#because the idea of a card that celebrates its player

[starfirexuchiha]

Can you explain to me what 2/2 means to ShuAke and why the ShuAke shipdom celebrate on this day please, thank you very much !

2/2 is a special Shuake day for the shippers because of a new angsty scene that was added in Persona 5 Royal. This scene took place on February 2nd (2/2). On that night, Maruki made one last attempt to persuade Joker to stay in his dream world. 

There are actually 2 versions of this scene. One without Akechi, and one with Akechi. 

Now… if the player chose all of the right dialogue choices in some of the Akechi confidant ranks, Akechi will show up in Leblanc, after Maruki caught him eavesdropping. 

It turned out that Maruki’s final trump card to persuade Joker is… Akechi.😳 It’s ambiguous on whether or not Akechi is dead in reality, so if Joker decided to leave the dream world, chances are that Akechi would go back to being dead.

Also in the dream world, all the other Phantom Thieves had their wish come true but what about Joker? What was his wish?  

Right here. Goro Akechi. How gayer can you get to have your own therapist call you out that your biggest wish is to be with your rival?

So in 2/2, Joker ultimately had to make a very tough choice: 

End Maruki’s reality and lose Akechi or

Stay in Maruki’s reality forever and be with Akechi 

Regardless of how the player felt about the situation, Joker was DEVASTATED about this. You can tell from his thought bubbles and dialogue choices during this scene. It showed that he really cares about Akechi. 😭

This scene is also where Shuake ended up arguing about this tough choice like a bickering couple. Akechi wanted to leave the dream world while Joker is conflicted. It’s crazy that Joker actually considered dooming the world just to be with Akechi, to keep Akechi alive... 😳 When I first found out about all this back when P5 Royal first came out, I actually cried because holy shit, Shuake is real. 😭😭😭

This is why 2/2 is a special Shuake day for the shippers. Not only did it reveal Joker’s feelings for Akechi, it also is the most angst-inducing and heart-wrenching moment between these two. It brought out a lot of emotional damage in the Shuake fans. It’s Shuake at its PEAK! ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

This scene is also a perfect setting for Shuake fans to make content where Joker and Akechi spend one last night together. 🥹 It's so ripe with gay ideas and possibilities!

This totally happened in 2/2 what do you mean? 😃

[corrodedcoughin]

So I know celebrity rockstar Eddie with Just-Some-Guy Steve is popular, but what about the opposite?

Steve, who is a professional Basketball player, got scouted from where he played for his college team. The fan fave, the darling of the locals, and one of the best players on the team. Models for sportswear brands, has had interviews and talks at schools and the media loves him. He's handsome, and nice, and has publicly come out.

And then there's Eddie. His boyfriend since college. Just some guy who runs a music store. Started just as a minimum wage worker and then slowly worked his way up to running a small business himself. Sells guitars and drums and other instruments. Vinyl and cds and music merch. Hosts guitar lessons. Is happy playing music because he loves it, not for the fame and money.

Eddie goes to all his games (or as many as he can) and while he's not a sports guy and never will be he loves watching Steve play. Is only about 80% sure of the rules at best and that's good enough for Steve. And Steve who's not a metal fan, and will never be into DnD but will spend his free evenings helping Eddie plan a campaign or listening to this song Eddie's been trying to learn on the guitar.

Idk I just think it's fun to explore the opposite! Eddie getting excited any time he sees people wearing Steve's merch in public and people keep mistaking him for a hardcore fan because no one knows who he is and honestly he's fine with that. He is a big fan of Steve

he's a big fan of steve' MOMO THAT LAST LINE TOOK ME OUT!!!! OHH!!!!

Okay so as always i am IN LOVE with your ideas and where you take them and explore with the space.

Please can I have Eddie who doesn't completely GET sports but he DOES get collecting so he has one of those card books and collects basket ball trading cards. He has a full page of 'Steves' that he every proud of because he's drawn on some of them, giving him different outfits/hair/facial hair/speech bubbles, some include dragon hatcher steve, android steve, malibu barbie steve and pronstache steve (that one wasn't even drawn on, Steve was just trying something new and it got immortailised in a trading card much to Eddie's delight. His personal favourite is a Steve mid spin of the ball on his fingertip, the image of concentration and Eddie has yet to see a photo that highlights the muscle and bite-ability of Steve's arms quite as well as that one.

When Eddie and Steve are out for dinner and Eddie sees a little kid wearing a shirt with Steve's name on it he's quick to point it out to the delight of his boyfriend, both of them trying to figure out a way to subtly let the kid know that 'Harrington' is here.

Eddie who turns up to games with the kids and a foam finger because 'Steve come on its hilarious' but in reality he just loves obnoxiously supporting him. Steve kisses his finger tips and waves to Eddie before running to join the team in the changing rooms. Eddie who catches it and stuffs it in his pocket in the most dramatic way possible. Steve who laughs every time because he wouldn't have it any other way.

[ladyiristheenchantress]

Anniversary Witchcraft

As you all may or may not know, I am a married witch! I have spoken about my husband before in our motorcycles and car magic post, however I felt now would be an amazing time to talk about some of the rituals we do on anniversaries coming up! (September 17th to be exact) First of all, Happy 7 years darling, I am so proud to be your wife every day, and I am so grateful you have been my raven, my rock, and my partner in crime. I so adore you, and I cant wait to spend the rest of our time on the Tellus Mater together. Till death do us part, but even then we will remain ghosts on our record player. With that said, lets get started!

What is magical about an anniversary?

Much like any holiday, we create personal celebrations like birthdays, celebrations of life, and anniversaries to keep track of the time that has been spend together. It should be a celebration of love and strong living together! The first instance of a wedding anniversary comes from ancient Rome, where on each year of marriage the spouses would crown each other with things (more traditionally, the husbands to their wives) and on their 25th anniversary they would be crowned with a wreath of silver.

Later on, in 18th century Germany, people started a tradition of gift giving, and eventually created a yearly symbol you gift to someone as a tradition each year to ward off spirits, people looking to harm the bond, and even in some cases death itself!

Today we celebrate anniversaries around the world, whether you are recreating Armenian balance bread, or trying out Japanese senbazuru, however you choose to celebrate may it be unique and full of love!

Magical Ideas

Now we may need some spell and divination ideas for our anniversaries so here are some of the ones my husband and I love!

Follow the yearly gift guide! - This fun tradition is actually celebrated and honors world wide cultures because a lot of them had their own yearly traditions adapted into one! The old saying goes on your first year you give paper, the 5th you give wood, 10th you give aluminum, 25th you give silver, and 50th you give gold! These guides are a fun way to get connected to your relationship but also honors tradition which can strengthen your relationship magically!

2. Create a protection ritual for the year on your anniversary - when you start thinking about how to preserve your relationship you get a lot of factors you have to plan for. Every year my husband and I put obsidian arrowheads in the corner of our bedroom as a way to protect our sacred relationship! this process can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be

3. Petition and honor deities of marriage - Each year my husband and I honor 3 gods, Hera, Aine, and Zepar! This is because we wanted to honor our pagan practices and heritage in our marriage, so we picked one hellenic for my history, one irish for both of our ancestoral line, and one infernal for my husbands history! We do also petition elemental spirits, and update them as we do our yearly river walk

4. Create a shrine to your relationship - We created an altar to dedicate all our gifts to each other, and important works of art we have created, when we put together a shrine for our love, it really helped up to feel connected, so we like to renew it every year

5. Do some divination about the year ahead - Feel free to use this custom spread I use each year! Its awesome if you can do this together! Additionally, you can use cafe astrology to create a free "birth chart" for the day and time of your anniversary

Other ideas?

For my 18+ friends, design a sensual ritual that involves all 5 senses to link yours together

Create a magical meal together to protect and honor the relationship

Create a joint journal or scrap book for memories

Exchange cards, gifts, and sweets to make the other person feel special

Enjoy a nice time out getting coffee or exploring a garden

Make the bed together, and do chores together during the day, then rest and relax at night

In general anniversaries are special! I will be making an age restricted post about sexual magic very soon so stay tuned for that! I hope all of my friends have enjoyed this post, and from our family to yours, happy anniversary!

Tip Jar

[mortemersgf]

missed you a ton! how about something fluffy, like a nice reunion fic?

maybe something where mc was out for a while because she had a thief match at another school and she comes back to her dorm to find beckett there?

a/n: hi winter!! tysm for requesting <333 and so sorry this came out so late i was without wifi for weeks bc i went on vacation T–T good to see u again hehe this idea was so cute !!! hope u enjoy

With the brisk air brushing Eden’s cheeks and prickling her skin, she quickens her pace across campus to her dormitory building. She’s back from traveling for an away Thief game, a match that kept her away from Penderghast for an entire week.

To say she’s exhausted is an understatement, but to say she isn’t feeling chipper would be a lie as well. It’s strange, but Eden decides she can be two things at once. She’s weary from spending ten hours on a bus with a dozen rowdy Thief players, but she’s also thrilled to be home. No hotel bed can compare to her own. No pillow is better than Beckett’s chest.

As she steps into the building, she wonders, for a moment, if he’s awake. It’s nearing three in the morning, and Beckett is nothing if not punctual with his sleep schedule. In any case, she’ll see him tomorrow, but the excitement from winning Penderghast its sixth championship title is dazing and all she wants to do is see him.

Eden reaches the door to her dorm with a sigh. Maybe Atlas is awake… The haze quickly clears up as she passes through the transparent blue door to the living room. In contrast to what Eden expected, the room is brightly lit, and a cup of tea sits on the coffee table, accompanied by several thick tomes and a pair of reading glasses.

Evidently, those are traces of Beckett, and Eden finds herself feeling giddy.

The sound of rushing water ceases as her bedroom door swings open. Beckett pokes his head out, a winning smile on his face as he glides across the room to greet her. Even during the late hours of night he’s handsome. Hair ruffled, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a light blush coloring his cheeks.

“I thought I heard you come in. Welcome home, my love,” Beckett says. He cups Eden’s cheeks and plants a soft kiss on her lips.

“I can’t believe you waited for me…” Eden murmurs, melting into his touch. His hands are warm on her chilly skin, like a thick wool blanket on a winter day. It’s a blessed reprieve from the brisk, night air lingering on her skin.

A wave of fatigue washes over Eden, and her eyes flutter shut as Beckett peppers her face with kisses. She could fall asleep like this, standing with her face cupped in his hands.

“Of course I did,” he says, voice soft and low, “Come, the bath is ready.”

Eden hums in response, letting him guide her into the bathroom. Her dormitory bathroom isn’t fancy by any means, but Beckett wouldn’t be Beckett if he couldn’t find a way to spruce up the crummiest of spaces to offer Eden the best of the best. Multicolored globes of light gently bob about the room while heat rises from the bath. A mixture of chamomile and jasmine permeates the air, further clouding Eden’s mind with sleep.

She’s sluggish in removing her clothes, so much so that Beckett lends a hand. He helps her out of her sweats and undergarments, taking care to steady her so she doesn’t tumble into the bath. Eden settles in, using her forearms as a pillow for her face as she rests on the edge of the bathtub.

“I might fall asleep,” Eden says, glancing at Beckett as he takes a seat beside her.

He leans down to card his fingers through her hair. “You can sleep. I’ll wash you and take you to bed.”

“Thank you. Really. You didn’t have to wait for me, you know. Not worth it to mess up your sleep just to—”

“You’re worth everything, Eden. I’m happy to do this for you, truly. You haven’t a clue how happy I am to have you back, my love”—he drops his voice a tad, his tone teasing— “my little Thief champion. Congratulations. Let’s celebrate tomorrow when you’ve had plenty of rest.”

Eden relents with a small sigh, her eyelids growing heavy. She reaches for Beckett’s palm, pressing a chaste kiss to the skin. “I love you.”

Beckett smiles. He kisses her forehead. “I love you most.”

[developerwith1]

The Ultimate Neopets 25th Anniversary Guide: Exclusive Rewards and In-Game Adventures You Can’t Miss

It’s hard to believe that Neopets is celebrating its 25th anniversary! For two and a half decades, Neopets has been a magical world filled with endless adventures, vibrant pets, and unique collectibles. Whether you’re a long-time player reminiscing about your first Neopet, or a newbie eager to explore the game, the Neopets 25th Anniversary has something special for everyone. From exclusive rewards to thrilling in-game events, this guide will walk you through everything you need to know to make the most of the celebration.

Why the Neopets 25th Anniversary Is a Must-See Event

Neopets’ 25th anniversary is not just any celebration—it’s a full-on party! Imagine a birthday bash where every player gets special rewards and exclusive perks. Whether you’re returning to the game after a long break or a daily player, this event is your chance to dive into a world filled with fun challenges, rare items, and nostalgic memories.

Think of it like a time capsule where you can relive the joy of your first Neopet while exploring new features that keep the game fresh and exciting. This is the anniversary you won’t want to miss!

Daily Freebies and Exclusive Rewards

What’s a celebration without some free goodies? Every day during the Neopets 25th Anniversary, players are showered with daily freebies. These could be anything from Neopoints, food items, or even exclusive rare collectibles. Don’t forget to log in daily to claim these rewards because once they’re gone, they’re gone for good.

Special In-Game Events for Players of All Levels

If you’ve been itching for adventure, the Neopets 25th Anniversary has you covered. There are numerous in-game events tailored for all skill levels. From site-wide challenges to mini-games with special anniversary twists, everyone can participate and earn rewards.

Worried about missing out because you're new to the game? Don’t be! The events are designed to include both veterans and newcomers alike. There’s always something for everyone.

Unlock Rare and Exclusive Neopets

Ever dreamed of owning a rare or limited-edition Neopet? Now’s your chance! The 25th anniversary celebrations introduce special Neopets that can only be adopted during this time. Whether you’ve been eyeing a Faerie, Darigan, or another exclusive species, these rare creatures are up for grabs.

Not only are these Neopets visually stunning, but they also come with unique stats and abilities that will make them stand out in your collection.

The Best Neopoint and Neocash Deals

Looking to score some great deals? The 25th Anniversary is a perfect opportunity to stock up on Neopoints and Neocash. Keep an eye out for special anniversary promotions, such as discounts on Neocash cards and Neopoint bundles.

During this event, there are also limited-time items that can only be bought with Neocash, so it’s a good idea to check the Neopets shop regularly to grab your favorite items before they’re gone.

25th Anniversary Quests and Challenges

Love a good quest? Then you’re in luck! The 25th anniversary features several unique quests and challenges that reward you with exclusive items and Neopoints. From treasure hunts to battle challenges, these quests will test your skills and offer great incentives for completion.

If you’re a fan of the Faerie Quests, there are also special anniversary editions that provide enhanced rewards and boosts for your Neopets. Make sure to check in often and see which quests are available!

Collectible Avatars, Trophies, and Site Themes

Do you like showing off your achievements? The 25th Anniversary offers a variety of limited-edition avatars, trophies, and site themes to unlock. These collectibles aren’t just fun—they’re a great way to display your progress and dedication to the game.

You’ll want to participate in as many events as possible to unlock these exclusive rewards. Trust me, your fellow Neopians will be impressed when they see those rare trophies on your profile!

Exclusive Anniversary Shop Items

For collectors, the Anniversary Shop is a treasure trove. Here, you’ll find limited-edition items that can only be purchased during the 25th Anniversary. From rare furniture and clothing to decorative items for your Neohome, these one-of-a-kind goodies are must-haves for any dedicated player.

Make sure to visit the shop frequently—new items will be added throughout the celebration, and once they’re sold out, they’re gone for good!

Competitions and Contests to Showcase Your Skills

Think you’ve got what it takes to be the best? Neopets is hosting several contests and competitions during the anniversary to give players the chance to showcase their creativity and skills. Whether you excel at writing, art, or customizing Neopets, there’s a competition for you!

Plus, winners receive special prizes that can’t be obtained any other way. Even if you’re new to the game, it’s worth trying your hand at these contests—you might just surprise yourself!

Tips to Maximize Your Experience

Wondering how to make the most of the Neopets 25th Anniversary? Here are some quick tips:

Log in daily: Even if you only have a few minutes, claim your daily freebies!

Participate in events: These are your best chances to score rare items and collectibles.

Team up with friends: Collaborating can help you complete quests and challenges faster.

Check the Neopets Hub: For the latest updates on events, new items, and announcements.

Save or spend wisely: With so many exclusive items available, it’s important to prioritize your purchases.

By following these tips, you’ll maximize your experience and come away with some awesome rewards!

Community and Social Features to Connect with Other Players

The Neopets 25th Anniversary isn’t just about solo adventures—it’s also about community. This milestone event is a perfect time to connect with fellow players, join guilds, and make new friends. Engage in forums, trade items, or team up for site-wide challenges.

Playing together enhances the experience, and you’ll find plenty of other players who are just as excited to share this anniversary with you.

What Happens After the 25th Anniversary?

While the Neopets 25th Anniversary celebrations will eventually wind down, the fun doesn’t stop there. Neopets is constantly evolving, and players can look forward to future updates, new features, and even more exciting adventures in Neopia.

If you’ve rediscovered your love for the game during this event, don’t worry—you’ll have plenty of opportunities to keep the fun going!

Conclusion

The Neopets 25th Anniversary is a once-in-a-lifetime celebration packed with exclusive rewards, thrilling quests, and nostalgic fun. Whether you’re a seasoned player or a newcomer to Neopia, there’s something for everyone to enjoy. From rare Neopets and collectibles to exciting in-game events and daily freebies, the party is just getting started.

[itqanswers]

Mudpuppy Memory Match- Best Rated Educational game

When it comes to kid-friendly educational games, not many can spark learning and imagination quite like Mudpuppy Memory Match. Mudpuppy Memory Match is well-known for its lively graphics, captivating gameplay, and educational value, making it a popular option for kids, parents, and teachers.

Fundamentally, Mudpuppy Memory Match is a traditional matching Travel Games for Kids intended to test kids' focus and memory. The idea is straightforward yet effective: participants turn over pairs of cards to look for matching photos, which tests their memory of where different pictures are located in the deck. Children may explore an immersive and exciting environment with Mudpuppy Memory Match thanks to its vivid pictures of animals, shapes, alphabet, and more.

Mudpuppy Memory Match stands out for its painstaking attention to instructional detail. Every card has engrossing artwork that introduces kids to a variety of ideas and subjects while both entertaining and educating them. Mudpuppy Memory Match provides a plethora of educational possibilities wrapped up in fun and games, ranging from fundamental shapes and colors to more complex subjects like geography and astronomy.

Mudpuppy Memory Match is also made with the developmental requirements of kids in mind. With the game's different difficulty settings, young players may begin with fewer cards and work their way up to a harder task as their abilities advance. For kids of all ages and skill levels, Mudpuppy Memory Match will always be interesting and fun because of this adaptable strategy.

In addition to being informative, the Mudpuppy Memory Match enhances critical thinking, problem-solving, and attention to detail���all crucial cognitive abilities. Children develop mental agility and spatial awareness as they work to match pairs of cards by using reasoning and logic to determine where the matching images are located.

In addition, Mudpuppy Memory Match promotes collaboration and social contact among participants. When kids take turns, share plans, and celebrate each other's accomplishments in group activities or friendly rivalry with their siblings, they develop important communication and cooperation skills.

Mudpuppy Memory Match is not only instructive and fun to play, but it's also made with sustainability and longevity in mind. Thick, premium cards produced from recycled materials are used in the game, assuring durability and environmental responsibility. Mudpuppy Memory Match is simple to carry with you everywhere you go, be it a friend's house, a family trip, or just to a different room in your house thanks to its small, lightweight box.

In conclusion, Mudpuppy Memory Match is a perfect illustration of how educational games may benefit young students while still being entertaining. It's understandable why Mudpuppy Memory Match is frequently ranked as one of the greatest educational games for kids given its captivating gameplay, instructive material, and sturdy construction. So why wait? Unlock the power of play and learning with Mudpuppy Memory Match today!

[astaroth1357]

Unpacking the Angel Event (Through My Own Perspective)

Okay so uh… this was a very uncomfortable seat the Devs have offered us today and like all things that give me moral uncomfiness, I HAVE to analyze it. Blame the ethics classes. A full disclaimer, this is not spoiler-free and is pretty much entirely just me unpacking my own feelings here. What may bother or not bother me could really affect you and there is nothing wrong with that. You are entitled to your own perspective. This is just me trying to walk through all the stuff in this event that just… rubbed me the wrong way. So let's get to it.

The Costumes

So. Let's start at the beginning. Diavolo apparently had the bright idea to put everybody in magical costumes of their angel forms (or something like it in Satan's case). This is… problematic.

The reason the brothers lost their angel forms was because they fell after the Celestial War… who's greatest causality (in their eyes) was their sister, Lilith. So one could imagine that their memories as angels aren't particularly happy ones… By this point in the "continuity" (this is Post-Attic, more on that later), they would have known that Lilith didn't actually die which may soften something like this a little. I dunno, I'm not one of them and trauma is uniquely personal to the individual, but the bigger issue is that Diavolo thought this was a good idea to start with to which I say! - I'm not at all surprised by that. Hear me out.

Diavolo is heavily implied to have had a huge ass crush on Angel Lucifer. He's also uh… probably a little sheltered (as sheltered as the royalty of Hell can be) and probably not used to think of his subjects' feelings on the things he does before he just does them. This is fairly evident in other events where he'll order the brothers to do XYZ task even if they want no part in it. It doesn't surprise me at all that Diavolo would want to see them (Lucifer) as angels again and not take into account how that could affect them. I don't think that'd be malice on his part, just shortsightedness, and he likely would have apologized if any of the brothers expressed an emotional problem with it to him directly.

Do they have problems? Yes. But since the event kind of wipes them of their true selves, that's better discussed elsewhere. Moving on.

The Bangles 

Holy fuck, how do we even approach this? So Simeon, in conjunction with Michael (probably, at this point I have to wonder if he's telling the truth about this) gives the brothers jewelry, presumably to wear to the party, that would… I'm not even sure. Curb their impulses? Force them to be mannered? The important thing is he did not tell them about that little detail before they put the bangles on…

This is… also problematic. First, we can try to establish Simeon's intentions versus what actually happened: 

The bangles were (likely) intended to be removable. It was the mixing of the magic that locked them in place so we can assume he didn't mean this to be a permanent change.

The magic on the bangles was probably amplified by the angel costumes. What this means is though we can assume that Simeon never intended them to become quite so… different, we'll never know just how much influence he was actually trying to put on them. It could have been anything from suppressing their sins to full blown force you to say please/thank you. We'll just never get to know now… 

I won't be the first person to liken this to mind control (nor the last) because… that's kind of how it turned out. Even worse still, it would have been completely involuntary on the brothers' part. Simeon DID NOT tell them what the bangles were going to do. Now, he claims later that he would have eventually, but we don't get to know when that would have been. I presume at some time after the party, because like. These are our boys. They're not going to consent to wearing something like that, they're just not.

This poses all kinds of questions and problems ranging from issues of consent to anatomy and even the worth of good deeds done out of obligation vs. free will and… I mean quite literally when I say Jesus Christ, Simeon, what the hell?!

I could write a completely different post debating whether or not what Simeon did actually had any moral merit but I won't because it'd be very dry and boring. I think the most interesting thing to take away here is that Simeon thought it was okay to do like, at all, and with approval from Michael (maybe) no less… That reflects something on angel society that I doubt will get explored but I need to ponder farther…

This section is all kinds of sticky so we need to move on.

The Development(?)

First off, to new players, don't worry this probably isn't canon (at least to the main story continuity). The Brothers should be back to normal in the new chapters and this won't have a long term effect on anything (aside from maybe a tie in to the next event ala Beach event-> Games). That's how Obey Me has always treated their events it seems and I sure hope they stick to it now. But, these are still the same characters going through a unique situation and that can offer some insight so… Let's discuss.

I mentioned earlier that the brothers had problems with this… Unfortunately, I think we only get to see Lucifer and Satan's thoughts in any detail because everyone else is too far gone by the time we reach them… Lucifer can pretty much be summed up as troubled and unhappy because (you know) not a lot of great memories as an angel. I presume that his wounded pride after the fall may also contribute. 

Satan is… more complex. I’m honestly more bothered by his change than anyone else’s because even he expresses how weird this is for him... (We get confirmation that he never in fact had an angel form, btw). Poor baby is going through a full on identity crisis and there’s a certain part of his mind that he’s not even allowed to use right now... Anger. The Avatar of Wrath, born from Wrath, can’t get angry and… Something about that just bothers me at a deeper level, not even I can express properly…

Everyone else is too far gone once we reach them. Their personalities are completely different and they can’t even acknowledge that’s the case. They think that they’ve turned a new leaf but we know that’s not the reality, that leaf was very much turned for them and it doesn’t make anything feel any better…

This may be my own opinion, but part of me thinks that this portion (and only this portion right here) was actually what the Devs were going for. They wanted us to be uncomfortable by all of this for like, story reasons. It’s a narrative trick. Think of the phrase “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.” I think they were trying to use the absence of the brothers’ usual flaws and traits as a weird way of celebrating them. Kind of like saying, “We could have given you guys these perfect brothers, but they’re not perfect and we know that’s why you like them. Look at these perfect guys, doesn’t it feel wrong?” The answer is, yes. It does feel wrong. And under other circumstances, it would be affirming like they’d be intending, “I don’t want this emotionally-open non-otaku, give me Levi dammit!” But when you add this intended discomfort with the already sketchy way we got here it just makes it all the worse… 

And absolutely NONE of this is helped by...

The… End?

I think the thing I hate about this event the most (actually legitimately hate) is how it ends. In that it doesn’t. It kind of just… abruptly stops right after Lucifer starts coming to himself again. Though I suspect that’s because they’re putting incentive into getting the event cards, this in NO WAY does the narrative any favors.

Most people are not going to get those cards. Even with Lonely Devil as an option, it’s a huge time/resource commitment to get there. Because of that, the majority of people are not going to get to see the aftermath of what happened. We don’t get to see how the brothers feel about what happened. We don’t get to see if they do, in fact, come to and if they have any takeaways from the experience or if they’re utterly disgusted by it. The player character doesn’t even get the option to comfort them after something that was probably terribly traumatic. It. Just. Ends.

What that means is all of that discomfort that we had just lingers… There’s no resolution or pay off. It just… stays… This is the worst possible thing they could have done. If you want your audience to feel uncomfortable, that’s one thing, but unless you’re telling like, a psychological thriller you gotta settle them back down again! Deep moral conflict is not a turn on!!!

Personally, I don’t hate that this thing exists. I don’t. The part of me that majored in Philosophy loves analyzing media like this so I can’t say that I didn’t get anything out of it. I don’t think all media should play it safe, it’s okay to leave the audience with no good answers or a feeling of unease, but you really got to be self-aware of it. The biggest flaw of this event, in my opinion, is that it rarely comes across as self-aware of its own horror. You get a very brief glimpse of it from Solomon when he comments on how creepy things are, but Simeon’s happy. Diavolo’s happy. And though he’s a little uneasy, Luke’s pretty content, too. Add that to the abrupt ending and we never get to know if ANY of them realize how awful of a thing this was to do to the brothers... It makes it all come off as an endorsement of mind controlling your friends into better people and (to me) that feels really, really wrong.

So in conclusion… I dunno. If the next event isn’t something along the lines of “Angelic Demons Part 2: Fixing What We Fucked Up!” then I think they really botched this one guys… I hope somebody was taking notes.

[pucksnsticksnhockeyboys]

irritating you, irritating me

summary: you don’t like your neighbor Anthony, but it leads to more than one awkward encounter.

warnings: like one swear, mentions of drinking

word count: 5.4k

note from the writer: this is unedited and I wrote most of the last part on my phone so I apologize but enjoy! / take my survey!

ONE

The first time you met Anthony Beauvillier, you were certain you could go the rest of your life never seeing him again.

It was late, past midnight after a long and stressful day of moving into your new apartment. So when music started loudly playing from the unit across the hall, it took only fifteen minutes of you waiting to see if they were going to stop before you were tugging on a sweatshirt over your pajamas. Your mind hadn’t caught up to your actions before you knocked on your obnoxious neighbor’s door.

A brief moment of panic overtook you as you realized you had no idea who you were about to complain too, but it was too late to back out as the door swung open. If you had been a little more awake and a lot less annoyed, you would have catalogued just how attractive the guy standing in the doorway was. Bright blue eyes, tousled brown hair, and a grin that usually would have made you swoon.

He was trouble, that was for sure.

“Hey, what’s up?” He asked, a lightness to his tone as if you were an old friend and not someone he’d never met knocking on his door close to one in the morning. Hearing someone laugh in his apartment over the loud music, you remembered your reason for coming over—and it wasn’t to drool over the way his sweatshirt pulled across his broad shoulders. Before you could come up with a sentence, he was speaking again. “You’re my new neighbor, right? You just moved in today. I’m Anthony.”

“Y/N.” You told him shortly, crossing your arms over your chest. He raised a curious brow at your response, but didn’t comment further on it.

“So…” He trailed off, his gaze darting from you, to your apartment door behind you before he shot a look back into his apartment. “Can I help you with anything?”

“Could you turn your music down? It’s keeping me up.” You told him, a little harsher than probably necessary, but you couldn’t find it in you to care. He had to have known his music was way too loud, and if he just had no regard for his neighbors then you were going to have a hard time getting along with him.

“Yeah, of—”

“It’s a party! We’re celebrating!” Another boy joined the conversation, swinging an arm around Anthony’s shoulders. You raised an unimpressed brow at the new boy, who had a beer bottle clasped in his hand.

“And I’m trying to sleep.” You replied, voice void of any humor. Anthony shrugged the guy off his arm and told him to go back inside, while you waited impatiently. Your frown seemed permanent, but Anthony met it head on with a sympathetic smile.

“Sorry about Mat, he’s just excited about the win.” He apologized, though you had no idea what he was talking about. Exhaustion was taking over you, and the longer you stayed out in front of Anthony’s apartment the more your contempt for him grew.

“Can you please just try and keep it down?” You pleaded, dragging a hand down your face. You didn’t care about why they were being so loud, you just wanted them to stop.

“I’ll try, but the guys might fight me on it.” He tried to joke, an easy smile on his face as he leaned against his doorframe. Apparently, he found something about this amusing. You, on the other hand, decided then and there that your new neighbor was not going to be one of your friends.

“I’m sure you’ll think of something.” You rolled your eyes, giving up on trying to convince him. Without another word, you turned around, fully prepared to head back into your own apartment and deal with whatever choice Anthony decided to make, regarding his music volume.

“It was nice meeting you.” Anthony called just as you opened your door. You weren’t sure if he was being smug or not, his eyes were kind but the entire interaction hadn’t exactly been nice. Somehow, you were leaving his apartment more annoyed than you had been when you arrived.

“Yeah, I guess.” You huffed, shutting the door on him after flashing what was possibly the world’s fakest smile. In the split second you had to gauge his reaction before the wood door obstructed your view, he seemed to be taking it in stride.

He turned the music down. You could still hear it from your bedroom.

TWO

The next time you ran into Anthony, it was nearly two weeks later.

Run-in was a good way to describe it, considering he completely barrelled into you outside your favorite coffee shop three blocks from your apartment. You had tried to dodge him, you really did, but you weren’t quick enough and he wasn’t paying attention, and mixture of the two meant your drink spilled all down your front.

“Oh, my god!” You exclaimed, inspecting the damage down to your shirt. Thankfully, it wasn’t one of your favorites, but you most likely wouldn’t be able to wear it again. Anthony let out a string of curses in what sounded like French, and you shot him a glare that was met with a look of realization.

“Oh, it’s you.”

“Yeah, it’s me.” You huffed, retreating into the shop in search of napkins. You knew there was no hope in trying to save your shirt, but you at least wanted to not be dripping in coffee as you raced home to change before heading to work. Thankfully, you had an unusual head start on the day and most likely wouldn’t be late.

“Not like that, I mean. It’s you, my neighbor, not in our building.” Anthony hurried to correct himself. You rolled your eyes, reaching around him to toss your now empty cup in the trash.

“I do go out in public, you know.” Your comment was meant sarcastically, delivered with a little bite, but instead of being offended Anthony laughed. You paused dabbing the napkin against your coffee-stain to give him a confused look, not sure why he took your comment in stride.

“Can I buy you a new coffee? It’s the least I can do.” He offered, but you quickly shook your head. There was a line to the door and you knew you wouldn’t be able to wait for it, and the last thing you wanted to was wait around with Anthony, your neighbor you didn’t exactly like.

“I’ve got to go home and change, but thanks, I guess.” You told him, giving up on the coffee stain and tossing your napkins away. He frowned, then, and you wondered if he was used to being able to pick up anyone with his good looks.

Not that you wanted to find him attractive, of course. He was your annoying neighbor. But still, two things could be true. He could be your attractive, annoying neighbor that played music way too loud and spilled your coffee on you.

“Yeah, no problem.” He continued, recovering quickly and replacing his frown with a smile that would have made your heart skip and beat if you had gotten off on the right foot with him. “See you around?”

“Probably.” You shrugged. He did live across the hall from you, but you weren’t going to actively seek him out to hang out. That simply wasn’t in the cards for you and him, sometimes people just didn’t get along. You made a move as if to leave, but Anthony’s voice was calling out after you and, surprisingly, you stopped.

“I really am sorry, you know.” He told you, and something akin to a smile found its way onto your face before you could stop it. Your response wasn’t as snarky as your previous comments had been, but you left him with one finally comment before slipping out of the coffee shop and into the busy sidewalk.

“Tell that to my shirt, Anthony.”

That night, too late for visitors but too early for you to be asleep yet, there was a knock on your door. Pausing your show, you got up from the comfort of your blanket-covered couch and made your way to the door. Looking through the peephole, you didn’t see anyone standing outside. Curiosity got the better of you, and warily you opened the door and poked your head out into the hallway.

It was empty, save for the pile of fabric and drink sitting neatly in front of your door. There was a note on top, and you picked it up first, reading the scratchy handwriting that you had a sneaking suspicion belonged to the boy across the hall.

Tell your shirt I said sorry.

The fabric, upon closer inspection, was a slightly too-large New York Islanders t-shirt, with the name Beauvillier scrawled across the back and the number eighteen on the sleeve. Anthony had gotten you a new shirt, and even though you knew nothing about hockey and it was nothing like the one that had gotten ruined you still appreciated the gesture.

You picked up the cup next, recognizing the logo as the one belonging to the coffee shop you had been at earlier in the day. It was hot chocolate, not coffee, and you were thankful that he had the foresight to not get you caffeine so late at night.

“Thanks, Anthony.” You said, a little loudly in case he was watching you through his peephole. You turned to head back inside with your new shirt and hot drink when he replied, still inside his apartment but clearly by the door.

“My friends call me Tito.” You couldn’t help the roll of your eyes and the tiny grin that made its way onto your face. Thankfully, your back was to his door and without looking you called out to him one last time before slipping fully into your apartment.

“Goodnight, Anthony.”

Because just because he got you a new shirt, it didn’t mean you liked him any better.

THREE

There weren’t many things you regretted, having grown up with the mantra of being true to yourself and being kind. But you did have one regret, and it was coming back to bite you. And that was not looking up who exactly Beauvillier was on the Islanders team the moment you got the shirt.

Because if you had, there was absolutely no way you would have agreed to a third date with Max in finance that had ice level seats to the Islanders vs. Hurricanes game.

“Have you ever been to a hockey game?” Max asked, his arm slung over the back of your seat as you waited for the players to come out for warmups. You shook your head at his question, certain that you had already told him three times that you had never been to a game. You were pretty sure that he couldn’t hear a single word you said over his own ego. “I’ll make sure you get you a souvenir from your first game.”

“Okay.” You nodded, pretending that you were distracted by the huge crowd in the arena. Him getting you a souvenir sounded a little too much like you were a kid. Something in a crowd changed, voices louder as the music switched from top pop hits to pump up music and Max jostled you with his arm around your shoulders to get your attention.

“They’re coming out for warmups.” He explained just as the first player came racing out of the tunnel, knocking a stack of pucks onto the ice. You watched, mesmerized, as the players raced around in circles for a few laps seamlessly, before picking up pucks to run some quick drills and shoot on the net.

It was all going smoothly, until your gaze fell on number eighteen out of curiosity. His back was to you, and you were easily able to read Beauvillier emblazoned across the back. Something about him seemed familiar, and it was only when he turned around that you realized why.

Beauvillier was Anthony. Beauvillier was your neighbor. Your neighbor, who you had yet to have a decent interaction with, was a professional athlete.

And you were currently on a date where you’d have to watch him play.

With your luck, he noticed you then, grin making its way onto his face as he looked up and met your gaze. It wasn’t a smug grin, but a genuine one, and just as he raised his hand to wave at you, another player purposefully knocked into his shoulder since he was distracted. If your memory served you right, it was Mat, the one that convinced Anthony to not turn the music down that very first night.

“What was that?” Max asked, and you tore your gaze from the ice to look at him with a confused expression. “Do you know Beauvillier?”

“He lives across the hall from me.” You explained, trying to sound as nonchalant about it as possible. It really wasn’t a big deal for you, that a pro athlete was your neighbor, but didn’t have the best relationship with him, and didn’t exactly feel like talking about him on your date. “I’ve talked to him like twice—”

You started to explain, but a crash against the glass in front of you tore your attention away from Max with a jump. You turned, having not even noticed Anthony had skated over and thrown his body against the glass to get your attention. He looked proud of himself, and was grinning at you without acknowledging Max.

You gave Anthony a curious and annoyed look as he pointed at you, then began to juggle a puck around on his stick, clearly showing off. It was impressive, you had to admit, but with each movement you could practically feel Max getting more and more annoyed. Finally, Anthony tossed the puck up and over the glass. Instinctively, you caught the rubber disk, and Anthony shot you a wink that was met with a roll of your eyes.

“Here, you guys can have this.” You smiled at the group of young kids wearing Islanders jerseys that had come down the glass for warmups. The little girl that you handed the puck to smiled brightly at you before running off excitedly to show her parents what she had gotten. They mouthed a thank you, and you waved them off with a grin. You turned back to the ice, flushing when you realized that Anthony was still looking at you. He didn’t look annoyed at you for giving away his puck, but instead was regarding you with a smile too soft for someone you barely considered an acquaintance. You gave him a pointed look, because that was easier to do than acknowledge the way your face warmed under his gaze, and he shook his head softly while still smiling. Civilly, he nodded to Max before retreating back with his teammates.

“Yeah, I’m sure you’re just friends.” Max commented dryly, glaring daggers at the back of Anthony’s head as he skated away to finish warmups. You rolled your eyes, not bothering to acknowledge his childishness.

You watched the game with a renewed interest, cheering probably louder than you would have if you hadn’t realized that your neighbor was on the team. Besides, you had to entertain yourself somehow, as Max was giving you the cold shoulder ever since your interaction with Anthony. The Islanders pulled out a win, and you were riding a high up until Max dropped you off at your apartment.

“I don’t think this is going to work out.”

You looked at Max dumbly, a little hurt and waiting for an explanation. It wasn’t the end of the world for you, it was only the third date and he was a bit too stuck up for your taste, but it still sucked to be dumped.

“I just can’t compete with Beauvillier. I mean, he’s a pro athlete.”

And then he was gone, and you were left wondering just when you gave off the impression that there was any competition between him and Anthony.

The stupid puck, you cursed in the elevator up to your floor, because Max didn’t even bother walking you all the way to your door. He dumped you in his car in front of your building; how romantic.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened just as your frown deepened and eyes began to water. You were upset, not necessarily because you thought you had a future with Max but because Anthony’s stupid showing off ruined any chance you had. And just your luck, Anthony was at his door, unlocking it.

“Hey—” He started, way too chipper for the sour mood you were currently in.

“Thanks for that tonight, really.” You snapped, digging your keys out of your pocket as your tears blurred your vision. Your back was to Anthony, but you could feel his gaze on you. It was clear that he saw your upset expression, and you wished with everything you had that you had been able to wait until you were in the safety of your own apartment to start crying.

“What’s wrong?” He was at your side in your instant, but at the moment you didn’t want his sympathy. While deep down you knew that Max’s own insecurities were the reason that he ended things, but Anthony was the catalyst and you were projecting your anger onto him.

“Max ended things with me because you couldn’t help yourself.” You whipped your head to face him, too distraught to care that the keys had slipped from your shaky fingers. You held Anthony’s gaze, noting momentarily how dumbstruck and concerned he looks, before cursing to yourself and ducking down to pick up your keys.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” He stammered out. You took a centering breath, and finally got your apartment unlocked. You wheeled around to face Anthony one last time, only to find he was still watching you curiously.

“Forget it.” And then because you couldn’t possibly look any more pathetic, you sniffled and swiped at the tears on your cheeks.

“I—”

“Forget it!” You interrupted a little louder, ducking into your apartment and swiftly shutting the door behind you. It’s not that you wanted to be mad at Anthony, you were just upset and he was the closest thing to being actually upset at Max.

Still, you didn’t see yourself ever getting along with him.

FOUR

It was two weeks later when you finally saw Anthony again. And, to know one’s surprise, his appearance put you in a sour mood.

To be fair, it was well past one in the morning when the knocking on your door started.

Part of you knew exactly who it was the moment you crawled out of bed. You hadn’t been asleep, with the next day being an obligation-free Saturday you had let yourself stay up late to watch a few extra episodes of your favorite show. Still, you were grumbling as you pulled a sweatshirt over your sleep shirt and shorts as you made your way to the door.

You looked through the peephole to confirm your suspicions, and with a roll of your eyes you swung the door open and gave the two men on the opposite side an unimpressed look.

“What?” You prompted, cataloging the smell of beer and the fact that Mat was leaning heavily on Anthony for support. The former was definitely drunk, and from the looks of it a few moments away from passing out.

“I locked myself out.” Anthony told you, as if that was a complete explanation. “And I can’t get a hold of the landlord.”

“And you’re knocking on my door because...?” You trailed off expectantly. You knew you sounded mean, but that wasn’t your entire intention. It was late, you were tired, and you weren’t the biggest fan of Anthony.

“Can we just come in and wait until I can get into my place?” Anthony finally asked. You considered saying no, a large part of you wanted to, but you knew that if the roles were reversed you’d want him to take pity on you. So, you simply sighed and retreated into your apartment, leaving the door open for Anthony to lead Mat into.

“He’s not going to throw up on my stuff, is he?” You questioned as Anthony dropped Mat onto your couch, the dark haired hockey player giggling as he landed on his side. You figured he had seconds before it was lights out, and needed to know if you had to dig out the puke bucket—a remnant of your wilder years in college.

“He should be fine.” Anthony waved it off, and you nodded slowly before sitting in one of the two armchairs you had gotten for your living room. Anthony sat in the other, located across the room with what felt like a thousand miles, but was just really Mat snoring, separating you.

You nodded and, because you couldn’t handle the awkward silence in the room that followed, pulled out your phone to check all your socials to pass the time. You had already checked your instagram feed, replied to a few snapchats, and was in the middle of crafting a text to your best friend explaining that your annoying neighbor was in your living room when Anthony cleared his throat and you looked up to meet his gaze.

“What did I do to make you so annoyed at me?” He asked, a genuine curiosity in his eyes that had you clicking off your phone and dropping it into your lap.

“How many people can you name that’d be happy with someone knocking on their door past one in the morning with a drunk guy begging to be let in?” You replied, a lack of hostility in your tone that surprised even you.

“I would have texted, but you haven’t given me your number.” It wasn’t for lack of trying, he had asked you for your number on more than one occasion. Everytime you shot him down; it was like a game you had been playing with him and would be playing until the end of time.

“I only give my phone number to friends.” Your response came quickly, and you were surprised to see a glimmer of amusement cross his face.

“Aren’t we friends?” He challenged and you playfully rolled your eyes.

“We’ve had like three total conversations before this, and you just brought over a drunk hockey player to crash on my couch.” You replied easily, the beginnings of a grin toying with the corners of your lips. “Is that how all your friendships are?”

“Only the fun ones.” He was fully grinning now, and you shook your head in a bid to hide your own smile. Silence fell over you and Anthony once more, except this time it wasn’t as tense and you didn’t feel the need to mindlessly scroll through your phone to escape it. Instead, you were openly taking in Anthony’s appearance. Clearly, from the state Mat was in, you had assumed they had been out drinking. But Anthony was dressed nicely, a button up with a few of the top buttons undone in a carelessly attractive way. You could see his chain from where you were sitting, and you’d be lying if you said he didn’t look extremely good.

Usually, you’d be embarrassed at openly checking him out. Except, he was clearly doing the same thing to you.

“Hey,” Anthony started, breaking you out of your trance and earning a questioning look from you. “Can we start over? I’m Anthony Beauvillier.”

You hesitated, biting the inside of your cheek to hide your grin. But it only took you a moment to agree to his request, and you gave him your name in the cheesy way he started.

“It’s nice to meet you, Anthony.” You teased, heart beating just a little bit quicker at his triumphant grin. You broke his gaze and looked to Mat, who you were pretty sure was drooling into your cushions, to distract yourself.

“My friends call me Tito.” He tried, mirroring what he said all those weeks prior when he had bought you the t-shirt. The t-shirt that had been sitting, folded up, at the bottom of the drawer. You smiled, a real and genuine smile as you looked back to him.

“Tito, then.”

PLUS ONE

From that night on, your friendship with Anthony only grew. Dinners at the other’s apartments, nights out with his teammates, and the occasional brunch where he had just gotten back from a road trip the night before and you were hungover from a girls night. He was slowly becoming a steady presence in your life and you weren’t sure how you felt about it.

Of course, you were thankful that you didn’t have to fight with him all the time. But you weren’t entirely ready to deal with the feeling that was quite the opposite of hatred that you felt for him.

You were falling for your annoying neighbor. And fast.

Of course, with playoffs, it meant you saw Anthony less and less. You watched each game religiously, even canceling on a few plans with some friends to stay in and support him from your couch. But you can’t win every year, and the Islanders’ season ended way too early.

You waited up probably much too late the next night for his flight to arrive back in New York, and made him text you when he got home.

My door is unlocked.

His simple text was all it took for you to anxiously jump off your couch and cross the hall. He was true to his word, and you slipped into his apartment quickly. His shoes were in the doorway and his keys were discarded on the counter.

It was only seconds later when Anthony emerged from his bedroom, having changed into a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt. He looked a little tired, and a lot defeated, and when the words to help lift his mood failed you, you crossed the room and fell into his open arms.

“I missed you.” You mumbled, deciding that was safer than bringing up the failed cup run. You were in uncharted territory, never having once to deal with someone who had just gotten knocked out of the playoffs.

“Stay with me a little longer tonight?” He hummed in response, his arms tightening around you the moment he felt like you were going to pull back. If there wasn’t such a heaviness around you then, you would have chuckled at his eagerness, but you nodded quietly and obliged him for a longer hug. Finally, he pulled back, but didn’t let you get far before as he latched onto your hand and led you into his living room and onto his couch. “Did you watch the game?”

“Yeah, you guys played well.” You tried complimenting him, but he only shook his head like he didn’t believe you.

“Not good enough, apparently.” He murmured, and you reached out to place a hand on his knee for comfort.

“You can’t think like that.” You told him softly, and he pursed his lips, covering your hand with his and giving it a gentle squeeze.

“Sorry, I’m being annoying about this.” In an unfamiliar bout of insecurity, he laughed humorlessly.

“You’re not annoying me.” You shook your head. This was something important to him, he was allowed to be upset about being knocked from the playoffs.

“Well, that’s a first.” He cracked a grin, a sign that his mood was changing. You pushed away the thought that you had an effect on him, not wanting to get your hopes up too much.

“Shut up.” You chuckled, knowing he was referring to the rocky start of your friendship with him. Though, he was welcome to tease you all night if it meant he was smiling again.

“Might have to go tell Mat, he won’t believe that you said that.” He mused, and you swatted at his shoulder playfully. In the course of your friendship with Anthony, you had also gotten to know Mat better, and he thought it was the funniest thing that you didn’t get along with Anthony for months.

“Okay, now you’re annoying me.” You grinned, watching with glee as Anthony rolled his eyes playfully. His gaze seemed to catch on something then, one of his fingers extending to tug at the fabric of your shirt.

“You’re wearing the shirt.” He commented, sounding a little dumbstruck. You had to look down to see what he was referencing, seeing that you had the Beauvillier t-shirt he gave you from way back when on.

“Why wouldn’t I?” You questioned honestly. You wore it often, the fabric was soft and it was a little oversized, which meant it was perfect to lay around in. Certainly, he had to have seen you in it already.

“I don’t know, I just thought you would have thrown it out. Considering how much you hated me when I bought it.” You didn’t reply, simply rolling your eyes playfully at him. He certainly wasn’t going to let that go anytime soon.

“I like the beard.” You changed the topic, offhandedly complimenting the facial hair that had grown in during his push for the cup.

“Je vous aime bien.” He replied, a blush on his cheeks. You furrowed your brows in confusion, not sure what he said. But with the look in his eyes and the redness creeping up his neck told you it was something you needed to know.

“What?” You asked dumbly. He spoke French around you often, mostly quick phrases and teasing comments, but this seemed like so much more.

“I… like you.” He confessed the absolute last thing you thought would. Your heart rate skyrocketed, brows shooting up and mouth parting in shock.

“Oh.”

“Oh?” He questioned, nerves evident in his tone and the way he slumped his shoulders and pulled back from you.

Oh was about how you felt. It wasn’t a bad oh, far from it, but you were confused about your own feelings. Because you did have feelings for him, that was for sure, but you had spent so much the beginning of your relationship with him not liking him at all.

“Forget I said anything, if you want to go then I under—”

“Fuck it.” You muttered, more to yourself than anything, before pushing yourself towards Anthony and wrapping one hand around the back of his neck to keep him in place as you connected your lips in a kiss.

He wasn’t expecting it, having thought your oh meant a rejection, but it only took him seconds before he reacted, hands falling to your waist to tug you closer. In his excitement, he tugged too hard and pulled you so either of your legs were across his lap. You broke apart from the kiss with a giggle, meeting his broad smile with one of your own.

“Someone’s eager.” You teased, sitting back in his lap and letting your hands brush across his shoulders and settle on his chest.

“Can you blame me? I’ve been waiting on you for a while.” He grinned, his smile wide as he admired you.

“How long is a while?” You questioned genuinely, thumb brushing  gently back and forth across the fabric of his shirt. You couldn’t get enough of him, and if the way he was smiling at you told you anything, he felt the same way.

“The night we met?” He grinned and you couldn’t help the roll of your eyes at his cheesy comment. It certainly wasn’t love at first sight for you.

“Me complaining about you being loud was how I got you?” You teased, remembering how annoyed you were at him, and how Mat did absolutely nothing to help the situation. He ducked his head up, catching your lips for a quick kiss before slumping back against the couch and smiling warmly at you.

“I mean, you’re cute when you’re angry.” He replied, one of his shoulders shrugging while he held your gaze like he never wanted to look away again.

“So that explains why you kept annoying me.” You mused playfully, watching as a small started to bloom on his cheeks.

“Well, those were accidents.” He confessed bashfully, squeezing your waist as you let out a laugh. “So, do you think you could give me another chance?”

He didn’t really need to ask for another chance, you had long since forgiven him for annoying you those few times. Still, you grinned at him and leaned down for another short, sweet kiss.

“I think I can be convinced.”

[rev-plays-nikki]

Alright here we go 🙃

I am extremely disappointed with the announcement of Heaven’s Favor, or Blessed Land, as it’s been officially named on this Nikki server, as our anniversary hell event. As many others have said, this hell event is beautiful, and I love the suits (although it is disappointing that none have dark skin tones and devs of our Nikki game and devs of the the Chinese server have not thought to add them after the fact), but for an anniversary of the game which many including myself feel is supposed to be the biggest celebration of the year, I was expecting a much larger and more expensive event, such as True Road or Four Gods.

I would have been thrilled with either of those events in truth, though as someone who loves Four Gods and has been wanting it for the last 3 and a half years, I was desperately hoping you would finally bring it to us. I was prepared to spend at least $300 and most likely more on diamonds, lucky bags, and other things, simply to show my support for the devs finally giving players what we have been asking for. The grandeur and expense of this event is puny compared with the other two options we could have been given. People complain sometimes when we get expensive events, yes, but usually that is a result of too many expensive events in a row. That issue does not exist this time, and the player base as a whole does want an occasional very expensive event, especially for an occasion as exciting and celebratory as the game’s anniversary. There will of course always be a few who complain no matter what, but in this case, players including myself are frustrated, angry, and tired of how we are treated by our server’s devs. This event announcement is yet another in a long line of things that have made it clear the only thing or server cares about is money grabbing.

Though this announcement has made me finally decide to stop spending on Love Nikki, it has not been the only thing I’ve been unhappy about. It has simply been ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’ as they say. Our server’s devs have also made it clear they don’t care if we get the story in a way that makes sense either. We get the actual story chapters in order, and for the most part in a timely manner, yes, but there is a lot of the story and lore tidbits in other things like events (hell event as well as regular ones) and Dreamweaver stories. We do not get these in chronological order, which makes it confusing for everyone. I have to assume that our devs think we don’t care about the story, which I do think is largely true based on how many people tap through the story stages, but many of us still DO care about the story, so ignoring it and giving no thought to the order in which we receive story based events and Dreamweavers (both long-term “free” ones and ones that cost diamonds) is, frankly, a huge middle finger to that part of the player base.

The recharge lineup for this event is also extremely disappointing to say the least. And this can’t possibly be a surprise after the reaction from players when frost rose was brought back a while ago. We do NOT expect, and certainly do not WANT, return recharges for a hell event. Especially not for the hell event that is supposed to be our big anniversary celebration. Many were prepared to spend big for our anniversary, and now we will be spending nothing. This is yet another in a long history is giving us subpar recharge lineups that are either too expensive for a comparatively mediocre suit or contain too many expensive returning recharges for the same amount of money (or in a couple of instances, more, if someone had purchased parts of the suit in its original run and had to purchase the same again to complete it.) Personally I have purchased every recharge that became available since shortly after I started playing and have well surpassed V15 levels of spending, but I will be skipping these.

It is also shocking, as I noticed recently, that if a player does not claim their daily diamonds one day, the next day the number of daily diamonds left decreases regardless. This means if a player pays for a monthly recharge card, but cannot log in for one or more than one day for that amount of time, they simply lose some of the diamonds they paid for. While it is a “monthly” card, it promises a certain number of diamonds. It would deliver that number no matter what. Other games have systems in place to account for this. For instance, Time Princess, another dress up game, simply allows the player to collect their diamonds for whatever number of days they have not logged in. It works great and everyone stays happy and gets what they paid for. Maybe a similar system is not in place in Love Nikki and that’s fine. There are other ways to make sure people get what they paid for. The diamonds someone didn’t claim could be mailed to them for example, or daily diamonds could be made a permanent event like the daily login reward, and players could claim diamonds once a day as they choose. Another annoyance to players is that the permanent diamond pavilions still do not have a “confirm” pop up asking if players are sure they want to spend up to 1500 diamonds. This seems like such an easy fix and something players have wanted and asked for for some time.

Recharge suits should also come back for crafting. It seems as things have been going for the last four years that none come back for a long time, players complain about it and threaten to boycott, and a short time after, one relatively inexpensive suit will return in an attempt to satisfy players. Players then think this means recharge suits will return regularly, and are appeased for some time until the whole process repeats itself. This is very frustrating and tiresome. Every paid suit should ideally return for crafting, but my guess is that none of the highly expensive ones ever will. That is very sad to me, as I truly believe that every suit should eventually be made available to every player. I believe the same for the ranked suits, all of which I have, as well. It would be great if they came back but I understand for them why they will not far more than for recharge suits. As a paying player, the way I see it when I buy any suit is that I am paying to get it early, not that I am paying to get it at all. And I am more than happy to pay for that, and thrilled to know that every player will have the chance to get it eventually. I’m sure there are other paying players who don’t share my views, so I understand why devs are hesitant to bring back super expensive suits, but I do think they should return. Not only because on other servers recharge suits return for crafting far more frequently than on ours, but also because as time goes on the suits end up looking older and older and as such their value to players should decrease. The price of suits should go down when they return, not stay the same, and eventually every suit should be obtainable for any player.

Now, back to this hell event again, and more specifically Four Gods, because I’m selfish and I want it. Four Gods has been around for years. Those of us who have known about it from its original run on the original Chinese server have been expecting it to come to us ever since. Lore-wise, as I understand it, it was sort of an introduction to the main four Cloud families and their heads who feature prominently in some event and Dreamweaver stories, though not so much the main story yet. The event was sort of a prequel to Four Wars, and on the Chinese server Four Gods came first. I remember when we got the announcement for Four Wars for our server, and my utter shock. No one had expected or really been asking much for this hell and there were so many other, older events that would have made more sense to us at the time. This I think was the first truly egregious breach of lore order, at least that I can recall and that was so important to the story. When we got Four Wars most players had no idea who these characters were, so how were they supposed to care about them or the story? I think a large part of why many players don’t care about the story can be attributed to the devs not caring about it for us. If we were given events and story parts in chronological order so that it made sense, it would be much easier to follow and perhaps players wouldn’t give up on it so easily.

Since then however, years have passed and we still have not received Four Gods, or even been given the courtesy of being told why we haven’t gotten it. It hasn’t even been mentioned to us by our devs. Now there are rumors floating around the Love Nikki community about it that I think do no one any favors. There is the (I suspect true) rumor that the devs have for a long time intended to never give us this event. There is a rumor that there is some issue with converting the files from an older event to our newer server. There is a rumor that the reason we have not gotten Four Gods is that the devs do not want to give players the opportunity to get the 3000 free diamonds that originally came with the event. There are these and many other rumors, all of which highlight I think the most important issue with regards to our server, and that is communication.

Our server’s devs have always been, quite frankly, horrible at communicating with their player base. We get event announcements and teasers and all and that’s fine, those things are fun and exciting, but when it comes to larger issues in the game, like as an example darker skin tones and makeups that match them, and what the team is doing about it, we receive little to nothing. With this specific issue, and it’s not the only one, it seems players complain and complain and threaten to boycott as I’ve mentioned earlier, and the team eventually gives us the promise that they are working on it. These promises usually come far later than they should. And communication should be more than just promises once the team has finally decided to promise it. Communication should include the in-between phases. For instance, using this example, respond to players more quickly and tell us what the team is considering. We don’t always need promises, especially when the team can’t deliver what is wanted in a timely manner. We want to know what is going on. If the team is discussing something before deciding, let us know! It’s ok if nothing has been decided yet. We want to know what is going on, and if we know, we can give feedback and help the team in its discussions.

The game Time Princess again does this well. They offer frequent surveys that players can access the link to in-game, and they have almost weekly live chats in their Discord server where they answer questions, give hints and teasers about future events, give out extra redeem codes, and have players play fun trivia games with them regarding the game’s stories. If Love Nikki’s devs did something similar, it would greatly increase fan engagement with the game and the story, and show that our devs do care about us and what we want. After being more transparent with the community, and letting us know what’s going on, better decisions can be made, and better plans can be formed, instead of the team telling us nothing and letting us wonder and spread usually baseless rumors until we are given a promise. Even the promises are not always adequate either. With the dark skin tone makeups again, we were promised the team was working on it. And yes, we have received more dark skin makeups since, and that’s great, but it seems like we haven’t received that many recently, and when they come they are usually recipes that cost diamonds, and we only get a few makeups matching a few skin tones rather than one makeup for each.

My concern is that something similar will happen this time as well, and the team may well decide to continue not bringing us Four Gods without telling us a word about it or about why they have made such a decision. Supposedly now the team is talking about possibly bringing us Four Gods, but how do I know that? From the devs being open about their process and transparent with players about their plans and thinking? No, of course not. I know this because someone “close to Nikki'' told this to a well known player whom the rest of us know and trust as largely the only player who really knows what’s going on with the devs. And I doubt she even really does, but based on how little communication we get from the devs, it seems that way to the rest of us. And I of course do not mean this in any way to bash or throw negativity at Iri, I love her and she’s a wonderful person and member of our community! But it is a problem with our devs when someone telling one player something is the only way we can get some shred of an answer to our questions and desires.

Now, because I don’t want to be all negative and I don’t want to complain without offering solutions, here is a bullet point form list of things that could be changed in the game to greatly improve it and the players’ relationship with our devs. :)

- First and most importantly: communicate with players! Tell us what is going on with the team. Ask for feedback more often about more things than which door styles we prefer. Involve us in discussions! Transparency is paramount for any brand these days.

- Give us better “free” things. The Chinese server famously gets more free things like login rewards after server maintenance, etc.

- Add another recharge tier. The Chinese server has one more recharge tier than us ifI recall correctly, as well as their highest tier being more diamonds for less money. if that’s not possible for whatever reason, let us know and let us know why! And then make things less expensive. If that’s also impossible, give us better rewards. If that’s also impossible, at least let us know.

- Let people claim their daily dias even if they miss a day. Suggestions for this are already above in what I wrote.

- Add an “are you sure you want to do this?” button to all diamond pavs. Maybe with a checkmark for “don’t ask me again on this account.”

- Make sure darker skin tones and makeups come back in a timely manner. Maybe make a schedule for it and share that with players. Explain why it takes so long. Work on bringing poses for darker skin tones as well. If that’s not possible, explain to us why in detail.

- Give us four gods. Please and thank you. :) I promise plenty of us want it. If you can’t or won’t, tell us that, and tell us why. If you can’t tell us why due to a non disclosure agreement or something similar, tell us you aren’t able to tell us why. Whatever communication you can give us is far better than none.

I love and care about this game deeply. It has been a very important part of my gaming life through the past four years. I would not have bothered writing any of this if that weren’t true. I truly and genuinely hope that things change and get better in the future, but until then I will not be quitting, but I also will not be spending nearly as much time or money on it as I have in the past, which makes me sad. I wish everyone the best and I hope our devs will listen and improve their communication at the very least. Thank you.

[jobean12-blog]

Top Shelf- Chapter 20: The Last Word

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x reader (bookshop, bartender, baking AU)

Word Count: 821

Summary: Celebrations and love and dancing and kisses :) 

Author’s Note: So, here it is. The End. It wasn’t epic, it wasn’t new and it wasn’t easy (first time I ever tried doing a series) but honestly, if it weren’t for the amazing support I get from my friends, fellow writers, readers and just you overall incredible humans I would never have done it. You have my endless thanks and appreciation for sticking with me. Thank you for reading and I love you all! ❤❤❤ PS the lyrics at the end and the song he puts on are from Al Di La by Jerry Vale (although the original lyrics aren’t his) and you can listen here...it is literally one of my favs ever, please check it out 🥰

Warnings: Sweet fluffy happy love :) 

Top Shelf Masterlist

The limo stops at the curb and Bucky opens the door; a permanent smile plastered to his face as he holds his hand out. “Here, one sec baby, let me get your dress.” He takes the material and hangs it over his arm, trying for your hand once again and successfully pulling you from the car. “There we go doll.” He circles his arm around your waist and walks toward the door, opening it quickly so you can go in.

“This was such a good idea,” you say over your shoulder, shuffling behind the counter and opening the display case to grab some macarons. “I know we ate dinner and had like a whole piece of wedding cake, but all that dancing got me hungry again.” You take a bite and hold it up for him to do the same. His hand circles your wrist and he asks, “have I told you how absolutely stunning you look?” before brushing crumbs from your lip and inhaling it. You smile shyly and fix his bow tie, kissing him softly.  

“Do you remember the first day we met? You ate all my cookies!” You stop midchew. “OF COURSE, I DO and listen up Barnes, you offered! And they were damn good!” He chuckles, taking another macaron and popping it in his mouth. “Sure, whatever you say…Mrs. Barnes.” You squeal in happiness, throwing your arms around his neck and almost knocking him over. “Can you say it again?”

He swallows, suddenly much more serious in his tone, “I love you Mrs. Barnes and this has been the best day of my life so far.” You press your lips to his, laughing when you get a taste of some left-over cookie. “Way to ruin my moment,” he teases, fiddling with the necklace resting along your collarbone. “Thank you for wearing this. I know it meant so much to Grandma.” He looks at it almost reverently before bringing his eyes back to yours.

You put your hand over his, squeezing it gently, “Bucky, it’s so special and I couldn’t be happier that she wanted me wear it. She wore it at her wedding and maybe if we have a daughter, she can wear it at hers.” With teary eyes he brings your knuckles up to his lips for a soft kiss and then heads toward the steps at the back of the bookshop. He opens the gate and leads you upstairs, stopping abruptly at the top, “wait, I have an idea.”

He doesn’t say anything more and takes one arm and places it under your butt and the other around your shoulders. Lifting you up he walks through the doorway looking quite proud of himself. Carefully toeing off your shoes you nuzzle into him, “I love you Bucky. This really has been the best day ever.” He gently sets you on your feet, holding up a finger as he walks to the small table by the lamp. The old record player Grandma Betty kept all these years sits on top and he takes a vinyl from its case, hiding the cover from your eyes.

Your smile grows while you wait, silently running through a list of songs in your head and wondering what he picked. There are records ranging from the 50s to present day so it could be anything. The music starts softly at first, but you know it immediately, gasping softly when you hear Jerry Vale’s beautiful voice ring out through the attic.

“Oh Bucky!” He crosses the room and takes you in his arms, swaying back and forth to the melody. “One more dance?” You simply nod, brushing your fingertips over his cheek before resting your head on his shoulder. He caught you listening to this song on repeat one night when he got home from the bar. Your hair was thrown up in messy bun and you were organizing the socks drawers at 2am, singing way too loud and off key. It was hard to forget because you spent the next hour in his arms, listening to the song and dancing in your shared apartment, talking about your hopes and dreams.  

“You remember,” you whisper into his neck and look up into his eyes. His lips brush against yours in a barely there kiss, stealing your breath, “of course I do.” He parts his lips and runs his tongue over yours, ghosting his fingers up your neck before cradling your cheek and deepening the kiss. Your hands card through his soft hair and your body completely melts against him, dizzy from his touch. He pulls away, just as breathless as you and rests his forehead to yours. “I can’t believe that I get to do that for the rest of my life. I’m the luckiest guy in the Universe.”

‘In the kiss that I gave was the love I had saved for a lifetime. Then I knew all of you was completely mine.’

~The End~

@aesthetical-bucky​​ @auro-ora​ @bugsbucky​ @book-dragon-13​ @buckys-henley​ @buckys-broody-muffin​ @buckys-minty-breath​ @breezy1415​ @buckstaybucky​ @chuuulip​ @eurynome827​ @hiddles-rose​ @hawksmagnolia​ @hailmary-yramliah​ @ikaris-whore​ @itsunclebucky​ @imgaril-lindru​ @jhangelface0523​ @jewels2876​ @lorilane33​ @loricameback​ @littledarlinhavefaithinme​ @littleredstarfish​ @lokilvrr​ @addikted-2-dopamine​ @mushyjellybeans​ @marvelandotherfandomimagines​ @marvelgirl7​ @nano--raptor​ @nerdypinupcrystal​ @pinkdiamond1016​ @randomfandompenguin​ @sallycanwait68​ @scarletsoldierrr​ @tuiccim​ @the-wayward-robot​ @this-kitten-is-smitten​ @yansi1923​ @flyawaybay​ @throwmyheartawayagain​ @amandatar-06​ @nd1998sc​ @captainchrisstan​ @vherriepie​ @godofplumsandthunder​ @when-the-hell-is-bucky​ @fire-flv​ @jamesbarnesappreciationclub​ @irishflutiegirl​ @rinthehufflepuff​ @moonybarnes​ @nordlysinthewoods​ @bucky-on-my-mind​ @lauratang​ @my-favorite-fics-and-imagines​ @buchanansebba​ @emilylyoness​ @lady-pswrld​ @lookiamtrying​ @mishaandthebrits​ @rebekahdawkins​ @randomesk-yuku​ @hopefuldreamers-world​

[rev-1832]

please for the love of all fuck explain mcyt to me

Omg I've been waiting for this

So mcyt means minecraft youtube, but usually also includes Twitch streamers. It's like a in general thing, and not pointing to anything specific

But since you sound so confused, I'm gonna explain to you the Dream SMP lore 'cause why not

TL;DR: Chaos and war, basically also like a hamilton, heathers, and les mis crossover (but i mean if you want to understand everything you should read.)

If theres spelling mistakes, sorry

Note: Everyone on the smp has three canon lives, and when you loose all three you're canonically dead (except philza minecraft. he has one canon life bc hes known as the hardcore guy bc he had a minecraft hardcore series for 6 years until he was killed by a spider while trying to fight a baby zombie lmaoooooo)

IMPORTANT: THIS IS ALL RP. IRL THEY’RE ALL FRIENDS. THERES A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE PLAYER AND THE CHARACTER. THE RELATIONSHIPS AREN’T ACTUALLY TOGETHER IRL. ITS ALL THEIR CHARACTERS THAT THEY MADE UP. (obviously the best friends stuff are irl)

In the beginning there were 8: The Dream Team (Dream, Georgenotfound [the guy in my pfp btw :)] , Sapnap), Badboyhalo, Awesamdude, Ponk, Callahan, and Alyssa. Around this time, nothing much happened since it was all brand new, uhh yeah (this was around may-july of this year)

Then around late july new members joined: Tommyinnit, Tubbo, Wilbur Soot, Eret, Skeppy, Fundy, Punz, Purpled, and Schlatt. This part is very important to the lore, because the lore kinda started off with the british (so tommy, tubbo, wilbur, eret) Schlatt was banned, cause Sapnap was the one who invited him and Dream didn't know who he was. He'll come up later.

So Wilbur and Tommy decided to create a new nation called "L'Manberg". Also around this time (i think) Nihachu and Jack Manifold joined. They also were part of L'Manberg. There was this huge revolution between Dream Smp and L'Manberg. Very historical period on this smp. In the end, (i think it was?) L'Manberg who won (if memory serves).

After that, L'Manberg had started growing bigger, with a lot more buildings added and stuff, notably Church Prime, which where they created a religion for Twitch Prime, which is how you can sub to your favorite twitch streamer for free if you link your amazon prime account. I'm pretty sure around this time, Quackity, Karl Jacobs (if you watch Mr. Beast; yes, that karl jacobs), HBomb, Technoblade, and Antfrost joined. And then the railway war started. It happened when Tommy accidentally ran over Dream with a Minecart and then took his stuff. This is how the disc war started (once again, if memory serves). The two discs Tommy owns are his prized possesions, and Dream took them. Also around this time the Pet War started, with Sapnap killing someones(i forgot oops) pet. And then more pet killing. Annnnd then even more.

Then there was the L'Manberg eletion. There was POG2020, who was Wilbur and Tommy, SWAG2020, Quackity and George, Coconut2020, Fundy and Nihachu, and Schlatt2020 which was Schlatt. Oh yeah and he got unbanned btw

SWAG2020 and Schlatt2020 decided to combine their votes, thus Shclatt became president and Quackity his vp. Oh and ever since the election Quackity has this grudge against George bc he slept through the election. Schlatt renamed L'Manberg to Manberg, and exiled Tommy and Wilbur from it.

Schlatt is a evil dictator who likes power. He and Quackity started fighting, and so Quackity became part of Tommy and Wilbur's side. Around this time was The Battle of the Lake and The Burning Eiffel Tower, both part of the pet war. (It seems like a innocent war but its actually brutal lmao) Also (irl) Mr. Beast had a $10,000 Taco Bell gift card hunt. Eret won. It was at the cords 6969,420, because haha funny number haha weed number. This has nothing to do with the lore but yeah. Eret also became King of the SMP 

Then there was the Manberg festival. It was to celebrate democracy, but Tubbo puts it as "i decorated my own execution" bc he helped decorate it, but he was murdered there. At the festival was the Manberg Massicare, where Technoblade was forced to shoot tubbo, but he released a firework rocket kiling Tubbo, Schlatt, Quackity, and a few others. Many people lost one of their canon lives. Wilbur went all J.D like and planted 11 stacks of TNT underneath Manberg, and wanted to blow it up.

Pogtopia was formed, which is a ravine which i think is underneath? manberg? Which included basically everybody who wasn't neutral or with schlatt. On November 16 was the Manberg VS Pogtopia war, but the Badlands were also there. The Badlands is a nation of four people: Bbh, Skeppy, Awesamdude, and Antfrost. They faught with the loosing side, so the chaos could continue. Eret disobeyed Dream and got stripped of his royalty, and gave it to George. Oh and during this time, George had no idea there was a war and was building a cottagecore mushroom house with callahan and was very confused with all the death messages in the chat. Schlatt died canonically of a heart attack or stroke (no one knows tbh). Tommy became president, passed it to wilbur bc he still has unfinished buissness with dream (the discs), and wilbur passed it to Tubbo, who made Tommy his vp. Technoblade then argued about how government is bad, and they're just repeating history. Philza Minecraft joined the server, but no one could find him, until Wilbur blew up L'Manberg (they rechanged the name also). Wilbur then made Philza kill him, so Wilbur also became canonically dead. Then Techno, still mad at L'Manberg and governments, summoned two withers and made it attack the others. The Geogre decided to check out what was happening and helped fight. After the chaos, Captain Puffy and ConnorEatsPants joined the smp. About one to two weeks later Vikkstar and LazarBeam joined, then about three months after that Ranboo joined.

They rebuilt L'Manberg on stilts, and there water where the explosion was, but now with coral and stuff to make it all pretty. Tommy and Ranboo decided to go steal from Georges mushroom house, but then also griefed it and burnt it, and Dream, being a George simp, built obsidian walls around L'Manberg. They took Tommy to court, and was put on probation. Then Tommy got exiled (again) but this time by his own best friend. This made Quackity vp and Fundy secutary of state. Dream also took Georges king thing and gave it back to Eret because Eret has a good relationship with everybody, whereas George being King just caused chaos cause hes close to Dream. Quackity and Karl made Mexican L'Manberg, and George and Sapnap joined in also. War against Dream SMP, it was a negotiation and it got renamed into El Rapids (reference to Chilling in Cedar Rapids, which Hilary Clinton once said, and Quackity referenced it, got it trending #1 one twitter (well i mean dsmp gets things trending like everyday but), and got DONALD TRUMP TO SUBTWEET HIM. (This happened irl)

In his exile, Ghostbur (wilbur as ghost) and Tommy made Logstedshire, and Dream was often there to watch him. Dream then blew it up, and now Tommy is living with Techno in his arctic place. Currently, Quackity made a thing called The Butcher Army, so they could execute Techno. Tubbo, Quackity, Fundy, and I also think Ranboo? are trying to get another festival, and yes its a secret execution plan, but for them to kill Dream, who they realized is who they need to kill first. The disc war is still not over. Tommy has one of his discs, but Skeppy is in possesion of the other one.

Unluckily for Tommy (reguarding the discs), something happened in the Badlands. Bbh was digging out his underground statue room (he plans to make a statue of everyone of the server) and found this crimson egg. He, Antfrost, and Captain Puffy kinda got possesed. Also since Skeppy didn't really hang out on the server at night, but bbh does (OF FUCK I FORGOT TO MENTION HE AND BBH ARE BEST FRIENDS) Captain Puffy created Discount Skeppy, which is her in a Skeppy skin. Skeppy found out, had a little conflict with her during her stream, but it was resolved, and at one point in the stream, he asked bbh to choose between him and the egg, and when bbh didn't answer, he went to the egg, put himself inside it, and logged off. Couple days later, bbh and puffy got him out, hes now possed by the crimson, called Technoblade his "best friend" infront of bbh, and is now living in a grass hut. Bad is convinced theres still some skeppt left, but yeah. Skeppy also wanted to burn the disc.

End of lore for now, bc its like if you miss ONE STREAM YOU MISS LIKE A REALLY IMPORTANT EVENT AND ITS STRESSFUL

Not much part of lore but Nihachu and Captain Puffy once went on a date. They’re both bi irl and Puffy was on Nihachu’s Love or Host (twitch dating show. its really entertaining) Captain Puffy was a contestant, and chose love. (LoH is also how Nihachu and Wilbur met.) 

Funfact: Theres 5 irl lgbtq+ ppl on the server (people who came out, anyways cause you never know, ya know?) Antfrost is gay, Eret, Nihachu, Captain Puffy are all bi, and Karl Jacobs is ace spec 

Family stuff: Philza Minecraft (he'll come up later) had two twins with a Samsung Smart Refrigerator in the 70's. The two twins being Wilbur and Technoblade (he'll come up later also) and also had another son, Tommy. They also adopted Tubbo, who they found in a box on the side of the road. When he grew up, Wilbur met Sally the Salmon, and they had a fox together (dont ask just go with it), which was Fundy. (The character) Fundy is trans, and yeah . Bbh is a dad to sapnap and yeah

Oh and a new member is coming on today on Quackity’s stream (twitch.tv/quackityhq at 5pm CST if you want to watch) 

I left out some parts, sorry, but theres always the wiki...

Wilbur Soot is also a musician! He wrote I’m In Love With an Egirl, The Internet Ruined Me, and Your New Boyfriend. (did you know the last one beat taylor swift for #1 trending on youtube? idk why but im really proud of him for that) They’re all catJam’s. Go listen!

[pinkprimrose05]

GX Month Day 7: Ojama Delta Thunder!!

@gxmonth

"That’s right! You know what today is! Today we celebrate The Chazz, the one and only Manjoume Thunder! Give sparky boi a hug!"

...I'm not giving Manjoume a hug. I...*cackles evilly* am gonna make him suffer as much as the actual Duel Links players do, maybe even more. And I'm not the least bit sorry, because hey, he gets something out of it in the end!

Manjoume Jun was not having a good day.

The Ojama Duelist grumbled to himself, kicking a non-existent pebble into the air as he made his way to the Duel Studio. The picturesque environment of Duel Links -too clean, too perfect- never ceased to amaze him and many others, but right now, he was too damn pissed to care about that.

After all, it's hard for one to appreciate the technology behind a game's setting when that same technology had just fucked up their entire collection of cards- And in the middle of a Duel no less!

The door slid open as he walked through, revealing rows upon rows of multicolored tables placed on either side of the massive ground floor that was the Deck Editor section, leaving a clear path to the spiraling staircase of clear blue glass that led to the Card Catalog and several other, more obscure sections. After all, the Deck Editor was the single most popular part of the Duel Studio, if the couple dozen Duelists buzzing around all day long were anything to go by.

Manjoume plopped down on a chair at the first empty table he could find, fishing out the single Deck box in his pocket and dropping it on the yellow, round surface. The twenty cards inside the box spilled out over the table (he had hundreds of those for fuck's sake!), and their owner groaned in frustration as he rifled through his completely reset Deck....Scratch that, it wasn't even his own Starter Deck. Battle Warrior? Flame Manipulator? What the hell?!

Briefly, he considered the benefits of marching up to Isono and demanding an explanation and solution to what happened, but that idea was shot down almost immediately. It's not like the guy would be of actual help; the last time someone asked about a bug in the game Isono had literally told them, quote unquote "Please ensure that no other house utilites are interrupting your connection, such as a microwave oven.", and while Manjoume was no tech expert, even he could tell how much of a half-assed excuse that was.

Stupid Duel Links and its stupid customer service-

"Manjo-kuuuuuuun!!"

Startled out of his thoughts, Manjoume only had enough time to gasp before a familiar blue blur put him in an unexpectedly tight headlock, already rambling at rapidfire speed straight in his ears.

"I'm so glad I could find you today!!" Kylie squealed "Had no idea I'd see you here, but that doesn't matter- do you wanna Duel?? I've been working on a new Deck and combos for days now and I can't wait to show you-" the second-year abruptly paused when she caught sight of the cards spread on the table, letting go of Manjoume in favor of taking a better look at them "Waaiiiit a minute, what's with those cards? They don't look like anything you normally play-"

"-It's Manjoume-san." He sharply interjected in a mix of annoyance and exasperation, shooting a glare at the oblivious blunette standing next to him as he massaged his neck "And yes, those aren't my cards. The game just randomly decided to reset my connection in the middle of a Rank-Up Duel of all things, yeet off all my Decks into nonexistence, and then gave me a shitty Starter in exchange, so now I'm stuck with almost zero gems and no way to recover my progress, which is just fucking splendid considering how close we are to the next KC Cup."

Manjoume sighed "Fuck this. Just, fuck this."

Truthfully, he wasn't as mad about the progress he lost as he was about losing his cards. It hadn't even been thirty minutes and, while he'd never admit it out loud, he already missed his trio of obnoxious Ojamas. They've been through thick and thin together, and it felt unnatural to have them just up and disappear like that. The last time they've been away from him wasn't exactly something he wanted to remember, and while the situation here was nowhere as severe as the Dark World, it still felt wrong for the air around him to be so quiet.

Kylie, who was uncharacteristically quiet as she listened to her 'friend' ranting about his current predicament, nodded along "So you...basically got your account reset?"

"No shit, Sherlock." Manjoume deadpanned in response. Kylie put a hand to her chin, humming thoughtfully with closed eyes, before suddenly slamming a hand on the table and nearly shocking him into falling off his chair.

"I GOT IT!" She exclaimed, snapping her fingers with a bright grin "This reset bug happened once to someone I know- I don't know if you remember Ruby from Heartland Academy, but anyway, she also lost all her progress a couple months ago after she got booted out of a Duel, and it turned out that her cards were just scattered all around the Duel World, so we went around asking everyone we could if they saw them, Dueled those who had some, and we got all her cards back in the end. It must be the same with yours, so let's get going and find them all!!"

Without warning, she grabbed the Legendary Duelists's hand, hauling him up and out of the Deck Editor before he could even get out a word. Manjoume gasped and spluttered along the way, trying to tell his companion to slow down a bit to no avail; as talking someone like Kylie out of anything was like trying to build a Deck around Cold Feet.

That didn't stop him from actually looking around and asking, though. If there was even the slightest chance of him finding his cards this way, then he'd be damned if he didn't at least try and go through with it. Compared to staking it out at the North Pole for a barely synergic mishmash of a Deck, to going down a haunted well in an empty forest for a bunch of 0-ATK monsters that were -figuratively and literally- bottom of the barrel, Dueling a couple chumps and scavenging for some lost cards was nothing, and he was ready to do so much more to get his partners back.

"See? I told you Aniki would come find us in the end!"

...I take back everything I said, Manjoume thought, cringing in disgust as Ojama Green and Black hugged each other and began prancing around him in circles, babbling and crying tears of joy while they were at it How could I ever miss this shitfest?

He just did, somehow. It hadn't taken too long to find the two Ojamas anyway; the sound of them banshee screeching weeping their asses off by the fountain was all he needed to know they were somewhere out there, and by some lucky miracle, their cards didn't get sprayed to oblivion with all the water by the time he came to retrieve them. As for his other cards, he and Kylie had stopped by the Shop, the Card Trader, the PvP Arena, the Gate and the Duel School, asking everyone they could about his cards, and beating the shit out of those who had some and refused to give them back

(Well, Manjoume was the one who did that, and only to Evan and Zachary, but that wasn't the point here, was it?)

By the time they decided to return to the Duel Studio for a small break, they'd gathered practically all of his key cards. He couldn't care less for the bunch of staples he lost -he'd just reroll the Selection Box or whatever-, so the only missing card that actually mattered, as much as it stung his ego to admit it...

...was Ojama Yellow. And after what happened with his brothers (and with Fairy Dragon, which he found resting on top of a very inconveniently high branch of a tree), Manjoume fully expected the third Ojama to be sleeping in the trash can or somewhere equally stupid. Because if he wasn't, he'd have found him before any other card by simply following the sound of high-pitched crying mixed with a lot of screaming and weird Ojama noises-

-A sudden rattling sound interrupted the noiret's thoughts for the second time that day, and when he stopped to locate its source, he let out a long, drawn-out sound between a sigh and a groan. Surely enough, the sound was coming from the trash can by the cliff, which was shaking wildly and practically begging to be opemed. Feeling a migraine coming up, Manjoume turned left, walked up to the can, and with some difficulty, pried the lid off.

"ANIKIIIII!!"

He instantly regretted it (he didn't) when the snot-faced creature that was Ojama Yellow exploded in his face, crying uncontrollably as he tried to hug Manjoume (keyword being 'tried'). His brothers all but sprang up from their cards, meeting him in a hug midair and effectively plucking him off his master for a bit as they all laughed and cried and did everything in between.

"Aww, look at how happy they are!" Kylie gushed, eyes almost sparkling. She lightly smacked Manjoume's back "You sure have a funny bunch of spirits, luckyyyy~"

Swatting away the Ojama trio and a pair of Catnipped Kitties before they tried sneaking up on him for a hug, Manjoume folded his arms and snorted in response "Yeah, sure."

But regardless, he found his lips quirking up in spite of himself. If it were me from three years ago, he mused I wouldn't have bothered with any of this in the first place.

But this wasn't the him from three years ago. This was the him of today, the Manjoume Thunder who'd gone through so much shit and learned from it to become a better Duelist, a better Duelist, and a better person. And while he had many people to thank for that, he also had to give credit for the monster spirits that followed him through all of the aforementioned shit, because as cringy, messy, bombastic and obnoxious as they might be, they were his partners, and he wouldn't give them up for anything in this world-

"WILL YOU FUCKING STOP THAT??!!"

-Unless they tried to hug him again. Pissed beyond reason, Manjoume chased after the quintet of Level 2's, ignoring Kylie's hysteric laughter and the surprised yelps from other Duelists as they dashed around the area in circles, all the noise merging into a cacophony of angry hollering and frightened squeaking, among other sounds.

In the end, some things never change....for better or for worse.

~~~~~~

Screw the actual Duel Links game for not including most of Manjoume's low-ATK monsters in his Starter/Lv 10 Deck (why tf is Catnipped Kitty a main Box card 4 years after his release?), and double screw them for splitting his Ojamas and Dragons into separate Decks.

I hate how his higher level Decks in the game completely disregard the former half of his cards; those are the ones that actually stuck with him in a meaningful way, not the Armed Dragons...they deserve some more recognition, so why not mix both archrtypes and slap in Ojamatch?

Also, yes, Standard Duelists actually exist here, so I decided to throw in my favorite GX girl AKA Kylie and have her interact a bit, and boy is she fun to write.

Headcanon: Kylie considers Manjoume (and everyone else, but especially him) her best friend because she basically has Yuuma's mentality of 'Anyone I Duel becomes an amigo!', and by sheer dumb luck, the two keep logging in at the same time and often get matched up in PvP Duels.

That's part of why she's so familiar with him (and also why she calls him Manjo-kun) and as you can see, Jun does not approve.

Aaaand this would be everything for Day 7! Expect to see me again...in a week from now. By Day 15 to be exact. In the meantime, if you’d like to follow my prompts for the month, I’m posting them all on ArchiveofOurOwn: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33473653/chapters/83489824

[felassan]

EA: Introducing Spotlight—a new #EAPlayLive series where celebrated studio developers talk shop & swap stories. First up is The Future of FPS on July 8th with @Respawn and @EA_DICE. [read more link] [source]

---

“July is going to be a busy month around here. This year, EA Play Live is more than just a single broadcast. Today we’re excited to announce a new EA Play Live series leading up to the Main Show that’s happening on July 22nd at 10:00am PT / 7:00pm CET. We call it EA Play Live Spotlight, and it’s all about connecting you to games you love and the people who make them. This means throughout the month of July, we’ll have five different broadcasts total, made up of four individual Spotlights to start and then the one main show. An easy way to think about Spotlights are they’re like panels, where the main show is a collection of our games with new things to reveal.

In these Spotlights, you’ll hear people from DICE, Respawn, EA SPORTS and our partner studios behind the EA Originals games. These talented developers will give you insights into what they’re making and how they’re doing it, and they may even drop some new news while they’re at it. Each of the Spotlights will very much be its own event, featuring wide-ranging discussions with a dedicated host and a panel of developers.

“Every year we host EA Play Live to connect with our fans, to show them the games we’re creating, and to hear from the people who are making them. This year, EA Play Live will be a series of events that allow you to watch what you want to watch. We’ll have bespoke episodes for sports, shooters and EA Originals that will lead into our show on July 22nd.”

-- David Tinson, CMO

Let’s take a look at what’s coming this month:”

Rest of post under cut for length

“July 8 at 10:00am PT / 7:00pm CET: The Future of First-Person Shooters

The Series kicks off with an extensive discussion of two of our most exciting shooters: Apex Legends and the just-revealed Battlefield 2042 (special thanks to our Battlefield community for showing up to watch us during E3, we have more coming in July).

For the Spotlight, DICE’s General Manager Oskar Gabrielson and DICE LA’s General Manager Christian Grass, and Respawn’s Founder and Group GM Vince Zampella and Chad Grenier, Apex Game Director, will join host Stella Chung of IGN to discuss the Battlefield 2042 reveal, what to expect to see from both games on July 22nd as well as the future of FPS games as a whole.

July 13 at 10:00am PT / 7:00pm CET: EA <3s Independent Studios

We love seeing innovation in the industry and we love partnering with studios who have that same passion. So we’re devoting an entire Spotlight to the vital role indies play in the industry. Todd Martens of the Los Angeles Times will host a panel featuring Josef Fares of Hazelight (It Takes Two), Olov Redmalm of Zoink (Lost in Random), Mel Philips and Abubarker Salim of newcomers Silver Rain, and Guha Bala of Velan (Knockout City™). This is guaranteed to be a spirited and wide-ranging discussion!

July 19 at 4:00pm PT / 1:00am CET: Madden NFL 22 All-Access: Scouting - How the Community is Shaping Madden NFL 22

Fans always influence their favorite games. This year, EA SPORTS™ Madden NFL 22 is taking that idea to a new level by putting the voice of the player at the heart of the development process earlier than ever via the Madden Design Council. Find out how fans impacted the development of Franchise Mode and helped bring to life highly requested features like Staff Management, weekly game strategy and a new scenario engine.Plus, did we mention you’ll get the first ever deep dive reveal of the brand new scouting feature coming to Madden NFL 22 via a live service update targeted in September? Join EA SPORTS’ Seann Graddy, Tom Lischke, and Andre Weingarten, as they come together to discuss the vision for their ultimate sandbox mode, Franchise. Not to mention, the panel will be hosted by Nick Mizesko, longtime play-by-play announcer for the Madden Championship Series.

July 20 at 10:00am PT / 7:00pm CET: More EA SPORTS!

Look, we’re not allowed to tell you much about this one yet, sorry. But we can say this Spotlight will highlight an extremely cool new addition to an extremely popular and long-running EA SPORTS franchise. We may have said too much already. Just keep your calendar free, OK?

“We love the panel format because it allows for great conversation to flow naturally, and who isn’t curious to hear what Josef is going to say next? Fans are going to see the personalities of the people who make their favorite games come through, and they’ll see how passionate they are about what they do.”

-- David Tinson

July 22: EA Play Live at 10:00am PT / 7:00pm CET

With all these Spotlights, you may be wondering what will be left for the main event. The answer: a lot. Diving deep in the Spotlight series allows for the EA Play Live main show to make games the unwavering focus, with new gameplay reveals, a few giveaways and other surprises. Lifelong gamer and WWE superstar Austin Creed will host the event and keep things moving right along.

Now, obviously we can’t tell you everything that will be there on July 22nd. But we can tell you that this year EA Play Live will start at 10:00am PT / 7:00pm CET with a short pre-show that serves as a recap of sorts, before the main show brings the real excitement, focusing on games that are coming out soon rather than in the all-to-distant future. The show is a fast-paced one, coming in around 40 minutes and will feature what’s next for games like Battlefield 2042 and Apex Legends. You’ll also see the first gameplay for Lost in Random, featuring explosive dice battles, time-freezing tactics and card collection. We’ll have a couple other games to highlight as well, but for those, you’ll just have to wait and see.” [source]

[chiaki-translation]

4th Anniversary The Key To Daydreaming: Spring’s Door - Event Translation

I figured that my translation speed now is about 1 chapter a day, considering that I don’t work on weekends, and 1 troupe has 3 chapters, you can do your math~ Just a rough idea for those waiting for the translations~

Again, link for the video this time is here, watch the voiced video for the full experience~ SPRING’S DOOR

4th Anniversary The Key to Daydreaming: Secret Key / / Spring’s Door / / Autumn’s Door / / Winter’s Door / / Opening the Future Door with You

Disclaimer:

A3! is owned by Liber’s Entertainment

Spring’s Door

Director:

(I found this key in the courtyard, but…

What should I do if I can’t find the owner in dorm.

If that really happens, should I go and deliver it to a police box?

Hmm, if I’m the owner and I’m looking for something that’s mine, the first thing I’ll do is--)

…Bells?

(The sound seems to be coming from one of the Spring Troupe’s room.

I need to ask them about the key as well, I guess I should take a look)

<Shifts to Corridor>

Director:

(It seems that the bell sound is coming from Room 101…

The door is slightly open too…)

Hmm? Something’s pasted here.

… “Unlocked”?

Sakuya-kun, Citron-kun--

<Shifts to Room 101>

Geppaku:

“Show me whatever it is that you desire…”

Will:

“…”

Director:

Geppaku and Will…?

Will:

“Mr Foreign Fortune Teller, can you find what I’m looking for…?”

Citron:

“I told you I’m an Onmyouji…

Well, it’s fine.

Let’s see…. Just a bit more, I need more information from you.”

Will:

“The information for what I’m looking for right. Umm…”

Citron:

“The color?”

Will:

“It’s yellow! It looks a bit old…”

Geppaku:

“Then, how about the size?”

Will:

“I think I can fit it in my palm…”

Director:

(Will is asking Geppaku to search for something, is this an etude?)

Geppaku:

“…! I’m seeing something.”

Will:

“Really!”

Geppaku:

“A small yellow colored metal object… I saw a lady holding it.”

Will:

“A lady?”

Geppaku:

“A young one, with a bit of clumsy side on her, but ultimately a strong and very kind person.”

Director:

(Was there such character before…)

Geppaku:

“And then… A fanatic of something called ‘Curry’.”

Director:

…

… You mean, me?

Will and Geppaku:

“--!”

Director:

(Oops, that came out of nowhere…

Even though they might be in the middle of practice)

Umm… Sorry, I didn’t mean to get in the way.

Will:

“Sorry! I was so absorbed in it, I didn’t realize that there’s someone else here.”

Geppaku:

“Pardon me. I’m an Onmyouji, my name is Geppaku.

I was helping this person looking for something that he had lost.”

Will:

“I’m Will from the Luminous Circus.”

Director:

Nice to meet you…

(Ah, is the etude supposed to continue like this I wonder)

Will:

“Excuse me… Do you happen to find a key somewhere?”

Director:

“Key?”

Will:

“Actually, our Leader lost the key to the trunk that packs our business tools, and I’m looking for it.

The leader said that we can use other tools for the show if we can’t open the trunk, but…

If it stays this way, we’ll get roped into the Leader’s unreasonableness again…

To prevent that, I have to somehow find the key.”

Director:

That key that you’re looking for… Is it perhaps this one?

Will:

“Ah! A key!

I’m sure this is the one! I don’t know if I can open it with this, but I think this should be the one!

A lady is holding on to a yellow metal object…

It’s exactly as you said, Mr Foreign Fortune Teller!”

Geppaku:

“I told you, It’s Onmyouji.

But I’m glad I could be of help.”

Will:

“If you don’t mind, can you return the key back to me?”

Director:

Of course. I’m glad I can find the owner.

(I’m not really sure, but it seems to belong to Sakuya-kun…

Ah, that’s not it, it’s Will)

Will:

“Thank you so much!

But, I can’t just take it from you for free…

I have to show my gratitude to you somehow.

Hmm, what to do, I don’t have any money with me…”

Director:

There’s no need, it’s just the right thing to return it to its rightful owner.

You don’t need to mind it.

Will:

“Bu, but…!”

Geppaku:

“Then, in exchange, you can take this from me.”

Director:

This is… A soccer ball?

Geppaku:

“I’ve never seen such a Temari before.

T.N: Temari is some Japanese ball thingy, just Google it~

I’m sure this is a precious thing. Please, take it.”

Director:

Umm…

(Is this also part of the practice…?)

Then, I’ll take it.

Thank you so much.

Will:

“Really sorry about that.

I’m grateful from the bottom of my heart, Mr Foreign Fortune Teller.”

Geppaku:

“Don’t mind at all.

When you can use the key to open the trunk, please show me your performance.”

Will:

“Of course, with pleasure!”

Geppaku:

“I’ll be looking forward to it.”

Will:

“Yes! Thank you so much, the two of you!”

Director:

You’re welcome.

Geppaku:

“…!”

Will:

“What happened?”

Geppaku:

“Very near here, somehow a negative aura…”

Director:

A negative aura?

Geppaku:

“It doesn’t seem to be something bad, but…”

Director:

The one beside here is Masumi-kun and Tsuzuru-kun’s room…

Is it perhaps a fight…?

Will:

“Are you going to take a look at the situation over there?”

Geppaku:

“Yeah, if it’s you I’m sure that you’ll guide them to the right direction.

Director:

Eh? I haven’t said anything about going over--

Geppaku:

“There there, up you go.”

Will:

“I will cheer on you from here!”

Will and Geppaku:

“Have a safe trip~”

Director:

Wait a minute, you guys--!?

<End of Chapter 3>

Director:

I feel that I just got forcibly kicked out…

(But, I’m glad that the key is safely returned to its owner.

Even so, I wonder why they’re dressing up as Will and Geppaku.

Is it a full-scale etude training…)

This soccer ball too, I wonder what this is about…

???:

You…!

???:

Shut up, don’t be noisy.

Director:

Right.

I have to check the situation in room 102.

(Eh, this door also has a paper written “Unlocked” on it.

It’s slightly open too, similar to the previous room.

…For the time being, let’s take a look inside)

<Shifts to Room 102>

Kubota:

“Ah, damn it, I’m going to be late this way. Give me a break.”

Hayama:

“It’s because you can’t afford it isn’t it.”

Kubota:

“Huh?”

Director:

(It’s Kubota and Hayama this time…?

It’s rare to see Masumi-kun and Tsuzuru-kun practicing together on their own)

Kubota:

“I can’t practice without a ball.

And what to do, it’s your fault.”

Hayama:

“If it’s a ball, you can just buy a new one.”

Kubota:

“Ugh… You see! I lost the ball because I bumped into you when you’re looking away.”

Hayama:

“I don’t think you’re suitable for soccer if you make a fuss over a slight bump.”

Kubota:

“I told you, I’m a pro soccer player!

It was because of you, don’t walk while looking at your phone.”

Hayama:

“I don’t know you though.

It can’t be helped, they just announced KIKUKAWA’s new collection.”

Kubota:

“What an impertinent fellow…!

I don’t know what that KIKUKAWA is, but I don’t—"

Hayama:

“Shut up.

You too, for you to not know about KIKUKAWA—"

Director:

Wa, wait a minute, Tsuzuru-kun, Masumi-kun, calm down…!

Kubota:

“Tsuzuru-kun?”

Hayama:

“Masumi-kun…?”

Director:

(Right, they’re in their role right now)

Umm, anyway, you’re looking for a soccer ball right?

Is this perhaps Kubota-kun’s ball?

Kubota:

“Ah! Yeah, that’s the one!

Sigh, I’m glad! You really help me.

Thank you!”

Director:

You’re welcome.

Hayama:

“…”

Director:

(I feel like I’m being stared at…)

Hayama:

“Hey… Sister, will you become my exclusive model?”

Director:

Eh?

Tsuzuru:

There’s no such line…!

Kubota:

“A, ah~ Thank you, really.

Let me somehow make it up to you.”

Masumi:

… I don’t want to end it yet.

Tsuzuru:

…

Masumi:

Sigh, I have no choice…

Hayama:

“Take this, as compensation.

Cause it seems that he lost his ball because of me.”

Director:

This envelope… Is this an invitation card?

Hayama:

“Who knows. It’s a party for celebrities?”

Director:

That’s a very rough idea…

Hayama:

“I don’t think there will be a man that matches you, but it seems that you’ll be able to eat some delicious food.”

Director:

(I wonder if the words are coming from Masumi-kun or Hayama, I can’t tell…)

Umm… Then, I’ll take it, thank you.

Hayama:

“Yeah.

The party’s venue, just go out of this door and turn left.”

Kubota:

“Enjoy yourself. Then, see you.”

<Shifts to Corridor>

Director:

(He said the left side of the door…)

It’s Room 103… Of course.

(This door has the paper written “Unlocked” on it too.

Following the pattern, inside should be…)

<Shifts to Room 103>

Futami:

“Professor, I don’t have time to play with you.

Won’t you just give me the information already.”

Moriarty:

“Even though I already said I don’t know?

Unfortunately, I don’t have any high school student.”

Futami:

“…”

Moriarty:

“…”

Director:

(It’s Futami and Professor Moriarty this time.

It seems like they’re playing chess against one another…)

Futami:

“Then, there’s no point anymore. Checkmate.”

Moriarty:

“I wonder if you’re actually unfamiliar with chess rule?

I haven’t heard any check you know.”

Futami:

“Unfortunately, I don’t have the taste of an English gentleman.”

Moriarty:

“Oh boy.

Well, it’s fine… It seems that the Queen has arrived.”

Director:

?

Moriarty:

“Hey, Queen—Nah, let’s go with ‘My Lady’ here.

His student might be attending a certain party.

But, he would need an invitation to go there.”

Futami:

“… As I thought, you know something about  it.”

Moriarty:

“My lady, you have an idea about that party right?”

Director:

If you’re talking about party and invitation…

Futami:

“Perhaps, you actually have the invitation?”

Director:

Umm, is this the one…?

Moriarty:

“This wax seal, there’s no doubt.

It’s the invitation to the party.”

Futami:

“Hey, you. Will you give me the invitation.

I’m a high school teacher, but there’re some students that has been missing from school for a few days.

It seems like those students was deceived and asked to do some shady job.

The place where the students will appear next is supposed to be the party that you have the invitation to.”

Director:

You need it to save your students right.

If that’s the case, please take it.

Futami:

“Thank you, that was a great help.

As thanks, that great professor over there will give you something.”

Moriarty:

“Hmm, what a man who knows no fear.

Well, I guess I can kill some time with this.

I’ll close one eye this time.

Then, my lady, take this. You can use it as you like.”

Director:

Gold coins!?

If it’s money, you don’t need to…

Moriarty:

“I’m sure you’ll use it well.

Just consider this a charity.”

Futami:

“For the Napoleon of the criminal world to actually do a good deed…

Well, anyway, I got the invitation.

Let’s go to the party venue immediately.”

Director:

Wha, me too!?

Moriarty:

“I’m sure you’ll be able to see something interesting.

Don’t worry, there won’t be any blood spilled without that man here.”

Director:

(That’s kind of disturbing…)

Moriarty:

“… Well then, let’s go.”

<End of  Chapter 4>

Futami:

“So it’s here…

It doesn’t look like a party venue.”

Director:

Or rather, it’s just a lesson room…

(Here too, there’s a paper written “Unlocked”)

Moriarty:

“Whatever the story is, you can’t move forward if you don’t turn the page.

--Please, go ahead, my lady.”

<Shifts to Lesson Room>

Will:

“You are…!”

Hayama:

“I’m glad we meet again.”

Director:

Everyone…

Kubota:

“You brought some amazing people with you…”

Geppaku:

“There’s an unsettling aura that you brought here…”

Futami:

“…Professor, they don’t look like my students you know?”

Moriarty:

“I was only talking about possibilities with my ‘might be’.”

Futami:

“Tch…”

Will:

“It’s great to see you again! I want to see you no matter what so I asked Mr Geppaku to search for you.”

Director:

Me?

Will:

“Actually, this key that I got from you is not the trunk’s key…

So, I want to return the key to you.”

Director:

I see.

But, I’m sorry. A lot of things happened after that, the soccer ball…

That’s not it, the temari right, I don’t have it with me anymore.

Even if you return the key to me, I can’t return the temari back…

Kubota:

“The temari that you’re talking about, is it about my soccer ball.”

Geppaku:

“So that mysterious temari belongs to this person.”

Kubota:

“I don’t really understand the situation, but if you have trouble opening that trunk, it’s fine to just bring it to a locksmith isn’t it.

When I lost the key to my suitcase last time, I also had a locksmith to open it.”

Hayama:

“You lost your key when you travel… And you said you lost the ball as well, as I thought, you’re just a klutz aren’t  you.”

Kubota:

“Shu, shut up.

At least it was your fault that I lost the ball earlier.”

Will:

“But, if I have to ask a locksmith, I don’t have that kind of money…”

Director:

Ah!

Do you think you can do something with this gold coin?

Will:

“It will be enough if I have that!

But, I can’t get you to do that much…”

Director:

Professor Moriarty, this is a good deed isn’t it?

Moriarty:

“If you said so.”

Director:

So that’s what he said, don’t mind it.

Futami:

“Even the famous professor said it, just take it.”

Kubota:

“Right. That way, I won’t feel too guilty too.”

Hayama:

“Don’t waste that person’s good intention.”

Will:

“Everyone too, if you said so…

Thank you so much.”

Geppaku:

“Ah…

The yellow-colored metal object that I saw… It’s this.”

Will:

“It’s yellow, it’s a small metal object that fits in your palm, and a lady is carrying it… Ah!

I see, the one that Mr Geppaku saw is not that key, but this gold coin instead.”

Director:

I see, so that’s the case.

Will:

“Then promptly… I will return this key to you.”

Director:

Thank you.

Ah, it ended up back at the beginning again…

Umm, by the way…

Among everyone here, does anyone happen to drop this key…

Everyone:

“…”

Director:

I thought so…

And I thought I actually found the owner of the key…

Will:

“I’m sure you’ll find him.

I mean, you said that you’re back at the beginning, but…”

Geppaku:

“’The End’ is also ‘The Beginning’.

Your story with the key continues onwards, you were about to say that right.”

Director:

The end is, the beginning…

Futami:

“Then, we still have our ‘Continue’ as well right.”

Kubota:

“I also have practice coming up, but… Well, I’ll tag along.”

Hayama:

“Then, see you.”

Moriarty:

“Safe trip, My Lady.”

Director:

Yeah. See you again, everyone--

<Shifts to Courtyard>

Director:

…Wait, why did I not get any hint!?

(Sigh… I’m not really sure whether something will happen or not, it was pretty confusing, but…)

Everyone did well.

The end, is also a beginning…

(That sounds just like Spring.

This key too, I wonder what kind of ending awaits it.

Fufu, I’m pretty excited.

Alright, I wonder where should I go next.)

<End of Chapter 5>

[pucksnsticksnhockeyboys]

bad ideas have good results

summary: you put yourself in the position for trouble the moment you agreed to be roommates with Mikko.

warnings: mentions of sex, like one swear, and worst of all—its unedited

word count: 3.4k

You knew it was a bad idea.

It was truly a terrible, horrible, awful idea.

But you were kind of desperate, so you threw your concerns to the wind and moved in with Mikko Rantanen.

It was beneficial to both of you, he had an extra room and with his busy schedule, you helped keep the place in one piece and took over some of the more domestic aspects. In return, you didn’t have to live on the streets—or worse yet, move back in with your parents.

At first, it was nice. Mikko was a total gentleman and an absolute sweetheart. It probably helped that you were friends with him before moving in, but you got along with him fantastically. Movie nights on the couch, dinners cooked together, you had even taken to writing him little notes of encouragement and leaving them where he’d see them before going on roadies or a particularly stressful game. You knew you were towing a dangerous line in your heart, suddenly seeing him in a less than platonic way more and more.

But then Andre insisted that everyone go to the bars to celebrate a decisive four-zero win over Vegas.

Mikko was more clingy that night, and though he usually kept a protective eye on you, he was practically glued to your side. And as the night went on and the drinks kept coming, the handsier Mikko got. His hand started innocently on your side, but halfway through the night it slipped low on your waist, and when you were in the back on an Uber together, it fell suspiciously high on your thigh. And by the time you made it back to your shared apartment, he was pulling you in the direction of his room. And as much as you wanted, you couldn’t blame him completely; you went willingly.

And you went willingly each time after it.

If you were unsure about your feelings for the blond before your friends with benefits relationship started, you knew for a fact now. You were head over heels for him. You didn’t miss the irony, how he was climbing into your bed nearly every night and cooking meals with you during the day, yet he still introduced you as his friend. The relationship that you so desperately wanted was so close, yet just out of your reach.

“You did this to yourself.”

“Thanks, Nina.” You huffed, sipping your mimosa dejectedly. Your friend wasn’t wrong, but you would have liked a little sympathy from her, considering brunch had been your idea. She just shrugged, an impish smile on her face.

“Seriously, what did you think would happen when you moved in with a ridiculously hot professional athlete? That you wouldn’t fall for him?” She continued, and you dropped your head into your hands in embarrassment. “You’ve been hooking up with him for weeks, of course you’d catch feelings.”

“I—” You started, but an entirely too familiar voice cut in, making your stomach twist and your heart jump into your throat.

“You’ve been hooking up with Mikko?” Mel Landeskog. Of course. She was grinning brightly at you, a mixture of shock and knowing on her face and a baby on her hip. You groaned, dropped your head back into your hands, again, because apparently you couldn’t have a nice brunch without being embarrassed countless times. “I knew it!”

“You cannot tell Gabe, like, under any circumstances.” Your voice was low and steady, and some of the mirth slipped from Mel’s expression. The idea of Gabe, or anyone really, finding out about the nature of your relationship with his teammate made your skin crawl.

One night, after he slipped into your bed for some post-loss activities to cheer him up, you had asked if he talked about you in the locker room with the other guys, the grotesque way they did in movies. He had scrunched his face up in confusion at the idea, assuring you that he never talked about you or anyone else that way, that what happened between you and him stayed between you and him. That was the moment, you decided, that you were officially screwed. The moment when you realized you had fallen for your roommate.

“So are you and Mikko dating?” Mel asked, a grin on her face that had you blushing. You shook your head quickly, watching as her gleeful expression melted into one of confusion. “Why not?”

“That’s what I’ve been saying.” Nina added in, and you shot her a pointed look. She knew very well why you weren’t dating Mikko—he didn’t see you as anything more than his roommate that he hooked up with often. It was a live-in friends with benefits arrangement, and you had a hard time seeing that he would want anything more than that with you.

“It’s just not like that.” You assured her with a tight lipped smile. You knew she had good intentions, but you really didn’t feel like discussing the nuances of your relationship—or lack of—with the captain’s wife.

“Well, I’ve got to go, I’m getting brunch with some friends.” Mel gestured loosely to another table filled with women her age. You smiled at her, bidding her goodbye and just as she turned to go back to her table, and a look of realization crossed her face as she remembered something. “Oh! The boys are coming back tonight, so tomorrow I’m throwing a dinner for everyone. You and Mikko better be there.”

After receiving your assurance that you’d be there, Mel smiled and left. You turned back to Nina, busying yourself with your drink, knowing that she certainly had some comment about what had just transpired. You tried to not think about how Mel instantly thought you were dating Mikko, as if she saw something deeper in your relationship with the Finn than you did.

“Well, we’re certainly going to talk about that later.” Nina assured you, and you tried your hardest to come up with a different topic to distract her.

It was late at night, when you were curled up on the couch, when Mikko returned.

You hated the way your heart skipped a beat as you heard the keys in the lock, the way your focus had been entirely removed from the show you had been watching, and how you moved to lean your back against the headrest in anticipation for what would come next. The blond always had a routine for when he came home after being away. He always searched you out after returning from road trips, whether or not they were successful, instead of heading to his room for some much needed sleep. You tried not to think about it too much.

“Hey.” You called out to him softly, a smile on your face as he dropped his suitcase in the middle of the room, and then laid across the couch, his head on your stomach and his arms around your middle.

“Hello.” He mumbled into your shirt. Your heart clenched in your chest, hating how this felt too intimate for your current arrangement with him. Your fingers carded through his hair, earning you a satisfied hum.

“How was the east coast?” You questioned, though it was kind of pointless. He had texted you as much as he could during the day, and called you before and after games. You were pretty sure you knew exactly how the east coast had been.

“Fun. I beat EJ in cards twice on the plane.” He explained, and you could practically see his triumphant grin without even looking at his face. Like most hockey players, he was incredibly competitive. “How were things here?”

“Kind of boring, I went to brunch with Nina today and ran into Mel. Apparently, she’s having a mandatory dinner tomorrow.” You explained with a chuckle. For obvious reasons, you chose to avoid the fact that Mel had found out about the nature of your relationship with him.

“I heard. Landy told everyone before we even left New York.” He explained, and you smiled. He grabbed one of your hands, the one that wasn’t carding through his hair, and pressed soft kisses to each of your fingers, and then the back of your hand, before finally interlocking his fingers with yours. You watched in silent admiration as he did so, heart hammering in your chest so heavily you were afraid he would be able to hear it from the way he was laying atop you.

You needed to think of something to say, fast, or you were pretty sure you were going to combust.

“You need a shower.” You teased, scrunching up your nose in good fun as he shot you an offended look. Seconds later, though, his expression turned to one more mischievous and you knew you were in trouble. His sly grin replaced his goofy one, and you nearly melted into a puddle right then and there.

“Want to join me?”

Bad idea.

You nodded.

You ran into a problem the next day, while you were getting ready for dinner at the Landeskogs.

“Mikko Rantanen.” You called in an annoyed tone, looking over yourself in the outfit you had planned for the evening. You heard his heavy footsteps tread into your room, and then you saw him in the mirror behind you. Your heart thumped in your chest as you saw him, but your emotions took a backseat to the reason you had called him in.

“You look good.” He hummed, his hands resting on your hips as he dipped his head down to press soft kisses to the junction of your neck and shoulder. You flushed at his compliment and his touch, setting your hands a top of his much larger ones.

“You did this.” You gestured to the problem—a large bruise on your neck, evidence of the eventful night you both had. He had the audacity to laugh, loud and bright, and you were having a hard time being mad at him when he made a sound so sweet. “I’m serious, Mikko!”

“You weren’t complaining last night, though.” He teased, pressing a quick kiss to your cheek before retreating to sit on the edge of your bed. You turned with a pout, but his grin never wavered.

“The boys are going to make fun of me.” You huffed, crossing yours arms. Mikko grinned, huffing out a laugh as he pulled you to stand between his legs and you couldn’t help but feel and pang of pain shoot through you at how domestic everything felt—getting ready together for a dinner party at his team captain’s.

“Well, yeah, they make fun of everyone.” Mikko assured you, and even though his words didn’t sound very comforting, you couldn’t help the roll of your eyes and the smile that made its way onto your face. You especially couldn’t help the way you flushed as he squeezed your waist and grinned up at you with the goofy way he always did.

“Sometimes, I think you’re more trouble than you’re worth.” You huffed, trying to play off the fact that you were totally enamoured by him. You slipped out of his grasp, retreating to find some concealer to cover up the bruise.

“You really weren’t saying that last night!”

Yeah, living with him was a bad idea.

Things were going great, dinner was spectacular and the company was amazing. That was, until, everyone settled on the large sectional and surrounding chairs, passing Linnea from one person to the next. You had felt Mikko’s gaze burning holes into the side of your head from his spot beside you when you had been bouncing the baby girl in your lap. But you chose to focus on anything besides the fact that you wanted nothing more than to have your own family with him one day. It was warm, so your concealer must have rubbed off, because—

“You’ve got a hickey!” Tyson shouted, gesturing to you with a mischievous look on his face. You flushed brightly, adjusting the collar on your shirt in a futile attempt to hide the bruise. Apparently, the boys were like teenagers, because suddenly all of them, besides Mikko and Cale, were crowded around you in an attempt to figure out who you were sleeping with. That was a downside of being friends with the boys; they were entirely protective over you, and wanted to be able to make sure that whoever you were with was good enough.

“Who gave it to you?” Andre asked cheekily, and you shot a nervous glance towards Mel, who was grinning smugly at you from the kitchen. You avoided the question, taking a sip of your water you had gotten moments earlier to try and cool yourself down.

“Mikko, you live with her. Do you know who gave it to her?” Nate asked, and you shrunk into your seat even further. Mikko laughed, tossing his arm on the back of the couch behind your head.

“Yeah, I do.” He grinned smugly, and you wished a hole would open up in the ground and swallow you whole. Mel let out a booming laugh, and to your horror, you watched a look of understanding flicker across EJ’s face.

“Shut the fuck up.” He deadpanned, a wide and toothless grin spread across his face. His mischievous gaze was dancing between you and Mikko, and out of the corner of your eye, you spotted Mikko nodding in confirmation.

And then it was chaos. Gabe caught on the fastest, with Naz and JT close seconds. You missed the looks of confusion on Andre’s and Tyson’s faces, finding your nails much more interesting, but you could hear Ryan explaining it to them, and their following cheers of excitement.

“Are you serious?” Gabe asked, and you could see his smug grin without even looking up to him. Neither you nor Mikko got the chance to respond, because Mel let out a resounding ‘yep!’ from the kitchen and your face flushed further. Gabe spun to face his wife, betrayal on his face that you would have found amusing in just about any situation other than the one you were currently in. “You knew?!”

You took that as your chance to leave, standing from the couch and heading to the front porch. Ignoring everyone’s call of your name, you pushed forward and slipped out the door. You didn’t have your coat or phone, and Mikko had been your ride, so you drew in a shaky breath to try and calm yourself.

Things with Mikko were irrevocably changed, that was for sure, but you weren’t ready to face that quite yet. But, like always, Mikko had different plans. The door opened soon after you had stepped outside, and you’d recognized the blond that joined you no matter what.

“Are you okay?” He asked, his voice a lot quieter and a lot more serious than it had been five minutes before, when he had been boisterously talking with his friends and teammates. Five minutes earlier, you had been able to meet his gaze, but now you were doing your best to avoid looking at him. You shrugged, arms crossed over your chest and studying Mikko’s sock-clad feet. He hadn’t even put shoes on before he came chasing after you. You heard him sigh, but you didn’t lift your gaze. “I’m sorry I told them. I just didn't want to hide you anymore.”

“No, Mik, I’m not mad. Just embarrassed.” You tried not to think about what that meant, and instead wrapped your arms tighter around yourself in a futile attempt to somehow make yourself smaller and warm yourself up.

“Embarrassed?” He questioned, and you briefly wondered what it must be like to have his confidence if he wasn’t embarrassed by what had just happened inside. You could still see

“Yeah, it’s kind of embarrassing to have everyone know we’re just hooking up.” You turned away from him, closing your eyes and feeling the cold air against your flushed skin. You’re not sure what spurred your next words, knowing they were a bad idea, but nonetheless the confession tumbled past your lips in a whisper you secretly hoped he couldn’t hear. “Especially since I’m half in love with you.”

“Oh.” Was all he said, and you squeezed your eyes shut. It felt there were miles between you and Mikko, like you were drifting in space his feet were planted firmly on the ground. Your arms were crossed tightly across your chest, and you were doing all that you could in an attempt to not start crying on the Landeskog’s front porch. “Can you look at me?”

There was amusement in his voice that had confusion bubbling up in you. There was not one thing you found amusing about this situation, but when you turned back to face him, he was grinning from ear to ear.

“Can I talk now?” He asked smugly, his hands falling to the outside of your arms to hold you in place. You distantly registered that you nodded, but the bright look in his eyes kept you locked into your place. “I’m half in love with you, too.”

And that was not what you were expecting, honestly, and you let out a breathy laugh before you could stop yourself. His grin widened at your shock, and he took a step closer to you, so you were nearly standing chest to chest.

“Actually, I know I’m in love with you.” Mikko corrected. You could barely hear him over the sound of your heart pounding in your chest. One of his hands, that had been resting on the outside of your arms, moved towards your face, and then he titled your chin to meet his gaze head on, and you felt your whole body lock up. It wasn’t in fear, but excitement, that he was as close to you as he was with his last words still hanging in the air.

“Really?” You whispered, and a look of disbelief crossed his face, and he took a step closer that had you keening into him.

“How could I not be? You’re my best friend, and you’re always there for me when I come home from road trips.” He explained with the utmost certainty, and you couldn’t help the playful roll of your eyes.

“That’s because I live there, Mik.” You teased, watching as his grin widened at your joke. Instead of answering, he ducked his head to meet you in a kiss that had your head swimming. It was far from the first time you had kissed him, but it was the first time you had done so with both of your feelings out on the air. One of your hands settled on his broad chest, the other wrapping around the back of his neck and threading through the blond hair on the nape of his neck. He hummed in appreciation, and suddenly you were grinning too much for the kiss to actually work and had to pull away.

“So, do you believe me now?” He asked, dropping his forehead against yours to catch his breath. Your grin widened as your hand joined the other on the back of his neck while his own settled on your waist.

“Hm, I might need a little more convincing.” You hummed, feigning being deep in thought. Mikko’s chuckle filled the air, and you smiled at him, and he leaned towards you to do a little more convincing. Just as his lips brushed against yours, there was a knock on the window by the front door. You groaned, turning slightly to see Gabe and the rest of the guys watching you and Mikko with smug grins on their faces.

“Not on my front porch! We have neighbors!” Gabe told you through the window, and you flushed in embarrassment. Mikko let out a groan of his own, burying his face in the crook of your neck and mumbling what sounded like Finnish curses at his captain. You chuckled, bringing up a hand to rake through the curls on the top of his head.

“Congrats, you guys.” Naz’s words were genuine, but there was a mischievous grin on his face that told you Mikko would be teased good naturedly at the next practice. You smiled at him, and he was quickly overshadowed by two of his teammates.

As you faintly listened to JT and Tyson bicker back and forth from inside over who claimed that you and Mikko would get together first, you felt the blond still leaning heavily against you squeeze your sides gently, muttering a quiet ‘let’s get out of here’ to which you nodded readily. You slipped back inside to bid goodbyes and grab your things, only one thought sticking out to you.

Moving in with him might have been a bad idea, but the result couldn’t have been better.

[kenmasgameboy]

    【ｓｙｎｏｐｓｉｓ】

oikawa toru has so many girls falling at his feet, but it wasn’t always like this. when y/n met him there was no one yet to inflate his ego, when he was pure to himself, the person he is when it isn’t performative. she fell in love. after forcing a rejection from him, where he says he never saw her as a girl, she’s determined to become the absolute perfect girl for every one except him.

profiles: [ student council ] [ on the block ]

masterlist

listen to the mixtape while you read

↬ chapter 1 ➺ chapter 2 ➺ now ➺ chapter 3

congratulations readers! you’ve unlocked a memory from age 15.

a/n: this is a memory from your last time speaking to oikawa, this information is vital to the next chapter. Tell me how you feel <3

warnings: cursing; angst angst angst with a side of angst and pining

 [  heartbreak. ]

             You knew you had to do something about the quickening pace of your heart. High school started in 10 days. You and all your friends in the neighborhood had gotten into Aoba Johsai. You'd all be attending there. Even though you all had made friends at school, these people had more or less become your family. They were your brothers, who always played with you at home. The only ones who could match your own chaotic energy. And finally, for the first time all 5 of you would be going to the same school. 

               It was going to be a dream, except for the fact that you can't look Oikawa Tooru in the eye anymore.

              This wasn't just a crush anymore, this was just painful. Those butterflies you used to feel in your stomach now were traveling through your bloodstream and into your hands and weakened your knees. Every time you saw him you wanted to shout that you loved him.

Do it, before it's too late and you regret it.

            Matsukawa's words rang in your ears as you laid in the grass outside your grandparents home. What once was a nostalgic feeling now filled you with dread. It wouldn't be long until you were in this house alone. The peach filled sky was all you could see, innocent fluffy clouds mocking you as they moved the long grass in tune to tickle your cheekbones.

            You covered your face with your hands, trying to shield yourself from the incoming pain you knew you were due to endure. You had to do it. It's been too long, it didn't matter how many girls had done this before you, no matter how many would come after. You had finally admitted to yourself that you love Oikawa Tooru. His ambition, his zeal for life, his soft side that only his close friends get to experience. You wanted all of it. All of it before it was all gone. You wanted to continue to sit and wait to walk home with him after his practices, you wanted to go to his house and listen to him cry after he lost, you wanted to celebrate with him when he wins an award he achieved through his own hard work and determination; you wanted all of it. You wanted him to congratulate you on your win, you wanted him to offer his jacket to you, you wanted him to kiss you. You wanted him to want you.

         "I thought I'd find you here." As if you manifested him, the man himself was leaning over you, tickling your hand over your face that you quickly retracted in shock.

          "Oh my god—! Oikawa, what the hell! You scared me!" You pushed him and he only chuckled enjoying your reaction. His chuckle turned into a groan of release as he laid down next to you. You both laid there in an agreed silence. The tension eating at the inside of your cheek.

           "And now I'm 'Oikawa' huh? I don't think you've ever called me that." Oikawa ran his fingers upwards as if he was going to catch the wind between his fingers, "I heard you're not doing volleyball in high school?"

           "Nope."

           "Why? You're really, really good. You’ve worked so hard. I'm sure they'd love to have a player like you–" Oikawa started but you couldn't bear to have this conversation with another friend of yours.

           "Is this why you came to see me? Just to convince me to stick with volleyball?" You said, your words spitting venom. You were already hurt by him acting like everything was normal.

            "L/N Y/N, ever the blunt." He sighed, you couldn't help but feel insecure at that remark. Is your bluntness why he didn't like you? "Are you going to tell me why you've been ignoring me or do I just have to put the pieces together myself?"

            "I don't know, I thought you liked a challenge." You sighed, only half giving him sarcasm.

            "You've never been a challenge to me, little girl. I guess, until now. I really have no idea what's wrong. I've given you space, but you've practically ignored me all summer. Did I do something? Did someone say something to you?" He asked, his chest puffed out. He didn't like this, and you knew you were hurting him.

             Since you were 6, you saw him every day. Only missing days where you were on vacation or he was traveling. Every day you saw him. Until the beginning of summer break, when you cut all ties with just Tooru. Still keeping in contact with everyone else and with his sister in your own small group that just made sense. But you couldn't see him for a while. You needed to figure out your own issues first. You ignored his calls, his texts, told your grandpa to tell him you weren’t in if he showed up. You needed a clear reason for what you needed from him before you could face him. You needed to put how you felt into words and you needed space away from him to do that. You couldn’t have another one of those memories added to your shelf...

             The many memories of you and Tooru leaving your classroom to buy lunch, just for another girl to approach him and give you their best death glare to try and scare you. You were always attached to the hip, a symptom of being best friends since you were 6. It wasn’t a problem until the end of middle school that Tooru started to get more admirers than the average guy. He rejected all of them, some more politely than others, something that gave you hope in your insides because you wanted him to reject everyone but you. You knew exactly how detested he was by them at first. Thinking how shallow they were, you never wanted to be like that. But it all shattered in the last month of middle school before graduation when you forgot a card you meant to give your underclassmen friends in the classroom.

             “Tooru-kun! I like you! I like you a lot. I’ve always liked you. Please go out with me?” You stopped before entering the classroom. It wasn’t the first confession you had overheard, half of you thought you should leave, but you needed to hear his answer again.

              “You’re very pretty. I like you too.” It was his voice but you wished with everything in you that it wasn’t. Your heart sank down to your stomach, you wanted to cry, scream, laugh all at once. It was too much for your heart to endure alone. You didn’t remember the rest as you ran back down the hallway, running into the first friend you could find which happened to be poor Issei that day. 

               If you had gone to Iwaizumi would it have been different? Naeko? Makki? No. You knew they would’ve all said the same thing just in different levels of bluntness. To just tell him, that it has always been obvious to everyone but him. But now he had a girlfriend, how were you supposed to say that to someone who had a girlfriend? It wasn’t like you could see him anymore either.

              "No. It's nothing like that." You admitted. Blinking away the memories before they turned into tears, you sighed your release heavily. You needed to do this, needed to rip the band aid off this friendship and accept your rejection you knew was coming. So you could start as a new person next week at Aoba Johsai.

              "Is it Grandpa?" He asked, the way he said it as if your grandfather was his, too. Come to think of it, it was probably your grandfather who told him where you were. That little snitch.

              "He's okay." You lied. He wasn’t okay, hadn’t been okay for a while. Your time with him was so limited.

               "Then I really don't get you, we've been friends for years I don't get why now you're suddenly not telling me things and calling me by my last name? So it must've been something I've said. I'm sorry, for whatever it was, just please go back to being my friend I’m desperate—" He started rambling, ever so easy to speak his mind. You admired that quality in him, but you couldn't let it go on, if you did you’d just cave again.

              “How’s your girlfriend?” You asked plainly, he’s never seen you so unanimated before. Honestly, it scared him and made his heart pick up from it already abnormal rate it went when he was around you.

              “She’s fine, why? That’s not important to me right now. Did she say something to you? Because you know my friends are more important to me than–” 

               "I don't want to be your friend, Tooru." You admitted, not being able to make eye contact with him as you sit up and pull your knees to your chest. This was it, you couldn’t hold this back anymore and continue to be in this self-loathing nightmare. "I don't know how long I've felt this way but, I like you as more than a friend. A lot more. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I wanted to be happy for you, but even as your friend I didn’t even notice you liked her. I thought if I was apart from you it would just be able to fizzle out but my feelings didn't stop. Even now all I think about it wanting to hold your hand again but not in the dumb way we did when we were kids its in the romantic way."

             Oikawa was speechless, the ever talkative and frankly annoying blabber mouth couldn’t form the words he wanted to say. Words just felt dry in his mouth as if they would come out as nothing but dust.

             "So that's why I've been ignoring you. I didn't want to have this conversation." You sighed, your eyes not being able to form tears as you stared down at the grass. Your chest felt heavy, as if nothing you said could do anything to lighten the load after holding everything in for so, so long.

             He still couldn't speak. For the first time on his life Oikawa Tooru has no words he could say to you. How could he have been so blind? You only gave him maybe a minute to process before you were talking again.

            "It's okay. You don't have to say anything. You’re taken anyways, and I don’t say any of this expecting anything from you. I know what you're going to say to me now. I've heard you say it to a bunch of girls before me. And as much as I wish I was different, I know I'm not." You begged, hearing you beg to be hurt put an arrow through his heart. Is this what you really thought of him?

         "Is this a joke? What the hell is happening?" Tooru spoke finally, his voice dry and unable to handle tears as you spoke. Poor boy did not know how to handle the emotion of feeling trapped, backed into a corner and oblivious. Why hadn’t he known? Why didn’t he look? Notice? Why did nobody tell him and save him from himself.

         "I wish." You chuckled then, "Honestly I'm surprised you never noticed sooner I've been told I was not good at hiding it."

           You thought of Iwaizumi and Matsukawa confronting you about this little crush almost 2 years ago. They were relentless in their teasing after you finally admitted it.

          “You successfully fooled me. Here I thought we were best friends who told each other everything.” Oikawa said, clenching his jaw a bit. is he really reacting with anger right now?

         “Don’t do that. It’s not like you told me who you liked either, we weren’t really best friends, you treated me like your sister. Not like your friend.” You told him, your honesty striking him like lightning. 

           "That’s not true! You know what? I've decided that you're not allowed to stop being my friend. That's not up to you to just stop being my friend because you're just thinking too much. Or you're going through puberty and everyone says you need a boyfriend and I'm just the best option." He huffed, the way he shrugged off your feelings as if they were just you thinking too much pissed you off. You knew sometimes he was an asshole to girls who confessed, you can’t believe you thought you were naive enough to be treated any different. It’s not like you were the prettiest girl in school like his girlfriend.

           "Stop being selfish, you absolute dickhead. You need to stop thinking you can control everything in your life, and I’m one of them. Why don’t you trust me? I'm not thinking too much, I'm not thinking I need a boyfriend. You think I’m influenced that easily? You know I've never felt that I needed a boyfriend, I still don’t. I just needed you." You stood up, looking down at him. He was hurt by what you were saying to him, he didn't expect any of it. He didn't know how to deal with these emotions in his chest. How were you so calm right now while turning your back on him?

            "You're the one being selfish! Why is it either I'm your boyfriend or nothing at all? What the hell! But I’m not stopping being your friend either. You can stop being mine, that’s fine, but I’m not stopping being yours.. You idiot. Of course, I can't be your boyfriend." He huffed, stopping before spilling anything else. He was in a tight spot, he couldn’t say the things he wanted to say right then. What was the procedure he was supposed to follow in these conversations? He gripped the grass in his fists. 

              You crouched back down to be at eye level with him. What he said just hurt but it didn't change the way you felt about him. Some sick part of you felt better just by hearing that, like you could close a chapter on this unrelenting and painful novel. 

             "Say it while looking me in the eyes." You said, your face more stone cold than you thought you could manage. This painful season of your life was never going to beat you, and this was nothing but a checklist of another thing you needed to get over. "Why can't you be my boyfriend? I need more of a reason than the fact that you’re in a relationship, I need a reason more than that otherwise I’ll just wait and I don’t deserve that."

              They boy scanned your face with widened brown eyes, as deep as ever. Normally you found comfort in them, it disgusted you that even now as you begged him to rip apart your heart and bury it in the ground they still made you feel at ease. They were probably the only reason why you weren’t crying. He was the one who looked as though he might cry, but he could tell you were different. Something had happened, what had changed about the face he thought he knew so well. You were like a marble sculpture of yourself.

              "Y/N, seriously this is too much." He swallowed, but you didn't let up. Just continued to stare, your jaw clenched as you waited for him to say something, "If I do, will you keep being my friend?"

               "I don't know. Regardless, I can’t be, not right now. But I need to hear you say it. I need to move on. You want me to be happy, right? Just like how I want you to be happy." Your shoulders released their tension, "It has to be more painful trying to convince myself you're going to love me one day than ripping this band-aid off now and moving on. So, please."

               This is really what you needed to be happy?

                "I– I just never really thought about you like.. as a girl, I guess? Other girls liking me felt good, but you liking me makes me feel different. Because you've always just been my friend and my neighbor." Oikawa said it while looking into your eyes, tears starting to prickle out, "I'm sorry, I don't think I can like you in that way. Ever."

                 "Thanks. Bye, Oikawa-san." You stood up, calmly walking away. It hurt, it hurt everywhere.

               “Wait– Y/N! I don’t– just give me time! Or, no. Talk to me when you’re ready! Please.”

                When school started the next week, you ended up in different classes. You didn’t walk to school together. You had different friends, different teams, different lives. But you still rejoined volleyball club. Tooru broke up with his girlfriend, he didn’t accept anymore love confessions even though they grew incredibly high since he entered high school. You still were neighbors, sometimes glancing over just to see the you pull your blinds shut. If an outsider didn’t know before, nobody would know that you’d ever spoken to each other.

It’s over, you told this to yourself every night. Not knowing that across the street, a different phrase would be by the boy who always kept his blinds open.

     【ｆｕｎ　ｆａｃｔｓ】

➺ your grandfather passed away a year after this in your second year of high school. you only told your best friends, nobody at school knows you live alone now because your aunt is your legal guardian on your school transcripts. your grandparents left you as the legal owner of the paid off house at age 16.

➺ naeko told her parents, and they will sometimes come by to invite you to have dinner with their family. even at these dinners you and tooru don’t speak more than small talk.

➺ tooru would leave a flower on your doorstep every day for the month after your grandfathers passing, it was anonymous and you still have no idea who actually left them. he thought you’d be upset if you knew he was doing it.

➺ your grandfather was one of the most important mentos in tooru’s life, he genuinely didn’t know how to react when he found out he was gone.

➺ issei comforted you for 4 hours and skipped class with you after overhearing tooru and his new girlfriend. he really wanted to go find the boys and go rough him up for making you cry the way you did. but he just sat there and listened to you.

➺ naeko still feels conflicted about whose side to take, and is grateful that neither of you made her. some nights though it gets so tough that she runs to hajime’s house just to get away from a scene. 

➺ its a very big motivation for hajime to fix this situation so he never has to hear naeko be so stressed about walking on a tight rope around her very best friend and role model and her brother who she also admires (though she’d never tell him directly)

➺ nobody really knows who is actually at fault for the end of their friendship

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