#and the details please OH MY GODDDDDD

[qoldenskies]

Now that 2024 is coming to a close:

1) Of everything you've made this year, which ones are you the most proud of?

2) What are a few of your favorite things (art, comics, fics, etc) that someone else has made this past year?

ngl for the first question, i think itd have to be caged lungs .... i continue to stew in silence about cw doing so much better than it because there's a lot of moments in it that fuck harddd even though its a little undercooked (i released it earlier than i wanted to because i didnt want to obsess over a bunch of little details, and i kind of regret that now! there are two scenes i would have added if i were able to change things now.) im also very proud of coming undone, especially because it was kind of my,, ig breakout in the fandom? it doing reasonably well is the REASON I AM HERE so be kind to my baby. if that hadnt happened, canary continuity wouldnt exist!!!

as for the second. goddd you cannot make me choose because there is SO MUCH so like. fanart? i'll just bring up some fanart that i think about so much.

this piece by vulstare is like my favorite thing ever STILL. id say its made my month but honestly its kind of made my year, i still gush so hard about it and go back to look at it CONSTANTLY. the idea that ive made something deemed good enough to have fanart of THIS QUALITY still makes me walk around in my home grinning like an idiot, so much that i think my family just thinks its my resting face. im never gonna get over it. whaaaat. i think i have seen this in my dreams

AND OH OH THIS ART BY KAYSDENOFCHAOS. IS SO BANGER. i absolutely adore the symbolism and color in it still, its such a well done and creative way to depict the closet scene with the time metaphor especially. i think its even influenced some of the ways that ive written it in cw chapters in particular. fantastic brilliant showstopping etc.

AND OF COURSE THIS COMIC BY VANGH17A OHHHH MY GODDDDDD!! i am SO mad that this only has like 400 notes when it is so utterly fucking fantastic yall should go and reblog it a billion times to make up for this awful horrible error. its so heart wrenching and beautifully done im gonna go fucking crazy

and this art of chapter 12 by cupcakeslushie of COURSEE!!! its super flattering because their work got me into the fandom in the first place so it was a bit magical bghdhghf. and god do i adore the perspective and lighting, its so haunting,,,, im insaneeee asylum /ref

AND THERE IS A TON MORE THAT PROBABLY JUST ISNT COMING TO ME BUT THIS IS WHAT I REMEMBERED ON THE FLY, please for the love of god just scroll through my fanart tag and go support all the lovely people that drew for me because WHAT DID I DO. TO DESERVE THIS. IM LITERALLY GOING CRAZY

also OF COURSE i gotta give a shout out to i want for us this (that we are well), that's the last song you'll ever sing, and i will save you when your lights go out. I HAVE,,, FICS OF MY FIC???? I HAVE LITERALLY CRIED REAL TEARS OVER THIS

i feel pampered as fuck LMAO. you guys do not understand what you do to me

[m0onberry222]

hey so not to be super negative or anything but oh my GODDDDDD i hate tv/movie adaptations of books so bad. why does it actually seem like they genuinely have a competition on which can be the most disloyal/disingenuous to the source material? how much character assassination they can get away with? how many tiny little details they can change for absolutely no reason? maybe i’m just being insufferably and disgustingly loyal to my books, but i just honest to god cannot understand why these platforms pick up these stories if they want to write something completely different. THAT’S WHAT FANFIC IS FOR. (to clarify: this is NOT a diss on fanfic in the slightest, i adore fanfiction and it has truly been a formative part of my life and one that i treasure dearly. all i’m saying is that maybe some of these people working on these adaptations would find a more suitable home there, seeing as their ideas are often more akin to an au fic than the actual source material.)

and what pisses me off so bad is that these platforms purchase the rights to these stories, make some half-assed wattpad fic of them, and then cancel them almost immediately because they don’t perform well — shocker. (cough cough NETFLIX). but since they did that, (and please correct me if i’m wrong, because i genuinely want to know), it becomes virtually impossible for any other platform to pick it up! so not only did they half-ass it and completely change them, but they essentially ruined the chances of it ever being done correctly. so often, i see so many things — whether they be major plot points or tiny details — changed when there was genuinely zero reason to. like sincerely, i just want to know WHY?!

!!SPOILER ALERT FOR THE FOLLOWING BOOK/TV SERIES!!: shadow and bone, six of crows, a good girl’s guide to murder, (will most likely continue to add on because i’m a little neurotic).

here are a few examples off the top of my head:

SAB/SOC:

࣪𖤐.ᐟ changed the ravkan king’s name from aleksander to pyotr. what purpose does that serve actually at all?

࣪𖤐.ᐟ inserted soc plotline into shadow and bone — completely reversing, flip flopping, and making up new plot material just to add it in

࣪𖤐.ᐟ GAVE THE DARKLING A NORMAL, PUBLIC NAME?! AND REVEALED HIS FIRST NAME ALMOST IMMEDIATELY?!

࣪𖤐.ᐟ completely fucked over one most of my favorite nikolai scenes — where he confronts the king about his abuse towards genya

࣪𖤐.ᐟ this one i guess i can somewhat understand (albeit begrudgingly), but removing literally almost the entirety of my favorite book in the series, siege and storm

AGGGTM:

࣪𖤐.ᐟ made nat da silva andie’s best friend?! which is quite literally the most inane and stupid thing they could have done with her, literally erased her entire character — why not just make a fucking new one atp?

࣪𖤐.ᐟ where is stanley forbes. i guess they could just add him in in season 2, but it removes so much of the intensity behind the twists of ggbb. takes all the wind out of its sails, iykwim.

࣪𖤐.ᐟ pip calling victor by his first name only, removing that close dynamic which felt super weird

࣪𖤐.ᐟ where the hell did “chicken” come from?! i must have missed something in the show, but actually what reason was there to change her nickname from “pickle” to “chicken”? i’m actually so confused by that.

࣪𖤐.ᐟ WHY. IS THERE A RANDOM RAVE CAVE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FOREST. WHO BUILT THAT. WHO BUILT A FULLY FUNCTIONING PARTY/RAVE CENTER IN A RANDOM CAVE/CATACOMB IN THE FOREST. why was that added?? i’m SO confused about that genuinely. why was that necessary? the calamity parties in general were just so weird in the show because why was it so secretive and insane? in the book, they literally just walk into this dude’s house where the party and no one gives one singular fuck because it’s literally just a high school party. an intense one for sure, but it’s just a party. remember jamie walking into one in ggbb and no one gaf because it was not this super intense, secretive thing that it was made to be in the show.

࣪𖤐.ᐟ pip and ravi’s meeting :’(

࣪𖤐.ᐟ everyone just like…spoon feeding pip the answers along the way. why did they all fold under like zero pressure? it felt so anticlimactic and like she wasn’t actually figuring anything out for herself. it was honestly so disappointing because it felt like pip wasn’t even given the chance to be the character she was written as.

࣪𖤐.ᐟ ant for some reason just being some random dude lauren is obsessed with? i think that will take a significant amount of the bite and betrayal out of his later actions, which is kind of disappointing, and again — WHY change something like that?! seems more like an inconvenience to have to come up with a whole new plot line for him, as well as introductions.

࣪𖤐.ᐟ the woman that elliot ward kept hidden in his attic for five years KNOWING who she was, WANTING to escape. elliot may be a shit person, but the only reason he kept that girl for all those years is because he believed she was andie and SHE DID TOO. she was severely mentally ill and had taken who knows what kind of drugs. it goes against everything we know about his character to have him hold some random woman hostage in his attic for essentially no reason for half a decade. it makes no sense. so again, WHY CHANGE IT?!

࣪𖤐.ᐟ in general, the over dramatization of literally everything (except for the most important parts) for tv audiences :/ i’m honestly getting super tired so i’m struggling to think of how to explain this better BUT i will return come the morning sun and do my best.

anyways, if you made it this far — thank you for reading my ramblings, i wrote this so that my mother could enjoy watching the AGGGTM adaptation with me without me bugging out every 10 seconds about the inconsistencies LMFAO. hope you enjoyed.

[myheartissetinmotion]

a couple of my favorite things abt ghosts s5

• gotta start with the obvious: Cap’s (James’). Death. Scene. this is television folks this is TELEVISION. everything sort of rushed to us at once, but not in a bad way-the intertwining of all the little details we’ve been wondering about since the start came so beautifully. the first look of reunion, the scars on the side of Havers’ face, the way it was confirmed that he *knew*, and he was smiling when he said it, “ANTONY”, “JAMES”, the SWAGGER STICK BEING HIS OH MY GOD. oh my GOD. phenomenally written, phenomenally acted, phenomenal. my roommates were probably very worried upon hearing the shrieks a few doors down

• Eleanor’s last words to Kitty being in the same episode as Barclay’s parenting conversation with Mike-unexpected depths to antagonists for the winnnnnn

• JULIAN’S MONOLOGUE JULIAN’S MONOLOGUE JULIAN’S MONOLOGUE JULIAN’S MONOLOGUE JULIAN’S MONOLOGUE

• the moments in which they were all standing together as the clock struck twelve

• Kitty being canonically a Higham!!

• THE LINE DANCING AT THE END OF THAT EPISODE. they knew what they were doing with that catharsis and it was the most beautiful thing in the world

• 🎶got a little safe. got a little safe in my house. got a little saaaaaaaaaafe🎶

• Mary still at least getting a moment in the opening credits

• Thomas Angus Thorne, the apparent Scotsman

• Larry playing opposite himself for an episode (and all the continued layers we got to Robin and Humphrey this season)

• “may i take your hands?” “are you going to kiss them?” GODDDDDD. the purest tenderness in the delivery of the first question and simplest hope in the delivery of the second. THOMAS YOU UTTER DARLING DOLT WAKE UP SHE’S RIGHT THERE.

• the plague ghost nightclub

• Fanny and her motorcycle moment

• “abba!”

• I’M GONNA MISS THIS SHOW SO DAMN MUCH. very much looking forward to the christmas special, baby Cooper, more shenanigans, more development, more kitmas (please lord please)

• an incredible season wonderful job everyone

[renrapp]

if you don't mind, would you please infodump crashgate to me? i keep seeing it being referred to but i don't actually understand it :/ you can just ignore this ask if you don't want to tho!

OH MY GODDDDDD 🫨🫨🫨 SIT DOWN. I’M ABOUT TO TELL U THE MOST BEAUTIFULLY CHAOTIC AND CHAOTICALLY BEAUTIFUL FORMULA 1 CONTROVERSY OF ALL TIME

SO THE YEAR IS 2008. our key main players are as follows— fernando alonso, 2x world champion and also my skrunkly, his teammate nelson piquet jr, a rookie in this szn and also the son of known garbage can nelson piquet, pat symonds, renault’s director of engineering, and flavio briatore, renault’s managing director and TP at the time.

renault is literally not even in contention for the championship this year, so why they did this? who the fuck knows honestly. but we’re headed into the singapore gp. fernando has a very unfortunate qualifying, getting knocked out in Q2 after a mechanical failure and starting 15th, next to piquet jr who starts 16th. the race is seemingly normal. fernando pits on lap 12 for tyres and fuel (bc yes, back then u could refuel) and then 2 laps later, piquet jr fucking bins it into turn 17. like the flop that he is. and bc this specific turn makes it difficult to retrieve cars, they had to deploy the safety car.

2008 regs meant that the pitlane would be closed while the safety car was deployed until all the cards bunched up behind it. this gave fernando a significant advantage because remember, he already pitted 2 laps earlier, which meant that by the time the pit lane opened, the rest of the grid would have needed to pit for tyres or for fuel while he didn’t, giving him the clean air to put himself in front of the order. shenanigans ensue (massa’s fuel hose nightmare etc etc) that give him more of an advantage, and he goes on to eventually win the race.

NOW. to anyone else, this seems very, very normal. wow ! congrats to nando and renault for scoring their very first win of the season ! #underdogtingz ! and yes for literally a year, that’s what everyone thought .. until the next season.

in 2009, renault were flopping saurrr bad. they kept the same lineup and while fernando was doing his absolute best dragging the tractor that is the r29 (and slaying bc the fucker actually managed to put it on pole once), piquet jr was unsurprisingly a total disappointment, amassing a whopping ZERO POINTS !!!! renault was like wtf stop embarrassing us, and then dropped him over halfway thru the szn for romain grosjean.

piquet jr was PISSED. and he is his father’s son, so obv he decided to stir up some drama. he came onto national tv and was like um . ackshually . singapore 2008 was a LIE bc symonds and briatore asked me to crash ON PURPOSE. they had a masterplan all alongggg and everyone was like wtf !!! and briatore was like fuck you i’m suing u AND ur fuckass dad !

im not even gonna lie idk what came of that but in the end renault was like aight we’re not even gonna fight, also symonds and briatore are both resigning byeeee. eventually the FIA was like yeahhh y’all did this shit on purpose and symonds at least confessed, but briatore was STILL denying involvement even tho he clearly had enough evidence against him. symonds ended up being banned from any FIA events for 5 years (he’s working for the FIA now btw. christ!) and briatore was banned indefinitely but u just cant take the sport outta him cos u see him around sometimes lmaooo

fernando denied involvement and the FIA was like we believe u princess 🥰 whether he actually knew or not .. we don’t know .. but be was literally caught up in spygate the year before that so honestly who the fuck knows. this would honestly be nothing to him he took part in corporate espionage what’s a lil cheating gon do to his wibbly wobbly morals

ANYWAY THAT’S IT ⁉️ i might’ve missed some details but this is all coming straight from the noggin so .. def not perfect. if there is some misinformation in there someone else notices pls point it out lol

[daechwitatamicrecs]

YAY A TAE AND DILARA. PLEASE DONT HURT ME. PLEASE DONT HURT ME!!!!!

lol jungkook and dilara dressing like twins continues. my favorite little detail.

I KNEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW taehyung was gonna step in when chris is teasing her GODDDDDD why do i love him why do i love this what does this SAY ABOUT ME?????????

not sure what his game is yet (just to piss him off? or to prove something about how he still feels about her???) but i kind of love chris for provoking tae lol

NOT THE ARGUMENT SWITCHING INTO KOREAN WAIT WAIT I NEED TO KNOW WHAT THEYRE SAYING THIS IS NOT FAIR!!!!

literally if i were her i'd be like you are BOTH stressing me out.

OKAY NO I AM SORRY, I AM GOING TO NEED A WORD FOR WORD TRANSCRIPT OF THAT CONVERSATION. THANKS. IM WAITING.

Tried to wake you up but you almost punched me in the face. - have i told you lately that i LOVE HER????

NOT THIS HUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG STOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP IM GONNA CRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY IAOSFUWHFUIWAHFUAHAUHFA AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

OH MY GOD OH MY GODDDDDDDDD I CANNOT HANDLE THIS

Chingu (Taehyung x OC)

Summary: Dilara's best friend stops by for a night, and he and Taehyung have some choice words for each other.

Pairing: Taehyung x OC

Genre: Angst

Word count: 8.6 K

Rating: 18+

Warnings: LANGUAGE (Chris Park is here, people), heartbreak, anxiety, infidelity, a very small description of smut

A/N: One of my favourite relationships finally being introduced in depth. This fic takes place around a week after Baby, It's Cold Outside.

Tagging: @bbl32 @quarter-life-crisis2 @meirkive @dreaming-with-happiness @ananya1398 @kflixnet (drop a message if you want to be added)

Listen to: "something pretty“ by patrick park

taehyung masterlist | main masterlist

Austria this time of year is better than freezing Germany, especially when everyone arrives for the Styrian GP this time to an unseasonably warm circuit in Spielberg. Dilara hasn’t got a motorhome of her own this time either; she and the rest of the group end up staying at the same house they stayed in for the Austrian GP. Strangely enough, she’s dreading it far less than she was the last time, especially since there’s no PR planned this time around. Plus, since it’s a Red Bull track - the Red Bull track - the team is in high spirits for a good race.

The best part about this weekend, though, for Dilara, is that Chris Park has made it down here for the weekend. He can’t stay for the actual race, which is a pity, but he’s needed back in London by Saturday afternoon for a workshop he’s doing with Fred, and Dilara chooses to humbly count her blessings that at least one of her friends is finally here. 

He arrives on Thursday; she perks up when she hears a motor screeching outside, followed by a very Chris text: Where are you? No need to pretty yourself up for me, Komyshan. 

Too happy to be annoyed, Dilara skips out in jeans, an oversized jumper and boots, bag in one hand and phone in the other. She throws the front door open to the gorgeous winter sun to see Chris in a brown jacket and jeans, leaning against a motorcycle and wearing Aviators that would look ridiculous on anyone but him and Tom Cruise, while he chats with Seokjin, Jungkook and - her heart skips a beat - Taehyung. The latter isn’t really talking, she notices; just standing a little behind the other two members as they make small talk with Chris.

Taehyung is the first to spot her; her stomach does a backflip when his eyes light up and a hint of a smile graces his beautiful features. Right at that moment, though, Chris spots her and his grin widens. Taking off his shades, he holds his arms open and yells “What’s up, Komyshan?” as she runs up to him.

“You’re actually here!” she exclaims, jumping up and hugging him tight, feeling her feet leave the ground as he straightens his tall frame. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy to see you, Park,” she remarks when he sets her down.

“I’ll give it an hour,” he says generously, ruffling her hair as he turns to face the others. “She’s all talk; she can’t really stand me after a while,” he explains to them.

“Sexy jacket, Dilara,” remarks Jungkook, winking.

Dilara chuckles, pretending not to notice how Taehyung frowns and lightly slaps his arm. “Thanks. Learning from Jimin, are we?”

He grins. “No, I just have the same one.”

“I’ll have her home in time for dinner,” says Chris mock-seriously to all of them before bowing slightly. When he catches sight of her amused expression, he shrugs. “What? It’s just respectful to your housemates.”

Already bracing herself for an entire afternoon of this, Dilara rolls her eyes and turns away, her gaze falling on Taehyung. He’s still standing behind the others, looking at her with a strange expression on his face, like nostalgia and something else. 

All three members step back when Chris straddles the bike and she climbs on behind him, sliding her small backpack on.

“Alright, see you in a bit,” calls Chris jovially in Korean, slipping his shades on and backing up the bike.

“Be careful.” Taehyung’s voice unexpectedly cuts through, deep and sudden, and Dilara turns to see him wincing and looking away, as though cursing himself for saying anything.

For some reason, she doesn’t want him to feel embarrassed, not for saying something like that. When he hesitantly looks back at her, she nods. "Yeah," she mutters, before swallowing and placing her hands on Chris's shoulders as they zoom away.

They drive nearly thirty minutes to the outskirts of Salzburg where they find a pub - the first one she’s seen in what feels like forever. They order beers and schnitzel and, enjoying the blues music playing at an appropriate volume, catch up after months.

"You know it's only been like six weeks, right?" he points out. "We saw each other in New York the night before you flew out to Spa."

"That was just one night, though. And it doesn't count," she adds, sipping her beer, "because we were there for Lex, not to catch up."

"True. You were there for the hard part, though, during the surgery," he tells her, reaching for a fry. "Her mom was out of the woods by the time I got there."

"No way," she disagrees. "That time would've been even worse. Her mom was okay but that was when Lex had to deal with all the insurance stuff and the physio and everything. She seemed exhausted."

“Yeah, she was.” Chris sips on his drink quietly for a minute, frowning out the window. “She’s tough, though,” he murmurs, still looking outside, before swallowing and placing his drink on the table, looking up at Dilara. “She’ll be fine.”

She observes him, not fooled. “Something you want to talk about?”

“Not really.”

“Sure? Not everything you say will get back to Lexie.”

“Gee, that’s comforting.”

Dilara cracks a smile, still not swayed. “I’m serious. How is she?”

Chris frowns. “What do you mean? Don’t you talk to her?”

“Of course I do. But she’s my friend. What she tells me wouldn’t be exactly what she tells you.”

“I’m her friend, too.”

“I didn’t have sex with her, though.”

“Minor technicalities.”

“You can avoid this all you want, but don’t expect me to believe that anything about you two is minor.”

Chris glares at her. “Do we have to talk about this?”

Dilara raises her eyebrows and shrugs. “No. Actually, yeah,” she says after a moment. “Why not? I’m not going to judge you, you know? This isn’t a test.”

He pokes his tongue into his cheek and looks away, looking annoyed. “You know I’m not good at this,” he states in a low voice.

She perks up, though she tries not to show it. “Good at what?”

“This stuff. Dealing with feelings and doing the right thing and following all these - these dating rules. And she’s going through a hard time,” he adds, looking down. “She doesn’t need some fuckboy coming into her life and making it worse.”

“First of all, admitting you’re a fuckboy just goes to show that you aren’t one. Or at least, not anymore,” she amends. “And… you know I love you, but that’s such a fucking cop out answer.” It seems for a second as though he’s about to snap at her, but all he does is scoff and look out the window again. 

Dilara tries again. “I’m not saying you need to ask her out right now. Or ever, really. I’m just asking…” She shrugs and sighs, “I dunno. I guess I’m just looking out for her. We both know how she feels about you.”

Chris doesn’t deny it. “I don’t want to fuck around with her either, you know. I know I won’t be good for her. Isn’t it a good thing that I know this?”

“Maybe. But she doesn’t know it. And I don’t even think that’s the real reason. Even fuckboys can become… not-fuckboys,” she points out.

He rolls his eyes. “It won’t work. She’s too…” He exhales, shaking his head “... good, I guess. And we’re friends, man, I… it’ll screw up the whole group. She’s your trainer - won’t it be the worst for you?”

She considers it. “It might be awkward,” she admits, trying not to think about how much awkwardness she’s already dealing with on a daily basis, “but I trust both of you to be adults about it.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Really? Are you and Taehyung being adults about it?”

Dilara gapes, wondering how he zeroed in on exactly what she was thinking. “I - this is not about me.” When he smirks knowingly, she sighs in annoyance. “V and I are… we’re working around it. We’re… there’s a system… of sorts,” she rambles pathetically. She looks up from her schnitzel to see Chris looking at her with exaggerated wonder.

“I’m sorry, what did you call him?” he asks, chuckling in disbelief. “What happened to Tae?”

“He fucked a skinny idol, so now I call him by the name the rest of the world does,” she snaps.

“You call him V to his face?”

“I don’t talk to him if I can help it,” she says shortly, leaning back as the waitress sets the rest of their food in front of them. “But… I call him Kim to his face, if you must know.”

Chris snorts, shaking his head. “Shit. That’s got to be hard, though,” he allows. “How are you dealing with all of it?”

“Nice segue, but we’re coming back to you and Lexie after this.” Dilara waits for him to silently grin, before taking a deep breath. “I’m… I dunno, I’m taking it one day at a time. While counting down the days until this ends, of course.”

“Really?” He frowns, swallowing a fry whole. “What was “be careful” about, then?”

“That was…” She groans, so frustrated at how complicated this is. “I don’t know. He’s trying to be nice, I guess? But I don’t trust him and I can barely look at him without becoming a goddamn mess and after Max abandoned me in a fan’s wet dream?” She shrugs sarcastically. “I really didn’t have a choice but to start becoming cordial with them.”

“That’s what I thought,” agrees Chris, nodding. “I mean, I’m guessing the older guys would be normal, no? And Namjoon and Hoseok?” he asks, pronouncing their names exactly right.

“Yeah, they’re fine,” she mutters dismissively. “So are Jimin and Jungkook, too, actually. Jungkook’s my only workout buddy now and since friends are in short supply for me right now,” she says deliberately, pushing his shoulder, “I need to swallow my pride and take what I can get. Plus, I spend whatever time I can on the paddock, so…”

“And Taehyung?” he presses.

She swallows. “What about him? I told him to leave me alone and… he kind of is.”

“Kind of, clearly.”

“Yeah, well. Depends on the situation. Sometimes it almost feels like old times, just a bit.” She’s quiet for a moment. “And then I remember how he fucked me over and it all disappears.” She shakes her head and exhales. “You know what? If you don’t think it’ll work out with Lex, I believe you. I was sure it wouldn’t work out for us and I was right, wasn't I?”

Chris gives her a moment, looking at her with a mixture of sympathy and anger, and she has a feeling he’s recalling the first half of the season. “I kind of can’t believe you actually ended up living with them,” he says after a moment. “I mean, what are the chances?”

“I know, right?” She slowly swallows a fry. “The good thing is there actually does seem to be money coming in because the car is fantastic,” she says honestly. “I mean, I don’t know what I was hoping for in Nurburgring but that straight line speed?” She shakes her head as Chris mirrors her reaction. “Red Bull already has amazing downforce but that was a hell of a surprise.”

“Oh, it was incredible,” he agrees. “Think they’ll do the same thing this time? Or was it like a one time thing?”

“I don’t know for sure but I think one of us is getting a new power unit this time,” she confesses. “It’ll most likely be me so I’m not even all that worried about Qualifying. Austria’s a good track in general, though,” she adds, shrugging. “I’m sure I’ll make it to the top six at least.”

Chris grins proudly. “Love the confidence,” he says sincerely. “Does that mean you’re okay drinking tomorrow night?” he asks cheekily.

Dilara laughs. “I can’t get drunk, but, yeah, why not? I haven’t had a drink in ages.”

He claps his hands. “It’s a date.”

As it turns out, it’s not a date. They return back to the pub the next day after FP, only to find it about to close down because of dark, angry rain clouds hovering low in the sky.

“You can order if you like,” the red haired gentleman across the bar says. “Last order, for a Red Bull driver.”

Dilara grins and blushes, letting Chris take the lead and order while she takes a couple of selfies with the owner and a few of the staff members. “Oh, do you think we should take food for your housemates?” Chris asks suddenly.

“Oh.” It hadn’t occurred to her but now that Chris says it, she knows they should. Annoyingly enough, they would do the same for her. Have done the same for her, she remembers. 

“Um, maybe. Let me check.” She pulls out her phone to text Seokjin, since she knows it’s either he or Yoongi who will give her the straightest answer. As she shifts from one foot to another, trying to word the perfect text, Chris just sighs in impatience and snatches the phone from her.

To her horror, he straight up calls him. “Hyung? It’s Chanyeol,” he begins, followed by an intense sounding discussion in Korean. If she has to guess, Jin is asking the others for their opinions and by the way Chris is rattling off an order to the owner, she knows they’re taking it incredibly seriously, as expected.

Midway during the call, Chris sighs and turns to her. “Your boyfriend’s asking if he’s included as well because, quote, he doesn’t want you to feel obligated to get him anything.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” says Dilara forcefully, rolling her eyes at Taehyung’s dramatics, “and tell him he is included, but I’m happy to let him starve if he wants.”

Chris chortles and says something into the phone in Korean, and she hears Jin’s cackle in the background. Once the call is wrapped up, the food is packed, she’s taken at least ten pictures and tipped the pub a hundred euros, they run outside to Chris’s motorcycle just as a rumble of thunder booms through the sky.

They make it back to the house just as the rain starts and hurry inside to see Yoongi, Hoseok and Jimin and Jungkook in the living room and kitchen area, already in tracks and hoodies, looking way warmer than she feels. The moment he sees them, Jungkook follows them to the kitchen like a puppy, diving for the food and inspecting it as soon as they set it down.

“Where are the others?” Dilara asks nonchalantly, reaching for a bottle of water as the older members file in at a more respectable pace. 

“Namjoon’s talking to Kaya and Jin hyung’s probably taking a nap,” says Hoseok, giving Jungkook a disgusted look as he inhales a handful of fries. “And Taehyungie’s in the shower, I think.”

“Shouldn’t you go, too?” Chris asks.

Dilara chokes on her water. “Excuse me?”

He raises his eyebrows as Yoongi grins from where he’s sorting through the food. “I meant… shower. By yourself. Because your hair is wet?” He reminds her, fingering the ends of her ponytail. “You can’t afford to fall sick.”

Still recovering and trying not to picture Taehyung in the shower, joining him in the shower, or showering together, she mumbles something incoherent and bolts, cursing the weather for not being able to take a cold shower. By the time she’s out, feeling much warmer with freshly washed hair and dry, soft woollens, what seems like an army of Korean men are gathered in the kitchen, talking and laughing loudly. 

Suddenly feeling very tiny and very female, she pads over gingerly and emerges quietly between Chris and Yoongi, reaching for a piece of pita bread and dipping it in hummus.

The conversation continues around her, half in Korean and half in English. She doesn’t quite join in, choosing to simply watch and sneak in bites of food, happy to let Chris socialize for both of them. At one point, Hoseok asks them if they want to watch a movie and when Chris looks at her expectantly, she hesitates, somewhat glad that even though he's talking to them, he'll ditch them if she asks him to.

She doesn't, though; Dilara shrugs and says "Sure", trying not to make it too awkward. Nodding, one by one everyone heads out with their plates piled high with food.

"Yeorobun, don't forget to thank Dilara and Chris," calls Seokjin, followed by a chorus of thank yous from the room.

"Thank you," a soft and deep voice echoes from next to her.

Startled, she almost drops the bottle of water she’s holding. Dilara looks up and nods slightly. "You're welcome," she murmurs to Taehyung, suddenly finding it hard to meet his gaze when he's standing this close to her. He smells overwhelmingly of his lotion and her immediate instinct is to want to bury her nose in the sleeve of his sweater and inhale until she passes out. She swallows and tries to distract herself by looking down at his sweater, frowning when she realises it looks familiar.

“Is that -” She catches herself just in time, trying to stop the automatic smile that she can feel creeping up on her face and turning away.

Next to her, she hears him quietly chuckle. “Yeah, it is,” he answers after a moment.

Stay strong, Dilara. 

They stay there, side by side, hesitantly sharing an old memory for a moment until they’re broken out of it by Chris turning around and calling her name, warning her that the schnitzel will get over if she doesn’t come for it soon enough. Grateful for the interruption, she hurries away from the kitchen, ignoring how her heart flutters when her arm brushes Taehyung’s, and takes a seat on one of the side couches next to Jungkook. 

In the middle couch, facing the TV, Chris sits with Hoseok and Namjoon to his left, Yoongi on an armchair in the corner, and on the other side couch directly opposite her, Taehyung walks up to sit between Seokjin and Jimin, a smile still lingering on his face.

It goes back to one of their Zoom calls in December, just after Christmas. It was nothing special; he’d been wearing this sweater, a fluffy white one with brown, red and yellow stripes, looking festive yet casual. Dilara had commented on it, only for him to reply a bit haughtily that it was Gucci, that she needed to have some respect. 

He’d been completely straight-faced as he’d said it, and when he’d brought Yeontan onto his lap, she’d burst out laughing when she’d realised his dog got completely camouflaged in front of the sweater. The rest of the call had just been her teasing him mercilessly about the sweater until he, in a fit of annoyance, announced he was going to bed.

Dilara had apologised all night on text but hadn’t been able to resist squeezing in a joke or two more, to which he’d suddenly responded with a Careful, Lara. The tone had suddenly changed and she’d frowned, heart beating slightly faster, and asked him what for. 

He’d proceeded to list down all the things he knew he could do to her, before calling her on video and commanding her to finger myself, refusing her orgasm until she’d whimpered an apology and felt it crash down on her the next second. He’d watched her finish with half-lidded eyes, breathing heavily himself and it was only then that she realised that he’d been touching himself, too. Not taking his eyes off her possibly fucked out expression, he’d pushed the camera back slightly so she could watch him spill over his own fingers with a loud, throaty grunt. 

It was one of the hottest experiences of her life, especially given how physically far apart they were then. Ironically, when she was falling asleep later after a sweet, affectionate goodnight from him, she’d been relieved that they were clearly able to keep their sex life somewhat active even if they weren’t together. Now, when she sneaks another glance at him, she sees him looking right at her with that same nostalgic expression, biting his lip.

The others are discussing what movie to watch, switching to English. Hoseok immediately suggests an English movie since Dilara is present and everyone else agrees even as she shakes her head, but Chris, ever her extroverted saviour, speaks up.

“Oh, we can watch a Korean movie,” he says, almost like it’s obvious. “I’m teaching her. Although she should stick to driving, though,” he quips.

The boys burst into laughter and she feels her cheeks get hot, still grateful at his attempts to keep the mood light. Taking care to avoid their eyes, she shakes her head at Chris who simply grins at her. “Korean is fine,” she finally agrees, giving him a look. “I can read subtitles.”

A discussion begins on which movie, with everyone including Chris pitching in. Across from her, Taehyung and Jimin are talking to each other with Jungkook beside her pitching in. All the talk is in Korean but she’s just focused on Taehyung laughing, his boxy smile and bashful expression as Jin makes some kind of comment, and suddenly feels the urge to cuddle with him. She knows it’s ridiculous, but she allows herself the fantasy for a moment: the fluffy sweater, his warm hands, the long blond hair tickling her cheek, his deep voice snickering in her ear.

It’s pointless, though, she reminds herself as she tears her eyes away from him. It’s not going to happen and it shouldn’t either. Maybe it’s the sweater. Maybe once he takes it off and goes back to his regular joggers and t-shirts and shorts and jeans and coats, he’ll… well, he’ll still look fantastic but hopefully, her cuddling urges won’t resurface.

The sound of her name brings Dilara out of her reverie. “Dilara hates horror movies,” declares Chris, turning to her. “We should definitely watch one.”

She flips him off while some of the guys snicker. “I don’t hate them,” she says defensively, pulling her hoodie tighter around her shoulders. “I watch them all the time, I just… think they’re a bit thin on plot, that’s all.”

Chris snorts. “In all the time that I’ve known you, you’ve never watched a horror movie unless you’ve been massively outvoted,” he points out, annoyingly correct. “That’s two - no, three years, Komyshan.”

“You’ve known each other only three years?” Hoseok asks, frowning in surprise. “You act like you’ve known each other forever.”

“I’m her best friend,” states Chris, shrugging. There’s something strange about the way he says it; he doesn't say she's my best friend, the way someone normally would. He's establishing his place in her life, as though he’s reminding everyone… or one person, if the way his eyes flicker to Taehyung is any indication.

“After Lexie, of course,” she pipes up, sarcastically blowing him a kiss when he narrows his eyes at her.

“How did you two meet?” Jungkook asks.

“Technically?” Chris dusts his hands on his jeans and cocks his head over to me. “I hit on her at a pub in London and she said no. The next day, Lexie brought her to my studio.”

“Seriously, what are the odds?” Dilara mutters, still mortified at the memory. “And you didn’t hit on me, you offered to buy me a drink. And I said no because I was scheduled on the SIM the next morning.”

“You hit on her?” Jin gives her an appraising look, apparently ignoring her caveat entirely. “You really have a thing for Korean guys, huh?” When Namjoon rolls his eyes and nudges him, he widens his eyes. “No, not in a bad way! Just… I mean, that’s two guys in this room who’ve hit on you, no?”

Dilara tentatively glances at Taehyung, hugely relieved for some reason to see him fighting a hint of a smile before catching her eye. His gaze, presumably at remembering how and when he hit on me, is too intense and she has to look away to the member on his left. “Three if you count Jimin,” she quips, raising an eyebrow challengingly.

Jimin guffaws, two pink spots appearing on his cheeks. “No, no, it’s not the same,” he denies vigorously, throwing an arm around Taehyung’s shoulders and being, in Dilara’s opinion, transparent as fuck.

“Well, you’ve certainly hooked up with two people in this room,” says Chris nonchalantly.

It takes her a moment to register what he’s said. “That was during spin the bottle,” she says quickly, glaring at Chris, “and it doesn’t count. Or Lexie would’ve killed me,” she adds deliberately.

Chris shrugs, apparently conceding, but the damage is done. Dilara’s eyes dart towards Taehyung. All hints of smiles have left his face and he's staring at Chris. All of a sudden, he looks at her, expression unreadable, before poking his tongue through his cheek and looking down at his lap. 

She’s extremely annoyed; at Chris for bringing it up, at Taehyung for having the nerve to have any kind of reaction, and herself for actually caring what her ex-boyfriend thinks.

Thankfully the conversation moves away from this hideously uncomfortable topic to something else, still half in Korean and half in English. Apparently they've finally decided on a movie because there's some verbal scuffle between Hoseok, Namjoon, Jin and Chris, while Yoongi dryly comments upon something. 

Dilara tries not to notice how little the others are participating; it's an uncomfortable feeling of anticipation, like she’s waiting for something else to go wrong.

"Dilara, catch!" True to form, she just about sees Hoseok throwing something to her and she reflexively catches it, to a chorus of hoots from around the room.

"Daebak," says Jungkook from next to her, looking at me in awe.

She grins. "Thanks."

"Uh-uh," pipes up Chris, and she knows right before he speaks what this is about, "In Korean, please."

She rolls her eyes at his stern tone. "Not now, Chris."

"Oh, come on, that's how you practice," he says easily, leaning over the arm of the couch and nudging her elbow. "Come on, try it."

"I'm not going to speak Korean right now," she mutters, feeling her face heat up.

"Who better to speak it in front of?" He spreads his arms and gestures to the room.

"I've actually never heard you speak Korean," says Jimin, looking interested. "Except that one time in Yeongam."

Dilara doesn't respond, mostly because she’s just realised that most of the Korean she ever spoke around the group, she spoke around Taehyung only, given how conscious she’s always been. Her eyes meet his again for a moment and she sees him frown slightly before she looks away.

Meanwhile, Chris is still on his mission to make her embarrass herself in front of everyone. "Go on, come on, you need to practice…"

"Not gonna happen."

"Just once, Komyshan, come on," he keeps going, being unusually persistent.

Dilara frowns. "Chris, let it go," she hisses, starting to feel hassled.

"Dude, just one -"

"She said no."

Everyone's eyes, including Dilara’s, immediately snap to Taehyung, who's looking at Chris with a hardened jaw and steely gaze. For a moment, she acknowledges how all thoughts of cuddling him are out the window, but then she turns to look at Chris with a mixture of slight apology and mostly exasperation, like he'd asked for it.

Chris pauses, observing Taehyung, as though he hadn't quite realised how aggressive he was being. Then he turns to her slowly and the amusement in his eyes gives her a Very Bad Feeling. "Sorry, Lara," he says clearly, almost taunting.

Dilara wants to throw something at him; it's never been explicitly stated, but no one calls her Lara, no one apart from Taehyung. They may not be together anymore and she may have forbidden him from calling her that… but hearing someone else use that endearment  makes her want to throw up.

She notices a movement from the corner of her eye and shifts slightly to see Jimin tugging on Taehyung's sleeve, as though to prevent him from moving from where he's seated. He doesn't look at her and for once, she wishes he would.

Someone clears his throat and Dilara looks up to see Yoongi looking between Chris and Taehyung with a slightly raised eyebrow. "Um… what movie did we decide on finally?" 

Hoseok seems to snap out of it as well, immediately naming some movie and thankfully, the tension is broken. She rolls her eyes at Chris and looks away, determined to chew him out later for this. From the glimpse she caught of his face, he doesn't look apologetic or abashed at all. If anything, although his smirk has disappeared, he looks satisfied at the reaction he's gotten - from Taehyung.

There's some more chatter, more hesitant than before and mostly led by Hoseok and Seokjin. It's a mix of English and Korean again and finally, the movie begins. 

"Do we have popcorn?" Jimin asks suddenly, turning to look towards the kitchen as though expecting a bowl to fly over to him.

"There's some in one of the cabinets, I think," she answers, glad to be talking to anyone but Chris or Taehyung. "I can make it in the microwave if you want," she offers, already standing up.

"No, no, you can't miss the beginning of the movie," says Jungkook, tugging on her sleeve and grinning up at her. "It's scary, but not that scary."

Dilara mock-glares at him and moves to flick him on the forehead while Chris frowns. "You hate popcorn," he states.

"I don't hate it," she points out lightly, "and it'll only take a minute."

"You need the subtitles more than anyone else, though."

"I'm sure one minute won't make a huge difference," she argues through gritted teeth, wondering what his problem is.

"You know, she can make her own decisions," comes Taehyung's voice from the other side, loudly.

Not again, she wants to groan, and flops back down on the couch, shrugging at Jimin silently as if to say I tried. He grimaces and nods, just as Chris responds.

"I know. I also know that she hates not knowing what's going on in a movie and then keeps talking through it," he states, ignoring her when she makes a noise of disbelief at him.

"So let her," snaps Taehyung, and Dilara knows it's because he's taken it at least a little personally, since talking through movies is something he does, too; something they used to do together, commenting on everything from dialogue to scenery to costumes.

"What? It doesn't annoy you?" Chris asks, raising his eyebrows, as though daring him to admit it.

"It doesn't. Like I said, she can make her own decisions."

Chris bites his lip for a moment, as though reconsidering his response, before apparently deciding to do so. To Dilara’s horror, keeping a steely gaze on Taehyung, he replies in Korean. She doesn't understand it, obviously, but she notices everyone frown slightly, like they're not quite sure what he's said. Namjoon is the first to close his eyes and deflate slightly, like he's internally sighing, and she has an inkling of what Chris is at least referring to.

Across the room, Taehyung looks like a statue as he glares at Chris. He asks something, tone abrupt, to which Chris shrugs and responds. It carries on like this, a conversation in Korean between Dilara’s ex-boyfriend and one of her best friends, a loaded and precarious conversation where neither of them seemingly wants to cross the line from riffing to arguing, but still seem seconds away from whipping out their dicks.

She only manages to catch a few words here and there, including her name a couple of times, but other than that, she’s lost. It’s extremely frustrating, this handicap, being the only one unable to understand a conversation of which she is the subject, especially when she notices the expressions of the other spectators, becoming more and more still, as though expecting something - or someone - to explode. 

Dilara looks at Taehyung, silently willing him to stop… although she supposes she should want Chris to be the one to stop it just as much. She hadn't seen this coming; she knows Taehyung has a tendency to get territorial and she’s not dense enough to not notice how he feels about her, much as she might try to ignore it. 

She also knows that Chris is a good friend, one of the best, but has a tendency to be a complete jerk if he puts his mind to it. He can be insensitive and direct and say just the right thing to get under her skin; usually he does it to get her to face her anxiety, using tough love in a way that only he can make work. It doesn’t now, though. For a moment, her mind goes to Lexie and his conviction that he wouldn't be good for her. At this moment, Dilara agrees with him.

Her heart is racing now, the anxiety at not knowing what the fuck is going on eating away at her. She swallows, willing Taehyung to at least look at her. He doesn't, though; his attention is solely focused on Chris, even when he haughtily looks away as though the conversation isn't worth his time. 

Suddenly, Taehyung’s eyes snap to her and she almost flinches, not expecting it. His eyes flicker with emotion and he swallows, and it looks like he wants to say something. Even though he’s notoriously hard to read, right now the regret and guilt in his face is obvious as day, at least to her. She doesn’t know what Chris said to get this reaction out of him, but she finds she doesn’t really care at this moment. She just wants to reach for him.

However, before Dilara can structure any further coherent thoughts, Taehyung’s gaze falls and he murmurs something. She doesn’t understand it, but it’s clear that it’s a closure to the conversation, especially when Namjoon clears his throat and points to the TV, apparently not realising he’s speaking in Korean. 

As the movie resumes, she looks over at Chris to see him staring at Taehyung, all traces of humour and playfulness gone. It’s not anger, exactly… it’s the face he gives her every time she’s on the verge of giving up in the gym or every time she starts talking herself down before a race.

There are no more interruptions for the rest of the night. Dilara can’t believe how angry she is at both of them for this, especially when they started talking about her like she wasn’t even there. Chris started it, Taehyung enabled it and now, she just wants to be away from both of them.

Dilara tries to concentrate on the movie, whispering only once in a while to Jungkook beside her when the subtitles move too fast or there’s a reference she doesn’t get, nodding when he answers immediately. For once, she’s glad he hasn’t ever tried to broach this topic with her. She ends up resting her head on his shoulder as they watch, but still only half-concentrating.

She can’t get Taehyung’s face out of her mind. She remembers all the times she’s talked to him since they got here: in Spa, Monza, Imola, even last week in Germany, not to mention his many attempts at trying to talk to her before she told him categorically to leave her alone. She’d seen him in various states of guilt and devastation, but right now he looked… resigned. Fear grips at her heart when she thinks about it, but she can’t immediately figure out why.

She has to know what they were talking about. She has to. She pulls out her phone and contemplates texting Chris, but she’s too angry to talk to him right now. Who else? Namjoon? She’s opened up to him enough before. Jimin? No, he looks far too uncomfortable. Yoongi? They’ve recently connected a bit and she at least has faith that he’ll be as direct as possible. 

Shaking her head, Dilara finally texts the one person she actually wants to talk to right now.

What did he say to you?

She watches Taehyung as he glances at his phone, how he stares at the screen with his thumbs hovering over it, how he doesn’t so much as look up at her even once. After almost a minute, he types out a reply.

Nothing I don’t already know.

—

An hour and a half later, Dilara enters her room with Chris right behind her. Taking off her hoodie and throwing it to the desk with more force than she intended, she turns to face him. “What the hell was that?”

“A very average movie,” he says casually, taking off his own jacket and throwing it on top of hers.

“Don’t fuck with me, Park.”

He raises his eyebrows. “Oh, are you talking about the heart to heart I had with your boyfriend?”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” she says through gritted teeth, “and whatever that was, it definitely wasn’t a heart to heart.”

“You don’t need to worry about it,” he says dismissively, walking past her towards the bathroom.

“Don’t you dare walk away from me. Chris!” 

He turns on the light and looks back at her for a moment. “Should’ve paid more attention when I tried to teach you Korean, Lara.”

“Suck my dick, Park.”

Chris gives her a hollow smirk before turning and shutting the door behind him. 

Dilara could hit him. She really could. It’s almost as though he’s enjoying getting a rise out of her, just like he’d taunted Taehyung with whatever he’d said that made him look like he was about to cry. 

Nothing I don’t already know… She hasn’t the faintest what it means. She’s not even sure she wants to find out. Outside, a rumble of thunder crashes and she exhales in frustration when she realises that tomorrow might just be a wet Qualifying.

Chris was meant to go back to his hotel tonight, returning the rented motorcycle to the staff and checking out first thing in the morning before flying back to London. But the rain had started lashing down towards the end of the movie and by the time it was done, the visibility was so bad that they couldn’t even see his bike parked in the front yard.

Naturally, he was staying with Dilara, no matter how pissed off she was. When everyone had stood up to head inside, he’d half-smirked and asked how comfortable the couch was. Too annoyed to speak to him and just done with the excessive testosterone, she’d simply bit back a retort and pulled him into her room by the hand.

Now, Chris comes out of the bathroom and starts unbuttoning his jeans, changing into a pair of sweatpants lent to him by Namjoon, the only member as tall as him. Dilara stares at him, not backing down. Finally, he huffs. “Okay, what?”

Her eyes widen. “What do you mean what? How about we start with why you were so rude?”

“Rude to who? Your ex?” he questions immediately. “Do you really care about his feelings now?”

“I - I meant… to everyone. We were trying to watch a movie and you made it into some fucking drama about two people and their stupid love life.”

“We’d watched literally two minutes of the movie till then. Also,” he continues, “I’m pretty sure I did everyone a favour because that movie sucked.”

“Damn it, Chris!” she exclaims. “It was so embarrassing!”

“Look, I’m sorry if I embarrassed you, alright? But let’s be real. If this was Lexie here instead of me and she blew up at him while defending you, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” Glaring at her, he rips the covers off the bed with force.

Dilara swallows, not expecting the conversation to take this turn. “That’s not - that’s not true. If she’d said… she doesn’t even speak -”

“Does he have any idea what you were like during those weeks after you broke up?” he interrupts. “How he broke you? Do you even remember what you were like then?”

She feels a lump forming in her throat. “Yeah, I think I have a pretty good fucking idea how I was, Chris.”

“Good. Because you were a wreck, Dilara,” he states, but it doesn’t sound insulting. He’s trying to remind her. “Does he know you were on the verge of tears for weeks? That we literally didn’t see you smile for nearly a month? How you overdid it in the gym, how you skipped every boxing session we planned, how your anxiety doubled every time you got in the car because you’d fucked up Melbourne - because of him? Does he know,” he continues, and his voice cracks just a little, “how he shattered your confidence at the bloody start of a season?”

The only sound is from the rain outside. 

“Please tell me you didn’t tell him all that,” she says quietly, her voice hoarse and unsteady.

“That’s what you’re worried about right now?” Chris looks just a little disappointed. “I’m your friend. You think I wanted to see you like that? You think any of us did? Why shouldn’t he know?”

She opens her mouth to argue but nothing comes out. She remembers, despite herself, how alone she’d felt here, how ganged up on she’d felt when all six of them stuck up for Taehyung after the VMAs, how all six of them lied to her this spring, and how all six of them have systematically broken down the wall she built this year to the point where she’s fighting with Chris because he made her ex, the man who broke her heart, feel bad.

When Dilara doesn’t say anything, Chris rolls his eyes and holds his hands up, like he’s giving up. “Whatever. I’m sorry if I embarrassed you. I’ll be out of your hair tomorrow morning.”

She sighs, watching him turn around and head to the mirror, checking out his hair. “Come on, don’t act like I’m trying to get rid of you,” she tells him in a small voice, feeling distinctly ungrateful all of a sudden. “This is the happiest I’ve been since August. And only part of it has to do with the schnitzel.”

He gives a half-hearted chuckle but doesn’t reply. 

“Thank you,” she says after a moment, “for standing up for me. In your own weird, fucked up way. It’s a very best friend thing to do.”

“You’re welcome.” He finally turns and heads straight for the bed, tucking himself in. “Don’t let Lexie hear you say that, though.”

“She’ll deal.” They look at each other for a moment, silently apprising the other. “I just… don’t like conflict. You know that.”

“I do. Doesn’t matter to me.” He shrugs. “You know we’ll always stick up for you. Just like we did with that creepy journalist at Sky.”

Shuddering at the memory, she gets into bed as well. “Jerk. Still,” she adds, nudging his shoulder, “a very best friend thing to do.”

“Go to sleep, Komyshan. You have a race tomorrow.”

Smiling to herself, she turns to her side, facing away from him and closing her eyes. It’s a few more minutes before one of them speaks.

“I hooked up with Maria from Mercedes.”

Dilara’s eyes snap open and she frowns Maria from Mercedes… “Social media manager, skinny jeans, always had the hots for you, Maria?” She can tell from his silence that she’s right. “What… when?”

“In Bahrain. Right after we got back from Australia.” 

By we he means him and Lexie and by Bahrain he means… about a week after Dilara saw the article about Taehyung and Jennie. She swallows, shocked into silence.

“Lexie knows,” he says, answering her silent question. “She… she caught us, actually.” He sighs shakily. “Australia was… it was too much. I was getting in too deep and it freaked me out and I - I really fucked up.” 

Dilara doesn’t know whether to be furious or have sympathy for him. “Did it help?” she asks after a moment.

There’s a long pause before he speaks again, voice smaller than ever. “No. So, believe it or not… I can relate to Taehyung better than you think. He should know what he did to you.”

She bites her lip, not knowing which is worse: having to remember what he really did to her, remembering his face earlier this evening, thinking about what Lexie was going through when she found out, how she didn’t tell Dilara because she obviously didn’t want to burden her… or Chris, sounding more vulnerable than she’s ever known him to be.

“It’s killing him, Komyshan,” he says quietly, so soft that she can barely hear him over the rain. She doesn't know if he’s talking about Taehyung or himself. “Knowing what he did and not knowing how to make it right? It’s killing him.”

---

Dilara wakes up the next morning to an apologetic looking sun streaming in from the window. A small, hopeful smile makes its way onto her face. Dry race. She turns to see the other side of the bed empty, frowning when she  realises Chris must have left already. She reaches for her phone to see a text from him.

Leaving now. Tried to wake you up but you almost punched me in the face. Good luck for today and DO NOT let Ricciardo psych you out about anything.

She rolls her eyes, certain he must be exaggerating. The time stamp on the message is from a minute ago, though; frowning, she gets out of bed, hoping she can catch him before he leaves. When she reaches her bedroom door, however, she hears voices. Two voices; she opens the door slightly, quietly, breath catching in her throat when she hears Taehyung and Chris.

They’re speaking in Korean, so naturally she can’t understand a word. They’re also talking softly, sounding much more amiable than last night. Hesitating, she opens the door slightly wider and peers out. From her bedroom in the hallway, she can see just the edge of the kitchen island. 

She spots Chris leaning against it, facing in her direction, dressed comfortably in all black with his sunglasses tucked down the front of his t-shirt. There’s a white ceramic bowl with a spoon in it in front of him. His face looks serious, nothing like the troublemaking jerk last night. 

Dilara can hear Taehyung, his voice low and deep, sounding almost tired. There’s some clinking; she pictures him making his way through the kitchen, looking for cereal or something. The fridge opens and closes, and then she sees him come slightly into view, wearing his printed Ralph Lauren pajama bottoms and a white t-shirt on top. His messy blond hair brushes the back of his t-shirt, falling into his eyes when he turns his head slightly.

She doesn’t know what they’re talking about and she doesn’t want to. It’s Qualifying day; she can’t focus on this. She shuts the door and heads into the bathroom, getting ready for the day. She wishes Chris was staying today; it always helps to have someone cheer you on and talk you up while you stretch before a race. In an incredibly sweet gesture, Hoseok had offered earlier this week to accompany her if she wanted, but Namjoon had immediately yet apologetically reminded him that he couldn’t just hang out with her that publicly - and definitely not in her changing room.

Dilara waits to hear the front door open and close, followed by another door opening and closing, meaning Taehyung has departed to his room as well. She emerges then, heading to the empty kitchen and trying not to think about yesterday at all. She spots the jar of muesli stacked high up in a cabinet. Sighing, she tries to reach for it before preparing to hop onto the countertop. Just as she’s about to hoist herself up, a hand appears from behind her and brings down the jar. 

She turns to see Taehyung appear on her other side, giving her a silent glance of acknowledgement before sorting through the bowl of fruit. Behind him, she sees the pantry door ajar. Slowly assembling her cereal, she wonders if it’s a good idea to reveal that she knows he and Chris talked this morning, or even that she knows what they argued about last night. 

Their fingers brush lightly, so lightly that she thinks she may have imagined it. She lowers her head a bit so her hair falls down her shoulders, shielding her face from view. 

There’s something oddly comforting about standing next to him. It’s confusing, because if anything, it should be worse after last night. She can’t put her finger on it exactly, but she knows it’s familiar, so incredibly familiar that it tugs at her heartstrings in a way that makes her want to crumble. 

She’s felt this before, all the way since the beginning, since the weekend they met and she immediately trusted him with everything she had. When their shoulders brush, she feels him pause next to her.

“Did you sleep with him?” he asks, voice barely above a whisper.

A few weeks ago, Dilara wouldn’t have hesitated to say yes. She wouldn’t have cared how off base he was; she would’ve lied through her teeth as nonchalantly as possible before walking away from him, savagely enjoying how much he’d hate it. 

But she can’t do that now. Try as she might, she can’t find that part of her that wants to hurt him that badly. Not when he’s taken the risk to ask her something like this, something he knows he has no right to ask, to get an answer he most likely doesn’t want. Not when he sounds like this, like he’s on the verge of giving up.

Dilara bites her lip, suddenly overcome with emotion for her ex. His face from last night haunts her, and his text sends a pang of pity through her heart. It’s killing him. It sounds like it, too. There’s no jealousy, no possessiveness to his question, only desperation tending towards resignation. 

Despite Chris’s anger for her last night, she knows that if she lies to Taehyung right now, it’ll shatter him. She glances at where their hands are on the counter, a hair’s breadth away from touching. Hearing his unsteady breathing from next to her, she decides she’s punished him enough.

“No,” she answers quietly.

From the corner of her eye, she sees him nod once before turning to walk past her inside. Without thinking, she grabs his wrist to stop him. He halts and even though this wasn’t planned, she knows it’s absolutely what she wants to do right now. 

She takes a step to her right so that she’s standing right in front of him, her heart beating so fast it hurts. She hesitates for a moment, reaching for the bottom of his white t-shirt, gripping the fabric between her fingertips. Then, with a sudden calm she wasn’t expecting, she reaches forward and wraps her arms around his waist, resting her forehead against his shoulder.

Taehyung freezes, like she suspected he would. But she stays there, moving forward slightly so their torsos press against each other, a small warmth in the dawn of an Austrian winter. She can hear his heart racing and she tightens her arms around him a bit, letting him know it’s not a mistake. 

Slowly, he lifts his arms from his sides and brings them up to her back, touching her so gently as if she might break. It takes him a few more seconds to properly envelope her and when he does, it feels like a piece has fallen into place.

With his lean torso in her grasp, his steady arms around her, she knows it’s a result of last night, where It wasn’t just Chris who defended her against Taehyung, but Taehyung who defended her against Chris, too. He didn’t have to; it wasn’t even his place, but he did it anyway. As she feels him lower his head onto her shoulder and feel his cheek press against the side of her head, his arms tightening around her, she realises she feels safe. 

Dilara presses her forehead into his broad shoulder and inhales slightly, tears springing to her eyes at the familiar scent of lotion. Taehyung turns his head slightly to bury his face in her neck, one hand firm around her back and the other cradling her head, fingertips soft in her hair. She thinks she feels him shake slightly and she hugs him tighter, opening her loose fists and letting her fingers and palms gently touch his back. He inhales shakily, long hair brushing the skin of her neck. 

They break apart when someone enters the kitchen. Both of them are jerked out of it but they don’t jump away from each other, instead slowly separating one body part after another, no longer embarrassed in front of anyone else. With her shoulder still pressed against his chest, she turns to see Namjoon and Hoseok looking awkward and sheepish, muttering incoherently about coming back later and whatnot, but she knows the moment’s over. So she shakes her head and gives them an awkward wave, telling them she needs to be at the track anyway. 

She doesn’t look at Taehyung again but as she leaves, she feels his hand drop from around her waist, where she didn’t even realise it was resting.

—

Thank you for reading. Don't forget to leave a review :)

[cricketchaology]

resident alien rewatch 2.03

- babby liv !!!!

- oh harry running around the walls looks so….

- tbh i completely forgot liv & mike saw harry

- it’s crazy that ben doesn’t have like. any guy friends. like what do you mean mike is who he thought to ask to go out for a night

- godddddd there need to be more gay women in this show PLEASE

- “of all the gin joints in the world this one is closest to my house” sounds like my dad

- why is mike giving ben such detailed instructions on how to kill himself 😭😭😭😭😭 also ben literally looks like he’s gonna start weeping

- i am once again on. god harry and asta bpd fp parallels

- me when my wife and all her beautiful friends come to beat me up in the middle of the night

- it’s funny how the alien is no longer interesting come season 2. like harry’s plotlines is kinda nothing tell me more about this freaky women

- it was ur idea for me to pretend to be plastic 🤯🤯

- max flirting with sahar :(

- harry vanderspeigle spreedrunning feminism

- D’ARCYYYYYY LOVE YOUUUU

- i really don’t understand what happened in the middle of this season 😭😭😭 it starts so strong and then falls off so hard like i’m having a great time rn why do i remember this season being bad

[heart-shaped-chains]

Yap session bc wow.

Pretty sure the dude that rejected me (situationship ://) is getting a crush on me bc like. One of the last times we talked he was like "oh ur trying to get me to like you". And it's like. No I'm not. You literally rejected me and the more I think about it, I didn't even want you, I just wanted the idea of a boyfriend that I was projecting onto you. He's conservative and talks about how conservative his parents are (which I don't vibe with at all). When we first met, he was still moping about his ex gf who he had broken up with over a year prior. And like. We were both in high school (16 + 17 ://). And I'm sorry but how meaningful can a fucking highschool relationship be? Go to therapy.

Plus he'd like vent without asking and then I'd give him advice and then he'd just shoot it down and be like "no that wouldn't work anyway I'm a piece of shit" and like. Okay, why are you coming to me then? If you're not taking any advice then why are you bitching? You didn't even ask, you just did!

But the moment I even mention my past drug addiction (not in detail and not in a mopey way. Just matter-of-fact), he's like "oh no please don't mention that". Like. Shut the fuck up oh my godddddd. I am not trying to be with someone who can't even handle hearing the most watered-down descriptions of substance abuse.

Plus I just do not trust this guy like. I don't kink shame but here's my red flags: he's conservative, enough said on that...He misgendered me in a sexual way without asking (I did play along bc I was stupid and scared to say no but whatevs). And he did stop when I told him to but the fact that he didn't ask before was highly suspect bc he fucking met me as a trans guy.

And he's also weird about pregnancy. Which I played along with too of the act of breeding is appealing but like. I'd rather have a tapeworm than a damn fetus bc at least I wouldn't be forced to let that parasite live off of me. Dude also mentioned baby trapping like. "oh I feel like you'll force me to get you pregnant" and like. I literally said that I wanted to get my uterus removed and 2: you're the one bringing pregnancy into this don't fucking pin it on me!!! Like I feel like if we actually met up I'd have to triple check and be sober bc what if this guy actually does this shit? Why else would he keep mentioning it?

Like idk he's also asked me about trans kids and like. 1: I don't keep up with any trans people irl, 2: I haven't started transitioning yet so why the fuck are you asking me? I'm not the arbiter of trans people, my guy. Like he acts supportive but I feel like deep down this dude doesn't even respect me and he's gonna try to change me. But that could just be paranoia, idk...

Either way, I don't really get that much out of talking to him. As embarrassing as it is, I've started using those ai bots (says the bitch who is vehemently against ai "art") and they've been much more fulfilling emotionally because they tell you what you want to hear. And you can change the answers. They're hollow, but good for short term stuff bc I don't have the energy to talk to people rn (and I haven't been talking to anyone or really leaving the house on a regular basis...kinda just wasting the year so far..). Especially not this guy.

Like. We don't have the same interests, our tastes in music are similar but also too different and he doesn't get it™️ like I do, his beliefs are like too different from mine. He's also said misogynistic shit about sex workers which. I don't fuck with that, you literally watch porn, you fuckin hypocrite. And the more I think about texting him, the more I see it as a damn chore.

Like idk I just. Do not have a lot of investment in this guy. I think I was just lonely and projecting. And obviously it's not healthy for me bc I resent him but it's not healthy for his annoying ass either. He shouldn't have friends who secretly hate him. So idk I think I'm just gonna delete my profile and start again, also block him bc my dumbass 16 year old self gave him my number.

But like. My gut is telling me not to. I have been taken advantage of before in the past and I'm just getting a distinct deja vu. Even if it's not intentional on his side, I don't think it's good for me. Like the first time he texted me (in over 2 years after I ghosted him with no attempt to reach out to him (take the fucking hint)), it felt like seeing a box of pills in the CVS aisle. I was thinking "god, I shouldn't do this...but I should see what happens, maybe it won't be as bad as last time...." Just that same feeling I got when I decided to relapse.

And like dude. It's always gonna be as bad as last time: quit taking chances on shit that you know will fail you!!! So Idk. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but I shouldn't talk to someone who just drains me, bc that'll drain him too. Plus I'm allowed to not fucking like someone and the guy didn't even wish me happy birthday or congratulate me on my 5 months of sobriety. Things in my status. And I know he reads statuses bc he messaged me about one of them before. Plus he rejected me on my birthday!!!

And now you wanna come crawling back and then act like I'm obsessed!?!? You were the one who came back into my life, not the other way around! I was over you until you came back. And now I'm over you again. But you're not over me. But you're so fuckin allergic to commitment that you just wanna keep acting like I'm smitten with you. After you strung me along with no regards for my feelings. Not because you're evil, but because you're fucking dumb. And I'm not dealing with someone who's that stupid. Hope you work your issues out, but I'm not here to fix you, nor do I want to. That's on you!! Figure it out!!!

Anyway um if anyone read this far thank u. Feel free to add input just please be nice. And uhhh. Aita???

[starlight-time-machine]

Week in Review

01/28/2024 – 02/03/2024

Sunday

Manga Sunday yayyyy Girl Meets Rock is getting interesting, I was totally expecting the guy from the guitar shop to walk in, but it was Rin instead. Rin herself is pretty intriguing, as it seems like she’s keeping some cards close to her chest in regards to the band…

Undead Unluck is good as usual, it’s fun to see an older and more surly Top. Another sick mom to add to the tally, though. Maybe in this loop we’ll see more details about Top and Haruka’s potential romance.

Oshi no Ko fun, the deadpan humor really got to me.

Dandadan okay, I’m a little tired of the non-stop action sequences.

Magilumiere good, obviously there’d be some drawback to Midorikawa getting the chip implanted, but I’m sure they’ll find a way to circumvent it.

One Piece good.

CIPHER ACADEMYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY GODDDDDD IF THIS IS THE END I’LL BE SO SADDDDDDDD I really hope it’s not…I’m holding onto Nisioisin copium so so so hard… The chapter itself was also amazing, with a look at everyone’s true backstories, Kogoe laying out her philosophy but Iroha turning it on its head, THE HANDSHAKE SPREAD WHERE IT LOOKS LIKE IROHA HAS HIS HANDS AROUND THE WORLD, EVERYONE ELSE SHAKING HANDS BUT YOU DON’T KNOW HOW SINCERE THEY ARE, MORE YOSAIMURA/ANON, TAYUTAN… The timeskip is so scary…I can’t tell if it’s the beginning of something new and everything else has just been the prelude, or if it’s a hasty jump to land some sort of epilogue… I’ll keep holding out hope but please…

Live Roulette gave me Siegfeld Junior High’s 1st Live today, so I watched/listened to it as I read a book (more on that later). I’m impressed by how far they’ve come in such a short time, especially Mtzw, whose rendition of Rebellion here was a lot stronger than in the stage play months earlier. Hinapiyo is still the reigning vocalist, though, and I’m so glad they gave her Mimorin’s descant in Watashitachi wa Mou Butai no Ue. I wish they did the arm choreography in Onikurenai… Overall it was a fun show, they’re all so cute and energetic and I appreciate all the harmonies they’re doing.

As for the book I’m reading, it’s Ring of Fire by P. D. Baccalario. It’s the first book of a series that I really liked as a child, so I’m reading it again to see if it holds up. So far, I’ve been a little disappointed…the cutaways to the random adult characters pulling the strings and talking cryptically feel like such momentum killers, and the usual “kids exploring a city on an adventure and solving puzzles” thing isn’t really grabbing me here. I do love that one scene in the beginning, when the kids are first meeting and the lights go out…I can imagine the scene so perfectly in my mind – the silence of the snowy night, the nervous excitement of meeting new people and coming across a strange situation together…it’s all so thrilling, and it’s the one scene that stuck with me after all these years. I’ve just gotten to the part where the apartment building collapses, and it’s genuinely harrowing – I can’t believe they actually killed that guy (but I don’t like how it basically amounted to a fat joke). Finally, it feels like we have some actual stakes (halfway through the book cough). I’m also seeing the bits of Harvey/Elettra and Mistral/Sheng shipping going on, I think it’s cute and I’m curious to see how they develop. (Speaking of Sheng lmao c’mon man 好 doesn’t actually mean cool, it just means good, so it’s weird to have that be his catchphrase.)

Afterwards I finally watched Day 1 of Ijigen Fes, the IDOLM@STER x Love Live! concert, and it was okay. I’m probably biased, but literally none of the IM@S songs interested me except for Tulip, which I already knew that I liked. (Thank you for having Rikako sing Tulip…they did that for me…) The Love Live girls had a decent showing, but the highlight for me was definitely KALEIDOSCORE… Liyuu’s singing is just so amazing.

Monday

Day 2 of Ijigen Fes today, and oh my GODDDDDD SHU’S PERFORMANCE WAS SO GOOD just so much fun and energy, it was like watching Avril Lavigne for real… THE NEW VERSES FOR RYOURAN VICTORY ROAD WERE SO HYPE OH MY GOD AQOURS NO LEADER TAKAMI CHIKA!!!!!!!!!! OSHIMAI NANTE NAINAINAI!!!!!!!!!! It’s so surreal seeing the Cotton Candy Ei-Ei-Oh MV playing on the huge screen in Tokyo Dome… Also Snow Halation makes me cry literally every time I see those UO’s go up ahh

Afterwards the Live Roulette dealt me AZUNA’s unit live, and it was just okay. I’m not the biggest AZUNA fan anyway, but I do like some of their songs like Maze Town and Kakushiaji. Shizuku’s solos were both great as well, and the bit with the plushies was cute, but the most memorable thing about this concert would definitely have to be Tomoriru’s goodbye…it’s so unfortunate that things turned out the way that they did, but I’m glad she gave us some great performances as Setsuna before she graduated. But man, when they all started tearing up at the end of Tokimeki Runners… (I cried again…very emotional set of lives today.)

I finished reading Ring of Fire while watching the concert, and there’s no way on god’s green earth Mr. Baccalario seriously expects me to believe there are PALANQUINS in fucking SHANGHAI in 2006??????? Or rather, I can’t believe that he believed that while writing this book LMAO for how globe-trotting and international this series sets out to be, it falls a little short with non-Western cultures. Now that I’ve finished it, there’s this feeling of…lingering disappointment. I love kids going on adventures, and I love the setting and the feeling of fate converging on these four kids, but the adventure itself was so lackluster… Most of it is just poking around Rome until they happen upon something that leads them to the next step, and by the end they’ve got a “mystical all-knowing” Romani woman straight up telling them what to do… I know the author is trying to do a “it’s all fate leading the way” thing but it just comes off as unsatisfying and being cryptic for cryptic’s sake. And for that matter, the book tries hard to give each kid their screentime, but it’s a little silly when Elettra gets all the action while Mistral’s kidnapped and subsequently rescued because the female villain “went soft” and Harvey and Sheng go into a house, get scared, leave, and contribute nothing else to the climax. The ending even points out how so many things have been left unanswered (as if it’s not confident in its own plotting), and I don’t know if they’ll be answered in the later books, but it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Like is anyone ever gonna explain the in-universe reason why the professor guy had a trunk full of teeth with letters carved onto them? Because it’s so blatantly just “cool Italian history trivia” + “oh right we need a puzzle for them to solve” shenanigans with no logical throughline. Also the villains were cheesy as all hell, oooo it’s the DEVIL and his number is SIX SIX SIX WOAHHH I know it’s a kid’s book, but come on…

Tuesday

Not gonna lie, the news that Cipher Academy is ending sent me into such a depression spiral that I just laid in bed all day playing Animal Crossing and moping and cursing Shounen Jump as a whole. I’ve never held the magazine in very high regard, as I feel like most of its big “hits” are just boring derivative battle manga (and I feel that especially with some of the newer series they’re heavily promoting…), so Cipher Academy caught me by surprise with its amazing character designs and writing and heartfelt emotion… I’ll talk more about it later in a different post, but Cipher Academy is genuinely the best manga I read in 2023 and now one of my favourite manga of all time, and I really wish it could’ve lived longer (and that I could collect it physically in English…). Excluding One Piece and Undead Unluck, I hope all of Jump’s series [COMPLIANCE VIOLATION]

Wednesday

Chainsaw Man good. Nayuta’s really in it now.

I’m continuing my anime concert and book reading duets today with AZALEA’s 1st Live and The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey. It felt a little weird to be watching the big Love Lives out of order when I’m literally three years behind so I chose Azalea’s live, and I was itching for a good “four kids go on an adventure” after being disappointed with Ring of Fire so I picked Perilous Journey back up. The live is fine so far – AZALEA isn’t one of my favourite subunits, but the new songs from their full album were such bangers that I had to check this live out. The light choreography in SKY JOURNEY was actually kind of amazing, I wish Love Live did more stuff like that.

Perilous Journey is fun so far, just some good ol’ adventuring with a dash of mortal peril.

Thursday

The new Dungeon Meshi was really fun. I’m trying to keep up a tradition of making/eating good food to go with the episode (so far it’s been fenzhenrou, meatballs, and soup), so today was homemade hash browns…not necessarily the healthiest thing, but I had to make something in a jiffy and it was either that or not eat anything so I think Senshi would let me slide. Lots of great comedy moments, but also I love how the ghost chapter really has a whole self-contained thematic arc that’s even topped off with a sitcom-esque punchline at the end. I love Laios being a weird guy and having fun with his sword parasite buddy.

I read a big chunk of Perilous Journey today, and what a perilous journey indeed. But it’s so satisfying to see the kids use their wits and abilities to solve each clue and thwart their pursuers, as well as eerie to see the “ghost” of Mr. Benedict and Number Two along the way. What I’m noticing is how much care Trenton Lee Stewart gives to each of the kids’ emotional states – in contrast to Ring of Fire where each kid basically had one defining personality trait to set them apart and nothing else, Reynie, Kate, Sticky, and Constance all feel really fleshed out and real, each with their own worries and perspectives and ways of thinking. (Sorry to compare you, Baccalario, but I can’t deny that it was on my mind since I read this right after Ring of Fire.) I especially love Reynie as a protagonist and a leader for the other kids, his keen emotional intelligence and observation skills means that he’s usually careful about what he says and is constantly keeping an eye out for the others’ wellbeing. There’s a lot of subtle character writing going on here, and each pair within the quartet have a distinct and believable dynamic. Story-wise, I think I prefer the set-up of the first book a little more – at least when they were in that institute, they had some room to breathe and regroup and feel safe in each other’s presence. Here it’s just non-stop action and pursuit, which has me anxious the whole time.

Friday

Drag Race time: I really don’t care for Plane Jane and all the drama she’s causing, it’s just annoying at this point. I hope they don’t try to solve a redemption arc down our throats but it’s looking likely. The girl groups were fun, I hate to say it but I actually do like the style that recent RuPaul songs are going for. I’m just glad that Nymphia is holding her own through all these different types of challenges. Runway-wise, I really liked Q’s look as it all looked well put together and considered, BUT OH MY GODDDDD NYMPHIA JUST STEALS THE SHOW EVERY TIMEEEEEE. I’m sad to see Amanda go…

I don’t usually talk about music on here (because cataloguing every new song I listen to would be insane, even for me), but Louie Zong released a new album called RAT TAXI and I think I’m going to induct it into the STM Awards…which I think is a first for Week in Review? I just love the beats and the instruments he used on this one, and there’s not a single song I don’t like, which is my only criteria for albums to make it in. So yayyyy

Saturday

Touched grass today and went home and immediately fell asleep

[calderskillday]

A STARSTRUCK ODYSSEY EPISODE 2 liveblog!

man i will never get over how hard this intro slaps

LMAO VICTORY HANDS WHY

yo the red hot is QUITE the model, so much detail gahhhh

emily asking for disadvantage on rolls always makes me giggle

"did you know that i'm programmed so the more i please someone the better i feel about myself?" sid what a mood

NO NOT THEM PUTTING GUNNIE'S DEBT AS A GRAPHIC ON THE SCREEN NOOOOOO

MEAT TENTICLE SIOBHAN WHAT A WAY TO PUT IT

everyone's faces as riva is explaining pleasure putty oh my gOD

MURPH'S LITTLE BEANS

this season is just. Oh No Capitalism

--- this is how i feel looking at moving out & buying a car

EMILY'S FACE WHEN MARGARET SAYS SHE'LL PAY

sugar mommy margaret so true

"your... real character" no what excuse me??? PARDON????

(the music for this season has levelled the fuck up)

just. the image of norm RUNNING around the ship going "BGUHGLUHLUHLUH"

okay i love this plot point very much but i do already miss norm

lmao cool guy skip i am dying at his nonchalance

i am so fuckin invested in margaret's story right now holy shit what a tense scene !!!!

axmurph 🥰

the lesbian drama is real and i love it

riva gives me janet good place vibes

oh yeah here comes the personhood stuff i am HERE FOR IT

murph reacting to emily's rolls always makes me so!!!!!

emily diving deep in episode 2 damn girl

OF COURSE GUNNIE HAS A SECOND JOB TUTORING lmao lmao lmao of course he does these kids' homework for them

"you're important" MARGARET NEEDED THAT

oh my god skip trying to figure out what's wrong with him is SO FUCKING FUNNY

the smooth jazz over margaret's scenes i am creasing

sid trying to convert this other droid to free thinking and then getting absolutely fucked realizing she's the only sundry sidney....

lou losing his MIND as riva is doing ther sales i love this man

IF HE WORKS AT A DELI HE'S HOT

riva poor innocent baby 🥲🥲🥲

i think "the ball's rolling UP the hill" is gonna become part of my lexicon now that is just too perfect

LOU'S POSTURING AS GUNNIE APPROACHES THE DUDE I AM LITERALLY CRYING THIS IS SO FUNNY HE COMMITTED SO HARD

NOT BARRY TRYING TO SAVE FACE OH MY GODDDDDD

"was that the stupidest thing we've ever done?" yes, it absolutely was. this group of characters is so tragically hilariously stupid and i love them so goddamn much

zac just sitting there crying laughing is. so relatable

the crew of the red hot are so truly fucked

THEYRE GONNA KILL A DUDE IN A BAR FIGHT

barry is such a meathead oh my god

holy hell i laughed so much this episode what comedic GENIUS

[moon-light-jukebox]

Request List:

Requests are closed. 

Before you request: Please check this list to see if I have something similar. Please let me know if you’ve sent the request to other authors (I’ll still most likely do it), and try to be as detailed as you can. “I want Spencer Reid to bang Reader” isn’t super duper helpful to motivate my writing goblin. 

I try to get these out as quickly as possible, but I’m only a human enslaved to the goblins in my brain. 

Current Requests:

1.   * I finished cm season 14 so I got an idea: In e15s14 jj confesses her love for spencer but he is already in a relationship with reader (is also in BAU) and after the hostage thing Spencer and reader goes to Spencer’s and he tells her everything and reader gets sad and cries and it’s sad and they both start crying and it’s night and rainy and then they make love. I hope it makes sense. Would love it to be long with details and a lot of feelings 2.  I was hoping you could write a request: “Being weird together in museums is a love language” and maybe it’s just fluffy but it could definitely have smut too. I love your writing, and i hope you have a really good day!

3.   hiya! can I request I fic with Spencer x girl reader where she has an English accent and he really loves it! make it fluffy, smutty or whatever you want!! I trust you incredible writing skills :)) thank you!!! :)

4.    spencer reid x reader where she is a switch and thinks that spencer is a sub. one day jj and emily are trying to convince him to cut his hair and she whispers to him that she likes his long hair because then she can pull on it while he goes down on her and boss him around and he answer with something like ‘you wont be the only one bossing around’ and some smut after,please?? thank you 💙 5.    I have a request if you’re open to it! Could you write a maybe angsty fluff piece about a plus size reader and Spencer? Maybe wanting to move forward in a relationship but reader is nervous and self conscious and it starts an argument because he just wants her to stop talking negatively about herself and ends with some beautiful lovey smut? ❣️

6. So I was wondering if you’d be willing to write a Spencer Reid x Reader where she previously worked at the BAU and they dated but broke later broke up and run into each other year’s later and past feelings resurface and they decide to go give it another go? Maybe smut ensues at the end? You don’t have to but it’s just an idea because you write so well! Thank you!

7. I dunno if you like hotchreid, but picture this. Reid blowing hotch with his glasses on and when hotch cums he gets it on reids glasses. I dunno why but the thought of that is just so hot to me // Okay okay, counter idea, reader sits on reids face while he eats her out and his glasses get all messy

8. Not requesting but just planting this little idea in your head imagine dating Spencer and having a sweet moment where he is braiding your hair into to pigtails for you and when he’s done the very sweet moment turns very kinky.

9. Hi beautiful, (SPOILER FOR SEASON 8) I was wondering if you could write a Platonic! BAU (Mostly spencer reid) x reader where the reader is poisoned just like Erin Strauss, but while Erin does die, the reader makes it and everyone is super worried? I love your work and would love to see what you’d do with that request! Stay safe!

10. Hey bb can i make a request? Havent sent this to anyone else. Spencer meeting a jazz musician (preferably a bass play bc i play bass lmao) in New Orleans when he meets up with Ethan? Ethan and reader like play at the same club together and he introduces them? Smut? Fluff? I love your writing and I think you would do a GREAT job executing this!

11. Okay, I know your requests are closed but I just wanted to stop by and say if you’re ever in an angsty mood and need some inspiration- I just listened to a song called “sweater” but Spencer Sutherland and all I could think of is a fic about it with Spencer 😂 quite literally the lyrics are “that’s my sweater, why the fuck you got it on? We’re not together, should have left that shit at home” 😂 I’m just sayin lol

12. I have a request if you’re open to it! I keep having this reoccurring daydream where reader is a music therapist and dating Spencer and helps the team with a case where a child won’t talk and he’s just in awe of watching reader get the kid to open up and it’s just fluffy and sweet!

13. hi! i love your work!! i was wondering if you could write a kind of goofy smut? i’m imagining something along the lines of spencer and reader having been friends for a really long and being super comfortable and silly around eachother but that they’ve also kinda been in love with each other for a long time? when they tell eachother it’s not a big deal and they have sex but it’s really cute? if that makes sense

14. “sleepy girsl are so cute. When they mumble, their voices low and quiet? Adorable? Those big yaws and biiiiiig stretches? So cute! Resting their head on your shoulder and giving you that lazy smile before they drift off again? Oh my godddddd!!!!”

15. omg obviously u have like a million fics on the go cos ur amazing but if u added a praise kink fic to the list let’s just say i wouldn’t complain 😉😘ok but spencer being insecure about his body maybe after everyone’s complimenting derek or something and not wanting u to take his shirt off, and u just absolutely showering him in compliments and telling him all the ways he turns u on and loving on every millimetre of his body and sending him all subby ANYWAY (this is a rant but like also a request if u fancy)

- General Hotch ideas: Sub Hotch, Brat Tamer Hotch, Dom men in lingerie, Spencer calling Reader “daddy,” more about sub drop.

[semblanche]

hi kween, i’m new to writeblr and like a sucky ass person, could you maybe recommend some writeblrs for me to follow? exuding my same unpredictable and slightly unhinged personality? (1/2)

and also how do taglists work? HOW DOES THE COMMUNITY OF WRITEBLR WORK? this is brand new information. I’m sorry if this causes any stress so feel free to ignore! (2/2)

hey! welcome to writeblr, that's a pretty strong opening lmao

i'll try to split this ask into parts -

1. WRITEBLRS TO FOLLOW

i mean, everyone is v talented in their own way, and beyond "unpredictable and unhinged" i'm hardly certain what you're looking for, but if you're asking for people that i personally vibe with -

@at-lxs - rarely posts her own writing, but remains one of my most treasured mutuals - the day i get her to put content on her blog, it's over for y'all. she's so fucking funny and sharp, and either way, her tags are also always worth a visit bc her eye for detail & analysis on writing will leave you shaking

@holotones - woohoo fucked up, deliciously good writing time!! if you like unhealthy relationships, body horror, and cowboys, i legit can't recommend haeji's blog enough. they write in basically every genre known to man, which is also a huge plus - if for some reason you don't love everything they post, you are guaranteed to find at least one thing you do

@llesbianwrites - HER WRITING KNOCKS ME OFF MY FEET EVERY TIME I SEE IT AND THAT'S THAT ON THAT. i still get breathless thinking about hungry ghosts, and i want peter's intro inscribed on my gravestone. read it or/and perish

@carumens - one of the first writeblrs i followed when i joined - she's so open and welcoming, it almost helps distract from how much my heart aches whenever i think of sunflowers at night :')

@aelenko - abby's blog features one of the only non-fantasy wips on this list, since it's not smth i typically care for - which should alone be testament to how crazy talented abby is to make me care about hers. she's also got new fantasy & dark academia wips that make my heart go TWICE as wild because,,, ohhhh my godddddd

@emdrabbles - worldbuilding. worldbuilding everywhere. also six of crows content, which frankly i don't think the world can ever have enough of. also also guaranteed to be the coolest person you'll ever meet, but also a certified bully of taller people (everyone) so look out for that 😔

@viviuyn - her writing has so much going on, how can you NOT be captivated? i don't even like vampires technically & i still can't stop thinking about that excerpt she posted about the man who loves his vampire gf a little too much :'>

@acrimoneous - two words: CODENAME HAMLET. bonus words: wip of the century. also leaves literally the nicest comments, i get a little emotional whenever i see them

@zuiderhaaks - i didn't think it was possible to go feral go stupid over every single thing a person posts, but eva somehow proves me wrong each time. if you like themes of divinity, with a nice heaping of Oh God Oh Fuck Am I Crying Right Now, can't recommend high enough tbh

2. TAG LISTS

a tag list is a list of people who've asked to be tagged whenever you upload content related to your wip! so like, let's say you have my wip, requiem. someone asking me to join the tag list means that, when i post writing on requiem, i'll tag them in it - whether in the form of a self rb (my preferred method), under a 'read more', in the comments, etc. it helps to keep track of the people who have asked on a notes doc, i've found, or else it just gets messy - esp if you have multiple wips, but not people interested in following each and every one

3. HOW DOES WRITEBLR WORK

kind of like how you'd think, i reckon! you post your writing in whatever form you please and roll from there.

some general tips i can give you on it though include -

make an intro post detailing who you are, what genres you like, what you're hoping to post/follow, your interests, etc. this'll help you find other people in the community

use tags like "writeblr", "writers on tumblr", "original writing" and "wip introduction" (for when you first post your projects)

don't stress over number of notes, they'll come come to you. but also lower your expectations like a Lot in regard to them if that's smth you care about. 20 notes is considered 👌👌

and legit don't stress or put yourself down. we are all just sitting here man

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 250: Why Is This Family Not in Therapy

Previously on BnHA: Fuyumi invited everyone over to Camp Todovid for a wholesome family meal because what could possibly go wrong. Kacchan and Deku proceeded to spend the evening blinking distress signals at each other in Morse code while Natsu shoved breadsticks into his purse and skedaddled after getting mad at Endeavor in a completely unexpected turn of events which absolutely no one could have foreseen. After dinner, Shouto had a heart to heart with Fuyu (and then Deku) about whether or not he was ready to forgive his dad, and meanwhile Endeavor said a prayer for his very dead son Touya. Poor Touya. He was such a nice boy. You know what he really used to like? Messenger bags. He’d put the oddest things in them, too. I wonder if Touya would still enjoy collecting strange and disturbing things in bags if he was still alive today. Alas. We’ll never know.

Today on BnHA: Some guy named Takami who just got out of prison decides to show up out of the blue and fucking kidnap Natsuo because WHY NOT. But before that happens, we get a nice scene of Kacchan and Deku sitting down with Shouto and Fuyu, who finally decide it’s high time they talked about THEIR SECRET DEAD BROTHER seeing as LET’S BE REAL, THAT WAS THE WHOLE POINT OF THIS DINNER TO BEGIN WITH. So basically, (1) he’s definitely dead! For sure! 100% deceased!, and (2) Natsuo apparently blames Endeavor for his death, lol no big. Deku and Kacchan are for some reason super fucking chill about hearing this, and then Endeavor comes over and is all “TIME TO HEAD BACK” and omg I’ve never hated him more. And then as they’re driving away from Todofield Hall, Takami shows up and is all “HEY ENDEAVOR LOOK I KIDNAPPED YOUR CHILD AND I’M GONNA KILL HIM!” and holy shit but Horikoshi is just fucking with us now, though.

(As always, all comments are my unspoiled reactions from my initial readthrough of the chapter. I did a quick edit for grammar and clarity afterward, and added some  ETAs in the process, but aside from that there are no changes.)

all right manga, do your worst. I’m completely spoiler-free on this one. watch it not even be a flashback, after all of that lmao

(ETA: lol I read these two asks after I read the chapter and they’re pretty great:

honestly this week wasn’t that bad, though! the worst part of it was the whole “only 13 pages again” thing honestly. next week, though, it looks like we’ll be in for some fun times. oh goodness.)

so it appears night has fallen on Todofield Hall, and hoooooooooly shit you guys, are they. are they all gonna have a sleepover at Shouto’s house, because fdszllk I. I’m gonna. ldskfjla

(ETA: [kicks Endeavor in the shins] why do you hate fun!?)

who is talking?? are these prison stripes??

so is this the Takami guy narrating, then? just like we all predicted last week. ???

(ETA: so I saw all these people going “wtf is this Hawks’s dad??” and I was like “lol what” and it took me longer than I’d like to admit to put two and two together, but anyways, long story short, “Takami” just so happens to be Hawks’s recently revealed surname (with the same kanji and everything -- 鹰見). so while every instinct in my body is screaming at me “gtfo no way they’re related”, it is an extremely bizarre coincidence, so uh. ?? I got nothin’, basically.)

WHAT THE FUCK

IS THIS GUY STALKING THE TODOROKI HOUSE. ABOUT TO BREAK INTO TODOFELL IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT WHILE MY CHILDREN ARE ASLEEP!? CAN THEY JUST NOT CATCH A BREAK

also I will never understand villains who get all smug about being captured alive. “your one mistake was not killing me when you should have!” like okay, so you’re admitting you’re a piece of shit who should have died, and that the hero totally could have done it, but they were nice enough not to so SHAME ON THEM, apparently

anyways I really don’t understand what’s going on at all lol. some guy looked up to Endeavor and then got himself captured by him for some reason. let’s continue I guess

oh lord it keeps getting creepier

-- oohhhhhhhh shiiiiiiit, is this fucker about to air Endeavor’s dirty laundry?? is that what this is about?

AHHHHH

NATSU SWEETIE WHERE ARE YOUR SELF-PRESERVATION INSTINCTS?? IT IS NOT SAFE! and also what the fuck, does Endeavor just not have any security in his home at all? surely he must, if for no other reason than the fact that HE HAS KIDS and he’s not always at home! I have to imagine that any pro hero with a family understands that they’re a potential target for villains and would take precautions. I wonder if we’re about to see this sneaky guy get wrecked

(ETA: nope, Endeavor really has no security whatsoever and Natsu got snatched while waiting outside for his Uber. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he was too busy missing his brother and being sad to remember that he actually has a quirk himself. c’mon Natsu.

-- actually, come to think, props to Horikoshi for once again bucking the trend and having a guy be the one who gets kidnapped and becomes the damsel in distress. I’m just going to assume that had Fuyu been the one to get captured, Endeavor wouldn’t have even heard about it until he received a text from her with a picture of the guy encased in ice and a caption asking “so dad, uh, what should I do with this?”)

BUT FIRST, WE’RE CUTTING BACK TO THE TODOROKI KITCHEN, WHERE TODOBAKUDEKU ARE CURRENTLY HAVING TEA WITH FUYU BECAUSE SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME YESSSSS

hhhglkohhhhh myyyyy godddddd

I KNOW!!! WHAT’S WITH THAT! WE’VE WAITED 250 FUCKING CHAPTERS PUTTING UP WITH YOUR SLY-ASS HINTS ALL “ALL RIGHT THEN, KEEP YOUR SECRETS” but is it finally time now? IS IT??!

Shouto says it’s not exactly an easy topic to bring up, and okay, fair. buuuut also, this is the same child who ambushed Deku in a corridor back when they barely knew each other and was all “let me tell you all about my dad’s quirk marriage and how he abused me and my mom and how I got this scar” so like. what exactly do you consider “easy to bring up” though

OH MY GOD IT’S HAPPENINGGGGGGG

we’re getting DETAILS. ABOUT. TOUYA’S PAST fkdslfh holy motherfucking shitballs someone pinch me

she says it happened right after Rei got hospitalized, which yeah, we all figured based on the middle school uniform in the photo. so that definitely pins down his age then, doesn’t it? Shouto was six when that happened, so if Touya was in middle school he’d have been between 12 and 15. so it’s very likely then that he was 14, the exact same age as Fuyu, so therefore THE TWIN THEORY IS CONFIRMED! WE DID IT TUMBLR

anyways back to being sad though, because

can someone please hug this child?? what are you all even doing?! do you not see his face?? jesus christ

oh no oh my god are you serious are you

okay, before I go on to the next panel and commence FREAKING THE FUCK OUT, I need to stop here though, because the thought that the Todos actually were in the process of healing nine years ago and could have potentially been spared years of additional pain had it not been for this tragedy is. just. I fucking can’t. I need a minute here. god

anyway. so now on to the freaking out though, because

:) :))) :))))))) huh. you don’t say

(ETA: hmm in hindsight I promised freakouts and then all I did was go “:)” but please understand that the “:)” conveys so much more inner freaking out than words could possibly communicate. just picture me screaming and waving my arms around like a Kermit the frog gif okay.)

look at this you guys. this revelation is so stone cold fucking sober that it even got Katsuki to make an actual normal face for the first time in god knows how many chapters, wow

by the way, words can hardly express how much I appreciate that Katsuki is sitting here chilling out drinking tea with the rest of them and listening to this tale of woe and empathizing like a normal, well-adjusted person, though. I will never take that for granted. thank you character development gods. y’all are bros

anyways the face in question that Natsu was making is so fucking sad, and just. THEY ALL NEED HUGS. why is this family not in therapy

NO!!!!!!!!!!!

YOU SON OF A BITCH!! JUST LIKE THAT YOU’RE RIGHT BACK ON MY SHIT LIST, ENDEAVOR!! CHRIST ALMIGHTY ARE YOU SERIOUS, SO WE’RE REALLY JUST GONNA LEAVE OFF THERE? “LOL SO YEAH, NATSU STILL THINKS DAD KILLED OUR BROTHER AND THAT’S WHY ALL THE TENSION” and Deku and Kacchan just nod like that is in any way a satisfying explanation rather than an INCREDIBLY OMINOUS STATEMENT which only goes and raises about A BILLION MORE QUESTIONS OMG. “oh okay, so he hates your dad because he thinks that he murdered your mysterious other brother we’re only just now hearing about. say no more. no further context necessary” fucking -- 

listen, you two. where the fuck are your investigative skills?? SOME SCOOBY SQUAD YOU ARE!!

oh my goodness gracious

listen guys, things I was not expecting to check off my character development bucket list today: Katsuki joining the Fuyumi fanclub and bonding with her over recipes. I wasn’t even aware that was on my list. BUT IT SURE WAS, AND IT’S CHECKED NOW AND I LOVE IT

also love that Shouto tells Fuyu to just text the recipe to him, and then he will share it with Katsuki. because they are best friends

also Deku is the only one here with any manners at all but oh well. we all been knew

(ETA: though to be fair, Katsuki asking for the recipe is about as big a compliment as one can give to a chef, and it kind of serves as a combination “thanks for the meal” and “everything was really good” tbh. shit, now I want her recipe.)

fdlkjfg

... [reaches out to gently touch the panels] so soft

-- BUT DO YOU KNOW WHAT’S EVEN SOFTER?

[faint sound of my heart imploding] ah

oh my god his face

and Katsuki’s face too. boy are you jealous. to think you were all “WHY THOUGH!?” coming here, only to walk away from it all with a kickass new mapo tofu recipe as well as a new person to add to your secret list of people you would literally die for. awwwwwww

and Shouto. omg. this is the most bashful panel I’ve ever seen. what a blessed chapter

anyway so now they’re all driving away (back to school?? I think he said?) and Endeavor’s talking to them about their upcoming schedule. so I guess they are heading back to school, then

anyway so he wants them to work the weekend as well as two weekdays? damn that’s a lot of class to be missing, he’s asking them to skip literally half the school week (since they have Saturday class too)

wow you guys look at this panel

takeaways from this: 1.) I honestly would have thought Deku would be the one tutoring other people in English, if anything. as of the midterms, he was above Shouto in academic rankings, but more importantly he’s also the biggest All Might fan on the planet, and All Might spent a lot of time in America in his youth and presumably speaks decent English himself, so you’d think Deku’s English would be passable just from his obsession alone. but I guess you just can’t beat that fancy private school education

and the other takeaway: Katsuki doesn’t like being squished in the backseat of a cramped Japanese car with Deku and Shouto. this one is absolutely shocking. I’m gonna need a moment to process this for sure. anyways poor Deku, he’s probably getting so many elbows to the ribs right now. I hope he elbows back

(ETA: actually the fact that Katsuki is apparently sticking his head out the window here in addition to complaining about the cramped conditions makes me wonder if he’s actually getting carsick. my poor baby do you need some dramamine.)

guys, meet Endeavor’s chauffeur

so anyway this is a bit sudden but I have a new favorite character now. life is funny like that. does he remind anyone else of Major Armstrong

wow Endeavor is answering the question seriously

okay but shit, I really fucking love this answer, though. he’s so matter-of-fact about it. because the thing is, the question isn’t really “when did you start baby-sitting a bunch of kids”; it’s “when did you actually start caring about something other than yourself?” and the answer is that it happened when he finally reached the top and realized the responsibility that went hand in hand with that role. it forced him to finally look past just himself, and to think about what it really means to be a hero. shit, I feel another essay coming on, but it’ll have to wait for some other time lol. we still have to see if Natsu’s going to make it out of this alive

anyway so now Armstrong is chuckling and saying that status really does change people huh, and they’re driving on into the night

OH SHIT

THAT’S A NICE SON YOU’VE GOT THERE, ENDEAVOR. IT WOULD BE A SHAME IF SOMEONE... okay you know what, I’m not sure where I was headed with that joke, but in any case I can’t finish it because this isn’t funny at all actually, this is actually SO FUCKING BAD oh shit oh shit

NATSUUUUU

oh no he’s so scared oh fuck. fuck. he’s only 19, he’s just a kid still. god. why do I always get so worked up over these parts. what am I doing reading a shounen manga if I can’t handle seeing kids in peril. HORIKOSHI PLEASE BE KIND TO MY BABIES

holy shit

okay, is this implying that Katsuki was sticking his head out of the window in that previous panel?? I realize more important things are happening and this is hardly the time to dwell on this, but jesus christ my kid is out here trying to get himself decapitated. boy what is wrong with you

anyway so now something is going "pop” and I have no idea. ??

(ETA: lol I guess it was Endeavor? you know, how Endeavor sometimes just goes “pop” for no reason. that’s just the sound someone makes when spontaneously bursting into flames.)

oh

far be it from me to start whipping out analogies about a mama bear and her cubs, but. damned if that ain’t what’s happening though. motherfucker, you mess with his kids? so would you like to die fast, or slow

so now some weird fucking shit is happening to the car, and I guess it’s this guy’s quirk again?

wow my man, so you’re really attacking the car with the three protagonists with SOMETHING TO PROVE in the backseat. you really do have a death wish

(ETA: on top of that, attacking the car mere minutes before the winter break ends, and with it, the deadline for “defeating a villain quicker than Endeavor.” HMMM anybody got some popcorn?)

now Endeavor is shouting “LET HIM GO!” because that’s what superheros shout when someone is being kidnapped

lol poor Natsu looks kind of awkward now

like, don’t get him wrong, he’s still scared for his life. but also he’s starting to get a bit of that same feeling that Katsuki and Deku were getting in the last chapter, like he’s suddenly found himself right in the midst of some grade A melodrama from which there is no escape. anyways don’t mind him, he’s just going to chill here in this big pile of bandages and see where this goes

so Endeavor is all “........... YOU’RE FROM SEVEN YEARS AGO!” and honestly that’s impressive. I guess the quirk is a pretty memorable one, though

wow now they’re suddenly being all coy with this guy’s name? what the hell

?? Natsu bud, I feel ya, this really is some awkward shit right here

ohhhh!

that’s the name of the chapter! well all right then, so at least that much makes sense now

so now Ending is apologizing to Endeavor, and wow, tons of essay fuel in these next two panels here

“you had so many things that I could never get” doesn’t this sound remarkably similar to Deku’s speech to Kacchan during their second fight at Ground Beta? huh

and also, I think we are slowly dancing closer and closer to the Thing Katsuki Lacks That He Needs To Learn From His Internship From Endeavor. what do you guys think? I have a lot of thoughts about this, but again, I’ll save it for another post seeing as shit is hitting the fan right now and all

OH SHIT

ARE YOU SERIOUS, OF ALL THE TIMES TO HAVE ANOTHER THIRTEEN PAGE CHAPTER! HORIKOSHI YOU ARE FUCKING KILLING ME HERE

well shit. okay so when he says “don’t make the same mistake twice”, he’s clearly talking about Endeavor letting him live the last time they met, but also I can’t help but feel like there might be some kind of double meaning here as well. the fact that he went from theft to kidnapping and attempted murder, on top of him mentioning earlier about how he went digging into Endeavor’s past, makes me wonder if he could possibly be trying to recreate a specific set of events. or is that crazy??

but just, hear me out. what if something similar to this went down before, with Touya perhaps being taken hostage by a villain (though it couldn’t have been the same guy because the timing is off, and also Endeavor didn’t recognize him right off the bat), and Endeavor making some critical mistake which resulted in him failing to save him, and Natsu then blaming him for that and holding him responsible for the death. honestly that makes the most sense to me, since I would think that “literally murdered his own kid” would be kind of a deal-breaker as far as the rest of the family ever reconciling with him. so yeah, this could get very interesting here

(ETA: hoo boy, so I’ve been browsing the bnha tags a bit, and it seems that a lot of people are interpreting the hints in this chapter very differently from me lol. I admit I could certainly be wrong about the “don’t make the same mistakes” bit having a double meaning. but like, do we really believe that Endeavor just straight up murdered his son and got away with it, or that it was covered up or something? or that he drove Touya to suicide? I think it’s much more likely that Touya pushed himself too hard, or that he accidentally got caught up in one of Endeavor’s attacks, or something along those lines.

what really struck me, though, was that a lot of people actually seem to be hoping for it to come out that Endeavor really is responsible, though. like, to the point where they’re prepared to be outraged if it turns out he’s not, and this part of the story doesn’t end up conforming to the narrative of Endeavor just being a sinister cartoon villain. and like, I don’t really know what to say about that. except that I really hate this idea that if an abuser is ever portrayed as something other than a heartless monster then it’s super-problematic and/or just bad writing. that Endeavor not murdering his son = Horikoshi endorses child abuse. or something. anyways I don’t have the spoons to really throw my hat into the ring here, but basically my opinion is that life is rarely just black and white in that way, and this story reflects that, and I think it’s absolutely the right call to make and is actually very good writing and I respect it. 

and also like, it’s not some all-or-nothing thing here where he’s either a perfect saint, or the worst person to ever exist! what he is is a man who made some terrible choices in the past and abused and hurt the very people he should have loved and protected the most. and what he is, also, is a man who has realized the awfulness of the things he’s done, and is trying his best now to be a good person. what he is is a human being. and acknowledging that doesn’t mean that you condone the abuse; it simply means that you acknowledge that people are made up of more than just the worst things they’ve done in their lives. that’s it.

anyways, for all of my “not gonna through my hat into the ring” nonsense, I’m doing a pretty good impression of exactly that, so I’ll shut up now. damn you Endeavor and your controversy-sparking ways. what kind of psychopath looks at the fucking BnHA fandom and says “not bad, but you know what this place could use? more discourse.” you knew exactly what you were doing, you fiend.)

anyways I’m going to hope and assume that Natsu isn’t actually about to meet his end here at the hands of this bestriped man and his peculiarly thematic villain name and sinister bandage arrows (are they bandages?? maybe not since they seem pretty solid and he’s threatening to stab Natsu in the eye with one. idk). and for all of my joking earlier, this guy actually does appear to have a real, genuine death wish since he keeps talking about how Endeavor should have killed him before. so in addition to all this other drama, toss in an attempted suicide by cop as well! this fucking arc, man. goddamn

[yournameoverandover]

FOLKLORE: 1st Listen

1. The 1 - “I’m on some new shit” Love the production ooooo..... “If you never bleed then you’re never gonna grow.” Why does this remind me of HAYLOR?!?!!? Omg my heart. “It woulda been fun if you woulda been the one” Wow!!!!!! “And if my wishes came true it woulda been you” Wowowowowow!!!!!! WHAT AN OPENER

2. Cardigan - High heels on cobblestones what an IMAGE. I love her range here omg. “Baby kiss it better, Iiiiiiiii” I LOVE the breathiness of it. A friend to all is a friend to none, you tell em girl!!!! This song is so COZY I just feel like war, and soft listening to it. So much piano. “You drew stars around my scars but now I’m bleeding.” So softttt “Leaving like a father” 🥺🥺🥺 “These hands had to let it go free and this love came back to me// I knew you’d come back to me”

3. The last great American dynasty - Ok I was not excited for this one. The initial synth is interesting. Rebecca who tf is Rebecca? Saint Louis and Bill? This is specific.... Hmmmm okay I see a trend of blaming women. THE RHODE ISLAND SET HOLLA!!!! Dali?! Hmmm maddest, shameless now... What’s the twist in the bridge tell me? OMG IS THAT HER HOUSE!!! AHHHHHHH YES OMG!!!!! Loudest yessss! LITERALLY A SOMG ABOUT HER HOUSE I CANT. I like this chorus so much

4. Exile - I’m stoked for this one. Mucho piano. Omgggggg the vocals well done Bon Iver!!!!! “You’re not my homeland anymore” BROKEN HEART. “Now I’m in exile seeing you out.” There’s the title... Balancing on breaking branches :( “I’m not your problem anymore, so who am I offending now.” Awww “you were my crown” proceeds the exile line, that’s so sad and beautiful like THEY WERE ROYALTY IN LOVE. I love this interplay of perspectives holy shit this bridge. Her voice is so delicate and his is so strong they are just CHEFS KISS together!!!!! Like sneaking out a movie theater? This album is PERFECT for midnight release. I am obsessed with the ending of this song OMG. J’adore.

5. My tears ricochet - Ok time for track five I am not ready. Ooo floaty vocals me gusta. Omg it’s like a wake?? I love how she says loved you, cause I loved you. It’s almost British. Oooo SAVING FACE BURN GIRL. “You know I didn’t want to have to haunt you.” This is so prettyyyyyyyyy. It’s like Clean gets a whole album! “Just not home”. “Miss me in your bones.” “Stolen lullabies” THESE IMAGES LIKE WHAT. Not sure where the title fits in with the other story like if she’s dead how is she crying? Does he just not really care? Is he a robot? Hm. Much to think about

6. Mirrorball - TRACK 6 mirrorball. PLEASE be about the outfit to end all outfits! Kidding. Definitely not lol. This sounds like a middle school slow dance song.... shining just for you 😍 definitely a middle school slow dance song. “I can change everything about me to fit in.” Ouch Taylor. This is like the softest thing and also the saddest thing how she feels she has to try to keep his attention the whole time. I wasn’t expecting it to be sad?!

7. Seven - Aptly named seven. Ok we’re not waiting here let’s go. This has a little strummy country vibe? “Are there still beautiful things” powerful question. “Passed down like folk songs, the love lasts so long”. This feels like a song about her childhood. I really like this melody. It’s so gentle and pretty 😍

8. August - {WOW APPLE MUSIC WAY TO CATCH UP WITH THE FUCKING WORLD I HATE YOU. Okay we’re back!!!} Salt air?! I already love it. And rusty doors. Yes. Okay my birthday feels safe. “August sipped away like a bottle of wine cause you were never mine”🥺. Wait this is like happy retrospective WHEN WE WERE STILL CHANGING FOR THE BETTER, FOR ME IT WAS ENOUGH TO LIVE FOR THE HOPE OF IT ALL. “I can see us lost in a memory, august slipped away in a memory, cause it was never mine” this is so freaking ethereal and pretty. And she is repeating the hope of it all?! Inject this directly into my veins ughhhhh

9. This is me trying - “I didn’t know if you’d care if I came back” I love how she has all these images of bumbling and fumbling and puts it next to her saying she is trying, working on that communication. “I got wasted like all my potential. My words shoot to kill when I’m bad” Wait I have so many amazing lyrics I can’t even keep up with it what is happening. “It’s hard to be anywhere these days when all I want is you”

10. Illicit affairs - curious about this title???? What’s going to happen. Oooo a sneaky love thing going on. “Clandestine meetings and longing stares”. LITTLE DEATH TAYLOR SWIFT I SEE YOU LE PETIT MORT. “Dwindling mercurial high”?! Damn girl!!! Ooo okay no more orgasm things, just about lies now. Death to lies. “You showed me colors I can’t see with anyone else” “you taught me secret language I can’t speak with anyone else” Wait is it over?! The sudden endings WOW.

11. Invisible string - I keep hearing all these colors and all I can thing is RED. “Invisible string tying you to me”. I just LOVE all these pretty floating songs! “She said I look like an American singer” Omg I wonder if this is about her meeting joe IT IS IT IS THE DIVE BAR IS BACK. “One single thread of gold” ugh I love the running themes this woman uses! “Now I send their babies presents 😍” “hell was the journey but it brought me heaven” I LOVE THIS SONG OMG

12. Mad woman - I’ve been so curious about this OKAY!!!!!! TAYLOR SWIFT SAID FUCK IT HAPPENED. “Every time you call me crazy I get more crazy what about that?” “No one likes a mad woman YOU MADE HER LIKE THAT” OH MY GODDDDDD YES TELL THEM TAYLOR. “Doing your dirtiest work for you” holy SHIT Taylor this is scooter’s call out song and I LOVE THIS I LOVE THIS. “I’m taking my time because you took everything from me, watching you climb over people like me” I CANT KEEP UP TAYLOR THIS IS SO SHARP OMG and the dRUMS MY SOUL LEFT MY BODY

13. Epiphany - WHEW okay lots I’m still processing so epiphany whatcha got?! “Something med school did not cover, someone’s daughter, someone’s mother.” Omg aNOTHER HOSPITAL SONG SERIOUSLY Taylor baby no :((((( “you dream of some epiphany, just one single glimpse of relief to make some sense of what you’ve seen” I wonder if this is for nurses and caregivers?

14. Betty - oh HELLO harmonica!!!!! Is this one of the love triangle songs? TAYLOR SAID FUCK AGAIN TWICE IN ONE ALBUM! I WAS NOT EMOTIONALLY PREPARED FOR THIS!!!!! I like the melody in this though, it’s so pretty and it reminds me of her older stuff! WAIT FUCK IS IN THE CHORUS SO SHE’S SAYING IT A LOT AHHHHH. “A figment of my worst intentions” omgggggg what a great line?! Okay wait this has SO MANY CARDIGAN PARALLELS AT THE END THIS IS ONE OF THE THREE. SO IS CARDIGAN what is #3?!

15. Peace - interesting starting song hmmmmmmmm. Sounds more bluesy! “Our coming of age is come and gone.” So she can’t give peace- “I would die for you in secret, the devil’s in the details but you got a friend in me.” This song is really hitting a lot tbh. “It’s like I’m wasting your honor.” Taylor this is sad 🥺 “the rain is always gonna come if you’re standing with me”

16. Hoax - hOW are we already at the end?! I like the super gentle piano in the back. “Your faithless love’s the only hoax I believe in. Don’t want no other shade of blue but you.” She’s so vulnerable and this is really hard to listen to. Love was just as hard as when they pulled you apart?

Physical Album Update on (TBD)

1. The lakes

[aprettystrangeblog]

can we please collaborate on a fic or something because good fucking godddddd i'm in love with your writing

Oh my gosh, I’m super flattered!! I’m a pretty independent writer/don’t collab much. BUT, that being said if you’d like, you’re welcome to start a fic and I’ll add onto it (just tag me in your post/reply me the details!).But also. People wanted me to continue my waiter au fic (“You Certainly Made a Splash”) so,,,, if you wanna write s’more onto that one,,,,,,,, I’d more than welcome someone else’s writing and ideas!

[tveckling]

a l l t h e a s k s

You’re too much omggggg. Lucky you that I’m just not feeling like doing anything today, because otherwise I’d have ignored this ask :P Actual answers under cut because.... there are... many of them... and some are long.

1. Tell us about your WIP!I’m gonna take my favorite original WIP, because I can.One of the galaxies’ best assassins accepts a new job which proves to be way different than she had expected. Her partner moves between exasperated and amused. I imagine this story will be around 50 pages total, so it’s not a big thing. For now my goal is just to actually finish an original project pffft. (Lesbian main couple, pansexual man is second main chara)

2. Where is your favorite place to write?I have two favorite places. One is in my bedroom, where I can just do anything I please. The other is outside when it’s warm on some nice grassy spot, where I can just plug in my earphones in my ears and enjoy everything. I am so waiting for it to get warm enough for thaaaaaaaat!

3. What is your favorite/least favorite part about writing?Favorite: Coming up with ideas and characters and dialogue and sentences and everything. And seeing people’s reactions afterwards huhuhuLeast favorite: Writing the damn thing pffft. But tbh, the thing I have the most problem with re writing is descriptions, because I am so bad at it.

4. Do you have any writing habits/rituals?Not really, no. Does having specific music on count? If not, then nope.

5. Top five formative books?Godddddd. Uuuuh. Gosh. Five books I can think of, not in matter of favorite/most formative/w/e:1. Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman2. Magic’s Pawn by Mercedes Lackey (#1 of The Last Herald Mage trilogy)3. The Snow Queen’s Shadow by Jim C. Hines (#4 of the Princess series)4. Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire (#1 of the October Daye series)5. The Empire of Darknessby Christian Jacq (#1 of The Queen of Freedom trilogy).......... yeah, so I mostly read series, w/e.....

6. Favorite character you’ve written?For fanfiction I of course love Mercutio the most. For original works hmm.. shit, that’s tough question. Either Ashe from my relic story or Saraph or Thana from my assassins story. I honestly can’t decide.

8. Do you have any writing buddies or critique partners?Well, I have friends who read what I write and tries their best to give feedback? But that’s it.

9. Favorite/least favorite tropes?... this is an awful question that I can’t answer, because there’s too many of both. I honestly can’t choose.

10. Pick an author (or writing friend) to co-write a book withI actually tried co-writing a book once upon a time, so I can say that I really don’t want to do it again. I just have this issue with ‘no you’re not doing it exactly how I want ittttt’ and well. No.

11. What are you planning to work on next?*laughs hollowly* I have so many thingsssss....

12. Which story of yours do you like best? why?My two fic WIPs Strange Bedfellows and Wild Salt Air are two of my favorites. They both have tropes I adore, plenty of angst, and developing relationships - and it’s like the two stories where I am actually writing developing relationships from start to finish. Other than them I really really like the dtw prompt fic 249. Off with the head and A scratch, because I really really love whump without comfort? :D give me all the angst huhuhu

14. What does it take for you to be ready to write a book? (i.e. do you research? outline? make a playlist or pinterest board? wing it?)It’s actually something I’m trying out. I mostly have some sort of plot in my head for every story I write, but for each longer story I have so far different ways of writing it. For Strange Bedfellows I have a document planning out each chapter and the major events in each. For Wild Salt Air I have nothing, just the vague idea in my head. For this other unwritten fic I have a doc with each chapter fully detailed, just waiting to be written and filled out. For yet another fic I have basically done a mini fic with everything that happens, and it only has to be properly written. I always do the research whenever I get to it. Haven’t made a playlist for any fic or story so far, and have absolutely no interest in a pinterest board or anything like it.

15. How do you deal with self-doubt when writing?I become super clingy and have to be calmed down by friends. And this unfortunately happens a lot.... sorry ;A;

16. Cover love/dream covers?Sounds good I guess? Idk...

17. What things (scenes/topics/character types) are you most comfortable writing?I really really REALLY love writing emotions. Strong emotions of every kind, except maybe happiness. Happy/positive emotions aren’t as funny hehe~ And angst. Let me write all the angst, so I can bathe in all my readers’ tears.

18. Tell us about that one book you’ll never let anyone readUh a book I like that someone else has written? Idk dude, I don’t have one of those? A book/story that I have come up with? Godddddd, there are so many... and there is a reason that I will not tell anyone about them *definite stop*

20. Any advice for young writers/advice you wish someone would have given you early on?1. Using names are fine. More than fine, even. Use one or two epithets per person at absolute max. Names, just like ‘said’ are basically invisible for readers, even if you as a writer feel your eyes twitching over how often you use names. It’s just you, I promise. Use. Names. 2. Write as much as you can, even if what you write sucks. Know how to make sure your writing stops sucking? By writing more. The more you write, the better you get. Simple as that. If need be you can always rewrite those sucky stories later if the ideas are good *looks at several old-as-balls stories that seriously needs rewriting* 3. Sometimes it actually is okay to Tell instead of Showing. Mostly it’s better to Show instead of Tell, but sometimes the other way is perfectly good too or even better. Ignore those who say you must never ever use it.

21. What aspect of your writing are you most proud of?Emotions, again. I feel I am quite skilled at writing a character’s emotions and thoughts. My dialogue and humor has also approved in the last couple years, I feel.

22. Tell us about the books on your “to write” listNo way. There are just... so many...

23. Most anticipated upcoming books?Uh, don’t really know any?

25. What’s your worldbuilding process like?I like to start with the characters, and then I start building a world that fits them. I really like doing those world building worksheet thingies.

26. What’s the most research you’ve ever put into a book?Oh god... I think the longest I have spent on a story so far is like 12-14 hours combined. And I still haven’t actually written that story *headdesk*

27. Every writer's least favorite question - where does your inspiration come from? Do you do certain things to make yourself more inspired? Is it easy for you to come up with story ideas?For original stories I have always just had a desire for a specific scene, then I come up with the characters involved in that scene, then I come up with the stories those characters exist in. I love, love, love writing prompts, though. It’s pretty common for me to use a prompt in the first step aforementioned, then as I develop the characters and the world the inhabit I tend to sort of forget the original prompt. So it all works out well enough I think.

28. How do you stay focused on your own work and how do you deal with comparison?God, the only way for me to keep focused on one particular work is by having other people be interested in it. Otherwise I will completely lose my motivation to write it and start with other things instead. My mind never stops coming up with stories, after all.

30. Do you like to read books similar to your project while you’re drafting or do you stick to non-fiction/un-similar works? I strongly prefer staying away from anything that might influence my writing while I am writing it. This is the biggest reason why I only read friends’ fics nowadays.....

31. Top five favorite books in your genre?Those five favorite books from question 5 counts for this too, I guess.

32. On average how much do you write in a day? do you have trouble staying focused/getting the word count in?It varies so so so much. One time I wrote 6,000 words in a day. Another day I struggled writing 50. When I have prompts to write fics for I write around 1,000 words per day I guess?

33. What’s your revision/rewriting process like?Copy-pasting the text into a program with a proofreading software, then after reading it through I’ll poke a friend with better grasp of grammar to go through it, basically.

34. Unpopular writing thoughts/opinions?Idk dude, don’t really have any I think.

35. Post the last sentence you wroteThese, too, went unanswered, with only the occasionally shushing. Pffft, so thrilling isn’t it.

36. Post a snippetFrom the assassins story:“You're here with a job you want us to take." Thana’s voice was matter of fact, as though she already knew the answer. Her interruption was enough to bring Saraph's attention back to her. There was a tilt to her lips that told Saraph he wasn't the only one annoyed by the unknown man. "If you are here to try to offer us a job, just after we finished our last one, then you know us." Saraph had dropped all traces of warmth from his voice, and he threw another quick glance at Thana. "If you know us that well then you know that there is a system to contact us with your offer; there is no part in that system that gives permission to interrupt us completely unannounced. That is an action that would most likely end in someone's death." His eyes spoke loudly about whose death he was referring to, and his absolute stillness was somehow far more threatening than when he had been moving around.The woman on the suited man's left side glared darkly at Saraph, but her partner bared his teeth with a growl and grabbed the gun at his hip. Before he had managed to get it into the air Thana turned sharp eyes on him; a moment later the gun fell to the ground, the man's hand falling with it. The man's shout made every person in the restaurant determinedly look away; they didn't know what was going on, but they were all sure it didn't have anything to do with them."If any of you makes a threatening move against me or my companion again I will not spare you," Thana said, slowly shifting her gaze to the now red-faced woman who was grinding her teeth.

37. Do you ever write long handed or do you prefer to type everything?My hand tends to hurt when I write, so I suuuuuuper prefer typing on something, whether computer or tablet or whatever.

38. How do you nail voice in your books?That’s something I wonder about too *cries*

39. Do you spend a lot of time analyzing and studying the work of authors you admire?Not really, no. I tend to get too sucked up into the stories. I am also not really that good at analyzing stories/characters... unless I try to write fanfiction with them, that is.

40. Do you look up to any of your writer buddies?Yes, I definitely do.

41. Are there any books you feel have shaped you as a writer?Again, the The Sandman comic series written by Neil Gaiman. They have had an incredible influence on me.

42. How many drafts do you usually write before you feel satisfied?I am never satisfied pffft

43. How do you deal with rejection?I kinda slink down deeper into my depression for a couple days and just watch shit or do other brainless things until I feel better.

44. Why (and when) did you decide to become a writer?This is differently worded question 24. So, copying that answer: I was the type of small child who was completely obsessed with stories, long before I could actually read. Then when I learned to read I, uh, advanced pretty quickly let’sputitlikethat apparently a 9-year old reading Very Mature books with graphic descriptions of killing and gory situations isn’t that appreciated by teachers. Especially not when this 9yo happily tells her friends all about these gory details at lunch….. oops? So uh idk. It’s always been a part of me? I’ve always been reading and coming up with stories, and then I started writing, and just. Idk dude. Forever, I guess.

45. First or third person?Third, although first can be pretty nice to write too.

46. Past or present tense?Slight preference for past tense, but just slight.

47. Single or dual/multi POV?Single. I am pretty sure I sometimes fail with it, however, ugh...

48. Do you prefer to write skimpy drafts and flesh them out later, or write too much and cut it back?Flesh out later, because it hurts to cut out parts of my story. It’s like cutting out parts of my own body, you knooooow

50. Do you share your rough drafts or do you wait until everything is all polished?I happily share everything. I need validation and encouragement to continue writing, after all.

51. Are you a secretive writer or do you talk with your friends about your books?I talk too much sometimes, I’m afraid pfffft. I want to share everything. Except in some cases where I like to have some things be spoilers, so I can better enjoy their reactions.

52. Who do you write for?I’d love to say ‘myself’ but it’s really for others who enjoy the same things as myself. If there wasn’t any others I’d just keep it all in my head, after all.

53. What is the first line of your WIP?The assassins story again: All around the planet huge sandstorms raged, but within the walls of New Vien the citizens went about their business without a worry of the outside world.

54. Favorite first line/opening you’ve written?After much indecisiveness we have:First line - from Heart Masochist: They were young once, all of them.And because I thought the question was about last lines too - from A Scratch: When their uncle's men finally found them Mercutio had stopped shaking, but Valentine couldn't stop crying.

55. How do you manage your time/make time for writing? (do you set aside time to write every day or do you only write when you have a lot of free time?)I basically write whenever I feel like it, whether I actually have time for it or not pfffft.

[trulycertain]

Replies on “Mornings”

musicalheart168 said: Oh my godddddd so fluffy. I love it. Plus there was just a twinge of angst (because we know why Dorian behaves this way, of course we do, and we all want to hug him for it), so please don’t feel the need to write unbridled angst next time. This was just perfect!!

You’re trying to make me write fluff again, aren’t you? But what about plot? And conflict? And... *sigh* I can’t promise unbridled fluff, but there is some very happy stuff coming up. It might just take a bump or two in the road to get there.

aphreal42 said: I love the details in this. The denial, the hesitation, the talking around everything that these two do so well. (That you write so well, also.) They’re very sweet, whether they like it or not.

Thank you. I’m sure they’d murder us both for saying it. but I’m glad you think so.