#and there just didn't seem like a lot of times where she subtly or obviously conveyed her emotions

[bloomingsalma]

if a character in a fictional romance is/was a fuckboy, i need them to be falling to their knees and becoming a complete simp over their love interest. i need to see you become a lovesick idiot who suddenly has no idea how to act around the person you like and who is a complete embarrassment to watch. these are non-negotiable rules

[f4iry-dvst]

Pity Party

a/n: first time uploading one of my cench fics feeling nervous - let me know if you want a smut for pt2!

pairing: central cee x fem!oc

summary: after a celebratory dinner takes a wrong turn, Michaela makes sure Oakley gets all he deserves

cw: light mention of neglect

"Soooo, big two four next week Cench! What ya up to for tha then lad?"

Oakley smiled weakly before taking a hold of his glass and taking a long swig of the tropical cocktail. He was out for dinner with a few work associates, his girlfriend Michaela, Marvin and Harrison celebrating the plaques he'd received recently for his music in a posh little bar & grill in the city - he didn't want to be here though. Being grilled with questions from his associates as if he were a ribeye steak wasn't exactly his ideal evening, nor was being out surrounded by so many people. The man never really was a social butterfly and he struggled a lot at events like this even now after his rise to fame. In the middle of dinner, he'd grabbed Michaela's hand under the table as his nerves grew exponentially and his patience was wearing thin; he'd considered just leaving far too many times already but Kayla had forced him to stay to be polite.

"Not a party?"

Marvin's eyes flicked up at the question already knowing where this was headed having heard the story far too many times from a drunk, blabbering mouth, through clouds of smoke. He thought about shutting it down, but it sounded too suspicious for him - he simply couldn't do much at all. The man could see Oakley visibly panic across the table and nervously take another gulp of his drink, which he said he didn't even like the taste of originally, but he seemed to have changed his mind about that one. This truly was a recipe for disaster.

"No I erm, never had one so is just not the forefront of my mind to be fair"

Oakley and Marvin's eyes both cautiously scanned around the table, seeing all the shocked and even pitiful expressions emerge in reaction. Marvin felt bad, really bad. Not because he'd never had a birthday party before, he'd pitied him for that already so long ago. But because he knew the man was about to receive a hounding. Lacey, the woman who helped design a lot of his merchandise, was sat beside Marvin and probably the one with the worst reaction of all. She almost grimaced, obviously assuming it was due to growing up dirt poor or something which well, wasn't untrue. Just not the reason Oakley had confessed to before. He'd finished his drink by now too, so he couldn't drown his anxiety in a disgusting mango concoction made with cheap rum anymore and he regretted gulping it all down so quickly.

"Erm, my parents were erm never really uno, around like tha so like, birthdays didn't get thought about"

His face resembled that of a hurt puppy by the end of his response, tears visibly welling up in his eyes and his nose dusted with pink. People around the table began to relax themselves promptly after seeing Oakley's reaction to their badgering. Michaela had begun to gently caress the back of his hand with her thumb in an attempt to soothe him even the slightest bit but she didn't get very far. Anxiety flowing through his veins meant his arms and hands were all tensing unrelentingly leaving the veins beneath his skin to show far more than they really should. She could feel the slight tremor in his frame as she shifted a little closer to his side to subtly comfort the man and the tenseness of his entire body. His knee was bouncing rapidly under the table and he was glad it wasn't visible to his company.

"Oh you poor thing"

Celaine, a lady who helped design his music covers, was the first to speak up again and she regretted even considering the comment as soon as she did. Oakley abruptly pushed his seat out causing a horrible scratching noise to echo and made a beeline for the toilets. He couldn't breathe at that table, it felt like everyone was crowding around him when actually no one had moved an inch. Michaela jumped up quickly following after her boyfriend filled with anger for the others and sadness for him. It was rare that he ever acted like this with other people, but they were evidently pushing his buttons and he couldn't take it any longer.

"Sweetheart..."

The girl had walked straight into the men's where she knew she'd find him, quickly realising how disgusting these toilets were for such a high-end place and decidedly took no notice; she had better things to do than grimace at tissue paper stuck to the mirrors and piss on the floor. A sniffle echoed in the empty bathroom and Kayla's heart ripped into a million shreds at the sound as she wrapped her arms around his small frame and pulled him into her chest tightly. She couldn't even begin to express how sad she felt for him in this moment, and how much she hated his team for pressing so much. Over the months of working with them, the couple had grown to love Celaine, Lacey and all the others but all of it had soon been diminished because they couldn't just keep their traps shut.

"We don't have to do anything love, or think about your past okay?"

The man nodded, still tucked firmly into his girlfriend and practically clinging onto her shoulders for dear life.

And so when Oakley's birthday eventually did roll around, Michaela had planned not a single thing. Of course, she'd planned gifts and what to eat but she did that most days so it was nothing out of the ordinary. The man had finally indulged in a lie-in for the first time this year - he hadn't the time what with all the work and travelling he'd been doing - so he was snoring way into the afternoon and eventually rose around 3 pm to the smell of hot chocolates and something else sweet. It was far too warm in his room, and even the house, so he had decided against putting last night's t-shirt back on and promptly followed the sugary aromas drifting upstairs to the kitchen where he found Michaela.

"I was just about to come wake you"

On the counter were stacks of syrup-smothered pancakes and waffles with mugs of hot chocolate and a big bowl of sliced fruit ready for his birthday breakfast, tho it was more tea than breakfast. Michaela was beaming at him showing a big toothy grin and he was sure he was reciprocating it, but he couldn't tell. He stood in amazement for a few seconds scanning over the sweet treats and then his girlfriend's face before pulling her into his arms. He kissed her on the cheek and thanked her about a million times before eventually giving her a long kiss on the lips.

"You've smudged my lippie now you dickhead"

"No calling the birthday boy names my love"

The couple fell into fits of laughter still holding onto each other like it was the last time they were to touch before they realised the breakfast would probably go cold soon and took it all to the living room. It was rare they ever ate in there because Oakley was very strict about the tidiness of the house but today was an exception of course. Michaela already had the tv set on Disney Plus ready for Oakley to come down and watch his favourite kids' movie: Lady & The Tramp. He sat and ate his birthday breakfast gleefully, focused intently on the movie playing on the tv with a goofy smile on his face the entire time. The girl could've sworn she'd never seen him so happy in his life, which would most definitely be an overstatement, but he did look happy as hell and she couldn't take her eyes off of him. That light that filled his face when he was just so freely happy was addicting and she would drink it up all day and all night if she could - it was just so beautiful. The dimples beside his lips, the wrinkles under his eyes and the way his cheeks puffed up - he was a sight for sore eyes if she did say so herself. When Oakley had finished most of his pancakes and strawberries he'd put his plate to the side and curled up against Kayla's side, his knees pulled to his chest and his head on her shoulder. Michaela didn't think he could get any cuter than this. The way he was showing so much affection, physically too, really blossomed something in the girl's heart and her stomach was doing somersaults because it meant he'd put his full trust in her and that he felt safe. It was okay to show the vulnerable side he was so ashamed of before with her because he felt respected and loved. He tended not to show too many of his emotions, if any, and especially not when it came to occasions like his birthday - it was a big topic that took him a long time to open up about. So for Michaela to see him like this knowing how much he struggled to open up and be comfortable around people she felt extra special.

"I love you, uno"

It was merely a mumble, because he seemed to be nodding off despite only waking up about an hour before; she put it down to the heat and the fact they were sitting so cosily. He'd most definitely said it though, Kayla had felt his warm breath brush against her neck as he spoke and the way his jaw moved against her shoulder.

"I love you too sweetheart"

He'd tried to tuck in on his girlfriend more but it was actually impossible unless he wanted to climb inside her skin which she was sure he would if he could, so he simply tucked his head as tightly into the crook of her neck as he could and fell asleep with her hand brushing through the curls upon his head. Now he was living the dream.

Best birthday ever.

[necromancers-incorporated]

While we wait for part three of season one: all of my thoughts on Lena Kelley as of tmagp 20 (spoilers, obviously):

At first, it definitely seemed like Lena was going to be set up as the new Elias. There was this whole mysterious creepy boss vibe happening, especially with all of the subtle food things. Her conversation with Gwen in that first episode was very interesting for both of their characters, but if you look at that conversation while ignoring our knowledge of tma, Lena is being very reasonable. At this point (without tma) there's no conformation of horrors in this universe. Lena is literally just a manager, and her employee is practically threatening her. She has obviously got a lot of patience and is being more than reasonable to not give Gwen some kind of disciplinary action, which, in my opinion at least, definitely goes against the creepy evil boss act.

The whole thing with Klaus is very very interesting, for a number of reasons: first; it gives us a whole new depth to Lena. Why did she do it? Did someone make her? How did she fail so horribly at it? What did she stand to gain? There are so many questions here that make us wonder about her past, but she's clearly not close with any of the other characters and so we are left floundering. She's isolated and so is a mystery. We only get information when it is brought up in conversation or through a statement. Because of this, we have very little to go off of. Her isolation is a point I will come to later. The second thing that this whole Klaus situation does is put her in danger. She now has Gwen threatening to expose her, and it is only after this that she agrees to give Gwen the promotion, AFTER stating how dangerous it is, after warning her so many times. I think that Lena is the canary here. She's been down this path, she's seen what it does, and she is (from what we can gather) worse off because of it. What is really striking here is that on a surface level it seems like she's just gatekeeping informed from Gwen, but as we know after the Lady Mowbray incident, Lena has a protective streak. Retrospectively, we can see that, despite how she feels about Gwen, this protectiveness extends at least in part to her as well.

Another thing I find very interesting is that it seems like the only time she's ever shown is when she's in conflict with someone (apart from that one convo with Sam which I'll get to later), which links in nicely with her apparent isolation. She is always at odds with Gwen in one way or another, and if I remember correctly, aside from the Sam conversation, Gwen is always there when Lena is talking. Gwen is also the one that seems to be initiating these arguments. The only one you could say she didn't start was the Mowbray one, as Lena was the one to bring it up, but she was still the root cause. All of this marks Lena as someone who is constantly struggling, and I am very interested in seeing what her overarching battle will be.

Now. Her conversation with Sam. I have seen two interpretations of it so far, and they have been; "Lena is autistic and thinks this is normal" and "Lena is threatening Sam very subtly as a power play". From what we've seen, Lena is not one to threaten without cause. This would be the first instance of totally unprovoked hostility, unless, of course, she knows he knows something. That would be the only explanation for such threats.

Personally, I do headcanon Lena as autistic (there is more but that'll be a seperate post), and maybe it's me being autistic and so unable to read her, but she sounded normal. She sounded like she was just having a conversation. And to be honest, she's not wrong. Maybe it's a little unconventional only speaking to employees when they're in trouble, but I ask you to look at everything we know already:

Lena has had to kill people she's worked with before. She is actively sending out employees into situations where they could very well die. She is likely isolating herself for her own protection. She knows that people will die in this job. It's happened before. It makes total sense for this to be her outlook on the office and her employees. She's protecting them at a distance, subtly, so there's no way for them to know and get closer to her. Everyone is held t an arm's length because otherwise things get complicated. We see similar things happen in tma, like with the WTG cult, and it's common for writers to stick to themes and idea like that. One of the most relevant themes in tma is about loved ones getting hurt because they're too close and/or get in the way. It's very possible that a similar thing is happening here too.

Tldr: Lena Kelley has so much more depth than people give her credit for and I really want her character to be explored more.

[seenoversundown]

For Death Or Glory : Chapter Three

Jake x Charlotte (Fem OC)

Warnings: Anxious Themes, Drinking/Alcohol (Caravel Tavern is a bar after all), Cursing, Brief mentions of fighting (including a SMALL mention of blood) Lots of frustrated/angry tones, poorly timed jokes, and last but certainly not least- a wave of yearning.

Word Count: 3.3k

Summary: After getting the news that he didn't do everything he was meant to, Jake spends a stressful day at the bar. Trying to get everything taken care of, but it is just one of those days.

Author's Note: Happy Thursday! I honestly love this chapter so much. I've 110% had days like this and it just felt like it needed to happen. hehe okay happy reading xoxo

I'm Going Slight Mad - Queen "One wave short of a shipwreck, I'm not my usual top billing."

It started like any other day until it wasn’t. 

Caravel Crew:

Jake: hey i know you guys have today off but do you mind stopping by for a few minutes?

Daniel: We definitely can

Melody: Might have a little surprise to bring you

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Setting my phone down, I start looking over the paperwork that Charlotte left for me. Now, I’m realizing why I never filled it out. I don’t know what half of this means. When I decided to buy the bar, I had no business background. I never went to college. I just immediately started working after high school. I don’t know where the desire to own a bar came from, and I don’t know if it was partially because it was this bar, but over time, it just sounded more and more like what I wanted to do. I guess I just never thought about this side of it. 

I find myself reading the same sentences over and over. It’s becoming increasingly harder to focus on what I need to be doing. I just want to get this conversation over it.  I never have a hard time with “tough” conversations, but to be fair, all the bartenders that I’ve let go over the last 10 months have deserved it. Or they quit on their own. Melody didn’t do anything wrong, and this is entirely my fault.

“Knock, knock, hellooo” Melody’s voice quietly rings through the office. I turn seeing her and Dan stood there before I see Iris’ sweet face light up. She looks up at her mom, who’s quickly signing, ‘you can go see him’. 

“Hi, sweet girl,” I whisper out of habit. She scurries over, I pull her into a bear hug before she climbs into my lap. 

“I’m sorry I made you guys stop in, but I figured it would be easier to just talk about this in person,” I tell them.

“No, it’s really okay,” Dan says, “We had some errands to do, and Miss Thing over there loves getting to see you and Josh, so she’s not going to complain.” Glancing down at her while she looks at my necklace intently. 

“Okay, so–” I start, “The redhead who was here basically reminded me that I need to make you an official employee.”

“Okay… why do you seem nervous, though?” she questions. 

“I need to get you certified with the state, it’s not a ‘requirement’ but it definitely looks better for us,” I know I probably sound and look defeated but at this point, who am I trying to fool?

“Did I get you into some shit?” her face falls a bit. Dan reached over to her for comfort. 

“No, it’s not your fault. I was too ready to hire another person, and obviously, I know you, so I didn’t even think about it.”

‘Sad?’ Iris says, looking up at me.

I can’t help the small smile that breaks seeing her, ‘No, I’m okay,’ I tell her. Subtly making eye contact with Melody to make sure i’m signing everything correctly, which she just nods. 

“So can I not work until then or..?” 

I let out a long sigh, “I’ll just have you work with one of us until everything is done.”

Dan leans in, kissing the side of her head, before looking over at me, “Do you need help getting everything figured out?” 

“No, it shouldn’t take me too long. I just need to sit down and actually do it.”

It’s practically clockwork the way Josh appears in the doorway. “Hope I’m not interrupting anything,” he starts. But the- IS THAT MY BABYGIRL?” His voice rises as he drops into a squat. She runs into Josh’s arms, giggling the entire way. They really are a cute little pair, I think to myself. He spends a minute chatting with her before sending her back over to Dan. 

“OH- the shipment is here, by the way.”

Fucking Christ, of course it comes today. 

“I’ll be right there,” I shoot him a tight-lipped smile. 

I look back to Melody, as I’m standing up from my desk, “I will figure this out and you will still be paid for whatever days you work even before the paperwork is submitted, okay?” 

We end up talking for a few minutes before I actually make my way back into the bar. Rounding the corner, I see the next problem I have to tackle. Our entire shipment is just stacked up at the end of the hallway. 

“Josh, why didn’t you tell them to just put everything in the cooler?” I look over to him as he’s drying glasses and putting them away. He doesn’t react to my question, which is weird for someone who never stops talking. 

“Josh?” No response.

I walk towards him, which finally catches his eye, turning to me as he pulls out one of his headphones. 

“There you are, I’ve been wa-” he starts, but I can’t stop myself from cutting in. 

“Are you joking?” I snap, coming off harsher than I would like. 

“What do you mean?” 

I rub my eyes harder than I probably should before looking at him again, “Why didn’t you tell them to put the cases of beer in the cooler?”

“What do you mean..” he turns, seeing the shipment sitting at the end of the bar, “Oh.. oh my god.. I didn’t think they would start bringing it in until you signed for it.”

I inhale slowly, staring at him and doing my best not to lose it. It’s fine; everything will be fine. Just sign for the shipment and start moving everything. Maybe Dan won’t mind helping for a few minutes. 

“It’s fine,” I grab his arm gently. 'I’m sorry. It’s not a big deal.” I turn away from him, head outside, and sign for everything. Nothing more than a ‘thanks so much, have a good one’, and then I’m back inside, ready for whatever else is going to go wrong today. If I only knew. 

Thankful that Dan is at the bar talking to Josh, I quickly walk over to him, 

“Where’d the girls go?”

“Mel took Iris to the car. The little lady was getting antsy,”

“Do you mind helping me get these out of the way?” He glances over, his eyes going wide, before nodding. 

The two of us have spent a lot of time working together, given the shipyard and all. I think we would both agree that having someone there that we knew made the experience a bit better. It’s not the most exhilarating job you could have, but it pays well and has benefits. Which, when you’re in your early twenties, is about all you can ask for. 

We both round the corner into the cooler and set everything down, just on the floor so we can organize it at some point today. Just another thing I’ll need to take care of now. 

“Do you need me to work tonight?” he asks quietly. 

“What? No, I already feel bad making the two of you stop by. Enjoy your day off.” I probably could use the help today but, none of this is his fault, so I’m not going to make him come in. 

“Are you sure? I don’t mind, really.” 

“I’m positive. I appreciate you just helping me move these, so I didn’t have to ask Josh,” we both laugh at the thought of Josh lugging cases of beer around.  ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

I don’t know how long I’ve been in this cooler, but I’m nearing the end of organizing and taking inventory of what we have. We probably should have done this sooner because we definitely could have used a few more things. Setting my notebook down, trying to move things around, I hear a faint, ‘Hey Jake,’ coming through the wall. I finish shifting some of the beers around to make more sense before grabbing my notebook and making my way back out to the bar. 

I only make it a few steps down the hall before I hear chatter coming from the bar. That’s weird? Sliding my phone out of my pocket, it is Tuesday, right? Why is it so loud out there? Picking up my pace, I toss the notebook onto my desk in passing. Rounding the corner behind the bar, I saw a slew of faces at the bar, and most of the tables were filled. 

“Uh, what the fuck is going on?” I lean into Josh so nobody can hear me. 

“I have been trying to figure that out this whole time,” he whispers back, “Did you not hear me call for you?” 

“No, I did, I just didn’t think it was for this.” 

He looks at me, clearly scattered, “I have the bar handled,” 

I just nod, hustling out to the tables one by one, taking orders. I spend most of my time behind the bar; usually Josh is the one running to tables and charming everyone who comes in. 

I run drinks to each table, making sure everybody is good for a few. After what feels like the thousandth time walking behind the bar, I cave.

Jake: hey bud, is there any chance you can come help? We’re swamped and it’s just josh and i. Please I’ll pay you for real 

Sam: I guess I can. Bird and Quinn wanna watch some shitty tv show anyway

Jake: youre the best 

“Sam’s on his way,” I whisper to Josh as he’s pouring a fresh beer for someone. 

He breathes out, “Thank God,” sliding the fresh beer across the bar. I don’t know where all of them are coming from.” The door chime rings quietly amongst the bar chatter, and the music flows from the jukebox as more people happily saunter through. 

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Once Sam came in, things got a bit easier, and I only had to run drinks to people rather than bussing the tables as I was taking orders. Josh continued tending the bar. It’s absurd for a Tuesday to be this busy. Nobody has a clear answer on why they all ended up here tonight, either. I’ll take busy over a typical boring Tuesday night around here– 

“Ooooooooo,” every patron of the bar collectively says in a chorus of ooo’s and ahhh’s. Looking over to Sam, who may as well have his tail between his legs, standing in front of a pile of broken glasses. Fuck. 

I hustle over to him, “What happened?” 

“I was just trying to save a trip, so I had a shit load of glasses, and then well.. I sorta tripped myself.” 

I let out a long breath, trying not to laugh at how nervous he seems, “You and Willa really are a match made in heaven, huh?” I sneak past him and the broken glass, “Stay here. I’ll grab a broom.” 

Stopping in my office quickly, order some more glasses, I scribble into my notebook. 

“Here, I’ll do it,” he reaches out, taking the broom and dustpan from me. His eyebrows are still pulled together as he sets the dustpan on the chair next to him. 

I grab his arm gently, “I’m not mad at you, Sam.” I squeeze his arm a few times before he squats down to clean up the mess, and I go back to running around like a headless chicken.  

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It takes us a bit to get into a good flow, but between the three of us, we’ve managed. I don’t think the bar has ever been this busy during the week. Josh and I have switched so he can get out and talk to more people, which he’s definitely more comfortable doing. I found myself back behind the bar, which I feel like I can handle a bit better because it’s fewer people to focus on. Sam doing everything he can to help us keep up between bussing tables, running drinks, and washing glasses. 

Tapping my phone screen, 11:45 pm glows back at me. Thank God we’re almost there. Even though I never finished the paperwork I should have, at least this night is so close to being over. I set the shaker in the sink, turning around quickly to grab a fresh napkin to put underneath the glass, when I hear ‘ope’ escape Josh loudly. Of course, not before I feel the chill of a fresh beer soaking through my pant leg. 

“Sick.” I mutter, trying not to make a big deal out of it. I grab the napkin and the drink sliding them over to the customer. Nothing like wet denim. 

“Jake, I’m sorry,” Josh cringes, looking over at me as he pours another beer from the tap.

I take a deep breath, fighting the urge to be angry, yet again. I grab a shot glass and whatever bottle of Whiskey my hand lands on. I poured it for myself quickly and threw it back. Grimacing at the burn it leaves in my throat. 

“Drinking on the-” Josh starts, and immediately stops when I whip my head over to him with a tight-lipped smile and my eyes wide, “Carry on!” he backs off slowly.  

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The night goes on, my beer-soaked jeans and all. People start filtering out around midnight, which is pretty typical. We get mild enjoyment from watching the drunk girls try to walk on the cobblestone just across the street from us, which at this rate, might be the best thing to happen to me today. The three of us have a laugh together as we watch someone have to catch their girlfriend mid-fall when we hear the worst possible sound at 12:35am.  

‘What the fuck did you just say to me?’ cuts through everyone’s chatter. 

Stopping me in my tracks. Why does that voice sound familiar? I start walking towards the sound to realize who it is. Shit, shit, shit. Why didn’t I take Dan up on working tonight? I look at Josh, mouthing, ‘You stay here.’

Another loud ‘You motherfucker’ caused more people to look. 

Weaving between people who naturally have stood up to see what’s going on. For fucks sake, this would happen. Letting out a quiet “excuse me, sorry” as I nudge my way through, I manage to make it to the problem just as another good contact punch was thrown. Fucking Craig.

“Are you fucking joking?” I ask louder than usual. He turns to face me, and I can tell he’s realized he was caught.

“Excuse me?” the bigger one spits out. 

“Why are you in my bar, Greg?” I laugh, watching blood slowly leak from his nose. 

“It’s Craig,”

“I don’t care, why are you here?”

“I mean I just-“

“You just what? You just came here to start shit in my bar? AGAIN?” My voice slowly rose; the pent-up anger from today started to seep out. 

I grab his shirt as I get closer to him, the blood from his nose creeping over his mouth. 

“I told you to stay out of here, and you disrespected me this time,” I ball up his shirt in my fist tighter, “now leave, you piece of shit.” Shoving him towards the door, he stumbles into a table. 

He makes his way to the door, turning back to me, “Yeah, well, fuck you and your brother!” hollering as he walks out into the night. 

“How will I ever recover?” I laugh to myself. 

I look over to the guy who punched Craig, where Sam is already stood in front of him. 

“Jeff, right?” 

Oh, Sammy boy I’ll let you have this one. 

“Uhh-“ 

“Yeah, I’m gonna have to ask you to leave..” Sam tells him, grabbing his arm and gesturing to the door. 

“Why do I have to leave? He started it?” 

The grimace on Sam's face at his rebuttal making me laugh before he spits out, “Yeaahhh… and you punched him so.. I think it’s obvious,” 

“So.. you like getting in bar fights AND ditching women on dates?” Sam asks. 

“What are you talking about?” 

“You’re a real stand-up guy, Jeff,” Sam says, the sarcasm alone should sober him up enough to drive. I watch as Sam opens the door and pushes him through, turning to me with a shit-eating grin on his face. 

“God, that felt good. I knew that dude was a prick,” he barks out a laugh. 

Spending a couple minutes mingling amongst the tables who were close to the action, making sure everybody is okay and apologizing for the unfortunate disturbance. Grateful that nobody was truly upset, and honestly, they kept applauding me for taking care of it. Maybe I’m actually okay at this? I hadn’t really needed to break up many fights here since we opened, because Dan usually gets people out before it starts. 

I walk up behind Josh, leaning close to him so only he can hear, “I doubt he’ll ever try to come back now.” 

His face turned towards me, “Did he actually get hit?”

“Oh, absolutely. His nose was probably broken.”

His smile grows, “He deserved that.”

“Yeah he did,” I laughed because nobody deserved it more than him. 

The rest of the night went smoothly. Everybody started filtering out, and we were down to just a handful by 1:45 am. Grateful they had all already paid, they were heading towards the door by the time good ole Bob began to play through the speakers. I don’t know if that’s offensive to Bob or if they can tell we want to go home.

 We only spent a few minutes cleaning up before I told Sam to go home. Promising him, I would send him money as soon as I finished up here and locked the front door behind him. 

“Let’s finish this tomorrow, Bub,” I tell him as I’m walking back over to the bar, “It’s been a long enough day.” 

I’ve never seen someone drop what they’re doing faster. Throwing the cleaning rag under the bar and grabbing his phone, I watch him hustle to the back door. It’s hard not to laugh at it, maybe it’s the exhaustion. Shutting all the lights off as I walk through and locking up the bar, we’re finally free. The paperwork will be a future me problem.  

“Tomorrow’s a new day,” Josh says quietly, squeezing my shoulder as we walk into the stairwell.

I take a deep breath, letting it out with a, “You’re right.” 

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

We quietly get into the apartment. Considering the night we both endured, we don’t really say much past ‘goodnight’. I fall back into my bed, just staring at the ceiling for a few minutes. First thing tomorrow, I’ll get those forms filled out. I just need to focus. Today was a mess, so maybe a fresh set of eyes will help. 

Tossing my jeans that smell horrendous at the pile of dirty laundry as I make myself more comfortable. Scrolling through my phone for a minute to try and decompress from the day, my stomach drops. 

‘People you may know..’  on Instagram will always haunt me, full of people I went to high school with that I no longer talk to. This time though feels like torture. 

‘Charlotte Rhodes’ sits there for a second before my curiosity gets the best of me. I tap on her name, revealing that her account is private. I should have known; she seemed fairly reserved, but I couldn’t resist clicking on her profile picture. 

Her loose red waves pass her shoulders, her freckles on display. This must be from summer, and she looks like she’s been in the sun. The way she is laughing; her smile is so big. The green of her eyes peeks through even if she’s squinting. Whoever took this photo is lucky to have her look at them like this.  

I linger on her photo for longer than I should admit, but lord have mercy, she is beautiful. ‘You really run a tight ship around here, huh?’ plays in my head. My heart feels weird thinking about it. I know I’m probably overthinking it, but in my head, that was her way of subtly flirting. Even if I promptly made a fool of myself after. The boys will never let that one go, either. My eyes start to feel heavy, and I toss my phone onto my nightstand. I lay there in the dark, closing my eyes and hoping to fall asleep soon. But my mind won’t ease up; all I can think of is her.

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Chapter Two

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[kitkatopinions]

Blake for the rewrite game

Yeah, my girl Blake!

So, to start things off, if I rewrote RWBY, I would get rid of the Faunus racism angle, Faunus would just exist, and I would instead focus more on classism. This would obviously change Blake quite a bit, but I would try to keep her V1-5 character the same despite this.

But backstory is where I think things would get really different. I never minded the "daughter of the chief" thing (though if I was rewriting, I would remake Menagerie into "Aride," one of the biggest "non-kingdom" places in Remnant.) But it would be an elected position that her mother had, but didn't have until Blake was about seven, and there would be no real expectation that Blake would grow up and take over. But she would grow up in the public eye in her country since she's basically the daughter of a president, and she'd be comparatively rich. I say 'comparatively' because of people like Weiss. Blake would grow up with security and people paid to garden and cook at her three story house, but it isn't like she'd be a billionaire. But, moving on from that, I'd make Ilia Blake's childhood friend with their parents being friends. Blake would travel around a lot with her father and Ilia would attend private school in Atlas, but they'd spend every summer together. And then I'd have Blake's father and Ilia's parents die in the same SDC accident, leaving Ilia an orphan and Blake grieving when they're both about eleven. Blake's mom starts sheltering her and gets really overprotective, and Ilia decides to run away from her new foster family and asks Blake to come with her, and Blake does. That's when Adam would enter the picture.

Here's the thing about Adam, he's basically two characters. Almost everything he does is some kind of contradiction of another thing he did. So if I were re-writing, I'd split Adam in two. There would be the teenage freedom fighter that would be nuanced and have ideological disagreements with Blake that slowly started getting worse but cares more about the cause than chasing after Blake that I would give the romantic history as well, and then give the 'older mentor' role and the 'abuser' role and the 'obsessed' and the 'doesn't actually care about the cause' stuff to... Hazel. All that is re-writing other characters, but it's crucial to Blake's backstory. Because I would have Blake and Ilia spend some time starving on the streets and then they'd meet Adam, who is a year older than them and rough but caring, and takes them to his 'benefactor' Hazel, who has Adam currently working for him in exchange for room and board. And Hazel is totally using the kids with a mask of caring for them, and convinces them that he's working to take down the SDC when really he's working for Salem. Blake spends about four years working with Hazel, but she starts doubting him and having a problem with the collateral and the unnecessary violence she sees, and Hazel starts escalating into being subtly and then not so subtly abusive towards them, and she sees how Adam and Ilia are growing more and more angry and violent, with Adam specifically starting to copy Hazel's abusive behavior. I'd then have Blake overhear Hazel talking to Watts or Cinder or something over the scroll, basically confirming that he's really a murderer who is just using them, and she runs away again, leaving behind Adam and Ilia. I'd have her regret it and try to go back to their base to talk to them, but it would be cleared away by then. She winds up joining an actual rights group run by Sienna Kahn who in my re-writes would be a former Hunter, and that inspires Blake to join the Hunter academy. Also, I would have a romantic angle between Blake and Adam, but I'd have them both move on from it.

But yeah, to me, having Blake accidentally work for a Salem agent and then leave behind her friends in the middle of it seems like a much better cause for Blake's whole "i have a past I'm not proud of and I've made a lot of mistakes' thing than 'I was a member of a civil rights group that wasn't one hundred percent peaceful, I now have to swear to my bigoted friend that I'm not part of it anymore.'

As for canon, I'd mostly keep it the same for a while only with some minor tweaks, Blake would still be the hard to get to, hesitant to make friends, passionate feisty action based girl with a strong moral code that keeps secrets from her friends and is guilt-ridden and self-deprecating. I'd just make her strict morals kind of akin to my own, with less 'never steal, reactive violence is wrong' stuff and more 'know exactly who you're stealing from to make sure it's morally sound,' and 'reform should be the goal, not revenge' kind of stuff, and I'd make her V4-V5 arc include her deciding to try to save Ilia and Adam, and it would turn into this whole thing where Adam takes a longer time and even then his and Blake's friendship just is never recovered. And also, I'd make it so that Blake is typically the most compassionate member of Team RWBY, always the first to understand where others are coming from when their team disagrees with people like Oz or Ironwood, and I'd have it so that she's a bit more focused on the personal and the human conflicts than on Salem and that kind of thing. Like yes, obviously Blake would be concerned about Salem, but like, she'd get to Atlas and be concerned about what Jacques Schnee is doing and how it affects people while the others are a bit more concerned with the secret Salem war.

Blake is a fave of mine, so I really want to do her justice!

[bug-the-chicken-nug]

on my latest rwby au bullshit, which I think i will officially start to also tag as the "Silver Wolf" AU.

Silver Wolf AU: Premise

A combo of Ruby being a wolf faunus (on top of getting rid of the stupid rule about one trait because fuck that i want her to have the ears, tail, AND sharp teeth and nails) and having silver eyes, but silver eyed warriors now being considered like... this creepy-but-unfortunately-necessary group who barely anybody wants to really associate with, under fear of it "cursing" you. By extension, they are now known as "Witches" rather than "Warriors", regardless of gender. (This also makes it possible to just shorten it to 'Witch' and have it already be pretty obvious what a character is talking about, so it rolls off the tongue better, while also creating this uncomfortable implication that these people are put on the same level as Salem despite directly opposing her.) The "curse" is a more superstitious exaggeration of the unfortunate reality that associating with them really can put you at risk of becoming collateral when they're hunted down, on top of their eyes now being not all-or-nothing Grimm nuking, but instead having a sort of "level up" system, and the potential to unlock certain abilities that can affect people too. (the new common thread being that all of these abilities have to do with sensing and/or eliminating "darkness" and "negativity", not just Grimm) The fear of association, powers that can be directed towards humans, and the societal shunning would also do a lot to help explain exactly why Witches are so scattered and fragmented, and why people know so little about them. Because in canon, it just seems like they should be heroes who everyone should know about and have a vested interest in supporting.

Relationships:

Also, this AU would 100% be a Ladybug thing. Because I can just see Blake standing up for Ruby, and Ruby immediately being head over heels in response, but having no idea how to actually express it and also being paranoid that Blake will just think she's weird like everyone else. (And meanwhile Blake is paranoid about how Ruby will react if she finds out that Blake is technically a terrorist, and also friend/sister-zoning Ruby big time for the first few volumes, less out of a genuine lack of interest and more because of her subconscious fear of commitment)

Although there'd also be other fragments of Ruby ship teases, just because I imagine this version of her to have developed "gets a crush on anyone who's nice to her for five seconds" syndrome. (Yes I'm sorry, I know a ton of y'all hate Jaune but my Ruby's friendless, bullied, avoided, desperate-for-validation ass sees him being nice to her and unafraid of her for like ten seconds and is lowkey already thinking about a spring wedding.) This also includes a one-sided crush on Ozpin, just for how I think that'd be kinda narratively interesting and potentially a little fucked up. (Especially because the full nuance of why it's interesting can change depending on how grey this Ozpin's morals end up being. Is he subtly using it as leverage? Could this version of him be dickish enough to lead her on? Does he do it on purpose? Or does he even notice her feelings at all? Does he notice and subtly try to discourage it? What happens when he gets stuck in Oscar?) And a crush on Marrow, literally just because I think it'd be funny. Marrow: *obliviously friendly* Ruby: *practically ready to become Ruby Amin, just because he's a fellow Faunus, complimented Crescent Rose, and didn't say anything about her eyes* Blake, looking on: hmst,,, don't know why but. this is bad, actually. Weiss: *sighing deeply* you obviously know why. Meanwhile I figure Yang is human, because only Summer was a Faunus, and it kinda puts this weird Thing between her and Ruby where Ruby both greatly admires and envies her, but lowkey resents her, because she feels like Yang will never truly understand what she goes through, and gets to "have it easy". On her own end, Yang has had to sacrifice a lot of social opportunities to prioritize a good standing with Ruby, because even just admitting relation to Ruby makes people treat Yang differently anyway. So Ruby thinks of herself as a burden, and Yang is desperately trying to hide the fact that she *agrees* with Ruby, deep down. She thinks the burden is *worth it*, but she doesn't know a way of properly conveying "It's okay that you're a burden sometimes, I know it's not your fault, and I still love you even if I get frustrated with you sometimes" that doesn't make her feel incredibly guilty and paranoid that she sounds insincere. And finally (at least for now) I think this would be inch-resting for Adam because now Ruby has something that can actually give her something to do with him too, and make her feel more connected to the things that go on around her. She could even have weird mixed feelings on him, stemming from him seeing her silver eyes and not only expressing approval of them, but trying to get her to come around to his side, using the extra discrimination she's faced because of them to try and butter her up and manipulate her.

[truly-morgan]

[Aroace!JC and JL]

Jiang Cheng | Mo Dao Zu Shi Modern AU 14-04-2021

[modern aroace #jiangcheng and jin ling]

where jl grew up with jc never really being in a relationship and the handful of ones he had only going on for a couple of weeks (or even days one time) before breaking off.

he wonders if it's because of him, since jc is young but had to take care of a small child. obviously, jc reassures him about this and simply says "I was too busy with school and wasn't even looking for a relationship, don't worry a-ling".

But jl doesn't want him to be alone so he tries to sneakily get jc to find someone or just put is attention on people. "Isn't she pretty?" "Oh, she seems to like you". but he realises quickly that his uncle doesn't seem interested in ladies, so he changes his strategy and tries with guys. The results are as bad. it's only around 15-16 that jl realises something: his uncle is just /not/ interested in anybody and seems really uncomfortable when people are obviously flirting with him.

"Do you think jiujiu is alright?" he ask his friends once after telling them (he has no one else apart from them and jc to talk about it. It was rather obvious jc is not an option).

"Maybe he just doesn't feel that kind of attraction?" suggest oyz, a bit unsure how it would work.

"Maybe he's like Wen Ning" suggest lsz only to have the three other turn to him. They didn't know much about lsz extended cousin, so they were unsure what he was talking about, just asking for more detail.

"He just doesn't experience sexual or romantic attraction at all, I forgot the words for it I would need to ask him for that" he explained. This made a lot of sense in jl mind, assuming jc probably already knew that about himself and just never told him about it (probably unsure how he would react or because he didn't see it necessary?).

So he instead switches to push away anyone who was trying to bother him by flirting heavily. It was to a point even his friend would (more subtly) make people understand jc was not interested.

of course, jc catches onto that 180 his nephew and finds it a bit weird. He was all in to apparently find him a date and now he chases away anyone who approaches him?

So at dinner one time, he asks about it.

"Isn't jiujiu aromantic and asexual? Doesn't it make you uncomfortable when people do that?" jl answers.

and this throws jc into confusion because what is he talking about?! so jl explains to him, looking a bit unsure that he might have wrongly assumed (again) something about his jiujiu. but what could he do when he doesn't tell him much in that department?!

jc looks pensive for a while, making jl a bit nervous, before he sees realisation and relief flashing over his jiujiu face, looking up towards him.

"You're telling me... there are other people who feel like this?"

and this is when jl realises his jiujiu /never/ knew. jc eyes look teary rather quickly, looking to the side a bit. "So there isn't something wrong with me, other people feel like that too".

oh. his jiujiu thought something was /wrong/ with him. jl feel sad about the idea that his jc had believed all these years that something was wrong and had probably forced himself into a relationship "No! There is nothing wrong with you!" he quickly replied, wanting to reassure his jiujiu.

They end up talking some more about it, jl is happy to see his uncle looking so relieved and reassured about something he felt like people might have shamed him for. from there on out, jl is jc biggest ally ever and supports him and is ready to remind him nothing is wrong with him.

(jl is the best ally until he realises he might not be as straight as he thought he was, nor as all as he thought he was)

Like, I can easily imagine jfm and yzy shoving in his head that he /will/ find a wife one day. Hence making him feel shame because he's /failing/ them /again/.

Not to help some of his past relationships might not have had the best reaction to him trying to put it into words.

and he overall stopped mentioning it since the couple of people he confided in only made him feel worst and broken as if something was really wrong with him and that no one else was like that.

Original

[masschase]

Some Troy and Casey cousins lore as promised the other day!

I'm basically back to saying this is part of my canon now. It's just in a very different form to the original vague hc I had for them.

Once again, yes, maybe there are AUs where they aren't related, and maybe there are AUs where they know they're related. In fact I kind of need there to be because I need to see a teenage Troy being made to babysit Casey as a baby/toddler; the results are gonna be precious and/or hilarious(I hc her being a pretty chill baby as long as she's fed frequently but like... toddlers in general... uhhh good luck Troy 🤣)!

But main universe, they don't really know. They never really know. Now I really like when aspects of my hc just kind of... fall into place? So here's some parts of Casey's backstory I created for entirely different reasons that link in with this really well.

Casey had limited contact with an uncle on her dad's side who taught her to shoot and fight not long before the events of SR1. The uncle was originally aiming to teach her sister Phoebe, who, presuming Casey was around 13, would have been 17 at the time, but she really wasn't that interested. Casey on the other hand was fascinated. It was her first time having a hobby that was more focused on channelling her feelings into a hobby rather than reading which was a lot more for the purposes of escapism.

Casey has some gratitude towards this uncle, but also some cynicism too. "Never checked we had food in the house but, you know, at least I could shoot a gun and punch out a guy twice my size." she points out. But eventually she does process that it was her mom who might have been keeping that side of the family away from her, and while I never confirmed it, I believe that is indeed what happened(her dad, however, is entirely responsible for his own absence).

I've never really got into why this uncle was particularly skilled at/decided to teach them this stuff, why Elizabetta allowed him contact with them when no-one else was allowed that, or why he was so interested on checking up on the kids. But I'm now suggesting that this man is Troy's dad and I think that in itself goes to some way to explaining it.

This uncle wasn't actually Casey and Phoebe's dad's brother as they were told, he just put it that way to simplify things for these two kids who didn't really know him. They obviously just accepted it because they didn't know their dad in that much detail. He was his brother-in-law. His wife was Casey's blood aunt, and Troy's mom, and she took her husband's surname of Bradshaw while, as I've mentioned in a previous post, her brother took his wife's name of Clark until their divorce.

I definitely hc Troy's dad being a cop. This explains would explain why he would have a reasonable amount of expertise in not just combat but teaching combat to a reasonable level. Troy's dad wanted contact with his nieces partially because he felt some duty of care to them, and also because his wife probably suggested they be subtly checked on. "Teaching them to fight because I've seen a lot of shit happen to young women" or something was a good way to frame it that would explain why it's worth travelling halfway across Michigan for.

The fact that he wasn't actually blood related to Stanisław made Elizabetta a little less concerned about letting her daughters see him. But really, her ongoing paranoia about social services involvement made her more inclined to agree with his request in a way she felt she could maintain control over. Because overall, her kids didn't come across as problem kids if seen outside the house.

It seemed to work in that respect. Phoebe seemed sociable and responsible with some typical teen disinterest, Cassandra was shy and intelligent but came out of her shell a lot as he began teaching her. Even if he did have minor concerns, his wife would probably tell him it was fine based on what he'd told her.

Troy's mom was not uncaring about her nieces, not at all. But with a house full of teenagers, pushing for contact with two small children was never her priority. Once her children were grown? Yeah, she may have had some concerns, but unless they were in actual danger, she wasn't going to get involved with a situation where she might end up taking responsibility for them. I hc her having had an OK relationship with her sister-in-law in the past, so less reason for concern. The relationship between her and Stanis I think could be a post in itself, but I think they weren't super close as siblings go, I think again the age gap factored into that.

What does Casey know about her cousins? Pretty much nothing. Her mom didn't allow it. She doesn't know their names. She's never seen a picture. She once asked her mom about them upon seeing a schoolfriend who was close with their cousin, only to be basically told "they're adults, they don't wanna come play with you", so she knows they're all older. By the time she's an adult and could reasonably go looking, she's so disaffected with her family she doesn't do so. Bear in mind that even when her grudge against her sister (who she loves very much) for leaving her with their mom was let go, she still doesn't visit often due to 'not wanting to be around her perfect family'. I make it pretty clear she has issues around stuff like that which she knows she just can't have due to her line of work. When you add in the fact she's secretly got some shades of social anxiety, going to see cousins in their 30s/40s who she's never met and potentially ending up sitting with their perfect little families is her idea of hell. So she never makes contact.

What does Troy know about his cousins? He knows their names. Phoebe, Cassandra. He saw a couple of photos of them that their mom allowed his mom to have before he left home, when they were still pretty young. He would assume they have their dad's second name, Kendziorski, just due to that being more common and knowing their parents were married (his mom making mention of an ex-sister-in-law). He has other young cousins; his uncle's even younger children/Casey's half siblings if he has interest in that sort of connection. But honestly I doubt he's that interested either.

Neither of them know the right things about the other to make the connection when they meet in SR1. Casey has nothing to go on, really, and she's not the type to jump to conclusions about that sort of thing. Troy has a face that's obviously nothing like the picture from when she was 5, a name that doesn't match, at first not even the right gender as both of his estranged cousins are girls and obviously Casey is mistaken for a boy for a while. Casey never talks about her past. Troy doesn't look much like Casey's dad and Casey doesn't look much like Troy's mom. With a closer friendship and more time together they absolutely would have figured it out. But for various reasons they don't have that.

I do think they met once prior to the game though. Casey was just way too young to remember it.

Stanis was miserable around the time of Casey's birth. Elizabetta's keeping up appearances nature would have prevented him feeling he could vent to most of their friends. So I think at some point when she was a few months old he went to his sister's house under the pretense of introducing the new baby to her aunt. He does, but he also really just needs to talk to someone detached enough from the situation; his sister. So baby Cassandra is placed in a little play ring in a corner of the room attempting to put everything within reach into her mouth. Troy is made to sit with her while his mom and uncle talk in hushed whispers on the other side of the room under the pretense of "watching her" when they really just don't want him eavesdropping.

If I wanted to say something poignant and beautiful and rather contrived I could write something about how even then Troy knew he had to protect this kid, even though he didn't know her yet. How their meeting 15 years later would perfectly mirror that one.

But come on! He's a thirteen year old boy! He's a thirteen year old Troy! His thoughts on the situation are "Why the hell am I the one stuck looking after this thing?".

But you know what? That's OK. Because that mirrors his views on their future situation pretty well too. 😉

[maiiiwrites]

★ | ATTENTION STUDENTS . JPEG

PAIRING ! theodore nott x f!reader

IN WHICH your arrival at hogwarts is stirring up trouble

you roamed the halls of hogwarts. feeling overwhelmed in a good way. no words are enough to explain how happy you are to finally be here. the transfer process took so long and stressed everyone who handled it. thankfully your parents assigned someone to do the papers for you.

your arrival at hogwarts mid term grabbed everyone's attention. everyone had questions and wasn't exactly quiet about their theories. they wanted to know who, what, where, why you we're here.

"a new student? in the middle of the term?"

"how odd is that?"

"look there she is, the new student"

you continued walking, not bothering to acknowledge the students trying to get your attention. you were only looking forward to one person. in that exact moment, your eyes finally met for the first time in months. you couldn't mask your excitement from that interaction alone.

theodore didn't expect a new student, much less his lovely girlfriend. his gaze softened and a small smile managed to slip through.

two souls finally feeling each others presence after being apart for too long

that's how it went for the next few days. just simple little glances and the occasional exchange of letters. much to theodore's dismay, his subtle actions of affection did not go unnoticed by the group.

blaise was particularly nosey about his relationship with you. he was always the one who caught onto the small smiles across the hall, playing on the thread bracelet on his wrist, and the hidden love letters in his desk drawer.

"sooo.. theodore what's up with you and the new gal," blaise not so subtly asked during breakfast.

theodore perked at the mention of you, "nothing."

"oh come on there's obviously something! at least give me a hint," blaise continued.

"sure. here's a hint, im not telling you."

theodore knew there was no escaping this. they're bound to find out sooner or later. for now, the plan was to stay silent and leave loose ends. leave them curious for a while, but his fool proof plan came crashing down the moment you walked in the great hall.

you smiled at your friends seated at the table. looking forward to having your stomach filled. however, boys surrounded you with gifts and letters before you could even settle down.

you attempted to slip away but they were simply too much. feeling more crowded by the passing second. theodore didn't like how crowded you seemed. the obvious panic on your features was his last straw.

he abruptly stood up from his seat and walked towards you. leaving his friends intrigued by the sudden outburst.

theodore easily made his way to you and wrapped his arms around your middle. the action catching you by surprise until realizing its just theo. your theo.

"everyone back off! you're making my girl feel uncomfortable,"

the whole hall went silent at the confession. the crowd of boys slowly disappeared heartbroken and taken aback from theodore's claim. leaving his act of affection on display for everyone to see.

you turn around facing theodore. finally seeing him up close since your arrival.

"is it just me or you got prettier since the last time i saw you?" you teased.

theodore rolled his eyes and kissed the corner of your lips. "you've been causing a lot of trouble lately," theodore hummed.

you gasp, faking offense by his words. "are you accusing your sweet girlfriend?"

he laughed at your silly antics and hugged you tighter. "never, trouble."

you smiled hearing your special nickname.

"i love you and all but your friends are burning holes through my head," you point, particularly at blaise. theodore finally realized you're both (still) in the middle of the great hall wrapped in each others arms.

he chuckled finding the entire situation funny. theodore finally let you go and tucked a loose strand of hair behind your ear. "i better go back, trouble."

"does this mean we can visit each other now.." you beamed.

who has he to deny your love and attention. "always."

© maiiiwrites — ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

[electricea]

@ofhope sent - Giving out Valentine's wasn't abnormal by any means; in fact, these last couple of years, she's given out plenty! Friends, family, neighbors, classmates... but this one was different. No, it wasn't different. Was it different? Ugh, her heart was practically pounding in her ears, and it was dumb to think the thump-thump-thump of her heartbeat could be heard by anyone else, but that didn't stop her from eyeing passersby none too subtly, wondering if they heard its rapid beat.

They had only been hanging out for a little while, and it wasn't weird to get a gift for someone you've talked to like a handful of times, and yeah it was Valentine's Day but who passes up the opportunity for free candy?! ... Such was her excuse anyway, and blissfully, the halls had cleared out by the time Chie had maneuvered herself around the building, finally locating the bleached head of hair she knew so -- er, didn't know so well. Ugh, when will her heart chill out already?!

"Hey, yo! Sprintmaster!" before she could hesitate, Chie shoved a bag of treats into his hands, tied with a... well, not so neat bow comprised of yellow and black; maybe the color scheme made up for the poor handwork? "I uhh, haaappy... Valentine's... Day? And before you start complaining, they're store-bought! The batch I made diiiidn't... turn out so hot," and now her cheeks are flush, too, when will it end?! "A, anywaaaay, thought you'd want something sweet! Iffff.. you've got time, I rented the latest Trial of the Dragon! Doesn't have to be today or whatever, I made sure to rent it for a whooole week! That gives us plenty of time for a first watch aaand a fifth rewatch!"

Ohh, no. Ooooooh no. This is the moment where- actually, no it's not, because they're not -- and she trips over her feet a little, but manages to balance herself, her hand on top of his. Her hand. On top. Of his. Ooooooh no. This is the moment! Retracting quickly, but not too quickly as to not get to feel the warmth of his hand, Chie laughs a nervous, too obviously nervous, laugh before readying to scramble away. "Seeyousometimelaterremembertocallmebye!!!"

( Valentines Day 2023 - Accepting! )

Perhaps if there was one day he would never become completely used to - it was Valentines Day. Just the sight of seeing so many couples all around him sneaking in gestures of affection and whispered affirmations of love wherever they could - the sight of girls clutching boxes to their chests, with reddened cheeks and nervous faces as they ran off to eagerly present their gifts to some lucky guy. Perhaps a few years ago, he would have been one of the many mopey looking single guys around the school, bemoaning his own bad luck with the girls and already wanting the day to be over.

Though his days of self pitying were long behind him, that still didn't make the day itself any less awkward and with each passing second, he found himself longing for the clock to turn toward, to once again go back to a time of normalcy, when he didn't have to hear about secret crushes, about chocolates and boyfriends and girlfriends. With any luck, it'd be over soon enough.

"Huh?" Lifting up his head curiously, he had grinned at the sight of his old friend, turning to give her an eager thumbs up in response! "Oi, Happy Valentines Day to you too!" He had greeted her with an equal vigour and cheerfulness, always happy to be in her company - how could he not? She was someone who matched his energy and more. "T-These are from you...?" He blinked as he took the chocolates into his hands, face seeming to redden as he realized there had been an attempt at homemade chocolates, even...! Would it have been too embarrassing for him to say that he would have tried them, anyway...?! This was probably just friend chocolate that he was reading too much into! She was a cool girl after all - she'd probably made the rounds with chocolate to lots of guys!

Still...whether that mattered or not, he still found himself touched by the gesture and by her earnest offer of just wanting to spend time together, just watching their favourite martial arts movies and then acting out the moves, after. Watching those types of movies was uniquely fun with her because there was no cynicism about the stunt work, no ridicule at how silly it might have looked - just two people having the time of their life and earnest enjoying a martial arts flick! Really...he couldn't think of a Valentines Day much better than that!

"I...think that'd be a ton of fun!" He's quick to agree, giving her his widest grin yet! ...Though, he pauses as he feels her hand unexpectedly covering his - though it's only a quick brush, but still enough to once again redden his face as he tries not to read too much into it...! Chuckling nervously himself, he runs a hand through his hair as he thinks of something to break the ice.

"You, uh, said you could watch it tonight, right...? I'm...not doing anything tonight."

[stealanity]

[ kim sunwoo ] ꕤ just friends

genre : angst + fluff warnings : mention of sex, suggestive scene, make out, a drunken man behaving inappropriately word count : 1.2k>

« we're just friends. »

was probably the biggest lie you ever told. you couldn't say that when he had a toothbrush in your bathroom, a shelf in your closet free for his things, a cup exclusively for him near the coffee machine.

« you're lying. »

obviously you were lying, and almost everyone knew it. but you couldn't say anything, you couldn't confirm or deny their words. all this because you didn't know where you were in your relationship with sunwoo.

« i'm not. »

you were probably living in denial, because your best friends and his kept teasing you both about it, all the fucking time. they keep playing with your nerves knowing full well that they would never get a straight answer from you. sunwoo knew how to ignore them and change the subject subtly, but you, you could never stop thinking about their innuendos.

« friends don't kiss each other, y/n. »

it is only very recently that he dares to kiss you during parties, in front of your friends. before that, he always managed to keep you both out of sight. pulling your hand to hide in an empty classroom, pushing you onto a table, wedging his pelvis between your legs so he can mingle his envious lips against yours, his hands getting lost under the skirt of your uniform. and his tongue couldn't help but seek yours, sometimes making you moan against his lips.

« ..and why not? it's 2022, kissing a friend isn't so trivial anymore. »

except a friend shouldn't make your heart beat like sunwoo drives yours crazy just by touching your hand in the morning when he gives you your cup of coffee, which he prepared with love, remembering that you like it with two sugars and a lot of milk. a friend is not supposed to give you a kiss when you wake up and one when you go to bed, when he comes to share your sheets with you. a friend shouldn't put you on their own sweatshirt when you're cold, grabbing your cheeks after that and whispering to you how beautiful you are.

« oh come on, why would sunwoo go fight like he did with that guy last time in the club, if not because he's in love with you? the guy is lazy as fuck. i've never seen him put so much energy into something than at this time. »

she has a point, you think. but even his arguments couldn't convince you. you couldn't deny that, that time, sunwoo put so much energy into his fists, you almost thought you had to take the other guy to the hospital. his face was bloody and your friend in an uncontrollable rage, until you managed to separate them from each other. sunwoo's lip was bleeding, while he seemed to be getting a proper breath, but all he cared about that day was how you were doing.

for context, the bloody boy had behaved very inappropriately towards you : checking you from bottom to top by placing his hands on your body despite your protests. bad luck for him, sunwoo came back from having taken you new drinks, and did not hesitate for a single second to violently take him away from you.

« he just... acted like a big brother. »

you will always remember his hands shaking like never before, settling on your cheeks, watching with a twinge of heart the concern in his eyes. sunwoo looked confused and worried, and instead of responding with words, you just snuggled into his arms, your ear lulled by the beating of his heart. you will always remember his arms clinging desperately to you when you whispered to him that you were fine. you will always remember how he never let go of you after that, always a hand clinging to yours, always a benevolent eye on you. he was your bodyguard in a way, the person who protected you and took care of you no matter the risks and consequences — and that's exactly why you felt at home around him.

« still. your brother was there and he didn't react that badly. »

because he doesn't like me, you scoff. your brother probably hated every part of your being, and sunwoo helped you a lot with that by the way. unfortunately, your family history was not very glorious – and you knew full well that you could count more on your friends than on your family. as far as you can remember, you never got along well with your big brother. your father abandoned you soon after you were born, and your mother was very rarely home. so you quickly learned to be independent and to get by in life on your own. and that's when you met the only person who never let go of your hand : kim sunwoo.

« he's only my brother because of the law. nothing comparable with woo. »

you suddenly remember how many tears sunwoo chased away because of your brother's hateful behavior towards you. you remember the suns he drew in the corner of your sad drawings, adding some sunlight to your dark world. you remember the many nights spent at his house playing and laughing with his parents, to the point of not wanting to return home the next day. sunwoo was the opposite of you at that time : sociable, happy, lively and full of energy. you admired him so much that sometimes you dreamed of being in his shoes. but as you grew up you realized that you didn't need to be like him to be happy, because sunwoo was that sun in your life, that lit up your whole world.

« i've never seen you happier than with him anyway. you change completely when he's around. »

you couldn't deny what she said, because you had just witnessed what she had just denounced. sunwoo suddenly entered the dining hall, accompanied by two of his friends with whom you got on pretty well, and when his eyes landed on you, an adorable and irresistible smile landed on his lips, reflecting yours. when he sat down next to you, tucking a lock of your hair behind your ear and wondering how your day was going, you could swear you felt your heart melt in your chest. his face was only inches from yours, and you wanted nothing more than to press your envious lips against his, especially when he dared to lick his lower lip with his tongue. and when he pulled you against him, pinning your back to his chest, wrapping his arms around your waist while letting a light kiss on your neck, the latter tickle your sensitive skin, you swore you never wanted to go home with him as much as right now.

your friend just gave you a glare, the one that just meant she was right about everything, but you couldn't help but smile at her, biting your lip to keep from letting out a scoff. come to think of it, she was definitely right. sunwoo and you probably weren't just friends — but it all became way too natural between you two to discuss about it. your relationship was fine without any labels.

because in your hearts, sunwoo was yours, and you were his.

[babylooneytoonz]

the Other Lane.

pairing : Clark Kent x Reader

requested by: @dashingcavill [Hope you like this! 💛]

warnings: Angst with a happy ending, and a lot of fluff in the end.

A/N: Ah, I'm really sorry I couldn't help but put some major angst in here, but I swear the ending is happy and I added the right amount of feels and fluff to make it hurt less. 💛

[The Masterlist]

You often wondered if you were born to your parents only to become a commodity that could be compared to your sister, Lois , at all times. Yes, the two of you were different, she had glamourous blonde hair and sparkling blue irises that made her strike out, while you had sombre [Y/H/C] hair and dull [Y/E/C] eyes that peeked out from the tint of your glasses. If the glasses weren't enough to fit you perfectly into the category that was termed as 'nerds', the fact that you loved to bury yourself into mounds and mounds of books, and literature was sure to fit you into that bill. All that comparison, but that didn't lessen the bond that you shared with Lois though.

However, things slowly started changing, the dynamics messing up when Clark Kent came into your life, as a friend and as a colleague.

Lois worked as a reporter for Daily Planet, and you, well you were mostly working in the background, struggling to make a run with your tiny little column on relationship advises. It wasn't like you were any less intelligent, but maybe you just were okay with how everything was going.

It didn't mean that there weren't times at all when Lois made you secretly jealous. To be fair, it didn't bother you when you heard stories of how Lois got herself into trouble yet again, with none other than the Superman came to her rescue. You could still take that, considering the fact that Superman took his duty towards the civilians as his topmost priority, but when you began noticing obvious changes in your sister's behaviour when she talked to Clark, his alter ego; your colleague at work, you couldn't help but start feeling the little pangs of jealousy.

It all began subtly— starting from lingering glances at the workplace, to hands brushing with each other's, almost innocently, yet the two of them had a sparkle in their eyes when it did. At first, you decided to ignore them at work, trying your best to not run into Clark Kent while you were in your office building. The reason for this was still inexplicably strange for you. You didn't even know the man that well, yet you could do nothing in your control to keep your budding feelings for him under check. It was like, the more you avoided Clark Kent, the more you began aching to get a glimpse of him.

As the days passed, you realized that your crush on Clark was slowly getting more prominent, and you started feeling scared, dreading if there ever came a day that your secret crush on him with finally be out. To top it up a notch, you wondered how Lois will react, knowing well aware that there was something blooming between the two of them, although she had never admitted this to you herself. Also, you kept hoping that whatever this was, between Clark and Lois, it was maybe all in your head and that maybe, just maybe, it wasn't even true, and you hoped it wasn't.

Soon, days grew into weeks and weeks flew by as long months, and you realized that what you felt for Clark wasn't just a silly crush, but you were actually falling in love with the man. It was the littlest things that he did that made your heart melt. You would, sometimes, run into him in the cafeteria, where he would be filling up his mug of coffee. He was a gentleman, he would smile and greet you warmly, your eyes meeting his sparkling bright ones as he would move out of the way and insist that you went ahead first. You would often end up taking elevator rides with him, and he would make sweet small talks with you, talking to you about everything, ranging from the weather to a possible alien invasion.

The plan that you had cooked up to avoid Clark Kent went down the drain from those days onwards. Instead, you almost began running into Clark almost everyday. The gossips about Clark and Lois had, by then, died down and you couldn't help but feel relieved, relieved that maybe you had just been dreaming, and there was nothing between Lois and Clark.

"Hey [Y/N], can I borrow your turtleneck? I can't seem to find mine?"

You looked up from the book that you had been binge reading on, flustered and embarassed, as you immediately tossed the book unceremoniously into your blanket. Of course, you couldn't let your sister in on the fact that you were secretly reading the fifty shades series. She would tease the living hell out of you. And then there was the fact that you felt ashamed of the fact that you could practically imagine Clark Kent in your mind as Christian Grey, and it was making you all heated up and bothered.

Lois raised an eyebrow when she saw you red you had turned, "Are you okay? You look like a massive human sized tomato."

"Gee, Lois, thanks?" You mumbled, still reeling from the way she had suddenly barged into your bedroom, as you pushed your glasses over the bridge of your nose, "couldn't bother to knock?"

"Since when do we do these formalities?" She wiggled her eyebrows dramatically, and dashed towards your closet, throwing it open as her fingers began working through the hangers, looking for what she was looking for. She was practically messing up your closet, so you sighed and decided to give her a helping hand. Abruptly, you slid out of the covers, forgetting about the novel that you had hidden underneath and the novel suddenly slipped off the side of the bed and fell to the floor, it's covering full on display.

You facepalmed, burying your face into your hands as Lois walked up to the book and picked it up, smirking obviously as she read out the title out loud just to tease you.

"Looks like my baby sister is finally growing her wings."

"Stop it, Lois. Don't embarass me," you grumbled, looking away. Instead, you dashed up to your closet and pushed her to the side, roughly pulling out your turtleneck as you handed it to her.

"Come on, [Y/N]" she laughed, shaking her head, messing up her perfectly styled blonde waves as she ran a hand through them, "We all have done this. You're not the only one. Nothing to be embarassed about. It's not like you're watching porn."

"It is technically still porn if I'm reading it," you whispered, watching her as she examined the turtleneck and smiled, as though she had pictured just the best trousers to go with it in the back of her mind as she absentmindedly replied back, "Again, sis, we all have done it."

You noticed the way she kept glancing at her phone, with a smile threatening to spill across her features. You raised your eyebrows and smacked your lips together, blinking curiously. She finally looked up and saw that you were staring at her so she grinned, "Guess who has a date tonight?"

"A date?" You asked, absentmindedly.

"Clark asked me out, [Y/N]. He is taking me to this really good Thai place that opened up in the suburbs and I just couldn't decide on what to wear!! This will just go perfectly with my jeans."

It happened so suddenly, but it still did. You felt like someone had just ripped your gut out with bare hands. You suddenly felt empty, was an understatement. You suddenly felt strange and cut off, and everything around you suddenly felt cold and distant and gloomy. You looked up at her, your earlier warmth having dissipated into a cold, dark look and you gave her a smile, biting your lip, "That's great, Lois. Have fun."

Lois noticed the way your face fell, but she couldn't understand or take the hint. She kept watching as you moved away, turning your back towards her and didn't utter another word. She parted her lips, wanting to ask her what had gone wrong suddenly, but decided not to, or rather, keep the discussion for another time. She didn't want Clark to reach before she had even gotten ready. You didn't step out of your bedroom, that night when Lois returned from her date with Clark, and Lois frowned when she saw that the lights to your bedroom were already switched off. You were a late sleeper.

Two months later,

Lois looked up from the article that she had been reading to find you enter the dining room with a breakfast plate in your hand.

"Mornin'," you mumbled, your voice barely audible as you sat down on a chair in front of her, next to your father, Sam Lane. Your father looked up from the newspaper that he was reading, and glanced at Lois who shrugged her shoulders in response and he cleared the throat.

"Honey, don't you think you've been locking yourself up in your room for long now? When was the last time you actually did something that didn't involve either the bed, or your office desk?" The cutting crispness in his voice was enough to slice through your heart, but weirdly, you felt nothing, ecen when you heard Lois gasp and mumble something to her father in protest.

"What do you want me to do, dad?" You asked, sipping your juice, your eyes fixed to your plate.

Ignoring you, Sam turned towards his elder daughter as he narrowed his eyes at her, his loud, booming voice echoing through your house, "Lois, what the hell happened at work? She just quit? And didn't even give a damn valid reason as to what on earth happened?"

"I don't know, dad. She hardly talks to me anymore," Lois replied.

You chuckled dryly to yourself, wondering when you had become so invisible to the world. You were right there with them and yet they regarded you like you weren't even there.

"It was difficult to get you job at the Daily Planet and look at you, throwing it away for whatever the hell the reason was." Your dad barked.

Your fingers clenched into a fist and Lois visibly tensed. Hurriedly, she stood up and announced that she was leaving. You stood up too, but not for work, but rather to go back to the place that you had locked yourself in for the past two months. When you reached the door, you turned around and regarded your father, mumbling, "Why would you care anyway? You never really did before."

You kicked open your room door and slammed it back shut again as you ran straight for your bed. You were trembling like a leaf trying to detach itself from the tree when you buried your face into the pillow and screamed as loudly as you could into it. You were a mess, a walking , talking, living, breathing mess.

You cried, for almost thirty minutes, until you were out of tears. You then sat up and rubbed your eye sockets, finally taking a deep breath. You were letting Clark and Lois affect you so much, you had forgotten what it was like to live normally. How were you supposed to go on like this? If you wouldn't take a command of your own life again, then how would learn to get back up on your feet? When would you learn to accept that you would never get Clark? He wasn't the one for you.

Feelings are so transient, it's like you can feel them slicing through your insides one minute, and then the other minute, you feel unrealistically numb.

With those sorts of destructive thoughts in your mind, you sneaked a bottle of whiskey that night from your father's liquor cabinet at two am at night. You rolled the window pane and snuck out onto the fire escape until you were climbing up towards the roof the building of your apartment, the bottle in tow.

You fixed yourself on the ledge, using your teeth to twist the bottle cap as you took a swig of it, feeling the warm liquid burn your relentless thirst for relief. Sip after sip, you kept staring at the starless sky, mediating your gaze from the sky down to the glittery buildings.

"Will I ever forget you, Clark Kent?" You whispered, into the thin air, laughing bitterly at yourself as you took the last sip from the bottle before it rolled away. The way the lights glimmered in front of you, and one of two cars drove past your building, looking like tiny little blinking lights from the height you were at, you realized one thing. No matter how bad your heart is broken, the world doesn’t stop for your grief.

You were lost in a turbulence of your own thoughts, so entangled into them, you didn't hear the soft thud somewhere behind you, neither the sound of the faintest footsteps that got closer to you, with every passing second. You took a sharp breath, and slowly stepped over the ledge, feeling shudders all over your frame as the winds hit you all over you. You footing, however, slipped, a sharp scream erupting from your lips as you fell backwards against gravity, your heart almost stopping.

Someone suddenly reached out towards you, gripping your wrist, leaving you hanging from the ledge, your body flailing in the air.

He pulled you with a jerk towards you, and your body hit his front, your hair falling all over your face partially covering it. You felt intoxicated, so much, that you had almost died by falling off the building but you didn't feel the scare, the only thing you felt was a sudden surge of adrenaline.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Superman growled, through gritted teeth, his eyes sparkling as you jerked you by your shoulders.

"Clark? Is -- that you?!" You slurred, holding on to his cape tight to hold you in place. You were in a weird state of mind, you could see that it was him, but you couldn't figure out if it really was him, or if it was your mind that was playing an illusion on you.

"Are you trying to kill yourself?" Clark fumed, still holding on to you by the low of your back. He suddenly jumped off the ledge, with you in tow, away from the edge, so the two of you were in the middle of the roof now.

"K-Kill myself? No, I.. I.." You stammered, struggling for the right words but your brain felt frozen.

"Two months, and you don't show yourself. And when I finally see you, you're trying to jump off a fucking building?!" His eyes just then fell on the empty whiskey bottle. He growled, clenching his fists tight as he let go off you and walked up to the where the bottle lay, his cape flying behind him. He bent, lifting it up as he examined it, noticing how the neck of the bottle had your lipstick imprints on it. "And you're drunk. To top it up a notch."

Your nostrils flared in an anger you hadn't experienced ever before, your secret feelings finally crushing you completely, mixed with the alcohol that was rushing through your blood. You growled, like a cornered animal, that was wounded yet didn't want to back down. You pushed him, once, twice, throwing out all your pent up anger and frustration into his steely body like he felt no hurt. You screamed, you lashed, you scratched and you cried, finally coming undone, like beads of a rosary coming apart and scattering all over the floor.

Clark's heart broke at the sight of you. He had always seen you as a strong, happy woman, always smiling for him whenever he saw you at work. And this woman, that stood in front of his eyes right now, was far from it.

"I am not weak! I wouldn't kill myself! You give yourself too much importance, to think that someone would give their life for you!" You lashed out.

You were tired of hitting him like a punching bag. He grabbed you by your wrists, holding them together in front of you, pressed against his chest. He slowly moved, so he was towering over you, his back shielding you from unwanted, prying eyes as he gazed into your eyes, trying to find the answer to where all of this was coming from.

"You don't know what you're talking about. Come on, Lois is worried about you."

You couldn't stop yourself when your hand jerked itself free from his hold, and your palm struck his cheek. There was a crackling noise, of skin against skin, and tears formed in your eyes when the realisation hit you, all the intoxication washing off of you. You had just slapped Superman, a man that could snap your neck by grabbing your throat. Yet, he just stood there, too shocked to even register that you had slapped him right across his face and what was worse, he couldn't understand the reason you had done that. Anger was surfing through his veins, but worse than the anger that he was feeling, he was feeling like someone had pulled his heart out, ripping it to shreds right in front of his eyes.

"Why?" He let go off your other hand, his own palm coming to rest against his cheek as you gave you a look full of hurt.

"Why did you even save me, Clark? You should have let me fall. Atleast, it would have spared me the pain of listening to her name flow out of your lips again."

"Why do you hate her so much? She is your sister, [Y/N] and she cares for you. She worries that you're killing yourself and she doesn't know the reason why--" Clark was losing his temper, slowly but surely. He didn't understand you and that was eating him up.

"The reason why? WHY??! Oh Clark can you stop? And listen to yourself. I love Lois, but she needs to stop trying to govern my life. I'm allowed to feel sad, I'm allowed to feel a fucking heartbreak--" You didn't realise, but your lips were trembling now, your eyes leaking salty tears. You shivered when you felt Clark hold you by your shoulders but you didn't push his arms away.

"Who broke your heart?" He whispered, his voice cracking.

"You're fucking daft for a man who saves the world--" Hissing bitterly , you pushed yourself away from Clark's grip and turned towards the ledge but this time, you didn't try anything that would risk your life. You simply revelled in the cold feeling of the wind striking your tear stained face as you took a punctured breath, feeling Clark's breath on the side of your neck.

"Who broke your heart?" He asked again, but this time it was much softer, and it made you bite down on your lip to hold yourself from breaking into a hysterical crying.

"You did, Clark. You broke my heart." You finally whispered, staring into the abyss in front of you, your eyes cloudy and your throat parched as you continued, your lips trembling, "I loved you. Always did, but you never looked at me. It was always Lois. And it killed me, watching you love her, knowing that you will never love me the way you love her--" Clark let you speak, he wanted to listen to you, for you to let it all out, all those bitter things that you had locked up inside your mind, that was slowly eating you up and killing you from the inside. "I am tired of everyone, for you, for my father and for the world to see me as the Other Lane, as Lois Lane's little sister. My name is [Y/N]. I like to draw although I am shit at it, I can sing in the showers and I hate partying. That is me. I want a normal relationship too, but it seems that the world is against me. I fell in love with one man, and turns out, he isn't even human, he is a freaking superhero from Krypton?"

Clark let out a gruff sounding snort, as he looked down at you. Reluctantly, he reached for a strand of hair that was sticking to your tear coated cheek, removing it and gently tucking it behind your ear. He felt a shudder run down your spine, with just a gentle touch of his hand and he smiled, biting his lip. How was he supposed to tell you what the truth was?

"You remember how we met at the cafeteria every morning ? And I let you take the coffee?"

You nodded, listening to him, trying to control the crying that had now turned to sniffles, as Clark kept speaking.

"And the countless times I ran into that elevator with you and me stuck inside for just two floors?"

"You must have been thinking how weird I was. How unlike Lois--" You began, but you were cut off by Clark's voice.

"I used to wonder if there was anything I could do to make the elevators stop working, so I'd get to spend more time with you. Wretched elevators, not once did anything go according to what I wanted." He mumbled, but he had a small smile playing on his lips, while you just looked on, staring at him in disbelief, wondering if your mind was playing jokes with you once again.

"I thought I would take Lois' help, to you know, figure out if you felt the same way, but you never said anything to her."

"What about the date? Lois and you went on?" You asked.

"Well, I --" he shrug, looking down at his feet, sheepishly, " Lois thought you would confess how you felt for me if we pretended to--"

You were too numb to react; so you just blinked in retaliation. Your blood ran cold, and you suddenly felt light headed. All this while, while you had secretly been pining for Clark Kent to love you back, was it actually the other way round? Was Clark going through the same thing wondering if you felt the same for him?

"That was cowardly." You hissed, through pursed lips, "Trying to pretend to be in love with my sister."

"I was in love with the other Lane," he bit his lip, his face slightly inclined towards you, so he was looking down at you, and you up at him, "I think you are amazing. You are intelligent, and smart. And you're unique. There are these little things I adore about you. The way you greeted everyone whenever I was around-- ranging from the security guard, to the building keepers at the Daily Planet.. the way you forgot to wipe your lips after drinking coffee, and you had this froth all over your upper lip giving you a faint moustache?" He chuckled because you literally let out a gasp, suddenly embarassed.

"Then there were those days you had a bad day and you locked yourself up in your cabin, working all day. I wondered if I should just knock, but I was scared you will tell me off--" he continued, his blues peeking into yours. Your stomach fluttering, you couldn't help but laugh, as though a weight had been lifted off your chest suddenly and held him steady with your hand on his arm. Finally mustering enough courage, you pushed yourself on your toes, and reached up, letting your palm graze delicately over his cheek, caressing his cheekbone with your thumb, "I would have never told you off, Clark. Though that's not what is bothering me right now."

"What is ?" He asked, innocently, relaxing under the touch of your thumb.

"You said you're in love with the other Lane, Clark."

His lips creased, slowly tugging upwards into a smile that was enough to make you feel giddy. Superman wrapped a sturdy arm around you and felt yourself being lifted off, until he was practically holding you in his arms, "Mhm, yep? You got a problem, Miss Lane? Or do Kryptonians don't fit the bill ?"

"Oh, hush, Clark. You're such a dork. But will you be.. my dork?" You bit your lip, holding on to him as though your life depended on it.

"I thought... you'd never ask?" He began, unsure of how to properly weave the complexity of his feelings , churn them into words, something only Clark Kent was good at , and not his alter ego, but found himself halted by the soft press of your index finger against his lips and the sweet whisper of your voice against his ears as he held you close.

“I know, neither did I.” You whispered as he clasped your face in his massive hands and gently touched his lips to yours.

Three years later,

This had probably been the longest that Clark Kent had been away from you, his lover, his best friend, his wife-- four months to be exact. Needless to say, he was excited to be able to see you again, to hold you again.

The familiar silhouette of the cottage on top of the hill came into his view, flowers hanging into tiny earthen pots hanging out on the front porch. The freshly painted white picket fence looked beautiful, and inviting as Lois stood with Martha by the gate, both the ladies sipping tea from their respective cups and saucers. They couldn't contain their smiles when they saw Clark, even though he was covered in what looked like grime and blown up alien intestines?

"I don't even want to know what happened," Lois chuckled, while Martha hugged her son and he kissed the side of her cheek before she scrunched up her nose in disgust at how awful he smelled.

"Well, I guess I'll draw you a bath, you two can talk out here until the baths ready." Both Clark and Lois watched as Martha Kent disappeared into the home and he smiled, when Lois spoke again.

"FYI, she is at the orchard, harvesting the apples for an apple pie," Lois gave him a smug look, fluttering her lashes, "Oh don't pretend you don't want to see her. I can see your eyes darting around, trying to find her. I'll be inside, both of you, just come back in for supper."

He nodded, watching Lois leave and slowly, his fists clenched on either of his sides, he found his way into the tiny orchard that his lovely wife loved to spend most of her time at. He fixed himself by the wooden gate, his eyes admiring you from afar, as you stood on your tiptoes and picked out apples, tossing them into the basket that you held in your arm.

"Need help, Mrs. Kent?"

The basket dropped from your hand as you turned towards the source of the voice, your lips parted in shock. Clark's eyes travelled from you down to your beautiful swollen bump that your loose maternity dress was doing nothing to hide. He chuckled at your response as he walked towards you with longer, faster steps while you simply waddled towards him.

"Jesus, Clark-- I thought you'd miss the birth," you cupped your husband's cheeks in between your swollen fingers as he nuzzled his nose against yours, before kissing you.

"How is my monkey?" He brought his palm to rest against your nine month old baby bump, stroking over the fabric as he whispered against your lips.

"Moving around, not letting me get an ounce of sleep," you smiled, letting your fingers rest over his hand that rested against your stomach, "but I cant really complain now, can I? After all the little nugget's got Kryptonian blood running through their veins."

Clark chuckled, his blue eyes crinkling slightly as he knelt down in front of you, his face in line with the base of your bump as he planted a kiss on the curve of it.

"Come on, Kal Jr, will you stop bothering your mom? She needs all the sleep she can before you push your way into the world and steal our goodnight sleeps for a while," you smiled warmly, as you peered down at him, running your fingers through his hair and he looked up at you, planting another kiss against your bump.

You suddenly frowned and looked at the brown mess on your fingers that stank.

"God, Clark? What the hell? Did you seriously take a dive in a shit pool?"

He chuckled as he pulled himself up again and his hand once again found the base of your stomach to lay his hand protectively upon.

"Alien blood. You should have seen the intestines that covered me. It looked like noddles dipped in black bean sauce and meatballs--" You smacked him hard against the chest to shut him up, but instead he began laughing, his laughter rumbling out of his stomach as you began dragging him inside with his stained cape.

[thejustmaiden]

So out of nowhere I was tagged and quoted by a SR shipper for a blog of mine posted in August of last year. Talk about throwback but, hey, gotta appreciate that level of snooping. 😉

Back in the day I actually used to encourage discourse amongst Inuyasha fans- both shippers and antis alike- but I've since realized that it's a lost cause. But for you, @feministmetalgreymon , I'll grant this exception. Just 'cause it's been a while so why the hell not. haha

I want to assure you, however, that nothing you say will ever convince me that Sesshomaru and Rin are meant to be together romantically or that the story intended it so. Nor will you find any validation here. You can ship them for all I care, but please for all that is good and holy while I have your attention try- I mean really try- to understand why it is so many of us Inuyasha fans are so against this pairing in the first place (newsflash: it's not about ship wars), and why we believe a romance between the two of them is completely and utterly out of character.

For those of you interested in reading this, the blog of mine in question that the above shipper mentions in their counter-argument is here for reference. It's titled "Jaken = Rin's Dad?" I'm going to try and keep this short, but I'm also making no such promises. After all, I'm not exactly known for my brevity. haha Now let's get crackin'!

Like you, feministmetalgreymon, did for your recent blog here where you took screenshots of mine to address certain parts, I will be doing the same and dissecting yours accordingly.

[Snippet 1]

I worked with kids for many years as a teacher, and many people in my family have too or still do. Two of them happen to be just over 5 feet which is quite short for the average adult woman living here. I've also worked alongside many a women of short stature, and never did I hear any of them complaining of issues with their students having difficulty differentiating them from their own peers just because they were short as well. I'm sorry but that's just ridiculous. Kids are quite smart and pick up on a lot more than you seem to give them credit for. Height is not the only characteristic they look at to determine who's an adult and who's not, and it's foolish to suggest otherwise. So unless you're a babysitter who's still in their teens and/or who has very childlike features or behavior then I'm afraid what you're getting at is total hogwash. This is just another example of how you shippers offer nothing of real substance to your reasoning, it's only ever cherry-picking or strawmanning from you guys. Stop deflecting from the real issues please, because this certainly isn't one and only winds up being a complete waste of time for all parties involved.

[Snippet 2]

Okay, calm down now. I wasn't insinuating that relationships between parents and children can't change over time in terms of how they get along. Of course that's possible, as all families experience their fair share of estrangement and abuse. What I was speaking about was in reference to the overall dynamic between the two. Because a bad mother or father can still be viewed as a parental figure to their child even if say they're not in said child's life anymore. Since Sesshomaru and Rin share a healthy bond- and just a friendly reminder that in my blog I even said that he doesn't have to necessarily be labeled her father but that a romantic relationship later would still be inappropriate- I didn't deem it necessary to address what you brought up. Plus, it kinda, umm, misses the point?? Please, let's stay on topic. And it's not captured in the screenshot, but stop acting like there isn't a small part of them that idolizes their parents at some point during childhood. Just like you mention later on how it's normal for kids to have innocent crushes on adults that they eventually grow out of? Well, guess what, the same concept applies here. Kids eventually learn that their parents are far from perfect and make mistakes too. Rin is so damn young in the OG series though that we never even get to see her reach that maturity level.

[Snippet 3]

LOL! Alright, okay, so the "unbreakable bond" bit you're mentioning was actually me quoting you sessrinners. Did you not catch that? I literally spelled it out. *sigh* The whole point I was making is that shippers like yourself make hypocritical and contradictory statements all.the.goddamn.time. One moment you guys claim that Sesshomaru and Rin were essentially strangers and meant very little to each other, only to say in the same breath a few seconds later that they were destined to be together and their bond is like no other. I agree, their bond is special, but why must that mean they're going to fall in love?

That is the root of the matter here. Too many animes/mangas have romanticized this older adult man & young girl growing up falling in love trope that it's become way too normalized and widely accepted across the world- and yes, in some cultures more than others. Sadly, you lack the awareness to recognize how this all works. You know how we know that? When we see that you shippers are so desensitized to sexualized images of girls in the media that you share posts like this one below which *subtly* imply a future romance although one half of that pairing is still just a child in the pic and then try and pass it off as cute. That's like super fucking problematic and it scares me that you can't see that (or deny you do). 🤢

After all that's said and done, Sesshomaru leaving Rin in the village with Kaede is to me the strongest indicator more than pretty much anything else he's done for Rin that proves he is her adoptive father. It's so funny to me how you somehow see the exact opposite though. 🤔 What I think is happening is that you got yourself on some squeaky clean ass shipper goggles fresh out of your little echo chamber. Because I hate to tell you, but what you're fantasizing is what you want to see and not what's actually there on screen or was written into the story. I'm strictly talking about Inuyasha and the manga of course. [For the TL; DR version skip to the last paragraph.]

Parents looking after their kids is what parents are supposed to do. A good parent will do anything to keep their child safe and ensure they are cared for, so what he did for her by leaving her there was in her best interests clearly. Besides, as a babysitter, you more than most people should understand that parents aren't always able to be there for their kids so sometimes others gotta step in to help. Haven't you heard of the saying, "it takes a village to raise a child?" Which in Rin's case is literally true! 😂 Sometimes kids are even sent off to stay with grandparents and that's who raises them instead. Or maybe they have to temporarily live with an aunt or uncle because their single parent's job requires they work out of town 4-5 days of the week so they're hardly home. But that doesn't mean that the parents care or love their kids any less, and it's foolish to assume that Sesshomaru must have thought very little of Rin simply due to the fact that he made the decision to leave her in the village. Come on, y'all are acting like he abandoned her there!!

It's just given the circumstances Sesshomaru finally came to learn that Rin traveling with him was no longer safe. I also like to think it's because he wished for her to live a more normal life and to learn how to fully trust humans again. Plus, continuing to travel with him as young as she was would have proven dangerous and unwise. Now for you to know all this and still manage to turn his past actions towards her while she was just a child into a romantic gesture is what boggles my mind. Regardless of how you look at it, from my perspective or your own, Sesshomaru is in the wrong. Either he's a father figure who impregnates his daughter at the young age of approximately 14. OR he's this man she used to travel with who maybe isn't a father to her but who nonetheless basically rapes her since kids her age can't consent to sex with an adult. Idk about you but it sounds to me like nobody here wins with either scenario we're given. In other words, you should be just as mad as we are. If only one side didn't choose to forsake their morals they know we both have in common for the sake of a ship. Welp. 🤷‍♀️

I agree, incest is disgusting but that's not the only problem we have with this pairing. A romantic bond forming between Sesshomaru and Rin would also constitute as grooming.

You realize that over the years he visited her in the village that he brought her gifts too and essentially watched her grow up right before his very eyes, right? I mean, I know you do, but I really shouldn't have to explain further why pursuing a romantic/sexual relationship with each other is plain and simple wrong. And before you say it's not because he didn't have any malintent, please understand that considering their history and power dynamic up to then that yes this is still considered grooming even if Rin supposedly "wanted it" or "made the first move." Whether you consider him her father or not, as the adult who took on a role resembling that of a caretaker in her early life- a critical developmental time for a child- Sesshomaru is obligated to turn down any advances by Rin and most definitely should not initiate any himself. As the first close adult figure she's had in her life since her parents died, it's unfathomable to imagine how Sesshomaru could go through with taking advantage of this young girl who was under his care and supervision since they met. To think he could be capable of betraying that trust sickens me to the core.

This. Now THIS is how a parent/guardian or a similar adult caretaker (babysitter, teacher, etc.) talks to a child. And, in turn, this is how some young children talk to adults. You'd be insane and delusional to deny it! We see it in our everyday lives, do we not? From where else do you think our stories draw most of their inspiration? Yes, obviously these fictional universes have aspects of fantasy that don't exist in the real world, but so how then do you suppose we're able to relate to them? The reason for that being is because these stories are written by people for people, so naturally there are going to be real life aspects embedded throughout. Sure, a little escapism doesn't hurt as we don't need to take everything so seriously, but ultimately we all need to recognize that the messages in the stories we tell matter. Most stories possess a combination of both light and dark themes, but when it specifically comes to the latter we gotta be careful with how we tackle this in children's media since kids are far more impressionable.

So if at the center of a story we have two of the main protagonists whose mom is basically their same age and to top it off she knew their dad when she was just a girl and who just so happened to help raise her, wouldn't you say that's beyond fucked up or at the very least so fucking weird? Like why would we think it's even remotely okay for our children to watch this garbage?? Really think about it. Try and be objective for once and think about how it would sound explaining this storyline to an outsider who's never watched IY or HNY. Well, antis have tried this before many times and we always get the same reaction: Ewww!

Like I said earlier, if you wanna ship it then fine, but 1) please stop seeking our approval or trying to change our minds - your ship wish came true didn't it, so why do you need us to validate it? 2) even though it's not canon, respect that we don't support this sequel portraying pedophilia in a positive light. It's harmful af to not only allow but glorify the continuation of sexualized images of young girls everywhere. And I shouldn't have to say this, but just because this trope is popular as you say does not make it right. Lolicon themes in the media have been an issue forever and it needs to stop. Yes, even some people in Japan or "the East" would agree. Shocker!

We're pissed off and rightfully so because Yashahime's TV rating is 14, not to mention it airs at the prime time kids in Japan watch TV after getting home from school. That's Towa and Setsuna's age, true, but if Rin being the mom when she's like only a year older than them (please don't argue w/ me about the math- antis have so far been right every time with it) is straight-up disgusting and not something we should be supporting or endorsing. Rin's a whole ass child!! Please don't start with the "but times were different then so her having kids at 15 is acceptable" argument either, because we've already debunked that and every other single excuse you guys throw at us. Besides, how or why would you expect young viewers to know these historical "facts" anyway, especially if as you suggest fiction doesn't affect reality so what does it matter? Yet here we are, arguing over a fictional show in real life almost a year and a half into the "Sesshomaru fucks?" sequel being announced. My ass, your ass, hell all our asses fiction doesn't affect reality!

Look, I do apologize if the tone of this blog came off as snippy or condescending at times. I do not wish you any ill will, it's just I'm not really sure what you expected to get out of all this besides maybe getting on my nerves perhaps. haha A lot of you shippers have been desperately scrambling to interact with us, lurking in our tags, jumping onto our posts screaming canon and getting so defensive even though you sought us out first. We've been sticking to our tags, so how about you stay in your lane too. By the way since we're on the topic, have you seen Twitter or Reddit?! SR shippers there are the actual worst and many Inuyasha fans (not just antis) have complained of not feeling welcomed to engage in fandom spaces anymore. Shippers swarm them and scare them off simply because fans don't like your ship and refuse to accept it. It's pathetic, really. No one should ever be bullied or harassed just because they don't like something you might. We're all fans of Inuyasha, aren't we? So let's act like it. Yashahime on the other hand, you guys are welcome to that pungent heap of trash. Fans have a right to criticize it too, but if you like it then good for you, so keep on liking it and don't mind us.

I'm almost done, but real quick back to Jaken! Let's not forget about how the official Yashahime website- which came out after my blog, mind you- described Jaken. This translation isn't the best one available but it's the only version a fellow anti friend could track down. They do recall a better one done by a native Japanese speaker who was also an anti, and that member confirmed that Jaken is indeed called Rin's babysitter. So you see, I was right in my interpretation. In the original post I did compare Jaken to a brother, but after talking to others (some comments can be found under said post) I did acknowledge that he's more of a reluctant babysitter who's not related. And if he's not at least a brother to Rin, then he's definitely not her father.

At the end of the day, the creator Rumiko Takahashi has the final word. Which is guess what? Hogosha. 💖 Probably should've just started out with that and saved us all the trouble, huh? Good day/night to you.

Papamaru bids you adieu now. 🤞

[miss-smutty]

Forbidden

Chapter 1

A/N- I've teased y'all for so long I hope this series is going to live up to expectations, I'm confident it will though because I'm addicted and it's been super easy for me to write - I'm up to chapter 3 so far so updates can be on time! There's a slight age gap between my professor Hemsy and OC Jess but she's twenty and completely legal. You know this is gunna be a giant tease fest for the first couple of chapters cos that sexual tension is fucking gold 🥵

Summary- Jess meets the man of her dreams and then stupidly leaves without getting his number. Will fate bring them together again?

Word count- 1.5 K

Pairing- Professor!Chris Hemsworth x OC

Warnings- Swearing, age gap

18+ only!

Disclaimer: This is an entire work of fiction/AU and has no affiliation to real life what so ever! This is a fictional story about fictional characters who happen to share names and faces with some real people.

Posted: 5th August 2021

Taglist:- @innerpaperexpertcloud @pandaxnienke @chickensarentcheap @jjpogueprincess @longlostinanotherworld @mostly-marvel-musings @darklydeliciousdesires @monet-belle

@skyfullofsong123 @swaggysposts

Chapter 2

I pulled out a chair at the last available table in the unusually busy coffee shop, I thought I might've caught a break choosing the one outside of campus but alas I was wrong.

I was about to sit down when the chair opposite me slid out from under the table, my eyes lifted to meet with the most sparkly blue eyes i'd ever seen. The sight of him took my breath away. Literally.

I stood staring, frozen on the spot, my mouth slightly ajar as I looked him up and down. He was tall, so tall, definitely over 6ft and built like a dream. Thick thighs straining against his fitted trousers, wide muscular shoulders and I just knew there was a six-pack hiding behind that tight t-shirt. 

"Sorry. You were here first, I'll just grab a take-out." He smirked a side smile, amused at how I was so obviously checking him out but his sexy Australian accent distracted you from anything else.

"It's fine, I'm on my own. I don't mind if you want to sit there too." I mentally face palmed myself, drawing attention to the fact I was alone wasn't the best idea but then again he was alone too. "I don't bite." I added trying my best to flirt.

It seemed to work, he smiled at me as he sat down and I took the time to admire his handsome face. He was quite clearly a lot older than me, the laughter lines around his eyes a tell tale sign but he was still quite possibly the best looking man I'd ever laid eyes on. His hair was fair and the short beard framed his face perfectly but the one thing that stood out the most were those piercing ocean-blue eyes.

"So do you come here often?" I cocked my eyebrow at him over my coffee cup making him laugh at my reaction. "Sorry, it's been a while." He said nervously, running his hand through his hair.

"It's been a while since you spoke to a stranger or…?" I questioned casually.

"It's been a while since I spoke to an attractive woman." He finished, his eyes sparkling as he watched me almost choke on my drink.

"Oh, I err…. I don't think you're doing too badly." I absentmindedly circled my finger around the rim of my cup, crossing my leg over my other and accidently rubbing my foot up his leg. My cheeks felt hot and flushed as I looked up into his eyes and saw him smiling slyly.

"Evidently. We're already playing footsie under the table." He smiled widely, a genuine smile that stretched the corners of his mouth. I smiled back at him shyly, thinking of something to say to change the subject before I ended up looking like a tomato.

"What part of Australia are you from?"

"I'm originally from Melbourne but I lived in Byron Bay before I came to America." 

"Awesome. I've always wanted to go to Australia, the Spiders put me off though." 

"Yeah I think they put most people off but in heavily populated areas they stay pretty much hidden, I think it's the size that scare people." How have I made this conversation go from flirting to talking about spiders? And how do I get back to flirting?

"Are we still talking about spiders?" I raised my eyebrows questioningly and laughed at the innuendo, flicking my hair over my shoulder. I noticed something in his eyes when I did so, a hunger, just a little flash and then it was gone again. I'm sure I didn't imagine it though because his eyes lingered on my exposed shoulders.

I checked my watch subtly, not wanting him to think he was boring me but I had to get to class and couldn't be late again, not when this semester had only just started.

"I'm really sorry, I'm gonna have to run, I'm going to be late. It was really nice meeting you." I gathered up my bags, ready to leave.

"Already? You've only just got here." He looked disappointed, his smile fading. His mouth opened as if he was going to say something else and then closed again when he saw I was ready to leave. "It was really nice to meet you too, hopefully I'll see you again." His eyes sparkled as he looked into mine, standing from his chair to get the door for me. I felt fireworks when his hand brushed against the small of my back and his face lingered close to mine. The tension was unreal, like we were the only people in the room as his eyes hungrily stared into my soul, undressing me with his eyes. My heart stopped beating when his face moved closer to mine so I could feel his breath on my lips, the smell of coffee and his aftershave filling my nostrils. I paused, my feet routed to the spot, I wanted him to kiss me so badly but I moved away at the last minute. Surely he wasn't actually going to kiss me, we'd only just met, that would be ridiculous. Wouldn't it?

********

I spent most of class daydreaming about my tall handsome stranger and the way he looked at me but most of all how I didn't even get his name. Or his number.

Now I was feeling sorry for myself because it would just be my luck to meet the man of my dreams and then never see him again. So I'd moped about all day and avoided the invitations for drinks after class. Instead I'd

gotten home early, changed into some sweats and settled myself in front of the TV for the night.

"What's up with your face?" My roommate, Ellie said as she walked into our room, throwing her bags onto her bed.

"What're you talking about?" 

"Your face. Looks like you're chewing on a wasp."

"Feeling sorry for myself." I pout pathetically.

"Why, what've you done now?" She rolled her eyes, kicking off her shoes and throwing her legs up onto the bed. I felt so lucky to have a roommate like Ellie, during our freshman year she'd become my best friend practically straight away and now after two years together we were practically sisters.

I sat up in bed cross legged and faced Ellie, getting myself ready to spill my misfortunes of the day with her.

"Well, I went to Impresso's this morning to get my morning coffee before class." She nodded, showing her enthusiasm by also sitting cross legged on her own bed, facing me. "And it was packed full of students, there was only one table left. So I went to grab it as soon as I could." She raised her eyebrow at me, wondering where I was going with the story. "And I kid you not, the most attractive man I have ever seen, pulls out the chair opposite me." 

"Oh my god! No way. Did you talk? Oh my god, this is like the perfect chick flick. Carry on." I smiled at her excitement.

"I told him I didn't mind if he sat there, I mean of course I didn't mind, you should've seen him El. Oh, oh, oh I almost forgot" I flapped my hands, bouncing on the spot. "He was fucking Australian."

"Fuck off, you're lying. Drop dead gorgeous with the sexiest accent ever. How is this even real? Now remind me why you're sat there with a face like a slapped arse?" 

"I panicked when I had to leave, didn't want to be late for class and I didn't get his number, didn't even give him chance to ask for mine." 

"Wow! Ok, now I understand. What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't thinking, I was panicking and you know what I'm like when I panic." You sulk.

"It's ok, maybe you'll bump into him again."

"Yeah, right. I should be so lucky."

"Cheer up." she says throwing a cushion at me. "There's a party at Alpha Kappa this weekend, I'm sure we can find you someone to help get over your mystery man. Or under should I say?" She raised her eyebrow at me, smiling slyly and making me laugh. She always did know how to cheer me up and maybe a party is what I needed.

There must be some good looking boys around campus that could make me forget about my Australian hunk. Surely? I thought about the guys I'd seen around campus, the guys I'd seen at frat parties and that's definitely not what I wanted. How could a twenty year old boy match to the masculine, experienced man I met this morning. My mind was set, I'd dipped my feet ever slightly into the mature pool and that's what I wanted more than anything. There was always something missing with previous boyfriends and I was tired of all the game playing. I wanted someone who knew what they wanted and wasn't afraid to get it.

The only thing was, he didn't know I was only twenty and I had no way of finding him again. If fate did bring us back together, would he mind that I was still a student? That I couldn't even drink when we went on dates? 

Who am I kidding? Of course he would mind, he could get any woman he wanted, why would he want me?

[hyejinoh]

All Of Us Are Dead (2022) Review (finally)

Here it is. My review of All of us are Dead. Beware, there are going to be some spoilers under the cut. And it is also quite long.😌

Ok, how to get started...I think, I will break this down into categories.

About the plot: I don't have much to say about the plot itself. It's a zombie invasion story and, therefore, comes with all the usual cliches - i.e. frustrating characters who make stupid decisions, plot holes and loose threads, violence and a whole lot of drama. As well as meaningful friendship scenes and the good old question of humanity.

In general, I'm very tolerant of things that don't make sense in TV shows as long as they give me sth. to care about and get invested in (and they did! but they also kind of dropped the ball on that!).

Obviously, some subjects shown were very unnecessary, esp. if you (as creators) aren't going to follow up on them. I'm talking about the sexual assault. I get it, it's a brutal show about shocking stuff but the show literally kick-starts with a bullying scene and I didn't think we needed more to understand how the zombie virus came to be or why to hate certain characters. At the very least, it should have been handled more subtly, more carefully.

About the characters: The characters in a series often make or break it. In this regard - imho, AOUAD mostly made it. It's where it sometimes shines, even. I LOVED Nam-ra, Su-hyeok, Cheong-san, Dae-su, Mi-jin, Ha-ri, Eun-ji, as well as Jae-il and the little group he adopted. Also Cheong-sans mother, as stupid as she could be. LOATHED Gwi-nam (and his band of bullies), Nayeon, everyone in the military and the head of the school + some other teachers. I was (still am) ambivalent towards most of the other adults (the assemblywoman and the homeroom teacher for example), Lee Byeong-chan, as well as On-jo and her dad.

Yes, Nam On-jo, you read that right. Let's get into her right away. On-jo was a difficult character for me to like. And I'm usual all for unlikable female characters - as long as it's acknowledged by canon they can be jerks. Sadly, that wasn't the case in this show. She had potential (a phrase I will probably repeat a few times during this review), though. There were some sweet scenes with her bestie I-sak and I did like the tentative building of a friendship with Nam-ra. She also proved to be helpful in the beginning, thanks to her father. But later on, I felt she didn't provide much to the story - except for her conflict with Cheong-san, as well as repeatedly being annoyingly emotional (when there was absolutely no time for that, I mean). But what really turned me off her character was her treatment of her childhood friend of years, Cheong-san. She was so unnecessarily mean to him and could be downright vile, imo. (Acting like Cheong-san died when he confessed to her?? Talking about basically losing him, just as she did with I-sak? Girl, he didn't even need you to respond to his feelings, smh.) I'm absolutely not one to think she owes him her affection because he's good to her but they are friends. Being nice should be the bare minimum.

Moving on to Lee Cheong-san himself; he was a great lead character. He was dedicated, competent and just such a good friend. He wasn't without fault but I felt like he owned up to all the decisions he made. Also, I just loved they way he mocked Gwi-nam. And Cheong-san and Gyeong-su...a tragedy :( better chemistry than him and On-jo, too. Sorry, I'll stop, lol. What I didn't like was Gwi-nam choosing him as his mortal enemy. There was a perfect set-up for it to be Eun-ji (the person who got bullied), for her to be the one who would ultimately take Gwi-nam down. Or at least get to kill him once. I loved Eun-jis 'I want to watch the world burn'-attitude and everything seemed to point towards her going after Gwi-nam, as y'know she used to be his victim and subsequently became a half-zombie. Alas, another case of wasted potential, one who ended up becoming just a plot device, too.

Two characters who stood out to me (besides the ones I'm choosing to focus on last 😏) were Jang Ha-ri and Park Mi-jin. I loved their chemistry (yes, I did ship them) and how competent they were together. I enjoyed Ha-ris matter-of-fact attitude and Mi-jins foul mouth. They started out beating each other up and then became best friends (and more). They were delightful to watch and I'm so glad they survived.

Alright, now onward to what everyone is really here for - me included. Nam-ra and Su-hyeok. Su-hyeok and Nam-ra. They were literally everything to me. Together. Apart. With other characters. But mostly together :). Let's talk about them separately first.

Choi Nam-ra. What a girl. The class president no one seemed to care about, the quiet and studious type. Who was regarded as closed-off and arrogant by her classmates but who hid her loneliness, her awkwardness and even her resentment towards her peers well. Her entire arc was so good. I was so glad they made her a half-zombie because that way she got to show a whole lot more of herself and shine, instead of being sidelined as much (like some other female characters). It also made her relationship with Su-hyeok so much more compelling. I loved how she was very (similarly to Ha-ri) no-nonsense and smart, brought up issues others were willing to ignore and paid close attention to her surroundings. Also her strong will to keep being human until the last possible moment and how she was able to open up to her classmates about her insecurities, later on. I only wish we had seen more of her backstory - her relationship with her mother, when she fell for Su-hyeok. One thing I have to criticize, though, is that I felt, despite her importance, she was still very underutilized. They kinda seemed to push her to the back a lot - probably because otherwise she would have kept stealing the show (from On-jo) and shortened it's episode count by half.

Now, about Lee Su-hyeok. What a guy. Handsome (damn, Park Solomon, I see you!), popular, friendly with everyone, a reformed 'bad guy' (he used to hang out with bullies some time before the series started). Despite claiming to not be that smart, he shows a whole lot of competency and quick thinking, as well as fighting skills. He was a very, very, devoted person (esp. towards Nam-ra) and always willing to help someone in danger (unless it involved hurting Nam-ra). He was just such a good person. I also really loved his friendship with Cheong-san (there were some vibes~👀). But what I loved most about him was how ride-or-die he could be. The way he cared for Nam-ra and her well-being at all times really hit my sweet spot. Also Park Solomon does some great eye-acting, like dude looked in love.

Hopelessly/Totally Devoted To You is one of my favorite (romantic) tropes (which is why Cheong-san/On-jo could have worked...but oh, whatever), as well as Hurt/Comfort and You Are Worth Hell. And, oh boy, did Nam-ra and Su-hyeok have these in spades. The way these two cared and repeatedly saved each other was everything to me. The little looks they exchanged pre-confession and their worry for each other. They were willing to give up their lives for one another. Just every little one of their interactions (even in the background) were so sweet and sometimes even intensely romantic ('your voice woke me up'; 'bite me, not yourself'; 'I was afraid you would know that I liked you if I said your name'...like hello??? I'm going insane! That's my shit!). It was fulfilling all my monster girl/human guy needs. On a side note, even though I complain about her being underutilized, I absolutely loved the fact that Nam-ras zombie side mostly acted up when Su-hyeok was around her or in danger :)))). Ah, romance.❣️

About the ending: So, yeah, that happened. It was bullshit. I was fine with literally everything as long as they gave me Nam-ra/Su-hyeok. And then they took them from me in the most out of character way ever, in Su-hyeoks case. (Yeah, no, I don't care about the rest except for the lesbians Ha-ri and Mi-jin surviving, and the detective and his group, too.) Okay, continuing on, Su-hyeok was ride-or-die for Nam-ra. He would have killed for her, he would have let On-jo die for her. That's all very much established in the previous episodes. So, tell me then, why does this man end up in quarantine camp without her??? And then the last scene on the rooftop? That was just insulting. I get it, On-jo is the female lead (why, tho), she gotta have the poignant ending moments but how does her getting the most of the emotional reunion talk with Nam-ra make sense at all? How does Su-hyeok just standing there? I sure hope - if there ever is a second season - they will rectify that. Otherwise, I will just pretend it ended with Su-hyeok and Nam-ra running away together.

So, overall, I did enjoy this show, and loved parts of it a lot (obviously). But I wish the focus had been tighter, much less jumping around of plot-lines that seemed to point in one direction only to be disregarded in the next episode (it could get repetitive and downright stupid). In that way, stuff (that wasn't ticking all my boxes like Nam-ra/Su-hyeok or Mi-jin/Ha-ri) could have had a deeper emotional impact on me. Also, the ending just really sucks. I will say this, though, when the writing of the show hit? It really hit. And should there ever be another season, I can see it building up on the first and maybe elevate it at the same time then. I give it a 6.5/10. (And Nam-ra/Su-hyeok a 100/10. 🥰)

[robincantfunction]

Brothers best friend ✰ F.W

day 5 of @theweasleyslut's writing challenge

requested: yes/no (requests are open)

word count: 1738

warnings: like 2 swear words, brief mention of food, like one mention of sex, kinda fluffy ig, kissing, lower case

lemme know if i missed anything <3

summary: a summer break at college fred and y/n fall for each other, much to ron's disappointment. 8 long weeks, and finally they did something about their feelings

trope:college au (breifly it's not the most depicted) & best friends brother

prompt:“are you going to hate me forever if I do this?” “I thought things were going great” (and yes. my sarcastic ass did use it sarcastically)

𓆏𓃟𓃠𓆈𓃗𓃰𓅿

"fred it's just- she's my best friend. she's your age. and she's pretty. you. cant. date. her." fred just looked at him in disbelief "ronald, i don't know what you're talking about. i won't fall in love with your friend ok. she's just staying for the summer- i'll probably barely see her" ron didn't seem to convinced by this " im ashamed that you think so little of me, plus i'm pretty sure i've seen her around. we do share a lecture" he knew for a fact. he knew because sometimes he found himself absentmindedly staring at her in admiration. there was no escaping it though, ron- and everyone else- knew the inevitable, fred was gonna fall for his best friend.

the day she came to the burrow made that extremely clear. "freddie, you are so stupid" george couldn't stop laughing at his twin "ron is gonna kill you. what about 'you can't date her' did you not grasp?" fred just playfully glared at him "ok... he said she was pretty- he didn't tell me how pretty!" his brother lightly patted his shoulder whilst sighing softly "you are a hopeless romantic, and besides i thought you already knew her" fred shook his head subtly "no. she sits at the front of the hall and i sit at the back. i've seen her from afar, there is a clear distinction."

but in fred's defence- y/n wasn't doing much better. although, luckily she didn't have the 'you can't date him' talk, she just knew she shouldn't. would it affect her and ron's friendship? probably not. but he had a weird thing about his friends dating his siblings- when harry started dating ginny, she found it hilarious. obviously he's over it now, but it did take a miniature toll. harry hung out with them less and less, between classes for uni and going through the 'honeymoon phase' of his and ginny's relationship, he barely spent time with them. of course, he does now. but y/n couldn't get her head around it, everyone was like that- no matter who they where in a relationship.

but she didn't ever plan on risking their freindship, but then she met fred.

"we're here!" ron yelled from the front door, to notify his siblings that they were about to meet his friend he talks so fondly of. "oh move out of the way ron, let me meet her!" his mother was so lovely. "ah you're gorgeous! come here, come here" and mrs weasley embraced her in a hug, some would consider her a little 'overly friendly' but y/n didn't mind. it was nice to be considered a part of the family even if you only know one or two of her children. "and hermione! lovely of you to come again, i can't believe you're still putting up with my ron. he's a piece of work" that made everyone chuckle, this women didn't have much of a filter, and it was great. "well, y/n, you already know ginny, you might have met fred once or twice, thats george, thats bill and his wife fleur. charlie's still away on military duty, and percey's still in london working for the law firm." she said her hello's to everyone, they were all very nice. and as much as she loved everyone, she was happy to finally get a bit of peace outside whilst reading with hermione and fleur whilst everyone was helping with dinner "i honestly don't mind helping if you need it, there are a lot of us to cook for-" "dont be silly y/n i'm not letting one of our guests cook. i see you have a couple of books, go read and relax, you had a long journey. my little delinquents will help me" so she gave up trying to help, it was no use.

"so y/n" fleur started, but she didn't mind, the two got on pretty well, and had actually met a couple of times already, they went to the same high school periodically, fleur was an exchange student and the two shared a few classes. "any boyfriends? girlfriends? any romance at all" this caused the girl to chuckle. "no. not for me. on top of school, and having a clingy friendship group, i don't have much time to meet anyone and date" fleur looked both sad and excited "well maybe you could date fred? i hear he i hopelessly single... and you're staying hear all summer. plenty of time to get to know him" yep. she was excited. "i think ron would have a heart attack" y/n didn't hate the idea, but she was very much the type of person to not force things. it wouldn't feel right to get close to him with the only intention to be to fill the void that wasn't actually all that eager to be filled.

but after a few weeks her and fred began to really get along. "dude things are going terribly with the whole 'don't fall for y/n'! i just can't stop thinking about her. and then when i finally do, she's right there!" george huffed a laugh "really freddie? i thought things were going great" "you know, sarcasm is the lowest form of wit" the two joked with eachother a little more "she's just one girl. i'm sure there'll be more that you like just as much as her" fred shook his head "i'm not really one for change. i like her, and the only thing holding me back is a little dick who is way too protective and possessive of his beautiful friends." his brother rolled his eyes "just talk to him! everyone can see how you look at her and it's painful! just. talk. to. him."

this wasn't going to work. he knew it was a long shot, but anything is worth a try. "ron, i get your whole 'i don't want my friends hurt' thing, but i don't wanna hurt her ok. she's just- i've gotten to know her, and i do really like her-" "stop. just stop. i can't tell either of you who you can and can't date. but if you really like her, i guess you're not the worst person to ever like her"

7 weeks into her stay, she knew she liked him. there was no denying they grew close, nearly always being in a room with each other, nearly always touching each other in some way: holding hands without even realising, leaning on the other when they're standing together, subtle yet obvious things like that. subtle to them. obvious to everyone else around. "just talk to her!! god this is painful, and it's about time you start telling her the many, i repeat many compliments and all romantic shit you spew to me, because you are insufferable right now" fred rolled his eyes playfully "i honestly can't georgie. why would i risk it. she's too perfect to let slip" "just tell her! it cant be that hard. do you really wanna go back to how things were before you too properly got to talking? because if you don't tell her it increases that possibility." this got the other boy's attention "you really think things could go back? becasue i don't think i could handle a silent nod whilst passing her to get to my seat at the beginning of a lecture. or a little small cute giggle when i come over to irritate ronald. i've gotten to know her, and i know that i like her. i don't want to jeopardise that. i can't. i just can't." george chuckled at his helpless brother "sounds like you can't do a lot of things freddie. you know what i say? go for it! what do you have to lose?" "an incredibly awesome friendship with a very attractive girl" and then their conversation got cut off when a certain someone walked into the room "hey" and the two fell practically silent "yo y/n" george was the first to break the somewhat silence that awkwardly enveloped the room "what you up to?" he got up "leaving" she chuckled at the younger twin "smooth." as she took her place next to the remaining brother, the awkwardly laced tension instantly washed out of the room as she sat next to him. it was like, the affect she had on him- any anxiety he had left, she was like a beacon of peace, of a calming sound to capsize the worry that flooded his mind.

a week after his conversation with george, he decided enough was enough. "ok im going to do it" and honestly, y/n was thinking the exact same "ginny, i will do it. im gonna tell him" but were they?

the two we alone, the rest of the household were out at the shops. "what do you wanna do?" she could think of one thing "are you gonna hate me forever if i do this?" he was a little confused "do what?"

she kissed him. yet another way for them to always be touching. yet another moment of true bliss- when everything around them falls silent, the world pauses from spinning, and they finally feel as though they can breath, the spark took the opportunity to turn into a flame. "well if that's what you wanna do... i can work with it" they both chuckled "i can to- and if i'm being completely honest, i'd like to do it a lot more" "at least we're in the same boat"

and finally after 8 long weeks they started dating. they never told anyone, and they didn't have to. stolen kisses - stolen whispers - stolen glances. any chance they could get, they'd take it.

when they went back to college, not much changed. they took any chance they could get to see each other, whilst y/n did all she could to maintain her normal friendship with ron "y/n you've seen him oce already this week! come one, we need to have a movie marathon. it's super important" she rolled her eyes "ron it's saturday. and i've only seen my boyfriend once this week. be a normal 18 year old would you? be horny- fuck your girlfriend! love you bye"

let's just say her methods were odd- but affective. things were going well, she was happy. turns out she didn't regret that summer at the burrow. none of them did. she was the newest addition to their family, and they all loved her, none quite as much as a certain fred weasley.