etc; as well as your regular life expenses like rent, car, insurance, utilities, loan repayments, etc.

The simplest practice is to prevent this entirely right from your first commission! My suggestion is to first take on smaller projects with a quick turn-over. This keeps you flexible to increase your prices or change your practices as needed. Then when you have enough savings to keep yourself afloat (so that you will not need to dip into your fursuit deposit money even if things don’t go exactly on schedule), you can take larger projects with longer turn-around times and higher price-points.

If you do find yourself in a situation where you NEED the money immediately; the issue is that you will be much more motivated to take on more difficult clients, less fulfilling projects you don’t really like, and overall accepting a worse deal for you for the reward of immediate payment (which then exacerbates the issues by giving you more work for the future and then pushing you further into the hole). Sadly, getting out of this situation can be very difficult.

Sparkle Kreations writes:

In my earlier business years, I found myself in a deep hole; I struggled financially day to day, I had over 80 clients on my list, and I was overwhelmed by the amount of work to be done. There were solutions, all very challenging decisions laid out before me. One path was the one most recommended, was that I go out and get a full-time job as I slowly refunded everyone on my list (a viable decision, advised to me by furry and non-furry alike) while I continue living and paying my living expenses. Another path was that I completely close off all large commissions, only taking on a few quick/small commissions to keep a bit of income flow, closely budgeting every dollar that I spend as I worked on my queue and knocked out my commissions until they were all complete. So I chose a hard path to regain my business name; I started by being completely honest with all of my customers and offering refunds if they chose. I then worked 6-7 days a week/8-10 hours a day, for about 5 to 6 years. I watched my budget closely, avoided going to conventions so I could instead refund customers. I now run a successful business that is financially stable, with a comfortably-sized queue, where myself and my assistant comfortably work a 5 day/35 hour work-week.

Finally, keep in mind that what really matters is not the $$$$ on the cheque but actually how it distills into $/hour. An artist is limited by the hours they are able to put into the work and a sexy $$$$ fursuit deposit might not actually gain you more in the end than several smaller $$$ projects with quicker overall turn-around times. Track your time and choose the most profitable options to promote and pursue.

(For much more on the physical realities of running a business, read my previous blog article “What I’ve Learned From The Past Decade Working as a Professional Fursuit Artist”)

#5. Can I communicate effectively with others?

Good communications are key with all client-artist interactions.

Can you stay calm, be professional, and set expectations? Poor communication (on either artist or client end) can easily snowball into angry clients and artists, stress and anxiety, emotional withdrawal from your work, misunderstandings, and even artist bewares.

There are several important aspects to communicating effectively:

Can you stay calm and professional even when the client is combative?

At some point, you will have a difficult client. When this happens, you need to stay professional and work through the issues with them. If you cannot agree then you might need to part ways. You must do so with the grace and assurance that you did everything possible to fix the situation. If you think “Taken out of context, will this screenshot look bad?” And the answer is “yes,” then you need to step back, collect yourself, and rewrite your reply.

Can you set expectations?

As the artist, you can choose your commission methods, but you need to be VERY CLEAR to the client what those methods are, what your expectations are (for them and for you), and how the commission process will proceed. Before you take any clients, figure out what you what you want out of the commission process. Do you want to take on clients for money? For the satisfaction of a job well done? For the social challenge of managing an artist-client relationship? Or the artistic drive of working to a specific goal and schedule? Aka WHY do you want to take commissions??

If you have not developed your own drive and are not familiar with your own commission process then you are not ready to move a client through that process

Are you ready to directly and clearly (and repeatedly if needed) communicate your policies to a client through the design, payment, construction, delivery, potential changes or repairs of the commission?

If you need payment by X date or they’ll be dropped from the queue, you need to inform them of this. If they have an issue with the work you did (and you need them to ship the item back asap so you can fix it before their warranty runs out), you need to inform them of this urgency and what failing to act by the deadline will result in.

Don’t leave it up to the client to know your policies. Your policies/procedures should be on your website Terms Of Service (TOS) that you had the client read and agree to, but a little refresher (plus a reasonable and clear deadline, if applicable) allows everyone to move on informed and aware of the consequences.

Do you have a method to communicate with your clients and be available for them to discuss issues with you?

I’m not saying be available 24-7 (an important self-care aspect is having certain hours of the day and/or the week to yourself without any work concerns) but if the client has an issue, how will they communicate that with you so that you can respond in an effective and timely manner? Do you prefer Telegram? Email? Twitter? Decide how you want to conduct business matters and let clients know where/when to contact you.

Do you have a method to update your clients and ask their opinions?

Depending on how you like to work, you do not need to ask a client’s opinion on every aspect of the build. However, showing your work and giving updates on the progress will make the client feel happy and secure in their commission choice.

One easy method for updating that I like is to keep a Trello board of projects where the client can always see the current progress of their commission. Telegram is a popular group chat client. It’s nice for sending pics/videos to clients and the ever classic email is perfect for initial quotes and longer back and forth discussions.

Can you always be honest with your clients?

It’s hard to run an entire business by yourself and you might promise too much or underestimate how long something will take or you life circumstances change and you now have less time to work. When these things happen, you need to be honest and transparent to your client. Explain the issues you are having (in simple, appropriate terms), apologize, and try to work with the client on a solution.

If you are going through some things that might affect work or deadlines, let them know. Keep in mind though, this doesn’t mean you have to share ALL of your struggles if what you are going through will not affect them. Just share what you feel they need or deserve to know.

#6. Do I have other artistic or personal goals right now?

Are commissions even right for you? 

If you have other things that are important in your life right now, it’s perfectly acceptable to focus your time on them instead of commissions.

Depending on your stage of life, you might still be in school. Or have a family. You might have another job or a hobby you enjoy. You also might just have other artistic goals that existing commissions do not fit into right now. People love your canines but you want to try cats instead. Or cosplay.

Or you don’t know what you want to do yet but agreeing to a many-month long contract is not that.

The desire for quality fursuit work from reputable artists is high;

if you are active in your community, your peers might try to convince you into taking their project.

It’s great that they love your work! But if the project is not in the direction you wish to go, does not offer enough money in compensation for sacrificing something else you want to do instead, or you do not feel like you can dedicate the time needed, it’s okay (and probably necessary!) to say no!

The ultimate goal in taking client commissions is to have them bring you MORE satisfaction and fulfillment than they take away; Be that in monetary, social or artistic terms.

Figure out your personal drive in being a fursuit artist. Create and run a thoughtful, intentional, and passionate business; whether you decide to take on 30 clients, 1 client, or zero clients.

Above all, have fun with it! Bring those characters to life without losing your own.

[justauthoring]

Running, Freedom, Salvation (Epilogue)

Prompt: “Run, run, run. That’s all we ever do. All we’ve ever done.” You paused, feeling the wind brush through your hair. Taking a deep breath, you steadied yourself and met his eyes. “Do you think it’ll finally stop?”

Maze Runner: one - two - three - four - five - six - seven - eight

Scorch Trials: one - two - three - four - five - six

Death Cure: one - two - three - four - five

A/N: I’d just like to state that i’m an actual idiot. So,  yeah, that’s great. I kept stating prologue when I clearly meant EPILOGUE -- so please excuse my dumbass.

Please don’t plagiarize my work - I spend a lot of my time writing, copying and pasting destroys that. If you want to repost my work. please ask first - but even then I might say no.

Pairing: Newt x Reader & Minho x Reader

Tag List: @blackbrokerosey - @some-fantasy-thoughts - @ilovemymoose - @alienadvocate - @itsfangirlmendes - @thatproffessionalfangirl - @nightingalethewriter - @143amberrose - @joycewrites - @floweryukheii - @hey-margot - @hippieballs - @wearegoldeninthenight - @betcoop - @crystalshines2909 - @darthweasley7 - @desired-love- - @honeymoonavenue - @legit-fandom-trash - @musicandbeat - @thespeedofwind - @sellinxhs - @sumlariss - @togetherlikepeanutbutterandjelly - @sarcasmdunbar - @strangerthingsluv - @mythicalamphitrite - @thisishowieroll - @independentgirl​ - @heathernsweets​ - @illumminated - @highly-uncomfortable-titles - @ktminn01 - @awkwardlyarts - @j-marvel-memester - @mdgrdians - @writingandhotcocoa - @shootingstarsaretearsofheaven - @verkyun

“Y/N...”

“Mm, Newt.”

With a soft sigh, you shift, rolling over to your other side on your small bed, your hand instinctively reaching out for the owner of that familiar voice. You expect to feel his body next to yours, and you don’t notice the lack of warmth next to you. When you reach out, fingers reaching out for him, you don’t think anything of it. It just made sense.

But then, nothings there, and your hand simply ends up setting itself on the empty space next to you, the sheets cold beneath your fingers. Instantly, your body tenses and your eyes flicker open, peering through a blurred and tired vision. For a second, just a second, he’s there, and then, you blink and he’s gone.

Because he’s dead.

You inhale deeply, rolling over once more until you’re on your back, staring up at the ceiling of your tent, watching as the light morning breeze ripples through it. You figure it’s still fairly early, and you feel goosebumps grow onto the skin of your arms as you pull your sheets back, your chest rising and falling peacefully. As opposed to how you feel. You don’t feel at peace at all, in fact, the complete opposite.

It’s been months, months of this and yet, Newt won’t leave your mind. You’ve woken up too many mornings in a row expecting him to be there, physically reaching out for him, only to have your heartbroken again and again and again. And not to mention, how many times you’ve woken up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, huffing and puffing because your out of breath and scared out of your mind. 

And the worst part? Newt’s not there to hold you anymore. 

Sometimes, you’ll wake up screaming, and Minho, it’s always Minho, will come running in from the tent next to yours, in a panic and worried. And he hold you, cradle you until you calm enough to fall back asleep. But it’s not the same. It never will be.

When will it end?

Sighing, you push yourself up, slipping the covers off of you and letting your bare-feet touch the cool grass beneath your feet. Your toes slightly curl instinctively in response, but you don’t think much of it, pushing yourself up to a stand and grabbing some clothes to slip into. It’s colder then normal, so you slip on a jacket as well, running your hands over your face briefly, as if to prepare yourself for another day, before heading out.

When you slip out of your tent, you nearly run into Brenda. “Oh, Y/N, I was just about to wake you. Breakfast is ready.” She smiles warmly up at you, eyes crinkling in delight as you furrow your brows.

“I slept in?”

She shrugs; “a little. We figured you needed the sleep.”

“We?”

“Thomas and I.”

You nod, sending her a small smile. Deciding to amuse yourself a little (and to take your mind off things, if only just a little), your small smile turns into a grin as you glance down at Brenda in curiosity. “I heard you and Thomas recently moved into the same tent.” You comment offhandedly, falling into step next to her as you smirk. “How’s that going?”

Brenda’s cheeks warm a little, shaking her head and dismissing your obvious tease. “We needed more tents.”

“You could’ve bunked with me.”

Biting her lip, Brenda can’t stop the smile that grows on her lips. “It’s good,” she finally confesses, meeting your eyes briefly as your smile turns more genuine. Because you are, you truly are happy for her and Thomas. Happy things seem to be working out towards the two. “I mean, it’s still a little awkward and well, I know he still thinks of her a lot. But... I think it’s going well.”

Her; Teresa. “Give it time,” you assure, setting your hand on her shoulder. “Thomas cares for you, and I know he loved her, but I think he does love you too.”

Brenda smiles appreciatively at you. “Most of the time he spends just talking about you anyway.”

Frowning, you pause in your step, halting Brenda as well as she turns to face you. “Me?” You question, gesturing to yourself with furrowed brows. “What about me?”

Brenda shrugs, tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear. “He’s worried about you, Y/N. We all are.”

Worried about what? You wanna ask, but you already know the answer.

Wordlessly, you lower your gaze to your feet, moving to walk forward, brushing past Brenda lightly. You don’t miss her eyes following your figure worriedly, before eventually moving to follow behind you. When you two reach the rest, you both easily make your way over to where Thomas, Minho and the rest are sat. The two of you part to your respective seats silently, her next to Thomas and you next to Minho, in between him and Thomas.

“Morning, Y/N.” Thomas smiles at you, tired behind the eyes.

You force a smile onto your lips. It isn’t that you’re not happy to see your brother, but Brenda’s words previously repeat like a mantra in your head. You don’t mean to make everyone worried, it’s just hard for you to move on from Newt’s death. He’d been your whole world, the most important person to you. There was a time where you couldn’t imagine a life without him, and now you knew why. Life was miserable without him.

You were happy to be given a second chance. That so many of your friends had been too. But, it just didn’t seem enough to you without him.

“Morning, Thomas.”

Brenda pulls his attention on her, and for a moment, your eyes linger on the two of them for a moment longer before a tap on your arm catches your attention. You turn, meeting Minho’s eyes as he smiles down at you. “I grabbed you a plate,” he explains, gesturing said plate over to you.

“Oh,” you say softly, taking it from his hands. “Thank you, Minho.”

“No problem, shebean,” he grins.

Rolling your eyes at the name, you snort lightly, shaking your head, “haven’t heard that one in a long time. Brings me back to the old days.”

“You ever think about the maze?” Minho questions, his eyes on you, but loud enough that the question was generalized towards everyone. At least, Fry and Gally as well, and maybe Thomas. “I mean, we used to think we’d never leave that place, but now look at us.”

“I do think that’s thanks to Thomas,” Fry reminds, raising a brow over to said boy.

Thomas just looks up, slightly dumbfounded.

“Hey!” Minho suddenly calls, face scrunching in mock hurt. “I helped too!”

A chorus of laughs echoes around before Gally speaks up; “and Y/N too.”

You blink as everyone’s eyes fall on you. Thomas smiles warmly; “Y/N was the smart one out of the three of us. Minho and I surely would’ve got ourselves killed if it wasn’t for Y/N.”

“Damn straight!” Minho calls out, wrapping an arm around your shoulder as he pulls you closer. “I owe my life to Y/N.”

“Oh hush up,” you roll your eyes, taking a bite out of your food. “I didn’t do anything.”

“Uh, yes, you did,” Fry calls out, staring at you like you were crazy. “I mean, part of me was scared of you back then, you were so badass.”

“Was?” You question, quirking a brow.

“Still are!” Fry calls out in hurry, raising his hands in mock surrender. You just laugh, rolling your eyes.

“I still think Y/N should’ve been Keeper of the Runners.” Gally comments, nodding to himself.

Brenda pauses, raising a brow; “keeper?”

“Leader of sorts,” you explain to her, meeting her gaze with a shrug. “There was respective jobs in the glade and each job had a leader. That sort of thing. Minho was Keeper of the Runners. Which, by the way,” you turn to the boys, “thank God. I definitely wouldn’t have been a good leader.”

“Yes, you would’ve,” Minho nods without hesitation pulling your eyes on him with parted lips. “I mean, before you were out for a bit, you knew the maze better then even me. Plus, like Thomas said, you’re smart.”

Rolling your eyes, you shake your head; “yeah, right.”

“I could see it,” Thomas comments, nodding. 

“Me too!” Fry grins.

“See?” Gally smirks, “what’d I say?”

You just snort.

“Man, this really is like the old days.” Minho comments, his arm still wrapped around your shoulders as everyone’s eyes fall on him. You turn to him with pursed lips, curious as to what he means. He seems to catch everyone’s gaze, smirking down at you. “Everyone’s fighting for Y/N’s attention.”

Thomas and Brenda glance at each other, but Fry and Gally just laugh as you shake your head. “Wait, what?”

“Back in the glade,” Gally clarifies, “all us boys used to fight for your attention.”

“Even you Gally? I thought you hated me.”

“I didn’t hate you,” he pouts, crossing his arms over his chest. “And yes, even me.”

“But no one could compete with Newt.”

It’s a simple comment made by Fry. He means it harmlessly, just trying to pitch in, and truthfully, it shouldn’t bother you. It wasn’t like they were all restricted from evening mentioning Newt’s name. But, despite reminiscing on the past, Newt hadn’t crossed your mind once in the first time in a long time. And it felt nice, being able to enjoy yourself. But the second you hear his name, it all just comes crashing down at your shoulders all over again.

You sink into yourself, everyone notices.

“Fry!” Minho hisses, glaring, “come on, man!”

“Shit, sorry,” Fry winces, his eyes reading sorry as he frowns over at you. “I didn’t mean to... Oh, shit, i’m sorry--”

“It’s fine,” you brush him off, shaking your head, desperate to ignore everyone’s heavy gaze on you. “You were just trying to pitch in and honestly, it’s not like you guys aren’t allowed to even talk about... him. I don’t know why I got so upset. It’s fine. Honestly, guys, it’s fine.”

It’s not fine.

Setting down your food, you push yourself to your feet, tired of everyone’s gaze on you, Minho’s arm falling by his side limply. “I just remembered, Vince needed me to do something. So, i’m just, yeah...”

You turn without another word. 

Minho calls out for you, moving to chase after you, but Thomas stops him before he can. He explains it’s best he talks to you and then rushes off after you without another word, leaving Minho to sit back with a deep frown on his face, his chest heavy.

“Y/N!”

Closing your eyes at the sound of Thomas’ voice, you inhale sharply, wiping at your tears. Stop crying. Stop crying!

His hand falls on your shoulder in the next second, gently tugging you to face him. He blinks slightly at the redness of your eyes and shoulders slumping, you sniffle, hands falling by your side uselessly. “I’m fine, Thomas,” you whisper, even though it’s clear you’re not. You just want to be left alone. You don’t want to be a bother and you don’t want to worry Thomas more than you probably already have. “Just eat your breakfast, i’m fine--”

He interrupts you, his arms wounding around you and pulling you flush against him in a tight hug. Your lips are left parted in surprise, for a moment stunned as Thomas just holds you. One hand cradling the back of your head and the other wrapped around your waist, his embrace warm and comforting and just everything you needed in that moment. Tears well in your eyes once again and a sob leaves your lips as you clutch onto Thomas, gripping the back of his jacket tightly.

“I loved him,” you whisper, voice cracking. “I loved him more than anything.”

“I know,” Thomas whispers, “I know...”

“I don’t know what to do.”

Thomas pulls back at that, only far enough that he can meet your gaze and raising his hand off the back of your head, he moves to wipe your tears, shaking his head. “The only thing you can do.”

Choking up on your words, you shake your head. “What’s that?”

“Live.”

You frown, biting your lip.

“I know it’s hard, but, Y/N,” Thomas continues, voice soft, understanding. “Newt wouldn’t want you to live the rest of your life like this. He’d want you to be happy, move on, live your life. You’re allowed to live your life.”

“But... I can’t imagine a life without him.”

“I know,” he nods, “I thought the same thing with Teresa.” We’re just the same. “But even if it’s hard, it’s possible. Once I let Brenda in, it got better. I still love Teresa, but I know she’d want me to be happy.”

Swallowing thickly, your shoulders fall. “But there’s no one else...”

Thomas just raises a brow, doubting your words and with a frown, it hits you. “Minho,” You whisper, glancing down at your feet.

“Minho cares about you, Y/N. A lot.”

It was true. Since everything, since you arrived at the Safe Haven, he’s been there for you. Supported you. He was the only who came running in when you had a nightmare, he was the one who always made sure you were comfortable and alright. He always had, but now, with Newt gone, he made sure to fill in the gaps that were absent without Newt.

But... you didn’t love him.

“What if I don’t love him?”

“That’s alright.”

Pausing, you blink; whispering; “what if I never do?”

“That’s okay. Just as long as you’re not alone.”

-

“Y/N?”

Blinking, you glance up, watching as the flap of your tent slowly pulls open, Minho poking his head in. “Can I come in?”

You nod with ease, turning your gaze back to truly nothing, as Minho quietly makes his way in. He takes a seat next to you on your bed, shoulder gently bumping your own without thought as he keeps his on you, even if you don’t meet it. 

“Thomas, uh, told me that you wanted to talk to me?”

You nod once more, trying to muster the courage to actually speak. 

You don’t have to love him. Just anything not to be alone.

“How long?”

Minho pauses at your question, brows furrowing as you finally turn to meet his eyes. Your eyes search his, watching as confusion fills his gaze and he jerks his head back in wonder, “what do you--”

“How long have you loved me?”

And then he just pauses. Doesn’t say anything for a while. He stares at you, blinking, stunned as if he searches for some kind of answer to how you knew that and why the hell you would just so suddenly ask that. But then, he thinks, Thomas and it makes sense. And he knows you’re not stupid. It wasn’t something overly difficult to work out.

Honestly, he’s surprised you never figured it out earlier.

“Since you woke up in the box.”

Your eyes widen, lips parting. Out of all the answers, you hadn’t expected that. That was so... long ago. Years go. So much had happened since that day, since the day you woke up in the glade and found yourself surrounded by all boys and not a single girl.

And at first, it didn’t make sense. Because you remember when you woke up in the glade and you remember how indifferent Minho had been towards you. He wasn’t Keeper of the Runner’s yet and had just recently become a Runner. He wasn’t that high up in the ranks yet and he’d just been so distant towards you. To be fair, so had you, but he avoided you. He didn’t approach you. Didn’t bother you.

It wasn’t until you became a Runner that the two of you become close.

But then again, he’d fought tooth and nail that day to avoid you being thrown in the slammer. And despite not knowing much about you, he was the one who convinced Alby and Newt to let you become a Runner. He was persistent about you becoming his partner. And you could still remember the absolute panic and fear in his eyes when he’d found you that day in the maze, the way he had ran faster then he ever had so that you didn’t die.

So, it did make sense. It made perfect sense.

You glance back down at your lap, not sure what to say. “I... didn’t know.”

Minho shrugs; “it never really bothered me. I mean, at first, i’d been jealous.” He laughs faintly at that, glancing up at seemingly nothing as if stuck in his own mind at the memory. “You and Newt... you’d been so close, you wouldn’t leave his side. It was clear, only a few weeks in, that Newt became your whole world. And, the worst part was that it was clear Newt felt the same. And for a long time, I was bitter.

“But then, you became a runner, and I got to know you. And I just fell more in love with you. Enough so that it didn’t matter to me that you didn’t return my feelings, just as long as you were happy. And if that meant with Newt, then, that was fine. I just wanted you happy.”

You turn to him, his eyes are already on your own, smiling softly.

“I still want you to be happy.” He clarifies, voice soft. “I’ll do anything to make you happy again.”

“Thomas says that I should start letting myself live,” you comment faintly, voice barely audible. “That Newt would want me to be happy and I should stop feeling guilty if it isn’t with him.” Pausing, you feel your eyes water, “I want to be happy.”

Lowering your gaze to Minho’s lap, you slip your hand into his. His lips part in surprise at the action before he finds his gaze pulled towards your own again, mesmerized by the sight of you.

“I don’t want to be alone anymore.”

“You won’t be,” Minho says without hesitation, “I promise.”

Your lips part to say something, but pause, unsure. It seems Minho already understands.

“It doesn’t matter to me if you don’t love me back. If you don’t return my feelings. I just want to be there for you. And I will, and i’ll wait until maybe you do. That maybe you do return my feelings.”

Frowning, you squeeze his hand; “what if I never do?”

Without hesitation, Minho smiles; “then you never do.”

His hand falls on your cheek, cupping it. You lean into the touch.

And then, something catches your eye. Something past Minho’s shoulder. When you turn to look at it, it’s as if time slows and your eyes widen when you see Newt standing there, in the corner of your tent.

He’s just smiling. All warm and bright and soft and it tells you everything you needed to know.

It’s okay.

I understand.

Be happy.

I’ll always be with you.

“Y/N?”

Blinking, you turn to Minho. He’s staring at you in confusion, slight concern and you can already hear the question on the tip of his tongue. So, simply smiling, you set your hand over his own, squeezing.

When you look back, Newt’s gone.

-

Well, there we go! Let me know what you thought?

[littlemisssquiggles]

...So about the ORNJ_JNPR T-shirt thing...

daggerpawstudios asked

“Okay I am the only confused by all the hate that Oscar is getting right now because they dropped some new merch at the RT Store. I am not sure if you heard that Team JNPR got called Team ORNJ on the new shirt. I feel like this is kind of a mistake on the marketing team's part and not really CRWBY. But now a lot of people are attacking RG shippers and Oscar fans and I don't really understand because it seems more like fragile egos”

Squiggles Answers:

@daggerpawstudios​

Hey there Dagger. Well to be honest with you fam, this squiggle meister has sort of been out of the RWBY loop for the past few months. Got a work project so I haven’t been as active as I normally would be in my squiggle shire here on Tumblr.

Nevertheless, I did sort of know about the shirt thing. I first heard the news from a tweet from RWBY Youtuber Calxiyn it over on Twitter. I then saw RWBY Youtuber ThatKaitoDan mention Oscar replacing Jaune as leader of Team JNPR in his own tweet post as well but I didn’t know the full context of what he meant by that until you brought this to my attention.

I didn’t know that RT had actually listed the shirt as Team ORNJ which in their case is…well…a big OOF on their part. Personally, I don’t think this is something that folks in the FNDM should be making a big hullabaloo about. I think it’s an obvious PR mistake on the marketing department who run the RT store releases since no offense to RT and whoever is in charge of promotion on their online store but…their record of “getting things right” their store especially with the FNDM hasn’t exactly been squeaky clean in the past.

Besides, another obvious giveaway to me as to why I think it’s more likely to be a minor error is the very fact that Jaune’s silhouette is still first in line.

Think about it. If Oscar had really usurped Jaune as leader of the team then why isn’t his silhouette first in the line up? 

Isn’t it not a golden rule of thumb that the leaders of each huntsmen team always appear first in the team line-up whenever they do the silhouette thing as we’ve seen previously with teams like RWBY and even the Ace Ops? 

Anyone with decent vision can clearly see that that’s Jaune’s silhouette at the front of the line. Not Oscar. If Oscar was truly the new leader of the team then why is he the third silhouette? 

If thing had really turned ORNJ, then the order should be Oscar, Ren, Nora and finally Jaune. But as you can clearly see, the order is Jaune, Ren, Oscar and Nora.----THE SAME ORDER THAT WAS FEATURED IN THE VOLUME 7 OPENING! Or did folks…y’know…forget that? 

I know V7 ended earlier in the year but have folks forgotten the season already with its opening sequence? After Team RWBY, we got the JNPR 2.0 gang and the order in which JNR and Oscar appear matches the T-shirt with Jaune being first, then Ren, then Oscar and finally Nora. So there you go. 

So I wouldn't worry too much about that Dagger. I agree with you in thinking that it was a simple error made by the RT store. However, that being said, the other part about people stirring discourse over this and worst yet attacking the Pinehead and Rosegarden community over this…do I even need to say how silly that sounds.

Much like with the ridiculous discourse that arose after the small Rosegarden moment in V7CH9, this is yet another classic example of certain-certain folks literally scraping the bottom of the barrel and using any excuse they could find to harp on something they don't like while unfairly accosting the people who do.

I feel really bad for my fellow Pineheads, Rosegardeners and Rosegardening Pineheads who were victims of this time of foolishness. Because that's what this all sounds like to my ears. Foolish fools acting foolish yet again.

Seriously, what does Oscar as a character or even Rosegarden as a ship have to do with something that was posted by the RT store and is clearly an error made by the people who run it?

Are certain-certain folks truly that desperate to stir up drama and conflict that they would honestly seep so low as to use a T-shirt design as fuel for an easy argument?

The Pinehead, Rosegarden and Rosegardening Pinehead communities get enough flak as it is but this is just...beyond silly!

I'm not implying that the hate brigade should train their anger on RT but how silly can you be to take something as a T-shirt design to that level of seriousness? Especially when the design more or less outs its own error. Am I missing something here? Is there another unknown part to this where the CRWBY Writers came out and confirmed that this is legit? Because otherwise, this is just…so…LIKE SERIOUSLY DUDE?!

I like RWBY a lot and in spite of my own personal gripes and nit-picks with the direction of the show at times in terms of its writing and treatment of the characters and their respective relationships and arcs---in spite of all that, I still actively enjoy the show and I’m still invested in seeing where the CRWBY Writers take it to the very end. However I’d be lying if all the constant discourse from the more “toxic” side of FNDM isn’t slowly starting to chip away at my excitement for the series. I can live with RWBY having flaws but what I don’t need are folks constantly going out of their way to use any excuse they could to express their own personal gripes with show; going as far as to abuse others in the process. That kind of stuff isn’t cool and it’s not good to witness through the eyes of someone who wants to enjoy the show or is at least trying to...y’know what I mean?

When I first heard the news of the JNPR shirts, I was excited. Not only is this the first merch we’ve gotten of JNPR in some time but it’s also the second merch to feature Oscar.

In case folks don’t realize, Oscar doesn’t have a lot of his own merchandise sold by RT which sucks for us Pineheads.

At least the OG JNPR/JNR have a couple of merchandise (albeit not as popular or abundant as Team RWBY’s but still there). 

But Oscar…not so much and the same can be said for Ozpin too.  It took RT six whole seasons to release ONE T-SHIRT DESIGN with Oscar and Oz on the front and even that was sort of short-lived since I don’t see that shirt advertising in the store anymore. It’s always the same ole Team RWBY stuff.

So with that in mind, this shirt was a first and a given. It’s so great to see Oscar together with JNR on a shirt because in a way, it makes it more official that he is a member of their group especially for those of us who were rooting for this to happen since V5.

I still don’t think it means that he is the leader because as I’ll say again, look at the order on the shirt design. Oscar is third. Right where Pyrhha used to be. How can he be leader and be third in the line-up? Oscar is meant to replace Pyrhha, not Jaune. 

In the case of this whole ORNJ JNPR T-shirt scandal, I don’t understand how on Earth a clear marketing typo could reach as far as to spark discourse for a fictional character of a series, his fans and the fans of one of his ships? AGAIN!

What does Team JNPR (or whatever they will be called) being miswritten as Team ORNJ has to do with us Pineheads, Rosegardeners and Rosegardening Pineheads? How are we as a fan community responsible for an error made by RT?

Even if there are Pineheads who think this should be official--NOT speaking for myself here but I have seen other Pineheads express their desire to see Oscar lead JNPR for their own reasons---still, this is no excuse to harp on someone for liking it just because you don’t.

You’re right Dagger; this doesn’t make sense to me either.

All I can say is that it is what is it. Another example of certain-certain folks using any excuse to harp on something they don’t like while trying to drag others down with them and/or ruin their good vibes. 

Seriously these types of folks are honestly scraping at the bottom of the barrel. I’m surprised they’re still able to see after sinking so low with their foolishness. If that sounds a bit too harsh then sorry; not sorry. 

Ever since the whole discourse over the minor Rosegarden moment for V7CH9, I have lost all patience with these types of fans. I honestly find them to be as dumb as their behaviour and it exhausts me just hearing about them and their nonsense. 

Losing their marbles and attacking my people over a bloody T-shirt error that ain’t got nothing to do with us.

SO...DAMN...SILLY!

I hope RT clears this up at some point. And even if they don’t, I really don’t see why people should believe this means anything. I certainly don’t.

Not like I want that to happen either. In my opinion, I was never in favour of ORNJ---at least, not right now when Oscar is still a teenager growing into his duties and responsibilities as a huntsman. To me, I only like the idea of Team ORNJ from the perspective of Jaune retiring/stepping down from his role as leader of a huntsman team; instead choosing to pass the torch onto Oscar after the former farm boy had matured into a fine huntsman under his team’s guidance and after proving himself in the eyes of his teammates, especially Jaune. 

Y’know that kind of idea. 

This is why I always referred to JNR and Oscar as JNPR 2.0. I want JNR to become Oscar’s team and surrogate brothers and sister in arms. I want Oscar and Jaune to have a close big brother-little brother type of dynamic where Oscar admires Jaune’s strength and leadership and looks up to him alot as both a close confidant (much like Ruby) and teammate while Jaune himself admires Oscar’s tenacity after everything he’s been through while making it his role to look out for him along with Nora and Ren.  

This doesn’t mean I want Oscar to replace Jaune as team leader nor do I think he should.

I’ve heard some folks rationalize that Oscar should lead JNR since he is Ozpin’s successor. Nothing against the folks who like this concept but if I were to add my $2.50 to this, I don’t think Oscar being Oz’s successor should automatically qualify him to take over JNR; y’know what I mean?

Jaune earned his place as leader of JNPR after proving his talent for leadership back in V1. 

The only time that Jaune took a step back was when Ruby led the group as RNJR between V4 and V5 since at the time, the trio were aiding Ruby with her objective to get to Mistral, as Ren said. But even then, Jaune was still a leader and  backed up Ruby’s calls with his own strategies. 

Not to mention that folks seem to be forgetting that Ozpin was the one who chose Jaune to lead JNPR.

Though we never got a scene of Jaune confronting Oz on his decision to make him team leader like we did with Ruby Rose in “The Badge and the Burden” episode (I think that was the title. Correct me if I’m wrong), much like Ruby, Oz picked Jaune and was of sound mind when he did. Oz picked Jaune to lead since despite his past hiccups and shortcomings, he saw that Jaune also had the makings of a great leader as shown during JNPR’s first fight against the Deathstalker.

So the whole notion of Oscar getting to be leader of JNR  JUST BECAUSE he’s Oz’s successor EVEN THOUGH it was Oz’s decision to choose Jaune to be leader of JNPR in the first place---yeah that doesn’t sit right with me. 

Jaune is meant to be a leader and JNPR is his team to lead; even with Oscar joining it. Sorry ORNJ-fans. But that’s where I stand on that. 

Anyways, that’s all I have to say on this subject. I hope I answered you Dagger.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2020)

[inspired-by-the-music]

Already Yours: Wooyoung x Reader

requests are encouraged! please read the guidelines before submitting your request!

Genre: angst; happy ending; best friends to lovers

Warning: a dance judge makes some inappropriate advances toward Wooyoung

Word Count: 1,778

Nobody knew better than you that Wooyoung was one of the best dancers at the Performing Arts University. Maybe it was because of your outspoken support for his dreams that Wooyoung asked you to accompany him to his audition for a coveted scholarship. 

"Please, Y/N," Wooyoung begged with pouted lips although you were already willing to drop your plans for him. "It would mean a lot for me to have at least one person there who thinks I'm good."

"Oh, come on." You couldn't help but roll your eyes at his unrealistic anxiety. "You're gonna be amazing. Those board members will have no choice but to give you the scholarship!"

He smiled at your assurance. "See-- this is why I need you there! You already made all those nervous butterflies in my stomach go away."

Who were you to deny Wooyoung's request? After you collapsed into a seat in the auditorium, you wore a proud grin and flashed him a thumbs-up as he took the stage. 

As captivating as he was, even down to minuscule details like the way his lips curled into a small smile to the way he tossed a quick wink at you, you forced yourself to look away from his performance to gauge the reactions of the judges. Your joy grew as you noted one approving judge after another-- until your gaze settled upon the youngest judge, a girl you recognized as a student-teacher. She eyed Wooyoung hungrily, licking her lips as his dance concluded. 

A furious blush stained your cheeks as you tore your eyes away from her. Aside from your undeniable romantic feelings for Wooyoung, dismissing the jealousy that would surely blossom if he returned that girl's interest in him, you were angered by such an inappropriate reaction to his talent-- especially because she was at least five or six years older and in a position of authority. 

Your rage deepened when, after the other two judges instantly agreed to award Wooyoung one of the main scholarships that required only one audition, she said, "I just wasn't. . . moved enough. Maybe if you work really hard, you can come back next month and try for the Merit Scholarship."

Despite your annoyance at the fact that one judge's opinion could overrule the others, and despite your irritation with her outright lie, Wooyoung accepted the criticism with a stiff smile. "Yes-- next time, I'll try harder to impress you."

You tried (and failed) not to gag at their exchange. 

When you looked for Wooyoung backstage, holding his flowers, you were nauseated to find that judge talking to him. All you could do was awkwardly stand aside and wait until she walked away to approach him. 

After contemplating what you witnessed between Wooyoung and the judge, you were worried that you wouldn't be able to force a smile, but that worry quickly subsided as he greeted you with open arms and a toothy smile. 

"You were so great!" You cheered as you embraced him and entrusted the roses to his grip. "Seriously, Wooyoung, I'm so proud of you."

Suddenly blushing, he turned his attention to the roses. "Ah, thank you so much, Y/N. I'm so happy you came."

"You're welcome, of course." Unable to contain your curiosity and searching for a way to voice your concerns, you asked, "So, um, what did she want?" You gestured vaguely, hoping he would understand that you were referring to the young judge. "Did she come to apologize for her bogus assessment of your performance."

"Huh?" Wooyoung quirked his head at you. "Oh, no, Seo-yun just came by to offer to coach me for my next audition. She says I need to work harder on engaging the audience with my facial expressions."

Instinctively, you scoffed. "You were perfectly engaging."

Somewhat reluctantly, Wooyoung said, "No offense, Y/N, because I know you're just trying to stick up for me, but you don't really know what you're talking about."

Your face flushed red; before you even processed his comment, you took a step away from him. "I don't know what I'm talking about?"

"Hey, don't look at me like that!" Wooyoung tried to comfort you by grabbing your arm, but you glared at him. "I said no offense." Then, perhaps realizing how weak that excuse was, Wooyoung adopted flattery to console you. "I just mean that you're a really good writer, but that doesn't mean you know anything about dance. Seo-yun was the top graduate here a few years ago, so she really knows what she's talking about."

You gently shook out of his grip. "Yeah? Well, I think you're too quick to accept her judgment--"

"I'm kind of supposed to, Y/N, she is a judge."

"No-- I mean, I watched her reaction during your performance, and she looked pretty engaged to me, judging by how she eyed you like you were some-- some kind of meal or something." You reddened at how your voice broke, but you trained your gaze into something more stern to conceal your embarrassment.

"Are you saying that Seo-yun only agreed to train me because she's attracted to me?" Wooyoung's tone was piercing. 

"Actually," you tried to match his irritation, "I'm saying that you would have gotten that scholarship today if she wasn't looking for a way to get close to you."

"Actually," Wooyoung seethed, "you're saying that I only got this opportunity in the first place because of my looks. Seo-yun recommended me for this scholarship in the first place."

Suddenly understanding why Wooyoung was insulted, you tried to apologize. "That's not what I meant--"

"But that's what you're saying!" Wooyoung's outburst attracted the attention of others backstage, but that didn't discourage him from continuing to tear into you. "It couldn't be that she wants to help me become a better dancer. It couldn't be that I've achieved everything through my hard work. It couldn't be that you just want to sabotage this for me."

"Woah, woah!" You rose your hands in surrender. "I'm sorry I obviously touched a nerve, and I'm sorry if I misread Seo-yun, but how is being concerned about you sabotage?"

Wooyoung accused, a line deepening between his eyebrows, "You're only saying these things because you don't want me to become a better dancer. Because then more people world like me, and I'd have more people to hang out with, and you wouldn't have as much inspiration for your little love stories."

You winced at the insult. "Actually, Wooyoung, I never thought you'd stop hanging out with me as soon as you got successful enough." You tried to gather the pieces of your newly shattered heart well enough to assert, "You don't have anything to worry about; you won't inspire me to do anything else except getting the hell out of here."

Wooyoung didn't seem especially interested in preventing you from storming out of the auditorium. As soon as you were safe from his harsh words, and you released some of your initial pain through tears, you found yourself wishing that you had snatched the roses before leaving. 

While you maintained in your mind that you were only trying to be a good friend, you had been right about Seo-yun, and Wooyoung had just overreacted because of his own insecurities and the disappointment of losing the best scholarship, you regretted that something so stupid had ruined your friendship. 

Maybe some part of you longed to have a little less self-respect so you could justify texting Wooyoung an apology. Instead, you spent the next couple of weeks avoiding each other with equal effort. 

You were starting to believe the rift between you was permanent until one day in the library, you looked up from your notebook to see Wooyoung sitting across from you. 

Once you met his gaze, you snapped the book closed and coolly explained, "Don't worry, I'm not writing sonnets about you or anything."

Wooyoung frowned playfully. "That's too bad."

Despite your relief that he was speaking to you again, you snapped. "Wooyoung, you can't just show up and flirt with me like nothing happened. You really hurt my feelings, you know."

"Yeah, I know," Wooyoung admitted, frowning. Taking a deep breath, he apologized, "I'm sorry. Even if you weren't totally right about Seo-yun, I shouldn't have talked to you like that. You've always been my biggest supporter, and I never should have forgotten that. Please forgive me?"

"I forgive you," you decided with a nod as soon as he finished. 

A smile danced on Wooyoung's lips. "Already? You don't want more groveling?"

You shrugged, "Nah, I've been mad long enough. And I can't help but forgive you when you look so sad." When Wooyoung only responded with silence, you said, "Um, I'm sure your practice for the scholarship audition is going well. Wanna tell me about it?"

Wooyoung blushed and chuckled softly. "I already told you, Y/N, you were totally right about Seo-yun. I met her in the studio last night for practice. It started off legit, but somehow she ended up trying to kiss me--"

"She what?" Your jaw fell open. Sure, you knew Seo-yun was attracted to Wooyoung, but you didn't believe she would make a move on him. 

"I mean, she didn't actually kiss me because I kinda ran out of there." As if unphased by the experience, he winked at you and said, "I couldn't have her stealing what belongs to you--"

"Seriously, Wooyoung, cut it out with the flirting," you demanded, hoping he wouldn't notice the blush rising to your cheeks. "How can you joke when you're telling me about something like this?"

Wooyoung's eyebrows rose. "Who said I was joking? Seriously, why would I let her kiss me when that would obviously make you mad?"

"It's not that I would be mad about you kissing someone," you lied. Ignoring Wooyoung's skeptical gaze, you concluded, "I just don't like how she looked at you. I don't like how she tried to manipulate your dream to have a chance with you."

"Don't tell me that you stopped liking me because of what I said backstage," Wooyoung pleaded. "I know I was a douche to you, but. . ." He trailed off, either unwilling or unsure of how to finish the sentence.

You teased, "Tell me, when exactly did I start liking you?"

Undeterred by your act, Wooyoung guessed, "I don't know, the day we met? All I know is that I really like you, and I still owe you a huge apology for all that Seo-yun drama, so I think you should let me take you on a date."

And when he smiled at you like that, you really couldn't deny any of his requests. 

[evening-blossoms]

So um. I'm a total idiot and forgot an entire day of my own challenge. I was gonna keep it that way since nobody had noticed but... that day was something I'd wanted to talk about for a while so...

Welcome to the very late and out-of-schedule day 10 of my SGE Challenge

Characters I would rewrite

Buckle down cause oooooh boy do I have shit to say - and because of this I'll be deviating from what I usually do and write a rant post instead! Given I don't want to make a way too long post, I'll simply go over a brief explanation of why they're in the list and what I'd change.

Kei of Foxwood (tw: drugging mention)

So this fucking asshole here apparently will get a redemption arc uh. I Actually already talked about this in this post I submitted but I will go over it again because it was kinda poorly worded imo (especially because it was written by sleep-deprived me at 3am)

Which is poorly driven given it starts with "Oh No! My beloved Rhian is dead, what shall be of me without my dear?". No. A good redemption arc should start with "Fuck I did something terrible and genuinly regret this and want to work on becoming a better person and fixing the mess I've made." Also, seems like Kei's form of redemption will be death and no, he should live with the consequences of what he's done.

Speaking of which - his redemption will also feel like an insult to the readers because seriously? He's way past redemption point for me now. He already was from QFG when he drugged Dot (which was something quite unecessary and Soman used an Extremely complicated and sensitive topic for the sake of shock value - but that's a whole new rabbit hole I'm not jumping into right now). And in ACOT he follows Rhian's orders which include attacking practically defenseless teenagers

So with that in mind, I'd either have Kei die the piece of shit he is or rewrite his arc from QFG in order to make a good redemption. First, erase that part with Dot and find another way to get to the keys. Again, it was an act that can be considered violence against women written down just for shock value. Given we do not have other scenes with Kei (except for the dungeons one), I'll leave it that for QFG.

In ACOT, start on his very first actual scene - the dinner scene. Have him hesitant on following Rhian's orders there, and perhaps hint it goes a bit deeper than hesitance. Then escalate it to him openly challenging Rhian's orders during that moment before the Blessing. The attack on SGE would be the first moment we see a greater act from him - maybe somehow going behind Rhian's back to stop that attack??? His last scene in the book is during the carriage ride with Sophie - when Kei tells her he's been going behind Rhian's back to stop the attacks he was able to, and knew he had to fix he'd made when he locked Tedros in the dungeons back in QFG. He agrees to help her somehow - but it goes terribly wrong when Japeth survives.

I myself still need to see a bit more how that could be well executed but that's the basic idea - have Kei's actions start from much earlier and have doing the right thing as motivation, not his love for Rhian - if anything, that should be a source of struggle.

Hort of Bloodbrook

This is can be either a rewrite of his own arc or a rewrite of the light he's written in.

He is a Nice Guy tm. Lets not try to pretend he isn't because he is.

He spends the entire first trilogy obssessing over Sophie, and acting entitled to her because he's a guy who's "genuine and truthful" or what so ever. Sure, Sophie might not be a perfect innocent girl and she did treat people who cared for her like shit at times, but that doesn't change the fact she never liked him. And even though she was wrong in parading him around like a "suitor" when trying to win Tedros' attention, she never again makes mention to liking Hort, or wanting to date him, or what so ever, and honestly, good for her! You should never date someone just because they have feelings for you.

Liking someone doesn't make you entitled to having them, and it doesn't make them obligated to like you back. And this what Hort can't understand. And not to mention he acts pretty sexist during the School Years:

"Every time he was free of rivals for Sophie’s attention, they always returned, more meddling than ever. Why couldn’t these toads mind their own business? Or die like Rafal did? True, he’d had Sophie to himself these past six months, but most of that was spent waiting out her I’m-an-Independent-Woman phase..." Quests for Glory, chapter 9: "Who Would Want a Hort?"

And also later during ACOT, in which he treats Nicola pretty badly

“Not bad enough, whatever it is,” Hort’s voice said, hijacking the demon. “He got us into this mess by fawning over Rhian like a lovedrunk girl.”

“Oh, so being a ‘girl’ is an insult now?” Nicola’s voice ripped, the demon suddenly looking animated in agreement. (A Crystal Of Time, chapter 5: Sophie's Choice)

There are other examples but I don't want to digress so this is how Hort is. I'd like to rewrite him into a person who had a immature crush on a girl and bent over backwards to get her attention - all of this a product of his own insecurity - but that grows out of it and in the process, also into a mature person who's confident in himself.

Also, in case someone doesn't understand: the problem isn't a crush. Having crushes is totally normal and ok, and so is not having them! The problem is when your crush over someone becomes nearly obssessive because of your immaturity and inner problems.

And as I was gonna talk about the light Hort's written in: all of this bullshit, and he's written as the nice underdog who we are supposed to root for. Soman keeps romanticizing him and that kind of behavior and that's terrible. So I'd either change Hort's behavior or write him in the light of what it truly is.

Rhian of Foxwood

Honestly? I liked him as a villain. I have no problem with him believing he was doing Good - in fact, I liked it! It's a good contrast to the previous villains, who knew they were Evil, wanted to be this way and took pride in it.

What I would change are just two things: one is that last kiss scene with Sophie during chapter 25 of ACOT, since it was absolute bullshit after all the shit he did to her which I don't feel the need to list - we all know it.

Second thing, I'd have made him a seer! Soman missed a huge potential when he made Rhian a Sader without giving him the seer abilities. That whole "Third Mysterious Pen" deal was unecessary, and it could be replaced by Rhian's visions.

And guys, come on - EVIL SEER IS A DOPE CONCEPT.

Nicola of Woods Beyond

Don't get me wrong, I love Nicola - and this is kind of why she's in this list, actually.

She's an amazing character - bookworm represent! She's also one of the few poc representation this book has, so I like it went to someone as amazing and smart as Nic. 

So for that I think Nicola should have been explored more. She's usually put as background character and only brought up when it's convenient - she's basically plot device. Which sucks because again, she's awesome. I'd have explored her ability to apply what she learns in stories to real-life issues a bit more, and paired her up with Agatha more times! Both are brilliant girls and I feel Agatha was at times dumbed down so Nicola could solve the problems, and honestly, I hate it when a character is dimmed so the other can shine.

So I'd have put them together - Agatha, experienced and quick-thinker, and Nicola, an extremely smart girl who doesn't really have half the experience Agatha has in the Woods. They both learn from each other - it's a deal of teacher (Agatha) learning from the student (Nicola). 

And allow me to push the Nicphie agenda here - I'd totally expand her relation with Sophie - explored their feelings going from mutual hatred to mutual respect to liking each other to very lesbian love. The Best enemies to lovers.

Also, SOMAN WHAT WAS THAT OF CAVING IN THE SCHOOL FOR EVIL AND SADER TELLING THE DEANS TO ACCEPT HER I DEMAND EXPLANATIONS

And lastly I'd remove the Hicola part super unecessary lmao

So that's it! I actually have some more to talk about but I didn't know how to word it properly and I don't want to make a super long post lmao. I might make a part two of this, but separate for the challenge!

I apologize for the disruption in schedule, I legit forgot day 10 lmao. I'll be doing Day 13 tomorrow so hopefully everything will go back to normal!