#anyways i really do not understand all the hatred for the definitive edition like

[mysticicefire]

sup bitches time for mystic rants in the tags

[aworld-inpink]

just a quick warning, I do read most of the cast as trans in some way, especially the siblings, so if you get easily triggered by stuff like that, just don't interact please 😸

please be respectful of the space I have curated ★

Trans Obey Me! Headcanons ("brothers" edition)

Lucifer:

transmasc Luci genuinely brings me so much joy

like, the idea of him being the oldest and first to come out?

im in love

Lucifer is one of the more cut and dry ones to me

but I do love people who draw/write him as transfem, theyre the biggest troopers ever

Luci definitely acts as the main support for a lot of the others

especially when it comes to appointments for hormones

he/him, FtM

Mammon:

i am so insanely obsessed with this man

me and him are t4t trust

nah, but for realz

trans guy Mammon with the COOLEST top surgery scars, you will not catch them lacking

probably got a sick ass tattoo to give them a cool shape too

similar to the white on his chest in his demon design

off topic, but chubby Mammon actually makes me 🤤

need to be squished between his thighs yesterday bro

jjhjhjhjh they're so handsome look at that little guy go

i feel like he would say his pronouns are he/him but secretly wouldn't mind they/them also

he just feels like he would be seen as less of a guy

i love them

he/they, FtM (and so devastatingly bisexual (affectionate))

Levi:

everybody say thank you to Levi for inventing being transgender

she ..... she's my everything

if Mammons my boyfriend she's my wife bro

(Mammons my favourite, Levi just has more whimsy)

gamer girl

i NEED her bathwater gang you don't understand ......

i made a whole post about transfem Levi, you should check it out ;)

tho trans guy Levi also has a special place in my heart and my bed (he's just like me fr)

do you wanna know the good that flat girl Levi would do for the ecosystem??

it would end climate change

she/her, MtF, Ruri chan was her trans awakening (half joking (not really))

Satan:

oh Satan the demon that you are

yknow they do say that Satan invented the gays

this NERD

book lover? likes cats? BLONDE?

how much more she/he/they can you get bro

demon born out of hatred, aged from transgenderism

that's all I'm saying

do you think Satan would feel the need to tie himself down to one specific gender identity?

fool.

Satan is everything and Satan is nothing

she/he/they, shrugs (genderfluid would be most accurate, but they're mostly unlabeled)

Asmo:

see the fandom argues about Asmo all the time

"is it ethical to headcanon them as trans just cause they're feminine?"

well, no, not necessarily, but that's besides the point

Asmo's similar to Satan in the way of not being tied to one specific gender or expression

but I feel like she's much more aligned to being a guy than Satan is

like, he doesn't mind other pronouns and sometimes enjoys them

but I think she's bigender with a heavy masc lean

expression wise he's more fem, but gender wise she's more masc

she/him, bigender and so full of love

Beel:

him.

i. i love him so much.

he's genuinely one of the sweetest characters in the game, and someone I would genuinely like irl

anyways however

I feel like this one is very stereotypical of me

cause this is the same headcanon as most of the trans part of the fandom

but Beel is so very trans man

like, didn't have top surgery just exercised to turn his boobs into pecs typa trans man

he's so powerful

and so lovely

and so, so transgender

he/him, FtM

Belphie:

similar to Levi, I do actually have a separate post just about Belphie

so if you want a less brief headcanon, check it out

anyways

Beel and Belphie are both trans to me, even in scenarios when I don't see the others as such

but my thing about Belphie is massively projection and based off my own identity

I think Belphie is also trans, but doesn't pass, doesn't want surgery, and doesn't necessarily want testosterone

like, I think he would feel a bit isolated from his siblings, especially Beel sometimes, since they're all relatively passing

but Beel would reassure him and they would cuddle on bad dysphoria days together, tons of snacks piled onto the bed for Beel and movies on autoplay for background noise :)

he/him, nonbinary

[summerwritesfics]

🩷More Than Nice

Pairing: Harumi Hasashi(Harumi Shirai)/Kuai Liang Length: 796 Words Rating: General Warnings: Fluff, Feelings Realisation, Bisexual awakening (although kinda in reverse of how this usually happens), Sexuality just be like that sometimes, My crack ship is canon now holy shit

Mortal Kombat Oneshots Masterlist

Notes: AYO, pour one out for me; the one fucker who shipped Harumi/Kuai before it became canon and now has to constantly endure the hatred people have for both this ship and Harumi. 👍🏻 But yeah, this is a short fluff piece I wrote when the preview for Invasions mode was revealed. So again, I’ve had this written and edited for a while, just needed to post it. I always kinda liked the concept of Kuai Liang having a reverse bisexual awakening, where he thought for a long time he was gay, and then bam, Harumi comes along. Sexuality do be like that sometimes, it’s not a rigid as people seem to think. I think it’s interesting to delve into. Anyway, enjoy! The Harumi pegging Kuai porn will come at a later date ;P

“You don’t look at any other women the way you look at me.”

Kuai Liang looked up from his bowl of miso soup with an extremely cute frown on his face. Harumi knew he’d probably disagree with that description. It was true though. He was very cute. Handsome. Very polite and respectful. A little bit shy and unsure of himself. Some might have said awkward, but that was more the lack of regular socialisation outside of his clan and brothers.

“What do you mean?” He mumbled, keeping his voice low like he did not want anyone to overhear their conversation. She could understand that. Kuai Liang definitely was not used to being around civilians, and especially not used to conversations that weren’t matters of the utmost importance.

It was rare she managed to persuade him to leave the training grounds at all during his visits. He was here to train, as per his father’s request, and that was what he intended to do for the most part.

But occasionally, every now and then, she managed to win him over.

“You look at me the same way you look at the men you train with,” she elaborated, and Kuai cocked his head ever so slightly.

“With respect and admiration?” He questioned, his voice ever so slightly braindead like he was trying a little too hard to act oblivious.

“You know that’s not what I mean.”

It was hard to miss the way Kuai looked at the men he trained with. Well, to her it was, it seemed the men in question hadn’t seen. She couldn’t explain it other than if she were required to give a visual representation of “puppy love”, then Kuai Liang would be it. And initially, he only ever wore that expression around those men.

That was until she realised he was doing the exact same thing with her.

Kuai glanced around, shifting in place, like he couldn’t get comfortable. Finally he looked her directly in the eye, and said “I don’t really know what to tell you.”

He deliberately took a sip of his soup, clearly stalling for time while he could come up with something to say. It was a quirk she’d noticed early on. When he didn’t have a reply straight away, he’d find a reason he couldn’t answer. If that was sipping his soup, taking a drink, or even shovelling about 10 Gyoza into his mouth at the same time.

She still occasionally laughed to herself when she thought about how pudgy his cheeks had become.

“I have always known I was… different,” he finally began after swallowing. “While my peers would discuss the attractiveness of women, there was something…” He bared his teeth slightly like he was trying to think of another word than the one he’d already used. “It was like, they would point out an attractive woman to me, and I could acknowledge that they looked nice, but it was never anything more than that.” He chuckled slightly, although not a happy chuckle, one with a melancholy timbre that broke Harumi’s heart a little. “For the longest time, I simply believed myself to be broken.”

“Oh, Kuai Liang.” It was inconceivable, the idea that he could think there was something wrong with him for something so normal.

“It was a while before I realised that what they were seeing in women, I was seeing in men.” He pursed his lips slightly, glancing down at his bowl. “I believe I am what they refer to as a cut sleeve.” Harumi was vaguely familiar with the term he was referring to, at least enough to understand what he was saying. He was a homosexual. “At least, that is what I had believed until…”

“Until me?” Harumi finished. She wasn’t sure what to make of it, if she was honest.

“Yes, and I know what your next question is going to be,” Kuai said firmly, making sure she couldn’t sneak it in quickly. “You are going to ask me why, and I am not going to be able to answer you, because I don’t know.” Somehow, it seemed like that was the easiest part of everything for him to admit. “I do not know why I feel so differently about you, but I do. You are the first and only woman who I’ve found more than nice.”

“Oh,” Harumi chriped, unable to stop herself from smiling. “Well, I’m very glad to hear that.”

Really, regardless of what Kuai’s sexuality was, it didn’t matter to her. His feelings for her were genuine, she could tell from the way he spoke. She knew she felt the same about him too. Those were really the only two things that mattered.

And somehow, “more than nice” was the greatest compliment she had ever received.

[science-lings]

what’s some of your favorite loz/Lu fics of all time? :)

Most of my favorite LU fics are here

but what you guys may not know is that I'm also a big fan of botw and modern au Zelink fics, however, take heed, most of these get a little spicy

Like Real People Do by ScarlettStorm: one of the best post-botw fics out there, lots of pining, I absolutely adore how Link's experience with Gender is portrayed, how he and Zelda are both treated as equally traumatized, as sometimes it feels like there's always one troubled one and one caregiver and I can get that for shorter fics but this one is long and beautifully balanced in that aspect. It also gets real horny at the end and in my opinion, it's very tasteful.

Alone With You by @deiliamedlini: honestly this author has a bunch of bangers, I'm waiting for their pirate au to finish so I can binge it all and I reread their Zelink oneshot collection all the time, this one is their modern high school au where Link is kind of a bad boy who is secretly Fucked Up, and Zelda is a popular girl and surprise surprise, they both get along really well. Normally I hate anything that reminds me of high school but this is the only exception. I love how previous characters are included, like how Link knows ASL bc he's friends with Pipit who is deaf and how Revali is a bitch and I still want to strangle him. Also big sister Aryll is a treasure and this fic does such a good job portraying Link's mental struggles and PTSD and how Zelda is being neglected and I'm also a big fan of the overarching plot of medical issues and trauma.

The Calamity of Link's Cargo Shorts by @zeldaseyebrows: I don't understand how someone can make smut so funny and so focused on Zelda's own self-hatred. Seriously though, there's a lot to love with this fic and I adore Zelda's pov. Sometimes you have to have sex before opening up emotionally and that's okay. Also, it's a modern au too, I just realized how many of these are modern aus.

Strangers in the Night by @zeldaelmo: Another modern au, this time Zelda has a kid from a ons with Link and he doesn't know about it for a bit, I just love Link being a dad and how they both work for a museum and there's just something about the courtroom scene that makes me want to reread it over and over again. Sometimes it's hit or miss with family ocs but Tetra is my favorite zelink child ever. All the fics on this list are ones I reread a lot but this one is the one I'm currently rereading bc it's been a few months lol. I love the domestic but also a little dysfunctional vibes, it's definitely not the normal romcom type of thing but I think I like this more.

K.K. Love Song by @airplanned: Again, modern au, pandemic edition. This one in particular has a certain unexplainable soft vibe, like there's some long-distance, Animal Crossing online romance and idk why I like it so much, I guess I was one of the suckers that got pulled in by new horizons when it came out so there's some strange kind of covid nostalgia and it's nice to see how a functional government would deal with the pandemic. Also, Link's grandma is a treasure and there's something sweet about crown princess Zelda meeting some guy on animal crossing and accidentally making him a public figure by dating him. Honestly, this author has a lot of great fics that I reread a lot lmao.

Farore's Day and Windvane Lane by Jenseits_der_Sterne: modern thanksgiving au, Zelda is a quirky scientist single mom and Link is her neighbor. I love Link being a nerd and Zelda being a bit of a disaster. Like she accidentally almost blows up her kitchen and he's just looking on with heart-eyes, after helping her put out the fires of course.

tbh, I'm probably not the best person to go for fic recs as I just find a few really good ones and then reread them till the end of time and rely on other people to recommend me things to read lmao, I hope this was at least a little helpful anyway.

[tacky-optic]

gonna be normal about lupin up top and insane about zeni at the bottom for a sec.

i love when people talk about lupin and Legacy because i. cannot. it eludes me. lupin eludes me. but for the variations of lupin where I and II's ghosts are very much prevalent, yes. simply yes. lupin III earned his rivalry with zenigata.

anyway, zaza man. good god ok one second. im fine im okay im so okay about this

i love thinking about past/transition/present zeni. you made me crack out my list op. my little zenigata timeline list that i made to try and define what the hell he is, or what he could be from special to movie to series. there are SO MANY goddamn depictions of this guy, but this was the easiest way to nail it down for me. inside you there are three zenigatas....

early zeni

- generic noir detective angstlord - tired - one of those total workaholic hardasses. no fun, no chill, ever - not even remotely pleasant to be around. runs solo because getting assigned to be his partner is some sorta Higher Form of Punishment - cruel, cold, calculating, etc etc, to a borderline villainish degree - anger issues because of-- - VERY repressed fellings for lupin. surely that tight little feeling he gets in his chest whenever he sees him must be hatred

mid zeni

- insane - tired - probably subconsciously aware that he's into lupin, but the denial is still off the charts - bombastic? that's a word - actually lets himself be happy! sorta. he's trying but its still kind of a lie - probably the simplest phase imo, if only bc he's going through a wholeass Total Restructuring right under everyone's noses

late zeni

- took over a decade but he actually mellowed out, good for him - tired - calculating in like, a cool unscary way - still has bursts of anger/insanity, just not as intense as early/mid - definitely more amicable/tolerable to be around, both on and off the case - wholly aware he loves lupin in some regard. the guy, the rivalry, the chase, the whatever. he feels love and no longer denies that it is, in fact, love

the basic gist tends to be "he was Miserable and Horrible until he Wasn't." ok ok, to be fair, there is still a degree of fatigue at play here that'd drive most other folks insane. he kinda had to become that little piece of the pie that "most" doesn't cover to compensate, hence why he's still totally miserable, just in a new special edition "indeterminably lupin" flavor (and the extra side of hypercompetency he's adopted that comes with it).

zenigata really did throw everything away for lupin. that's going to fking hurt and we're shown it fking hurts, whether it's played off for laughs or for genuine sympathy, and it's a real and resonant feeling, despite the oddness of its origin. but when presented with the choice between misery within perpetual mediocrity versus self-isolationist misery with the chance of a madcap burst of genuine, bone-deep, near-manic enjoyment here and there, we all know what this guy will end up choosing 100% of the time.

one of my favorites from the untranslated manga was this short storyline where zeni starts out as this mega cliche Serious Noir Detective Guy (from what i can gather the first panel is basically your run-of-the-mill angsty monologue about how crummy the city is) but the literal second lupin's mentioned the entire genre of his life changes.

friendlier art style. genuinely smiling. the japanese roughly translates to "playtime's over". all of that intense shit they just showed him doing?? that's nothing. easy. just another day. but then BAM. LUIPIN. AND HIS LIFE STARTS FROM HERE. HIS LIFE STARTS FROM HERE.

there's no way the more introspective variations of his character don't think about, or at the very least consider it. he doesn't wholly understand everything about himself, but he knows what he is at his core and he knows what feels right and wrong.

the split between then and now probably throws him off. there's totally embarrassment for how he behaves with lupin versus dealing with the aftermath of lupin. imo the distinction between that transition period and now would probably be that he doesn't deny when he gets out of line anymore. takes it more in stride than being all denial-crazed/cagey about it, doesn't try to write it off as entirely lupin's fault. "there's always some softcore justice in there but that was mostly me doing what i wanted to do" he says to some effect in front of the burning dozen-car freeway pileup

but yeah. now this might just be how i interpret "self" in a general sense, but his true self is whatever he is at the present moment y'know? but there's no shot in hell that'd ever cross his mind lmao. nothing's ever so simple and it's alllllll lupin's fault

Sometimes I think about how Zenigata gave up his entire life for Lupin and I feel so full of every nameless emotion. Like… that is such pure love to me.

Imagine living a life where you’re respected by your peers and good at your job and every day when you go to the store the man at the counter knows you not because you’re on tv but because you’re a stand-up guy and a pillar in your local community, and then one day you realise you could have everything and nothing every day forever INSTEAD of a guaranteed regular adequacy all the time and you go, “that works,” because it means that you get to lay eyes on someone you hate to your core and love to your core and feeling everything is better to you than feeling just a little.

I wonder if Zeni lost himself a little in that transition, and how much he ‘found’ once it evened out. I wonder if he’s closer to two selves than one, now. The person he was before Lupin is so disconnected from who he is with Lupin to me. I’m not sure I could pinpoint which one is his ‘true’ self tbh. Also like.

Do you think in the same way Zenigata lost himself— his old self— when he found Lupin, Lupin found himself when he found Zenigata? Because I figure that kind of thing must click into place when, as someone who has spent their entire life feeling like a clone of those before you, suddenly you have a driving force that is all your own. You have a person who never went after your father or your grandfather, you have someone who hears your name and thinks of you and not them and it’s like. Wow I finally have the agency I’ve been craving.

Is that love? I think this is love. Maybe this is what they mean when they talk about how a relationship requires give and take. Sigh.

[obeiii-mee]

Can I angst for Mammon where he is in a really bad mood and his brothers are at it again calling him names. And already ask them kindly to leave him alone but they keep at it. And Levi says something and it's the last straw. The air around them get cold for a moment as he slowly looks up and he flat out threatens them to shut up before he puts them back into there place with a really dark and threatening voice, before leaving. And the look could rival Satan's or even Lucifers glare.

I think Mammon takes the abuse of his brothers but sometimes he isn't in the mood and want a little peace and it is very very rare for him to get pissed

Like he's the kind of person who would yell when he's upset but when he's down right pissed it's like really fucking scary

People forget that as much as he lets his brothers push him around he is still the second oldest and is powerful so 😬

Brothers+ undateables reaction

Mammon snaps:

___________________

This is something I’ve mentioned in previous posts, but I basically second everything you said. I believe that Mammon dislikes getting into confrontations but isn’t by any means weak or stupid. He is the second eldest. However he is also, arguably, the one with the most self control out of them all. He has an overwhelming amount of patience when it comes to his siblings and I like to think he puts up with all of their insults because he loves them. Then again, it’s very possible for him to go berserk after years worth of build up.

Thanks for the request!!! I had a bit of trouble at first because I didn’t know how I was going to format it but I like the way it turned out so I hope you do too. Uhh also I reached my word limit writing this so I couldn’t include Simon, Luke and Solomon. I do plan on writing for them as well but at this point I’m just trying to get this done. Let me know if I made any grammatical errors! I double check my writing all the time but sometimes mistakes got over my head! The undateables are short because honestly I view the brothers as the ones who will suffer the most out of everyone. I hope you enjoy reading it anyway!!

•Characters: Lucifer, Leviathan, Satan, Asmodeus, Beelzebub, Belphagour, Diavolo, Barbatos.

⚠️Warnings: Cursing, mentions of blood & gore and that’s about it.

___________________

For the past few months, Lord Diavolo’s pleasure of hosting parties and inviting people over had become more and more noticeable. It was pretty obvious that the Prince was lonely, isolating himself from others due to the responsibilities he has as the heir to the throne and a leader in the making. Attending his gatherings seemed like a down right chore for most of the brothers but you never had any problem tagging along. Besides, it felt nice knowing he seemed you worthy of coming to such important meetings. Your seven demons were, of course, also invited and per Lucifer’s orders, they all got cleaned up and dressed in fancy clothing to impress the regals prancing about the castle. Though the outfits themselves came with their own set of problems. Levi’s was way too tight; the collar seemed to annoy him more than anything else, judging by the patches of red skin on his neck. Satan accidentally ripped one of the buttons from his jacket off in a fit of rage earlier that day and was now silently fuming while poking his finger through the hole he made. Even Asmo spilled some water on his shirt before they arrived, ruining his pretty pink suit! Not to mention Beel was munching on his tie, having last eaten about 15 minutes beforehand. Lucifer pulled it out of his mouth and scowled at the saliva stains that were left behind. Safe to say they were all in a miserable mood to begin with.

“I expect all of you to behave in a respectable manner,” Lucifer flicked Belphie on the back of the head just as he began dozing off, making the youngest growl at him. He shot Mammon an irritated look “I’m especially talking to you Mammon. Don’t try to steal anything or I’ll cut your hands off.”

“I told ya big bro, ya don’t have to worry about me! I’ll be a golden child today! Promise!” Mammon held up his pinky as if he was committing to some kind of oath. The eldest darkened his glare and opened his mouth to say something else, but you interrupted in hopes of avoiding any bickering that might’ve followed.

“Look, there’s our table! Let’s go sit down. Lord Diavolo’s speech is going to start any minute now.”

Beel leaped at the table as soon as he sniffed out the appetisers, which were neatly arranged on the expensive tablecloth, shoving at least half of them in his mouth by the time the rest of you caught up with him. Having been seated, you quickly glanced around the room in hopes of spotting Diavolo. You bumped into Solomon and the angels before entering the castle, chit chatting with them for a while about the event. Even now, Luke was excitedly waving at you from across the room, using both of his arms. However, Lord Diavolo and Barbatos were the ones in charge of this party and you were yet to see either of them.

Out of the corner of your eye, you noticed Mammon eyeing the golden utensils laid out in front of him. Not the biggest of surprises really. Anytime Mammon sees something along the lines of gold, he can’t help but snatch it away. And there’s obviously so many valuables scattered all over the place, including the silverware that was proudly presented on every table. You sucked in a breath of anticipation when he reached for one of the spoons, only to exhale in relief when he placed it on the bridge of his nose, trying to balance it.

“MC, look at this!” He tapped your shoulder, as always wanting your full and undivided attention as he demonstrated his newfound skill. You giggled at his antics with fondness as he accidentally let the spoon drop with a clatter and a quiet ‘shit’ coming from him. Lucifer pulled on his ear, like a mother scolding her child and whisper-yelled at him to stop acting like an idiot. The only reason the oldest chose a sit right next to Mammon was to maintain order and peace. Basically, he did it for disciplinary reasons.

“I understand that being impertinent is your full-time job, Mammon but keep this up and I’ll throw you in Cerberus’ room. Let him do with you as he pleases.”

“Lucifer, it’s not a big deal-“

“Yeah, OK,” Mammon hissed, picking up the spoon from the recently polished floor with a slight grin that didn’t quiet reach his eyes “I gotcha. Can-“

“Speaking of Cerberus,” Levi suddenly piped in, no longer fussing about his collar or nervously twiddling with his thumbs because of the massive crowd of demons surrounding him “Didn’t you force me to walk him last week when it was your turn to do it?? I only agreed because you promised to buy me the newest Ruri-Chan limited edition body pillow that came out last Tuesday! And you never did! And now they’re out of stock, you scummy piece of-“

The third eldest would’ve leapt across the table and aimed for the throat if you hadn’t pressed a gentle hand against his chest, making him sit back down with a huff. People were starting to stare at the commotion coming from your table, turning heads and muttering between themselves. You were slowly dying from embarrassment by the way, since you guys definitely became the topic of conversation for the other guests. The brothers were being too noisy to even notice and Lucifer himself was too preoccupied to see the scene they were creating which made you further slouch down into your chair, silently hoping for the ground to swallow you whole. The night really wasn’t going as intended. You could hear Solomon laughing at the brothers’ antics from three tables down.

“I guess that’s Mammon for you,” Belphie yawned, barely raising his head from table “He lies everyday, all day. What exactly is new here? And that says something since it’s coming from me.”

“I apologised for that!” Mammon whined, referring to Levi’s accusation and choosing not to address Belphie’s insult “I was gonna buy it but then I realised I spent all my money earlier that week anyway so I couldn’t!”

“Perhaps that wouldn’t happen if you learned how to save the money you earn properly,” Satan muttered, sipping from his glass of whatever beverage he had snatched from the servants earlier “Not like you know how to earn money in any way besides stealing it.”

You watch as Mammon clenched his fist “Can we please just move on-“

“I can’t believe that I was cursed with this moron for a brother,” Asmo sighed, almost theatrically, as if he was performing. And, in a way, he was. People were getting really interested in the drama unfolding over there. It was making you even more anxious, all those eyes staring at you. The Avatar of Lust was leaning so much on his chair, you were sure he was going to topple over and at this point, you kinda hoped he would. Anything to stop this momentum of hatred aimed at Mammon “You’re always getting us in trouble, you know. Hmph, we can’t go anywhere with you Mammon! You always end up ruining it for us! With your stupid schemes and-“

“I’m hungry-“

“Not now, Beel!”

“Cutting him up into tiny pieces for the witches will always be an option,” Lucifer chimed in, smiling at the thought.

Mammon snapped his head upwards at that. It was such an abrupt reaction, it made you jolt a little in your seat. You couldn’t miss the tension radiating from him, how quickly his body stiffened and exactly how hard his hands were gripping the edge of the table. His brothers were still paying him no mind, blaming him for this and that under their breath or being silently judgemental in Lucifer’s case. You worried for him because Mammon rarely acted like this; feral, in a way. Just so you know, he definitely noticed it. The look of concern plastered all over your face. That’s the only reason he released the table from his vice-like grip and slouched back against his chair. Satan went quiet and was staring at Mammon in bewilderment.

He disliked the idea of you watching him lose control of himself. He was your guardian. Your first pact. It’s important to him that your relationship is build around a pillar of trust. And he can’t even expect you to trust him if he exposes you to his demon form every time something inconveniences him. Mammon would rather cease to exit than have you fear him. So he kept his breathing regulated as the fog cleared his mind. The Avatar of Greed isn’t an angry demon. Snuffing out the the flame of rage he had fanned up until then was relatively easy. He just needed to get through tonight, then he could go home and complain to you about it once he got out of his brothers’ earshot.

“Why does he get to spend so much time with MC anyway? He’d probably sell them for a few Grimm any time of the day, wouldn’t he? It’s so fucking unfair. He won’t change no matter what so why risk MC’s safety? I will summon Lotan on him if he starts getting on my nerves.”

It would be an understatement to say that those words rubbed Mammon the wrong way, judging by the lack of immediate response. It was unexpected for him keep his mouth shut at a time like this. What was even more unexpected was the abrupt, delayed reaction he had a few seconds afterwards, resulting in his chair being flung back about 5 feet in that general direction. The seemingly deafening thud it made when it collided with the floor echoed around the dining hall, bouncing off walls and whacking people over the heads with the aggression behind it. A moment of pure, indescribably loud silence filled the crowded space as everyone else stared in shock at their brother, mouths agape and eyes bulging out of their sockets. Mammon would’ve laughed at their faces if it weren’t for the circumstances leading up to that point.

“What gives any of you the right to treat me like some sort of punching bag?” Mammon drawled, accentuating his obviously superior nature to almost every single demon at that table. He laughed, in an oddly half hearted way, before his sea struck gaze landed back to his siblings “Do not try to push me into a corner, because I will not handle it well. You’ve been having a field day with me for centuries now and I’m starting to get really ticked off, ya know? But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that I’ve done everything in my power to keep MC alive for the past few months and y’all are acting as if I’m out here playing with their life. Complain about me all you want. But...” He thumped the table, loud enough to make all the noblemen in the room flinch.

“Don’t you dare insinuate that I would ever put MC in danger, willingly or not because I will rip out your insides and paint the walls of this palace with them while hanging your intestines from these chandeliers. I will pluck your hairs out one by one, then your nails, then your eyeballs and then your teeth. You’re the ones that have put MC in danger’s way time and time again in the past few weeks, and you’re out here trying to suggest that I would even think about hurting them? Unlike every single one of you, who almost killed my human-you’re lucky I don’t have your fucking heads.”

He smashed his fist into the table again, using even more of his strength this time and effectively breaking the whole thing, the wooden legs giving out and shattering into thousands of splinters. Mammon spoke again, his voice lowering “MC forgave you. I didn’t. And I have no reason to. Not with how you’ve been treating me.”Once he spit that out, Mammon turned on his heel and left, slamming the door shut behind him hard enough to shake the whole building, leaving his siblings in dazed awe.

......

Even more silence. For some reason, all of the brothers at the now broken table ended up looking your way, silently questioning what they should do. It often ended up like this

You gave them all an unimpressed stare and a half-assed shrug “Don’t look at me. You guys fucked up.” Before sliding out of your seat and following Mammon out of the castle, sending an apologetic smile to Diavolo on your way out. Hopefully, you could manage to calm him down before everyone else gets home otherwise this might drag on for a while.

Lucifer:

-In all honesty, he probably saw the signs from a mile away and still decided to ignore them

-Maybe because he believed they weren’t being all that harsh on him, even if in Mammon’s eyes they were

-‘Harsh’ in Lucifer’s vocabulary usually means being hanged upside down from a ceiling or publicly executed, not a couple of mere insults

-Not to mention the eldest had always been horrible at communicating with his brothers when it came to emotions

-Despite Mammon clearly suffering from the treatment he received from his brothers, Lucifer refuses to believe he’s the root of the problem

-As the Avatar of Pride, he always had a hard time realising that all those words and the constant teasing, which he deemed to be pretty harmless, scarred Mammon a lot more than expected

-Once he actually comes to that conclusion, and after getting over the initial shock, Lucifer would probably feel the guiltiest out of them all

-Being the eldest means he carries quite a few burdens on his shoulders as most responsibilities fall on him due to his prideful nature

-He would blame himself for Mammon’s outburst simply because he’s the older brother and he should’ve known better, not just because he sees how a big of a role he played in all of this

-Usually, if his brothers do something bad, then he’s there to fix it within hours, that’s how it always worked

-Except he doesn’t know how to fix this exactly

-The problem is he has no idea how to approach Mammon after that sudden meltdown and he has no idea how to talk it out with him because he sucks at expressing himself verbally

-And since this took place in a public space, Lord Diavolo’s Palace no less, he felt really conflicted on what should have been done at that moment in time

-There was a lot of frustration, embarrassment and confusion in him for a good five minutes after Mammon slammed that door shut behind him and even after he gathered his thoughts together, he was still in shock for the rest of the night

-In any case, the whole event was promptly cancelled and everyone ended up going home earlier than expected, after Lucifer apologised to Diavolo about the spectacle they created (several times)

-When they finally get home, he decided to give Mammon his space instead of trying to knock at his door and instead went back to his room

-He knows they will need to solve this matter soon but there’s no way Mammon will want to see, let alone talk, to any of them just yet

-He’s sort of hoping he can apologise best he can next morning at breakfast, cross his fingers and wish for the best but judging by the venom that laced Mammon’s voice the night before, it’s not likely he will forgive any of them that easily.

Levi:

-If I were to guess, he saw the ending credits of his life flash before his very eyes as soon as those words left his mouth

-Levi felt a panic in him like never before, not even while playing his engaging horror visual novels at 3am in complete darkness or that one time he used Lucifer’s credit card to buy merch before being found out

-Must’ve forgotten his brother technically ranks higher than him on the power scale for a second there

-Or maybe he didn’t think his insults were going to affect him much

-They usually don’t

-Or at least that’s the impression he’s been under for a while now

-Mammon doesn’t snap easily under pressure but Levi must’ve really hit a nerve there that night

-While everyone was sitting in a short silence after Mammon left the building, he started twiddling with his fingers again the more he thought about it

-Because now he went from nervous to fucking terrified of what the hell was waiting for him when he finally got home

-He does feel guilty, nowhere near as much guilt as Lucifer feels but still pure shame

-However most of that guilt is swallowed by a steady fear and the constant worry of ‘how do I stop my brother from killing me?’

-Unlike Lucifer, I honestly don’t see him taking any sort of initiative when it comes to apologising to Mammon

-Not even because he doesn’t want to, but he would freeze up if he were to come face to face with him after that incident and then scamper back to his room like a rat in hiding

-So without your help, it’s likely the two won’t be speaking to each very soon which can honestly make life at the House of Lamentation so much more miserable

-In the end, if either you or Lucifer forced him to, he would say sorry by selling some of his merch and then giving him the profits (in secret but we all know it’s him)

-That is a big sacrifice on Levi’s part considering how precious his merchandise is to him

-But the idea that he’s gonna get murdered in his sleep by his older brother was getting a tad too real

-Besides, Mammon is still his brother and if he has to sell a couple of items in order to make him less mad, he would do it, albeit with a bit of grumbling

-Despite that, Mammon still refuses to come out of his room and sort of relies on you to bring him food because he doesn’t want to see his brothers

-Levi and Mammon would probably have to rebuild a lot of their relationship after this but it could easily take months for that to happen since Levi is too terrified to look him in the eye and Mammon is too upset to even hear his voice

Satan:

-He wouldn’t be the Avatar of Wrath if he couldn’t spot the anger within someone from a mile away

-He’s always been able to recognise the fury building up inside of him so for Satan it’s second nature to just know when someone’s on the brink of snapping

-It’s no surprise to say that he probably noticed Mammon’s wrath spilling out before anyone else did

-But alas, he realised it too late

-If he had reacted quicker, maybe he would’ve been able to diffuse Mammon before he exploded on them. Or not

-It’s difficult to tell if he could’ve actually helped because who was he to tell Mammon to calm down??? If anyone told him that while he was throwing a fit, he would probably break their necks-

-In the end, he just pressed his lips into a straight line and watched his brother throw his chair across the room

-Not gonna lie, he found it a bit entertaining purely because of the look on Lucifer’s face

-Satan had to try really hard not to crack a smile because he knew Mammon would probably smash a glass against his head or something

-Even so, he was the first to stand up and offer to go after him, though he wasn’t sure he could do much consoling

-Being so experienced with anger meant that he knew Mammon had built himself into a rage that he won’t be able to escape out of too easily

-Which is why he advises Lucifer to give Mammon his space once they get home

-Overall, the most understanding out of all of the brothers

-At this point in time, probably the least judgemental out of everyone and once Mammon comes out of his room for the first time in a while, either him or Beel is going to apologise to him first

-He may push and push him alongside the rest of his siblings but I feel like Satan doesn’t want to reach a certain low, like cornering Mammon into the frenzy he had that day ever again

-He might get pissy with him if he’s being too stubborn to forgive anyone after coming down from his intrusive thoughts

-And he really hates that Mammon had to remind them about all the times you had nearly died because of them, because he knows they won’t be able to make it up to you so why is Mammon upset about this????

-But he will try to maintain respect for his older brother from then on

-Even if the sharpest of remarks is on the top of his tongue!

Asmo:

-Asmo is the type to laugh it off and then start feeling really upset about it later on, the longer he thinks about the whole thing

-After Mammon storms out, he just assumes it’s another one of those ‘Mammon’ things and tried to brush the feeling of unease off him

-Even so, later that night the memory of Mammon kept coming back to him while he laid in his bed, unable to have a nice rest for the first time in how long? He’s always been really strict about his sleeping schedules after all

-Asmo’s observant, almost on par with Satan himself when it comes down to it. He definitely saw the gleam of anger, pent up frustration and hatred in his brothers’ eyes that moment and it legitimately scared him, even if it was for just half a second

-Honestly, he begins neglecting himself out of anticipation and worry which is a huge red flag for the Avatar of Lust who always holds himself at such a superior level compared to everyone else

-It may start out slow, but it has the same effect as a snowball rolling down the hill. It becomes more of a problem the longer it’s ignored

-Because he spends most of his days now debating whether he should try to coax his brother into coming out of his room and apologising to him, he forgets about himself

-Skincare routines are missed, pedicure appointments have been cancelled; hell, if Mammon’s keeps being stubborn, he may let his hair become absolutely filthy

-Asmo sort of relies on his brothers to provide the living environment he revolves around. If something is off with his brothers, he can not work properly either because it doesn’t feel right to do so

-Imagine a machine not working anymore because one of the clogs in it got stuck

-I can see Asmo feeling a decent amount of guilt when it comes to the situation but he still blames Levi for completely pushing him over the edge at dinner

-So now those two aren’t talking (it’s honestly so exhausting since they’re shoving the blame onto each other without stop)

-If Mammon decides to come out and hear them out, Asmo might get on his knees and beg because that guilt bubbling up inside of him may end up being his demise

-No seriously, MC might need to keep an eye out on him too while comforting Mammon because whatever he is doing isn’t healthy

-Takes Mammon’s outburst pretty badly and tries apologising to him many times but the second eldest still hasn’t said a word to any of them

-And that’s driving him into a fucking swirl of insanity at this point

-Of course, much like Mammon’s mental breakdown, this builds up over time but the result can be devasting

-If you pass by his room at night, you could probably hear him sob about how his brother hates him and it’s really heartbreaking to hear pained cries like that coming from such an overly confident demon like Asmo

Beel:

-Literally the only one here that doesn’t dish out insults onto Mammon every hour of the day

-He joins in very rarely and even when he does, it’s usually in good nature rather than malice

-Unless food is involved. Feelings (and Mammon) might be hurt if that’s the case

-Beel wasn’t listening to his siblings as they were diminishing Mammon, he was way too hungry to comprehend what the hell they were on about

-So he just started wolfing down appetisers until he noticed you looking all weary

-That’s the first thing that put him on alert

-And then the second born’s aura was also...off putting

-Might’ve actually tried to nudge Belphie to stop him from saying anything offensive to Mammon in this state when he realised how tense the atmosphere got

-Flinched when his brother left the palace, almost cracking the whole doorway on his way out

-Hunger is all but gone and at this point he wants to go home to check up on him

-Beel is a bit of a softie and he wears his heart on his sleeve a lot of the times

-He never did anything particularly bad to Mammon, not on the same scale his brothers did certainly and yet he still felt extremely bad

-Perhaps because he didn’t step in as much as he should’ve...?

-Either way, when his loved ones suffer, he has a tendency of putting the blame on himself because he feels it’s the only logical answer

-Honestly, he feels guilty enough to the point where it’s affecting his eating habits-which is obviously not normal for the Avatar of Gluttony

-Beel knows Mammon doesn’t want to talk to him but he still brings him food and leaves it at the doorstep of his room since he doesn’t want to come out and have dinner with them

-Or he relies on you to give it to him

-The thought of Mammon being so mad at them that he doesn’t even want to eat makes him feel so vulnerable

-As soon as he sees him for the first time since that night, he will probably be the first to apologise, even if Mammon isn’t in the mood to hear apologies

-Again, he’s trying to use food to make up to him (bringing him his favourites and paying for them)

-Even if he gets ignored, he’s still going to do it

-Beel is trying his best to say sorry to his older brother the only way he knows how to do so, but Mammon still doesn’t give in

Belphie:

-Could’ve been asleep the whole time Mammon was thrashing about

-Or at least that’s what it looked like to the average passer-by

-Kept one eye open to watch as Mammon finally snapped under pressure, having to raise his head once his brother broke the whole god damned table

-“OK, alright, storm off I guess-I have a splinter now-“

-Don’t trust that sarcastic commentary, he’s in deep thought on the inside

-Maybe he should’ve expected this but then again, he never would’ve guessed Mammon had it in him to be so aggressive

-Will narrow his eyes at him when he talks your death and scowl

-As if he didn’t already feel like the world’s biggest piece of shit, he had to bring that up

-As soon as he leaves, he turns to Lucifer and goes “See what you did? You broke Mammon. You suck, Lucifer.”

-The shifting of blame suits Belphie really well (it takes Beel side glancing him to get him to shut up)

-The Avatar of Sloth is too tired to even try to communicate with his brother so he goes straight to bed after getting home

-However, he actually visits Mammon’s dreams that night

-Or at least tries to, if Mammon is getting any sleep after that showdown

-It’s his way of checking in with his brother, helps him evaluate the situation

- Whether that works or not, there was definitely an attempt that required a lot of effort and you don’t see that very often with Belphagour

-It really demonstrates how much he actually cares for his family, even if he hides behind snide remarks and the likes of it

-However, if Mammon refuses communication, then he can’t do anything but give up

-He clearly won’t be able to convince him to step aside for a chit chat and why waste energy trying to force him to do so

-When the time comes, Belphie knows his brother will willingly talk to him (or at least someone else because he knows he’s not any good at comfort or apologies)

-At the same time, a lot of the things Mammon said during that party rubbed him the wrong way and seeing his twin suffer because of it is also pissing him off so patience may be running thin with Belphie

-Like Levi, there may be a lot of ice between the two from then onwards so it won’t be easy for them to find the middle ground in this whole argument either

-It could lead to a strained relationship if no one intervenes or even a physical fight if the youngest pushes all of Mammon’s buttons properly

Diavolo:

-The Future King feels guilty too, for some reason

-He is clearly not involved but he’s under the impression his party was a catalyst of sorts to the fight that broke out that night

-Diavolo wasn’t even in the same room when it happened-he heard shouting and growling from next door whilst talking to a noble about future arrangements in DevilDom and rushed in

-The sight was something to behold really; Mammon cornering all of his brothers and threatening them with pure venom in his voice wasn’t something you saw everyday

-More often than not, it was the other way around so the Prince had every right to be concerned

-He tried asking Lucifer what was going on after the second eldest slammed the door shut behind him and left but to no avail; the Avatar of Pride was in a state of shock and the only thing he did was apologise to him about a million times before his departure with the rest of his siblings

-Despite his worry, Diavolo tried not to get involved in the aftermath either, believing it’s not his place to interfere and hoping they would solve it out amongst themselves

-He did give Mammon permission to miss RAD classes for that week, thinking a small break is what he needed most

-Even drops by every now and then to check up on him (he just asks you how he’s holding up because he doesn’t want to pry)

-He can’t do much but watch from the sidelines, I mean this is a family dispute so it would be wise to just give them all a bit of space

-If it drags on for too long, however, he will be forced to do something because the brothers are all distracted and can’t get on with their student council work because of it

-Lucifer is even more stressed than usual and can’t even focus during their meetings so for the sake of his friend, if nothing gets resolved quickly, he will intervene and it won’t be pretty

-For now, he’s counting on you to make sure there are no further incidents but it’s unlikely you can stop a train once it’s set in motion so just hope Mammon doesn’t come out of his room until he’s calmed down

Barbatos:

-The butler is a Time Lord so it’s probably no surprise to find out he already knew this was going to happen eventually

-Not like he believed Mammon was going to take his brothers’ insults for much longer anyway

-Being the quiet and observant demon he is, he’s been keeping a close eye on the Avatar of Greed knowing damn well he was going to lose his patience soon enough and go on the offence

-If he knew this was going to happen at such an important moment in time, he would’ve warned his majesty beforehand but he failed to see the potential catastrophe awaiting his breakdown

-Again, he has no right to intervene

-Unless, of course, Lord Diavolo asks him to do so but really the most he can do is give you tips on how to deal with miserable demons

-I mean, you’re the one that’s going to be stuck with them for the rest of the year and this isn’t the type of conflict that gets resolved too easily

-Barbatos is clever so if there is still bitterness between Mammon and his siblings after an amount of time passed, he might try to change timelines (with the permission of Diavolo)

-He’s had enough of Beel coming over to eat his cakes and cry about his older brother hating him (believe it or not, the butler is definitely a bit fond of the sixth eldest so his cries did pull at his heartstrings)

-Basically, in the same position as the Prince

-He relies on you to get them all to make up but he knows it’s not likely to happen any time soon

-For now, he’s getting ready for the chain reaction this fight set in motion because there was no easy way to end this, considering they’re all vicious demons and all

—————————————————————-

Al~ im mad I couldn’t add Simon, Luke and Solomon-I want to write for them too >:(

[gojology]

Job Benefits. (Part 4)

❝...𝑪𝑶𝑴𝑬 𝑶𝑵, 𝑺𝑷𝑰𝑻 𝑰𝑻 𝑶𝑼𝑻.❞

CONSPIRING. - Chapter Four

you can find part three here :

part three : routines

pairing : ceo! gojo x female reader warnings : cursing, no proof reading, no editing wordcount : 2494 a/n :  this is so bad, i... i am so sorry. in my defense i haven’t written in a while, but i hope u guys still like this regardless </3

     Almost immediately after stepping foot into the room, you’re greeted with a minimalist, yet clean looking interior. Large window panes with Tokyo’s beautiful sunlight filtering into the already lively room.     There’s a few co-workers you can see sitting by the vending machines on plush arm-rest chairs, the cushions colored a beautiful tan alongside oak wood arm rests and chair legs. Others are on their phone, texting and furiously tapping and a feeling of anxiety immediately eats you up whole. You were seriously starting to regret coming down here, what was the point other then to make Gojo jealous? You could’ve very well eaten in your office- and what you were doing was childish anyways.      You stood in the entrance way of the room, nervously fidgeting, eyes scanning for Keto Sugaeru amongst the faces that were starting to blend in. You can only vaguely remember how he looks like from the few visits he had made to Gojo’s office, jet black hair, usually tied in a bun, always a kind, yet careless smirk on his face. He was handsome, which would be a definitive beacon amongst the rather disgruntled looking office workers.     “Hey, are you gonna move or what? Blocking the damn way.”     You hear a gruff impatient voice behind you, and you twist around, stumbling with the newfound height of your high heels as you did so. A man’s eyes bored into your own, glaring at you with a mix of hatred and annoyance. You gulp, finding yourself unable to respond, instead averting your gaze to the floor meekly.    “You gonna talk? We don’t have all day, sheesh, they’re hiring anyone into the workforce nowadays huh-”      “I’m sorry- I uh, I’m r-really new here so...” modestly giving the man a kind smile, but he seemed to have no patience for you.     As if a divine being heard his rude comment and immediately swept down with some karma, a firm, large hand is placed onto the man’s shoulder that you hadn’t seen prior. It gripped the flesh tightly, and the mysterious man glared directly down at the now squeaking rude one.      “Did I hear that right?” is all he says, a few co-workers are twisting their heads towards the altercation, now you’re sweating bullets. You grip onto your lunch so tightly you’re afraid it might burst, and those incredibly long fingers of his are inching towards the stout man’s collar.     Eventually, the perplexing man smiles kindly, retracting his hands to his sides, now lifeless and slack. “Please, Nishima, refrain from picking on people. We don’t tolerate this in the office, and don’t be dumb enough to do it in front of someone who has direct connections to the Gojo family. Run along now, I’ll leave you off at a warning. You’re lucky I’m in a good mood.”     The man grumbled a few times, kicking at the floor before heading out, you turn your head to thank the man, looking at him with an admirable gaze, but you realize something-      He has the jet black long hair you were searching for before any of this happened, it’s tied up in a bun, and it looked ridiculously smooth and soft. Something you’d pay to drag your hands through and play with. He has that carefree grin displayed on his handsome features, shamelessly showing off his good looks. Tall, and he definitely had a familiar voice that took you a while to put a finger on it.     This had to be him.      “You frozen girlie? I haven’t seen you around in the lunch room- here go sit there, that seat’s super comfy.” he gestures to one chair, and you snap out of your trance, nodding in response, yet still unable to fully register what just happened to you.      “Sugaeru?” you blurt out, your eyes wide while stumbling like a just born fawn towards the spotless table. How good was your luck today? He came to you.      “Suguru.” he corrects, looking back at you, a teasing curve to his lips. “Holy, you completely butchered my name, I think I know you from somewhere-” for a second, he looks like he’s seriously thinking before he beams. “You’re Gojo’s secretary, Y/N, aren’t you? What brings you down here? Gojo told me that you’re usually reserved in your own little world and you do everything in your office.”      You stammer, still unable to believe your luck, but your shoulders are relaxing and the tension has completely evaporated into thin air. “Uh, yeah I’m Satoru’s secretary. I- Um, I wanted to... Get some water?” that was a horrible lie, even for you.      “Rookie mistake.” Suguru pulls out the aforementioned chair for you before walking to the other side of the table to place his lunch on the tabletop carefully. “Water here is super overpriced. You should bring some from your own house if that’s the case! Colleague to colleague, just don’t tell anyone I said that, or else I’ll get in trouble.” winking at you, he twists the lid to his container presumably holding his food, instantaneously a cloud of steam emerges and a delicious scent wafts through the room.     After a moment of silence between the two of you as you both opened your lunches, you clear your throat, meaning to make conversation. “Thank you for saving me back there.” sheepishly, you smile at him. “It’s really appreciated, I just couldn’t believe how rude a person could be, especially since u-uh... You know, he could’ve, like, just walked around me?” stuttering, you grab your utensils in an effort to look relaxed and comfortable, even though you had no idea how to speak to him.     “Atta girl, no problem.” he responds warmly. You feel safe in his shadow. “Hey, if your Gojo’s friend, you’re my friend. Don’t worry about it. I heard you’re new to the office.” he pauses, looking around the now bustling room before covering the sides of his mouth and whispering towards you. “Secretary position was open for a while because no sane person in Tokyo wants to be Gojo’s secretary.” sitting back down while snickering, he takes a bite out of his lunch.      Giggling, you finally ease up. As opposed to Gojo, Suguru’s more sincere and straight to the point. He’s funny in his own way without being obnoxious.      You scoff. “Yeah, I can see how anyone could go insane from working with the guy. It was the only good secretary position open, though...” you muse aloud.      Suguru crosses his arm over his chest, your eyes carefully surveying his attractive figure as he does so, a thoughtful smile on his face. “Well, imagine being friends with him for more than 15 years. I’m sure I’ve gotten a few screws loose.” he says suggestively, wriggling his eyebrows.      You cover your mouth, trying not to laugh- but it just spills out of your lips, and you forget that you just met the guy, that’s just how friendly he was. “Don’t say that!”      “What? It’s true!”     You didn’t quite know it just that, but a seed was planted that day- you and Geto’s relationship, and it would only blossom from there.  ‧₊˚✩彡.     Gojo’s paranoid.     It seems like there’s a secret that he’s not in on, he realizes that Geto’s visits to his office are growing more and more frequent, yet he spends less time at his office, rather, spends all of his time at yours. Feeling left out was never a positive emotion. In response, Gojo would increase his visiting between the two of you, “accidentally” walking in on the both of you casually chatting, but it’s like he’s a ghost in the room. He’d get a few lukewarm stares and a few polite greetings, but that was that.     He’s not sure if it’s jealousy, or what.      He knows he should be supportive of his best friend potentially getting a girlfriend, and he tries to be- but something about Geto and you together really pissed him off, he just doesn’t know why. Maybe it’s the way the pairing between you two seemed so natural, it would be almost sure that a relationship would occur soon that angered him. Having dating co-workers was almost never a good thing.      Deep down he knows that’s not it.      As the weeks past by, the visiting grew almost unbearable, hearing your laughter- your giggles- from jokes that weren’t from him was infuriating. Listening to the repetitive clicking of your heels down the stairs into the break room was driving him insane, and eventually he can’t even open an email or do anything involved with work. You and Geto were constantly on his mind, and he’s morbidly curious as to when the friendship occurred- or if it was possibly more than that.    His first attempt at getting to the bottom of things was bringing it up between the two of them, him and Geto, just as casual chit-chat, but it didn’t go exactly as planned.      Geto would have a sympathetic, almost mocking grin on his lips, but those eyes of his were telling enough. It was a whole other book of lust and need, for you. Brushing the topic off with a wave of dismissal, he’d chuckle and put a mask of friendliness on, but Gojo’s known Geto enough to see where this was going.      He couldn’t have this, everything was brought to him on a silver platter, so it was only natural for him to feel like he needs you, even if he didn’t. Perhaps you were another trophy to his endless collection to him, he just didn’t know. He’d never felt so strongly of a woman, much less his secretary, something was brewing inside of him.    One thing he doesn’t understand is why Geto. He’s flawless in appearance, restless, impossibly good at sex, why weren’t you stroking his ego? Whatever, this was another topic of conversation, what he needed to do now was win you back.     He calculated in his office the average time in which Geto would visit, music drowning out the muffled talking, and finally he’s ready and absolutely certain that this would be a good time to chat you up. Having everything planned out, an aura of confidence radiated from him.      “Y/N!” you hear a chirp from the door, lifting your head up in excitement, you realize it’s not your beloved Suguru, rather, it’s Gojo. Gluing your eyes back on your computer screen, not even bothering to peel them away, you clear your throat in acknowledgement. “Sir?”      A smug grin flickers across his face for just a second before he pulls out one of the chairs across from your desk, scooching it a bit further away for some extra leg room before promptly sitting down. “Knew you’d remember to call me sir, I knew I hired well when you stepped into the interview room, so sharp.”     You don’t detect a shred of sarcasm in his compliment, and finally you turn your gaze upon his face. This was certainly out of the ordinary for you, as he hadn’t visited as often with Geto in the picture now. Gojo’s not wearing the iconic black shades that concealed his cerulean eyes, now, they’re out for you- his private audience.     His eyes are brimming with energy and mischief, almost like a child’s. They’re transfixing, like diamonds handpicked and placed into his eyes. You’re overwhelmed from your work once again- a direct consequence of Gojo neglecting his own, yet something about this greeting reminded you of one of the first few times he had visited you, when he stole your carrot pen. Thus, causing you to direct your undivided attention towards him, he seemed promising, after all, what was the worst that could happen?     “That’s besides the point, Mr. Satoru. Is there any reason why you came here? I’m actually finishing up a report right now and the deadline is in two days.” taking your coffee mug up from it’s usual spot on the tabletop, you sigh in relief as the warm liquid goes down your throat and set it back down, anticipating his answer.     In usual fashion, Gojo chuckles good-heartedly. “It’s your fourth month anniversary you’ve been working here, or third, or second, fuck like I remember. This is a cause for celebration and you’re worrying about finishing up a report?”    “You’d know better then to come to me with an offer of slacking off if you knew my fourth month anniversary of working here was coming up.” you respond coolly.     His eyes slightly widen, before he lets out a dry chuckle. “Ah, I missed my sassy secretary, say, why don’t we celebrate? We can go out for a staff dinner in celebration. I’ll pay, no need to worry. It’ll be confidential information between the two of us.” tugging at his collar, he quirks an eyebrow, you’re visibly thinking.      “Does this imply you want this dinner to only be between the two of us? Why’s that?” you pry, a tinge of hesitance in your pitch.     Ah, shit. This was going off the tracks.     Gojo taking a hand to his chest defensively, he loudly announced, “It’s important to build a positive connection between the two of us! We’ll be working together for years to come, of course. So skeptical of you, why do you look so down?” the retort was cheeky, and good at that, as it left you speechless.     “I’m not sad, or anything-” you pause, your mind had gone blank. “I- Um... I-” attempting to return to your work instead, you give him a dirty look, but he stares back with such intensity you don’t know how to feel. “I’m doing work, don’t screw up my train of thought, please?”    “You definitely weren’t saying that when I offered to take you out to eat, come on, spit it out.” he tsks. Utterly defeated, you sigh.     “I wanted to invite someone.” you spit out, obviously embarrassed.     Gojo pretends to act shocked, before excitedly inquiring, “And who might that be?”     “G-Geto.” there was no point in lying now.    He oohs, looking down at your shaking hands and back up at your face. “Ooooh, Y/N has a crush on my best bud? Who woulda thought!?”    Your cheeks going warm, you shake your head furiously. “No I don’t! I- Mr. S- Sir! This is so unprofessional of you!” stuttering, you drop your head on the desk, arms pillowing the sides of your head and groaning.     “How cute. Anyways, you accept that dinner date?”     You lift your head back up, sniffling. “It’s not a date!”    Giving you a shit-eating grin again, his eyes twinkle. “Oh, but it is.”    “I- Aghhhhh!” putting your head back down on the desk, this time without your arms, you don’t know how to respond, so instead you make a mockery of yourself.    Laughing, Gojo decides not to tease and you and instead says, “Meet me in Shibuya district, there’s a super nice restaurant, I’ll drive to your house, no need to worry about transportation. 9 PM, see you there!” his voice grew more distant down the hallway, you can still hear the clicking of his shoes and his deep humming.     So you had a date tonight,     Now how would that go?

[renegadewangs]

Van Zieks - the Examination, part 2

Warnings: SPOILERS for The Great Ace Attorney: Chronicles. Additional warning for racist sentiments uttered by fictional characters (and screencaps to show these sentiments).

Disclaimer: (see Part 1 for the more detailed disclaimer.) - These posts are not meant to be taken as fact. Everything I'm outlining stems from my own views and experiences. If you believe that I've missed or misinterpreted something, please let me know so I can edit the post accordingly.  -The purpose of these posts is an analysis, nothing more. Please do not come into these posts expecting me to either defend Barok van Zieks from haters, nor expecting me to encourage the hatred. - I'm using the Western release of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles for these posts, but may refer to the original Japanese dialogue of Dai Gyakuten Saiban if needed to compare what's said. This also means I’m using the localized names and localized romanization of the names to stay consistent. -It doesn't matter one bit to me whether you like Barok van Zieks or dislike him. However, I will ask that everyone who comments refrains from attacking real, actual people.

It’s time to take a close look at Episode 3, The Runaway Room!

Episode 3: The Runaway Room.

We're skipping the first two cases, as they have no relevance to Barok van Zieks, and starting off here.

So Ryu is tossed into the deep. The Lord Chief Justice tells him that he’s basically the defendant’s only hope; if he doesn’t at least try to fight in court, McGilded will lose the trial and die for sure. (HAH… Good one, Stronghart.) So Ryu falls for this would-be motivational speech and heads for the courthouse where he finds out why McGilded doesn’t have a defense attorney to begin with; it’s because of the prosecution. No one dares to go up against Lord Barok van Zieks, also known as the Reaper of the Old Bailey, because all who he prosecutes are damned. This should sound familiar to anyone who’s played an Ace Attorney game before. ‘The prosecution has never been defeated before’ is the implication, which would initially lead us to believe Van Zieks is another one of those prodigies. Sure enough, Susato points out he must be very talented, to which McGilded replies that Van Zieks is not talented, rather, he’s cursed. This sets the mood even further. With words like “Reaper” and “curse” being tossed around, we’re sooner reminded of a prosecutor like Simon Blackquill, who was a convicted murderer wielding psychological manipulation techniques. Either way, with the grim atmosphere set, Ryu is ushered into the courtroom before he can ask any more questions.

As a sidenote, McGilded really scored some negative points with this remark:

Feels a bit softened compared to how fan translations tackled that line, but a nasty jab all the same.

So anyway, entering the courtroom we get our first look at Van Zieks and if the foreshadowing in the Defendant Antechamber wasn’t already bad enough, he honors his eerie reputation.

So far, he’s meeting the requirements then. He’s intimidating and as a wealthy white man, he’s perfectly juxtaposed to Ryu, the rookie from another country. Meanwhile, the first micro-aggression of this trial is actually uttered by the judge:

Which also makes narrative sense. Ryu’s more practical goal isn’t to win the prosecution’s trust. Heck, he could get through any trial just fine with Van Zieks’s dislike. No, what he needs is to win over the judge and the members of the jury. For them to also hold prejudice but put that aside in order to side with the truth is another important end-game here. So let’s continue. Van Zieks also has something to say here:

Initially, the remark about Ryu’s eyes might read as a typical racist jab towards someone from the East, but he is in fact referring to the way Ryu’s eyes are ‘swimming’ when he’s nervous, as evidenced by the next lines. “They shroud your fear, your doubt, your trepidation… They run wild, clinging to some phantom notion of courage.” Van Zieks is saying that while Ryu puts up a brave front, his swimming eyes betray just how nervous and unsure of his cause he really is. So really, he’s targeting the fact that Ryu is new to the courts. He did, however, make a point of tossing the word “Nipponese” in there when he didn’t need to, drawing attention to Ryu’s race in a derogatory fashion.

After the jurors are introduced, something else of interest happens. The judge points out that Van Zieks hasn’t been seen in the courtroom in a number of years. The judge had assumed that Van Zieks had renounced his fame, to which he replies with the following:

This is a very telling line. We learn several things. Firstly, Van Zieks had retired, and secondly, he doesn’t seem to think too highly of his title of Reaper. If he did, he would have gloated. To describe his reputation as infamy implies negative associations with this ‘curse’ that McGilded spoke of. Putting these two things together, one might conclude he retired because of this curse. When asked why he’s returned to the courts, he says that he’ll leave that to the judge’s imagination. So there’s hints of a backstory already being tossed in before the trial’s even properly kicked off.

Which it does now. So the opening statement happens as always and witnesses are brought in, but once it’s done Ryu interjects to say that he doesn’t understand the circumstances. ‘How could the witnesses have seen the inside of a moving carriage’? It shocks the entire courtroom and Van Zieks is the one to speak:

“-But you’re here in London yourself. Are you really so ignorant about our omnibuses? Tell me, my Nipponese friend… Have you even travelled in an omnibus?”

I have to be honest, I struggled to pinpoint just how I felt about these remarks. Sure, I can overanalyze this, looking at how the words “I’d read-” imply he doesn’t know the following sentiment to be true and therefore doesn’t feel confident enough to say something like “I knew-”... But it doesn’t change that he’s being scummy here. In a roundabout way, he’s still saying Japan is far less civilised than Britain and that Ryu is extra ignorant for not knowing about omnibuses when he’s in London. So basically, he gets scumbag points for this. But then there’s…:

Which is just a basic jab at Ryu’s intelligence. It’s the sort of remark we’d get from every single prosecutor. I think even Klavier would say this sort of line with a smile on his face.

But definitely more scumbag points here, because this was a direct attack in more ways than one. Particularly the word “stray” was uncalled for. CEO of Racism, indeed. Something very interesting happens when the knife gets pulled into the story halfway into the first cross-examination, though. When Ryu asks about it, Van Zieks replies with this:

He’s… actually being civil? (I doublechecked with Scarlet Study, and they are in agreement on the timid nature of this line, translating “yes, Counsel” as “Quite so”.) Instead, Van Zieks turns his attention to the fact that there’s an M on the sheath, directing all his offensive attitude towards McGilded. It gets even more curious when the last juror refuses to cast a guilty verdict, instead talking about what a good man she believes McGilded to be. Van Zieks says:

So he’s not only frustrated with McGilded now, he’s frustrated with the people of London for not knowing what sort of person McGilded really is. Van Zieks reveals he’s a dirty money lender who gained his fortune through corrupt means. He even takes the time to inform Ryu of this with the words “Your client is a shylock, sir!” Edit: I feel a need to address this: shylock is a word with antisemitic roots. It originally came from a Shakespeare play involving a very bad stereotype. It later evolved to have a more broad meaning basically synonymous to loan shark and I think that’s the context the localization means to use it in. There’s absolutely no indication of McGilded’s religious beliefs and even if there were, I highly doubt the localization would use that sort of slur. Still, it’s a very unfortunate choice of words and is sure to accidentally sour Van Zieks even more with some players.

With that, the last juror votes, the scale tips towards Guilty and Van Zieks assumes the trial to be over. He thanks the jurors for their work. Unfortunately, once Susato brings up the Summation Examination, Van Zieks gets very frustrated again. This happens:

IIII don’t know what to do with this line. On first glance, I didn’t think much of it and was even willing to consider it was a compliment. Then I thought it must’ve been passive aggressive somehow; that it’s the sort of thing he wouldn’t believe until he’d seen it with his own eyes. A friend directed me to the notion that it might be referencing a stereotype that ‘Eastern women are fierce’ because they were associated with, well, certain ‘paid services’. I don’t think I need to explain, I’m sure you understand what I mean. And if indeed that’s what Barok is insinuating, that’s a new low I never thought he’d reach. However, when you’ve finished the games and know that Barok was friends with a married Japanese man, it’s entirely possible that he’s remembering a story once told to him by Genshin Asogi. So this is either a bittersweet reminiscence or the most scumbag association he ever could’ve made, but I’m not sure we can ever prove which it is. Edit: As another option, it’s possible he’s referring to the Yamato Nadeshiko stereotype, if indeed it already held the ‘touch of iron’ aspect to it back in 1900. He proceeds to toast his hallowed chalice to “the enigmatic East” and to be honest, I’ve once again got nothing. All I know is that he once again drew attention to the defense’s race when he didn’t need to, so… Scumbag point. As a sidenote, in regards to the wine… I don’t count this as a humanizing trait. The same applies to the leg slam. These are animations meant to add some more lighthearted air and breathe more life into Van Zieks, so he doesn’t just stand there like a statue. They’re just quirks meant to have him stand out from other characters. So yeah, fun as the wine and leg slam animations are, they don’t count in the redemption requirements. Anyway, Van Zieks mocks the age of Susato’s book, saying that judging by its bindings it must be fifty years old. Considering the context of the conversation, this isn’t out of bounds. The defense is using ‘outdated’ information on the law, so he points that out. Any prosecutor would’ve done it like this. Simon Blackquill likely would’ve offered to shred that outdated tome to bits for Susato. Van Zieks does toss in a “Hmph, typical Nipponese” later though, which earns him one more scumbag point. Van Zieks continues to dismiss the Summation Examination, but the judge overrules him and allows it. Law is law, after all! And this is what I meant in my previous post when I said it’s satisfying to see Ryu use actual British law against Van Zieks. Ryu is using a perfectly legitimate technique to win the jurors over, and as Susato tells him, he can only do it by turning the jurors against one another with facts. He can’t appeal to them, he can only have them see sense. Which is difficult, because some jurors are more prejudiced than others:

… Yeah. Uh. Calling Ryu a “Dark Jinx” is pretty awful. Scumbag points for Juror No. 1! Meanwhile, Juror No. 4 keeps us updated on Barok’s actions throughout this trial:

Wow. Typical prosecutor behavior, though. Regardless, Ryu manages to win them all over in the end. With enough of the scales set back to not-guilty, the trial is allowed to continue, which leads to this:

Bye, hallowed chalice. A fun animation to keep things fresh and show us that the trial is about to take a turn. Once again, nothing new. We’ve seen prosecutors lose their patience before. What does interest me, though, is that Barok doesn’t direct physical frustration towards the defense. Remember: Franziska snaps a whip at Phoenix, Godot throws coffee at his head, Blackquill sends a hawk to attack the defense or uses that aijutsu slicing move, Nahyuta throws restricting beads… These were all direct physical attacks. Van Zieks, much like Edgeworth and Klavier, directs his frustration more inward and as a result he destroys his own property.

He succeeds in intimidating Ryu, though. Van Zieks explains that he kept silent, as is the norm during Examination Summation, but makes it clear that he considers it a charade all the same.

Van Zieks has been a pretty good gentleman towards the jury up until now, speaking to them politely despite that one remark about having their head in the clouds. Now that he’s seeing them ‘buy into Ryu’s stories’, as one might describe it, he’s getting frustrated with them. Maybe he’s even frustrated they’re choosing the defense’s side over his own.

He removes his cloak, entering what he says to be the next round of their ‘battle’. More typical prosecutor behavior, this. I’m not sure there’s an underlying thought to this, other than to indicate to the audience that ‘things have gotten serious’. When the next bit of testimony is going on, I noticed something odd. Both Fairplay and Furst testify to having seen blood on McGilded’s hands, to which Van Zieks says:

“... Reported that there was no trace of blood on Mr. McGilded’s gloved hands.” So in a way, by establishing this fact, he’s helping the defense and going against what the witnesses are saying. It doesn’t help the prosecution in any way at all.

The trial continues on, with Van Zieks uttering things like “My Nipponese friend” and “my learned friend from the East” and lord knows what else… I suppose to soften the harshness of the original wording a bit and make Van Zieks just a bit less dislikable? Edit: Tumblr user @beevean​ has pointed out that “my learned friend” is an actual term used in courts of law. There’s a tradition (also employed in British courts of law) that when addressing either the court or the judge, a barrister refers to the opposing counsel using the respectful term, "my learned friend". Of course, it can be said with an air of passive aggression and pretending to be respectful to the court while shamelessly disrespecting it is something Barok has always done, so the addition of “my learned friend” to the localization text is amazingly in-character. Then of course we have:

This is both a scumbag remark and foreshadowing. Naturally, those playing the game for the first time won’t recognize it as the latter and therefore take it as nothing more than a harsh blow. Things spiral even further out of control when he starts talking about how people who claim the island nations of the Far East have a learning and culture of their own use those terms ill-advisedly. He also uses the words “artless backwater” and really, this is the low point of the trial right here when it comes to prejudice. Van Zieks is just plain lashing out with these sort of jabs.

Eventually, McGilded is dragged onto the witness stand to testify about whether or not there was another passenger aboard the omnibus. McGilded admits that there was, and Van Zieks snaps at him some more for using convenient excuses. Ryu is forgotten here for a moment. The whole smoke bomb thing happens, Van Zieks confers with McGilded and Gina in his own chambers, then the trial resumes. McGilded testifies, then Gina testifies… The jury votes not-guilty, buying into McGilded’s story about protecting a poor young pickpocket and Van Zieks loses it. He slams his heel down on the bench, pointing out that this is why he doesn’t like the jury system; because emotions are ruling where evidence and facts ought to be paramount. He points out while the cubbyhole Gina had been hiding in was empty now, it had been full of the coachman’s belongings during the police investigation. Someone tampered with the omnibus. This is where things get interesting, because Van Zieks addresses Ryu:

He’s giving Ryu the benefit of the doubt here. He’s offering an option for Ryu to be truthful about this matter. And that’s curious, because any defense attorney would naturally say what’s best for his client- or so it’s assumed. It puts Ryu in a difficult position for sure, but for some reason Van Zieks put the question forward anyway. The game responds as follows:

For the sake of argument, I attempted all three options. So when Ryu says he didn’t look, Van Zieks says: “Hm… Perhaps I credited you with too much intelligence.”

So when feigning ignorance, Van Zieks is kind of a scumbag about it. He is correct in his expectation that any attorney worth his badge would thoroughly examine the details of the evidence, but he didn’t need to be such a jerk about it. Now, when outright lying and saying it was empty, Van Zieks instead says:

The lines are very similar, which is an interesting note. It adds a feel of these responses being 'rehearsed', in a way. Just a default for him to fall back to. But the real kicker comes when Ryu tells the truth and says it wasn’t empty. Van Zieks is actually speechless at first with no more than a “...!” Clearly, he wasn’t expecting Ryu to respond like this. Everyone in court is baffled, McGilded gets angry… Van Zieks is a bit rattled now.

“Your task is to defend the man in the stand. Why would you say something to compromise his position?”

So really, it seems as if Van Zieks had only ever offered the question to Ryu with pessimistic intentions. He too had assumed there was only one answer the defense could give and was prepared for just that with his silly little wine analogies, only to be shocked when Ryu defies his expectations. Ryu confesses that he’s not entirely sure on where he stands in the matter, to which Van Zieks replies with “... Interesting.” 

So now the jury members are doubting themselves again, with some offering guilty verdicts. Van Zieks decides to honor the ‘Scales of Justice’ once more now that they’re back in his favor, like the hypocrite he is. Gina testifies, Ryu points out an inconsistency, Van Zieks takes that opportunity to turn the tables back in his favor by implying Gina is a liar… He passive aggressively thanks Ryu for saving him considerable trouble and whatnot with some more “my learned Nipponese friend” remarks in there… Ryu turns the tables once more by insisting the victim came into the omnibus through the skylight, Van Zieks demands evidence and points out that furthermore, if indeed such a thing had happened, the witnesses on the roof would’ve seen it. McGilded hops into the conversation to imply that the witnesses themselves were the killers, which sends the court into a frenzy. Both Van Zieks and the judge shift the responsibility of the accusation towards Ryu, even though he never said a word to directly accuse the witnesses. Kind of a douchey move. Barok even states that Ryu’s ‘command of the English tongue must be wanting’, since

Yeahhh, that's pretty unfair. McGilded was the one who dropped that implication. However, since the judge basically accuses Ryu of the same thing, it’s a narrative choice to warn Ryu he needs to anticipate where his reasoning will lead him. Fairplay and Furst testify, pandemonium ensues. McGilded eventually gets what he wants when it’s revealed the skylight can open and there’s blood in there. Van Zieks once again turns his attention to McGilded:

He knows McGilded is at the root of all this tomfoolery and evidence manipulation. McGilded is the real enemy here, in Van Zieks’s eyes. The conversation shows this by having Van Zieks point out that he’s well aware of McGilded’s involvement in dubious matters and that evidence is often ‘adapted’ to suit this guy’s stories. And now, once again, he turns his attention to Ryu. Once again, he’s giving the defense the benefit of the doubt:

The game gives you the illusion of choice here. If you choose to say it’s ‘out of the question’ that the evidence was tampered with, Ryu will refuse to say it out loud. If you say it’s entirely possible, Ryu will admit to that.

This is probably baffling to Van Zieks. It would’ve been so easy for Ryu to insist the tampering couldn’t have happened, but he doesn’t. The game won’t even let him. No matter what you choose, Van Zieks is clued in on the fact that Ryu doesn’t condone the deceit that McGilded is resorting to. But it gets even better, because a short time later, we get:

Another option to either draw attention to forgery, or to feign ignorance. Once again, I chose both options for argument’s sake, but having Ryu say he has no idea doesn’t get us anywhere. Susato will instead object to say it for him. With “I have an inkling”, Ryu says it himself. Van Zieks once again confesses, in his own words, that he’s caught off guard.

Ryu clarifies that he thinks the blood stain inside the omnibus is decisive evidence, but he can’t say for certain whether it’s genuine. McGilded loses it and by this point, is outright branding Van Zieks an enemy. Since the player at this point doesn't know whether McGilded is guilty or not, it leaves Van Zieks in a bit of narrative limbo. One might think: 'if the prosecutor is so intent on taking down a murderer, shouldn't we be on his side? Is he perhaps not as bad as he seems?' Unfortunately, McGilded points out that recollection and memories don’t matter, only evidence does. And… Well.

Which means they can’t rule on a guilty verdict and will have to let McGilded go. Van Zieks admits that he has no more witnesses or evidence to present. He’s out of options. As a formality, the judge asks the defense’s closing statement and we get one last option. Do we believe him to be guilty or not-guilty? When claiming he’s innocent, Van Zieks says:

It seems he means “abject” in the sense of “without pride/respect/dignity for oneself”, which… You know, is fair. By this point it’s very clear that McGilded is guilty, and since Ryu has already admitted that the evidence may be forged, insisting otherwise is indeed pretty spineless. Scumbag points to Van Zieks for continuing to draw attention to the fact that Ryu is from Japan, though.

Let’s instead just admit that we can’t say for certain McGilded is innocent. Unfortunately, we don’t see Van Zieks react to this, which is a bummer because this could���ve been very telling. The judge questions Ryu’s sanity (no joke) and McGilded laughs because it doesn’t matter; it was just a formality anyway. The judge scolds Van Zieks, saying that his case was flawed and it was his job to keep the evidence secure. Instead of objecting, Van Zieks just outright takes the blame for this and apologizes. Very interesting reaction, here. He stops pointing the finger to McGilded, he doesn’t attempt to accuse anyone else… He just admits his performance was flawed. Ryu tries to interject here:

(A badly-timed screenshot if I’ve ever seen one.) Ryu is making an attempt here to defend Van Zieks, the guy who has built up like 20 scumbag points by now. Ryu sincerely doesn’t hold a grudge against him. That’s very interesting. It doesn’t matter, though. The judge won’t hear of it, Ryu thinks it’s unfair, Van Zieks warns McGilded that this isn’t over and then we get the not-guilty verdict.

Hurray??? Profit??? It’s a victory that’s bound to leave the player feeling conflicted and jarred.

But after all’s said and done, we get one last cutscene to establish just how ominous Van Zieks really is. The omnibus is on fire, someone is inside and we know McGilded went into the courtroom earlier to investigate the omnibus in question. So really, by putting two and two together we can already guess what’s going on here. Van Zieks approaches the scene and watches silently.

It’s a good reminder to us that every defendant he prosecutes is ‘damned’ and he’s called the Reaper for a reason. Really puts the finishing touch on the eerie undertones of his character.

All in all, a pretty typical first time against a new prosecutor. Now I just want to draw attention to the fact that the first time we face Van Zieks in court… he’s actually on the right side of the courtroom and Ryu is not. Van Zieks presumably specifically returned to the court after those five years to target McGilded, as he knows about this guy’s shady reputation when it comes to ‘adapting’ evidence. Barok is 'cursed' in such a way that every defendant he faces is damned. So long as he stands as the prosecutor, McGilded can’t get away with his crimes. No matter how much forgery is done, the Reaper will go after McGilded and it seems Van Zieks was banking on this happening.

He likely also expected Ryu to have been bought off by McGilded; to say whatever’s convenient for his case. Turns out, Ryu is actually a man of integrity who’s invested in the truth and near the end of the trial, Barok has seen evidence of this. So what will happen next? We’ll have to play The Clouded Kokoro and find out! Stay tuned!

[jjheejz]

Im sorry to crash the party this late(?) but on your fate saga post 3 you mention a the untamed saga, just what happened?? >>

Although this is a JunZhe account, this post is focused on Xiao Zhan and Wang Yi Bo for awhile. :)

//

Hello anon,

No you're not late :)

Before I get to it, have to admit that I've only witnessed this saga in bits and pieces so the information may not 100% depict the whole story/cause.

However, the general takeaway is that, Xiao Zhan (XZ) solo fans, Wang Yi Bo (WYB) solo fans and BoJunYiXiao (BJYX as short form, cpname) cpfans don't get along. The latter is seen as the lowest level. They are viewed as feeding on fantasies and unrealistic ideals because these 2 actors are definitely not together as a couple in real life. There is "no future". (Despite this, on weibo, BJYX is still on a competitive position with JunZhe in the cp chart till now, rotating between top 1 and 2 - tbh, I somewhat only understand that BJYX hardcore fans does the tedious fan chart votes or sth daily rather hardworkingly).

Today (10 August screenshot): No.1 - BJYX, No.2 - LLD. Bonus below, No.11 - JunZhe

Of course, internationally, we dont think being a cpfan is a problem. Sometimes we just like both actors interactions, doesnt matter if they are real or not, but in the Chinese (hardcore) solo fans fandom, to them it's somewhat on this kind of perspective:

1. These 2 are actors = bound to have competition with each other (brand endorsements, sales, roles, show appearances etc), therefore, in order to build their future career, many choose to side one of them rather than both (not sure of the rationale of siding one rather than both). So most cpfans end up diverting to become solo stans. It's a realistic, long-term kind of thing. Some just end up preferring one over another, and some as we all know exists - prefer one of them as their own ideal fantasy boyfriend (the chinese term is 梦女 meng nv - 'dreaming girl'). These are also apparent in Gong Jun and Zhang Zhe Han solo fans.

2. XZ's AO3 saga: In brief, basically this was an extremely huge issue in 2020 (referred to as "227" - the date of seriousness) and was blown up very badly because it innocently involved those who doesnt know XZ and WYB, to a bad end. AO3 is a famous fanfic site, even internationally, but because of a BJYX fanfic, a group of extremely toxic XZ fans blew it up to the point this site was banned in China. Frequent Chinese writers and readers used this site for all kinds of fanfics (drama, anime, general writing etc) had their works and account gone overnight, so this grew an immense emotionally intense hatred on onlookers/passerbys/unrelated to them AO3 users to XZ and his fans.

This technically had something to do with cpfans since the fic was written by one of them, so yea. Imagine the hatred Chinese AO3 users have on XZ. Even now, I still see people hating on him for it despite it being the toxic fans fault. And obviously that group of XZ extremely toxic fans ain't going to self-reflect but push the blame, and they emerged even more hardcore...This saga's magnitude is beyond how my words can express so feel free to look it up - 227. It was just a mega large hurricane.

So, if XZ and WYB are in the same frame/drama again, the media is going to go wild in their articles. Solo fans are going to create even bigger fanwars with each other and it's really damaging to XZ's reputation for onlookers and passer-bys. WYB as well.

//

In the novel and drama, WangXian is always a couple.

But in real life, the actors are only temporarily Wei Wu Xian, and Lan Zhan. The real them is Xiao Zhan, and Wang Yi Bo, of which BJYX is unlike JunZhe.

Note: If anyone has anything to add/amend please feel free to do so! As mentioned, I've only witnessed in bits and pieces but because the magnitude was so big, everyone more or less had an idea about it, just that what I mentioned may not be the full picture.

Bonus: Just last month - July 2021, BJYX toxic fans started a war with JunZhe/LLD (to know the scale, let's just say, it involved photoshopping on to funeral portraits). So this further grew hatred on both XZ and WYB as some of them were AO3 users/onlookers of the 227 incident. Both cpfandom became straight up enemies. 🤦‍♀️

To them XZ knew this 227 issue blew up but he had never made a public apology or addressed it at all [this is going to be another post if I were to state my stand on why - subjectively]. As a general fan of BJYX, was apparently suspected of being a spy and toxic fan of them, entering LLD to create war - simply by following BJYX. So they grew tight on security and because of that last month, was kicked out of 4 LLD groups (not entirely due to following BJYX but somewhat related). 🥲

Anyway, no matter what, BJYX, XZ and WYB is a sensitive topic on weibo. They go by initial references there: XZ, WYB and last month's war, XZ's toxic fan is referred as 🦐 (idk the reason).

BJYX saga is just a prevalent childish hardcore fan issue + non-fans but brainwash lurkers creating chaos and watching this all (they get paid well to do this). The good Chinese weibo fans are really nice but sometimes I feel it's some kind of underground love story for cpfans of both JunZhe and BJYX on weibo.

I believe XZ and WYB themselves are in good terms, just cut apart by their own fandom. No matter what, both actors are hard workers and are nice people, please continue to support them if you are a fan of them too ^-^

Hope you gain some generic insights :)

Bonus bonus images:

Post update record:

[Edited an error, pointed out by Farrowuk] - Thank you :)

[becomingbts]

Christmas always "weens"

Summary: Trained his whole life to take over Christmas and to prepare gifts for children whether human or not, Jimin embodies the Christmas spirit and could even be called Santa Claus if he really wanted to, even though he does dislike the idea of people thinking that he’s a big old man with a heavy white beard. He’s more into the charming and charismatic boyish image he has, overwhelming people with his sweet cotton candy smell wherever he goes. Yet, as sweet as he claims to be, he cannot help but endlessly tease the girl of the nightmares, who had been trained to become the Halloween spirit once she would start working at the celebration facility while he was fated to be her antagonist. A witch and a fairy... Not the best match of the year, but maybe they still have something more than just hatred going on.

Pairings: Y/N x Jimin, (hint of Yoongi x Hoseok)

~29k (lol have fun)

GENRE: Supernatural, Witch!Y/N and Fairy!Jimin, angst,fluff, romance, enemy to lover.

Warnings: language, high expectation and pressure from peer and family, mention of verbal and physical abuse, some hot kisses but nothing strong on that side.

NOTE: SO IT’S HERE LOL. It took soooo long to get it done, I’m so sorry; this was supposed to be my Christmas fanfiction loool. I can’t believe we’re already soon in April. My schedule was a disaster but this fanfiction was supposed to be only a 10k one shot so you can understand that something clearly went down haha. I really hope it was worth the wait, the start has been edited by the lovely @flurrys-creativity​ ! No smut in the end, I was too shy to do it, and I think I like the end as well. I might end up make a few drabbles about them and also maybe do a story with this AU! for every character? (Yes I’m dying to write the Yoongi and Hobi’s part, I’m not gonna lie lol)! Anyway! I hope you’ll enjoy it, please feedback is always warmly welcomed!! Love you lots.

-Dolly

It was definitely not (Y/N)'s first Christmas season since she had been working at the celebration facility, but she still couldn’t help the heavy sigh that left her mouth as she saw all the decorations hung in the cafeteria of the resort. To sum up her situation: it was way too much for her liking. Was the Christmas department trying to suffocate everyone in the complex with their ridiculous decorations? The common cafeteria had an ugly red tree with fake plastic gifts under it, golden garlands were stuck in every corner of the room and ridiculous Christmas songs could be heard from the speakers. Needless to say: her sour mood only worsened as she checked the date. 

1st December. 

Gosh, she could only hope that she would not come across the dumb face of- 

“Wednesday!” She wished she could miraculously un-hear this voice. It was just her luck, wasn’t it? He always showed up when she was wishing not to meet him. 

“Park, I swear you better stop with the name of that dumb human film because you’re not going to finish your season alive, understood?” 

Jimin grinned as he was met with (Y/N)'s frown. “Come on, grumps! Isn’t The Addams Family supposed to be something you enjoy? It’s a Halloween themed film!” He wiggled his eyebrows playfully while (Y/N) just rolled her eyes. His loud voice was bringing too much attention; she hated it. Truth be told, she had enjoyed the film. Though, being a witch, she didn’t watch a lot of human things. (Y/N) liked to stay in her comfort zone, surrounded by what she knew in the resort rather than to surround herself with humans or with human things, she was not one to be caught watching human series nor reading human books. Yet, she still did enjoy that film. 

Now, what she didn’t like was him; him, and his stupid fairy tricks, and since the film had been recommended by no other than Park Jimin, she had automatically decided that she had not liked it. 

It was a question of pride.

“Whatever you say, Park. Stop with this stupid nickname.” Jimin laughed loudly again, louder than she thought to be acceptable in a public space, thus, successfully attracting more curious eyes while other people just rolled theirs. Some younger recruits of the facility glanced at the weird scene they were beholding while older workers just sighed, already knowing what was to come. Most people at the resort exactly knew who Park Jimin and Min (F/N) were and they also knew an argument could easily rise if both were left alone together for a few minutes. Yet, some new curious eyes (probably new recruits) were still clueless about their dynamic; they would get acquainted with the two nuisances of the resort soon enough anyway. The Christmas- and Halloween vice-presidents (position also known under the name of ‘representative spirit’), respectively Jimin and (Y/N), were known to bicker all the time. Ever since they had joined the celebration venue and started working there five years ago, they had been unable to prevent themselves from throwing insults at each other. The worst thing was that they were often seen together, paths crossing in the corridors, at the cafeteria, and in basically all common areas of the facility. Their relationship was still a mystery to most people: why did they hate each other so much? No one had so much animosity toward someone else here; Jimin and (Y/N) were the only 'rivals'-if we could call them that way-who seemed to despise each other. One thing that never changed in the middle of this chaos was that every soul working and living in the resort enjoyed the celebration they embodied; from New Year to Valentine’s Day, everyone working here was peacefully enjoying their life: whether they were elves, pixies, or any other non-human being. (Y/N) loved Halloween just like Jimin loved Christmas. Both were working for their favorite celebration and wouldn’t trade their job for anything. Everyone happily worked for their celebration in their own department, preparing their festivities, making sure to deliver a beautiful time for everyone (also for humans, to a lot of the creature's dismay, but that’s another story to be told). 

And to be honest, Jimin fit the place quite nicely. He had this charm about him, always doing his best to be seen as a sweet fairy. He thus quickly became loved by his peers and basically everyone in the venue. Jimin had gotten everyone whipped for him, enchanted by him, so much that sometimes (Y/N) wondered if he wasn’t an actual witch who got everyone under a weird charm spell. Though, if not one recalled it, he could clearly remember that when he had entered the resort for the first time, he had been a shy boy, overwhelmed by all the colors of his district. It had been hard and stressful to finally get a ticket and enter the complex after the years he had spent studying for this job, but it had definitely been worth it. 

The resort was one of the most famous places in the non-human world, renowned for its uniqueness: it was indeed the only working site to run the celebrations among the non-human world. Each celebration came from this very place. From Halloween to Valentine’s, creatures were scouted and chosen to be part of those very selective teams, each entering one of the famous departments. Many schools were even built to prepare recruits for the resort, but only the final test could determine if one could finally enter the impressive facility. 

Once you were in, you did not have room for disappointment. You had been chosen; you should be able to honor the people who chose you and work with everything you had for your department. School had been long and annoying for Jimin, but once he got out with his diploma and a saved seat for the resort he had been looking forward to ever since he was young, he had felt like all those hard years had finally paid off. His dreams were coming true and he was finally able to work as a Christmas spirit. His ultimate goal had been to be chosen as a representative. It didn't seem like a big deal if you didn't know how the resort worked, but it was like being the vice president with all the fieldwork to do instead of the administration. Representatives were the inner-faces of their celebration. If the President usually handled the administrative papers and different interviews, representatives had to manage every section of their district, making sure everything was running smoothly. They had to help their co-workers when an issue arose, they presided over meetings and often managed the whole planning of the event. The rest of the paperwork (material shipment, bills, etc) was left to the President who had the final word over every decision. 

To Jimin’s amazement, he surprisingly got picked as a representative by his co-workers only 3 years after he arrived, 2 years ago, mainly working with the promotion team but mingling everywhere when help was required. He had been elated to be nominated for such a high statute so quickly. He, therefore, tried his best to help as much as he could so that he wouldn’t disappoint anyone. His top priority was to get everything ready for the celebrations so that humans and all other beings would be able to have a great time during the festivities. He worked hard to keep his representative status: it was his pride and everything he had been working for. His ego probably did not need such a boost but Jimin had never been happier and he boasted about it every time he got the opportunity. However, with his carrying personality and efficiency, no one had been able to resent him about it (except (Y/N)); people often called him ‘Angel’ and he was used by now to playfully answer that he disliked being wrongly classified; he was no angel, only a truly proud fairy. He was a very cheeky but sweet fairy, brightening everyone’s day; well everyone, but one. 

To be fair, he had mostly tried to get under (Y/N)’s skin because of a misunderstanding. He had indeed never met a witch before her and the first time they met, let’s just say that he did not make the best first impression. 

At first, he had indeed thought that she was human and he had genuinely been confused. How could a human enter the resort? Normally, humans should not be able to see places surrounded by magic like the resort was nor did they see beings like him; they had no way to interact with their world, so maybe she couldn’t see anyone? It would explain why she looked so lost. She had probably come here without seeing anything or knowing what it was. It had still surprised him that she had been able to enter. The resort should have pushed her human presence by itself, making it impossible for her to see nor to enter it. Maybe the barrier had not worked and she had been able to slide in? Jimin had wondered what she was discerning: an abandoned manor? A creepy house that she had been dared to get in? He had laughed cheekily, happy to play a little trick on a sweet looking human; he had unfolded his golden wings to create a sudden air stream to surprise her. Yet, being a little bit too excited, he had forgotten to control the strength of his wings and the air stream that had followed had been slightly (meaning: extremely) stronger than what he had first intended to, which made the flared skirt of the young girl flying in the air. For his defense, he had not meant for her skirt to fly like that, he had merely wanted to creep her out with some fresh air, enough to make her run away. 

Needless to say; both Jimin and the young girl had been extremely embarrassed, and mostly her who had shrieked in panic. She had quickly turned over and her eyes had instantly met Jimin’s confused one. First, he had been blushing hard because of the sight he had gotten greeted with, and second, he had sharply frozen, feeling like the sudden eye contact did not seem like a coincidence. She had seemed to be looking at him, which was technically impossible for a human, but something was wrong. It had been almost like she could actually see him-

“Who do you think you are, you stupid fairy!” She had yelled in the corridor, tears brimming her eyes as she had tried to control her quick breath. If he could have heard her thoughts, he would have heard a ‘don’t panic’ repeated over and over.

“Y-You can see me?” He had dumbly asked, stuttering nervously. 

She had just called him a fairy, did it mean that she knew what he was? Did it mean that she wasn't human either? But before she could even reply, Jimin had seen and recognized the president of the Halloween department entering the corridor. She had been impossible to miss as the atmosphere of the room had shifted with her only presence in an instant. The presidents of the different celebrations were renown people. They often made the covers of some magazines, interviews and other type of content that they had to make. It was often some pictures, then saying how proud they were to have been reelected… Nothing really important but their faces were everywhere, it had even been enough for Jimin to recognize any of them in an instant, and especially the creepy Halloween president. Jimin had never met a witch before but he had heard that witches were frightening and Jimin’s mother had always told him to get away as soon as he could if he ever met one. Witches were good at one thing: using fairies’ glitters for their own profit. However, the president of the Halloween department’s entrance had frozen him. She was definitely someone he’d prefer to avoid forever if he could, but being so close to her, he could only pray for his safety. One of her hands had yet fallen on the young girl's shoulder who had tensed under the contact. Jimin had gulped, noticing the way the hand of the president had not just laid on her shoulder but had rather harshly gripped her, urging her to start walking again if she didn’t want for her shoulder to be crushed in her hands. The sight alone had made Jimin shiver and he had wordlessly prayed for the old witch to ignore him. He was just a ridiculous fairy, no one worthy of her attention… Right? 

“Let’s go (Y/N). You wouldn’t want to disappoint me already, would you, dear?” 

Jimin’s face had lost its pretty glow as he had realized that he had brought big and terrifying troubles for the girl he had wanted to spook jokingly. A shudder had traveled his spine even if neither the older witch nor the young girl he had just humiliated had looked back at him. Nevertheless, the uneasy features of the girl had left him with a sour taste of guilt for what he had done. He had hoped that nothing bad would happen to her but he had not seen her for a whole month after their first encounter. 

In between he had had the time to make some friends and create a little group of his own, yet, he had never quite forgotten the strange meeting with this girl named (Y/N). He had desperately wanted to apologize but as he had not been able to see her again, it had left him considerably discouraged. 5 weeks after what had happened, he had finally gotten a glimpse of the young girl again. She had been sitting in the cafeteria and before he could lose her, he had run-up to her table and had sat quickly before she could complain. But his smile had quickly fallen as his sparkly eyes had met her dull ones. It had felt like life had been taken away from her; and before he could share his worry and apology, she had already gotten up, gawking at him with a nasty glare.

“Don’t you dare come close to me. Stay far away from me.” Her voice had been cold and for a second, Jimin had even flinched. He had never meant to get on her bad side so early but he had apparently messed up enough for her to already be his enemy. But after she had left, everyone had surrounded him to comfort him and the whole thing had not set well with him. Why were they all worried about him and not her? It had made no sense at first; but then a guy called Taehyung told him that she was the daughter of the president of the Halloween department and the original guilt he had felt only worsened. Maybe for the other workers it meant that she would always be out of trouble, that she would probably be someone to avoid if they didn’t want troubles. However, from what he had seen the day they met, he wouldn’t openly comment on their prejudice, but she was probably far from ‘out of trouble’. He couldn’t really find a way to explain that to the people who had not witnessed what he did, but what he had seen had been enough for him to understand that a lot weighed on her shoulders, daughter of the President or not. Moreover, Jimin had feared that telling people what he saw would only bother her more than he had already done, so he had decided to stay quiet about it, keeping his mouth shut about this uncanny encounter. 

Hence instead of trying to take her defense in front of people whose opinion about her seemed set, he had decided to try to confront her again, but it always ended the same way until he stopped trying to apologize and ultimately just came to annoy her, which led them to their current relationship: arguments ending with anger, frustration, and/or dramatic chuckles. Jimin would have preferred to apologize at some point, sure, but she never gave him the benefit of the doubt so he had accepted his fate and went on with their weird dynamic anyway. 

“Besides, it’s finally my month and I’m going to work so much you won’t be able to see my pretty face. How much of a shame is that?” Witnessing him batting his eyelashes, she rolled her eyes annoyed. 

“I can’t wait for you to disappear. Aren’t you too busy to pick a fight? You shouldn’t be here at such a late hour.” She snickered as he looked at the time, panic settling in his eyes. 

“I’ll be back for you soon, Wednesday, try not to swallow too much happiness in the meanwhile or you might lose your dark aura!” He laughed as he ran away, proud of his joke that only he found funny. 

She sighed again, drained of any bit of energy she had mustered before she had left her bed this morning. She already used to hate Christmas as a child, but growing up had only worsened her distaste for the celebration. Jimin being its entire embodiment, her antipathy toward him was no surprise to her. He was insufferable. 

5 years that she had been bearing with his constant disrespect and annoying ass. (Y/N) had graduated from her formation school 5 years ago, starting an active life in the celebration field as soon as she was out of "hell" as she had liked to call it. It wasn’t like she had a choice. Her whole family was famous for their Halloween celebrations, spooky gifts making, and even sordid choral. Her mom being the president of the Halloween district, her whole future had been planned before she was even born. Sometimes she wished that it was different, but then she saw the different celebrations and she found herself glad that she did not have to see a couple kissing everywhere during hers at least. 

Halloween was nice: simple and always loved by a lot of people.

Hence, it was her fifth year in the resort, the second one being a Halloween representative and this second Halloween season as a representative had been particularly hectic. She had almost been relieved once it had ended, yet it also meant that Christmas was to come as well. It was a shame for Christmas to be so, oh so close to her favorite moment of the year. Once Halloween was done, everyone suddenly started looking forward to Christmas and she snorted at the thought. What was so nice about it anyway? Gift making? You could do that for anniversaries. Dinners with the family? It was Thanks Giving’s biggest task already. The only things that were tied to Christmas, and Christmas only, were those ugly Christmas trees, and (Y/N) found herself thinking that this tradition seemed to be ironically more fitting for the Halloween spirit than the Christmas one: killing a tree to morbidly display it in a house as if it were a trophy? Quite frightening in her honest opinion. It totally could have been a Halloween tradition had Christmas not made a big deal out of it. 

So to say that she hated Jimin mostly because of their first encounter and because he was the Christmas representative would be quite correct. She didn’t feel like she owed anyone another explanation to hate him; it was quite simple actually. Moreover, she never felt like he ever tried to be nice to her. Ever since they entered the resort the same year, it was like he was spending his time finding new ways to annoy her every day. She tried her best to come up with even more irritating ideas, but she always felt short, not wanting to give up her precious time to him. He didn’t deserve for her to waste her valuable time on ridiculous things like that. Besides, Halloween preparations and meetings for the next year were already on their way. She had other things to think about with the innuendo of the president made earlier in the week still resonating in her mind. 

“Maybe our representative isn’t efficient enough. It would be wise to rethink that choice. I had voted against when we chose the new representative two years ago and last year too, anyway.” 

Her mom just knew how to hurt, didn’t she? Ever since (Y/N) had been chosen as the representative two years ago, her relationship with her mother became hell. Not that it was good before, but it wasn't that bad at least. (Y/N) honestly dreaded the next meeting, but as the current representative, it wasn’t like she had a choice. She was the one who was supposed to preside over the meetings, opening and closing them. It did nothing to help her already sour mood, but at the very least, Yoongi finally joined her for breakfast and she was almost happy to see a familiar face.

“So, you’re ready to be kicked out by the president?” He asked grinning while (Y/N) just sighed. Being part of the Halloween district as well, Yoongi knew just like her what was at stake for that meeting. 

“Please I beg you, remain quiet if it’s the only thing you have to say.” Yoongi chuckled. She made sure to whisper to avoid people from listening to her. She knew how fast gossip went here.

“Ah, I’m deeply sorry, but it does feel like the only thing you enjoy is going to be taken away from you.” He smiled quietly, knowing the truth of his words. To be honest, both knew it. They both knew that she was probably going to be replaced at the end of the next meeting, but she didn’t want to believe it for now. As long as it still had not happened, she would consider it as just being a rumor. Nothing more, nothing less. She had worked so hard, so, so hard despite what everyone said; she had no allies to get there. People from the resort thought that she had been appointed because she was the daughter of the president while the president kept on criticizing her about her work being insufficient and not good enough in front of the whole department, discrediting her as the representative. 

No one was pleased with her work. Everyone double guessed all her decisions because of her mom, even when she was supposed to be the representative for God’s sake! All of them were supposed to listen to her, but no! No, instead, everyone did whatever the fuck they wanted just because they didn’t want to trust her, and they instead went with the second propositions-always oh so much better according to her mother-which always fucked up with the rest of the schedule since everything clashed together as people were following several ideas. 

(Y/N) always had to fix everything up by herself as the good representative she was and the president always took great delight in seeing her struggling and adding a mocking comment, blaming everything on her. Once everything was done, they all celebrated with each other, never mentioning all the work (Y/N) had to fix for everyone. It was apparently easier to blame everything on her and congratulate each other than to acknowledge that she had been right from the very beginning and that they should have just followed her directions. Honestly, she had entertained the thought of quitting the representative position. But her mother was waiting for her to give up. (Y/N) knew it. She was waiting for her to break down to prove to her once again that (Y/N) would never be enough to rival her (not that she wanted to but for some reason, her mother seemed to think otherwise). 

“It’s frustrating. I still love it in a way. Even though I have it hard, and it’s definitely not the most peaceful job, I kind of love it though. But at the same time, I’m so tired to have to stand my ground every single day for people to keep on questioning my legitimacy for the job.” She sighed again, tired. She was honestly so tired. 

Thank god Yoongi knew what she meant because he had been in her shoes 10 years ago. Yet, he had always refused to be associated with the president as a family member, merely acknowledging the fact that they were indeed blood-related. It was funny how many people didn’t know that Yoongi was actually (Y/N)’s brother. Many old workers could probably remember the time when the president was on his back to work harder and not to disappoint the family. But once she had realized that he was a lost cause and would never give more than he wanted to, the expectations had shifted to the youngest one of the family in five years. Yoongi had honestly felt hopeless once he had understood why they had finally left him alone. They had not understood, had they? Their destructive way of pushing them to the top had to stop, and he thought he had made it clear that it would never work. 

No, instead, they had chosen to act as if he had never existed, (Y/N) suddenly becoming an only child, bearing all the resentment of a previous one who shall never be named. 

He had been angry. Angry at his mother, angry at the rest of the family who closed their eyes on all issues as long as it did not stain their reputations, angry at (Y/N) for telling him that it was okay, that she would do whatever their mom wanted her to so that they would finally leave him alone. It did never sit well with him. He had been slightly comforted when she had one day told him that she didn’t dislike it as much as she had thought she would, that she almost liked it, but it did not take back all the shit she endured just for him. 

It was honestly more than just for him. (Y/N) had a lot to prove to her mother, and her stubbornness wouldn’t allow her to give up. Hence, she had always assured Yoongi it was okay. She didn’t mind taking his place if it meant peace for him and a way to prove herself. 

Yet, Yoongi mainly saw the damage that he had done, and he couldn’t help but feel guilty. She had always sworn to him that it was okay, so he pretended it was. But on his side, he made sure people never crossed the line when talking about her, he always made sure to bring her favorite cake once celebrations were done, he always made sure to tell her she did a good job, to give her a short hug, silently telling her that he was here and proud of her. Honestly, he would have given up by now had he been in her position. But she never did, obstinately going against the odd and not caring about what people could say. He was so proud of her, and he would remind her as much as she would need to hear it. And she couldn’t be more grateful. Her brother was the one who helped her go on. 

“Ready?” He asked quietly, leaving the table. The meeting was supposed to start in 10 minutes, they would be early if they left right now, but he knew it would ease her nerves a little bit. Walking always brought some peace for her. 

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” 

It had been such a long day for Jimin. 

He had honestly thought for a brief moment that he couldn’t do it. He needed a break. People were constantly on his back, calling his name whenever something didn’t work, and at some point, he might as well just blow up on everyone because he needed three Jimins to handle everyone. It was starting to feel frustrating; they didn’t need to call him when they weren’t sure about tag names for packets, they could always ask someone else as well. They didn’t need to call him when they had a power cut, it was not his job and he even had a strict restriction; forbidden from going close to the generators (just like everyone did actually, only the engineers were authorized to work on that). They didn’t need to call him when there was no more paper in the printers, they knew where the paper was stocked and could get it by themselves. In a few words: Jimin was tired of being called for nothing and thus becoming late for actual emergencies. 

He managed because he always did. It was one of his numerous talents and mostly the one that got him the representative position. He always found a way to fix what was wrong but he was god damn tired. Couldn’t they think by themselves instead of leaving it all to him? There was no room for complacency. They had a tight schedule and couldn’t afford to take too much time on simple issues. He had calculated everything and made a precise plan, everyone just had to follow it. He was grateful to be trusted to the point that if someone had a problem, they’d go to him first. However, he couldn’t afford to lose so much time on issues that could have been solved without his help. 

His day was still not done even though every worker was leaving for the cafeteria. He still had some checkups to do, and if he noticed anything wrong, he would probably work on it until he was satisfied. Jimin was extremely picky when it came to Christmas. His favorite season only deserved the very best after all. He was about to head to his last destination, the gifs room, before he heard two voices in a corridor nearby. 

“It was a mess apparently.” The voice was recognizable between hundred and Jimin could already tell it was Taehyung from the candy section. He was one of the directors of their district, smoothly running the sweets even though he had been testing Jimin’s nerves recently. Nothing too serious, both were close friends after all. But still enough for Jimin to wonder what he was doing here after the thrown tantrum about chocolate lollipops earlier in the day. 

“Do you think they really kicked her out?” Ah. Jimin knew that voice too. Jungkook, from the engineering team. Had something happened in one of their rooms? Jungkook only came when something needed to be fixed and it was usually Jimin who called for him. Had Taehyung finally decided to make a decision by himself and had called accurate help for an encountered quandary? Instead of just calling Jimin? God, he could probably cry of relief if it was the case. 

“It seems like it, I mean, that’s what Joonie-hyung told me. I never thought for it to be possible but the Halloween district seems to be sterner than rumored after all.” The Halloween district? What could they be talking about? 

“It’s surprising, indeed. Wasn’t their representative the daughter of the president? I thought everyone said she got the job because her mom was the boss, but now everyone is saying that the president was the most adamant to get her out. Weird as fuck.” 

Wait, what? (Y/N) got kicked out? 

“It might be just a rumor as well. You know how anything can get blown out of proportion here.” That was true, but it did nothing to tame Jimin’s questions down. What had happened? Had (Y/N) been removed from her position? Jimin wasn’t a big fan of the Halloween celebrations per-se, but he had to admit that everything was always pretty neat and always unfolded without an itch. So what could have been blamed on her? He wasn’t in the internal team, so maybe there were things that no one except the Halloween department knew of. However, it still seemed weird. (Y/N) loved Halloween, there was no way she would have tried to intentionally fuck something up, and knowing how much of a perfectionist she was, it was also impossible for her to do a mistake or let something wrong happen. But then, what happened? 

It wasn’t like Jimin could randomly go to her and straight-up ask her what happened. She would probably tell him to fuck off. Maybe if he annoyed her enough she would let slip what happened? It would get her mad for sure, but it was the only way to know the truth here. Jimin considered asking someone that could be considered as close to her, yet she also wasn’t talking to a lot of people. He sometimes saw her eating with another boy from the Halloween section-was his name Min Yoongi?- but that was it and it was rather unlikely for the said boy to have any information he’d give freely to a Christmas spirit and especially to Jimin, (Y/N)'s nemesis. Not that it was a common rivalry or whatever, though, for some reasons, a lot of Halloween spirits seemed to hate Christmas ones and vice versa. Hence, Jimin doubted that this Yoongi boy might be willing to help. 

He had to find a way to satisfy his curiosity though.

(Y/N) had been looking for something to eat for the past few minutes, and she was still hesitating between cooking some noodles or just taking some fruits before leaving as quickly as she could.

Did she come late just to avoid everyone because Yoongi told her that they all were speaking about her being demoted from the representative position? 

Yes. That was exactly what she was doing. 

It wasn’t like she couldn’t just glare at everyone and eat in peace, she totally could. However, she did not have the motivation to do that at that moment. She was tired, disappointed, ashamed, and frustrated. So many emotions were mixed together; she almost felt like throwing up. She had been strong for so long, never told anyone how tired she really was; Yoongi probably knew even if she never told him anything. But it always felt like she was running away from something she couldn’t clearly see but could clearly feel. Yoongi had tried to smile at her back then in the middle of this suffocating room, but it only came very sorrowfully, only reminding her how lonely both of them were. 

Alone facing their mother; that was what they were. 

The simple recollection of all of these eyes on her; she could see this surreal scene over and over in her mind with all those votes to demote her, making her sick all over again. Only Yoongi had not raised his hand. 

Only Yoongi. 

She wanted to throw up again, her hand automatically flying to cover her mouth just in case. Had she fucked up that much? How was it possible that no one noticed all the work she had done? Did they just... Not want to see it? No, something had seemed weird; some people had kept their heads down as if trying to escape her eyes. (Y/N) had wondered if something had happened being her back and after some thought, she wouldn’t be that surprised if she came to hear from others that her mother had something to do with those results. By that, she wasn’t speaking about the constant verbal abuse she suffered from every single day, always putting (Y/N)’s authority as a representative into question. No, by that, she rather meant that she could distinctly imagine her mother threatening everyone's job to mess with the outcome of the votes. It was easy and she had the power after all; she could fire anyone of the department from the facility. Knowing how hard it was to get in, no one would risk their precious position for a representative they have no affinity with. (Y/N) knew that some would have probably voted for her demotion anyway, but the single voice of Yoongi not being against her demotion still raised her suspicions. Their mother had thrown him a nasty glare, and he had just smiled cheekily, happy to piss her off as much as he could. His eyes had then landed on (Y/N) but for some reason, even the usually comforting dark orbs were stressing her out more than they should have. The loneliness was heavy to bear with sometimes. 

Or maybe, and just maybe, they just hated her and had indeed voted for her demotion willingly. 

Both options were honestly possible in her opinion. (Y/N) actually wouldn’t be that shocked to realize that everyone had willingly voted her out, even without the intervention of her mother. She had noticed that people had never really liked her. She was the daughter of the president; hence, a threat. If they managed to kick her out of the representative position, it would be easier to get the job now that the competition was not blood-related. Nevertheless, she wanted to chuckle a little bit at how ridiculous it all sounded. After all, both Yoongi and her knew how wrong that was. Blood was merely a hindrance to their mother, yet she’ll keep it to herself. She never really understood why her mother always expected her to be perfect, yet, once she did something good, it felt like her mother tried everything to ruin it. It never made sense for her, but apparently, it sure did for her mother. Though a voice brought her back to reality and she was hoping to be mistaken about the owner of this voice.

“Waiting for me Wednesday?” Oh no, she was definitely not dealing with him and this stupid nickname right now. She had to find an escape, and quickly. If there was anyone who would bluntly rub her defeat in her face, it would be him. And she didn’t really have the patience to deal with him. 

“About to leave actually, ‘night Santa.” She tried her best to dish him promptly, but he blocked her way out. She clicked her tongue, annoyed, yet he barely moved. What was his problem today? Why was he here that late anyway?

“Where do you think you are running like that exactly?” She raised an eyebrow at that, incredulously looking at him. Didn’t she just tell him she was leaving? 

“To my district so that I can have my beauty sleep, now move, Park.” He smirked as she talked; it made her feel anxious. He probably already knew what had happened just like everyone else did, and considering his wicked expression, he was about to use it against her. 

“You sure? Wouldn’t that be to avoid me from knowing that I finally won over you? Christmas representative Jimin 1 - Wednesday 0.” She mentally shrank slightly at that, she knew it was coming but it still felt low from him. Their bickering had never been welcomed but most of the time, it wasn’t mean per se. Her best attack against his stupidity had always been sarcasm and irony, but she didn’t feel like she would be able to do that now, exhaustion taking over her mind for a while. She was so tired to always have to put a front to survive. It wasn’t like she had wanted to be born in this family but it seemed like it only brought her enemy (except for Yoongi). She had always stood tall and she knew that she had to try for a bit longer even though she was wishing for the comfort of her bed; she’d try her best because there was no way she’d give in so easily to him. Anyone but him. 

“Pretty sure you got mixed up, Park. Now fuck off and let me go to sleep.” She was tired and she honestly didn’t want to entertain him. It was about time for him to grow up and stop picking useless fights with her. 

“Come on Wednesday, pretty sure you were the talk of the resort tonight. Not that you haven’t been before.” Why was he trying so hard to piss her off? 

“Do I look like I care?” Her voice came harsher than she had intended to and he almost looked startled but she honestly couldn’t care any less. She wanted to hide, couldn’t he just let it go for once? 

“Come on, tell me what happened. Don’t you want to rant to someone at least?” Her eyes were surprisingly met with something that looked like honesty and kindness. It brought her walls down for a short moment. Did he mean that or was he just fucking with her again? God, why was she even thinking about it? He was probably messing around with her. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing how ashamed she felt. She still could remember that one time when she had actually trusted him. 

Spoiler: it had not ended well for her. 

“So that you can use it against me afterward like that back then when I trusted you? Thanks, I’ll pass the opportunity.” He huffed, hurt flashing in his eyes. She could have imagined it though because he was already smirking again. She wouldn’t be fooled anyway. (Y/N) exactly knew who he was and what he was capable of doing just to humiliate her. It had already happened 2 years ago, and she wouldn’t let him have the upper hand ever again. He had fooled her so easily; she had felt so stupid to have believed in him, to have believed that kindness could be something he actually knew. He had been terribly convincing that day. She had felt so off, had tried to hide it as much as she could, but he had seen right through her, coming to her ‘rescue’. She hadn’t meant for him to see, to be honest. (Y/N) had been feeling like she was about to throw up, with a terrible headache lurking in the back of her head. The loud noises had made her dizzy and she had felt like she might just faint in front of everyone. It had been a weird feeling: witches did not get sick easily. It often meant that something was wrong with their magic. But (Y/N) had never been one to fall sick or to lose control over her powers.

Hence, the constant want to throw up and dizziness had been quite unexpected, and even if she had tried to put a front for the whole day, it had probably been obvious that she hadn’t been feeling her best that day. It had indeed seemed like Jimin had caught her uneasiness quickly and he had decided to shield her from other people's unsettling glances. He had simply taken her hand, had avoided every crowded corridor, kept her behind him before finding a peaceful place for her to rest. (Y/N) had been confused and had rather reluctantly accepted for him to accompany her to the toilet, but he had wordlessly made sure she could drink some water and breath a little. It had been really, really weird. After three years of avoiding him and trying her best to never let him get under her skin every time they had talked to each other, here he was, keeping her hair up for her to throw up, rubbing a comforting hand on her back. He had stayed silent, offering her a helping hand while making sure she wouldn't get cold as he had put his warm jacket on her shoulders. She had been so thankful for his help, even sending him a small smile once they had separated.

From the corner of her eyes, she had seen him waiting for her to get into her room as if making sure she had been okay after everything. That night, she had thought that maybe, just maybe, Park Jimin was not as terrible as she had always believed him to be. Maybe there had been misunderstandings that she had not imagined. It had not been like she had given him the benefit of the doubt. Never once had she tried to see the situations from his side, so maybe, and just maybe, even if he was an annoying brat, Jimin was more than what he let her see. 

However, she had been quickly called back to reality the next day when Yoongi had looked at her and had quickly made a sign for her not to come inside the cafeteria. (Y/N) had raised an eyebrow but had complied anyway, waiting for him to join her. Turned out Jimin had told everyone what happened, making fun of her for her weakness, and had been boasting to be the one who had slipped something in her drink to make sure she wouldn’t sleep for the next few nights. Everyone had been laughing like crazy and even later during that day, she had met sardonic smiles and knowing eyes as if she had been the clown of the facility. She had felt particularly humiliated; if that had been Jimin’s goal, he had perfectly succeeded. Yoongi had asked her if she wanted for him to do something about it. Maybe he could scare that asshole enough for him to leave her alone. It had, according to him, gone slightly too far for him to close his eyes. Yoongi usually stayed out of her business, but her defeated expressions had been the last straw. She had yet declined, telling him not to do anything rash. However, she made a mental note to never trust Park Jimin ever again, and she’d stick to her words. 

“I’m hurt. You won’t tell me? I’ll thus assume that it’s also a win for me again. Must have been hard to get kicked out by mommy. I’d say it’s a solid Christmas representative Park Jimin 2 - Wednesday 0. Should we also count the fact that you have no one to rant to because everyone hates you?” His smirk was now gone, a blank expression was resting on his face but she didn’t pay attention to his facial expression anymore as anger filled her slowly. Couldn’t he let it go? Why was he so determined in being mean? 

“You don’t know when to stop do you?” She asked, growing angrier as she noticed his wicked grin. Everything was a joke to him, even when he said that he was serious, he never was. It angered her to no point. 

“Your reactions are amazing, why would I stop when it’s starting to be fun?” He chuckled but she barely heard it as her annoyance and the oppression of the whole situation made her want to throw up again. “So come on, what happened? You were a bad girl and didn’t get a present? Oh wait no, it’s a Christmas thing, you probably don’t know what the words ‘present’ and ‘kindness’ mean. But something must have happened, didn’t it?” He grinned, but his expression fell slightly as he noticed (Y/N)’s empty eyes. Had he gone too far? His own anger had been triggered but maybe he shouldn’t have reacted that way. 

“It’s not something you’d ever understand, Jimin.” He chuckled at her lack of enthusiasm. Scratch that guilt he felt in the pit of his stomach; she was despicable when she wanted to, always speaking as if she was superior or some shit, he hated that haughty tone she sometimes had. 

“Well for sure, it can’t be funny to be you: grumpy and annoying but also hated and alone. Again a win for me! Maybe I should actually ask for a trophy of something!” 

“Sure go ahead, Park. How does it feel to be the winner for the very first time since you entered the resort? Isn't it tiring to always have to try to outdo me just to feel better about your pitiful self?” That stroke a nerve, she saw in his eyes but she refused to care about it, not for someone like him. What was he expecting when he was being a jerk anyway? For her to start crying or something? She was just so tired, she wanted to sleep. He wanted to be mean? Fine, she’d do the same. If it meant he’d leave her alone, she’d do anything. 

“Fuck off (L/N). I won’t be nice and let you say whatever you want just because you’re the daughter of the Halloween department.” It seemed like his ton changed, (Y/N) felt it but again, devil may care. It wasn’t like he did have it coming. She scoffed at his ‘I won’t be nice’. He had never been nice with her, to begin with, so it wouldn’t make that much of a difference anyway. 

“Stop trying so hard to rill me up just to see my reactions and maybe I’ll be nicer. I asked you to move away, just comply and let me leave. Had you let me go, I would have been out of sight already.” Had he just moved away, she would have been gone already. Why did he have to be pestering her in her worst moment? 

“Had a bad day? Ashamed that the team kicked you out? No one is surprised, you know? Everyone hates you, it’s not like anyone would have stood up for a fool like you.” Now he was looking for what would hurt the most; she just had to try to not let it get at her. 

“You’re unable to understand my language or what? I told you to fuck off and to let me leave.” His words would have barely made her wince normally, yet at that moment she knew it was not meant jokingly and she still had in mind the votes that happened during the meeting. His words were hitting a little bit too harshly. She didn’t know what she hated the most between him meaning it or knowing that what he said was true. Probably both. 

“Yeah, I’d better do that before you start throwing a tantrum, right?” He dared to smirk and she just shoved him aside, pushing him as strongly as she could. He almost fell backward, surprised by her sudden action. She tried to hide her face as well as she could because she feared that she wouldn’t be able to trust herself to keep her tears at bay for much longer. 

“I said fuck off.” She tried her best to keep her chin up, not letting her tears fall because he did not deserve any of them. She was mostly frustrated more than angry at him in particular. Or was she? He was probably right away, so why should she be mad at him for that? Or maybe it hurt because it came from him-

She needed to sleep.

Jimin had messed up. 

He had never meant to get that hurt as he got greeted with her walls when he mentioned what happened, but he did. He got angry because he knew exactly what she meant when she told him that he wouldn’t fool her twice. He knew what she was referring to and it had felt so unfair for him who took all the blame while he had actually done nothing wrong. He had really wanted to help her that day, but then rumors came that he had been the one slipping something in her drink and he never denied them; he even did quite the opposite, yet, he never got the opportunity to come clean and to say that it wasn’t him because even his closest friends had praised him. It had felt so wrong to be praised for something he never did, and mostly for something so mean? Why had people been so happy about knowing she had been miserable all day? It had disturbed him but he never got to clear the misunderstanding; he was used to it by now but for her to use it against him? It had angered him as he could remember what had truly happened that particular day and he suddenly had crossed all lines, disrespecting and obviously hurting her. It was the first time that he saw that glint in her eyes. He had felt instant remorse after she had left, but he had not been sure if chasing after her would have helped in any way. 

He had never been able to apologize for what happened five years ago; there was little to no chance that she would ever let him apologize and it seemed like misunderstandings just kept on pilling up between the two of them. However, he wanted to apologize, now more than ever. But would he ever find a way to? Maybe he should just give up and avoid her at all costs because he kept on hurting her when they interacted. 

It had never been in his intentions to hurt her; he just had wanted to know what had truly happened rather than to rely on groundless rumors. Was he that socially awkward when it came to her? Why had he started by insulting her rather than being honest with what he had wanted? He knew that he might have never given her a reason to trust him; he loved annoying her after all, that was a fact. 

However, it was mostly always light heartened, never meant to actually trouble her; besides, she was fun to be around. She was witty, clever, and always had something to counter him. In short, he would like to be able to call her his friend, but it was probably one-sided and he wasn’t too sure about what he should do about it. So he ruminated the whole night, thinking of ways to properly apologize to her and he opted for waiting for her at the cafeteria the next morning. He even woke up early to be sure that he wouldn’t miss her. Yet, once he reached the cafeteria, Jimin was not really expecting to see her already there with Min Yoongi, eating at 4 am. He had not foreseen them both to be together and not that early either. Were they so early to be sure they would avoid everyone? The Christmas department was coming around 5 since it was their busy time of the year, was it the reason they were up so early? To avoid everyone, including the Christmas department? Jimin silently hoped she didn’t mean to especially avoid his department. 

“You’re gonna make me follow this crazy schedule for long?” He could hear their voices clearly from where he stood and even though Jimin had not meant to eavesdrop, that was exactly what he ended up doing as he hid close to the main door, making sure he would be able to run away if something came up. 

“I never said you had to come, you came on your own.” She grumbled and Jimin almost wanted to giggle at how childish she sounded. Who was that girl, and what had she done to the (Y/N) he knew? Jimin found himself curious; his curiosity overtook his silent shame for listening to their conversation. Now he had many questions and one fo them was: were they close to each other? It seemed like they knew each other well even though Jimin rarely saw any of them talking to anyone. They both weren’t the most social people of the resort. He did notice that they ate together sometimes but they usually just sat at a table and ate silently. He didn’t expect them to be actually friendly interacting with each other. 

“What kind of brother would I be if I left you alone with your miserable mindset? You’d be able to cast a weird spell on yourself to try to forget what happened, can’t have that happening.” Jimin blinked a few times, shivering slightly. He replayed the sentence in his mind, trying to make sense of what he just heard.

Brother?

Yoongi was (Y/N)’s brother?

“Still the best. I mean, I only have you anyway so you’re always going to be the best.” Yoongi laughed a bit at that, grinning cheekily. 

“Could you be a little bit more appreciative of my undying support? I’d still be your favorite whether we had more siblings or not.” He was teasing her but it looked like she wasn’t getting the joke. Or she did, but she didn’t acknowledge it as such, taking it to heart instead. 

“You know I love and appreciate you. I don’t know what I would do without you-” 

“Okay Shakespeare, we do not need a sudden love declaration. I was merely joking, not actually questioning if I’m a good brother or not because we both know damn well I’m the best and that you love me.” Yoongi seemed to be desperately trying to lift her mood by joking lightly but it didn’t seem to have much effect on her.

“I’m sorry Yoongs.” Jimin winced at the dejected tone he could hear. It felt wrong. To be honest, everything from the situation he was in felt wrong. He knew he shouldn’t be listening to a private conversation but he couldn’t help it; he had to listen. For once, it felt like he was listening to (Y/N), as in the real one, not the one hidden behind layers and layers of sarcasm. But this (Y/N) sounded so tired, so out of it. He wished he could just shake some sense into her. 

“Stop apologizing. You’re always saying sorry. Stop being sorry for existing. The president would blame everything on you if she had the opportunity. If she were to be able to blame you for wasting air, she’d do it. So stop being so apologetic, will you? You need to stand up for yourself more than that or else she’ll destroy your life. She shifted her expectations on you because she realized that she couldn’t do anything about me. And since you’re more on the tender side, you’re easier to break and she’s making sure you won’t try to defy her authority and stay pliant to her will.” She frowned at his words.

“I’m not on the ‘tender side’ or whatever that means.” Yoongi scoffed at her words and she pouted.

“You’re definitely on the tender side when you look at our family. They could be professional killers and I wouldn’t even be surprised. You, on the other side, prefer making flower crowns and decorating them. And it’s not a bad thing, actually having feelings won’t make you weaker, you know?” Yoongi had a soft smile dancing on his lips and Jimin was pretty sure it was the first time he saw the older man smiling. He had never really taken the time to properly look at Yoongi before, too intimidated to do so, but each time he had seen him, his face had been devoid of any emotion. It felt weird to see the older man so open with his words and emotions. 

“Don’t try to tell me that you’re like the rest of them and don’t have any feeling left because we both know that’s not true.” (Y/N) giggled silently and Jimin saw Yoongi’s smile deepening slightly, happy to hear her giggle even if it still was really quiet. It felt like a small victory for Yoongi to see a smile creeping on his sister’s features. 

“Yeah, yeah, I have a massive and stupid crush on that boy from this ridiculous Carnival department, I know! We already went through my emotional distress together and I’d rather not go through everything again.” Jimin smiled softly once he heard (Y/N)’s laugh. It might as well be the first time he heard her laughing. Had anyone ever witnessed them like that? Where did all the rumors about the Halloween department being boring and unable to joke around come from when Jimin was able to observe those two? Where the fuck did all of those rumors come from? 

“Very true. What was his name already? Hoseok or something?” Oh. Jimin knew that name well. He tried his best to not focus too much on their conversation to give them somewhat privacy, but the name rang a bell a little bit too loudly to him. If they were talking about the Jung Hoseok, the one that Jimin was thinking about, it was… Quite surprising knowing that Yoongi never really talked to anyone while Hoseok was quite the social butterfly. But hey! Maybe they would match well who knows! Opposites attract as we say. Besides, (Y/N) and Yoongi were both showing personalities he never thought to be possible for them to have, so nothing was unimaginable at this point. 

“Yeah, yeah, shut up now. I think I gave you enough information on me for you to ruin my peace forever.” He sounded annoyed but was nevertheless smiling softly. Jimin found it hard to believe in the annoyance that Yoongi tried to display. 

“It’s only fair. You saw me at my worst; had you wanted to make my life a living hell, you’d have material.” Jimin could hear how her voice had picked up, less slurring on her words and a bit more energetic. It sounded more like her again, more vivacious and more lively. He preferred that voice much more than the one he first heard as he came into the cafeteria. 

“True, anyway. I’ll go back to sleep, if the president says something about my absence during the meeting, just tell her you didn’t see me. I’ll deal with her later if she ever comes to complain.” Yoongi got up, getting his things before starting leaving, making Jimin panic knowing that he was hidden in front of the main door. He tried to hide further behind the door, but he feared that one of them would be able to see him. He had never been too good at hiding and even though his first thought of staying close to the main door in an emergency situation had been great, he had not realized that his escape would also be very hard to miss if he were to start running. 

“Unlikely. You have not been considered as her son ever since I was born. Pretty sure she even won’t ask about you and say that everyone is here.” Jimin’s eyes widened a bit at that. He had known that something had to be wrong within their family but he would have never guessed it went that far. Yet again, as he remembered what he had seen the day he met (Y/N), he could recollect pretty well feeling like there was more than was he was able to see. The grip of the president on (Y/N)’s shoulder had not seemed soft at all. He wouldn’t have been surprised if it had even left a bruise. 

“Hey, at least, it comes with some benefits, I can miss any meeting I want, she won’t ever say something to me. No chance to be picked as the representative as well, I’m protected against any kind of verbal or physical abuse you had to go through”, Yoongi was coming closer to the door and Jimin could hear him more clearly. Fuck. He was fucked, wasn’t he? How could he explain what he was doing here, hidden behind the door? He closed his eyes tightly hoping to not encounter this embarrassing situation. He could already feel the shame creeping. Wait- did Yoongi just imply that (Y/N) had been exposed to verbal and physical abuse by their mother?

“I only wish, sleep well!” (Y/N) seemed to leave from the other side as weird as it seemed. Jimin wondered where she was going as he barely heard her muffled voice. The Halloween district was in the opposite direction. It was weird, but he would worry about that later. He was more anxious at the idea of Min Yoongi being at maybe 30 centimeters from him. He didn’t really know how close the older man was as he was too scared to peak, scared that his cover would be blown up if he moved. Instead, he gulped silently, waiting for Yoongi to disappear as he heard some low chuckles right next to him. 

God, he couldn’t stop shaking. He closed his eyes tightly, waiting for the worst to happen. Jimin didn’t know why-especially after the trivial conversation he heard between the two siblings-but he was honestly scared shitless of Yoongi. He seemed like the kind of person who could easily ruin someone’s life. He was a powerful warlock, no one had really seen him use his powers, but his aura was enough to intimidate more than one (Jimin included). Yet, the man took off, not looking back and Jimin clearly heard his footsteps fading away. He let a shaky breath out from his mouth realizing how long he had kept it inside. He wanted to laugh at himself; he must have looked really stupid, hiding as well as he could, shitting himself.

But honestly? Nothing could have prepared him for what happened right after he started giggling in the middle of the entrance of the cafeteria. A cold breeze suddenly closed the doors in front of his nose and a dark chuckle resonated right next to him. 

“You’ll keep that to yourself, won’t you, Park?” A shudder ran through Jimin’s spine as he suddenly heard Yoongi’s voice again. His heartbeat picked up and his breathing got stuck in his throat. His eyes scanned the whole area but to no avail. Yoongi had physically already left but Jimin’s mind was a wreck. He had seen him go; he could swear he heard him leave! He had waited for him to be fully gone before getting out of his hideout; he heard him leaving, he was sure of it! 

But where was he? He just heard his voice clearly and he couldn’t have mistaken it. 

Actually, he did not want to know where the older man was. He was a warlock, he had probably his own ways. Jimin didn’t want to know; he’ll act as if nothing happened. Jimin? Here? In the cafeteria this early? No, never heard of that scenario. Though, Jimin nervously gulped as thoughts were racing in his mind. 

Had Yoongi known that he was here for the whole time?

It was probably obvious, but Jimin was still freaking out 6 hours after he heard Yoongi’s voice (he couldn’t figure out if Yoongi had already left or not, and he honestly still didn’t want to figure it out). The doors closing on him and his dark chuckles had been enough for Jimin to be freaked out for the day and probably the next few years. Not only had the whole thing terrified him, but he also was freaking out each time he thought that he could see Yoongi in the hallways. Technically impossible since Yoongi was most probably in his department and he had no reason to come to the Christmas one. If anything, from what he understood, he should be roaming somewhere in the carnival section hallways if he was not sleeping in his room. 

Not that he kept track with what Yoongi had said, but Jimin had almost spilled the beans to Hoseok when he saw him during the lunch break. Though, as Jimin had started talking, his voice got suddenly caught in his throat and he found himself physically unable to continue. Panicking as his voice wasn’t coming through, his eyes met Yoongi’s one for less than a second before the older disappeared with a sadistic smile. Jimin broke into a fit of coughing and everyone had come around, asking him if he was okay. He had to lie through his teeth, telling everyone he shouldn’t have joked around as he was drinking, chuckling as everyone laughed, but he knew that he was now monitored. 

Jimin wasn't dumb and he was now terrified of Yoongi, 100% sure that the one who had controlled his body during a fraction of seconds had been him. He couldn’t prove it, he had somehow felt his presence before meeting his eyes (that or he had imagined Yoongi’s eyes; too creeped out by the older man. He wouldn’t be too surprised if he had started seeing abnormal things everywhere, even if it was mere fragments of his imagination. He now would never be able to be sure if it was only his mind messing up with him, but maybe he would pretend he was going crazy instead of believing what he saw. It would be slightly less creepy). 

He was too proud to admit it, but he acted like a fool for the whole day; weird yells or sudden glances as if trying to see if he was followed. He brushed the weird stares and questions by telling everyone he had a rough night (which wasn’t that far from the truth, but still), and his department weirdly understood, all looking rather guilty as if thinking that they were responsible for his discomfort and fatigue. Technically, it was not that wrong, some of them had been insufferable for the past few days. However, Jimin truly had another preoccupation and he wasn’t really sure how to handle it. It almost felt like he was being haunted: and it was needless to say that he didn't enjoy it at all. 

He even thought of finding the older man and begging for him to leave him alone, but his proud persona prevented him from giving in. He would be strong and survive this hardship, just like he always did. He still had his apology for (Y/N) in the back of his head, he would find a way for that, but for now, he had to save himself from the devil. Was Yoongi a warlock? Jimin would be tempted to say that he was more of a demon than anything else but he’d keep that to himself, Yoongi might hear him after all. 

What if he could hear his thoughts too? Jimin was doomed. 

Though, Jimin honestly almost lost it when a mirror broke in front of him as he was washing his hands. Jimin had been looking at his hair when the mirror shattered right where he was looking at. He yelled before noticing that the rest of the mirror was spotless, leaving only his face distorted on the broken glass. He shuddered with horror after inspecting the mirror. He might have to take back his previous “I'm gonna be strong and courageous!” Because this was getting ridiculous. At this point, he started fearing that he might die of a heart attack if it went on for any longer. 

So Jimin surprisingly gulped down his stupid pride, sighed heavily before heading to the Halloween department. His presence should have been noticed and intercepted but he looked so angry, so determined to find the source of his troubles that no one dared to stop him as they met the furious fairy in the corridors. A rare sight to see Jimin, the happiest fairy of the resort, looking so furious. Most of the creatures of the Halloween department just made room for him to find his target and went on their day as if they had seen nothing. 

Jimin turned for a while, trusting his guts when it came to finding the older man, but a voice cut him abruptly in his thoughts. He recognized (Y/N)’s voice immediately, not even needing to see her to make sure it was her; he just knew it was her. Jimin halted his determined steps despite the mission he had set himself on. 

Maybe it was his moment to finally apologize. After all, nothing could stop him right now. Actually, that was a bit rash to say that because Yoongi could probably prevent him from finally saying sorry if he decided to show up, but Jimin would probably start yelling at him before a spell could be cast. The platinum-haired man had ruined his day enough, he didn’t need more to be done to break the last straw that kept him sane. 

Jimin came slowly, trying to keep his presence unnoticed as he heard the young woman listing some items. As he got closer, he noticed that she was in a cold room, obviously shivering because of the temperature. The place did not look like a cold room at all. If he were to be honest; it looked more like a regular storage space than anything else. Jimin finally took his time to take in his surroundings now that his anger temporarily died down; he had never ventured into the Halloween district and the place was surprisingly rather normal. He had expected black alleys, spiders, and dust everywhere, but he was met with light brown corridors, a red carpet almost covering the totality of the wooden floor with very normal lights, and a very clean space in general. Surprised, he walked further into the room, closing the door behind him as he hoped for some privacy and maybe to prevent her from bolting out in an instant as well. (Y/N)’s nose was red and he suppressed the urge to chuckle at how cute she looked. It felt like the winter-ish feeling of Christmas was embracing her and Jimin could have honestly believed that she was part of the Christmas department when she looked that endearing with her steamy glasses and trembling hands. The moment seemed surreal in Jimin’s eyes; she appeared so soft and calm, surrounded by levitating flasks as she elegantly pointed for some of them to rise in the air, and for others to take their places instead. It was something that Jimin could do too but seeing someone else do that so effortlessly still amazed him. She seemed so concentrated that Jimin didn’t dare to say anything, not wanting to creep her out and for her to let the flasks fall. The last thing he wanted was to bother her and make her do a mistake again. 

Instead, he took his time to reformulate his apology in his head, trying to think of what would be the most efficient way to say sorry. It had been years, years he had wanted to apologize, and now might be his chance. Maybe luck was finally on his side. 

However, (Y/N) suddenly turned away from the shelf she had been working on to fetch a book behind her and her eyes immediately met Jimin’s surprised ones. She almost yelled and it took all her concentration not to break the link she had created with the flasks, which were still in the air. Jimin brought his two hands in front of him as if to prove he was harmless and tried to avoid any abrupt movement.

“Hey, sorry, I didn’t mean to creep you out, I swear.” Jimin tried to smile softly, yet his gentle tone was met with a wall. And a very high one at that. Her eyes were empty and her whole features were devoid of any emotions; it caught him by surprise but he shouldn’t be. What he saw at the cafeteria was not something he was supposed to see. This harsh and empty look was one she reserved for everyone else. 

“What are you doing here?” She was obviously not bothering with small talk; she directly went to the main question without adding anything. 

“I… Came for someone else first, but then I saw you and I thought that mayb-” Jimin didn’t get to finish his sentence that (Y/N) was already cutting him abruptly.

“Did you close the door?” Jimin raised an eyebrow at the question. Was she ashamed to be seen with him? Or maybe it could bring her troubles? He wasn’t too sure but he still felt the need to ask.

“Ugh, yeah I did, why? Is that a bad thing?” Maybe he should have said he didn’t because her demeanor changed drastically after his sentence. Her already pale skin became whiter and he saw her shivers ragging through her body for a quick second. He almost got closer to her in a reflex, but her voice stopped him before he could move. 

“Park Jimin you didn’t just lock us in a cold room, did you?” His eyes grew wider- lock them?

“What do you mean lock us in? I just closed the door, I didn’t use any keys.” 

“This door has a spell system. Only I, the president, and someone else can open it and only from the outside.” Oh. 

Oh, fuck he just locked them inside. 

“Hey, I’m a talented fairy, do you really think a magic door can keep me locked up?” Jimin tried to joke around, but her blank expression stopped his nervous chuckle. He noticed that something was wrong. He couldn’t really explain it but he didn’t think that he ever saw her reacting like that. It didn’t seem like she was shivering because of the cold anymore. 

“You better get us out quickly then, Park.” (Y/N)’s voice was barely stronger than a whisper and for some reasons, it made him nod wordlessly, concentrating on his task. It took him a few seconds to focus but he quickly could see the door from outside in his mind, reaching for the spell that was outside. With a warm bright glow surrounding his body, his iris turned gold as he breathed slowly. His wings suddenly appeared without him summoning them and they wriggled slightly. He usually didn’t like for his wings to be out, he always feared to get hurt, but right now, he had another priority. His slow and deep breathing also stabilized his golden wings as he focused on steadying himself before acting. He had to be slow and delicate otherwise he could potentially make the other spell act up. Jimin didn’t know what the spell was so better safe than sorry; he didn’t want to mess up. He could feel the door move slightly as his powers started working on it. However, it also felt like removing it would be harder than he first imagined as Jimin felt it resist strongly under his slim fingers; the person who cast the spell must have been pretty determined to let no one in. He winced a bit, not sure if he could do it but he had to try. It was getting cold, even for him who could regulate the temperature of his body. He could only imagine how cold it was for (Y/N). So he breathed in and out once again and pushed his magic a bit further to collide with the enchanted door. 

However, he suddenly had to jolt away as the charm burned his finger; his glow quickly disappeared, unable to maintain the connection with the door, yet his wings caught his weight promptly as they started flapping quickly, preventing him from falling down. Jimin watched his hands with wide eyes, examining the reddened and itchy skin. It was the first time a spell physically hurt him while trying to lift it and it caught him out of guard. He didn’t expect it at all and his hands would be hurting for a while seeing how burnt they had already gotten. As his eyes turned back to their original color again, he was met with apparent confusion on (Y/N)’s features who was silently asking him what was wrong. 

“The charm is physically refusing to let me. I think I was close to removing it, but it started burning my skin so I had to break the link. I’m sorry I don’t think I can do it without getting myself too hurt to even finish the job.” He honestly felt bad to tell her that because he was indeed the one who brought them into this situation. It wasn’t like he did it on purpose, but still. 

“Fucking shit, Y-Yoonie please h-hear my voice.” Her stutter brought him back from his thoughts as he noticed that she was violently shaking. The cold was hitting him too, but he wasn’t sure if she was shaking that much because of it or because of something else. 

“What? Yoonie?” His question was quite clear even though he didn't word it fully: who was she talking about? 

“Shut the fuck up, I-I… I need to concentrate.” Jimin was left unsure, but the cold was definitely biting. He hoped that whoever she was talking about would answer her 'call’. He watched her closely, noticing her eyes tightly shut and her trembling lips. Jimin briefly wondered if he should say something but he decided against it. Had they been on friendlier terms, he might have wanted to interrupt her but he kept his thoughts to himself, worried about upsetting her more than she already seemed to be. But as the minutes passed by, the air was still motionless and nothing seemed to have happened if not for her shivers to have worsened. So maybe, he should intervene. 

“Is… everything working out?” He didn't intend to sound so perplexed, but he couldn’t really help the confusion that melted in his voice. However, before he could voice his concern further, her knees unexpectedly hit the ground while her legs gave up. She collapsed abruptly, sobs leaving her shivering form. 

Fuck, he knew he should have shut up.  

“Hey… Are you alright?” He didn't dare step much closer but he also couldn't leave her like that. Her hands fled to her ears as she curled up on herself as if trying to block any sight of reality, be it visual or auditory. Unsure of what to do, Jimin walked to her and crouched down to her level, tentatively rubbing his hand on her back as his eyes turned gold again, trying to focus on getting his hand warm enough so that she would feel it under her clothes. She didn’t move, didn’t yell at him, or didn’t fight him back; it worried him maybe more than everything he saw until now. He had caught that something had to be wrong from the start, her goosebumps had seemed slightly too strong to be caused by the cold only, but he had been unable to pinpoint the roots of the problem. “What’s wrong, (Y/N)?” Jimin tried his best to sound softer than he usually did and for a second, he felt like the little boy who entered the resort for the first time and saw this pretty ‘human’ in the corridors all over again. He temporarily forgot about their ongoing war and wondered where it went so wrong between the two of them. 

He had never hated her, contrary to what she seemed to believe. Jimin even used to have it hard to prevent himself from blushing each time her gaze caught his as he was looking at her when he thought she wasn’t looking. He had been enamored with the pretty witch that everyone warned him about. More than once had he wished for a short moment with her to apologize for every misunderstanding and for them to maybe become friends. Yet, it never happened; he even lost the motivation to try. Jimin pondered: where did the stubborn boy he used to be go for him to give up so easily? It had been uncharacteristic of him to give up like that, and he had berated himself for that. However, her constant coldness and the wall she had put between the two of them had been hard to swallow for him. Jimin was not used to be disliked that much; some people were probably not big fans of his, but no one had ever dared to make it so obvious to him because a sad or hurt fairy was never a good news; it was more like a sign of bad luck. (Y/N) never seemed to care as she made her hatred for him clear for everyone to see. The hurt of her rejection had been the hardest to accept for him, so he had stopped trying so much, wanting to avoid hearing her cutting words. 

Jimin swallowed harshly as he felt his negative emotions rising in his body. Tears were about to swell up in his eyes, and he wondered if he shouldn’t use his powers on her to put her to sleep to avoid any harsh comments or screams, especially if she panicked like that. Jimin was tired of being treated as if he was the plague itself. It felt wrong, oh so wrong, to be considered as a jerk. It would probably hurt less had it been anyone else, nonetheless, he had hoped that the charming witch would have seen above her prejudices. Yet, she never did. Jimin yet shook away the idea of putting her into a slumber; she would probably think that he did something to her without her consent and he was definitely not getting a misunderstanding again. Not anymore; he was too tired to risk anything else. However, as he ranted to himself  in his mind, he barely heard her mumbling something through her tears and the sound of her broken voice made his heart clench. It brought back his original question: what the hell was happening?

“What did you just say?” Jimin whispered gently. 

He heard a very quiet ‘get away from me’ and he giggled bitterly, yet, slightly relieved that she was still fighting him even in this situation; she was okay. Well, it didn’t look like she was, but she was good enough to try and fight him back. It made him somewhat smirk. 

“Can’t you let me help you for once? I can warm you up if you allow me to. I can regulate the temperature of my body and temporarily become your personal heater.” Jimin smiled warmly as his eyes turned golden again. He tried to hide the thick concern that was probably obvious in his iris because he wasn’t quite sure it would be well-received. It was still (Y/N) he was talking about, after all. 

“Y-You’ll make fun of me.” It was louder than he expected her to answer but he still had to keep his ears wide open to hear what she said. Nevertheless, for a brief moment, he thought that he might have preferred not to hear it as he understood that she thought he would make fun of her. Where did that though even come from? He wasn’t one to use someone’s weakness against them- 

Well. Technically, he wasn’t, but he always did stupid things when it came to (Y/N)... It didn’t hurt any less to hear it from her, though. 

“I’m not. If you had ever taken the time to hear me out and talk to me, you would have noticed a lot more than what you decided for me to be.” Jimin’s voice became quieter and quieter as he spoke. He was pretty sure that it clearly wasn’t the moment for his apologies and explanations, but he felt like she had always been judging him because of the prejudices she held against him while he honestly wanted to help. Like right now, it didn’t even cross his mind to make fun of her. 

As she confusedly raised her head a little from her knees, her wet and red eyes were met with his gentle golden orbs, and he slowly came closer to her, opened his arms slightly for her to slide in between his warm embrace, wanting to create a warm shield between them and the cold. 

Jimin stayed like that for a good minute, eyes pleading her to stop being so stubborn and to come to him. She logically had to understand that it would be the best for her, wouldn’t she? She had to be less obstinate than that, right? Jimin watched her conflicted expression as if she was trying to weigh the pros and cons. At some point (Y/N) made her choice; she gulped down her pride and tried to keep the shivers down as she snuggled closer to the fairy, warmth engulfing her trembling form. She mentally scolded herself as she knew that he would use this moment against her later on, but she temporarily needed him to fight against the cold. The fairy was glowing brightly and she could already feel the warmth that was surrounding him; she almost wanted to whine at how unfair everything was. Why did it have to be her nemesis that she ended up being locked up with? She still subconsciously leaned closer after she got a quick taste of the heat he was emanating. Jimin softly smiled, understanding that she was finally giving in as he closed his arms around her. His hand slid behind her head, fingers intertwining in some hair strands, trying to bring her freezing forehead closer to his neck so that she could feel the warmth directly from his skin. Her cold skin gently met his warm one. She let a shaky breath out without wanting to, and her arms automatically wrapped themselves around Jimin’ waist, seeking for his comfort. Jimin hugged her tighter, bringing her as close to him as he could. Once she was close enough in his opinion, he let his cheek fall on the top of her head, getting comfortable against her. It felt like the air surrounding them changed; it became stiller but also safer as if time had stopped in its tracks with only their breath to confirm that they were both still alive.  

Jimin had thought that his body would tense, yet, as he could feel her form relax against him, his muscles quickly went limp under her rather light weight. He wondered if he should try and ask the questions that had been burning his tongue, try to get an answer as to know what the hell did he just witness. Yet, he didn’t want to break the sudden tranquility that surrounded them; it might be the first time that both were in each other presence without scream at each other. It was comforting, he thought. For once, he felt like he could finally enjoy her presence without needing to be an ass about it or find a way to annoy her for it to be normal. 

Neither of them dared talking, afraid that it would just end up with yells and disappointment. On that note, they were strangely similar and very oblivious to the other’s struggles. They both didn’t want to ruin the peaceful atmosphere surrounding them, worried about the answer of the other if they dared to ask the questions running through their heads. It was funny how unaware they were about their similarities, yet here they were, stuck in the same place, unable to get out. 

“H-How are we going to make it out though?” Her quiet voice caught Jimin’s attention. He sighed gently.

“I’m not sure, to be honest. I’m a disaster when it comes to telepathy. I’m awful at it…” He had thought about it, but all his attempts had been unsuccessful ever since he started trying it out. He was not really gifted when it came to mind-focussed things. Jimin was rather skillful when it came to more physical things. She answered him quietly.

“I’m… normally pretty good at it but I can’t seem to focus enough for anything to come out. I w-wanted to call for someone I know that would be able to open the door, but it’s not working…” Jimin was surprised at that. He knew she was a powerful witch, that was no secret. He hadn’t been one to be able to witness it a lot, but she was pretty much gifted. Hence, it only strengthened his questions: what was wrong?

“Is the room enchanted as well to prevent people from using their powers?” 

“N-No, otherwise you wouldn’t have been able to use yours earlier.” True, he had forgotten about that.

“Then… Why?” He felt her tense but chose to keep quiet about it. The last thing he wanted to, was for her to feel embarrassed or something. Yet, a heavy silence fell between the two of them and Jimin wanted to slap himself for asking; it was not even like he had not just told himself that he should probably avoid asking questions so that it wouldn’t grow weird between them. That was totally what he had been thinking of for a while but he still exactly did that and what happened? It got weird and uncomfortable. 

“P-Panic attacks and spell casting don’t mix well together with me…” Jimin didn’t utter a word but instead, he started rubbing circles in her back with his hand, trying to be as comforting as he could while waiting for her to continue. Maybe for once he’d get a proper explanation. “Mother used to lock us in our rooms when we didn’t meet her expectations.” She stuttered on her words. 

He didn’t say anything, but Jimin guessed that when she said ‘we’ she meant Yoongi and her. “She cast a spell so that we couldn’t get out and made sure the lights were off so that w-we could ‘reflect on our behavior’. B-Being locked up in a room without a means to get out is-” (Y/N) couldn’t continue as she felt a lump in her throat. She tried her best to keep the tears at bay but to no avail. One silent drop fell on the ground, wordlessly accompanied by more that were already rolling on her cheeks. She started trembling slightly again but suddenly, she felt Jimin cradling her closer, just like a child, as he hummed. 

“It’s a trauma.” He ended her sentence quietly, finally understanding what had previously happened. She got a panic attack after realizing that she was blocked here. 

”I’m sorry, it’s my fault we’re locked here. I didn’t mean for us to get stuck nor for you to be�� triggered. I’m really sorry, (Y/N).” His voice sounded so apologetic that it surprised her. She didn’t expect for him to care. Maybe he didn’t and he was just fooling her again. 

“It’s not like your not going to use that against me once we g-get out of here, don’t apologize when y-you don’t mean it.” Maybe it was harsher than what she intended to formulate, but she still didn’t want to be taken aback anymore. (Y/N) was done with being played by him. 

“What do you mean? Why would I use it against you?” Jimin sounded offended and she wanted to snort at that. 

“You already did that once, I can’t be fooled again, Park. I know your games, last time you ended up being the person who had slipped something in my d-drink. If you think I forgot, then you’re dully mistaken.” Her words stopped him in his reply because he knew what she was talking about. She was bringing up that story again. He knew what everyone had said and what he, himself, had explained. 

How could he explain what happened? 

A heavy silence fell between them and Jimin tried his best not to lose focus on his goal; keep (Y/N) warm. If he could at least do one thing right, he would try to do it. Besides, would she even hear him out if he tried to explain? Would it make sense after all these years to finally get the truth out? 

“It wasn’t me.” He admitted quietly. He might as well tell her the truth, whether she believed it or not.

“What did you just say?” She squinted her eyes, scoffing at his reply.  

“It wasn’t me who slipped that thing in your drink.”

“Then why did everyone say it was you? I literally heard you saying that.” She wasn’t stupid. At first, she had refused to believe it. She had seen the way Jimin had cared for her, had taken her away from the nasty glances, shielding her from everyone. It couldn’t have been him, or so she had believed until she had heard it from his mouth when she had come in the cafeteria. 

“I did tell people it was me…” He seemed conflicted, omitting something to the story and she didn’t like that. She had been the clown of the resort back then, didn’t she deserve the full explanation now?

“Then why are you saying it was not you right now? You’re not making any sense, Park.” He sighed at her angry tone. 

Fuck that, he had to tell her.

“I didn’t see who did it but I saw fairy powder in your drink. This is why I reacted quickly, I tried to help you out while noting down that it was the doing of a fairy but I didn’t know who exactly. Their print should have been easily recognizable had I been able to get your drink quickly but once I got the glass you used, it had already been washed without any smell left for me to find out who had done it. Since I had missed the opportunity, I thought I would catch them if I pretended it was me because we both know how proud fairies are. I thought they would be too proud of their prank not to manifest themselves for the ‘glory’ that came after doing their stupid prank. However, they did not and I ended up being the ‘culprit’ of it but you have to believe me when I tell you that it wasn’t me. Why would I have done something that stupid?” She fumbled a bit after his explanation because after all, it could be true. His explanations did somehow make sense and as she looked into his eyes, she was met with such a pure honesty that she had trouble looking away. Yet, Jimin took that as a sign that she didn’t believe him.

“Come on, if you want you can use a spell for me to only be able to say the truth, I promise you’ll hear the same answer.” It had not even crossed her mind to do that. She didn’t feel comfortable using her abilities on other people. She tried to never use it, at least, as much as she could. Though, it was a tempting offer. She had never thought anymore would willingly ask her to use such a spell on them. However, she wasn’t really in her best condition to execute such a spell, especially seeing that she couldn’t do something as easy as to reach Yoongi though her mind; it seemed pointless to even try. 

“It’s u-useless, I can’t use my abilities, I told you already.” Jimin could hear her panic clearly and he felt her helplessness even without trying. 

“Hey (Y/N). You’re safe, I promise you. You can loosen up and support yourself on me, I really don’t mind. I’m sure you can do it if you concentrate some more without worrying too much about where you are.” His voice was full of endearment and (Y/N) wondered why she felt so warm as his words silently reached her ears. Sometimes he was so soft it was hard to understand why he was so annoying with her and her only. 

It’s not like she had cared too much (she totally did), but she never understood why he was so nice and genuinely friendly to anyone but her. Had she done anything wrong to warrant such a reaction? Had she somehow done something to him without wanting to? Those questions had already crossed her mind before, and more than she’d like to admit. However, right at that moment, the softness that she often heard directed to other people was finally addressed to her and (Y/N) felt herself blush slightly as his eyes did not leave hers. Both of her hands were resting on his chest while his arms were still wrapped around her waist, keeping her close on his lap. He nodded quietly as if telling her to just do it and she wondered about it. 

After all, what was the worst that could happen? The spell wouldn’t work because she was too anxious to correctly cast it? That would be for sure embarrassing, but she had nothing to lose, did she? She hated using spells like that on people; it was one of her last resort. However, wouldn’t it-for once-be quite beneficial? All her questions could be answered, all her assumptions and prejudices could maybe be solved. 

Yet, she was scared. Scared that he was lying and believed that she’d never cast the spell on him. She was scared of what would leave his mouth, what if he told her he hated her? He might not have wanted to do her wrong, but he might still hate her. 

Still, his eyes seemed genuine and she always had good instinct when it came to things like that (well, except when it came to Park Jimin apparently). Thus, she’ll make an exception; her attempt of keeping any spell far away from other beings would be for a short while forgotten and she would actually seek for the truth. Jimin saw the moment her resolve changed in her gaze. As she closed her eyes slowly, the air changed again and he could actually feel her presence suddenly growing. He wondered for a second if he had ever seen her use her powers except for a few times like earlier and he realized that the occasion he had witnessed it had indeed been scarce. Jimin closed his eyes as he heard her pronounce words he couldn’t understand-maybe Latin-very quietly. He barely heard her whisper and didn’t feel much different after he opened his eyes and met her very suspicious ones.

That was it? 

“I… Did you cast the spell already?” he didn’t feel any different from he used to “I don’t feel… Anything.” 

She titled her head slightly and he couldn’t prevent himself from telling her she was cute. 

“Don’t say nonsense just for me to believe the spell worked.”

“What do you mean? You’re not sure if the spell worked? Shouldn’t you be able to tell?”

“I can if you let me verify, stop being so noisy.”

“I’m hardly noisy, I simply told you that you’re cute.” He felt embarrassed because of the babble that came out of his mouth; he couldn’t stop himself, so he tried to shut up. He didn’t want to say anything more that could embarrass him further. (Y/N)’s eyes were focussed on him, making him more nervous than needed, while she was pondering what she could ask him to make sure he was not trying to fool her. After all, asking a question was her only option, but what embarrassing question could she ask knowing he normally wouldn’t answer? What had ever happened that- 

Wait. She exactly knew what to ask. 

“During your first Christmas as a representative, you made a mistake for the final, didn’t you?” It hadn’t been that obvious to her; yet, she had seen him beat himself up after the show in the backstage once all the glitters were gone. Tears had been glistening on his cheeks and even though she had wordlessly turned around and had decided not to bother him, the scene had stuck to her, especially when a few hours later he had been boasting to her that he had been amazing and that his show couldn’t have been better. She had refrained from exposing his vulnerability back then and even if had the situation been opposite, he would have probably not refrained himself from laughing at her, she still had decided against and had shut her mouth tightly. 

“My voice cracked several times because I was sick. Everyone heard, you probably did too. It was awful. I was so worried that my position would get revoked, but instead everyone praised me for my hard work. I never felt so ashamed; what was I praised for? Being an incapable?” This made her temporarily forget what she had even intended to do with her spell. Hearing him blaming himself so much and being so harsh with himself when his voice crack had been so faint; nobody had paid any attention to it. (Y/N) had barely noticed, it had been the slight wince on his features that had made her realized that his voice had just cracked. 

“What do you mean? Yeah, your voice cracked and? It didn’t ruin the show, it wasn’t a big deal, no one seemed to notice if not you. Why are you being so harsh with yourself?” She wasn’t expecting him to call himself an incapable, was that what he truly thought about himself when he dropped the cocky smirks? 

“It disturbed everyone! I should have been perfect, everyone was counting on me, everyone was expecting me to be perfect and I let them down!” His words were spat in such a disgusting way that it froze her. Why was he being so awful with himself? 

“You didn’t. A voice crack isn’t letting people down; it was your body reminding you that you were exhausted and needed a break. We’re often too harsh with ourselves and if you watched beyond your nose, you’d be able to see that you didn’t do that terribly. You don’t seem to know when to stop when you start the celebrations.” He chuckled at that.

“Rather hypocrite coming from you who’s running everywhere all the time. You do more than anyone else in your whole department, how are you still even alive?” She scoffed lightly.

“Don’t try to direct the conversation somewhere else.” 

“I am not! I’m simply saying that you’re not one to rest either, so it’s quite rich from you to tell me that I don’t know when to take a break because you sure do not either!” They both got silenced by his last comment as he highlighted one of their common point. 

He wasn’t wrong, to be fair. They weren’t that different despite her blatant refusal to acknowledge it; they shared way more than she thought for them to be possible. Well, at least she was sure that the spell was effective. Jimin’s light giggles made her snap back into reality as his bright eyes met her dull ones. He did not comment on it-trying his best not to just babble anything to her- but he had always been wondering: why did she look so defeated all the time? It always seemed like life had been sucked out of her, as if she had given up on happiness a long time ago. He found himself wishing that he could have known her before she had lost the glimmer that he could imagine shining into her orbs. Yet before he could voice any of his interrogation, (Y/N) finally asked what she had been dying to know.

“Was it you who dropped something in my drink that day?” 

“No, it wasn’t.” a clear and brief answer that left her speechless even though he had technically already told her. 

“But then-”

“I saw fairy powder and thought that I would find the culprit by stealing their credits. I thought their prank would be something they’d be proud of, so I thought they would betray themselves like that, but they didn’t and I got ‘accused’ instead.” So he had told her the truth then? 

“B-But what about that day when you made my skirt r-”

“I didn’t mean to embarrass you. Truth to be told, I had never met a witch before you, so when I saw you in the corridors, I thought you were human. I wanted to play a little trick on you to make you freak out and leave the resort before anything could happen to you but I got distracted by your loveliness and ended up invoking too much wind. I was extremely embarrassed and really wanted to apologize, especially because it seemed like you got into troubles because of me. However, each time I came near you, you scoffed, threatening me before leaving. I never got to say sorry but I truly am. I never meant to be mean with you, it was just the only way I had to talk to you and get over my non-reciprocated crush on you.” His eyes widened in sync with hers as he realized what he let slip. 

He was doomed, wasn’t he? 

“Y-Your what?” She must have heard something wrong, didn’t she? She probably did, there was no way he just said he used to have a crush on her.

“Stop asking me questions, I can’t lie right now!” He was definitely flustered as his head shot down, unwilling to meet her eyes. She tried to get a hold of his face to bring his eyes back to hers but without success. 

“Jimin, please look at me. You’re not lying to me, are you?” 

“How do you expect me to, I literally can’t.” He mumbled quietly, still not looking at you.

“But you just said you had a crush on me, that cannot be true.” Her comment made him snap, didn’t she know how cute and attractive she was? 

“Why is it so hard for you to believe me? Haven’t you seen yourself? You always carry yourself with so much confidence, you’re always so pretty, witty, and just fucking perfect? You always work so hard, you care a lot about what people think even though you try to keep that secret. You’re tough to crack, but you’re just so lovely I wish I could protect you from any kind of harm coming at you. Why is it so hard for you to believe that you’re lovable?” He sounded almost offended by her words, yet she couldn’t comment on it as she was stunned by his straightforward rant. 

(Y/N) did not say anything, frozen in his arms while he froze as well. Realizing what he just confessed, Jimin wanted to disappear quickly; maybe the ground could swallow him or if anything could protect him against the incoming reject he was going to face, it would be nice. However instead of pushing her away and asking for her to forget about what he just said, just for once he allowed himself to hope. 

Just for once, he wanted to trust the very slight-but still present-glimmer that he could see in her eyes. He wanted to trust the fact that she still had not pushed him away, didn’t tell him to get lost and that she didn’t want to talk to him anymore. 

He wanted to give in to his feelings and just feel loved, so instead of babbling apologies and leaving the warm cocoon he had created, he bent a little bit closer to her, breath fanning over her rosy lips while he blushed furiously. She didn’t back off not did she say anything. (Y/N) didn’t move, as if stuck in a trance. Why was he suddenly saying he liked her? Everyone hated her (except Yoongi). Her own family hated her, so why would Park Jimin-out of all the people of the resort-tell her he liked her? This made no sense. 

Nevertheless, she didn’t want for him to stop. She wondered what was all of a sudden going through her head to suddenly want for him to kiss her so badly. She thought she hated him; well, maybe hate was a strong word, but she didn’t like him! 

Maybe he was somewhat innocent-or at least not ill-intentioned-for every wrong doings she had accused him of, but it still didn’t make it up for all of those years of pestering and humiliating confrontations she endured because of him! She didn’t forgive him for that! And yet, she found herself closing her eyes slowly, waiting for him to crash his lips on hers. She mentally scolded herself as she realized she was giving him the chance to make fun of her if he wanted to. He could start laughing and ask her if she really thought he would kiss her. 

But he did none of that. Jimin watched her with fascination, burning this angelic image in his brain in case he’d never get to witness it again even though he wished it wouldn’t be the last time. 

Goodness, she was just so fucking pretty. 

It felt like nothing existed anymore; the worrisome situation they were in was long forgotten as Jimin closed his eyes and molded his mouth to hers, attaching his warm lips to her cold ones. It didn’t feel like butterflies suddenly overwhelming him or some kind of explosion inside him. Instead, it felt warm, like a comfortable and safe embrace. Like Jimin finally found his home. He wasn’t one to believe in soulmate, but right at this instant, he might reconsider. He didn’t dare moving too much as he simply held her close to him, pulling her against his chest while his hands found the back of her neck and the small of her back. Almost like a snake, he surrounded her as if his life depended on it while his lips never left hers. None of them wanted to separate from each other, yet a sudden banging startled both of them. 

Realizing their sudden closeness, (Y/N) shook herself awake and pushed away Jimin as quickly as she could under his confused features (was it a flash of hurt that she could spot? No, it must have been something else). Her ragged breath made her come back to Earth as she realized what she just did. 

She just made out with Park Jimin. 

God, she wanted to be angry at him, but in reality, she was angry at herself for falling for his words once again. She couldn’t let herself fall like that, even if he never meant to hurt her, she shouldn’t be with someone like Jimin, a pretty fairy from the Christmas Department. She was assigned to the Halloween celebrations, and her family wouldn’t accept any kind of mixing happening in the middle of it. She was sure of it. 

“(Y/N)!!! Are you in there?” Yoongi’s voice resonated from outside and a relieved sigh left her lips.

“Yoongi! Please get me out, quickly!” She shouted as loud as she could muster to be after the recent event that clouded her mind. (Y/N) glanced back at Jimin who was still sitting on the ground, watching her helplessly. 

“Are you seriously going to ignore what just h-” Jimin tried to voice his despair but to no avail as she cut him right after he tried to speak to her. 

“Yoongi please hurry up!” The panic in her voice made Jimin shut up. Even though he wanted to talk, to have an explanation about what the hell just happened and why she just pushed him away like that, he felt like rejection would be the only thing that he would be met with. Was it wise to push her buttons and get something out of her knowing that it would hurt even more than to see the regret he saw flashing in her orbs as she pushed him away? 

Was kissing him such a disgrace for her? Did she feel that disgusted by him? 

The door finally got opened by a very stressed out Yoongi who left a relieved sigh slipping as he noticed his sister in the room. Fuck his cold persona, the older man grabbed her arm and hugged her close as he let an incredulous laugh leave his lips. 

“How the fuck did you get stuck in there? Can’t you be more careful?” His panic was finally setting down. He couldn’t explain how worried he got as he had suddenly felt their usual bond tighten until he couldn’t feel her presence anymore. His first thought had been frantic: (Y/N) was in danger. He was used to hearing some of her thoughts in the middle of the day when both of them were distracted. It also sometimes happened for one of them to call the other for help or just to share a joke, so when he called for her through their usual way of communication and no one answered, he had automatically panicked. After searching for her for the past 20 minutes, he thought that maybe something terrible had happened to her; yet, here she was. Breathing and alive. And even though she seemed highly shaken up, he put it on the distress she must have felt as he realized that she had ended up locked inside without any kind of light. 

A situation that she often dreaded. 

“It wasn’t me, I swear. Jimin closed the door after him and he didn’t know tha-”

Jimin? As in Park Jimin?” Yoongi finally let her go as he noticed the younger man who had by now gotten up but didn’t dare looking up at the two siblings. Yoongi eyed Jimin suspiciously, noticing his bruised lips and disheveled figure. 

“It’s fine Yoongs, he didn’t mean to, we should just go.” Yoongi wordlessly nodded as he started walking away, hands locked in hers as he pulled her away, leaving a dejected Jimin behind. 

It was fine. 

He knew it was coming anyway. That was kind of why he had never said anything before. 

It wasn’t fine.

Nothing was fine as Jimin found himself puking his guts out after less than an hour of being free from the cold room. He couldn’t move, his legs were giving up on him each time he tried getting up and the need to vomit felt stronger each time he tried to crawl out of the bathroom. 

Maybe overusing his magic and getting a spell from a powerful witch wasn’t the best mix after all. He never got such side effects after using a lot of magic so he could only guess that it had to do with the spell that had been cast on him. With a heavy sigh, he attempted for the billion time to enchant himself so that he wouldn’t feel nauseous anymore but to no avail, his enchantment seemed to have no power over his current state. 

He had to wait for it to pass but damn, he did not have the patience. Jimin tried his best to maybe call for Taehyung, or do anything really, but he was fucking stuck in the cafeteria’s bathroom without any way to get help because each time he tried to use his powers, he ended throwing up. Useless to say that he was fuming from the ground. Had it been so wrong for him to hope that (Y/N) would return his feelings that he had to get punished like that? Did she do it on purpose? Was it a trick of hers she had done to give him a payback for every mean words he said? He wasn’t innocent on that side, he knew it. However, she wasn’t either. More than once he had had to bite his tongue before saying something that would be too much after a particularly mean retort from her. 

He knew he had never been the cleverest one to maybe hint that he didn’t hate her-quite the opposite actually-but she had her wrong doings too. 

Maybe that was why the only one to be around and hearing his distressed grunts was (Y/N) and even though she had stopped herself before doing in the male bathroom, she still had decided to get inside after hearing the pain and agony the man inside seemed to go through.

“Are you okay? Are you in need of assistance?” He could recognize her voice from anywhere. 

“(Y/N)?” He sounded almost panicked at the idea of her seeing him in this condition. Though, he guessed that nothing could be worse than getting rejected the way he got. 

“Jimin?” Surprise could be heard in her voice even without seeing her and he wondered why did she seem so surprised. Not a lot of people usually went to the cafeteria this late and he was more than often one of them. Yet, her next inquiry astonished him. “Do you need help?” She barely whispered, not sure if she wanted for him to hear her but he did anyway and he snorted at that.

“Don’t pretend you care. You c-can leave, I’ll be fine.” For some reasons, his comeback angered her.

“What do you mean ‘don’t pretend to care’, of course I care! You sound like you are dying in there.” He chuckled ironically at that. 

“Yeah, I felt your care when y-you ignored me earlier.” She gasped quietly and he wondered if he was too mean when she might be his only way of getting out of there, but he wouldn’t admit it. He had already gulped down his pride way too many times for her. An uncomfortable silence sat between them while both of them did not move an inch. (Y/N) was stunned in silence while Jimin was stuck to the floor, physically unable to get up without wanting to vomit. 

Embarrassed, she honestly wanted to turn around and leave him here, but a part of herself prevented from doing so as she could still remember the agonizing sounds she heard from outside the bathroom. Hence, she breathed in and out a few times, tried to mentally encourage herself before making her way to Jimin. Her eyes met his cowered body, noticing that he was holding his stomach and also noting with her heart clenching that he had trails of dried tears that were still visible on his cheeks. 

“Fuck, what happened to you?” His head lifted as he realized that the sound of her voice was much closer than before. He had trouble to focus but he clearly discerned the worry on her features. He shamefully turned his eyes away. 

“Nothing, I’ll be fine you can-”

“You’re not fine, what the hell happened to you? Are you hurting somewhere?” She got her arms around his waist as she tried to get him to sit down but he suddenly jerked away, groaning in pain, “okay, okay, I’m sorry, I won’t touch you. What’s the matter?” Fuck, his body felt like he was dying. What the fuck was happening to him?

“I have no idea. I know I overused my powers when we were in the cold room but I usually don’t get side e-effects like that. Maybe it’s your fault, though? I wouldn’t know.” He stuttered painfully. Her fists tightened even though she didn’t even notice. 

“What the fuck? Why would it be my fault? I haven’t done anything to you.” He chuckled lightly at her.

“Other than making me looks like a fool? I remember you also cast a spell on me.” 

“My spells don’t have side effects, especially not the one I cast on you. It’s a safe one, I wouldn’t have cast it on you otherwise!” (Y/N) felt angry at him for even thinking that it might be her fault. She knew that she had maybe not reacted in the best way back in the cold room. She had freaked out okay? But never would she do something like that to him. 

“You’re s-sure?” He smiled sadly and she looked at him seriously. 

“I am. I’d never do that to you.” Her determined expression troubled him; it didn’t seem like she was lying, but if she had nothing to do with it, then what happened? He didn’t even notice that his gaze was fixed on her until she spoke again.

“Should I leave you here or are you going to let me help you now?” Jimin sighed desperately. It was not like she could do something about it, right? 

“I doubt you can do much to help, I feel like throwing up each time I move, even talking is hard to be honest…” she seemed to ponder over his predicament before asking him:

“Have you tried flying? Are your wings alright?” 

“I tried using my abilities but it doesn’t seem like anything is effective. I can’t even summon my wings, I think I’m too weak. Besides, I almost lost consciousness just by trying to summon them so…” she hummed after his sentence. 

“What if I made you fly instead, do you think you’d be okay? Technically you wouldn’t be moving that much, just… Levitating?” 

“I don’t know if i-it’s a good idea…” He hesitated, feeling rather unwell at the prospect. 

“It’s better than nothing, I can always try a spell. There are many spells against motion sickness and those kinds of things.” Jimin groaned as he felt his strength leaving his body. He slowly let his head hit the ground, exhausted of trying to keep his head high despite his pain. Catching (Y/N)’s eyes, she got closer to him, bringing her hand to his face, trying to estimate if he could simply be extremely sick. Yet, his body didn’t feel warmer than it should be, something was definitely wrong, but what?

“Okay, don’t move alright? I’m going to find a solution, don’t worry.” It made him chuckle lightly because it seemed so easy as she said it. Jimin wondered if she would really be able to do something; it wasn’t like he didn’t try himself so he didn’t want to get his hopes up for nothing. 

(Y/N) muttered something as she closed her eyes, focussing on Jimin as the latter just tried to stabilize himself so that he wouldn’t feel sick again. However, the feeling suddenly vanished, as if it had never been there to start with. Eyes widening, Jimin turned over quickly, hands flying to his stomach as he rubbed the previously painful area. What the fuck just happened? He had been stuck like that for at least an hour and (Y/N) really just shook his pain away? That easily? He was about to ask her what happened until he was met with her somber expression. 

“No wonder you couldn’t move.” Her voice had never held such a venom while speaking and it made Jimin gulp nervously. 

“What?” 

“My mother’s magic is running inside you. Those toxins are made to kill whoever encounters it. I don’t understand wh-” she cut herself short, realizing what happened. 

“Yes…?” Jimin tried to find out what she had come to realize but it seemed like he might have to push her a bit to have his answers as she wordlessly got up and muttered something again.

He was about to interject as he noticed her movements toward the exit, however he also noticed that his feet did not touch the ground anymore. He couldn’t move nor control his body. Trying out his abilities was ineffective; his wings did not want to come out.  

“Wha-”

“Don’t try using your magic, you’ll get short of it quickly. You’re simply going to deteriorate your health. I’m bringing you back to your room.” Jimin didn’t understand. How did he get into contact with the Halloween President’s magic? He never saw her more than an instant in the corridors and that was definitely not a recurrent situation. So how? And why did (Y/N) seem to know exactly what it was with a mere sickness removal spell? A lot seemed to escape his understanding and he did not like it. Something did not make sense.

“I can walk, you know?” Maybe he should try getting answers from her rather than to overthink everything.

“I’d rather you don’t. It’s going to exhaust you.” Never had she sounded so cold and distant. Maybe he even perceived a little bit of anger but he couldn’t be too sure. He never saw (Y/N) like that. 

“What is happening exactly?” The slight shudder in his voice made her realize that she still had not given any explanation.

“What is happening is that either you got contaminated because of me, or because of the spell on the door of the cold room. I really hope it’s the spell and not me.” 

“Why would it be through you?” 

“I’ve been exposed to that magic for years. It wouldn’t be surprising if I had invisible remanent particles of it on my skin or anywhere in me to be honest.” Worrisome, but he’d refrain himself from commenting for now. Jimin watched her moving as his body followed her helplessly. She walked through the corridors quickly, reaching his room in a minute thanks to his indications. She opened the door even though he protested (he didn’t really enjoy the invasion of privacy, but her glare stopped him before he could finish his objection). His body slowly reached his bed until he was fully laying on it under (Y/N)’s scrutinizing gaze. 

“So? What do we do now?” He asked unsure. 

“You don’t move and you rest.” He frowned at her answer.

“Look, I can’t just stay in bed. I’m the Christmas representative, I have a celebration to prepare, everyone is counting on me; I can’t just abandon everyone.” 

“Then go ahead, exhaust yourself. I won’t come to fetch you again.” 

“If this is still about this stupid war between us about who will do the best celebration, I think that me being bedridden is a bit too mu-”

“Oh my god, Jimin I don’t give a fuck about that! I’m being seriously concerned for your health! I’ve been given this kind of ‘treatment’ when I was a child and let me tell you that the aftermath is not pretty! So if you want, go ahead! Get up and exhaust yourself and see if I care, you won’t be able to say I didn’t tell you when you won’t be able to move for the next five months!” Her own eyes widened just like Jimin’s ones at her words; she had never admitted aloud what happened to her as she was a child. Yoongi had tried his best to protect her but it had been to no avail as the old witch had always seemed to be particularly pleased when she could hurt (Y/N). It had been something (Y/N) herself had never understood; why did their mother look so enthusiast about punishing them? She shuddered as she remembered the wickedly sweet smile on her mother’s face each time she closed that door behind her. 

“Your mom did what?” Jimin barely whispered, not able to say more out of shock. (Y/N) looked away, trying to hide the sudden embarrassment she felt. Embarrassment or shame? She didn’t know, but she was rather ashamed of the way she had been treated by her own mother; she even had troubles to share it with Yoongi. Some things were better left unsaid in her opinion. Feeling her discomfort, Jimin didn’t know what to do. Should he get her to sit and maybe spill what she had concealed from everything, or should he let it go? 

He knew he shouldn’t be noisy, but for some reasons, he felt like it wouldn’t be a good idea to ignore what she just shared with him. It sounded like something she would need to get out of her chest at some points and knowing (Y/N), she was more the type of person to keep everything bottled up inside. Maybe he was still angry at her for leaving him like that earlier but she came to him and helped him out, yeah it hurt to be left like that after pouring out your feelings, but at least she didn’t act like an ass afterward. Besides, he didn’t really have the strength to be angry anymore.

“(Y/N)... Come here for a second.” (Y/N) turned to him, watching him tap the bed, next to him. She raised an eyebrow, unsure of his intentions but wordlessly complied anyway. She didn’t really know why she listened to him, yet she did. 

Much to her surprise though, he didn’t ask her anything. He just took her hand into his, gently rubbed his thumb over her soft skin as he watched the conflicted expression painted on her features. Instead, he waited for her to say something if she felt comfortable enough to do as he kept his gentle motion around her knuckles. It got (Y/N) thinking, when was the last time her mother had held her? She couldn’t even recollect a similar event. 

“I think…,” Jimin’s ears were wide opened but he made no attempt to pressure her into finishing her sentence, “I think I don’t like my mother very much.” He hummed delicately as she tried to find her words. “And I feel bad for it because she is still my mother.” 

“Blood link doesn’t mean you aren’t entitled to your emotions, (Y/N). You don’t have to like your parents just because they are your parents.” She frowned ever so slightly but Jimin caught it nevertheless.

“But doesn’t that make me a little bit selfish?” Jimin pondered for a second.

“I don’t believe it does, but even if it did, it’s okay to be a little bit selfish and put ourselves first sometimes.” He smiled gently at her as he observed her frown melt into a rather neutral expression. 

“I don’t feel very pretty inside when I have those feelings though.” She sighed lightly.

“I still think you are.” Her eyes met his as he kept his soft smile dancing on his lips. She looked almost confused, eyes and lips round like a little fish. He chuckled slightly at her awestruck expression. He thought he had made it clear that he liked her. Had he not?

“Someone told me that we’re often too harsh with ourselves, and that if we’d look away from our nose, we’d be able to see that maybe we’re not perfect but we aren’t as terrible as we imagine ourselves to be.” (Y/N) turned her gaze away in embarrassment; he was really here using her words against herself, wasn’t he? “And maybe if you looked even slightly further, you’d notice that there are people who see you in a complete different light as you do. You should perhaps try to get away from the shadow you seem so sure to embody.” He was too intuitive sometimes, she didn’t like how well he could see through her. However, as his gaze caught hers again, she didn’t seem to want to look away. The tenderness that he held for her stopped her. 

Was he really looking at her right now? Was this adoration and fondness really turned in her direction? 

“I’m not as pretty as you make out myself to be.” He smiled gently, brushing a hair strand out of her vision. She froze at the gentle gesture. 

“I know, but I’m in love with you. How do you expect for my eyes to be objective?” She gasped lightly, tensing under his touch. Suddenly he seemed too close, or not close enough, she didn’t know. She couldn’t make up her mind when it came to him, it seemed. Why did he have to say everything in such a manner that it always made her speechless? 

“You love me?” 

“Didn’t I tell you that already?” He chuckled, eyes wrinkling. 

“You said you had a crush on me, it’s different.” Jimin hummed.

“Well maybe I wasn’t accurate enough.” She didn’t move and neither did he. Absorbed in each other’s presence, no more words were exchanged as thoughts raced in their crowded minds. 

Until Jimin broke the silence again.

“And I know that you do not hold such feelings for me, and it’s fine, I cannot force you to. But will you give me a chance?” His pleading eyes were hard to look into.

“A chance?”

“Yeah, a chance to make you fall in love with me.” She did not pull away nor did she react much to his surprise. It worried him but at the same time, she had not fled. So, it could be worse, couldn’t it? 

“B-But you're a Christmas spirit.” 

“That’s correct.” He chuckled. 

“And I’m a Halloween one.”

“Also correct,” his smile got wider watching her confusion becoming clearer and clearer on her features. 

“And you’re a fairy, while I’m a witch.” He giggled lightly.

“So? Does all of that really matter?” His smile took her aback. She didn’t expect such a light smile and relaxed shoulders while he was basically pouring his heart to her even after she ignored his first attempt. 

She had not meant to; she had mostly freaked out and didn’t know how to face her own feelings- did she have any? (Y/N) wasn’t sure, but she knew that there was something, otherwise she would have just told him that she wasn’t interested and most likely wouldn’t have kissed him back. It shouldn’t have felt that right to kiss him. 

“I… Don’t know? Doesn’t it bother you?” She asked timidly.

“Would I have just told you I loved you if it did?” She blushed slightly at his answer. Jimin chortled endearingly, almost childishly. 

“You don’t have to make up your mind right now, okay? Just, think about it, yeah?” She nodded quietly as he smiled at her gently. She was still frozen next to him, so he decided to be slightly bolder than he was usually; he leaned in slowly before pressing his lips to her cheek in a sweet peck. He didn’t linger against her skin, merely letting her feel his lips before he pulled away. It was as if a feather had caressed her cheek before vanishing into thin air. (Y/N) found herself wishing for more, yet she’d never admit it. 

Instead, she silently observed his shy smile appearing before he let her hand go as if telling her that he was done talking. She opened her mouth to speak before realizing she didn’t know what to say. So she turned around, muttering a very quiet ‘try not to work too much, I’ll find a way to make you feel better’ and left him in his room before heading to Yoongi’s one. She needed to find out what she could do to help Jimin before figuring out what the hell was going on with her heart. 

It had been maybe a week or so since (Y/N) had started working with Yoongi on a potion for Jimin. It wasn’t going too well, not too bad either, but she had hoped for the process to be quicker; especially after she saw Jimin in the corridors running at full speed and even her nasty glare had done nothing to stop him in his relentless work. He did send her a remorseful smile, almost pleading-solely with his eyes-to be forgiven but had kept on a very much too strong rhythm for his body. (Y/N) had caught him a few times red-handed, already breathless, trying to soothe the heat of his body down; yet each time she was ready to call him out and tell him to sit down or to-at least-take a moment for himself, he got back on his feet, telling everyone he was more than fine and took back his activities where he left them, much to (Y/N)'s irritation. 

“He's going to kill himself at this rhythm”, Yoongi briefly hummed, not really listening to her as they ran tests on her to verify if the particles of their mother’s magic were still remaining, “why doesn’t he want to listen to me for once?” It made Yoongi chuckle. 

“Because you’d listen if he told you in the middle of the Halloween preparations that you have to stay in bed and take it easy? I don't think you would even listen to me, so what were you expecting exactly?” He had a point even though she wouldn't admit it. Had she been in this situation, she would have probably thrown a fit and gone back to work as soon as she would have been able to. Yoongi grinned silently as he noticed that (Y/N) wasn’t replying. He knew damn well that he was right. He finalized the process of analysis and sighed gently as he felt his sister’s head popping up over his shoulder to see the results. 

“... Well?” She squinted her eyes to skim through the numbers appearing. 

“Well it’s not looking too good for you personally, you do have traces in you, but I don’t think you can infect anyone. The residue are in your blood, not on your skin, so it’s pretty unlikely for you to be contagious.” Yoongi watched her expression harden at the information. He sighed, exhausted. He had done everything during their youth to protect her; he had tried his very best. How did it come that her results were that bad? 

“So Jimin caught it through the spell on the door then. Why would mother cast so dangerous spells like that in here?” 

“It’s probably meant for a witch, and most likely for you and me. It’s already impressive he was able to get in contact with it.”(Y/N) gulped at his words. Was she trying to kill them in the end? Had they done something so terrible to warrant such harsh methods?

As she got deep into her own head, (Y/N) still noticed another folded paper next to the one where Yoongi wrote her results down. Curiosity took over the slight hesitation she felt knowing that Yoongi would probably get annoyed at her for touching his stuff without his permission. Quietly grabbing the paper after glancing at Yoongi who was tidying up his desk, (Y/N) read through the written numbers, not understanding what the red and black numbers meant. Yet for some reasons, the order of the paper seemed familiar to her and she wondered where she had seen a similar paper. And then, it hit her. 

She quickly took her own paper and compared the data. 

“Fuck, Yoongi. Are those the results for you as well? Why are your results even worse than mine?” Yoongi’s head shot up quickly before he snatched the paper from her hands, looking at her menacingly. 

“It’s nothing.” He grunted.

“It’s probably not nothing considering how quick you were to take it away from me.” She raised an eyebrow and he clicked his tongue, annoyed. 

“Drop it (Y/N).” 

“What do you mean, drop it? Have you seen those numbers? How did you even get that? Is she still-” 

The worst was already running in her mind while his eyes silently met the ground.

“Is she still-”

“No, she isn’t (Y/N). If she was, I would have fought back, you know me. I’m not afraid anymore.” His reply stunt her. As much as (Y/N) knew how strong her brother was, it never stopped impressing her how he never gave up on fighting for himself. 

“T-Then how…?” She mumbled. Yoongi didn’t answer at first, he just sat down on his chair again and tapped his finger against the desk. However after a few minutes, he finally decided to come out of his silence.

“She didn’t go soft on me when we were kids since I was trying to take it for you. Though, it seems like my plan kind of failed since your positive to the test as well. I guessed she probably spent most of her energy on me but she used the rest of her strength on you. I was naive to believe that I would have been enough to protect you.” His smile did not reach his eyes as he looked emptily at the wall. 

“I’m sorry.” It took him aback to hear his sister apologize and he frowned almost immediately.

“I refuse your apology. You have nothing to apologize for. I took this decision by myself and the sole responsible for that is that awful woman. Nothing is your fault (Y/N).” 

“But had I been stronger I would have been able to take more and it would have been easier on you!” She surprised herself at the sudden increase in the volume of her voice. 

“It would have changed nothing, now stop dwelling on this. I don’t care about those numbers, I care about you, alright? So stop bending over backwards for ‘mother’ and start taking care of yourself for me, please.” She gasped silently at his words. It wasn’t often that Yoongi was so straightforward with his feelings and hearing it aloud made her emotional. Yoongi was more the kind of person to love quietly, yet his actions always spoke way louder than he did. They were maybe quite similar on that aspect. Hence, (Y/N) stood up, took a few steps forward while Yoongi was refusing to look at her. He could probably see her feet from where he was sitting so she decided to be straightforward for once too as she hugged him tightly. 

He didn’t return the hug, only tensed against her, but (Y/N) didn’t let it faze her. She just held him tighter. 

“Thank you for always having my back. I’m sorry for not trying harder for you nevertheless but I’m grateful you’re here with me. I love you lots, Yoongs.” Maybe the last thing was a bit too much but she couldn’t even recall the last time she told him so maybe it was a good thing to get it out of her chest. Especially when she heard his next words.

“I love you too, sis.” 

“Jimin!” He heard her from miles away and he was sure she was going to yell at him for working at such a late hour but not only was it past bed-time: he was late in his schedule. The whole Christmas department was late-it was most probably his fault-and that was not looking great for now. He needed to make those extra hours because otherwise they might not make it in time. And he couldn’t afford that to happen. How could Christmas be belated? Simple answer: it couldn’t. Plenty of humans and other creatures were waiting for it; Jimin couldn’t be late when it came to Christmas.  

So while (Y/N) called his name again, seeing that he didn’t seem ready to stop any time soon, he completely ignored her, not to hurt her, but he got things to do. His mind was running everywhere while his headache was getting stronger; needless to say that he hated it but he needed to be productive. 

“Jimin, fucking shit, will you wait for me?” It made him snort quietly.

“I have work to do, (Y/N). I appreciate you looking after me, but I truly have to get this ready before tomorrow.” Jimin didn’t look up as he carried on walking. He just needed to start the engine again and it should be fine. Maybe he had just one hour left of work and he would finally be able to hit his bed. 

“Okay mister, sit first I have good news. Yoongi and I made a potion; it should remove the toxin from your body and help you heal better.” She smiled at him, holding the precious fluid in her hands. His eyes curiously met hers as he watched her light expression, a soft smile dancing on her lips. It took him a few seconds to understand what she said; his brain froze at the sight of the dazzling smile (Y/N) had on her features. Memorizing this rare and precious scene, he came back to reality as he noticed that she rose an eyebrow suspiciously. 

“So… If I take that, supposing that you aren’t actually trying to kill me,” (Y/N) hit his shoulder lightly in protest but Jimin carried on giggling to himself, “the drowsiness and pain should go away?” 

“Technically yes. I hope so.” 

“You hope so? You’re not sure?” 

“Well, the potion didn’t work on either of us but we’ve both been exposed to those toxins for too long for a mere potion made in a few hours to work. Though, since those toxins most probably come from the spell of the door, it means that you haven’t been in contact with it for long so-” Jimin cut her laughing a bit.

“Shorter version (Y/N), please.” She grinned sheepishly. 

“It should work but we have no concrete proof it will. Though we’re sure of something; it is not dangerous to take it. We made it fairy friendly as well.” Jimin smiled softly at her words. It warmed his heart to know that she made sure it wouldn’t create any side effect. It often happened to him; a lot of products (be it in alimentation or beauty creams, etc) were not adequate to the sensitivity of fairies and he often ended with an itchy skin, or a weakened glow… Jimin have had his fair share of troubles because of that. 

“Thank you.” 

“Don’t thank me yet. What if it doesn’t work?” Her eyes had widened slightly, embarrassed to admit that it had a small probability of not working. 

“It’s the thought that matter. I should probably also thank Yoongi when I get the time.” He smiled lightly, taking the potion in his hands, inspecting the pink color before opening the bottle.

“I can take it now? No side effect like I suddenly fall asleep or something like that? Because I really have a lot of work to do.” He looked at her curiously, frowning slightly as he was met with silence. 

“What?”

“Well, the best would be for you to rest for a while after taking it…” 

“It’s a piece of advice or I actually have to?” Jimin tried to stay positive nevertheless. It was fine, he’d take it once he would be done if he had to take a break before taking it. Yet, she kept on avoiding his glance and it worried him. 

“I’d say you don’t have to, it’s not dangerous, but I fear the potion will work less efficiently if you move around. It will probably get evacuated by your body quickly if you keep on working at your usual pace; so I’d say that it would be better to take it before going to bed?” She expected for him to be annoyed but he merely chuckled and got up. (Y/N) panicked a bit, wondering what he had in mind but he just went back to his machine where he had been working before she interrupted him earlier. 

“What are you doing?” She asked cautiously. 

“I’m wrapping up what I have to do before I go to bed so that I can take your potion before sleeping?” His answer sounded more like a question than an actual affirmation and she raised an eyebrow at him. 

“Jimin, the sooner, the better. You’re exhausting your body and-”

“Hey (Y/N), stop worrying, will you? I’ll take it soon, I promise. I really have to finish that though. It’s going to take me an hour, and I’ll go to sleep afterward, I swear to you. I’m exhausted anyway so I won’t pull an all-nighter, don’t worry, okay?” 

It seemed quite reasonable if she were to be honest. She was expecting to encounter a much more fighting spirit, but he was rather compromising. (Y/N) pondered for a few seconds, knowing that she should just give it up and let him work. Why was she so worried after all? He was the one to bring lock them into this damn cold room, so it had been only logical for him to try and remove the spell of the door. It had not been her fault!

So why did she feel so guilty to know that he was struggling to work and probably getting anxious with the deadlines he had to meet for his own celebrations? Did she fear for him to lose his position of representative as well if he were to be late for Christmas? 

Or maybe, she was just worried for him, after all. 

“Why are you looking at me like that?” His voice broke her train of thoughts and she wondered if she hadn’t always felt this way. Her annoyance and hatred also came from her lack of understanding. From her point of view, it had always seemed that Jimin was caring and lovely with everyone but her. What had she done to deserve the wrath of one of the nicest person of the facility? He was just so sweet to everyone; (Y/N) had persuaded herself that it was only a front he put up to hide his malice, yet she had come to the conclusion that it was not an act. Jimin was genuinely sympathetic with everyone, everyone but her. 

“Fine, you can take it later, but I’m helping you.” Her eyes were focussed on the ground, not wanting to see his expression nor to watch his refusal.

“What?” 

“If you stay here working, then I’ll help you until you’re done. I’m not leaving you like that alone.” He blinked a few times before snorting. 

“(Y/N), I work in the Christmas department.”

“I’m aware of that.” 

“If you help me, you’ll be indirectly helping for the Christmas celebrations.”

“I know that thank you, I thought through it before saying I would help.” She had not. 

“And it doesn’t bother you?” He asked incredulous. (Y/N) despised Christmas, only Halloween seemed to make her heart beat ironically. 

“Would I have just told you I’d help you if it did?” Those words quickly ring a bell to Jimin whose jaw clenched slightly. Was she just quoting him? What did she mean by that? Was she hinting at the fact that she liked him too? 

Wait, no, she never said so. She just said she’d help, not that she was madly in love with him; he needed to calm his ragging heart. Fuck, what was she doing to him? 

“Then let’s get to work quickly. I won’t go soft on you just because I love you.” His words made her snap; she wasn’t expecting him to say something this straight-forward (and to be honest, neither was he), the blush that crept on her cheeks was also unexpected but she couldn’t help it. After five years of thinking that he hated her, hearing him say that he was in love with her made her heart go crazy. 

“It’s not like I expected you to.” He smiled at her words despite his original horror he felt after the l-word left his mouth again. He definitely didn’t mean to throw it that casually; if anything, Jimin wanted for these words to have a meaning, not used to joke around. But here he was, smiling like a schoolboy because she didn’t shut him out after he said he loved her even though she still had not given him an answer. 

It was okay; he wasn’t expecting an answer soon. He didn’t want to rush her, he was just glad that she didn’t slap him for his remark though. 

“And we’re done!” 

“Thanks goodness, I can’t wrap anything anymore.” Jimin laughed at her as she threw herself against the chair back. (Y/N) yawned looking at the time, it was already past 3 am. She snorted thinking that Yoongi was probably still awake, most likely busy with a book. 

“Now, it wasn’t that bad, was it?” He teased her, subconsciously bringing his hand on her shoulder. He froze as he noticed what he was doing but if that fazed her, she didn’t show it. She just rested her head silently, puffing slightly. 

“You made it tolerable, I guess.” His eyes widened before he burst into laughter. 

“What was so funny?” She looked at him confused while he tried his best to calm down. 

“I didn’t expect you to say something to cheesy.” Realization seemed to dawn on her only once he pointed out the cheesiness of her answer. God, what was happening to her, it sounded like she was flirting with him.

“I didn’t- I wasn’t-”

“It’s fine (Y/N), don’t worry. Let’s just call it a night, we did enough.” Jimin slowly got up, loosing his balance for a second but (Y/N) got on her feet quickly to make sure he wouldn’t fall. Both of her hands laid on his shoulder, trying to hold him up while he tried to shake the wave of dizziness again. 

“Are you alright?” (Y/N) sounded genuinely distressed and Jimin felt bad for pushing forward despite lacking the energy. He probably should have gone to bed when she had instructed him to but it would be fine. He would take the potion, go to sleep, and hopefully everything would be back to normal by tomorrow. 

“I’ll be fine. I’ll go to bed and take your potion. I should get better soon.” Her frown did not disappear even after his attempt at soothing her worries down. 

“I’ll accompany you to your room.” 

“You don’t have to, I’ll be fine on my own-”

“I don’t have to but I want to and I will. I know the way now, so you don’t even try to complain.” He huffed at her but she still had a point; it would be safer as well for him. 

“Lead the way then.” He grumbled, admitting his defeat while (Y/N) linked their arms together and started walking. He wasn’t expecting for her to be this careful, glancing at him now and then, and making sure he wouldn’t lose balance. It was a weird, yet endearing change in her behavior. Jimin caught her looking at him more than once and he wanted to giggle at the scene; who would have known that he would end up like that? Watched over by the woman he loved whereas she was still getting shy each time they made an eye contact? It was surreal to him.

They still arrived safely without any problem; Jimin still felt nauseous but at least, he could walk properly without feeling like he was about to faint. (Y/N) kept a close eye on him as he kicked his shoes and got inside his room, silently asking if she was coming in or not. 

She didn’t know if it was okay for her to come, but she wanted to make sure he’d take the potion. (Y/N) knew it was unlikely, but for some reasons, she feared he’d forget and straight up go to sleep without taking the precious fluid. She was going inside to make sure he’d take the potion and that was it. 

Nothing to do about her pounding heart and rosy cheeks that she was trying so hard to hide. 

Not at all. She wasn’t flustered to be in his room, after all, she had already been here once. She shouldn’t be flustered, right? 

Then why was she so damn nervous? 

“Is there anything I should do before taking it?” (Y/N) watched him as he was sitting on his bed, watching the potion he had inside his hands. 

“Maybe prepare a glass of water, the taste isn’t the best.” She shrugged. His fingers wriggled in the air gently, glitters forming from his skin, floating in the air. She watched amazed as the thin glittery particles flew in the air, preparing a glass of water for him while he removed the cork of the bottle. While Jimin remained unbothered as ever, the glass came back full and found the end of its journey in (Y/N)’s hand. She tried to hide her bewilderment but probably failed even though Jimin said nothing. 

“Okay well then here goes nothing.” He seemed slightly nervous as he gulped down the pink liquid. His nose wrinkled after a few seconds and (Y/N) knew it meant that the taste of the potion was hitting him. He released a small disgusted gasp once he finished the bottle and (Y/N) quickly handed him the glass that he drank in a few seconds. 

“You didn’t lie when you said that the taste wasn’t the best.” He chuckled humorlessly. 

“We tried to make it sweeter, but some ingredients were just… hopeless.” She grinned a bit while he relaxed in his bed.

“You should go back to your room too, get some rest.” He yawned.

“Jimin.” Her serious expression made him flinch slightly. The night had gone so softly that her hard expression seemed out of place. Yet, he waited for her to continue without daring to utter a word. 

“I’m sorry for ignoring you right after we got out of the cold room. I freaked out, but it doesn’t mean it was okay for you, so I’m sorry. And I’m also sorry for the numerous assumptions I made about you. It wasn’t fair and I never gave you the opportunity to give your version of what happened, so I’m truly sorry.” She had almost whispered, afraid of the reaction her words could create; the last thing she wanted was to hurt him again. 

Jimin felt the previous tension melt as he released a soft sigh. Smiling quietly to himself, he hummed before speaking again. 

“I understand. I wish you would have reacted differently but I get it. I would have probably freaked out had the roles been reversed, so no hard feelings, don’t worry. Same for the assumptions, I get it to be honest. So it’s fine.” A soft smile graced his features and (Y/N) couldn’t help but think that he looked ethereal right there. His glow seemed slightly brighter than it had been as they had been working-maybe the potion was already affecting the toxins-and his gleaming eyes conveyed nothing but adoration. She couldn’t explain all the thoughts that were crowding her mind. Yet, one especially kept on urging her to move and do something. 

And do something; she did. 

Was she thinking straight? Maybe not. The only thing she was sure about, was that again, the feeling of his lips against hers felt so fucking right. 

It took Jimin a few seconds to understand what was going on, but he quickly shut his eyes as she cupped his cheeks in her hands, delicately stroking the tender skin. Her feeling of her lips felt addictive, as if she had been made to fit him, and he couldn’t help but slide one of his hands behind her neck, trying to bring her closer to him while the second one wrapped up her waist, pushing her to fall on the top of him. Both of her hands left his face to rest on each side of his head, balancing herself above him. Yet, despite the initial surprise she had felt as Jimin’s arms had brought her closer to him, they didn’t break the kiss, lips firmly sealed together as if separating themselves from each other would burn them. Jimin tried to push her hands away from the bed so that she would fall flat on him but he just ended up taking her hands in his, making sure to intertwine their fingers while his teeth gently tugged on her bottom lip. A soft moan escaped her and before she could get flustered, Jimin slipped his tongue inside her mouth, gasping quietly as he tried to focus on the kiss. He had to show her what he had to offer, how he could take care of her. Maybe it would help her to make a decision, maybe she would give him a chance if he was persuasive enough. 

And persuasion was something he excelled at. 

It took everything out of him to slowly detach his lips from hers while a thin thread of saliva still connected them before he started kissing her jaw, leaving wet marks after him. He would have probably commented about how hot the image of her bruised lips parting slightly as he kept kissing her skin further was, but he merely hummed against her skin, vibrations sending shivers to (Y/N) who was helpless against Jimin’s ministrations. Switching their positions slowly, Jimin smirked now that he was on top of her, having the upper hand of the situation. (Y/N) whined as he started sucking on her neck, making sure that he would leave a dark bruise on her soft skin and he mentally cheered, delighted to hear her moaning under him. If he had any means to record her sweet voice, he probably would have done it. 

“Jimin,” she tried to articulate slowly while he was relentlessly working on her neck, “Jimin, please stop.” Her words made him freeze instantly. His head shot up, lips abandoning her already bruised neck quickly as he watched her close, eyes searching for hers.

Did he go too far? Should he have let her kiss him and leave? Maybe he hurt her? Did he miss his hands pressing on her and hurting her or something else? What had he done?

“Are you okay? Did I hurt you? Did I-”

“Jimin calm down, I’m fine, don’t worry. It was just… getting a little bit too much for me.” (Y/N) smiled softly under him and Jimin let out a little sigh, relieved that he didn’t hurt her.

“I’m sorry, I got carried away.” He grinned apologetically. The last thing he wanted was to make her run away. He couldn’t fuck up now.

“It’s okay, I didn’t exactly push you away either so.” She chuckled nervously and Jimin couldn’t help but smile wider at her obvious edginess. She was too cute for him, she’d be his death one day. 

“Still, I should have asked you if it was fine instead of just… yeah, sorry, you have quite the hickey on your neck.” It was his turn to chuckle uneasy, yet not without feeling proud of himself for the dark bruise left on her neck. 

“I... God, Yoongi is going to ask so many questions.” Jimin giggled lightly.

“It’s quite rude to speak about another man when being in someone’s bed.” He teased, noticing that (Y/N) never told him that Yoongi was her brother. Sure, she kind of hinted at it when they were stuck in the cold room, but had he not overheard it by himself, he would have probably been confused.

“Yoongi is my brother,” she confessed quietly, “we don’t really try to hide it but it doesn’t come into conversations either so…” 

“I’m only teasing, I knew already.” He watched confusion settle in her eyes with amusement. She titled her head slightly before asking:

“You knew?” 

“Yeah, I did. I overheard you both once at the cafeteria and he called you ‘sis’ or something, I don’t fully remember, but I got the hint that day.” He wasn’t completely lying to be fair, he didn’t fully remember the conversation, but he did omit to say that he remembered some other parts of that conversation. Not that it was such a big deal, but he didn’t really want to sound like he had been listening to them. 

“Ah, I didn’t realize other people knew.”

“Don’t worry, everyone is still clueless.” She giggled lightly at his words, smile fixed on her lips, unwilling to disappear. “Eh, maybe I should go to bed.” 

“You’re already in bed.” Jimin challenged jokingly, internally prying for her to get the hint that he wanted for her to stay. 

“No I meant, my bed. Not yours, Jimin.” He could have mentally slapped himself.

She didn’t get the hint. He should have known she wouldn’t, she was always oblivious so those sorts of things. 

“Yeah, by that I meant that I’d like for you to stay, only if you want of course.” Jimin grinned watching her confused expression melt into realization. Lips slightly parted and eyebrow raised, she definitely had not made that link in her mind and her sudden comprehension was cute. Not able to help himself, Jimin quickly pecked her lips before giggling at her flustered state. (Y/N) turned her head into the pillow in an attempt at hiding herself but Jimin only laughed harder while falling next to her. 

“Ah, stop laughing at me!” 

“I’m not making fun of you don’t worry, you’re just too cute sometimes. Cute and really oblivious as well.” She pouted while he just smiled softly at her. Brushing her hair away from her face, he leaned in to press a kiss on her forehead before pushing the blankets over her body as well. She watched him without complaining, almost making herself comfortable in his bed while he mentally cheered. A small victory for him. 

“Oh wait, do you want one of my shirt to sleep? It cannot be comfortable to sleep in the clothes you wore all day.” Jimin watched her think before she silently nodded, grateful for the offer. He went to the bathroom while she got changed and maybe he shouldn’t have gone away from her so soon because now he was overthinking? What if it didn’t mean what it meant to him? What if she was merely staying there because she was tired? Jimin groaned wordlessly as he felt his heart beating a bit too fast in his chest. He needed to stop beating around the bush. It had not worked the first time, nor did it work the second and even now that he tried to hint at the fact that he wanted for her to stay, she had not gotten it. So instead of ruminating pessimistic thoughts, he was going to walk out like an adult and ask her the question. 

Easier said than done. He froze entirely once he got a glance at her wearing nothing but his shirt (and probably her underwear but spare Jimin’s mind). Trying his best not to ogle at her, he slipped under the sheets and tried to soothe his mind down before turning to her, meeting her curious eyes as she was wondering what happened while she was changing because she distinctly heard him groan in pain. Did the potion not work? Was he still in pain? It should take some time to be effective but he shouldn’t be in so much pain anymore. 

“Are you okay?” A soft whisper left her mouth and Jimin tried to find the best words he could to explain his feelings. 

“I… Physically yes. I don’t feel that dizzy anymore.” 

“I feel like a ‘but’ is coming…” He smiled nervously at her words.

“I don’t really know how to put it. Does this,” he pointed at her and then at himself, “the kiss and everything we shared, does this mean something to you? Because I think it’s clear that to me, it does. It means a lot but I don’t want to get my hopes up if it doesn’t for you.” Jimin chuckled with a hint of disappointment in his voice. He couldn’t help it, of course he’d be disappointed if it meant nothing to (Y/N). “Basically what I am asking is, does this mean that you’re giving me, us, a chance?” Jimin didn’t dare looking at her, almost hiding in his sheets. It wasn’t like he could force her to like him, but he wished she would give him a simple chance to show her his love. 

“You said that I’m oblivious, but this is quite true for you too, you know?” His head shot up as he heard her voice teasing him. She was looking at him with an amused smile on her lips, leaving him unsure of the meaning behind her words. 

“Pardon?”

“Do you really think I would sleep here if I had just let myself get carried away and didn’t want to stay with you?” 

‘Stay with you’. That sounded nice if he were to be honest. 

“We never know.” He chuckled embarrassed.

“Let me make myself clear then,” she took his hand into hers as she scouted closer to him,” I’m not 100% sure about what I feel for you. It’s always a messy rollercoaster of emotions. What I’m sure about is that there is something between you and me, and I’d like to see where this can go. I’m betting on us right now, so take your chance, please.” Pecking him on the lips, she smiled brightly at him and before she could move away, he cupped her cheek to kiss her again. 

Nothing mattered anymore to him. 

Maybe the next day he ran everywhere to prepare for Christmas, and it might have continued like that until the 25th. Maybe they didn’t get to see each other a lot because it was his busiest season of the year. And maybe they kept on bickering in the hallways and in the cafeteria. 

But it was worth it. All of it was worth seeing her teary eyes on that 25th morning when he came to her room with the gift he had prepared for her. It wasn’t anything big, he promised he’d do better the next year but she didn’t really care. She confessed that it was her first Christmas gift and hearing that, Jimin made a promise to himself to always gift her something that would make her happy. 

Because to him, nothing was more precious than gifting a little piece of happiness for Christmas. And maybe (Y/N) even admitted that Christmas wasn’t that bad after all.

(She still preferred Halloween though)

TAGLIST: @ggukkieland​, @thequeen-kat​, @meow-meowch​,  @sizzlingwastelandwolf  , @moon8child​, @ bettyschwallocksyee

[violetarks]

Just A Game: Shouldn't Couldn't Wouldn't

Anime: My Hero Academia

LEVEL DOWN | MENU | LEVEL UP

"Shinso, you don't want to watch with us?" Uraraka questioned, settling down in between Todoroki and Midoriya.

The man shook his head. "No. You guys are probably gonna' watch some boring rom-com." He joked, brushing a hand through his hair.

It's been two days since he last spoke to Y/N.

They were completely cut off from each other. No, they didn't delete their numbers off of their phones, but they weren't talking at all. It gave Y/N time to cool off and work on her song as well as stream sometimes. Shinso worked on streaming by himself and helping others with their videos.

"Y/N came out with a new song!" Uraraka giggled out in excitement, turning on YouTube on the TV, "Only the music video is out for now, but I heard all her friends helped to film it!"

Shinso visibly tensed up at her words. They hadn't mentioned anything about Y/N to him, just guessing that they were having some trouble. But it completely went out of Uraraka's head as soon as she read Y/N's Twitter post that said ''Shouldn't Couldn't Wouldn't' is out now on my YouTube channel!! Go check it out or else I'll send Bakugou after you 😡😡😡'.

Shinso sighed out, "I'm good. I need to make some lunch for us anyway."

They said their 'thank you's to Shinso as Iida told him to be careful in the kitchen. He stood in the kitchen for a while, mind going to Y/N. She looked so hurt when he admitted he lied. And maybe she would've felt better if he just poured out why he felt this way, to lie and such.

The chatter of Todoroki, Midoriya, Iida and Uraraka died down at the girl pressed 'play' on the TV.

Shinso stood behind them in the living room doorway. He didn't want to sit with his friends right now. He just wanted to be alone and watch the music video.

The music came out gently at first. The plucking of the strings on the electric guitar was simple. It sounded like the feeling of falling. The video started out on a blank screen, the words 'Shouldn't Couldn't Wouldn't' on the black background. Underneath showed the people's names.

Vocals: L/N Y/N, Kirishima Eijiro

Guitars: Kirishima Eijiro (lead), Kaminari Denki (back-up electric), Jirou Kyoka (bass)

Drums: Bakugou Katsuki

Cameras: Ashido Mina, Sero Hanta

And then the drum beat came in behind, slowly at first as the first verse came up.

"'By now I got your bad habits all memorized, like, when I know you need me most'," Y/N sung, hand on the microphone as she tugged the wire behind her, "'You go and shut me out, figures, you Gemini."

They decided not to film a big music video, just one in the studio. They got Mina and Sero to dl the camera work, and God, did they do a great job

"Wow, she can really sing!" Midoriya commented before Uraraka quieted him down. She was a huge fan of Y/N's.

"'And I'm not sayin' that I've got, all of the answers, but,'" She kept going, Mina's camera panning to Kaminari who was focusing on the guitar at the moment, "'Boy, I've been in love before'."

Jirou had sung in the harmonies, adding in the ones they agreed on. It sounded like honey.

He wondered who she was in love with before him, and if they did a better job. Y/N admitted that she wanted to be more than friends with Shinso, and he blew it. Maybe the other person who loved her treated her better.

"'It's not always peachy, look, life ain't that easy,'" Y/N kept going, tapping her foot in beat with Bakugou's soft drumbs, "'But one thing I know for sure is it—'"

"'Shouldn't,'" She sung lightly with Jirou behind her, looking up to the camera with a completely 'done' expression, "'Be this hard, you couldn't, DTR. Oh wouldn't, it be nice, if we could stay friends? But we shouldn't.'"

The camera caught how Kirishima and Bakugou glanced at each other before at Y/N. It wasn't very discrete in the shot of the whole band.

Shinso clenched the fabric of his sweater as he watched her. She was gorgeous, on and off camera.

"Y'know what? I couldn't." Y/N went on, one hand brushing the back of her neck whilst the other held onto the microphone, "'Nough's enough. If I had your heart, it wouldn't be this... hard."

She looked deep in thought and would've stayed that way if it wasn't for Kirishima's little riff on his guitar.

Shinso noticed how she looked to the ground, swallowing before looking back up to the camera with a small grin.

She began to walk around the studio, tugging the wire behind her. "You wonder why suddenly, I'm coming off indifferent." She chimes, shrugging her shoulders innocently, "'What you don't seem to understand is..."

She stood next to Jirou, who was smiling at her friend. She hadn't seen Y/N this passionate about a song in ages. Jirou didn't like the intention behind it, but she always loved seeing Y/N give her all.

"It's not anything you said, it's everything you didn't. Ooh," Y/N spoke, glaring at the camera as Jirou harmonised with her. It was obvious who she had in mind. She hoped he saw this.

Shinso definitely did, he was feeling his heart rate increase slowly as she spoke. She meant every word she said and Shinso had the front seat to who she meant it to.

"Yeah, you." She sung, waving a finger in the air, "You always answered with, more questions to questions that scare you."

Y/N stood in the middle of Kirishima and Kaminari, tilting her head down to the camera. She wore a face that said she was truly angered, but was hiding it behind her smile. But it fell for the next line.

"We're not always peachy, look, love ain't that easy." Y/N stated, Bakugou in the background of the shot twirling his drumsticks in between his fingers.

"But one thing I know—" Y/N struck her fist up into the air, as did Kaminari and Kirishima, "I know it for sure that it!"

"Shouldn't," Jirou came in as Y/N finished the climax of that line.

"Be this hard, you couldn't," Y/N went on after taking a deep breath, pulling the mic back to her lips, "DTR. Oh wouldn't, it be nice if we could stay friends? But we shouldn't!"

Kaminari had whistled in the background at her voice. Y/N sung this chorus with so much more heat and push, making it sound less soft and passive-agressive than the last. Making it now — just agressive.

But Kirishima and Bakugou focused on their instruments. They knew how much Shinso hurt her. Which is why they encouraged her to sing this song for the album, it would help her get all this hatred out of her system.

"Y'know what? I couldn't!" She called, hand in her hair as she went over to Kirishima. As Sero's camera followed her, she leaned her arm against Kirishima's shoulder. "'Nough's enough! If I had your heart, it wouldn't be this hard."

Bakugou's drumming was the main attraction in the music background for the third verse.

"I drank too much tonight to not try to call you up." Kirishima finally joined in, singing into the microphone that stood in front of him. He worked with Jirou to help get his voice to suit this song better. "I mean, that's what our phones are for."

"Even Kirishima? Damn, they're all talented." Todoroki commented, sipping from his glass as Uraraka shifted in her spot.

She squealed, "Oh my God! People are gonna' go crazy over this! A duet between Kirishima and Y/N!"

Shinso didn't like that. The idea of Kirishima and Y/N together right after they broke it off, as friends. He wanted a second chance to make things better.

Mina's camera showed Kaminari throwing up a fist to cheer on his best friend, Jirou smiling at Kirishima.

It made the red-haired boy grin through his singing. "Not one for titles, girl, in other words — terrified." He said, seeing Y/N lift herself off of him to whisper to Bakugou about something.

Shinso was terrified. He hated to admit it. Perhaps that was why he could lie. Because he was scared.

The next line made him blush red. "That pussy kicked my rules out the door."

Y/N only grinned at him.

Shinso felt his heart ache.

Kaminari wrote that sentence. He wrote all of Kirishima's lines. Which made Jirou and Y/N laugh in rehearsals.

Kirishima shook his head, Sero's camera now focusing on him. "I could take more shots or I could take you, off your blouse." Kirishima sung as Y/N came back to her spot, still watching him, "My favourite parts of fucking is either when I'm done or when you're walking out my house."

Again, Shinso grit his teeth as he listened to those lines.

But why? Y/N wasn't his.

Jirou had hit Kaminari for writing that line as he claimed it was too late to change it now.

As Y/N twirled the microphone wire in between her fingers, Kirishima closed his eyes and went on, "You don't pick up when I call unless I call you 'mine'. But one thing I know is it—"

"Shouldn't!" Y/N came in again, taking the last chorus again with Jirou. Kirishima went back to focusing on his guitar.

He tried calling her. She didn't pick up. Ever. Maybe because she was filming and editing, or because she didn't want to waste the time on him.

"Be this hard. You couldn't, DTR. Oh wouldn't, it be nice if we could stay friends? But we shouldn't..." She sung, tilting her head to the side with closed eyes.

Y/N held onto the microphone tightly as Jirou watched her intensely. "Y'know what? I couldn't! 'Nough's enough!" She sung loudly, mic pulled away a bit to prevent peaking, "If I had your heart, it wouldn't be this..."

She took a deep breath in before letting it out in the song. "Hard — ah, ah, ah—ah, ah, ah..." She sung in melody with Jirou, closing her eyes with knitted brows. She was about to burst. "Oh, woah, woah—Hard, ah, ah! Mm!"

When Y/N opened her eyes, she stared at the ground. The drumming was dropped and the only one playing was Kirishima, the lead guitarist for the song.

She sighed, "It's not always peachy, look, love ain't that easy. But one thing I know, for sure is we... shouldn't."

The music stopped and was replaced by Kaminari's cheers. They finished the take in one go. He set his guitar down and ran up to the girls, engulfing them in giant hugs as he complimented their voices.

Y/N giggled, hugging back with Jirou, who looked madly annoyed. Bakugou only came towards them at Y/N's whining, telling him to be a team player. He allowed her to wrap an arm around his neck, saying how good his drumming was.

The last to join the hug was Kirishima. He stood in front of Y/N, placing a hand on top of her head and ruffling her hair. She complained about it until he rested a kiss on her forehead.

That's where the video cut off.

Shinso squinted at the TV before overhearing Uraraka compliment how well they sang and how great they performed all together. She always loved their friendship group.

Iida said something about the camera work and how the transitions were smooth.

Midoriya liked how they seemed relaxed all the time during the recording.

Todoroki mentioned how it kind of hinted to Kirishima and Y/N being a couple.

Shinso walked back into the kitchen.

Fun Fact: Y/N and her best friends really only met through Kaminari spilling his tea over Y/N's shirt at the cafe they all coincidentally studied at. She had her music playing through her headphones, which is why Jirou had introduced herself since she liked the artist too. Kaminari and Mina cried over ruining a pretty outfit. Kirishima apologised for their behaviour. Bakugou hit the two for their actions. Mina invited Y/N to come to their table and pay for her food in return.

TAGS: @just-some-stars @freyafolkvangr @headfirst-halo @wotsitgirl @falling4fandoms @katsuki-bakuhoee @adorable-punk-superheroes @firecet @ouijaeater15 @swoonhui @thegalxe @caitff @camry-orphanaccount @angelofdarkness1020 @someweirdshitman @jazzylove

[ae0nx]

FRUITS BASKET S3 EPISODE 8 RECAP AKA THE KYORU CHRONICLES PART 2 (plus a quick recap of eps 3-7)

aaaaaaAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!! I gotta get it out of me otherwise I won't be able to concentrate on work and I will be scrolling through the tag till the day I die. Everything from episode 3 of Season 3 literally hit me like an avalanche - literally cos I marathoned 3-7 over the weekend which I wouldn't advise unless you want an accelerated heartbeat - and I'm starting to realise... maybe I just wasn't ready for season 3. Despite asking for it, haha. Not gonna put as many screencaps for this one cos tumblr editing bay be trippin and I just don't have time nor emotional energy to be fighting with the picture uploads, sorry lol

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Episodes 3 - 7

I spoke before about how (despite my feelings about the characters) the English dub VAs for Akito and Shigure pair up really well audibly. And I think I feel the same way about both Yuki and Machi's English VAs! They both have the same soft spoken yet scratchy element to their voices almost like they are holding slightly back. Although, I'd argue that Yuki has been losing the element of slightly holding back as the anime has gone on which I wonder if the same would be included for Machi's performance?

I really like the presentation of Machi's trauma through her family's expectations to be perfect and how physical it is? How Yuki kind of encourages her to let it out in a healthy way? (Btw the whole chalk breaking scene in the meeting was SO FUCKING SMOOTH. YUKI IS A NERD BUT HE IS SO EFFORTLESSLY COOL A LOT OF THE TIME)

The age gap between Isuzu and Haru for sure isn't the worst age gap in this anime/manga but it's still a bit... hmm...

Episode 4:

In all seriousness, I know Akito deserves some sympathy but it doesn't change the fact that I still see her as a villain. Hurt people hurt people but it doesn't mean they should get away with it, I was honestly pleased Haru got that big confrontation with Akito to tell her WHAT'S WHAT but it was also somewhat... merciful?

Hiro's growth has been so beautiful to see, him realising there are bigger things than him from the event with Rin to his relationship with Kisa to then the birth of his little sister.

Kureno choosing to get his hands a little dirtier and paying the ultimate price for it (as far as we know so far in the anime lol) was great, he is the moon side of Tohru's sunshine.

Shigure... I still don't really get him and Akito's relationship. It's clear he's waiting for Akito to grow the fuck up but at the same time he's not creating an environment for her to grow and develop. He's decided to go with the 'tough love' route which I'm still deciding whether I like it or not tbh. Sometimes it feels necessary, at other times it feels shitty. I respect that he knows he's a scumbag and I don't deny that there are people out there who take revelry in the fact that they are awful but at the same time, him remaining unchanging despite everything feels... unrealistic. But considering throughout this story he doesn't seem affected by trauma, it's understandable, I guess?

Also... that scene where Shigure ponders about whether he should've been with Tohru is THE creepiest creeper shit he's EVER done in this series. No. 🙅🏾‍♀️

Momiji is best bunny boi regardless of how tall and 'manly' he becomes. 🐰His scene with Akito was so authentically him and he really did that shit. We love him. <3

I love the way that the curse breaking should (on surface) be a happy event considering all the trauma the zodiac went through because of it but it's presented mostly as loss as well as happiness. It's the realness of getting out of a bad relationship

Shigure basically laying it out to Tohru how Kyo means nothing in a very taunting way was an excellently painful scene and I choose violence. It was heartbreaking seeing how worthless they all saw Kyo compared to how Tohru saw him but... by this point I was just living in the pain so 🤷🏾‍♀️

The story visually showing how Isuzu is more willing to be soft after her whole ordeal through her fashion choices (e.g. the pastels, the cardigans) was really nice. And Haru being happy about Isuzu making friends with Tohru was cute!

It was nice we saw that Kazuma was still wary about whether Tohru loved Kyo for the right reasons, you'd assume after everything Kazuma would love Tohru as a match for Kyo but he's so emotionally intelligent and also just a protective Dad! Yay, good parenting!

Tohru's confession to loving Kyo was amazing however I still adore Kyo's confession a little bit more. Just a bit. Lol. However, if you add the moment later in episode 8 it trumps it completely. Ethereal goddess.

Kyo and Tohru's grandfather having a scene together was great and nice

Now that I think about it, I wish there was more a visual link in the story between Tohru adapting her speech to imitate her Dad and Momiji adopting his Mum's German accent. Albeit for slightly different reasons, it just adds to the unique connection Tohru and Momiji have. In short, I'm seeing this ship with my third eye now. I get it lol

I don't wanna screencap the scene where Kyo is haunted by both his deceased mother and deceased Kyoko and potentially deceased Tohru because it's the stuff of nightmares. But, it was a wonderfully done scene. You definitely understand fully and clearly why Kyo buried all of that trauma under his hatred for Yuki (I CAN'T WAIT FOR EPISODE 9, YOU GUISE!)

If Akito is a villain, Ren is the final boss. Although, with her type of villainy... I feel like I can kind of enjoy a bit more. She reminds me of a Greek God in the ways she master manipulates people and her desperation for control and power (I just read 'Mythos' by Stephen Fry, it's a great read lol)

It lowkey feels like every female character who's comfortable in expressing their sexuality in this story is punished in some way for it... this is an incomplete thought

Shigure as a child feeling like they should all be pitied is so... mature... I feel like I need more of an explanation for why Shigure is the way he is

Akito's ego death with Kureno? Amazing. I loved that she was at least aware enough to realise how Kureno had been coddling her all this time but again... doesn't excuse her crimes

But anyways...

EPISODE 8

Honestly? I really don't have much to say about this episode besides 3-5 points I wanna get out of my head. It's not a bad thing at all, it's just that there's still a lot left to play out from this 'arc' and this season in general that I wanna complete my thoughts on.

But I'll start with this:

Lol, isn't it funny?! Isn't it heart-wrenchingly funny how the relationship between Kyo and Tohru has kinda reverted back to how they were at the start of the series? The coldness of Kyo at the beginning of this episode (and throughout) was a bit of a gut punch considering all the light and fluffy moments that we've gotten between the two since the True Form arc.

Talking about the True Form arc, I feel like this episode is somewhat a repeat of the same emotions, same trials of the True Form arc. Kyo still 'runs away like he always has' but this time we get him being the most honest and confrontational with his own emotions and trauma than he ever has been during the course of this whole story. While trusting someone (Tohru specifically) for the first time with the whole truth of his story! He always seems to move one step forward and then three steps backwards and while it's a tad bit frustrating, it feels very... real. I'll probably complete my feelings how this arc reflects the True Form arc when we finish this section of the story in future episode(s).

Considering the fact that 80% of this episode is Jerry Jewell monologuing as Kyo and I never got bored really just sells his performance. Kyo was being incredibly cold this episode and yet the range of emotions through his performance made it feel understandable enough for you to empathise with it.

BrattyKid!Kyo to lighten the mood 😹I still wish he and Hiro had more of a relationship, I feel like they could have taught each other a lot. Well... mostly Kyo teaching Hiro tbh

Kyo rejecting Kyoka for her honesty and kindness and then later rejecting Tohru? Oh... kid...

Wow, I felt so good about that whole episode of Kid!Yuki helping Kid!Tohru get home and then it's slightly soured knowing KID!KYO was running about the streets alllll night into the morning?!?! I really did feel Kyo's frustration at not getting that win to actually do something right. And the irony of that being linked to him being unable to save Kyoka from the oncoming car?

Honestly, I don't know what my feelings are on Kyo being unable to save Kyoka. I don't even know what my feelings are on Tohru pretty much pushing that aside in favour of her feelings for Kyo. It's... complicated and I've been mulling it over in my head for the last 10+ years hahah However, if I was in Tohru's position I think I'd eventually come to a point where it feels like it's too late to really do anything about how bad I'd feel about it. Kyo's intentions weren't horrid, if anything he was just being a scared kid and he's allowed to be that. I just wish Tohru had a bit more time to evaluate it but considering she knew her mother well and assumes that wouldn't have been the full scope of what she had said, I don't have much of a problem with it in general

Lol, I love when Tohru gets a 'FUCK YOU, I LOVE YOU' moment with Kyo. 😂Another reflected scene from the True Form arc... only thing is that this time... it doesn't quite work. 😕

(Again, I love how all of these reflections are resolved in later occurences in response to the duality but I'll get to it next week when it shows hopefully)

Laura Bailey only had a few sentences in this episode but she killed it as always. Comparing her performance in 2001 to now is just... growth!

Ok, so Yuki automatically gets Best Boi in this episode for meddling and chasing after KYO of all people. Showing how he's personally done with hating Kyo. Realising Kyo is pretty much the only person who'll make his mother happy. I think he also lowkey wants to understand Kyo? But, we'll get to that next week.

....Oh yeah, Akito is there.

--------------------------------------------------------------

In total, I liked this episode even though it has me anxious for the next one. We finally get the full picture of why Kyo is the way he is! Ahhhh - a weight off all our chests, I'm sure. I kinda don't like that they put the ending theme at the end of these episodes - the joyfulness doesn't really match up with the intense theme? But, that's just a minor gripe. And hey, maybe they just want the audience to know... it's all gonna be okay :)

See you next week!!!

[silver-wield]

Hi! I just saw a twitter account accusing you for being bias since you don't like Aerith. First, CC was my first RPG ever and Aerith has been my fav character ever since. But, I know that doesn't mean Cloud has to love her since that's simply not the story. I can assure you though that your understanding of her role and motivation is definitely better than those accounts that claim to be her fan. Honestly, I think the reason some people don't like Aerith is because of those fake fans.

You mean this twat or another one?

Ftr, this asshat right here (bottom acc) is the same one who calls Tifa a "generic Asian girl", a slut, a whore, a bully, can't cook, friendzoned by Cloud, npc, weak, can't fight, always needs saving and so on. Also screams that Cloud is "single af" in AC 🤦‍♀️

Yeah, that's definitely the same as me saying I don't like Aerith, her battle style and have issues with her behaviour in chapter 8 🤦‍♀️

And the other one thinks this is me projecting hatred. Sorry, not even slightly sorry, dumdum, but these are canon lines in the game said by Cloud. No photoshop or editing needed.

He really isn't that nice to Aerith. Even when he's being sympathetic he ain't that invested in her. Not surprising since he don't like her all that much. Not until after she helps him save Tifa at the very least, anyway. After that he tolerates her better, but she's not even around for long afterwards, and even after they save her and she's yanking on his arm he's still pulling away.

Nobody needs to make that up. It's obvious if you actually play the game.

The fact is I don't like Aerith. I don't like the way she treats Cloud like a replacement for Zack, and I don't like how she was in OG and otwtas being all creepily obsessed with Cloud and enjoying upsetting Tifa. It's toxic af and I'm not the only one who hates it. The only reason those idiots don't hate that bullshit is cause they wanna see Tifa miserable even at the expense of making Aerith hated. And that's because they don't even like Aerith, they just wanna fuck Cloud and using the damsel in distress, but really super magical special girl is easier for their brains to digest than childhood friend who can kick ass but the hero wants to save her anyway.

Even though I don't like Aerith, I do understand her role in the story and don't act like she shouldn't exist or that she offended my ancestors every time she breathes near Cloud. Her interactions with Zack in CC are cute, but it didn't make me a shipper. I like Zack and he loves her, so that's just how it is.

Ftr I also don't like Cait Sith and Genesis. I'm meh about Vincent and Cid. I like Barret, but not his battle style. I don't have equal love for Tifa and Cloud, cause I love Tifa way more than him, but I still love that stupid boi. It's normal to not like all the characters. I also don't like Snow and Vanille in 13, Amarant and Eiko in 9, I'm meh about Wakka and Kimhari in 10. I think the only title I really like all the main cast is 12. They're fantastic and I'm happy using all of them in battle. (I prioritise my character love over how good they fight). So yeah, preference is normal.

Calling a character a whore cause she "stole" your fictional boyfriend is off the charts batty.

Also, if people have issues with my personal opinion they can mute/block me. Trust me, I won't even notice the difference 🤭

[serialreblogger]

Hey! I'm thinking of reading Dracula, and knowing that's your eternal hyperfixation, I wanted to ask your thoughts, if you had any comments, suggestions, ect.

HEY WHY DIDN’T I SEE THIS SOONER I’M SO SORRY FRIEND

okay okay okay okay (...several people are typing...) SO

the first thing you should be aware of when reading Dracula is that it’s quite Victorian, so you might find it easier, especially on a first read, to get an annotated version (the Norton Critical Edition version is quite good) that puts footnotes in to explain all the outdated references to like, London penny-meat merchants and stuff. I would say it’s significantly easier to read than Lord of the Rings, but because it was written 200 years ago the difference in language means it’s not a simple read. (However, if you have absolutely any attraction to the Gothic aesthetic, Dracula is so very much worth the brainpower to slog through the rougher sentences. Like. “...the courtyard of a vast ruined castle, from whose tall black windows came no ray of light, and whose broken battlements showed a jagged line against the moonlit sky.” The whole book is like that. A bit stilted to contemporary readers, but also breathtakingly spot-on in its Spooky Factor.)

the second thing you should be aware of is that Dracula is extremely gay, but in a Tormented Victorian Closeted way. There’s a part where Jonathan climbs out a window that just. It’s uh. The descriptions are very,, metaphorical-sounding. Again, the whole book is like that, and sometimes it’s very fun and sometimes (lookin at Lucy’s whole thing) it’s significantly more unsettling if you pay attention to the weirdly sexy descriptions of how the protagonists interact with the vampires, but I think that’s part of what I find so fascinating about Dracula--it’s unsettling and strange and the pieces don’t fit together clearly, and I still don’t know quite what to make of it, but all the same the feeling of what Stoker’s saying comes through quite clearly. There’s a reason why so many Dracula adaptations have this narrative of a protagonist falling in forbidden love with the tormented Vampyre, yknow? There’s something so unmistakeably sympathetic about the character of Dracula, even when the narrative of the story goes out of its way to establish that he has no redeeming qualities or even proper personhood, that he’s just a monster. Because there’s something about the story (even without getting into the whole “Mina and Jon murked their boss” thing) that makes a reader wonder if that’s really the whole truth. If there isn’t something tragic about Dracula. If there isn’t something in him, if not of goodness, then at least of sorrow, instead of only fear.

Anyway I digress but I think we all knew that was gonna happen; point is: Jonathan and Dracula definitely had sex, Mina and Lucy were definitely in love, Seward’s got something weird goin on with the old professor (and also he’s just very weird, full stop. sir. sir please stop experimenting on your asylum inmates. sir i know this is victorian england but please Do Not), and Quincey, well, Quincey is an American cowboy with a bowie knife, and I think that’s all we really need to know.

ok and! the third thing you should be aware of is The Racism. Imperialist Britain, yo. Bram Stoker was Irish so like, it isn’t half as bad as some other authors of his time period (Rudyard Kipling anyone), but the racism is real and I don’t wanna gloss over that. The g**sy slur is used with abandon for a huge assortment of people groups, there’s a tacit as well as overt acceptance of the idea that West is superior to East, and because the educational system where I grew up is a joke and I can only learn things if I accidentally fall down the wikipedia hole of researching the insect genus hemiptera, i genuinely still don’t know how accurate the extensive history of Romania recounted in the first third of the book actually is. Oh also casual and blatant anti-blackness is verbalized by a character at least once. I’m pretty sure the racism has a metaphorical place in the framework of Dracula’s storytelling, but I couldn’t tell you what it is because I am not going to bother putting myself in the mindset of a racist white Victorian man. This is the mindset I am trying to unlearn. So: read with caution, critical thinking, and the double knowledge that even as the narrators are meant to be unreliable, so too is the author himself.

Finally, regarding interpretation: so personally I’m running with the opinion that Dracula is, at least partly, a metaphor for Stoker’s own queerness and internal conflict re: being queer, being closeted, and watching the torture his friend Wilde went through when the wealthy father of Wilde’s lover set out to ruin his life for daring to love his son. Whether this is true or not (I think it’s true, but hey, that’s analysis, baby), you can’t understand Dracula without knowing the social context for it (as with all literature--the author isn’t dead, not if you want to know what they were saying), and the social context for it is:

- Stoker was friends with Wilde, growing only closer after Wilde was outed

- Wilde was outed, as I said, because the father of his lover was wealthy and powerful and full of the most virulent kind of hatred. This is especially interesting because of how many rich, powerful parents just straight up die in Dracula and leave the main characters with no legal issues and a ridiculous amount of money, which is the diametrical opposite of what happened to Wilde

- Stoker idolized his mentor Henry Irving. Irving was a paradigm of unconventional relationships and self-built family, in a world where divorcees and children born out of wedlock were things to be whispered about in scandalized tones, not people to love and embrace. Irving was also famous for thriving off of manipulating those close to him and pitting friends against each other. Given the painstakingly vivid description Stoker provides for his titular vampire and how closely it matches Irving’s own appearance and demeanor, Irving was widely understood even at the time of writing to be the chief inspiration for the character of Dracula

- the book is dedicated to Stoker’s close friend, Hall Caine, a fellow writer whose stories centered around love triangles and accumulation of sins which threaten to ruin everything, only to be redeemed by the simple act of human goodness

- Stoker was Irish, but not Catholic (he was a Protestant of the Church of Ireland, a division of the Anglican Church). This may come as a surprise when you read the book and see All The Catholicism, Just Everywhere. Religion is actually a key theme in Dracula--most of the main characters start out your typical Good Victorian Anglican Skeptics, and need to learn through a trial-by-fire to trust in the rituals and relics of the Catholic Church to save them from Dracula’s evilness. Which is interesting. Because not only do these characters start off as dismissive towards these “superstitions” (in the same way they dismiss the “superstitions” of the peasant class on the outskirts of Dracula’s domain), but the narrative telling us “these superstitions are actually true!” cannot be trusted, when you know the author’s own beliefs.

(Bram Stoker is not saying what his characters are saying. This is the first and most important rule to remember, if you want to figure out Dracula.)

- The second-most famous character in the novel, after Dracula himself, is Van Helsing, whose first name is Abraham. Note that “Bram” is a declension of Abraham. What does this mean? I legitimately have no idea. But it’d be a weird coincidence, right? Like what even is the thought process there? “Oh, yeah, what should I name this character that comes in, makes overtly homoerotic statements willy nilly, and encourages everyone to throw rationality out the window and stake some vampires using the Eucharist? hmmmm how about ‘Me’”

ok wait FINAL final note: you legitimately do not have to care about any of this. I love Dracula because it has gay vibes and I love trying to figure it out, like an archaeologist sifting through sentence structure to find fragments that match the patterns I already know from historical research; but that’s not why you should love Dracula. The book itself is just straight up fun to read. Like I said, Stoker absolutely nails the exact vibe of spookiness that I love, the eerieness and elegance and vague but vivid fear of a full moon crossed by clouds at midnight. The characters are intriguing, especially Quincey gosh I love Quincey Morris but they’re very,, sweet? if i can say that about people i, personally, suspect of murder? They come together and protect each other against the terrible threat that is Dracula, and you don’t get that half as often as I’d like in horror media. I don’t even know if Dracula could qualify as “horror” proper, because it’s not about the squeamish creeping discomfort that “horror” is meant to evoke, it’s not the appeal of staring at a train wreck--it’s not horrifying. It’s eerie. It’s Gothic. It has spires and vampires and found family and cowboys, and to be honest, I don’t know what could be better than that.

[qwirk]

*vigilantes ch. ~64 and main manga ch. ~255 spoilers*

although idk if these are really spoilers if these chapters came out a couple years ago! anime-only fans beware. anyway here’s my extremely long rant about the obvious, not trying to explain anything- i gotta yell!

so that vigilantes arc destroyed me! i’m not good at immediately putting thoughts about media into coherent points but i’m just so sad :( first of all after catching up with the main manga, shirakumo, despite being technically dead during his introduction, rocketed up to one of my favorite if not my favorite character. aizawa is also up there for me- he was first introduced as this strict teacher who seemed to psychologically torment his students for the fun of it, or at least for some yet unknown ulterior motive. but we now know that, while still kinda harsh, he does this to give his students that lead-dropping-in-the-pit-of-your-stomach rush in order to push them to succeed (or something like that?). he truly cares about his students and their growth which has been demonstrated multiple clear times. but what drives him to be like this??

shirakumo!! his actions today are a clear answer to the pushes shirakumo gave him back when they were students. they’re so obviously influenced by shirakumo that they’re almost literally answers. the main chapters are a little foggy because i speedread them at 3 am, but i just caught up with vigilantes. 

at the start, aizawa sees himself as someone who’s constantly just behind and will stay there as everyone moves on. he trudges into class drenched after leaving the kitten behind and he’s super emo about it. meanwhile, shirakumo literally flies through the window, also drenched, saved not only the kitten but aizawa’s umbrella, and manages to put on this cheery (albeit borderline explicit) show about it. it’s a CLEAR contrast between the two and aizawa goes as far to say that he hasn’t reached his “true self yet” while he looks at shirakumo and then says that he starts to change. 

as if it’s not enough for aizawa to beat himself up mentally, his classmates bring him down for not having a “heroic” enough quirk. shirakumo is constantly stepping in to bring him back up, even during real work study stuff, and goes as far to lend him a pair of his goggles so that his eyes become more useful. this becomes a stronger bonding point between aizawa, shirakumo, and hizaishi for them to start looking to the future together. while wearing those goggles, which are protecting his sight from the strong winds on the roof, he stares into the sky, feeling like he’s getting swept into the future like the clouds in the wind. (also the clouds as a metaphor. damn)

and then we come to the last fight. everyone that aizawa looks up to is crushed in the wake of the villain, and he’s the last one standing. there’s a group of children to protect, and he’s panicking and drowning in his overthinking. the way he’s given a huge panel to himself only to be visually overwhelmed by his thought bubbles stood out to me. and then the thing that snaps him out is shirakumo’s voice cheering him on. it’s a bunch of simple praise, but it means everything in the situation. the friend who’s been pulling him up no matter how hopeless or apathetic aizawa feels is of course the one to spur him into action in a life-or-death situation. aizawa realizes he’s gotta fight immediately, and even reminds himself of exactly what shirakumo told him- that his quirk IS useful and levels the playing field. 

i was already kinda spoiled for this part since i read the main manga first, but hearing shirakumo’s cheering the entire time while aizawa is absolutely toiling to defeat this huge villain would have been touching regardless. and when he lands in triumph, hurting but victorious, he screams for his friend to hear that he did it!! but then you see this joy start to like. rot away as soon as it pans to kayama and hizaishi. it’s raining again (THE CLOUDS AS A METAPHOR! DAMN!). shirakumo’s corpse is lying feet away from him, staining the medics’ sheet with blood. i don’t have much to say about this part, it was just a lot for me to process!! also i’m still not entirely sure about the way his speaker works so i might be wrong here, but did he really spend his dying moments with a traumatic head injury cheering on his friend to not only beat the immediate danger, but to self-realization?? or maybe it was prerecorded? idk but either way, truly a hero. 

aizawa and hizaishi are left standing in the rain because once again, “it fits the mood.” so obviously there’s the callback to when aizawa first said that when he comes to class after leaving the kitten and i have yet to fully comprehend it because i have no braincells for interpreting media. i guess maybe it’s like- aizawa at first felt terrible for not being able to save even a kitten while being enrolled in the most prestigious hero course in the country. getting drenched while settling with (what he considers to be) a cowardly measure is the icing to the cake for his self-hatred. it’s the classic “this might as well happen” scenario to get soaked by random rain or a car splashing you with a puddle on a bad morning. rain is sad. but in comes shirakumo, equally drenched but still the bright light that he is. he’s also done everything aizawa couldn’t but wanted to and more in this situation. he could do it not just because of his storing quirk, but because he held the life of someone who needed saving more important than the school rules. this decorum lets the kitten slide as it makes itself at home in the classroom. the rain stops soon after. but then you have shirakumo’s death. once again, aizawa, and even hizaishi, who’s usually always upbeat (almost every panel of him was just him screaming YEAHHHHH. plz give him more dialogue) both agree that the pouring rain fits the mood. this also brings us back to the present that preceded the flashback- koichi just rescued a cat and a child from a villain with aizawa’s help, and now they’re standing under an awning to escape the rain. this situation is literally almost exactly what happened at the beginning of the flashback which is why i guess it brought it on, but it’s interesting to see what changed- aizawa is the one who’s learned from this situation and teaching the student the meaning of responsibility (using an abandoned cat as an example, no less), and they’re all properly shielded from the elements this time. i guess the conclusion (that could be totally wrong) i’m coming to is that the rain sort of represents the adversaries aizawa faces in life- his self-deprecation, those that don’t believe in him, his personal failures that he has been facing lately. shirakumo has always been there to guide him past it, and once he lifts up aizawa nothing can shake him again. but now that he’s definitively gone, it’s back to haunt him for this one last moment of sheer grief. it’s only this one moment though, as aizawa clearly uses this moment to move on and better himself not just for his sake, but for everyone counting on him. he’s escaped the rain.

it’s so clear how this manifests in the main manga and i’m so happy vigilantes was able to spin out such a good backstory and explanation for his actions!! one of the most immediate ways we see his ideals stand out is his taking in of shinsou as his apprentice from general studies. it’s absolutely because he sees himself in this boy. he has a quirk that’s seemingly useless once you get into combat and everyone thinks he’s a creep for it. more people might even wary around shinsou than aizawa’s case. during the a vs. b practice fights, shinsou explains what he did wrong, clearly upset at himself for not doing enough. aizawa immediately pulls himself up, reminding him that in order to achieve what he just said, he’d have to be a pro, and that what he managed was more than enough. these parallels between aizawa and shinsou are definitely hinted at in the main story, like when midoriya underestimate’s his prowess in combat at usj, but with the vigilantes arc everything is so much clearer. in the main manga, we get a direct reference of aizawa’s expulsion rate in relation to how it helps students grow when they face “’death’” as he’s interrogating kurogiri. though dramatic, i feel like it has to be linked to the dire situation aizawa faced when the pro heros and shirakumo got knocked out during that one fight because of its placement in the chapter. he understands better than most in the story that a lot of times pushes, whether big or small, are needed to grow. he wants to be to his students what shirakumo was to him.

OK EDIT because i didn’t realize there was more to the arc after 64 lol. so obviously after shirakumo dies aizawa’s and hizaishi’s dreams of starting a triple hero agency have been dashed. aizawa seems to distance himself from hizaishi, or at least they’re on uneasy speaking terms. he’s coping by training super hard and is bent on going solo after graduation, the opposite of what they had all planned. but this time, he has conviction on what he’s going to do with himself, and that’s great! he learns that you have to be there for yourself in life. there’s a small montage leading from graduation to where is now in vigilantes and it’s been hard, but he’s been making it. still a lone wolf as ever, aside from the pushes from kayama to become teachers with her and hizaishi at ua. he thinks doing that would be a stupid choice for him, he’s been alone this whole time and doesn’t work well with others (anymore, he thinks). but now that he’s in the cafe with everyone, he changes seeing everyone fawn over the cat but their new dreams of being a popular cat cafe. 

the impact of seeing their newfound hope brings him back to another flashback of the rooftop trio, and THE PARALLELS!!! of them also dreaming to start their hero agency based on their first rescue of sushi the cat. back in the present, aizawa, who’s been spacing off, suddenly realizes the sky and his mind have cleared (THE CLOUDS KEEP COMING BACK AS A METAPHOR!!! if this happens in the main story i’ll cry). i’m still not 100% sure of what exactly makes the dots connect for him, but it’s been hinted through the flashbacks and his reactions to the rescued cat that he’s actually a good teacher himself, though he had been mainly shown to have learned from others around him. he drilled husbandry requirements into shirakumo and interrogated koichi about responsibility as if they were second nature. i think aizawa realized that he’s actually always had a soft spot for watching people grow and do good things and wants to be a part of facilitating that. or at least because he wasn’t able to accomplish doing good with his friends originally, he wants to help other accomplish the goal he couldn’t. also the fact that kayama still sends him updates on sushi isn’t just really nice of her, but it’s also another representation of how aizawa’s convictions he developed as a student still drive him to do what he does today.

MY MAIN POINT IS: aizawa really loves shirakumo. to have so much of his character based in the lessons he purposefully or inadvertently taught him is an amazing testament to that appreciation. aizawa never emotes except for the occasional creepy smile when he psychologically toys with 1a, but the emotion he displayed during the interrogation really caught me by surprise. the apathetic emo character suddenly being truly happy or sad is a cliche but this panel right fucking here was so powerful to me:

yeah his eyes are always bloodshot as a trademark to his quirk, but the emotional EXHAUSTION written on his face is so starkly different than his usual boredom. this feeling that horikoshi illustrates in two small panels is so human that it’s instantly recognizable deep in our hearts. we’ve all been in those heavy and direly serious moments that wrack our mental and emotional fortitudes, where the only response manageable without hideously breaking down is some subtle motion of the hand or crinkle of the face. we all know what this means without understanding the japanese onomatopoeia or needing additional dialogue. before i read vigilantes, i still immediately understood what this man meant to aizawa. and that’s why i love shirakumo so much!! we all know at least a little how aizawa used to feel as a student, and to have someone constantly pushing you and acting as such a light in your moments of darkness is something so incredibly special. i really hope they’re able to get him out of his nomu state so those three can finally become heros together :’)

god!!!!!!!!!!

[aurirising]

Potentially unpopular/controversial opinion

The squad overreacted to Kal's parentage being revealed and he's still a good person

I've had a lot of these thoughts swirling around in my head ever since it cleared enough to process Aurora Burning and I just wanted to get them out since I've also seen a lot of people really hating Kal after this book. Kal isn't, never has, and never will be my favourite character, or probably even top 3, but I have a lot of feelings about this and I think that everyone, including the characters, is being harsher than reasonable.

Okay so, they were all perfectly justified in feeling betrayed and upset because that is an upsetting thing to hear, especially for Scarlett since the Starslayer is the reason her dad is dead and now she's lost Tyler because of the Unbroken and Auri would definitely be questioning everything after all that time together. BUT, they know Kal better than that, he's defended and protected them plenty of times and he's shown that he's loyal to them even if he hasn't told them everything about himself. It's not like every person on that squad gave up their entire life story the moment they met, is it? No. Because People. Have. Secrets. I don't care how much of an open book someone might be, every single person who has ever lived has kept secrets, however mundane or earth-shattering they may be.

I guess technically he lied by saying his father was dead but it's understandable given the circumstances and how he feels about him. But that's not what we're discussing because no one needs another Empire Strikes Back "from a certain point of view" argument. Whether his father was dead or alive, good or evil, it wouldn't matter all that much because, and here's the important thing, PEOPLE ARE NOT THEIR FATHERS.

Kal even explains and makes it clear to them his position and why he did what he did. Like yeah, he hid who he was and used his mothers name to forge a new life - at a place where he could HELP PEOPLE no less - but, can you blame him? Like, he's a better person who tries so hard all the damn time to be better than he was taught to be and people already judge him before they know him on the basis that he's warbreed, there's no reason he should also have to have his life ruined because of his father, whom he wishes to be nothing like. And if anyone, including them, wants proof that he's genuine in his actions, just look at what he has to deal with every day. His own people despise him because of his Cabal - both Unbroken and refugee alike for their own reasons, other species are instinctively distrustful of him due to the same thing, and he's basically all alone in the universe with no one who cares about him or shows him anything but hatred, contempt, or indifference until he becomes part of Squad 312. Like, life would be so much easier if he just joined his father and became what he was raised to be, but he chooses always to be better than that and to fight on the side of good, even if it's the harder path. And if you think about it logically for a minute, the idea that it might be some sort of spy/infiltration thing is completely unfounded just based on the Unbroken's ideals and way of operating. They wouldn't care about that kind of sneak tactic - which also would basically be a pointless exercise given Kal is a 19-year-old student at the academy, if they wanted to destroy the legion or anything, they'd just do it. Like these people are built for and love war, they'd just attack if they wanted to.

Maybe Kal should have told the squad, but I completely understand him wanting to leave that part of his life behind, and how was he to know Saedii would find and come after him? He had no idea what would happen on their mission, no idea the Unbroken would turn up and discover who he was and put everyone in danger. None of them knew any of this would happen. And look, I agree, after Saedii and the Unbroken started coming after them, he probably should have said, but I still get him not wanting to. Yeah being the Starslayer's son probably made the Unbroken getting him more of a priority, but even without that, he's still a warbreed with a Templar sister who hasn't joined them, and that's more than enough for the Unbroken to want to hunt him down and either kill him or get him onside.

Also like, Kal ain't an actor folks, he wouldn't be able to fake the Pull or how it makes him react, I'm sure of it. And you know 6 months of that relationship with Auri and all the feelings that went with it - that he clearly showed since Auri was so sure of it before the reveal - is in no way something he or probably anyone else would be able to fake so convincingly, especially given Auri's gifts.

Now, you might say, "but Amy, he went and joined his father in the end!" and to that I ask, did he? Did he really?

This boy showed clearly in his POV chapters that he despises his father and what he was made into at his hand. And this isn't some third person narrator which leaves us room to doubt, this is first person, this is his actual thoughts. He doesn't want to be part of the Unbroken.

Now, we don't know Kal's entire thought process but I highly doubt he didn't have some kind of plan in going to his father - the only one on the side of good who could possibly get anywhere close to him without being killed. Whether or not his plan was to murder his father from the begining or if that idea only came when he saw Auri being hurt by him is debatable, but he for sure wasn't there to truly join the Unbroken. Maybe it was even just that he had absolutely nowhere else to go. He was abandoned by his squad, he's a wanted criminal by multiple governments, and, as a warbreed, no one else of his species would trust him. Awful as it sounds, to his father is about the only safe place he can go. You can tell he's not happy about it, but I have a feeling he had a plan, or at least the beginnings of one - whether that plan was to help Auri if she succeeded in getting there, kill his father at some point while he was occupied with something else during the attack, or bide his time in the hopes of stopping this all in some other way, is what I don't know. To be honest, if it weren't for the way Auri and the others think and act in the chapters after they abandon him, I wouldn't be surprised if this was actually some part if their plan.

But anyway, that's my 2 cents on the matter of Kal in this book. This was written moments after waking up so I hope it's coherent and I actually covered everything I meant to. But,

Tl;dr: Kal had very understandable reasons for doing everything he did and people shouldn't be as hard on him as they have been.

Edit: I just had a quick skim back through the chapter and although Kal had no real solid plan, he wanted to kill his father and planned to whenever the opportunity presented itself. So, literally how anyone can still be mad at him (except the squad who have no idea), I truly don't understand.