#catch up w miraculous episodes

[kotorinz]

I’m actually going to fucking hate PE

[starry-bi-sky]

This is very inspired by @minnesota-fats post about Danny being Bruce Wayne's clone (which has been rotting in my brain for two days) but an au where danny isn't just Bruce Wayne's clone, but also not fully a ghost.

both ideas can be used separately honestly, the idea just came to me while thinking about the bruce wayne clone idea, and a lot of this idea is just "danny without his ghost powers. i might probably make a part two that delves into him being bruce wayne's clone.

Hear me out.

A Danny Fenton who has the ghost sense and the fangs and the pointed ears and the scary eyes and an increase ecto-essence, but does not have the ability to "go ghost". His accident occurred when he pressed the "on" button on the outside of the portal, and the button electrocuted him due to faulty wiring. He ends up miraculously surviving but not without some new additional abilities (and electricity-based trauma).

Since Danny no longer has a built-in alter ego with the invert wardrobe to match, he doesn't see the point to take ghosts back to the ghost zone. What the hell can he do anyways? All he has is a cosmetic add-in, a lower body-temperature with an impressive ability to hold his breath longer than a human realistically should, and a built-in ghost detector. Not very helpful if you ask him.

That is, up until he goes into the lab after his parents catch a relatively harmless ghost and sees them vivisecting it. He's horrified. He thought his parents were using hyperbole when he said they'd tear them apart molecule by molecule.

(Granted, he also believed that ghosts were unfeeling up until he saw this random ghost being absolutely terrified for its existence on the table.)

After an argument over his parents harming the ghost, Danny goes back up to his room and refuses to leave, not even for dinner. Later that night after his parents went to sleep, Danny steels his resolve and sneaks back down into the lab and releases the ghost back into the ghost zone.

This happens a handful of times, until, finally, frustrated, Danny tells the latest captured ghost to tell anyone inside that if they even think about coming through, he'll capture them and bring them back to the zone himself. It's for their own safety.

The ghost agrees, and goes back inside. Danny steals a "failed" thermos from his parents' stash of weapons. The next time that a ghost shows up, its the lunch lady from episode one. Danny manages to defeat her without being seen, but knows that if there's gonna be consistent daytime ghost attacks then he can't base his luck around fighting without witnesses.

So he fashions himself with a makeshift outfit. This really only consists of an old, nondescript hoodie and a plain black face mask. Its the best thing he can do at short notice, however. Later, for his nighttime ghost fighting, his outfit is only slightly better.

He considered using one of his parents' lab suits. But white sticks out at night and the material doesn't protect you from road burn. His outfit is pretty homemade, with knee and elbow pads under his clothes and multiple layers. A long sleeve shirt over a hoodie over a black denim vest he found on sale. He later on manages to make brass knuckles ghost-proof and manages to stitch them into his gloves. (he gets very good at sewing).

His favorite part of the entire outfit, is a Casey Jones-style full-face mask he found while thrifting. It allows him better breathability than the face mask he was using (calling Rule Of Cool law here), and he can use his scary eyes to make him look more intimidating. His gloves, his mask, and his thermos are the things he carries around with him constantly, and, later on, wears baggier clothing to hide the fact that he's wearing knee and elbow gear under his clothes.

Did I mention he has long hair? Danny has long hair (because GNC danny ftw, it goes past his shoulders) that he braids back. it's a bit sloppy but it keeps his hair out of his face well enough. He takes the fenton creep stick with him.

(He and Bruce have, ultimately, a more lean build than a bulky one. It helped Bruce with his Brucie Wayne persona big time when he had to look like a pretty skinny boy, he uses body language, optical illusion, and body armor to make himself look bulkier as batman)

He still goes by the name Phantom. He still has a bitter rivalry with his parents, who have no idea that its him. They think he's probably some other ghost with beef with the other ghosts (he still triggers their ghost sensors), and still want to capture him.

He doesn't talk around the living. He doesn't have any fancy voice changer and dropping his voice hurts and ultimately, he just uses ASL if he ever has to talk in front of people. The ghosts know his voice at night, but not during the day.

He hardly talks to the living. He avoids them like the plague actually. When he defeats a ghost and there's an audience, he barely sticks around to have a nice friendly chat. He tries to get away as soon as possible. He's paranoid over people finding out who he is. He doesn't have that ghost form to fall back on here.

Oh god this is getting so long, so i'll post another part soon.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 4.5 (Dani interlude) Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 7.5 (Dan Interlude) Part 8

[itsdappleagain]

Arguably one of the strongest character building episodes in the entire series, The Daisho Caper is fantastically unique in its motivations, gorgeous scenery and animation, and subversion of expectations. I’m so ready for this unique and spectacular episode. LET’S GET IT GOING!!!!

(and yes. im mega late. working on it. notes under the cut as always!)

I love this infodump section so much. It’s really beautiful and super unique in that it starts the episode and also happens in a flashback (almost everything about this episode is unique?? From singing to a rejected redemption arc there are lots of things in this episode that never happen again

LIL BABY CARMEN

AWWW WAIT CARMEN ASKS IF HE CAN TAKE HER TO JAPAN AND YEARS LATER HE GETS TO. DAD MOMENT

And you can see how shadow-san distances himself from her as she gets older

Sleepy carmen <333

Sleepy EVERYONE

SHADOWLOLADLOWLEHEE HOO

That ironic little “heh” carmen does is so. Yeah i dont know i love it

Man hideo got SUMMONED she put one finger on the glass and he teleported

HOW ABOUT SORRY, CARMEN

Hideo is honestly so perceptive he would kill it in miraculous ladybug /j okay but seriously he’s already noticed what she knows and he even recognizes her when. Literally not even the law enforcement agency dedicated to catching her could at one point

“Dark forces” checks out, seeing as shadow-san basically means mr. shadow

I love when they get bitchy with each other

Also HI the animation is SOO PRETTY THIS EPISODE

More than a feeling by boston. Its by boston you guys do you get it its by boston

Also this karaoke scene SLAPS

Not zack pulling down shadowsan’s clothing. Yas bitch show a little slutty shoulder

THEYRE HAVING SO MUCH FUN <333

Zack and ivy: thank you thank you!!!!

Carmen and Shadowsan: okay well now that theyve shut the fuck up we can continue talking i guess

MAN HE SAID SPIES AND ASSASSINS AND HE’S REMEMBERING DEXTER…SPYING AND ASSASSINATION WAS WHAT HE WAS THERE FOR AND HE HAS TO CONFRONT IT NOW

HE CAN’T REALLY BECOME A SAMURAI IN THE EYES OF HIMSELF AND HIS BROTHER UNTIL HE CONFRONTS THAT PIECE OF HIS PAST AND LEARNS TO GROW FROM IT WITH CARMEN. MAN THIS EPISODE

PAPER STAR <333

Wait dokuso says “i called you here” do senior operatives have some caper perms? Can dokuso contact the faculty and be like HEY can i borrow paper star

Not quite sure what the little maneuver in the air was supposed to help avoid because it did. Nothing

HNNG okay i’ve dumped on jo’s DMs about this shot but its SO pretty

Follows the rule of thirds line, the gorgeous lighting, paper star framed in the moon, the perspective and use of space, the petals blowing in the wind, glowing in the light. ACTUAL LITERAL ART

Rip deleted scene where paper star says “sheep dont fly” the first time ig 

Season two and those slide-under-projectile shots

Carmen and chucking painful building materials at evil gay women this season

Carmen loves that little flip over the shoulder move

Also I LOVE that you can just watch Carmen figure out who Suhara is immediately its cool

whats up with the dirt on his face

SO BEGINS THE VILE FACULTY SAGA honestly such a fun plot point from this season they'll literally try out anyone

GOD the bridge and the cherry blossoms and the water have I mentioned how gorgeous this episode is

there's always more to the story with shadowsan

also mmm i love. i love that carmen isnt quite certain, so she says "suhara" very quietly. she's testing it out, and the look on shadowsan's face is all she needs to figure out that she's right

just another little tiny clue that shadowsan knows more than he lets on about her past. why would he be guilty about simply not knowing where she came from? if his cover story was true, he would if anything be carmen's savior from a terrible death or being picked up by some random people or something. just. god really good.

SHADOWSAN IS SO TALL NEXT TO HER SJDGDHS

god that transition with the cherry blossoms was good

i feel so bad for hideo he didn't deserve shadowsangst

btw i want to see a spinoff with the faculty/shadow-san's school and early crime days

man the confrontation scene is so raw. hideo is shaking, holding that sword, but he is fucking ready to fight his brother about keeping the sword. man its good

appreciate the scenery

that reveal of the shot being a puddle is also so good this episode is literally art

i love rewatching this episode for the little details- the camera always stopping before ivy's face, the swords discreetly disappearing as the cart goes by. you don't even notice the first time

i know they kill people and stuff but the hoodlums are kinda sweet. yess kings sing that karaoke

i wonder if the elvis song was a nod to the elvis episode they wanted to do with shadowsan (duane said they had to scrap it and im SOOO MAD)

ivy and zack must just have full charisma stats bc i dont know how they keep getting away with blending in literally everywhere. maam thats a white bitch in a wig

i love the three of them immediately sweating their balls off when shadowsan grabs the sword

EVEN THE IMPACT FRAMES ARE COOL

btw the tattoos in this episode are cool i wish more non yakuza members had them

that app on carmen's phone is a gaydar

how long was paper star just sitting in the packaging just going "ooghhh yeah im like a fucking jack in the box im gonna scare her so bad ooogh"

i love the kitty fans

not sure what carmen was going to do with the fans anyway seeing as she doesnt know how to use them as a weapons but whatever

oh nevermind she. i guess does

i love howw carmen just like. rides paper star

girlie has to stop strapping shit to her back it does not work

another one of my favorite shots in the show the lighting is sooo beautiful

i also like how carmen is looking down, not trying to shake her off, reaching a hand down- she doesn't want paper star to fall to her death, obviously

i was like damn how did that little fall knock both of them out cold but paper star LANDED ON HER NECK

PARTIES OVER ELVIS IS GONE

i love the very minimal music when dokuso and shadowsan are fighting its cool

get poisoned

i think they reused the shadowsan poisoned groaning sound twice in a row

anyway also a nice shot here

it seriously looks like paper star was just lying there and as soon as she heard carmen get up she was like oh chill nap time is over

that climbing the ladder animation was so slick

so wait. they predicted? that paper star would not only be hidden in the sword room but latch onto carmen's ankle and follow her all the way up to that roof. so they could glue her

kill kill kill

the anime glasses on dokuso are awesome

out of context it looks like carmen just murdered shadowsan in a swordfight

god the empty room. and then you pan down and shadowsan is kneeling. good shit

MAN what a fantastic scene. he does exactly what shadowsan asks him to- does not forgive him, because he does not yet see a reason to. but he allows him to correct that mistake. what . god what a good rejection of a redemption shadowsan HASN'T redeemed himself (fully) yet it just makes sense

mmm when he appears from behind her and her spidey senses go off. its good shit

just that emotion on her face. she's sympathetic that his brother didn't accept him back, but happy that he'll still go with them on their journey.

now, this is the only time we get a voiceover from carmen (other than when she's talking to crackle in the pilot) and its such a stark choice. like the only time we ever really get an inner monologue from carmen that lets us know how she feels about it

everything about this episode is just so fantastic and different! cs thrives when it dives into character motivations...but it just doesn't do that very much. there are so many unique choices in the episode- from the untraditional infodump scene to the music to the gorgeous animation/lighting to the voiceover to the rejected redemption scene to the hints at shadowsan's true past with carmen...i could keep going on and on about it forever, but I won't. you've seen the episode. its just. argh. its so good

okay that's all from me. hopefully I can get the rest of my cs weeklies out sooner rather than later- im almost done with finals!!

[area-zero-rogue]

It felt like he couldn't go fast enough.

Volo grit his teeth, his breach coming in sharp pants as he sprinted through the Distortion Realm. Twisted scenery and fractured landscapes of his world sped by him in a blur of colors and textures, his mind solely focused on the tug of the little silver string. Questions burned in his thoughts, mixing with the throbbing ache of his thrashing energy as he fought to keep it contained.

What was he missing?

Was this even a good idea?

What if... what if everything he knew was a lie?

He shook the thoughts away, spinning around a column of gravity to keep himself from veering off coarse. No... D-don't think about that now. Keep moving... he would get answers just... later... he had to GET THERE first.

The braided thread yanked right, and he pivoted midair to follow, his arms flailing slightly to regain momentum. He lets out a soft growl, his eyes flashing red for a moment. It was harder to navigate his world in his human form, he lacked the... limbs to keep him on course as he dodged through the conflicting gravity fields and pillars of ice, water, and stone. J-Just... keep... moving.

She... She can't see me in... t-that form.

At long last, he reached a small, flat islet at the outskirts of his realm, beyond his usual circuit of mirrors and pools. It didn't contain much, just a small, broken mirror... and a few trees miraculously still blooming even in the harshness of his realm. He knelt on the edge of the island for a moment, trying to catch his breath as the energy in his soul fought to tear itself free. It... it was getting harder to contain it... the Distortion World always fueled his power... typically he always reverted form while inside the confines of his own domain.

But he couldn't this time. He had to stay HUMAN.

He felt sick.

With a grunt of pain he pulled himself upright, staggering toward the mirror as he fought to swallow down the burning in his inner being. It was becoming a rolling, pressing ache, nausea and exhaustion from fighting himself starting to make even breathing a labor. W-why... why was the world... s-spinning? He had to... to get out of here if... if he wanted to make it. He had to...

He had to get answers.

Without giving himself another moment to think he pressed himself against the mirror, letting the pull of reality lure him into the material plane as he felt his consciousness flicker into darkness.

(@legendarysoulsau)

Tick, tick, tick, tick… She knew it would take a while for him to find her. What with all the different worlds and the sheer size of the realms that allow for travel between them. Time was also incredibly inconsistent anywhere else compared to whatever present reality one dwelled in. Even with that tether she left him, it was unclear how long that would take. For now, she could at least rest a bit and perhaps enough to talk without being on the verge of falling asleep.

Hours later, a rather ominous low-pitch let her know he was arriving before the warping reflections of the mirror spat out his body onto the cold wooden floorboards. Immediately after impact, she shot up from her bed and, with legs nearly as wobbly as a newborn Deerling, rushed to his side. As her hands went to grab him, she could feel the chill radiating from his soul. One so cold it felt as though it burned…

Angie stood close by and helped her get him up then into the bed she previously occupied. She pulled over a chair for her trainer to sit, not allowing her to get too riled up before she met the same fate as the man they just helped. She hadn’t healed entirely from whatever she transferred before coming back.

Rose went to work assessing him, checking the vitals of his body then dipping her soul gently into his. Somehow, there had been even more damage dealt than during his unstable episodes back in the realm she found him.

Her Zoroark gave her a look and knew that there would be no stopping what she would do next.

“You know I only do this when it’s necessary, mija…” She assured her, placing a hand on Volo’s forehead. “Will you let him know what happened when he wakes up? I am uncertain if this one knows what I can do just yet.”

She nodded reluctantly and stood there at the other side of the bed as Rosario inhaled deeply then focused just like before. Her soul was met with the same nauseating and mind shattering sensations, just elevated to a level that nearly had her stop transferring immediately. She armed herself as best she could and proceeded, sapping up even more of that damage until she succumbed to the massive energy consumption and collapsed beside him.

( @legendarysoulsau )

[indelicateink]

i appreciate the effort, but. again with the "AMC - Your Weekly Watchlist" email blast fumble, AMC. last week you celebrated dads in your shows for Father's Day and completely left off the faildads which are airing Right Now.

this week you remembered to include the show, but didn't bother to spotlight them in your header copy and maybe mention it's time to catch up before the PENULTIMATE EPISODE with the fucking SERIES CLIMAX OF ALL TIME. begging you to hire me to make decisions.

i judge bc i love.

HOWEVER.

I will give you credit for putting, at the ass-end of the email--like the ass-end of this post; see how that works?--a selection of shows in a nod to our guys. (possibly bc you are pushing that old dracula show on your site sooo hard, but w/e.) BUT: a true fan (*cough*your job, babe*cough*) would have known to include The Company of Wolves (which you miraculously have!!), one of Louis's very favs.

Given that the fam was laughing uproariously at Nosferatu in S1, are those two vampire films really likely to be their picks? ...really? Hm. K.

[deeply-unserious-fellow]

OMG WE'RE RANKING HAZBIN SONGS!?!?!?!? MY TURN MY TURN MY TURN!!!

Respectless: Carmilla and Velvette both have such satisfying voices omfg. Also the beat goes sO HARD- it catches your attention and DOESN'T LET IT GO! Also it moves the plot forward very effectively which is actually really important for songs in musicals to do so. That's nice. Tbh it's only flaw is being too short-

Stayed Gone: VOX MY BELOVED- this song is so fucking catchy. It also kinda gives me Will Wood vibes, and I love Will Wood so ofc I'm gonna love the Will Wood ass song. Love how petty Al and Vox are, like it's so fucking funny. The lore drops are also really interesting. Aaaaaaaand Alastor's bit at the end reminded me of the Nowhere King and I love Centaurworld so :)

Loser, Baby: Pretty obvious why this one's so high up; Huskerdust, Keith David, cute bonding, has a message I needed to hear tbh, and its catchy as FUCK

Hell Is Forever: God I love all the different genres they play around with in this show- like I was NOT expecting a straight up ROCK BALLAD in the FIRST FUCKIN EPISODE but god Im so happy we got it. This song goes so fucking hard. Alex Brightman should be allowed to sing more Rock n' Roll.

Poison: Once again, this song is catchy as hell! Blake Roman's vocal preformance is also phenomenal, like that man can fuckin SING!!! Of course he can he's been on broadway and releases his own music bUt you get it. Also that final verse... man. In the context of the episode this song is emotionally devastating, out of context it's uh. Still really sad tbh but it's easier to bop along to it cause you don't have the visuals- Idk it's just a fuckin banger man. Though speaking of the visuals VOX WHAT WAS THAT FUCKING LOOK WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO CONVEY HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT ANGE- *gets shot dead*

Happy Day In Hell: Honestly? Pretty neutral on this song. Love Erika Henningsen's voice, I think it's catchy(no duh), and the Disney Princess vibes are IMMACULATE. Not a huge fan of the random shift in the music I wanna say half way through? But otherwise it's a good song I think, conveys Charlie's motives really well.

Whatever It Takes: Okay okay look. It's a good song. Does it's job in the episode. It's just not for me. I think it goes on a little too long, and I think that, while Daphne Ruben-Vega's voice fits the song PERFECTLY, Stephanie Beatriz was singing too high in her range to a distracting degree. Like I think there was something wonky going on because that shit gave me the same whiplash I got when Marinette started singing in the Miraculous movie, and it just. Doesn't fit the style of the song. Like Vaggie's part should've been more belty or something. Idk man I might be too out of my lane w/ this for my critique to be valid, because I have literally never written a song before, and music is VERY subjective so I don't think I can even be objectively right here, but still. Oppinions.

It Starts With Sorry: Look, I know this song is supposed to be a joke, but the first time I saw the episode that did n o t click with me, and without the understanding that it isn't entirely serious this song just feels so fucking out of place and really falls flat. Like it feels like somebody took a song from My Little Pony: FiM, made an AMV with Hazbin characters, and then threw it in the episode, y'know? And like don't get me wrong MLP has some FUCKIN bangers(Say Goodbye to the Holiday, This Day Aria, etc), but a lot of the musical numbers are still really bland and samey, y'know? So uh yeah it's a decent song and a funny joke but def my least favorite so far.

[fabseg-creator]

Miraculous: Tales in the Opposite Universe (Inversed Personas AU): Chapter Two part 6

This story is a fanfiction (Not an official script for an episode of the TV show). Some characters result from Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir (original title: Miraculous: Les aventures de Ladybug et Chat Noir). It contains some original characters (OC) but they're fanon. All rights reserved to ZagToon.

Part one two three four five

At the rusted ship Liberty where the Thrower shoots many summoned projectiles on Wayhem who dodges its all. Meanwhile, the brown boy begins to exhaust. The villain throws a trash bin with his slingshot and manages to hit the latter's shoulder. That's causing Wayhem's fall on the ground. Ouch !

W (thinking): "I can't keep up. He's going to crush me the face. If I had Tikki with me. If I had still my earrings…"

Th: "I will teach you how to not interfere on my business, you dick. It's between Adrien and ME."

W (breathing): "I know Adrien is an unpleasant guy. I even berated him for his actions, but he has a good side on him. He makes efforts for changing himself."

The Thrower enrages because of his enemy's words.

Th: "Adrien is a bastard. You dont have to defend his foolish dude, Wayhem."

W (smiling): "If you think about him like that so you'll never learn to better know."

Just as he was going to shoot one last time, he is suddenly stopped by a moving staff that destroy the projectile due to the impact.

Th: "Hey !! What's wrong…"

The Thrower is surprised. Ladybug and Alley Cat stand up in front of him. While the villain is watching the two superheroins, Wayhem manages to escape and find a hideout before he joins the Resistance group.

Th: "Alley Cat and… (to Ladybug) Who are you, 'black and red' girl ?"

Ladybug: "I am Ladybug. I want to say you: Cease your attack and let's talk together."

Alley Cat: "Seriously ? I have a better line. (to the Thrower) Cease your attack against the music party. These kids were just purring.

Th: "Where is Adrien ?"

AC (exposing her tongue): "Go to find him yourself."

The villain becomes mad that he shoots on the superheroin duo. The battle has begun. The Ladybug-Alley Cat pair and the Thrower fight each other by punching, kicking, sending magic attacks, staff hitting and yo-yo spinning.

LB: "We must destroy his slingshot, Alley Cat."

Th: "You two are really troublesome, ladies."

AC: "Hey ! I'm a cat. Not a lady. It's time to beat you up. Cataclysm !"

Alley Cat summons her power of Destruction.

LB: "That's too earlier. Damn ! Lucky Charm !"

------

At this moment, a butterfly-themed supervillainess watches the battle from the rooftop of a building behind a fireplace. She is on the other side of the Seine: It's Lycène Bleue but, this time, she has a different look (she has red black-dotted parts on her villain's outfit). She has already unified Ladybug and Butterfly miraculouses.

She waits the right moment for catch Alley Cat off guard.

Lycène (thinking): "The Thrower is a good distraction. If he resists long enough, Alley Cat could accidentally make a mistake with her Cataclysm. If her and the other parallel Ladybug holder manage to defeat him. I'll use the plan B."

She watches her yo-yo and she smirks before stealthily moving to the ship and hiding behind.

------

Back to the battle, Ladybug and Alley Cat had just taken advantage on the Thrower. The villain is immobilised by the Ladybug's yo-yo. Alley Cat puts her Cataclysm on the slingshot and destroys it where the akuma emerges from. Ladydug prepares his yo-yo.

LB: "No more evil-doing for you, little akuma."

She purifies the dark butterfly turned back into white. Bye bye, little butterfly !

AC: "That was easy, ma Lady."

LB: "Yeah. Bien joué ! (thinking) And no need to call me 'ma Lady'. It's Cat Noir who says that."

They bump their fists each and other for celebrate their success while the deakumarized ginger boy is confused saying "Where am I ?".

The red black dotted superheroin is going to throw the Lucky Charm (that's a towel) in the air for fix it all but she suddenly stops.

AC: "What's wrong, Ladybug ?"

She thinks about a detail. Wait a minute !

LB: "This battle was too easy and too fast. Something is suspicious. My Lucky Charm hasn't been useful yet."

AC (slightly teasing): "If you say it. I go to jump for verify where Lycène could hide while you clean dishes."

Alley Cat jump at the bow of the ship and…

AC: "YAAAAH !!"

Alley Cat's scream alerts Ladybug. She turns her sight to the bow. Ladybug is suddenly horrified: Lycène holds Alley Cat as her prisoner. She has trapped her in a red black dotted barrel filles with glue. The now red-and-purple (instead of blue) butterfly villainess is satisfied of her plan B.

Ly: "It's useless to go to a hidden place, Catgirl. You cannot Cataclysm two times before detransformation. The only remain miraculous for accomplish my wish is mine."

AC: "Screw you, Lycène Bleue !"

Ly: "I am not Lycène Bleue anymore. I will…"

Ladybug throws her yo-yo for attacking Lycène forcing the latter to dodge and land on the quai. Her heroic action moves her adversary away from Alley Cat.

LB: "Don't make bad things to my teamate, Lycène."

Lycène/Coccilycène: "I am Coccilycène now, Ladybug girl from another world. Alley Cat is already trapped in my barrel and I will take her ring once I make you bite the dust."

LB: "Cat Noir will coming for stop you."

CLy: "We'll see that."

The two fighters each have their earrings that are ringing. They had already both summoned the Lucky Charm. They each have four minutes before detransformation.

They spin their yo-yos and they exchange yo-yo attacks each against other. This time, it's between Ladybug and Coccilycène.

One minute passed and the two fighters are in a tied score. Meanwhile, that could change. Their yo-yos already got intertwined. While Ladybug thinks of how to use the towel, Coccilycène has an idea.

CLy: "You're talented and skilled, Ladybug. Despite I've got more one miraculous than you, I praise you."

LB (a bit of amazed): "You praise me ? (sarcastical tone) Don't try to distract me."

CLy (teasing): Your Cat Noir is still late. I'm thinking what if he's sleeping in a tree."

Coccilycène takes a look on the Ladybug's towel/Lucky Charm.

CLy: "Do you will use tour towel for do cat grooming ? Alley Cat will need it and Cat Noir too."

While the red-purple villainess tries to gain some time for her future strike with her cane-sword on her back, Ladybug looks on a group of teenagers who are behind a pillar of the quai twenty meters from the back of the villainess.

LB: "Of course, Cocci. And it's you who will help me for that."

CLy: "(thinking) Sound like crazy. (talking, amused) I would like to see that."

She exits her cane-sword from behind her back with the left hand. With her sword, she rubs along the thread of her yo-yo and then she grinds the yo-yo like a fishing rod. Ladybug is like tracted (her yo-yo is still intertwined with the Coccilycène's other) in reason of this enemy's unexpected move but she resists by holding the line as possible.

LB (thinking): "Damn ! If I drop now, I will be disadvantaged and nobody can't stop Lycène. Where are you, Chaton ? Now !"

While Ladybug still struggles for not letting go, she watches the group (leaded by Nino) who is silently advancing behind Coccilycène: Each teenager (plus Adrien and Wayhem) is equiped of a paintball rifle. She smiles.

CLy: "Why are you smiling ? Have you lost your mind, Ladybug ?"

LB: "I don't send the message to you, Cocci."

CLy: "What message ?"

LB (to the Resistance group): "NOW !!"

The Resistance group (Nino, Alya, Ivan, Mylène, Luka, Juleka, Rose, Adrien and Wayhem) instantly shoots on Coccilycène. The latter is surprised, shocked: she is hit almost every way and she looses all her weapons (yo-yo and cane-sword). "AAARH !!!"

Ladybug throws her yo-yo for immobilise the destabilized and dirty painted villainess. Adrien comes from behind their enemy and removes the earrings to her. Back into Lycène Bleue, the butterfly girl turns her eyes on him.

Coccilycène/Lycène Bleue (perplexed): "Adrien ?!"

Impressive and stoic, The boy glares the villainess. And the Wayhem-related Tikki appears.

W's Tikki: "Oh… I thank you, young boy."

LB: "Bien joué, Adrien. Remove her Butterfly miraculous too !"

At this moment, Lycène struggles in the Ladybug's yo-yo's thread, picks up her sword and she escapes from the thread to the Ladybug's astonishment.

LyB (enraged): "The battle isn't over yet, you morons !"

LB and the Resistance group (thinking): "Oh, no !"

An feral Lycène is going to take Adrien as hostage. Suddenly, Alley Cat surprisely attacks the villainess by barrel-rolling (but she still trapped in because of the glue). The Catgirl hits the Butterfly girl. The impact is so important Lycène is sent in the air.

LyB (shouting while falling): "I CURSE ALL OF YOOUUU…"

She falls into the Seine.

Resistance members watch on the Seine for verify where the villainess could reappear.

For Ladybug, it's time for fix it all by throwing the towel.

LB: "I understood how useful my Lucky Charm has been as a towel now. Miraculous, Ladybug !"

And all damages are reverted. The stage is repaired, Alley Cat is freed from the glue and, today, Tikki is safe kwami: The Ladybug earings from this universe have been retaken from Lycène Bleue.

After the incident, the reunion can finally resume. But before, some teenagers interrogate Adrien for knowing why he has actes like a hero. Ladybug, Alley Cat, Adrien and Wayhem decide to reveal the whole truth: They have confessed Ladybug and Cat Noir come from a parallel world. Germaine is called Marinette like MDC and Nathan is Adrien and the two come from a parallel world too.

Wayhem has confessed he's Rouge Chance. With his Tikki, he publicly transforms in front of his friends before detransforming.

W: "Meanwhile, Lycène Bleue knows my real identity. I will no longer Rouge Chance. I say to all of you: Good luck for the future."

He returns the earrings to Alley Cat the guradian of the Miracle Box (from this world, of course).

The ginger boy even apologized to Adrien for have purchased him in last day. (even if he can't remember his own akumatization).

GiB: "I sorry for having misjudged you, Adrien from another parallel world. It sounds crazy you came from another world like exactly look like the prankster Adrien who annoys us."

A: "Don't worry. I don't reject you."

GiB: "You're so kind. Wayhem is honest too. If Adrien has a good side, I invite him to a Bike race."

A: "Cool."

About revelations, Ladybug didn't have revealed her identity as Marinette or 'Germaine' and Adrien have prevented to confess to be Cat Noir. Result: These people believe they are 'four' from the previous world about to be teleported by Voyager.

Previous

Next

[literaphobe]

No I get you :(( I haven't watched mlb in a while but I'm a sucker for superhero partner dynamics :( ladynoir is so good, did they really abandon their identities without saying goodbye to eachother?

PLEASE CATCH UP ANON I NEED U HERE W ME

ITS A TWO PARTER EPISODE so obviously a lot will happen in the second part im guessing like thats the whole point of two parters but IM SO SAD like i recognize that adrienette were too sad to think straight and just listened to their kwamis’ advice but I MISS THEMMMM and i need them to feel bad and confused about why their superhero partner ALSO temporarily gave up their miraculous

LIKE. how do you go from crying into each others arms because you thought you lost them forever and mutually dreaming about getting married and living happily ever after w kids and shit and nearly killing someone over making u think that was real to THIS like im gonna need some SERIOUS drama to feel better like THEY ARE STILL IN LOVE WITH EACH OTHER theres no other way im just Dramatic

[orchidsangel]

My twt tl is begging for a transfer (to abc) for most of the characters I mentioned, Nancy can come but she needs to be a girl kisser (preferably w Marjan but I’m not picky) Mateo can stay w his pseudo daddy Owen, and TK needs to be recast but yeah he can come too I suppose (the actors a huuuuge Zionist and also just generally problematic from what I’ve seen, and) if it weren’t for the fact that everybody’s stories get overshadowed by Owen, he prob could stay too but I get so sick and tired of him and his white man lizard skin and that fuck ass hairdo that’s his entire personality because I WANNA KNOW MORE AB MARJAN!! GIVE ME MORE PAUL PLS!!! I WANT TO SEE MORE OF GRACE HER STORY WITH HER DAD IS ACTUALLY PRETTY INTERESTING AND I NEED MORE OF BABY CHARLIE AND JUDD NEEDS TO LOVE ON HIS WIFE ON MAIN WAAAAY WAY MORE THAN HE DOES I NEED IT FOR PERSONAL REASONS!!!! Having Gina Torres on your show and underutilizing her for the sake of a white mans story is a crime!! SHE SHOULD BE YOUR ANGELA BASSETT. I think I covered everybody, yes I do hate Nancy and Mateo🙄he was fine at first but then the actor started getting a lil bit ridiculous and his face became very punchable during the watches so Nancy deserves way better- 💌

i had no idea a month passed since you sent this but that means i have like 4 episodes to catch up on since i don't think i've watched since this convo was started?? i thought the show was transferred to abc, like wasn't that the whole point? that it was transferred to abc and buck immediately got a boyfriend?? idk, i'm not deep in the fandom, i just enjoy the show.

oh wait, i just looked it up?? 911 is on abc but lone star is still on fox??? how the hell does that work 

i didn't know that the actor who plays tk is a zionist, ughhhhhhhh. i don't like his character THAT much. he needs to get the boot, but i doubt that'll happen, which is incredibly unfortunate

this is probs gonna sound so awful but my biggest gripe with both shows is that i know too much about their personal lives. i actually dgaf about what they're doing outside of work, it's my fatal flaw when it comes to situational shows. idgaf what they're doing outside of the situations. it's why i've skipped over most of the origin episodes of 911 with the exception of athena, i just don't care. 

it's actually so bad bc it doesn't apply to every show. it's the opposite in some cases, like with miraculous ladybug i'm BEGGING for character growth and real ships, but they're giving me nothing!! (i also haven't watched the past one or two seasons, so i could be totally wrong)

anyway, back to 911. more than anything, i care about the team dynamics, i don't really care for romantic aspects, but i hold the platonic ships very close to me. so ig that's why i don't care much about their lives outside of the job, bc their personal plots are often heavily centered around romance.

[aidendh]

BSD!RAU! Ryunosuke Akutagawa 3

Ryunosuke greatly respects Chuuya Nakahara and even has a mild celebrity crush on him

His normal death has been changed to Dazai mercy killing him when Akutagawa is a vampire

'Suke Agura' is an Alias he commonly uses in the Mafia, to the point it is now tied to the Phantom

He uses this during the boat kidnapping incident against Atsushi

As a civilian, Gin often wears a black cropped leather jacket and a white dress with her hair in a high ponytail

(Longer that her mafia hair)

Because of Higuchi's and her Brother's encouragement and learning from his acting skills, she has grown more confidant unless taken off guard

(Miraculous Timeline)

His Miraculous earrings disguise as gem stud earrings, Black-left, White-right

Sandboy is the final Akuma

There is an original episode called Ryunosuke, centered around Dazai being in Paris and setting off Akutagawa's fuse

Another original Akuma is one that exaggerates the targets physical weakness, this caused Lordbug to cough up blood under his mask and be unable to stand

-

During Zombiezou, he uses color changing contacts and pretends to be infected to get away to transform

Lordbug's Lucky Charm is nonstick lipstick, he makes a fake kiss mark to catch her off guard

-

In puppeteer, Manon takes the Lordbug doll instead of Lady Wifi

This results in Akutagawa panicly giving Gin the earrings mid-transformation

Early in the school year, he starts a self defense club

He teaches his students combat, evacuation and ways to help out without getting in harms way

It becomes a game for students to try and land a hit on him

-:Temps:-

Tentōchū, Ladybug! Gin

(Puppeteer/Ryunosuke)

Inari, Fox! Gin

(Sapotis)

Tora, Tiger! Gin

(Sandboy)

Fei, Dragon! Kyouka Izumi

(Anansi)

--

Most of this information is similar to Lost Souls Ryūnosuke Niihara

Lordbug has Kimono trousers, but still has a bodysuit for his upper-body and a Festival mask which covers his upper face

Because of Gin killing Hawkmoth during Sandboy, Akutagawa adopts Adrien

He doesn't think Adrien would be safe with him, it takes Adrien genuinely choosing him and Gin/Higuchi threatening to adopt him instead

(Persona timeline)

Confidant: Vegance → Justice

-:Metaverse Information:-

Name: Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

Location: Yokohama

Distortion: Territory

Treasure: Mafia Coat

(Discarded)

-

Code Name: Phantom

Theme: Mafia

Mask: Grey Domino Mask

Weapon: Daggers / Handguns

Persona: Rashomon (Justice)

[ATK/Support]

Element - Curse

Block - Gun, long range

Weakness - Physical, Bless

Exclusive Skill(s): Fantomuāmā* Covers an Ally in cloth-like armor, switching control of Rashomon to them

In this state, he will not be able to use any Persona Skills

[Fantomuāmā, Phantom Armor in Japanese]

Fantomu* He and his target switch places and take on each other's appearance until hit

[Fantomu, Phantom in Japanese]

Book: Rashomon, by Ryunosuke Akutagawa

--

His Persona version is a part of the Survivor Protection Squad, alongside Suke Harris, a Reincarnation of his Lordbug version

Ryunosuke Akutagawa (20/21)

-

--

A Incarnate who despises Dazai and has a passion for Teaching

Ability: Rashomon* Cloth Manipulation

Death: Sickness

--

Lordbug

-

--

A Ruthless Hero who often sticks to the shadows

Power: Lucky Charm* Creates a random object

Miraculous: Stud Earrings

--

Shadow! Ryunosuke

-

--

A Shadow driven by Vengeance and his want to protect

E: Curse / W: Phys, Bless

B: Gun, Long range

Treasure: Old Mafia Coat

--

Phantom

-

--

An Adult member of the Phantom Thieves

Persona: Rashomon (Justice)

E: Curse / W: Phys, Bless

B: Gun, Long range

Weapon: Daggers / Handguns

--

[marshmallsy]

i have never wanted an animated scene as badly as i want an animated scene of starstruck odyssey’s ep 5 battle. there’s literally TOO many incredible moments to count like we got

margaret doing her banking in the middle of a massive shootout, which is so insane but turns out to be a good thing because she transfers all her money to a new account literal seconds before UFTP freezes her. so during that ENTIRE battle episode margaret is basically on her phone and only looking up to occasionally point out a bad guy to her allies

gunthrie unlocking his fucking legs so the top half of his body can get psychically moved towards the ship, only for his legs to catch up and he reattaches them before moving into the ship and getting some crazy good rolls for the FTL equations!!!!! like!!! the IMAGERY???

barry zooming down the street with the scooter, jumping off the scooter, running on the ground w/ margaret in his arms, then doing a goddamn leap to get onto the ship while riva psychically grabs the scooter and uses its own engine’s momentum to pull it into the ship as well???? HELP THAT’S WILD??!!!!

sidney getting blasted in the face with a laser rifle, getting knocked out on top of a moving alien dog, then immediately in the next round hitting that nat20 and jumping back up with newfound confidence and lobbing a grenade *chef’s kiss*

the gods of the dice looking down on emily as she manages to bond with the alien dog and miraculously uses it to save every single one of the jib job workers? barry jumping in to get them all safely on the ship, himself included? incredible

THE WAY THEY IMMEDIATELY GOT THAT FTL UP AND THEY WERE OUTTA THERE WITH BARELY ANY DAMAGE DONE TO THE SHIP, A 5 STAR REVIEW OF THEIR JOB, WITH A 5K TIP ON TOP OF THEIR 25K CREDITS LIKE!!! AFTER 5 EPISODES OF GIVING THEY FINALLY GET TO RECEIVE!!! I WANT ALL OF THIS IN A WACKY ANIMATED CARTOON NOW

[ijustliketoreadstuff]

Destruction teaser analysis and speculations (spoilers below)

The teaser starts off with a major shocker, we see Marinette in her room in the middle of the night alarmed by someone's sudden presence. When she takes a look down from her bed we come to find that its none other than Monarch!!

We don’t know why he is there, but it doesn’t seem like he has figured out that Marinette is Ladybug otherwise he would have wasted no time in taking her earrings by force like he did in Ephemeral, and it doesn’t seem like the kwamis ratted her out because the spell prevents them from saying the name of their previous holders identities unless their new holder has already figured it out themselves. Unfortunately, as of now, we only know that they are restricted to not saying a holders name, any other information could still be acceptable to say, so knowing that Monarch went to Marinette's room specifically and not some other holders room, could mean that the kwamis were left with no other choice but to tell Monarch something related to Ladybug or master Fu that involved Marinette. Whatever it was that the Kwamis were forced to tell him, they must have tried to do what they can and carefully word things so they would not reveal anything that could easily lead Monarch to discover that Marinette could be Ladybug.

From what we can see in the next shot, Alya was with Marinette the night Monarch appeared in her room, the two of them watch him as he teleports away with the kwamis and the key in hand.

Which is odd considering this looks a lot like the night Marinette asked Alya to sleep over after they battled Monarch in “Evolution”. We know there was a bit of time that passed in the previous episode, “Multiplication”, and although we got to see what the holders and civilians were up to in their time waiting for Monarchs next attack, we never really got to see what Gabriel was up to aside from meeting Tomoe and making a new brand with Adrien and Lila’s hologram, so I wonder if Destruction will give us some insight to what Gabriel was up to in those weeks. 

Anyway, by the look of things in the teaser, it seems like Monarch entered Marinette's room because he is searching for something. Of course Marinette will play dumb and avoid saying something that could link her to Ladybug, but since Monarch is a threat to her and Alya in that moment, Marinette might have had to give into whatever demands he asked. Whatever it was that Monarch was saying to her, we see that Marinette very quickly reaches into her drawer to pull out a key!

What’s the big deal about this key? guys!, this is master Fu’s key, the same key he gave to Ladybug near the end of “Miracle Queen” when he lost his memory!, but Monarch doesn't know Ladybug had it since he wasn't there for that moment. 

This key is what opened the locker containing the old record player that hid the miracle box! but why does Monarch want the key? the locker doesn’t have the miracle box anymore, but then again he might not be searching for the box, he could be looking for something else! Fu had a lot of things to hide in order to protect his identity as Guardian from Monarch, so whatever it is that Monarch is looking for, its got to be in that locker and the kwamis might have been forced to tell him everything they knew about Fu at least since Gabriel knew his identity already, Gabriel is up to something .

The next image is of Monarch in the wax museum and judging by the draped figures in the background, it seems the museum has some new additions to the collection that have yet to be revealed to the public, this room use to have statues of akumatized villains, but they might be switching things out to include the other members of the miraculous team, aside from that, the real big question here is, why is Monarch at the wax museum?! we see him circling around the wax statues of Ladybug and Cat Noir but in the next shot we see him with a surprised face as Cat Noir reaches out for him,

 perhaps Cat Noir tried to catch Monarch off guard by posing as a statue next to the Ladybug wax figure, but the moment he grabs Monarchs hand, we see a piece of paper fall from it, its to hard to tell what that paper says but considering Monarch had it, it must be important.

The next shot is of Cat Noir and monarch on the floor after Ladybug uses her yoyo to wrap their hands together, Monarch is now immobilized by a lucky charm wrapped around him and we see that Cat Noir has activated his cataclysm, we don’t know what it is that they are trying to do here but it almost seems like they were trying to pin Monarch into a corner by having Cat Noir use his cataclysm as a threat should he be tempted to escape. 

However, in the next shot, we see that Monarch is still on the ground and that Cat Noir is no longer with him, only Ladybug is next to Monarch, something happened.

Monarch uses the horse miraculous to make his escape but as he does, we see that something weird is going on with his left arm, it looks cracked with purple lighting emitting from those cracks. I’d imagine that everyone’s first guess by looking at this is that Cat Noir used his cataclysm on Monarch, after all, it was revealed to us that Cat Noir was going to cataclysm a person in season 5, but something about this situation doesn’t make sense, did Cat Noir really cataclysm Monarch? the cracking is seen on his left hand rather than the right hand that was tied to Cat Noirs cataclysm. It could be that  Cat Noir did not intend to immediatly use his cataclysm on Monarch, only as a potential threat for the situation to keep him from escaping, but considering Monarch has some sort of damage to the opposite hand, Monarch might have tried to shake Cat Noir off, resulting in his opposite hand being accidentally cataclysmed.  But what if it wasn’t a cataclysm? if that damage wasn’t done by Cat Noir, I wonder if there’s something else going on with Gabriel? well, I guess that’s something that will need to be left until the premier.

The final scene in the teaser is of Gabriel taking a ball like item out of a case with the Tsurugi company logo on it, this ball is attached to a machine and emits a sharp light that quickly beams down onto something that gives Gabriel a ring

...I don’t like where this is going, because it almost seems like Gabriel is MELTING SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT!, THE MIRACULOUS!!

[miraculouscontent]

Anonymous asked:

when I started this show I was in it for cute romantic moments and obvious slow burn the show had at first glance after watching Dark Cupid. Now I'm just in it to finally learn the name of the hamster Marinette wants with her daydream family and pray it'll be with Luka.

I’m sure Luka would be happy to adopt a cute little hamster with her, can confirm.

And yeah, shipping goggles really change the perspective on things, don’t they? Because it’s easy for a love square shipper to look at “Dark Cupid” and be like, “YESS, THEY KISSED!!”

But without the goggles, you realize that Ladybug was essentially forced to give away her first kiss to someone she doesn’t love (giving him exactly what he wanted even if he doesn’t remember it), and all because Chat shushed her when she tried to warn him that there was an akuma.

Anonymous asked:

im catching up on miraculous (im super behind) and although i'd heard second hand abt the classism i didnt think it'd be this blatant? 😭😭😭 that scene in frozer where luka asks marinette if she wants to go back w him on the metro & it's contrasted w adrien leaving in the limo w marinette going after him reached out thru my screen and physically slapped me, esp given how luka tends to be shoved aside when adrien's involved (so far at least. viperion's 1st episode forced me to take a breather)

Oh--

Wow.

Oh. That--

That didn’t even occur to me. I never even made the connection to the whole “subway-limo” thing.

Well, I’m depressed.

[aalissy]

Videogames

Anddd new chapter doneee!! Lemme know what you guys think <3. It’s another reveal hehehe. My faveeee!! Also lemme know if you saw the new episode. I’d love to hear your thoughts!! It’s my new favorite of s4 and definitely in my top 3 favorite episodes haha!

AO3

Marinette pursed her lips as she tapped her foot against her floor impatiently. Chat was supposed to have been there an hour ago and she was getting restless. After checking the Ladyblog for the countless time that night, she determined that there was no akuma attack keeping him. Crossing her arms against her chest, she huffed, wishing that he would get to her house faster. They were supposed to have a video game tournament tonight and he wasn’t usually late.

Chewing on her lip, Marinette glanced at the time again, wondering if he had forgotten or if he was in trouble. Her gaze drifted sullenly over to the macarons and croissants that she had made fresh beforehand which had now cooled considerably. With a quiet sigh, she turned to her kwami. “Do you think something could have happened to him? Why is he so late?”

“I’m sure everything’s fine, Marinette,” Tikki chirped positively, “Maybe he’s just busy.”

She tilted her head in acceptance to Tikki’s words but turned to her balcony trapdoor to stare at it forlornly. In a bout of Ladybug luck, a soft knock sounded from it. Marinette immediately brightened, rushing up her ladder to open it for him. Running a hand through her hair, she spoke rather breathlessly, “Hi.”

Chat gave her a soft smile, raising a hand in a wave. “Hi, purrincess. Sorry I’m late. My work ran late tonight.”

Her eyebrow rose as her lips twitched in amusement. “You work? Are you sure?”  

He chuckled, shaking his head before he jumped down into her bedroom. He tapped her nose playfully as he said, “Yes, I do. I’m a pawsitively irresistible model that people can’t get enough of.”

Chat flexed in front of her and Marinette scoffed, rolling her eyes at him. Giving him an unimpressed look, she slid back down her ladder. “Sure you are kitty. And my designs are as famous as Gabriel Agreste’s.”

He snickered, following after her as his eyes glimmered with a mischievous, knowing look. “Purrhaps they will be in a few years, Marinette. You’re very talented.”

She flushed faintly, glancing at him softly out of the corner of her eye as she sank into her chair. “Aw, thank you, kitty! That’s very sweet of you to say.��

“You’re welcome,” Chat beamed back, sitting down next to her. His face lit up as he rubbed his hands together. “Now, are you ready for our competition? I think I’m pawpared to finally beat you this time.”

“Good luck,” Marinette shot him a smirk as she picked up her controller. “I’ve been practicing with a good friend of mine. I’d wager that he’s better than you too, so I’m pretty sure I’ve got this in the bag.”

With a pair of teasing blue eyes, she leaned in to flick his bell confidently. She had been practicing. Alya had begun dragging her to more game nights after learning how stressed she was so she and Adrien had begun playing together more often. It was a nice, relaxing break from her usual stresses of Ladybug. Plus, Adrien had actually managed to beat her once. He had pulled off a combo move that Marinette had never seen before, leaving her with too little health to finish him off in the end. Though she had pouted about it at the time, she was grateful for the new combo and even began practicing a defense against it.

Lost in her memories as she was, she barely heard Chat chuckle with a low murmur, “We’ll see about that.”

Narrowing her eyes at him playfully, Marinette then picked up a macaron, gesturing at the plate she had made for them. “By the way, I made some treats if you get hungry. Feel free to take some.”

Chat nodded at her happily, eagerly plucking up a croissant and gulping it down like he had been eyeing it since he sat down. Giggling quietly at his content expression, she booted up the game to catch him off guard.

“Hey!” Marinette heard him shout as she landed a punch that he didn’t have enough time to block. “That’s cheating!”

“Hmm,” she tilted her head from side to side. “I think it’s pretty fair considering you made me wait an hour before you got here.”

Sneaking a quick peek over at him, she saw his lower lip jutted out in an adorable pout. He whined quietly as their characters fought on the screen, “I already told you that it wasn’t my fault.”

Distracted by his pout for that brief second, Chat managed to get a good hit on her character. Pursing her lips in concentration, she focused her gaze entirely on the computer screen as her competitive streak kicked in. Marinette’s fingers moved across the buttons with ease, watching as Chat’s health gradually got lower and lower.

Just when she thought she was about to win, he shouted with pride, “Check this move out, purrincess!”

Marinette blinked in surprise as he began to play the exact combo that Adrien had used to win against her before. Fortunately for her the defense she had practiced still worked and she ended up winning. She wasn’t certain how exactly she had managed to win that game, though. She had just been struck with an eerie feeling of deja vu after Chat had shouted those words. Adrien had said something very similar before taking her down at their last game night and now images of the two boys were clashing and colliding in her head.

“Nice job, purrincess,” his voice snapped her out of her thoughts. “I thought that last combo would have taken you down fur sure.”

“It did,” Marinette murmured unthinkingly, her gaze stuck on his messy, blonde hair trying to imagine it neater.

He tilted his head at her in confusion, gesturing to the computer screen. “Huh? No I didn’t... It says you won.”

“No,” she shook her head rapidly, trying to calm her racing thoughts. “I meant that it did before. The friend I told you I was practicing with... he used that combo and beat me.”

Marinette searched his gaze, looking for any sign of recognition or acknowledgment. She got it. Chat glanced away, scratching the back of his neck in a very familiar way. Her heart practically stopped as her breath hitched. She was right.

Lost in her realization, she barely heard him murmur quietly, “You were right, then... he does sound like a better player than me.”

Sucking in a steadying breath of air, Marinette then chewed her lower lip as she hummed, “You know, I don’t think I was right about that. In fact, I’d say that you two are probably at the exact same level. The only reason that move didn’t work on me this time was because I practiced ways to defend against it.”

Chat’s gaze had snapped to hers as he stiffened considerably. He chuckled nervously, his hand leaving the back of his neck to run through his hair. “R-right.”

How had she not noticed it before? It was so obvious. Her lips quirked in amusement as she looked up at him. Nudging his arm, she teased, “Next time, try coming up with a different combo to defeat me, Adrien.”

“I know,” he sighed, seemingly not noticing that she called him by his civilian name. “But you’re so amazing, that it’s so difficult.”

Instead of answering, she continued to stare at him pointedly. Her eyebrows rose after a few more moments of silence and Chat’s mouth eventually dropped open as he realized. He scrambled out of his chair as he held his hands up. “I-I mean, uh, who’s Adrien? W-what are you talking about, purrincess?”

Giggling, Marinette leaned down to stare into his familiar, green eyes. Now that she knew, there were so many signs. She wondered if he’d feel the same when she told him she was Ladybug. Giving him a small smirk, she then said, “That’s you, silly kitty.”

Chat sagged, looking up at her desperately as he pleaded with his eyes. “Please, Marinette. You can’t tell anyone. If Ladybug finds out you know who I am, she’ll probably kill you and me.”

Marinette threw her head back in a loud laugh that she was certain confused him. When she finally caught her breath again, she leaned back down to stare into his bemused gaze, teasing him, “It might be good for you to start running then because Ladybug knows that I know.”

“Wha? How? How could that even be possible?!” He frowned up at her, looking terrified for his life.

“Because, mon Chaton,” she flicked his bell, pointing at herself. “Ladybug’s right here.”

“What?! No! I, y-you can’t be Ladybug. What about Multimouse?” Chat asked desperately.

She shook her head a few times before responding, “Just an illusion. I was using the fox miraculous at the time and--”

Marinette got cut off as Chat tugged her down onto his chest, wrapping her up in a tight embrace. Squeaking with a bright red blush on her face, she hugged him back with all of her strength. This was Adrien. The love of her life. The boy who was currently brushing a kiss against the top of her head, sending shivers up and down her spine.

“I’m so glad it’s you,” he murmured, his warm breath on her head giving her goosebumps.

“Me too, my silly kitty,” Marinette whispered, closing her eyes as she relaxed in his arms. “Me too.”

Right now, everything was perfect. In fact, she’d be content to spend the rest of her life here if he let her. Snuggling closer to Chat, she sighed happily. She needed to remember to thank Alya for those extra game nights. They really were the best.

[thepigeonsopinion]

As always, here we go again...

"Dearest Family" has been released recently and we all know what that means...

It's again another time to rant about how much Miraculous pisses me off!

So let's start off with what I always do, a long, unnecessary synopsis of the episode!

Warning: Spoilers for episode "Dearest Family"

Summary: The episode starts off with Gabriel Agreste in his "secret lair" experimenting with an anti-akuma charm, to see if there is way to still akumatize a victim with a anti-akuma charm. Gabriel's experiments are successful and he creates the mega akuma. Meanwhile, Tom and his father, Roland are at the bakery making a colette for kings day. This pastry is so delicious that it has caught the attention of Tikki just it's smell. Tikki tries to wake up Marinette to try some of the pastry, but Marinette refuses and tries to go back to sleep. This, in turn causes everyone (the other kwamis) to wake up. Marinette gives in and goes down to the bakery to get some pieces of the puff pastry. After Marinette get's some pieces of the puff pastry and puts the pieces in her purse, where is, she goes back to her room to give some of the puff pastry to the kwami's only to find out that Tikki has eaten all of the pieces. This causes Sass and the other kwami's to get extremely worried. Tikki goes into defense mode and get angry at the other kwami's for accusing her. Marinette then defends Tikki and says that she couldn't have eaten it all. Sass warns Marinette about the appetite of the kwami of creation. Marinette then defends herself and Tikki saying that she knows Tikki fairly well. Tikki and Marinette go back downstairs to get more of the pastry in the end. After Marinette and Tikki leave the room all the kwami's start to freak out and Sass takes precaution and tells some of the kwami's to watch over Tikki. Meanwhile, in the bakery Gina suddenly arrives in front of the building, with a pink motorcycle for her birthday (which was a few moths ago). The gift makes everyone start to disagree with the decision of letting Marinette ride a motorcycle. While everyone is distracted, Tikki tries to get some pieces of the colette in the bakery. Marinette sees Tikki and stops her before she could even touch the pastry. Marinette's family comes into the bakery, Tikki hides (of course) and Marinette suggests they all go up stairs and eat the colette. While they eat the colette the adults keep arguing on who knows what's best for Marinette, while Marinette tries to catch Tikki and stop her from being seen. Marinette goes upstairs with the realization that there is something wrong with Tikki. Marinette comes up with the solution to transform so Tikki won't be able to eat any of the pastry and not be seen. But after the process of transforming Tikki's hunger is still present in Ladybug. Meanwhile, Shadowmoth uses a mega akuma to akumatize all of the Dupain-Cheng's into Bakerix, Weredad, Qilin, and Befana. The now akumatized family all try to fight each other while also trying to get to Marinette, who is in her room. Ladybug here's the commotion and escapes the room through her balcony before anyone can see her. After Ladybug is able to escape her home she is still unable to function normally because of the unbearable hunger she feels because of Tikki. In cause of these cravings Ladybug steals some boxes of colette from people and eats them herself. Bakerix finds Ladybug and tries to fight her and is almost successful in doing so until Chat Noir intervenes. Ladybug leaves Chat Noir fighting Bakerix to de-transform and reason with Tikki. Tikki, instead is not able to hold the unbearable appetite she has for the colette and leaves Marinette to search for more. Before Marinette can transform Befana finds her in an alleyway. The fight goes on with each members of the family fighting Chat Noir. Though Chat Noir is able to use his cataclysm to escape. Meanwhile, Marinette finds Tikki devouring all the colette's in sight. Tikki then realizes that all of the colette is almost gone which causes her to use her power of Lucky Charm to summon a giant colette on top of the whole of Paris. Chat Noir sees this and uses cataclysm to destroy the giant pastry. Before Tikki can summon another Marinette stops her and Tikki feels a great amount of shame. Marinette forgives Tikki and encourages her to ignore the cravings. Marinette transforms into Ladybug and joins the

fight against the akumatized family. Ladybug eventually uses her Lucky Charm and finds out that the akuma is at the house of the Dupain-Cheng's. Chat Noir destroys the akumatized object. Ladybug captures the akuma and uses Miraculous Ladybug to restore everything back to normal. And with Tikki back to normal, the knowledge of her weakness, and with Marinette getting a vespa the episode ends (with a bonus scene of Gabriel talking to his wife who is in a coma).

Yay! Another detailed summary of the episode to add to the collectiom!

AnYwAy! Let's dive in to my inner thoughts about this episode.

(Also, as always I am re watching the episode as I type this so I might have some unnecessary details. Anyway! Let's get into it!)

First things first, I am really questioning how Gabriel Agreste was able to get a anti-charm because I mean he hasn't even been akumatized yet this season! I guess maybe it could be possible he get's an anti-charm in like the "Gabriel Agreste" episode but until then I will be very confused. I also just want to mention the fact that Natalie has not recovered one bit since this season has started and I'm getting worried(wait what if Natalie is the price to pay if Gabriel were to get the miraculous :0). Continuing on, so Shadowmoth is now able to create a akuma that is able to akumatize an victim with an anti-charm, and they name it the "Mega Akuma". Now I don't mean to make fun of the creators for using the most cliche way of naming something slightly powerful then the original (not the sarcasm) but really "Mega akuma"? What's next the "Ultra Akuma"?

Anyway! I know this is pretty random buuuutt Sass crawling out of that bookshelf is SOOOO ADORABLE! And as you can tell by now I obviously have a favorite kwami. I mean I know this whole episode is about Tikki's cravings and her inner weaknesses, but like she is really desperate to test that pastry and when she does finally get some pieces of that pastry she eats it all and doesn't even leave a single piece for the rest of the kwamis. Damn, just damn. Not to mention the way she easily get's defensive about it. I swear if looks could kill the rest of those kwamis would be dead.

Moving on, YES SASS YOU TELL HER. Okay in all seriousness though we all stan Sass for being the kwami to warn Marinette of what is to come. And Marinette I know you are a bit defensive about your relationship with Tikki, but you should listen to Sass. I also love the fact that Sass is seen as the true ruler of the kwamis. Not to mention, the fact that Sass is Luka's kwami and that there personalities are so similar to each other.

Moving on! I mean Marinette if you don't want that motorcycle you can give it to Luka T3T. No offense to Marinette's family but I don't think anyone really knows what's best for her, not even Marinette herself. I mean during this whole season it is clearly shown that Marinette is still trying to figure out what her role is whether it be her role as Ladybug or her role on the future. So in reality no one really knows what is best Marinette.

Continuing in with the episode! Jesus Christ! What the heck is that face that Ladybug made when she said she was "starving" I swear this gosh this episode cannot get any weirder.

AAAAAANNNDDD! I spoke to soon. What the heck is that face that Ladybug is making. I have come to the conclusion that throughout this episode Ladybug is going to make the weirdest faces. I mean look at the face she is making when she is stuffing her face with that pastry.

Okay now, WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK WAS THAT. I mean I know that Tikki was in need of that pastry to satisfy her hunger but like damn. I would legit be so fucking scared if I was in that situation.

Me:

Okay, first it was the talking to Simpleman shenanigans and now it's eating a piece of puff pastry. Great.

Okay not to be mean or anything, but like why the heck does it look like ChatAdrien is freaking injured right now. I mean he's holding his chest like he's holding a bleeding wound. Like what the heck. All he did was use cataclysm on the ground, dramatic much.

Marinette: Tikki, I need you...

Meanwhile, Tikki: Oh no there's only one piece of colette left! *has arguement with self on whether or not she should eat it.*

Damn bro, it be like that sometimes.

AnYwAy! Why does it look like Tikki is constipated when she uses Lucky Charm? ANd clearly she wants all of Paris to know that she is "THE KWAMI OF CREATION". That whole scene was lowkey really weird.

Now THAT is a giant ass cookie or puff pie or whatever.

DAMN! Is Tikki really the devil cause it sure sounds like she is.

Okay now that everything has been cleared up with Tikki time for another fight scene! yay. (note the sarcasm). And yes Chat Noir again.

Okay how the heck can they tell that, that akuma is more powerful I mean can they just sense it? Because by the look of it looks like a regular akuma to me.

Me when Chat Noir asked Ladybug to be his queen: HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! No. (dying/crying internally inside).

I just realized that the motorcycle that Gina bought Marinette is both teal and pink. MY LUKANETTE HEART!!!!

And this episode of miraculous ladybug has been brought to you by Marinette getting a vespa.

ANND with that the episode is over!

Now all in all the episode wasn't that bad, with the exceptions of all the weird faces that Ladybug/Marinette made and demonic Tikki of course. Mainly, all my thoughts on this episode are just the weird faces and scenes in this episode so I don't really have anything else to say.

Anyway! Those were my thoughts on the episode "Dearest Family". I hope everyone has a wonderful rest of there day or night and always remember. . .

But that's just my opinion (・ε・)

(I was procrastinating doing this ever since the episode came out, but I did it and now I'm done! Well almost. I know that the french dub of the episode "Glaciator 2" just came out so I'll be doing my rant on that episode later tonight ((or morining really)) because I know for sure I have some things to say about that episode. :)

[pradaksj]

7 Rings | 01

♛ pairing: taehyung/reader

♛ genre: richboy!taehyung | blackmailer!reader | infiltration au | slow burn | eventual smut | angst | fluff 

♛ rating: mature

♛ word count: 12,000+

♛ warnings for this chapter : explicit language, terminal illness, this chapter basically just sets the foundation of this story up so sorry if it’s a little boring 

♛ summary:  In need of money for your mom’s medical bills, you and your best friend come up with a plan to infiltrate one of Seoul’s richest families, the Kim family. The plan was simple, blackmail, get your money, and disappear, but of course things don’t always go as planned. Especially not with someone like Kim Taehyung.

━ ❝ Whoever said money can't solve your problems, must not have had enough money to solve 'em. ❞

♛ chapter index/masterlist || series masterlist || next chapter 

Chapters⇢ 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08

“Why Y/N?” his voice cracks, the look of betrayal evidently on his face. 

"I never—" you sobbed. Your throat felt swollen and you stuttered, pitifully trying to speak the words in your head. "I never meant for it to go this far," you said at last. 

How did you end up here? Where did everything go wrong? When had the rabbit hole simply become too deep? The sounds of several voices echoed in your head. 

You could hear him calling your name, begging  no demanding an answer, but all you could do was stare off into space, thinking of everything that led up this exact moment. 

If only you could turn back time. 

3 Months Ago.

Friday Morning.

“In today’s news, the Kim family’s multibillion dollar deal has been officially confirmed. Their partnership with Hyundai is estimated to bring in at least seven billion in revenue to Korea’s economy over the next 5 years. Both parties have agreed to terms that will lift…”

Oh the irony.

Sighing, you turned off the radio of your run-down 2006 grey Hyundai, which every morning you had to cross your fingers and hope that the engine wouldn't burn out on you. The rumbling sounds of the engine starting up never failing to catch the attention of pedestrians walking by. 

After several frustrating minutes of struggling to parallel park, you sat in your car and allowed yourself to sulk for a moment. Another day, another dollar to make. Even if it meant having to deal with rude and entitled customers all day, your school loans plus your bills just weren’t going to pay themselves off anytime soon. 

“One day at a time Y/N, just one day at a time,” you reassured yourself, placing on your mandatory logoed hat, and mentally preparing yourself for another day. If only you were rich.

Friday Night.

Despite being tired from work, visiting your mom was something you always felt like you needed to do every so often, plus her homemade meals were quite often a bonus considering how lazy you’d often get to cook food for yourself. In fact, the pizza shop near your apartment not only having your order, but voice completely memorized for whenever you called. The young employee quickly interrupting your greeting with a, “Pepperoni pizza, half sausage, half Hawaiian, and a pink lemonade?” surprisingly no longer offended you as much as it would back in the beginning. 

Your mom certainly didn’t mind the company as it inevitably got quite lonely living by herself, but she knew she couldn’t smother you forever as much as she would love to. College was a necessity for you in her eyes, a ticket to a better life that wouldn’t require you to scrub the floors of the rich as she did. 

And maybe it was because you were more mature nowadays, but conversations with her had now also seemed to be much more meaningful. Well that and the two of you didn’t butt heads as much as you used to compared to when you were nothing but a temperamental teenager whose biggest life crisis was whether your crush glanced at you in the hallway or not. 

Of course the boundary and respect of a mother-daughter relationship was always there, some of your jokes sometimes garnering a “I’m not your friend, I’m your mother” speech from her, but nonetheless your relationship with her in a way was very much like a friendship. It seemed as if with every visit you learned new things about her, the different stories she shared with you from her youth always having an underlying lesson that you could apply to your own life.

“I really needed this,” you said while chewing on a mouthful of bulgogi. Small stains of sauce at the corners of your mouth, as your mom’s cooking never failed to make you feel like a little kid. She couldn’t help but smile at the sight of her now twenty one year old daughter who in her heart was always going to be just a little girl.

She got up from the small wooden dining chair, picking up any leftover dinnerware as she prepared to start washing dishes, all while at the same time listening to you as you babbled on about work.

“I mean really, how hard is it to say thank you,” you rolled your eyes, dramatically sticking your chopstick into your bowl, as you were recalling one of today’s customers who kept snapping their fingers at you as if you were their very own personal servant. 

“Well it’s a good thing it’s summer, you don’t have to worry about college so mu—” The sound of glass shattering on the floor abruptly caught your attention. You looked up at your mom who was now dead silent, her face which was now extremely pale, and her breathing which had suddenly became erratic. What you didn't know was that your mom had suddenly felt as if the world spinning, the feeling of disorientation becoming too overwhelming.

“Mom? Are you okay?” you quickly got up, grabbing your mom by the forearm in a means of trying to redirect her from the kitchen to the couch at an attempt to get her to relax. You unlocked your phone, fingers slightly trembling as you called the ambulance. 

“Just breathe okay. You’re gonna be okay,” you kept trying to reassure your mom as you waited for them to pick up which at the moment felt like an eternity. Your leg was bouncing up and down in anticipation as you kept glancing at your mom who was trying to keep her breathing in control and her eyes open. “Do not close your eyes on me, you hear me?” your voice began to feel shaky, eyelids brimming with tears, the pulsating feeling of panic flowing through your veins.

“Hello, what’s your emergency?”

You hated hospitals. Who didn’t? The smell, the yellow-toned ugly lighting, and the feeling of anxiousness the whole place gave people. For you though, the hospital was a reminder of tragedy, a reminder that whatever comes in here never walks out the same whether you’re a patient or not. Fifteen years ago, it made your mom a widow left having to pay remaining hospital bills all while having to raise her six year old daughter.

So here you were now, fifteen years later sitting at her bedside waiting for her to wake up, stuck in the same position she once was. You stared up at the ceiling counting each time the overhead lights flickered as you tried not to get so lost into your thoughts. Everything had happened in what felt like was the blink of an eye, guilt was beginning to seep in. Why hadn’t noticed anything earlier? Maybe in some miraculous way you could’ve prevented this, you thought to yourself. 

You turned on the small TV that the hospital provided in every room, flipping through several channels hoping you'd find something that would be able to distract you.

“Shut up and kis—” K-drama. Next.

“Watch ou—” Action movie. Next.

“Kim Taehyung gets physical with paparazzi, the heir to Kim Enterprises spotted —” but before you could place your full attention to the entertainment newscast you turned your attention to your mother who was now beginning to shift in her sleep, her eyes now slowly opening, clearly in a daze as to where she was and how she got there.

“Hey ma,” you softly whispered, giving her a warm smile as you held her hand tighter, beginning to rub small circles on her palm.

“W-what happened Y/N?” 

“You fain-”

“Ah you’re finally up,” you turned towards the door, seeing who you assumed was the doctor in charge now walking in. 

For a doctor she appeared quite young, her petite figure and wrinkle free skin a defining factor in her appearance. You formally greeted her, a wave of anxiousness now overcoming you. “Dr. Whitney Han'' is what her name tag read, but it was what was in small font beneath her name that made your heart feel as if it feel down to the pit of your stomach. “Oncologist,” meaning doctors who specialize in the study and treatment for cancer.

Faintly clearing her throat, “Hello, I’m Dr. Han,” she introduced herself, reaching her hand out for you to shake. She smiled at your mom who was still in a slightly groggy state, but aware nonetheless. “So Ms. Y/L/N, you seemed to have suffered from what we call a syncope, meaning an episode of passing out, it’s usually caused by insufficient blood flow to the brain, a result of hypotension,” you nodded following along with what she was saying,

“When episodes such as these occur, it tends to mean that there’s an underlying cause and so we decided to run some tests on your mother to cross out any possibilities, and well there’s never an easy way to tell anybody this...” her gaze lowered for just a slight moment until she quickly regained her composure, but it was just enough for you to just know. She continued with what you assumed she’s told hundred’s if not thousand’s of patients in her career. For her it’d be just another day of work, but for you it felt as if the world stopped.

Whatever she had said after couldn’t be heard because the only thing you could hear was the sound of your blood pounding in your ears, and an intense beating against your chest. You could see her mouth moving, but nothing seemed to be coming out, everything suddenly becoming a ringing noise to your ears. 

Fight or flight is what they call it. When a stressful situation triggers you to either run or stay, and at this moment you just wanted to run, but you knew you couldn’t. You knew that at this exact moment, everything was going to change because whether you liked it or not, the carousel never stops turning. 

You slowly glanced at your mom who seemed to be in the same paralyzed state as you, her face stoic of any possible emotion. 

“With treatment chances of survival are of course immensely improved, the treatments are harsh, but taking your mom’s age and clean medical history I think she can definitely handle it,” Dr. Han tried to give you a small smile, but even she knew situations like these were always tough. No matter how many years of experience she had, the countless tragedies and rare miracles she’d witnessed in her career, every case was different. Her job as a doctor was to make people like you and your mother feel more comfortable with their situation, but never make any promises. 

“Now treatments are done in intervals, and will probably have to be done starting from now until about three to six months which is when we usually see improvement, meaning you will have to permanently stay here for that time. From what I’ve seen with past patients is that treatment can be very costly  without insurance, and well I know a lot of physicians don’t like to talk about expenses with patients, but—”

“My mom doesn’t have health insurance. I know,” you harshly broke the deafening silence, interrupting her before she could continue, not wanting to hear anymore of her pity. You had no reason to give her attitude, no reason to direct your anger towards her, it wasn’t like she caused any of this to happen, but you just couldn’t help it. The atmosphere in the air was stiff, any next word out of her mouth and you’d probably go ballistic. “C-can we just have a moment alone? So we could just um process everything,” you stammered, lacking to make any eye contact with her. 

“I’ll be right outside in the hallway, let me know if you have any questions,” she gave you and your mom one last tiny sad smile before making her way out.

Once the door closed, you thought that you’d be able to breathe properly again, but the same heavy feeling on your chest remained. It wasn’t until you felt a grab at your hand that you were brought back to reality.

“Hey we are going to be just fine Y/N,” your mom whispered to you as it was now she who was rubbing your hand in an effort to comfort you. A weak smile appearing on your face, of course your mom would be comforting you despite it being her who's sick. “Come on lay down with me,” she then began to scoot to the side in her already tiny hospital bed, trying to make space for you.

And for a small everlasting moment you felt like a little girl again as you hugged your mom, tears silently falling from the corner of your eyes, the soft sound of her humming comforting you. You let your head relax onto her shoulder, your breathing somehow finally under control. The question of “What are we going to do?” slowly disappearing from your mind, letting yourself drift off to sleep in the arms of your mom.

Sunday Morning.

In the following days after, you had helped your mom move her necessities into the hospital room that she’d be staying in until her treatment was over and she could be discharged. You had contacted your landlord informing him that you’d be cancelling your lease as you now had plans to move back home. The only reason you had your own small apartment in the first place was because your mom thought it’d be better to live near campus and not waste so much money on gas going from campus to your job and then back to your moms place. Despite her protests on the cancellation of your lease, you had done it anyway.

“Ma someone has to live there, or else it’d just be useless to continue paying rent. We can’t just leave it empty for the whole year, someone could break in or even try to live there for the while that you’re not there. I mean imagine walking in on some strang—”

“Exactly, which is why I don’t want you living there, and move the decoration a little more to your right,” she says while making a motion with her hand as a way to guide you. For the past hour you had been putting up flimsy removable decorations all across the beige hospital walls at an attempt to make her room look less depressing than it already was. 

“I already told you, I’ll be just fine. I already asked Yuna to help me get my stuff, and you’re acting like everyone in the neighborhood doesn’t know who I am, and it’s a lot faster to get here from home. I just need to start looking for a second job in the meant—”

“Ah about that,” your moms sudden interruption causing you to stop what you were doing , now tilting your head in confusion, “I called Mr. Choi and told him about me no longer being able to work for the meantime that I'm here and well that’s when he mentioned something about going on vacation, and needing a temporary assistant… and that he needed someone to run some business like errands for him and well I may have mentioned you and that you’re majoring in business and how you’d love to work for him…” she tried zooming through the last part but you had heard it all.

“Wait what!”

Mr. Choi was your mom’s boss, having been his housekeeper for as long as you could remember. Endless long nights of making sure whatever multimillion dollar penthouse he or his other snobby friends owned looked squeaky clean, just to be paid like any other minimum-wage worker minus the tip.

You could still vividly remember the nights when you were younger being babysat by your neighbor, anxiously waiting for your mom's knock on the door signifying that she was back home, and just how exhausted she’d look as she took off her housekeeping shoes, too tired to even look at the pile of sealed letters on the sturdy coffee table. A constant reminder that she was going to be working for that man for a very long time. 

For a long time you had wondered how she was able to do it all. Were there nights where she felt like just giving up and simply letting everything she’d work so hard for to collapse? 

Your mind flashing back to the night before you moved out for college. It was about 3 in the morning and anxiety had been keeping you up the whole night, the fear of moving somewhere you were unfamiliar with creeping into your mind. The sound of muffled tears coming from the living room snapping you back into reality. Slowly you had gotten up from bed, opening your door wide enough to leave a crack that you could visibly see through, desperately trying to avoid having the door loudly creak. 

And so there she was with a wax stick candle in her hand, quietly whispering to herself a small recital, the sound of several wailed “thank you’s” coming out of her mouth, grateful that she had made it this far. The old framed picture of your dad on the coffee table making it hard for you to fight back your own tears. 

Nights where she was sure your landlord would knock at any moment to kick you guys out because the rent was going to be late, nights where she’d silently cry herself to sleep because it killed her to say no to something you desperately wanted from the store, and nights where she merely missed the love of her life. Doubting herself as to whether she was doing a good job in raising you, simply wishing she could have someone give her some reassurance. And having to hide those feelings because she didn’t want her daughter to find out that the person she had once given a “Happy Mother’s Day to the Strongest Mommy in the World” card with a colorful doodle of herself in a cape was in fact not strong at all, but acted like she was because she simply loved her daughter too much. 

And so that night instead of going back to sleep, you slowly made your way into the living room, silently enveloping her in a hug, no words having to be spoken. Promising yourself that you were going to work hard in college, and get each other out of the small cramped apartment to which you guys called home. Life of course had different plans, which brings you back to one of the causes of your stress and worries: Mr. Choi. 

Oh how you despised that man. One would think a rich man like him would’ve offered by now to pay for all of your mom’s expenses considering the years of servitude, but no. He only fed into the stereotype you already had of the rich, the only people they cared for were themselves.

“So you’re basically telling me I have to quit my job by tonight, and do something I have absolutely no experience with?”

“Yes! You need to start getting all the experience you can get in the world of business, and him being on vacation is perfect. Less stress, and I assume it’ll be better pay than that restaurant you’re working in.” Oh how you hated how naive your mom could be sometimes, it always led to Choi taking advantage of her and her kindness.

“Mr. Choi lives—”

“In the city which is not at all far from here, the only reason you work at that lousy restaurant is because it’s near campus, yes or yes?”

“And when school starts?”

“Mr. Choi should be back by then and he can find someone new to replace you,” you dramatically groaned, the fact that she had reasonable answers to your questions bugged you. 

“But-”

“But nothing! You’re a hard worker Y/N, who knows you may even meet someone who could change your life around in that area. You’re young, about to be a college graduate, you need to start printing out resumes and Mr. Choi is a big name in the indust—”

“I get it, I get it,” you said chuckling at your mom’s enthusiasm, “and who's going to keep you company then?”

“Ah well the nurse was telling me last night about the events they throw here every week for people like me who are staying here for a while and trust me I’ll be just fine,” she winked at you which raised a laugh out of you. Who knew your mom could be so… social. “Just try and visit hmm... at least once a week.”

“Once?”

“I’m telling you Y/N, we will be just fine. Stop acting like I’m dying anytime soon.” she said, “now what do you say? It’s just until the end of summer.” You began to consider your options, money was definitely the weighing factor here.

Sighing once you had made your decision, “When do I start?”, a giant grin now appearing on her face. 

Sunday Night

“Well that’s the last of it,” you sighed in relief as you finally were able to close the trunk of your car after several minutes of struggling to compress your things in order for everything to fit in your small car and not make any double trips back. 

“Finally! You know for someone who claims they need to save money, you sure do like spending it on such small useless things,” your best friend, Yuna, complained.

“Oh because you were so much help,” you huffed, she had no right to complain considering all she did was loudly munch on her chips, watching the pitiful sight of you nearly fighting your trunk after several failed attempts of it not closing. She raised her hand in defense. 

You and Yuna had met in the 8th grade after the two of you were assigned as partners for your geometry class, casual conversation about latest idol debuts and fashion trends had blossomed a beautiful friendship. For a while you thought that college was going to cause the two of you to grow apart, but in fact you two became even closer. It had become a friendship where you didn’t need to see each other everyday, nor talk about absolutely everything all in one moment. Everything was always at its own pace between you two, the boundaries having been silently set.

You had told Yuna of your situation and rather than try to get you to cry about your feelings and awkwardly comfort you, she instead agreed to help you move out, letting her actions speaking louder than words. Of course Yuna’s definition of help differed from yours. but it was the thought that counted. She knew that when you were ready you’d talk to her about everything. 

“Well apartment D2 you’ve been... “ you paused, recalling the amount of times you’ve nearly burned something, now scratching your neck,  “...decent to me, but it’s time for a new chapter,” you whispered to yourself, anxious for the weeks to come. 

The drive home like almost all of them had the two of you singing to both current and childhood songs without a care in the world even though you two weren’t exactly what people would consider “good” singers. Occasional voice cracks seeping through the bass of the speakers, garnering a laugh from the two of you. 

By the time you got home and finished unpacking, you were not only exhausted but extremely hungry.

“I’m gonna go get us take out,” Yuna announced, getting up from the couch and grabbing your car keys from the rack, almost as if she read your mind. 

And so while she went to get that, you laid on your small childhood bed, staring at the ceiling. You laughed at the multiple glow in the dark stickers you had crookedly placed onto it several years ago, and cringe at the posters of second generation idols you had sloppily posted up on your walls when you were fifteen, now unaware that you were subconsciously grinning. 

It surprised you that your mom for the most part hadn’t moved anything around from your room, for the most part it looked almost exactly as how you left it years ago. The same old baby blue duvet covered your metal twin-sized bed frame, decorated with grey fluffy throw pillows which at the time you thought made you a professional interior designer. Your fingers grazed over the framed pictures you had on your small desk (minus the ones you took to college) of past memories including a photo of your dad piggy back carrying a five year old you who had the biggest smile on her face. A small reminder of what life once was. 

You could feel your eyes getting watery as you continued to stare at the photo, and so you quickly snapped yourself out of it, deciding that you already had enough emotional turmoil on your plate. Instead you plopped back onto bed, unlocked your phone and began to scroll through Twitter occasionally laughing at some memes.

A certain retweet had caught your eye causing you to let out a scoff, “Kim Taehyung NASTY fight with girlfriend Sunhi. Click here for more.” The Kim family were almost insufferable, their names practically plastered everywhere across Korea. Especially Mr. Kim’s son Taehyung who somehow always managed to get his name across the headlines whether it be on TV, magazines, or social media.

“Famous for being a brat,” you muttered to yourself, but ironically before you could click on the link you had heard the door open and close, resulting in you locking your phone and immediately getting up from bed, your stomach desperately ready to stop growling. 

“Im baaaack!” Yuna dramatically squealed, placing the foam takeout containers on your small kitchen table. The scent of the warm food making your mouth water. “I know it’s chilly right now, but the stars are out tonight, so I say we go eat at the top,” she then gave you the puppy dog eyes.

“You don’t need to make such… disturbing...faces for me to agree, you do know that right?” you teased, trying to hide your smirk. 

“Fuck you,” she responded to you while playfully hitting your shoulder.

Despite it being summer, when you had walked outside you immediately felt the crispy cold weather, but it was something you and Yuna had grown accustomed to. The countless number of late nights climbing up your metal ladder to get to the rooftop and watching the small tiny stars had made you two somewhat immune to the nightly cold. Your mom sometimes would even climb up herself to bring hot cocoa, rightfully worried that the two of you would freeze yourselves to death. 

You see your apartment, like the rest of your complex, wasn’t in the greatest condition. The infrastructure of it mostly relying on a mix of cement and brick, rust engulfing most things along with metal bars on each complex’s windows in order to prevent break ins. Crime was not something uncommon in your area, but something that you were used to hearing about as you got older. 

What made the whole situation more ironic was that the rich were separated by a simple six way motorway, acting almost as a bridge between two completely different worlds with their skyscrapers and condos looking down upon you guys. It was only at night when the stars were out and you looked up at the navy blue sky that you felt like for a small moment none of it mattered. The warm milky glow of the moon never failing to soothe you, reminding you that even in the dark there was light. Reminding you that even now which felt as if was one of the darkest hours in your life, there was going to be light. At least that’s what you hoped. 

“This view just never gets old,” you whispered, amazed at the moonlight’s reflection, the speckle of stars only adding to its beauty. Your eyes had once again become watery, a sudden state of reflection washing over you, but you quickly composed yourself before Yuna could notice. 

“What time do you even go in tomorrow?” Yuna asked, her eyes still primarily focused on the view above. 

“Well their flight is at 1PM so my mom told me I should get there by at least 11AM so he can explain everything to me, show me around, and all that other stuff.”

“I don’t see why you have an attitude about it, you’re acting like it’s the worst job in the world!” she scolded you. 

“I know I know, I’ve heard it all already,” you rolled your eyes recalling your mom's lecture and that she expected your attitude to be fixed come Monday morning.

“Well you gotta do what you gotta do,” Yuna mumbled while shrugging her shoulders and continuing to eat her food. 

“You can say that again.... ” you acknowledged her remark, secretly scared for tomorrow, silently hoping that all went well, “and I thought I was a slob,” you snorted, watching how sloppily Yuna was slurping her noodles. She raised her hand, smacking you on the shoulder. 

“Hey, watch—” 

Monday Morning.

“Where you’re going, you asshole!” you shouted over your window, your irritation fixated at the man who cut you off without signaling. God how you hated driving in the city. All the one way signs, the assholes who called themselves drivers, and the narrow streets which were hard to maneuver in. It all caused unnecessary stress, but here you were nonetheless. 

“Turn right in 1.2 miles,” you let out a snide scoff as you entered the parking lot, there was nothing but car of the year models ranging from Mercedes Benz’s, BMW’s, Range Rover’s, and more. All making your car look worse than it already did. 

Making your way into the lobby, you were in complete utter awe of the place. From the giant diamond chandelier hanging from above to the sparkly interior design which screamed Hollywood glam. The ivory colored double staircase reminded you of Titanic, the color scheme of the whole place was overwhelmingly beautiful. You could only imagine what Mr. Choi’s condo could look like as you made your way to the front desk. 

Ding. 

To your surprise a boy, a very handsome one to say the least, appeared from what you assumed was his office. He looked no older than you, his hair dyed a crimson-red color giving him a youthful appearance accompanied with a face that had both sharp and soft features. Before you could ponder on why such a good looking person was working and not living at a place like this, your thoughts were interrupted. 

“Hello, welcome to The Oaks condos, how can I help you?” he asked, sounding eerily similar to a robot. It reminded you of yourself at your old job, something you certainly would not miss.

“Um I’m Mr. Choi’s new assistant,” you looked for his name tag which coincidentally he didn’t have on, but you could immediately see his shoulders relax once he had heard the words “new assistant”. 

“Ah yes! You’re Ms. Y/L/N’s daughter right? Y/N right?” you nodded in agreement, a smile now appearing on his face, causing the corner of your lips to turn upward. Wow was this guy handsome, you only hoped that the heat you felt on your cheeks wasn’t visible to the eye. 

“Your mom called me to give me a heads up. I’m Hoseok, I’m what you can consider the receptionist around here,” he said, reaching his hand out for you to shake. 

Hoseok. The name sounded so familiar, you could’ve sworn you'd heard your mom mention the name a couple times. 

A light bulb then went off in your head, as you remembered the countless number of times she had tried setting you up on a date with him, but wow did she fail to mention that Hoseok had the literal face of a GQ model. 

An awkward cough brought you back to reality as you had realized that Hoseok’s hand had been stuck out for quite some time, you were now certain that your face must’ve resembled a ripe tomato. You quickly returned the handshake, internally scolding yourself for making yourself look like an idiot. Here you were, a grown woman, acting like a teenager again. 

“So um, you seem um ... pretty young to be working here?” 

“I could ask you the same thing,” he teased, “I replaced my aunt after she retired and the owner of this place trusted her to teach me well, and well I guess I’ve been doing a pretty good job if I’m still employed,” he explained, playfully winking at you, confirming that he knew the effect he had on people. You stood there in silence, deciding that it was just best to say nothing, look pretty, and nod. Thus causing him throw his head back and laugh, making small claps with his hands. With the way you were acting, you couldn’t blame him. He must’ve thought you were some kind of walking circus act. 

“You’ll get used to it, you know...” you now had a look a look of confusion on your face which only made him laugh harder, but before you could ask him any questions, he changed the topic. 

“Well I assume your mom gave you Mr. Choi’s key pass, correct?” you shyly nodded no in response. “Ah I see, let’s go ahead and get that set up for you then,” you watched him as he began to type some things onto the computer in front of him. Compared to how fast his fingers were moving across the keyboard, he made you like a complete newb on the keyboard. The boy was clearly now in his own zone. 

“First name, Y/N?” 

“Yes.” 

“Last name, Y/L/N?” 

“Yes.” 

“You see where that X mark is on your left?” he pointed at the microscopic mark on the floor to which you followed, “Okay now look at where that pretty gold flower is on the wall, and say cheese!” Before you could even properly prepare yourself you heard the sound of the shutter go off, immediately causing Hoseok to begin cracking up. 

He turned the desktop computer to face towards you, showing the horrendous picture the camera took of you. One eye had come out mid-blink, your mouth slightly agape from fixing your hair in the moment. “Hey that’s not—!” Before you could start complaining, Hoseok had quickly interrupted. 

“Don’t worry, don’t worry! It’s only for the program’s database which only Rachel and I see? Ain’t that right Rachel?” Rachel? Who the hell was that? 

Glancing around to see who this Rachel person was, you were surprised to see a very old woman seated behind the front desk seemingly caring less about what he had said, a permanent scowl on her face along with a small groan coming out of her mouth as a response. “That’s my girl,” Hoseok jested, “Now you,” he dramatically pointed at you, “come back over here.” 

You muttered a quiet “Whatever,” peeved by his little antics. Maybe it was because Rachel was old but you could slowly see why she had that look on her face.  

“Place your index finger on the small machine when it lights up,” he pointed to the small biometric scanning machine, similar to the ones used at the DMV. Following the simple instructions you allowed the machine to scan your finger, assuming it was going to be used for something important around here. 

All you could do was observe him as he finished typing who knows what. You observed how his eyebrows quirked as he continued to type, a satisfied smile gracing his lips once he was done. 

Too caught up in his appearance, the sudden tug at your hand had caught you by surprise, yanking you from where you were standing. “I’ll be back Rachel! I’m going to show little Ms. Y/N here around,” Rachel as before. only grunted in response. 

“So here of course we have the lobby, this is where all the..” he glanced around making sure no one was around before whispering, “snobby folks come in and out of every day. Them and their visitors of course, so hopefully you don’t have to interact with any of them.”

“I don’t think all of this will be neces—” before you could continue he pulled your hand again now guiding you towards another area. You glanced at the time on your phone, hoping this so called tour wasn’t going to take too long. 

“Right here is the entrance to the patio and pool area, which is what you’ll use your fingerprint for as well as entering Mr. Choi’s condo and any other amenities we have around here,” he reached into his pocket pulling out a laminated card, “but if for any reason our system’s down then this right here should do the trick for amenities only, you’ll have to come up to the front desk if the finger pad in the elevator isn’t working. For precautionary reasons of course,” he explained, most of it pretty self explanatory, except the elevator part but you assumed he’d get to that soon.  

“So the entrance to every apartment is through the elevator which is right there on your left,” You followed him as he began to walk towards it, placing his finger on the elevator’s finger scanning pad, “The stairs are really only here for decoration considering no one uses them, I mean unless of course you want to climb up 7 flights of stairs everyday,” You quickly nodded your head no, “Only resident’s and employee fingerprints allow the elevator to open but,” the two of you stepped into the elevator, “the fingerpad inside the elevator only allows certain people to access certain floors. Since Mr. Choi’s going to be out on vacation with his vacation, you are currently the only person with access to his floor,” you raised your finger, slightly confused. 

“Don’t you technically—” 

“I do, but let’s say I were to enter a resident’s condo without their explicit permission, they’d immediately be notified through their phone as I’m also under strict contract.” Your mouth made an “O” shape, impressed by how everything was ran around here. Another question then popped up in your mind as he clicked the elevator’s 7th button. 

“Well what if there’s more than one person in the elevator? What then?” 

“Ah good question! Since you don’t know any of the residents here yet, I suggest you always try to go into the elevator by yourself, and if the situation arises where you feel uncomfortable or paranoid about who's in the elevator with you then just go back down to the lobby of course and wait it out, but we’ve never had any cases of break ins or anything like that. Especially not in an area like this. Things around here are ran very smoothly,” he shrugged, “I mean around here the burglars don’t wear black ski mask and carry scary weapons. In fact the real criminals live on these same floors,” he deadpanned, slightly catching you by surprise. 

1.

“I know what you’re probably thinking, who the hell makes an elevator an entrance to their home? I thought the same thing when I first started, but for some reason they see it as some kind of luxury feature around here...”

2. 

“Mm it’s expected if I’m being honest,” you chuckled, slowly finding the confidence to make small talk with Hoseok without getting so flustered. A pregnant silence had made it’s way into the elevator. 

3.

“I’m sorry about your mom by the way...” though he had said it out the blue, you could feel the sincerity behind his words. All you could do was give him a small smile of acknowledgment, feeling as if it was too early to feel someone’s pity. “She talks about you a lot...” he said, causing you to smile. 

4. 

“My Y/N is going to one of the top schools in all of Korea! My Y/N is going to become a successful businesswoman! My Y/N is so pretty Hobi, a boy like you should take her out some time!” he mimicked your mom’s voice, now causing you to genuinely laugh. 

5. 

“That definitely sounds like her,” you giggled, your cheeks now becoming a tinging shade of pink at the mention of her trying to playing matchmaker. 

“You should’ve seen her face when I told her I was gay,” your eyes immediately felt as if they had bulged out of your eye sockets, your face now completely red at his previous words. He on the other hand was now laughing as hard as ever, his hand clutching onto his stomach from laughing so hard. 

6. 

“I told you you’d get used to me,” he said in-between laughs, tears now welting out of his eyes from his laughing fit. Things definitely started to make sense, especially now that you were inconveniently remembering how your mom had completely stopped mentioning Hoseok in any romantic way to you. You covered your face with your hands in embarrassment because here you were already fantasizing about the dude. 

“You're also probably wondering why I’m working at a place like this, that’s what most people ask me when they visit round here, but...”

7. 

“I’ll have to answer your questions some other time Ms. Y/N because well here we are! I’ll have your parking pass ready by the time leave but for now just place your finger on the scanner and off you go,” you followed his instructions, opening the doors of the elevator, stepping out, and waving a small goodbye watching him return the wave as the doors slowly closed. In all honesty you were genuinely happy at the fact that you had made a friend around here even though you were still slightly embarrassed about the moment that had played out only minutes ago. 

But before you could dwell on it any longer, you heard a voice call out your name, “Ah Y/N, good you’re here right on time!” You formally greeted who you presumed was Mrs. Choi, slightly surprised at the fact that she even knew your name. 

“You don’t have to be so formal. Muah. Muah,” she pulled you in for a hug and giving you a kiss on each cheek like the French do. “I’m so sorry to hear about your mother, tell her I send my condolences.” You returned her fake smile, not expecting yourself to despise her this early on. Oh were you glad she wasn’t going to be around.

Mrs. Choi in a way reminded you of Regina George’s mom despite not having any kids. Needles and plastic were definitely her best friends, and her attempt to try and act younger than her actual age was quite cringe to watch. 

Soon after greeting each other, two pomeranians began to circle around you barking. You bent down trying to pet them, but you guess they picked up the snob’s attitude because all they did was continue barking and one even tried to bite you. 

“If it isn’t Y/N, I feel like I haven’t seen you in years!” you snapped your attention to the man himself, Mr. Choi, who was coming down his stairs with a thick black luggage case in his hand. The last time you saw him was around 9 years ago when he had lived on the other side of the city. Your mom had to take you to work with her that day because your neighbor was unavailable to watch after you and you were still too young to be home alone.

Mr. Choi had definitely changed in appearance, his once full head of black hair was now clearly balding, he had gained some weight, and overall looked like a man who had long been worn out. You couldn’t help but think that this vacation was probably needed, especially with a wife like his.  

“I’ll wait for you in the car my love. It was nice seeing you Y/N, I’ll see you in a couple of weeks!” she squealed, waving goodbye as she stepped into the elevator, the dogs following right behind her.

You could hear Mr. Choi sigh, probably already mentally preparing himself for the next 10 weeks. So this is what a pretentious marriage looks like, you thought to yourself. You theorized that Mr. Choi must’ve only married her for her looks and she for his money, and well no wonder there were no kids in the picture. It’d be the ultimate death of both of them. You actually felt pity for the man, but it wasn’t like he didn’t have a choice in marrying her.

You brought your attention back to Mr. Choi who must have been rambling on for some time now, “My most recent assistant just quit on me for no reason,” a genuine puzzled look on his face, “something about me being too overwhelming for her, as if I'm supposed to know what that means,” he scoffed. “So when your mom mentioned you well I knew I could trust her!”

Your mom truly never failed at mentioning you to whoever and whenever she possibly could, it was both a blessing and a curse. 

“So… what exactly am I going to be in charge of?” You blurted out, the question had been lingering in your mind since the night prior.

“Good question, I’d show you around, but time is on the essence. I basically just need you to organize my office, file paperwork, organize Amelia’s closet, go run errands for me, pick up documents, but most importantly I’m going to need you to attend certain events in place for me, but of course just introduce yourself as my assistant, apologize as to why I couldn’t be there, and most importantly keep your eyes and ears open. In my world we like to keep… tabs… on one another,” your eyebrow quirked in curiosity, “and since I won’t have any signal I expect to have a report ready for me when I come back so I’m caught up with everything of course,” he grabbed something from the coffee table, “I made a planner for you with everything that needs to be done on a day to day basis,” he then proceeded in handing you the bulk gray planner, “It includes passwords, data sheets, and all that good stuff.” 

You were amazed at how his demeanor had changed from clumsy-like to serious businessman in the blink of an eye. It was actually quite intimidating.

“Finances need to be kept in check, investors need to be accommodated, and well I just want to come back to everything being normal,” he began to gather the remainder of his stuff, “also your money is going to be wired to your bank account on a weekly basis and well that’s really it. I’ll see you in 10 weeks Ms. L/N! Good luck!”

“Good luck..” you quietly repeated his final parting words back to yourself, watching as the elevator doors closed. You could see why his last assistant quit, you didn’t even know where to start. You took a deep breath deciding to make your way up to his office, your day was just getting started.

The condo may have looked like it came out of a show from HGTV, but Mr. Choi’s office looked like it came out of an episode of Hoarders Buried Alive. There were scattered papers everywhere, his desk was practically hidden by all the stacks of papers. Food wrappers and aluminum soda cans thrown around like the slob he was, the stench making you want to throw up. 

“Oh my God…” you said to yourself, this man was just a mess. 

You skimmed through some of the papers all of them having to do with different things ranging from firm performance, finances, legal forms, and much more. You could already feel a headache coming, but at the end of the day this was your job. You grabbed some storage boxes and began to label them with a black marker.

Your plan was to separate the papers into two sections: Important and Unimportant. Once you finished separating, you’d then shred what you deemed unimportant, and further organize what was important by date and then transfer them to his filing cabinets. It would take time, but it was the only method you could possibly think of. Your goal was to stop by 3 and then start working on Mrs. Choi’s closet.

You put on your earphones and began to play some music so that you wouldn’t be so stressed while organizing everything.

“Breakfast at Tiffany’s and bottles of bubbles…” you hummed to yourself and before you knew it, it was already 3. You had thrown out all of the trash in his office, and for the majority part most of his papers were organized. 

You sighed, now to get started with her damn closet.

Mrs. Choi’s closet was its own giant room, marble shelves stacked with bags and shoes, racks full of clothes, jewelry sparkling under their display showcase. The sparkling glass chandelier on the ceiling adding an extra oomph to the room. 

Hermes. Gucci. Chanel. Versace. Burberry. Balmain. Louis Vuitton. Saint Laurent. Fendi.

Any brand you could think of was in this closet, it was unbelievable. The closet had to be worth several thousands, no millions. So many questions were running through your head. How could someone just have so much? What do you even do with this amount of clothes? You were truly left speechless.

Shaking your head, you began to pick up all the clothes on the floor deciding that it was best to organize everything by color, your day almost done.

By the time your alarm went off it was already six which is the time that Mr. Choi had said you could leave, and it wasn’t like he was paying you extra for staying any longer and doing more work. For the most part, you had finished with both the office and closet and were just ready to go home, jump into bed, and watch some Netflix.

You went down the elevator,  satisfied at your first day on the job. This was going to be easy, you thought to yourself.

Just as you were leaving the lobby you heard Hoseok, “Hey I had your parking permit printed out!”  You stopped dead in your tracks, turned around and walked towards his desk. It wouldn’t hurt to make a little bit of conversation, right?

“Ah I had forgotten about that, thanks,” you chuckled.

“It’s no problem! The parking officer loves giving tickets.… so how was your first day?”

“Um not bad actually, a little boring to be honest,” you pondered at his question, for the most part you were being truthful, “Tomorrow I’m supposed to go and get Mr. Choi’s Mercedes Benz checked out, and then from there go and pick up some paperwork from some legal firm, transfer it onto his computer.”

“Well at least he’s not around to be over your shoulder, he practically had his last assistant going nuts,” he responded, laughing at the memory.

“Well I’ll see you tomorrow,” you yawned, giving him a small wave goodbye.

“Hey well let me know if you ever need anything, and I’m being serious,” and to that you nodded, taking note of what he said.

Monday Afternoon.

[Incoming Facetime from: Ma 💞💗💓💕]

Immediately you clicked “accept”, having just gotten home and tidying up a couple things around the apartment. 

“So how was your first day?” your mom immediately questions you, clearly eager to know. 

“It was pretty decent ma, nothing I can’t handle,” you chuckled, “but wow was that man’s office practically a pig pen,” you complained only causing your mom to start laughing. 

“Oh I know,” she comments, only causing you to roll your eyes. 

“I think these 10 weeks should go by quite smoothly if I say so myself,” you sounded genuinely optimistic, “I met Hoseok you know,” your embarrassment had long subsided, instead finding it hilarious.

“Ah my Hobi!” your mom sounding delighted at the mention of the young boy, “a hard worker that boy is I'm telling you.” 

“He seems like it,” you had long concluded that he was when he had been explaining everything about the residency to you. He seemed like one of those people who even though they disliked their job, still put in their absolute everything into making sure they were the best at it. “You shoud’ve seen me giving him the googly eyes earlier,” you joked around. 

“Hobi is—” 

“Gay, yeah I know. I had to find that out the hard way,” you covered your face with your hands, playfully sulking. 

“Why do you think I stopped trying to set the two of you up,” your mom laughed. 

“Mm really ma? I would’ve never guessed,” sarcasm dripping from your words. 

“Hey remember who you’re sp—” 

“Anywayssss, how are you holding up out there?” you took a sip from the cup of juice you had served yourself earlier, your mom’s dismissive expression returning back to a smile. 

“Well the food around here is horrible! I told my nurse that they should let me in the kitchen for a change, but all she did was laugh!” You grinned at the idea of your mom actually working at the cafeteria for the sake of it. 

"Ah well I’lll make sure to bring you something on Wednesday.” 

“Did anything arrive in the mail today about the invoice for everything?” your mom asked, a look of worry now on her face. 

“No ma, and don’t even worry about anything like that okay? Focus on your treatment, and you let me handle the rest alright?” your voice now becoming stern, leave it to your mom to start worrying about finances. 

“I know, I know, but I know some fees were coming up and well—” 

“And I’m telling you to leave it to me, okay?” 

“Ah okay then, well I'm going to sleep already,” she yawned, “they’ve been prodding needles in me all day,” she tried to say it as lighthearted as she could, but she quickly regretted it as she saw the sudden sad look on your face. 

“Goodnight ma, I’ll see you Wednesday alright?” 

“Okay then Y/N, I love you.” 

“I love you too,” and with a small pressured smile, you clicked “end call”. An immediate sigh coming from your lips as you glanced at the several unsealed envelopes on your coffee table, many of the scattered papers stamped with a red “PAST DUE”. 

School, rent, the water bill, the light bill, the gas bill, your phone bill, the old hospital bills, the new ones, all due in such small amounts of time with almost no room in-between dates to rest. 

And so that night you laid in bed staring at your ceiling for what felt like hours unable to go to sleep. The only thing on your mind was how you were going to get the funds to pay for everything because well if you didn’t then you’d be left in hospital debt with an eviction notice right at your door and a whole bunch of other problems that you didn’t want to think about.

Deciding that it was best to get a breath of fresh air, you made your way to the rooftop, watching as the scattered stars glimmered in the sky. You sorta wished that life could be like those childhood TV shows where a shooting star would pass by and make your wish all come true, but the fact was, is that your life isn’t a movie or a tv show. This was your reality, and you were just going to have to suck it up.   

You unlocked your phone and texted the only person you possibly could.

[To: Yuna 🤍]

[10:09] you up??

You tapped your foot, waited for her to reply.

[From: Yuna 🤍]

[10:10] i'm offended that that’s even a question tbh

[you]

[10:11] you think you can come over? pleaseeee 🥺

[10:12] ik it’s late and you’re probably tired and work tmrw but i just rlly need some company rn

[From: Yuna 🤍]

[10:13] i’ll be there in 10, don’t judge how i look

[you]

[10:14] when have i ever…

Soon enough you heard a knock on your door.

“I brought your favorite snacks,” Yuna had a giant grin plastered on her face to which you couldn’t help but smile at. Her makeup-free face and bright Hello Kitty pajamas told you that she was probably in bed when you texted her. 

Once she slid off her shoes, she was quick to make herself feel at home by jumping onto your couch. Hell, this was basically her second home.

“Do you work tomorrow?” you asked her.

“I called off, I’ve already accumulated a lot of hours anyway and well I might as well start putting them to use,” she stated, as she munched on a freshly opened bag of barbeque chips. 

Yuna was a retail clerk at the local mall, attending fashion school at night in hopes of landing herself a future internship, but like you was currently on summer vacation. Even in middle school, becoming a world renowned fashion designer had always been her dream, having gone to the the principal’s office a countless number of times because she added some kind of tailor to the plain old school uniform whether it be bedazzles or embellishing some kind of bizarre pattern onto it. 

Yuna though was sadly a case of a prodigy without the resources, accepted to one of Seoul’s top fashion schools when the two of you had graduated high school. You were there the day she opened her letter of acceptance, the two of you along with her family celebrating by going to one of Seoul’s most expensive restaurants. But just as you were there the day she was accepted, you were also her shoulder to cry on the day she realized that the money she had saved up wouldn’t even cover a quarter of tuition costs, and her applications for scholarships had all fallen through. 

What you admired most about Yuna was that disappointment didn't stop her from trying. Her designs were truly one of a kind, and you weren’t even saying that because she was your best friend and had a bias towards her. You could only hope that one day she’d be recognized for her talents. 

You grabbed your blanket from your room and sat next to her on the couch. She stared at you while you flicked through different channels on the TV, sensing that something was wrong. 

You could practically feel her burning a hole through your head and so you decided to answer the question you knew was looming in her head, “I’m not okay,” you mumbled, letting out a sardonic laugh. “I’m trying to act like I am, but I'm just not,” you stared off into the TV not wanting to make eye contact with her, “it’s just not fair,” you whispered, confused with yourself as to whether you were sad or angry.

Yuna could feel her heart wrench as she listened.

“My mom’s been nothing but a kind person, I’ve been nothing but a kind person, and so I can’t help but ask why? What did we do to end up in a situation like this?” you hadn’t even realized that tears were falling from your eyes until you felt the salty drops of water make their way onto your lips, dripping from your chin, “The whole time I was in Mr. Choi’s condo looking around at the million dollar paintings, and organizing his wife’s thousand dollar outfits I kept thinking to myself how can a man like Mr. Choi just not care? He didn’t even bother to ask how she was...” you seethed, the emptiness in your voice had now become anger.

Yuna scoffed, “The rich are always looking down on us like we’re just nothing but money makers to them, demanding their respect like they deserve it for free.”

“I just,” you paused for a second, “I just don’t know what to do, I think I might have to start looking for a second job or something, or maybe even take a gap year...” you breathed out, running a hand through your hair in distress. 

And maybe one could call it fate with what you and Yuna had seen on your TV that night. Destiny perhaps. Whatever it was, it was going to open the doors to a brand new world. A world that you had only ever caught small glimpses of.

“Kim Taehyung is officially Seoul’s most eligible bachelor, our sources have confirmed that he and on and off again girlfriend Sunhi have called it quits permanently this time. The reason you may ask? Rumor has it that she was caught cheating on him,” the entertainment reporter had a giant grin on her face, “That’s right ladies, the heir to Kim Enterprises is back on the market.”

Pictures which you assumed were recent showed Taehyung partying, drinking, flashing expensive cars, and at red carpet events for major fashion brands. “Tweet us using hasht—” you changed the channel on the TV, bored of the topic at hand.

“I swear he’s the only person they talk about nowadays, I mean literally he’s everywhere!” you chuckled, turning your attention to Yuna who for some odd reason now had a look of disbelief on her face.

“Y/N… how did I— no how did we not think of this earlier?” Yuna got up from the couch like an excited toddler causing you to tilt your head to the side in honest confusion. 

“What the hell are you talking about now,” you said, laughing at how childish she looked. She was now pacing herself back and forth across your living room, her adrenaline practically visible.

“You know I don’t normally believe in this stuff but holy shit this has got to be a sign!” At this point you were convinced she was talking to herself considering she wasn’t even making direct eye contact when she said that. She frantically ran her hands through her hair, “I mean you have the quote on quote resources, the clothes, my fashion expertise, the car, the events, and he’s single now. Oh my God how did we not think of this,” you carefully listened to what she said trying to piece everything together. Resources? Clothes? Was she talking about Kim Taehyung?

Your eyes immediately widened when you put two and two together and realized what she was so excited about, and it was now your turn to get up from the couch.

“You’re literally insane you understand that right!?” you stared at her, completely baffled. You thought stopping her from pacing around would bring her back to reality and get that grin off her face, but if anything it did the opposite.

“Y/N! What are the chances that as we’re talking about your finance issues and then something like that comes up! What are the chances that you literally work for a millionaire who's going to be gone for several weeks and expects you to attend his events! You can’t tell me that this isn’t hmm…  I don’t know… Fate!” All you could do was stare at her in disbelief as she began to mumble something about this being something “straight out of a movie”. You were waiting for her to laugh and tell you this was all some kind of joke, but you soon realized she was being serious.

“The fact that you’re actually being serious about this is ridiculous!”

“And the fact that you think it’s ridiculous is what’s really crazy!” you shook your head refusing to accept what she was alluding to.

“Yuna! Let’s be rational he—”

“No, just listen to me Y/N. Please,” you looked at Yuna who had now calmed down, her face completely serious, “I know it seems out of the ballpark…” you nodded in agreement, “You have the opportunity to infiltrate the rich, and not just anyone but the Kim family! You know how many rumors there are about that family and their business!” she shouted while adding extra emphasis on the word infiltrate as if this was some kind of spy movie.

You sighed, “And how exactly would I do that? How could I not get caught up in lies? Why the Kim family? Why not not just steal some of Mr. Choi’s belongings and sell them on Ebay or something? Just what exactly are y—”

“You didn’t let me finish!” you grunted in annoyance. There were just so many questions running through your head, did she not realize the risk in what she was proposing? The consequences?

“You’re a stranger in their world, a brand new person … a brand new identity! You already have to go to these events as it is, and you can’t steal anything from Mr. Choi and sell it because I mean clearly he knows who you are. They, as in the rich, do not,” Yuna knew she had managed to grab your attention based on the look of skepticism on your face, “And technically you’re not going to be stealing Mrs. Choi’s clothes, you’ll be um ... borrowing them.” she flashed a giddy smile, “10 weeks Y/N, 10 weeks to get Kim Taehyung to fall in love with you, blackmail money out of that family, and then poof you disappear without a trace!”

“You have no idea how many questions are running through my head at this very moment.”

“And I think I can give you answers to them all, but please Y/N just think about it! It would solve all of your problems, financially at least,” you jokingly hit her shoulder as she teased you with the last part of her sentence, “you wouldn’t be doing it for yourself, you’d be doing it for your mom.”

“For my mom…” you mumbled to yourself. Yuna stared at your blank expression. She could only assume that you were letting everything sink in before making a decision. On one hand you’d be able to pay for all of your expenses while still getting your job done, but on the other you'd be using someone under a false pretense in order to blackmail money out of them. You’d literally be infiltrating the rich. You were scared. What if you got caught? Would you go to jail? What would happen to your mom?

You had made your decision.

“I trust you Yuna… I really do…” she now had a worrisome look on her face, “and so..” without even realizing it Yuna had been crossing her fingers, “I’m in.”  

“Oh my God,” she let out a sigh of both relief and disbelief, a beaming smile on her face.

“But!” her smile quickly disappeared after hearing your tone, “we need to plan this thoroughly, like a solid proof plan by tonight on pen and paper, you got me?” she nodded in agreement, “and I think there’s someone we need involved in this... “

She tilted her head in confusion.

“Who?”

Tuesday Morning.

“Yuna this is Hoseok, Hoseok this is Yuna,” the two shook hands giving one another a warm smile.

Yuna began eyeing you in a way of saying “Are you sure about this?”. You understood why she was skeptical of Yuna whether or not she’d agree to everything, hell you had your own doubts. What if Hoseok said no? Worse, what if he completely snitched you out? Then you’d be stuck with no job, no money, and probably blacklisted from all major companies in Seoul by Mr. Choi himself with the label “thief” over your head. You had to reassure yourself that everything would be just fine, “So what brings you guys here?”

“Well I was hoping I could talk to you um…” you glanced around, “somewhere private,” you whispered giving him a shy smile, “maybe up in Mr. Choi’s condo,” you offered remembering that Rachel could possibly be hearing (though you highly doubted she’d care).  

“Oh um… sure, let me just tell Rachel to cover for me,” he awkwardly dismissed himself to the back.

“I don’t know Y/N … he seems like the type of person to not want to risk his job..” Yuna whispered to you, she was clearly on high alert.

“He told me I could ask him for anything, and well I know I’ve only known her for about 24 hours, but I don’t know… something about him just seems reliable, I can't explain it. It’s just better to have him on our team than to be suspicious of us. I can’t do this whole infiltration thing being paranoid that the receptionist is going to snitch on me when he sees me walk out with clothes worth thousands of dollars,” you replied, “And if this really is playing out as a movie like you say, then we need someone whose tech savvy.” 

“You have a point,” she chuckled, “wait how do you know he’s good at computers again?” 

Your mind flashed back to the night before, while Yuna was asleep you had gone full stalker mode on Hoseok to get to the bottom of who he was. After hours of looking through different social media platforms you had ended up finding both his Twitter and Instagram @/junghsk, where he had pictures of his college graduation from 2 years ago. Major? Computer Science. It explained why he looked like he was in some Matrix movie the other day, and though of course it didn't mean automatically he was an expert, he definitely must’ve been better than both you and Yuna combined when it came to programming which is something (based on your plan) you were going to need for future endeavors. 

You also came to find out that he was an avid animal lover, taught cardio dance classes on morning weekends, likes to live tweet show series such as Games of Thrones, and is in a committed relationship with someone named Min Yoongi. What could you say? You liked to do intensive research. 

Once Hoseok returned the three of you went up to Mr. Choi’s condo, the elevator ride up was definitely awkward compared to the day before. 

Yuna was in clear awe of the place. You could tell she wanted to give herself a personal tour, but you shot her a look dismissing the idea as she could easily do that later.

“We should sit,” you suggested pointing to the kitchen’s island, "Yuna can make us all some instant ramen,” she immediately shot you a look of annoyance, but didn’t argue with you making her way to the pantry.  

“So...” he quietly mumbled at an attempt to break the ice, making small tapping noises on the island’s surface with his fingers. 

Flashing him a pretentious smile, you awkwardly glanced around trying to think of something to make small talk with, “Um do you like Games of Thrones?” 

Immediately he grinned, you expected a “yes” to come out of his mouth but instead he said, “Ah so that was you yesterday!” 

The color drained out of your face , wait what? He began to laugh, making small claps as he threw his head back, “You were stalking me,” his face scrunched up as he began to tease you. 

“What are you talking about?” your tone becoming defensive along with your eyebrows furrowing, only causing his fits of laughter to become louder. His index finger wiping the tears that began to form in his eyes. 

“Don’t act like you didn't like and unlike my picture at like 3 in the morning!” He suddenly pulled out his phone, showing the notification which he hadn’t cleared from his phone, showing your username and the words “liked your photo” following right after. You had forgotten about that... 

It was already 3AM and you were beginning to doze off, eyelids barely even open. You saw the white heart on Instagram appear on a 56 week old picture which you immediately unliked, also causing you to jolt out of your comfortable position in panic. 

Damn you Instagram. “Whatever you need must be pretty important if you’re up at 3AM instastalking me.” 

“Oh shut up—” 

“Well since you were on there, what hair color do you prefer on me: red, brown, or black?” You scowled before muttering a quiet “brown”. “Really I’ve been told red looks best on me, hmm...” he pondered, pressing his index finger onto his bottom lip. "So are you going to tell me what this is all about anytime soon or ...” he said, his tone coming out more demanding than he intended, but Hoseok was the kind of person that didn’t like to beat around the bush, rather preferring to be told things straight up as they were. 

“Okay..” You started, explaining to him of your situation starting from your mom, to the bills you needed to pay, why this job just wasn’t enough, why you needed to go ahead with your plan, why you needed him to be in on everything, and emphasizing that you weren’t doing this for yourself but your mom. By the time you finished explaining, Yuna was already done making the noodles.

Hoseok sat there in silence, you could hear your heart from your chest, your fingers getting slightly sweaty as you thought of the different possible outcomes. The deafening silence had made you feel like you guys were there for hours. Honestly, you could have heard a pin drop. 

It wasn’t until you saw his signature smile beginning to form on his face that you could’ve sworn you felt bricks actually fall off your shoulders.

“Okay let’s do it,” he stated as he began to slurp on his noodles.

“You’re in?” Yuna asked in complete shock, eyes completely widened. He nodded in return clearly enjoying his food, “You don’t have any questions? No concerns?”

Hoseok shrugged, “Mm well of course I’m curious as to what exactly the plan is, which I’m sure you’ll be explaining to me soon, but nope. I’d probably say no if the cause wasn’t for something important,” he looked at you giving a warm compassionate smile, “and this has got to be the most interesting thing that’s happened on this job for the past 2 years so there’s that,” his brows knitting remembering past situations with residents, “and lastly these snobs deserve what’s coming to them,” he finished off causing all three of you to laugh. 

“Well then cheers to mission… ummm... “ Yuna placed her finger on her chin, causing you to facepalm yourself as she was trying to think of a name for something so irrelevant.

“7 Rings,” Hoseok interjected , “like the Ariana Grande song. I want it, I got it!” 

“You like my hair gee thanks just bought it!” you guys simultaneously sang at the top of your lungs, clinking each other’s drinks.

And so that was how mission “7 Rings” came into fruition, but of course like everything else in the world, nothing ever goes as planned. If only you had realized then that things were going to change, whether they were for the better or for the worse… well that was for you to find out on your own.

author’s note 🧚🏻 : SK has universal health care but for the sake of the plot we’re going to have to pretend they have a private healthcare system so please don’t attack me lmao. Also please like & repost as it keeps me motivated to write and update faster !! Thank you in advance if you do 💞