#and zhang immediately calling her

[booasaur]

The Lazarus Project - 2x02

[valsverse]

— GENERAL DATING HC'S (part two)

pairing: percy jackson, annabeth chase, leo valdez, piper mclean, jason grace, hazel levesque, frank zhang (respectively) x gn!reader word count: 3.9k

percy jackson

if anyone is boyfriend coded it's percy.

the way percy immediately squeezes your hand to call your attention the second he spots something he knows you'd love. whether it's your favorite song playing in a store, or the sight of pretty flowers in full bloom, percy's just as excited as you are !!

for some reason, percy really likes to shower you with hugs. whether you're out in public or nestled comfortably in your own cabin, he's quick to wrap his arms around you and hold you close! you can feel his warmth radiating against your skin as he presses his body close to yours, his face nuzzled snugly in the crook of your neck. he just doesn't want to let you go, at least not yet. maybe it's because he feels safe when he's holding onto you, and he doesn't want that feeling to disappear so quickly. not that you mind, though.

percy loovvees to hold your hand in public, like he literally can't get enough of it. no matter where you go, he would effortlessly slip his hand into yours, the coolness of his palm making contact with your own as you walk side by side through camp.

i feel like percy's hands are pretty cool to the touch, so during the colder months he likes to hold your hand and tuck it in his pocket to shield you from the cold. like, he doesn't want to let go, but he also doesn't want you to freeze LMAOO.

percy's kisses are varied. sometimes they're slow, sometimes they're quick or urgent, and a whole lot more. but each time, they're exhilarating. percy also has a habit of pulling and playing with your belt or waistband whenever you kiss, and it always catches you off guard, no matter how many times it happens. even when you're in the middle of doing something else, he'll grab you by the waistband and pull you in for a kiss. and when he's not tugging on it, he'll run his fingers around it, dragging his fingers around the fabric almost teasingly, LIKE GAH ZAMN.

percy lets you draw on his skateboard!! listen, i know he's only mentioned as a skater like twice in the book, but i don't care. he is a skater boy in my heart.

his skateboard is absolutely LITTERED with doodles of your favorite bands, or any other designs that came to mind, as well as temporary stickers that are already starting to fade. but percy doesn't mind at all because it looks cool and you're happy! so that's all that matters to him. he loves looking down at the marks you left on his skateboard with a stupid smile, even if it means he gets hit by a wall because he wasn't paying attention.

when percy is in love, it becomes evident in his every action. he makes it a point to look for your face throughout the day, be it in moments of triumph or defeat. he only wants for you to witness him at his best, and no amount of applause or pats on the back from others can compare to the feeling of your touch; the gentle caress of your thumb across his cheek accompanied by words of praise, are what he craves the most. :(( he wants your validation and approval, but struggles to express it, because behind his front lies just an awkward teen filled with doubts and insecurities, desperate to prove himself to you.

but when he's in the water?? in his ZONE?? that's a different story. his confidence level SOARS. his water powers are in full force, and he's flipping around in the water trying to impress you like a little kid LMAOO.

to percy, you're more than just his partner. the thought of living without you is unimaginable to him, and he refuses to even think about it. his love for you only grows with each passing day, and he swears that he couldn't love you more than already does, yet he knows that he will tomorrow.

annabeth chase

MY GF FR!!!! 🗣️🗣️🗣️

annabeth always loved you, but as time went on, her perspective on you began to shift. she loved the sound of your laughter, and the way you would enthusiastically recount your experiences of the day. there was something in the way your eyes would light up when you spoke, that made her heart skip a beat. at first, she didn't recognize the emotions that were building within her, but the second she tried to deny being in love with you, she realized she was.

meeting you, loving you, finally making you hers—made annabeth have a whole different perspective on love.

she always asks for your opinions first. all the time. she asks for your thoughts on her latest architectural design, questions your perspective on her favorite book. because she values YOU. your input matteres to her more than anyone else's because she knows that you understood her in a way that no one else could. (also i feel like annabeth lowkey mansplains sometimes so she's trying to make up for it lmaoo.)

if your hair is long enough to tie back, she'll match your ponytail to hers. <33 but if not, she'll run her fingers through your hair instead, twirling the edges around her finger absentmindedly. annabeth doesn't like accessories in her own hair, but she loves seeing them in yours !!

she's VERY careful when tidying up your hair. like, if you ask her to brush your hair for you, it'll take her a while because she's so particular about it. she just wants the best for you!! <3

annabeth is the best with cats idc. (doesn't she have two in ttc?) she'll kneel down to pet it, making that "pspspsps" sound to get its attention LMAOO. she'll literally scoop it up in her arms and cradle it like a baby.

if you're allergic to cats or simply don't like them, she'll keep a distance and pretend to share your dislike, meanwhile, she'll already have come up with a cute name for the cat in her head, probably something similar to your own. <33

annabeth isn't really big on pda, but she makes up for it with other acts of love !! she has a variety of love languages, each more prominent than the next, but her go-to move is holding hands. she'll gently pull you along on your museum date, explaining the origins and details of each monument with a proud smile !!

you and annabeth gossip about books. not people. and yes, i am telling the truth, she told me herself. (lie) she'll even read to you while you lay your head on her lap JUST so that you two can talk about it later.

but when it comes to architectural books, sometimes annabeth forgets that not everyone is as passionate about architecture as she is LMAOO. she'd be like, "can you believe that John Poulson bribed people for his work? i would never stoop to that level," and you'd just be sitting there with a polite smile on your face even though you have no idea wtf she's talking about. but she does it because she trusts you, not because she wants to confuse you LMAOO.

annabeth is never easily vocal when it comes to her emotions. while she can be sharp-tongued when expressing her opinions, when it comes to her feelings, most of the time she struggles to find the right words. sometimes, she's not even sure how to articulate what she's experiencing. the sudden rush of emotions she's feeling now, with you, can be overwhelming, to say the least. her love for you is intense, but annabeth wonders if it's enough to fully convey how much she loves you. if she loved you any less, maybe it would be easier for her to express herself. but the truth is, she loves you so much that it leaves her at a loss for words. a daughter of athena. at a loss for words.

leo valdez

this boy practically has permanent heart eyes for you — it's insane.

i think we all know this, but leo's definitely not one to hide his admiration for you. he's basically in a constant state of awe whenever you're around. he thinks you're the absolute prettiest person on earth, and he's LOUD about it. like, before you started dating he definitely looked up one of those cringe pick up line lists at least once in hopes of impressing you. (they didn't work.)

howeverrr, leo's affection for you runs deeper than just your physical appearance. you're not just eye candy to him. he values your inner qualities just as much as your outer ones, and he's always reminding you about it !!

mentioned this in pt 1, but this boy is an incredible cook and EVERYONE knows it. because of that, he's super perceptive when it comes to your food preferences, knowing exactly what dishes you love and those that you don't care for. he'll transfer food from his plate to yours because he wants you to enjoy your meal, and he'll and also happily devour any food that you dislike, while simultaneously insulting your taste LMAOO.

like one time you went to the bathroom, came back, and saw that the amount of your favorite food on your plate just doubled. 💀💀

leo loovvees taking photos of you. (let's pretend demigods are allowed to use phones) like, he'll snap away until his phone's storage is filled to the absolute BRIM. if you ask him to delete any unflattering ones, he'll do so but while fervently defending his collection, insisting that he takes so many pictures of you not because he's searching for the perfect shot, but because you look breathtaking from every angle. :((

in addition to his digital collection, leo also has a cherished polaroid board covered in various pictures, but the majority of them feature you. <33

leo spends a lot of time tinkering in his workshop, so if he has any scrap metal laying around (which he often does) he'll stay up late into the night creating something special just for you !!

leo looovveess kissing your cheek with a pronounced "mmMWAH!" sound. onces he's done, he'll turn his head slightly and look at you expectantly, indicating that he wants you to do the same to him. <33

he was probably the first one to say "i love you." in the relationship. he might've said it rather quickly because he was always sure about his feelings towards you even before your relationship had officially started, but he never pressured you to reciprocate. he was willing to wait for you to come to your own conclusion.

but until then, leo never stopped expressing his love for you. every morning and every night, he would whisper a giddy "i love you, mi amor" before rushing off to wherever he needed to be.

once you do finally say the words back to him though, he's grinning like an idiot for an entire two weeks. he'd often repeat his feelings for you, almost annoyingly, just to hear you say those four words he cherished the most back, 'i love you too.'

(also, this image is so leo. yes it's a green flag to me, and no i will not further elaborate.)

piper mclean

piper has a habit of linking arms with you !! like, wherever you go, the two of you are literally inseparable. she also sees it as a way to declare your relationship, because she's proud to be with you and has nothing to hide! <33 she's also a hand swinger fr.

she lets you cut her hair !!! mostly because she secretly loves the sensation of your hands on her face and your fingers weaving through her choppy locks, but also because she trusts your judgement! piper isn't afraid of alternating her appearance, but she especially want to look good for you.

speaking of alternating appearances, you two match outfits. all the time. is it sickenly cheesy? yes. do either of you particularly care? no. even when you aren't wearing matching outfits, you both have a collection of homemade matching jewelry, so both of you are always carrying a piece of each other, even if it's just a simple bracelet. <33

NICKNAMES IN FRENCH >>>> OMGG. her most used include "mon amour" meaning "my love", "mon ange" [my angel] and "ma chérie." [my dear/darling] and yes she is very much aware of the effect she has on you. <33 speaking of, she 100% helps you ace all your french exams. such a good gf.

she tells you all about her family history. piper loves how your eyes light up with genuine curiosity. with you, she feels more appreciated. :(( she'll you all about the culture, customs, and even a few traditional songs.

piper knows she has a good singing voice, but she still feels self-conscious whenever she showcases them in front of others. but when it comes to you? she'll sing all you want, since she feels a huge sense of comfort whenever you're around. whether it's through cuddles or other means, it's in your arms that she feels the most at peace, and it's also where she feels the most comfortable saying, "i love you." !!!

she teaches you how to use a dagger lmaoo. she'll carefully guide you, tell you how good you're doing (sometimes), and even sneak in a few kisses if she's feeling extra affectionate that day!!

piper hates being labeled as a typical daughter of aphrodite. she constantly feels the need to prove that she doesn't fall into the stereotype that comes with being a child of the goddess of love. but ever since you came into her life, ever since she started loving you, you taught her that she doesn't have to be ashamed just because her half-siblings fall into certain expectations. you've shown her that she should be able to be her own person without the restraints of being a daughter of aphrodite. and she might not always express it, but she's entirely grateful for that. for you. after all, we're all just fools in love, and you're the soul who showed her what love should truly be like.

jason grace

ugh, the chivalry radiating off this man is crazyy.

whenever you talk to jason, he always has a way of letting you know that he's listening to your every word. even if he's occupied with something else, he'll make a point to let you know that he is paying attention to you. he'll immediately direct his gaze towards you, and abandon whatever task he was previously engaged in, leaning in closer to you the longer you speak.

even if you try to cut your story short or apologize for repeating yourself, jason will NEVER rush you or make you feel uncomfortable. instead, he'll hold you close with his arms wrapped tightly around your waist, encouraging you to keep talking and sharing your thoughts. because jason doesn't mind hearing the same stories over and over again, as long as they're coming from you. <33

and even though he's always paying full attention whenever you speak, his gaze always seems to settle on your lips. and when you smile or laugh, he's completely mesmerized, unable to take his eyes off of you !! like you can LITERALLY see his eyes widen and his lips part, as if he can't believe how beautiful you are, because he can't get enough of you.

jason is the epitome of a gentleman FR!! 🗣️🗣️ he never fails to open doors for you, give you his jacket when you're cold, and even offer his hand as you make your way down the last few steps of the stairs. but that's only the surface level, we haven't even gotten to the real deal yet okayyy??

if you so much as utter a complaint about your feet aching or your shoes being too uncomfortable, he's already kneeling down, his broad back facing you with his hands gesturing for you to climb on for a piggy-back ride. he'll be running around camp like a lunatic, carrying you on his back or in his arms, but he doesn't care because he always puts your comfort and safety first !!

and if you happen to be walking through a cramped space with him in front of you, he effortlessly lifts you up by your arms so you can pass through without any trouble! what's even more impressive is jason's lightning-fast reflexes, especially when it comes to protecting you. if something is about to fall on you, he's always there to catch it before it can even graze you. and if you happen to trip, he swiftly catches you in his arms without making a fuss !!

his protective nature extends to the battlefield as well. even though he knows you're more than capable of defending yourself, he fights alongside you, ready to shield you from ANY harm.

whenever you hug jason, you always get lifted off the ground a few inches. like he almost doesn't realize he's doing it as he hoists you up off the ground with EASE. while you're just dangling from his arms LMAOO.

jason never fails to express his love for you verbally every day, but he also has a way of communicating it without speaking a word. he'll naturally reaches for your hand under the table, stealing quick kisses on your shoulder when no one is watching. even the way he touches you lingers, like he doesn't want to let go. and when you catch him gazing at you, and the transition of his grin to a subtle smirk AURGHJ!!

even before you started dating, jason fell for you and is honestly still falling, wanting you more and more with each passing day. all your flaws, mistakes, and imperfections included, he wants you. and only you.

hazel levesque

hazel is the best gf ever!!! she hypes you up every chance she gets. like, she literally never misses an opportunity to boost your confidence. she finds beauty in the most subtle things, like the tiniest ring on your finger, and truly believes that you look absolutely stunning in it, even if it's not her personal taste since she grew up in a different era. but she's so open to exploring new fashion styles and modern ideas for you, and also so that you guys can match. <33

whenever hazel leans in to kiss you, there's a touch of hesitancy in her movements. not because she doesn't want to kiss you !! she just wants to make sure you're comfortable. :(( she's clearly trying to gauge your reaction and make sure that everything is going well.

she worries that maybe she was too rough last time, (SHE WASN'T AT ALL LMAOO) or that she's moving too slowly this time around. you honestly find it cute how she worries about such small things, and in response, you wrap your arms around her and kiss her back, immediately dispersing ALL her concerns. <33

hazel is soo pretty in red lipstick omg. the way she leaves lipstick prints on your cheeks and playfully pecks at the skin on your neck while laughing is so cute!

hazel wants the absolute best for you! but don't underestimate her, this is the same girl who died to stop gaea at 13, okay? she's so brave. she respects all your boundaries and will always prioritize your safety and comfort first!

horseback riding. all the time. hazel is the only valid horsegirl. she'll go on and on about them, from their behavior and habits to their history.. but nothing makes her happier than seeing you genuinely interested in what she has to say!! she feels so special around you. :(( you've spend countless afternoons horseback riding with hazel. it's definitely one of your favorite pastimes now.

hehe i can definitely see you sharing your interests to her, and even introducing her to modern music/bands. it's probably a shock for hazel to switch time periods and witness the evolution of music. like, there are times when modern songs makes her all shy and stuff. but your love for it has definitely been able to sway her perspectives! she probably picks up matching band shirts or records as souvenirs when returning from her quests. <33

hazel loves hugs !! they often begin with excitement, both of you giggling like children. but as time passes, the embrace transforms into a soft and quiet hold. there's always a subtle competition between the two of you to see who will let go first, and hazel always emerges as the winner. <33

if forever does exist, hazel wants it to be you. her heart is overflowing with a million emotions, all of which are directed towards you. through your gentle guidance, she's learned to appreciate the beauty in even the most ordinary moments. the thought of losing you is unbearable. she never wants to let go of you. not now. not ever.

frank zhang

your guys' first date was definitely at an arcade/amusement park! he's hardcore blushing the entire time, while you totally crush him at all the activities. (he let you win) and, to top it off, he made sure to win you some impressive, oversized stuffed animals at the end!!

frank would pay close attention to all the details about you. like he literally knows stuff that you don't even remember telling him. 💀 even if you mention something in passing conversation, he'll make a mental note of it and remember it later on.

protective!frank standing up for others. anyone he cares about, including his friends and you. :(( he's not an angry person, sometimes he's even a little timid, so seeing him all loyal & passionate for those he loves really makes your heart swell up.

frank also leaves you sweet little notes frequently, and goes out of his way to get you lunch or anything else you might need !! sometimes after a long day, he'll come up behind you and wrap his arms around you, resting his head on your shoulder and asking about your day. <33

bear hugs are frank's thing. both literally and figuratively. he's the kinda person who would wrap his arms around you, and if you don't object, he'll keep holding you tightly while taking a few steps to maintain balance. and before you know it, you'll both be tumbling onto the couch or his bed, with his chest breaking your fall. but instead of feeling embarrassed or uncomfortable, both of you start laughing, with frank hugging your waist even tighter in affection. <33

frank is really protective but in a subtle, non-verbal way. like, he has a habit of wordlessly moving you to the safer side of the sidewalk. and, even if it is not yet dark outside, frank will insist on walking you home, making sure that you arrive safely. he doesn't want to be overbearing, but he's also just genuinely concerned about your safety. :((

frank isn't really a pda guy, but he absolutely adores hand holding! it's a subtle way of indicating that he's yours and you're his. also, there's just something comforting about the feeling of your palm against his, and he finds himself tracing the curvatures of your hand as like it's a map he's trying to memorize. it's a small gesture, but it means the world to him !!

frank does almost every subtle manner. oh, you need a hair tie? he's pulling off one of yours from his wrist. having trouble carrying groceries? he's already there. it's like he has a 6th sense for when you're even slightly uncomfortable.

you're frank's safe place. he can literally feel his worries and fears melt away as you hold each other. you're all he ever wanted love to be, and he knows that as long as he lives, he'll love you.

[zerobaselove]

zb1 reaction to you getting dressed up ♡

pairing: zb1 x reader

genre: fluff mostly?

warnings: some swearing in gunwook's, kind of suggestive in matthew's, some mentions of feminine styled clothing throughout some scenarios lowercase intended, not proofread

notes: i got so fucking carried away with hao's im SORRY... i also wrote half of these like weeks ago so you can definitely tell there is a difference between some of them but its FINE im sorry for being so ia work is kicking my ass </3

jiwoong ;

"are you ready?" jiwoong's light squeeze of your hand pulled you from your thoughts and back to the surreal reality you were living. it was your first time joining your boyfriend, jiwoong, on the red carpet for a film premiere, and to say you were anxious was an understatement. what if you looked bad? what if you said something stupid or what if the paparazzi thought you were a waste of their time, and footage. what if you embarrassed yourself, or worse, jiwoong.

as if the man could sense your nerves, he grabbed your chin gently to make you face him. "you're gonna do great, i promise." he planted a kiss on your temple, "and you look gorgeous, in case you needed the reminder."

it was all a bit of a blur; getting out of the car and immediately being bombarded with camera flashes and calls of your names. they wanted to see your face, and yet you could barely take your eyes off the floor, too worried that you would stumble. the only thing keeping you sane was jiwoong's arm around your waist, guiding you down the cherry red carpet lined with smiling faces. they were all smiling at you two.

once you had made it to the photo zone you had started to feel a bit better. the compliments thrown your way had helped ease the remaining worries, along with jiwoong's words as he leaned down to whisper in your ear. "look, they love you," he shifted his weight, posing slightly for the camera before leaning down briefly again, " i love you."

in another blur of flashes, you had ended up at the door of the building, the end of the red carpet. jiwoong removed himself from your side for the first time that night, rushing ahead to get the door for you.

"jiwoong," you giggled, "i could've gotten the door on my own." he simply shook his head, ushering you in before returning his arm to your waist, "looking like that? it's the least i could do," he took another glance at the designer dress hugging your skin in a way he was sure inspired some of the greatest renaissance paintings, "i should be kissing the ground you walk on."

you let out a chuckle at the dramatic antics of your boyfriend, "just kiss me instead." and so he did.

zhang hao ;

to say you were bored would be an understatement right now. you were happy for your sister getting married, there was no question of that, but being the little sibling meant you didn't really have anyone to hang out with at the wedding, with the guestlist being 50% family you either didn't recognize, or didn't feel like spending the night with, and the other 50% being friends of your sister and her partner's own friends.

so here you stood, hugging the wall near the band, at least letting the music drown out some of the boredom and gossiping family. it was loud enough that you didn't hear when a person approached you, lightly tapping you on the shoulder. as you turned to face the stranger, you realized it wasn't a stranger at all. it was zhang hao.

he had always been a close family friend; the kind that you spent hours with in the pool as kids, the one that you were seatmates with in the 3rd grade. the one who went to a different highschool, and the one who eventually you only heard of through his accomplishments and conversations ending with "you could learn a thing or two from him." you missed him.

"hao!" you smiled at the familiar face, "what're you doing here?" you couldn't hide the confusion.

"well your sister invited my family, but she also hired me to play the violin for her reception!" he smiled sheepishly, hating the way it felt like bragging in front of his, unknown to you, childhood crush. to say he was struggling to keep it together right now was an understatement, but thankfully you seemed oblivious to his wandering eyes and stuttering words as you continued chatting.

as the night led on the dance floor had turned into drunk adults and their sober kids running around, chased by the designated babysitter of the night. "do you wanna get out of here?" hao offered, glancing around the room. you couldn't help the excitement at the offer, having been waiting for an out for a while now. "let's go."

the two of you had said your goodbyes, excusing yourselves for the night, some excuses of tiredness or early classes the next day; they didn't have to know it wasn't true.

and that's how the two of you ended up at a bingsu place, getting strange glances from other customers at your rather formal attire. but as the two of you laughed over your strawberry dessert, you couldn't care less what others thought of you, to you it was just the two of you in the room. and it seemed he felt the same way, because as you were leaving, he slipped his own hand into yours without saying a word.

the two of you walked in a comfortable silence for a moment, "has anyone told you how gorgeous you look tonight y/n?" he looked at you for a moment before stopping, still holding your hand as he waited for you to meet his eyes. "is this you telling me you think i look nice?" you giggled, trying to push your beating heart down, to no avail.

"it is," he smiled, leaning in slowly, "can i?" his eyes glanced between your eyes and your strawberry stained lips. realizing what he was asking, you didn't even nod before leaning in the rest of the way, placing a kiss on his lips. "is that a good enough answer?" you smiled, dragging him along the sidewalk as his cheeks flushed impossibly darker. maybe tonight wasn't so boring after all.

hanbin ;

"does this look alright?" you asked as you rounded the corner of the hallway, gesturing to your outfit that you had picked out for this last minute date.

"alright?" hanbin started, taking a moment to close his hanging jaw at the soft fabric that hugged your frame in all the right places. "you look perfect, my love." he couldn't stop himself from wrapping his arms around your waist, pressing a kiss to your lips, not even worrying about the gloss that would end up on his own.

despite the voice in your head telling you to ditch the date and just stay in with your lips attached to his, you pulled away, looking up at the boy with a small smile. "let's get going, handsome." you giggled as you headed to the front door, strapping on a pair of heels.

"i'll be just a second," he smiled, "you can take the keys and start the car." you hummed in approval as you grabbed the pair of car keys off the hook on the wall, the small hamster keychain making a faint clinking noise against the metal of the keys.

it wasn't long before hanbin had joined you in the car and your date had begun. hanbin couldn't seem to go more than a few minutes without letting his gaze wander over your frame or sending compliments your way. even now that you were sat on the hood of the car looking over the sunset, he couldn't help but observe you in all your beauty. "are you cold?" he asked softly, noticing your body shivering when the breeze picked up. you attempted to shake your head in assurance that you were alright, but before you could, the boy had disappeared.

moments later he reappears from behind the car, your favourite jean jacket and sneakers in his hand. "no need to be uncomfy this late into the night!" he beamed, draping the jacket over your shoulders as he knelt down to help you change out of the dressy shoes you had been walking around in all night.

"where did you pull these out of?" you smiled at the boy in front of you, tying your shoes as he hummed a tune. "i packed them before we left, what did you think i was doing when i told you to get in the car?" he giggled, standing up in front of you, settling into the space between your legs. "sung hanbin," you breathed out, grabbing the collar of his shirt lightly and planting a kiss on his lips, "i love you."

matthew ;

“c’mon slowpoke,” your boyfriend teased, swinging around the corner into your shared bedroom as you were putting on the finishing touches of jewellery. you chuckled as you muttered a small rebuttal, the teasing remark seemingly falling on deaf ears as he made his way towards you. his hands snaked around your waist as he pulled you flush to his figure, only briefly making eye contact through the mirror before burying his head in the crook of your neck. “matt,” you sighed, trying to keep your composure as you could feel his breath ghost over the tops of your collarbones, “don’t start something you can’t finish.” you warned lightly, sensing the smirk on his lips as he breathed out a response. “you know finishing is never a problem,” the sound on your skin nearly sent shivers down your spine. your hand came up to run through his hair, lightly tugging on the strands between your fingers, “this is your reunion you know? wouldn’t wanna show up late.” you tried to convince him, and yourself, that the event was worth giving up the path this could lead down. he only hummed in discontent, reluctantly pulling away, his hands still wrapped around the small of your waist. “how am i supposed to let everyone else see you all dressed up like this.” he whined, linking your hands, still in front of the mirror, unable to pull his eyes off you, in all your beauty. “my perfect baby.” you couldn’t help but shake your head, which only caused the boy to spin you around to face him. “y/n, i mean it when i say this,” he pressed his lips to yours, “you are the most beautiful person i’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing,” another kiss connected the two of you, “and i am so god damn lucky to call you mine.” his smile was wide, this time pressing a kiss to your temple, “now let’s get going, don’t wanna be late.”

taerae ;

“you must be taerae!” you smiled, watching as the man you had been messaging for the last week walked towards you, seemingly more handsome than in the pictures on his dating profile. “and you must be y/n!” his smile mirrored yours, a deep dimple appearing on his face; the cherry on top of his already perfect looks. his hair was parted just off centre, his brown hair in combination with the tan plaid jacket he wore made him seem so welcoming and rather soft; like a teddy bear. he took in your outfit, a sleek and well fitting outfit, as if made just for you. a stark contrast from the outfits you typically wore, the ones in the pictures he had seen. it wasn’t a bad difference, but now he wasn’t sure how to even form coherent thoughts and sentences, let alone attempt to impress you on this first date. “would you like to head in?” he managed to stutter out, his nervousness becoming more apparent. “i’d love to,” you giggled as he opened the door, gesturing you in like you were royalty. “why thank you kind sir.” the two of you were a giggling mess as you walked into the restaurant. the two of you were escorted to your seat soon after, making small talk as you glanced over the menus in front of you. the conversation between the two of you flowed seamlessly, floating from topic to topic, only stopping to order. as the night went on, the two of you kept finding yourself erupting in laughter and beaming smiles as you found more and more in common; even your humour was well suited for each other. you almost forgot how nervous you were for the date, feeling more comfortable around him by the second. he couldn’t help but feel the same, despite the lingering stutter if he looked at the colour of your lipstick too long, or the way your eyes seemed to glimmer in the light shining on your table. in what felt like a blink of an eye, dinner was over and taerae was insisting that he would get the bill, despite your protests. “okay fine,” you lowered your head in defeat, “but that means i’m getting the next one!” you grinned, watching as the boys ace flushed a deep pink almost immediately. “next?” he stuttered out, trying to hide his joy at the prospect of another date. “unless you don’t want to go out again,” you teased. “no no!” he quickly objected, “i’d love to go out again.” you hummed with a smile, boldly reaching out to grab his hand as you exited the restaurant. “good! because i’d be quite disappointed if i never got to see you again.”

ricky ;

"ricky i can't wear this out, i'm going to ruin it!" you exclaimed from behind the bedroom door, loud enough for your boyfriend to hear you from where he sat in the living room. you had let ricky pick out your outfit for your date today, and he in typical ricky fashion, picked something that you were sure was worth more than the apartment you stood in, and it was white.

you could hear his laugh through the wall along with what you assumed was a shake of his head, "you'll be fine y/n, we are just going to the museum, i don't think anything will get you there." as if sensing your argument, he continued, "and if you do ruin it, we will get you a new one, okay? now show me my masterpiece!"

you couldn't help but shake your head at the response, what a ricky thing to say, you thought to yourself. but alas, you ran a brush through your hair one more time, spraying your favourite perfume and straightening out the clothes before opening the door.

it wasn't often you had seen your boyfriend stunned. as soon as his eyes found you, his phone was long forgotten on a couch cushion as he got up and slowly walked towards you, jaw agape.

"you look amazing," his voice trailed off, taking in every feature individually, causing your face to flush, "you always say that ricky," you argued. but he was having none of that, "well it's not my fault you can pull off everything." his hands traced the neckline of the shirt, moving to your necklace and then the outline of your collarbones.

it was almost quiet, with the exception of the heartbeat pounding in your ears as he studied every feature, as if to memorize every detail to recall later. it felt like you were burning under his gaze as you stood there, close enough to see his chest rising and falling.

"almost just wanna keep you here all to myself," he mumbled, "but i need everyone to see how pretty my partner is," he turned himself back to the couch to grab his phone before motioning you over to the full length mirror in the hallway. his hand snaked around your waist, pulling you in front of him so he could take a picture of you two in the mirror.

it wasn't until later that you saw why he took it. the picture welcomed you when you clicked his instagram story, a romantic love song playing over the image along with the caption that made your heart skip a beat. "the absolute prettiest, and all mine."

gyuvin ;

“gyu, where are you?” you called into the quiet apartment as you let yourself in with the spare key he had given you. “coming!” he called out from down the hall, you could hear his feet shuffle along the floor, the boy soon appearing before you with a wide grin. “what brings you here, my love?” he asked, his gaze wandering down your figure, taking in your semi-formal attire, his jaw going slack. “take a picture love, it’ll last longer.” you winked, a smug smile plastering your face. before you could even continue to explain your plans for the day he had pulled you in by the waist, “don’t tell me you’re leaving after showing up looking like this,” he mumbled into the crook of your neck. “i was just stopping to drop off some snacks for you,” you giggled at the ticklish feeling of his breath on your neck, “was passing by on my way to my cousin’s graduation and thought i’d say hello.” his face finally pulled away from your neck, facing you with a smile and flushed cheeks, “well, hello,” he beamed, “now ditch the graduation, i miss you.” you chuckled, wrapping your hands around his neck, placing a kiss on his lips, “i have to go gyu, but i can come over after dinner, movie night?” he only whined, sadly nodding his head at the idea. “how am i supposed to sit here waiting until tonight knowing you look this pretty out there without me?” your hands started playing with the hair on the back of his neck, leaving his lips to part slightly at the feeling. “fine,” he whined, dragging out the vowels like they could stretch the time with you just a bit further, “but you better come back to see me after.” he pouted, reaching down to play with your fingers. “i pinky promise,” you smiled, “now i have to go or i’m going to be late,” you planted a kiss on his cheek, “and gyu?” you asked, halfway out the door. “yes my love?” “leave some snacks for me!”

gunwook ;

"please pick up, please pick up." you mumbled between your shallow breaths, your shaking fingers pressing the call button next to gunwook's name. the phone only rung once before your best friends voice came through the speaker, "what's up? aren't you supposed to be on a date?" he asked, his voice laced with concern. "he stood me up," you sniffled, trying to put on a brave face, or voice, for the boy on the phone.

"oh i'll kill him," he muttered, "where are you?" he asked, you could hear him pulling his shoes and coat on over the phone. "i'm at that restaurant down by our boba spot, i'm walking home and just," your voice trailed off, why did you call him? "just wanted to hear your voice i guess." you concluded, so caught up in your thoughts that you didn't hear the door slam on gunwook's end.

the boy stayed on the phone with you, letting you rant as he stayed strangely quiet on the other end, but you didn't think much of it. that was until you saw a rather tall man running towards you, slowing down right in front of you. "hi" the simple phrase echoed between the phones and you nearly burst into tears at the sight of your best friend. you threw your arms around him and let the floodgates open.

his hands found their way around you, one rubbing your back gently as the other ran though your hair. "let it out, you're okay now." he kept repeating reassuring phrases as you babbled about how humiliated you felt. he just stood there comforting you, letting you have your moment in the middle of the sidewalk, illuminated by the streetlights lining the road.

"he's an idiot, y/n" he said calmly. you tried to argue, insisting that maybe you were the problem, maybe you weren't good enough, but that broke gunwook, and he wasn't about to let you say those lies about yourself.

"y/n, look at me," he pulled away, tilting your chin upwards to meet his eyes, "you are way too good for him, or for any man who would ever even consider hurting you or standing you up," he rambled on, "especially when you look like that." he gestured to you.

"look like what?" you questioned, just out of curiosity.

he shook his head, a blush creeping to his face, "like the person of my dreams, the most gorgeous and kind person to have walked the earth." you stood in shock for a moment, taking in the confession that you had been waiting years to hear, the confession that you thought would never come, and the reason you let yourself go on these dates with these shitty men.

"i like you." you blurted out, not even caring that this moment was accompanied by tear stains and running mascara. the boy smiled wide, "i like you too," he reached down to grab your hand, "so," he trailed off, "movie night at my place?"

"i would love nothing more."

yujin ;

"you really don't have to come y/n." your best friend yujin insisted, but you shook your head fervently, "and miss my best friend's graduation? funny joke yujin." you said sarcastically, "you got to come to mine so i get to go to yours, end of story."

and that you did. yujin's parents offered to let you join them, insisting you were like the daughter they never had. plus you loved chatting with his parents and little brother. "you look absolutely lovely today," yujin's mom said as you walked towards their car, a sheepish thank you leaving your mouth in response.

you got there just in time for the ceremony to start. soon enough yujin was being called up to the stage to receive his diploma. you and yujin's brother were doing the most, cheering and clapping to an almost obnoxious level while his parents held in a laugh as they took pictures of their oldest.

once the ceremony was over, yujin had found his way to you guys, greeting you with a light slap of the arm and a shy scolding for embarrassing him, causing all of you to erupt into laughter.

you all chatted together for a moment before you and yujin led into your own conversation. "who knew you had legs under those baggy jeans you always wear?" he laughed, now it was your turn to smack his arm lightly, "i dress up one time and this is what i get." you joked, shaking your head.

"you do look nice though," he continued, a genuine smile spreading across his face, and you smiled back. "you don't look to bad yourself, mr. high school graduate."

[sharkiethrts]

[𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡'𝙨 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙗𝙪𝙗𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙙𝙖 𝙥𝙤𝙥𝙨]

𝘗𝘙𝘖𝘔𝘗𝘛: 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘫𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘶𝘢𝘯

g/n reader

: both jing yuan and reader are young children here, jing yuan is pining (ineffectively) at the reader

: approximately 465 words (chat gpt said so)

Jing Yuan is late again. At this point, it is a familiar routine: he'd run in with sweat beading up at his forehead- Jingliu would throw a faded hankie at his face, urging him to wipe it off with a glance before nagging at him- "what's your reason this time?" "Did you oversleep?" "Did you go to eat your breakfast at Mr Zhang's store again? The queue is too long there. Go eat at the canteen instead- you children are too whiny about soldier rations."

The truth is, Jing yuan never oversleeps and he always skips breakfast. It isn't a military regime he put himself on at all, no. If Jingliu knew that the brat in front of him was skipping breakfast, she would order the senior guards to eat breakfast with him. He would have to suffer from indigestion for the next few weeks (the senior guards adores picking on the apple-cheeked boy) until Jingliu is finally convinced that the brat will listen.

.

But he won't ever listen because Jing Yuan has a long route to take that he can't afford to miss. Your route. Well, not your route. It's the route through Cloudford. For context: where Jingliu expects him to be at every dawn is miles away. But this lovesick boy remains stubborn, he travels the route to Cloudford with a boyish grin- a blush would bundle up at his round cheeks when he spots you in your familiar attire, your uniform stained with food crumbs from your rush.

"[Name]! Wait up!" And when you do stop, a pretty sight is granted to you- perhaps a morning call from the Eons? There's no way anyone can remain nonchalant and sleepy at the sight of this messy haired, toothpaste decorated face, "Are you heading to class? I heard that your Master brought over some swords he specifically commissioned from the Artisanship Commission! I saw! Let me spoil you in a bit of the fun- one of them is fully jaded, and another-"

He definitely rushed to see you.

"Shouldn't you be going to yours? Miss Jingliu would kill you if she knew that you're all the way at Cloudford right now, Jing Yuan."

His eyes crinkled from the widening of his smile at the call of his name, "She'll survive! Let me walk you there-"

"Jing Yuan. Your cloud knight training?"

Oh eons, did you not hear his plead this morning? Jing Yuan turned slowly, adjusting his attire- trying not to slouch in fear. Getting scolded in front of the other Cloud knights is not as embarrassing and as tear-jerking as it is in front of you. Not to mention, his master knows all the grimy details under his sleeves.

And there she was, in her glory- her sharp eyes piercing his through one strike. He bends over immediately, face apologetic- catching glimpse of your smiling face, clearly amused by the scene taking place in front of you.

"You have toothpaste on your face, boy," Jing Yuan's face flushed red at the newly learned information. Ah crap, did you see that? He glances at your face briefly- yeah, you definitely did. Curse his heart- he was so excited to talk to you he stumbled at basic cleanliness.

"I think it makes him cute, you shouldn't have told him, Miss Jingliu," You hum. You are one of the few unaffected by the intimidation his master poses- your frequent rendezvous with Jing Yuan hyper-exposed you to Jingliu's more reasonable sides.

"[Name], go to class. Your master is waiting for you," Jingliu turns to him, and he immediately regrets not shifting his gaze down at his feet earlier," As for you," she waits for you to go, "Confess soon. I don't want to keep chastising you on your... inconvenient hobbies."

A smile blooms at his face at that.

"Yes Master! Duly noted!"

[sarcasticallyperfectperson]

Zhang Family Lore Canonically Goes Crazy But Here Are My Headcanons

- The family wealth was made by Grandma Zhang, not Emily’s father

- “Shipping Business” my ass, she was in the illegal arms trade

- How else do you think she met Mars? Bc these two were friends before Emily was even born

- When she finds out he got her daughter pregnant shit gets messyyy

- The whole family is super tall

- And hot

- Their have more godly blood than any other mortals so it’s going to show

- Grandma and Emily looked like twins

- They were super close

- Emily had a Chinese dragon tattoo sleeve (it was the early 2000s)

- Grandma Zhang is horrified (which is exactly what Emily wanted)

- Emily joins the military hoping to gain a sense of purpose instead of being a socialite

- She meets Mars when she is a Lieutenant, he’s her captain

- She clocks him immediately

- Frank is the first in his family to not grow up using the family gift

- Emily was scared it’d increase Frank’s demigod scent

- Especially since she was away all the time

- Grandma Zhang had it covered though, she had that mansion *locked down*

- The house is humongous

- Grandma Zhang hosted some ragers there back in the day

- The interior is beautiful, talk about Barbie’s dream house

- The woman had a pink Cadillac!

- ANIMAL PET NAMES!

- Everyone calls Grandma Zhang “Bunny”

- It’s so ‘80s and cute I love it

- The thought of Mars calling an angry Emily “Kitty” just does sth for me idk

- Baby Frank in a “Bear” romper with little ears I can’t

I could go on for days

[zhng96]

𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐀𝐘𝐋𝐎𝐑 𝐒𝐖𝐈𝐅𝐓 𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐒 (𝐖/ 𝐁𝐋𝐔𝐑𝐁𝐒) ― zb1

↳ pairing: ot9!zb1 x gn!reader

↳ warnings: lowercase intended, these r a lot longer than blurbs LMFAO, implied situationship at the beginning of jiwoong's?? mentions of drinking in zhang hao's, gunwook's is short sawry :(

↳ note: these r so fun i want to do a part 2 of just them as other taylor swift songs. taerae and hao's are my personal favs they are literally so cute i will die.

perm taglist (open): @tzuberry

― KIM JIWOONG.

↳ now playing: style by taylor swift.

jiwoong finds himself slowing his pace as your house gets closer into his view. the light thuds on the concrete pavement are the only sounds that are heard at this time of night in your neighbourhood, but it evokes a sense of comfort.

in hopes of distracting you from his slowing pace, he reaches out to thread your fingers into his. when he hears the hitch of your breath, he smiles- suddenly the thoughts of parting for the night turn into an overwhelming amount of admiration towards you.

despite never disclosing your relationship, it is clear that the two of you are very into each other. however, that didn’t stop the heavy question from lingering on your lips every time you see him.

(more under the cut!)

sure the silence was nice, but your overwhelming thoughts consume you and a question seems to sprout out unprovoked.

“jiwoong, i’m not the only one you’re seeing, aren’t i?”

of course, you couldn't blame anyone for also take interest in him either, he was attractive, dreamy and kind.

jiwoong seems to freeze for a moment, his grip on your hand loosening while the rest of his body tenses in reaction; quite the juxtaposition, but it showed that even in the most compromising situations, he chose to be delicate with you.

"yn, i-" when the sound of his wavering voice fills your ears, you instantly back down.

the last thing you wanted was to make him uncomfortable and lose him altogether, "sorry it's just- i'm so tired of this cat and mouse game-"

"yn." this time, his tone was quite the opposite of what it had been before. that was one thing you admired about him; the way he picked himself back up so easily.

you look at him with furrowed brows, your rambling voice slowly fading out as yours eyes meet his. "i'm the one who should be sorry... i may have been seeing other people but trust me- none of them compare to how much i feel for you."

watching as your lips part in surprise, a warm smile makes its way onto his lips before he continues, "you are worth more than i think i could ever give to you- but if you will have me, i'll try my hardest to give you everything you deserve."

"jiwoong, you have given me everything i have ever wanted and more."

― ZHANG HAO.

↳ now playing: you are in love by taylor swift.

it wasn't like mieun meant to do it of course- she was hammered; but even with that in mind, you couldn't help but be pissed. your clothes were now drenched in her concoction of drinks and spots were starting to dry, causing bits of your shirt to stick to your skin. thankfully, while you were patting your shirt with a wet paper towel, hanbin came over to offer to look after her while you either went home or found a change of clothes.

spoiler alert- you ended up doing both of those things.

however, the last thing you expected was to see your best friend zhang hao at the party as well- also as a designated sober friend. he watched the interaction from afar: your figure in distress as you try to find a way to either get home or get out of these clothes.

"yn!", he calls from over the music, and your head immediately turns in his direction. he gestures to you to follow him and you oblige.

"wait in the bathroom, i'll grab you the spare clothes i have in my car", he then opens the bathroom door for you and gives you a reassuring smile, before shutting it as you walk in.

after what felt like forever, a gentle knock sounds throughout the bathroom.

"it's me, i'll just leave the clothes hanging on the doorknob alright?"

you let out a small 'okay', before opening the door just a crack and reaching for the bag hung around the door knob and shutting it once again once it was in your grasp.

fortunately for you, the liquid had not gotten onto your jeans so you just had to change into his shirt. disgustedly stripping off your shirt, you turn on the sink and wash off any alcohol that had stuck to your skin and when you finally put on zhang hao's shirt- a whiff of his cologne wafts into your nose.

fighting off the blush that threatened to creep up on your cheeks, you take the leftover fabric from the shirt that draped just past your mid-thigh and tie it into a thick knot before leaving the bathroom altogether.

you hadn't expected zhang hao to just be a few inches from the bathroom waiting patiently for your return, but there he was, and his eyes lit up at the sight of you.

"you ready to get out of here?" he asks, silently basking in the sight of you in his shirt.

"but what about mieun?"

"hanbin's already taking her home."

to say the ride home was filled with conversation would be a big fat lie. it was quite silent, zhang hao's radio was turned down to almost a whisper. although you were itching to say something, you couldn't find anything to talk about and it seemed like zhang hao was very comfortable in the silence. did you only see him as a best friend? does someone who only sees someone as a best friend find it hard to find something to converse about with them? all the more, blush when they give you their shirt to help you out?

"zhang hao.." you started, but you couldn't seem to find words to let you finish.

after a few seconds following your failed attempt at conversation, zhang hao smiles gently before glancing at you briefly, "you're my best friend."

tilting your head at the cryptic statement, you want to inquire before he beats you to it, "but i'm in love with you. like truly in love."

licking your lips, your eyes never leave his figure. his eyes stick to the road, but you can tell he meant it- you could sense how he itched to look back at you, "i think i'm in love with you too..."

― SUNG HANBIN.

↳ now playing: call it what you want by taylor swift.

hanbin has made it very clear that he would do anything for you and more. if he had the ability to give you the world he'd also find a way to gift you the moon as well.

for example, when earlier today you had told him you were craving stir fried spicy pork- now he had just texted you that he was on his way with spicy pork and your favourite dessert.

when he arrived at your door with the biggest grin, both the stir fried pork and dessert in his arms, he quickly sets them down to replace them with you. the embrace was quick but full of every feeling that bubbled within him everytime he saw you.

when you lean in to peck him on his cheeks, his eyes catch a gold necklace with a heart pendant dangling from your neck. obliging to your kiss, he smiles before his hands move to rub the heart between his fingers.

you quickly blush- you hadn't expected him to notice the new necklace so quickly.

"what's this?", he asks, before a carving on the back of the heart scratches at his finger tips.

he flips it over to find his initials engraved on the back side of the heart- a big goofy grin finds its way onto his lips and you can't help but focus on each and every feature of his face as he reacts.

"you bought a necklace with my initials engraved onto it?"

"yeah... not in a weird possesive way or anything i just... the way you love me is the most precious thing in my life and i never want to forget what- or rather who makes it so precious in the first place..."

"we better get me one of your initials too then."

― SEOK MATTHEW.

↳ now playing paper rings by taylor swift.

matthew liked you. like really really liked you. he found it so unbelievable that you held the same emotions for him, but you did- and god did you know how to make it known.

you were on the same boat, matthew has always been the sweetest, most patient and understanding person you had ever met.

the night he had confessed to you while rewatching a romcom for the 13th time in a row had made it’s way into your “favourite memories” folder in your head.

he was everything you could ever ask for and more- everything he did for you was so much even if it was just buying you your favourite snacks.

before you even considered your feelings for matthew, you considered yourself as someone who wasn’t exactly the most romantic- but when you were around him it’s like a switch flipped.

even if you adored the thought of the idea of a beautiful crystal sitting in the middle of your wedding ring, one which glistened beautifully when the light hit no matter the angle, even if matthew proposed with a ring made of newspaper- you’d accept it in a heartbeat.

“what you thinkin’ about?” he drawls, nudging you by the shoulder as he left no space between the two of you on the couch.

“mm.. js’ really love you.” you smile, glacing at him with adoration.

his eyes crinkle as he smiles and he grabs your arms and pulls you closer to him- if even possible.

“i think the world of you.” he replies, hands resting on your thighs as you were now straddling his waist. you knew that even if that engagement ring was made of newspaper, matthew’s neverending fondness for you would make up for it.

― KIM TAERAE.

↳ now playing: fearless by taylor swift.

as much as you felt bad for leaving your coworker's wedding, it was getting boring and you weren't about to waste the 150 dollars you spent on a nice outfit just to sit and clap while others danced.

thus leading you to be drive down the dark streets in taerae’s car with the radio on blast. the late summer rain started pouring, but taerae's windshield wipers found it easy to wipe away any droplets of rain from the windshield.

lovers wasn't the right word to describe your relationship with taerae- it more of you having a crush and not knowing if he felt the same. way he looked in a button down, his blazer discarded in the backseat, and his sleeves folded up to his elbows.

he hums along to the song while you simply stare, he looked so good right now- that wasn't exactly what someone should be thinking about they're best friend, right?

"the rain's starting to pour really hard, how about we park at the 711?", his suggestion immediately snaps you away from your stupor and you find his eyes glancing back and forth between you and the road.

"uh- yeah... that's fine."

when taerae pulls into the parking lot, he cranks the radio even louder and you look at his with a raised brow, "c'mon!"

widening your eyes at the sight of him opening his door to make way for the pouring rain, he steps out and kneels to make eye contact with you, his gaze expecting you to do the same.

"what?!"

"we didn't leave the wedding just to not have any fun, c'mon!" you bite your lip in contemplation at his reasoning- surely it was a good argument.

nodding to yourself, you open your door and try not to flinch at the feeling of the rain starting to soak your well done hair.

taerae quickly makes his way you your side of the car, keeping the door of the passenger side slightly agape to hear the blasting radio better.

once he turns back to you, you swear you had tunnel vision- his hair was slicked back by his own doing as the rain soaked it and so was his button-down.

he takes hold of one of your hands and raises it above your head, twisting it to help you spin- the sudden action makes you grin.

then he grabs onto both of your hands and starts to dance, relishing in the way the music echoed throughout the desolate gas station parking lot.

"taerae! my clothes were 150 dollars, i don't know if playing in the rain would make the price worth it", you say between giggles. even as you said it, you complied with his dancing.

he tilts his head in amusement, watching as you too enjoyed the moment albeit the comments that were meant to bring the two of you back to reality, "alright then, if we get it dry cleaned and i take you out to dinner, will it be worth the price then?"

he pulls you close, the two of you stopping in your tracks and a burst of confidence surges through your veins, "yeah... it'll be worth every moment i spent thinking about you too."

― SHEN RICKY.

↳ now playing gorgeous by taylor swift.

your relationship with ricky was simply that there wasn't one. sure you were acquaintances as you know each other through mutual friends and those mutual friends hang out a lot, but you just can't seem to talk to him.

grudgingly, you'll admit that you don't talk to him because you hate the butterflies he gives you from simply looking at you, or the fact that you swear you would melt into a puddle if he smiled at you.

however, for ricky, he enjoyed how painfully obvious your ignoring of his existence was. sure, he found himself smirking at himself at the thought of you unable to even maintain eye contact with him when he asked you a question, but had he ever found out why? the answer was no.

maybe it was because of the rumour that you truly did have a boyfriend? perhaps the rumour had been true and you were simply just avoiding him because your boyfriend had asked you to. or it was something completely unrelated to even having a boyfriend at all and you just had some problem with him that he was unaware of.

he settled on the former- he didn't want to suffer through a headache due to mindless thinking.

however, his observation was clearly proven wrong when he finds himself left alone in a room with you after both of your guys' friends went to the convenience store without you two knowing.

the silence was awkward, ricky watched as you fidgeted with your fingers and absolutely avoided even looking in his general direction.

"why won't you look at me? or talk to me? we've known each other for 2 months now..."

you purse your lips and finally find the courage to meet his eyes, you quickly regret that decision as you find it hard to look away.

"i'm not good with talking to people..."

"such a cop-out answer", he chuckles, his smile only making your heart race faster than it already was.

"do you have a boyfriend?" the casualty of his question catches you off guard and you part your lips in surprise, an obnoxious questioning sound coming from your lips.

"what made you think that?!" you finally manage to sputter out an answer, and ricky gives you an entertained smirk- you feel like you will melt in your spot if he keeps it up.

"so you aren't avoiding me because you have a boyfriend?"

"what kind of nonsense is that? i'm avoiding you because you're really cute and i hate that just by looking at me i find myself unable to process anything!"

a few seconds of silence overlaps the two of you before you snap your mouth open in distress, "shit..."

"hey, don't stress, we can take this slow. at least now i know why you were avoiding me."

"take things slow..?"

"you didn't think i'd care about you ignoring me if i wasn't an ounce interested in you, did you?"

― KIM GYUVIN.

↳ now playing: cruel summer by taylor swift.

you were in quite the predicament. kim gyuvin was your brothers best friend, not someone you could have a crush on. you two were friends, not close of course; only usually talking when your brother was around. after all, it would be quite weird to hang out alone- at least in your opinion.

in all fairness, you hated your relationship with him. you hated keeping secrets from him just to keep him around. sure, it was selfish to wish for more, if you told him you liked him and it didn't turn out well, your brother may end up losing his best friend too.

however, you were in much luck. your brother along with gyuvin had just graduated. you once had overheard the two talking about moving out together and going to a school the next city away.

summer was dawning in, the rain started to leave and your mind turned it gears with careful cogs. now was the perfect time to confess- if he rejected you, your relationship would not weigh in on his and your brothers', if he said yes- well, you hadn't really thought about it.

either way, either ending satisfied you. you didn't expect much from it, really- but the thought of having a chance to keep him around filled your being with much hope.

it was at least 1 hour past midnight. you went down to grab a small midnight snack, the weight of seeing gyuvin in the living room with your brother free from your chest after hearing the snores coming from your siblings' room just down the hall.

as you turn from the stairs to face the kitchen, you find a tall brunette sitting at the kitchen island, eyes already on your figure.

"oh-"

"hey", his smile was gentle, his voice was laced in fatigue but he didn't seem to want to move in his spot, almost waiting for something- or someone?

"sorry, i thought you were asleep. i heard snoring..."

"oh, your brother fell asleep five minutes into the movie, i couldn't stand his snoring so i brought him up to his room", he chuckled, you find yourself smiling at the sound.

you walk towards your stove, feeling a little intimidated as his gaze does not leave your body.

"you happy you graduated?" you ask, your back turned towards him as you set a pot of water onto the stove.

"hm, bittersweet feelings."

"why's that?" you furrow a brow, staring at the water in the pot, praying it would boil faster.

"js' wish i had done somethings while i was still in highschool... 'dunno"

you only hum, the thought of confessing digging itself to the top of your brain. was now a good time?

"yn?" you blink, turning you head in his direction. had you been in a trance for an embarrassing amount of time?

"think you could make me a pack too?" he gestures towards the singular pack of ramen sitting atop the counter. you tense for a moment before complying, turning to the pantry to retrieve another pack.

by the time you make your way back in front of the pot, the water is already boiling. you open both packets, dumping the noodles in and pulling the flavour packets out. turning the heat to medium, you still refuse to turn your body back towards gyuvin in fear.

now. right now is the best time.

"you thought about the university you want to go to once you graduate-"

"gyuvin i like you... it's bad."

taking his silence as a definite no, you try to blink away the tears the surface, eyes burning into the noodles that slowly softened in the water.

you think that he's found his escape, quietly going up the stairs while your back is still turned but you find your observation wrong. a gentle hand wraps around your wrist and beckons you to look at the culprit.

when you turn, you expect to find gyuvin looking at you with sincere apology. instead, you find a coy smile on his lips.

"what's so bad about that?" you look at his eyes in exasperation, searching for evidence of a joke- was he teasing you right now?

"you're my brothers best friend! not to mention you're moving away!"

"would you believe me if i told you that your brother knew about my crush on you?"

"what?!" gyuvin snickers before putting a finger to his lips, sure you were being adorable- but too loud at 1am.

he turns to turn the heat on the stove off before looking at you again, "and we've decided we're not moving... we both didn't get in so we're staying here to go to uni."

letting out a breath of relief, you still shook in your spot, "so you don't think it's weird that you're best friends with my brother and i'm his sister who has feelings for you?"

"what, is there some love handbook i don't know about?"

you can't help the light-hearted laugh that erupts from your throat at his sarcasm, "no... i guess there isn't."

"good, because not telling you i liked you before i graduated was my one and only regret..."

― PARK GUNWOOK.

↳ now playing: message in a bottle by taylor swift.

park gunwook was an admirable classmate of yours. he was bound to have admirers, he was class prez after all. his ranks were good and he is attractive- no denying that.

what is embarrasing however, is how you found yourself as one of those admirers.

it started off with simple notes of motivation. you only signed with an anagram. then, it turned into small gifts from the school store.

you revelled in the way he surveyed the room after each time he read a note from you, or the way he would ask his friends if the had seen someone set something on his desk.

however, you were diligent with being sneaky. you would only set something on his desk when the hallway and classroom were clear- it was usually during lunch or, if you got to the school too early, you would do it then.

what you weren't diligent with though, was estimating his intelligence.

arriving at the school late today, you rush into the classroom, praying that teacher was also running late. to your misfortune- he was not.

you stops you at the door, publicly announcing your arrival, making your rushed morning even worse before handing you a detention slip and dismissing you to your desk.

you set your bag down beside the desk chair and when you look up, a light pink sticky note tabbed to your desk catches your eye.

you frown before sitting down, grabbing the sticky note and fumbling to read it.

"thanks for the gifts yn- or should i say, my secret admirer. want to go to the convenience store with my at lunch? - p. gunwook" it read.

in surprise, you perk your head up and immediatley jerk your head into his direction. he was already looking back at you, a bashful smile on his face accompanied by a shy tilt of his head.

a goofy smile breaks through it restraints before you could stop it and you nod- suddenly your morning wasn't too bad.

― HAN YUJIN.

↳ now playing: enchanted by taylor swift.

han yujin did not think that the last thing that would be engraved in his mind after gunwook’s birthday party would be you.

you were gunwook’s childhood friend- sure he’d mentioned you every once in a while, but yujin had never truly met you.

he was glad that gunwook’s birthday party gave him that chance.

you were absolutely captivating- the way you looked in your formal yet casual attire, the way you lit up around the people you were close to, and the kindness you spread to everyone even if you didn’t know them.

yujin actually had the chance to talk to you, probably the main reason you had been lingering in his mind since he had left the gathering.

gunwook had pulled you over to finally introduce you to his friends. when you introduced yourself, he found out that you were actually from around here, just attending a different school.

the two of you actually hit it off pretty well, while gunwook and gyuvin were goofing on the dance floor, yujin and you just decided to sit and watch.

as he grew to know more about you; your school life, your friends, you rank in class, your hobbies and more, he couldn’t help the pit that grew in his stomach.

with everything that you do, you were bound to have someone interested in you- or have your interest lying on someone else, right?

little did yujin know that you were thinking just the same. it would be impossible to imply that yujin has never had an encounter with an admirer, let alone have his eye on someone.

when you two parted ways at the party, the longing to see eachother again had already started to set in. after a few bittersweet goodbyes, you two got into seperate cars and headed home.

as if the world heard both of your prayers, the next week, yujin was invited to hangout with gunwook and a few other friends- he could only hope that by “a few other friends” you would make an appearance.

and you did.

the way your eyes lit up at the sight of him gave him his answer. the only person you had been waiting for was him.

navi. mlist.

[dearfae]

୨🌸୧ - dating headcanons!

the seven : heroes of olympus

girlfriend version.

4.8.24

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

percy jackson :

lots and lots of kisses

hand holding

loves your cooking/baking (especially blue waffles *wink wink*)

every time you go on a date it’s water related - the beach, aquarium, underwater restaurant etc.*

*sometimes you go to the movies or amusement parks too tho

constant compliments

lets you choose what he wears sometimes

cute nicknames

very protective and loyal (ofc)

teaches you how to fight (if you don’t already know)

swimming competitions but he goes really easy on you

pegasus racing

braids flowers into your hair

sarcastic and funny jokes to cheer you up

would literally die for you

his mom and step-dad paul LOVE YOU

takes you shopping

buys all your favourite foods when you’re on your period

needs comfort after his nightmares

annabeth chase :

teaches you a lot

hours long talks about each other’s interests

reading and museum dates !!

forehead, nose, cheek kisses

wakes up really early so you’re always awake before everyone else too

spends lots of her time thinking of ways she can make you smile

would do anything for you

picnics :)

takes great joy in annoying you by correcting your grammar or spelling

will make you do a hundred pushups if you insult any author ever

will also make you quote shakespeare

sneaks into your room at night by picking locks instead of just knocking (chalice of the gods reference)

hesitant to let you meet her parents at first

but when you do she’s really happy because you get along with them really well

you always help her win capture the flag (she protects you 99.9% of the time)

death glares/will fight anyone whose mean to you

you never have to google anything because she’s right by your side

needs constant reminders that you’ll never leave or she needs to take a break

hates surprises

jason grace :

literally the sweetest

is only relaxed/vulnerable with you

learnt how to break a few rules *wink wink again*

always cleaning his glasses

the person who dares to be mean to you better count their days

surprisingly smart

deep conversations

doesn’t really know what to do when it comes to dates or anything romantic

forgets things sometimes

keeps a little notebook in which he writes everything he loves about you

makes your birthday cake from scratch

physical touch for reassurance

teaching you about roman history is his love language

pretends to hate the nicknames you give him but secretly loves them

keeps a picture of you with him at all times

quiet around others

never raises his voice at you

sometimes you act like his mother figure (is that what it’s called?)

winks or smiles at you when others aren’t looking

leo valdez :

shit music taste (I’M SORRY)

treats you like the queen that you are

holds doors open for you

points at you and says really loudly to everyone else, “HAVE YOU SEEN MY BEAUTIFUL AMAZING WONDERFUL GIRLFRIEND??”

inside jokes

you gave him a bracelet and now he never takes it off

gives you flowers!

sleeps in

cuddles, kisses and his arms are practically glued to your waist

teaches you spanish (especially the swear words)

he COOKS

there’s never anything broken because he fixes them immediately

always makes you laugh

does skincare with you<3

shows you off to anyone that’ll listen (even if they won’t)

the kindest, most golden retriever boy ever

he’s still wary about opening up to his trauma

his severe adhd makes it hard for him to calm down so you always sing to him or play with his hair

excessive use of the words bro and dude

frank zhang :

picks you up bridal style whenever you get tired (he likes to impress you by showing off his strength)

gentle and caring

if you’re out eating together and you buy different things, he’ll let you taste both of them so you can have the one you like the most

gets flustered really easily

cheesy pick up lines (that you secretly love)

LOVES TO EAT

uses his title of praetor to take the mick out of you (as a joke)

cautious about trying new things

very punctual with time and chores

whenever there’s a praetor meeting he lets you sit next to him

you make sure that there isn’t any dairy in the food you make him

he was so happy when you learnt canadian for him

you let him teach you about his family tree

if you’re feeling sad he’ll shapeshift into a puppy or something to cheer you up

he can actually be pretty snarky when he wants to

you’re literally the safest girl on earth when he’s around

the poor boy gets really shy when you flirt with him

really good at making different accents

his writing is SO hard to read😭

piper mclean :

likes to make you blush

let’s you taste the lipstick she uses by kissing her

swears

candlelit dates, stargazing, mall shopping

buys you perfume and clothes

definitely asks for you to rate her outfits

she thinks you’re prettier than anyone else in the world, so much so that’s she’d straight up call her mother ugly

really excited for you to meet her dad

she’s your BIGGEST supporter!

you have to stop her from slitting peoples’ throats when they say anything remotely harsh to you

plays with your hair and brushes/styles it for you (she lets you do the same for her)

SKINCARE NIGHTS<3

binge watches 2000s movies - bratz, mean girls, the devil wears prada etc

you call her lots of playful names

rips down any posters of her father she sees, makes it her personal mission to burn every single one of them (you laugh every time)

loves flipping people off

she’s actually really sweet and caring

loves when you hold her hand

paints your nails :3

hazel levesque :

loves exploring abandoned underground tunnels

she made a bracelet for you out of the gems she pulled from the ground

every time you swear she chases you with a bar of soap

you help her with her curly hair

she’s so innocent (unless she’s angry, hungry or tired; then she goes ballistic)

you tease her when she gets flustered

she takes you for midnight rides on arion

she always smells like fresh rain

calls you ‘miss your surname’ whenever she scolds you

she sleeps with extra pillows

if you pass a graveyard she’ll wave to the ghosts

graceful and kind

loves nature

really good with kids

bakes you cookies on national girlfriend day

if there’s one thing she hates, it’s when people misquote the bible

sometimes she’d have major deja vu moments from her past life if you go somewhere she did the first time she was alive

gets really excited when it’s date night!

she can be so incredibly fierce and powerful but if a butterfly or something dies she’ll literally start bawling her eyes out

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

that’s all i can think of lol

let me know if i missed anything or you disagree with what i’ve put! i’m open to any criticism :)

hope you enjoyed! i might do another one with different characters!

©dearfae

[the-monkey-ruler]

Hello!!! Stumbled upon this blog on a casual scroll-through and am super impressed at how thorough and passionate it is!! Kudos!!

I had a question, if it’s not too much of a bother:

Is there any sort of artifact mentioned in JTTW (or Chinese mythology at large) that’s been used to contain a yaoguai’s power/take it away from them? Maybe in the vein of Guanyin’s vase? Sorry if this doesn’t make sense.

So what you are asking for is something that can take away cultivation so to speak? There are some tv/movies that do show other yaoguai that are able to eat the life force of yaoguai and forcing them back into their original state therefore taking away their power and their humanoid form.

However that is more popular in modern media, as for any canon items they are more focused on subduing and capturing rather than depowering.

Gaunyin's vase sadly hasn't been able to show any depowering abilities either if you were asking about that. It has been show to whole an entire ocean and that it can hold healing water. But there are movies where she is able to capture demons (such as Wukong) in her vase and keep them in a state of status. But I don't know how in canon that is as she does have a lot of history outside of journey to the west.

But on to magical items in journey to the west! I shall rank them from most subduing to least subduing

Subduing Buff Attacking

Golden Jade Ring (金剛琢) - it can change size, is invulnerable to water and fire, can strike all things, collect various magic weapons and weapons, and has infinite uses. Laojun used this treasure to knock down Sun Wukong and help Erlang Shen capture him. The One Horned King used this treasure to take away Sun Wukong's golden hoop, Nezha's six weapons, and the magic weapons of hundreds of gods and generals. It can even dissolve water, fire, thunder and lightning. Later, Taishang Laojun, who came down to the world himself, defeated it with a fire-type banana fan. This was the thing that put Wukong stop in his tracks, doesn't take away power but def the most powerful.

Flask of Yin and Yang Essence (陰陽二氣瓶) - it contains the Seven Treasures and Eight Diagrams, twenty-four Qi, and requires thirty-six people, according to the number of Tiangang, to lift it. This treasure can hold a person and if a person does not speak, the bottle will be very cool. But once they speak, fire will burn them into pulp water in a moment. Wukonghad to use his Golden Hair he was given by Guanyin to escape. While not invincible it took another magical item to counteract it and thus very powerful.

Golden Cymbals (金鐃) - the magic weapon used by the Yellow-Browed Monster who trapped Sun Wukong inside and would have turned to puss inside it if he didn't escape. Sun Wukong escaped from the golden cymbal with the help of Kang Jinlong and immediately broke it. Took nearly an army to escape it, very powerful.

Purple Gold Red Gourd (紫金紅葫蘆) - as long as you call out your opponent's name if they respond, the elixir will pull them inside. Then a note with the words "The Supreme Lord Laozi, please obey my command as soon as possible" will be posted on it, and the elixir will turn into pus in a few hours. Hard to say how powerful this is since Wukong escaped it twice turning into a bug so... take that as user error or not.

Human Sack (人種袋) - Sun Wukong invited the twenty-eight constellations, the two generals of the tortoise and the snake, the five great dragons, Prince Xiao Zhang and the four great generals, but they were all put into the monster's bag. Later, Maitreya Buddha took back the human seed bag and put the demon king into the bag. Very powerful but does not kill, so less of a threat.

Golden Cloth Rope (幌金繩) it was originally a belt used by Taishang Laojun to tie his robe. It has a tightening rope spell but also a loosening rope spell and if a user knows both they most likely will not be affected. Powerful but if you know the loosening spell it is useless.

Suet Jade Flask (羊脂玉淨瓶) this was used by Taishang Laojun to make elixirs and hold water. It has space inside to hold water from all over the world.

Seven Stars Sword (七星劍) - the real sword from the Ming and Qing dynasties that has survived in modern times was used by Tan Sitong. The seven stars are mainly symbolic, but from the perspective of material mechanics, they should have the function of buffering stress concentration and preventing the sword from breaking.

Palm Leaf Fan (芭蕉扇) - The two banana fans, yin and yang, are held by Taishang Laojun and Princess Iron Fan respectively: the banana fan used by Taishang Laojun is yang, and the six Ding divine fire it fanned is the power source of the alchemy furnace; the banana fan used by Princess Iron Fan is yin, and its water vapor can extinguish the fire in Huoyan Mountain. The two fans are mutually reinforcing and mutually restraining. There are prototypes that can be traced in reality.

Banana Leaf Fan (芭蕉扇) - The extremely yin treasure fan can fan out water vapor, and water can extinguish fire, so it can extinguish the 800-li Flame Mountain. "Journey to the West" Chapter 59 "Tang Sanzang's Road Blocks the Flame Mountain, Sun Xingzhe Uses the Banana Fan" "...Her banana fan was originally a magical treasure created by heaven and earth since the beginning of chaos behind Kunlun Mountain. It is the essence of the Taiyin, so it can extinguish fire." The yin wind fanned out can make people drift 84,000 miles before it can stop.

Purple-Gold Bells (紫金鈴) - This Purple Gold Bell was forged by Taishang Laojun in the Eight Diagrams Furnace, and it is very powerful. Shake it once, and fire will come out. Shake it twice, and smoke will come out. Shake it three times, and sand and rocks will fly. Sun Wukong stole the golden bell and then subdued "Sai Taisui".

If you are looking for more magic items that can take away cultivation I actually think that there is something in FSYY that took away some daoists' cultivation... but I think that was more of a formation than an item... I'm sorry I didn't take notes on but that novel DEF has a lot of magical items!!

[fudgetunblr]

Some of my favourite moments during the Olympics that had nothing to do with the actual sport performance — Gymnastics Edition

- Carlos Yulo immediately congratulating Oka Shinnosuke when he won the AA because he’s trained with some of the Japanese gymnasts. Same with Daiki Hashimoto who looked just as happy passing on the torch of AA champion to someone else from Japan. We love athletes solidarity.

- when two of the Chinese gymnasts in the male team final just shared a little snack as they were waiting for their score or something. Sharing is caring and snack time is important. Shoutout to all the squeezies we’ve seen this Olympics.

- Simone Biles goat neckless that she apparently got from her fellow Team USA members. So fucking cute.

- Biles and Chiles bowing for Andrade. It was the moment.

- Zhou Yaqin learning in real-time about the medal biting tradition. We’ve all seen it and we all love it still 🥲❤️

- Zhang Boheng’s puffy white coat as you enter the arena, you will always be famous.

- Also, just Boheng and Chia-Hung gossiping on the podium about to receive their shared bronze. Bonus was watching Chia-Hung realise that despite of his fall, he’d still receive a medal 🥺 sad that everyone fell, cute that his dream still became a reality.

- Carlos Yulo posting a video of his fall from the pommel horse and saying “unfortunately I was selected for the Olympics” 💀💀💀 we love when people keep up with trends.

- ✨ Flavia Saraiva’s eyebrow tape appreciation time ✨

- when Zou Jingyuan finished his parallel bars routine and everyone was just congratulating him before he got the points / the last people had done their routines 😭 they really said “alright let’s wrap this up”

- Kaylia Nemour and Qiu Qiyuan celebrating together over the fact that Kaylia took the gold. Truly the Andrade/Biles of the uneven bars.

- also shoutout to every single athlete that just went up to each other and was like “great job” or shook their hand etc etc. it was beautiful.

- ok last one last one, and probably the funniest and sweetest one: Lorenzo Minh Casali from Italy just vibing with everyone once the results were done at the male team final. One second he is congratulating Japan, the next he is chilling with team Canada. It was really funny. I’m pretty sure they caught him in the middle of a call as well. It was all very sweet. Like our own version of where’s Waldo.

[freddie-77-ao3]

random facts about random riordanverse characters from my characters doc:

percy jackson: thalia once dyed his hair neon green (which, he has black hair, so no clue how) and it lasted for two weeks before washing out entirely

thalia grace: actually very close to will solace. he treated her when she first woke up, and reminded her of jason. she's basically a big sister now. she threatened nico about him.

nico di angelo: got so nervous about asking will out he accidentally asked in chinese, before reverting to welsh, and then latin. finally, he stutters it out in a mix of greek, italian, and english (luckily will understands all three). unfortunately, will responds in sign language for some reason??? nico doesn't know sign language.

meg mccaffrey: meg has a horrendous obsession with gatorade. like. she won't drink water, it's gatorade or nothing. apollo is SO concerned because he doesn't know what gatorade is and also it looks VERY unnatural.

leo valdez: not only can he cook tacos, he knows how to make tamales. actually, while on the argo ii, he and percy made most of the food. this man can COOK.

will solace: has a habit of always carrying pens around with him (both as a way of keeping close to michael, who collected pens before his death, and just bc he's in the infirmary so much) and he clicks them ALL THE TIME as a fidget. people forcibly take them from him sometimes.

Annabeth Chase: she's autistic and so is her dad. part of why they have so much trouble having a good relationship with each other. they both have really black and white thinking styles.

Calypso: she's like 7 feet tall.

Magnus Chase: he really likes the chronicles of narnia series. when he was a kid, he dressed up like the lion for three halloweens in a row. his favorite is the lion the witch and the wardrobe.

Alex Fierro: felines are easier than canines in regards to shapeshifting.

Sadie Kane: she likes strawberry ribena the best

Carter Kane: he wants to grow his hair out. when he's in his twenties, he does. sadie helps him braid it.

Clarisse La Rue: after her mission in ttc, she's extremely claustrophobic.

Piper McLean: the reason she was so against feminine stuff in TLH is because she was so sexualized by the media when she was girly. so she openly rejected it.

Travis Stoll: makes oddly specific t-shirts about what happens at camp. like, “I defeated the greek personification of time this summer and all i got was this lousy tee shirt.”

Connor Stoll: isn't dyslexic. loves reading.

Katie Gardner: she drops out of college after her first semester. it just wasn't for her. she owns a flower shop called petal to the metal, where she says "have a punk rock day" to all her customers.

clovis: he doesn't actually need to sleep 24/7, he just doesn't want to interact with people.

Cecil Markowitz: a threesome baby. no, really. he's 25% his mum, 25% his dad, and 50% hermes. he-- he has a lot of questions and no answers, and that's probably for the better.

Lou Ellen Blackstone: she's black, and usually keeps her hair in braids. before alabaster torrington defected he did it (he's white, learned just for her), and after, beckendorf did her hair.

Zoe Nightshade: she's regenerating. she was a titaness, she'll be back.

Lee Fletcher: he dropped out of high school. it wasn't for him. got his GED and took college classes on the side til he died, but personally modern schooling wasn't really for him.

Rachel Dare: when she turns 21 and gains access to her trust fund, she immediately donates the entire thing.

Hazel Levesque: definitely the person who always has a cardigan/sweater for you to use if you get cold.

Frank Zhang: goes back and finds his grandmother after HoO

Jason Grace: jiper was comphet. he's gay.

Reyna: didn't actually join the hunt. i don't think that really is a natural character ending? she is ace though.

Grover: turns out pan passing his spirit on to grover actually made grover a god?? yeah grover didn't realise for //years//

juniper: fought in the battle of manhattan. she just brought a couple of her berries with her.

Chris Rodriguez: following going insane and becoming sane again, he develops anorexia to regain his sense of control over his life.

Drew Tanaka: she's actually aro-ace.

Malcolm Pace: in an effort to always be prepared he sleeps in jeans and street clothes, and always has a bag of supplies on him.

Ellis Wakefield: is from somalia. his first language is somali. he speaks somali, english, arabic, and greek.

Mitchell: went to military school for a bit. has a habit of calling people sir/ma'am after every sentence now.

michael yew: has the gift of prophecy, knew going into manhattan that he was going to die.

miranda gardiner: summer only camper, takes over counselor during the summer (katie doesn't want it. also she's vietnamese. i know thats two facts i just think it's important.

sherman yang: he has two dads. his mortal dad's name is jeff. sherman sees him like, one week every two months? jeff lives in seattle.

jake mason: he's got a fish named bubbles. he says it's because harley wanted to name it. he lies.

silena beauregard: summer only camper, she volunteers at a domestic abuse shelter during the year, and hopes to go into social work.

charles beckendorf: he was 16 when he died, but had finished HS work 2 years early. had been accepted to MIT. he wouldn't have gone, anyway, because of the expense, too far from camp, but-- it had been a nice dream

Nyssa Barrera: she's a year round camper, and always been mad that taking care of harley fell to her.

Lacy: physically disabled. she's got JRA, and is in a wheelchair part time.

Harley: really likes unsweetened cheerios.

[duchesschameleon]

five (a Delphi Racing fic)

a percy jackson x formula 1 fic

pairing: percy jackson x annabeth chase

rating: t for teen

warnings: alcohol mention

read this fic on ao3

Percy lets out a shaky breath, foot bouncing on the floor.

One more race. Thats all thats left of this season, all that’s left for him to win a championship. One more race to beat Jason and solidify his place in history.

“Hey,” a voice calls out, pulling Percy out of his head. “You okay there?”

He looks up, sees the familiar face of Annabeth Chase, the head engineer and car designer for Delphi Racing popping into his room.

“I’m good. Just. Last race. Last chance to win this thing for you.”

Annabeth steps further into his driver room, smiles softly at him. “Win it for yourself, Seaweed Brain. Double points finish should wrap up the constructors championship for us. If my math is right, Jupiter Motors needs a 1-2 finish to beat us on that front. And that’s not happening, because I’ve got the best driver on the grid in my car.”

Percy smirks at her, sitting up a little straighter. “Best driver on the grid, huh?”

She rolls her eyes at him, faking exasperation. “I’m not saying it again. Not until you win this race.”

“Got it, Wise Girl. Win from pole and make it a grand slam?”

“Sounds like a good plan. I think that’s the Plan Alpha Grover has for you, if I heard the briefing correctly.”

Percy barks out a laugh, his nerves calmed by Annabeth’s presence, the way they always are.

“Thanks, Annabeth,” he says, standing up and taking her hand. “Guess I have a championship to win now.”

“Anytime, Percy,” she replies, squeezing his hand. “Go win your fifth championship, bring it home.”

——

He brings it home. Wins from pole, fighting off Jason Grace with all he’s got and manages to snag a fastest lap to complete the grand slam he promised Annabeth.

It’s a close race, the gap to Jason never bigger than 10 seconds, and the two swap positions the whole race. It’s a hard fought win, but it’s a win. His fifth world drivers championship in a row and Delphi Racing’s fifth constructors championship in a row.

It’s a new record, and one Percy already wants to beat next year.

“That’s P1 Percy Jackson! You are the world champion, and you sealed the deal with a grand slam!” Grover says through the radio, his excitement palpable.

“Holy shit, holy shit we did it!!” Percy says back to his race engineer. “Thank you so much, everyone! Couldn’t have done it without you, Grover and everyone in the garage!!! Holy shit!!”

“Congrats, Seaweed Brain!! That’s a fifth world championship! I’m so proud of you, everyone here is.” It’s Annabeth’s voice on the radio this time, her smile evident in her excitement.

“Thanks for the amazing car, Wise Girl,” he responds. “Tell me we got the constructors championship too?”

“We got it, you and Will both got on the podium. P3 for Will, he held off Zhang amazingly. I’ll see you on the podium, you’ve got some burnouts to do.”

“It’s a date.”

His radio clicks silent and Percy sticks a hand out of his car and signals to Jason Grace and Will Solace that they’ve been given the go-ahead for burnouts. He gets two thumbs up in response and immediately turns his car while hitting the break. Smoke goes up around him and he giggles, despite being a fully grown man. He giggles because he’s doing burnouts once again as the world champion and it’s the best feeling to have won this way, to have fought the whole season and have an actual competitor this year. He’s got no doubt in his mind Jason will be the one on the top step next year, Jupiter really challenged them and he’s a strong driver.

But not strong enough this year. This year, it’s Percy on top again. Percy who gets to walk out last and stand on that top step of the podium with Annabeth on the constructors podium.

They hear their anthems play, a sense of pride for both of them, and Percy stand straighter than he ever has in his life, still can’t believe he pulled off this Herculean task, but it’s real. It’s real, and his mom is in the crowd, crying happy tears as she holds his sister and leans into Paul, and his dad isn’t far away, eyes also wet with tears. It’s real and Annabeth is right there, just out of reach on her own podium, but looking at him with eyes full of pride and love.

And then it’s time for the champagne.

The anthems end and Percy can see Will putting down his trophy, switching it out for the champagne bottle at his feet that he starts to shake before slamming it on the ground, causing an eruption of champagne to flow out.

Percy grabs his own bottle, aiming the spray at his teammate as he gets doused from all sides, Annabeth joining the fray as well.

Jason’s good naturedly spraying all three members of the Delphi Racing team, his smile not quite reaching his eyes, but Percy knows from the cool down room that Jason had done everything he could, Percy was just better this race. So Jason sprays them, celebrates his P2 finish in the race and championship standings, having just edged out Will over the season.

Percy’s pulled out of his head by a shower of champagne down his back, Annabeth’s laughter right in his ear as she upends her bottle down the back of his race suit.

“Oh it’s on, Chase,” he says, shaking his bottle a little more before dumping it over her head, saturating her blonde curls in champagne.

“Percy!” she squeals, sputtering as the champagne runs down her face. “Oh my god, I’m gonna look crazy for the photos now.”

“You still look fine, you used waterproof makeup earlier,” he reminds her, arms slowly wrapping around her. “Now, I believe you owe me something,” he says, lips turning up into a smirk.

Annabeth rolls her eyes at his dramatic approach, but lets herself be tugged closer to Percy. “You’ve certainly fulfilled your end of the bargain,” she says, reaching to cup Percy’s cheek in her hand.

He can’t even think of anything to say in response, so he just crashes his lips onto hers, fulfilling a promise made at the start of the season.

“Win another championship for me, and the I’ll kiss you on the podium Seaweed Brain,” was the ultimatum Annabeth gave him during the first race weekend, when Percy whined about another season of keeping their relationship under wraps. And win he did.

It’s not their best kiss, Percy pressing hard into Annabeth, gripping her to him as they balance on the podium together, nearly empty bottles of champagne in hand, most of the liquid sprayed on the ground around them or clinging to their clothes.

No, it’s not the late night or early morning kisses shared on the beach, a kiss shared in his driver room before a race, or one behind their motorhome afterwards. It’s not filled with finesse, but it’s special because it’s one that tastes like champagne and winning and not hiding anymore. After six years, Percy can kiss Annabeth in public on purpose and not worry about the repercussions.

“Spray the lovebirds! They need to cool off!” Percy hears Will yell, feels the champagne spraying him. He wraps his arms more securely around Annabeth, poorly attempting to shield her from the onslaught of champagne.

“Took you long enough, Jackson!” Jason yells from the other side, also spraying them.

“Oh come on!” he protests, glaring at Jason over Annabeth’s shpulder. “We had our reasons!”

“Yeah, and yet almost the entire grid knew anyways! Worst kept secret,” Will throws back.

“And yet, you all helped us keep it from anyone outside of the grid. I’d say best kept secret,” Annabeth retorts, raising an eyebrow at her other driver.

“Touché.”

“And now the secrets out,” Percy murmurs to Annabeth, drawing her attention back to him.

“Secrets out,” she confirms, smiling up at him, grey eyes sparkling. “What are you gonna do about it, Jackson?”

He doesn’t respond this time, just drops his champagne bottle to more firmly wrap his arms around Annabeth, hands splayed across her back as he pulls her in again and kisses her. Their lips pressed together, he dips her, arching her back as he smiles against her lips, the happiest he’s ever been.

Percy lets out a breath when he pulls back, this one steady when hours before it had been shaky. He smiles down at Annabeth, presses one more quick kiss to her lips before standing her up straight again.

He’s a five-time world champion. His team are five-time constructors champions. He’s dating the woman he’s had a crush on for longer than he probably realized and got to kiss her on the podium under a champagne shower. He’s got a pretty good life.

[beauregardlionett]

a pleasure to have in class (the art of perception) - ch.1

AO3 Link

Strangely enough, the Forensic Art History lecture at the Beijing Police Academy was not restricted solely to those aiming to be sketch artists. It was made clear in the course description that actually producing art pieces was included in the curriculum, but that fact seemed to deter only a few people.

Yang Jing dropped her bag to the floor as she sat in the seat next to her friend and classmate Huang Yi. The lecture was populated enough that they were not in a traditional classroom, instead filing into an amphitheater type auditorium staring down at a low rising stage. There were various classical paintings scattered around the stage and a podium stood proudly front and center. Standing behind it, shuffling through a stack of papers, was an unassuming man.

“Is that our professor?” Yang Jing whispered, leaning over to Huang Yi. He glanced up from where he was already scribbling in his notebook. Huang Yi looked first at her, then down at the stage.

“I guess so. He doesn’t look much like a police officer, though. I heard our professor doesn’t do much field work.”

Yang Jing made a face, leaning away from Huang Yi. 

“How are we supposed to learn from someone who doesn’t work in the field?” she whispered fiercely.

The seat beside Yang Jing rattled as someone sat down quickly, stealing her attention. She was met with the frazzled appearance of Zhang Xinning.

“I didn’t miss anything, right?” Zhang Xinning asked, breathless as she dug out her notebook. “My bus was late today.”

Yang Jing reached over to fondly smooth down her friend’s messy fly away hairs, shaking her head. “Lecture hasn’t started yet, you’re fine.”

“Hello everyone,” the instructor said, soft voice amplified by the microphone clipped to his shirt collar. “Welcome to class. My name is Shen Yi and I’ll be conducting this course for the semester. Let’s get started, shall we?”

Yang Jing listened apathetically as Shen-laoshi worked quickly through the syllabus, answering questions that various students had about course requirements, and detailing his contact information and office hours. 

Twenty minutes into the hour-long lecture, Shen-laoshi turned away from the podium and walked to one side of the stage. He hefted a large canvas off the floor and walked back to the center of the stage where an empty easel had been sitting behind him. Propping the canvas carefully on the easel, Shen-laoshi stepped aside and smiled serenely at his students.

“Does anyone know what this piece is called?”

Huang Yi raised his hand, Shen-laoshi’s gaze flicking to him immediately, nodding for Huang Yi to speak.

“The Garden of Earthly Delights,” Huang Yi said confidently, his glasses slipping down the bridge of his nose.

Shen-laoshi nodded, smiling a little brighter. He scooped up the pile of papers off his podium and stepped off the stage, handing them to a student in the front row. “Correct. This piece is originally a triptych by Hieronymus Bosch, but it’s been condensed to one canvas here. I’m passing out a printed version of this piece for you all to examine.”

Once the papers had been passed throughout the students, Shen-laoshi leaned his hands on the podium and stared out at his class.

“What do you think this piece is about? What do you notice?”

Shen-laoshi stood patiently at his podium, observing the class as they poured over the image before them. Yang Jing stared down at the strange, vibrant piece on her desk panel, glancing sideways at Zhang Xinning who was tracing her finger over the paper to better observe the details.

After a few minutes of silence, a student on the other side of the auditorium raised their hand. “Shen-laoshi, it’s a very…strange piece. The right side is so much darker than the rest of the painting. It doesn’t match the other two panels at all.”

Shen-laoshi turned to them, moving away from the podium to get closer to the speaking student. “How so?”

“W-Well,” the student stood as they spoke, clutching their print out between their hands. “The other two panels are very vibrant, so the one on the right stands out. The people there look miserable, too.”

Shen-laoshi nodded, his serene smile still in place as he turned to gaze out over the rest of the class. Zhang Xinning raised her hand, standing as soon as Shen-laoshi looked her way.

“There is a recurring theme in the middle panel, Shen-laoshi,” she said confidently. “There are red fruits throughout that section, probably to reference the apple from the Bible.”

Shen-laoshi nodded again as Zhang Xinning sat back down. His gaze scanned over the class at large for another moment before he turned and walked back to the podium. 

“This piece is meant to trick your eye. The three panels seem unrelated in several ways, and yet they are connected for a reason. Bosch’s overwhelming use of detail draws the viewer in and distracts from the thread interconnecting the panels. That thread is sin.”

Surprised murmuring broke out among the students, several leaning over to whisper to classmates as they all looked down at their copy of the painting once more. Yang Jing stared at her copy, baffled. She was half convinced Shen-laoshi was testing them, seeing who was brave enough to call out his clear misinterpretation of the painting.

A boy in the row in front of her was the first to speak up, raising his hand as he did.

“Shen-laoshi, what do you mean sin connects all the panels? Two of them don’t appear that way at all!”

Shen-laoshi turned his still serene smile their way, tucking his hands into his pockets as he moved away from the podium again.

“Please explain your thoughts,” he prompted the student. The boy in front of Yang Jing hesitated before standing.

“The two brighter panels don’t appear sinful, the people in the center are joyful and seem to be painted in paradise. The left panel is painted the same way, and they aren’t doing anything that appears sinful since they’re just sitting there. The right panel is the only one that looks bleak and awful, so how could the whole triptych be connected by the theme of sin?”

“Ah,” Shen-laoshi said calmly, pulling a hand free of his pocket to point at the student. “You make a good point, but you have also revealed a bias.” He turned to address the entire class, spreading his arm wide to gesture back at the painting behind him.

“How many of you saw the bright colors of the first two panels and associated it with good things?” Several students raised their hands shyly, glancing around at each other. Shen-laoshi nodded as if he had expected this and continued.

“There are many common societal conceptions ingrained within us as we go throughout our lives. Not all of them are inherently good or bad conceptions, but are instead the product of group think. We form unconscious biases that narrow our view of the world down to a perceived right and wrong, and we encounter situations with these ideas shaping our view of people, places, and events before we have even begun to understand what actually happened.”

Shen-laoshi pulled a laser pointer from his other pocket and highlighted the figures on the left panel. “Here we see Adam being presented with Eve by God in the Garden of Eden. Adam is staring at her with expectation, Bosch’s depiction of lust - a cardinal sin in the Catholic faith.”

The pointer moved to the center panel, not focusing on any one subject. “Here, the plethora of baffling, fantastical details distracts the viewer, as it is meant to.”

Shen-laoshi glanced up and nodded at Zhang Xinning. “You were correct about the theme of red fruit symbolizing the sin of humanity gaining forbidden knowledge. But if you look again, this paradise is full of humans engaging in carnal lust without shame. And as you all noted, the last panel appears to be hell. The difference is in the colors, but it is also in the people. They appear to have succumbed to the consequences of their indulgence and now feel shame, but it is too late to change the outcome. After all, this is the Garden of Earthly Delights, not the Garden of Eden. Bosch already tells us this is a garden of sin.”

Yang Jing stared at Shen-laoshi with her lips parted, baffled. She could see it now that he had pointed it out, but she didn’t understand how he had been able to see any of that in the first place. There was so much detail to work through, how anyone could have managed to come to this conclusion left her head spinning.

“It is our job as police officers and detectives to be able to set our biases and preconceptions aside, to be able to approach a scene without blinders. Our responsibility lies in being able to see the whole painting, and the details. And it is my job to teach all of you, not about art, but about the art of perception. I’m sure all of you have heard a few rumors floating around the department about me, after all. I hope these rumors do not cloud your perception of me too much.”

A cell phone vibrated noisily against the surface of the podium, drawing Shen-laoshi’s attention away from the sheepish looks and mumbling of his students. He stepped over, scooping his phone off the podium and scanning the screen quickly. A moment later, Shen-laoshi looked up at them and smiled again.

“It seems I have to end class early today. Please read through the assigned chapter in the syllabus and email me with any questions. I will see you all next week.”

Several students started gathering their things and getting up as Shen-laoshi took off his microphone, grabbed his bag from behind the podium, and walked briskly out of the classroom.

Yang Jing slowly folded her desk panel away and tucked the Bosch painting into her notebook, thoughts racing. To her left, Huang Yi sighed dreamily.

“He’s so cool,” Huang Yi whispered. “I can’t believe we get a whole semester with him.”

“Right?” Zhang Xinning squealed, leaning precariously over the armrest between her seat and Yang Jing’s to stare at Huang Yi. Her fly away hairs were looking wild again, Yang Jing reaching up absently to smooth them back once more.

“Shen-laoshi seemed so laid back and suave while lecturing. He’s definitely a more interesting speaker than some of our other professors.”

Huang Yi nodded enthusiastically, grinning broadly at Zhang Xinning. The boy in front of them twisted around to join their conversation.

“I just hope he’s not one of those professors that knows everything about one subject but can’t actually teach it. We already have one of those types - I don’t want another one.”

“Weren’t you listening to him explain?” Huang Yi demanded as he tucked his notebook away. “Shen-laoshi described everything so succinctly and was so patient the whole class. He’s going to be a great professor, I can tell!”

Yang Jing gently shooed Zhang Xinning out of her space so she could lean forward to the other student. “I’m Yang Jing, by the way. This is Huang Yi and Zhang Xinning. We’re all third year students.”

“I’m Liao Cheng, a second year student. Nice to meet you all.” Liao Cheng smiled at Yang Jing’s friends before looking back at her, raising an eyebrow. “What do you think of Shen-laoshi?”

“I think he’s given us one lecture that he cut short,” Yang Jing said flatly, pulling her bag into her lap. “So my only opinion on him is I don’t know him that well, but at least he’s given us extra time to study.”

Zhang Xinning gently whacked Yang Jing’s shoulder with a quiet admonishment of, “A-Jing!”

“I’m not wrong,” Yang Jing said pointedly. “Speaking of, we have a mock quiz to study for, A-Ning. Let’s grab coffee and head to the library.”

–

Yang Jing had indeed heard a few rumors floating through the police academy about Shen-laoshi before that first lecture. There was the one Huang Yi had mentioned about Shen-laoshi’s lack of field experience, but the most common one was that he did not get along with a single instructor at the academy. When Yang Jing first heard that rumor, she found it hard to believe. There were several instructors within the academy - to not get along with any of them would be a feat only a pariah could manage.

However, the more she listened and observed, the more it seemed that the rumor might be true. 

Their medical sciences professors muttered about Shen-laoshi’s lack of attendance to social outings. Their criminal psychology professor was overheard complaining to their maths professor about how Shen-laoshi was never at his desk. Most recently, Zhang Xinning had informed Yang Jing she saw their fitness coaches purposefully side-stepping Shen-laoshi in the hallway numerous times.

Yang Jing could not fathom how one person could be so removed and unlikeable.

“It’s not impossible,” Liao Cheng said with a shrug as he twirled his fork around and around his lunch tray. “One of my friends became an art student in high school, and he started acting like a different person. All artists are a little aloof and strange, I think. If Shen-laoshi is the same, I could understand how none of the other professors would like him.”

“But he’s so handsome and well spoken,” Huang Yi argued, blushing pink as he did. “How could none of the other professors get along with him? He’s not a bad person.”

“It doesn’t seem like he’s around that much,” Yang Jing commented, more focused on copying her notes over for their advanced medical science class. Zhang Xinning coaxed a forkful of soy-glazed potatoes into Yang Jing’s mouth, distracting her briefly.

“It seems to me like the other professors don’t know him enough to like him, so instead they’re annoyed by him or don’t care enough to have an opinion,” Yang Jing continued after she finished chewing. “You don’t have to be a bad person to be disliked.”

Liao Cheng and Huang Yi stared at the table, contemplating Yang Jing’s comment as Zhang Xinning held up another forkful of potatoes for her, smirking. Yang Jing accepted the mouthful even as she gave her friend a questioning look.

“You think Shen-laoshi is cool, don’t you?” Zhang Xinning teased with a playful smirk.

Yang Jing felt her face grow warm as she ducked her head down to her notes again. Zhang Xinning cackled with delight as the other two joined in her laughter.

“Shut up,” Yang Jing snapped without any heat, scribbling another note down. “I’m just doing what Shen-laoshi taught us and observing without bias.”

“Sure you are,” Zhang Xinning drawled in a sing-song tone. “And you think he’s cool.”

Yang Jing kept her head down and continued copying notes, but she didn’t deny Zhang Xinning’s claim either.

[acsisz]

Real DecaP DARK Fanfic.

Warning: contains quite a bit of violence, blood, some swearing.

This isn't DecaP fluff fanfic (there's a bit at the end tho), I wrote this while imagining a DARK DecaP game. Harvard is an actual merciless bastard, and his teammates don't have a good time.

Writing this caused me some emotional pain, so be prepared.

(Also I'm so tired, this is like 5,500 words long... I didn't beta read it, no energy left 😅 I'm sorry if there're any wording mistakes)

Plot: The team experiences Harvard's darkness firsthand.

*Huff puff*

Carl was running alone in an abandoned building.

'Where is everyone?' Carl thought as he went around a corner.

*BANG*

'What was that?!' Carl heard a loud sound coming not far from where he is.

'Are the others in trouble?!' He tried to once again contact his teammates through his special police assigned phone, but it still didn't work.

'Damn it... I guess there's no other choice...' Carl began to turn the other way and started running to the source of the loud sound he had heard.

'Everyone... please be okay...!'

*bang*

"Hm? That was..." Zhang muttered to himself as he checked his laptop for any contacts from his teammates.

"It was quite loud, but still far off from where we are," said his partner, Manimani.

Her tone of voice signaled worry, yet still radiates a strong calmness.

"Any news from the others?" Manimani asked her partner.

"No, not yet..." Zhang shaked his head and began typing on his laptop.

"We've been separated from them for quite some time now... Did Mikey contact you?" asked Manimani again.

"Nope... This is just speculation on my part, but I think this old building is jamming our signals," Zhang begins to explain.

"Mikey just went in to search for Carl and Harvard, so maybe he hasn't had any new info to tell us," he continued.

"...but it's weird that Carl or Harvard hasn't contacted us at all, is what you're saying right?" Manimani said.

"Exactly," said Zhang as he finally tears his sight away from his laptop screen to face Manimani.

"Especially Carl," Manimani emphasized.

"Especially Carl... he's the biggest worrywart of this team," Zhang agreed.

"So, what should we do know? Me going in after them won't solve any problem," Manimani puts her hands on her hips, slightly annoyed.

"Right..." Zhang begins to think.

"Honestly we were so lucky to be regrouped with Mikey, only for him to immediately went off in search of those two," Manimani briefly remembers when they managed to accidentally find Mikey in this labyrinth of a building.

"Mikey!" Manimani shouted a bit to get her teammate's attention.

Mikey was running, about to turn around a corner when he heard Manimani's voice calling him.

"Goodness! What a coincidence! Good to see you two!" Mikey, noticing Manimani and Zhang, began to ran over to them whilst shouting a bit.

"A coincidence of great effort, this place is like a maze!" Zhang said, "Why didn't you contact us?"

"Oh! Yes, contact! Sorry, I forgot!" Mikey admitted, an embarrassed smile began to form on his face.

Zhang and Manimani sighed at the revelation, 'Knew it,' they both thought at the same time.

"Putting that aside for a moment, did you find anything? Where are our leader and his partner?" Manimani asked.

"Very weird. I found nothing, not a single person. And no Harvard or Carl either," Mikey said, perplexed.

"Wait, not a single person? But you came from the other way. We also didn't find anyone, so thinking logically, you should've had more chance in encountering those members!" the news shook Manimani.

"Yes, very weird. This is hideout of a big crime organization, correct?"

"Right, but we also didn't find a single person..." Manimani looked to Zhang for correction, and he only nods.

"Could it be that they already fleed?" Zhang raised a possibility.

"No way, Harvard clearly told us they'd be here. He was sure of it," And Harvard was rarely wrong when he's that sure, Manimani added in her mind.

"Damn it, this is turning into a mess. I thought we'd be able to instantly raise our achievements if we're able to caught a big crime organization by ourselves," Zhang sighed.

"I told you so," Manimani said perturbed.

'What a mess... This is what happens when you don't listen to Carl and me, we're like the only functioning brains with common sense in this team...!' Manimani swallowed her words, making the situation worse is the last thing she wants to do right now. Scolding Zhang can come after they're all together and safe.

"How about we search for leader and Carl together?" Mikey asked, sensing the disturbance in the air.

"Can't do, I wanna try contacting headquarters," Zhang said, rejecting Mikey's offer.

"I see, what about you Manimani?" Mikey turns his focus to Manimani.

"I want to, but Zhang's horrible at fights. Can't risk him getting jumped by the enemies while he's working on contacting headquarters," Manimani shook her head, a bit disappointed she couldn't go searching for her teammates.

"That's okay I understand, Zhang's the worse at fights in our team. I would also be worried if I were to left him alone in the middle of enemy territory," Mikey agrees.

Zhang didn't mind being spoken off like a deadweight at fights, he's good at other things after all. And he's about to demonstrate that other things right now as he opens his laptop and begins working.

"Alright, then see you guys later!" Mikey said as he began to run off to find Harvard and Carl.

"Ah, don't forget to contact us with updates!" Manimani shouted at Mikey's running figure that's getting farther and father away from them in just a few seconds.

She could see him making an 'OK' sign with his hand, and lets him leave, hoping he wouldn't forget again.

"Maybe we shouldn't have let him leave after all..." Manimani said a bit dejected.

"Don't say stupid things like that, if that happens then we three'll be sitting ducks here when there might be something happening to our two missing teammates," Zhang debated, he's already working on his laptop again.

"Right, Mikey's strong anyway, he'd be able to handle himself just fine. You say some pretty good stuff sometimes too, huh?"

"Yep, glad you understand," Zhang answer as he types on his laptop.

"How's the progress with contacting the headquarters?" asked Manimani.

"No luck, we're sitting ducks," Zhang answered, his typing stopped.

"Figures," Manimani sighed, "Still, what was that noise anyway?" she asked.

"Don't know, but it seems to be coming from the way Mikey ran off to, so he may be close to it. We're definitely far off though," Zhang said.

"Should we go there?" suggested Manimani.

Zhang closed his laptop with a clicked, "Sure, it's not like we're making progress here," and stood up.

*Huff puff*

Carl could hear himself breathing.

The building he's in is old and so very quiet.

He could only hear his footsteps and rapid breathing.

'That source of that noise should be close... Damn it!'

Carl thought about how it all came to this, and almost swore to himself to give Harvard a good beating when he sees him next.

'Harvard, you stupid...!'

He remembers when Harvard came to them with surefire proofs on a crime organization and a plan to catch them all by themselves.

He and Manimani tried to convince him otherwise and to at least tell their higher-ups, but Harvard wouldn't listen.

Not only that, he managed to gain Zhang's support by luring him in with talks of achievements and promotions or whatnot.

With Mikey not really supporting one or the other, they were at a tie.

But Harvard was reckless enough to tell them that he would even go by himself, so there's no use stopping him.

Carl has been friends with Harvard for at least 3 years and he had an ability to understand other people's hearts and, through them, their thoughts and personalities.

He understands his friend and partner's personality very well.

So he knew he couldn't stop him, but, "Okay, we'll come with," Manimani gasped, shocked at his decision.

"But, let me contact our instructors first. At the very least, they should know if we're about to attempt this. Things may go south after all, we may need their help," Manimani's relieved sigh reached his ears.

Harvard gave him a look, indicating 'not bad', then smirked and shook his head, "If they know, they would first stop us from going, then issue a formal request to their higher-ups to be allowed to catch them. It could take DAYS. There could be an information leak, and the entire organization could be gone from that building by the time that venerable permission comes out."

Carl couldn't say anything, especially when he thought about what's going on inside the force currently.

There were talks about traitors inside Broadstone Police Force.

"We're going, NOW," was what Harvard said last before he left the room.

Carl wasn't about to let that kill them all though, so he whipped up his phone and was about to call one of their instructors, Misae or Granger.

But just then, a message came in. From Harvard. Carl pales and closed his phone, he then followed the others and left the room, chasing after Harvard.

*BANG*

'It's that noise again, I'm getting close!' Carl thought as he fasten his pace.

*BANG BANG BANG*

'It's increasing?! What are they from? Gunshots? It's so loud, like metal...'

*SCREAM*

'What in the-?! I need to hurry up, someone's life could be in danger!'

Carl slowed his pace as he gets closer to the source of the loud metal noises and screams.

He very carefully peeked inside the room where the noises originated from.

'What is... ugh-!' Carl held his breath.

*BANG BANG BANG*

"Agh! Spare me!" pleaded a bloody man covered his head with his hands.

"Sure, once you tell me what I want to know!" a voice resembling his partner's, Harvard's, told him.

"I already told you, I don't know anything- UGH!" the man's words were cut short by a metal pipe hitting his side.

*BANG*

"Harvard...?" Carl stood shocked, unable to let a single word out.

"I'll give you another chance!"

"I don't know, please-"

*BANG*

Carl reflexively turned his face away and closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, he took a glance at the room they were in.

There was a lot of red splattered on the floor and the wall, and...people. Unmoving people. Dead people.

Carl felt nauseous.

"C'mon, spill it!" Harvard demanded.

No, if this goes on...!

"Harvard stop...!" Carl heard himself scream.

Harvard seemed to hear him, his hand holding the steel pipe froze and he turned around to face him.

"...Carl," was all that Harvard said in this situation. Carl could hear the annoyance in his tone of voice.

"What were you doing?!" Carl asked, terrified.

"I was just beating information out of our suspect here," answered Harvard, his hand still holding the steel pipe.

"Oh goodness..." Carl could feel himself dizzier by the second, his partner was showing absolutely no signs of guilt.

"Look at all these people Harvard! Y-you... What did you do to them?! They couldn't be...dead?" Carl asked in disbelief.

"Don't worry, I made sure they're still alive," Harvard said, his patience getting thinner.

"That's not the problem you-"

"It was self-defense. They attacked me first with steel pipes, I just returned the favor," his voice exasperated.

Carl felt that Harvard is saying, 'Are you done yet?' with his body language.

"Harvard, j-just put down that steel pipe first," Carl begged.

Harvard sneered, "Or what? You'll beat me up?"

There was no way Carl could win against Harvard, his fighting prowess is second only to Mikey in their team, while Carl is only as strong as Manimani.

Beating Harvard in a hand-to-hand combat is like asking for broken bones and pain.

Yet, he can't use any of his official police assigned weapons, like his gun, he needs permission from their higher-ups.

And he for sure didn't even tell their direct higher-ups, their instructors, that they would even be here, in this mess.

'Harvard's mess...' thought Carl.

Carl stayed quiet, unable to answer Harvard's provocation.

"Just like I thought," sighed Harvard as he went back to terrorize the bloody man that couldn't even stand up anymore.

"Now, tell me what you know, or I'll bust your head open."

"I-I don't know, I don't know...-"

*BANG*

"UGH!!" the man let out a muffled scream and coughed out some blood.

"HARVARD STOP!!" before Carl realized, he was running to stop his partner.

Carl tackled him from behind.

Harvard's footing wobbled, but he easily pushed Carl away.

Carl landed on his back, "Guh...!"

"Carl, I'm warning you, don't get in my way," Harvard's voice was serious and laced with anger.

"You can't do this! This isn't right!" said Carl as he attemped to get up.

"And who decides on that?" Harvard sneered.

"The law does!" Carl yelled.

"Well, the law is wrong."

Harvard's eyes looked down on him, and Carl trembled from the fear and pressure.

Harvard's eyes were merciless, his eyes now were like the eyes of criminals they've caught together before.

Dark, cold, merciless, cruel...

Carl couldn't bear to look at them.

Harvard turned away from Carl and looked back at the man lying down in his own blood.

"Tell me, what do you know about the Clown case from 10 years ago?"

The man didn't answer and only laid still while covering his head with his hand pitifully.

"Answer me!!" Harvard screamed as he swung the metal pipe once more.

"HARVARD NO!!"

Carl ran over and gripped his partner's hand that's holding the steel pipe tightly, trying to get him to let it go.

"Harvard, please don't do this!" Carl cried.

"Carl, LET. ME. GO!" Harvard's strength outpowered Carl and he swung down the pipe to hit Carl's upper arm.

"Aagh!!" Carl wailed as he fell down.

Harvard sighed annoyingly as he steadied himself, he lifted his hand again to hit the man.

"Harvard no...!" Carl clenched Harvard's leg, pleading for him to stop this madness.

Harvard kicked him back and swung down his metal pipe on the man again.

*BANG*

"Harvard no! This is wrong! Please stop it already!!" Carl could feel tears streaming down his face.

"Is this your justice?! Harvard!!" Carl cried at the top of his lungs.

"That's right, this IS my justice," Harvard coldly answered.

Carl's heart fell.

Why am I so weak? Carl hated himself at this moment.

If only the others were here, any one of them could do a much better job at stopping Harvard than he could...

"Harvard STOP!!!" Carl forced himself to get up, the pain in his upper arm tearing through him mercilessly, but he hold it back.

Carl tackled Harvard from behind again, and he felt a sharp pain stabbing his stomach.

Harvard had elbowed his stomach.

Carl could taste blood in his mouth, but he held his ground.

"Har..vard!!" Carl swung his fist to Harvard's face, but Harvard caught it.

"Stand. Back. Carl."

Harvard kicked his stomach and threw him back.

The impact from hitting the ground made Carl gagged on his blood.

Carl felt pitiful.

If only anyone from his team were here, they could surely stop Harvard.

Carl couldn't, Carl never could. He was too weak, too fragile, too much of a pampered crybaby to do anything.

He was scared, terrified. He couldn't even properly look at his friend without trembling so much.

He wants to go home to his family. He wants to sleep in his soft and large bed, and have his parents and elder siblings tell him that everything will be okay.

He hated this. Why did he even go to Police College for? He should've stayed and continued his family's business. What dreams? Being a hero? Laughable.

"Uhh...uwaaaa..." Carl cried.

He couldn't even lift his arms anymore, one of them hurt too badly and he just has no more energy left to lift the other anymore.

'It hurts...' Carl's whole body was screaming in pain, he was coughing up blood, but most of all, his heart hurt.

His friend and partner is doing something so horrible, yet he couldn't even stop him.

Since he's 2 years older, he always feels like should show Harvard the way, that he should guide him on the right path.

But he failed, miserably.

He is a failure.

*Sniff sniff*

Unbeknownst to Carl, Harvard was silently watching him, his expression contorting slightly.

Harvard suppressed the feelings in his heart, and began to interrogate the man again.

"I'll ask again, what do you know about the Clown case from 10 years ago?"

The man curled up and stayed silent.

"I know you know something. I've obtained information that before you founded this criminal organization 8 years ago, you were in contact with Clown. My source even told me that you were sending hit list to them."

The man kept silent.

"Tell me, 10 years ago, were you the one that gave the instruction to kill a woman surnamed Marks?" his voice intensified.

"..." silence.

"Hahaha... is that how you wanna play? Fine."

*BANG BANG BANG*

"You know, maybe you'd be interested to know who's the source of all my information on you," Harvard gave a forced smile.

"Do you have any idea of an old woman and her daughter who's surnamed 'Hart'?"

"...!" the man responded slightly.

Harvard smirked, "The old lady has trouble with her left leg and walks with a cane, while the daughter has burn marks on her right hand. Do you suppose know who they are?"

'...You-" the man's teeth clenched.

"Willing to talk now?"

"What did you do to them?" the man face Harvard with a new fiery determination.

Harvard let out a geniune laugh, "Ahaha, nothing. Yet."

The man lunged at Harvard as if his wounds aren't bothering him.

"Heh!" Harvard easily evaded him, "If you tell me everything you know and did with Clown, nothing would happen to them."

"You...monster!" the man screamed as he lunged forward to attack Harvard.

Harvard just clicked his tongue and kicked him back, "Monster? If I'm a monster, then what the fuck are you huh?"

"You killed people, you terrorized them, you were so evil that you wife and kid left you AND told all of your wrongdoings to the police to get you in jail. You're a fucking PIG in a human society."

"SHUT UP!!" the man yelled and got up again.

"You're the shit of society, the least you could do is own up for being a shit and tell me everything I want to know from you."

The man attempted to tackle Harvard, but Harvard dodged and hit him hard with his metal pipe.

*BANG*

"Feel like talking now?"

*Cough cough* the man coughs up a lot of blood.

"Harvard...stop...he's gonna die...sniff," Carl tried to force himself to stand up again.

He's a failure, sure, but if he and the man were gonna die in his partner's hands, the least he could do is to reduce that kill count from 2 to 1.

He's used to cleaning up after Harvard anyway, one more time wouldn't hurt.

"Stand down Carl. What am I gonna tell your prestigious family if you get hurt any more than this?" Harvard sighed.

Carl clenched his teeth and forced himself to get up again, and, oddly enough, he couldn't quite feel the pain anymore. Is that good or bad? He was supposed to be knowledgeable about this, but he couldn't quite remember. He feels dizzy.

"ZHANG, MANIMANI, MIKEY, HELP!!!" Carl screamed loudly.

Carl couldn't do it alone, so he called for help. After all, that's what teammates are for.

*Huff puff*

"This place is a labyrinth!" Manimani said between breaths.

"Tell me about it," Zhang unenthusiastically replied.

"At least we are together!" Mikey added.

"I'm glad we found you! But why were you still so close to our location?" Manimani asked.

"I got lost! This place is a labyrinth!" Mikey said a bit too enthusiastically.

"Wow," Zhang replied.

*BANG BANG BANG*

"We're already so much closer to the source of those loud noises, just a bit more!" Manimani said.

"I hope Harvard and Carl are already there, I don't think I could manage to run around again to search for them," Zhang said, out of breath.

"Don't worry, I could still go for another run!" Mikey said with a reassuring smile.

"Gee, good for you," said Zhang.

*BANG*

"Another loud noise! It's so close now!" said Manimani.

"C-Can we take a short break?" Zhang pleaded.

"Not now! We're so close..." rejected Manimani.

"B-But I'm so tired...can't go on running...!"

"That's why we always told you to train with us! But you always refused!"

Manimani and Zhang were about to start a scuffle.

"ZHANG, MANIMANI, MIKEY, HELP!!!"

"Huh, that was...!" Manimani was suprised for a second, but immediately began to search for the source of the voice.

"Carl...?" Zhang added, surprised and out of breath.

"Here! Let's go!" Mikey acted first, the two then followed behind him.

"Carl!!" Mikey called back.

Carl could feel his heart literally jumped with joy and relieve hearing that voice.

Mikey was the strongest in their team, if anyone could stop Harvard, it's him!

Carl sniffled for one last time before steadying himself, 'That's right, this isn't time for crying. We need to stop Harvard. We need to help him!'

"Mikey! We're here!" Carl called out to Mikey again.

Harvard's expression showed his displease, 'More annoyances...'

"CARL!" Mikey's loud voice was even louder as he got closer.

And he finally managed to find them.

Carl almost cried again out of joy when he saw that Zhang and Manimani were also with him.

"Carl- What in the?!" Manimani spoke first, she scanned the room and immediately formed a hypothesis.

"What the..." Zhang was second, he turned paler as his gaze traced the people lying on the ground in blood.

"Oh goodness..." Mikey was the last as he looked between Harvard and Carl in confusion and horror.

"Carl, what is happening?!" Manimani asked agitated.

"Speak later! Mikey, you need to restrain Harvard!" Carl's orders were straight and sure without a hint of doubt.

That, coupled with Harvard's annoyed expression and his steel pipe, were enough to mobilize the three people who just arrived.

"I don't really get what's happening, but I need you to drop that steel pipe leader!" Manimani demanded.

Harvard sighed, and finally dropped the steel pipe.

"Mikey, go get that man lying beside Harvard!" Carl instructed.

Mikey carefully went over to Harvard's side.

As he bended over to grab the man, Harvard's kick swerved upward aiming right on Mikey's stomach.

Fortunately, Mikey managed to dodge at the last second due to his natural fast reaction and body control.

"Harvard...?" Mikey got into his fighting pose as Harvard picks his steel pipe up again.

"Manimani, Zhang! Help Mikey restrain Harvard. Subdue him if necessary," Carl quietly said.

Manimani and Zhang gave a short nod as they ran over to Harvard.

Harvard was now surrounded by his 3 teammates.

"I don't know what's going on, but I don't want any trouble," Zhang said to Harvard.

"Harvard, drop that steel pipe. I'm warning you," said Manimani.

"..." Mikey stayed quiet, his fighting pose maintained.

...

...

...

After some very long seconds, Harvard finally spoke up, "Try me."

Mikey went first, his fist aiming at Harvard's stomach.

Harvard dodged him as his steel pipe swerved to hit Zhang who's coming from behind him.

"Uugh!" Zhang grunted in pain as the steel pipe hit his side.

"Harvard!" Manimani yelled as she tried to kick Harvard.

Harvard dodged again and was about to hit Manimani's side with his steel pipe as Mikey suddenly came from behind Harvard and restrained him.

With his arms locking Harvard's torso, Mikey pulled him back.

Due to Mikey's height, Harvard was currently lifted a few centimeters off the ground.

Manimani rushed over and quickly tore the steel pipe from Harvard's hand.

She also put handcuffs on him to make sure he can't attack anymore.

"It's over, mister!" she said to Harvard as she turned back to check on Zhang just as quick as she came.

Mikey, relieved, let his guard down for a second.

Just then, Harvard tried to kick Mikey back.

"Mikey focus!" Carl yelled.

Mikey immediately let go of Harvard, swiftly pulled up behind him and, with one fell swoop, knocked him out.

The unconscious Harvard immediately fell, but is caught by Mikey.

Relieve washed over Carl as his legs buckled and he fell down himself.

Looks like his body finally gave up.

The last thing he could hear was Manimani screaming his name.

...

...

...

Carl woke up in a hospital room.

"You're awake?" a familiar voice called out from beside him, it was his eldest brother, Alfred.

"Elder brother...?" Carl called out sluggishly.

Alfred gave a nod, "Do you know why you're here?"

Carl tried to think back and remembered Harvard's madness.

"H-Harvard, what happened to him?" Carl asked, worried.

"Don't worry, he was just knocked out by your other teammate. No other external injuries were found, it's almost a miracle," his brother answered.

"How is he now? Will he be punished...?"

"Hm, it seems like his higher-ups will give him some sentences for going off alone and badly injuring a key person in the case," his brother calmly told him, "but, all of the other people he injured confessed that they attacked first, all of them just lost."

"So, it's really self-defense?" Carl asked.

"Yes, it seems so. The only injuries he caused because of his own agenda, were to the man who was the key suspect and leader of the crime organization that used the building as their base of operation and to his teammates, including you," explained his brother.

"But," Alfred continued, "none of the injuries he caused were life-threatening, case in point, the worst injury you got is a cracked left upper arm, and to the man, quite a bit of cracked and broken bones."

"He also caused injuries on your, the man's, and one of your teammate's stomachs, but none of it was life-threatening," Alfred concluded his explanation.

"I see..." Carl said as he quietly digest all of the information.

"Keeping a lion and disguising it as a cat is quite dangerous, sometimes it causes this sort of unexpected trouble, but the benefits it gives to the Police organization are also immense. It could even be said that this sort of trouble is just a small price to pay for all of its given benefits," Alfred continued, "The city has never been this peaceful in years."

Carl listened quietly.

"He didn't want to hurt you nor your other teammate, Carl. Trust me, I already had the chance to spoke to him for a lengthy while," Alfred puts a hand on Carl's shoulder.

"As for the man though, he was quite fortunate that your partner still wants to be on the side of the law, not against it."

"He still has use for it, you mean?" Carl asked with a painful smile.

"I don't have an answer to that, maybe you should ask your partner about it. Although, I doubt that, at this point in time, he knows the answer himself," Alfred pats Carl's head and gives him a soft smile, "Be there for him, why don't you? I know you could never leave him alone."

Carl clenched the blanket tightly.

"Harvard Marks could be the one to greatly alter Broadstone. As Oxfords, we will continue to be watching over him," Alfred said as he began to get up.

"...for the Oxford's sake?" Carl asked, almost bitterly.

His brother gave a smile and said, "A lion who obediently follows his owner, is nothing more than a cat. Harm his owner though..."

Somehow, in Carl's eyes, his brother's smile seemed terrifying.

The day is turning dark as Carl said farewell to his 3 teammates, Manimani, Zhang, and Mikey who came to visit him in his hospital room.

Zhang's injury was pretty light and had already healed fully, maybe Harvard really held back against them after all.

Carl too, aside from his cracked upper arm bones, all of his other injuries were healing rapidly.

"What did the doctor say?" Manimani asked.

"He said that I'm actually able to be discharged already, but my family wanted me to at least stay for another 3 days, jut to be on the safe side," Carl explained.

"Gee, your people sound great!" Manimani said with a smile.

"Yeah, we're a tight-knit family," Carl gave a wry laugh.

They had a pretty nice converstation.

The 3 were visiting after all of the 'Harvard caused' paperworks were done, and stayed for about an hour.

It seemed like Harvard just acted like his usual self back in their office, much to their chagrin.

Harvard didn't tell them anything, or even if he was sorry.

He did, however, bought Zhang lunch today, which was a very rare occurence.

Maybe that's his way of apologizing, Mikey suggested.

Zhang, reluctant at first, soon maximized Harvard's offer and bought lunch enough for the other 2 as well, much to Harvard's chagrin.

Carl laughed at their story, and briefly wondered when he'll be able to talk to Harvard again, and how'll their conversation flow after this incident.

After the 3 left, Harvard immediately visited him.

"I thought they'd never left," Harvard said.

"You were waiting for them to leave? Why?" Carl asked.

Harvard awkwardly scratched his hair and said, "Explanation, I thought I owe YOU at least that much."

Harvard seated himself on the chair beside Carl's bed.

"So yeah, about your injuries..." Harvard started.

"My bad."

Carl waited to hear Harvard's continuation, but it seemed that there was no continuaton.

"Wait, that's it?" Carl asked baffled, "Where's the explanation?"

"Yeah, maybe I changed my mind," Harvard gave a joking smile.

"Don't joke around!" admonished Carl, still he's kind of happy to see Harvard back to his usual self.

"...10 years ago, my mom was killed by Clown," Harvard began.

Yes, Carl knew about that.

"The man I was trying to get info out of? 10 years ago, he was the one giving out hit lists to Clown."

"Huh? But, Clown was a serial murderer, not a hitman," Carl said confused.

"On the cover that is, I have information that suggested Clown actually took requests from big corporations," Harvard said serious.

"W-wait, are we alright with talking about this stuff here?" Carl looked to the surveillance camera on the corner of the room.

"Don't worry, I talked with your brother. This hospital belongs to the Oxford right? He'll be able to do something about it, besides, it's not really super-secret anymore. I heard the higher-ups plan to release this info to the masses soon, since Clown's long dead," Harvard calmly explained.

"A-alright, then please, continue."

"During the course of my investigation into Clown, I met the 'Hart' mother and daughter. The mother told me about her divorced husband being a possible carrier linking Clown to the bigshots."

"Though she said 'possible', her demeanor showed that she was sure of it," Harvard said while thinking back on the mother-daughter duo.

"Next, I researched into her husband's past and current whereabouts, and, lo and behold, turns out now he's the leader of a crime organization right here in Broadstone," Harvard eyed Carl meaningfully.

Carl doesn't need further explanation, he know that the divorced husband was the man from the building.

"So, it was all connected to your mother?" Carl asked after some time thinking.

"Everything, is connected to my mom. Everything I do is for her," Harvard answered, his eyes directly locking into Carl's.

"I admit, I lost control," Harvard remembered the state Carl was in, coughing up blood and crying on the ground. Something inside him hurted, "So, my bad."

Carl's right hand slowly reached up to the top of Harvard's hair, and he gently pat him.

"Next time, Harvard, we'll handle it together," Carl spoke gently.

Harvard made an expression like a sad and guilty kitty, making Carl smile a bit, "There, there."

As the youngest of the Oxford siblings, Carl only had older siblings, so he had always wanted to have a younger sibling.

When he met Harvard and, subsequently, as they got closer, Harvard's existence felt like the younger brother he had never had but always wanted to have.

Sometimes Harvard made him angry, other times he made him happy.

Sometimes Carl couldn't take his eyes from Harvard lest he'll make trouble, and sometimes Carl couldn't help but to depend on Harvard.

Being with Harvard was as frustrating as it was fun.

Carl both adore and admire Harvard, but deep in his heart, there was a sense of uncertainty and fear as well.

Carl knew Harvard so well, he fears himself getting too close to the darkness inside Harvard.

A deep, black, unending darkness.

It could consume Carl whole if it so wishes to.

He briefly wondered, what he means to Harvard.

And, if the time comes when the darkness inside Harvard is unleashed, would their bond endure?

------

Author's note: if you read this far, thank you!!

Also, before you ask, "Clown's dead?"

Yes, I headcanon (for this fic) that they're already dead, since at the end of the 'Concept Image Trailer', Harvard said that he wants to meet Clown in DecaSim.

That raises the question: "Why not just meet him in real life?" Unless he CAN'T.

[dreamingsnowflake2013]

Someone so perceptive as Xie Wei has immediately noticed that Xu Ning left not because of his demand or threat, but because of Zhang Zhe's polite request, completely willingly without any objections or defiance. Combined with the fact, he has just witnessed her wanting to die do protect him, when she has been so afraid of death in the palace, his jealousy metre must be close to exploding.

Xie Wei leads every conversation like an intricate game of chess, in which he is always several steps ahead of his opponents, holds all trump cards and wins, so it doesn't escape him he's been beaten. He wanted to prove he's the one who controls her and thus has a claim on her, but has miscalculated his move terribly.

I love how despite all his calculations and machinations, Xie Wei ends up acting like a teenage boy jealous because of his first sweetheart, all petty and arrogant, pulling the 'I'm closer to her since I'm on the first name basis with her', calling her by Xue Ning by her given name repeatedly in front of Zhang Zhe. Of course, all of it fails and he ends up being the only one hurt in the process.

[lunanoc]

PART II: KING MU OF ZHOU AND THE QUEEN MOTHER OF THE WEST

(to see previous disclaimers and context here’s part I of this madness)

blanket spoiler warning for the books once again

fair warning, some of the bold connect-the-dots crack theories are going to start creeping in here, but more meta here we gooo

continuing where we left off with the various versions of the story of king shang of lu dmbj gives us, the wang family powerpoint lesson, besides giving us the third account of those, also introduces new key players, both one we know but did not know of their potential connection to king shang of lu, and a new one that offers an entirely new perspective on this subplot of dmbj lore: king mu of zhou and the queen mother of the west

what the wang powerpoint and the subsequent discussions between li cu and members of the wang family tell us about king mu of zhou and the queen mother of the west is not only interesting in itself, but also ties closely into both king shang’s and iron mask’s story, as well as the overall dmbj lore. i try not to go too far in trying to see possible connections with later books, notably here queen mother’s ghost banquet, because i don’t have the full context for those, so i won’t go into too much detail on what’s essentially a tenuous crack theory. however, for the record, the queen mother of the west as she’s described in sand sea part III could potentially tie into what we learn about the zhang family’s origins at the tail end of queen mother’s ghost banquet, namely that the zhang family are descended from a group of people millennia old (think xia dynasty or older, which makes sense given they were likely also the ones who built the original heavenly palace and the bronze gate in the shang dynasty c. 1600 BC, but that’s a tangent for another time) who ventured beneath the kunlun mountains, ate from the qilin fruit tree (aka the equivalent of the queen mother of the west of chinese myth’s peach tree), and rather than immediately turning into monsters like many who tried did, were special enough for some reason that they gained longevity instead at the cost of eventually, after maybe initially millenia, then progressively centuries, turning into monsters. some of those people then eventually ventured out from beneath the mountains into the vast world, later to form what would be known as the zhang family. but that’s all i’ll say on that

but back to king mu and the queen of the west

to start off, i feel it’s important to be aware that king mu of zhou isn’t a fictional character created by npss, rather he’s a real historical figure who actually existed and was an emperor of the western zhou dynasty (1046-770 BC) while it was at its peak (he himself probably reigned somewhere between 976 and 918 BC). as it happens, his connection to the queen mother of the west also isn’t something created by npss. references to the queen mother of the west go very far back (think shang dynasty mentioned earlier) and she’s one of the more prominent mythological figures in chinese tradition, who among other descriptors, is said to possess the secret of immortality in her garden of magical peaches that grant longevity in the kunlun mountains. either the queen of the west herself or her peaches make several appearances in chinese literature, maybe more famously for a western audience in journey to the west where sun wukong eats some of them and is punished for it

even the story of king mu of zhou and the queen mother of the west meeting is a retelling of another piece of fiction called the tale of king mu, son of heaven, dating back to at earliest the warring states period (since the original copy of it was found in a tomb dating back to the tail end of it). like in sand sea’s rendition of his story, historically king mu of zhou did travel a lot because he enjoyed making territorial conquests, to the extent that king mu of zhou is the one who ultimately expanded china’s territory both east and west beyond the central plains. in the fictional story of the tale of king mu, son of heaven however, king mu of zhou specifically seeks out the queen mother of the west in the kunlun mountains to gain her secret of immortality, and while she ultimately invites him to her jade pool for a banquet where they exchange gifts, she doesn’t give him one of her peaches

in the wang family’s version of this story, it’s explained to li cu that king mu of zhou didn’t care much for politics and preferred running around china as he pleased, ultimately seeking out the queen mother of the west for her famed elixir of immortality. where this version of the story diverges from the myth is that they supposedly ended up falling in love (Sand Sea Part III, Ch. 133, King Mu of Zhou)

king mu of zhou sought out the queen mother of the west because there had been legends even during king mu’s time of her having had this elixir of immortality for a very long time, which tells us at the very least that according to this story, the queen mother he met with was likely the queen mother of legend, or the one chinese mythology equates with a deity to some extent. she’s even further described as having dominion over all the kingdoms of the west, and that her great kingdom spanned from the kunlun mountains to even the qaidam basin, which is where tamutuo is located. i feel this tells us that the queen of the west of tamutuo and the queen mother of the west from king mu’s legend are one and the same. the fact she’s even referred to as “young” despite the breadth of her legacy reinforces the idea that there might be something unnatural about her

you could argue that maybe “queen mother of the west” was an inherited title, and that her kingdom of tamutuo was a matriarchal society that had had many queen mothers, but the fact is there’s no real supporting evidence of that any more than there is of the opposite despite the arguments put forward, so really, you could argue in favor of both. i like to think she was the queen mother of legend, if only because it creates, thanks to the inclusion of the kunlun mountains in her territory, a strong connection in some capacity with the first people cursed with intolerable longevity mentioned in queen mother’s banquet, but once again, take with a grain of salt

slight tangent, i will say however while i’m on this topic that i strongly feel that the zhang family are meant to be depicted as one more of many human corruption motifs that are rampant in dmbj. this is something for another meta, but i would argue that beneath the tomb raiding and the conspiracies, the core theme of dmbj is that “humans are more terrible than monsters”, and so the narrative provides ample examples of human corruption causing others far more misery than any tomb creature ever could. as per their origins talked about in queen mother’s ghost banquet, it’s possible that alongside their knowledge of whatever secrets of the universe they’re privy to, and their subsequent need for control over china’s destiny through the ages, the ancestors of the zhang family had initially ventured out from under the mountains to seek a cure for the side effects of their terrible curse, and gradually discovered that the bronze and jade of the meteorites could potentially provide that. maybe the queen mother of the west was one of their descendants, and perhaps one of the rare people who stand to succeed in that quest (that we know of at least considering she’s presumably still alive in some capacity down there along with chen wenjin and other members of the xisha expedition). just food for thought, but anyone who’s read that far feel free to give your thoughts on queen’s banquet related ideas!

the wang in charge of instructing li cu admits in the course of his tale that they had to make some assumptions (so this means you have to consider this bit to be a little handwavy admittedly) about what exactly the nature of the relationship between king mu of zhou and the queen mother of the west was, and settles on them having fallen in love despite king mu having “invaded” her kingdom and he did  invade it, because we conveniently have a single reference to this man outside of sand sea in book 5, when wu xie and xiaoge find murals in the ruins around wu sanxing’s abandoned camp that depict king mu’s invasion of tamutuo that was clearly hostile and was met with responding hostility (Book 5, Ch. 25-26, The Third Night: Relief / The Third Night: Déjà-vu)

it doesn’t mean that these narratives are mutually exclusive and can’t both be true, and that after having been defeated, either party asked for a truce that led to something else, but it does already suggest there might be more to this story than what we’re told of it. this idea somewhat confirms itself, again hinging on believing that the wang’s narrative is one close enough to the truth to be reliable, when li cu calls the romance spin on king mu’s and the queen mother’s story into question (Sand Sea Part III, Ch. 145, The Truth of the World). li cu suggests that the poem she supposedly gifted king mu (which i’ll get into in a little bit), as well as maybe the queen mother of the west herself and her secret of immortality, are all concepts fashioned and embellished by king mu of zhou to facilitate his grand plan which i’ll touch on later, all because he saw “the truth of this world” in the queen mother of the west’s kingdom, and sought not to reveal it to the world, but to conceal it, and build an entire nebulous plan with it at its core

i don’t feel like the queen of the west herself is a fabrication considering both the multiple references to her interspersed throughout various dmbj books, as well as tangible proof of her existence re: tamutuo, but the idea that king mu of zhou might have been the author of the tale of king mu, son of heaven and the subsequent romance plot derived from it in dmbj universe is something i can believe so long as you assume he believed it was one more component in his masterplan. i’m hesitant to call dmbj magical realism because magical realism is very much a western genre of literature and people would do well to remember that western constructs aren’t universally applicable, but dmbj does use a number of structural and thematic elements that magical realism also uses, and this subplot is no exception. contrary to what some might think, npss actually does a significant amount of research when he writes these books, and a lot of the supernatural or fictional tomb elements aren’t so much explained through handwavy science as they are derived from well-documented real historical events or figures, much like magical realism is heavily grounded in reality despite slightly deviating from it in believable ways. dmbj is deeply informed by chinese culture and history, more so than just using it as the backdrop to a fantasy adventure story: they’re integral parts of the plot, which i think is part of what makes dmbj so difficult to navigate without extensive knowledge of that backdrop (which i by the way don’t pretend to have either, my own knowledge is very much surface level all things considered)

in light of this, as far as the queen mother of the west goes, considering the relatively reliable outside account of a hostile invasion we get from the ruins of tamutuo itself, and then li cu’s own take on king mu’s and the queen mother’s relationship, while the romance spin isn’t necessarily entirely false, it does leave a lot of question marks as to what exactly king mu saw in the queen of the west’s kingdom. that he was given the gift of longevity is highly likely given he’s still alive centuries later, along with other key elements of the wang family’s story i’ll get to in a bit. however, the uncertainty in the nature of their relationship does potentially make the queen of the west’s motivations for offering king mu longevity if not just as uncertain, then potentially a little more sinister, since while she might have offered out of love, if we assume all her experimentations weren’t geared at gaining immortality for herself, but rather curbing the side effects of it, then her gift was very much a poisoned one as she knew full well what would happen to him if he used it. for all we know, king mu might have, on defeating the queen mother’s kingdom, inflicted the “truth of the world” and the curse of longevity on himself, and none of it was never a gift at all, but the consequences of his own actions. but all of this is just speculation in the end as there’s no solid evidence pointing in any one direction. in any case, the only potential insight we get into the queen mother of the west’s thoughts come from maybe the vaguest source yet, a poem she supposedly composed for king mu that she gifted him when they parted, and that merebear translates as follows:

White clouds in the sky, the hills emerge. The road is far away, between mountains and rivers. The child who is not dead, can still come back.

knowing how many layers of meaning can be crammed into classical chinese poetry, i had to go find the original text and investigate further, so let me also provide that:

白云在天，山陵自出。 道里悠远，山川间之。 将子无死，尚能复来。

full disclaimer before i continue, poetry and its nuances are notoriously difficult to translate in any language, and i’m not at all claiming to be proficient enough at the chinese language without outside resources to help me to ever claim to be an expert, but while merebear’s translation isn’t technically incorrect, it has a few possible double meanings missing and some word choices i’m not quite sure i understand, but this is only my own humble contribution (with some creative license in the english rendition) that anyone with better knowledge than mine is welcome to correct or add on to as this isn’t so much an attempt at retranslating as it is pointing out a few possible added implications:

白云在天，山陵自出。

the white clouds are in the sky/the heavens, the lofty mountains/the great tombs emerge of their own accord. 山陵 can also be used, and has been in chinese literature, to refer to tombs of people of significant importance as usually big tombs tend to form burial mounds, hence why it can also refer to ‘hills’

道里悠远，山川间之。

the way forth is distant, it winds amid the mountains and rivers ‘mountains and rivers’, mountains especially, are commonly associated with the chinese concept of immortals called 仙 xian that even has the radical for mountain in it, in part due to their reclusive nature. i would link the interesting study i have on that but it’s unfortunately not in english, though feel free to ask for it anyway if anyone is interested

将子无死，尚能复来。

one who leads does not die, he may yet return 将子 in this context technically means ‘general’ and 将 can even refer to the chief piece in chinese chess which you know. keeping that in my book of crazy convenient zhang parallels re: the qipan zhang

make of this what you will, but if nothing else, it does suggest a bit more explicitly that the double meanings are indeed referring to immortality and potentially tombs, though what nature of tomb is the real question in that case

we then go on to learn from the wang powerpoint presentation that king mu never returned to visit the queen of the west once he returned home, but that contrary to how things may seem, despite having being recorded as having died at the age of 105, king mu in fact did not died, meaning at some point after he’d taken the queen of the west’s immortality elixir, he faked his own death and disappeared somewhere. both the wang instructor and wang xiaoyuan (the girl who peeks at li cu out the window) confirm that according to the third and  final account of king shang of lu’s story, king mu wasn’t dead at the time of those events, as he worked together with king shang and iron mask to find the jade burial armor (Sand Sea Part III, Ch. 134, Deception)

this means he was spectacularly old by this point considering the warring states period starts at earliest in 476 BC. and king mu supposedly died around 918 BC. you do the math, but he was very very old. and to be honest this also somewhat feeds into the idea that the longevity curse (because it very much is a curse) used to last much longer before the side effects started to pop up, because if we’re to believe the wang family’s version of these events, then king mu was clearly still sane and not (or at least not entirely) a monster if he was still actively enacting the things he had planned

and so king mu, now long-lived because he took whatever immortality elixir the queen mother of the west gave him, had to face the consequences of that choice, yet rather than seek her out to find a way to quell the side effects of longevity (which he could have done and would have just ended up in the meteorite with her, although if he didn’t go to her, it gives a bit more weight to the idea that their story wasn’t necessarily a romance and/or that ulterior motives were involved), he went his own way to find something to save himself from turning into a monster, and eventually settled on finding a jade burial armor, which according to the wang family also came from the queen mother of the west’s kingdom. besides implying it’s likely that the jade armor is in fact made from the meteorite jade, it’s just one more thing to add to the long list of things tied to the heart of dmbj’s lore that end up having some form of association with the queen mother of the west. fun tidbit regarding this that’s not entirely relevant to anything (but it just adds more fuel to the crack theory), there’s an inscription on the belt of the green-eyed fox corpse where the qilin blood clot that wu xie accidentally swallows in book 1, and that merebear translates as “ruler of yinxi”, that reads as follows (Book 1, Ch. 21, Green-Eyed Fox Corpse):

阴西宝帝 or yinxi baodi

once again, take this with a grain of salt because this is an inscription that wu xie sees while he’s presumably under the influence of the green-eyed fox’s illusion, and instantly recognizes it as “a spell to ward off evil spirits”, so it might not mean anything, but if you had to find some kind of sense in it, while the characters together don’t really mean much of anything, separately they can mean:

阴 yin

opposite of 阳 yang, one of the two opposing energies in taoism and representative of many things, but namely of the feminine

西 xi

the west as cardinal direction

宝 bao

treasure, precious

帝 di

supreme being, often used in the titles and names of emperors such as huangdi (the yellow emperor) or qin shi huangdi (the first emperor of china). fun fact, wu xie during sand sea is often referred to as 邪帝 or emperor xie by the chinese fanbase in reference to how powerful he was during that time

i’m not saying this is meant to translate into a reference to the queen mother of the west because the association of characters is a bit strange, but again. food for thought (and a lot of creative license)

the wang powerpoint then goes on to explain that king mu’s objective, once he’d secured the jade armor, was to ensure both that he would be able to come back to the world fully rid of the side effects of immortality, and be able to do so safely, secure in the knowledge that the legacy of his findings would remain intact for him to find again. and so to do that, he essentially makes certain that chinese tradition incorporates the necessity of entombing people with a number of valuable things, and supposedly instigates this during the spring and autumn period (which is the period that precedes the warring states period and is generally considered to be one of extensive intellectual prosperity, confucius was a contemporary of that time for example) by, as the wang instructor implies, at least partially pushing to prominence things like the classic of rites (or lijing) that among other things promotes rich burials. while li cu calls into question the idea that king mu’s plan solely aimed at disseminating information for the sake of keeping his own acquired knowledge in circulation, since king mu’s further objective was also to use grave robbing to spread whatever information best served concealing “the truth of the world”, it’s clear that his plan was meticulously thought-out

the wang instructor himself admits this, though he quickly adds that king mu’s plan, crafty as it was if desperate, failed to take into account the possibility that he’d one day meet his match in the person of wang zanghai, who essentially hijacked his plan for his own purposes. i feel this seems to imply that things were going pretty smoothly for king mu of zhou until then, which would then call into question the first two versions of king shang of lu’s story if we assume king mu was the original wearer of the jade armor, albeit more recently than those stories presented it, but this is also where i start veering into big wild assumptions and crack theory territory. i won’t be get into the box with the baby or the particulars of the feud between the zhang family and wang zanghai/the wang family because while it’s tied to this, it also branches off into something else that’s probably a whole other meta and this is long enough as it is

it’s also worth noting that king mu of zhou, as well as instigating his masterplan, not only hid an elaborate map leading to the queen mother of the west’s kingdom only perceivable if you soak the stone slab it’s on “with a certain liquid” (which if you remember what happens in both book 8 in siguniang when wu xie and xiao hua gut a pig, and in tibetan sea flower where it’s wu xie who bleeds his special blood to reveal the secrets inside the bronze gate in tibet, gives you a hint at what the nature of that liquid might be), but wrote the details of his plan down on what’s called the yellow lu silkbook, not to be confused with the silkbook that wu xie pulls from “king shang of lu”’s coffin in book 1. merebear speculates it might be the silkbook that the photocopy jin wantang brings to him to kickstart the entire plot belongs to, and in my opinion that’s a good guess. it might also be one of the many silkbooks the lao jiumen pulled out of siguniang during the greatest joint tomb robbery in the 1960s. who knows really

all i can say about this particular part of the wang’s powerpoint lesson and the connection it shares with the multiple versions of the story of king shang of lu is that assuming the wang family’s version is both the most complete and the most accurate, then “king shang of lu” has a direct connection not only to king mu of zhou, but to the entirety of dmbj’s overarching plot. and while knowing who’s who at the end of the day doesn’t amount to much when much of dmbj’s story deals with the present day cast bearing the brunt of the consequences of their elders’ and older generations’ choices, i want to go further and say that this story potentially further cements connections and solidifies dmbj lore rather than complicate it

(wild conclusions tbc in part III of this madness)

[thesinglesjukebox]

KESHA - "JOYRIDE"

We still ride for you, Kesha!

[7.25]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: Kesha: unburdened by what has been, living in the context, realizing what can be.  [8]

Katherine St. Asaph: It's hard not to overrate Kesha singles. Like all right-minded pop listeners, I want her to thrive, and I want every song to sound like proof that she is. I initially thought "Raising Hell" was the glorious height of Kesha's hedonism; in retrospect, it was a little perfunctory. Likewise, I really want "Joyride" to be the Rabelaisian outsider carnival everyone says it is, enough to resist the reality that nothing about it is outside the bounds of normie pop. Cowriter Madison Love has a back catalogue spanning years of pop singles with a similar chaos quotient: Lady Gaga's "Sour Candy," Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello's "Bad Things," Ava Max's "Sweet But Psycho"; to contextualize even further, she's written enough for enough B-listers that some of that back catalogue inevitably went through Dr. Luke. (A few antis have tried to turn this fact into a gotcha, as if it's impossible to work with an asshole colleague then want to stop.) The arrangement is less love honk than cruise control, coasting in the lane of its donk. The chorus sounds kinetic, springing out and bouncing around like a jack-in-the-box; it also sounds like "Run the World (Girls)" but slower. The lyrics can't decide whether they're about sex or Regina Georgish camaraderie (I doubt it's both), and while Kesha sounds as depraved as ever, slurring and purring out bars like "label whore, but I'm tired of wearing clothes," none of them outsleaze her Simple Life days, let alone a brat summer. All this said, the song pre-empts every criticism possible: she has, truly, earned the right to be like this. I've written all these objective pans, and my heart is in none of them.  [7]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: I often (perhaps too often?) critique a song by saying it sounds like something out of a movie about a fake pop star. Those songs are worthy of critique, obviously — they’re constructed entirely out of cliches and misremembered fragments of out of date pop hits, with any hooks accrued seemingly by accident. Yet “something out of a movie” is not necessarily the right put down. Case in point: “Joyride,” from its deliriously overcranked accordion hook on down, sounds absolutely like something out of some feverish fictional property. And yet, this absolutely works — the first Kesha single in years to work as both commentary and as a straight ahead banger. [7]

Leah Isobel: Kesha's 2022 loosie "Rich White Straight Men" introduced a soundscape that was big not in the sense of pop but in the sense of density: it was carnivalesque and menacing, stuffed with cartoonish sound effects, barely making room for her theatrically affected vocal. While Gag Order had an austere musculature that spoke to the effort of keeping hope alive, that song was the sound of despair, garish and hopeless and too much in every respect. Like everything that overflows with sincerity, it was a little alienating, a little cringe. "Joyride" revisits that soundscape, but offers an innovation: by pairing a similarly maniacal accordion loop with the straightforward momentum of her dance-pop side, the song achieves something that I almost want to call Brechtian? It is impossible to listen to a new Kesha song without immediately thinking of her context, her Story, her Narrative; this has made it exceedingly difficult for her to reclaim the joy and delight that was her trademark. But the accordion is so fucking ridiculous, so cringe, that it actually short-circuits all other considerations. The question goes from "is Kesha happy?" to "what is that?" And then I'm dancing. She fucking did it. [8]

Alex Clifton: Have you ever wanted to go to a lightly demonic monster truck rally run by evil clowns who love to dance? Because that’s exactly the kind of wild party Kesha’s conjuring here, silly and fun and insanely catchy. Initially I was a little over the “I am Mother” line, thinking, “that will date this all to hell,” but maybe this one should absolutely be dated. July 2024: the first month Kesha released new music unshackled from Dr. Luke. The sense of freedom and excitement here is so palpable; Kesha’s clearly having a ball on the recording, hamming up her performance in a way that’s simultaneously goofy and sexy. (The only other singer I can see delivering “beep-beep bitch” this well is Gaga, the established queen of camp.) I’m excited to see where newly-freed Kesha goes next, as she’s bound to show us the best night of our lives.  [9]

Joshua Lu: Hedonistic carnival final boss OST — nobody knows how to make trashy pop music like Kesha. [8]

Jonathan Bradley: I respect the outré ambition here — it's fun to hear Kesha find new paths into the realm of the obtuse — but this song has some very annoying sounds. The accordion is annoying! The brassy high-pitched delivery of the title on the hook is annoying! Declaring yourself to be "mother" more than a year after Meghan Trainor did it is annoying! [3]

Alfred Soto: Immersing himself into the Eurotrash with which she has long flited, Kesha sounds buoyant like she hasn't been all decade. She sounds best when harmonizing with bleeps and bloops and synth gahoozits.  [8]

Ian Mathers: Not the accordions I thought I wanted but, it turns out, the accordions I needed. Hyperpolka? Can that be a thing for a bit? [7]

Taylor Alatorre: It’s an open question why the most prototypically American pop singer to emerge from the Recession Era – sorry, Lana, but you first hit the U.S. top 40 with a Cedric Gervais remix – would want to declare her label independence with a high-density slab of blaring Eurotrash. In freeing herself from one set of constraints, Kesha seems to have placed herself under a not-entirely-new one: a dual mandate of familiarity and novelty, of embracing the garishly extroverted attitude of Animal and Cannibal while running away from their most obvious sonic totems. "Joyride” is too fixated on these matters of branding and self-presentation to truly give off the uninhibited vibe it wants to, though Kesha’s everything-at-the-wall approach does produce at least one undeniable hook: those perfectly timed, perfectly trashy car horns. An appeal to the 5-year-old in all of us, who just wants to hear the big vroom-vroom machine go beep-beep. [5]

Hannah Jocelyn: When someone's trying to make another campy "Padam Padam"-style summer hit, I hear it and I know -- this is a fascinating mix of effortless strangeness and 'omg this is for the gaaayzzz brat summmerrrrr so juuuliiaaaa' pandering. There's a lot of off-putting material here; the chorus melody sounds like that meme where every note in "Fireflies" is tuned to C and the spoken title drop sounds uncannily lifted from an ARTPOP reject (you can't tell me that's not Gaga!). In a lot of ways, this isn't too far from a song like Camila Cabello's "I Luv It", but Kesha is an actual weirdo cramming her weirdness into a pop song, not Cabello retrofitting her normalcy into a would-be weird song. That's why she's much better at calling herself "Mother" than other singers, and why she can get away with an accordion in place of the usual synthesizers. "Joyride" is not trying to be an accidental masterpiece; it's just zaniness for the sake of zaniness. There's nothing wrong with letting her be like that.  [7]

Will Adams: "I've earned the right to be like this" is one hell of a mission statement (and she's right). "Joyride," like any other successful Kesha single, has an appealing weirdness -- the accordion riff, the octave swoops in the chorus, dramatic-ass choir -- that makes for a fun ride. However, there's some light pandering in the form of "mother" and the Mean Girls quote which stops it just short of being a full Obnoxious Banger (though this self-remix by producer Zhone takes it there). [7]

Jackie Powell: What makes Kesha such an instinctual pop star is how well she knows herself. With “Joyride” she returns to the type of cheekiness and camp that introduced her to the world. Her diction and enunciation on some of the consonants in each verse is what is so unique to Kesha. She knows what words to accent and which ones not to. Not every artist has this awareness. Kesha had to take a bit of an artistic journey to return to her old sound with as much spunk and moxie as “Joyride”, and unlike another artist we know, she did it successfully. Kesha and Madison Love wrote a song that empowers without being too cheesy, frivolous but without being meaningless.  [7]

Kat Stevens: Admittedly I've left it a little late to qualify for Paris 2024, so I must now set my sights on LA 2028. It's true that I'm now older than US swimmer Dara 'Grandma' Torres was when she won three silver medals in Beijing, however legendary Uzbek gymnast Oksana Chusovitina managed an average 14.166 score for her two vaults in Tokyo (aged 46), and still hasn't officially retired. There's hope for me yet! As such I got cracking with my altitude training this morning (running up Crystal Palace hill, elevation above sea level: 112m) and switched up my playlist from French house to a new Los Angeles-themed one, with "Joyride" by Kesha in pride of place at the top. Beep-beep, bitch -- we're going to the Olympics! [9]

Nortey Dowuona: Madison Love woke up in the morning, saying fuck P. Diddy.  [6]

Mark Sinker: Nothing shorthands my favourite year in pop for a long time than responding to whatever anyone now says or does with the word “JOYRIDE” in a Kesha voice.  [10]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]