#and that two people born at the same time but in different time zones can have different birthdays

[ghostbsuter]

"What exactly are halfas?" Constantine asks, cigarette lit and leaning against the table.

They were in the justice league, having attended a meeting previously and now just lazed around.

Batman loses focus on his laptop screen and openly looks at the two, interested.

Green Lantern, Hal, jerks up at the question, looking between everyone still in the room and trying (and failing) to seem uninterested.

Zatara is glaring daggers at Constantine's back, eyes narrowed.

While flash had no context, having just arrived back with his food to sit with the rest, he appropriately tenses as well, from just one glance around the room.

Superman and Wonder woman aren't different from batman, not as discreet as some are trying to be and just staring at the two.

Slightly amused, Danny decided to entertain the question.

"Unlike ghosts and the undead, halfas are created and not born." He explains, looking at the man when he writes it down.

Who knew the infinity realm were this closed off that John Constantine had to get information from the source itself just to keep updated?

"Care to elaborate?"

Clicking his tongue, he does so.

"Halfas get created during extreme circumstances, it has to be right place, right time and correct amount of ectoplasm." Danny catches the lollipop that Batman throws at him, sending the bat a quick smile.

"Not everyone can become a halfa, our race is a rarity amongst the dead."Constantine raises a brow, pursing his lips. "There are only 3 of you right? Is that a normal amount in the realms?"

Another click. "No, thousands of years ago, when our kind reached its peak of over hundreds of people, Pariah Dark happened."

He briefly shares a glance with Martian Manhunter, he wonders if anyone here sent out a message of phantom story time? Why were they all lounging around?

"It was genocide. He killed off an entire species just because he felt threatened." He shrugs.

Constantine jolts, eyes clear as if he'd just connected the dots.

"So his downfall wasn't only because of rights of conquest but— the reason no one joined nor fought between you and the old King was because it was a revenge kill."

Danny ponders the words over, nodding. Yeah that sounds right.

"Many aren't surprised that Pariah Dark went berserk. It was kind of predictable, considering his soul was brought to the Infinity Realms after he'd died in the Phantom Zone as you know it."

Hal straightens up, Batman tenses and Diana leans forward.

"This previous King of yours– he was a past prisoner of Aethyr's Mind?"

The halfa nods, uncertain now that he'd stumbled upon unknown territory.

"Yes, the Phantom Zone and the Infinity Realms are sister spaces. Were you not aware?"

They were not, he quickly finds out.

Fumbling with his words, mind working overdrive as he sorts through information, he speaks again. "They are the two sides of the same coin, Phantom Zone being non-habitable while the Ghost Zone is filled with unalive."

He briefly struggles with his words, genuinely taken off guard with the lack of knowledge.

"Aethyr isn't just a being, but someone who is connected to the realm itself. Its similar to my position as King of the ghost zone." He summons his crown of ice to simple gesture.

"Besides! Phantom Zone, Zero Zone? Anti-infinite? That's literally the opposite of the Ghost Zone, the Infinite Realms!" he exclaims, throwing his hands up.

"Could you tell us more of your realm?" Superman asks, voice gentle and non threatening. "Some of us have been in the Phantom Zone, so hearing that there is a place being the complete opposite?"

The halfa nods in understanding. "Sure, why not?"

Three simple words yet everyone feels the trust put on them with such information.

"The entire realm is an ever shifting space, we categorise eith the sectors of each afterlife. From the Greeks to the Yetis and different eras."

—

(The tale of his realm lasts longer than expected, it is only when Hal started to get ready to leave does Danny address a certain area in his zone.

"The... Emerald Space is also a sector of the Infinity realm. The sector itself is formed in a sphere like form, we aren't sure what's inside since the fallen lanterns keep to themselves rather."

Hal froze, eyes catching the ghosts, and looked away again. He'd tell OA of this, but now he was going home.

Danny watched him leave and declared it down for now, free for more question the next time and left just as fast.

At least Constantine and Zatara can update their books now.)

[wwaheoh]

Can I request for shy gn s/o asking Lycaon if they can touch his tail please?

“Can I Touch Your Tail?” Zenless Zone Zero x gnReader

Nekomata, Von Lycaon, Ellen Joe

a/n: added Nekomata and Ellen!

... A fairly common question that came with varying answers. Tails, ears, and all extra appendages that Therians were born with were seen differently by those with them. Some would think of them similar to an arm or a leg while others would be more sensitive, putting higher emphasis on them, granting the privilege of touching their extra appendage to close friends- a sign of trust. 

So asking this question to someone you considered being very close with was an ultimate test of trust. Maybe you did or didn’t have this in mind when asking- only asking out of naive curiosity, yet to them it’d be a pretty high-tier test of trust and how they viewed your relationship.

“Nyahh? Where’s this come from?” Nekomiya turned to you, still munching on a mackerel as she spoke. “Hmm…” She thought for a second before smiling and nodding. “Okay, sure! Just don’t pull!”

You nodded, happy that she allowed you this privilege. Slowly you leaned forward and softly pressed down on the feline-Therian’s gray tail, feeling the soft short fur that were usually covered by the protective sleeve she wore. Nekomiya purred, ear twitching as she felt your hands caress her sensitive tails, shivering and wagging with giddiness- always so protective of her Therian appendages, it felt nice to have someone pet them- at least someone she trusted. 

Nekomiya would usually say yes if you asked her, only saying no when around other people- since some would take it as an open invitation or when they were sleeved, though that was usually when in Hollows or out in public. 

“Of course.” Lycaon spoke warmly, his voice the same cool even tone it always was. Yet as you attempted to pet his tail, it became a tall order, as every time you reached for it, the tail wagged wildly- nearly hitting you in the face with fluff. But once you finally got a handle on it, it felt soft, obviously impeccably taken care of, nothing less for Lycaon.

You pet it softly, small ‘Ooh’s and ‘Aahs’ as you felt the soft silver fur under your fingertips, running your hands with utmost care as to not accidentally cause any discomfort. Looking up to the Therian, you noticed his ears twitching, a satisfied smile on his face, a small hum of satisfaction as you pet him. 

A small part of him wished for you to continue, even as you let go and went back to whatever responsibilities you had. If you ever asked to pet him, as long as it wasn’t on the clock- though it was still debatable, he would happily allow it. 

“Huh?” She looked up from her phone, lollipop tilted slightly upward and tapping stopping, her usual bored look being sharper than before. Oh she was very familiar with people asking to touch her tail, being something incredibly big- a little over the length of her entire leg and the circumference of a dinner plate, it got a ton of attention wherever she went. Classmates, children, and weirdos at work would ask to touch, and she’d always tell them no. If they tried to forcefully touch her, she'd give em a good wack- not the children though, usually able to just move it away from their reach. Though at work, Lycaon was pretty good at being there at the right moment, kicking out any unruly customers or finding a way to tell them to buzz off in that professional manner that she couldn’t care enough to do.

Though she thought of it for a bit, the two of you were pretty close and you weren’t like the other weirdos, eh, if she didn’t like it then she’d just tell you. “Sure.” She leaned a little to give space for her tail. As your hand made contact with it, a small jolt went through her- unused to allowing people to touch her. “AhhhHhhh~...” You quickly pulled your hand back, worried that you'd done something wrong. “Oi, I didn’t say stop.” It felt as though she had become more annoyed that you stopped petting her tail than when you asked the question…

Ellen would be apprehensive but if the two of you were close enough, she’d let you touch it every once in a while. Usually away from other people, definitely not at school or at work. 

[tonicandjins]

learning languages | lee donghyuck

pairing: lee donghyuck | nct haechan x reader word count: 18.5k genre: university au, getting together, smut, fluff, angst summary: in which you're an exchange student and donghyuck teaches you the essential korean phrases you need, and eventually how to fall in love with him tag list: @smwhrinthehaze @byungbyungbaek @sundamariis @thiccfullsun @yesohhsehun @haechoshi @najmnluvr @liz-zo @heyitsconysstuff @magicastle @novawon @gaeulswrld author’s note: I’m so sorry it took so long, but here it is! I imagine conversations with everyone in Korean, except for Mark! 😊 I imagine the conversations with Mark in English. I also have 0 knowledge with the Korean language except from the common phrases every Kpop fan knows lol. So please bare with me and feel free to correct me! ^^ Please also consider tipping me if you want to! NCT Dream is coming to my country this April and I’d love to see them if I could :) TIP ME HERE.

날씨가 추워 (nalssiga chuwo) – the weather is cold

The rain is pouring when you arrive in Incheon. 

It’s not as harsh as it is where you come from, but the February breeze still makes you shiver and curse under your breath, and while you’re wallowing and pouting over the fact that your first day in South Korea is not going as well as you wanted, Mark is chirpy—a little too happy for your liking. 

Of course, Mark is happy. Your bitterness over the weather is not going to spoil his energy, the exact same one—maybe stronger—he has had over the past couple of weeks, counting down the days he’d be back in Seoul, finally. Mark has told you that it had been over a decade since he last visited South Korea, and the Student Exchange Program from your university had been the best opportunity for him to come back after so long, too long. The stupid smile on his face somehow makes you feel better, especially when he jumps from his seat when he sees his childhood friend walk towards your area. 

Renjun is handsome like the picture that Mark sent you a week before your flight to South Korea, but it feels a little unfair that he’s even more attractive in person. His voice sounds like honey and the corner of his eyes crinkle when he smiles as he approaches you and Mark. 

They jump into a tight, dramatic hug that makes a few other people in the waiting area look, but the boys don’t care. Mark lifts Renjun up from the ground, it’s almost embarrassing. The sight makes you feel warm. You wonder how Mark feels. 

It must be amazing, you think, to finally meet someone you’ve been longing to see. Mark had always expressed his yearning for the place—the people, the friends he always had to leave behind when visiting during summer—and it makes you wonder how it feels like to have friends and family away from you. 

Evidently, this is your first time to be away from home. You live (or used to at this point) in a dormitory, a two-minute walk to the campus, a good hour away from home, but you always went home whenever you craved for your mother’s dishes. You’ve never considered living away from home. Sure, you had plans to move out eventually, but not in a different time zone, not in an entirely different culture. Mark, on the other hand, is frequently moving around, dragging his suitcase from place to place, leaving people behind and promising he’d come back when he can.

Born in Canada, Mark had been to more places that you could count, but he has told you many times that nowhere else feels like home, like Seoul. He’s told you many stories of the time his family lived there for a few years before going back to Canada, of his annual visits in the summer, and of his devastation when life had caught up with him that he had to stop visiting when he turned eleven. 

You remember his voice, its tone and emotion, when he called you a couple of months ago, informing you of the exchange program that the university’s administration had posted on the students’ corner, and how fucking amazing it would be if you could sign up with him. 

“It would be a good addition to your credentials,” he had told you. “It’s not going to be for a long time, a semester at least. And we have the option to stay the whole academic year if we wanted to! Plus, I already know a lot of people there. We’ll be fine!”

“I don’t know, Mark,” you had answered, feigning hesitation, even when you knew deep down that Mark had already convinced you by the tone of his voice when he revealed the news. “I’ve never been that far away from home. Remember when we went camping in ninth grade? I cried. For three whole days. I’m not going to survive a semester. Besides, I know not a single Korean word.”

“Come on, Y/N,” he had begged. “Think about it. You’ll be with me the entire time. If we pass the screening, the program will sign us up for free Hangul lessons—though, let’s be honest, I don’t really need it.”

“Why do you have to bring me anyway?” you had asked out of curiosity.

“Because I know you’ll love it there,” he had answered. “Your obsession with studying culture and languages will be satisfied because there is no better way to learn a culture than experiencing the whole thing with your best friend!”

You remember humming in response, as if you’re thinking deeply about it. Mark sighed on the other line, his words making you laugh and finally agree. 

“The chances of Mom letting me go is bigger when I tell her you’re coming with me,” he had admitted. Mark, upon hearing your agreement to his proposal, began listing out the places he would take you. The phone call lasted for three more hours and it had seemed like Mark already had an entire plan in his head before he even asked you if you would go with him. 

Passing the program had been easy and so was acquiring your visa. What was truly the pain in the ass, you admit, is learning the damn language. You salute Mark for being able to speak Korean so fluently, but he’s shit at teaching you and you had to rely on the free lessons you had taken every weekend and your favorite language mentor, Lee Minho in Legend of the Blue Sea. Your Korean is awful. Your tongue is a little too short, too stiff, for said language, and the situation almost makes you back out of the entire program and ditch Mark. 

But here you are, still shit at Korean, but standing among hustling people and waiting for your best friend to wrap up the moment he’s sharing with his long-time friend. Renjun finally catches your eyes as you awkwardly watch them on the side, your backpack becoming heavier each second you’re standing on the airport tiles. He pulls away from Mark, smiling, beaming towards you and offers a handshake. 

“Hwang Renjun,” he introduces. You remember their last names go first here. “Nice to meet you.”

It almost startles you when he speaks English. Mark forgot to mention his friend is fluent, you think. 

You tell him your name, voice smaller than it usually is, and express your relief that he speaks English. 

“I’m originally not from here either,” he explains. “I’m Chinese. My family had to move here before I could even properly pronounce words for my Dad’s work. Went to an international school, where I met Mark back in second grade.”

So, he’s cute and multilingual. How unfair.

“And I’d love to chat longer,” he says, switching to Korean now, before you can even respond. “But Hyuck is waiting in his car. We could talk on our way to your dormitory. For now, let’s go. Hyuck hates waiting.”

“Hyuck drove? What happened to your car?” Mark asks, helping you with your luggage and pushing the cart himself. Renjun insists to carry your backpack, and he had already gently pulled it from your shoulder before you could refuse.

Mark and Renjun talk about Hyuck, both switching to speaking Korean now, on their way out of the arrival area and it doesn’t take long for them to spot their friend’s car outside. The rain had stopped pouring by the time you’re settling yourselves inside their friend’s car. The second you settle yourself on the leather seat, you sigh in relief. Traveling is a lot more exhausting than you had initially thought. 

Renjun sits on the passenger seat, right beside Hyuck, you assume, and Mark settles himself beside you.

“Mark Lee,” Hyuck greets, looking at Mark through the rearview mirror. “A pleasure to finally meet you.”

It takes you a second to understand what he said. It’s only then that you realize you really are in Korea. 

“Lee Donghyuck,” Mark responds in the same tone. “You’re real. I’m happy to see you in person and not just through Facetime. I want to hug you.”

“Am I better looking in person?” Hyuck teases. “Hug me when we’re at your dormitory. I’ll even kiss you on the lips if you want to.”

“Disgusting,” Mark grimaces. “By the way—” He turns his attention to you the same time Hyuck begins driving. “This is Y/N.”

Hyuck only smiles, nodding a little to you through the rearview mirror, brushing his brown hair using his fingers to fix it up. Renjun begins to ask how the flight was and Mark replies. All three boys strike up a conversation in Korean and it was all too much, too fast, for you to catch up and understand anything, so you stay quiet on your seat, leaning against the window, and begin to wonder how things will go for the entire spring semester you’ll be spending in this foreign city. 

Mark never told you that the drive from Incheon to Seoul is long, so far that you didn’t even realize you had fallen asleep.  When you arrive at the dormitory, it’s past six in the afternoon and Mark’s friends ask kindly if you want to go out for dinner. Politely and quite incoherently, you tell them that you’d like to stay. Mark insists on staying home with you and unpacking your belongings, but you urge him to go, spend some time with his friends and walk around. Mark hesitates, but agrees nonetheless, promising he will come back in an hour.

The place the program had picked for you and Mark is not that bad. It’s nothing like home, but it’s not bad. It makes you wonder how Mark does it. You remember not being able to sleep on the first few nights on your dormitory’s bed when you were a freshman. Mark had never told you if he’s had trouble adapting to places he’s been. Maybe you could ask him in the morning. 

The exhaustion hits you again upon entering one of the rooms. Room assignment is yet to be decided, but Mark wouldn’t mind if you sleep on one of the beds while he’s out. And so, you sleep. 

You don’t remember what you dream of. And Mark wakes you at seven in the morning, reminding you that you had to unpack and go grocery shopping. Momentarily, you forget where you are. It hits you the same way it does in his friend’s car. You’re in a different country. A different language. A different time zone. 

It doesn’t feel like home at all even though it’s cold. But you guess you’ll have to make it work. At least until the semester ends. 

약속해요 (yagsoghaeyo) – I promise

When Mark told you he knew a lot of people in Seoul, you should’ve known he was bluffing because he literally knew only seven people.

Mark Lee’s friends are warm and loud and somehow you feel out of place when they all decide to hangout where you and Mark are. It’s the first week of the semester, and you have completed all the orientation and tour you need; Mark, on the other hand, is still catching up with everyone.

By everyone, he meant Kevin Moon, a senior who is also Mark’s cousin’s long-distance boyfriend who happens to be studying in SNU too, Hwang Renjun from Natural Sciences, Lee Donghyuck from Music, Lee Jeno and Na Jaemin from Engineering and Architecture, Zhong Chenle from Humanities, and Park Jisung from Business Administration. Which is why every day, for the past five days, you’re at a place called Arcade, with Mark and two or three people from their group.

It turns out Huang Renjun and Na Jaemin were Mark’s friends from childhood, the others are friends by extension.

Huang Renjun, you understand why Mark is closest to him among all. He’s soft all over but sharp in the mouth. Renjun, you learn, likes to talk about life and likes to give people advice when they need it. He’s reserved with other people but is the complete opposite when he’s with his friends.

Lee Jeno is shy. He normally joins the group after his internship at a construction corporation in the outskirts of Seoul, which is why you haven’t really seen him much—only twice. You haven’t had that many conversations with him yet, but he’s kind enough to pass you the ketchup when he sees you staring at it from the end of the table.

Zhong Chenle and Park Jisung are best friends. There’s not a day that you have not seen either without the other, kind of reminds you of how you and Mark are. They join whenever one is available—two peas in a pod.

Na Jaemin is the closest with Lee Donghyuck. You see them talking in their bubble more frequently than the others. Jaemin is mysterious and a little cold—the complete opposite of Lee Donghyuck.

Lee Donghyuck, well, you’ve got a lot to say about him.

It isn’t necessarily an uncomfortable feeling, because Mark’s friends are kind enough to slow down when they talk to you and are quite protective of you, especially when a random stranger bravely comes up to you to introduce themselves. Lee Donghyuck, in particular, who’s as warm as the sun touching your skin at nine in the morning and whose voice is careful and assuring, ensures that you’re never out of place—even when you feel it all the time. From the day the semester started, there hasn’t been a day when Donghyuck isn’t hanging out with you and Mark at Arcade.

Mark normally picks you up from class because thank God your schedules are aligned to each other despite having different majors. The College of Social Sciences is quiet, unlike the building right beside you, College of Music, and Mark usually takes five minutes to find you, because you can’t trust yourself to walk around on your own—at least not yet. But today, Mark asked if you could meet Kevin first because his girlfriend had something for him from Canada.

“Hyungseo!” You hear someone call, making you look up from your phone to see Kevin walking towards you. He stops and turns around, a girl you’ve seen around the college of social sciences once or twice running towards him.

“Don’t forget to bring the laminated cards we need for Friday!” the lady shouts. Kevin gives her a thumbs up and turns back to you.

“Y/N, right?” he asks in English. You nod. He offers a hand. “I’m sorry we haven’t met personally yet. But I’m Kevin.”

“She called you Hyungseo, though,” you trail off, accepting the handshake anyway. “I’ve seen your pictures from Giselle’s phone, so I knew it was you.”

He laughs. “Hyungseo’s my Korean name. You should’ve packed her with you.”

You reach for your bag and hand him the box that’s been sitting in your backpack all day. “Here,” you say. “No plans on visiting sometime soon?”

Kevin sighs. “I wish I could,” he answers. “It’s not as easy as we thought.”

“You guys sound okay though,” you comment. “I mean, Giselle always sounds so happy when she talks about you back home.”

This makes Kevin smile. “Oh, she does?”

“Why would she think of getting you a gift all the way from home if she’s not?” you ask, biting your tongue as soon as the words come out. “Sorry, I shouldn’t ask.”

“Let’s talk about this over some soju when you find a dude you want to spend the rest of your life with here,” he jokes. “Thanks for bringing this. You and Mark have been so busy; he’s been declining all my invitations to hangout.”

You sigh, “Yeah. It’s only the first week and there are lot of things we had to do. I’ll ask him if we can hang out on the weekend?”

Kevin agrees and hands his phone to you, asking to put your number so he could call you. You do and tell him you’re grateful you could talk to someone in English aside from Mark and bid him goodbye when he leaves. You shoot Mark a text, telling him you’ll be waiting for him and that Kevin’s dropped by to get his gift from Giselle.

Hence, you wait outside, busying yourself with your phone, trying to avoid any interaction as much as you can, and you don’t notice Donghyuck standing beside you until he taps your shoulder and gives you a warm smile.

“Mark is running late,” he says slowly. “Let’s go to Arcade together.”

You smile at Donghyuck’s attempt to pronounce Arcade how you would and nod at him. He leads the way out of the building, his backpack on one shoulder, and asks you how your classes are so far.

“It’s okay,” you answer because it’s all you can think of. “Thank God my professor in Psychology speaks English.”

Donghyuck hums. “It must be difficult for you.”

“It is,” you confess.

Among everyone you have met so far, Donghyuck gives you the feeling of comfort; you’re not exactly the most outgoing person nor the least—you were in between. You were okay with that. And you were okay that Donghyuck is okay with that, too. He doesn’t push you to speak more (probably because he knows you most likely do not know how to say whatever you had in mind), but can be very persuasive when there’s a hint that you’re relaxed.

Lee Donghyuck is bold and charming and amiable like nobody you’ve ever known. Normally, or at least with how you’re used to, people are a little more reserved around people they just met. And culturally speaking, you didn’t expect Donghyuck to be so forward and already so comfortable hanging out with you, what more with having conversations like this.

“Don’t worry, though,” he assures. “You’ll be fine. You’re here for about six months, anyway. I promise it’ll be the best six months of your college years.”

He’s also bright like this—optimistic and kind and assuring. You’re glad Mark is friends with people like him, with Donghyuck.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” you try to say, a phrase Mark taught you the other night. “Did I say that right?”

Donghyuck giggles, stopping and reaching up to ruffle your hair. “You’re absolutely adorable.”

“That, I am,” you joke back, more comfortable around him now.

“I promise,” he says. “It’ll be so good; you wouldn’t want to go back to Canada.”

한국말 잘 못해요 (hangugmal jal moshaeyo) – I don’t speak Korean well | 죽을래 (jug-eullae) – Do you want to die?

Donghyuck turns out to be a better teacher than Lee Minho and Mark Lee combined. He gifts you a small, pocket-friendly notebook, asking you to keep it for the rest of your stay, notably commenting that the material’s size will allow you to bring it everywhere you go. Hence, the tiny, brown faux leather notebook is safely tucked between your necessities inside your bag.

The first sentence he teaches you turns out to be the most essential: I don’t speak Korean well.

Donghyuck takes you to a café called 7 Days, an entirely different vibe compared to Arcade. You don’t question Donghyuck when he puts an arm on your shoulder as you walk together inside the café, but he asks you right away when he must have felt you stiffen from the touch: “Is this okay?”

“Yes,” you answer quietly.

Donghyuck smiles warmly at you. “Here, have a look around and I’ll get you something to drink before we decide what we want to eat. I have the perfect drink for you!”

He goes before you could say anything. You look and realize that the café is not so bad. Its aesthetic is the complete opposite of what Arcade’s going for—cozy, serene, almost like a good place to study or sleep in, whatever you need to survive the day—and the Biscoff latte is bomb, you don’t think you can drink latte differently now.

Conversations with Donghyuck could, well, unfortunately, go only where your limit is. He’s fun and likes to tell a lot of stories, but it’s always interrupted with you asking what a word means and him pulling up his phone and have his translation app say it for you. He makes jokes that you regrettably do not understand, but Donghyuck doesn’t take it to the heart and only says: “By the end of the term, you’ll be saying these jokes to Mark Lee.”

Donghyuck excuses himself to go to the toilet about an hour later and allows you a few minutes by yourself, which you happily spend taking pictures of the interior of the café. You sigh when you realize you didn’t take a picture of the Biscoff latte when it was full and pretty. Someone taps you on the shoulder, and it could only be Donghyuck, so you turn with a smile.

“I forgot to take a picture of the drink—Oh.” It’s not Donghyuck. “I’m sorry, how can I help you?” you ask politely.

The man towers over you and he smiles warmly. Your cheeks flush when he does, because you probably mispronounce each syllable from that sentence. “I’m Sanha.”

You bow courteously, still have 0 idea why the man is talking to you.

“I don’t see you around often,” he says. “And I’m here, like, almost all the time unless I have a class. My dad owns the place. How do you like it so far?”

“It’s… okay,” you say. Sanha chuckles, and your face is hot you probably look like a red potato now. “I mean, not just okay, I just can’t find the words to—”

He takes Donghyuck’s seat. “I can teach you,” he offers. “We can meet up here, and—”

Donghyuck calls your name, voice firm and monotonous like never before. “It’s getting late. Mark texted me to take you home early because Chenle’s making dinner at your place.”

You look at Sanha apologetically, still unable to reply properly so you only say, “I’m sorry.”

Donghyuck doesn’t give you the chance to say anything more because he’s already helping you out of your seat, turning you around so you could start walking towards the door, pushing you until you’re out of the café.

You hear him sigh as you walk away from the café, arm around your shoulder like how you entered the place.

“Y/N, my sweet pea,” he softly says. “Please don’t to talk strangers.”

You shrug, “It’s not like I could just ignore him when he was already taking you space.”

He scoffs. “When strangers start talking to you and being all brave and upfront, you tell them: I don’t speak Korean well. Then just start hitting them with English words and exaggerate your accent. That’s how Mark Lee tries to avoid conversations with girls sometimes because he’s a loser and women make him nervous.”

“I don’t speak Korean well,” you repeat, slowly pronouncing each syllable.

“Where’s the notebook I asked you to bring everywhere?” Donghyuck asks. “Write that down.”

You nod and tell him you’d do it later. Donghyuck leads the way towards the stop just in time for the bus that’s about to leave. You and him hop in, taking the seats in the back, giggling when Donghyuck almost topples over as soon as the bus starts to move. He lets you sit by the window and starts telling you about how his sister always fights him to get the window seat and he’s never won so he naturally just gives people the said seat.

You’re nearby the next stop when you ask him: “Donghyuck, what if I tell people I don’t speak Korean well and they wouldn’t stop bothering me?”

Donghyuck looks nice in his brown, fluffy jacket, face bare, his eyeglasses sitting on the bridge of his nose. He looks even nice whenever he smiles like this.

“Y/N, do you know how cute you are?” An answer you don’t expect. “You’re so cute when you ask questions like this. I want to put you in my pocket.”

“Donghyuck,” you sigh, expecting a serious answer.

He reaches up to pat your head. “You won’t have to worry because we won’t let you be on your own unless you ask us to stay away. Especially me. Not me. I’ll make sure to take care of you and Mark while the two of you are here.”

You nod, still not satisfied with the answer. The Sanha situation awhile ago makes you realize how helpless you’d be if you weren’t with Mark or any of his friends. Donghyuck probably notices your dissatisfaction when he feels like you’re sulking, which you definitely are, because he chuckles and pokes your cheek to get your attention again.

“If it makes you feel better,” he says. “You could always ask them if they want to die.”

“That’s mean!” you gasp.

“Or tell them to fuck off,” he shrugs.

“Donghyuck!”

“What?” he asks. “It’s not like I don’t hear you and Mark say ‘fuck you’ to each other every day.”

You laugh at that. “Saying it in Korean hits different.”

“Right!” Donghyuck agrees. “I’ve been telling people saying fuck you in Korean has more impact than in any other language. I can say the word fuck every day.”

“You kiss your mother with that mouth?” you joke.

Donghyuck coos. “Oh, I’m so proud of you. You’re cracking jokes now.”

The bus halts at your stop, and Donghyuck helps you up by taking your hand the way he’s helping you learn the language. It’s only when you’ve reached the street to the apartment you share with Mark that you realized you’ve been holding hands all the way from the bus stop.

저 알러지 있어요 (jeo alleoji iss-eoyo) – I’m allergic

“Do you not understand what you just did, Mark Lee?” you ask in disbelief.

It’s only a month into your stay in Seoul, and Mark does the dumbest thing ever. Mark Lee comes home with a pet cat.

There were three rules for the spring semester, three very specific and very easy rules: one, to always text each other’s location as soon as you step foot outside of the apartment (which you and him are constantly compliant about; you love Mark Lee for that); two, to never skip a class unless you’re sick (you’re only here until July; Mark decided he’s not wasting a single day in Seoul, even if it means going to classes on time and by schedule without fail); and lastly, don’t keep things you won’t be able to take back home.

Mark had said that these rules are specifically for you because rule number one ensures your safety, rule number ensures you get the real Korean education experience, and rule number three apparently ensures you’re not leaving anything important at the airport when you leave—which now you think is bullshit. The rules are more for him than you, but you love Mark Lee, and it’s not like the cat isn’t cute.

“But, Y/N,” Mark pouts. “She kept on staring at me with these eyes when Renjun was busy comparing brands of dog treats. It was like her eyes were calling me, asking me to take her home!”

The calico cat is a baby; Mark said it’s not even five months old yet. It’s the last from seven siblings, the last one to be adopted (and you think Mark is only telling you this to convince you this is a good idea. She jumps out from Mark’s lap and goes to you, staring at you first before settling herself on your lap.

“She loves you already!” Mark comments.

You sigh. “Mark. You know we can’t take her home, right? We’re leaving in like, five months.”

“Which means I have five months to convince our friends to adopt her while I’m in Canada!” he answers enthusiastically, his eyes almost sparkling with the way he’s talking. “I couldn’t just leave her there. My heart wouldn’t allow me to leave without her!”

“Fine,” you give up. “Don’t cry on me on the plane back home when we leave her.”

Mark chuckles. “I think I should be more worried about you crying on the plane back home.”

Someone knocks on your door before you can ask what he means by that. It’s Mark who stands and welcome the person, and of course, it’s Donghyuck.

It’s Saturday. Saturday means Donghyuck comes and hangs out at your place because he no longer has to work in the university library on the weekends. He’d quit, saying his big mouth isn’t fit for the library, and had asked the school administration to reassign him to another facility. Part of his scholarship is to work at least 16 hours a week in one of the university’s facilities. He’s paid, of course, but Donghyuck says he’s not paid enough to keep his mouth shut for 16 hours a week. The admin asked for a week to figure out where he’d be assigned next, so he had this entire weekend all to himself, which, to how it looks like now, he’d decided to spend with you and Mark.

Mark lets Donghyuck in. The latter’s smile falters when he sees you; he only gives you a curt nod. And it’s not like you’re expecting Donghyuck to cuddle you on the couch, alright? It’s just that, you’ve known each other for a month now, and have hung out together a handful of times—just the two of you—and he called you yesterday telling you he’d come hangout with you and Mark for the weekend, even said something about teaching you to play Apex if you have the energy for it. And it’s not like he’s obligated to come sit beside you as soon as he enters your apartment, but you’re confused when he sits on the single couch far away from you, stance uncomfortable and his face looking like he’d rather be elsewhere.

Mark’s voice fades away when he asks Donghyuck what their plans are, to which Donghyuck answers: “I’m actually just here to say hi. I’m leaving in a bit.”

“No way,” Mark protests.

“Or we could go out?” Donghyuck offers.

“Uh-uh,” Mark refuses. “Y/N has been excited all morning to see you. You’re not going to disappoint her today.”

“I didn’t say anything—” You try to say, but couldn’t translate what you want to say quick enough. “Donghyuck obviously doesn’t want to be here.”

Over the course of a month living in Seoul, you and Donghyuck had grown closer more than anyone. It would be ridiculous to deny Donghyuck’s seemingly unceasing affection towards you, and in the same manner, it would be a lie if you’d say you’re not enjoying all the attention he’s been giving you. Above the flirty and friendly advances he makes (but never crossing the line), Donghyuck has grown to be a good friend. During the first couple of weeks, you would refer to him as Mark’s friend; it’s safe you say you’re friends with him now.

Donghyuck’s decided to pick you up from the college of Social Sciences, convincing Mark that his building is literally next to yours and that a ten-minute walk to Arcade with you is not going to hurt him—Mark’s been walking with you for many years anyway, he would mumble under his breath, close enough for you to hear but distant enough for you to understand what he truly means. Hence, with the growing friendship you have with him, you wonder what you had done this time.

“It’s not like that,” Donghyuck answers the question you had in mind, both hands raised in defense. You raise an eyebrow. “That.”

Donghyuck points at your lap, Mark’s unnamed cat sleeping soundly now. Oh.

“I’m allergic,” he explains. “I can’t be around one within like a five-meter radius otherwise, I would, like, you know, die.”

“You’re exaggerating,” Mark comments. “Are you really?”

“Yeah,” Donghyuck confirms. “The allergens are getting to me. My throat is starting to close up. I have to leave now.”

This startles you and Mark, the latter quickly taking the calico cat from your lap and quickly taking it to his room. You reckon the cat’s allergens are all over you so you sit as far away as you can from Donghyuck.

“It’s fine,” he assures, but he already looks like he’s choking. “It’s not that serious. They usually just give me allergic rashes and kind of triggers my asthma. So, we’re good.”

“But you have a dog!” you remark. “You never told me you’re allergic to cats!”

He chuckles, “Well, you learn something every day.”

“There are some anti-histamine tablets from the cupboard,” you point out, still seated where you are. “I probably have allergens on my hands; please go get yourself one.”

Donghyuck does what he’s told, taking one and opening the fridge to get himself a bottle of water. You tell him you’re changing your clothes and ask him to wait up, offering to go out and have a meal with him instead.

Mark knocks on your door a couple of minutes later, finding you dressed up, a knowing smile playing on his lips. “Donghyuck said he’d wait outside. You look nice.”

“I know I look nice,” you say as you go back to your vanity to throw whatever you’d need for the day in your small dumpling bag, including a box of Benadryl. “You’re not coming with us because you have cat all over you.”

Mark chuckles, leaning against the doorframe. “Donghyuck literally told me the same thing. He’s growing on you,”

You only hum in response, checking your bag for the last time before walking towards the door where Mark Lee is still leaning on, the same smirk playing on his lips still plastered.

“What?” you ask.

Mark doesn’t say anything, but he raises and shows you his right hand, sticking three fingers up.

먹었습니다 (meog-eossseubnida) - The meal was good.

Seoul National University’s library is as quiet as it can be; it’s almost scary how the only sounds you’d only hear are the faint sounds of pages being flipped and pens gliding on notepads, and the eerie echoes of the tension coming from students who are either cramming on an assignment or jumping from one subject to another in hopes of getting everything they read retained in their head.

Donghyuck used to tell you this is the exact reason why he didn’t like working at the library. It’s too quiet but too loud at the same time. You chuckle at the memory of him telling you anecdotes of his short-lived employment in the library and wonder how different it is being the soccer team’s laundry guy. He’s probably pouting all the way from the beginning of his shift until the end.

“Here,” Jung Sungchan disrupts your thoughts, keeping his voice as quiet as possible. “I found these, maybe it could help bridge the gap we’re struggling on.”

You and Sungchan are paired up for a two-week long assignment for one of your major subjects. The objective was to present a summarized and substantial report on the welfare state, and you think Sungchan must have tripped on all the bad luck in his life to have been paired up with someone who couldn’t speak Korean that well, because, well, the books they had are mostly in Korean. If speaking and understanding Korean is a struggle for you, reading the damn language is hell.

“This is a good thing,” Sungchan assures. “There are resources online that are mostly in English. We can combine everything we find and construct the report from there!”

You nod and hand over the book you’re reading before he arrived, explaining that you found a chapter that could be very helpful. The boy fires up his laptop and starts accessing the website your professor had recommended you to use.

Sat side by side, you and Sungchan study in silence, except for when he asks you to read an article for him and explain what it means. The session lasts for hours, thank God you and him didn’t have classes for the rest of the day, and within those hours of studying with Sungchan, you can’t help but notice the looks you were getting anytime someone passes by the two of you.

It’s no secret that Jung Sungchan is probably one of the most attractive men in the university. He’s tall and has skin that’s as clear as a day in summer, smile that could swoon a lot of people off their feet, broad shoulders that’s probably carrying the entire hockey team for this year’s season—and yes, it doesn’t help the fact that Jung Sungchan is the most popular jock at the moment, apparently for hard carrying the team to win last year’s trophy, ending Seoul National University’s 10-year drought and awakening the school’s love for sports back. And you think it’s quite unfair that people like him exist. Because you would expect that he’s an asshole who doesn’t care about his grades because he’s essentially SNU’s hero at the moment, but he’s not. Jung Sungchan, you learn, takes his degree in Social Sciences very seriously.

And it’s evident with the way his eyebrows are furrowed as he reads the tenth book he found from the shelves.

“I think this part makes more sense now,” he points out, leaning closer so he could show you the article he’s reading. “In residual regimes, welfare-seeking units are primarily family and market. On the other hand, in the institutional welfare regime, the function of providing welfare belongs directly to the state.”

“But countries with different social conditions and lifestyles should have differed in terms of welfare states,” you argue. “We have to consider that the development of industrialization and production growth could be very different from one country to another.”

Sungchan hums. “Good point. Perhaps we can find more of that from Wilensky and Lebaux’s work. Do you have the book over there?”

You nod and hand him the book. Just as Sungchan flips the book open, Mark occupies the seat across you.

“We’ve been calling you,” Mark whispers to you, then turning to look at Sungchan. “Hey, man. Mark. Y/N’s best friend.”

Sungchan gives him a polite nod before going back to the book. You raise an eyebrow at Mark and slip your phone from the pocket of your backpack and find all the missed calls from him, Renjun, and Donghyuck.

“My phone’s been on silent for like, I don’t know, four hours,” you tell him, slipping your phone back to your back. “And I texted you I’d be at the library.”

“Yeah, like four hours ago,” he answers. “I didn’t think you’d really stay here for four hours. Anyway—” Mark pulls out a lunch bag and slides it across the table. “Donghyuck made this for you. He figured you’d be hungry.”

It’s only then that it hit you. The last meal you had was that bagel you had for breakfast on the way to school, which you had seven or eight hours ago.

“My sweet Donghyuckie,” you coo, thankful for his thoughtfulness. “Thanks, Mark. Sungchan and I will share because we’ll be here until we finish at least the structure of the report.”

“It’s getting late though,” Mark points out.

Sungchan clears his throat. “I can drive you home.”

“Great!” Mark exclaims, which earns him multiple shushes from the other students studying. “Sorry. Great!” he says again, in a whisper this time.

Mark bids goodbye to you and offers a handshake to Sungchan, telling him he’ll see him often in the next two weeks or for as long as you and him are paired-up on your major subjects. Sungchan gives him one last assurance you’ll be home safe.

You ask Sungchan to take a break and open the lunch bag. Inside it are two bento boxes full of food, too much for one person, and you don’t take another minute to wait. Sungchan must have been hungry too, because he doesn’t refuse when you offer the other half of your meal to him.

You’re not really sure how much longer you and Sungchan stay in the library, but as soon as you’ve finalized the structure of the report and have agreed on assigned topics, he suggests that you and him go home and meet up again on Friday so you can start assembling the presentation. And as promised, Sungchan drives you home, glad when he realized your apartment is only ten minutes away from his.

It’s already ten in the evening when you reach home. Mark’s probably already sleeping, you think when you don’t see any light peaking from smallest of the small space between his door and the floor. It’s late anyway, and you don’t really have much energy to tell him about your day like you always do. In fact, you don’t even have the energy to shower anymore, and because you don’t like sleeping on your bed with your outside clothes, you opt to sleep on the couch tonight.

The last thing you do is shoot Donghyuck a text message: “The meal was good.”

삼각관계 (sam-gak-kwan-gae) – love triangle

Jung Sungchan invites you watch to one of his preliminary games the day after you completed the report with him. Mark teasingly tells you that you have boys wrapped around your finger not even two months living in Seoul. You deny the claims, of course, because Sungchan is nothing but a good friend and you don’t see him as anything more.

Donghyuck is the first person you think of when Sungchan gives you two spare tickets for the game, and you like to think that it’s only because you don’t want Mark teasing you and accusing you of romance all afternoon, and also because Donghyuck has a car and Mark is a shit navigator so you can’t trust him to commute with you from the university to the indoor arena where the game is being held.

SNU’s team wins, of course, and you proudly cheer for Sungchan, which earns you a side eye from Donghyuck. You shrug it off and pretend that you didn’t see.

“Can we go now?” Donghyuck asks, bored, when people start leaving the arena.

You shake your head. “Sungchan asked me to wait for him after the game.”

“You know that barbecue place I told you we’d go to?” Donghyuck reminds. “We can go there—“

Your phone rings. It’s Sungchan. Donghyuck sighs.

“Congratulations, nerd!” is the first thing you tell him. Sungchan thanks you, laughing from the other end of the call, and apologizes that he can no longer meet you because the team’s been hogging him the second they won the round.

“It’s fine,” you assure. “I’m with Donghyuck, anyway. I’ll see you at school?”

“No, no,” Sungchan answers. “There’s a small celebration party at Shotaro’s house. It’s a twenty to thirty-minute drive from your apartment. I’ll send you the location. Go there.”

Sungchan hangs up, and not even a second later, you receive a text from him, a location pinned on the message. You show the message and pout at Donghyuck, and he’s looking at you all bored, rolling his eyes, before nodding and taking your hand so you and him could leave the arena.

The drive to the place takes about an hour from the arena, and you spend it singing along to Michael Jackson’s songs.

“You have a really nice voice,” you comment. Donghyuck laughs.

“Baby,” he says. “I wouldn’t be pursuing a career in music if I had a shitty voice.”

The nickname gives you a flush, and you could only hope Donghyuck wouldn’t notice.

Almost two months into meeting Lee Donghyuck, you find yourself unable to keep your heartbeat down whenever he does things like this—calling you nicknames, randomly showing up in places where you are just to say hi, holding your hand, texting and calling you every day, spending his weekends and times off with you, and doing simple and domestic things for you—and your heart tells you it’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with a whirlwind romance in Seoul. Donghyuck doesn’t ever hesitate, and the fact that you’re holding back means you really like him. But the rational part of you says it’s not really a good idea to be in a situationship with someone who will most likely forget you as soon as you go back to Canada, and you can’t afford a heartache from miles away. Besides, Donghyuck probably isn’t that serious with whatever that’s going on.

Rumors say (by rumors, you mean Chenle and Jisung) that Donghyuck is the type of guy who dates one girl after another. Because he’s bold and charming and amiable and likes to expand his choices, and he finds that there’s nothing wrong with dating as long as he doesn’t date multiple women at the same time. You haven’t really seen him out on a date since you had met him. Rumor (Chenle) says that he’s been single since fall of last year and had committed to stay single this year because of the messy breakup and also because he’s on his last year of college, he’d need to focus on stepping up his game if he wants entertainment companies to fight over him as soon as he starts looking for agencies after graduation. Another rumor (Jisung) says he’s rejected many women who have tried to sleep with him since news broke that Lee Donghyuck is newly single. The rumor says he’s as popular as Jung Sungchan when it comes to women, which, if you’re being honest, gives you some kind of pedestal to walk hand-in-hand with him in the university grounds. You realize now that you get the same look from women when you’re with Donghyuck like the stares you got whenever you and Sungchan are stuck in the library for hours of studying.

The only difference is that, well, you like that people stare at you with a hint of jealousy whenever you’re with Donghyuck.

“Why haven’t you invited me to your gigs?” you ask before you could even think about it. “Sungchan’s only been friends with me for like three weeks and he already got me tickets to his game. You, on the other hand…”

The car halts to a slow stop, Donghyuck’s phone telling you that you’ve arrived at your location. Donghyuck doesn’t switch off the engine though. He chuckles licking his lips, then poking his tongue on his cheeks, fucking with your heart and hormones in the process. He keeps his hand on the steering wheel and turns to look at you, eyes hazed in attraction like he’s pulling you in.

“Baby,” he says in a whisper almost. “I don’t like love triangles.”

“Love… triangles?” you repeat.

“Love triangles,” he says in English. “I fucking hate it. And we’re not about to go through that trope in our love story here. So, let me make it clear before we go inside and before you even think about sticking to Sungchan all night.”

You gulp.

“There’s no Sungchan in the equation,” he states like a command and you find yourself nodding, agreeing. “It’s only you and me. Tonight, there will be a lot of people and none of them will be in the equation. Tonight, you’re sticking with me and we’ll talk about this tomorrow. Have fun with me and see if you want to take this to another level, because if you ask me, I’ve been dying to fucking kiss you since the semester began.”

This territory is new, and this Donghyuck is new, too. He’s always been affectionate and he’s never held back, but this new level of honesty is astonishing. Damn attractive if you’re being honest.

“Come here,” he says, ridding himself from his seatbelt. You do the same, leaning closer to him. Donghyuck holds your cheeks with both hands, smiling down at you before leaning in to kiss your forehead. “I’m not giving you mixed signals. This is me giving you a clear, direct sign that I like you and I like what we have, but I’d love to take another step. I’ve been thinking about it, and I don’t really want someone to enter the equation while I’m trying to woo you.”

You giggle. “You already successfully wooed the romance out of me the second you started holding my hand, Lee Donghyuck. And no, there won’t be love triangles.”

Donghyuck’s honesty fires up some courage in you, and you like the feeling of watching him falter when you lean in, hand on the back of his neck, and kiss him for the first time. The man melts in your kiss and in your touch, but doesn’t wait for another heartbeat to kiss you back. And despite of the bottled-up and eagerness from both sides, the first kiss is soft the first time, featherlike and sweet. His lips are even softer than they look and his lips already look plump as it is, and when Donghyuck licks your lips and invites himself in, God, he makes sure you taste the sweetness from his mouth and in a minute you’re addicted and you kiss and kiss and kiss, lips locking, tongue gliding, breaths gasping.

It’s him who pulls away, leaving you with dazed eyes wanting, wanting, wanting more.

Donghyuck gives you one last kiss on the forehead. “Let’s go.”

이렇게? (ireoke) – Like this?

You don’t end up seeing Sungchan at all in the party, and you don’t mind because Donghyuck keeps you glued to his side. The party is fun, but you and Donghyuck decide not to drink a single drop of alcohol. To him, it’s because he has to drive. To you, it’s because you want to be entirely sober to remember whatever happens tonight.

Donghyuck makes out with you in the corner of the living room where people are crumpled, and you like that he doesn’t care that people see. He holds you by the waist and on your neck, and you get it now. You get why women are lining up to sleep with Donghyuck, because if he can kiss like this, what else can he do with his mouth?

You shoot a message to Sungchan with a selfie of you and Donghyuck, thanking him for inviting you to the party and telling him you’ll see him on your next class together (Donghyucks suggests you send Sungchan a picture of you and him making out.) and prompt to leave. Donghyuck says goodbye to a few people he knew, holding you by the waist all the way from the house to where his car is parked.

Donghyuck drives you to his apartment and tells you he’s told Mark you’d be sleeping at his place tonight. The drive itself was intense enough and Donghyuck’s doing an amazing job keeping his cool while you’re practically sweating from the passenger’s seat.

You don’t even get a good look at his apartment when you arrive, because Donghyuck’s already kissing you as he rids himself of his jacket. Donghyuck doesn’t kiss you softly this time; he kisses you like he’s leaving a mark on your mouth, almost like he wants to bruise his presence inside you. He helps you get slip out of your jacket, pulling away quickly to kick his shoes off, before carrying you bridal style and bringing you to his room, kicking the door behind.

Despite the roughness of his kisses, he puts you to bed gently, ridding himself of his shirt and kneeling on the floor so he could help you out of your socks. He leans up once he’s done, one hand on your jaw to pull you down for another kiss, the other caressing your thigh.

“Please tell me this is okay,” he whispers. You nod. “I need your words, baby.”

“Yes, Donghyuck,” you answer, breathless when he starts kissing your neck. “This is okay. Please touch me.”

Donghyuck pushes you a little so half of your body is lying on his bed, your feet flat on his carpeted floor, tugging the loops of your jeans, urging you to lift your hips so he can rid you out of the material. He pulls you back up to take your shirt off from your torso, then he’s helping you back up from the edge of the bed towards the headboard as he crawls on top of you.

“Donghyuck,” you gasp when he goes back to kissing you. You realize that Donghyuck like kissing with the way he’s using his mouth to imprint his presence in you, his tongue licking everywhere it can reach inside your mouth, and he tastes like mint and the soda he had at the party, and he’s everything that you want. “Touch me, please.”

“Like this?” Donghyuck reaches down to rub your clit through the material of your underwear. He rubs slow, teasingly, and kisses you on the mouth when you groan. He dips his head lower and kisses your neck; he bites and nips and sucks and you’re sure it’s leaving a mark you’d have to conceal the next day. “Want me to touch you like this, baby?”

A moan elicits from your throat, and Donghyuck doesn’t waste any more time. He slips his warm hand between your skin and your underwear, really touching you, rubbing your clit gently, his digits dragging itself on your slit slowly, gathering your wetness then going back to rub your clit again, more roughly with the pool of wetness his fingers have now.

“Like this?” he asks again, pushing a finger inside when he finds your hole, urging another moan from your lips.

“Oh my God, Donghyuck,” you gasp when he fingers you gently, your wetness making a sound when he adds another finger. Donghyuck takes his time, biting his lips as he watches you writhe underneath his touch.

“Pull your bra down,” he breathes out, and you do. When your breasts are out on the open, Donghyuck doesn’t waste time and locks lips with your nipple, sucking and licking as he fingers the sanity out of you. He alternates from fingering you with two digits and rubbing you using his thumb, and you’re all putty and messy under him, and you want more, more, more, more.

“Baby, please fuck me,” you beg. “Please, Donghyuck. Please fuck me”

Donghyuck hushes you. “I will, baby. I’ll fuck you so well, you’ll come running back to me tomorrow and the day after, and the day after.”

But he doesn’t. He pulls his fingers out, hold you by your jaw so you could lock eyes while he licks the proof of your attraction to him from his fingers, sucking and showing you just how well he could use his tongue. He doesn’t fuck you get but he rids you of the last garments from your body and does the fucking impossible.

Donghyuck eats you out like it’s the last meal he’ll ever have. He swirls his tongue on your clit as he pushes his digits back in your hole, fingering you like it’s all he’s ever wanted, and he’s got you chanting his name like a prayer when his tongue laps your sex, even more when he replaces his fingers with his tongue. You’re writhing and screaming and Donghyuck’s holding your legs apart while he pleasures you with his mouth and hands.

You don’t want to cum yet, but Donghyuck’s so, so good, and it looks like he’s not stopping anytime soon. He tongues you back to your clit and fingers you with three digits, fast and rough.

“Donghyuck, I’m going to—” You see white and stars and you stay still when Donghyuck continues fingering you, moving all three fingers in an upward motion, reaching where you want him the most, mouth sucking your clit as you ride the first orgasm you’ve had in months.

Donghyuck lets you have your moment when it’s done, taking the time to lick the slick wetness from his fingers down to his wrist, kneeling between your legs. You push yourself up so that you’re sitting with your legs wide open, your palms flat on his sheets, head tilted for a kiss. Donghyuck leans over and kisses you again, and you never thought you’d like tasting yourself in his tongue. You guess everything tastes sweeter when it’s in Donghyuck’s mouth.

“Off, please,” you murmur, pulling the loops from his jeans. Donghyuck obeys, removing all pieces of clothing until he’s naked.

You marvel at his beauty, licking your lips when you finally see him bare and clean. His golden skin looks like honey and you want to kiss the fuck out of his collarbones and leave your mark for everyone to see. Your eyes travel from his chest down to the trail from his tummy down to his erect cock. He’s hard and red and you salivate from how big he looks and feel yourself getting even more wet at the thought of him fucking you. Before you know it, you’re reaching out, moving so you could kneel, and taking his hardness in your hand. Donghyuck moans for the first time tonight, and you plan to elicit that sound from him all night.

Stroking him slowly, you feel a rush of satisfaction when Donghyuck pants your name. “Oh my God,” he moans when you bend over, a palm flat on his sheets, your other hand stroking him as you take him to your mouth. He gathers your hair and watches you from above, and you purposely stick your ass up higher when you feel him twitch as you take more of his cock into your mouth. When you’re about halfway, you stroke the rest of what you can’t take and start sucking and licking, and Donghyuck makes the absolute best sound ever. You like his voice when he sings, but you don’t think anything could compare with how he’s whining your name as you suck his dick thoroughly, licking and jerking off whatever your mouth couldn’t fit. A part of you wants to ask Donghyuck to fuck your mouth, bruise your throat with his dick and cum straight down your fucking stomach if he wants to, but that could be arranged next time. This time, with his dick hard and wet from your mouth, you want him to fuck you.

You suck him one last time before you pull away, a string of your saliva following when you look up at Donghyuck. “Now, will you fuck me?”

Donghyuck looks fucked out, eyes dazed with lust, and you want nothing more than for him to ruin you. And Donghyuck doesn’t need to be asked twice.

He crawls back up until you’re lying on your back, legs wide open for him, and kneels between your legs. ��Ready and sure?” he asks for the last time, stroking himself.

“Pull out when you cum,” is all you say and Donghyuck goes for it. He gives you a kiss and rests one of his forearms beside your arm, massaging the head of his cock on your opening until he’s stretching you out.

“Fuck,” Donghyuck groans when he feels your tightness. “God damn, Y/N, when was the last time you got fucked?”

“I—I can’t remember,” you say. “None of them were worth remembering.”

“And me?” Donghyuck asks as he pushes deeper until he’s fully stretched you and his pelvis is leaning against your clit. “Will you remember me?”

“Ask me next time,” you breathe out. “I think you’ll have to fuck me every day so I can remember.”

Donghyuck gives you some time, kissing you softly. “When was the last time you fucked anyone?” you ask in return.

“I can’t remember,” he parrots. “None of them were worth remembering. All I know is that this is the first time I’m feeling someone raw.” Then he bottoms out, gives you only half a second before he’s thrusting back and out and back and out and back and out, slowly but surely fucking you well.

Donghyuck fucks you like he means it. His hips snap roughly but makes sure you feel all of him before he thrusts out and he’s everywhere. His tongue is in your mouth, then on your neck, his free hand is caressing one of your breasts, playing with your nipples, and he’s making you feel so, so good and you’re not sure how you go back from here. You’re not sure how you could go on with life knowing how well Donghyuck can fuck you. He’s got you squirming and reaching your second orgasm only minutes into fucking the life out of you.

When you’re close, Donghyuck pushes himself up so that he’s kneeling again, and lifts both your legs, resting your calves on either side of his shoulders, hugging your legs so he can fuck you deeper in this angle. The precision makes you chant his name over and over again and he takes one of his hands down to rub your clit. You try your best to hold back from cumming because the way he’s fucking you now feels so damn good that you want it to last for a long time. He thrusts in and out quickly, his balls hitting the bottom of your ass again and again.

“Come for me, baby,” he says. “Let go.”

So, you do, and Donghyuck keeps on fucking you through it. Donghyuck lets you finish, before he’s pushing the back of your knees down so your thighs are pressed up against your stomach, chasing his own orgasm, and fucks you hard, without rhythm, until he is moaning your name like praise and he’s pulling out so he could release on your stomach. You reach up to caress his cheek as you watch him in awe as he finishes, his face contorted in pleasure, lips wet and eyes closed.

When it’s done, Donghyuck kisses you on the forehead and helps you clean up. He leaves to go to the bathroom for a minute to grab a warm, wet towel, cleaning your stomach, and carries you back to the bathroom with him. The shower is warm, and Donghyuck is gentle and sweet when he cleans you up, giving you kisses when he pats you dry once he’s gotten rid of the shampoo and body wash from your hair and skin. Donghyuck tells you there’s a spare toothbrush on behind the mirror and washes himself as you brush your teeth, naked but warm.

Donghyuck tells you to that the right side of his closet is where you can find the clothes he uses at home and you follow as he finishes cleaning himself up. You take the liberty to take one of his shirts that are still too big for you despite Donghyuck’s frame and slip a pair of cotton shorts.

Donghyuck finds you half-asleep when he’s done showering; he sleeps shirtless, you reckon, because he crawls to bed only in sweatpants. He cuddles you from behind, kissing the clothed shoulder, and the last thing you hear before you drift off to sleep is him humming a song your mind can’t recognize and a promise that you’ll talk about this the next day.

You wake up to the smell of Spam, an empty space beside yours, and the sound of Donghyuck singing a song from BOL4, which you learned is one of his favorite musicians.

Donghyuck smiles warmly at you when you find him in the kitchen, just about to finish pan-frying the last piece of sliced luncheon meat. He’s still shirtless, but is wearing a cute pink apron, and he gives you a quick kiss on the lips like it’s the most natural thing ever. The second his lips pull away from yours, you reach up and touch where he kissed, lips tingling—in disbelief that what happened last night is real.

“Good morning,” he hums. “Just in time for breakfast.”

“Donghyuck,” you trail off. “Can we talk first?”

Donghyuck nods, offering that you sit on the high stool across the small kitchen island. He sits next to you, turning the seat so that you’re face to face, knees touching. “What do we want to do?” he asks.

“You know I’m leaving in like, four months, right?” you start.

Donghyuck whistles. “We just started and you’re already breaking up with me?”

“No, no,” you say, exhaling. “This… this. I like. You. I like.”

“Baby, construct your sentences properly,” he laughs.

“I like you,” you confess. “And I like this. I like holding your hands. And kissing you. And what we did last night. I’m just worried because—”

“Because you’re leaving,” he finishes for you. “I know, but I also like you a lot. More than you probably think. And I don’t want to miss my chance getting to know you more just because you’re leaving in a few months. I don’t know what you want, but here’s what I want, you let me know if it works for you, if not, then I’ll still be a friend. Who might cry for two weeks straight if you reject me.”

You laugh but urge him to continue.

“I want to date you, and get to know you even more. Your quirks, the things that make you angry, your comfort food, the movies that give you the ick,” he continues. “Your family, how you were raised, if you like Marvel or DC more, what Hogwarts house you belong to, if you like pineapple in pizza or not, whether you pour milk or cereal first, if you ever kissed Mark Lee, if Mark Lee’s ever had a crush on you.”

“What does Mark have—”

“Shh,” he stops. “It’s my turn. Talk later. Anyway, I want this—” he gestures the space between you and him. “And I want you. I want to keep teaching you the language and I know what’s ahead of us is scary, and there’s only two things that could happen: this is going to be either the biggest heartbreak of my life or you’re going to be the greatest love of my life. It’s a fifty-fifty chance, Y/N. Let’s just say I’m willing to risk whatever if it means I have 50% the chances of having you as the greatest love of my life.”

Oh. You don’t realize you’re staring quietly until Donghyuck holds your hand.

“Now tell me,” he asks slowly. “What do you want?”

You don’t hesitate. “I want you, Lee Donghyuck.”

일어날 수 있는 최악의 상황은 무엇입니까? il-eonal su issneun choeag-ui sanghwang-eun mueos-ibnikka? What’s the worst that could happen?

It doesn’t come out as a surprise to anyone when you and Donghyuck arrive at Arcade holding hands, a shy smile playing on your lips, a proud one in Donghyuck’s. You were thankful that there were no teasing remarks coming from your friends—that they were taking this so well, like it’s normal. Like it’s meant to happen anyway. There’s a knowing smirk on Mark’s stupid face, but you love him and you can’t wait to tell him all about how you feel towards Donghyuck. “Okay, so my birthday falls on a weekend,” Jeno announces. “And I think it’s the best time to go to the amusement park. Will you have work then, Renjun-ah?”

“Most likely,” Renjun answers, mouth full of food as he chews on a bite of pizza. “But I can have Yerim cover for me. I’ll just return the favor if she needs me one day.”

“Sweet!” Jeno exclaims. “So, it’s decided then. We’ll go to the amusement park on my birthday.”

As you and Donghyuck play footsie under the table, Mark stands, turning to you. “I’m going to get another milkshake. Come with me?”

You nod, kicking Donghyuck one last time and standing to follow your best friend. Somehow, you feel bad for not saying anything about your growing feelings for Donghyuck, considering that Mark is your best friend in the entire universe and you’re his. If it were him, he would’ve told you the second he caught feelings to anyone. But Mark knows you’re not the kind to admit feelings like this as soon as it starts inflating in your chest; he knows you’re the type to hold it in until you can’t anymore. Having had terrible relationships in the past, Mark has always known that you’re the kind to be careful.

“I didn’t think you’d actually go for it,” Mark says as soon as you and him are out of earshot. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy for you. I just didn’t expect this to happen so quickly.”

“Me neither,” you mumble under your breath. “Sorry for not saying anything.”

Mark chuckles. “You didn’t have to. I mean, we all kinda always known this would happen. I just couldn’t imagine how you and Donghyuck sealed it so quickly, like considering how shy and quiet you always were whenever he was around.”

“I was shy and quiet with everyone around,” you remark. “Donghyuck taught me all these slangs and now I can’t stop talking.”

The woman in the counter asks you what she can help you with when you reach her. Mark tells his order alongside some sides Renjun had asked him to get. He leans on the counter, turning back to you. “Anyway.”

“Yeah?”

“I think you’re serious serious.” Mark clears his throat. “Like, I’ve known you for so long and you’ve always been hesitant to do shit. I’ve always been the spontaneous and reckless one between us, and you’re the careful one. The one who thinks everything through before deciding on it—this trip to Seoul included on the long list.”

“Your point is?” you ask, even though you know exactly where this is going.

Mark licks his lips before continuing: “What I’m saying is, you’ve never been this certain so quickly.”

That’s right. Not to be cliché or whatever, but this is normally how it goes for you. Relationships used to be difficult for you—from the pining to the confession to its climax to its end, until the bargaining and acceptance—and you’d never been the type to go through things so quickly and easily. With Donghyuck, you’d somehow done it backwards (and Mark doesn’t need to know that you slept with Donghyuck before you even sealed the damn relationship) but for some reason, you had forgotten how you’re supposed to act around people you like romantically. It scares the shit out of you, the connection between you and Donghyuck, but you’ve always been a firm believer that if it doesn’t scare you, it probably isn’t something worth doing. It feels like jumping from a cliff, to the bottom of the unknown, and it’s new, but it makes your heart pound like never before.

“I don’t want to get ahead and say something that’d make you change your mind somehow, because I also like you and Donghyuck together,” he explains when you only stare at him. “But, as your best friend, with the best intentions only, please don’t go breaking your heart before we leave, yeah?”

You nod, understanding and appreciating Mark’s sentiment. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

Mark shrugs. “We won’t really know. Take care, yeah?”

You smile stepping closer to hug Mark. “I love you, you know that, right?” he asks. You nod, your face buried on his chest. “Good. I’ll beat Donghyuck’s ass if he hurts you in anyway.”

“I sure hope you do,” you reply, just in time for the staff to call Mark’s attention, the tray of his order ready for him.

Donghyuck is pouting when you return, asking why you and Mark took too long because the seat beside him is all cold now. You kiss him on the cheek and tell him Mark just told you he’s beating his ass if you’re hurt in anyway.

“Mark can’t hurt a fly,” Donghyuck remarks. “What makes you think he can hurt me, huh?”

Mark scoffs. “You’ll be the first.”

계절과 계절 사이 (gyejeolgwa gyejeol sai) – between seasons

When the seasons start to change—from the rainy, cold spring transition to a warm, sunny summer—you and Donghyuck change, too.

From the euphoric blooming of your relationship—the playful dates, the passionate moments in his bedroom (because ever since Mark adopted that cat, Donghyuck could never stay at your place for longer than an hour), the heart-warming feeling of seeing him waiting for your after your class—to the warm, comfortable attachment stage, you feel like you know Donghyuck in a deeper sense now.

The small notebook he’d given you at the beginning of the term is halfway full, its pages messily scribbled with phrase and sentences you had learned—likewise the memories those words carry—and soon enough you find yourself more comfortable with the language, and eventually with Seoul. You find yourself enjoying, and not in a way that makes you think you’d want to visit again soon.

The journey with Seoul was initially a play to learn the language and its beautiful culture: a detour. A diversion from your plans. A stop while you figure out what you want in life. Your last year in university is supposed to be the year you finally decide what to do next. Visiting Seoul was an opportunity for you to really get to know yourself beyond your comfort zone, to really challenge your capabilities, to learn beyond what your hometown had in store for you.

But these days do not feel like Seoul is a place to visit.

In a way, liberating albeit frightening, you find yourself thinking that perhaps Seoul is a place to build a home in. The home is built from arms that hold you on days when it’s extra cold, your nose red and hands frozen, and its shelter is made from Donghyuck’s warm smile and the assurance of him being there for you. And right now, while you sit closely together at the back of your friend’s car, their obnoxiously loud voices singing to some pop song along the radio, you feel it: home.

Jeno likes the phone case you had customized for him, and he gives you a big, bear hug as soon as he take a peek of what’s inside your present.

“I love you. I literally love you with all my being,” he dramatically says as he squishes you.

“That’s my girlfriend, you idiot,” Donghyuck complains, pulling Jeno’s arms away from you. With the way you three are seated at the back of Renjun’s car, you sitting in between them, it’s uncomfortable and Donghyuck insists on taking part of the little moment you’re having with Jeno.

Jeno whines, “Let me love her. This is the best gift ever!”

Donghyuck ends up puffing air out of his mouth, pouting and leaning back so Jeno could hug you. You’re laughing and Jeno whispers how easily they could make him sulk these days because you’re around.

Mark, who’s sitting on the passenger seat beside Renjun, announces you’ve arrived at the amusement park, just as Jaemin’s car halts to a slow stop behind you.

It’s the first time you’ve ever visited the famous amusement park in Seoul, and Mark looks excited with the way he’s jumping as you line up for the tickets. Donghyuck has his arm around you, taking pictures with his other hand. The rest are chattering, talking about the rides they’d love to try.

The secretly group decides to stick together for the entire day to celebrate Jeno’s day, despite the birthday boy himself telling everyone they can go wherever they want to. You could see how much they really care about one another and they all just hide it in their mean, vile jokes. For example, the man who has his arm wrapped around you likes teasing Jeno like it’s his full-time job, but is hiding a birthday present inside the trunk of Renjun’s car (and would most likely give it before you all head home, act like his best friend’s birthday isn’t that much of a big deal).

Most of the day is spent following Jeno around, whatever ride he wanted to try and your ears ringing because of how loud Donghyuck is screaming. The temperature has gone from freezing cold to warm, the humidity making it a little harder for everybody to move around under the warmth of the sun.

“I never realized how much of a scaredy cat you are, Donghyuckie,” you tease as soon as you walk out of the roller coaster ride. “Not much of a tough guy now, huh?”

Donghyuck whines, “I liked you better when the words you spoke were only yes and no.”

Mark laughs, slapping Donghyuck on the back. “Oh man, that was really good.”

“Yeah?” You rebut. “And I liked you better when you weren’t screaming like a kid.”

Donghyuck smirks, “And I like you better when you’re screaming my name.”

Renjun and Jisung cough in disgust, and Mark just straight up slapped the back of Donghyuck’s head. “You two are disgusting. I can’t believe I live with you, Y/N.”

Donghyuck laughs, turning to you. “It’s pretty hot. Want me to go grab you a can of soda? Ice cold water?”

“Water, please,” you say. Donghyuck nods and gives you a quick kiss on the cheek before pulling Chenle with him and walking to the opposite side where a small shop is. In the meantime, the rest of you occupy the benches under a shade, Jeno asking which ride to go next.

Donghyuck and Chenle return in a matter of time, bottles of drinks in their hands. They give everyone their preferred drinks, Donghyuck sitting beside Mark and extending an arm so he could hand you your drink from his side.

“Fucking summer,” Donghyuck curses. “I hate summer.”

Renjun raises an eyebrow. “Suddenly?”

“It’s not even summer yet,” Jaemin points out. “What happened to you? You’ve always been so excited about summer.”

“It’s so hot. I can’t stand this fucking temperature,” Donghyuck mumbles.

Renjun scoffs. “You start planning our summer getaway as early as March.”

“It’s already April and you have nothing yet,” Jisung points out.

“Yeah, what the hell, man. I hate your ridiculous ideas, but we can’t survive summer without you,” Jeno adds, then looks at Mark. “Yo, Mark, what about you? What are you doing this summer?”

You and Mark freeze, looking at each other for a second, before the latter speaks for you both: “We’re, uh, we’re supposed to go home.”

It seems like Jeno didn’t know the weight of his question because he apologizes as soon as he realizes it. The group falls into silence, no one says anything, or perhaps nobody could think of anything to say, not even you or Mark.

With your days in Seoul numbered, you realize now that you haven’t really talked about it—not you and Mark, not you and Donghyuck—and it never really felt real. You had always told yourself you’ll cross the bridge when you get there, and the bridge is nearby.

Donghyuck clears his throat. “The sun’s going to kill me. I think I saw a burger joint that has an air-conditioning system down the corner of that street. Shall we go there?”

Everybody agrees and stand to leave. Donghyuck holds your hand, pulling you close and steals a kiss on your cheek. The gesture makes your heart flutter. Donghyuck is warm, but not in the way the sun is hot right now—in a way that gets you thinking: can this warmth reach Vancouver?

Your skin hurts when the sunlight hits you. You hate summer.

 오해 하지마 (ohae hajima) – Don’t misunderstand

Donghyuck had a face that looked like what an artist would draw in a whim—spontaneously—like it was done in a rush, like a portrait from a park done by a street artist, something done with a pencil. Ink stains are harder to wash off, and anyway, figments aren’t mean to last—and he’s almost unrecognizable in this light.

You can’t recognize him on the night of his birthday.

His Mother had gone above and beyond and invited all of their closest relatives and family friends for his 23rd birthday, and it’s also your first time meeting them.

It’s nerve-wracking to say the least, but his Mother smiles at you kindly when she greets you from the entrance of the restaurant they rented for the evening. You could tell his family was wealthy, and it makes sense because Donghyuck got the most bare minimum job he could find, and it’s most likely because he doesn’t need to get one; he probably only got one so he could talk about work, too, just like the rest of his friends.

The birthday party is a surprise and it was Renjun who connected with everyone to make sure they attend here tonight. You had to make up some excuse to Donghyuck when he asked why you can’t join him for dinner with his family tonight and had promised to make it up to him the day after.

You’re sat in the same table as Mark, Renjun, Jeno, and Jaemin, a bit far away from Donghyuck’s family’s table, as you wait for the birthday boy, your present sitting on top of the round table. Mark talks about his cat, letting Jaemin watch snippets of his pet from his phone, and Renjun is narrating a story about his “ridiculous and absurd encounter with Liu Yangyang (and you and Jeno can’t pass up the opportunity to tease him about it).

Then, someone comes sit beside Jaemin, the boys gasping when they see her.

Karina is beautiful, and even saying that isn’t enough to describe the woman’s beauty. Soft-spoken and brilliant, Karina naturally allows everyone to gravitate towards her. All, including yourself, are pulled like magnet when she arrived. Jeno introduces you and you allow yourself to throw a quick and inaudible “hello” when she reaches over and asks you how you are.

Donghyuck’s Mother almost screams when she sees Karina, excitement filling up the air as she hugs her and thanks her for attending.

“I wouldn’t miss Hyuckie’s birthday for the world, eommoni,” Karina answers, and before you could ask Renjun how she’s related to Donghyuck, Jisung, who’s seated in another table with Donghyuck’s younger siblings, announces that the birthday man himself has arrived.

Donghyuck enters the hall, surprised and happy when he sees everyone, a dramatic cry leaving his lips as everyone greets him happy birthday. He feigns complaint, whining that he’s no longer eight years old, but hugs his parents anyway.

His parents thank everyone for joining a precious day and celebrating their eldest son’s birthday with them. Donghyuck bows and starts to go around to thank people.

You don’t recognize Donghyuck when he finally reaches your table and he gives you small smile, hugging you quickly before moving on to the next person. You don’t recognize Donghyuck when he goes to Karina, lifting her as he hugs her tightly, and thanking her for being able to come. You don’t recognize Donghyuck when his Mother joins the little reunion and he laughs when his Mother jokes about them missing each other too much.

“She’s the one who left me all alone here in Seoul,” Donghyuck pouts. “We wouldn’t have missed each other this much if you had stayed!”

“Don’t be such a drama queen, Hyuckie,” Karina says, rolling her eyes. “You visited me in Tokyo literally six months ago.”

Six months ago, which means, it was right before you arrived in Seoul.

You want to be anywhere else but here, and you don’t want to listen any further, but the scenario runs like a comedy show and the punch line is you.

“You two better decide whatever the hell you want to do with your lives by the end of the year,” Donghyuck’s Mother comments. “I mean, no one’s stopping you from moving to Tokyo, Donghyuck. You and Karina can rekindle whatever light was burnt last year. I’m glad you stayed best of friends despite the long distance. You’ve always made a great couple.”

Your breath hitches like your lungs had just been punch. Donghyuck, it seems, finally remembers you’re watching this unfold. Mark holds you, and bless him because your legs feel like they’re about to give up. You and Donghyuck make eye contact, but you don’t recognize him at all.

“Eomma,” Donghyuck clears his throat. Everything else he’s said come out like a blur, and Mark is just holding you close.

“Don’t misunderstand,” Renjun whispers closely. “They’re just friends.”

You don’t recognize Donghyuck when he watches you leave.

천천히 말씀해 주세요 (chun-chun-hee mal-sseum-heh ju-seh-yo)  - Please speak slowly | 집 (jib) - home

Karina turns out to be the one that got away. The one true love. The greatest love. The childhood best friend who’s always been there. The leading woman. She turns out to be the protagonist in Donghyuck’s story.

You learn all of these from Renjun. Even when he refused to say a single word and had begged for you to talk to Donghyuck instead, you learn the truth by asking Mark to ask Renjun.

Donghyuck and Karina. Karina and Donghyuck. Two peas in a pod. A tight knit. Knowing each other like the back of their hands. A buy one, get one kind of deal. Where one is, the other would follow. And everyone and their moms know that it has always been like that, will always be like that.

Donghyuck and Karina, born on the same year, grew up in the same small village in Jeju island. Having been inseparable since, they ended up moving to Seoul together in high school. Donghyuck’s parents were supportive of Donghyuck pursuing a career in music, and they believed that moving to Seoul was the first step for their beloved son to find his spotlight. Karina’s parents, however, couldn’t afford moving alongside the Lee family despite wanting to support their daughter, too. Donghyuck begged his parents to have Karina move in with them so her parents would only worry about paying her tuition and allowances. The Lee family agreed, of course, because Donghyuck and Karina were fifteen, and they were the best team the world has ever known.

Karina is a talented dancer, and with a face like hers, it would be a shame to keep her in a small town in Jeju island. Her moving to Seoul had been the first step to her early success, because as soon as she reached puberty and had gained a butt and a pair of breasts, agencies were scouting her, creepily waiting for her outside of hers and Donghyuck’s high school. She’d declined, of course, with a promise to Donghyuck that they’d go to stardom together, but Donghyuck wanted to study and make music, and he felt as though he needed to go to college for that.

Karina eventually moved to another dormitory when she started training. Donghyuck moved downtown to start college. They were in different places, but they were still inseparable.

Pretty much every day Donghyuck would meet up with Karina when she started training; if not, then he’d be on Facetime with her during the hours when she’s not working. He had brought her to SNU many times, and they had started dating by the time Donghyuck is in his second year. All the other guys know Karina and her place in Donghyuck’s life. Somehow, a bitter part of you feels betrayed that none of them ever mentioned about Donghyuck’s great love, but you can’t really blame them for not saying anything.

They broke up on the latter months of last year because Karina had to move to Tokyo. There was no big fight apparently, just the decision that it’s most likely not going to work because—listen to this; this is the biggest punch line of this comedy show—Donghyuck can’t handle long distance.

You had answered one of Donghyuck’s calls by mistake. He’s mad for some reason, perhaps angry of the fact that you’re ignoring him and he doesn’t have much control like he normally does.

“Y/N, for fuck’s sake, why haven’t you answered?” he had cried out as soon as you answered.

“I was busy,” was all you could come up with. You brain had not been working good enough to translate things to Korean.

“What do you mean you were busy?” he had asked, voice loud and angry. “You literally disappeared on me! On my fucking birthday! And I’m done playing nice and cool because this is unfair. Whatever the fuck you’re doing is unfair you’re not letting me in. If you could just let me explain, things—”

“Please speak slowly.”

“—would be easier for the two of us. Whatever Karina and I had, it’s been over since last year. It’s over way before I met you. I never thought of her, not even for a goddamn second since we got together. I wouldn’t fucking betray you like that—”

“I can’t understand you.”

“—and I can’t believe you don’t trust me enough to let me at least tell you what happened! I never mentioned her because I never even thought about her! My Mother doesn’t know anything! I’ve wanted you to meet my Mother for a long time, but given our situation, a fucking time bomb ticking, I didn’t know if it was too early to go to that stage.”

“Time bomb?” you had asked, repeating the syllables slowly. “What’s that?”

Donghyuck sighed on the other line. “The thing that explodes at a predetermined time.”

“Oh, a time bomb,” you asked in English, chuckling. “That, we are.”

“Huh?”

“We’re a fucking time bomb,” you said, again in English, because if Donghyuck could keep talking in his mother tongue without considering if you’d understand a single word, so could you. “We’re ticking and we’re just waiting for this shit to explode. And I can’t wait and watch myself burn, Donghyuck. I can’t.”

“Please speak slowly,” he pleaded in Korean. You don’t.

“This isn’t going to work,” you responded, still in your mother tongue. “Maybe this is a clear sign for us, Donghyuck. Goodbye.”

Mark finds you crying on floor of your living, your back leaning on the feet of the couch, two weeks after Donghyuck’s birthday.

The first week, you had convinced your friends you were fine and that you just needed time. Donghyuck’s been reaching out to everybody, and Mark, being the best friend he is, lies regarding your whereabouts every time Donghyuck visits.

You don’t know how many calls Donghyuck had tried to make and how many text messages he’d left because you had completely abandoned your phone for the last couple of weeks and only relied on your computer to check any e-mails from your professors.

“I���m sorry,” Mark says, and you feel a rush of relief when he talks to you in English. You’ve had enough of Korean and Korean men these days. “It sucks, man. I don’t even know what to say. I’m so fucking disappointed with Donghyuck.”

“Shouldn’t you be more disappointed with me?” you sniffle. “I should have listened to you. We were moving too fast.”

Mark shakes his head, pulling you closer so that your head is resting on his shoulder. “I couldn’t blame you. Donghyuck’s charming, and I genuinely thought he was in love with you. I mean, I could say is, because I really think he’s sorry about everything.”

“We didn’t even get to properly break up,” you cry. “Our flight back home is in like, two weeks. I was supposed to talk to him and decide what we’d do with our relationship. For his birthday, I made a stupid mixtape that he could keep in his car and a very expensive and fucking cheesy set of touch lamps I found online for whenever he would miss me. And I keep making stupid letters like a fucking idiot so I could leave him with a bunch of poorly constructed letters just so he knows how much I’ll fucking miss him.”

Mark stays silent as you sob your heart out.

“And can you believe I actually thought it’d work?” you say, exasperated. “I’m so fucking sorry to myself. I’m just glad it’s over before I did shit I’d regret later on.””

“Shit like?” Mark asks.

You sigh, sniffling and screaming internally because the tears would stop. “I was already looking into internships here. For my last semester in college. I had already decided to decline the internship they were offering back home—thank God I haven’t sent that e-mail from my drafts—and I’ve found really good companies here. And if I’m lucky, I was thinking of moving here after college.”

Mark clicks his tongue. “All because of Donghyuck?”

“Because he feels like home, Mark,” you reason out. “He’s warm, and I can’t believe I’m admitting this now, but I love him. I love him so fucking much.”

“Oh, Y/N.”

“And we would have been happy. I would’ve done everything I could,” you confess. “And this fucking language barrier will be the death of me, but I would’ve learned more. I’d be an expert by the end of the year. And now, this whole Karina thing made me realize how much more I need to know about him.”

Mark holds you closer as though holding you would make things better. “When we were kids,” he starts. “Whenever I told you stories about how much I miss all the people I had to leave behind whenever we had to move from one country to another, one state to another, you’d always tell me to never build houses out of people.”

You remember. You always admired how Mark could move from one place to another, his suitcase and the ghost of the friendships he made following his trail, and he’s always told you about the loneliness it comes with.

“You used to tell me shelters aren’t supposed to be made of arms wrapped around you on a cold night, or hands that hold you when you’re feeling lonely,” he continues. “And I can’t blame you, because humans are known not to follow their own advice. But I hope you find home in things you’d never lose.”

You nod. “I’m sorry for breaking rule number three.”

“You’ll get over him,” he assures. “If you decide to really end things here, I mean. I’m sure you can get over him. It’s easier to get over people when you don’t see him.”

You nod, “Let’s go home, Mark.”

“Back home?”

You smile. “Yes. Back home.”

갈망 (galmang) - longing

It’s Giselle who picks you up from the airport.

You reunite like old friends, but Giselle really didn’t change that much. Even the weather didn’t change much. The same old. You wish you could say the same to yourself.

The flight to Vancouver was the most painful ten hours of your life, both literally and figuratively. It was hard watching your friends bid you goodbye, and you could tell they were dreading your departure as much as you and Mark were. Mark assures them you and him would save up to visit them again this year and as much as you’d wanted to stay, your student visa would allow you only six months. Mark promises he’d work on a tourist visa or whatever because despite being 100% ethnically Korean, but legally, he can’t just visit whenever he wants.

The pain from your breakup with Donghyuck is nothing compared to seeing Mark leave his friends again. You know how much they mean to him, and by extension, how much they mean to you regardless of what happened before your departure.

The head of student exchange program sends you warm greetings through text, followed by a series of messages from your friends and family. You’re glad Giselle had decided to pick you up from the airport, because you don’t think you’re in a good state to pretend like you’re okay, and Giselle knows.

Of course, she knows.

Giselle’s been your anchor during your last weeks in Seoul. Mark reckons that if anyone would understand you best during this time, it would be Giselle. After all, she’d gone through the same thing.

Like Mark, Giselle moved to Seoul with her parents for a few years. She had a similar experience with Mark, considering that her parents are constantly moving around—from Japan to South Korea then to Vancouver. Giselle was only in Seoul for two years before her parents moved back to Vancouver again, and in between those years she had met Kevin Moon, the love of her life.

They have been dating for almost four years now, two of those years, they dated long distance.

“How’d you make it work?” you had asked Giselle over Facetime once.

“It wasn’t perfect,” she admitted. “We broke up a couple of time because it was really difficult. And neither of us were willing to move for each other. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Kevin and I, we love each other. Truly we do. But I wouldn’t want to plant my entire life in Seoul for him. In the same manner, I don’t want him to move from Seoul to Vancouver for me when we both know for a fact that he’d be more successful in Korea than here. I guess, I don’t know, I don’t have an advice I could give you.”

“I’m not asking for advice,” you denied. “I mean. Donghyuck and I have only been dating for like, two weeks. I wouldn’t think that far at this time.”

Giselle had laughed at the other end of the line. “Let me tell you one thing, though.”

“Mhm.”

“It’s all a matter of choice,” she had said slowly, like she wanted to imprint the words to your brain. “Your heart isn’t made of diamonds. Your lungs aren’t made of steel. Somehow, inevitably, you’d grow tired—tired of timezones and how you never get the timing right, tired of not having someone to hug when you need it, tired of having to compromise—and it’s not an easy game.”

Giselle was smiling when she’d said the rest: “But Kevin is so worth it. I’ll grow tired of the baggage long distance comes with, but I don’t think I could live without him, you know? And it’s exaggerated, I know, and neither of us know what the future holds, but we’re choosing us. We chose to stay.”

It would have been beautiful, you think, if things worked out between you and Donghyuck. You would have written poems and prose in places about how you chose to stay. You would have learned about time zones and the best time to call, could have learned how to purchase the cheapest flight tickets to see each other, would have learned love and compromise together.

But you’re here, back in Vancouver, the voices of Mark and Giselle all blurred out from the backseat, and all you could think of is how much you miss Donghyuck.

예기치 않은 (yegichi anh-eun) - unexpected

The head of the student exchange program asks you to write an article about your experience in Seoul and gives you until the fall semester begins, just in time for the university’s own publishing house to produce this year’s school paper. You’re stuck at two hundred words and a stupid title Mark came up with: “Learning Languages”—and you’re thinking about withdrawing from that spot in the newspaper but Mark keeps calling you a heartbroken loser and you’re not about to let Mark Lee get the last word.

You’re eating cereal and watching an episode of Suits to prepare to write again (yes, a 30-minute preparation time is needed for such task) when someone knocks at your door.

You know how, in movies, the main character would see things in slow motion as soon as the love of their life enters the scene? That’s exactly what happens when you open the door and find Lee Donghyuck standing outside your dorm room, a too-large for his body backpack on one shoulder and his heart upon his sleeve.

미안해 (mianhae) – I’m sorry | 사랑해 (saranghae) – I love you

“I’m sorry,” are the first words that Lee Donghyuck comes up with, and truthfully are the words you needed to hear from him. He says it in his mother tongue and you feel his heart in his voice.

“Mark?” you ask, knowing full well it’s Mark who helped him.

“Yes but no,” he answers. “He said he’d only give me your address but he’s not picking me up or helping me. My flight landed literally six hours ago and I’ve been looking for you since.”

Donghyuck sits across you on the small table you own inside your small room. His backpack is sitting on his feet and his shoulders are slumped. Donghyuck allows himself to look small compared to all the times you were with him.

“Y-you look good,” he comments, eyes glued on you. “I’m glad you’re healthy, at least.”

“You, too,” you mumble. “Tea? Coffee?”

“Water would be fine, please and thank you.” You reach over to hand him a bottle. “And who are you kidding? I look awful.”

He does. He looks exactly what he said he had done to get here. Look for you for six hours after a ten-hour flight from Incheon. Donghyuck downs the bottle of water. Poor guy probably hasn’t eaten.

“Why are you here, Donghyuck?” you ask as soon as he’s done drinking.

Donghyuck clears his throat. “I don’t really know what I want out of this trip.”

You keep your arms crossed over your chest.

“And I’m not about to beg you to take me back,” he continues. “I just wanted to explain. I just want you to know what happened. I can live without you, but I can’t live with you thinking I had betrayed you.”

“Donghyuck, there’s really no need to explain. Renjun has told Mark all I needed to know.”

“No, let me say it please. I spent a fortune to come here, and I’m going to make you listen if it’s the last thing I’d do. After this, I’ll leave. I have a ticket back home tomorrow, and I’ll leave.”

Ridiculous. Who would spend a fortune on a set of roundtrip tickets only to leave a day after? Of course, only Lee Donghyuck.

“Karina and I go way back,” he says. “We’ve known each other since we were kids. And she’s not someone I could just get rid of just because our relationship didn’t work out. We’re better off as friends, and that’s a fact we had come to learn when we tried dating. And it was painful, but I couldn’t lose her just because we didn’t know how to date, how to play boyfriend and girlfriend to each other. That’s the first thing I need you to understand.”

“Like I don’t know that already?” you remark sarcastically.

“Karina is a part of me.” Shit’s painful.

“But now like how you are a part of me.”

Oh.

“She’s my best friend, almost like a sister now, and my parents care about her,” he continues. “It was a mistake that we even tried to date just so we could relate to everyone dating everybody. It almost ruined us, and Karina and I, we can’t afford to lose each other just because of that. The person who I am now, part of it is because of Karina. But Y/N, the person I’m about to become, I want it to be because of you.”

He clears his throat again. You look at the bottle of water he finished drinking because you really can’t look at Donghyuck now. Not when he’s vulnerable and out in the open. Not when he’s exactly the way he was when you fell in love with him.

“And I had plans. For the long run,” he says like a promise. “I had started looking up how to get a tourist visa to Canada and how to get you a tourist visa to Korea. I’ve been saving all my allowances and the money I’ve been earning from work so I could book a ticket to Vancouver for the summer and spend it with you. And I was supposed to tell Mom, but I haven’t had the chance yet—that one I have no excuse for. But the timing was off and she met you before I could tell her. She had no idea and she’s genuinely sorry she made it seem like she wanted me to end up with Karina. If she had known I was already in love with someone else, she wouldn’t have said that in front of you. She would have loved you.”

Donghyuck pauses. You look up to see him wiping his tears from his cheeks. “And I’m sorry that the timing didn’t go well for us, but I promise you I had plans. I just didn’t want to spend the rest of your weeks in Seoul thinking about you being gone as soon as the semester is over. I wanted to seize the moments with you and make you—I wanted to make you feel that I love you.”

Your breath hitches. Donghyuck locks eyes with you.

“I love you. I love you and I’m so sorry that I made you feel like I didn’t,” he confesses, bursting into tears and you do, too. “I’m so sorry that I didn’t try hard enough to make you stay. I’m so sorry that I talked to fast that time I finally got you to answer my call; I should’ve explained more calmly. I’m so sorry that we’re here, in Vancouver, hearts broken. But I love you, and I wish I could say all of these in English if that’s what would make you believe it’s real and it’s true.”

But he doesn’t have to.

“I love you,” you say in your mother tongue before switching to Korean. “I love you. And I know you love me. And I’m so sorry for jumping to conclusions and not trying hard enough. Just like you, I had plans to. For the long run. And I can live without you, too, but I can’t live without you knowing how much I love you.”

Donghyuck giggles through his tears and reaches out both hands to wipe off yours. “Let’s not live without each other.”

It’s him to moves, standing a little, so he could kiss you.

The kiss says everything the language barrier can’t. I love you. I missed you. I’m sorry. This is everything I’ve ever wanted. You are everything I’ve ever wanted.

Donghyuck spends the night tracing your body with his mouth like he’s writing a love song and he needs to taste you first before he could write the first melody. You spend the night underneath Donghyuck’s love, whispering his name like praise, taking, taking, taking everything he’s giving you.

You wake up to arms around you and the love of your life kissing the back of your neck. You and him spend the entire day (or at least, the seven hours he had until he had to take the flight back home) talking about your plans and making a list of thing you have to talk about over the phone, but today, you’re taking him out on a date under the warm, sunny skies of Vancouver.

And you do. You and Donghyuck have the best day ever together. Donghyuck gives you the other pair of the touch lamp you’d given to him as a birthday present—you’d forgotten you left it when you ran off; you were supposed to watch him open it so you could show him how it works—and makes you promise to touch the lamp whenever you missed him. He thanks you for the mixtape and confesses he cries whenever he plays it inside his car. He also gives you your small notebook of learning languages back (because you had dramatically left it to Renjun before you boarded the plane), saying you’d need it again.

Mark refused to come because he wants you and Donghyuck to talk and spend the day creating a game plan to make your relationship work. At the end of the hours you had with him, you don’t come up with a solid game plan.

Because Giselle was right, after all, it all comes down to the choices you make. There was no formula on how a long-distance relationship would work. Neither you nor Donghyuck had survived one, but you knew one thing:

Today, you and Donghyuck choose each other.

It’s only the beginning, it seems.

The sun is out and bright when Donghyuck boards the plane.

It’s a lot warmer than the rest of the year, but you don’t really mind.

[redheadspark]

September Prompt Session

Hello Lovelies!

Happy September! I know fall is around the corner and I am BEYOND excited (But here in California it is in the triple digits so that's not great at the moment!). However, this is my favorite season and a great introduction to the holiday season that is coming before we know it!

Last week I put on a poll to see what theme you all wish to see next in our prompt session! The result made me smile since it was one of my favorite prompts I've ever done! Thank you to see who voted, and with that, our next theme is:

Soulmates

Here are my rules:

1.) You may choose ONE character from my list Here. It’ll have the list of characters that I write for or have written for in the past.

*(If you have a character not listed that you wish for me to write, PLEASE MESSAGE ME AND CLEAR IT WITH ME FIRST TO SEE IF I CAN OR WILL DO IT!)*

2.) There is one list for this session. Please provide the number AND the character you wish for me to write.

Example: May I have Azriel from ACOTAR with #3?

*I write out the requests as a first come first serve. I will try my best to fulfill every request that comes my way, but please bear in mind I work full-time as a teacher. Because of that, I’ll be busy most of the day so please be patient and I’ll write in my spare time as much as I can :) *

3.) If I get two requests that are exactly the same, (same character and same number) I will only write it once! Please don't be afraid to ask if someone has already requested the character and number, I don't mind answering that for you :)

4.) You can request in my ASK box neither as yourself or anonymously. Although I would LOVE to give you a shout if you request as yourself, anon is perfectly fine!

5.) I will stop taking requests for this prompt session on Friday, September 13th, at 3:00 PST.

This session is going to be short since I'm going to a concert on Saturday with my cousin

6) Have fun and enjoy :)

Imprint - the soulmate’s touch will leave an imprint on their skin, aka Destiel ‘gripped you tight’

Sense8 - being telepathically connected to your soulmate no matter where in the world they are (and speaking and understanding their language)

Markings - a soulmate mark that only the soulmates have in common

Tattoo - when they reach a certain age, a tattoo shows up on their bodies that they have in common

Eye-colour - only being able to see everything in the colour of their soulmate’s eyes

Grey to multi-coloured - only being able to see grey until they meet their soulmate

Sharing injuries - receiving the same injuries (to a lesser extent) that their soulmate suffers from

Empathy - sharing the same emotions as their soulmate when they are close by

Names - their soulmate’s name is written on their body (maybe only initials)

First Word - the first word/sentence they hear their soulmate say is written on their body

Timer - everyone has a timer that’s counting down till they meet their soulmate

Dreamy - seeing their soulmate’s dreams or being able to communicate with them in their dreams

No harm done - soulmates are not able to hurt each other physically

Sharing songs - being able to share songs with their soulmate in their heads

Clock - everyone has a clock that shows the time zone their soulmate is in

Taste - only being able to taste anything after meeting their soulmate

Danger alert - people can feel when their soulmate is in danger

Tell no lie - it’s impossible to lie to your soulmate

Voice in their head - the voice in their head is their soulmate’s voice

Sharing birthdays - soulmates are born on the same day, share the first breath with each other

Tugging - being able to feel a tug in the direction of your soulmate if they are feeling a strong emotion

Different soulmates - people are not necessarily their soulmate’s soulmate

Once again, I will not be taking any requests after Friday, September 13th, at 3:00 PM PST. And don't worry, once October comes around I'll definitely get into a Fall Prompt Session!

Thank you and happy writing!

Tagging -@a-lumos-in-the-nox @botanicalbarnes @heliosphere8 @virtueassassin @ethereal-athalia @heartofwritiing @valeridarkness @pemberlyy @saradika @basicrese

[cant-have-shit-in-gotham]

Wil will admit that he‘d been a little worried when Jason told him where he’d gotten reservations.

L'Ombre du Prince is not exactly the kind of place that an alley rat usually gets access to, though he supposes most alley rats don’t end up with an ex-wayne Crime Lord for a boyfriend.

He feels dirty, sitting in the fancy dining hall with enough gold in it to feed the whole alley for a week. People in nearby tables keep giving him disgusted glances, and have since he first started speaking in his thick accent.

As he’d already said, he’d felt anxious when Jason said where they’d be going.

But then he told Wil what they’d be doing.

“Well, it’s Brucie’s favorite restaurant. I figured we’d go in, eat some overpriced deserts, and destroy the place on our way out.” He’d then showed Wil the stash he was planning to bring.

“I’ve got two baseball bats, two sledge hammers, ten smoke grenades, and my personal favorite, ten glitter bombs. Steph taught me how to make them.”

Fuck does Wil love him.

“Zoning out, amor?”

Wil should really learn some Spanish. He doesn’t even know how to say “yes” or “no,” much less the meanings of Jason’s—Hood’s, really, he decided to come in costume, with a nice suit over the top of it; there’s no mistaking the signature red helmet, though—various petnames.

Today he’s wearing the helmet with a detachable mouthpiece so he can actually eat. They’ve mostly ordered deserts, plus a few entrées that Jason recommended. Naturally, Wil ordered something so ridiculously spicy that one of the nearby couples had to move to a different table because of the scent alone.

They’re nearly finished with all of the things they’ve ordered.

…There’s another couple glaring at Wil and staring warily at Hood.

“Ready to blow this joint?” Jason uses ASL so that other guests don’t think he meant it literally.

“I was born ready.”

Simultaneously, Wil and Jason throw several smoke bombs. Jason takes hold of Wil and grapples up to the ceiling where they then throw their glitter bombs into the blind crowd. They reapply the smoke as needed, then let the guests all evacuate themselves (and let the glitter settle) before they drop back down to start smashing things.

Jason grabs a baseball bat, while Wil goes for a sledge.

I love th’s man, Wil thinks as he takes the long-handled hammer and topples some ugly gold statuette.

Jason knocks out a few windows and swipes tablecloths to knock everything to the ground like some overgrown cat with a grudge.

Wil sets down his sledge to start throwing chairs, and Jason takes his own to knock the legs off of the overly-fancy gilded tables.

Jason had the foresight to bring a powerful speaker, so “Highway To Hell” is blocking out the elevator music that is still playing.

Wil lets out a loud “WOOP” and shouts “THIS IZ TH’ MOST FUN I’VE HAD SINCE TH’ DOCK BUST LAST OCTOBER!”

Jason laughs in a way that would be terrifying to anyone who’s never seen him cry because Jay will never have the same relationship he’d had with Alfred.

They keep destroying things until it looks like Arkham after a breakout.

Jason turns fown the music, P!nk’s “So What” this time, “Ready to head home?”

Wil smiles, “Yeah, let’s pack up.”

They grab their smashing devices and empty grenade cartridges, as well as the speaker, and walk out the front doors like the protagonists in some “Cool Guys Don’t Look at Explosions” movie.

@flying-graysons-fan

[jadienjaystoriesandart]

Had this idea for a Super Hero AU in a dystopian future. Based slightly in Hermitcraft. With some magic and fantasy elements.

A world that is set in a post apocalyptic time.

Watchers have pretty much desired the world’s ecosystem and atmosphere.

Humans died or became pets to them. Those that did escape made these advance dome cities in the sky, land, and underground.

Two people made and created the Mod Project.

Which took 13 humans and mixed their dna with that of various hostile mobs to create Super Soldiers to fight the watcher and protect their chosen city.

Of the 13 only 8 survived the process.

These soilders don’t need sleep. They feed on the blood usually of Watcher monsters they’ve slayed.

Because most people don’t travel outside their chosen city they don’t have much contact with each other.

Meaning each solider of the dorm city has various levels of what they consider to be ‘morally right’.

They can also eat normal food but not as much as a normal human.

Hybrids do exist in this. Often these were the first attempt of the Mod Project. They still need basic human functions. And have bred with humans to make natural born hybrids by this point.

The story follows HotGuy, the ‘hero’ and ‘protector’ of the Crystal Dome City. In the east. His code name is The Vex

As to why humans don’t leave the city. The oxygen levels around the dome are of 60%

The farther you get from the dome the less you have and the more monsters you encounter.

The Dead Zone to the far west has only 10% oxygen.

Supposedly a few miles from it is a dome city in the sky? Land? They aren’t sure. And is protected by their solider called The Dragon.

There is one under ground run by The Warden

Two in the sky to the far north called the Phantom and the one to the south called The Blaze.

And one to the east also near the coast line, roughly a few weeks from HG’s city. It’s under the protection of The Guardian.

It’s unsure why the ‘Dead Zone’ is so well dead. But some speculate that this is where the Watchers first started their assault of Planet Craft.

There are 8 creatures with their own city.

-

The Vex

The Guardian

The Warden

The Phantom

The Blaze

The Dragon

The Ender

The Spider

-

The failed ones were

The Wither

The Husk

The Skeleton

The Piglin

The Ravager

-

They failed mainly because during the process the human died before the full transformation could be realized.

The Vex, or Hotguy/Scar, is able to turn into a monster like vex. He’s taller than the usual vex, about 6 or 7 feet tall. Long claws, sharp teeth, perfect hearing and smell. But has low eye sight in daylight, mostly can only see when something moves. He also has an aversion to fire in this form as vexes are cold beings.

The story in my head is HG with his friend Mumbo are trying to get back in contact with the 8 cities the Hart Foundation is still in contact with. In order to try to come together to stop the Watchers once and for all.

Of the ones he’s met so far is The Warden (Cub), The Blaze (Tango), and The Guardian (Grian). (Yes we are going with Sea Grian for this.)

Each of these groups of ‘Heroes’ have different ideas of what they consider to be ‘good’. Mainly due to the fact society is very different for each of them.

The Warden’s city is in the east but is deep underground.

The Blaze’s is in the south and is a city far in the sky. The only reason HG got tos we is is because, after contact with the Guardian and Warden, the Blaze opened up his teleporters to meet with The Vex in person.

Despite being of the same project, they don’t know each other and have foggy memories of their time being tested on.

Feel free to write for this or draw if you guys want. I’m just coming up with ideas. I’ll write a oneshot later.

If you have any questions feel free to ask. :3

Btw the ‘oxygen levels’ is mostly the amount of ‘breathable air’ for them. It’s not the amount of pure oxygen, it’s just the percentage of air that is breathable.

[wolfish-trickster]

Unknown, Uni, Us

University AU

Choso x female!reader

1/?

Word count: 2.2K

Summary: After entering university and taking down your rose tinted glasses you saw how ugly your highschool friends' personalities really were. You even start to think you'll spend the rest of your university life all alone. Little did you know you caught the eye of a quiet goth guy with a reputation. Will your heart be ever able to trust someone, anyone, again?

Warnings: typos, angst, fluff, slowburn, slow beginings, slightly ooc

Taglist: no one yet

'Aminoacid,' was your first thought of the day. You'd be surprised if it wasn't to be honest. You wasted an entire sunny weekend studying organic chemistry. Not that you had any test or anything. You just knew that sooner or later you would've have to sit down and study it. And since you didn't have any plans you decided to hit the books now.

As usual, you woke up slightly before your alarm clock. You stretched for your phone and turned it off before it can wake anyone up. You were one of the lucky people that were born in the same city as their dream university so you decided to save time and energy and stayed with your parents. Not that you had any other place to stay, really.

After couple of minutes in the bathroom and packing your lunch you had made last night into your bag you put on a warm coat, plugged your ears with earphones and left the house. Streets were dark and mostly lonely. It was december. 5.50 am. You cursed whoever came up with having a class this early. Especially when the sun wasn't even up yet. Even though you would've done anything to be back in your warm bed you still appreciated the atmosphere. Leafless trees with their branches curled and twisted like claws ready to snatch you, slight fog hovering above the empty road, yellow streetlamps softly illuminating everything around dressing the whole scenery into an orange coat.

It wasn't long till you reached the tram taking you straight to the school. As always, it was empty. Meaning you could sit wherever you wanted with no disturbances whatsoever. In fear of sleeping through your stop you blasted the music into full maximum and forced your eyes to look out the window. Everything was so quiet and still. Only this one week and then you have holidays when you can study for your finals all you want. If only it snowed tho.

After mere 30 minutes the tram announced your stop. You hopped off and walked upstairs, along a pavement, more stairs and finally through the main gate. The inside of the school mirrored the outside. Nobody there. Just you.

The entire school consisted of four interconnected buldings with the entrance being in the second one. Your class was in the third one on the third floor. A long way to go in these morning hours. You still had around 8 minutes so you were fine.

However after making it to the correct room the door was locked. Weird, it's usually opened with the professor already waiting and taking attendance. You looked around the hall but it didn't look like anyone else was comming. You checked your phone. The class should start- THREE MINUTES AGO?

You were confused beyond belief. This was your first year here but you knew your professors enough already to know they are never late. Not this one at least. There must be an explanation.

You turned on your phone data and went to check your mail. Sure enough, the professor sent a mail last night saying the class is off. And not only for your group but all groups. You knew of at least two more groups who had this class at the same time as yours, just in a different room.

"Seriously man?" you groaned and slowly made your way downstairs. Going back home would be a waste of time. Staying here and taking a nap on some couch is the only option for right now.

Your only luck was that you will have the so called "chill zone" all to yourself. You took your sweet time walking into the second building again and dropping yourself onto the biggest couch like a sack of potatoes. The sun just started to rise and it already cleaned out some of the morning fog.

You stretched and took off your coat. Now only to figure out what to do in the meantime. Sleeping is out of the question. So is playing on the phone. You can't let your battery die half way through the day again.

The only option currently on your mind is to sketch. You pulled out your chemistry notebook, found an empty page and as you were about to pull oit your beloved mechanical pen you heard footsteps. You froze but then relaxed. What if it's just a professor going to his own class? Or a cleaner doing her job? You have to stop being this paranoid.

However it wasn't a professor or a cleaner. From right around the corner a messy bedhead of a hair along with its owner showed up and sat not too far from you on the couch. Your heartbeat picked up on speed. You knew this guy. Not personally, you've seen him on bunch of your classes since he was a fellow freshman. Rumor was going around that he murdered his own brother. Some say it was an accident, some claim it was intentionally.

Either way, he looked scary enough for you to slowly shuffle to the very corner of the couch. Why was he here? Did he not see the mail as well?

He turned his head to you and you quickly looked away.

"Hi," he said.

"Hello," you greeted back.

Silence. An awkward long silence.

You decided to break it. "You didn't see the email either, did you?"

He shook his head.

"Yeah, me neither."

Another silence. Why did he greet you if he didn't have any intentions of talking with you in the first place. Anyways, you took few deep breaths and decided to not let him bother you. You pulled out your trusty mechanical pencil and started sketching whatever came to your mind.

You were so concentrated on your work you almost didn't hear him.

"Sorry?"

"I asked what are you studying," he repeated.

"Oh, um," tell him the truth or lie? You chose truth. "Actually I'm not studying," i turn around my notebook to show him some doodles among the notes you took during class, "just killing time."

He looked at them and hummed. "They're not so bad."

"Thanks," you answer timidly and continue on. However another of his comment stops you.

"Do you draw often?"

"Not really, just when I'm bored."

You would've loved to continue the conversation but you just didn't know how. Ask him what he does when he's bored? Yeah, that sounds good.

"Do you-"

"Why are-" he said at the same time.

"Oh sorry I-"

"No, it's fine, you can go on. What were you saying?"

"Well," you took a breath in, "I was about to ask you if you have anything you like to do when you're bored."

"Oh," he said and stayed silent for a while. You started to panic. Did you say something wrong?

After a while he replied. "I like to listen to music mainly. But that's about it."

Now this can be turned into a conversation. "Really? What genre? Do you have a favourite band?"

He chuckled. "I'm pretty sure you can guess both of them," he pointed at his hoodie. There was a logo all across the front. BTH. Is that?

"YOU LISTEN TO BRING ME THE HORIZON?" you said louder than intended and quickly covered your mouth. "Sorry," you squeeled a little to high and cringed at yourself.

He waved his hand. "It's fine, no one's here anyways. I'm surprised you know them. No offense but you don't really look like the type to listen to it."

"Yeah, I hear that a lot."

And once again an unwanted awkward silence came back. Thankfully it didn't last long.

"Are you a freshman here as well? I noticed your chemistry notes."

You glanced at your still opened notebook. "Yeah, I am. And so are you."

"Yeah. My name's Choso by the way," he said and extended his hand for you to shake.

You smiled and took it. "Y/N."

His hand was bigger than yours, warmer than yours and he had rough palms. You're not so sure if you wanted to know from what though. Either way, it has been so long since you've experience any kind of touch or intimacy that this skin to skin contact sent shivers down your spine.

To your silent disappointment he let your hand go.

"How did your organic chemistry midterms go?" He asked oit of the blue.

"Uhm, first one 80% and second 69%. Why?"

He nodded. "You're smart then. I barely scored above the minimum required," he chuckled an rubbed the back of his neck. "Do you have any lifehacks to srudying or any advice to help me pass finals?"

"Well," you thought for a while. "Nothing really. Just keep writing the sequences over and over and over again. Learn the patterns. Otherwise it's just memorizing. I won't be much of a help, sorry."

"Nah, it's fine. At least I asked," he lened back on the couch and you felt like the conversation was over. Was it? You don't want it over. Wait, you don't? This is the guy who had murder rumour going around about him. Ah, screw it.

"Wait," you said and flipped through the notebook while Choso turned his torso towards you again, "here. I wrote down all patterns. It's basically a summary of all classes we took up until now. If you want you can take a picture. Maybe it will help you study."

Choso's mouth turned upwards slightly. "Thanks."

He took the notebook from you and took some pictures. It felt nice. As if you two were friends.

Jnfortunately you two didn't talk more. But you felt like neither of you minded. You weren't the one to talk too much anyways, and he didn't look like the chatty type either.

Time passed, the sun got higher and the space around you got more and more crowded.

You checked the clock on your phone. "Well, i better get going. My next class is in a different building," you collected your things and stood up.

As did he. "Yeah, mine too. Mind if i tag along?"

"Nope, not at all."

As expected the journey to the front of the auditorium was quiet. You didn't mind anymore. The main thing was that he was nice to you. You chuckled to yourself. How low did you go to be grateful for people to be polite to you.

"What's made yoj laugh?" He asked.

"Oh, nothing. Just irony of life."

"Care to share?" He asked again with a kind of a flirtatious smile.

You waved your hand. "Maybe later."

He nodded.

You smiled at him. Is this a new friendship you see? Your almost happy mood got suddenly ruined by a familiar figure already waiting infront of your destination. Once she saw you her eyes lit up and walked towards you. "Heeey, long time no see."

You put on a smile. "Yeah, hi. How have you been?"

"Oh just awful, you remember that bitch from class 3C back jn highschool, well she-"

"I don't."

"Well doesn't matter, point is she unfollowed all of us on instagram!"

You stared at her. "So?"

"So? What do you mean so?"

"What i mean is none of us ever talked to her anymore so makes sense she would unfollow."

Your friend folded her arms. "She's still a bitch for that. And if you only saw what kind of tiktoks she's posting. A total NPC behaviour."

Choso cleared his throat. "I guess I'll be going then."

You mentally cursed her for ruining your new blossoming friendship. "No, it's okay. You usually sit alone right? You can sit with me today, if you want. Stella over here usually sits with her group."

"Hey, don't try to get rid of me. All of us can sit together! By the way I'm Stella."

Choso nodded. "Choso."

The professor showed up earlier than usual and unlocked auditorium. Every student started to jam themselves into the front, as if all the seats will get taken. You didn't mind. You took your time and waited till the chaos in the front calmed down. Choso stood beside you.

Suddenly you felt his breath brush your ear. "Who's that Stella girl?"

So he's taken an interest in her now? Stella isn't exactly ugly, a little plump with long dark wavy hair and just enough makeup to enhance her features. If only he knew what kind of a snake she can be.

"She's my highschool classmate."

"Nothing more than that? No friend or anything?"

"Why are you asking?"

Choso shrugged. "You tensed up when she spoke to us."

You quickly turned to look at him, surprise in your eyes.

He put his index finger to his lips. "I won't tell her. She seems like she conciders you a good friend."

You gulped. "Well I wished she didn't," you looked away. You shook your head and hugged yourself as a comfort. "It's a long story."

He didn't say anything. Just put his hand in the middle of your back and pushed you with him towards the entrance door to the auditorium. The class was starting.

[raaorqtpbpdy]

Love and War

Sam is struggling with a lot of things. She's half-ghost, she's in love with her two best friends, she's desperately trying to keep both those things a secret, and to top it all off, one of those two best friends is missing, and she's doing everything she can to find him.

For the prompts: Sam has two secrets. One: She's in love with her two best friends. Two: She's a ghost. [from @carelisswriting] Danny has been missing for 2 weeks. Sam and Tucker find him floating, unconscious, in the Ghost Zone, but something's different when he wakes up. [from @hippykattrs], and Reverse trio au but through a series of shenanigans Danny still ends up being the ghost king [from Yellow]

Read also on AO3

[Warning for canon-typical violence and kidnapping]

Sam Manson had only two real, genuine, secrets. The kind of secrets a person held close to their chest and kept as if their life depended on it. The kind of secrets a person lied and tricked people in order to keep, no matter how guilty it made them feel. First, that she was a ghost; and second, that she was in love with her two best friends.

The first of those secrets, only her two best friends knew. They were the two people she trusted most in the world, and the only two people she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt wouldn't ever share that secret, even under threat of death.

The other secret, she hadn't told even them. And she probably never would.

It wasn't that she didn't trust them with it, of course she did. It was just that she didn't want to make things awkward between them. Her being a ghost only changed their entire world-view and understanding of human mortality. But her other secret, her secret crush—that getting out could ruin everything.

Her feelings weren't knew to her. Back in eighth grade, she'd started to develop a crush on both of them at the same time, and she'd thought she was a bad person for not being able to pick just one person to like. She'd since gotten over that, because she'd decided it was stupid, and then a little bit after that, she'd also learned what polyamory was, which cemented her decision that her guilt had been stupid.

As time passed, her feelings grew beyond just a couple of simple crushes, and into genuine, actual love, so strong that it hurt a little. She always scoffed and rolled her eyes when the subject of romance came up, pretending she wasn't interested, and that she thought anyone who would waste their time with something so ridiculous, especially in high school, was an idiot.

It helped to keep her true feelings hidden, even though every time she listened to Tucker all but waxing poetic about the most recent tech he'd found at the scrapyard and was gutting, either to repurpose into recycled tech or new techno-goth accessories—or heard Danny bragging about getting the high score on the NASA shuttle flight simulator, or ranting about stars, she was sure they were written all over her face.

She was down bad, and she knew it—but she would rather die than admit it and risk changing their group's whole dynamic, or even worse, losing her friends completely because she'd made it weird between them.

Danny and Tucker had been friends practically since they were born, but Sam had only become their friend in the sixth grade, and even though that was still a solid three years at this point, she still felt that three years wasn't enough to cement her position if she did something too crazy, like confessing her undying love out of nowhere—not that she would do it like that, because even if she was brave enough to confess at all, that would be coming on way too strong.

The other secret was... more recent. Freshman year had barely started, and the three of them were all hanging out at Danny's house. His parents had made a portal, claiming that it would lead to a place called the Ghost Zone. Unfortunately, it didn't work. It was still cool enough—in theory, at least—that Danny took Sam and Tucker down into his parents' lab to show it to them.

Sam took a couple of pictures. It did look really cool, for a hole in the wall. very futuristic and techie.

"You should go inside and let me take a picture of you," Sam suggested to Danny.

"Are you kidding?" Danny scoffed. "This is untested technology, what if I get electrocuted or something?"

"Fine, I'll do it, and you can take the picture," Sam replied with a roll of her eyes. "It doesn't work, anyway." She handed her camera off to Danny.

"At least put a protective jumpsuit on?" Danny requested. "I don't wanna see you get hurt."

"That's sweet," Sam said. Her tone was sarcastic, but her feelings were genuine. Danny always was sweet—and was only sometimes a bit of a jackass. "Make sure to get the whole portal in the picture. Don't just focus on me and ignore the background."

She borrowed one of Danny's jumpsuits and put it on over her clothes. It was a bit loose on her, and Sam always somehow managed to destroy or stain white clothes, but her main complaint was the big Jack Fenton decal on the chest, which she promptly tore off and threw away.

"I'm not walking around with your dad's face on my chest," she said, then went to stand just inside the portal. "Alright, take the picture."

Danny did, and once the flash faded, Sam turned around to get a look at the big, steel tunnel she was standing in. It was cold and dark, and gave her a strange almost menacing sort of energy that made her body feel like it was buzzing, and she kind of dug it, to be honest. It was weird, but cool.

"This this is actually really cool," she remarked, taking a few steps further in.

"Be careful, Sam!" Danny shouted after her.

The deeper she got in, the stranger it became. In the darkness, the seams in the metal interior seemed to faintly glow and pulse with green, like something was trying to squeeze its way through the cracks, even though the portal didn't work.

Before Sam knew it, she was all the way at the back of the tunnel, and there was some kind of iris shaped mechanism. It, too, appeared to glow, ever so faintly in the dark. Too curious for her own good, Sam put her gloved hand on the mechanism. That turned out to be a mistake.

It happened in an instant, too fast for her to even scream. And when she gasped it felt as if her throat was being filled with silly putty and she choked. Her body was flooded with energy. Simultaneously, red hot pain tore through her every molecule, and an icy chill engulfed her like she'd just fallen through the ice into a frozen lake. The force of the energy from that mysterious mechanism sent her flying backwards as a bright, toxic green filled her vision, pressing in on her from all sides.

The next thing she knew, she was flat on her back in the Fentons' lab, with Danny and Tucker both leaning over her, repeating her name in panicked tones.

"Hm?" she groaned out. "What... what happened?"

Danny and Tucker looked at each other, both of them seemingly at a loss. Danny still had her Polaroid camera, and he held it up and snapped a picture of her, for some reason. She flinched at the flash.

The photo printed, and Danny pulled it off the camera and started to shake it. "Now... don't freak out when you see it but..." he looked at the picture with a pained expression. "Here."

When he turned it around to show her, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. If she hadn't watched him take the picture, she wouldn't have believed it was even her in it. Her hair had turned shock white, and her violet eyes a glowing green. In the back of her mind, almost hysterically, she noted that the jumpsuit was black now, meaning she had once again managed to ruin another piece of white clothing—although it definitely wasn't just a nasty-sauce stain this time.

"What... happened to me?" she asked, her voice a raspy croak.

"I think... you're a ghost," Danny said.

"But hey," Tucker added, obviously trying to bring up the mood. "At least you look cool!"

She did, admittedly, look very cool. Although the dark and spooky aesthetic was more in line with Tucker's than her own.

As it turned out, Sam was only half ghost, or at the very least, if she was a ghost, she could transform to look basically human. If she looked very closely in the mirror, she could see the differences from the way she looked before. The way her hair was lighter, and seemed to almost float whenever she turned her head. The ways her eyes reflected when she moved, or when light shined directly on them.

It was fine.

She was fine.

That had been a few months ago, now, and with the help of all the ghost hunting technology Danny managed to 'borrow' from his parent's lab (though he usually had to modify it with his own engineering skills to make it actually work), Sam had become something of a hero around Amity Park—the Specter. Once Sam had gotten the portal working, other ghosts started to cause come through it into Amity Park, and unlike Sam they all seemed to want to stir up trouble. Although Danny liked to argue that Sam stirred up plenty of trouble herself too.

He used to argue anyway.

But the problem Sam was facing right now wasn't secrets, or crushes, or ghosts. The problem she was most worried about at the moment, was the fact that Danny had been missing for two weeks. According to his parents, he'd been carried off by a ghost, one who hadn't stopped long enough for a chat.

She and Tucker were pretty sure he was somewhere in the Ghost Zone, but that hardly narrowed it down. The Ghost Zone was endless, infinite, impossibly vast. They could search for decades and never find Danny. That didn't deter them in the slightest though. They couldn't get away with just abandoning their lives to search for their friend, but every day after school, and all through the weekends, Sam and Tucker had borrowed the Fenton's Specter Speeder and gone into the Ghost Zone to search for him.

In two weeks, they hadn't seen hide nor hair of Danny. They had, however, seen the Ghost Zone looking more dismal and chaotic than they'd ever seen it before. Fights breaking out left and right, skeletal ghosts swarming places. As much as Sam wanted to help, they couldn't afford to stop. They had a lot of ground to cover, and they had no idea if Danny was even still alive.

By three am, they had found nothing, and decided to call it before they made themselves late for school in a few hours. They'd be back again the next day at 3:30 to search some more.

And they did.

But when they came back at 3:30, everything was different. Peaceful.

Somehow, all the aggressive skeletal soldiers had magically vanished, and the chaos that had defined the Ghost Zone since they started the search for their friend had died down in just a few hours. There were no fights, no new destruction.

The ghosts they saw paid them no attention, focused on rebuilding and cleaning up the various carnage and detritus of the previous battles. None of them seemed the slightest bit concerned about being attacked again.

Just in case, Sam and Tucker kept the ghost shield around the specter speeder active, but it was the strangest thing. For the last two weeks, it had been like the Ghost Zone was a war zone, and now the war had somehow ended. Curious as it was, it didn't matter to their search for their missing friend. They could try to figure out what had happened later, once Danny was safely back with them.

After a few hours, as they started to steer into another area they hadn't searched yet, they saw rows of ghosts, floating silently in the green.

"What are they doing?" Tucker whispered, as if he was worried they might hear him and get angry if he spoke too loud.

"I don't know," Sam whispered back. "I'm gonna take us up a little higher so we can see what's going on."

She pulled back on the steering and took them up over the rows of ghosts. From above, they could see the ghosts lined up almost as if on the banks of an invisible river. In the distance, the ghosts standing what would be upriver, started to float away in a wave.

"What are they doing?" Sam echoed Tucker's question. "I'm gonna fly us closer."

Tucker nodded and she brought them in. As they got closer to where the ghosts were leaving their positions, they could see something floating down the invisible river. When the object—the figure, they realized as they approached—drifted past them, they would fall out of line and float away, as if they'd been standing vigil until it passed for some reason.

"Wait a minute, is that...?" Tucker stated to say, squinting at the drifting figure.

"Danny!"

Sam immediately put on the speed, bringing them right over the drifting figure.

"Deactivate the ghost shield," she said. "I'm going ghost."

Tucker hit the button and Sam, in the ghost form, dropped out through the lower hatch to grab Danny. After two weeks of searching, he was just floating there, unconscious. And all these ghosts seemed happy to stand around and watch without bothering to help him.

When Sam wrapped her arms around her unconscious friends, the ghosts around them hissed and jeered.

"You dare lay a hand on him?" one demanded.

"Back off! He's my friend," she all but snarled at them.

"The Specter..." a different ghost observed. "She must be."

"He is safe, then," said another.

Word started to spread down the line, and steadily, all the ghosts dispersed. For a moment, Sam just watched, then she shook her head and flew herself and Danny back into the Specter Speeder.

"We're in! Reactivate the ghost shield," she called out.

Tucker did so, and as soon as he hit the button, he hurried over to them.

Gently, Sam laid Danny out on the floor and started checking him over for injuries. He still had a pulse, so that, at least, was a good sign. Less good was the fact that he was covered in scrapes and burns, although none of them seemed too severe.

"We should take him to a hospital when we get back, but he should be okay," Sam said.

"You should take him to a hospital," Tucker corrected, holding his hands up. "I don't do hospitals... should we try to wake him up?"

Sam gently tapped Danny's cheeks. Her heart was pounding and she didn't think she'd ever been so worried for anyone in her life. Or so relieved.

Danny groaned slightly.

"Danny," she said softly. "Danny, wake up."

He groaned some more and blinked his eyes open, squinting up at them. His irises had a strange, iridescent quality that Sam recognized vaguely from her own. But they also weren't like her own in a way she couldn't quite describe. Whatever it was, by reaching out with her ghost sense, she could at least tell for absolutely sure, that Danny was still human, and a not a ghost, or half-ghost like her.

"Sam?" he asked. "Tucker? What are you doing here?"

"Us?" Tucker scoffed, "What are you doing here? You've been gone for, like, two weeks. What happened to you?"

Danny chuckled weakly. "That's... kind of a long story," he replied.

The two of them helped him up off the hard floor of a speeder and into a chair, then Sam went to program the autopilot to take them back to the Fenton Portal.

"We've got time," Tucker told him, crossing his arms.

Sam had always thought it would be kind of uncomfortable to cross one's arms with fishnet sleeves, but Tucker never seemed to mind it.

Now that he was sitting up and moving and stuff, Sam noticed that Danny looked a little thin. He probably hadn't been getting enough to eat or drink in the Ghost Zone the past two weeks. Luckily, they kept a very well-stocked snack drawer in the specter speeder, and a case of bottled water, too.

Once he had some food in him, Danny was much more willing to talk, and he started to tell them the story of his time in the Zone, starting with his kidnapping.

"While I was helping my parents in their lab," he began, "you know, tweaking their designs, thinking about what might be useful to the three of us ghost hunting as usual. And the portal was open, because we figured if anything came through, there were three of us in the lab, surrounded by ghost hunting equipment, so it would be fine.

"But the ghost that came through didn't want to fight, or escape. He just flew in, grabbed me, and flew back through the portal. It was a matter of seconds. I'm sure my parents tried to chase after us, but in the time it would have taken them to get to the specter speeder, the ghost had taken me far away."

"Why you?" Sam asked. "What did you do to tick off this ghost?"

"Nothing," Danny told her. "He actually thought I was you."

She stiffened. Honestly, she shouldn't have been all that surprised. Ever since she started kicking their asses and sending them home with their tails between their legs, ghosts had been coming after Sam left and right, but they always wanted to pick fights, not kidnap her. Well... arguably Skulker wanted to kidnap her, but he knew the difference between her and Danny.

"Why?" she asked again.

"Apparently there's this Ghost King, seriously bad dude, and a long time ago, he was imprisoned in this thing called the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep. But a little while, somehow, he was released or broke out or something. Not really sure which. So basically, they wanted you because you're a halfa, and the way they told it, halfas are way more powerful than regular ghosts for some reason.

"Except they messed up," Danny said. "They knew the halfa was a teenager, and that you'd been turned by the Fenton Portal, but they didn't know who you were, so when Rustle came through the portal and immediately saw a teenager working near it, he assumed that I was the halfa."

"But then you explained the situation to them right?" Tucker guessed. They both knew damn well how much Danny loved to explain things—it was one of his most adorable and sometimes annoying—so it was a reasonable conclusion to draw. "Why didn't they bring you back?"

"I didn't get the chance to explain it to them until Rustle had taken me all the way back to the lair the resistance was using as a base of operations and they told me why they kidnapped me in the first place," Danny said. "By that point, the king's spies had told them about the resistance's plan and he sent a crap ton of his soldiers to block off access to the Fenton Portal. Once it was guarded, it was way too dangerous to send me back or try again to get the right person, so they had to make do with me.

"They told me I wasn't going home until the Ghost King was defeated."

Danny paused in his story to drink some more water and open another back of corn chips.

"Seriously Danny?" Tucker asked. "You're leaving us hanging for corn chips?"

Danny didn't bother to swallow before saying, "Dude, I haven't had human food in two weeks, okay? These corn chips taste like fuckin' heaven right now. You guys can wait."

"Come on, what happened next?" Sam asked.

Danny chewed faster and swallowed before finally continuing his story.

"Well, luckily, I'd been working on some prototype Fenton Tech when Rustle grabbed me, and I managed to hang onto it all the way to the base of operations. Plus, I always have some scraps on me, and Technus and Skulker were part of the resistance, and they have some pretty good tech, too.

"So I spent two weeks, with Technus as my incredibly annoying lab assistant that I had regularly threaten with violence to keep from stabbing me in the back, heavily supervised by the ghosts of the resistance, jury-rigging a super anti-ghost ray gun like some kind of megalomaniacal comic book supervillain. I barely had the time to eat or drink anything, and when I did, it was all ghost food, which was not doing great things for my productivity or energy levels, let me tell you.

"Eventually, though, I finished the weapon. I designed it to absorb energy from the plentiful ectoplasm in the Ghost Zone and harness it into a single, supercharged beam that would be powerful enough to bring any ghost to their knees, and it worked amazingly, if I do say so myself," Danny said. Then he went back to his chips like that was the end of the story.

"What happened after that?"

"Oh, I sniped the ghost king through a window of his keep, knocked him right back into the sarcophagus and blew the crown right off his head."

Tucker laughed.

"What's so funny?" Sam asked.

"Nothing," Tucker replied, shaking his head over his chuckles. "I just still can't get over the fact that engineering geek over here has the best aim of the three of us. Like, it I get why, because his freak parents have been teaching him marksmanship since he could pull a trigger, but it's still funny."

"Yeah, laugh it up," Danny said, smirking. "Which one of us defeated the ghost king, again?"

"I yield," Tucker told him. "What happened after that? You were unconscious when we found you?"

"Oh, well, the ray gun worked, but it kind of overloaded and blew up immediately after that," Danny said. "That's the last thing I remember, but judging by the lack of skeleton soldiers, one of the other resistance guys must've locked the sarcophagus when I was done with him. Not sure who it could have been, though, 'cause I didn't think they even had the key."

Upon hearing what Danny had been put through in his absence, Sam was overcome with emotion.

He'd been kidnapped, blackmailed, starved, forced to work with a ghost that had a very personal vendetta against him, to build a super-weapon that would have gone way against Danny's usual morals, and then defeat an incredibly powerful ghost, the literal king of all ghosts, with an unstable ray-gun that blew up immediately after use, knocked him out, and sent him careening, unconscious, through the Ghost Zone.

And Danny was trying to play it off. He was crunching on corn chips and casually waving off all the traumatic shit he'd just been through like it was no big deal, the same way he always waved off traumatic shit, and Sam... Sam couldn't take it anymore.

"Oh, Danny..." she said, her voice trembling with emotion and eyes wet with oncoming tears.

Her horror at what he'd been through combined with her relief that he didn't have to go through it anymore, and mixed with the feelings she'd been hiding for so long, and she didn't know if it was a case of her wires getting crossed or just momentary insanity, but she reached out and pulled him into a hug and kissed him right on the lips.

His lips tasted like salt and canola oil, and the second she realized what she was doing, Sam pulled back, her face turning an alarming shade of red.

For an unbearable moment, the awkwardness strangled out all sound. Then Tucker let out a forced chuckle.

"What, no kiss for me?" he joked. "You're makin' me feel left out."

Sam, halfway to panicked and not sure what else to do thought 'fuck it', and grabbed his cheeks to plant a kiss right on the lips and instantly smudge his black lipstick all the way up to his nose, unable to stay steady with how incredibly anxious she now was.

Whatever shade of red she'd turned before was so much darker now she felt lightheaded, and Tucker looked dazed as he brought two black-nailed fingers up to his lips in shock.

And just when Sam thought she might die of embarrassment, Danny reached over, grabbed Tucker by his black leather vest, and—whether to ease Sam's embarrassment, or for some other reason Sam couldn't possible comprehend, especially in her current state—he pulled the other boy close and kissed him, too.

They spent the rest of the, thankfully short, ride back to the Fenton Portal steeped in awkward silence. Once they were back in the human world, Tucker sealed the portal while Sam helped Danny upstairs to his parents so they could take him to the hospital.

They didn't say a word about the... kissing incident, even when they started talking again. At least, until about 1 am that night when Tucker sent them an IM on their private group chat.

TooFine: So... we ever gonna talk about that kissing junk? Cus its literally keeping me up at night

Sam was already awake when the message came in. To be honest, it was keeping her up too. She didn't want to say anything, didn't want to explain, but... actually, it felt like it might be easier to tell him, both of them, when there was a screen between them, as if it was a layer of protection. Even if Danny might not see it until later, since the hospital had decided to keep him overnight for observation—although his parents might have brought him his laptop to pass the time.

So Sam took a deep breath and started typing.

Samanson: actually... there's something i need to tell you guys.

Samanson: i've kind of had a crush on you - both of you - since middle school.

Samanson: a huge crush. probably more than a crush, honestly.

Samanson: i didn't want to say anything because i was worried about ruining our friendship, but i guess the cats out of the bag now.

Once she started, she had to forcibly stop herself from sending more messages and pouring out all her feelings in the group chat. She forced herself to sit still, wring her hands, and wait with bated breath for a response, even if she had to wait all night, because god knew she wasn't going to get any sleep after this.

After a long moment, a message came through.

SpaceDanny: Yeah....... me too, actually.

Sam very nearly cried with relief. Danny might tease her sometimes, like they all teased each other, but he knew when to take her seriously, too. She wasn't sure exactly how much he meant by that little 'me too', but at the very least it meant he didn't hate her.

TooFine: Wait ACTUALLY actually???

SpaceDanny: Yeah

Samanson: also yeah.

SpaceDanny: I had a whole sexuality crisis over it, but it was about the same you came out and I didn't wanna steal your thunder, so I decided to keep it to myself for a while.

SpaceDanny: And then I worked it up into such a big deal in my head somehow that I just never did '-_-

Samanson: sooo.......

Tucker hadn't actually said anything about it yet.

Which, on the one hand meant he hadn't shot them down, but the other hand followed that fact with a pretty damn big 'yet'.

Tucker continued to not say anything for several minutes, and Sam started to worry that he was just going to ghost them from now on, which, while ironic, would majorly suck. Even if he didn't want to date them, he was still their best friend and they didn't want to lose him. But they couldn't force him to stay, either.

Finally, another IM came through.

TooFine: You know what? Awesome

Sam let out a sigh of relief and fought back the waterworks again.

TooFine: Ill be real, Ive never really though about it before, but Im definitely not NOT into it. Im getting a girlfriend AND a boyfriend out of this and thats sick as hell.

TooFine: You guys wanna have a movie date saturday?

SpaceDanny: YES

TooFine: Yk, once weve all caught up on some sleep lol

Samanson: definitely. that sounds nice

SpaceDanny: So much yes do I want that

Sam did cry then, but she would never ever tell the two of them that. After the emotional roller coaster that day had been, she was just too happy to hold it in.

Things started to get... weird after that. Not because they all started dating, though. That part was really nice, and went amazingly well right off the bat with the three of them holding hands and cuddling up during school whenever they got the chance—to the point where Ms. Tetslaff called them out at lunch for excessive PDA. No, it was weird for other reasons.

None of them had sufficiently caught up on sleep by the time Saturday rolled around, and Danny still sported bandages from his hospital stay, but it didn't matter. They met up at the movie theater for a matinee and planned to go to dinner at Nasty Burger afterwards. They'd done the same exact thing on plenty of other Saturdays, but it was different this time.

They hit a tiny bump when they got to their seats and decided to to rock-paper-scissors for who got to sit in the middle, Sam won. It hardly mattered though. They pushed up the dividers between the seats, and all fell asleep halfway on top of each other before the halfway point of the movie. The usher had to wake them up and send them out so he could clean the theater before the next showing.

They had a good laugh about that as they all walked to the Nasty Burger.

Up until that point, it was going really well, and the three of them were all happy and having fun. Then a ghost showed up.

And that was when things started to get weird.

The ghost showing up wasn't weird in-and-of itself. Tucker and Danny knew the drill. They blocked Sam from view so she could go ghost and prepare for a fight. Ghosts came to fight Sam all the time, so this was nothing new. Except that this ghost wasn't there for Sam.

This ghost ignored her completely to fire off a ghost ray at Danny and demand that he fight them.

And that was weird.

Still, it wasn't exactly a problem. Danny activated his wrist ray, and although Sam co-opted the bulk of the battle, he provided some solid support. Within a few minutes, the two of them got the ghost into a position where Tucker could capture it in the Fenton thermos. Sam ducked behind them to change back, and they could be back on their way.

"Did you recognize that ghost, Danny?" Sam asked curiously. "One of your resistance friends?"

Danny shrugged and shook his head.

"Weird," Tucker noted.

"Yeah, that's so random," Sam agreed. "Why would a ghost go after Danny? Especially after he literally saved their whole dimension from an evil warmongering king. Way to show him your gratitude."

"I don't know, and I don't care," Danny said coolly. "I just want to go to Nasty Burger, and have dinner with my awesome boyfriend and girlfriend and not have to think about ghosts for a while."

He held out his hands for each of his partners to take, and they walked the rest of the way to Nasty Burger side by side by side, awkwardly and laughingly navigating past street lamps and telephone poles that made the sidewalks too narrow for the three of them shoulder to shoulder, never releasing each other's hands.

Danny got his wish to forget about ghosts for the rest of their date. But that night, he was woken up by a ghost coming into his room to try and attack him in his sleep. It didn't work, because Danny was a light sleeper, and went to bed wearing a wrist ray with an ecto-gun and a Fenton Thermos on his nightstand.

Sam and Tucker were both equally concerned and baffled when Danny told them about it when they came over to hang out the next day. Once could be written off as a fluke, and maybe twice could be a coincidence.

But it kept happening. Every day or two, a ghost would show up to challenge Danny for some reason.

It got to the point where Sam forced Danny to wear a specter deflector at all times for his safety, even though he constantly pouted about not being able to hold her hand or kiss her.

Tucker had rolled his eyes, promised to give him twice as many kisses to make up for it, and then called him a big baby.

Danny immediately started working on a way to make the specter deflector ignore Sam's unique ecto-signature, of course, because he was a sweetheart like that, but he kept getting interrupted by random ghosts showing up and demanding to fight him. Even when they couldn't touch him—either directly, or with ghost powers—they still tried.

It was after school when the three of them were all heading to Sam's house for bowling, that they got any semblance of an explanation.

Another ghost none of them recognized stopped them on the street, but this one was chattier than the others. She had long, flowing blue hair, and shimmering blue skin, and pointed an unnaturally long finger right at Danny.

"I, Mistress Mona, spectral siren, have come to challenge you for the throne of the Infinite Realms," she declared. "Prepare to meet your match, ghost king."

"What?" Danny breathed out, looking more confused than Sam had ever seen him.

The ghost didn't wait for them to ask questions though, she attacked them with a ghostly green wave that appeared out of nowhere, and started to sing.

The trio didn't give her song time to take effect. Danny shot her directly in the throat, silencing her with his perfect marksmanship, and then Sam kicked Mona's butt all the way back to the Ghost Zone. Or into the Fenton Thermos Tucker was holding, anyway.

"Why the hell did she call me the ghost king?" Danny asked. "I'm not the ghost king. The ghost king is Pariah Dark, and he's locked up in the Sarcophagus of Forever sleep."

"I think we're gonna have to take a rain check on bowling, boys," Sam said, turning around to walk back the way they came down the sidewalk. "We're going to the Ghost Zone, and we're gonna get to the bottom of this."

"What?" Tucker complained. "But I wanted to go bowling!"

"Me too, but there's no arguing with her when she gets like this," Danny said with a sigh, and the two of them followed Sam back toward Fenton Works.

Danny's parents were working up in the ops center today, so the lab was empty when the three of them arrived and Tucker went to warm up the specter speeder.

"You alright, Danny?" Sam asked, noticing that he looked a bit jittery.

"Hm? Yeah, I'm fine," he assured her.

He wasn't, but he always pretended none of this affected him. She wasn't sure if it was toxic masculinity making him think he had to be strong all the time and never tell her when he was stressed, or if he just didn't want to process everything he'd been through for some reason, or if his brain genuinely didn't register how much it was affecting him, but whatever the case, she knew she wasn't going to get anything out of him until or unless he wanted to tell her, so she didn't bother to push it.

"You don't have to go, if you don't want to," she told him instead. "I know the last time you were in the Ghost Zone wasn't exactly the best. If you don't want to go, Tucker and I can handle it."

"What? No," Danny said, frowning. "I'm the core of this problem, somehow, I'm not just gonna leave it to you guys to deal with on your own. I want to help."

"Alright," Sam conceded. He did make a good point. "If that's what you want, I won't stop you."

At that moment, Tucker hovered in with the specter speeder and Danny climbed in next to him.

Sam opted to go ghost and follow alongside this time, to more easily talk to people, since it seemed like they were probably going to have to ask around to get the information they were looking for from ghosts that passed.

Danny, however, had to stay in the speeder with the ghost shield active, because there was a good chance that as soon as they got into the Ghost Zone, he'd be swarmed by more foolhardy ghosts trying to fight him for some reason, and unlike Sam, he didn't have ghost powers to protect himself, just his wits and a specter deflector. And to be fair, he'd been doing pretty well on just those so far, but up until now he'd only ever had to fight one ghost at a time.

They stayed in communication via their Fenton-phones.

As expected, once they got into the Ghost Zone, they were approached by ghosts goading Danny to turn of the ghost shield and fight them head on, but they either gave up when they realized he wasn't dumb enough to do that, or Sam chased them off.

It wasn't long however, before Sam found a ghost that wasn't openly belligerent, and approached him. Although his clothes were very old fashioned, he was still recognizable as some kind of farmer.

"Excuse me," she said. "I'm Specter, and I was wondering if I could ask you some questions."

"Oh, of course," said the ghost. "Anything for the new king's general. Unlike those ruffians, I am forever grateful for his majesty saving us from his predecessor's rule."

"Uh... okaayyy, lot to unpack there," Sam said, turning up the receiver on her Fenton-phones so Danny and Tucker would be able to hear what the ghost Farmer said from inside the speeder, "but let's start with: how can Danny be the Ghost King? He's not even a ghost?"

"Doesn't matter mum," the farmer ghost said. "The title of ghost king is won in single combat."

"How does me sniping him from fifty yards away count as single combat?" Danny demanded in her Fenton-phones. "He never even saw my face! He never had the chance to fight back."

Sam relayed the question, as well as Danny's arguments to the farmer, who simply laughed.

"I don't make the rules, mum," he said. "Your friend made the machine that defeated the king, and he alone fired it. That makes him the new king, no ifs, ands, or buts about it."

"But... but..." Danny tried to complain, but he was drowned out by Tucker laughing at him.

Sam bit back a smile.

"What about what you said before about me being the new king's general?" Sam asked. "How does that work?"

"You're the ghost the king trusts to protect him personally, and whose advice on all tactical matters he heeds," the farmer replied. "That makes you his general."

Sam wanted to argue, but she supposed that all of that was technically true. She fought a lot of Danny's ghosts for him—with his help, of course. And when she'd told him to wear a specter deflector, he did, even though he didn't want to.

Ghost king's general, huh? That sounded kind of badass, actually.

"Thank you for your help, sir," she told the ghost.

"Think nothin' of it," he replied.

"This is ridiculous!" Danny grouched. "I can't be the ghost king! I'm not even a ghost!"

"Shoulda thought of that before you sniped Pariah Dark, I guess," Sam teased.

Tucker hadn't stopped laughing at him, and now that she wasn't mid-conversation and trying to keep her cool, Sam laughed too.

[derekbaxterandcove]

Some Derek headcannons!

-that boy can cook! He mostly makes quick meals and got in the habit of eating mostly as fuel for workouts but his momma taught him right and when he wants he can pull out all the stops. He makes the best posole in SoCal and that’s saying something.

-he speaks Spanish pretty fluently. When he was young his parents really focused on using it at home so he’d grow up bilingual. It really dropped off as the kids got older. Nico is SO jealous of Derek’s ability even though Derek hardly considers himself fluent.

-Soccer is his first love (besides MC of course) but he played rugby with friends in college and got into that too. He’s so athletic he’s fairly good at any sport but he definitely has his favorites. Even though his dad loved it- he was never going to be a footballer.

-Does Not like the cold. Derek is a Southern California guy all the way. He wants to explore different places and climates but being cold is the closest he ever comes to complaining.

-this one is obvious but he’s in his own head a lot, the more you hang out with Derek the more obvious it is. At first he’s focused on making sure you’re having a good time so he’s a lot more present, but the better someone gets to know him, the more it’s obvious he spends a lot of time thinking, for better or worse.

-Derek is a city boy, through and through. Born and raised in Prism Vista, when he’s out in the country or really even the suburbs, he always has that feeling in the back of his head that it’s too quiet. Like he can suddenly hear the ringing in his ears. When he first starts hanging out in Sunset Bird, it’s a little unnerving. He’d never been somewhere so quiet. At first when he’s in town it’s part of why he likes going to the beach- the waves drown out the nothingness a bit.

-in the same vein, Derek is used to a lot of people being around, he’s got a big family, he’s been on soccer teams forever. He’s used to lots of kids around or just generally other people in his condo complex and the city. Being in Sunset Bird at first he’s kind of like ???? Where are the people? Where are the other kids? It can’t really just be these two right?

-He’s a podcast listener. It helps him zone out a little when he’s working out or going for runs/walks. It’s nice for him just to have some other noise going on, someone else’s voice.

-speaking of- he’s lonely. Especially at college. He keeps himself so busy it’s hard to notice but being away from his family and friends hits him hard sometimes.

[shorthaltsjester]

taliesin and laura remain truly so fantastic at making characters who… don’t necessarily have something extremely and inherently in common but do have experiences that were caused by similar sources and that lead them to have quite different opinions/ideas about things but in ways that are typically very reconcilable? which is a lot of qualifiers but it’s a through line of vex/percy with nobility, jester & cad with loneliness (and also god stuff but in a different post maybe someday i’ll talk about how actually their god stuff is intensely related to their different experiences of loneliness), and now imogen & ashton with being left behind.

like vex was this character who technically had a claim to nobility due to her blood but at the same time was burdened because of that same claim. and percy who was born into and raised by nobility but that nobility ended up making his family the targets of a massacre. and then vex who lets down her walls and Do I Look Like I Come From Money? and percy giving her the title grand mistress of the grey hunt because it has nothing to do with blood, or his love for her, or anything aside from the fact that it’s something she can prove herself worthy of simply by virtue of who she Is, not who someone makes her. and percy and vex’s conversation about forgiveness and it’s necessity for growth as probably two of the characters most inclined to hold grudges.

and caduceus clay who gets left behind with nothing but his Belief while his family goes off into the world. and jester lavorre who gets shut inside with no company except her Belief as her mother protects her from the world. and they both get the burden of loneliness and the understanding of love’s nonmalicious imperfection. and caduceus having a panic attack on a ship and jester telling him that the world is a lot bigger than his cemetery and that means he has to break out of his comfort zone to find his path. and caduceus telling jester that he doesn’t think she gets as much credit as she ought to and she deserves more pastries. and jester thanking caduceus for showing her how cool it is to actually heal people and caduceus asking if she wants to use his shield while he doesn’t need it.

and ashton who was left broken and dying on the ground and was given inescapable pain as their means of survival. and imogen who was left behind by the only person who could provide true understanding of the pain she’d one day come to feel. and ashton who’s a barbarian, who wields their rage casually and unapologetically and who sees the Shittiness of the world but is unrelenting in his version of optimism. and imogen who is weighed down by pessimism she doesn’t Want to have but hasn’t cracked how to undo and who doesn’t admit her anger until it comes up again and again and again and carries it like a burden or like guilt, who we only see really Grasp and feel Confidence about her anger being something good in front of others when she has those conversations with ashton. and like. ashton who looks at imogen and sees a superhero. imogen venturing through ashton’s mind and holding his bleeding and exhausted head and saying i’m sorry. i’m sorry. and imogen who looks at ashton and sees someone special. and fucking “we got him killed.” and “no, we didn’t. don’t you dare. […] we are not what fucking killed that man. […] we are his eventual victory. we are his fucking revenge.” and “i’ll be his revenge.” and “i have no fucking doubt.”

and in general rp wise they both tend to make some of my favourite characters (also typically the ones i find most frustrating) because they both tend to make flaws that are easy to hate and they make those flaws very central to their characters but i think that’s also what makes their character interactions so deeply compelling because so frequently it’s like. yes yes these two characters have like. a helix of things they have in common but also things they deeply disagree on but they’re going to spider-man point at the things that are the same and they’re going to honour their differences while doing so. and it’s just. i always enjoy it so much and i was psyched when i heard about an imogen and ashton side pit stop in last nights episode and i was not let down when i watched the episode today.

[dr-futbol-blog]

Instinct, Pt. 4

They continue sweeping the forest and while Sheppard and McKay are no longer engaged in conversation with each other, it is notable that Sheppard actually picks up from McKay's previous question. He is trying to get McKay the answer he was looking for by continuing the same line of questioning with Teyla. Also note that while he approaches Teyla to ask his questions, he is keeping his gun as a barrier between the two of them unlike he had with McKay.

Sheppard: What about you? Are you sensing anything? Teyla: I am not sure.

Given that the episode is trying to draw a parallel between the teenage wraith and primal drives and urges in human teenagers that cannot be overcome just by willing them to go away, it is interesting that we see Teyla tapping into her own instinct here, trying to sense out the wraith. Like senses like, is the message, and it is much easier to sense and feel out those that are like to oneself.

Sheppard: What do you mean? Teyla: There is a presence here, but it is... different. I cannot quite explain it.

They also describe the teenage wraith as different, and let us recall that Sheppard described himself as someone who sees things a little different to Weir in Hot Zone (S01E13), when they were having their discussion about trust and where Weir did not ask and Sheppard did not tell, but they were nonetheless skirting the issue. While Weir suspected even then, she had known the truth about Sheppard and McKay for a while now. Being different had been used as an euphemism for not being straight and here, it is being built into an allegory.

Dex: It's in there.

Ronon interrupts their discussion again, this time merely by raising his hand. He seems to be using a tactical hand-sign and, unlike McKay most of the time, appears to be using it correctly causing Sheppard to approach him. But the fact that we see Ronon do this here calls attention to the fact that in Condemned (S02E05), when Sheppard had requested that they be quiet, Ronon had not yet known about them. He is a quick study when it comes to military training. And the fact that Ronon is using them here just draws attention to the fact that Sheppard was having a conversation with McKay and even here, he was talking with Teyla. He is very much among the people who have trouble staying quiet during missions.

Sheppard: Ronon! Damn it.

Ronon takes after the wraith immediately and without further thought because his instinct is to kill every wraith he comes in contact with. This is not an instinct he was born with but one that had been ingrained into him through long years of exposure. Sheppard takes after Ronon, and it is not so much to get to the wraith as it is to make sure that nothing happens to his newest team member. Notice that McKay takes off at a run immediately when he sees Sheppard go, and we can see the terror in his eyes as he does. His instinct to make sure that Sheppard is alright makes him react quicker than Teyla, who only takes on after McKay.

While Ronon is the fastest and got a head start to begin with, the others try to keep pace with him. And while McKay is the slowest of them, he is still keeping up, he is still running quite fast through difficult terrain here. He may not be an athlete but is hardly in bad shape, which would seem to confirm the speculation that McKay's behaviour in the forest during Runner (S02E03) was due to him dissociating rather being unfit for the field, which is what Major Lorne clearly thought.

Unlike Sheppard, McKay has not been trained for this and it is because this is important to him that he has pushed himself to be able to do better on missions. This is emphasized by the fact that we hear the wraith, Teyla, and Ronon breathe heavily during the chase but not McKay. This is also why it is especially hurtful to McKay that throughout the episode Sheppard seems to imply that McKay is no good for the mission -- which is not actually what Sheppard is trying to communicate. Sheppard is trying to show McKay that he trusts him to be able to handle himself.

Dex: It's in there. Sheppard: Was it wraith? Dex: Yeah. McKay: Did you see it? Dex: No. McKay: So, how do you know?

The wraith seems to hide in a cave and Ronon is the first one to reach it, but he does not go in until the others have come. While he hates the wraith and wants them all dead, he is not being reckless even though for a minute there that was what Sheppard had been afraid of.

Their dialogue here is poignant with regards to the subtextual narrative. How do you know that something is there when you don't see it? You may see a quick flash here, hear something there, but sometimes you just know, especially if you have experience on the matter. Ronon has been on the run from the wraith for seven years so he knows when he comes across one. The "gaydar" works in a similar way: personal experience allows one to extrapolate from minimal data to easily recognize one's own kind.

Teyla: Ronon is correct. I can definitely sense it now.

McKay and Ronon exchange a glance as McKay is trying to figure out how Ronon had been able to come to the conclusion he had without having seen the thing, as that is very alien to the evidence-based scientific process that McKay follows in reaching conclusions. Sheppard and Teyla turn on the lamps on their guns before they all enter the cavern, and what is notable here is that Sheppard moves his head as though he was going to turn back and say something, and this gesture does not seem to have anything to do with what Teyla was just saying. It is possible that he considered for a moment telling McKay to wait for them outside. But he likely figures that he is going to be less anxious if he can see McKay than to have to wonder whether he is safe out there. Here we see that Sheppard is trying to learn to trust that McKay can take care of himself but he does not quite know how to navigate this yet.

Sheppard and Teyla enter the cave first since their lights are on their weapons and hence do not have to use one of their hands for holding a flashlight like Ronon and McKay do. It is notable that Ronon comes in last, and because we know that he very much wants to kill the wraith, is looking forward to it, but still knows to keep the rear so as to keep McKay secure in their middle tells us that Sheppard's plan on using Ronon to protect McKay is working. They did not even need to discuss doing it like this, they all just know their places when it comes to action.

Sheppard: Get out of the way! Zaddik: No, please! Don't shoot! She's not what you think! She's my daughter.

The plot thickens as they run smack in the middle of some kind of an apothecary's lab, Sheppard the first one to enter. Ronon is not the only one who viscerally hates the wraith and wants them all dead. Note also that McKay has drawn his handgun and is pointing it at the wraith, same as everyone else. Also make note of the fact that as Ronon walks further into the room, having entered last, he places himself into a position where he has a direct line of sight at the door and hence is still in a vantage point to guard McKay's rear.

Also worth mentioning is the fact that the old man seems to protect the wraith with both his body and his life because it is important to him. Because of his love for his daughter, the wraith's life is more important to him than his own life. As Sheppard snarls for him to get out of the way, it only calls attention to this fact. And at the same time, Sheppard is using his own body to shield what is important to him.

None of them know what to make of the scene before them, the old man telling them that the wraith is his daughter. Their reactions are interesting. McKay's hand holding the flashlight is trembling because he is afraid, but his hand holding the gun is steady. Further, he is holding the gun in his right hand which again raises the question of whether he is ambidextrous or just has trained himself to function in a right-handed world. He keeps his gun in his thigh holster that is on his right side possibly because they only have them as right-sided or in emulation of Sheppard's.

Regardless, we see McKay exchange a glance with Ronon, and it is to Ronon McKay looks for an explanation of this. Ronon can see him looking but of course he has no explanation to give, he has not seen anything like this either. While the others are exchanging glances, Sheppard is keeping his focus on the target. He narrows his eyes, prepared to pull the trigger. Sheppard's instinct is to eliminate the threat with extreme prejudice.

Zaddik: She means you no harm! Dex: She's a wraith! Zaddik: Maybe so, but she's different! I swear to you! Sheppard: Let me guess? Wraith with a heart of gold? Zaddik: She doesn't feed. She's never taken a human life. Teyla: How is that possible? Zaddik: Please! Lower your weapons, and I'll explain it to you.

Sheppard spits the epithet "wraith with a heart of gold," being a play on the trope of the "whore with a heart of gold," with such disdain as to leave it no secret what he feels toward this creature. It is the man blocking it that puzzles him, but the old man seems innocent enough for him to start questioning what the right call here is.

Zaddik: It's all right. Ellia: Father! Zaddik: I won't let them hurt you.

We see Sheppard look at Ronon before he lowers his weapon, needing some kind of confirmation from him that lowering his weapon is not the stupidest call he could make. He is fairly certain that Ronon would be able to take out both of them even if they did attack them, and so he finally lets his gun drop. And just as soon as he drops his gun, McKay does the same behind him.

It is interesting that the wraith seems to fear Sheppard much more than it fears Ronon even though Ronon is physically the more formidable of the two. It may have been the coldness and lack of mercy in his eyes that causes the wraith to tremble at the sight of him. And it was not the wraith that had caused Sheppard to relent. It was the love he could clearly see this man have for the creature.

Zaddik: I raised her as my own. Teyla: You live here? Together?

With regards to the allegory in the episode, because theirs is a relationship (familial though it is) that is shunned and forbidden by their society, they are forced to live in secret. Because they cannot openly live together in the village, the man has created a home for the two of them here, hidden away. They are really not being that subtle with the metaphor either, laying it out thick:

Zaddik: This was part of a mine, before the last culling. It's not much to look at, I know, but we don't have much choice. The people of the village would not understand.

Note the way McKay has to strain to be able to see the old man and the wraith from behind Sheppard. It shows us that he is curious, yes, but it also shows us just how much Sheppard is blocking him with his own body. Just as the old man is shielding the wraith with his body, Sheppard is shielding McKay with his own. We also see that while Sheppard and Teyla have lowered their weapons, they are still at the ready. None of them are quite ready to lower their guards before a wraith. While Sheppard may feel sympathy for people that cannot show their love in public, he is still having a hard time digging up sympathy for this.

Sheppard: Gee, I wonder why? Teyla: The villagers told us that there was a wraith in the forest. It came here in a crashed ship ten years ago. Zaddik: Ten years ago?

As Sheppard and Teyla engage the old man in conversation, McKay starts looking around the place, clearly trying to puzzle together what is going on here. His curiosity has clearly won over his fear and besides which, with Sheppard, Ronon and Teyla there with their weapons at the ready, he feels comfortable enough to move around the space.

Zaddik: Ellia was just a child! Do you really think she could be responsible for the deaths that happened immediately after that crash? McKay: So you know about that, then? Zaddik: I was there. I helped kill the survivors. But, when I found a young female lying unconscious some distance from the crash, I couldn't bring myself to hurt her.

It is when the old man mentions that she had been but a child that we see McKay look at them, and then look into the distance as he seems to remember something. Being "but a child" had never shielded him from terrible things which is why he seems to have a need to shield others from having to experience similar things. But even though the mention of childhood may have briefly triggered sympathy in him, as the old man mentions responsibility for deaths, McKay sounds hard as he tries to piece together their history. She may not have been responsible for the deaths ten years ago but he certainly was responsible for all the deaths that had happened under his watch, and recent events had done nothing to lessen his guilt.

Zaddik: I brought her here to this cave to hide her from the others. To this day, the people of the village don't know... And, and you must promise not to tell them!

Even though McKay had been the one to ask the question, both the old man and the wraith keep their attention on Sheppard because their instinct tells them that he is the most dangerous one of them all. And Sheppard still seems not to have made his mind up whether to plug the wraith right then and there, the old man be damned. He is not letting the wraith out of his sight.

Zaddik: She's not responsible for what's been happening! Dex: Well then, who is? Zaddik: I believe another wraith survived the crash.

Sheppard is not ready to make such promises and he is not even ready not to kill the thing yet. We see McKay look to Sheppard at this, trying to discern what is going on on his face, what kind of a call he is about to make. But it is interesting that he looks at Sheppard just after the words "you must promise not to tell" are spoken, as while they may never have spoken those words between them, it is still essentially the unspoken agreement they both live under. You don't ask and you don't tell.

Zaddik: An adult. That's who you should be looking for! Teyla: If she does not feed, how does she live?

Whether Sheppard felt or sensed McKay looking at him (and he is standing diagonally behind him so he could not have seen it), Sheppard turns to look back at him. The other option is that he merely felt the need to look at McKay himself, to see what he is thinking, to touch base with him. But note that it is the words "another wraith survived the crash" that are spoken just before Sheppard looks at McKay, and they both may be remembering the events of The Defiant One (S01E13) where a wraith had survived a crash for 10,000 years when they had initially believed that nothing could survive for so long. They had barely survived the ordeal, and not without loss of life. But that was also when they had begun their relationship. The memory is bittersweet.

Zaddik: First, I fed her as you would any child, and that seemed to suffice. But then, something began to change. The food no longer gave her any sustenance. There was a hunger growing in her that would not be satisfied. I... heard the stories of the other creature, what it did to survive. And I was afraid that was what Ellia would become.

It is not coincidental that we get close-ups of McKay and his expressions as the old man explains to them about the wraith's hunger. For one, we were hinted at food insecurity in his past in the previous episode where he confessed to having eaten frozen dinners without thawing them out. But more than that this harks back to the conversation the Magistrate of Olesia had with the wraith in Condemned (S02E05). Food might have given the wraith a moment's pleasure but it does not sustain. McKay has eaten foods to sustain him that did not give him pleasure, even though we have seen him derive pleasure even from power bars (Hide and Seek, S01E03; 38 Minutes, S01E04).

And this is also a metaphor, both for the hunger growing in an adolescent boy that could no longer be satisfied by anything other than trying to connect with another human being, another man. But the same is true with regards to love; once a person drinks from the chalice, something does begin to change. Casual sex no longer satisfies, real nourishment comes from a genuine connection, of sharing pleasures of the flesh with someone you love. It is not a coincidence either that The Defiant One seems to loom in the background here, as that is when it had begun to change for him, for the both of them. That was when his hunger began to grow, and it had been growing ever since. And again what ever may or may not have happened in the tavern the previous night, it did not sustain him. He wanted more. All of it.

Zaddik: And so I.... started to experiment. I have extensive knowledge of the chemical properties of various medicinal plants that grow in this forest.

Sheppard looks back at McKay again and worries his lip. This means that there is some difficult emotion he is trying to suppress and so it is not caused by McKay beginning to fiddle with the man's belongings on the table. That is not the cause of Sheppard's look here. Were it not for the lip thing, perhaps he might be peeved by McKay moving around in his peripheral vision and hence distracting him from keeping the creature in his crosshairs. But because this look was generated by something much more painful, it must have been triggered by the old man's words about "what it did to survive" and being afraid of what it might become.

They both have had to do things to survive but it is possible McKay has had to do many more things to survive than Sheppard has, given the financial security of his background, and it may be even that Sheppard knows about many of the things McKay has had to do to survive. It is likely that Sheppard had seen McKay's face just now when the old man had been talking about hunger. And as ever, it pains Sheppard that McKay's past is one of the things he cannot protect him from, however much he might want to do that.

Zaddik: Are you... interested in science? McKay: I'm not sure that's what I'd call this, but yes. Zaddik: Ellia's hunger was growing stronger every day and I wasn't sure that I could do anything for her. But, eventually I came up with this.

What ever the thing was that Sheppard thought that did make him worry his lip, what ever difficult emotion he was trying to push down, it caused him once more to clearly withdraw from McKay to protect either McKay, himself, or the both of them. McKay is standing across the table, turned toward Sheppard, and looks at him as the man presents his magic potion. He is skeptical, and wishes to communicate this to Sheppard as his science officer. But Sheppard does not look at him. He almost does, he already turns to look at McKay, seeing his look from his peripheral vision now that Mckay has taken a few steps forward. But Sheppard stops himself before he does.

It may be the old man's words here, that her hunger was growing every day and there was nothing he could do about it that causes Sheppard to need to put some distance between himself and McKay. Sheppard knew that McKay was interested in science. He had used science to save himself as a child. But right now, he needed to keep his focus and not start thinking about all of that.

Continued in Pt. 5

[anemoiawithatouchofobsession]

Something different from my usual content! But hey, I listen to new music too. Which means, I listen to rap. What a shocker! Lmao. Anyways, I've been interested in Megan Thee Stallion for a long time ever since Th0t shit and Body came out, and I was one of the people bumping "HISS" until it hit #1. Even after that too... but yeah. Anyways. To the point- Megan dropped a new album! Megan act 2. And i thought... I want to listen to it in full and just give my thoughts. I liked around half of the album last time - my favourites were Mamushi, Otaku Hot Girl, B.A.S., Moody Girl and Accent - but this time I'm hoping for more bops from Meg!

Track one starting off strong as heck! Not only is the beat nostalgic, but Meg just SLIDES. Like, it's the same flows and cadences that we know from Megan, but that's what fits on the song and I really love the beat. I also love how she shows her Houston roots and her people! This could have been a banger in the summer - eventhough Mamushi did that already - but I would have lived to bump this alongside Not Like Us. It's breezy, braggadocious, very very quotable, and super enjoyable. 8.5/10

OH BANKROLL ON THE BEAT This is the HISS of this album. Hiss episode 2! She is going to have Nicki in another spiral this time even with the direct imitation of her voice. I live how Megan disses tbh. I HAVE to look the lyrics up just to bask in the lyrics. Like, I JUST KNOW Megan put so much of her old Tina snow persona in it - 9/10

Another strong beat and this time it's for all the trash boys in her Megan's life! Yep. GIRLS DONT CHASE BOYS! Oh the last two songs were pure anger and energy, this is a bit more "fun" but still serious. In the Act 1 album she branched into more other chill genres and went into her comfort zone, but she brought in so so much energy in her beats this time. It's crazy. - 8/10

OHOOOO Goodies by Ciara! It was the number one song in the US when I was born... that's funny! I haven't looked into her because I am yet to familiarize myself with her songs... but on this song, she does sound really good and really grooved on the beat. Until now, we've been on a streak of really strong and loud beats with very energetic lyrics, let's see how the rest goes! - 7/10

I don't recognize the sample if there is one, but the singing voice caught me really off guard. Is it Megan's? Like... the autotune is really throwing me off, she could have easily gotten a vocal feature but somehow the vocal parts aren't really doing it for me - 4/10

Ooooh this brings me back to the 2018 trap era! The piano beats and all that. Megan has a more slower flow that I really like. The beat is super hot. Like... idk it makes me feel *things*. Yep girl. You're making gangsters and girls blush for sure! Aaaallll i would have needed is another verse - 7.5/10

This is the fabled TWICE remix of Mamushi - and I'm not FULLY on board. Mamushi grew on me after some time, and I'm sure this will too. I like the second part of Megan's new verse and the first part of TWICE's verse with Jihyo and Nayeon. Jeongyeon and Dahyun's verses fell pretty flat in delivery - I needed more energy to support the brag! Chaeyoung's part should have been moved directly after Nayeon and shoudl have been delivered with a bit more energy! Like... girls! Where's the "TWICE" shout? Tzuyu was almost not even there, but she held up. And, obviously Mina, Sana and Momo on the chorus did their best. Overall, I felt that Jihyo and Nayeon really shone. - 7/10

Okay WHATTT??? This is a wild af beat. Like... GODDAMNN MEGAN IS ANGRYYYY and the rock/metal beat with the guitars is... damn. Loud. I can only imagine how much the rock girlies will love this. This is a really damn good crossover and this MUST go hard in the concert. I don't know who Spiritbox is but seems like they're a rock artist? But this is a newer style for Megan too and I'm definitely intrigued. - 7.5/10

Ooh this is giving 2020 Megan! Like... her lyrics and the flows! This also falls pretty short tbh I would have loved more of the beat. But she is mad throughout the entire album and I love the vibes it gives the album! - 7/10

HEY HEY ITS THE 808s! Old school boom bap beat and some fun lyrics about a baddie falling in love. But I'm the grand look of the album, this is kinda fun and breezy but not really memorable. 6/10

[rect-bibi]

Hi it's me again 👀 after reading the universes synopsis I'm interested in their respective mcs, how are they named? How do they react to the situations around them? ((How would they interact to each other in a crossover?))

THAT IS A VERY GOOD QUESTION THAT I AM VERY HAPPY TO GET and one that will have one hella long answer so uuuh enjoy the read below about my and my gf's OCs LMAO

"YET TO BE RENAMED UNIVERSE" (we will update it soon i promise)

AKARI - He, along with his younger sister - Nora - is a student at the Academy where they train people to either directly fight the monsters called "Alters" (majority of the cases) or help those at the front lines in different ways. He is also the son of a former teacher from the Academy, who was forced to retire due to extreme injuries. Much like practically everyone at the Academy, he has powers. His power is plasma creation and control. (appears in the form of those squiggles you see in plasma lamps) He is extremely hot headed, not patient at all. He naturally had anger issues and given he is the eldest, his parents sadly didn't figure out the discipline until it was a tad too late (the were young parents, give em a break theyre all good otherwise ToT). Either way he is quick to jump into action, more often than not for the worse rather than better. Very overconfident, but he gets CONSTANTLY humbled by his peers.

"BETROTHED"

LYRA & ORION - They are both the main characters, a "do not separate" deal. They are leaders of the Valley Kingdom and the Forest Kingdom respectively, who arranged a political marriage to form a stronger alliance for the sake of their regions Lyra was the King of the Valley, a non-gendered term for the highest ruler of the Valley Kingdom she gave away to Orion upon marriage. Given she inherited the throne at an extremely young age and had to be guided by her personal advisor as well as the Noble Council, she isn't as versed in politics as she would like to be, mostly in regards to being an assertive ruler. She is simply too polite for her own good most of the time. Orion is the opposite - born to a culture that values straight-forwardness and equality above all. He actively listens to people when he thinks them to be reliable, but quick to completely put down anyone who acts out of line. they may be a stereotypical shoujo-esque medieval fantasy couple but they are MY stereotypical shoujo-esque medieval fantasy couple thank you very much

"SALEM'S DISSONANCE"

NER & JODY - Technically two main characters, but they both share the same body. Jody was a normal human child, living his life as well as he could with humanity threatened by the Ilrah - aliens who both overtake human bodies and eat them. However, one day he was coerced by other children to go outside the Safe Zone, which resulted in him being attached by an Ilrah Hatchling. Normally that would result in the Ilrah killing his conscience, thus replacing him within his body, but instead it ended with him sharing the body with the Ilrah that tried to overtake him. Jody himself is a rather cowardly guy, shy and awkward and too afraid to speak up much. He is also more of a pacifist, straying away from violence if he can help it. Ner on the other hand is the exact opposite - brash and loud, not caring about anyone's opinion and more than happy to get involved in any form of brawl.

"ETHTERIA"

MAX - An Ethterian, a descendant of magic alien refugees from an utterly destroyed planet "Ethteria" (hence the title), as well as a soldier for special forces dealing with monsters called "Fiends" - the same ones behind the demise of their home planet who are now spreading disstress on Earth. Originally a member of a team of soldiers, forced to fully disband due to a tragic accident that had majority of the surviving members retire, Max being the only one to stay within the forces, fighting mostly solo. Or at the very least until 15 years later when she is forced to lead a group of newbies and teach them the basics. She is overall logical and stern, but also stubborn. While she values discipline a lot, she isn't above disobeying orders from her superiors if she sees it fit for the current situation.

As for crossover,,, i decided to make these silly things :3

[praline-elegy]

For the 50 character random ask would it be okay if you answered numbers 1,2,9,16 and 48? with Nicholas Cox as the character :0?

Hello anon! Thanks for the ask.

For Nicholas…

1. Canon I outright reject: That he left the newspaper clipping of his dad with the note in the trophy case, because let’s face it—that’s embarrassing 😳 (Note: I have not read Fence Challengers: Long Shot please do not spoil me, I merely saw a teaser).

2. A canon or headcanon hill I will die on: That Nicholas actually runs cold. The dorms just have really good heating compared to at home.

9. Scene that first made me love (or hate) the character: I’m going to be honest, I actually don’t remember. I’d have to do a reread sometime in the future to properly answer that.

16. Deepest darkest secret they won’t even admit to themselves: The idea that Robert might actually not be a good father. Nicholas keeps dreaming of following in his footsteps and making him proud, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that his father slept with and got two different women pregnant around the same time. From what I can gather, Jesse is a school year above Nicholas, which implies that he was born first and either:

a) His father committed infidelity during his marriage to his pregnant wife (Most common theory).

b) Robert and Jesse’s mom were separated and during that time Robert slept with Nicholas’ mother before returning to his wife after the separation (sort of a grey zone of whether that counts as infidelity).

c) Robert had a shotgun marriage and Jesse’s mom happened to be the one to tell him that she was pregnant first (in which case I don’t think he’s a bad father, just a dude with poor condom luck. I have nothing against those that sleep with multiple people so long as it’s not during a committed relationship).

d) Nicholas’ mother was in a relationship with Robert, they broke up, had a one night stand somewhere down the line, and by the time she went to tell Robert she was expecting, she found out he was in a relationship with another woman and kept the pregnancy to herself.

So either Robert is a man with loose morals or as they say, “life just happens.” He seems to get the short end of the stick if that’s the case. Robert seems to be a good father to Jesse though, so Nicholas puts the thought inside a box and tucks it under his heart where he won’t look at it.

48. Scariest moment of their life: When a dog bit him as a child. I have a headcanon that Nicholas is afraid of dogs. It was purely for a vague wip concept that I had, and it slowly became more or less canon to me in the months since having that idea.

Send me a character and a number!

[hanafubukki]

Yes, OT3 and No longer you are renting free in my head. Go hit Dawny fantasy of his romance with the strange kind girl he found in the wood one day when said girl is like "Yeah. We cannot be together. Cannot say much but I know what will happen and the future is dark". I mean, even without OT3 involved, this song is so much for Dawn 😭

"The song of past romance"

"The sacrifice of men"

"Portayal of betrayal and a brother final stance"

The only difference is that Dawn don't seem to be the kind who would choose the Monster route, and commit a massacre out of hate/revenge. But yeah, self hate and imposter syndrome are my guess. "I do not deserve my wife. They say I am an hero, but I just have the blood of a mother on my hands." Please. I don't want to think of how tortured this man was when Leia belly started to show. Happy, we will have a child. Sad, I made another child orphan. Happy, the baby moved. Sad, no news of the hatchling dragon that should have already been born. Happy, the baby is born healthy. Sad, I must return to war.

And this guy died alone on a battlefield against other humans as greedy as them. Who knows what he had thought at that time ? Worried ? Relieved ? Dissapointed ?

This man take too much space in my brain for the little screen time he had.

- 🦋 Anon

Hello 🦋 Anonie,

“This man takes too much space in my brain for the little screen time he had”

THE WAY I FELT THIS.

As of right now, he’s been in only TWO chapters 🦋 anonie, just two! And the way he has gripped me??? I want to laugh and just be that Kermit frenzy meme. (Those two chapters were long, but that’s not the point shhh)

….did you know it’s been about…311 days since they reveled KOD as Silver’s bio father? (Give or take a day because of time zones, etc.) I mean who’s counting? Hahaha certainly not me, what are you talking about?? ☺️🥰

(My yume with KOD was recently 300 so that’s how i know 💞🫶)

…wait that means it’s been 311 days since Meleanor was revealed as well… @rayroseu and @kitwasnothere happy 311 days to you both 🥹🫂💞

No Longer Human just hits me in the feels 😭😭💞💞 the future is dark for KOD but bright for his son and I think that’s all that he would have wanted for his family. How frustrated or helpless would he have felt to meet someone he likes who keeps putting a barrier because they know that future and don’t want to be hurt? How would they feel knowing they can’t save him? 😭😭 (this is why I have 10 AUs in my head where he lives, I want him happy ahhh 💞💞)

In canon wise, yes! I agree! It is still a KOD song. For all of the points you mentioned above. What I really love that you pointed out what the opposites of KOD and Lilia. KOD wouldn’t become the monster like Lilia would. But technically, it’s all about perspective in this case, because the label of “Monster and killing for hate” well, the faes or humans might disagree no? Depending on the side you ask?

Not to go too deep, since I talked about it before in this post, but based on perspective. Everyone can be the hero or the villain.

BUT YESSS THE PARALLELS OF MALLEUS AND SILVER EVEN BEFORE THEIR BIRTHS. How must he have felt? To know that he has this happiness while taking away another’s? But at the same time, I want to believe that before he went to war for the last time. He tried his best to make peace with the faes. There’s a reason why the humans turned on him and Leia and maybe this is why.

I want to believe that as he laid there. He at least knew that his son would live happily in a peaceful time with people who love him.

After all, that ring just shows how loved Silver is by KOD doesn’t it? Always shining and helping him, showing him precious memories, and that smile at the end. He’s truly happy for his son and I think with that thought alone. He was happy.

[give me his damn name twst. I love calling him Dawn and all the symbolisms he is and all that without the name and such. Love that in story telling but dang it, give me a name. If I have to wait until the book 7 light novel…I think I will scream. 😆🤣]

[femme-enby]

Haunt actor au ideas, BUT if Reader was Monty’s “battle buddy”

So, with my Sun & Moon focused haunt actor AU, I’ve had to shift my nightly/free time daydreaming away from them to avoid (more) mixups where I think I wrote something that I didn’t. It already happened once.

So, I’ve been focused on Monty, but in the same setting bc it really is a lot of fun!

Frankly I can see a lot of myself in all three of them, or at least how I perceive them.

One thing I did notice when listening to Monty’s voice lines again, is that he certainly does have a bit of an accent. As someone born (barely) in the south, I really get that. Plus whether it’s the ADHD, the autism, or both, I tend to pick up on accents if I’m kinda “surrounded” by them, and with me already having that bit of an accent in casual settings and certain heated situations, I imagine it would only get worse. Or better, depending on how you feel about southern accents.

So basically the following ideas, with my incredibly self indulgent nature in mind, are how I think it would go.

Scaring together might have started out a little rough- either more you just taking the back seat or closer to two separate actors simply working near each other instead of actually with each other.

Starting out you’d slip up on the accent sometimes, dropping it occasionally. I feel like Monty might (jokingly) tease you about that, and maybe at first you’d wonder if he was actually being a bit serious about it?

But then, at some point someone simply ain’t actin right. And you say as much, “y’all ain’t got a lick of home trainin!” Or somethin to that effect. Clearly hadn’t even thought of the response, simply responding to their actions, and Monty is like “????”

As y’all work together, with you fussin at folks who try and mess with him and him doing the same for you, the two of you get closer. Scaring becomes more of a duo event, the two of y’all getting better at reading each other. Seeing when the other is about at their snapping point, when the other just needs a break, and even telling when one already has an idea and being quicker to simply roll with them- fitting into their scare however is needed.

I feel like in Malicious Marsh, there would be a few “blocked off” thickly “wooded” areas where access isn’t obvious or is obviously not permitted by guests, which actors would utilize for jump scares. Monty would definitely enjoy that.

I think while he might not be able to control the appearance of his optics or have the range like Sun & Moon, his would instead dim/brighten as needed, and something he could do is dim them slowly while creeping up on people from the inky shadows of the wooded area. This, paired with the shifting lighting of the zone, would make it harder to tell that he’s getting closer, allowing him to be practically on top of guests before they realize they should probably start running.

Later…

I could see him being kinda awkward. Perhaps you end up grabbing his hand at some point due to the thick crowd y’all are trying to walk through, and he freezes up momentarily, and although he wouldn’t mention it he definitely thinks about just how natural it seemed for you to grab his hand… and how he maybe wouldn’t mind if you did it more often.

Maybe it ends up being something small and stupid, like on a slow night a dragonfly keeps pestering him, and after trying to shoo the bug away doesn’t work, you end up just… standing still, with your hand out, and it lands on one of your fingers. Firstly, you’re absolutely shocked that worked, but then you focus and move slowly, essentially escorting the dragonfly away from the two of you, completely missing how Monty is just… watching you, but… differently from how he usually would when he’s simply observing you to observe.

Now there’s something… more. And quite frankly, he ain’t sure he’s a fan of that.

As the two of you grow closer, although after his small realization it’s ever so slightly against his own will, you’ll grip his hand to lead him somewhere, or even pat his tail when passing by, either to let him know not to smack you with it, or to simply get his attention.

First time you passed behind him you definitely got thumped, leading to this habit. First time patting his tail had him whipping it away from you, thinking it was a guest. He didn’t make that mistake again though as you prove yourself to be quite a force to be reckoned with when it came to guests trying to grab at him.

Plus… you were oddly gentle with him.